My Quest to be Healthy in an Unhealthy World: Take your Healthy Living "To the House" :)

Living healthy can mean having to adjust just about every aspect of our lives. We have to consider if we are making the healthy choice in our diet, our activity levels, and how we manage the toxins in our lives. Up to this point on my blog, I have written about staying healthy through clean eating and exercise. By living this way we are avoiding toxins in our foods and turning our bodies into the efficient and "able" machines they were designed to be. Now I’d like to talk about the third sister of the “getting healthy family”, reducing environmental toxins.

Unfortunately we live in a world that is so full of toxins, it would be impossible to rid ourselves of them all. Toxins are in our food, in our water, in our air and in our bodies too. I know people that have gone crazy just trying to eliminate all of it. It can’t be done. All we can do is reduce the toxins we are exposed to in order to be as healthy as we can be.

The toxins I am primarily writing about today are the ones we don’t always think about because they are a part of our day to day lives. They are the organic chemicals found throughout our homes in common household products like cleaners, glues, paint, fertilizer, pesticides, cosmetics, and other beauty products, just to name a few. I want to focus on these because they are surrounding us where we should feel safest, in our homes. According to the EPA the air pollution in our homes is 2 to 5 times greater than the air pollution outdoors, due primarily to these organic chemicals...so much for your refuge and sanctuary from all things bad :( .

What effect are these toxins having on our health? According to the EPA, some of these toxins can cause damage to the liver, kidney, and central nervous system, while others are just strong irritants. They affect your immune system and your metabolism. Some of these organic chemicals have been known to cause cancer in humans as well. As if all this wasn’t bad enough, these chemicals wreak havoc on our environment.

The good news is that we can control what toxins come into and are used in our homes. It’s as simple as replacing these toxic chemicals with “green” products. Luckily, these are becoming popular so you likely know what they are. Green products are naturally derived, non-toxic, and are environmentally friendly. Feeling the pressure from people like us, many of the bad chemical companies are also now producing green cleaners, such “Green Works” , by Chlorox.

Like with food, we should be reading the labels of the things we bring into our homes. Just because something is labeled “natural” or “green” doesn’t mean we should always take it on face value. Thanks to the internet, it is very easy to “Google” the ingredients on any label to see how safe they are. I am constantly surprised by the misleading labels I find on products. Sometimes marketing companies use words like “natural” to make their products seem healthy, when they, in fact, are not.

Some say these “green” cleaners don’t clean as easily as the chemicals we are used to. I think that in a lot of ways it is our need for things to be easier that is hurting us the most. It seems sometimes that we are trading convenience for health in our cleaners, food, and just about everything else. However, I have to say I have been using green cleaners for a while now and they work as well, and in some cases, better than the chemical stuff. Even if you have to use a little more “elbow grease”, what’s wrong with a little more exercise? I’ll trade the exercise for gagging on chemicals any day!

I do like finding ways to clean up, and do other things, around the house the green way. I haven't mastered it yet. I have discovered some cool DIY cleaners that are just as effective (and sometimes cheaper) than the store bought stuff. I love using a mixture of 3 parts distilled white vinegar (super cheap) to 1 part Seventh Generation dish soap for cleaning countertops, my showers, and toilets too. You’d be surprised how sparkly all my surfaces get! Just mix it in a spray bottle and clean. I know that some people add baking soda instead of dish soap and some substitute lemon juice for the vinegar. Either way, this solution is a very effective and green cleaner. Distilled white vinegar is great for mirrors all by itself in a spray bottle (probably the best streak free clean I’ve ever seen).

There are green ways to replace your fertilizer too. Ever grow herbs or lettuce that just wasn’t up to snuff? Maybe it was too wilted for you to want to eat or a bunny got a bit greedy in your patch? Take those herbs (assuming you haven’t used chemicals on them) and put them in a bucket of water. Let them steep for a day or two. Strain the leaves out of the water and put this water (essentially tea) you made into a spray bottle. Spray directly onto the soil at the base of your plants.

How about a green alternative to bug repellant? Just mix the following in a spray bottle: 3 ounces witch hazel, ½ teaspoon lemongrass oil, ½ teaspoon eucalyptus oil, and ½ teaspoon citronella oil. Shake well before application.

Just remember, when you concoct something and put it in a bottle, make sure you mark the bottle with what is in it to avoid confusion J

With a simple key-word search, you can find many more DIY green solutions on the internet. Do you have any favorites you’d like to share? I’d love to hear from you!