TOXIC LOAD: The Poisonous Chemicals in Your Body
Toxic load (sometimes also referred to as
"body burden") is a huge stressor to the immune system, as well as
all of your other bodily systems, and even your mental state. Learning to
minimize your toxic load can greatly improve your health, and can be achieved
through a number of simple steps, with fewer changes to your current lifestyle
than you might think.
1. Our well water, which is cleaner than city water but has high levels of salt from the water softener, is passed through a
REVERSE OSMOSIS WATER FILTER which removes everything, including chlorine, fluoride, pharmaceuticals, and chemicals. We use this water for drinking, cooking, watering the plants, and filling the humidifier. Because it also removes the minerals, for drinking and watering the plants I
add minerals back in.
2. Most of our food (produce, eggs, meat and dairy) is produced
biodynamically by the CSA farms we belong to, and from
Internet sources. The rest is either organic, wild*, or pasture raised. Our farm's milk is raw, and I use it to make our yogurt and cream cheese. When I use these in a recipe, I add them last, after turning off the heat, to preserve the vitamins.
*Be careful with the 'wild' designation: some things, like 'wild rice' are cultivated (Eden brand is truly wild), and some 'wild' products grow close to highways and other toxic sites and are not healthy.
3. If I must buy produce in a grocery, or eat it in a restaurant, I use
EWG's Guide to Produce to determine whether I can buy/eat conventional. In a restaurant, I will only eat the
Clean Fifteen. If you can't afford to buy all your produce organic then, at a minimum, you should buy the
Dirty Dozen organic.
4. We use no refined oils or products that contain them.
Refined oils are rancid oils that have been
"refined" (de-odorized) to remove color and odor molecules
so you cannot smell the rancidity. For
mayonnaise I use
Eden Foods Unrefined Safflower Oil. Do NOT use the canola oil called for in the mayonnaise recipe. EVOO
can be used for mayo/aioli but it should be made by hand as the blades of a processor can damage the oil and make it bitter.
5. The only fats we use for cooking are EVcO (extra virgin COCONUT oil( raw)),
ghee,
lard, and
tallow. Some people think it's OK to heat EVoO but
I'm not sure that's true so I don't. If I want the olive flavor, I add it once the heat is off. I never heat EVoO over 250F. Some people also think it's OK to cook with avocado or macadamia nut oil but I haven't found unrefined versions so I don't use them at all. I do use unrefined sesame oil, both light and dark.
6. We use only
Himalayan Pink Salt. There is a huge debate raging on whether
Celtic Sea Salt is better, or Pink Salt is better. The
Celtic Sea Salt advocates claim that the sea where it is harvested has not been contaminated by all the pollutants humans have dumped into the oceans but I've looked at the
map of how the world's current circulate and I don't believe it.
Himalayan Pink Salt, and
Real Salt from Utah was formed before pollution existed. I suspect that
Real Salt is harvested by cleaner machinery, given that it's in the USA, but it tastes gritty - like I'm chewing sand - and I can't use it.
7. We buy very few packaged goods (I make most of what we eat 'from scratch') and the few that we do buy have only one or two ingredients - i.e. flour, pasta, rice, beans, cacao powder, honey. I prefer to buy things without salt,
like these rice crackers, since most companies don't use healthy salt.
Eden Foods is one of the few companies I trust, but don't buy their canned tomatoes as the cans still have BPA in the lining. If you must buy canned tomatoes,
buy them in glass.
8. We cook on
titanium,
stainless,
enameled, or cast iron. We never use non-stick cookware, no matter how it's marketed, and we store everything in glass (
GlassLock, Fido,
Weck, and
LeParfait are best, canning jars (Ball, etc...) will do in a pinch). When I use a container that doesn't have a glass lid, I put a sheet of
Foil-backed Parchment between the food and the lid (parchment side down, touching the food). If something has no fat in it, like vegetables, I will occasionally store them in BPA-free plastic bags for a short period.
9. What you put ON your body is as important as what you put in it. Anything you breathe in, or that touches your skin goes right into your bloodstream, bypassing your digestive system's toxin removal process. The sources below describe the ingredients you need to avoid, and many of them sell products without those ingredients.
- I use GimmeTheGoodStuff to source safe household and beauty products
- Health Ranger Store sells tested household and personal care products
- Mercola also sells healthy household and personal care products
- I do not buy toilet tissue made with recycled paper - it's loaded with BPA from discarded cash register receipts (it's best not to touch those with your bare hands, either). I buy Earth Natural Alternative made from bamboo.
- tampons and other feminine hygiene products must be organic
- use EWG's Skin Deep database to determine whether your cosmetics are dangerous
10. Our bedroom has very few
electrical devices (clock, phone & bed lamps) and we sleep on a
Grounding Sheet to mitigate their effect. It's also very dark in the room which is best for sleeping.
We are far from perfect....there are many other things that we could do but don't:
11. We eat too much sugar
12. I use too much glycation in cooking (
browning food, which creates carcinogens)
13. I use too many latex gloves, which end up in the trash
14. Much of what we use is transported long distances
15. We don't get enough exercise
16. We don't get enough sleep!
17. I don't know everything that's bad for us - I'm sure there are others!
