Making your home healthier and more environmentally friendly does not have to be expensive or time-consuming. A few simple modifications may enhance the health of your home, its residents, and the planet it sits on. The most straightforward approaches to this are to reduce toxins and chemical pollution inside your home.
Indoor toxin pollution is as dangerous as outdoor pollution. The toxins in our home can negatively effect the food and water we consume as well as the clothes we wear and the bedding we sleep in. This exposes you and your loved ones and poses a potential risk to everyone’s health. So avoiding or limiting the exposure to toxins is very important for a healthy family and a planet.
Your home should always seem like a safe place to unwind and let down our guard, especially now that many are spending so much more time indoors. Unfortunately, toxins and chemicals are present all over our homes, unknown to some of us. Making this the ideal moment to give our entire house a detox. Here are some tips for reducing toxins in your home:
Use Natural Home Cleaners
Many household cleaning products include toxins that persist in the air & environment long after you’ve used them. Choose natural cleaning products manufactured from plants or minerals instead. Natural cleaning solutions are equally as effective as chemical-based ones but don’t negatively impact your health. Also, making the move does not have to be expensive.
Vinegar, mainly cleaning vinegar, can be used to disinfect surfaces without the use of bleach or other harsh chemicals. In the same way, bicarbonate (aka baking soda) and lemon juice could be used for cleaning. The conventional cleaners contain many skin and eye irritants, asthma-causing fumes, and mixed chemical fragrances. So, natural cleaners reduce air toxins in your home and keep the air naturally fresh and healthy.
Here are some of my favorite options
- Claryti
- Grove.co
- doTERRA cleaning products such as the Abode line
- DIY with Essential Oil
Use of houseplants
Houseplants can reduce air pollutants like carbon dioxide, formaldehyde, and benzene in your homes. It is one of the simplest ways to clean the air in your home. Some wonderful air purifying plants include spider web, Chinese evergreen plant, vine, and mother-in-law’s tongues and aloe vera. These plants purify the air from carbon toxins and filters allergies causing volatile organic compounds like benzene.
Detox your Food Storage
Most people preserve meals in plastic containers, wrap, or aluminum foil. But phthalates and other endocrine-disrupting chemicals can seep into your food. This increases the risk of illness. Try glass food storage like mason jars. They are great for food storage and come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. The beeswax food wrap and food-grade silicone are also suitable options. By reducing toxic exposures in your food storage, you are not only creating a safer option, but you are also producing less trash, which is also beneficial to the environment.
Water Filters
A whole-house water filtration system is a optimal; however an be expensive investment. Still, it is a great way to remove heavy metals, chemicals, rust, sediments, and microbes from all of your water. At the very least, you should filter your drinking water since it may include lead, arsenic, and microbes E.coli. Check out EWG’s tap water report here. Only the NSF-certified water filters with a two-stage filtration procedure should be used for water filtration purposes. Moreover, the use of plastic water bottles and containers should be avoided as much as possible.
Personally I love the Berkey filtrations system and AquaTru
Cookware
Non-stick cookware is great to ensure that your meal easily slips out of the pan; however, they are made with chemical compounds such as Teflon that are not good for your health. Studies show that they are carcinogenic. So go with the cast iron pan. They are as good as non-stick ones, once properly seasoned and free from toxins. I love these by Finex, which come pre-seasoned with organic flax oil. I mean how could you go wrong here? Other options include brands like Caraway, which uses a non-toxic ceramic coating.
Freshen your Home Naturally
Use a diffuser and essential oils to refresh your home while also reaping the aromatherapy pleasures. Use high-efficiency particulate air filters HEPA to remove the irritating dust particles from the air. I really love the AirDoctor for cleaning the air!
Toxin reduction in homes does not have to be a daunting task. Commit to making the change, find out where you want to start, and then ease into it.
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