This data comes from the Environmental Defense fund. It is an advocacy group that uses sound science to solve environmental problems. You can visit their site at www.edf.org  to get a complete list of which fish is safe andwhich is not. Go the main page by clicking on the link above once your are there then click on What You Can Do at the top and then click on Smart Seafood. You will see a pocket-sized chart that you can print out and carry with you that will tell you which fish is the best and which fish to avoid. I personally love salmon but it is hard to find wild salmon at the grocery store and almost impossible to get in restaurants. If you see wild salmon on the menu always check and make sure that it is. A lot of times, they have it printed on the menu but if they can’t get it the restaurant will substitute farm-raised.

I order my salmon from a company called Vital Choice Seafood. The fish is caught in the wild and flash frozen on the boats. This is actually the freshest fish to get. Most of the time when fish is caught  it is put on ice and brought back at the end of the day, so by the time you get it even though it says "fresh not frozen" it can be as old as two days. When fish is caught and flash frozen on the boat it really does not get any fresher than that. Vital Choice also practices safe fishing methods so that the wild fish population is not in danger. They also carry many different kinds of canned salmon including smoked salmon and salmon with no salt.

They use cans that are supposed to be BPA free. BPA stands for Bisphenol-A and is used to make the epoxy resin that lines most canned foods and is used in the making of plastics. BPA has been suspected of being hazardous to humans since the 1930s, concerns about the use of bisphenol A in consumer products were regularly reported in the news media in 2008 after several governments issued reports questioning its safety, and some retailers have removed it from their products but some have not. BPA epoxy lined cans have been banned in Japan for many years. There was a Consumers Report that came out a few weeks ago that found some very low levels of BPA in Vital Choice's canned tuna. The canned salmon was not tested. Consumers Report tested all different kinds of brands and types of canned food. Some had very high levels and some were very low. The tuna from Vital Choice was very low, however they are suppossed to be using cans that are BPA free and they are according to the report (to read the report go to http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine-archive/december-2009/food/bpa/overview/bisphenol-a-ov.htm) Those of you with children should read the article. 

So how did the BPA get into the tuna if they are not using epoxy based resin that contains BPA to line their cans? Vital Choice has posted a response on their site. BPA is a chemical that is in very high levels in the environment with more than a 100 tons being released each year. The plant that the tuna is processed in might process other canned goods that use epoxy based resin and that could be an explanation. Using epoxy based resin is much cheaper so most companies that manufacture canned goods use it. Nevertheless, they are looking into the matter and looking for the real why so that they can institute a proper handling. I have never tried the canned tuna only the canned salmon. I feel like they are a very ethical company and will get it resolved. I do not eat anything from a can except their canned salmon so I still feel confident about ordering from them. If you feel like you want to avoid anything canned then just order any of the frozen fish which is extremely good. I have tried just about all of their salmon and it is all very good. I especially like the canned smoked salmon. I also really liked the salmon sausage patties. They come in two flavors : spicy chorizo and a country sage and both are very good. They actually don't contain any sausage and are made with 100% Salmon and spices. However, my husband is not that crazy about them! I guess they are an acquired taste. They also have some great organic oils, spices and other food items.  The website is www.vitalchoice.com

I used to think bottled water was the best water I could get but after doing further research I found out this may not be the case. There are several things wrong with bottled water. Most bottled water is not as pure and clean as you think it is. Not only does bottled water contribute to excessive waste, it costs us a thousand times more than water from our faucet at home, and it is, in fact, no safer or cleaner. The bottled water industry spends millions of dollars a year to convince us that their product is somehow safer or healthier than tap water, when in fact that's just not true," says Victoria Kaplan, senior organizer with Food and Water Watch, a nonprofit that recently launched a Take Back the Tap campaign to get consumers to ditch bottled water. "As much as 40 percent of bottled water started out as the same tap water that we get at home," she adds. A 1999 Natural Resources Defense Council study found that, with required quarterly testing, tap water may even be of a higher quality than bottled, which is only tested annually.

Water aside, the plastic used in single use bottles can pose more of a contamination threat than the water. A safe plastic if used only once, #1 polyethylene terephthalate (PET or PETE) is the most common resin used in disposable bottles (if you look on the bottom of anything plastic you will see a number) however, as #1 bottles are reused, as they commonly are, they can leach chemicals such as DEHA, a possible human carcinogen, and benzyl butyl phthalate (BBP), a potential hormone disruptor. Also, because the plastic is porous you'll likely get a swill of harmful bacteria with each gulp if you reuse #1 plastic bottles (taken from an article called Tapped Out, 8-1-2007 by Solvie Karlstrom). Even though PET bottles are supposed to be safe for a one time use, I personally do not like them. Excessive heat can cause leeching of chemicals and I do not know if and how long the bottles sat in a hot warehouse or in a hot truck while being transported.

The safer alternative is supposed to be polycarbonate bottles, which can be reused so they do have less of a negative impact on the environment. However polycarbonate bottles are manufactured with bisphenol A or BPA, this is a chemical that mimics estrogen. BPA is used in the manufacture of baby bottles and serious questions have been raised about the safety of the bottles. Some manufacturers have stopped using it but some have not. Plastic manufacturers claim that polycarbonate is extremely safe, but they admit it does leech BPA however they claim the amount is so small it is negligible. If the only plastic you used was a polycarbonate bottle then that might be true. They also advise never putting anything hot in polycarbonate because this speeds up the leeching process. But BPA is used to manufacture all kinds of plastics and if you store your food in plastic or put plastic in the microwave, you are getting exposed to toxic chemicals.

Personally, I do not store my food in any kind of plastic. I only use glass bowls. You can buy small glass bowls to carry your lunch to work. They are heavier but much safer. If you microwave food you should only use glass bowls. BPA is also found in the lining of canned goods. In fact, it is in much higher levels in canned goods than plastic bottles. The government keeps telling us that we're not getting enough exposure to these chemicals to harm us. But when you start looking at all the chemicals and toxins we ingest and come in contact with every day, I believe it does have an impact on your health.

Bottled water also has a negative impact on the environment; every hour Americans throw away 2.5 million empty plastic bottles. The most conservative source I read estimates over 10 billion bottles are thrown into landfills every year. Not to mention the amount of fossil fuel it takes to make these bottles.

So what can you do? First off, don't buy bottled water. Get yourself a stainless steel canteen and put your own filtered water, which according to reports will be safer and cleaner than any water in a bottle. It is a simple thing to do to reduce your exposure to toxic chemicals in plastic and also to help the environment. You can visit  www.cleancanteen.com  You can also limit your intake of canned goods and do not store anything in plastic.

See my post on water filters for information on which water filtration system to purchase.