THE PLACE WE LIFE IN – HEALTHY AT HOME
“Don’t blow it - good planets are hard to find”.
We can look at the environment in a bigger sense on a planetary level and also look at the environment in a smaller sense, as in your environment at home. We can look at what you use or not use in your home, which may affect your health and the health of the planet as a whole. Any bigger changes start with the small things we do in our daily lives; often we do not realise their consequences or effects. Let’s go through a few daily items in the house and then we move on to a more food-related chapter which is Salt.
Almost all products - food, drinks, personal care, cleaning products and household goods in the shops are full of all kinds of man-made synthetic chemicals and additives. Initially, introduction of some of those chemicals gave us more freedom in our way of life to store and preserve foods for longer, to help us to make us look good quickly, to clean the house more efficiently and get new carpets and plastic shower curtains at low cost. But over time our lives have been overwhelmed with a long list of toxic synthetic chemicals, preservatives, colorants, flavourings and additives all in small doses from various products we eat, use or have in the house around us. Many of these synthetic chemicals don’t easily break down in nature (or not at all) and have not been tested for long-term effects or combined effects on the human body. All of these toxic chemicals are becoming more and more of a burden to our body and the planet.
Many types of food, personal care products and cleaning products include dangerous toxic substances which have been allowed into manufacturing as long as they are within certain “safety limits”. But what is safe and what is the effect of all those, so called, “safe limit” products combined on a daily basis?
More and more problems are arising because our bodies have been exposed to so many foreign substances which are simply draining our energy and wear us down quicker. The body starts showing unexplained diseases, allergies, more frequent headaches and these foreign substances may even result in birth defects. Therefore it’s good to have a critical look around in your living environment, your house, to see what potentially can damage your health over time.
First of all, we have already looked at the importance of eating natural organic grown food which positively influences your body directly. Second, our skin is our most exposed organ and constantly breathing and absorbing all that it comes in contact with. We have a natural body so it makes sense to treat it with the most natural products possible, but still we use all kinds of skin care products by big brands that are often full of different types of synthetic materials such as parabens, petro-chemicals, artificial colourings, dangerous aerosols and sometimes produced with the help of animal testing.
Different types of parabens act as preservatives in skincare products, deodorants and cosmetics. These parabens enter your skin and cannot be properly processed by the body and then end up getting stored in your fat cells permanently. These parabens have been linked to various causes of cancers but are still being legally used. Apart from serious diseases, many artificial components in “personal care” products actually contribute to personal discomfort such as recurring headaches and migraine.
All those chemicals get absorbed by our skin or we breathe it in. It almost becomes equal to, as if you were eating it. For example, look at the skin care labels to see how many scarysounding products are on the label and imagine that on your dinner plate?
Most mainstream, big brand skin care products are full of synthetic chemicals which actually are trying to mimic the original beauty and cleansing products from nature that have worked for thousands of years. These synthetic skin products are being sold by using trendy looking marketing ads and campaigns, so we are willing to pay more for something that natural products actually will do better and usually at lower cost. But we have lost sight of what natural options are available to us and what they can do. Try to look out for more of the original natural time-tested skin products, do some of your own research and start with well-known ones such as for example aloe vera, coconut oil, cacao and so on, basically if you can’t eat it , don’t put it on your face!
The more natural the products are the better for you and the planet.
Luckily now more and more people are buying products, which specifically show signs on the labels stating: free from parabens, free from preservatives, free from colorants, with natural ingredients, essential oils of plants and flowers and have various green accreditations. It is simple to look at some more natural products or even make your own skin range. For example take a spoon of organic cacao powder and a spoon of betonite clay, both available in health food shops, mix some water in it, stir it around and you get a clay mixture you can use for a 10 minutes face mask to detox and re-mineralise your facial skin. Afterwards put on some coconut oil to moisturize or aloe vera gel directly from an aloe plant and your face will glow and radiate with health as if you had a refreshing natural face lift, without adding any chemicals in your body and with all the goodness from nature.
Bring some natural lavender into the home to enhance the atmosphere with its warm colour and soothing fragrance. Lavender comes from the Latin root “Lavare” which means” to wash”. Essential oil distilled from lavender is a popular natural ingredient used in many soaps and skin range products
Look also at your deodorant, is that an aerosol spray bottle? Every day you will breathe in a little bit of the sprayed chemicals, and this aerosol also contributes to global warming. A better option is a roll-on stick, that does not spray anything in the air and has the option to be refilled , does not contain items such as parabens, alcohol, aluminium chlorohydrate and which works perfectly well with eco-friendly natural products such as aloe vera and tea tree oil, controlling odour, letting the skin breathe and disinfect naturally. By the way the more natural and healthy your diet becomes and the more natural products you start using, all that will contribute to a better more natural healthy body odour and perspiration regulation. Smell good and taste good naturally…
“The body is your temple. Keep it pure and clean for the soul to reside in”.
After the natural foods and natural care products which you use, what else is there in the house?
Often we have a lot of cleaning products under the kitchen sink, these are really toxic. Even though the plastic cleaning bottle is closed they still off-gas all kind of toxic fumes into your house. Think about when you do cleaning with these toxic products, you do breathe it in and often get skin contact with a lot of those chemical cleaners. Here again, nature has so many natural products available that do a good cleaning job without harming your health or the Earth.
Several new brands of cleaning products have emerged on the markets in the recent years using pure natural ingredients such as lemon, vinegar, eucalyptus, tea tree oil and essential oils, all anti-bacterial, anti-microbial and antiseptic and at the same time efficiently dig in to grease and dirt. Another benefit is that, should a child by accident get in touch with such natural cleaning products, then the health results for the child are a lot less dramatic than the seriously-damaging effects of the mainstream chemical cleaning products most people have in the house.
I use these new brand natural cleaning products myself now and don’t feel so bad when I clean the bathroom and freely spray around a substance of vinegar, lemon or tea tree oil, and it really does the cleaning job.
I think the big chemical companies that traditionally have produced the standard welladvertised cleaning products have now started realising the benefits of “all-natural” products and the growing public demand for it. Especially the new emerging natural brands which highlight the benefits of all natural products making the established more chemical brands look dangerous. Therefore, these big brands have to counter-act that public perception by presenting themselves as being more natural and eco-friendly while dismissing the natural cleaning products as not being efficient somehow. Often it results in adding some eco-friendly claims and updating labels with a green sign on it but not much more...
It is difficult for traditional profitable chemical companies to go more natural because therein they admit their products are damaging to you. Much of the cleaning products end up in the water system through sewage systems, So how do you indirectly want to influence your tap water? My advice is, look for the most natural eco-friendly cleaning products out there, it is good for you and good for the planet
After the products we are using, now have a look around in your house to see what items you are regularly being exposed to and which could give off negative chemical effects ? Many cheaper types of carpets, paints and plastic shower curtains for example are known to off-gas chemicals which are harmful, if you buy a carpet, check what base is used, read the labels of the paint before repainting your bedroom and try out a cotton or hemp-based shower curtain. If you want to go even further, check what bed sheets are you using, are they polyester based or organic cotton? I know that it sounds like everything might be bad and dangerous, but don’t let it depress you or put you off thinking “so what”…? It’s all about gradually making small changes in your living environment and regarding the products you use, from less chemical to more natural. Those small changes will greatly contribute to your well-being over time. Look after the place you live in, your home…
“Home, the spot of Earth supremely blest. A dearer, sweeter spot than all the rest”
Now get some cacao powder and try out that face mask or rub on some coconut oil to treat your skin before we move on to the amazing salt chapter.