Tackle the Bathroom

Next up on my Go Green list of rooms to tackle is the bathroom. Flip over your bottle of hair shampoo, rinse, soap, toothpaste, lotions and anything else you have tucked in the cabinet that cleans or conditions. Did you read "sodium laurel sulfate" on most of the bottles? SLS, for short, turns into dioxide after leaching out the chemicals used to make plastic bottles. Dioxide is now classified as one of the most toxic products known to man. You should recognize its more well known name "Agent Orange." Yes you are shampooing your hair, washing your body, brushing your teeth and lathering on lotions with Agent Orange.

Next out the door is your deordorant, most of which contain aluminum. Women, you apply aluminum right on top of your breasts and it does soak through your skin. Aluminum is a known carcinogen and contributes to breast cancer in both men and women. To check the ratings on the personal care products you use, go to Skin Deep at http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/index.php?nothanks=1. Type in the name of your product for a rating from 1 - 10. If your product is above a 2 it's time to switch to a healthy alternative. Beware though, even cosmetics labeled as "Organic" may contain toxic chemicals. Research before you purchase organic products to make sure your personal care products are safe.

This article may only be duplicated by giving full credit to Mary Findley, owner of Mary Moppins www.goclean.com copyright @ 2008.

Your Lean, Green Home 

 

Going green means making changes in the products you buy and how you clean your home. Some folks freeze when it comes to making any changes in their life. Afterall change can be scary to some people. Whether you decide to go green and rid your home of toxic chemicals and save your health and our Mother Earth, is your choice. I'm here only as a guide along "The Green Brick Road." What I can tell you is that "Oz" awaits at the end of your journey.

 

Tackle one room at a time.

 

It is far easier to tackle one room at a time but don't dwaddle between rooms. The sooner you rid your life of toxins, the sooner your health will improve. Start in the kitchen by switching automatic dish washing detergents to an organic product. Look for the Green Seal of Approval or other affirmations that the contents have been validated as being eco-friendly. Rinse dishes thoroughly before loading the dish washer. Then even if your detergent is a bit on the weak side, your dishes will come wonderfully clean.

 

Next switch out your liquid dish soap. Rid your life of all products containing sodium laurel sulfate as you read in the last post. If you keep an all purpose cleaner under your sink for those quick cleaning jobs, then head thee to the health food store for a bottle of organic all purpose cleaner or try Mary Moppins CleanEz.

 

Baking soda and baking powder both work as healthy alternative scrubbing compounds. Boil a bit of distilled white vinegar, add a drop of CleanEz or liquid dish soap and enough baking soda to make a paste and you will be amazed at the scrubbing power when those products join forces. 

 

Then start replacing your plastic storage containers and bowls with ceramic or glass containers. Plastic leaches nitrates and dioxin into hot food. Dioxin is bio-accumulating in your body. In other words it never goes away and carries serious health issues. Check the dates on your spices, flour etc. Do you have any cans of food that have rusted or the bottoms are "pouching" out? If so, it's time to replace them.

 

This article may only be reproduced giving credit to Mary Findley and her website www.goclean.com. All rights reserved @2008

 

Green Your Home

Let's start taking small steps to rid your home of toxins that could be causing health issues. Remember most health problems caused by the products you use and the food you eat may not surface for years. Like dirt and grease ill health is a build up problem and prevention is the only cure. A green home is a healthy home and usually free of serious diseases I discussed in my last post.

First a bit of prep work. Chemical companies are not required to list the ingredients used in their products. Supposed organic green products may contain toxic chemicals. Always stay clear of any product containing sodium laurel sulfate. It is found in anything that foams: dish washing detergent, shampoo, toothpaste, laudry soap, most body care products and even soft swirl ice cream. It leaches the chemicals out of plastic bottles and gasses off dioxin or nitrates.

Aubrey body care products are excellent as are Bi-O-Kleen, Mary Moppins and the Clean Team line of cleaners. Bi-O-Kleen carries excellent dish soaps, laundry soaps and dish washer soaps. When I tossed my Cascade dish washer soap and started using Bi-O-Kleen my sinuses cleared up. The "clean" smell that hits your nostrils during the wash cycle of a dish washer is not so "clean." It is off gassing some highly toxic gasses. Until you can make the switch, open a window and turn on the fan to rid your home of those toxic fumes.

This article may only be reprinted giving credit to Mary Findley and Mary Moppins www.goclean.com. Mary Findley @ 2008

Green Cleaning

About the time you think you have mastered a subject like green cleaning, along comes a 4x4 plank that knocks you across the head turning your world into humble pie. I've been preaching the glories of using eco friendly products like white vinegar and baking soda for over a decade and thought I knew the world of toxins.

I quickly found out that my "PhD" in green cleaning was barely an elementary education. I knew nothing about the nasty world of things like sodium laurel sulfate, ethylene dichloride, phthalates, dioxin, 2-butoxyethanol, chlorides, diethanolamine, ethylene glycolhydroxides, d-Limonene, Morpholine, Naphtha or Phenols.

That is just the beginning of a long list of products that cause brain and neurological damage, liver and kidney dysfunctions, asthma, a multitude of cancers and lung problems. Did you know that the sodium laurel sulfate in hand soaps, shampoos, liquid dish soaps and bar soaps etc reacts to the plastic from the bottles? That reaction emits toxins like nitrates and dioxins into the product which leach into your body every time you use it. Dioxin is otherwise known as Agent Orange and recognized by the EPA as the most toxic chemical known to man. Dioxin is stored in your fat cells and never goes away.

Dioxin is also formed whenever chlorine comes into contact with other chemicals and it doesn't have to be ammonia. Please discard your bleach and turn to borax or hydrogen peroxide instead.

Why am I telling you this? Because I want you to be aware of the toxins you have invited into your home and your body. You read articles declaring that there is nothing you can do about preventing cancer that one out of two or three people will succumb to it.

Well I'm here to tell you that there is plenty you can do to prevent these serious illnesses. All of that will be covered in another book I'm starting this weekend. It will talk about my life with Hepatitis C and celiac sprue and cover the wholeness approach for a healthy life. Going green and staying disease free encompasses every part of your life.

Getting the toxic chemicals and personal body care products out of your life is a great first step. Remember when you replace your personal care products and cleaners with healthy green products, read the labels. Not all green products are green.