Today is toxic Tuesday…only because it’s Tuesday and I’m writing this.
Recently my daughter had a fall from her bike – it looked awful when she did it. Bleeding, weeping. Messy. I thought for sure it was full of dirt and was about to be massively infected. The next day it was almost gone. Miracle? I don’t think so, it was only a bloody knee after all. It did however make me feel validated – I am on my ‘health bandwagon” for this reason. I want my kids not just to function, but to thrive, heal and grow unburdened (as much as possible). I want their hormones to be balanced and their heads to feel clear and alert and creative.
I am going to go out on a limb and suggest that most people think I’m a pretty extreme hippie type. I enrol my child in Kindy and I’m sending her with her own organic hand soap and insect repellant. I give her a pep talk about not filling up her water bottle and I sign the sheet to say I’ve applied sunscreen when I never go near the bottle at the door. My husband calls me Earth Mother and chats to me about how I might be alienating people or setting our kids up for being bullied. And all I’m trying to do is keep the toxins that enter their bodies to a minimum, as much as is humanly possible. So, somehow that makes me a nutter? When did it become the social norm to just lather our kids in chemicals and accept that it’s all ok? Or even good for their health?
There’s a saying: Just cause you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you. Just cause I’m over the top doesn’t mean I’m wrong – it means I’m sticking my neck out and looking like an idiot because I’m informed and I want to do my best for my kids. The chemicals are there. The toxicity of many of them are known. They are even banned in other countries. They have been linked with “polio”-type outbreaks, reproductive abnormalities and cancer. I’m not some stoner hippie who doesn’t use soap cause I can’t be bothered washing. I’m informed and the facts are SCARING MY PANTS OFF!!
“These global pollutants are measured at trace levels, but we now understand that some of those levels can very dramatically affect the human body, hormone systems and the immune system. They can trigger neurological problems…” Ken Cook.
So, wouldn’t you rather know and prevent where you can too? Here is a partial summary of a fab book called Slow Death by Rubber Duck Rick Smith & Bruce Lourie
- Phthalates – Phthalates are scary enough to already have their own syndrome named after them: “phthalate syndrome” which includes deformities in penis and testicular formation, increased risk of testicular cancer and low sperm quality. Commonly used as plasticisers, they keep plastics soft and rubbery (think rubber duck and teething toys). They are also in personal care products to help fragrances last longer (avoid anything that has “fragrance” on the label). They are in the gloves of people who package your food, they are in shower curtains, raincoats, even intravenous fluid and blood bags in hospitals, how’s that for irony? There’s only so much you can do to avoid them, as they really are everywhere, but start by looking at your soaps, deodorants, shampoos and your kids’ toys. You’ll find lots you can remove or replace to reduce exposure while keeping it pretty simple.
- Teflon, Capstone, Gore-Tex..anything non-stick, water-proof, stain-repellant you’ll be pleased to know contain highly toxic perfluorinated compounds and are just about indestructable. Considered to cause birth defects, developmental problems, hormone disruption and high cholesterol. Likely to be carcinogenic (cause cancer). The scary part is once they are created they will take a loooong time to go away, and we are creating them and buying them at a rate of knots. All I can say is learn how to clean your furniture and carpet instead of spraying this stuff to protect them. Learn how to scrub a stainless steel frying pan, or use more oil if you’re really so averse to cleaning! Maybe consider petitioning the government too, cause like I said, they will remain in the environment just about forever – do we really want to keep the producers of these chemicals in business?
- Bromide & Bromine – I don’t know who is behind the bromine industry, but they have a great marketing manager. Iodine is a safe, natural antiseptic which used to be used extensively in the dairy industry to clean the animals before milking. The milk was a great source of iodine and people had healthy thyroid functioning. Ahh, those were the days. One day someone decided that bromide was a much better option and all dairy farmers were ordered (literally) to use bromide instead. Highly toxic of course. Now we are all deficient in iodine and you can’t even buy it from the chemist, so effective was the fear campaign. It doesn’t end there. We have a very proud moment in history when brominated flame retardants were used to protect kiddies from their pyromaniacal tendencies. Kids pyjamas to be precise – coated in flame retardants. Mutagenic. Carcinogenic. Not happy mums I’m guessing. Flame retardants are still in use, toxic ones, just not so much in your PJs. These chemicals can act like hormones – shortening lactation in mothers, causing developmental deficits and intellectual impairment in children. I find the link with lactation interesting because it seems to me more and more women struggle in this area and we often suggest they need more support or a different diet. Sure we miss our village and the knowledge and support we would have gained, but maybe this is only a small fragment of the problem, maybe there’s a whole lot of environmental toxicity messing up hormone balance and these mums don’t even know about it, let alone what to do about it.
So it’s easy to see these chemicals are everywhere. We know additives are in our food, now we know we’re cooking on them too. We know they are in our cleaning products, but now we know our clothes are infused with them, as are our soaps and shampoos, even our kids’ toys. What about sunscreen? A necessary evil? What about vaccinations? No matter your viewpoint, it’s another toxic hit on a small body that is already trying to process SO MUCH. There are over 80,000 synthetic chemicals being pumped out of factories into our lives, making us sick. Our solution? Take synthetic chemicals called “medicine” to get better…umm…??
So I mentioned a few things to look for to remove from your environment. What about getting this stuff out of our bodies? (And is this the key to the obesity epidemic?!)
Toxins are stored in fat – our bodies create fat to store toxins to keep them away from vital organs. Interesting right? So yes, obesity can be from eating the wrong foods. I am never going to tell you masses of sugar and toxic trans-fats & vegetable oils is ok. It’s just not. But you may struggle with weight for a whole other reason. You may need a really good detox.
- Exercise – helps the body process and remove toxins – sweat it out!
- Fresh air – no matter what pollution you have going on in your backyard, it is still better than the off-gassing that is coming out of every pore of your house: carpet, paint, toys, furniture, etc, etc. Sad but true. So get out and get some fresh air and exercise.
- Water – flush it out! (are we seeing a pattern here?! Is this not like any other recommended list for staying healthy?)
- Natural products on your body, wheverever possible. Did you know avocado oil has sun protective properties that compare to approx SPF15? Seriously, have you read the label on your sunscreen lately? An organic sunscreen will have about 2 ingredients, the cancer council recommended has about 35 – eek!
- Organic food in your body, wherever possible. People have argued over the nutritional benefits of organic food – honestly, who cares? Do you know what pesticides are capable of? Just to give you a snippet of an idea: hormone disruption, gene switching, cancer, reproductive issues, respiratory issues… Yes, it’s expensive. Yes, you may prefer to shop from local farms and rinse in apple-cider vinegar. We can’t be perfect at everything, it’s just one more thing to afford if we can.
- Finally, find natural solutions to health issues wherever possible. There are some amazing alternative therapists and natural remedies out there. I can only speak from what I know of essential oils, but there are also people who swear by homeopathy, acupuncture, kinesiology so follow what resonates with you. Detoxing with essential oils:
- Detoxification blend supports the body’s natural detox processes
- Citrus oils such as Lemon or Grapefruit – assist the body to cleanse (and I love the taste of the Grapefruit oil – added bonus!)
- Assist the body to be as healthy as it can through this process with highly bioavailable vitamins, minerals, omega oils and a cellular complex. To learn how to get yours at wholesale prices, get in touch.
So that’s enough for Toxic Tuesday, maybe we can aim for Wellness Wednesday, Thriving Thursday, Feeling Fab Friday. I can’t be totally discouraged, at least the Kindy staff half-listened when I tried to explain my choice not to use their hand soap – seed planted?