Wellness Blog

The world that we live in has becoming increasingly filled with a wide variety of toxins. From different pollutants in the air, to pesticides and other chemicals in our food and water, to unregulated chemicals in our personal care products, we are exposed to MANY toxins on a very regular basis.

Some of these toxins, like those pollutants in the air, we can do very little to control our exposure to but there are others that we do have more control over. In this post I’d like to share 3 simple tips on how to lessen your exposure to toxins on a daily basis. However, before diving into those strategies, I want to provide a short overview of WHY lessen your toxin exposure is critical for your health.

Right now, there are over 80,000 different chemicals used in North America that we are exposed to on a regular basis and according to the World Health Organization, it is believed that if we can eliminate exposure to 600 of the most dangerous environmental toxins, 90% of chronic and serious illness could be prevented! That is quite a large percentage of our serious health issues that are caused by toxins in our environment.

Exposure to toxins places a very heavy burden on our liver, which much convert fat soluble toxins into water soluble toxins so that they can be excreted from the body. Sometimes our liver detox pathways become compromised or the body can’t effectively convert the toxin from fat soluble into water soluble and it actually stays in an intermediary state, which is even more toxic to our bodies than the fat soluble version.

In addition, toxins in our bodies can create epigenetic changes, which means that they are altering how our genes are expressing. This can lead to a wide range of health issues, including developing cancer and many autoimmune diseases.

So now that you have a brief overview of the danger of toxins to your health, what can you do?

1. Make sure you are consuming as much organic produce as possible. Conventionally grown produce has much pesticide residue left on in and organic produce is not sprayed with those same toxic pesticides. If you are on a budget, make sure that if you are buying celery, peaches, strawberries, apples, blueberries, nectarines, bell peppers, spinach, kale and collard greens, cherries, potatoes, imported grapes, and lettuce that at least those items are organic. Those are the worst fruits and vegetables to buy conventional.
2. Be aware that just because you buy personal care products in the “natural” section or in a place like Whole Foods does not guarantee that the products are safe. The last law made to regulate chemicals in personal care products was in 1938 and only 11 chemicals are restricted from being placed in personal care products in the US, compared to over 1300 in the European Union. It is important to be very careful where you are choosing to buy products like lotions, face products, and cosmetics as our skin is our largest organ and we absorb many toxins from products we use on our skin. If you are looking for a company committed to safety in personal care products, I personally recommend Beautycounter because they have a commitment to never put 1500 chemicals that are unsafe or “questionable” in their products.”
3. Use the Environmental Working Group website as a resource to look at whether the cleaning products, personal care products, and other products you are using in your home are actually safe. They are a non-profit organization committed to researching a wide variety of products for safety and helping educate the public about the impact of toxins.

If you have questions about any of this information, reach out to me. I’m happy to chat with you and share more information and strategies to also help your body to clear out any toxins that are currently bogging down your system!