I get it. It’s totally overwhelming. When I first became enlightened to all of the harmful chemicals that are not banned in the US (but are banned in many countries around the world) and their toxic effects on our bodies, I felt hopeless. I was angry and overwhelmed. Why hadn’t someone told us sooner and how in the world was I going to go non-toxic when pretty much everything in our house had toxins in it?
Here’s 5 helpful tips to get you going down the right, non-toxic path but won’t leave you insane and exhausted:
1.) Baby Steps. That’s right, Bill Murray. Baby step it down the non-toxic road.
Most of us are not going to have the budget or the energy to swap out everything in their house and make it non-toxic in one go. That’s too much. So go at your own pace, even if that means slowly.
When you run out of something (say shampoo or bronzer or AJAX) swap it for a non-toxic version. There are a few to choose from. Just beware though because some companies claim to be natural but aren’t completely. They are “green-washed”, ie sounding organic but only to look cool.
Learn to read labels. There’s some known harmful chemicals now, and they are in many mainstream products, so download a pdf like this one and go through your house to see if your personal and cleaning products have those ingredients or not. Then try to buy ones that don’t the next time you are able to.
2.) Join a Group. You might need a therapy group if you do try to go non toxic overnight, but if you take your time and join a Facebook group or get on an email list, you can learn a lot from others who have been doing this for years.
The wisdom and advice and research of others that have already been down this road is priceless. It will save you a lot of time and probably money.
3.) Trust Your Liver. It’s there for a reason. Livers around the world have been serving their humans without a word of thanks for countless centuries.
The liver’s main function is to remove toxins. Now, of course we want to do everything we can to help our livers and not overwhelm them with harmful chemicals so they can keep up with what’s coming at them and operate properly, but when a toxin does enter your system, your liver is there to filter it out and remove it.
The more non-toxic you live, the happier your liver will be, but we don’t need to fall apart every time a harmful chemical jumps out to attack us. Just keep on keepin’ on.
4.) Aim for Imperfection. You will never be able to eliminate every harmful chemical from your life unless you willingly choose to live in a bubble (and even those are probably fairly toxic with all that BPA plastic-LOL!)
As someone wise once said, “Let go and let God.” We do what we can do, but at some point we have to let go and trust that it will be okay. If we live in constant fear of toxins, we are stressing ourselves out and that stress is unhealthy as well.
So take a deep breath and gain some perspective. Be grateful that you are realizing this now and not further down the road so that you can begin to do something about it.
And if your child goes to school and the teacher douses his entire body with antibacterial hand sanitizer, give him a good rinse and talk with him about why we try to opt for hand washing instead of the gel.
5.) Keep Trying. There’s some nice natural products out there and some not-so-nice ones. Some are greasy and chunky, others are awesome. Some deodorants will leave you smelling like you are natural and some will hide your natural (please try to aim for the second kind).
The point is to keep trying until you find a product that works for you. If you buy one and you hate it, pass it onto someone else to try. Everyone’s hair and skin and body chemistry is different, so sometimes it take trial and error. Look for companies that will give you your money back if you don’t like it.
If you do mess up and buy a product that you thought was natural but isn’t totally, it’s probably better than what you were using before (remember, baby steps), so you are going in the right direction. Just look for 100% non-toxic the next time or as close to it as you can get.
I want to encourage you on your non-toxic journey. It can be discouraging and overwhelming at times, but there are many of us walking this path now, and I believe in the near future, non-toxic will be the norm. Ignorance can be bliss but it can also hurt you. Knowledge is power, and now you know!
THANK YOU!!! I have been dwelling on how to do this, especially when it’s not the popular choice and many don’t understand my concerns. I studied science in college and teach science, so I think sometimes it’s surprising to some that I’m for more natural things… and then I wonder if those natural things can be harmful too 🤦♀️ Reading your page helped me to breathe a bit and be okay with baby steps. I appreciated the calm response to the sanitizer scenario. My mom recently brought cleaning supplies to try to help us prepare for our first baby, and I was not kind or appreciative about them because I’m worried about the chemicals. I loved the reminder to “Let go and let God” and that ignorance is bliss but harmful (something I say I miss often) and knowledge is power (something I’m reminded of often). Thank you so much!