Getting to Health: Remove toxins

Having a chronic health condition (for me, long covid) means that you really start looking at all the aspects that could lead to an improvement in your health. I’ve previously shared lots of resources that I found useful on my journey and talked about how you can easily get a lot more health-giving plants into your diet. In this post I cover removing toxins from your life.

Your body has a wonderful in-built detoxification system and, when you are healthy, it can cope pretty well with most of the day to day toxins you encounter. However, there are toxins that are worse than others, and some that accumulate in your system. If you are dealing with too many toxins along with other stresses in your life it can certainly contribute to chronic health conditions.

It can be overwhelming (not to mention expensive) to change everything all at once but you can do it gradually as you can afford it or when things need refilling or replacing. Start with things that you eat or use every day where your exposure will be the greatest and work your way towards changing other things as you can.

Remove Ultra-processed Foods, Pesticides and other additives

As much as you possibly can, move towards eating whole, natural foods – fresh is great and frozen is good too. Many packaged foods are convenient but have been highly processed which can remove most of the nutrients; they are often high in salt and sugars along with preservatives, artificial flavouring and colouring and other additives.

Grow your own fruit, vegetables and herbs as much as you can. When you buy produce, whether that is from the supermarket, farmers market or local supplier, try to find out where and how it is grown so that you can avoid pesticide residues. Make sure you wash it well to remove any nasties that it might have been exposed to along the way.

Learn how to make the fridge and pantry basics (such as dressings, sauces, marinades and seasonings) yourself so that you know what is in them (I’ll have more on that in later posts). It can be daunting when you are time-poor and haven’t made things before but many are quick and easy.

Reduce Plastics

We are certainly learning now how much of a problem plastics have become in our environment and for our health. For those who are just setting up their homes and kitchens, choosing glass rather than plastic is a no-brainer. If, however, you have a long established kitchen it is likely that you have a full range of (food safe) plastic ware for your pantry, fridge and freezer. For me this posed an extra dilemma because this plastic already exists so ‘throwing it away’ would not be helping the environmental situation.

From a health perspective, the biggest issue comes when you heat the plastic. So, the simplest first step you can take is to not put plastic containers in the microwave – transfer the contents to a plate or glass container first. And of course use silicon or glass covers rather than plastic wrap. Plastic chopping boards have also been shown to produce micro-plastic particles every time you cut down on them so replacing them with wooden or glass chopping boards is another quick win.

Over the last several months I have been gradually replacing my pantry storage with glass containers, and recently took advantage of a half-price special on a set of thermoglass containers that are oven, microwave, freezer and dishwasher safe. I will gift my old containers to friends/family who are just starting out and for whom the containers will help save initial set-up costs. They can pass them on when they decide to upgrade.

Natural Skin & Hair Care

One of the biggest exposures to chemicals is in the products we put on our bodies, and we know now that there is a microbiome on our skin as well as in our guts that is negatively affected. Thankfully I have never worn makeup except on very rare occasions but there are still lots of other products to consider that we use on a regular basis. Shampoos, conditioners and other hair products; soaps, cleansers and body washes; moisturisers, toners and face creams; deodorants; toothpaste and mouthwash – to name a few.

I’ve heard a saying that you shouldn’t put anything on your skin that you wouldn’t eat. This really makes you stop and think when you look at the long lists of chemical ingredients in many personal care products. Seek out ones with natural ingredients or make your own. I’ve been making many of my own products for a while now – because I enjoy the satisfaction of making things and learning how they are made. Most are quite simple to do – see my other blog posts for ideas. You can also buy kits that make it even easier from suppliers like Go Native NZ and Pure Nature.

Household Cleaners

Household cleaners can often include harsh chemicals and strong synthetic fragrances that can be toxic for our health (and for the environment). There are many more health- and environmentally friendly versions becoming available now – many through small online suppliers as well as the larger more main stream companies such as ecostore.

Of course you can make your own – often for a much cheaper price – using the same basic ingredients as our grandmothers used to use: baking soda, washing soda, and vinegar are excellent cleaners. It has been fascinating to research these further and brush up on my chemistry in learning how and why they work.  Citrus peels and herbs like lavender and rosemary are good for cleaning too (as well as smelling good), so I’ve been infusing vinegar with different combinations such as lemon and lavender or orange and rosemary. I was surprised to discover that vinegar is great as a fabric conditioner in the washing machine and as a finishing aid in the dishwasher.