The Dirty on Household Cleaners

Have you ever noticed how your lungs tighten up, you hold your breath, and may even turn your head away as you spray your household cleanser on your counter tops?  I used to go so far as to run away from the area I was spraying and then come back in a few minutes after I thought the fumes had “settled.”  How odd is this that our bodies intuitively know that conventional household cleaners are poisonous, yet we continue to use them because they have become standardized in U.S. retail markets?

Conventional household cleaning products are a main reason why indoor air quality is often worse than outdoor air quality.  That’s right, the air quality in your home, office, or classroom is worse than the polluted outside air!  That’s an alarming fact since we as Americans spend about 90% of our lives indoors.    

Chemicals to beware of:    

VOCs (volatile organic compounds), You may have heard of VOCs as they have been gaining attention.  VOCs are toxic vapors released into the air from many liquid cleaners, furniture polish, citrus oil cleaners, pine oil cleaners, solvents, aerosols, degreasers, spray lubricants, nail polish, nail polish remover, perfume, rubbing alcohol, hair spray, air fresheners, dry cleaned clothes, and spot removers.  Short-term exposure to high levels of some VOCs can cause headaches, dizziness, light-headedness, drowsiness, nausea, and eye and respiratory irritation. These effects usually go away after the exposure stops. In laboratory animals, longterm exposure to high levels of some VOCs has caused cancer and affected the liver, kidney, and nervous system.

Ammonia, while it makes a great glass cleaner, is poisonous if swallowed and the fumes harm mucous membranes in your nasal passages, throat, lungs, and eyes.  

Phthalates disguised as “fragrance”, are often found in dryer sheets, cleaners, air fresheners, and many personal care products.  Phthalates are everywhere indoors!  They fume slowly and then stick to dust, which can be inhaled or ingested.  Phthalates can cause allergies, asthma, and disrupt estrogen metabolism (which contributes to certain cancers).  Phthalates are also linked to liver toxicity and genital malformation. 

The Solution

As an Organichead myself, who tries to make every attempt to make clean lifestyle decisions, I know it is nearly impossible to completely rid your environment of toxic chemicals.  However, by using non-toxic, natural cleaning products, and personal care products, you eliminate chemicals from the source!  This is also good for our environment, as those chemicals no longer end up in our air, water, animals, and soil.  You should also open your windows to allow fresh air to circulate, vacuum weekly, and run a good air purifier.  Small steps can go a long way when it comes to your health! 

      

5 Toxic Chemicals in Skin & Hair Products

 

1.  Mineral Oil / Petrolatum / Petroleum:  These cheap petroleum based ingredients clog the skin’s pores and enlarge them. This can cause acne, saggy skin, long term dry skin, and respiratory toxins.

2.  Propylene Glycol:  This cheap synthetic petrochemical is used as an emulsifying base in creams in lotions.  This ingredient is often used in antifreeze, paint and plastic solvents.  It causes the skin to age faster and sag as it can denature the skin’s protein.  It can cause allergic reactions, liver damage, kidney damage, weaken the immune system, weaken the respiratory system, and inhibit brain function.  The Material Safety Data Sheet warns to AVOID SKIN CONTACT directly on the label. 

3.  Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS):  Most products that lather contains this harmful lathering ingredient.  Check your face wash, shampoo, toothpaste and soap for this ingredient.  SLS is a proven skin irritant and can lead to acne-like lesions on your face and upper body.  It can also lead to rashes, skin discoloration, liver damage, excessive body hair, and cancer!  It also has a degenerative effect on the cell membranes and denature protein such as in hair or skin.  Which can lead to damaged skin, hair loss, and inhibition of hair growth.    

4.  Parabens (Propyl-, Methyl-, Butyl- or Etylparaben):  These ingredients offer an inexpensive way to increase the shelf life of products even though they are know to be highly toxic.  Scientific studies have found that parabens have the potential to cause cancer.  The estrogen activity of this ingredient has been directly linked to the development of certain cancers, including breast, prostate, ovarian, and uterine.  The adverse effects of parabens continue to be studied.

5.  Fragrance:  The word “Fragrance” means a synthetic fragrance was made in a test tube from any of over 200 synthetic chemicals.  These “fragrance” chemicals, which can bio-accumulate in your organs, can cause many symptoms such as headaches, lung problems, birth defects, central nervous system disorders, skin irritations, dizziness, memory impairment, hyper-pigmentation, rash, vomiting, even potential brain damage and more.  They are very cheap, toxic imitation of real herbal scents.  

 

This is only a list of 5 commonly used toxic, chemical ingredients that are used in many of the hair and skin care products on shelves today.  There are many other harmful chemical that should be avoided as well.  However, I purposely kept this list short as it’s all about taking small steps towards eliminating toxic chemicals from your life.

 

Thanks for helping me change the world one Organichead at a time! 

