The 7 essentials to Detox your Home

​Detoxing is high on the agenda for many of us today. We often introduce detoxifying body goals to our daily routines to help put us on a leaner and cleaner path to a healthier lifestyle. There is always plenty of good advice in relation to detoxifying our bodies available from many health professionals, medical experts as well as oodles of advice online.
But how often do we think or do anything about the toxins in our homes? We spend 90% of our time indoors according to the World Health Organization (WHO) and according to this source the indoor Air quality is deemed to be 5 times worse than that of the outdoor air quality. 

Did you know that many common household products, body care products and chemical based cleaning products that we use in our homes daily have been found to have negative effects on our health. While WIFI, smart meters and smart phones that are continually on in our homes are producing wireless radiation. Radon gases, that are naturally occurring in the Irish soil also known as human carcinogen is becoming more commonly entrapped in our energy efficient airtight homes. These things can impact on our nervous, immune, respiratory, cardiovascular and reproductive systems.
To help you start your home detox journey, myecohub has identified the following 7 essential areas you should look at if you want to detox your home.
 
Essential 1.        Improve Air Quality  
                                               
Indoor air pollution is the asbestos of tomorrow.
Your fresh laundry, new candle and new car smell air freshener are chemical ingredients off-gassing and releasing noxious fumes referred to as volatile organic compounds VOC’s into the air. That new baby cot smell is probably the VOC’s given off by the concoction of synthetic ingredients used in the production of the crib. These VOC’s are known carcinogens, yet we bring them right into our homes for our family to live with, breathe beside and sleep upon.
To improve air quality, we simply need to be more aware of the presence of these toxins in many household products and take active steps like ventilating our homes to reduce the levels of VOC’s in the air.
Simple steps like opening windows or adding certain house plants can help remove air borne pollutants and vastly improve air quality.
 
Essential 2.       Value Water Quality
                                                       
We must be more mindful of both the quantity and quality of water we use in our everyday life.
Tap water is probably the cheapest and arguably the best quality water you can drink. If in doubt, it is always worth considering placing a filter on the incoming mains, thereby ensuring that the water at the point of use is as clean as possible and free from any chemical nasties that may have been collected from the aging pipe network
Why not eliminate single use plastic bottles from our life and save money by re-filling your own glass/metal bottle.
 
It’s easy to Reduce our water use by adding tap aerators, flush reducers in toilets and adding water butts to collect rainwater. We need to become more aware of the amount of water we waste. Pretty much every house in this country has a water meter, start monitoring your water usage and comparing it to see where you can make changes and reduce your homes water waste.
 
Essential 3:       Toxin free Food Utensils & Packaging.
                                                          
Food packaging, kitchen containers and most kitchen utensils & accessories are full of toxic chemicals. The non-stick coating surface for cookware such as pots and pans often contains a highly toxic substance called polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE). Another chemical harmful to our health that is used in many plastics is bisphenol A (BPA) both chemicals should be avoided because of the concern of possible health effects on the body.  A healthy home should really try to avoid cooking with plastics and never heat food in a plastic container, making other simple changes like beeswax wrappers for food storage, glass pots and opting for ceramic lined non-stick cookware is the way forward for healthy toxin free cooking.
 
Essential 4                 Only Natural Beauty regimes
                                           
Today every person in a household uses the following beauty products daily; toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner, body wash, soap, creams/moisturizer, deodorants, perfumes. We are a generation that have been bombarded with beauty products.
If you picked up and looked at the back of any of your beauty products would you be able to understand any ingredients in them that you are using on your skin or body daily?
One of the main ingredients used in 60% of beauty products are Parabens It is a cheap preservative that prevent bacteria, mold, fungus, and even parasites from growing.
Recent studies show that these chemicals can be absorbed through our skin and into our bloodstream where they then stay and pile up, they disrupt our natural hormonal balance. There is on-going research to link continues paraben exposer and breast cancer. 
“Fragrance” on the perfume’s ingredients may look like one ingredient but it’s more likely a blend of many chemicals (it can be up to 5’000) this is a loophole that is used by many cosmetic companies to not show exactly what is in the product.
 
Essential 5               Use Organic Cleaning Products
                                             
Chances are that beneath your kitchen sink lurks a multitude of toxic chemical compounds that are labeled “toxic” in some form or another like bleach, detergents, polishes, air sprays etc. Simple changes to your routine will go a long way. All you really need to replace this concoction of hazardous chemicals is some simple homemade ingredients that can match these expensive commercial chemicals or alternatively you can opt for VOC free organic cleaning products and candles to keep your home clean and smelling fresh.
 
Essential 6                Reduce Waste/Energy
                                                       
Reducing our waste by reducing the amount of stuff we buy must be the first step towards a zero-waste home.
A zero-waste home should try and comply with the 5 simple R’s
Refuse: if possible don’t purchase unnecessary waste.
Reduce: less is better
Reuse: Try and reuse whenever possible.
Recycle: What we will have to Recycle will be minimal if we use the first 3 R’s
Rot: All that remains should be left to rot naturally (All your biodegradable and compostable products)
 
The same rules apply to energy usage. The cheapest energy Watt saved is the one not used. Our homes need to be made more energy efficient, so less energy is needed to power and heat them. (See the SEAI web site for advice and grants). If possible, we should be looking to use renewable energy sources such as wind or solar energy to provide electricity to our homes. But try to remember a wasted renewable energy unit is just as useful as a non-renewable one. So, no matter how you your energy is generated we need to conserve it.
 
Essential 7                 Wireless Radiation
                                                      
Radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (EMF) which is used in phones and wireless devices (WIFI, Smart TVs, Smart monitors) have been classified as possibly carcinogenic to humans by the international agency for research on cancer.
This is particularly concerning because in our new “smart homes” there is a sea of electrical radiation that goes unnoticed. These new Smart household products are more than often dependent on strong emf signals to inter-communicate, resulting in the EMF’s single in your home being at an all-time high. In 2019 it is impossible to avoid all the EMF’s in your home but try and reduce it by turning off these appliances at night or when they aren’t in use.
 
Something to think about…
 

• That “new car smell air freshener” is so dangerous it ought to deploy and airbag.
• Your microwave is not a television, so, DO NOT watch your popcorn pop.
• If you would not drink it, do not put it on your skin.
• Your scented laundry acts like a nicotine patch.
• Plastic may steel your family’s future.
• Indoor air pollution will be known as the asbestos of tomorrow.
• Technological advancements made for profit will always outpace research designed for human safety,
• Fluoride is poisonous.
• An alarm clock works the same as the alarm on your phone.
• Be careful what facts you believe and whose advice you buy.
• You are your own best advocate.
• Moderation – Not abstinence – is usually the solution to excess.