5 Ways Your Home Is Making You Sick (and What You Can Do About It)
If you’re feeling tired and anxious all the time or your kids are constantly getting sick, your home may be aggravating these issues. Find out 5 specific ways your home is currently making you sick and what you must get rid of to transform your health, boost immunity, and restore calm and peace back into your home!
Up until a few years ago, I was probably the last person to believe you if you said that my home was making me sick.
I kept a clean house and ate a pretty healthy diet and by all medical standards, I was doing everything right to keep my family healthy and happy.
Little did I realize that being “clean” or being medically compliant didn’t necessarily mean that I was being healthy–especially if there were toxins in my home that were messing with my health.
Why Your Home Can Make You Sick
Studies show that an average American home these days can contain as many as 64 chemicals!
The scary thing about this is that toxins like– BPA’s, sodium laurel sulfate (SLS), phthalates, and even heavy metals like lead and mercury–can disrupt your hormones, cause respiratory irritation and even lead to cancer. But since no one can “see” any of these toxins floating around, we often don’t notice them until we get sick.
Or, that’s what happened to me, at least…
The Story of My Health Crash
In 2012, after dealing with a very stressful financial crisis, I suffered a health crash that none of my doctors knew how to fix.
Even though I saw several specialists and underwent multiple tests (i.e. sleep tests, blood tests, and CT scans) none of them could figure out why I was feeling so tired all the time, or why I suffered from migraines or why I had numbness and tingling all through my left arm and legs.
Their answer to all these “why’s” were, basically, that there weren’t any definitive answers; Even my husband, who wrote the book on why we’re all so sick and tired, couldn’t figure out why I was so sick and tired all the time.
The Story of My Family’s Health Crash
Right around this same time period, my husband and kids started having unexplained health problems of their own.
My husband developed dry skin patches all over his legs, and my youngest son developed a severe eczema problem that wouldn’t go away no matter what prescription steroids or expensive creams we used.
The only thing that sort of helped him was to keep him on Benadryl all the time.
The Story of My Family’s Cancer
Then to top it all off, my Dad and my mother-in-law both passed away with stomach cancer, and then my father in law did too from prostate cancer.
Although having 3 cancer deaths in my family seemed like a lot, the surprising thing was that none of my peers or even our doctors seemed to think so.
Perhaps it’s because the national statistic tells us that 1 in 3 men and 1 in 2 women will get cancer in their lifetime now.
Either way, I was not going to sit around accepting cancer as THE new normal when we were paying much more on healthcare than we ever have before and yet at the same time we were seeing more health problems than ever!
This is when my husband and I started researching outside of the standard medical paradigm for answers and found that a home detox could be the solution we were looking for.
From Health Crash to Health Revival
I can’t tell you how surprisingly our family’s health and well being turned around, when we added a home detox to our healthy eating and simple living.
Some of the health benefits we experienced were:
- More energy
- More focus
- More calm
- Better sleep
Our family also enjoyed:
- Less allergies
- Less muscle aches
- Less respiratory and sinus problems
Best of all, we no longer had to live in fear not knowing if and when we were going to get sick or to wait on others who were supposed to give us the answers to give up on us.
We now know a simple way to reclaim our health just by keeping our home toxin free.
So what about you?
Are you experiencing similar health problems in your family? If so, here are 5 simple ways to reclaim your health by detoxing your home!
(Note: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase using a link, I may receive a small commission. Thank you for your support if you do!)
5 Household Toxins You Need To Toss
1: Household Cleaners
Problem:
Did you know that many commercial all-purpose cleaners contain sodium laureate sulfate (SLES) or phthalates—two chemicals that can cause skin irritation, endocrine disruption and even infertility?
Although manufacturers claim that small doses of this stuff can’t harm you, government regulation can be lax in overseeing the amount they use in their products.
For instance, a third party testing lab happened to discover that Tide, a popular laundry detergent on the market, had double the amount that’s considered safe by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of a known carcinogen, like 1,4-dioxane
Even worse, the anti-bacterial soap that many of us use to kill germs on our surfaces often contain unsafe amounts of triclosan- a known endocrine disruptor that can cause liver damage!
Solution:
The simplest method I found to eliminate these chemicals in your home was to switch to an all natural plant derived product called Branch Basics.
After years of fussing with home made cleaners, I switched to using Branch Basics exclusively for over a year now and can’t recommend it enough.
Although it’s a bit pricey ($69 for a starter kit), with just one concentrate you can pretty much swap out all of your toxic cleaners from your home!
Here’s a full review of this product along with a cost breakdown that shows how easily you can save money, simplify your house cleaning AND go toxin free all at the same time!
If you want to give this a try, use my this branch basics and type in the discount code, “tossthemess” to get 10% off all Starter Kits until 1/31/21!
You can also refer to the EWG website for more recommendations of safe cleaning products.
2: Air Fresheners
Problem
Did you know that every time you spray a room deodorizer or light up a scented candle that you are also releasing toxic volatile organic compounds (VOC’s) into your air? Compounds like:
- Benzene
- Formaldehyde
- Toulene
- Phthalates
Many of those compounds, like formaldehyde, are known carcinogens and these chemicals stick on to furniture, walls and surfaces only to get recycled into the air again and again.
