We all have toxin in us and no doubt the world has more toxins than there needs to be. Some of this we can do little about. I get it, that awareness to how much is really unnecessary can be frustrating, but there are some effective things we can do that are within our immediate control.
Be mindful, the words toxins and detox are marketing buzz words there’s all these fancy things on the market, instead there’s a handful of easy, low-cost or free thing you can do on your own right away.
Toxin literally interfere with our bodies hormones, they are endocrine disrupting, and affecting our organs and tissue. Phthalates for example are a chemical often in Fragrances (perfumes, scents), that can be disruptive to the delicate hormonal system and have many impacts like infertility, breast cancer, heart disease, insulin resistance. Fragrances can also trigger headaches, asthma, allergies and more!
When I was prepping my first child’s newborn nursery, i was looking into laundry detergent + skin care because it was suggested that baby might need something more “gentle”! That seriously sparked a handful of curious questions:
- If it’s not safe for my babies skin, is this really safe for my skin?
- What is it about these ingredients that make it not safe?
- What else, other than the skin, is it irritating?
Here’s the dirty little secret, I mentioned earlier that the world is far more toxic than it needs to be, the Centre for Disease Control found that 98% of the population had these chemicals within their body. So this is where it started to sink in for me — the body is actually storing those chemicals and the chemical can mimic or disrupt the endocrine system, consider what this means for overall health.
The immune system and our skin, at any and every age is a barrier for our body.
- The skin, our largest organ has many points of exposure the outer layer of our body, the respiratory tract, the digestive tract and the reproductive system
- This organ, the skin is a barrier, its what protects us!
- A cut, for example, the immune system responds with things like swelling, redness, pain
- Like the cut, the immune system is responding to the exposure of toxins that have made contact to the nose, eyes, skin, mouth, and so on – we see or feel this, as pain, heat, redness + swelling.
The immune system is liken to an airport it doesn’t just operate in the skin, it’s responsible for far more and it has a job to do – defend + protect – that sounds exhausting for the body in terms of all these toxic exposures, doesn’t it? Grab my Immune Busters Ebook here. When we use food as medicine we can help reduce oxidative stress, support energy production and the bodies natural detoxification process.
When I was consulting for a Norwegian Cleaning company, customers would ask me, does it really matter what i clean with? Is it really affecting my body — this is such a loaded question no pun intended!
What in the world can we do about it immediately without getting overwhelmed?
- Avoid those perfumes + fragrances
- Clean up personal care products
- Our skin is our largest organ, many chemicals used in our personal care products do get absorbed through out the skin and make their way into the bloodstream
- Chemicals in personal care products are linked to hormonal changes
- Avoid plastic containers
- Many types of plastic containers leach endocrine disrupting chemicals – store leftovers in class containers vs plastic
- Consider the consumption of organic, pasture raised, and primarily wild-caught seafood
- Persistent organic pollutants found in animal foods are much harder for the body to detoxify. Also considering that, conventional raised meats and farm raised seafoods often contain pesticide and antibiotic residue
What’s next: up-level your immune system
What can we do beyond avoidance and swapping out products? What does my body need to eliminate the burdens AND strength the cells, while up-levelling the immune system. Grab it here – my E-book Immune and Inflammation Busters and start strengthening your lifestyle!
- grab foods high in zinc
- Meat, shellfish, nut + seeds, lentils
- Fermented foods (probiotics)
- kimchi, kefir, yogurt, kombucha
- Healing Spices
- Vit C-Rich foods
- Fluids
Health [re]imagined 