Ever heard of Endocrine disrupters? If not, I am going to dedicate an entire blog post to it! Endocrine disrupters are chemicals that will interfere with our endocrine (hormonal) system and cause our bodies to produce reproductive, neurological, developmental, and immune effects in both humans and other animals. They can be caused by some natural materials however, almost all man-made products contain chemicals that disrupt our endocrine systems. These can include water bottles, toys, pesticides, cosmetics, metal food cans, flame retardants, and food. I also want to mention that these manmade products don't only affect humans and oceans but our entire environment and planet- aka, what is contributing to climate change. Everywhere we go, we run into endocrine disrupting chemicals and it's hard to believe that we have been exposed to them since we were infants. They have even proven in studies that excessive exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals can lead to infertility, endometriosis and some cancers. It has also been found that we are more vulnerable during prenatal and early postnatal development (NIH).
Released in 2010, the Environmental Working Group (EWG) found nearly 300 chemicals in the umbilical cord of just 20 babies in America. These chemicals were classified as persistent bioaccumalitive and toxic chemicals (PBTs). Presence of PBTs can leave babies with blood chemistry issues while in the womb. This can lead to abnormalities in the development of the babies vital organs such as the heart and brain.
If you were to look at your daily routine just around your house, how many chemicals do you think you're exposed to? Look at what you wash your entire body with, what are you using to wash your dishes, do you wear makeup, what utensils are you using to cook your food, what are your foods sitting in, what chemicals are in your water, etc.? I drink probably 12-15 glasses of water a day from the tap but what I did not know is that countries like Australia and America use Chlorine and Flouride in their water systems. Countries such as the Netherlands do not use this exposing them to less chemicals and leaving us with an insane amount of chemical build up in our systems. So want to know what I do to try to limit my exposure to endocrine disrupters?
1. Soak my fruits & vegetables in vinegar
It has been suggested by the EWG to soak fruits and vegetables in vinegar if you can't afford to buy organic. This is because to grow fruits and vegetables that aren't organic there is almost always a pesticide used on those food to keep pests away from dealing with the harvest. These pesticides stay on those foods all the way from that soil to the market and all the way to your plate. By soaking these foods in vinegar you are getting as much of those chemicals off your plate!
2. Store food in Glass Containers
By storing our foods in plastic containers, our foods are absorbing chemicals such as BPA. BPA is a manmade chemical that is often found in things like plastic water bottles and its been found that this chemical can affect our insulin resistance leading to things like obesity and possibly breast cancer and ADHD. By storing your foods like meat, fish, beans, etc. in glass you are limiting the change of your food absorbing those small fine particles of plastic chemicals into your food and into your body. You know that glass pasta jar that you got your spaghetti sauce out of? Rinse it out, and keep it, you don't have to go out and buy all brand new glass containers. Some of the things that we buy already prepared food in is glass and can have food easily stored in it.
3. Limit Animal Protein
If you haven't learned yet, the meat industry has been consumed by pesticides and hormone treatment. This includes all of our meats and the chemicals that are thriving in these animals end up on our plates also as our steak or rib for dinner. In terms of seafood and fish, many of our oceans are filled with plastics and other substances like mercury which in large amounts have been known to cause a lot of harm within our bodies. However, you are able to get grass-fed and grass-finished beef and organic free range chicken which is really great! For me, it's just too expensive so I like to keep meat out of the picture. In terms of fish, there are certain types of big and deep fish that have more toxins because they eat the smaller fish who consume the little amount of plastics. But deciding to eat the smaller fish listed on the EWG website is a great place to start!
4. Have Our Own Veggie Garden
A few months ago, my partner and I were feeling super disconnected from life. Our relationship was fine but we just don't really enjoy life where we are and want out of it as quickly as we could but that's just not plausible at the moment. So we decided to start a garden, a part of our hippy selves that we are able to bring to this city that we can enjoy and reconnect to the earth. We went to our local tip (place where people dump their bigger household items) and bought 2 old bathtubs ($30 USD total) that someone had thrown out. We lined them up in our backyard and planted different types of vegetables into them with some good organic fertiliser so that we can have some of our own home grown tomatoes, lettuce, celery, etc. that have never been introduced to chemicals. The most expensive part was probably buying the vegetables themselves to plant but once we have them, we have them for the whole season and actually save money on some products.
5. Organic Female Hygiene Products
Period products like traditionally made tampons and pads carry a range of toxins that actually doesn't have to released by companies because the FDA doesn't believe that women need to be informed about what they are putting in the most absorbent part of their body. While no science has been proven however, women have reported that when they switch to organic tampons they no longer experience cramping and headaches. I typically use a menstrual cup or menstrual underwear for the sustainability component but not everyone has access to this and even more disappointingly is that organic tampons and pads are not cheap. I am lucky enough to be able to pick a wide range but I also understand not everyone has this. I firmly believe that every single menstrual product should have to expose what is in their products and the side effects on the female body.
6. Natural Cleaning Products
I ONLY ever allow organic cleaning products in our house. This ranges from dish washing detergent, to dishwasher detergent, to toothpaste, to clothing wash. Most stores will have an area where you can find environmentally based cleaning products but ALWAYS read the back to make sure that none of the ingredients are actual endocrine disrupters. I've been taught, if you can't pronounce why would you use it? To clean our floors, counters, windows, & glass I use soap berries which are traditionally from India and Pakistan. I buy them from a local store called Naked Foods which they are actually the cheapest and longest lasting product I have ever used. I put a few berries into an aluminium spray bottle and those berries last me about 3-4 months, definitely worth the buy!
7. Natural Hair & Skin Products
I won't lie, these products are not cheap and I haven't found one that is affordable or figured out how to make my own. For my hair, I no longer get relaxers and only use the Shea Moisture that has no unnatural chemicals in it and I only use organic natural soaps for my body. I don't use a moisturiser, face cleanser, makeup, or anything of that sort so I don't have to worry about those extra chemicals but I do know that there are products out there that are natural and organic.
These are all the major changes that I have made in my life over the past year and a half. I have hormonal issues, many of us do! But these are steps I'm taking to try to help my body heal and keep my family healthy. One day I hope to have kids and if I can expel any excess chemicals in my system before I create new humans for the world, than I am going to do just that. What changes have you made?
Xoxo,
Moonli
Formuzis, A. (2018) Lanmark BPA Study Finds Troubling Health Effects FDA's 'Safe' Levels. Environmental Working Group, <https://www.ewg.org/release/first-us-bpa-lab-study-humans-finds-troubling-health-effects-levels-deemed-safe-fda-epa>.
Wiles, R. & Houlihan, J. (2010) To Chairman Rush: chemicals in umbilical cord blood - including PBTs - need urgent action. Environmental Working Group, <https://www.ewg.org/news/news-releases/2010/03/05/chairman-rush-chemicals-umbilical-cord-blood-–-including-pbts-–-need>.
(2020) Endocrine Disruptors. National Institute of Environmental Sciences,<https://www.niehs.nih.gov/health/topics/agents/endocrine/index.cfm>.