Clean up your Cleaning
Spring is synonymous with cleaning. Out with the old – in with the new! I always love the freshness of Spring to hang out blankets, sheets, and pillow cases to absorb the beautiful smell of nature.
Tackling the house, garage and yard can be a bit of a chore and certainly requires a bit more hard work and… cleaners! Window cleaners that leave no streaks, floor cleaners to mop up mud, tile cleaners, grout grinders, driveway washes, hand and surface sanitizers and engine degreasers. Bleach, chemicals, wipes, washes, sprays. It all sounds sparkling clean, but what kind of chemicals are you using to clean up your space?
Most chemicals come with a label full of warnings that advise us what harm they can do, and then we use them all over our space. Our kitchens, baths, floors, furniture, windows, cars and cottages. Ammonia, sodium hydroxide, perchlorates, chlorine, tricolsan, phthalates, butoxyethanol, PFAS, esters, phosphates… the list is exhausting. They add colour, fragrance, “smoothness” and the promise of protecting us from GERMS!
Is cleaning making you sick?
While we are scrubbing away germs with these cleansers, we are absorbing (through skin), inhaling (when we breathe) and even ingesting (on things like dishes and surfaces on which we prepare foods) toxins that are often worse than the actual germs we are trying to get rid of in the first place. We spray and rinse and scrub our hands with disinfectants, “gels” and sanitizers that contain dangerous compounds that are directly linked to hormone disruption, cancer and liver damage.
Don’t mess with me…
Hormones: Toxins in cleaning products are major endocrine disruptors, meaning, they mess with your hormones. Hormones are the natural communicators of your body – signalling your cells to function together. EDC’s (endocrine disrupting compounds) are chemicals that disrupt this communication system causing interruption in their signalling. When these chemicals are absorbed or inhaled, they can take the place of our normal hormone receptor sites in our cells – mimicking these hormones (such as estrogen) and causing interference with our own hormones. Messing with hormones can lead to serious health issues specifically linked to both the male and female reproductive system. Phthalates, which are in hundreds of everyday products including “detergents” specifically are linked to infertility, low sperm count and reproductive cancers. Thyroid hormone disfunction has been linked to specific chemicals such as BPA, perchlorates, phenols, dioxins and
Cancer Causing Chemicals: Formaldehyde, benzenes, parabens, petroleum distillates, benzophenones, methylene chloride… sounds like chemical jargon to us, but if I mention air fresheners, dryer sheets, oven cleaners, dishwashing detergents, aerosol spray cleaners for vehicles, floor and furniture polish – well, then it makes sense. These products have all been linked in studies to cancer, specifically breast and lung cancers. In addition, they can cause irritation in the eyes, throat and during inhalation. These chemicals have the ability to “change metabolic regulation” and since the 1970’s, over 87,000 chemicals have been approved for commercial use, yet, only about 1,000 of these products have been graded for the carcinogenic potential. Over 200 have been identified as known or probable known carcinogens.*
Liver Damage: The liver is a very “forgiving organ” in that it can often take a real beating and regenerate and restore. The liver processes foods and chemicals/substances that we ingest and absorb. The liver has over 500 functions. It’s one busy organ. Toxins that enter the body are filtered by the liver, stored or sent back to the blood or the bowel to be eliminated. You can really help change the functioning of your liver with good nutrition and plenty of fresh water, a little natural fresh lemon, citrus fruits, green tea and exercise! The liver plays a major role in the analysis of “potential toxins” – called toxicology, in the body. Fumes from cleaning products, absorbed through the skin and inhaled into the lungs can cause symptoms of asthma, sore throat, breathing difficulty and respiratory illnesses – but are also damaging to the liver, which has to try to process all these toxins.
Clean up your cleaners – Natural Ways to KILL germs and stay safe!
Clear out the chemicals with these natural cleaning solutions that won’t harm you and yours, but will tackle germs, microbes, molds, fungus, and bacteria – stopping them in their tracks!
- Pure white Vinegar
- Baking Soda
- Lemon Juice – right outta the lemon
- Essential Oils: Lemon, lavender, “Thieves”, orange, tea tree – Oils are my absolute favourite for non-toxic cleaning!
- Soft microfiber cloths, natural bristle brushes, old towels, good old fashioned steel wool
- Castile soap – such as Dr. Bronners
- Sunlight
- Peroxide
Scrub hard to clean surfaces like bathtubs and showers with baking soda, consider wiping down your refrigerator with lemon juice or vinegar, add a little castile soap to wash the floors, car, or boat.
Peroxide will clean up bacteria and molds in showers even better than bleach, and essential oils are known widely to annihilate microbes. Make up a glass spray bottle of distilled water and add essential oils to the bottle as a spray. I love using the Thieves Blend of oils to clean up. Lemon, citrus, and the “minty” oils are also lovely for cleaning… a little orange and peppermint or spearmint goes a long way. Sunlight is amazing for killing germs, so leave your sheets, sleeping bags, tent, toys, and YOU outdoors to soak up a bit of sun while the UV rays take care of the germs. Spending 15 minutes or so a day in sunlight is very good for helping your body produce Vitamin D – the natural vitamin our body can make from sunlight.
Consider cleaning up this Spring with natural cleansers that are safe, affordable, environmentally safe and definitely better for your health and your home.
Stay Healthy!
Erin-Michelle
Sources and Links to more Information:
* https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6546253/
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/may/22/toxic-chemicals-everyday-items-us-pesticides-bpa
https://jme.bioscientifica.com/view/journals/jme/62/1/JME-18-0081.xml
Dodson, R. E., Nishioka, M., Standley, L. J., Perovich, L. J., Brody, J. G., & Rudel, R. A. (2012). Endocrine disruptors and asthma-associated chemicals in consumer products. Environmental Health Perspectives, 120(7), 935.
https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/household-cleaning-products-linked-with-cancer-2033305.html
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1274223/
https://www.healthline.com/health-news/want-to-kill-dangerous-germs-open-your-blinds#Sunshine-as-medicine
