How I’m Creating a Healthy Home
I know, I know… today’s post was supposed to be about styling leopard print. However, I’ve been having important conversations with a few of you about making health a priority in more aspects of our life, and I feel that this is something I should share about on the blog! Leopard post will still be coming 🙂
As I’ve shared with you on IG stories and in my 2019 resolutions post, I am trying to work out most every day this year and really focus on what I’m eating. My body is not a fan of all foods, and I feel like absolute crap when I stray from my “approved foods” list. For me, avoiding gluten, processed food, GMOs, and high levels of lectin help my system stay healthy. I used to be 50/50 about following those rules, but now I want to be more 90/10. If it’s a friend’s birthday and they have a cake, of course I’ll have a bite – but when I go out to eat with friends, I definitely am more conscious of what I’m ordering and making sure I’m compliant.
I was asked, if I am making sure that I am not consuming anything that could harm me, why would I not also ensure that my home is free of harmful things?
At first, I was pretty sure in my answer that my home WAS a healthy environment. Then, I started doing research on chemicals and what goes into everyday items that we don’t even think of as being “unhealthy” or “dangerous.” WOW! What an eye-opening experience. Makeup, tampons, deodorant, body wash… all things that I would never consider “chemical” but some brands contain some nasty stuff.
Let me be clear, this is not a “I’m throwing everything out of my apartment and starting over” kind of thing. This is also not a “writing off every single brand as toxic” kind of thing – I don’t even know enough about common ingredients to know good from bad at this point. It’s about becoming aware of what is in my home, educating myself on what goes into products I use, and slowly figuring out what I should phase out and replace. Since I am taking so much care to make sure my body is healthy, I need to make sure my environment is healthy as well! Otherwise, I feel like I could be undoing all my hard work.
So far, I’ve switched a handful of products to Seventh Generation, a brand carried by Target that’s plant-based and recyclable, simply because I had run out of those items and needed to buy new ones anyway. I was pleasantly surprised that A: the “clean” items were so easy to get and B: that the price difference between Seventh Generation and other brands was minimal.
Let me tell ya, it was far easier to do research on 3 products versus every single item in my apartment!! I think this is the strategy I will continue to use going forward – when something runs out, I will do research on whether to buy what I had or replace it with something healthier. In addition, now that I know there is an accessible and comparatively priced brand for everything from laundry pods to pads, I do feel like this process will be easier.
I will be sharing some of my product wins and product fails with you along the way (I’ve tried out “healthy” deodorants that didn’t work in the past and were complete failures) and I hope I can help you be more mindful of your TOTAL health – your home + your mind + your body.
