Adios Teflon!

Mission: Safe and Healthy Cooking

Are you still cooking with teflon coated cookware? If so what you are about to read will shock you.

Years ago my friends parents had two parrots that died from "teflon poisoning" also known as "teflon toxicosis". I must admit that although it made me stop to think, it never made me take action until I started to become more aware of naturally living.
When I started my mission of living more naturally, more simply I kept thinking back to the thought that teflon kills birds - if teflon kills birds what does it do to us? My questions brought me alarming results. Teflon coated pans start to particulate toxic gases at 446 degrees, at 680 degrees they start to release toxic gases in the air, 2 of them are known to be carcinogens. Ever have a teflon coated pan where the coating started chipping or breaking away? If so than pan was heated well above the safe temperature range of teflon. Teflon gases can also cause "teflon flu" in humans. Symptoms include chills, headache, fever and nausea, usually subsiding within a few days and most times those symptoms are brushed off as having a viral flu. With all these dangers I find myself wondering how on earth is this non-stick coating still allowed to be used, well the companies using teflon claim that with "proper" use the chemical is perfectly safe. Other than the fact that it is a nasty chemical, I wonder if there is a way to "properly" use these pans, my stovetop does not measure the degree of heat, when I am heating a pan all I have are High, Med. High, Medium, Med. Low, Low and Simmer settings, and the drip pans (yes some drip pans are coated with teflon also) reach temperatures much higher than the burner, sometimes temperatures of 1000 degrees!
These alarming facts (which I have only listed a few) made it easy for me to say adios Teflon! Helloooooooooo Cast Iron!

Cast iron has so many benefits that alot of people may not even be aware of. The well known benefits are it heats evenly, retains heat, and cooks well and SAFE at all temperatures. Here is a little known fact: cooking with cast iron will actually add necessary iron to your diet!!!
When food is cooked on cast iron trace amounts of iron are leached out into the food. Foods with high acidity, more moisture and longer cooking times will absorb higher amounts of iron than foods that are cooked quickly. 60 - 70% of americans do not get enough iron in their diets and cooking with cast iron is a great way to add more of this vital element into our diet. While it is possible to consume too much iron, trace amounts of iron leached into the food are not high enough to cause an iron overload in the majority of people.