It has been a minute since I have really talked about toxin-free living and if you are new here, that's probably what you're looking for. You're like, this is Toxin-Free Talk. How come she's talking about yoga and cold plunging?
I have so many episodes on the basics of toxin-free living. But since you're here now, I thought I would just go back to the basics, talk about toxin-free 101.
If you are just now starting to pay attention to what is in your products, the kind of cleaners you use at home, the kind of laundry detergent, all that stuff, then this is the episode for you.
I'm going to be really simple and quick here because I just want to congratulate you and thank you for listening and for starting to pay more attention because it is so important, not only for us, but for our families and our community that we pay attention to these products. When we support companies that are doing the right things, we're going to see more of that right action in the marketplace. We're also going to be less impactful on our Earth and we're also going to have less disease. It just really has a big ripple effect. So starting to pay attention, I just want to say good on you. Thanks for being here and sharing this message.
The first thing I really want to talk about, like I said back to the basics, is just the idea of what is called greenwashing. You see this all the time. How it works is marketing companies are paying attention to what we are paying attention to. They're noticing what we're buying and so they're changing their marketing strategies to make it so that we will be more likely to buy their product. In many cases, what they're doing is simply marketing, they are not actually changing the product or the ingredients, or really sometimes even the packaging. They're just changing their marketing. We have to be aware that we are being marketed to constantly. We also have to, when we shop and we purchase things, we have to look at what is actually in the thing that we're buying. Often with cleaning products, they actually don't have to put everything on the label. They do have to put more on the label for personal care products. So you really want to make sure that you're looking at what is in that package, what ingredients are in there.
Let's say you're buying furniture or you're buying something that you're bringing into your home, you have to do a little bit of research and figure out where it's made, what kind of materials it's made with, how it's packaged, all those sorts of things. Greenwashing is when we get the wool pulled over our eyes. We sometimes think things are green or toxin-free when actually they aren't and it's because of the marketing that's there. So that is number one thing is to start reading labels to start getting yourself familiar with the things that you should watch out for and to start paying attention to if you might have been greenwashed.
I have been so many times. I remember when my kids were little and I'd be shopping at Target. I would think, Oh, well, this brand looks good. Let me grab it, put it in my cart. I don't have time to read the ingredient label right now. And then I got home and I felt so frustrated that the brand that I thought was safe, actually contained some pretty harmful ingredients. So I've been there, and I bet you have to, but good on you for starting to pay attention on toxin-free talk.
The second thing I really want to talk about on the basics of going toxin-free is really to give you that one ingredient to look for. If you eliminate this ingredient from your products, you're likely going to have a lot less exposure to harmful chemicals. And this ingredient is fragrance. Fragrance is a proprietary term so a company can actually stick any sort of ingredient within the term fragrance. And natural fragrance is not exclusive either because that term natural fragrance has not been regulated. So the problem with that is that these fragrances often have 1000s of chemicals within that one term. You might see a body butter that has only four ingredients in it but it has fragrance in it, that doesn't mean that there are only four ingredients in that product. There are 1000s of ingredients hiding within that term fragrance. So if you can eliminate fragrance and natural fragrance from your cleaning products, your hair care products, your body products, sunscreen, and facial products, you will start to notice a huge difference. First of all, I bet your sense of smell will get a little bit better, you might start to get a little bit more sensitive when you are around fragrance. That's one of the downsides. But that shows you just how much your body was impacted when you were exposed to fragrance constantly. It's just such a great way to start ruling out certain products and certain brands because if they're putting fragrance in there, they're probably putting a lot of other not so great ingredients in there as well. At least that's what I have found.
Tip number three is to consider the packaging. I know that a lot of companies are trying to do better with eco-friendly packaging, which is great. A lot of times they're using recycled plastic which of course I'm so supportive of them reusing the plastic however, we need to pay attention to whether or not there is BPA in the plastic that is being reused. There are very few companies now that actually say whether or not their plastic includes BPA. And also, the BPA can leach from the plastic container into the product itself. So I prefer to use glass or silicone packaging whenever I can. Of course, that is not always going to be the case. But just start to think about the fact not only because of the environmental impact, but also the toxins that could be leaching into that product from the packaging.
Is your mind blown yet? Well, those are the three things I want to just highlight for toxin-free 101 Thanks again for being here and listening and expanding your horizons when it comes to toxin-free living. And I always like to close out with my that by saying namaste the light within me sees and honors the light within you. Thank you goodbye thank you for tuning into today's episode of toxin-free talk.
