Environmental toxins: 3 things you can do TODAY to limit your exposure
In the current state of the world with most people feeling like they are not in control of many aspects of their lives, I want to give you some preventative tools to control your health. One main way to do this is to lessen the burden of toxins and chemicals we come in contact with daily. Our bodies have not evolved as fast as our industries and are being exposed to hundreds of thousands of chemicals that have the potential to disrupt our endocrine system (think thyroid, diabetes, PMS...), nervous system (Autism, ADHD, parkinsons..) and cells' DNA (cancer). This is not crazy paranoia, this is based on well researched studies going on by our own government and accredited agencies. I personally got a bit overwhelmed when I learned all of this and so I want to share with you 3 things you can do to make a dramatic change in how many chemicals you are ingesting/absorbing in your daily life.
1) Eat as much organic, whole foods as you can and reduce the amount of animal products such as dairy and meat. Animal's fat tends to hold onto more chemicals which then gets passed down to us when we eat them. This doesn't mean become a vegetarian, but sourcing your food wisely from grass fed organic will help. Check out the "Dirty Dozen and Clean 15" Here to help you chose lower pesticide containing produce.
2)Screen all products you put on your skin (makeup, lotion, sunscreen!), in your mouth, and clean your house with. The best resource for this is EWG (Environmental Working Group) and my favorite company for makeup and body products is Beautycounter hands down. The EWG website is very informative and has consumer guides where you can look up products to see their safety rating, and the App is great because you can scan items in stores to look at safety. Beautycounter has everything in one place and you don't need to research to know that they restrict more than 1,800 no-no ingredients (BPA, Parabens, Phthalates, fragrance, SLS, BHA and BHT….) It’s helpful to have these resources as label reading does not always disclose ALL ingredients since this is not a law or regulated by our government.
3) Put a water filter on the most used faucet in the house, and get a HEPA air purifier. I put a moderately priced under sink (The Cube) water filter unit that filters out bacteria, viruses, chlorine, fluoride, and any other unwanted chemical that can get into our water such as man-made chemicals and pharmaceuticals. That’s right you heard me correct, pharmaceuticals. A 2008 (and that’s old by now) study found trace amounts of dozens of drugs in the drinking water of more than 46 million homes. I don’t recommend a reverse osmosis system unless you will be adding back in the beneficial minerals that it takes out. For air purifiers, I recommend a HEPA filter WITHOUT ionizing the air. This will filter out most dust, dander, pollen, smoke, and VOCs, which are harmful chemicals given off by seemly inert furniture and new house products. Honeywell and Levoit are good affordable brands.
....OK, I know I said 3 things BUT another very important aspect to keeping your toxin load low is the output...how well are these toxins getting out? Daily elimination through bowels, urination, sweat, and proper breathing, drinking plenty of water and correct nutrient balance for liver and kidney health are what you want to focus on.
So that’s a great start to a much healthier future for you and your family! Of course there is always more to do and the spiral is real, but let’s not add stress into the equation to our health concerns. Please reach out to me if you have any questions or are interested in how to detox your body gently and naturally.
~Dr. jessie
