Environmental/Household Detox Guide
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This is a general list of the most essential ways you can reduce your exposure to environmental toxins in your day to day. If you want more specifics on any of these items, just let me know and we can talk about it more:
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Kitchen
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Assess your pots and pans. The best to use is stainless steel or cast iron (ideally an older one). However if you do have any coated cookware, you want to take extra care to not damage the coating:
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Use soft, non-stick friendly cooking utensils only. Never metal.
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Never put a hot pan into the cold water, it will degrade the integrity of the coating over time.
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Take care when storing the pots and pans. If you pile them on top of each other, the metal bottoms of the pans on top will scratch and damage the delicate coating of the ones on the bottom.
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Try not to use a scour sponge to clean the surfaces. If you have stuck on food, just soak them first (or try putting them in the dishwasher if safe).
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Do not buy any scented trash bags.
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Using a non-natural soap like dawn is fine, just consider wearing gloves to protect your hands if you hand wash your dishes often.
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Avoid any antibacterial soaps of any kind.
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Use high quality filtered water for all your cooking and washing of vegetables.
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Only buy organic food. Some say they cannot afford it and I totally understand. But first of all, know that cooking food yourself using whole ingredients is what I’m advocating, not being expensive organic packaged products. You can and should also leverage farmers markets as often as you can rather than grocery stores. Growing your food (especially sprouts) is another recommendation that’s pennies on the dollar. Also realize that investing in your health upfront will actually save you money in the long-run in so many ways we cannot even imagine.
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Always wash your vegetables thoroughly, even if they are organic (to clear them of anything like cross contamination, parasites, worms, mold, etc).
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At the same time, no need to remove the skins. They are usually packed with nutrients and safe to eat as long as it’s organic.
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Never cook with high heat, it oxidizes and damages the chemistry of the food. Stovetop should be low-medium heat (check the strength of the actual flame if gas), and ovens should be maximum 400. You can also use the convection feature if you have it to make the heating more efficient and use lower heat.
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Avoid all use of the microwave for your food for the same reasons.
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Avoid the use of all seed oils for cooking as discussed. Only the highest quality extra virgin olive oil, coconut oil, ghee, and/or animal-based fat.
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Never store your oils next to a heat source like your stove/oven or exposed to a direct light source near your windows.
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Store all nuts/seeds/oils in the refrigerator if they are to sit out for anything over a month.
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Try to avoid plastic containers with food and water as much as possible. Know that the plastics leach into the food/water over time and is especially accelerated when it’s exposed to heat (like in the sunlight). BPA free is nice, but there are dozens of other chemicals we just don’t know as well which are still present and potentially harmful (same goes for any label that say ‘x’ free). Glass, food safe ceramic, or stainless steel are always best.
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Keep your knives sharpened at all times, but also be sure to clean the knives of the metal flakes after.
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If using a blender for anything (smoothies, etc), never run it for any longer than you have to. The longer it runs the more it damages the chemistry of the food and creates a problem for the body.
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Only use organic and fresh spices including a high quality sea salt.
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As a general rule, know that most packaged products contain toxins. If it’s not organic and you don’t recognize the ingredient, you can put it down.
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Cleaning products
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You’ll want to assess all of your cleaning products in your household (bathroom cleaning, kitchen cleaning, laundry detergent, floors, etc.) and switch them out for something more natural. Don’t over complicate this. Just know that the vast majority of the standard products we grew up with are confirmed to be toxic and a major contributor to our present chronic disease situation.
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Many of these can be made yourself as well using things like vinegar, lemon, baking soda, castile soap, essential oils and/or hydrogen peroxide.
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Sometimes you have to use a more chemical product to get the job done. If so, always crack the windows and get good airflow.
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Personal care products
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As a general rule, remember that your body absorbs anything that’s put on or in it, you’ll want to switch to more natural versions of all your products.
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Do not use any fluoride-based toothpaste.
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Never use anti-perspirant deodorant (aluminum which also blocks one of your main detox pathways).
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Never use standard sun-screens. Find a natural alternative.
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Minimize your use of anti-bacterial soaps and hand sanitizers.
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OTC/pharmaceutical medications
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Considering having on hand natural alternatives to many of the standard OTC medications we’ve become used to.
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I advise buying name-brand medications, as generics are often cheaply made with different non-active ingredients.
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It’s worth mentioning that many vaccines often contain inactive ingredients such as aluminum, mercury, and other toxic compounds. Always use your discretion.
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Relationships/people
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Take care with your relationships (family, friends, neighbors, strangers). Don’t surround yourself with negative people who tend to make you feel anything other than loved.
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Know that many people today are stressed, overwhelmed, unloved, insecure, traumatized and living in fear. Take care when interacting with the world and give grace to those who are hurtful.
