I have been on my non-toxic journey for about three years now. It has not been a fast paced journey but rather a slow walk down a pretty rocky beach. Sometimes I feel like I’m doing amazing and other times I tell my husband to grab take out every other night. The point is, this is a journey. And I hate to say it but it’ll take time to feel the results of it too. But, I think it’s totally worth it! Especially once you learn about all the scary chemicals out there.
If you are thinking about starting your non-toxic journey, let me give you some ways it has benefited me. I’ll give you the good, the bad, and the ugly points of all of it.
My Non-Toxic Journey
Let’s start with my personal journey. I’ll make it quick. My parents, my mom especially, have always been health conscious. My mom was ripping on GMO’s before people even knew what they were! So I grew up with a pretty good understanding of how to eat healthy. When I did get a job that gave me money to buy my own food, I realized quickly that processed food made me feel like shit.
Cue years later when I am going through college and a pretty hard time. I am diagnosed with depression. It wasn’t until my son was born that I decided to look into the connection between depression and the gut. That’s what started my non-toxic journey. I knew I needed to clean up toxins and my gut.
At this point I thought that’s all people did to be “non-toxic”. Turns out, people gut their whole houses to install all non-toxic product in them! I felt pretty overwhelmed when I first started but I focused on three main areas: personal care items, food, and cleaning. Within these categories, I focused the most on my gut and I was incredibly happy with the results I had.
Then, my appendix ruptured. I was incredibly frustrated because my gut health I had worked so hard for was wiped out in an instant. It really sucked and I’m not going to lie, I let it get to me. I gave up on eating clean and looking back now, I’m shooting myself for it.
These days, I am back on track with my non-toxic journey. I am working to clean up my gut (again!) and also focusing on my mental health just as much as my physical health.
If you haven’t already my post on gut health, check it out here! Also, if you need some mindset hacks, check out my post here!
Why You Should Start Your Non-Toxic Journey
I want to just say real quick, I am not a doctor. All of these opinions are based on how I feel and the journey I have been on. If you don’t want to start a non-toxic journey you’re probably 1. not reading this blog post and 2. that’s totally your choice! I know people who eat super clean but don’t care about the chemicals in their skincare. Totally fine! The best part about YOUR non-toxic journey is that YOU get to decide what matters to you!
Here are a couple reasons why my non-toxic journey is so important to me.
Forever Chemicals
These bad boys are scary. Forever chemicals are chemicals that due to their stability, do not biodegrade in nature. They can accumulate in the human body and are detoxed very slowly. The worst part is forever chemicals can be found in every day items such as:
- Water
- Cookware
- Furniture
- In the air
- Make up
- Nail polish
- Lotion
- Dental floss
- and so much more!
The fact that there are so many of these chemicals and they are in so many things that we use everyday is scary. Scientist now are trying to find ways to biodegrade these chemicals faster, but it’s a very new study and doesn’t address the fact that these chemicals are trapped in our body for so long. Which leads me to my next point….
Toxic Burden
Our bodies are truly incredible and can eliminate toxins quite efficiently. However, when we load our bodies with so many chemicals, our bodies have a hard time keeping up. So, while you might use a lotion that has toxic chemicals in it, our body can probably filter out those toxins no problem. But when you use that lotion plus a ton of makeup and then shampoo and conditioner and then sunscreen, it all adds up and all of a sudden our bodies can’t handle the toxic load we’ve put on them.
And that’s just personal care items! Can you imagine how many more toxins we are putting in our bodies with processed foods, air pollutants, water contamination, toxins from plastics, and so many more! At some point, our bodies just can’t handle it as well anymore. That’s why reducing our toxic burden really helps our bodies function better.
Feel Better
I feel like this is the biggest reason to start your non-toxic journey. Yeah forever chemicals and toxic burden are really scary, but the idea of going through life feeling like shit is even scarier. I eliminate toxic chemicals in my everyday use items to reduce these forever chemicals and toxic burden. I eat cleaner and reduce stress (a huge toxin) to feel better in my life. In all honesty, it’s finding what makes you feel better. And even though people don’t like to hear it, it’s normally fueling our bodies with the right foods that is going to make us feel the best.
I hope this helped explain why toxins can be so worrisome in our lives and I hope it’s given you the inspiration to follow your own non-toxic journey! Let me know in the comments your biggest reason for choosing a non-toxic lifestyle!