Oh, toxins schmoxins. Who cares, right? We’re living our lives, having a great time, enjoying our lifestyles, food and friends. What could be better? Do we really need to worry about toxins?
Well, yes, actually you do. First of all, sometimes you don’t realize how crappy you have been feeling until you start to feel better, just because you don’t have anything to compare it to. Only then do you look back and think, “how the heck did I live like that?” Or maybe you do have a sense that something is off. You feel tired more than you think you should, your skin looks dry and tired, you just feel an all over ‘blah’ more often than not, or you don’t have energy to play with your kids or grandkids. Lots of things can cause this, and toxins in your home is just one of those things.
And think about the fact that toxin means poison. So you are putting poisons into your system whether you are ingesting them, breathing them, absorbing them into your skin or whatever. And they are prevalent in our society. I don’t think they always will be, and we hurry up the process by educating ourselves.
I thought I was doing just fine and dandy, and then my Holistic Health Coach friend, Lara Adler, offered to come over and go through my home and update me on what is really going on over here. I thought I knew it all. Turns out I was WAY off! She started with my kitchen and pointed out my teflon pan. Oh. Yeah. I knew that, but somehow for convenience sake I managed to forget.
What about my plastic food containers? What about my makeup? Lotions? Mattress? Cleaning products? Scented candles and incense??? Oh my! So much to talk about here!
I’ll pick one poison. Fragrance. Basically anything with ‘fragrance’ is BAD, and here’s why. ‘fragrance’ of any kind is made of up to 300 chemicals that are not at all regulated by the FDA. It’s all fake shit and you’re breathing it. If you think that doesn’t affect you, think again.
Turns out I’ve got good shampoo, deodorant, toothpaste and hand wash. No paragons, no sulfates. But it really is amazing how much poison is out there readily available on our shelves in the grocery stores, drugstores, etc.
Also, no anti-bacterial anything here. And why is that? You have lots of GOOD tiny microbial beings making up most of what you are. Most of the time they are doing their job to keep you healthy, including killing off the evil BAD bacteria when they come around. When you get sick, your good guys have lost the fight. When you use an antibacterial product, you are killing your good guys! You need those guys to stand guard. Who knows who is going to come back first- the good guys or the bad guys?! That’s why people who take antibiotics get sick over and over. True also for anyone who overuses antibacterial anything.
There’s really SO much to go into on this topic. My goal here is to just build awareness. If you are interested in learning more, I’ve listed a few ways to do this below. I will also go a little deeper into individual ‘toxin topics’ in future posts.
The Environmental Working Group is a great site for learning more about these toxins (parabens, sulfates, phthalates, PFOA, BPA, triclosan, etc). I have a link to their consumer products page here: http://www.ewg.org/bodyburden/consumer products
If you want Lara to do a walk through of your home (highly suggested for those trying to conceive or those with children living in the house), you can contact her at www.laraadler.com. She’s kind of amazing 🙂
Jillian Michaels also has some great info on her site at www.jillianmichaels.com in the member section.
So here’s to your detoxifying wonderful self!
Your Fitness Coach,
Miranda Zukowski