16,000 Chemicals in Your Food — and Only 1% Are Deemed Safe | Johanna Hellrigl

Chef Johanna Hellrigl — owner of DC's mission-driven restaurant AMA and an Environmental Working Group board member — joins Josh to connect personal and planetary health, from the plastic chemicals migrating into our food to the waste we never see.They get into her TED talk "The Plastic You Eat," the Fed Up movement on ultra-processed food, composting at home, regenerative farming, and why slowing down and voting with your dollars can shift the whole food system.Word from our sponsor. This whole conversation with Johanna kept landing on the same truth: your environment is shaping your body whether you notice it or not. The plastics, the packaging, the pace we're all running at — it adds up. And the antidote isn't one more thing to push harder at. It's slowing down enough to let your body get back to baseline.That's exactly why I wear The One Device every single day. It layers infrared light, visible light, and sound — all pulsing at the same frequency — into one small pendant that sits right over your heart. Think of it as a tuning fork for your nervous system. In a world constantly pulling you into fight-or-flight, it quietly helps you drop back into the rest-and-digest state where your body actually repairs.Johanna kept saying your body is always talking to you. The One Device is one of the ways I stay calm enough to listen — on flights, in the middle of New York City, wherever I land.If you want to try it for yourself, head to theonedevice.com and use code JOSH for 10% off.Link: https://theonedevice.com/Code: JOSH (10% off)KEY TAKEAWAYS:- It's not just the container — it's heat, fat, acid, and time. That's the "perfect storm" that pulls plastic chemicals into food. There are ~16,000 known plastic chemicals, and only about 1% have been deemed non-hazardous.- The fix is awareness, not fear. Endocrine disruptors like BPA (and its cousins BPS and BPF) affect hormones, fertility, and kids — knowing where plastics hide lets you make better choices and vote with your dollars.- Waste is invisible, and that's the problem. One second of convenience — a coffee cup, a takeout box — can last centuries in a landfill. Seeing the scale (a child goes through ~6,000 diapers) is what actually changes behavior.- Close the loop at home and in sourcing. Tools like the Mill food recycler, local compost pickup, whole-food ingredients, and microplastic-tested seafood shrink waste and support soil and health at the same time.- Change the incentives and slow down. Reward people for better choices instead of only charging for convenience, back regenerative farmers with guaranteed demand, and remember ~60% of meals are eaten outside the home — so restaurants have to be part of the solution.TIMESTAMPS:00:00 Meeting Chef Johanna Hellrigl & the mission behind AMA01:47 Growing up Italian in the restaurant industry03:30 The Fed Up movement & the science on ultra-processed food05:04 "The Plastic You Eat": heat, fat, acid & time07:08 16,000 plastic chemicals, BPA/BPS/BPF & the health cost08:15 Voting with your dollars — the protein craze in reverse11:56 The waste we never see: know your farmer, know your food12:48 Hiro's plastic-eating diapers & making waste visible15:42 Composting at home: the Mill, the garden & zero-waste at AMA17:33 Recycling vs. reality — where our trash actually goes19:36 Bringing your own containers: lessons from Europe23:33 The GRAYL bottle, vintage clothing & the Ridwell exercise27:48 Shopping local, the parasite outbreak & ozonated water32:44 Slow food, slowing down & the compostable cup37:10 Why restaurants can't be left out (60% of meals are eaten out)39:30 Sourcing clean: Lummi Island Wild, Seatopia & bioindividuality41:35 Regenerative farming & guaranteeing farmers the demand43:35 Composting with her son & teaching kids where food comes from46:00 What's next: helping other restaurants transform48:46 Where to find Johanna, AMA & a little Vivo Barefoot love🌐 Connect with Joshua & SWTTPodcast Website: https://www.simplywalkthetalk.comYouTube: @simplywalkthetalkInstagram: @simplywalkthetalkTikTok: @simplywalkthetalkJoshua Holland: https://linktr.ee/joshuajholland