Weeding Out What Is Toxic In And Around Your Home

We take so much for granted, without realizing we might be eating, or breathing in what is referred to as “forever chemicals”. Most of these chemicals cannot even be pronounced. They are known to cause cancer, and are endocrine disruptors. These endocrine disruptors can mimic, and replace the natural hormones in our body leading to all kinds of health issues.

In previous posts I wrote about getting rid of, or reducing microplastics, and non-stick frying pans. Teflon, especially once the surface is damaged, will leach chemicals into your food. As soon as the pan becomes scratched or damaged, it must be discarded. This is not only expensive, but it is also adding to pollution of the environment.

If you replace those pans with stainless steel, or cast iron, you will have frying pans that don’t get scratched or damaged with regular use, and most of all will not permeate your food with toxic chemicals. Stainless steel comes in different grades or thicknesses. A good stainless steel pan will not warp, and will last decades. A good cast iron pan will outlive the original owner, and could last several generations. 

Next is getting rid of plastic storage containers as much as possible, and switching to borosilicate glass containers. This type of glass is resistant to thermal shock, can withstand heat, and can also be put into the freezer. Often the lids on the glass containers are made of plastic, but if you don’t overfill them, the food will not be touching the lid. You can also use wide mouth mason jars. They withstand both heat, and the freezer as well. They don’t stack as well as the uniform sized square borosilicate glass containers do. 

Plastic cutting boards not only put microplastics into your food, but the grooves from the knife cuts, collect bacteria. I use wood, keeping a separate cutting board for meat. I clean it using a brush, and hot soapy water with a bit of bleach, and then apply mineral oil. The board should be washed immediately after use, or at least rinsed with hot soapy water. 

Some people opt for granite cutting boards, but in my opinion, granite or any type of rock, is too hard on good knives. Bamboo will also damage knives because it is a hard wood, and also contains silica. The best wood for cutting boards is maple, walnut or cherry wood. 

In hindsight, I wish I would have paid more attention to the toxic household items a long time ago. But it is never too late to start eliminating these things.

Once you get your kitchen under control, there are many other things to avoid. Dryer sheets, and air fresheners are toxic. Both contain chemicals that you breathe in. Dryer sheets add those chemicals to your clothes, bedding and towels, so when those items are up close to your body, you are absorbing or breathing in those chemicals. Fabric softener is in the same genre, adding chemicals and fragrance to your clothes, and perhaps worst of all, your pillowcases, which are right next to your face all night long.

The same goes for air fresheners that mask the smell of things like kitty litter and garbage. However, instead of a raunchy smell, you are breathing in toxic fragrant chemicals.

Try using a smaller garbage container, and take the garbage out more often. If you have a compost bin and garden, it reduces the amount of garbage to a fraction of what it is otherwise. Natural air fresheners are baking soda, lavender and essential oils. You can also buy activated charcoal pads to put at the bottom of your garbage container to absorb odours. 

Don’t forget about tea bags. The bags themselves contain chemicals. Unfortunately when heat or boiling water is applied to something that has chemicals or microplastics, it will increase the likelihood of releasing them into what you are ingesting.

For tea drinkers, it is not easy to find loose leaf teas unless you live in a city with a good tea shop. You can order loose leaf teas online, which gives you the advantage of making your own tea blends.

Cleaning sprays, and antibacterial soaps are also toxic. Similar to pesticides, they don’t actually kill all bacteria or weeds, but just enough to make the bacteria or weed resistant, and more pervasive.

It is better to use mild soap, and water thus washing away most of the bacteria. For gardening, there are many natural sprays that deter bugs. I use a mix of calendula, citronella, neem oil, and a small amount of Castile soap. Recently I made a tea with food grade lavender buds, and added it to the mixture. It creates a pleasant non toxic smell when you are spraying the garden, and is also a cat deterrent, because they do not like the smell. Recently, I used it to chase away a squirrel who was descending on the community garden. He did not seem to like the smell of it either.

To battle noxious or invasive weeds like morning glory, a mixture of vinegar and salt, will keep it at bay. You have to be careful not to get it on any other plants, or into the soil. But it does reduce the invasiveness, and help with weed control.

Add scented candles to the list of toxic inhalation fumes, and opt for quality essential oils if you want to add aromas to your environment.

One of the worst, is microwave popcorn. The popcorn is inside a plastic lined bag for a dose of microplastics, and has a fake flavoured chemical laced pseudo butter. All those chemicals are heated up to give a blast of tasty toxins.

In fact the smell of microwave popcorn is so pervasive that many hospitals banned the use of it as a staff snack on night shift. It permeated throughout the entire building, and people complained about it, even if they were in a room twenty or thirty feet away. The smell was so strong you could smell it the minute you walked onto the ward, and throughout the entire ward. 

