You know, the term healthy can be such a broad idea of so many areas of your life. Healthy living has evolved SO much over the years and to be honest, I am loving what it means right now. But I also think that healthy living has a different meaning to each and every one of us. For some it might be a 6:00 a.m. run that makes them feel alive for the rest of the day. For others it could be slow meditation before bed to give them restorative sleep. But for all of us, we know that reducing toxins wherever we can is something that can dramatically impact the WAY we want to be healthy.
As I’ve learned about toxins in my home and my clients’ homes over the years, I know that the products we bring into our home combined with the materials that are already there can have a huge impact on the way we feel and how our body functions. It’s why I do what I do. Because most of us haven’t grown up with education on what toxins are doing to our bodies. You may not have gotten this information until you had to seek it out for yourself. And even then, you only have so much time to learn and then more time to change.
What you need is a PLAN to change — because you can easily check boxes off of a to do list once it’s there. The battle is coming up with the changes to make and knowing WHAT to do. Most of us can execute a plan perfectly when given the exact steps to take. So let’s take a look at what healthy living means in your home — and then HOW to create a step by step plan that makes sense for your family. Because we’re all different and have different needs in our homes and in our families. A cookie cutter plan just isn’t going to cut it anymore.
HEALTHY LIVING IS MORE THAN DIET AND EXERCISE
I was born in the ‘80s and grew up in the ‘90s where the word healthy meant a TOTALLY different thing than it does today (and dare I say healthy in 10 years from now will probably mean something different than now?) You may be able to remember the days of zero fat diets and cardio workouts. Thankfully our health and wellness has come SO far since then and we know that our bodies thrive on natural food, rich in healthy fats too. We know that our body’s health is more about how we feel and less about our appearance.
Our health is as much about our surrounding environment as it is about our food and our exercise habits. We all want to live lives that are full and long, and taking care of what we surround ourselves with each and every day is as much a part of that desire as being “fit”. It all goes hand in hand, and so many of us are just now realizing this. And I don’t know about you — but it was kind of a relief to me to realize that “healthy” means things that feel good to my body, mind and soul.
The biggest burden lifted off of me in creating a healthier home was the realization that I didn’t have to rework my entire home or all my habits surrounding my home life. Of course many of them naturally change, but when they naturally change it’s an easier process than when I try to flip everything upside down and swap every item and habit for “healthier ones”. Another enlightening realization was that I didn’t have to spend extra money or spend hours of time to make my home healthier. I realized it was just about making plans and sticking to them — because that’s where the real progress is.
WHY MOST OF US HAD NO IDEA ABOUT TOXINS UNTIL NOW
Does it seem like we’ve all just started cutting toxins from our home in life? I know that for me I started becoming aware of these problems very slowly in the beginning because there wasn’t enough information out there. If you wanted to find information on how toxins were affecting your body, it was like a full time job where you had to be doing research on.
And of course, so many of us didn’t know that we needed to find this information. Maybe even you didn’t find seek out this information until AFTER there was an illness or diagnosis. But what happens when more and more people are suffering from diseases we didn’t suffer from before? We all start to realize that SOMETHING is going on and a change has to be made.
And that’s the point in time we’re in right now — we’ve seen the increases in illness and diseases for the past years and now we know that SOMETHING has to change. And while I think you do still have to seek out this information on reducing toxins at home, there is SO much more information out there to help you make decisions about your home and your home habits.
DOES A NON TOXIC HOUSE REALLY MATTER?
In one word: YES! It absolutely matters to your health and wellness. Toxins in our homes are being studied more and more. And with each new study it seems like we’re finding more and more evidence that toxins are harming our bodies, minds and wellbeing.
Here’s a few of the big ways toxins are impacting your healthy living:
Hormone Disruption: While I do think this is a buzz phrase — it is something that negatively affects SO many other areas of wellness. Because we have a variety of hormones and areas of our endocrine system, the negative effects can be numerous (STUDY):
- Lowered immunity response
- Metabolic dysfunction
- Increased risk of ADHD & Developmental Delays in children
- Reproductive system dysfunction
- Increased risk of certain types of cancers
Liver Damage: Toxins are also extremely hard on the whole body, but the liver in general. The liver has an important job of detoxifying our body on a regular basis — and whatever we put into our body, onto our body or surround our body with is what the liver ends up dealing with. Once the liver becomes overworked, it can lead to disease, which at that point can be irreversible. But the good news is that a study done in 2021 showed that we may be able to reduce the risk for liver disease by reducing home toxins in our environment. (STUDY).
Increased Risk of Cancer: Products are required to advertise that the toxins inside are cancerous. But the truth is that SO many products we bring into our home from our healthy and beauty products to our furniture contain carcinogenic materials. Radon, another carcinogen, can also be found in many of our homes without us even knowing it. Allowing our body to thrive in a toxin free space means that we’re creating an environment that will help REDUCE the risk of cancer. Cancerous toxins seem to be everywhere in our world, so by reducing carcinogenic toxins at home, we can give our body the break it needs to heal.
Neurological Dysfunction: Toxins like polyvinyl chloride and VOCs have been linked to a number of negative health effects, but one of the big ones is reduced neurological function as well as overall negative effects on the neurological system as a whole.
Mental Health Issues: Toxins like mold and pesticides in your home have also been linked to a variety of mental health issues in recent studies done on families who have suffered these problems in their home. This post I did a month ago outlines the variety of toxins that negatively affect mental health and how they can contribute to depression, anxiety, nervousness, insomnia, paranoia and mood changes.
HOW TO TAKE YOUR HEALTHY LIVING TO THE NEXT LEVEL
One thing I love about homes and families in those homes is that we’re all unique. Finding the right balance to create a healthy lifestyle is like putting a puzzle together. And no two families or homes will likely be exactly the same. Even my priorities to other building biologists are different. And what my family will tolerate and what I can change at home looks different than in other homes.
While there are some BIG ways to take your healthy living to the next level with your home space, just remember that the specific starting spot and the specific order of steps that you take are going to be unique to you and your budget, time and needs.
This exact reason is why I think it’s so crucial to create a plan for yourself that will be able to follow as you make changes to your home and your home habits. Because we all know that we can’t make too many changes at one time. It’s not sustainable for us as habits — you know what happens when you try to change everything at once. You can only manage it for so long until you start slipping back into old habits. And it’s not beneficial to our budget or bank account. Many healthy home changes will take both time and investment from you. And that’s why it’s just not plausible to make all the changes at once.
You are not going to want to miss signing up for my live training in a few weeks, where I’ll be teaching you the four BIG steps to take and in what order BEFORE I start teaching you how to create your own custom plan and blueprint.
You can sign up here for the time that works with your schedule.
Healthy living is exactly what it sounds like, a lifestyle. And when you’ve been living one particular lifestyle for a while, it becomes a habit. And let’s be honest, habits can be hard to change — we’re human! But the good news is that when you take healthy living and turn it into a positive habit and second nature — it becomes harder to STOP doing those healthy things for your home and space. Habits work both ways — for us when they’re good habits we’ve started. And sometimes we need to ditch the bad habits — but with effort I know you’ll be able to do it.