Think Organic, Live Organic

 

Choosing the Best Vitamins

How does one really know which vitamins are the best quality?  I have been supplementing my diet with vitamins since childhood.  I have used many brands of vitamins that are on store shelves, and many that are offered only through health practitioners.  People often ask me what kind of vitamins they should be taking (i.e. multi, calcium, fish oil, etc.).  I always tell them that the brand of vitamin should be the real concern.  

You must find a quality brand first, and then whichever type of vitamin you take will actually be effective. For example, you could be taking 10 different supplements per day, and only absorb 0-10% of the nutrients stated on the label.  Even worse, you could be absorbing toxic tagalongs from the ingredients or process used to create the vitamins. It’s pointless to focus on which vitamins you need when they might not be working anyway.  I recommend and use, Quantum-Rx vitamins based on their company philosophy, source of ingredients, ingredients used to make the capsule, and packaging materials.

Quantum Rx delivers non-toxic products that work.  They are so effective they are considered nutraceutical grade supplements. All ingredients are from “once living” sources, which provide ideal cellular DNA repair and protection. This is just not possible from old style, isolated vitamin and mineral products. Quantum Rx guarantees that every ingredient was well grown, and 100% chemical-free. They provide extensive research data on their products and ingredients. Each product’s ingredients, quality, form, and synergism with other ingredients are studied to find what really works.     

Ingredients used in Quantum Rx nutraceuticals are only from the highest quality sources.  Quantum tests every single container of raw material using the state-of-the-art photoluminescence device.  If the materials are found to be of inferior quality, they immediately send it back.  Companies that don’t have such technology may unknowingly accept poorly grown, old, or toxic raw materials.

All Quantum Rx supplements come in liquid form, or cased in a 100% excipient-free, solvent-free, vegetable capsule. Vegetable capsules cost twice as much as commonly used gelatin capsules, but are 50% better absorbed than gelatin capsules.  Quantum does not use toxic binders, fillers, talcum powder, polyvinylpyrrolidone, magnesium stearate, toxic waxes or animal bi-products in their capsules. They also do not produce tablet form, as the nature of a tablet must contain excipients.   

Quantum continues to take quality control one-step further.  They have created special “Violite” containers for their supplements.  Each container is a dark violet color, and engineered to block 100% of the light frequencies known to cause nutrient degradation.  The “Violite” containers are nitrogen-flushed to minimize oxidation of powders and liquids.  This provides the supplements protection, freshness, and longer shelf life.      

Quantum is the one brand of supplements that I use on a regular basis. I believe they offer the best quality nutriceuticals in the market.  They don’t miss a beat when it comes to quality ingredients and packaging.  They offer supplements for just about any type of health need. Supplementing with vitamins is ESSENTIAL!  You just cannot get all the proper nutrients your body needs through food alone.  So in order to avoid throwing your money down a black hole while swallowing capsules filled with virtually nothing, I recommend using only high quality, non-toxic, absorbable vitamins.       

Why Should I use Organic Products?

We are all starting to notice the revolution to natural & organic products, but why? People around the world collectively have begun to question the technology and scary advances that have become the norm in our daily lives.

We eat foods that have been genetically engineered and modified, filled with pesticides, and coated with preservatives so they hit the store shelves faster and at a lower cost. We filter the water we drink because we don’t want to ingest the bacteria and the harsh chemicals that have been used to treat our water. We may even be willing to pay the high price of having bottled water, but is that even as “clean” as we think?  We cover our bodies with lotions, soaps, shampoo’s, makeup, and toothpastes that are filled with lathering agents, dyes, toxic chemicals, artificial perfumes or flavors. We do this because we like to “think” we are taking care of our bodies and they make us look and feel beautiful. Our household cleaners have been engineered to disinfect, lather, dry in seconds, instantly wipe streak-free, preserve color or whiten our clothing and smell great; all at the same time!

However, there are expenses we pay for all of these luxuries and conveniences. Unfortunately, those expenses are our health & the earth! We now have more cases of disease, illness, and cancer than ever before. More people are dependent upon prescription drugs, including not only our senior citizens but also our young children.  We have polluted our land, water, and air.  We continue to pollute by wasting resources and by using environmentally harmful products.  Every time we use beauty products or cleaning products that are not environmentally friendly those chemicals go into the air or down our drains and continue to pollute the earth!    

There are many contributing factors as to why our health and the the earth are in crisis. However, we can all benefit from taking control, being conscious of what we are putting in on our bodies, and aware of what is going into our environment.

By using organic and natural products, you are making healthy decisions for yourself and the earth, and taking preventive measures for a healthy future! By making this choice, you will greatly reduce the amount of toxins and chemicals your body must defend against on a daily basis. What we must realize is that nature already has technology that is more sophisticated than we can comprehend!