Why Does a Non-toxic Lifestyle Matter & How do I Get Started?

If you spend much time on social media or browsing the internet in general, you’ve probably seen a rise in posts about toxin-free living or non-toxic lifestyles. Maybe you’re already all in on living the clean life! But maybe, just maybe, you’re still not sure. You’re wondering if there’s anything to it. Is toxin-free living really important? What role do a product’s ingredients play in your overall health and wellbeing? If it is important, where in the world do you start when it comes to adopting a toxin-free lifestyle? My friend, you have come to the right place to have all of your questions answered!  First, did you know that there’s a difference between the terms “non-toxic” and “toxin-free?” It’s true! Even something as small as verbiage can be a total game changer. Let’s break this one down. 

“Non-toxic” vs “toxin-free”

This is why I am so passionate about teaching women how to read ingredient labels and providing safe options for you! The only way you can truly advocate for yourself is to learn how to read those labels and become an empowered shopper!

Ok, so I’ll watch out for cleaning products, but surely they wouldn’t really allow toxic ingredients in products we rub all over our bodies and faces, right?!?

But, how BAD are these ingredients…I mean, REALLY?

Let’s start with glyphosate, the main ingredient in commonly used pesticides. You’ve probably heard about glyphosate’s association with cancer. As if that weren’t enough, did you know that glyphosate binds with certain minerals and deprives your body of these nutrients? It can also destroy your microbiome by killing off the good bacteria in your gut. Glyphosate mimics Glycine in the body, causing your body to store it in your tissues and organs instead of filtering it out through your liver and kidneys. This toxic build up, or body burden, can cause vitamin and mineral deficiencies, leaky gut, autoimmune disease, depression, anxiety, and it can eventually cause a decline in brain health! 

Glyphosate is most often associated with food toxicity, but if you are choosing lots of plants based products for your personal care and cosmetics you run the risk of glyphosate contamination there as well.

Fragrance: I know this is a tough pill to swallow because we all love things that smell good! The problem is that there are absolutely NO laws requiring a company to disclose the ingredients used in their fragrance blends. The term “fragrance” has been labeled proprietary information and companies can (and do) hide a toxic soup of ingredients behind that term. It’s a nasty loophole that many are fighting to change. Fragrance blends can even include parabens and phthalates without having to disclose it to you! (Phthalates are banned in baby products due to their hormone disrupting properties, but allowed in things we slather all over our bodies before we snuggle our littles, let that sink in for a minute.) More than 95 percent of the chemicals in synthetic fragrances are derived from petrochemicals. These chemicals include: benzene derivatives, aldehydes, and a slew of other known toxins that are capable of causing cancer, birth defects, nervous-system disorders and allergies, most of which are cited on the EPA’s hazardous waste list. Sweet friends, if you see “fragrance” or “parfum” on ingredient lists when you’re shopping, please consider leaving it right there on the shelf. It’s a dealbreaker! 

Those are just two of the worst offenders; I could write a hundred blog posts on the ingredients to avoid alone. From parabens, to BHT and BHA, phthalates, coal tar, formaldehyde, PEGs, Methylisothiazolinone, Phenoxyethanol, and thousands more, the most commonly used toxic ingredients are often endocrine disruptors, skin irritants, allergens, carcinogens, and some are even neurotoxins.

Need a little more info on what all of that actually means? Sure! I’m here for ya, my friend!

• Endocrine Disruptors– The World Health Organization uses the following definition: “An endocrine disruptor is an exogenous substance [a substance coming from outside the body] or mixture that alters function(s) of the endocrine system and consequently causes adverse health effects in an intact organism, or its progeny, or (sub)populations.” 

Your endocrine system is made up of 8 major glands – the pituitary, hypothalamus, pineal, thyroid, thymus, pancreas, adrenals, and either the testes or ovaries. These glands control your mood, body temperature, appetite and metabolism, reproductive cycles, heart rate, sleep cycles, and so. much. more! If a tiny little hormone patch applied directly to your skin can impact your cycles, or a patch can be applied to your skin to ease motion sickness or help you stop smoking, think of how a barrage of endocrine disruptors can affect you when you’ve eaten them, slathered them all over your body, and spent the day breathing dozens and dozens in via scented cleaning products, perfumes, candles and air fresheners! It’s no wonder we’re a mess! 

• Carcinogens–  A carcinogen is a natural or synthetic agent that has the capacity to interact with a cell, alter its DNA, and cause cancer to form. 

