A Guide to Toxin-Free Living: Top 5 Tips to Reduce Exposure to Chemicals in Your Home
Aniko Sziraczki is a Kinesiologist with a background in Psychology, and the founder of Raising Toxin Free Children. She is passionate about children's health and is devoted to informing parents about toxin-free living to keep their children healthy and well in a natural way.She lives in London with her partner and her little girl who is attachment parented and is being raised to be healthy, eco-conscious and a responsible occupant of our beautiful Earth.Harmful chemicals are present in products we use every day, from our food and cleaning products to our furniture and electronics. Toxins are all around us. For optimal heath, it's important to reduce our exposure to chemical and toxins. Eliminating toxic products from your home is a lengthy process, so I have created a Top 5 List to reduce your family's exposure to chemicals and toxins.
1. Take Your Shoes Off
Leave your shoes at the door so outside chemicals don't come in! By adopting this one easy habit, you will virtually leave thousands of potentially harmful (not to mention disgusting!) chemicals at the door. Just imagine this: you stop at a petrol station to fill up your car where you step into some dripped petrol. You then walk home and step in to your living room where your child is playing. She crawls on the floor to pick up her toy and then she decides she wants some raisins and grabs a handful and puts them in her mouth. She ends up with petrol in her mouth just because you didn't remove your shoes. Imagine how many chemicals and items of pure disgust you walk through each day with your shoes! You will do your family a world of good just by removing them when you get home.
2. Buy healthier cleaning products!
In order to eliminate nasty chemicals from your house choose natural or toxin free cleaning products; this will leave your family breathing and living healthier.€You can pretty much clean your whole home with vinegar and baking soda. Vinegar is effective for killing mold, bacteria, and germs due to its level of acidity. It's also safe on virtually every surface€"even wood, as long as it's sealed or finished€"and it achieves a natural shine. If you need to work on stains or grease, then baking soda is your product.
3. Re-think Your Laundry
Avoid detergents that contain phthalates, dyes, perfumes, and chlorine bleach. These dangerous chemicals in your laundry can be absorbed into your family's skin and lungs and should be avoided. A common ingredient found in detergents is phthalates€"chemicals that have been proven to interfere with hormonal systems, disrupt testosterone production, and have other adverse affects. Chlorine, another common ingredient in detergents, has been linked to breast cancer.
4. Know Your Plastic
By learning what plastics are safe for eating and drinking and how to care for them, you can reduce your family's exposure to leached chemicals and dangerous toxins. Bisphenol A€"commonly abbreviated as BPA€"is a toxic chemical that's everywhere, especially in our dishes. Many of the plates, cups, and bowls you've gathered contain BPA€"even your Tupperware's not immune. Always check the bottom of the dish to make sure the letters PC (polycarbonate) are NOT on the bottom. BPA is contained in these plastics.
5. Get Smart about Food
Milk and other dairy products can contain dangerous hormones, so understand how to read your labels to purchase healthier products. Also learn what produce contains the most pesticides and which you should always purchase organic whenever possible.€When it comes to milk, raw varieties from grass-fed, antibiotic- and hormone-free cows are best. The safest milk to give to your children is unpasteurised and non-homogenised milk. The most pesticide polluted fruits and vegetables are: strawberries, celery, peaches, apples, blueberries and peppers.
Finally, limit children's mobile phone use. €€A child's brain absorbs twice the cell phone radiation as an adult's. Health agencies in at least a dozen countries recommend limits for children's cell phone use, such as for emergency situations only. Today the evidence is mounting that mobile phone usage causes a range of adverse effects in people. The most significant research shows the possible connections between frequent mobile phone use and neurological problems including an increased incidence of brain tumours. Other studies are also documenting higher rates of €head and neck cancers€ which include mouth, nose, sinuses, salivary glands, throat, and lymph nodes in the neck.
Want to learn more about why these Five Tips can make a substantial difference in your family's health?
1. Take Your Shoes Off
Leave your shoes at the door so outside chemicals don't come in! By adopting this one easy habit, you will virtually leave thousands of potentially harmful (not to mention disgusting!) chemicals at the door. Just imagine this: you stop at a petrol station to fill up your car where you step into some dripped petrol. You then walk home and step in to your living room where your child is playing. She crawls on the floor to pick up her toy and then she decides she wants some raisins and grabs a handful and puts them in her mouth. She ends up with petrol in her mouth just because you didn't remove your shoes. Imagine how many chemicals and items of pure disgust you walk through each day with your shoes! You will do your family a world of good just by removing them when you get home.
2. Buy healthier cleaning products!
In order to eliminate nasty chemicals from your house choose natural or toxin free cleaning products; this will leave your family breathing and living healthier.€You can pretty much clean your whole home with vinegar and baking soda. Vinegar is effective for killing mold, bacteria, and germs due to its level of acidity. It's also safe on virtually every surface€"even wood, as long as it's sealed or finished€"and it achieves a natural shine. If you need to work on stains or grease, then baking soda is your product.
3. Re-think Your Laundry
Avoid detergents that contain phthalates, dyes, perfumes, and chlorine bleach. These dangerous chemicals in your laundry can be absorbed into your family's skin and lungs and should be avoided. A common ingredient found in detergents is phthalates€"chemicals that have been proven to interfere with hormonal systems, disrupt testosterone production, and have other adverse affects. Chlorine, another common ingredient in detergents, has been linked to breast cancer.
4. Know Your Plastic
By learning what plastics are safe for eating and drinking and how to care for them, you can reduce your family's exposure to leached chemicals and dangerous toxins. Bisphenol A€"commonly abbreviated as BPA€"is a toxic chemical that's everywhere, especially in our dishes. Many of the plates, cups, and bowls you've gathered contain BPA€"even your Tupperware's not immune. Always check the bottom of the dish to make sure the letters PC (polycarbonate) are NOT on the bottom. BPA is contained in these plastics.
5. Get Smart about Food
Milk and other dairy products can contain dangerous hormones, so understand how to read your labels to purchase healthier products. Also learn what produce contains the most pesticides and which you should always purchase organic whenever possible.€When it comes to milk, raw varieties from grass-fed, antibiotic- and hormone-free cows are best. The safest milk to give to your children is unpasteurised and non-homogenised milk. The most pesticide polluted fruits and vegetables are: strawberries, celery, peaches, apples, blueberries and peppers.
Finally, limit children's mobile phone use. €€A child's brain absorbs twice the cell phone radiation as an adult's. Health agencies in at least a dozen countries recommend limits for children's cell phone use, such as for emergency situations only. Today the evidence is mounting that mobile phone usage causes a range of adverse effects in people. The most significant research shows the possible connections between frequent mobile phone use and neurological problems including an increased incidence of brain tumours. Other studies are also documenting higher rates of €head and neck cancers€ which include mouth, nose, sinuses, salivary glands, throat, and lymph nodes in the neck.
Want to learn more about why these Five Tips can make a substantial difference in your family's health?