Better Living WITHOUT Chemistry!

pjsc 103  Eliminate the BAD chemicals that destroy health

One thing that I have noticed that many Paleo People seem to omit from the many changes they make in implementing an ancestral or paleo type of lifestyle is to eliminate some really bad things.  They give up grains (hard) and minimize sugars (also hard to do) in their lives, take up daily exercise and easy movement, and go to bed early to get a full 8 ours plus of sleep per night in a totally blacked-out bedroom.  They take great pains to cultivate their tribe of family, friends and church, connecting and inter-reacting on a regular basis!  They are almost THERE...

But they still go to the store, and buy incredibly toxic products, products of poison like chemical cleaners, personal care products like soaps and shampoos that are loaded with petroleum byproducts like sodium lauryl sulphate.  Sulfates strip the skin of its natural oils and increase penetration of the skin’s surface. They are also irritants for people with sensitive skin or eczema.  This is in almost every commercial soap or body wash and shampoo, and eliminating it made a huge difference for me!  

Fragrance. Bottom line: If the ingredient is vague, it’s probably hiding something. “Fragrance” could actually be a cocktail of chemicals and you’d never know it. The FDA doesn’t require companies to disclose the breakdown of a fragrance’s ingredients to consumers because the chemicals that produce fragrance are considered “trade secrets.” Most of the time, synthetic chemicals and cancer-causing toxins (like phthalates, used to make fragrances last longer) are hiding under that one sneaky term. Constant exposure to fragrances has been shown to negatively impact the central nervous system and can trigger allergies, migraines and asthma symptoms. 

Parabens. These ingredients are estrogen mimickers—meaning that once applied to the skin, they enter the bloodstream, and the body mistakes them for estrogen. When the body thinks there is an abnormally high amount of estrogen present in the bloodstream due to the presence of these hormone disrupters, it reacts in various ways: decreasing muscle mass, increasing fat deposits, causing early onset of puberty and spurring reproductive difficulties in both men and women. 

And lastly, there is Triclosan. This chemical is most often found in antibacterial soap. Recent studies have found that triclosan actually promotes the emergence and growth of bacteria resistant to antibiotic cleansers. It also creates dioxin, a carcinogen that has been found in high levels in human breast milk. Dioxins have disruptive effects on theendocrine system and negatively affect thyroid functions. And here’s a fun fact: dioxin is the primary toxic component of Agent Orange!

Think about it. If we are washing our bodies with soap that contains harmful ingredients every single day, this adds up over a lifetime to wreak havoc on our health. 

Since there is minimal government testing on these chemicals, it becomes up to us, as smart consumers, to make informed decisions as to what does and doesn’t go on our skin.

Get good quality, natural, coconut oil based or other natural fat based soaps, shampoos and body washes.  They are out there: God made products, combined in low tech ways to make honest to God products!

Just like you should only eat natural, God made foods, you should only use natural, God made cleaning products...

And don’t even THINK about throwing a little Roundup on those cracks in your sidewalk...  oh my God- the main ingredient in roundup by Monsanto is glyphosate.

Glyphosate affects your gut bacteria just as it does weeds in your yard. 

It causes extreme disruption of your beneficial microbes’ functions and lifecycles. This sets YOU up for autoimmune disease!  By killing your beneficial bacteria, which it tends to do preferentially, it allows your BAD, sugar-thriving bacteria to multiply, causing things like small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, or SIBO, and all of the downstream results of weight gain, acid reflux, asthma, and- again- autoimmune diseases of all sorts.

Since this is paleo QUICK tip of the day, I will stop there...

But, later, we will talk about the little shop of cosmetic horrors...