Did you know that over the last 50 years, around 80,000 to 90,000 chemicals have been introduced into our food supply chain and environment and this list continues to grow. These man-made chemicals enter our environment and spread through our water, air and soil. They are eaten by fish and animals and eventually reach us when we eat plants and animals.
Every individual has a toxic threshold, or a limit to the number of chemicals we can process before our detox organs become overwhelmed. Every day we are exposed to environmental pollutants and toxins from household cleaners, cosmetics, body care products, food supply and medications. Certain chemicals and heavy metals can affect our nervous systems and may contribute to anxiety, insomnia, ADHD, chronic fatigue, autism, Parkinson’s disease, and dementia. Which is pretty scary.
When toxins build up in our systems and overwhelm the liver and detox organs, symptoms may result.
Signs you are “toxic” include:
- headaches
- digestive issues like constipation, gas, heartburn, indigestion, bloating
- insomnia and foggy thinking, trouble concentrating and fatigue
- inability to lose weight (toxins are stored in fat cells, making the body reluctant to burn excess fat)
- anxiety, depression
- joint pain, inflammation and endocrine disruption
Women especially are susceptible to the effects of toxins because of our more sensitive endocrine systems.
Here are our 8 tips to REDUCE TOXINS IN YOUR life and home
1. Skincare: As women we can apply over 400 chemicals to our skin every day.
Isn’t there a saying that if you can’t eat it, don’t apply it to your skin! Your skin absorbs everything you apply to it, and the chemicals you can’t even pronounce have to be neutralized, detoxed, and excreted. Detoxing your skin care routine is a great way to start reducing your total toxic load. Use natural moisturizers like coconut oil. You can even wash your face with it! You can use milk, honey, avocado, egg, yogurt, coconut oil, and olive oil to keep your skin and hair looking gorgeous.
2. Household cleaning products: these are among the most chemical-filled. We inhale and inadvertently ingest them. So try to switch to green cleaning products, or even better, make your own! It’s so easy. You can use essential oils, vinegar, borax, and hydrogen peroxide, and baking soda.
3. Food: We all know that buying
organic is best if we can but it can get very expensive. Try to prioritize by buying organic meat first. Commercially farmed animals are often given hormones and antibiotics, which end up stored in their fat and flesh. Also try to avoid farmed fish which can be filled with toxins. After that try to buy produce with thick peels or skins, like avocado, citrus, or pumpkin. Read labels as the first 1/3 of ingredients usually make up 95% of the product!
4. Water: Filter your water to avoid chlorine and fluoride which are present in tap water which pose a health risk.
5. Use essential oils: Use essential oils for cleaning both your house and your skin! They have amazing restorative properties for skin care. They are also amazing antibacterials and Eucalyptus oil kills mould too. Many air fresheners and artificial fragrances can also irritate lungs and contain hormone disrupting chemicals.
6. Avoid plastics: plastics contain dioxins, which are endocrine-disrupting
chemicals that leach from the plastic into your drinking water/food. This gets
worse if you heat food in plastic, or if you’re leaving plastic water bottles
in hot cars.
7. Bring in the Fresh Air!: In the last several years, a growing body of scientific evidence has indicated that the air within homes and other buildings can be more seriously polluted than the outdoor air in even the largest and most industrialized cities. People spend approximately 90 percent of their time indoors, so for many people, the risks to health may be greater due to exposure to air pollution indoors than outdoors. What to do? Open your windows and doors regularly to allow good airflow through the house.
8. Shoes off inside: This will significantly reduce levels of dust, dirt, germs pesticides and other unwanted things coming in to your house! Also invest in a good vacuum cleaner with a HEPA filter and motorised head. If you don’t up to 0% of contaminants will recirculate indoors.
