Picture yourself cooking or baking on a pleasant Saturday morning. You’re sipping coffee as you scan down the list of ingredients and notice buttermilk. Damn. Who keeps buttermilk on hand? If you’re like me, you only consider running out to the market for an instant…and instead (because it’s more convenient or if you don’t feel like putting on a “real” bra) you opt to pull up the Google machine and ask “What can I use to replace buttermilk?” Take my word for it: buttermilk can quickly and easily be replaced.
Convenience is key.
And this kind of DIY mentality, popular among most moms today, can often be a cheap alternative and a great time-saver. Unfortunately, this kind of power isn’t always used for good. When major product companies are forced to replace a product or an ingredient deemed dangerous by the FDA, they often scramble and settle for a substitute that can be equally dangerous.
One example of this is the replacement of bisphenol A to bisphenol S in plastic water bottles and cash register receipts. In recent studies, the new and improved bisphenol S may be just as harmful to human health as BPA. Read another example, this one about the possible replacement of flame retardant chemicals that may be found in your next family room couch.
