Did you know?
- The average home has about 62 toxic chemicals lurking within! And many of them are found in typical cleaning sprays, gels, aerosols, and liquids.
- Dust alone can contain up to 45 chemicals, including phthalates and flame retardants.
- Harmful chemicals in your home can contribute to toxic overload. The accumulation of pollutants and contaminants in our bodies begins before we’re even born. Tests revealed a total of 287 chemicals in the umbilical cord blood. Of the 287 chemicals detected, we know that 180 cause cancer in humans or animals, 217 are toxic to the brain and nervous system, and 208 cause birth defects or abnormal development in animal tests.
- Chemicals are literally everywhere. Some of them quickly come and go, while others can hang out in our cells, tissues, blood, bones and organs for decades.
When You first start researching chemicals and toxins, it can be so overwhelming and honestly, a little frightening. You start out with Baby Steps, and little by little, make smarter choices. There are many options out there If you take the time to look.
If you would like to make a change, here are 5 chemicals I want you to start with…
- Phthalates – chemicals used to make plastics more flexible and harder to break. They’re used in everything from household cleaners to food packaging to fragrance, cosmetics, and personal-care products. Most studies have shown that they are endocrine disrupting chemicals that mimic estrogen and disrupt hormones, damage to kidney/liver, birth defects, decreased sperm count and altered development in genitals.
- BPA – a chemical used to make certain plastics and resins since the 60’s. It’s found in H20 bottles and epoxy resins. It is a known endocrine disruptor that can imitate the body’s hormones, and it can interfere with the production, secretion, transport, action, function, and elimination of natural hormones. It behaves in a similar way to estrogen and other hormones in the human body.
- Formaldehyde – a colorless, flammable, strong-smelling chemical that is used in making building materials and many household products. You will also find this in embalming fluid. It’s a respiratory irritant that causes chest pain, shortness of breath, coughing, and nose and throat irritation. It can also cause cancer, and has been linked to an increased risk of asthma and allergies in kids.
- Parabens – chemicals used as preservative in cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and food. They are endocrine-disrupting chemicals that mimic the activity of estrogen in the body’s cells. Often found present in breast cancer tumors.
- Fragrance – acts as a loophole on the FDA ‘s regulation of personal care products. Cosmetic companies can mask a huge range of synthetic chemicals under this label. Companies are not required to list the ingredients under this label and it gives them the opportunity to add in cost affect, but toxic chemicals to make their scent better than natural. 80% of these secret chemicals are not tested for human safety in our personal care products. Many of them are linked to allergic reactions and hormone disruption.
I hope this can help shed some light on a few of the chemicals that are found in our every day products we use. We are not a “toxic free” home, but I am trying to weed out the toxins little by little. If we eliminate some of these harmful chemicals from entering our body, we can keep from being in “toxic overload” and our cells can detox the way God intended.
Always remember to keep things in perspective. We live in a world that the very air we breathe can be toxic. We can’t keep from being exposed, but we can help our body with feeding it the right nutrition and limiting the toxins. It all starts with baby steps!
Keep Shining,
Star
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