What Is Non Toxic Living? Where Do I Start?

New to living a clean, crunchy, natural, or nontoxic lifestyle and don’t know where to start? Wondering what “non toxic” even means and what living a conscious lifestyle even entails? Wanting to live clean, but not sure what products are actually safe and what’s not?? Then this blog post is for you!

Chances are you’ve heard someone say, “You need to avoid all toxins!” or “there’s so many chemicals we’re putting on our skin everyday and that’s bad!” and don’t forget “the word fragrance on a label is always terrible!!”

Well that’s the greenwashed version. It’s highly inaccurate, misguided, and loaded with fear mongering.

I’m going to give you the correct version, that’s actually backed by facts, science, studies, and legitimate experiences in an effort to educate, encourage, and support you!

Start with these videos below…

Ok what have we learned? Let’s recap.

What is non toxic living video:

• US regulations on products, compared to other countries (like the EU), are very broad and there’s not many of them
• the FDA is a joke when it comes to recalling products and monitoring companies and products being sold
• while many scientists will tell you “the body of evidence shows these ingredient’s to be safe and there is no correlation between human health and products we use” etc, they are only looking at what majority of studies are saying and ignoring the minority of studies showing connections and potential problems (yes, evidence supporting harm from ingredients is often minority of what studies show today)
• follow the money though, and you’ll find some conflicts of interest like Big Pharma funding most of med school and scientific studies etc
• doctors are taught to treat symptoms, not find the root cause, prescribe medications, and get little to no nutritional training
• our country’s medical system is set up to incentivize keeping people sick and needing to stay on medications, (lifelong customers), not healing them
• the “holistic” and “non toxic” world, if you will, believes that everything is connected, from the food that we eat, to our environments etc
• even though doctors and scientists etc will say there’s no connection and “correlation does not equal causation”, they also can’t explain why there’s a consistent upwards trend in health issues like autoimmune diseases, skin problems, allergies etc.
• Greenwashing term: “chemical free” is inaccurate and fear mongering because everything is a chemical. Food is a chemical, water is a chemical…essential oils are chemicals. You can never “get rid of all chemicals” That’s impossible. (For more information on this, check this post out where I brake it down more)
• Greenwashing term: “toxins”…”toxin” has no set definition and can mean different things to different people. It over simplifies it.
• it’s not possible to “get rid of all toxins” you could be exposed to…that’s not the goal…we are exposed to numerous harmful things on the daily we can’t control
• Goal of living a more “natural”, “clean”, or “conscious” lifestyle: to reduce the toxic load on our bodies (this verbiage is even used by WHO, EPA etc
• often times the quickest way something harmful get’s in our bloodstreams/ in our bodies is through our olfactory sensors, not through our skin barrier
• when determining safety of ingredients, you can never fully account for everything someone is exposed to and what someone’s “toxicity threshold” is. (how much one person’s body is able to expel and detox out naturally through liver, kidneys etc)
• everyone’s toxicity threshold is different and is determined by SO MANY FACTORS
• route of exposure of a substance makes all the difference in how your body will detox it out

6 things i wish i knew video:

• every small thing you change makes a difference because it’s reducing your toxic load
• it’s more about reducing continued exposure over a long period of time
• think of it like draining a tank of water…everything you do drains it a little more each time and makes a difference
• don’t be too hard on yourself for the decisions you made in the past that you now wish you could change. The best thing you can do is just be informed and make the best decision that you can with the knowledge that you have now.
• if all you can do now is change out one product at a time, do that!! You’re moving in the right direction and that matters more then how fast you’re moving.
• Don’t trust everything the EWG, Think Dirty, or other big bloggers say. For more info on this, check out the video I did on this topic.
• no, your skin doesn’t absorb 60% of what we out on it (see post about this here)
• no, it doesn’t take 26 seconds for every single chemical to get into your bloodstream (see post about this here)
• one easy way to start switching out products is just to replace the next one you’re running out of anyway.
• if you’re a parent, I’d recommend focusing on switching your kid’s products and what they are exposed to first!
• listen to your body
• the food we eat is very important, even if you can’t afford organic food…still aim to eat mostly fruits, veggies, non processed foods etc! More whole foods!
• don’t label read, brand research!! (here’s a video I did breaking this concept down more)
• my goal is to show you both sides and inform as best I can so you can then make the best most information decision that works for you and your family!

I hope this helped you clear up some common misconceptions and greenwashing terms, and better informed you to make the best decision for you and your fmaily!

Comment with what information was new to you or if you have any further questions!!

Seek Truth & Live Free