How to avoid toxins in daily life?
Lifestyle change is most important single thing to manage or recover from most long term diseases. Be it diabetes, cancer or any autoimmune disease, lifestyle changes are always recommended by our health care professionals. More often than not it is not suggested for Autism because it is seen as a genetical condition that kids are born with. But the truth is lifestyle can impact the prognosis so much for any disease even if it is a genetic. Kids with autism are pushed further into a negative and addicting lifestyle instead of being pulled out of it. ( cookies and candies, i-pad time, video games as reinforcers for better behavior). Diet and exercise is the first and foremost lifestyle change that is needed. Ideally we should be moving towards a stress free, non toxic rustic lifestyle without any technology where we grow our own organic food using uncontaminated water. For most of us this is not a practical solution. But starting with making some simple changes with the aim of removing toxins and by gently helping the body to detox effectively we can achieve a lot.
Initially when we started on the journey we realized that we made so many bad choices which led to lot of toxin accumulation in my kids little body and also might have impaired her body’s natural ability to detox. My daughter stopped sweating completely at around 18 months of age. Her cheeks would just turn red if she played outside in the heat. Still she would not sweat. Her detox pathways were blocked. We changed to a cleaner diet and lifestyle fairly quickly. After we concentrated on healing she has started to sweat now. But when we were making those changes everything looked scary, I put lots and lots of time online to find non toxic products for everything. I wished I could put my kids in a clean glass box and keep them safe. But now once we educated ourselves more on this subject and understood what are the main concerns to concentrate on for healing, that stress has reduced.
When you think of removing toxins start from the things that are essential for life and we consume the most everyday. Air, Water and Food.
Air purifier – The indoor air quality is 5 times worse than the outdoor air per a statistical report in the US. Mold is also another concerning factor these days. Always keep your home carpet or rug free as much as possible. We removed all the rugs and have hardwood floor everywhere in the house. Some might be allergic or sensitive to pet dander. Please check for allergies/ sensitivities with an allergist or immunologist. Open the doors and windows and air out the house often. Invest in air purifiers which have a good hepa filter and that do not add additional toxic substances to air as they filter it. Some of the good ones to consider – IQ Air, Austin air, Air doctor.
Water purifier – Water is one of the most essential mineral source which we consume a lot on daily basis. Water is getting contaminated at a faster rate due to microplastics, pesticide rundown from farms, pharmaceuticals, harmful chemical contaminants from industries and mining activities. The city water has added harms of chlorine, fluoride and chloramines. So it becomes essential to filter our drinking water. We can opt for the store bought filtered or spring water but it adds more plastics from the containers they are stored in and no way to test each time the ones we buy are safe. There are many options to filter it at home. It can be whole house or under the sink. If opting for a reverse osmosis system its important to understand the water is dead as all the useful minerals have also been filtered out. So it has to be re-mineralized after filtering to avoid any health issues in the long run. If opting for an under the sink water filter system do not forget to add a shower filter in the bathroom because the chlorine fumes from the hot water is not healthy to be inhaled. Before choosing a water filter check the tap water score in your area to see what are the components you should concentrate on filtering out and get a filter that would fit that need. Also there are tests where you can send water sample before and after fitting the filter to see if its effectively filtering out the unwanted impurities. Usually these tests are more accurate than the strip tests we get from Amazon.
Food – Food is medicine. If done right it is the best support for the body to heal and repair itself. Start with cleaning up the diet. Gluten because most people are turning allergic / sensitive to the proteins in it. Dairy as it contains growth hormones and is highly processed. Soy and corn as its cross contaminated with GMO and can mimic the gluten protein in the body so can cause an allergic reaction. Remove sugar because most of our kids have imbalanced gut bacteria and yeast. These feed on sugar and carbs and produce alcohol in the stomach. That is why most times kids with yeast issues laugh, giggle and act silly like they are intoxicated. Stop eating processed food. Anything bought in a packet in the grocery store is processed. Add more organic produce in your diet instead. Prefer getting meat, eggs, produce from local farmers in the farmers market. Do not give the same food everyday. Rotate and add more variety of produce. The utensils and gadgets used to prepare and store food are also important. Many dishware are contaminated with lead and heavy metals. Cast iron and stainless steel pans are safe options. Corelle plain white plates and lead free glass cups and bowls are great non toxic items. We use plastic boxes to store and heat in microwave for convenience but these plastics have hormone disruptors, not supposed to be heated though it says microwave safe. BPA free plastics have other harmful components that are equally or more harmful. Marketing terms are misleading. Use glass storage instead. Pyrex, Ball mason jars are good ones. IKEA has a no lead in their products policy. So the kitchenware there is good too. Microwaves should not be used very frequently. They emit a lot of EMF and its good to use it sparingly.
