Detox

Confused about what good nutrition is?

You shouldn’t be — we know what works and what doesn’t.

In a moment, I will share five simple tips to help you optimize your nutrition and achieve vibrant health, but first let me clear up a few misconceptions.

Most people don’t know how poorly they feel until they feel better. In fact, most of us don’t recognize that fatigue, digestive problems, aches and pains, allergies, headaches and more aren’t just annoying symptoms. They are early clues to impending diseases that can disable and kill us.

The Environmental Working Group (EWG), which created a cosmetics database outlining and analyzing the ingredients in tens of thousands of personal care products, recently revealed that much of our lipstick is still lead-filled — a year after first releasing such shocking news.

If we’re screaming for change, nobody’s listening.

Many people give me a guilty look when they tell me they have wall-to-wall carpet in their homes. I always feel badly that they are embarassed, especially because there is so much misinformation about how toxic carpets are and why — and because I know that carpeting can be a lot cheaper than other types of flooring. I myself would have enjoyed wall-to-wall carpet in a few rooms when my daughter was younger, as I think that soft surface would have been cozy for her.

My five-year-old licks her lips. Compulsively. Not so much a problem in the grand scheme of things. But when you’re five and your lips are chronically chapped, well … you run to Mommy to make things better.

Mommy (that’s me!), however, refuses to reach for the nearest lip balm as I’m entirely too aware of the nasty stuff that’s in most lip balms.

When I think of plastic #5 — polypropylene, commonly used for yogurt containers, syrup bottles, ketchup bottles, caps, straws and medicine bottles — I think of my mother going into a fit of recycling rage, ranting about the fact that we couldn’t recycle plastic #5 in our area. But the real story here parallels the BPA scare with water bottles and baby bottles …

Although I prefer intentions to resolutions, January is a time of starting over with a clean slate. Be it ‘Juiceless January’ (meaning no alcohol) or ‘Gym January’ (we all know what that means), many of us partake in some sort of cleansing and/or fitness ritual. In addition to making my (always long) lists of hopes, dreams and intentions, I am ramping up my yoga practice.

As part of my new year overhaul I spent about five hours cleaning my kitchen. I washed the curtains, cleaned out the fridge and scrubbed the white double sink. Because I was in the mood to be very thorough — not something I give myself over to very often when cleaning — I was on a mission to remove the yellowing on the bottom of the sinks.

There’s a new phrase in town — “body burden” — and no, it doesn’t refer to the weight you gained over the holidays, nor that husband who doesn’t help around the house.

One of the easiest things we can do to make our homes, and ourselves, healthier is to remove our shoes. This simple ‘step’ helps keep all that nasty stuff (dirt, pesticides, you name it) out of our indoor environments, helping to keep toxins and pollutants out of our homes.