A journey towards toxic-free living requires healthy respect of the toxins that exist in the foods you eat, the cleaning agents or hygienic products you use every day is a good thing. We have advanced so much in the products we have created, improvements in hygiene, technological advances in household appliances, sanitation, health care, medication. 

Unfortunately, at some point we crossed a line! The benefits we saw to our health, our life expectancy turned a corner, and we began to cause issues we had not really seen before. Inflammatory disease is huge, cancers are at an all-time high, autism is diagnosed in approximately 1 in every 100 children, life expectancy has declined, and we are in the midst of a viral pandemic.

Do you struggle with concentration, brain fog, memory, headaches, vertigo? You may not realise it but the constant use of toxins in the products you use around the home could be to blame!

Are you suffering with inflammatory bowel disease, hormonal imbalances, cancer?

Unless you are already choosing to buy natural products you will be absorbing toxins. This may be by breathing them in from spray products, fire retardant furniture, absorbing them through foods you are eating via preservatives or from containers they are packaged in, utensils you cook them in, as well as absorbing them through your skin from you shower gel, shampoo, skin care products. 

Everything we use, eat, touch has harmful toxins in, and these are damaging our health!

How do begin to live a non-toxic lifestyle? By stopping and assessing what we eat, how we clean, what we put on our bodies not only can we benefit our health, but we can benefit our planet. I would highly recommend David Attenborough’s latest documentary, A Life on Our Planet. It is very sobering to see how we have destroyed our planet and it is time to make changes whilst we still can.

Thankfully from a health point of view, our bodies are designed to detox themselves and by gradually replacing products and changing what we eat we can reverse the affects.

Here are some areas to consider to start to live naturally, don’t try and do it all at once but gradually replace things. Removing toxins from your environment is a journey, not something that just happens.

• Drink more water: this helps to flush out the toxins. It is good to filter your water to reduce the toxins in it. This could be a simple charcoal filter that you pop into a jug, they are cheap to buy and just need a boil once a week for 10 minutes. Avoid plastic bottles though as these are contaminated by the chemicals in the plastic. Invest in a glass bottle for taking out. https://greentees.co/product/reusable-drinks-glass-bottle/?attribute_colour=Blue+Black+Sleeve&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIrtzT3-nN7gIV2-vtCh1BSwOmEAQYBSABEgIBqvD_BwE
• Replace toxic cleaners with natural products: bicarbonate of soda, white vinegar, salt, essential oils are great for creating your own. More natural products are appearing on the market, you can use an app called Think Dirty to check how ‘clean’ a product is. Use refillable shops as most stock natural products and you can reduce your plastic waste at the same time. Here’s a simple recipe to help you get started, using all natural products that are better for you and the environment.

• Replace your personal care products with natural products: deodorants have been shown to increase your risk of breast cancer, natural shampoos will actually improve your hair. 
• Detox your diet: buy organic and always wash your food this will reduce the ingestion of pesticides, hormones and antibiotics, reduce processed foods that are full of sugar, preservatives and food dyes.
• Reduce the amount of meat you eat, buy organic, grass-fed where possible. This will also help reduce the effects of greenhouse gasses on our planet as the numbers of livestock are reduced.
• Eat more vegetables and fruit: not only will this reduce the hormones and antibiotics you are ingesting but it will help your body detox, boost your gut function and improve your immune system. Consider starting to grow your own if you have an outdoor space. Even if you only have a balcony you could plant up a tub with herbs, tomatoes, strawberries.
• Look at gradually replacing your cookware, avoid aluminium and Teflon.
• Consider the products and technology in your home: fire-retardant chemicals used in our furnishings give off a lot of toxins as does the technology we use.
• Reduce chemical products used in the garden: weedkillers, pesticides whilst making our gardens easier to manage are damaging to the wildlife as well as affecting the flowers and vegetables we grow. There are natural ways to protect your plants without destroying other import wildlife. Did you know that broken eggshells can be effective in reducing slug damage?

My journey to simpler, more toxic-free living started at the end of 2018 when I discovered doTERRA essential oils. I started to use them initially to support my health as I was suffering badly with respiratory infections. The improvements were significant and opened my eyes to the effects that large doses of synthetic medication and antibiotics had been having on my health. It also made me curious and I started to learn more about how the toxins in my home were also playing a part. 

Having initially removed the synthetic medication, everything from pain killers to antidepressants I set about replacing one thing at a time. First, my spray cleaners, my laundry detergent, my deodorant https://www.mydoterra.com/ShoppingCart/index.cfm?FuseAction=CategoryShop&CategoryID=9976 and I just kept going. All my products are now non-toxic and as bigger items need replacing I am going for the more natural options. There is definitely still room for improvement in my diet but most meals are cooked from scratch, a lot more vegetables and less sugar in there, more plant-based milk and healthier oils like coconut.

We need to take a long, hard look at everything we do, everything we use, everything we buy and look at making changes. If we start to change our buying habits, then manufacturers will have no choice but to make changes! We live on an amazing planet and our bodies are an incredible piece of engineering let’s start to respect them both and change the tide back towards a healthier way of living.

The eco journey has been fun and I can 100% say my health and well-being has improved dramatically. I am still learning, still replacing, I am looking forward to growing more of my own fruit and veg this year. I hope this has inspired you to take your own journey. Look out for future blogs about how to use essential oils as part of a more environmentally friendly lifestyle.