As we've seen, it's very important to wash your kitchen utensils thoroughly to eliminate germs and to replace your loofah regularly to avoid skin infections, but by far the biggest risks in your home come from the chemicals in your household products. It is best to make sure that anything you put on your body or use in your home contains only substances you know. If you can't pronounce their name, you probably won't want them around.
Tips for making your household healthier, naturally
1. Eat organic and local
Buy and consume organic and local produce as much as possible to reduce your exposure to added hormones, pesticides and fertilizers. Avoid milk and other dairy products containing recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH or rbST).
2. Eat wild fish
Rather than eating farmed fish that are often heavily contaminated with PCBs and mercury, eat smaller fish or wild species that will have been tested for purity in a laboratory.
3. Choose glass bottles and jars
Buy products in bottles or glass jars rather than canned goods or plastic packaging from which chemical components leak out and permeate the food.
Also, store your food and drinks in glass containers rather than plastic and avoid using cellophane.
Use, of course, glass bottles and avoid plastic cups for your children.
4. Eat fresh and raw
Eat fresh and raw foods more often. Processed, prepackaged food of any kind is a common source of chemicals such as BPA and phthalates.
5. Replace your non-stick pans with ceramic or glass cookware.
6. Filter tap water
Filter your tap water, whether for drinking or bathing. If you have to choose only one, filtering your shower or bath water may be the best choice, as your skin absorbs all contaminants. To remove Atrazine, an endocrine disrupting herbicide, make sure the filter is certified to remove it. According to the Environmental Working Group (EWG), perchlorate can be filtered using a reverse osmosis filter.
7. prefer products made by ecological, animal-friendly and/or 100% organic companies
This applies to everything from food products, personal care, building materials, carpeting, paint, baby items, fabrics and more.
8. Use a vacuum cleaner with a HEPA filter to remove house dust, which often contains traces of chemicals
9. Choose less flammable materials
When purchasing new products such as furniture, mattresses or underpads, ask what type of fire retardant product they contain. Try to avoid items containing PBDEs, antimony, formaldehyde, boric acid and other brominated chemicals. Choose those that naturally contain less inflammable materials such as leather, wool and cotton.
10. Avoid water and stain resistant clothing, furniture and carpeting to limit exposure to perfluorinated compounds (PFCs)
11. Minimize the use of plastic toys for your babies and children by replacing them with those made of natural wood or fabric
12. Use natural cleaners
Use only natural cleaning products in your home. Avoid products that contain 2-butoxyethanol (EGBE) and methyldiglycol (DEGME), two toxic glycol ethers that can harm thefertility and the fetus.
13. Think organic
Switch to organic toiletries such as shampoo, toothpaste salt, deodorants and cosmetics. You can replace many products with coconut oil and baking soda, for example.
