Low-Toxic Living: Where to Start
“Low-tox living”, “non-toxic” and “all-natural” are all popular phrases right now and with good reason!
It is becoming increasingly more well known just how harmful many personal and household products can be due to their ingredients.
Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDC’s) are a major culprit and found in everything from makeup to cleaning supplies.
What are Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals and how are they harmful?
“Endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are natural or human-made chemicals that may mimic, block, or interfere with the body’s hormones, which are part of the endocrine system. These chemicals are associated with a wide array of health issues.”1-NIH (National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences)
According to the EPA, exposure to EDC’s can result in:
- developmental malformations;
- interference with reproduction;
- increased cancer risk; and
- disturbances in the immune and nervous system function.2
“There are nearly 85,000 man-made chemicals in the world, many of which people come into contact with every day. Only about one percent of them have been studied for safety; however, 1,000 or more of these chemicals may be EDCs based on their probable endocrine-interfering properties.”3
Out of the many EDC’s, here are some of the most common ones to look out for are:
-Phthalates
-Sulfates
-Parabens
-Chlorine
-Propylene glycol
-Diethanolamine (DEA)
-Polyethylene Glycols (PEG)
-Triethanolamine (TEA)
-Fluoride
-BPA
-Dioxin
-Atrazine
-Tricsolan
While the UK has banned many substances and ingredients, the US is far behind in the effort to produce safer food and products.4 This leaves it up to us, the consumer, to make the effort to educate ourselves and be aware of exactly what we are buying!
I’ve been on the journey myself to learning, eliminating certain ingredients and making swaps to better, safer options and I know how overwhelming it can be.
I have categorized 3 main areas to work on (one at a time) so I don’t feel like I need to swap out every single thing that comes into our home at once.
Personal/Cosmetic products
This is an important one! Our skin is the largest organ of our body and it can absorb whatever we put on it! This includes bath and hygiene products, lotions, soaps, hair care, deodorant, makeup, etc.
Familiarize yourself with EDC’s so you can feel confident reading labels and ingredient lists. Always avoid anything with “fragrance” or “parfum” listed. Fragrances are seen as a trade secret by the FDA which means the ingredients used to create the fragrance of a product are not mandatory to disclose!5 In short, “fragrance” is a loophole that often hides those very ingredients you are searching for when reading labels!
(If you are looking for a good moisturizer or hand lotion alternative, check out my whipped tallow balm!)
Home products
Think cleaning and laundry products. This category includes laundry soap, alternatives to dryer sheets such as dryer balls and essential oils (Lavender or “Citrus Fresh” are my favorite essential oils for our dryer balls!), and alternatives to conventional cleaning products!
I have been using Thieves Household Cleaner for the past three years and absolutely love it! It’s comes heavily concentrated and is made to mix a very small amount with water in a glass spray bottle. I use this in my bathrooms, on windows, mirrors, counters, floors, sticky spills…you name it!
I’m also a huge fan of Thieves Laundry Soap. It has a pleasant, mild scent and is also very concentrated. The bottle may be small, but we always get significantly more loads than I ever would have expected due to the heavy concentration and high performance!
Another thing to consider is how we make our homes smell nice. Wall plug-ins, wax burners and many candles are made with synthetic fragrances that are released into the air. This has the potential to create immediate trouble (headaches or asthma flareups) or even long term issues down the road. Instead, opting for fresh flowers, making your own room spray or diffusing high quality essential oils is a better option.
Food and Kitchen products
Not that any of these categories are more important than the others but…
This one is super important! We eat three times a day, every single day and our body uses what we eat for fuel and function.
While there’s still room for improvement, I have found kitchen products to be an easier transition than our food. One big, easy decision was switching out plastic containers for glass and nonstick cookware for stainless steel or cast iron. (I love these glass containers with lock lids!)
And lastly, food. This is an area that many people find overwhelming. (Myself included!)
To help, I have made subcategories!
- Meats
- Fruits
- Vegetables
- Bread
- Condiments
- Water
I know first hand how difficult it can be to purchase all organic produce. The “dirty dozen” and “clean 15” lists help to pick and choose which fruits and vegetables are better to buy organic!
Finding a local farmer or visiting the farmers market for your milk, eggs, meat or produce is one way to support local farmers and also get good quality food! Eatwild.com has an international directory to help you locate a family or small farms that sell high quality produce or meat.
Lastly. water is not often something that people think they need to avoid, but it can have many invisible chemicals too! I’m definitely not suggesting that anyone give up drinking water! However the quality of our water can also play a huge role into how many toxins we are exposing ourselves to.
For example, while my city’s tap water has stayed within compliance with federal drinking standards, the EWG rates our tap water with an alarmingly high rating. (Check yours here) The Environmental Working Group says just because it is legal does not mean it is actually safe and goes on to explain, “The federal government’s legal limits are not health-protective. The EPA has not set a new tap water standard in almost 20 years, and some standards are more than 40 years old.”6 Because of this, we invested in a water filter for our kitchen sink and purchased the Bluonics Reverse Osmosis Water Purifier. We absolutely love what it has done for the taste and also the peace of mind knowing its a better option than our tap water!
I hope this was helpful as you continue to learn about health, the products you use and the food you consume. It’s easier to make changes when we know what to look for, what to avoid and know WHY we are choosing differently!
Let me know in the comments if you have any questions or if you found this helpful!
Jen
This page contains affiliate links to products I recommend. If you purchase something from this page, I may receive a small percentage of the sale at no extra cost to you.
Sources:
https://www.niehs.nih.gov/health/topics/agents/endocrine/index.cfm
https://www.epa.gov/endocrine-disruption/overview-endocrine-disruption
https://www.endocrine.org/topics/edc/what-edcs-are/common-edcs
https://www.fda.gov/cosmetics/cosmetics-labeling/trade-secret-ingredients
