In NPE Radio, I love to discuss two main topics: clean eating and toxins. I think this spurs from my childhood as an obese child and my outrage at the blatant cavalier attitude that Big Business has concerning the intentional and insidious placement of toxins into our house for the sake of profits, and likely population control. In short, people need to know about these toxins!! I don’t see myself as the expert in the matter; I see myself as one of thousands of John the Baptists’ “crying out in the wilderness” that is the “sick care” industry and the standard American diet. We all need to do a better job of ridding household and food toxins from our lives. Simply put…
Most people don’t know about PFCs, BPA, PFOA, phthalates, MSGs, sodium nitrate, aspartame, and all the hundreds of toxins to which we are exposed on a daily basis. The standard person on the street doesn’t know about it. Is that their fault? Partly.
We are a busy people. We are struggling to get to work, drop off the kids, pay the bills, and just get food on the table. We are distracted….and that is intentional. But part of the onus IS on us. When we do have free time, we normally spend it glued to a screen to numb out the stressors around us. It is understandable.
Could we be using that time to read up on food toxins and how to eat well so we could live a productive life? Yes….Do I do that all the time? No….But should we as a society allocate more time to learn about the toxins that are slowly debilitating and killing our children and us? Yes!! Naturopathic Earth is but a small outlet to help you on your path to clean out the crap that is around us.
So I thought it would be a good idea to share with you how I deal with the various toxins to which we are exposed. What actions if/any I do to minimize my exposure to them. I will also give myself a personal grade on ridding household and food toxins from my life. You will see that I’m not a puritan! LOL
Plastics
It is impossible to completely eradicate plastic from your household. For Christ’s sake! Most of our food comes in plastics, most of the kid’s toys are plastic, and much of our furniture has some sort of plastic on it. That being said, our two biggest exposures to plastics are our Tupperware and water bottles. In my house, you will not find either of these. The drinking bottles in the house are stainless steel or glass and the containers are ceramic or glass. I never warm up anything in the microwave in plastic….mostly because I don’t have any! This is an actionable move that you can make. It isn’t as hard as you think.
That being said, my hummus, guacamole, chips, condiments, and most supermarket food come in plastic. Those you really can’t control. With soups, I don’t buy them in plastics either. The liquids coming in plastic we can control a little more than the food. Personally, I do pretty well at avoiding plastic exposure. Personal Grade: B+
BPA
Going back to plastics, the same may be applied. Toss out water bottles and Tupperware. Even water bottles that are BPA-free because they are not truly free of Bisphenol chemicals. (Read our article on BPA or listen to podcast episode.)
Our biggest exposure to BPA actually comes from receipts and canned goods. Most receipts I tell the clerks to put directly into the bag (which then gets thrown out with the bag), or I grab it from the very edge and toss it or I tell them I don’t need it. The ink on the receipt gets directly absorbed by your skin.
Canned goods I do have at the house. I do my best to buy things that are not canned (e.g. frozen fruit over canned, but even then the frozen fruit come in plastic!), but it is better than the canned ones. I rarely use canned good, but I do use them on occasion. Try to minimize use completely.
As with my infant, we try to stay away from all BPA-free bottles, nipples, and toys. It is difficult to be completely honest. We use glass bottles for the infant. Click here to get them on Amazon (most large supermarket chains will sell them as well). The nipples on the bottle are hard to get around. Those are plastic. In terms of pacifiers, I am aware of people who use amber pacifiers. Click here to see on Amazon. Personal Grade: B
Parabens
{Listen to NPE Radio episode on parabens.}
{Listen to NPE Radio episode on sunscreen.}
Parabens are preservatives found mostly in lotions, shampoos, sunscreen, toothpastes, and make-up. I do pretty well at avoiding these. The lotion and toothpaste I use are organic. Tom’s of Maine, Kiss My Face, for example are popular brands that are paraben-free. I rarely use sunscreen. When I do it is the paraben-free ones that use Titanium Dioxide or Zinc Oxide as the active ingredients.
