Summer means the weather is good and it is time for some outdoor barbecuing.  Here are some reminders to maintain healthy BBQ:

If you use charcoal, try to use natural charcoal or certified wood briquettes, otherwise it may contain additives or coal dust. Use a chimney starter to light coals instead of VOC forming lighter fluid.

Also consider using a FlameDisk – a green Charcoal alternative. It uses an ethanol bio-fuel that is clean burnings.

HCAs (heterocyclic amines) are carcinogenic chemicals produced when meat is cooked at high temperatures.  When heat acts on amino acids, and creatinine in animal muscle, HCAs are formed. HCAs have been linked to cancer.

Microwave, bake, or broil meat first to partially cook it and to release the amino acids in the process, but drain the liquid off before transferring meat to the BBQ. Always cook your meat at moderate temperatures and turn it regularly, in fact, rotating it every minute until it is fully cooked is recommended to stop the black charring that occurs so often. Do not let the flame touch the meat. Remove burnt or charred areas. Use a meat thermometer to measure doneness.

Fat dripping on coals or fire creates harmful carcinogenic PAH chemicals.  Cut visible fat before grilling and try to grill lean cuts of meat. Organic, hormone free is preferred of course. Use foil or a drip pan. Grill veggies to avoid PAHs.

“Precooking a hamburger for a few minutes in the microwave reduces HCAs by up to 95 percent.Flip hamburgers often. Doing so every minute reduces HCAs by up to 100 percent… arinate meat before grilling. This can greatly reduce HCAs. For example, one study found that chicken marinated for 40 minutes in a mixture of brown sugar, olive oil, cider vinegar, garlic, mustard, lemon juice and salt cut HCAs by 92 percent to 99 percent. Don’t cook meat to well done.”

FDA has an Eating Outdoors document.

Bisphenol-a, or BPA is widely used in the making of the hard, clear and nearly unbreakable plastic called polycarbonate. Studies and tests show that small amounts of BPA are leaching from polycarbonate containers into foods and liquids and possibly causing health problems. BPA may be linked to certain cancers, fertility and behavioral problems in children.

Wall Street Journal reports that “New Research Raises Concerns About BPA Levels in Humans”. Industry disputes the claims. Who knows who is right? We are not waiting. It does not cost a lot to avoid some products with BPA.

We have covered the dangers of the chemical BPA many times in the past. Harvard finds BPA in the body is now being leeched due drinking from water bottles with BPA.  Carefully examine your present bottle’s ingredients.  A spot check of a local Target indicated that most bottles have moved to being labeled BPA free.

Amazon has a BPA-free product list with lots of water bottles and baby bottles.

Sigg has a new BPA free metal water bottles with no plastic liner. Be more eco by saying no to BPA and bottled water. Save money too. Cafepress customizes the water bottles with custom graphics on it.

Most Whole Food stores sell these metal BPA free water bottles along with small ones to put in kid’s lunch boxes. Say no to wasteful and costly juice boxes.

Bottled water costs about $4 a gallon and people waste thousand of dollars on it each year. Only 30% of water bottles are recycled, causing many to end up in land fills or the ocean.

You might want to avoid drinking too much from water bottles with a sports top, straw on top, or a nozzle…

According to dermatologists, droves of women (and some men) are visiting their doctors, worried by the lines and wrinkles around their lips, typically called  “smoker’s lip” due to the pattern of wrinkles found around the lips of smokers.

The problem is, these folks are not smokers.  When you drink by sucking from certain water bottles, you are making the same gesture you are when you’re smoking. Over a short period of time, this sucking action creates wrinkles and lip lines around the mouth. Drink from these bottles too much and you will start to develop noticeable smoker’s lip within about 2 years.

Don’t forget to buy a BPA free ice cube tray.

Be sure to see our Tips to Avoid BPA Exposure

A recent Q&A article from a NYU professor answers some questions regarding Organic food and Nutrition.  Some of the most interesting tidbits from the article:

Certified 100% Organic means that all the ingredients in a product have been grown or raised according to the USDA’s organic standards, which are the rules for producing foods labeled organic.

Certified Organic requires that 95 to 99% of the ingredients follow the rules.

Made with organic ingredients means that at least 70% of the ingredients were organic.

USDA organic rules are about the letter of the law, not its spirit. Food marketers, however, take advantage of public perceptions that “organic” implies spirit - sustainability and better nutrition. Companies that follow the rules can legitimately market highly processed foods as organic, taking advantage of their health aura to command higher prices.

Q: Aren’t organics elitist? People can’t buy organic foods if they aren’t available at an affordable price.

A: I once heard Eric Schlosser answer a similar question aimed at his book, “Fast Food Nation.” He pointed out that social movements have to begin somewhere and that several began with elites but ended up helping the poor and disenfranchised – the civil rights, environmental and women’s movements, for example.

I would add the organic movement to this list. It has already forced mainstream food producers to start cutting down on pesticides and to raise farm animals more humanely. As the supply of organic foods increases, and the Wal-Marts of the world sell more of them, organics should become more democratic.

Ziploc storage bags are very handy. They help extend the shelf life of many foods.  Washing and reusing the bags should be exercised as much as possible. Recycling the bags is slightly tricky although Terracycle can help.

“Ziploc® Brand Bags are made from Polyethylene Plastic Resin #4. It is recyclable in the few communities that accept Polyethylene Plastic Resin #4. The outer box is made from recycled paperboard (minimum 35% post-consumer content) and is recyclable.”

The key is to wash the inside of the bag and cut off the zipper before recycling. You can recycle these Ziploc bags where you recycle plastic bags.

And even more eco-alternative: Ziploc Evolve ultra-light bags are made with 25 percent less plastic* and manufactured using wind power.

Food Inc. was a sobering but enlightening movie.  It covers the commercialization of the food industry. There are many costs when putting value and convenience over nutrition and environmental impact.

Shown were slaughterhouses and factory farms where chickens grow too fast to walk properly. Cows eat feed pumped with toxic chemicals.  After watching this you want to become a vegetarian or at least stick to local, organic, and sustainable food.

The film shows Barbara Kowalcyk, who had lost her son to eating a hamburger with E. coli, and she’s now dedicated her life to trying to make the food system safer. But when they asked her what she eats, she told them she couldn’t tell them because she would be sued if she answered.  Scary.

We learned about Roundup pesticide resistant soybean seed and their legal tactics.  There are already weeds resistant to this pesticide. No surprise!