Many of us have done a detox to eliminate internal toxins from our body, but how many of us do anything about the toxins in our own homes? Common household and body care products are increasingly being found to have negative health effects on the nervous and immune systems, on our reproductive systems, and on our endocrine, cardiovascular and respiratory systems.

The average home contains 500-1,000 chemicals, many of which we are unable to see, smell or taste. While these chemicals may be tolerated individually and in small doses, problems can arise when one is exposed to them in combination or in larger doses. Everyone’s tolerance level is different depending on genetics, nutritional status and previous contacts with many chemicals, but the negative effects of household toxins are often compounded by the use of other drugs especially the habitual use of alcohol or prescription or recreational drugs.

Indoor air is typically 2-5 times more polluted than outdoor air. Home insulation, which is indeed wonderful for keeping our homes warm in winter and cool in summer, doesn’t allow fresh air in, so we’re constantly breathing in the same stale air. Wall-to-wall carpeting keeps us cozy, but can introduce a myriad of toxins to our well-insulated homes. It can also trap dirt, fleas, dust, dust mites and lead.

Many of the cleaning products we use to clean our furniture, bathrooms, windows, etc., are full of toxic chemicals, some of which do not even appear on the labels.  The same may be said for the many personal care products we put on our skin and the pet care products we use on our pets.

Most tick and flea products contain active ingredients and solvents that might cause cancer in animals. Also, substantial human exposure is possible by absorption through the skin while playing with and handling the pet.
The pesticides we use on our gardens eliminate not only plant pests but also most of the insects that are beneficial to help control these pests. Of the 30 most commonly used lawn chemicals, 19 have studies pointing toward cancer and 15 are known to cause nervous system poisoning.

This is not to say that we should not keep our houses comfortable and clean and our yards looking good. What’s important is to understand that how we do this can have an important impact on our health. Abundant toxins can and do lead to health problems.

Taking more care to reduce our exposure to both internal and external toxins by detoxing our bodies and our living space allows the body’s own detoxification to function more efficiently. This strengthens our resilience to the daily onslaught of factors impacting our health.

There are many things you can do to detox your home; some are more practical than others. Here are my 20 suggestions:

1. No shoes in the house (as most household dirt, pesticides and lead come in on your shoes). Go barefoot or wear slippers.

2. Place floor mats vertically by your entryways to wipe your shoes. This way more dirt and residue from your shoes stays outside on the mat.

3. Keep the air clean. Keep your windows and doors open as much as possible to ventilate. Use green plants as natural air detoxifiers. Remove odors with baking soda. Use fresh flowers or bowls of herbs like rosemary and sage to add a pleasant fragrance to rooms. Have your air ducts and vents cleaned with nontoxic cleaners. Get a portable air cleaner/purifier, especially for the bedrooms.

4. Switch from the standard household cleaning products to cleaner and greener ones. These don’t damage your health or the environment as much and work as well as the mass-marketed ones. You can also use basic ingredients you have around the house, for instance, vinegar in place of bleach, baking soda to scrub your tiles and hydrogen peroxide to remove stains. According to Annie Bond, the author of “Better Basics for the Home,” she can clean anything with water and these five basic ingredients: baking soda, washing soda, distilled white vinegar, vegetable based liquid Soap (e.g., Dr. Bronner’s peppermint soap) and tea tree oil.

5. Replace your skin care and personal products with less toxic and chemical free options. Deodorant, toothpaste, cosmetics, hair products, nail polish and perfumes are often loaded with toxins. Learn how to identify them and avoid them.

6. Use plastics wisely; some contain Bisphenol A (BPA), which is linked to cancer and Phtalates, which are linked to endocrine and developmental problems. Avoid plastic food packaging when you can. Don’t wrap food in plastic. Don’t microwave food in plastic containers. Choose baby bottles made from glass or BPA-free plastic. Avoid vinyl teethers for your baby. Stay away from children’s toys marked with a “3″ or “PVC.” Avoid plastic shower curtains.

