Self Magazine: Detox Your Life

I just read an awesome article from the August 2011 issue of Self Magazine about avoiding everyday toxins and purchasing more earth- and people-friendly products. Most people are inevitably exposed to harmful toxins on a daily basis via air pollution and leaded paint, for example. However, with care and proper knowledge, it is possible to minimize exposure to harmful toxins and improve the health one's personal environment.

I will try to scan in the article soon, but for now, check out some tips via the links below.

8 Easy Ways to Detox Your Life
12 Unhealthy Products
6 Nontoxic Beauty Buys

My favorite tips?

-Spritz rooms and furniture with straight vodka rather than traditional air fresheners, which may cause respiratory issues. Vodka will cut undesirable odors without clogging up your airways.

-Avoid using plastics which may contain hormone-disrupting BPA. The worst offenders: plastics with the numbers 3, 6, or 7 inside the recycle icon. I'm going to start checking my shampoo bottles!

-Use hand sanitizers which list alcohol as the active ingredient rather than the chemical triclosan. Triclosan has not yet been approved by the FDA, and some scientists fear it may increase bacterias' resistance to germicides. Hand sanitizer which is 60% alcohol should kill germs dead.


My favorite tips not mentioned in these articles?

-Close your car windows and recirculate the air when stuck in traffic on the freeway. This prevents you from breathing in car exhaust, which contains harmful chemicals like carbon monoxide and formaldehyde.

-Purchase candles with soy bases, as these burn cleaner and release fewer carcinogens.

-Make your own household cleaners using baking soda, vinegar, lemon juice, hot water, and other natural ingredients. Plenty of people still use old school cleaning agents, and when you cook up your own you can pretend you're a mad scientist :P

All jokes aside, I hope these tips are helpful to you. We can't live in bubbles (who would want to anyway?!), but by eliminating certain harmful toxins from our life, we can make our little stakes in the world a better place.