Yes, there are many carcinogens in products we use every day in, on, and around our bodies. Hang with me though, and I’ll teach you how to spot them on labels, and I’ll give you some fantastic product recommendations to try while you learn!

• Neurotoxins-A neurotoxin is a synthetic or natural substance that can attack, damage, or impair your central or peripheral nervous system. They can be absorbed through inhalation, through the skin, and through ingestion. Symptoms of neurotoxicity don’t always develop immediately. It can take years for the signs to show. For more in depth look at neurotoxicity, check out this article. 

The most common neurotoxins found in everyday products are lead, mercury, aluminum, ingredients in pesticides, and they are found in components of nonstick cookware. 

Now that you know, what do you do about it?

In spite of the fact that the food industry has more regulations than the personal care and cosmetics industry, we still have a long way to go. Our food supply is loaded with antibiotics, pesticides, artificial flavors and dyes, food additives, toxic preservatives, and more! It can be overwhelming, but I have a few tips for you to make it a little easier to navigate! 

1. Choose organic when it comes to leafy greens and fruits or veggies that have thin skin, or those you eat without peeling (strawberries, apples, grapes, tomatoes, potatoes, celery, bell peppers, etc.) 
2. If you eat meat, choose grass-fed and finished, hormone and antibiotic free beef. When you’re shopping for chicken, choose organic, pasture raised, antibiotic & hormone free options. For fish, wild caught salmon and tuna is best. I know this can get expensive. Keep in mind that the average American eats far more meat than we should. An appropriate serving should be about the same size as a deck of cards. If you portion your meat appropriately and try to buy it in bulk, you can really save! For mail order services, Thrive Market and Butcher Box both have some fantastic options. Costco also has some excellent choices. You can also check local farms for cow shares and chicken or pork. The only issue here is that it’s challenging to find grass-fed and finished beef in the US locally. The winters just get too cold for grass to grow and cows are often supplemented with grains during winter feeding times. The ingredients in the feed are often not the best for their health, or yours. 
3. Avoid processed foods altogether if possible. If you can’t avoid it, choose organic when you buy foods made with flour or corn. This tremendously reduces your risk of pesticide exposure or GMOs. Watch for things like nitrites and nitrates in sandwich meat or bacon. Other ingredients to watch for include: Potassium Bromate (in bread especially), Butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), Propyl gallate (found in sausages and foods that use lard as an ingredient), Theobromine (chocolates, bread, sports drinks, and cereal), “flavor,” artificial colors, Diacetyl (microwavable popcorn, yogurt, cheese, butterscotch, maple flavoring), phosphates, and aluminum. For more on these ingredients, check out EWGs guide to food additives here. 

What you put on your body:

Many times skin seems like an afterthought, something we don’t even really think about until we start showing signs of aging.  We focus predominantly on what we put INTO our bodies and not so much what we put ON our bodies. On average, women put around 168 different chemicals on our bodies every. single. DAY. Think of what this is doing to your health if you aren’t choosing your products with care!  Imagine the cumulative effect that years and years of toxins could have on our bodies! In reality, putting harmful chemicals on our skin may actually be worse than if we were to eat them!

When we eat, enzymes in our saliva and the stomach break down what we ingest, and if functioning properly, our bodies flush it out. However, with topical products, the chemicals that we put on our skin can be absorbed directly into the bloodstream without any filtering! 

According to the book Toxic Beauty, by Samuel Epstein, some studies have shown the absorption of certain carcinogens to be 100 times greater through the skin than the intestines! These toxins have even been found in umbilical cord blood, and the placenta. We aren’t just talking about our own bodies! Babies are now born already fighting against body burden.

While your blush or lipstick may seem like a silly thing to worry about, consider all of the places in our day to day lives where we are exposed to toxins, and it’s completely out of our control! You can’t leave your house and stay shielded, that’s just part of life now. Again, I’m not here to instill fear. I’m just explaining why it’s so important to me to regulate what I bring into my home to put in, on, and around my body! The more protection I can offer myself here, the more apt my body will be to recover from exposure that is beyond my control.

When you begin making safe swaps in your personal care routine, start with body wash, body lotion, and deodorant. For your skin care and cosmetics routine, start with skin care first, and then add your primer and foundation because those cover the most surface area. Anytime you’re feeling a little discouraged, or need a pick-me-up, throw in some fun things like blush, lipstick, or a hair care product just to keep it from feeling like a drudgery. Finding a gorgeous, toxin-free lip gloss can be a fun way to clean out your personal care routine and put a little pep in your step at the same time! 

