How to Stay Healthy By Choosing Proper Cups & Mugs

Silly title for an article, correct? Well you might think that now but just wait until you read the tips and warning section . Read more right below this comment and email box Would love to hear your opinions on this one, even if you just laugh away at me.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• flawless cups
• drinking cups
• clean mugs
• travel mugs
• travel cups
• soap
• water
• sink
• dishwashing liquid
• time
• a little laugh!

1. When washing your drinking glasses, wash them with soap and water, not just with water.
   
   Sometimes large families, with lots of children, tend to let the children just "rinse" their own glass out because they figure that they are the only one that will be drinking from that glass But what they do not realize is that most times, those glasses or cups or mugs have little crevices that trap bacteria and trap water.
   
   So over time, that trapping equals a good collection of germs and bacteria and we all know that some germs and bacteria makes us ill.
   
   So always wash everything with soap and water even if the everything is your own special cup or mug.
   
   Never re-use straws. This is just too much a risk for trapped bacteria.
2. Throw paper plates away if you use them for a "wet" meal. If you are having just a sandwich and you intend to have another or some crackers, that is okay to re-use your plate in the interest of saving the earth and saving money ,but for all other uses, dispose of the paper plates.
3. If you think this idea is silly, do this test for yourself. Take one of those "travel" mugs or cups and use it a lot, and just rinse it out each time without using soap and water.
   
   Let a week or so pass and then take the mug or cup and put it up to your nose and smell it. Yes, that is right, smell your alleged-clean cup. You probably will smell a great deal of germs and bacteria and if you look closely you will actually see the dirt in the crevices of your cup.
   
   Those little ridges that enable you to screw the top on the glass, those are the ridges that will and do collect germs and bacteria. And if the ridges are on the inside of your cup, you are actually saving your saliva there on the inside of the cup and you are just "rinsing" the cup but not cleaning the germs out.
   
   I found this out accidentally when I used to just rinse my own cup out. Yes, I used plenty of water, and thought I was saving the earth by not using all that soap. Thinking I was doing myself and the earth a good deed, I just rinsed by glass.
   
   Until one day I figured, that it was time to wash it out with soap and water --at least once in a while. And when I really began to scrub the little ridges, that is when I noticed that these ridges catch everything that they can catch.
   
   
   Now imagine a family of five or six using those same kinds of cups and then everyone changing off cups? There will be lots of bacteria in there.
   
   Haha, I know, you are probably sitting there thinking all this talk about washing cups is rediculous, but hey, that is your own opinion.
   
   For me, washing cups out with soap and water is a must, for healthy cups and healthy mugs.
   
   Yes, you can get away with rinsing it out all day, but by the end of the night, when that cup is just going to "sit" and have bacteria multiply, then it is time, before you go to bed to thoroughly wash that cup out with soap and water.

Tips & Warnings

• This article is about any cup that has ridges or indentations or a funny shape. Those places are were bacteria grows and grows.
• Probably you can just rinse a simple mug out, that is up to you.
• Sorry to bust everyone's bubble; I know you like your travel mugs but they are just not healthy.
• Suggest that your day care or school stops using mugs or cups that have crevices. This is one way to stop school germs from coming home to your children.
• When having drinks in other people's houses, I use the same method. I wash out my cup with soap and water. And that is just because that is the way that I like to live my life. Call it whatever you like but that is just me.
• For really healty living, totally avoid those travel cups, travel mugs and any drinking containers that have ridges, indentations and funny shapes.
• For children, especially avoid those bowls or those cups that have the straws included or attached to the cup or bowl. These items are the most germ-carrying utensils and bowls that you can find anywhere.
• Most of those large plastic cups have ridges at the top of the cup. That is a breeding area for germs, so if your family is prone to colds and flus, stay clear of those souvenir plastic cups and if you must have them, scrub like the dickens.