7. Avoid nonstick pans, pots, bakeware and utensils: Teflon contains perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs), which have been linked to cancer and developmental problems.

8. Keep house dust to a minimum (as more dust means more toxins). Mop all surfaces at least once a week. Use a vacuum cleaner (with a HEPA filter, preferably) for your carpets. HEPA-filter vacuums capture the widest range of particles and get rid of allergens.

9. Avoid excess moisture. It encourages the growth of mold and mildew. Check areas for moisture accumulation or leaks (particularly basements). Regularly clean surfaces where mold usually grows—around showers and tubs and beneath sinks.

10. Get a shower filter. Many of the contaminants in tap water become gases at room temperature. A shower filter can help keep these toxins from becoming airborne.

11. Get a water filter. More than 700 chemicals have been identified in drinking water. Filtering your tap water is better than drinking bottled water.

12. Avoid stain-guarded clothing, furniture and carpets (due to the presence of PFCs). Wrinkle free and permanent press fabrics used for clothing and bedding commonly contain formaldehyde. Use untreated fabrics where possible.

13. Be conscious of toxins in carpeting, especially in products made from synthetic materials. Use natural fiber wool and cotton rugs. If possible, replace your wall-to-wall carpeting with hardwood floors, all natural linoleum or ceramic tiles. Use nontoxic glues, adhesives, stains and sealers for installation.

14. Seal (with a non-toxic sealer) or replace particleboard walls, floors or cabinets, which often contain formaldehyde that can emit irritating and unhealthy fumes for decades. Avoid plywood, fiberglass, fiberboard and paneling.

15. Avoid harmful pet care products and avoid toxic pest control, including traditional termite exterminators.

16. Replace toxic lawn and garden pesticides and herbicides with natural, less harmful ones.

17. Tell the dry cleaner not to use the plastic wrap or remove it as soon as possible. The plastic traps the dry cleaning chemicals on clothes and in your closet. Let your dry cleaning air out (preferably outside) before storing it. Use “wet cleaning” if you are lucky enough to have it in your area.

18. Use low VOC, low odor latex (water-based) paint. Open all windows to ventilate properly when painting indoors.

19.  Have your house checked for carbon monoxide leaks, most commonly found in leaking gas stoves, gas fireplaces, furnaces and chimneys and gas water heaters.

20. Check Radon levels in poorly ventilated basements that have cracked walls or floors. Radon is an odorless gas that forms as uranium in rocks and soil breaks down. Radon is linked to lung cancer.

We can reduce our risk of chronic illness by limiting our exposure to these toxins, but don’t let this become an obsession causing so much stress that it creates more of a negative impact on your health than the toxins themselves.

And finally, no amount of environmental toxins is as destructive as emotional toxicity. You can do all the above, but if your house is full of anger, resentment, jealousy, unhappiness and a lack of love, compassion and forgiveness, the house will remain toxic.

Photo Credit: ClatieK

By Jenny Nelson

Spring is a very traditional time for a cleanse. It’s an instinctive behavior that is deeply rooted in our bodies, as we tend to consume heavier, more acidic, and mucus forming foods in the winter months, so as the days lengthen and we transition to warmer weather, our bodies naturally want to lighten and expand. It’s a time to move toward the light, to stretch, grow, and shed our winter layers—both emotionally and physically.

It’s amazing how all of nature works to assist us in this expansion and lightening process. Everywhere we look there are new growths of bitter greens such as dandelion, nettles and purslane pushing up through the ground. Their detoxifying and liver-supporting properties make them absolutely perfect for a spring cleanse and a very simple and inexpensive addition to our salads and juices. One person’s weeds are another’s spring tonic!

We don’t have to necessarily jump into a full blown fast or detoxification program to experience the healing and re-energizing benefits of beginning to simplify. As we naturally begin to eat lighter foods, and probably even naturally lessen the amount of foods taken in, we can begin incorporating some simple steps into our daily routines for these same benefits.