After this move on to furniture, cleaning and personal care supplies, limiting use of WIFI and emf exposure.
Mattress– A mattress is one on which we spend one third of our whole life on, while sleeping. It is essential to have that non toxic. Memory foam mattresses contain VOCs, methyl benzene and other chemical carcinogens among the numerous toxins. Most of the mattress are also treated with formaldehyde because they should have flame retardants to pass the safety test. To avoid these get an organic or natural mattress / futon mattress and all the bedding items. Natural materials could be cotton, wool or latex. Its essential to check if you are allergic to any of these ingredients and call the company to make sure they do not chemical treat the natural ingredients before investing in one.
Personal care and makeup, homecare and cleaning – I stopped using makeup after we cleaned up our home and turned towards non-toxic living. But its one of the areas to look for non-toxic items. Once we started this journey I have become an avid ingredients reader. You can find clean products listed in EWG website. But the best way is to find products with 5 or less ingredients. And if you know those few ingredients are safe to use. We have started using industrial vinegar as weed killer. Baking soda and vinegar can be used for our day to day cleaning needs.
Clothes – There are many synthetic chemical laden clothes we use and even the cotton ones are made from GMO cotton with more pesticides on it and more chemical treatment than ever before. Organic cotton clothes are getting popular these days. Also find a company that does not add flame retardants to its clothes.
Once we have removed toxins from our environment and made sure we are not adding more toxins to our body we should move on to supporting the body to cleanse the toxins it is struggling to remove by itself. How to support the body’s detox system?
Sleep – Sleep is the most important factor that is needed for healing. Sleep helps the body in the process of detoxification. Helps toxins to be eliminated from the body effectively. The liver removes toxins and clears itself while we are asleep. The brain clears the dead cells and toxins and rejuvenates itself during sleep. If kids deal with sleep issues due to various factors like chronic pain or constipation, bad gut health, too much of toxin, emf and screen exposure causing the brain not able to wind down it must be resolved first. First start with gut health, cleaning up the diet, doing a bowel cleanout and if needed use of herbals. Tart cherry juice before bed is said to help body produce melatonin and help induce sleep.
Epsom salt baths – Sulphation helps removal of toxins. Epsom salt baths help increase sulfur in the body and help in the process. It is also a compound of magnesium so it helps kids sleep better. Its beneficial to do Epsom salt baths before bedtime for this reason.
Resolve constipation – Constipation prevents the body from flushing out the toxins from the body. The stools sit in the intestines and ferment and make body reabsorb the toxins. It causes kids to lose appetite, become picky eaters, mood swings and aggression. So its important to do a full bowel cleanout once in a while and support with supplements for daily bowel movements.
Drink enough water – Water also helps our body flush out the toxins and bad bacteria and pathogens. Drink enough water in a day and keep hydrated.
Limit screen time – Screens are addictive. It should not be introduced to young babies and children whose brain is growing at a rapid phase. At that phase it needs many real life sensory inputs that will help the brain form neural networks and grow healthy. Instead when screen time feeds high speed visuals which curb their imagination to think what happens next. It also stops the frontal lobe from developing. That is where most issues like attention deficit , sensory issues and aggression stem from. Limit all screen time. If possible provide zero screen time. Reset your child’s brain is a great read which has lot of information about what screen time is doing to our kids. After reading it we immediately switched to zero screen time at our home. Surprisingly kids did not resist it or ask for TV after 3 days. It might mean more toys, outdoor time or a messy house. But all that is worth it compared to the junk screen time feeds them.
Reduce EMF exposure – EMF is the electric field surrounding the electronics we use at home. It might interfere with our body’s biology and its own electric system ( that carries impulses to and from the brain). Some feel EMF exposure causes sleep disturbance for them and removing it helps sleep peacefully. Remove unwanted electronics and devices at home. Switch off the WIFI router at night. Leave devices in airplane mode whenever not in use. There are devices in amazon and stores like Home Depot that measure the strength of EMF in different spots in your house. You can move your electronics around based on how much they emit and try to keep the levels low near the bedroom or the areas where you spend most of your time in your home. Keep the WIFI router out of bedroom. If you work from home, have the office set-up and router at the other end of the room where you sleep.
Support methylation and detox with herbs – Body must be supported at cellular level for detox. Methylation support helps achieve it. It could be a combination of supplements and herbs based on the Childs need.
And most importantly go outside and connect with nature. Be barefoot and help grounding. Water fasting is another great way to detox.