Many of us don’t realize what’s really in the products we use everyday. It’s not just in the food we digest; clean eating won’t do it alone. From makeup to detergent, we are flooding our bodies with toxic ingredients that impact our mental and physical health.

Getting data about health effects from exposure to chemicals is not easy, but there is growing evidence linking a certain family of chemicals, endocrine-disrupting chemicals, to neurobehavioral problems, obesity and cancer cell growth. The researchers, from the University of Berkeley, and Clinica de Salud del Valle de Salinas, say that the issue may be more urgent for women, and especially teens.

This new study shows after just 3 days of using makeup, shampoos and lotions free of hormone-disrupting chemicals, levels dropped up to 45 percent.

A great resource to check out, the Environmental Working Group offers a highly informative site where you can check out what cosmetic products you are using and give you a “healthy” rating based on the ingredients in the product. Click here for more information!

Making the change today to healthier and better products is a lot easier than you think. Healthy supermarkets are no longer the only places carrying these healthier options. Many local supermarkets are now carrying cleaner and healthier options that give your family a better choice. Thrive Market, Amazon and other online retailers offer many non-toxic products that arrive quickly and inexpensively.

Better Products for Your Family to Try Today

Here are our recommendations for products to use at home, in your personal care, and in detoxification.

Better Products At Home

For Cleaning:

• Cleaning products to get: Seventh generation and other organic products.
• Cleaning products to throw away now: Windex, Fantasik, Comet, Scrubbing Bubbles, Murphy’s Oil Soap, etc.

For the Kitchen:

• Olive Oil: Bragg’s Unrefined Olive Oil
• Ghee: Purity Farms
• Coconut Oil: Dr. Bronner’s
• Salt: Pink Himalayan Sea Salt

For the Bedroom:

• Mattresses: We recommend organic latex mattresses such as plushbeds.com, or wool mattresses.
• Pillows and Comforters: We recommend Wool pillows and comforters, for example Holy Lamb Organics.
• Organic cotton sheets & duvet covers: Coyuchi.

For Your Air & Water: 

• Water filter: Aquasauna water filters for shower heads and kitchen faucets
• Air filter: HEPA filter

Need more information on indoor environmental wellness services? Visit www.healthehabitats.com.

Better Products For Personal Care

For Your Body: 

• Soap: Pangea Organic Canadian Pine with White Sage Bar, Kiss My Face Olive Oil Soap or Dr. Bronner’s All-In-One Soap
• Body Lotion: Earth Science Naturals Multi-Therapy Ceramide Healthy SKin Lotion, or raw coconut oil
• Sunscreen: W.S. Badger Company Badger Broad Spectrum SPF 30 Sunscreen Cream
• Hand Cream: Dr. Hauschka Skin Care Hydrating Hand Cream
• Body Oil: Erbaviva Shaping Oil
• Body Scrub: Love & Toast Dew Blossom Sugar Scrub
• Shave Cream: Kiss My Face, Unscented
• Toothpaste: Jason Organics or Kiss My Face, without fluoride
• Tampons: Seventh Generation or NatraCare

For Your Hair:

• Shampoo: Peter Lamas Soy & Boabob Oil Hydrating SHampoo, Paradise Island, Acure
• Conditioner: Kiss My Face Miss Treated Conditioner
• Avoid These ingredients when buying body and hair products
  • Tricolosan and Tricolocarban
  • Oxybenzone
  • Formaldehyde releasers
  • Microbeads
  • Unspecified fragrance
  • Parabens
  • Vitamin A compounds for daytime products
  • Polyethylene glycol (PEG) and Ceteareth compounds

For Your Face:

• Face Soap: Earth Science face cleanser
• Face Moisturizer: Andalou Naturals Color + Correct with SPF 30
• Facial Exfoliator: Thesis Face Scrub West Indies
• Eye Cream: True Natural Anti-Aging Hydo + Eye Cream
• Facial Wipes: Own Beauty Gentle Cleansing Facial Wipes
• Avoid these ingredients when buying facial products:
  • Alpha hydroxyl acids
  • Hydroguinone
  • Vitamin A compounds for daytime products
  • Polyethyline glycol (PEG) and Ceteareth Compounds
  • Unspecified fragrance
  • Parabens