Most sunscreens use oxybenzone, or one of its sister chemicals, as the active ingredient as well as having parabens. Since I’m a guy I don’t use make-up. I imagine with women it is more difficult to avoid parabens though I know of certain companies that are paraben-free. Click here to see some. Personal Grade: B
Phthalates
{Listen to NPE Radio on phthalates.}
Phthalates are virtually impossible to completely eliminate from your life since they are commonly found in flooring, backpacks, lunch boxes, toys, cosmetic, and most toiletries. Aside from choosing cosmetics and toiletries that are explicitly phthalate-free, you can endeavor to take all vinyl out of your house (including your shower curtains) and switch to wooden toys for toddlers. To be honest, this one is a struggle. Personal Grade: C
Aspartame
{Read our article on the dangers of aspartame.}
{Read my personal journey with aspartame.}
{Read our Review of non-Sugar Sweeteners.}
Aspartame is an artificial sweetener with a very sordid past. As with many of these toxins, there is a two-level approach. I find it pretty easy not to purchase diet sodas, low-sugar yogurts, jellos, pudding, Crystal Light powders and other obviously labeled foods with aspartame. The hard part is that many common food items contain Splenda or it and you wouldn’t even know it. For example, energy bars, cereals, yogurts, chocolate-covered pretezels or nuts have them. The only true way to avoid aspartame, Splenda, and other fake sugars is by living a true Paleo diet. Personally, I do well avoiding obviously labeled foods with artificial sweeteners, but every time you eat a sweet treat at a restaurant or fast food, you are pretty much guaranteeing you are getting them. Personal Grade: C
Monosodium Glutamate
{Read our article on the dangers of MSGs.}
{Read our article on the code words for MSG, trans fats, and sugar.}
Let’s give a holla to Paleo again! Unless you are living a true Paleo or vegan diet, you are being exposed to MSGs. Though you can make a concerted effort to stay away from foods that knowingly contain MSGs (flavored chips, flavored packets in instant noodles, hamburger/tuna mix, soups, canned spaghetti, and pretty much any salty flavored packaged food), you must be Inspector Poirot to sift through the ingredient lists of other foods. MSGs has numerous code words (e.g. Yeast Extract) that prevent us from knowing the truth. Furthermore, just accept the inevitable that every time you eat out, whether it be at a restaurant or fast food, you are eating MSG-laden foods.
Personally, I do a good job of avoiding MSGs in my chips since most of the chips I eat are blue corn tortilla. I stay away from soups, canned spaghetti, and the instant mix. But I fail when I eat out. Personal Grade: C-
Fluoride & Chlorine
In all honesty, this has been the hardest for me to avoid. Similar to the aforementioned there are two levels of avoidance. It isn’t too hard to avoid fluoridated toothpaste and mouthwashes. For those with newborn children, avoid the fluoride-added bottled water for formula as well as infant electrolyte drinks. I also use a holistic dentist on the rare occasions I do go to the dentist.
But given that our tap water and a large majority of processed foods, soups, beverages, and alike have fluoride in it, it is very hard to avoid. Unless you go Paleo! I fail in that aspect. I fail also with installing a fluoride filter in my shower and faucet. I once had a Berky fluoride filter about 10 years ago to clean my water. I have never owned a fluoride or chlorine shower filter since then. Two areas where I can definitely improve…especially since a large a majority of our exposure to fluoride and chlorine come from hot showers. Personal Grade: D
{Read our two-part series on the history of fluoride and fluoride toxicity or listen to the podcast episodes.}
Food Dyes
Food dyes are practically in every imaginable packaged food and beverage. It is nearly impossible to avoid them if you are eating these foods, unless you specifically purchase organic or natural brands like Amy’s that use turmeric or paprika to color their foods. Personally, I would give myself a mix grade simply because the processed foods I do eat the most, blue corn chips, certain cereals, and alike don’t contain them. Since I don’t eat flavored, colorful chips or packaged cookies I do a pretty good job at avoiding them. That being said, every time you eat out you are sure to be ingesting food dyes. Personal Grade D+
{Read our article on food dyes.}
PFOA from Cookware
Teflon-coated cookware emits harmful Perfluorinated Chemicals (PFCs) which lead to hormone disruptions, liver toxicity, respiratory problems, and more. You get PFCs from other sources as well, but the subcategory that specifically comes from non-stick cookware are Perfluorooctanoic Acid (PFOAs). I used non-stick for the large majority of my life unaware of its toxicity. Only recently did I switch to PFOA-free cookware, but to be honest if it is anything like the phthalate or bisphenol “bait & switch” I’m sure I’m getting a sister chemical toxicity dose from the PFOA-free ones.
I do have some stainless steel pots. I don’t have any iron cookware, both of which are PFOA-free. I use the green PFOA-free ones. Since I’m skeptical these are truly devoid of a PFC-esque chemical, I’ll give myself an average grade. Also, most restaurants will use non-stick cookware out of the convenience of it so we are getting dosed there as well. Personal Grade: C-
{Listen to our podcast on PFCs.}
Cleaners
Non-scented candles, carpet/shower/plug-in cleaners as well as all-purpose cleaners like 409 boasts loads of toxic chemical like Alkyl Dimethyl Benzyl, benzene, and phthalates. I do a great job of non-having any of the aforementioned items. My sole cleaner in the house is a mix of vinegar, lemon essential oil, water, and on occasion baking soda. That cleaner cleans my house, including the flooring. Aside from that I diffuse essential oils in the house to give it a nice odor. Personal Grade: A
{Listen to our podcast on Top 5 Toxins You Should Remove From Your House Now!}
There are loads of other toxins to which we are exposed that are not listed. I only wanted to do the main ones. As you can see, I’m not perfect at ridding household and food toxins from my life. I’m not a hypocrite per se. I feel that it is incumbent upon all of us to educated people on toxins and do the best we can avoiding them when taking into consideration finances. If I was not a poor teacher, but rather a wealthy businessman I would certainly purchase everything organic. Alas, I’m not.
Do the best you can. That is all we can do. I would love to hear from you! Share your personal review of how you do at your home below.
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