One of a few healthy lifestyle modalities the Mind + Body Project will firmly advocate, is clean-living. As a mother of children with congenital birth defects, holistic health professional and Young Living sponsor, I’ve spent YEARS researching household, personal care, and food product ingredients, safety regulations, quality standards, oversight, etc. and in most cases, I’ve been disappointed by the findings.
The Clean-Living Lifestyle is really more of a preventative healthcare measure than anything else. Simply recognizing that we can take some control back over the amount of harmful synthetic chemicals and toxins our body comes in contact with everyday, can be a life-altering start. It's important to acknowledge that our bodies work very hard to filter these toxins and adapt to their endocrine-disrupting effects every single day, and since autoimmune disease, various cancers, neurological disorders, allergies, obesity, reproductive health, etc., continue to be on the rise, it's obvious that our bodies could use some help from our brains.
The inconvenient truth is simply that our bodies are NOT capable of filtering out all of the toxins we come in contact with, so those toxins build up in our organs, and damage cells and all of our systems, including hormone balance, metabolism, even altering brain chemistry! The time to start working towards clean-living is NOW, not tomorrow.
Because detoxing everything at once is both incredibly overwhelming and can be expensive, I suggest working on this all year long. Here are some tips and guidelines to help you get started.
Is living clean more expensive?
Yes. Sometimes it can be. However, the theory that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, pretty much solves the expense dilemma. In fact, 5 years ago, I was 20 lbs heavier than I am now, and even though I still struggle to overcome some bad habits, the simple act of detoxing my life, has improved my skin, hair, hormone balance, mood, focus, digestive health and metabolic rate. Even better, this one lifestyle change has benefited my entire family.
I will continue to put a lot of focus on this lifestyle and provide solutions for toxin problems as we go along. Please don’t hesitate to ask for help and guidance as you get going!
The Clean-Living Lifestyle is really more of a preventative healthcare measure than anything else. Simply recognizing that we can take some control back over the amount of harmful synthetic chemicals and toxins our body comes in contact with everyday, can be a life-altering start. It's important to acknowledge that our bodies work very hard to filter these toxins and adapt to their endocrine-disrupting effects every single day, and since autoimmune disease, various cancers, neurological disorders, allergies, obesity, reproductive health, etc., continue to be on the rise, it's obvious that our bodies could use some help from our brains.
The inconvenient truth is simply that our bodies are NOT capable of filtering out all of the toxins we come in contact with, so those toxins build up in our organs, and damage cells and all of our systems, including hormone balance, metabolism, even altering brain chemistry! The time to start working towards clean-living is NOW, not tomorrow.
Because detoxing everything at once is both incredibly overwhelming and can be expensive, I suggest working on this all year long. Here are some tips and guidelines to help you get started.
- Start in one room of the house and as you use the old product, research a clean, plant-based, substitution before you purchase more of it. Use our Essential Living Facebook Group to help with this! Then move to another room in the house.
- Pick up all of your household and personal care products and food packages and study the labels. If there is a list of 5+ ingredients and only 1 or 2 sound recognizable, you’ve got a toxic product in your hands.
- Check out the list of "common toxins" and avoid using any product that contains them. I use www.ewg.org to assist in learning about the worst offenders, but I will post a list in the files section of this group later this month as well.
- Avoid “FRAGRANCE” of any kind unless is comes from the actual plant (this means the ingredients must include the actual plant name and NOT include the word “fragrance.”) Yes, use Young Living essential oils instead. They will actually help cleanse cells and repair damage while deodorizing and uplifting emotions -- double win!
- Try to eat organic, unprocessed, uncured, and unpasteurized food when possible, especially produce, meat, and dairy.
- Stop purchasing food from the center aisles of the grocery store (processed, pre-packaged, and highly-preserved foods with long shelf lives, high in sodium and very low in nutritional value).
- Limit (or eliminate) consumption of refined sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, and artificial sweeteners. (sodas and other sugary drinks are big offenders!)
- Try to reduce your use of plastics (especially if you’re heating food in plastic). Even BPA-Free plastic has recently shown to be highly toxic!
- Throw away candles, sprays, plug-ins, etc. The synthetic fragrance just is NOT worth the damage. Trust me.
Is living clean more expensive?
Yes. Sometimes it can be. However, the theory that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, pretty much solves the expense dilemma. In fact, 5 years ago, I was 20 lbs heavier than I am now, and even though I still struggle to overcome some bad habits, the simple act of detoxing my life, has improved my skin, hair, hormone balance, mood, focus, digestive health and metabolic rate. Even better, this one lifestyle change has benefited my entire family.
I will continue to put a lot of focus on this lifestyle and provide solutions for toxin problems as we go along. Please don’t hesitate to ask for help and guidance as you get going!
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