What you allow around your body:

If you can smell it, it’s already in your system. If you read the section about fragrance above, you might already see the writing on the wall. One huge offender is candles. They’re so beautiful, and add some serious ambiance to a room, but they’re just the worst when it comes to toxic load. Fortunately, there are some brilliant people in the industry who are making some amazing safe alternatives now! It’s ok. You don’t have to give up that gorgeous fire light. I’ll link some resources at the bottom of this post to direct you to my favorites! They are everything I was missing and MORE. 

Another area to look at is your household cleaning and laundry products. SO. MUCH. FRAGRANCE. Not to mention the SLS, phosphates, formaldehyde and formaldehyde releasers. Thankfully, there are some incredible and safe options out there now! You don’t have to sacrifice performance or your health to find safe, sweet smelling, and even eco-friendly household cleaners, or laundry products anymore. 

There are also issues we can look at later with air quality and carpets, bedding, furniture and such, but for now, just making the swaps I mentioned above will go a long way towards reducing your daily toxic exposure in your home! It’s all about baby steps.

 

“To make the quickest progress, you don’t have to take huge leaps. You just have to take baby steps-and keep on taking them. In Japan, they call this approach kaizen, which literally translates as ‘continual improvement.’ Using kaizen, great and lasting success is achieved through small, consistent steps. It turns out that slow and steady is the best way to overcome your resistance to change.” 

Marci Shimoff

Breaking it down…

I know this still might seem overwhelming. If you’re used to shopping for all of your food, household cleaners, beauty, and personal care items from the same big box discount store, it can be alarming when you start looking into toxin-free living for the first time. The sticker shock is real, friends! I’ve been there!

 It’s especially hard when you don’t see the immediate impact that those toxins have on your body! We don’t ALL immediately start breaking out, have hormone problems, endometriosis, fertility problems, or cancer. 

 No, body burden is gradual and we don’t often see the effects right away….Or we don’t know that what we are experiencing IS related to body burden until we remove the toxic ingredients and begin to see positive changes!

Cheap food, cosmetics, cleaning products, and personal care products…they ALL come with a cost. A HIGH cost, even if we don’t see it right away.

• Cheap food is often loaded with hormones, pesticides, and toxic additives and preservatives.
• Cheap cosmetics, cleaning products, and personal care products are often tested on animals in horrific ways.
• Ingredients are often procured from unethical sources. Someone pays for your discount with their dignity, physical, and emotional health due to child labor practices and abusive environments in workplaces overseas.
• Cheap products are often loaded with fillers that are skin irritants. They cause eczema, allergic reactions, and skin irritation that just requires more products to cover it up, or we treat the problem with topical solutions that are equally harmful.
• Cheap products often use ingredients and packaging supplies that are harmful to our land and water supply.
  

As you can see, you may save a couple of dollars at checkout, but you ultimately pay the price in some way later, and it’s often a much larger price.

It is absolutely worth it for MANY reasons to check your budget and check again to find ways to make health a priority NOW, before it becomes something forced upon you later.

I know it’s heavy, but I would be doing you SUCH a disservice if I didn’t ask you to stop and think about all of these things! I care about each and every one of you!

I don’t want you to break the bank by tossing everything at once and starting from scratch…unless you CAN and that’s your choice. Just start by swapping something out when you run out!

• Dish soap empty? Make a toxin free swap with that one product.
• Run out of lettuce? Get organic next time!
• Out of shampoo? Make the next one a safe swap!
• Need a new bar of soap? Make the next one a clean one!
• Buy food in bulk, divide it and store in the freezer.
  

It doesn’t have to be all or nothing! There are so many options when it comes to beginning your toxin free journey, and I’m here to help in any way I can.  I’m always on the hunt for the most high performing, budget friendly items I can find for you!

You can find many of my favorite items here: 

• Toxin-free favorites for the home and subscription services I love.
• Clean Beauty and Skin Care
• Amazon Favorites

There are so many wonderful options available now when it comes to beginning your toxin free journey, and I’m here to help in any way I can.  I’m always on the hunt for the most high performing, budget friendly items I can find for you! Is there anything in particular that you’re looking for? I’d love to help you! Let me know below!