1. Let go of salty, heavy foods, especially red meat.

Foods to avoid as they are acid (and mucus) forming: nuts and seeds (unless soaked and sprouted and always organic!), dairy products, alcohol, refined sugars and flours, red meat, and caffeine. This will be the most beneficial thing you can do as the weather begins to warm. And it should actually be the easiest since when we begin to really listen to our bodies, we might realize that the foods we crave in the spring are lighter and fresher—tending towards the new salad ingredients that have been absent all winter and feeling drawn to bright, vibrant, fresh foods to create changes in our internal environment that correspond to the changes in the outside world.

2. Incorporate all the green plants you can—especially local, organic, young, and fresh ones.

You can grow your own sprouts (for eating) and wheatgrass (for juicing). Add cleansing foods to your daily diet as much as possible, such as herbal tea, fresh lemon juice in water (warm or room temperature), fresh vegetable juices, raw fruits and vegetables (with the exception of bananas as they can be a bit more mucus forming and high in sugar), steamed vegetables (leafy and root), sprouts, sea vegetables (nori, wakame, dulse, hijiki, arame, kelp, irish moss) and wild blue green and micro algaes (spirulina, chlorella, crystal manna), filtered or spring water, vegetable broth, and cooked non-gluten grains (quinoa, amaranth, millet, brown rice).

All of these foods are nourishing and satiating while cleansing and alkalizing in our bodies. Raw onions and garlic have wonderful anti-microbial and anti-parasitic properties and can easily be added to any of your daily meals. Support the liver and gallbladder, which are the organs that are activated in the spring when winter fat and mucus begin to clear out of the system, with pungent herbs like mint, basil, fennel, marjoram, rosemary, caraway, dill and bay.

3. Incorporate a daily probiotic

Taking probiotics daily creates healthy intestinal flora and boosts our overall immune system and serotonin production since 80% of our immune system resides in our gut and most of the serotonin production occurs there as well. To stay healthier and feel happier, a probiotic of at least 16 billion live organisms per serving will be incredibly beneficial.

4. Add in at least 30 minutes of some form of movement every day.

Walking, yoga or some form of stretching, jumping on a rebounder, doing somersaults or cartwheels in the new grass, climbing a tree, hiking a hill or a mountain, running, gathering dandelion greens, digging up new garden beds. . . the list goes on and on and doesn’t have to include an expensive gym membership or special equipment. Our bodies are the most effective cleansing tools we have. How we move them and get them to sweat creates space for toxins to move out of our system, we lose that extra winter weight, we feel lighter and looser, and our overall health improves immediately.

5. Lighten up your thoughts.

This is a simple one, but extremely important and often overlooked. As the winter darkness fades and everything begins to sprout, blossom and become new again, it doesn’t take a lot of effort to push our thoughts through the dark as well where they’ve been gathering strength and roots. This provides an inner detox with amazing benefits!

Five minutes of meditation in the morning when you wake up and again at night before going to sleep easily fits into our daily lives and can become one of the most life-changing habits. Take a moment to close your eyes and really be grateful for your meals—breakfast, lunch and dinner, no matter where you are. I was recently at a restaurant with friends and we joined hands and thanked the farmers, the chef, the servers, and each other for the food and energy that culminated in that meal. These things are simple but have enormous ripple effects. Laugh, be curious, learn something new whenever you can, teach someone else something new, put yourself in someone else’s shoes and give five different people a compliment every day. Remember that each of us is a unique, strong, compassionate and beautiful being, and we can make the biggest difference in the world by being authentic, hopeful, and kind (especially to ourselves). Creating vibrant health and peaceful thoughts become the greatest gift we can give to the world.

Happy Spring!

Jenny Nelson is a Wellness Specialist & Coach for Dr. Alejandro Junger’s Clean Program.

