We spoke to a wonderful group of parents last week about 5 simple ways to reduce toxic exposure in our homes - without an overwhelming lifestyle change.
1. Leave shoes at the door and help keep your home free of pesticides.
Traces of pesticide residues cling to the bottom of shoes and then rub off on our carpets and rugs. Once there, they linger because they're not exposed to conditions that cause them to break down - sunlight, rain, soil microbes, etc. These residues become sources of repeated exposures to children (and pets) who play on the floor.
2: Add a few house plants
Any plants grown indoors improve our air quality, but combine the three listed below to actually “grow fresh air” indoors. - Areca Palm (chrysalidocarpus lutescens): A very easy plant that is continually recognized as one of the best plants to remove toxins from the air. We call it the “Living Room Plant” as it works during the day to convert carbon dioxide to oxygen.
- Mother-in-Law's Tongue or snakeplant (sansevieria trifasciata): "The Bedroom Plant" because during the night it passively absorbs toxins such as nitrogen oxides and formaldehyde.
- Money Plant (epipremnum aureum): "The Specialist Plant", extremely efficient at removing indoor pollutants such as formaldehyde, xylene, and benzene. Very easy to grow, but we recommend keeping this plant up high, as it is mildly toxic to pets and children if ingested.
3: Reduce our chemical intake from water and food
Cleaner Water: We should all try to reduce the chemicals that we ingest through food and water. We do not recommend using bottled water - it is not good for the environment and is often just processed, polluted, packaged tap water.
We do recommend filtering tap water. Every water filter is different, so we encourage checking what contaminants exist in your water by reading the report on the Environmental Working Group’s Tap Water Atlas. From there, you can accurately determine what sort of water filter will be most effective. In general, carbon filters (pitcher or tap-mounted) are affordable and reduce many common contaminants such as lead. If your water has excess arsenic or perchlorate you would need a reverse osmosis filter.
A note on fluoride: If you have an infant in the home, test the fluoride in your water - fluoridated water can damage an infant’s developing teeth, a condition known as dental fluorosis. A reverse osmosis or activated alumina filter will help clear fluoride.
Cleaner Food: The health benefits of a diet rich in fruits and vegetables outweigh the risks of pesticide exposure, but we do want to reduce our exposure as much as possible by avoiding the 12 most contaminated fruits and vegetables (dirty dozen) and eating the least contaminated produce (clean 15):
DIRTY DOZEN - try to buy organically grown apples, strawberries, peaches, nectarines - imported, grapes – imported, blueberries – domestic, sweet bell peppers, potatoes, celery, spinach, lettuce, kale/collard greens.
CLEAN 15 - the following have the least pesticide residues - pineapples, avocado, mangoes, cantaloupe - domestic, kiwi, watermelon, grapefruit, onions, sweet corn, cabbage, asparagus,
sweet peas, eggplant, sweet potatoes, mushrooms.
4: Choose safer cleaning products and cosmetics
This is often an overwhelming category! My advice is to use eco or organic brands wherever possible - and watch out for one of three words on the front label: caution, warning, danger.
Products with the word “caution” are safer: they are a level 1, low irritant, which means they could cause a mild reaction to the eyes or skin. But try to avoid products that say “warning” or “danger” as those are level 2 and level 3 irritants, and contain more harmful chemicals.
It is also wise to know what are in your cosmetics, shampoos, sunscreens and lotions. We love
EWG's skin deep database which has over 69,000 products listed on a hazard scale. Its easy to use and easy to search for safer options.
5: Know your plastics
The best thing we can do is to reduce the amount of plastic we use in the kitchen, by using natural alternatives like wood, bamboo, glass, or stainless steel.
Where we do use plastic, use it carefully: - Heat can release chemicals so avoid heating food in plastic containers and only wash specifically marked plastics in the dishwasher.
- Never use plastics in the microwave
- Throw out (recycle) plastics if they get scratched or warped, as this is when chemicals leach into our foods.
- Only use plastic containers with the recycling #1, #2, #4 and #5 for food storage
- Only choose BPA free plastics
We would love to hear from you if you have any additional tips on how to make our homes greener and safer.
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