Free + Easy Baby Steps to Healthier Living
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Free and Easy Baby Steps to Healthier Living sounds almost too good to be true. Just hear me out.
Before I get to the WHAT to do - let me explain the WHY.
Cancer is a very real threat in our society.
1 in 2 men and 1 in 3 women will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime. If I think too long about how many people I know battling cancer or recently died from cancer it makes me so sad.
Not all cancer is related to what goes in or on the body… yet the food we eat and the products we use MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN OUR HEALTH.
Thyroid Condition? Properly Regulated Hormones?
A healthy functioning thyroid is crucial for balanced hormones which allow:
energy
mental clarity
balanced weight
(lack of) mood swings
regular menstrual cycle, libido
continuous sleep (but not too much)
bowel movement at least once a day
A Story
A friend recently had her thyroid removed. I asked if the physicians recommended avoiding hormone disrupting personal care products, since a hormone regulating organ had been removed.
I received a deer in the head lights look.
Honestly I wasn’t surprised because physicians are trained to remove symptoms, often by prescribing pharmaceuticals instead of getting to the root cause (why is the thyroid not functioning properly in the first place?)
The first 15 minutes of the interview is jaw dropping with Dr. Casey Means, Standford-educated surgeon who quit. It’s also on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
Avoid these to prevent disregulation:
Parabens
Fragrance
Triclosan
Phthalates
1. Parabens
Look for propylparaben, benzylparaben, methyl- paraben, or butylparaben on labels. Used in many personal care products as a preservative, parabens are to be avoided, especially if you have a family history of breast cancer.
One study found a correlation between lower circulating thyroid hormone levels in adults with higher urine paraben levels, with the strongest and most consistent associations among females.
Pregnant women may want to be particularly careful because, in another study, parabens were associated with altered reproductive and thyroid hormone levels during pregnancy.
Paraben exposure isn’t segmented to female hormone disruption, it is also a very real and present danger for men. Parabens have been proven to lower testosterone as well.
2. Stop Using Fragrance
The word fragrance is legally protected under federal law classification of trade secrets and therefore can remain undisclosed. Fragrances may contain any combination of 3,000-plus stock chemical ingredients, including hormone disruptors and allergens. Often formaldehyde, a known carcinogen, is included in fragrances.
Free Way to be Fragrance-Free
One free way to be fragrance-free is don’t buy air fresheners. Stop using fabric softener. These are free and easy baby steps. Better for you and the environment.
As a child, I got headaches. As an adult I’ve been able to make the correlation that fragrances give me headaches. It is my body’s signal that toxins are invading my system.
I’ve made it my personal ministry to unplug air-fresheners in public places. Notably in bathrooms. In cars I ask the driver to unplug them. At times cracked the window for fresh air lest I get a migraine.
When going to someone’s house, who uses strong fragrances, I have messaged in advanced and said something to the effect of, “I know people love to use candles this time of year but I’m especially sensitive to fragrances. Would it be possible not to light candles when I come?”
I was in a classroom recently and could hardly focus because the air freshener. I felt a migraine coming on. I searched out the plug-in and asked the teacher if I could un-plug it. He said, “Yes, and there’s another over there. Those things are bad for us, aren’t they?”
Note: If you like the ambiance of candles, try beeswax candles. They actually clean the air as they burn. Or diffuse essential oils. Be sure to use therapeutic grade and not just any grocery store oil.
3. Triclosan and triclocarban
The CDC has found them in the urine of 75 percent of people tested, due to widespread use of antimicrobial cleaning products (also antimicrobial soaps). Washing hands without antimicrobial soaps still removes bacteria!
Triclosan has been linked to hormone disruption, development of antibacterial resistance, and environmental concerns. In the same study as mentioned above regarding parabens and thyroid, the same researchers also noted that triclosan exposures may be associated with altered thyroid hormone levels in humans.
This is another easy switch (or cease).
I found Ecos dish soap at Wal-Mart (surely it’s at other stores as well) and is what I use for dishes and hands. My #1 preference for hands is a locally made bar soap. Dr. Bronners sells a bar soap at Wal-Mart too.
4. Phthalates
Phthalates, pronounced THAL-ates, are a group of chemicals used to improve the flexibility and durability of plastics. Some are used as stabilizers in personal care products and cosmetics.
Phthalates are found:
Plastic food wrap and packaging
Soft plastic food containers
Cosmetics and personal care products
Tampons and other feminine hygiene products
Fragrances in perfumes, personal care products, and many household products
Air fresheners (plug-ins, sprays, and reed diffusers)
Hair spray
Nail polish
Adhesives
Paints
PVC mini-blinds
Free and easy: reduce plastic exposure and usage. Use glass when possible for food storage, or drink from glass or stainless steel.
**Did you notice the commonality with fragrance in the list above?
It’s not just bad for women. Phthalates reduce testosterone production in men and bioavailability, decrease sperm production and motility, shorten anogenital distance, and increased odds of genital anomalies. Source.
Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell
About 80-90% of ingredients commonly used in personal care products have never been tested for human safety. The laws governing the beauty industry are woefully out of date. The US has not updated the cosmetics code since 1938!
I asked an employee at an eco-friendly store about the ingredients of their candle, and did it have fragrance in it? She said, “I’m sure it doesn’t because this company only uses healthy things.”
She couldn’t, however, produce an ingredient list and I wasn’t willing to trust her company without reading an ingredient list. It is very difficult to create lasting scent without parabens or pthlates.
Companies can label their products “natural”, “organic” without regulation. A product can have 1 organic ingredient in it and be labeled organic. There is no minimum percentage of ingredients in a product to deem it organic or natural. (This is called “Greenwashing.”)
A Free Resource
Environmental Working Group Skin Deep website (third party testing organization) and their app called EWG’s Healthy Living. Here’s a one minute video I made that shows how to use the site. I highly recommend downloading the Healthy Living App to see how the products you use most frequently are rated.
Health in Your Own Hands
The beauty industry makes billions. It is their best interest to keep us in the dark. It is an industry that is largely unregulated. They are the one who continue to profit by using cheap and caustic ingredients. We are the ones who suffer.
Take your health in your own hands. Read labels. Reduce toxicity. Find one free and easy baby step from the article above to make a change, today.
What I Use
I’ve been taking baby steps for about 17 years now. Some days it feels like one step forward, two steps back. But I’m always thinking, asking, learning and reading labels.
There have been lots of switches over the years. Many swaps have come per the recommendations of friends. Some things, like dryer sheets and plug-in air fresheners, I just stopped using all together (free and easy). Other things I bought several iterations before I found one that actually worked.
For hair products, about three years I switched to Innersense Organics per the recommendation of a crunchy hairstylist friend. They work and smell good without using fragrances.
Most of my skin care and makeup was from Beautycounter because of their Never List™, which was made up of more than 2,800 questionable or harmful chemicals that are never used as ingredients in products. That company closed in April and isn’t reopening until 2025, if at all.
In the meantime, I’ve partnered with Crunchi and Arbonne. Both have restriction lists — they have done the hard work of eliminating toxins from their ingredient lists so I don’t have to scour for safety.
Today through September 2, Crunchi has free shipping.
If there’s a cleaner switch that you’ve tried and found unsuccessful, reply to this email and maybe I could help you find a solution.
Start with things you use most frequently and come into contact with your skin with regularity. The skin is our largest organ.
Cheering you on for better health,
Julie