Forgive me for getting an Outkast song going through your head (my Clean Team is composed of super hip (they’ll love that!) music lovers so I’m getting quite an education) but your very own “so fresh and so clean” New Year begins with not only a catchy little beat but three very important R’s.

These R’s will be the tools for absolutely amazing vitality as well as an immune boost. They are: Remove, Restore and Rejuvenate, and here’s the super simple breakdown.

1. Remove toxins by avoiding processed/packaged food with additives and artificial sweeteners, beauty care products with ingredients you can’t pronounce, finding food and non-food items that are organic like fruits and vegetables, clothing, bedding, makeup, and pet supplies, buy or make your own eco-friendly cleaning products, and also look at removing common allergens from your diet such as dairy, bread, pasta, sugar, white rice/sugar and red meat.

2. Restore healthy bacteria in the gut (by using natural and often really delicious plant and herbal antimicrobials like garlic, lemon, olive oil, oregano oil, thyme and cayenne pepper) to help your body out as it tirelessly works to move all those toxins that we accumulate just by living, working and playing in this world of ours.

3. Rejuvenate by making time to rest both your body and your mind, with things like meditation, yoga, gentle walking or stretching, being outside whenever possible even if it’s just to watch some clouds float by or the snow fall through trees, taking a bath, reading, some form of creative activity, sharing space with loved ones, or simply being still for a few minutes every so often throughout your day. . .

A final tip that addresses all three of the above R’s is this:

Love those greens! Fresh green juices are one of the best ways to fill your body with incredible nutrition, easy to digest energy, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and a pleasant sensation of fullness that will help with maintaing the right weight for your own body. Greens (and especially in fresh juiced form) even help to generate feelings of comfort and being loved. Love from yourself for taking such good care of your wonderful body, but also, that feeling of being satiated and nourished creates a state of happiness and clarity in your brain (and also to your overall moods) both of which are so important in these long cold winter months. Seasonal Affective Disorder runs rampant and threatens to drive us all under the covers with a pound of chocolate, and unless it’s some sugar-free raw chocolate, you might be pleasantly surprised when silky, sexy, slightly sweet green juices become your “comfort food” of choice and the scales begin to tip in a lighter direction as a welcome side effect.

If you don’t happen to have a neighborhood juice bar don’t worry, because you can make delicious green juices without even having a juicer. With any high speed blender, you can make a thick “soup” and then using a simple nut milk bag (about $7) or even with a DIY cheesecloth one, you can strain out the pulp and be left with a glass full of yummy green nutrition to power you up through what promises to be an amazing New Year!

These simple things are the sexiest (and easiest) tools ever for reaching optimal health and vitality. You’ll have more energy and more time to fully experience the things you love and to begin actively participating in your incredibly vibrant life.

Warmth and love. . .

Dr. Alejandro Junger

By Gena Hamshaw

Tell me if this sounds familiar: you’re the designated “health nut” in your circle of friends. Perhaps you’re the resident vegan; you might also be the runner who’s training for her next marathon. When you go out to dinner with friends and family, you’re the one explaining what tempeh is, or extolling the joys of raw nut cheese, or giving your companions a quick tutorial in sea vegetables.

But something’s amiss. You’ve gone this one habit—just one—that doesn’t quite jive with the others. Maybe it’s the coffee you can’t stop guzzling in the morning. Maybe it’s that extra glass or two of wine that you don’t really need. Maybe it’s the furtive non-vegan cupcake you sneak in when no one’s watching, or the pizza you ordered yesterday and immediately regretted.

Or maybe it’s the smokes.

For almost eight full years, I was the health nut with the nasty habit. I was a smoker: not a social smoker, but a full on, pack a day smoker. I smoked in with my morning coffee. I smoked when I got home from work (to “unwind”). I smoked during my lunch break. I smoked after meals. I smoked after sex. I smoked after the gym—it was my reward, I reasoned. I smoke when I was stressed, and I smoked when I was mellow. Through good times and bad, ups and downs, I smoked. And, truth be told, I relished every cigarette I ever had.

