Following on from my latest contribution to Casa de Karma, I have shared some easy ways to change to natural products in your household, which is good for you as well as your pocket.

Read the full article here or scroll down for a preview.

Given the ever increasing piles of waste in our landfills, and the scary impact we are seeing chemicals have on the health of our children and self, then reducing the use of plastic and chemicals in our home is a great way to take action against this issue.

How & why you should reduce plastics

When I started looking into how and why I should reduce plastics I was alarmed at the sheer quantity of chemicals which are classed as endocrine disruptors that we are exposed to multiple times a day. Containers in which we store our food and drink are some of the biggest sources of these chemicals – but are also easy to change to safer alternatives.

Unfortunately some of the plastics we are using which are deemed as being safe, or BPA free have also been found to leach xeno-oestrogen chemicals after exposure to UV rays (UVA from sunlight and even UVC from some sterilisation equipment). This suggests that taking a precautionary approach where possible is best.

An easy way to tell the degree of safety of your plastics is to look at the recycle number on the container. While it’s best to avoid all types of plastic wherever possible, choosing glass or steel when available, there are some types of plastics that are safer than others.

• Recycle numbers 2, 4 and 5 are okay to be used in limited amounts. They are the most stable form of plastics and while some chemicals have been found to leach from them with exposure to UV and heat, they are not considered to be as harmful as the other chemicals found within plastics.
• Recycle number 1 is okay to use if no other choice is available but should not be re-used, and not used if it has been exposed to UV light. This form of plastic is found most commonly in plastic water bottles and take-away food containers. If you purchase food in this type of container transfer it to a non-plastic bowl before heating or eating from it.
• Recycle number 3, 6 and 7 should ideally be avoided altogether. The types of chemicals found within these plastics are the most harmful, and the plastic is considered to be the most unstable.

1. Re-usable food containers & drink bottles

Do you use a plastic water bottle, or take your lunch to work (or school) in disposable packaging?

For a moderate investment you can get some eco-friendly, stylish and healthy drink bottles, food storage and lunch boxes. It will save you money in the long run because you don’t have to keep buying the packaging. Plus it’s better for the environment, as well as for you.

Some great stainless steel lunch box options include Seed & Sprout, PlanetBox and LunchBots. I have recently discovered Seed & Sprout, a small business based in Byron NSW. They claim to plant a tree for every lunch box sold. YumBox is another option, and is made from BPA free plastic.

For drink bottles, I can recommend Cheeki, KleenCanteen, Thermos or EcoVessel.

2. Re-usable Coffee Cups

Did you know that reusable coffee cups are lined with a type of plastic that can’t be recycled easily, and this plastic also can be an issue for your health?! The plastic lids are also made of a plastic that is not great for your health. Polystyrene foam (commonly referred to as Styrofoam) coffee cups are another instance of harmful chemicals that are best avoided.

Even the supposedly biodegradable or compostable coffee cups are still lined with plastic, and it seems that biodegradable plastic may actually be an issue in itself for our sea life as the plastic breaks into such small particles (but doesn’t actually disappear) that it is contaminating our seas and being consumed by sea animals.

Bringing a reusable coffee cup, or even your own mug to the café when ordering take away is a brilliant solution. My personal choice (from what I’ve tried) for a reusable coffee cup is the glass Keep Cup. While this brand offers BPA free plastic, I prefer the glass because it doesn’t affect the taste of the coffee (and I prefer to minimise all plastic use where possible), and the Keep Cup has the best lid design with a cover for the spout. Other zero waste swaps I recommend include: Joco cup, Sol Cup, Pottery for the Planet, Rubber Cuppy and Frank Green.

A lot of cafes now offer a discount to those that bring their own reusable coffee cup, and I like supporting those cafes as they are helping to reduce waste too.

