The Hidden Toxins Lurking in Your Household
Our homes. We assume they are safe. But in fact, many popular household cleaners, appliances, and items are dangerously toxic. Learn about the scary substances hiding under your kitchen sink and how to replace them with safer, more natural options that really work. In this episode we give the short and skinny on what to be wary of in your house – and our go-to products and DIY hacks to keep things less toxic at home.
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TRANSCRIPT FOR SEASON 1, EPISODE 8 | The Hidden Toxins Lurking in Your Household
Announcer: Welcome to The Matcha Guardians podcast, brought to you by Matcha.com. Here, we focus on the biggest trending health topics of our time, featuring the greatest and upcoming wellness advocates. Now, here are the Matcha Guardians, certified nutritionist Diana Weil and medical journalist Elara Hadjipateras.
Elara Hadjipateras: Hello, hello, and welcome to this week's episode where we're going to be talking about the hidden hazards in your household and the healthy alternatives. Every day, I'm sure this isn't news to you, we're exposed to different chemicals, pesticides, and other synthetic materials. You've heard that they're in our food, in our water, in our clothing, cleaning supplies, even receipts. Kind of crazy, so we thought we would take today to focus on, what are these different hazardous materials that we're coming across in our household?
Not just freaking everyone out about it, but also just taking a step back and thinking, "Okay, what are simple alternatives, natural alternatives, and solutions we can have in place to make things less bad? We live in the 21st century, so we know inevitably, yes, we live in a world of microplastics, but what can we do? Diana, my co-host, actually wrote a great resource article about PFAs a couple of weeks back. I want to turn it over to her. Diana, what are PFAs?
Diana Weil: Yes, so I started getting interested in this. I've always been sort of concerned about microplastics and had ideas about what cleaning chemicals I was using and scents. I had this idea of like, "Okay, we got to be a little cautious about what's in our house and what's my water bottle and yadda yadda yadda. I saw this article about period underwear and that there was a specific company that was labeling themselves as a non-toxic, organic period, underwear company.
There were several lawsuits filed against them because it turned out that they had extremely high levels of PFAs, which are these forever chemicals that are hormone disruptors. They can cause problems for your immune system. They can cause high cholesterol. They can cause low birth weight. The evidence is clear that these are not good for us. In the crotch of these period underwear, they had this really-- [chuckles] I just got to get really graphic here. [laughs]
Elara: It's just so scary to think, right? This is a very intimate area and we're going right into it here, Diana. Continue.
Diana: In this underwear, there's a really high amount of PFAs. These women, don't quote me on this, but it was something like 13 women had noticed severe health problems from using this period underwear, including infertility, like permanent infertility that was not fixable from wearing this period underwear. What's so scary is that they were labeled as non-toxic and organic. I started doing a deep dive of, first of all, why are PFAs in our underwear and what else are they in?
They're in everything. They're in yoga pants. They're in tea bags. They're in our cooking pots. They're in our dishwasher tabs. Apparently, they're in clouds. Microplastics are everywhere. I think, today, we wanted to make sure everyone is aware because I think information is power. We can do our best to maybe avoid some of these things, choose better products.
Also, I think Elara and I are very concerned with not just making this a doom-and-gloom podcast. We want to give you realistic tips and some of our ideas and what we do in our own lives to maybe choose better options. I'll be vulnerable with you guys. I'm going to share the plastics that I do have in my life because I'm not perfect and we're not pretending to be perfect. We just do our best and we go from there.
Elara: Absolutely. As Diana referenced, we're going to have a lot of different studies and information coming at you in this podcast in particular, as well as naming certain brands and things that we do. All of those resources, they're going to be right in the show notes for you to find. Don't feel like you have to just remember everything or hit pause and write things down. We have you covered in the show notes.
Diana: Definitely an episode where you are going to want to see our show notes. We have so many different resources. Elara's sharing some of her favorite tips with you guys, so be sure to check out the show notes, really valuable information.
Elara: Okay, so one of the first times Diana and I touched on this subject outside the podcast was having to do with cookware. Diana was the person who told me, as far as what I have in the kitchen, what's a hazard, is anything covered in Teflon.
Diana: Yes, so Teflon is “wonderful.” I'm going to put that in quotations for anyone who can't see me. It's great because it makes things not stick, right? You can burn, just absolutely destroy something in a pan, and it's not going to stick with Teflon. The problem is that when you use any sort of metal spatula or it cracks, it's leaching chemicals into our food. Teflon is one of those things that I highly recommend avoiding.
I know that getting cookware is an investment. It's not realistic for everyone to go out and throw away their pots and pans and buy a whole new set. The good thing about this though is that the ones that I do recommend are more cost-affordable and actually have some health benefits. I really like cooking with cast iron pans, which as a vegan and vegetarian, if you're a vegan or vegetarian, I also recommend cast iron because it can boost up your iron a little bit.
