What To Avoid
What to avoid can be just as important as what to include in your healthy lifestyle. We live in a world that has an incredible amount of pollutants assaulting us every day. They are in our air, our water, our foods and in many of the materials in our homes, clothing and furniture.
Athough we can’t eliminate them completely, it is well worth trying to avoid or limit our exposure to these damaging substances. Our liver, kidneys and lungs are busy enough eliminating the everyday waste products that our daily metabolic processes create. Any changes we can make to avoid overloading our system makes a difference. Although we are not meant to live forever, there is something to be said about quality of life. Delaying or preventing chronic illness makes life more enjoyable.
Here are some examples:
Avoid unhealthy or toxic skin and hair products (lotions, makeup, perfumes, soaps, shampoos and hair coloring) The shorter the list of ingredients on a product label, the less detrimental it is to your health. Avoid any product with the word parabens in the list of ingredients as well as artificial fragrances and perfumes. These are big hormone disruptors and also have carcinogenic properties. SEE OUR NEW LINE OF NATURAL SOAPS. If you enjoy wearing colognes or perfumes, do not use them daily but occasionally. Long term they can be detrimental to your health.
Here are some links for more detailed information:
Dangers in Lotions & Sunscreen
Avoid plastic water bottles as they leach dangerous chemicals into the water, especially if exposed to heat in your car or in the sun. We use amber glass bottles. Although they are a little heavier, drinking healthier water is worth the extra weight.
Avoid toxic cleaning products. There are many healthy alternatives to all the toxic cleaning agents that are used currently. Click here
for more information. 51 Ways to Clean With Baking Soda
Avoid most commercial room deodorizers, as well as artificially scented candles, as they can all cause inflammation of the mucus membranes, leaving you more vulnerable to catching viruses and bacteria that might be floating around in the air.
Avoid hand sanitizers as they contain antibacterials that cause more harm than good. Wash with soap and hot water.
Cell Phone Radiation: Avoid using cell phones right up against your head and keep them as far away from your body as you can.
It is best that children limit their use of cell phones to emergency calls only. They should always use a headset. Keep in mind that children's cells are rapidly developing and are more susceptible to DNA damage and therefore the cancer risk is higher.
Limit unhealthy fats such as vegetable oils and fat substitutes. When eating fats, remember to eat the real thing - just monitor your quantities.
Sugar, aside from stressing out the pancreas and other organs, sugar sets up an inflammatory response in the body which translates into increasing the level of pain anywhere in your body. It slows down your immune responses making you more susceptible to illness and it leaches minerals out of your bones and ligaments. Click here to read about the link between inflammation and heart disease. We like to use natural sweeteners such as Just Like Sugar or a sprinkle of monk fruit powder. We like to vary what we sweeten with just in case future studies reveal that they are not as beneficial to our health as thought. Most of all we enjoy eating fruits to satisfy our sweet tooth.
Tobacco - We all know how damaging all tobacco products are. Don't be fooled by non-cigarette tobacco products. Learn more. We don't think we need any other comment here other than - “run in a different direction!”
Alcohol - If you don’t drink alcoholic beverages DO NOT start drinking wine just because it is said to be good for your heart because it contains Resveratrol. You can get Resveratrol supplements at your local health food store and you don’t have to worry about the pesticide residues that non-organic wine may contain, or the detrimental effects alcohol can have on your liver and brain cells.