tips to a less toxic lifestyle
When you are on a journey to decrease the toxins in your life, it can easily get overwhelming with all of the swaps you can make. I think it’s best to start small and make transitions gradually in order to make it more practical. But where to start? Starting with the things that go into or onto your body is a great place to begin! And a good way to prioritize these further is to start with those things that you use in the largest quantities. You’ll notice a trend in the 3 following suggestions as water is something that we use A LOT of in our day to day:
“ I think it’s best to start small and make transitions gradually in order to make it more practical.”
#1 Water Filter
Ideally you are ingesting in the ballpark of 70-100 oz. water per day. This is a pretty hefty amount of water that is getting used by all cells and processes of the body. A filter for the water you drink will sift out: unnecessary chemicals, pesticides, heavy metals, medications, chlorine & harmful bacteria. There are a wide range of filtration systems available out there with wide-ranging price tags. A countertop one is a good place to start. I personally love the Berkey filter that sits on my countertop and has a large enough capacity that I can use it for drinking and cooking without filling it up more than once per day.
#2 Water Bottle
Plastic water bottles can contain BPA, and even the ones labeled as “BPA free” usually contain some derivative of BPA. Are the derivatives just as harmful? We don’t know yet…they have not are new so have not been studied the way that BPA has. It unlikely that they are completely harmless, so I would definitely recommend switching to one that is either glass or stainless steel.
#3 Shower Filter
Your shower is another place where you absorb A LOT of chemicals. Whatever chemicals are in your tap water are also seeping in to your skin (aka largest organ in the body) while you shower. When you absorb things like chlorine & fluoride, it makes it a lot harder to absorb iodine (which is critical for thyroid function!). A simple solution is to get a vitamin C shower filter. These range in prices, and you can find very reasonable ones on places like Amazon.