That I was also a vegetarian, and then a vegan, didn’t stop me. That I exercised daily didn’t stop me, either. That I had made those choices under the rubric of being “healthy”— my veganism was more a health choice than an ethical one—didn’t really deter me, either. The hypocrisy was not lost on me, but I just couldn’t let the damn cancer sticks go. My doctor once chuckled during a physical and asked, “how does it feel to be undoing all of the incredible things you do for your body? Because that’s what you’re doing.”

Over time, and as I began my journey into raw foods the hypocrisy became more than I could bear. I was terrified to quit: How would I end meals? How would I handle stress at the office? What would I do as I waited for people outside of restaurants? How would I occupy my hands at night?

Then I went to Mexico on an eight day yoga retreat. And for the first time in seven years, I went four days without smoking. I wasn’t trying: I was practicing three hours of yoga a day, eating mostly raw fruit and coconuts, and feeling incredible. Cigarettes simply didn’t cross my mind. When I realized how long it had been, it occurred to me that I’d gone nearly a week without nicotine. I’d never have another chance to go five days without any of my triggers: stress, deadlines, etc. So I decided to quit, right then and there.

At first, I didn’t feel so bad, and I thought that perhaps the armor of my healthy lifestyle would magically protect me from nicotine withdrawal. Then it hit me. First came quitter’s flu, the four-day ailment that mimics real flu (it’s a powerful form of detox, localized in the mucous membranes). Then came headaches: dull, unrelenting pains behind my forehead that persisted for days at a time. Then came lousy moods. Throw in trouble focusing, ravenous thirst, and erratic bursts of energy, and you get the picture: I was miserable.

But it wasn’t these nasty ups and downs that hurt the most. It was my sense of loneliness, especially at night. Many recovering alcoholics describe a dread of evenings, a fear of coming home and not being able to pour themselves a drink. As a friend who was trying to sober up once put it to me, “What will I do if I have to be alone with my thoughts?” I wasn’t afraid of my thoughts, but I did feel, suddenly, very alone. Cigarettes had been my little friends in those quiet evening hours, and I missed them.

So how did I stay the course? I wish I could offer you magical tips and tricks that helped me, but the truth is that there weren’t many. I didn’t use gum (I would have gotten addicted to that, too). I drank a lot of tea, slipped in some guilty coffee now and then (hey, it offered a healthier high than nicotine and tobacco), and relied heavily on my yoga practice. But the best motivation was the slew of improvements in my health: the brighter skin, the renewed energy, the capacity to run five miles without heaving. And the best incentive of all was my feeling that, for the first time, I could embrace my identity as a health freak honestly.

Now, a year and a half later, it seems a bit crazy to think that smoking ever figured so prominently in my life. It’s like trying to remember the intensity of being in love with someone long after you’ve fallen out of it. I still feel pangs every now and then, but for the most part, it’s ancient history. I won’t pretend it’s easy: I still have an intense nostalgia for smoking, and I struggle often with the urge to buy a pack. But fortunately—and in spite of the one or two guilty drags I’ve stolen from friends’ cigarettes in the last year—I’ve managed to remain firm in my commitment to quitting. And believe me, it’s worth it.

For all of you out there reading who struggle with smoking—or any other non-ideal habit that wages battle with your healthy ones—I urge you to do your best. I offer you no lies: quitting will be hard, and your ability to stick with it will ultimately rely on your own willpower and determination. But if you can muster your biggest reserves of strengths, I can guarantee you that a healthier, happier, and prouder future awaits.

Stick to your guns. Wherever you are, and whatever your goal is, this former smoker is cheering you from afar.

