Toxins are a serious threat to our physical and emotional health. But taking action is a great anti-depressant! We control what we can, we exercise the power of the pocketbook as consumers, we work for REAL environmental change rather than bureaucratic fraud, and in the meantime, we refuse to stress about the rest. It’s not that we don’t care about the rest, but emotional stress is only counter-productive. Stay calm and patiently take action in your own life and in every public arena where you can. But do your homework: don’t be swayed by falsehoods or manipulations.
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Hi everyone! I’m Carol Diane and THIS is Happiness Reclaimed. You were born for the pursuit of happiness which means rising toward your potential mentally, physically, and spiritually, living a life of love with deep meaning and purpose. We’re leaving behind the emotional stress, bad health, and empty spirituality of today, to practice powerful life strategies in a mind-body-spirit approach to wellness. It’s time to reclaim your life. Let’s go.
Today we’re covering Powerful Life Strategy #6. Reduce Your Toxins. Just as with our diet changes and exercise changes, we can begin to create instant change at the biochemical level. So try to visualize that, each and every time you do something to reduce your toxin exposure. You might visualize the cleaner air that you’re breathing, entering your lungs and nourishing your cells with oxygen. You might feel thankful that you’re no longer putting toxic chemicals on your skin, which could possibly be absorbed into your bloodstream.
As always, please check with your doctor before making any change. And if you’ve listened to any of my other podcasts, you know that everything I say is for educational purposes only and at no time am I telling you what to do in a specific situation. Your participation in any way with the Happiness Reclaimed organization signifies your understanding of, and agreement with, these terms.
So let’s jump right into it:
Suggestion #1: Get 7-9 hours of good quality sleep per night. Why is sleep in a podcast about toxins? Because sleep is one of the important ways that your body detoxes. As with many of these other topics, I am not yet getting into the highly technical details as to WHY this is true, but again, I will say that when you listen to the research scientists, you can feel blown away by the power you have to make amazing changes, just by doing simple things like getting a good night’s sleep.
So let’s define a good night’s sleep. From what I’ve heard from cutting edge researchers, everyone should shoot for 7-9 hours per night, ideally from around 10 pm onward. If you’re going to follow the guidelines given in a different podcast, which suggests getting out to see the sunrise for the sake of your Circadian rhythms, then you’re going to need to go to bed fairly early.
I probably have a moral obligation to let you know, if you think you’re doing fine with only five hours on a constant basis, there are brain researchers out there who will disagree with a very concerned look on their face. It’s your choice, but I’m just sayin’, you might want to look into that.
What else constitutes a good night’s sleep? The experts say it might be ideal to sleep straight through, but if you have to get up 2-3 times per night to relieve your bladder, they say don’t worry about that unless you have trouble getting right back to sleep. Stopping all liquids 2-3 hours before bed might help.
Other important ideas for a great night’s sleep include a cool temperature and complete dark. So that might mean taping a few scraps of paper over digital clocks, unplugging other devices that emit light, using block out curtains at windows if needed, and maybe even throwing a run at your door jamb if you’re in an apartment and the hallway lights are coming in under your door.
It’s also an excellent idea to avoid food 3-5 hours before bed. Your body needs to focus on detox and cellular repair, NOT be focusing on digestion. Are there exceptions where someone does better with a little bite of protein right at bedtime? Yes, there are probably always exceptions, but you should have a good medical reason for doing that, from what I’ve heard.
You can also improve your sleep by avoiding looking at devices or using bright artificial light, once the sun goes down. I know that’s really tough, and I struggle with that too. But that would be ideal, so that your body starts to generate melatonin, which is a natural sleep-related hormone and antioxidant that your body should make.
During this wind-down period at night, we can do restful activities that help us relax: maybe prayer, meditation, listening to something relaxing, a warm bath, whatever helps you relax and unwind.
Suggestion #2: Go fragrance free everywhere. That means all personal care products and all products for the household. In fact, when it comes to cleaning your home, plain old vinegar from a gallon jug is one of the best things you can use, and it will also save you money and hassle as you avoid buying so many different products for so many different purposes.
Suggestion #3: Now let’s get the OTHER toxins out of our personal care products. To see ratings on the products you use go to EWG.org. That stands for Environmental Working Group. They’ll give you a great amount of information about cancer causing chemicals as well as chemicals that could cause birth defects. If you want to switch brands, look for the EWG Verified products.
Suggestion #4: Avoid alcohol because it is a toxin that your liver has to deal with, and of course, cigarette smoke, vaping, cigar smoke, and other burning substances.
#5: Avoid new carpet and ideally have NO carpet because of its tendency to harbor dust, dirt, mold, pet dander, and so on..
#6: If you have to paint, use low VOC paints. That stands for Volatile Organic Compounds.
#7: Make sure there is no mold in your home.
#8: If you have to refuel your car, try to stand upwind and avoid breathing the gas fumes.
#9. Consult your doctor, but maybe try to get off prescription drugs. I’m not saying they’re all bad, but generally, the fewer the better, and many drugs can be eliminated if we will only pursue a healthy lifestyle. Many people have shown their doctors that a certain drug was not needed after they changed their lifestyle.
#10: Maybe we should all fall out of love with the idea of a weed-free lawn. Do we want to be breathing our neighbor’s yard spray or let our dog walk on those chemicals?
#11: Call me a fanatic if you want to, but I’m not a fan of new houses. I’ve read that it takes about 20 years for all the toxic fumes in the building materials to outgas, and a lot of this knowledge came from NASA research, as scientists had to worry about the air astronauts were breathing. But if you’re building a new house or remodeling, you can do things to protect yourself. Have high quality plywood where a builder might instead try to use chipboard. Have true linoleum floors or ceramic tile or hardwood or engineered flooring that advertises less outgassing. Avoid carpet and soft vinyl flooring and vinyl window shades and shower curtains.
#12: If you’ve read my book Happiness Reclaimed, you know that I learned so much of this years ago when I had terrible, terrible allergies. I used to own several books on healthy house construction, for example, and healthy household cleaning products. So knowing that, you’re probably not surprised to learn that I also do not wish to purchase a new car. From what I know, that so-called great smell is a bunch of toxic fumes, at least to some degree, maybe not 100%.
So now that I’ve managed to annoy a large percentage of Americans, including manufacturers of artificial fragrances, carpeting, cheap chipboard including cheap kitchen cabinets, plus many doctors and real estate agents and car salesmen and lawn care companies, I guess I’ll stop there. You can tell my loyalty is to you and the truth, and as you know, I do my best to stick to the science.
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If you have any questions at all, please contact me at HappinessReclaimed.com. I’ll try to answer those questions in a future broadcast. So that’s it for today. Love ya guys.