Popcorn is not unhealthy if it is made in a hot air popper, or on the stove top, using real butter, instead of flavoured fake butter. The problem with the hot air poppers, is that the top portion is made of plastic. Therefore the overall best way to make popcorn is the old fashioned way, on the stove top. You can get a stainless steel pot, called a Whirley Pop with a mechanism that lets you stir the popcorn, instead of having to shake it. For those with gas burners, or ceramic stove tops, you can’t shake popcorn on the stove top. 

The Whirley Pop is a large pot used only for popcorn, so it is not practical in terms of the space it takes, unless you use it often. It’s too bad they don’t make a stainless steel hot air popper. I think it is unlikely that microplastic from a hard plastic cover on a hot air popper would get into the popcorn. After all, the popcorn is not heated in the plastic, and only comes in contact with it for a few seconds. The key is to buy a popper that is good quality, and heat the butter in a separate metal container on the stove. 

Another one I just recently learned about is plastic shower curtains. To be honest, it never even crossed my mind that a plastic shower curtain could be harmful. I mean, it’s not like you wrap yourself up in the shower curtain. Any water that hits it would run down the drain, not bounce all over the place hitting you with shower curtain chemicals. We could get carried away!

However, I have read the better options are to use hemp, linen, or shower curtains with the OEKO-TEX label, which is supposedly free of harmful chemicals. With a name like that, somehow I doubt it. I fail to see how hemp or linen would keep from getting soaked, and soaking the floor, unless it has a plastic liner. I suppose the ideal thing is to have glass shower doors. 

But then again, you would be surprised at how many people have had serious injuries, or even death associated with falls inside showers with glass doors.

So, it’s a toss up. If you don’t have glass doors, just be sure you don’t bury your head in the plastic shower curtain. If you do have glass doors, maybe put up a grab bar, and hold onto it while you take a shower! Either way, sing – but don’t dance in the shower. You could stir up those chemicals, or fall and cut yourself. 

One thing to be aware of is that companies will claim something is BPA free, but it may simply mean the chemical structure has been altered somewhat, so it changes the chemical name. It might be BPA free, but still have a list of chemicals you cannot pronounce. 

It is wise to evaluate all cleaning products in your cupboard, and how they are being used. Does your bathtub or toilet really need something so strong it gives you a headache? We also have to keep in mind that all those cleaning products are getting washed down the drain.

It might be better to pour the cleaner onto a sponge, as opposed to spraying it. If using a spray, make sure the area is well ventilated.

Often we can clean things like windows, floors, bath tubs etc. with just hot water and some dish detergent, or Castile soap. We don’t really need all those chemicals, unless there is mold or tough stains. It is better to clean more frequently, with a mild solution, than to wait, and go with the nuclear option.

Castile soap works for all kinds of cleaning, and is probably the least toxic soap you can find. It is also good for washing pesticides off fresh produce, or for soaking fresh picked blackberries, before rinsing and freezing. You can use it for laundry, in the garden, and just about anything. 

We also use a wide range of cosmetics, shampoos, lotions, sunscreens, mosquito repellants. moisturizers etc. that might be toxic. We tend to think of the liver as being the largest organ, but the skin is actually the largest organ in the body. Everything that goes onto the skin, gets absorbed into the body. 

Just like the air we breathe enters our body, whatever we put on our skin also enters our body. When it comes to cosmetics, expensive is not always better. Some of the most expensive brands are loaded with chemicals. You can find lists online that give you the chemical content of most cosmetic brands. 

It is a good idea to put a magnifying glass in your bag for when you go shopping. You cannot really trust the label as you see it in large print. It is the fine print that lets you know if there is a list of chemicals, sulphites, MSG, and various neurotoxins.

When you start reading the labels, you will notice that you can find yogurt, olives, sauerkraut etc. without the chemicals. Yet the bottle sitting beside it, does have chemicals. Without reading the labels, you would never know which one has the least chemicals, or sometimes none at all. 

We cannot eliminate all the toxins, but we can reduce them. We can also look at ways to improve ventilation when cleaning, and find more natural alternatives. The more water we drink, the more we can help to flush out toxins before they become established.

The human body is amazingly resilient. Being aware of toxins, so that we reduce or cut down on them should not cause us anxiety. If so, we could easily become paranoid, which can be just as toxic to our health, but in a different way. 

Most toxins are insidious. They might contribute to fatigue, auto-immune disorders, respiratory disorders and infections, brain fog, and various other health problems with unknown causes. 

As with most things, it helps to trust our intuition, and senses. If it smells strong, either with a chemical smell or a heavy fragrance, it is probably not good. If it makes us cough, or our eyes water, leave the room, or open a window. 

We pay a heavy price just trying to get clean.

Remember – nothing beats fresh air, plain water, and whole foods.