We have a plastic problem. And I'm not just talking about the mountains of plastic waste accumulating in our oceans, landfills, and waterways.
I'm talking about the plastic that has become part of our everyday lives. The plastic we eat from, drink from, cook with, wear, and breathe in.
Somewhere along the way, convenience became more important than questioning what that convenience might be costing us. Placing vegetables in a plastic bag to cook became a common way to feed children. Heating plastic next to food is a really bad idea. Wine in box; a very acidic food in a plastic pouch. When I was a younger parent I used to put hot beverage in styrofoam for my children to drink out of.... I cringe when I think about it all today.
And now we're discovering that plastics don't simply disappear when we're finished with them. They accumulate in our bodies in different sizes. In our blood stream. In our organs and in our brains.
And We Can't See Them
So sometimes we doubt that they are there. Most of us recognize plastic pollution when we see a bottle floating down a river or a grocery bag tangled in a tree. But what about the plastic we can't see?
Microplastics are tiny plastic particles smaller than five millimeters. Even smaller particles, called nanoplastics and plasticizers can be difficult to detect and study.Researchers have identified microplastics in human blood, lung tissue, placentas, and other biological samples. Materials manufactured for packaging, clothing, and countless disposable products are now being detected inside the human body. The question is no longer simply whether we're exposed to plastics. We are. The more important question is what repeated exposure means for our health over a lifetime.
What Does Plastic Have to Do With Our Hormones?
This is where the conversation gets particularly interesting.
Some chemicals used in plastics, including phthalates, can interfere with endocrine signaling. These substances are often referred to as endocrine-disrupting chemicals. Our endocrine system is responsible for coordinating everything from reproduction and metabolism to growth and stress responses.
Research has associated exposure to certain plastic-related chemicals with reproductive and metabolic health concerns. However, the effects depend on the specific chemical, exposure level, and timing, and scientists are still investigating the health implications of microplastic particles themselves.
For women navigating midlife, this deserves a lot of attention. Not just a little. When we're already experiencing changes in estrogen, progesterone, insulin sensitivity, and body composition, understanding environmental exposures becomes another piece of the health puzzle. That doesn't mean plastics are responsible for every hot flash, stubborn pound, or sleepless night. It does mean our environmental exposures deserve a place in the conversation.
Your Body Is Not Separate From Your Environment
After more than 30 years working in nutrition, one thing has become increasingly clear to me: we cannot look at human health in isolation. Our bodies are biological systems living within larger biological systems. Classically, the conventional medical system would breakdown our body into different subspecialties; GI, endocrine, immune, neurological, etc. We now know that they are all interconnected and working in concert with one another. And, our environmental exposures play a large part of how it all interacts. Plastics can be a significant interference.
What happens in our soil, water, air, and food supply eventually influences the conditions in which our bodies function. Plastic particles can enter the environment through discarded packaging, synthetic textiles, tire wear, and the breakdown of larger plastic products. They move through waterways, agricultural systems, and food chains. And while our bodies have sophisticated systems for processing and eliminating many foreign substances, we still don't fully understand how different microplastics behave once they enter human tissues.
This is why I believe the conversation about health needs to extend beyond nutrition alone.
You can eat a beautiful organic salad, but what about the packaging it came in? The water used to grow it? The environmental conditions surrounding its production?
Eating well matters tremendously but nutrition doesn't exist in a vacuum. Our macronutrients have been overemphasized while the micro- exposures have gone unnoticed until our health begins to fail most commonly beginning with a sluggish thyroid. Many of us are missing the outer third of your eyebrow for decades before our labs finally showed that there was a problem. This is common, just look around you.
The Convenience Trap
Here's where we need to ask ourselves some uncomfortable questions.
How did this happen? The convenience snuck in the back door and before we new it, it became a need. We've created a world where nearly everything comes wrapped, sealed, bottled, or packaged in plastic. How on earth did we ever do without it?
We buy bottled water when reusable containers could work. We heat leftovers in plastic containers because it's easy. Remember heating left over spaghetti in plastic Tupperware and how the plastic took on an orange hue for life? Yes. please throw those containers out if you still have any around.