Better Makeup: 

• Chapstick: Burts Bees or Soothing Touch Vanilla Chai Vegan Lip Balm
• Eyeliner- Logona Double Eyeliner Pencil
• Mascara: Logona Mascara Volume
• Eeyeshadow: Benecos Natural Beauty Duo Eyeshador or Dr. Hauschka
• Nail Polish: Cote Five-Free Polish Blend, or avoid it altogether
• Lipstick: Sante Lipstick
• Eye makeup remover: raw coconut oil or Earth Science Green Tea Eye Makup remover
• Avoid these ingredients when buying makeup:
  • Unspecified fragrance
  • Parabens
  • Formaldehyde
  • Toleune
  • Petroleum distillates

For Romance: 

• Natural Lubricant: raw, organic coconut or Sliquid Organics
• Condoms: Sir Richard brand

Better Products for Detoxification

We all need a little help detoxifying. Here are our suggestions for the best ways to detoxify.

Water with Lemon:

• Start the day with spring water mixed with the juice of half a lmon and a splash of apple cider vinegar like Bragg’s apple cider vinegar. You can also add ginger to further aid digestion.

Consuming Detoxifying Foods:

• Eat dandelion greens and drink dandelion tea
• Consume plenty of beets such as raw, shredded, juiced, or beet kvass
• Consumer bitter greens like watercress, mustard greens, dandelion greens, broccoli rabe, endive, arugula, kale, chard, mizuna, radicchio, beet greens, and frisee
• Consume fermented foods like Hawthorne Valley Farms saurkraut juice

Dry Skin Brushing: 

• Brush your skin with a natural bristle brush prior to showering
• Pull upwards with strokes going toward the heart
• The idea is that this helps encourage lymphatic drainage

Epsom Salt Baths:

• For detoxifying and relaxing
• Put 1 to 3 sups of Epsom salts in the bath and soak for at least 10 minutes

Oil Pulling:

• Take a spoonful of unrefined coconut oil or organic sesame oil and swish it in your mouth for a minimum of 20 minutes, pulling it through the teeth
• After 20 minutes, spit it in the garbage, not in the sink, as it can solidify and clog the pipes
  
• The idea is that the oil captures trapped bacteria from between the teeth, which can improve gingivitis and decrease overall inflammation

Neti Pot: 

• Nasal saline rinsing
• Watch a YouTube video for instructions

Trampoline:

• Jump on a trampoline
• The idea is that this also encourages lympatic drainage as well as good for exercise
• Recommendation: Stamina 36” Folding Trampoline from Amazon

Infrared Saunas:

• If you’re lucky enough to come across an infrared sauna, or if you’re lucky enough to have one in your home, this is a great detoxification practice
• The idea is that it encourages organs to release toxins, and then you sweat them out
• Recommendation: Sunlight Saunas (for your home) or Spa Castle in Flushing, Queens or at 5th & Park to experience an infrared sauna

Ulta-Phos Liquid:

• The idea is that this helps soften gallstones, and will thereby pull toxins out of the liver
• Not safe for children

Supplementation to Support Detoxification:

• Mike Thistle: Kare-n-Live
• Glutathione: CitriSafe Ovation or Bulletproof
• Selenium: consume 3 Bazil nuts daily
• NAC: Pure Encapsulations

Whatever your family’s needs, these better products will help you make better choices today. For more information on the right supplements for you, click here.

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Emily Roberts MA, LPC is the clinical therapist for the Neurogistics Children’s Program. She has worked with Neurogistics for over a decade. Emily is also an award-winning author of Express Yourself: A Teen Girls Guide to Speaking Up and Becoming Who You Are, Psychotherapist, TV & Media Contributor, educational speaker and parenting consultant.  Express Yourself is available at bookstores nationwide and on Amazon. To learn more about Emily click here.

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