Solution:
Essential oils:
If you want to keep your home smelling fresh but keep it toxin free, try diffusing essential oils instead.
Just be sure, however, that you’re using only THE highest grade, steam distilled ones like these from Young Living Essential Oils.
Cheaper, non-therapeutic grade oils like those you’d find in Home Goods or T.J. Maxx contain lots of unsafe synthetic oils and preservatives.
Instead, just put a few drops of lavender essential oil with witch hazel and water (1:1 ratio) into a 5 oz amber spray bottle to use it as a linen spray, carpet deodorizer, or even to freshen up your laundry.
The best way to get started with oils is with a starter kit like this one.
To get wholesale discounts of up to 15% off retail prices, be sure to use my subscriber ID number (20419431).
The great thing about essential oils is that they have multiple uses including an all natural bug repellent!
3: Plastic food storage containers; baby toys & shower curtains,
Problem:
I’m sure that you’ve heard of BPA’s by now, but I’m willing to bet that you’re still using BPA free plastic wrap and zip loc baggies thinking they’re safer, right?
If so, I suggest you stop buying these and all other disposable plastic bags right NOW–both for your health and for your wealth.
Although those plastic containers may not contain BPA’s they can still contain harmful substances like BPS.
Anything made with plastic like food storage containers, baby’s toys and even shower curtains can contain toxins like phthalates and PVC both of which are chemicals used to soften plastics and can harm the endocrine system even in low doses.
Solution:
The best solution I found to avoid plastics altogether in my home was to switch to using glass containers like these.
Although they’re an investment, in the long run, they’ll save you money.
I saw my grocery bill drop 10% or more when I stopped buying these disposable products and these glass containers have lasted me almost 7 years now.
I found that with the money I saved from not buying such convenience items, I could spend on getting organic foods for our family —which reduced our family’s toxic load even more!
4: Our Drinking water
Problem
How many of you drink as much water as I do? Many of us drink tap water or bottled water or use Britta filters–that’s what I used to do.
But did you know that there are some contaminants in our water that those carbon filters can’t filter out?
Contaminants like lead, mercury, and even chlorine? Yes, that last one was a shocker to me when I read my own water report.
Although chlorine is not supposedly harmful in small doses, its byproduct chloroform is. It’s been known to cause:
- fatigue
- birth defects
- headaches
- kidney damage and even cancer.
Even worse, the fluoride we’re adding to our water supply to keep us cavity free?-it’s doing us a lot more harm than good.
My husband found study after study showing that fluoride can lower children’s IQ’s and cause jaw shrinkage—two things that can significantly stunt our children’s growth in more ways than one even though they may have less cavities.
This is not a good trade off in my opinion!!
Solution:
The first and easiest thing to do to remove/reduce fluoride is to switch out your usual toothpaste for non-fluoride toothpaste.
Studies have shown that a good healthy diet coupled with good oral hygiene (i.e. brushing your teeth and flossing) can be just as effective as fluoride in preventing cavities.
Then if you’re able to, install a reverse osmosis water filter to your kitchen faucet. We’ve had ours for a couple of years now and I can’t say how much simpler our water situation has become.
Although a filter like this is an investment, you can save money and hassles, in the long run. We no longer need to buy carbon filters every 3 weeks, for instance, or purchase water bottles.
To reduce the chlorine exposure in your bath or shower water, install these carbon shower head filters that will reduce the chlorine load or just take cooler showers; The hot water makes the chlorine in your water evaporate which you then breathe in causing more problems.
This one simple change will not only reduce your chlorine exposure I found that it made my hair feel softer and my husband’s dry skin patch and my youngest’s eczema disappear!
5: Synthetic Rugs
Problem
As I’ve shared before in this post about natural fiber rugs, most synthetic rugs are made with polypropylene which can off gas VOC’s into your air and cause irritation to your respiratory system.
Solution
Although you may like the softness and affordability of synthetic rugs, the health hazards they pose are just not worth it–especially if you have young children whose lungs are still developing.
I’ve found that most natural fiber rugs made with a mix of jute and wool, like this one from Pottery Barn are great at hiding stains and look great even after years of use.
Detoxing Your Home Can Simplify Your Life
Now more than ever, we mom’s have to be proactive about guarding our family and our homes from anything that can undermine our health or immunity.
With the dangers of COVID lurking outside of our homes, we certainly don’t need harmful toxins jeopardizing our health inside our homes, right?
By making some small changes you can safeguard you and your family’s health both in and outside your home!
Just implement the 5 toxin removal strategies I explain above and you’ll be well on your way to living well without the mess!
To help you jump start this process, here’s a FREE Home Detox Checklist that will help guide you through each step of this process.
Simply check off what toxins you need to toss and what natural replacements you can use instead using this list and you’ll be just steps away from enjoying all the benefits of having a cleaner AND healthier home!
Happy Detoxing!
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I had no idea about a lot of these, especially the chlorine and the synthetic rugs! That really surprised me!
Hi, Michelle
I’m glad to hear you found this info helpful. As for the chlorine, I didn’t think much of this either until my husband showed me all these clinical research papers on Pubmed. Some scary stuff….