Get the scoop on 8 common kinds of cookware
Long gone are the days when you would just use your mother’s old hand-me-down cookware. Today we know that many of the types of cookware we’ve been using for years may not be healthy. Studies show that certain cookware can also be polluting our bodies.
Here is the breakdown of the types of cookware sold in stores today:
Aluminum
This type of cookware conducts heat well and is easy to maintain. The bad news is that acidic substances (such as tomatoes and wine) react with aluminum, causing it to leach into your food. Aluminum has been linked to heavy metal toxicity in the brain and diseases such as celiac, autism and cancer.
Cast Iron
As with the aluminum cookware, your body can absorb too much iron from acidic foods that are prepared in a cast-iron pan. With metal toxicity as a cause of inflammation, I recommend steering clear of cast iron.
Ceramic
The non-reactive cookware is the one I use. It is free of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), a potentially toxic chemical that’s used during manufacture of coating for nonstick pans such as Teflon. They are stable to high heat and resist flaking.
Copper
Although it conducts heat well, 100% copper is difficult to maintain. And again, those nasty metals leach into your food.
Glass
A safe bake ware selection, but as a cookware it doesn’t conduct heat well. It is considered safe and less reactive, however.
Silicone
Everything is getting made out of silicone it seems these days – baking sheets, spatulas and potholders to name a few! Silicone cookware is lightweight, flexible, and has a nonstick surface but doesn’t leach into your food or produce a toxic vapor. When buying silicone products, test their quality by pinching and twisting a flat surface to see if white shows through, if so, it is an inferior product and is likely to have a filler substance.
Stainless Steel
This metal doesn’t conduct heat well but it’s durable, easy to clean and relatively non-reactive.
Teflon
Teflon is made with PFOA, a chemical that’s been linked to cancer and birth defects. I recommend retiring all Teflon cookware for a safer alternative like ceramic.
What kind of cookware are you currently using? Will you change? I’d love to hear from you in the comments below.