We purchase individually packaged foods because they save us a few minutes. And then we wonder why reducing our environmental exposures feels so overwhelming. We've built systems where convenience is often the default, and healthier, less wasteful alternatives require additional effort.
What Can We Actually Do?
I'm not suggesting we throw away everything plastic in our homes tomorrow.
That's neither realistic nor necessary.
But there are practical ways to reduce unnecessary exposure. This is going to be essential for our overall health to improve.
-
Use glass or stainless steel containers for food and beverages when practical.
-
Avoid heating food in plastic containers, particularly when alternatives are available.
-
Choose fresh or minimally packaged foods more often.
-
Reduce reliance on single-use plastic bottles and disposable food packaging.
-
Support local farmers and businesses working to reduce unnecessary packaging.
-
Replace plastic food containers and by gosh.... stop drinking out of plastic, PLEASE.
None of these actions completely guarantees protection from microplastics.
But reducing avoidable exposure is a reasonable precaution while research continues. And perhaps just as importantly, these choices can reduce the amount of plastic entering our environment. Remember that we Americans are the largest economic engine on the planet. That means what we buy the most, stays on the market.
All Health Is Local
This is where I always come back to the same principle.
All Health Is Local.
Our health is connected to the food we grow, the water we drink, the air we breathe, and the communities we build. We cannot expect to create healthy people indefinitely while ignoring the health of the ecosystems supporting them. Reducing plastic pollution isn't simply about saving the oceans or keeping our neighborhoods beautiful.
It's about reconsidering the systems we've created and asking whether they truly serve our long-term well-being. After all, we are creatures of habit and always reach for the food and beverages that are in our closest environment. Choose your closest food environment, your home, to be a safe haven from as many plastic items as possible.
We've become exceptionally good at making life convenient. Maybe it's time we became equally committed to making it healthy. Because the choices we make for our environment today help shape the conditions in which our bodies will have to thrive tomorrow.
Where Do We Go From Here?
Understanding the problem is one thing. Knowing what to do about it is another.
Reducing our exposure to plastics is a good place to start, but it's only one piece of a much larger picture. Our food, water, homes, lifestyles, and everyday choices all influence the environment in which our bodies function. Our bodies are already overburdened and hanging on to chronic inflammation that is keeping us from being the best versions of ourselves and enjoying the lives we want heading into our retirements.
That's why I created the Detoxed Life Membership, a place to explore these connections through my Living Systems Approach. It's designed to help you understand how your body's systems work together, recognize potential sources of environmental exposure, and make informed decisions about supporting your health.
So, if you're doing everything right but still struggling with fatigue, brain fog, hormonal changes, or simply not feeling like yourself, perhaps it's time for a different conversation.
Schedule a Discovery Call and let's explore what might be missing from your health picture. Because living a healthier life isn't about doing everything perfectly. It's about understanding what matters and knowing where to begin and having a systematic approach that you can stick with.
Explore the Detoxed Life Membership for a different perspective on your health. It's only $10 per month. https://www.healthislocal.com/products/254363
Schedule Your Discovery Call- it costs nothing but your time. https://www.healthislocal.com/cellular-detox-discovery-call
Clean Body, Clear Mind, Claim you!
Angela at Health Is Local
References:
1. World Health Organization (2022). Dietary and inhalation exposure to nano- and microplastic particles and potential implications for human health. Comprehensive review of exposure through food, water, and air, including scientific uncertainties. WHO Report
2. Leslie, H. A., et al. (2022). Discovery and quantification of plastic particle pollution in human blood. Environment International, 163, 107199. Research identifying and measuring plastic particles in human blood samples. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2022.107199
3. Ragusa, A., et al. (2021). Plasticenta: First evidence of microplastics in human placenta. Environment International, 146, 106274. Study reporting microplastic particles in four of six placentas examined. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2020.106274
4. Gore, A. C., et al. (2015). EDC-2: The Endocrine Society's Second Scientific Statement on Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals. Endocrine Reviews, 36(6), E1–E150. Scientific review of endocrine-disrupting chemicals and their potential implications for reproductive, metabolic, thyroid, and other health outcomes. Endocrine Society Scientific Statement
5. World Health Organization (2019). Microplastics in drinking-water. Review of microplastics in drinking water, potential health implications, and research gaps. WHO Report
Comments