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At the same time, stand strong and protect/love yourself if boundaries are crossed.
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Take care in traffic/driving situations. This is the cause of toxic stress for many people. Ask me more about this if you want to go deeper, but know there is a way to be at total peace regardless of how bad others are driving.
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Regarding driving, make use of your air circulation if you’re behind a car or truck that’s giving off extra fumes. Remember to put it back to fresh air so it’s not recirculating all the time.
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New products/off-gassing
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Know in general that most of the products we buy are made in China using very cheap plastic/chemical-based materials which off-gas toxic fumes.
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To mitigate this, take extra care when a product is new by having more ventilation. You can even consider buying second hand more often so that most of the off-gassing has been done. With furniture that contains foam (like couches), anything manufactured in the US before 2004 (or 2013 for imports) has a flame retardant (PBDE) that gets released into the air continuously as the foam breaks down with age. So the strategy here is to buy something new (or second hand after those dates) and give it an opportunity to off-gas before bringing it into the house.
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The same goes for new car smells. Keep the windows open a bit for the first 6-12 months.
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Always thoroughly clean/wipe down new products to help remove any contamination from the manufacturing/shipping/packaging.
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If painting your home, always use low-VOC paint and open your windows.
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Any new flooring is going to introduce new chemicals as well into your home, especially carpets. But even hardwood and vinyl floors have things you have to watch out for. So always ask questions and look for low VOC alternatives.
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Newly constructed homes are a huge source of off-gassing chemicals. If you live in one, you’ll want to take extra care to ventilate and purify the air during the first year.
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Air quality
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Consider the use of an air purifier, which is especially useful in the areas you spend the most time in (Ex: the bedroom). A basic HEPA filter, pre-filter and carbon filter is all you need (such as this one). Note: on units like the one recommended, careful with features like Plasmawave, which some say creates a small amount of ozone gas which you don’t want to breathe in regularly without proper ventilation.
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Humidifiers in the bedrooms can be great for lower humidity environments and/or seasons. However you must take good care to clean these regularly, otherwise you run the risk of mold. Hydrogen peroxide and water works great for that.
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Same goes with CPAP machines if you use those regularly.
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Regularly replace your filters on your furnace, and periodically get the ducts cleaned out.
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Consider getting your house tested for mold.
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Similarly get it tested for radon.
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Fragrances
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Do not use any air fresheners (Glade, Febreeze, air fresheners for cars, etc).
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Also take care to use only 100% natural candles and wicks.
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Always crack the windows anytime you burn anything (including natural incense).
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Use diffusers and essential oils for healthy scents.
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Do not use any unnatural fragrances on your body (most standard perfumes are chemical).
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Do not use any laundry detergent with fragrances (unless natural).
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EMFs/Technology use
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Know that Electromagnetic Frequencies are everywhere all around us and 100% have a consequence to our health.
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Never use a cell phone straight up to your head. Use speaker mode instead.
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Consider getting an EMF blocking case for your cell phone such as SafeSleeve.
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Take care when using ear buds, especially wireless ones. If you use these, there are devices you can stick onto them to redirect the signals away from your head.
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Try to avoid using wireless devices of any kind (mouses, keyboards, bluetooth, etc). If there is a wired alternative, that is always the healthier option.
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Use blue blocking glasses anytime you use a computer or laptop, especially during the evening hours.
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Set up automatic night shift (to a warmer color temperature in the evenings) for all your devices (laptops, computers, phones). Most have this feature built-in now.
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Consider switching away from LED lighting in your house, especially in the rooms you spend the most time in. Healthiest ones are actually the older incandescent bulbs or halogen. At the very least, do not use the white/blue color temperatures. Stay with the classic warmer temperature.
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Put your WIFI router on an outlet timer so it automatically shuts off at night when you’re not using it.
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Set up your bedroom to be a total sanctuary from EMFs (and toxins in general). You can read more on that in this guide.
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Mental detox
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Know that absolutely everything we expose our body to has a health consequence (either positive or negative).
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Take care of the TV, news, movies, games, and music you expose yourself to. Look at everything as if it were food (because just like food, everything is an input to your body/mind/spirit that has a direct consequence to how you feel). 99% of the time, the messaging in today’s mainstream world is negative (not always obvious) and subtly programs your subconscious and creates toxic thoughts. I cannot stress this enough. You don’t need to feel like you must keep up with the news to “stay informed and be a good citizen” like you’ve been told. We all more or less get how dark things are out there, we don’t need to be constantly reminded. This is a deep topic we can get into, but my main message is to let all that go.
