Rambling post alert!

Once you’ve begun the hard work to change your diet and lifestyle, you start realizing that food is only the beginning.

Does it really make sense to cook healthy meals when you’re cleaning your counter tops with harsh and dangerous chemicals?  And when you wash your dishes with them (and consume all the residue they leave behind)?  And when you drink and eat and store your food in plastic containers that contain BPA and other xenoestrogens that disrupt your endocrine system.

What about parabens and chemical fragrances in beauty and body products?  Aluminum in deodorant?

These are all real and valid concerns.  Many of the things we find in common products have been linked to infertility, hormone disruption, metabolic diseases, even cancers.  

Never in the history of humanity have we been so bombarded with excess, unnatural additives.  They occur in great quantities in our packaged and processed foods, but they occur to an even greater degree in many ways in our hair, skin, body, and household products.

The skin is the largest external organ in the body.  It works mainly as a detoxifying system (bad stuff goes in through the mouth, the body releases it partially through sweat and oil).  But most of us know that isn’t the only use for the skin.  The skin also absorbs things.

And this absorption is serious business.  Ever hear of the radium girls from the early 1900’s?  Radium was a fashionable and prized metal in the early 1900’s.  There was a huge industry for radium products- from skin creams to clock faces.  People were entranced with the way it glowed.

One watchmaker in particular employed young women to paint the clock faces.  These women later become known as the “Radium Girls” because of the horrific and painful deaths they experienced due to the radium poisoning that occurred by ingesting and absorbing the radium.  There’s a very interesting book about these women, find it here. 

Now, the parabens, phthalates, and xenoestrogens you absorb from household and beauty products aren’t going to harm you so dramatically, but I won’t be surprised if one day we look back on this time of convenience products and find that we did significant damage.

One of my practice specialties is hormones, and hormones are more than just responsible for your fertility.  They control many things about the way you feel and function.  We already know that many of the things we ingest and use contain chemicals that disrupt hormones and fertility in Western cultures, especially in the US with our compounding obesity problems, has never been lower.

Below are my 3 BIG important changes that I believe everyone should make to detox their home and environment.  

1. Changing household cleaning products

It’s important to switch products that contain chemicals, preservatives, and fragrances for more natural, healthy alternatives.

These are products you use to keep your counters clean, wash your dishes, wash your laundry, etc.  They leave residues that are later ingested and/or absorbed through the skin and these residues can cause consequences to your health.  

Instead, I recommend switching them for natural alternatives.  Yes, you can simply use old fashioned remedies like vinegar, but it doesn’t smell so great, does it?

After years of being told to try the “Thieves” cleaning products, I finally switched over and couldn’t be happier.  Thieves household cleaner, hand soap, laundry detergent, dishwasher powder, and cleaning spray work miracles and smell really great because they are infused with essential oils.  The oils are not just for smell, many of the oils used in these products also contain anti-microbial properties, helping them battle bad bacteria as good as anything you’ll buy at the grocery store.  

Thieves is a Young Living Brand, so if you’re interested in purchasing you’ll have to go through one of their direct salespeople (like myself) or you can search for all they have to offer here or you can contact me directly (click here).  I carry many of their products at my office and place new orders for people to give them a try all the time.

2. Changing Makeup, Beauty, and Skin Products

These include all forms of makeup, but especially foundation, skincare products like lotions and deodorants, even shampoo and conditioner.

Toothpaste is also a big one (Young Living has a great one, I also like My Magic Mud here).  We want to avoid fluoride toothpastes and floss at all costs, many of us have already experienced some form of fluoride overdose in our lifetimes, which can cause a range of issues.

Women especially are vulnerable to ingestion of hormone disrupting chemicals because of all the makeup we use.  We ingest an incredible amount of lipstick over our lifetimes, but since lipstick isn’t technically a food, it isn’t regulated with those concerns in mind.  

Beauty products should enhance the skin and nourish it.  This doesn’t have to mean making your own coconut oil scrub, fortunately. I carry a line from a brand called Beautycounter which I trust completely for makeup and skincare needs.  They use something they call their “never” list and includes all the products they never allow in their makeup:

If you would like to see what they have to offer, you can peruse their website here.   I also have samples of products at my office.

3. Stop using plastic

Plastics contain xenoestrogens (components that behave like estrogen) like BPA which disrupt estrogen processing in the body.  BPA is often found in our drinking water as well.  I recommend a reverse osmosis water filter if you can afford it.

One huge step you can make for reducing your exposure to hormone disrupting BPA is to switch to glass containers and bottles.  I don’t usually recommend metal because of the aluminum often used.  Aluminum is not bad, per se, but drinking and eating out of it can expose you to too much.  

I like this set of glass bottles for making shakes and smoothies.  They each come with a protective sleeve and are a really good value.  For glass containers to take food to work in, I like these.  

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If you want to change your health, it requires a complete overhaul of diet, and in many cases, a complete overhaul of lifestyle.

Does this mean you need to make your own deodorant from now on?  No.  The very fortunate truth is that many companies have made it a mission to give us clean and environmentally friendly products.

For more information and assistance with ordering, contact me at amberfischernutrition@gmail.com