This summer, I cooled off with an excursion to a local water park featuring water slides, and a cool wave pool. I grabbed my bathing suit, packed a lunch and headed to Jersey. This day trip meant planning my meals ahead of time, which consisted of two Norwalk pressed green/vegetable juices from the best juice joint in NYC called, ‘Liquidteria,’ packed in a cold storage insulated bag with a cold pack, germinated sunflower seeds, sliced vegetables, and a lemon Lara Bar. Also, my friend made me an awesome coconut shake sweetened with stevia to drink during our car ride to the park. Delicious!

We arrived at the park and were stopped at the gate. “No Food is Permitted in the Park,” we were told! Caught! Poor shame, my innocent veggie food was condemned. The park offered an array of fake food offerings to choose from consisting of hot dogs, pizza, ice cream, and fried chicken. What’s a health nut to do? Answer: I argued! I declared, “My doctor has me on a special diet and I must eat my own food.” They allowed me to leave our food just outside the park on a picnic table under a large tent. Good enough. Hopefully, the woodchucks would leave my sunflower seeds alone while unattended!

When these situations arise I feel like the world is an insane place and that we have become so disconnected with what should be considered ‘normal’ and ‘natural.’ To me ‘normal’ means taking the best care of myself and eating natural food that comes from the earth. ‘Normal’ would never exist in a deep fryer.

Onward to the fun! Water slides are so cool! I am a fearless water slide warrior! I even went on the tallest water slide in the park! I could feel the cool change in temperature up at the top!

Any entertainment park holds lines of people that wait their turn for a thill ride, and there was plenty of time to observe and contemplate the crowd. Since this was a water park, there was a grand opportunity to get a good view of people in their bathing suits. My personal journey of eating primarily raw food for 20 years, practicing periodic cleansing methods and being a Colon Hydro-therapist has awarded me with some wisdom on the subject of toxicity. By no means am I perfect and prefer not to be so, and would not impose perfection onto anyone. This personal journey toward wellness takes much effort and consciousness to sustain daily. I feel great compassion toward all beings that struggle with weight issues, any physical/emotional dilemmas, ignorance or lack of discipline. All the work that I do is in support to help others overcome these struggles.

Obesity is an epidemic in this country. Over 58 million Americans are overweight. I witnessed an overwhelming amount of overweight people at the park. In particular, many of these people looked very bloated in their mid-section. The cause ranges from over-consumption of food, too much animal protein and refined food, imbalances in the body, lack of food combining principles, and poor food choices. These bellies ranged from a little pouch, to bloated, to pregnant sized gut, to a completely descended colon that is impacted with layers of mucus, waste and toxic gases collecting for years. We are becoming a toxic, weakened, numb, over-stimulated, addicted, medicated, sick society. This water park asked me to keep my veggies outside the park, yet offers these already sick and abused bodies more grease. Is it ‘normal’ to live this way?

There were many families at the park and the number of overweight children present was alarming. How will these children cope with keeping a healthy weight when they only know to live in a heavy body that causes their little hearts, and lungs to work excessively hard to carry around all that excess weight. The digestive system is burdened and overwhelmed. All organs, glands and systems are stressed. The cellular body becomes clogged. Their parents overfeed them with unhealthy food that creates their little arteries to clog at a young age. Their relationship to food begins now and becomes fixed. What will the future bring?
Finally, I saw some young people at the park in their twenties and early thirties. Most were an average weight and physically fit but my discerning Colon Hydro-therapist eye detects a level of toxicity found in the tissue. When the body becomes flabby, fleshy or loose we can guess that the tissue contains toxins, poisons, and gases along with fat. This level of toxicity stored away in the cells is found in our skin and soft tissue. The waste and gases age the body and will make the tissue quality sag.

Excessive fat cells may remain in the body forever. Dieting only works temporarily. Eating healthier and less food is the only solution. Statistics reveal that only 5% of people are successful on diets. A change in lifestyle is key to any long-term success. Looking to have a youthful body and to feel great at any age? It is essential to practice eating a super healthy diet along with periodic cleansing. Yes, you got it. Please include colonics as part of your health program and you’ll be on your way!