Removing Toxins From Your Life

Fragrances can be full of toxic or dangerous chemicals – or contain mystery ingredients you can’t discover. According to Style Bistro, perfume ingredients are protected under the U.S. Fair Packaging and Label Act because they are considered trade secrets, and thus, do not need to be disclosed.

When we think of kids’ breakfast in America, we tend to think of the icons we grew up with: Cap’n Crunch, Tony the Tiger and Count Dracula. This kind of marketing has encouraged kids to demand cereal loaded with sugar and has also eroded our concept of what comprises a healthy breakfast. Cold cereals can dominate an entire aisle in your supermarket, but what’s hiding in those cereals can be doing damage to your child

As parents, we spend a great deal of time getting our kids to bed and we know that the value of a good night’s sleep can’t be underestimated. But what if your child’s bed was doing him more harm than good, by exposing him to dangerous toxins throughout the night?

With the end of summer celebrations on the way and school activities gearing up, now is the time to rethink your disposable dinnerware products. Not just for summer and picnics, a fall full of back to school activities, kids’ parties, and holiday events often require moms to purchase or contribute items to serve food and drinks. My own children attend an eco-friendly school and we are often asked to provide reusable items for these occasions.

Did you know that there are over 80,000 synthetic chemicals in commercial products? That means that every day, we are bombarded by toxic chemicals and ingredients that could be (or rather are most likely) wreaking havoc on our bodies.

When you embark on a real food journey, part of that trip means making sure your family is getting enough the right vitamins and minerals. To ensure that you are, most people take a multivitamin, but beware: not all supplements are created equal. In fact, some even contain ingredients that you have probably been trying to avoid.

When we hear the words, "toxic" or "toxin," we automatically cringe. We move as quickly as we can away from any source that may be harmful to us. The Mamavation community and Bootcamp 18 moms had the chance to chat with experts on Monday who told us several reasons why our cleaning products — items we trust to help us keep our house clean — could be potentially toxic.

An essential item in every mom’s tote, purse or baby bag is makeup; after a long day you want to look your best going out or at the office. But not all cosmetics are created equal. In fact, there are products that you may be putting on your skin, lips and eyes that are downright dangerous.

Increased exposure to toxins in and around our homes caused by every day products like nail polish and the beds we sleep on can lead to ADHD, lowered IQ, and other neurological problems that can harm your child’s brain. From pregnancy through the first 5 years of life, children are far more susceptible to damage and health problems caused by these toxins – so much so that the EPA has a dedicated division, the Centers for Children’s Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research, just to research these issues.

The water that comes from your tap should be a life-giving substance but all too often, it is treated with processes, exposed to chemicals, and may actually do more harm than good. Earlier this year, the residents of Charleston, West Virginia, discovered just how toxic water can be when a chemical spill from a nearby plant shut down the drinking water supply of 300,000 residents. While the water was deemed "safe" by officials shortly after, there was a hotbed of controversy surrounding the issue. Weeks later, many residents still chose not to use their tap water for drinking.

Last week, we talked about the cleaning products in our homes that most likely contain harmful chemicals. This week, we’re going to get a little more personal and talk about things like deodorant, lotion, shampoo, conditioner, and more.

As Bootcamp 18 comes to a close, our Mamavation Moms and community are looking forward to celebrating and reviewing all that we’ve learned. We’ve covered removing toxins from our food, from our personal care products, from our home cleaning products, and even from our air and water.

The past seven weeks have been filled with tons of information. We have learned more about removing harmful chemicals and toxins from our lives. Last night, we talked with our panel (Dr. Jean Layton, Corinne Dobbas, and Kia Ruiz) for some easy and practical ways to tackle the task of starting down the toxic-free path.

This past Monday on Mamavation TV, our guest was author and environmentalist, Rick Smith. He, along with Bruce Lourie, co-wrote the best-selling book Toxin Toxout: Getting Harmful Chemicals Out of Our Bodies and Our World. This follow up to 2009’s Slow Death by Rubber Duck: How the Toxic Chemistry of Everyday Life Affects Our Health, takes on toxins in a new way— self-experimentation.