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Detoxify Your Life - Part I: Inside the Home
Written By Sonia Walker (Mama of Reef & True, and BaoBag Managing Director)
A few years ago I started developing a skin condition and was told by my doctor that I would simply have to spend the rest of my life applying cortisone creams in order to manage it. I wasn’t too excited about this prospect, and decided instead to try and find out what the irritant to my skin might be and simply remove the offending substance from my life. The more I investigated this area however, the more horrified I was about the plethora of potentially harmfully chemicals we blindly consume on a daily basis through the food we eat, the air we breathe, and the myriad of concoctions we absorb through our skin.
I’ve since been on a personal crusade to reduce as many of these from our lives as is sustainable - while still managing to leave the house and live our lives as close to normal as possible. We have gradually been discovering and incorporating new products and habits into our home in the endeavour of making a permanent change towards living healthier lives. Most are easy enough and surprisingly accessible through mainstream avenues; others involved a bit more effort. Below is a snapshot of some of the changes so far…
PART I – INSIDE THE HOME
KITCHEN & LAUNDRY
Cleaning: This was the first lot of toxic chemicals to go and one of the easiest changes to make. We mostly use water and microfibre cloths for surface cleaning, with bicarb of soda and/ or vinegar when things get more serious. I use ecostore’s plant based surface spray, laundry detergent and dishwashing detergent, and always keep a bottle of plain Castile soap on hand as a generic soap for any situation requiring some form of detergent. Eucalyptus oil is on hand to treat laundry stains and deodorise anything smelly, with oil of cloves to treat any mould. I splash a couple of drops of peppermint oil around whenever ants appear in the house and that keeps them at bay. My laundry cupboard has never been so simple! Even better there is nothing inside it with an image of a skull and crossbones on it!
Recently we’ve engaged regular cleaning services from a ‘green’ cleaning company – “Green Clean Australia”. I used to come home to a house that smelled like bleach after the cleaners had been. Now I come home to a clean house that simply smells fresh and clean – I love it! Most of all I love that I’m not so worried any more about my toddler putting things in her mouth that were in contact with the floor, and thus ‘eating’ all the toxic chemicals that might have been used to clean it.
Fragrances are usually packed with synthetic chemicals, so I avoid all artificial fragrances and air fresheners. Instead I am falling in love with aromatherapy sprays or even better – aromatic freshly cut flowers and plants from our garden (eg gardenias), being dotted in strategic places around the house, combined with plenty of open windows and fresh air flowing through.
Water: We invested in a water filter tap installed at the kitchen sink and I have my eye on another unit to install in the showerhead. We also bought stainless steel water bottles with a filter built into them so that we can always drink pure water even when topping our bottles up away from home. Alkawayin Byron Bay know all there is to know in this space and were wonderfully helpful in sorting us out.
Food: Here we simply buy organic as much as possible. It’s actually becoming easier to do so. There are plenty of organic home delivery services for a weekly box of fresh fruit and veg to ensure the staples are covered. The rest of the shop I tend to split between all the different supermarkets, as they all seem to cover different organic ranges. If I can’t find an organic version of the item I’m looking for then it’s a case of reading the ingredients label and rejecting the ones with the longest list of ingredients and the most numbers on the back of it. Simple ingredients = less processed food = better! After a while you get to know which numbers represent particularly questionable ingredients, and if you use a guide such as The Chemical Maze then it becomes a lot easier to interpret ingredients listings.
In particular I always insist on organic milk, cheese, meat and dried fruit. I usually also manage to get staples like tinned tomatoes, baked beans, flour, sugar, rice, pasta and cereals.
Food storage: This is my latest obsession as I’ve been learning about all the horrors of heating food in plastic. (Think nasty hormone disrupting chemicals leaching into your food!) I have now thrown out any plastic storage containers as soon as soon as I see any scratches in them, and I NEVER microwave anything in a plastic dish or with a plastic cover. (Covering a dish with cling film in the microwave is also a no-no as the water condenses on the heated film and drips back into the food!) As I’ve been throwing the old dishes out I’ve been replacing them with those glass Pyrex dishes (widely available in supermarkets and kitchen stores) – they have a great range now that come in a multitude of sizes and with an air tight seal. If ever I do have to buy plastic because glass is too impractical (eg kids lunch boxes), then I make sure it is BPA free. I also use stainless steel water bottles for drinks and wide mouthed thermoses for cooled or hot food on the go.
Cooking: Non-stick cookware is a particular trap here – especially when the ‘non-stick’ bits start flaking off and you end up eating them! As soon as that starts happening it’s time to throw them out and replace them with stainless steel or cast iron cookware instead. Cast iron is great – it’s cheap, the food tastes better when cooked on it, and after a while it starts to develop it’s own non-stick properties anyway. Happy chefs all round!
BED ROOMS & KIDS ROOMS
Clothing & bed linen: Bedding and sleep wear is one of the best changes you can make, especially considering the fact that kids spend over half their lives with these fibres in direct contact their skin. The trick is to go for 100% natural fibres such as merino wool, bamboo, and organic cotton when it comes to PJs & linen, and there are plenty of great options out there, (eg check out ergoPouchfor pjs and sleeping bags and ecoLinen for bed linen). Where possible we also try to follow through on this same principle with clothing which tends to be easy enough for babies but gets more difficult as the kids get older. Hopefully more organic clothing manufacturers will jump on board and make some bigger sizes for growing kids!
Toys: Here it's all about minimising the amount of plastic in the play room, along with all the BPA, phthalates and other nasties that come with it. Small children are especially susceptible to these as they tend to put these toys in their mouths and their developing immune systems are far less able to deal with the toxins than an adult’s. Opt for all those beautiful timber toys out there instead…. They’re everywhere!
