Your body is exposed to a significant amount of toxins on a daily basis! Sadly, most of these are manmade.

We come into contact with these toxins through the environment, personal care products, beauty products, cleaning products, moldy buildings, foods + beverages, medications, synthetic fabrics (like underwear + leggings), building materials, plastics, furnishings, technology, lifestyle choices like smoking (including vaping) + drinking alcohol, some hobbies + occupations, and more.

Your body has built-in mechanisms to help you process and eliminate toxins, but many people are dealing with an accumulation of toxins due to chronic exposure, sluggish detox pathways, and dysfunction in the routes used to dump toxins.

Over time, these toxins can wreak havoc on your health! Chronic exposure to toxins can cause a variety of symptoms and health issues, including:

• acne
• rashes like eczema and psoriasis
• fatigue
• weight gain
• sex hormone imbalances (period problems, fertility issues, and perimenopausal or menopausal symptoms)
• thyroid dysfunction
• blood sugar dysregulation + insulin resistance (which can later become pre-diabetes or diabetes, plus cause a whole lot of other issues; learn more here)
• anxiety or depression
• sleep issues
• brain fog
• headaches
• gut symptoms (constipation, diarrhea, reflux, etc.)
• allergies
• nutritional deficiencies
• chronic pain
• frequent colds or infections
• gut microbiome disturbances or chronic infections
• heart palpitations
• autoimmunity
• hair loss
• and more!

The good news is there’s a LOT you can do to minimize your exposure to toxins! In fact, there are three major sources of toxins that YOU can control:

1. What you put IN your body
2. What you put ON your body
3. What you use in your HOME

WHAT YOU PUT IN YOUR BODY

Anything that gets inside your body has the potential to impact your health. And while your body has systems in place to protect you, unless you’re paying close attention, you are likely being exposed to toxins at a faster rate than your body can keep up with. This is even more likely if you’re dealing with chronic symptoms or conditions!

If your goal is to resolve your chronic symptoms and optimize your health, you HAVE to pay attention to what you put IN your body! Here are four main ways toxins enter your body that YOU have control over:

INGREDIENTS IN FOODS + BEVERAGES

MANY toxic ingredients show up in packaged foods and drinks, including dyes, artificial flavorings, preservatives, and more. It’s not just about one ingredient in isolation. I’m talking about the fact that ONE snack and ONE beverage can contain a chemical cocktail of toxic ingredients!

You may think it’s impossible for these ingredients to cause much damage, but repeated exposure over time does just that! I’ve seen many chronic symptoms resolve simply by avoiding these junk chemicals and focusing on whole foods.

To simplify this topic, I created a handy reference of the most common ingredients in foods and beverages that undermine your health. You can find it, along with a TON of other helpful information, in my eBook Top 5 Strategies to Optimize Health.

YOUR DRINKING WATER

Unfortunately, all kinds of junk can show up in tap water—from prescription drug residues and hormones to fluoride, radioactive particles, and more! 

And water bottled in plastic is no better! Beyond the fact that it’s often tap water—which you can get a lot cheaper from your kitchen sink (and without adding unnecessary plastic waste to landfills)—researchers recently found an average of 240,000 tiny pieces of plastic in ONE liter of bottled water!!

There is debate over whether these chemicals impact health, but THEY ABSOLUTELY DO! Investing in a good water filter is an effective way to ensure that your drinking water is free of contaminants you don’t want to ingest.

Since water quality can differ from place to place, you want to choose a filter that removes the contaminants you’re being exposed to. If you live in the US, you can use the Environmental Working Group’s (EWG) Tap Water Database to search for information on water quality based on your zip code.

If your water supply is fluoridated (most are), be sure to get a filter that removes fluoride, which is an industrial waste product that can disrupt thyroid function and affect brain health + cognition. Fluoride has also been shown to accumulate in the pineal gland and disrupt melatonin and sleep patterns.

Keep in mind that the only type of water filter that can remove radiaoactive particles—which is a much bigger issue than most people are aware of—is a water distiller.

No matter which filter you choose, make sure it’s verified through regular third-party testing to ensure it removes the contaminants it claims to. Many water filters on the market DON’T do third-party testing, and several filters have been shown to NOT remove the very contaminants they claim to filter out!

Here is a great resource on water filters based on the author’s experience investing his own money to test several water filters on the market.

FOOD + BEVERAGE CONTAINERS

This one may surprise you, but the packaging used for foods and drinks can actually expose you to multiple toxins! Foods and beverages are commonly packaged in plastic, styrofoam, waxed paper products, and aluminum, and all of these can leach chemicals into your foods and drinks! This is especially true if the contents are packaged while hot, heated in the container, or exposed to heat during transit. Here are a few examples:

• BPA is a chemical used in the manufacturing of most plastics, and it has been found in foods and beverages packaged in plastic. BPA is a known endocrine (hormone) disrupter, has been shown to impact children’s behavior (think ADD and ADHD), and some studies have suggested a link between BPA and high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.
• PFAS are “forever chemicals” (meaning they persist and don’t break down) present in the waxy coating that lines food and beverage containers used at fast food and takeout chains and supermarkets. This category of chemicals has been shown to disrupt thyroid and immune function, alter lipid (cholesterol) levels, cause insulin dysregulation, and more!
• Aluminum can leak into beverages packaged in aluminum cans, and the amount of aluminum increases with more acidic products, such as sodas. While industry and even some studies will claim that the amount of aluminum is negligible and not a health concern, the reality is there is NO safe level of aluminum!!!

