Environmental Toxins (and how to avoid them)

A big topic of conversation with my patients these past few weeks has been about environmental toxins. On March 15th, The NY Times ran an article calling out Monsanto for the main ingredient glyphosate in their product Round-up as a likely carcinogen. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/14/business/monsanto-roundup-safety-lawsuit.html
On the heels of this news came the reversal of the EPA’s ruling that the commonly used pesticide chlorpyrifos won’t be banned despite evidence that it hinders development in children’s brains. Just today I was reading that the chemicals in fabric softener had made it the #1 indoor air pollutant.

With so many environmental toxins impacting what we breath, eat, put on our skin, furnish our clean our homes with our systems really are assaulted all day long. So what can we do to protect ourselves?

1. Eat Organic
Eating organic foods ensures that you are not ingesting unnecessary pesticides and antibiotics. Pay special attention meats, dairy and Environmental Working Groups, “dirty dozen.” http://www.ewg.org

2. Mind Your Skin
60% of what you put on your skin gets absorbed into your bloodstream. This includes soaps, shampoos, moisturizers, make-up and hand sanitizers. Look for organic products that do not contain parabens, phthalates, fragrances, and hormone disruptors like triclosan. The simpler the better when it comes to ingredients. http://sheessentialbeauty.com

3. Detox Your Home
Replace toxic cleaning products with natural cleaners like vinegar, baking soda and essential oils. Change and clean the filters in your heating systems and air conditioners. Filter your water and buy an air purifier if you can. Remember that it takes about 3 years for a new piece of furniture to release the toxins from the chemicals it was made with. Whenever possible buy furniture made out of real wood instead of wood composite.

4. Spend Time In Nature
When you spend time walking in the woods or a park you get the benefit of breathing in the fresh oxygen that plants and trees give off.

While it is difficult to shield ourselves from environmental toxins entirely, there are steps we can take to be aware of those toxins and make smart choices to avoid them.

Welcome to the Beth Hooper Health blog.  This is my new website and my first venture into blogging.  I find that as a Chinese Medicine practitioner, I field calls from patients and friends daily about a variety of health related subjects.  It occurred to me that it would save a lot of time if I wrote about a different topic every week and published it.  This way that knowledge could be shared with a larger group and I could refer people to specific posts.  Thank you for reading.