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Know also that much of this stuff I’m asking you to let go of for your well-being you have actually an addiction to. There’s a part of you that cannot look away, even though you know it doesn’t make you feel more loving and connected to others. It has become your coping mechanism and cheap source of entertainment. But I’m asking you to let go to discover something far more profound and everlasting than all of this stuff that’s putting garbage into your head.
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Instead, replace your usual sources of entertainment with higher vibration content. Once you start looking, these sources will show up for you. Let me know if I may suggest anything, I would b
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Learn the concept of the ego. It is your conditioned self which you typically identify with. We all have it, but it is not who we actually are. Identifying with the ego and all of its fear-based thought processes and patterns is the root cause of all suffering and stress.
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Put more moments of silence in your day. Silence is the only opportunity to quiet the mind/ego down. It is also the way the Universe/God can be heard, as it only speaks in whispers.
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Seriously consider a daily practice of meditation for a healthy mindset. Here is a guide on how to start and why it is beneficial (I find that most people genuinely don’t understand why it’s worth doing, so at least have a look).
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With all this being said, part of a healthy mindset is to not worry about every little thing. I’ve now increased your awareness of how toxic our environment can be, but that does not mean we now have something new to worry about. Know that a conscious/connected mind can transcend all of this in a very physical way. So if you find yourself not being able to control every little circumstance, that’s totally okay. Do your best without any strain or effect, and then let the rest go.
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Other
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Learn about xenoestrogens. They are basically chemicals that get into our body from all the everyday products we use that disrupt our endocrine system and directly affect our estrogen balance among many other things. It’s one of the primary reasons why so many people have imbalances that can lead to more severe conditions such as cancer. Here is a small list just to give you an idea of how much of an issue this has become:
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Water (tap water and bathing), Pesticides, herbicides and insecticides, including glyphosate as found in conventional food, and even tampons, Cleaning products (home and industrial), Plastics (food, beverages, storage containers, non-food packaging and industrial plastics), Canned foods, Dental sealants, Receipts, Air and dust, Air fresheners, Laundry products (detergent, fabric softener, dryer sheets, etc.), Hair dyes, Nail polish and nail polish removers, Cosmetics, Personal care products (shampoo, conditioner, deodorant, moisturizer, body wash, etc.), Perfume, Sunscreen, Medical devices, Birth control pills, Toys, Building materials, Home furnishings (including furniture, carpets, window drapes, mattresses/foams, bedding), Photocopiers and printers, Artificial food dyes, and much more
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So on this topic, just know that it’s not all about the food we eat. Our environment is affecting our body in profound ways. This knowledge should naturally drive you away from all of those products we grew up with thinking they’re harmless just because we’re not directly eating them.
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Be careful when using any kind of pesticide, herbicide, fungicide, rodenticide, algicide in your own home. Many of us use these products without thinking (weed killers, roach sprays, mouse/rat poison, etc). We even invite people into our homes and lawns to do all of this for us. Know that there is always an alternative/natural way to do things.
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Use the EWG (Environmental Working Group) app to help you determine the safety of products
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In general, avoidance of all these toxic substances should be a different mindset to living in fear thinking all of nature is out to kill you. Make no mistake, most everything I’ve listed in this guide is man-made and synthetic/chemical. So what we’re doing here by avoiding or making better choices is returning back to nature. But I want to be clear it’s not the same mindset as those who fear bacteria, “germs”, and viruses are always out to kill them.. and so they go through great measures to kill the “bad guys” and protect themselves, which only weakens the body and does far more damage in the long run. If you want to protect yourself from natural born diseases, you focus on strengthening the body first and foremost. Don’t put your emphasis on hand sanitizers, masks, pharmaceutical drugs/vaccines, OTC drugs, and the stress that comes along with fearing all of nature and other people. All of this will make you sicker if this is your way of being healthy.
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If you have had any amalgam/silver/mercury fillings, you’ll want to have those safely removed by a biological dentist.
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Products made prior to the banning of lead in the late 1970’s will still contain it (paints, soldering for plumbing and cans, gasoline and pesticides).
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Many cosmetics today still contain lead (such as lipsticks).
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It’s a good idea to test your own body for high levels of accumulated toxins so you know what to focus on (mold, heavy metals, glyphosate, parasites/worms, dysbiosis as a result of toxins, etc).
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If you throw out any old medications or chemical products in your home to do so safely rather than put them in the trash or down the toilet. This is part of the reason why our water and soil has gotten so contaminated.
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If there’s anything you want to know about that I didn’t include in this guide, please ask and we can chat about it.
About The Author
Firoze Mehta is a Nutrition Therapist Master and Certified Hippocrates Health Educator® specializing in helping people with cancer. Whatever the health condition, Firoze helps others to learn the truth about health and disease, while providing the guidance and support of a personal coach. If you're interested in learning more, click here.