The 8 most toxic things in your home
When speaking with my health coaching clients, I always get the same overwhelming response: I have no idea where to even start when it comes to living a nontoxic lifestyle.
Luckily, switching to a nontoxic lifestyle is a lot easier AND affordable than you’d think! Here’s the most common toxins that lurk in our homes and my clean swap recommendations to get you closer to living a nontoxic lifestyle!
*This post contains affiliate links meaning I may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you, if you make a purchase using these links. I only recommend products I love and trust. To see our full disclosure, click here.
1 Plastic
If you think about it, we really do live in a world of plastic. In fact, it’s estimated that we are ingesting about 2,000+ tiny pieces of plastic a week (about the equivalent of eating a plastic credit card each week… YUM).
Eating all of this plastic has its side effects: muscle weakness, damage to our mucus membranes (eye, nose, throat), damages our central nervous system, disrupts our endocrine system (hormones), causes fatigue, causes nausea, causes birth defects, impairs our immune system, and CAUSES CANCER.
Where Plastic Lurks in Your Home: water bottles, mouthwash bottles, plastic “jars”, toys, squeeze bottles, school binders, baby bottles, medical equipment, and basically any plastic packaging of any sort. Shockingly, it can even be found in your tap water! Click here to learn more about my favorite water filter!
Easy Switches:
-Reusable water bottles
Clearly Filtered Stainless Steel Water Bottle (with filter)
Yeti Stainless Steel Water Bottle (cheaper than a Stanley!)
-Glass/silicone storage containers
14 piece glass food storage
Reusable bags
-Silicone & Glass baby bottles
Philips Avent Glass Baby Bottles (we used these with Libby)
Boon Nursh Silicone Bottles (we loved these, too)
-Montessori toys (usually made of wood)
· Here’s a link to a bunch of options based on age ranges
The take away: opt for glass as often as possible!
2 Cleaning Products
I could go on and on about the side effects/risks involved with using your everyday, run of the mill cleaners that are marketed to us everywhere we turn. They’re loaded with unnecessary chemicals and fragrance galore. A great way to learn about what is in your cleaning agents is to check out an app called Healthy Living (the EWG app). This app gives you a rating on how safe the ingredients in the cleaning agents you’re using are. This is pretty eye opening!
Not only are our traditional cleaning agents loaded with yucky stuff, we are normally using them wrong! Fun side note: have you ever read how you’re actually supposed to use those spray disinfectant cleaning agents? You’re supposed to completely saturate the surface for minutes before it is effective. Go ahead, take a look at the bottle you probably have stored under your sink! I bet you've been using it wrong like I was!
We don’t use any “traditional” cleaners in our home. Basically if it has a big “DANGER” warning on it- it’s not welcome here.
Easy Switch:
Force of Nature All Purpose Cleaner
3 Cosmetics
I am not going to go into this in depth here because I literally have an entire blog post specifically for makeup- you can read my Makeup Recommendation Blog Post Here!
But the gist of it is this: our cosmetics industry is barely regulated. Therefore, our makeup can have fake dyes, harsh chemicals and can literally give us cancer from excessive use.
Easy Switch:
Again, you should see my recommended list on my Makeup Recommendation Blog Post.
In addition, I really am loving this new company I found- Attitude. It’s EWG verified (so it is sure to NOT have ANY harmful chemicals in it) and it’s affordable. You can get 15 % off their entire site by clicking here!
4 Antiperspirant
This is my fancy way of saying “deodorant”. Again, I am not going to go into a ton of detail here because I have already made an entire blog post about personal care items I use and recommend- read my Non-Toxic Personal Care Product Recommendations Here!
But, to put it simply, antiperspirants have phthalates and parabens in them that are known to affect our endocrine system (hormones) and have been linked to breast cancer. No thanks.
Easy Switch:
Again, you can see my recommended list on my Nontoxic Personal Care Product Recommendations.
However, right now I am using Rowe Casa Organics deodorant and I am really loving it. I never get BO.
5 Aluminum Foil
Growing up, we wrapped EVERYTHING in aluminum foil- especially potatoes (thanks for the heavy metal exposure, mom!). However, at high temperatures, this metal can leach into your food. It’s known to cause neurological problems (Alzheimer’s link), male infertility, loss of coordination, etc.
Easy Switch:
Unbleached parchment paper (this is what we use)
Cedar wraps
6 Artificial Fragrance
This is my biggest “ick” when walking into a home or place of business- the smell. Artificial fragrance is in EVERYTHING. Candles, cleaners, laundry detergent, body wash, perfume, scented plug ins, room sprays, and so much more.
The risks: cancer, birth defects, asthma, headaches, allergies, and other respiratory problems.
Easy Switch:
-Candles
Fontana Candle Co.
-Cleaner
Force of Nature All Purpose Cleaner
-Laundry Detergent
Attitude Brand laundry detergent (get 15% off now!)
-Body Wash
Attitude Brand body wash (get 15% off now!)
-Perfume
Dime Beauty perfume
-Room Spray
Rowe Casa Organics room spray
7 Nonstick Pans
How doesn’t it stick? Because it is literally coated in harsh chemicals that leach into our food and into our air when it is heated up. So, yep, you’re breathing it in, too.
Your best bet is using stainless steel or cast iron.
Easy Switch:
Stainless Steel Pan Set (we use these)
Cast iron skillet (we also use this)
8 Tap Water
I am actually shocked at how many people drink tap water. First, I want to inquire- have you ever investigated what is in your tap water? Every area is different. One common denominator in water pretty much everywhere is fluoride and microplastics.
They’ve been adding fluoride to our water for a while along with many other chemicals that get into it from the rusty pipes it flows through. Fluoride is supposed to give us strong teeth. However, it is not meant to be ingested as it is a known neurotoxin (bad for our brains).
Easy Switch:
Use a water filter. There’s a lot of options. You could use a…
Refrigerator Filter (what we use)- Clearly Filtered Refrigerator Filter
On the counter filter- Kangen Water Filter (this is the greatest investement we’ve made- ever!) If you’re interested in learning more about it, you can click here!
While it can be overwhelming to switch products and live a nontoxic lifestyle, keep in mind that this is a process. Start slowly. Invest in what matters most to you and gradually replace all of these things!
