CHEMICAL HEALTH + OUR LIFESTYLES

​In today’s day and age of processed foods and chemical products, countless diet fads, and GMO and hormone filled farm products; we are exposed to many toxins, heavy metals, and chemicals every single day. Though our bodies have a natural system for removing toxins, prolonged exposure to too much of any harmful substance can alter the chemical balance of our body.
A common way we can balance our chemical health is by eating clean and being aware of what your food and water are exposed to. These are some things to avoid:
 
·    Ultra-Processed Foods: these are foods with many ingredients listed, many with big long names you probably can’t pronounce. These foods are linked to higher risk for cancer and include frozen dinners, sodas/diet sodas, and store bought pastries and boxed baking mixes.
 
·    Non-Organic and GMO Produce: fruits and veggies that are sprayed with toxic pesticides and chemicals to kill off insects and other pests. These chemicals on their own can alter developmental growth and are known endocrine disruptors (which means they interfere with hormones and hormonal balance).
 
·    Non- Free Range Chicken/Non-Grass Fed Beef/Non- Organic Dairy: These are massed produced chicken and cow products that are cooped up in small spaces and fed hormones for growth, as well as GMO corn products. This makes for chemically imbalanced animals. These chemicals are processed by our digestive system when we consume these animal products.
 
·    Plastic Water Bottles: widespread testing of “safe” Non-BPA water bottles has shown that 93% of bottled water samples were contaminated with plastic particles and fibers.
 
·    Unfiltered Tap Water: tap water can contain metals and other chemicals, which can vary in seriousness to our health depending on the local environment and treatment process.
 
 
Beyond our food and drinks, we are also exposed to chemicals through everyday items such as makeup, sunscreen, bug spray, and cleaning products. These are some other chemical concerns in our home products.
 
·Makeup: Under current law, the FDA doesn’t require safety assessments on cosmetic products. Some lipsticks and foundations have traces of lead in them. Quaternium-15 is a common ingredient in mascara that potentially causes cancer and is known to irritate the skin. Look for small batch brands or makeup that focuses on safe products. Annmarie is an excellent resource for safe makeup.
 
·      Most Chemical Sunscreens: these sun protectors use chemical compound barriers to block the suns harmful rays. New research reveals that chemicals commonly used in sunscreens are endocrine disruptors. Also, stay far away from sunscreen with the chemical Oxybenzone. This chemical is found in 96% of common sunscreens and is a known endocrine disruptor. Even worse 40% of tested chemical sunblock increases the risk of skin cancer. Instead, try mineral sunscreens which use Zinc Oxide and Titanium Dioxide as their primary active ingredients to block harmful UV rays.
 
·      Cleaning Products: It is no surprise that cleaning solutions and bleach products are harmful to us since many of them are toxic to ingest. One way to reduce our exposure to cleaning chemicals is to choose more natural and eco-friendly products such as Method, Mrs. Meyer’s, or Green Works to name a few.
 
 
 
How to balance our Chemical Health!
 
It may seem like the world around us is teeming with dangerous toxins, but alongside our body’s ability to reduce toxins in our body, we can help our body’s chemical balance in by changing some lifestyle habits.
 
·      Detox: Go on a detoxing diet, this can range from juice detoxes to clean eating diets as mentioned above.
 
·      Fasting: Simply said, not eating. There are different ways to fast, and it doesn’t mean to starve your body.  It can stimulate weight loss, promote human growth hormone, and can regulate levels of insulin, ghrelin, and triglyceride.
 
·      Alkaline Diet: This is a diet that is meant to regulate the ph levels in your body. It limits dietary acid intake and promotes essential minerals our body needs. An alkaline diet can protect bone density and muscle mass, lower risk for stroke or hypertension, reduce inflammation, and improve immune function and cancer prevention.
 
 
 
 
 
Sources:
 
·      https://draxe.com/tap-water-toxicity/
 
·      https://www.annmariegianni.com/toxic-chemicals-in-makeup-industry/
 
·      https://wellnessmama.com/55366/sunscreen-is-harmful/
 
·      http://www.thegoodtrade.com/features/natural-eco-friendly-cleaning-products-for-the-conscious-home
 
·      https://draxe.com/detox-diet/
 
·      http://www.pan-uk.org/health-effects-of-pesticides/
 
·      https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2952409/