2445: Clean Living 101 + Why it Matters by Danielle Omar of Food Confidence on Clean Living & Toxin Exposure

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[00:01:08] Clean Living 101 and Why It Matters by Danielle Omar of foodconfidence.com and I'm Dr. Neal. Hey there, happy Saturday. Thank you so much for being here and welcome back to Optimal Health Daily where I act as your narrator of the best health and fitness blogs

[00:01:25] all for free. And don't forget we have a few shows where we do this very same thing, recover a bunch of different topics, just search for Optimal Living Daily in any podcast app to find them. But with that let's get right to it and start optimizing your life.

[00:01:45] Clean Living 101 and Why It Matters by Danielle Omar of foodconfidence.com. Clean Living has a lot to do with the foods we eat each day, but it also encompasses everything from the products we apply to our skin, hair and nails to the cleaning solutions we use to disinfect

[00:02:03] our living spaces. I'm talking about our cosmetics, shampoos, conditioners, facial cleaners, toothpaste, bathroom disinfectants, hand soaps, laundry detergents and all the other products we use in our daily lives. Think toilet paper, facial tissues, paper towels, feminine care

[00:02:23] products, dish soap, toilet bowl cleaners, candles and so on. But why should we choose non-toxic personal care products when we're already eating a clean diet? Does it really matter which products we use if we aren't eating them? The answer is yes, it absolutely matters.

[00:02:40] Everything we do, from the food we eat to the products we use, either supports or harms our health. The choices we make each day add to our toxic load or help to reduce it. Let me explain. Toxins are everywhere. The average adult comes into contact with 126 unique chemical

[00:03:01] ingredients each day from the personal care products they use to cleanse, wash, moisturize and enhance the way they look and feel. And the average woman is exposed to even more. Around 168 unique chemical ingredients each day as women tend to use more personal care

[00:03:19] products than men. For instance, just one bottle of traditional nail polish versus less toxic nail polish contains harmful chemicals like phthalates, toluene and formaldehyde. Yikes! Of course, this doesn't even account for the thousands of toxins we're exposed to daily from

[00:03:37] the air we breathe, the food we eat, the water we drink, the dust collecting on our household belongings and the soil in which our food is grown. Oh and let's not forget about the chemicals in our cookware, carpeting, building materials, shower curtains, cleaning products

[00:03:52] and furniture. The list goes on. Are the things meant to help actually causing harm? Here's the thing. The foods, beverages, air, soil and products that are meant to keep us nourished, hydrated, healthy and living are loaded with potential toxins and carcinogens.

[00:04:10] Carcinogens are cancer causing substances. These toxins have short and long-term health effects like hormone dysfunction, infertility, birth defects, diabetes, heart disease, obesity and even cancer. Phthalates, for example, are chemicals that disrupt the endocrine system by mimicking or suppressing our hormones. Phthalate exposure is harmful to our developmental,

[00:04:34] reproductive and neurological health and what's most scary here is that these chemicals are commonly found in everyday products like nail polishes, toothbrushes, cosmetics and various household furnishings. Phthalates are also used to make plastics and solvents. Children and phthalates Children are especially susceptible to the detriments

[00:04:56] of phthalate exposure. A study published in the journal Health Care linked childhood phthalate exposure to obesity, thyroid dysfunction, early puberty, asthma, high systolic blood pressure, insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes in children. Children and infants are typically exposed

[00:05:15] in the following ways. Ingesting foods containing phthalates like certain meats, dairy products and fats, drinking breast milk or infant formulas containing phthalates, sucking on toys and other objects made with phthalates, inhaling or ingesting contaminated air and water and using

[00:05:34] personal care products containing phthalates. Also, infants and their caregivers are exposed to phthalates through contact with flexible medical bags and IV tubing so they may come into contact with phthalates while receiving IV therapy, transfusions or when using medical devices

[00:05:51] made of polyvinyl chloride abbreviated PVC. Where to go from here? So while the foods and products we use in our everyday lives are meant to benefit us in one way or another, at what expense are we willing to use products that contain endocrine disrupting chemicals like

[00:06:08] parabens, phthalates, sodium laurel sulfate abbreviated SLS and synthetic colors and fragrances or carcinogens like formaldehyde, hydroquinone and benzene. Countless toxic substances in our personal care products like microbeads and microplastics are also super damaging to the

[00:06:27] environment and while there's no way to avoid many of these toxic substances altogether, adopting a clean living lifestyle dramatically reduces our exposure and in turn reduces our toxic load. How to find non-toxic products for cleaner living? There's no doubt the products we use on

[00:06:47] the daily are putting our health and the health of our children at risk. The best thing we can do here is choose non-toxic or less toxic alternatives to traditional cosmetics, personal care products, household cleaners, furniture, foods and other household furnishings. A few seemingly

[00:07:05] minor changes can make a big difference. Beauty counter is my personal go-to for most cosmetics and skincare products mainly because they prohibit the use of more than 2,800 ingredients like phthalates, parabens, SLS and formaldehyde. Some other great options for clean non-toxic

[00:07:25] personal care products include pros, farm true, rise well and cocoa kind. Along with using cleaner products from these brands the environmental working group abbreviated EWG is a fantastic resource for choosing low-tox products for your home and body. The environmental working group

[00:07:45] has consumer guides to find non-toxic household cleaners, produce, drinking water, cosmetics, sunscreens, hair products, fragrances and other personal care products. You just listened to the post titled Clean Living 101 and Why It Matters by Danielle Oomar

[00:08:07] of foodconfidence.com and I'll be right back with my commentary. Dr. Neal here for my commentary. Did listening to today's article make you feel really stressed and anxious? It's okay, I get it. Take a deep breath. One of the most important things to remember

[00:08:24] is what today's author Danielle said in her post. There's no way to avoid all of these toxic substances, instead we just want to try and reduce our exposure to them. The body is very resilient,

[00:08:37] it's very tough, it can handle quite a few toxins and other stressors and still function really well but the trick is to reduce our exposure to things that may harm the body while at the same time making it stronger. And of course we can make the body stronger

[00:08:52] by eating nutritious foods, exercising regularly, sleeping well, managing our stress and so on. So how do we reduce our exposure to toxins? Danielle gave us a really great starting point. She mentioned some brands and mentioned a resource that I'm actually a huge fan of,

[00:09:09] the Environmental Working Group, abbreviated EWG. The Environmental Working Group is the same organization that publishes the dirty dozen and clean 15 lists every year. Remember those are the lists that tell us which fruits and vegetables have the highest and lowest

[00:09:26] levels of pesticide residues. And again, the Environmental Working Group publishes lists of personal care products that contain fewer toxins too. Now you don't have to get rid of or avoid every single product that may contain phthalates, parabens, or formaldehyde. But again if we

[00:09:45] limit our exposure to these things over time, it does make a difference. All right that'll do it for today. I hope you're having a great weekend if you're listening in real time and I'll see you back here tomorrow where your optimal life awaits.