Nappies: The best discovery here was the incredible world of Modern Cloth Nappies (I’ve written a more detailed article on these here). Sooo much better then all those nasty ‘absorbency’ crystals up against my little angel’s most delicate parts! Cushie Tushie provides the most gorgeous range of minky soft designer nappies that proved to be easy to use. There are also some great eco-friendly disposables (eg Moltex) for those who can’t get their heads around cloth nappies. Wipes are another category to watch out for but thankfully there are a number of natural brands with plant-based ingredients available in pharmacies and supermarkets such as Wotnot.
Creams and ointments: We threw out the tub of petroleum jelly (the name says it all) and opted for some beautiful natural alternatives like Beauty and the Bees Botty Butter – made out of honey – for the nappy area, and Moo Goo’s scalp cream to deal with the cradle cap. They worked perfectly!
BATHROOM
Toothpaste: We were easily convinced to ditch the Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Hydrogen Peroxide and artificial sweeteners found in most of the conventional toothpastes, however the fluoride angle started out a little more controversial. I thought fluoride was supposed to be good for us?? I finally settled it with my dentist friend who advised that fluoride in high amounts is actually toxic but so long as the doses are kept small then this has been deemed to be tolerable. (Given my kids end up swallowing all their toothpaste however, this did not give me any comfort.) She also said that if you keep a healthy diet and clean your teeth regularly that you don’t need fluoride in toothpaste, and she herself used a herbal, fluoride free toothpaste. She is a dentist, devoted mother of 3, and has perfect teeth. That was enough for me. I’ve since been experimenting with and enjoying a number of herbal alternatives. MI essence was my favourite and my teeth never felt cleaner, but you either love it or hate it and unfortunately the rest of the family didn’t concur. I’ve also used Weleda and we currently all seem agreeable to a very pleasant tasting Macro variety.
Skin care: there are a wealth of wonderful brands out there that are widely accessible in supermarkets, pharmacies, department stores and salons and it is just a case of experimenting to find the ones that you love and work for your skin. Jurlique started me on my journey of luxurious skin care. Anything by Trilogy, Weleda, Lavera, Dr Hauschka, La Mav or Moo Goo has been a hit for my skin as well. Just ask for samples and see what suits you, and check the ingredients before you buy.
Nail Polish: This is one of the most toxic categories out there and took a fair bit of extra work to find an alternative for. The industry has come a long way and most manufacturers have thankfully discontinued use of the 3 worst offending chemicals that were standard ingredients up until recently. However most nail polish is still quite a chemical concoction that can still be damaging for your nails. I searched in vain for a salon that used a ‘natural’ alternative but could not find any conveniently located to where I live. I finally found on the Skin Deep Database a brand that is completely water based and not only is it harmless it’s actually really hydrating for your nails. It’s called ‘Acquarella’ and I ordered it online, as again I couldn’t find a physical location close to me. The colours are completely different to what I was expecting but they are beautiful and the polish is amazing. There is NO smell whatsoever. I love it. I can even put this on my daughter’s toenails without concern and she is equally delighted!
Hair Care:this has been one of the more difficult categories in which to convert the whole family to a natural alternative, as there don’t seem to be as many effective alternatives out there and it takes a whole lot of experimenting to find one that works for you. However it was definitely worth the search - changing to a more natural and gentle hair cleansing system was the single biggest contributor towards dealing with my own skin conditions. I suppose when you think about it, shampoo ends up running down your back and face and hits a large part of your body. So to eliminate all the parabens, sulfates, & other chemical nasties that come with conventional shampoos is significant. Moo Goo restored my hair and scalp to good health – although I did find I had to wash my hair a whole lot more often. I finally stumbled on to Beauty and the Bees Beer shampoo and Apple Cider Vinegar rinse which took a bit of getting used to but delivers amazing results. You can read more about this experience here.
Hand Wash, Body Wash & Soaps: This was an easy switch. Those brands who care about being ‘nasty chemical’ free tend to shout it out from the label by listing all the ingredients they don’t include. (eg ecostore’s handwash makes it easy by clearly stating ‘NO toxic petrochemicals, NO lauryl or laureth sulfates, NO propylene glycol, NO cocamidopropyl betain, NO cocamide DEA, NO parabens, NO dyes NO synthetic perfumes)
We’ve now moved back to bar soap - not the heavy-scented, chemical laden, animal tallow-based bar soaps, but rather glorious, nourishing, plant-based, natural scented bar soaps that tend to melt in the shower (hence it is important to have a good soap dish).
Make-up: Wow to mineral makeup! This was another easy conversion and quite an ‘aha’ moment to discover the flawless natural look that can be achieved with mineral makeup. Where had it been all my life? Jane Iredale was my first foray into mineral makeup and was a lovely experience. I’m currently using an award winning, organic Australian brand called Inika.
Personal Lubricant: Nasty chemicals…most intimate parts of the body...enough said! Thankyou Sylk for coming to the rescue here.
GUIDES
There are some really useful guides out there, which rate the different ingredients and tell you which ones to steer clear of. I keep a handy little reference book called ‘The Chemical Maze’ on hand for just this reason – they even have an iPhone app so you don’t have to remember to take the book with you to the shops!
IN SUMMARY
Our pursuit of a non-toxic life is a continual work in progress as we constantly discover new areas of our lives that we can address to reduce our toxic chemical ‘body burden’. The key for us is to just chip away at it one step at a time, and to make sure the changes are also enjoyable – this means we’re more likely to make the change permanent. So far it’s working and my skin, my family’s health, and the little piece of the planet that we are borrowing, are all the better for it.