Clean Living

Why Should We Consider Leading a Cleaner Lifestyle?

We are surrounded by chemicals on a daily basis.  Many chemicals, including but not limited to organophosphates, bisphenols (BPA), perfluoroalkyl (PFC)s, flame retardants, lead, phthalates, and glycol ethers, can be found in our plastics, furniture, food wrap, cookware, cans, carpets, shower curtains, electronics and even your shampoo.  Research has shown that many of these chemicals are carcinogenic and are linked, but not limited to asthma, skin irritations, infertility, hormone disruption, reproductive, kidney, and liver damage.  Studies have also found extensive research that brain development may become disrupted on a growing fetus due to maternal exposure to toxic chemicals.

How does this affect our children?

Specifically in children, chemical exposure may cause reproductive damage, behavioral issues, memory, hearing, learning, and motor delays. Many of the additives such as glue, dyes, and plastic in packaging have been linked to obesity, autism, ADD/ADHD, and limited muscle mass and bone strength.

Children are also at an increased risk because they are smaller, so their “dose” of any given chemical after exposure ends up being higher. Children also unknowingly put their hands into their mouths more than adults, so they also accidentally ingest more into their tiny bodies.  To make matters worse, their bodies are still developing, so the risk of harm is increased and because they are younger, the chemicals have more time to do more damage.

What else should we be concerned about?

Sadly, over the last few decades, the number of chemicals added to foods and other products has dramatically increased.  Many of the more than 10,000 additives are “generally recognized as safe” after they were grandfathered in during the 1950s.  Plastics have been created, preservatives are added to foods to keep them fresh, and chemicals are added to foods just to make them look more appealing.

Food packaging has been created to help keep our food fresh and chemicals are added to beauty products for aesthetic purposes and for a nicer aroma.  Although many of these practices may have been put into place for good intent, we have now learned that many of those chemicals can cause real harm to all of us!  Some common chemicals found in our food, water, or packaging include Perchlorate, artificial food colors, Nitrates, Nitrites, Dioxin, Mercury, Atrazine, Arsenic, Potassium bromate, Dacthal, and Organophosphates.

Pesticides in our food

According to the EWG, nearly 70 percent of the produce sold in the U.S. comes with pesticide residues. Shockingly, the USDA tests reveals that the popular health food kale is among the most contaminated of fruits and vegetables. At times, a single sample of kale contained up to 18 different residues! The most frequently detected pesticide, found on nearly 60 percent of kale samples, was Dacthal, or DCPA – classified by the Environmental Protection Agency since 1995 as a possible human carcinogen, and prohibited for use in Europe since 2009, but obviously not here in the United States. All together, the USDA found 225 different pesticides and pesticide breakdown products on fruits and vegetables we as Americans eat and feed to our children every day. Before testing, all produce was washed and peeled, just as people would prepare food for themselves, which exemplified that simple washing does not remove all pesticides.  Click HERE to read the EWG’s “Dirty Dozen” for 2019.

What the studies have shown

In December, A French study published in JAMA Internal Medicine, a journal from the American Medical Association, found that among nearly 69,000 participants, those with the highest frequency of organic food consumption had 25 percent fewer cancers than individuals who did not eat organic food.

Additionally, in 2018, data from the Harvard University T.H. Chan School of Public Health Environment and Reproductive Health, or EARTH, study found a surprising association among study participants and the consumption of foods high in pesticide residues and fertility problems.

In February, a study in the Environmental Research journal, evaluated the impact of an organic diet for only 6 days. Before the organic diet intervention, they detected in the participants’ urine potential exposure to more than 40 different pesticides, but after just 6 days, the adults and children had on average a 60 percent reduction in the levels of synthetic pesticides measured in their urine, compared to when they were eating a conventional diet!  They also found that an organic diet can reduce the levels of chlorpyrifos, a neurotoxic pesticide that can harm the brain of the developing fetus.

The chief responsibility of deciding which pesticides are approved for use in the U.S., including setting the pesticide residue levels on foods and crops, falls to the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency). The primary enforcement authority for pesticide use on farms is left to the individual states.  The USDA and the Food and Drug Administration share the responsibility for testing foods to determine our dietary exposures to pesticides. Unfortunately, neither the USDA nor FDA regularly tests all commodities for pesticide residues, nor do the programs test for all pesticides commonly used in agriculture.  Companies are required to submit safety data, proposed uses, and product labels for approval by the EPA, but the EPA does not conduct its own independent testing of the pesticides.

So how do we go about protecting ourselves and our families? The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends:

  • Buy more fresh or frozen fruits and vegetables, and fewer processed meats, especially during pregnancy.
  • Since heat can cause plastics to leak BPA and phthalates into food, avoid using a microwave for food or beverages in plastic containers, and wash plastics by hand rather than putting them in the dishwasher.
  • Use more glass and stainless steel as opposed to plastic.
  • Avoid plastics with the number 3 for phthalates, 6 for styrene, and 7 for bisphenols on them.
  • Wash your hands thoroughly before and after touching food; clean all fruits and vegetables well.  Click HERE to get more detailed instructions on how to clean your fruits and vegetables.
  • Read labels, read labels, read labels.
  • Avoid canned food and beverages, fast food, and processed food.
  • If you select processed foods, look for items that are certified organic or bear the Non-GMO Project Verified label.
  • Consider making your own home DIY cleaning products.  Click HERE for some of my favorites.

I do not want to make you paranoid, but my goal is to educate, so you can gain knowledge and power to make simple changes in your home and lifestyle to protect yourself and your family.