Focusing on whole foods and doing your best to avoid foods and beverages packaged in plastic and other synthetic materials can significantly reduce your exposure to toxins. You can further reduce exposure by storing and reheating foods in glass containers instead of plastic or other materials.

INTERNAL PRODUCTS (TAMPONS, LUBRICANTS, CREAMS)

Ladies, listen up! The products that go inside your vagina can expose you to a number of chemicals! 

Tampons can be a source of bleaches, fragrances, and glyphosate residues (a toxic herbicide) from non-organic cotton. Lubricants and creams can expose you to multiple synthetic chemicals, like parabens that can disrupt your hormones, cause inflammation, and more!

PLEASE be picky about the products you expose your sensitive vaginal tissues to!

IMPLANTS + BOTOX

Okay, I know I said I would share four main ways toxins enter your body, but I can’t ignore this additional route because it’s becoming increasingly common!

Breast implants, which come with a BLACK BOX WARNING, can leak toxins that seriously disrupt your health. This can show up as a variety of symptoms just about anywhere in the body like fatigue, headaches, brain fog and memory issues, joint pain, anxiety, and rashes. 

And botox, which also come with a BLACK BOX WARNING, can trigger chronic dysfunction that shows up as headaches, paralysis, chronic pain, swelling, autoimmunity, fatigue, hormone imbalances, and more!

While many women may never experience chronic health issues from implants or botox, LOTS of women do! Sometimes these symptoms are easy to link to these procedures because they begin shortly after implant surgery or botox injections. When those symptoms begin months or years later, however, it’s much harder to connect the dots!

If you have breast implants or a history of botox injections, and if you’re dealing with chronic health issues, you should consider the possibility that there’s a connection. Breast Implant Illness (BII) is REAL! And you don’t have to look very hard to find many stories of women who began dealing with serious health issues following breast implants or botox. If this is you, there is a lot you can do! Explant surgery and detox protocols can make a big difference!

This is unfortunately a controversial topic, but it shouldn’t be! If you suspect that implants or botox are harming your health, DON’T LET ANYONE GASLIGHT YOU!! Especially your doctor! Trust yourself, and work with someone who acknowledges the harm these procedures can cause and who will believe you when you express your concerns that this may be happening to you.

WHAT YOU PUT ON YOUR BODY

Repeat after me: what you put ON your body gets IN your body! This is why we can use herbs topically and deliver medicine through the skin!

So in order to reduce your exposure to toxins and optimize your health, you need to pay attention to what you’re putting ON your body!

I wish I could tell you that everything on the market has been adequately safety tested and poses no threat to your health, but that would be a lie! Unfortunately, you CAN’T rely on regulatory agencies and industry to protect you! YOU have to be a conscious and aware consumer if you want to create and maintain good health!

The sad reality is that personal care products are a HUGE source of toxins! Everything from shampoos, conditioners, gels, mousses, sprays, creams, soaps and cleansers, serums, lotions and moisturizers, deodorants, sunscreens, nail polish, perfumes, and makeup can be a source of significant toxin exposure. 

Parabens and phthalates are two examples of toxic chemicals commonly found in most personal care products that can disrupt your hormones, increase your risk of cancer, burden your liver and detox pathways, impact your gut microbiome, cause inflammation, and more!

Less is MORE, so simplifying your personal care products is a helpful way to reduce exposure. You can also utilize the EWG’s Skin Deep Database and Personal Care Products Database to learn more about ingredients in many products. Think Dirty is one of several convenient apps that allows you to scan barcodes while shopping, and there are MANY recipes online for DIY personal care products made from natural ingredients that you can easily source.

WHAT YOU USE IN YOUR HOME

Household items like fragranced products (candles, plugins, and air fresheners), cleaning products (this can be a LONG list), laundry products (detergents, fabric softeners, stain removers), and nonstick cookware are additional sources of significant toxin exposure!

As a general rule, it’s best to avoid all fragranced items unless the fragrance is something natural like high-quality essential oils.

For household cleaners and laundry, you really only need baking soda and vinegar, and there are TONS of recipes online for DIY cleaners (including options that are scented with essential oils). You can also use the EWG’s Cleaning Products Database, “Dirty Dozen” Chemicals list, and the EWG Healthy Living App to help you avoid toxic ingredients and choose cleaner products.

Nonstick cookware and nonstick cooking surfaces are actually another source of PFAS, so use stainless steel, glass, cast iron, or clay cookware!

TAKING ACTION

If you feel overwhelmed by any of this information, I encourage you to pause and reframe! Knowledge is POWER, and now you can take action to reduce your exposure to toxins because you have TOTAL control over ALL of these areas! That’s the best-case scenario!!

Remember, you don’t have to change everything all at once, and you also don’t have to throw out a bunch of products that you spent your hard-earned money on. It’s okay to focus on making adjustments in one area at a time, and you can replace your products with cleaner options as you run out. This is not a quick fix; it’s a lifestyle change!

The MOST important thing is that you start paying attention to these areas and make shifts as you’re able. It may not seem like this can make a big difference in your chronic symptoms and overall health, but it can and does!

I’ve seen patients resolve acne, eradicate chronic pelvic pain, improve energy, lose stubborn weight, balance their hormones, reduce inflammation, and more when they take this information seriously and make changes!

Toxins are a MAJOR root cause of chronic symptoms and conditions (learn more about root causes here), which is why I focus on reducing toxin exposure and supporting detox and drainage with ALL of my patients and clients! 

Learn more about my unique approach to healing chronic symptoms here.