While on the topic of drinks, did you know that enough plastic straws are produced annually to fill over 46,000 full sized buses? Switching to a metal, glass or bamboo straw will mean that every time you remember to bring it with you and use one of these straws instead of a plastic straw, one less straw ends up in landfill. Also, there will be less plastic passing through your drink when you choose glass or metal as well.

Read the full article for the rest of the list, including food coverings, menstrual cups and period proof undies, and why you should be careful with cans.

See also: Choosing the right products for that time of the month.

The post 5 (Easy) Eco-Friendly Swaps To Make In Your Life Today appeared first on Alison Mitchell Naturopath.

It may alarm you to realise that in countries such as Australia and America there are very limited regulations on the safety of which chemicals* are used in household and beauty products, and that this lack of protection can have a significant impact on not only your health, but also your babies and even your grand babies.

Chemicals that we are exposed to can be pass through our to offspring, and can even cross generations. This can unfortunately have a mutli-generational effect on health and fertility. Fertility rates are declining through generations and while there are many factors responsible for this, chemical exposure that passes through to our babies and affects their fertility and their children’s fertility is something that we need to become educated about and take responsibility for.

In a article I have written for Casa de Karma I discuss the benefits of reducing and removing chemical exposure from your diet and lifestyle, for both yourself and for your children. You can read a preview below, or click the link to read the full article which also discusses the relationship between chemicals and genetics, which chemicals to watch out for, the effect of chemicals of sperm health and some ways to reduce chemical exposure.

Read the full article here: http://casadekarma.com.au/why-choose-chemical-free-products-mum-baby/

Chemicals found in newborns

A study by the Environmental Working Group in 2005 examined the umbilical cord blood of 10 newborn babies and found a total of 287 chemicals, with an average of 200 chemicals present per baby. 28 of these were waste byproducts such as Formaldehyde, PCBs, Mercury, Petroleum and Dioxin 1, 4. 47 of these were consumer products such as Bisphenol A, Dioxins, Pthalates, Triclosan, Brominated Flame retardants, Pesticides and Preservatives.  Of these, 212 chemicals and pesticides had actually been banned or restricted in use 30+ years ago, giving us a scary insight into how chemicals can be stored in our bodies and be passed onto our offspring despite not having current exposure to them.

Other studies have shown that many of these chemicals were passed down the line from the grandmothers generation, however the chemicals were present in higher amounts in the children, suggesting that they are transferred across the placenta and breastmilk.

A precautionary approach

What does this mean? One of the lessons I take from this information is that chemicals which are currently viewed as safe but are not inert, are still best to avoid, as many of the harmful chemicals detected in this test were at one stage viewed as safe.

In Australia, the approach to chemical regulation is different to countries more progressive in this area – an absolute evidence of harm is required before a chemical is removed by use in Australia, compared to the EU where a more precautionary principle is in place – they believe that “When human activities may lead to morally unacceptable harm that is scientifically plausible but uncertain, action shall be taken to avoid or diminish that harm.”

In order to navigate this lack of protection we must take more responsibility ourselves.

Penelope Jagessar said in her Ted Talk: The Toxic Baby “It is only a parent’s awareness that stands between chemicals and our children”…

You can read the rest of the article here: http://casadekarma.com.au/why-choose-chemical-free-products-mum-baby/

*I would like to address the often presented argument that “everything is a chemical”. I agree that this is very close to the truth (with the exception of sound and light which is actually matter). However, in this article I am using the term chemicals for the sake of convenience, and actually referring to toxic and Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals, substances which are known or suspected to be capable of interfering with hormone receptors, hormone synthesis or hormone conversion which are in commercial use and have been proven or suspected of contributing to disease and dysfunction in humans, and chemicals which have shown to cause damage in ways such as mitochondrial dysfunction, neurodevelopmental toxicity, immune toxicity, oxidative stress and various levels of inflammation.

The post Why You Should Choose Chemical-Free Products For You & Your Baby appeared first on Alison Mitchell Naturopath.