I think that people get nervous about cooking in cast iron and I'm not totally sure why. It's amazing. It's very easy to take care of. You just don't wash them with soap and then you dry them immediately. That's really it. Every now and then, maybe you season it with oil in an oven. You can easily google seasoned cast iron pans. A lot of tips will come up for you. I think cast iron pans, they're my go-to at least. Then Elara, I think that you use stainless steel now, is that right?
Elara: Yes, I use a lot of stainless steel. Like Diana said, the issue with Teflon happens when you heat it too high. It's when you're going over that 500, 600 degrees Fahrenheit. That's what it's linked to releasing these gases that are not so bueno for our health. Then also when they're older, so once you've scraped them and you can see different patterns and stuff in the bottom of your bowl because maybe you burned some scrambled eggs one day or something like that, that's when it's time to just throw it out.
I think what made me the most disturbed when Diana and I talked about this the first time is I just thought about all the times I've gone to different stores, whether it was Target or Bed Bath & Beyond. I've just seen all of these Teflon pots and pans on sale and they're a great price point. They're right in front of you. It's just really easy to gravitate towards them and want to buy them versus, say, the cast iron skillets, which are really heavy.
Diana: You can use them as a weapon.
Elara: They serve multiple purposes. What's also great about the cast iron skillets is it's really good for cooking, going from being on the stovetop to them putting them in the oven. They're very versatile in that way.
Diana: Good for you. Weapon. They can go into the oven. [laughs]
Elara: You're hitting all of it right here.
Diana: Many purposes.
Elara: In terms of what Teflon cookware has been linked to, we're looking at a higher risk of cancer. You're looking at detrimental health effects, particularly for children and older children. Low infant birth weight, thyroid problems, immune system problems, so things that obviously nobody wants more of. I guess the takeaway here is just like if you're using Teflon, it's not the end of the world. Just make sure it's new and keep an eye on it, right? Make sure you're not scratching at the bottom. Once it gets old, you see any peeling, any scratching, any diminishment of the bottom layer, check that out, replace it.
Diana: Never use metal on a Teflon pot or pan. I will say that they're not usually marketed as Teflon anymore. They're marketed as nonstick. I actually fell for this. I bought these camping cookware sets. I know this. I teach people this. [laughs]
Elara: You taught me this.
Diana: I fell for it because I was like, "Oh, great. This is like an awesome nonstick camping cookware set." Then I got home and I was like, "Oh, this is definitely Teflon because it's labeled as nonstick. Just keep an eye out for the fact that they're not going to call it Teflon anymore. They're going to call it nonstick. I told you guys that I would be vulnerable in sharing the things that I do still have in my house. I still have that cookware set despite the fact that I know it's Teflon. You know what? We just do our best.
Elara: Since we're in the kitchen, we're just going to shift gears as to what else in the kitchen might be a little hazardous. This might not come as a surprise, even though I also still have three of these in my kitchen right now as I say this. Plastic cutting boards. Yes, full of microplastics.
Diana: Okay. Again, another thing that I know better, and yet I had six plastic cutting boards that I would put on top of my wood cutting board. Then I saw this really interesting article about every time you slice on that cutting board, it's releasing a certain amount of microplastics into your food. It's just these little things. I've gotten rid of all of my plastic Tupperware, but I have plastic cutting boards. It's tough. It's literally everywhere. Are you going to replace your plastic cutting boards?
Elara: As I was doing a little bit more research before this podcast article, I tried to throw these three cutting boards out. They're a hallmark piece within our kitchen because they're three different colors. They're cute. One is labeled like, "You cut your meat on here." One's like, "You cut your broccoli and your different produce on here." Another one's like, "Fruit, we're yellow."
My husband had none of it. He was like, "Come on, those are really nice. Don't throw them. Just keep them there." He was like, "You can cut the dog food on them," which I'm a huge dog lover. Huge controversy in my heart to just exclusively use my microplastic-emitting cutting boards for my dogs’ dog food. They're still there. I'd say that they're more of a relic. They're not being used. I went out and I bought a larger, new wooden cutting board, which I've been using.
Diana: I think I have the same ones. They have the little symbols for me. My husband also was like, "You're not getting rid of them." [laughs]
Elara: Those cost a lot of money. I think, once again, this goes back to like-- It's funny because a lot of these products, they're marketed as being good, fancy kitchenware, and they're not good for you.
Diana: That's what's so tough for me is that we think that we're doing a really good thing here, and then maybe we're actually not. In terms of alternatives, you can do a marble cutting board, which is an interesting one. I haven't tried that. I'm a little skeptical but willing to try. Bamboo, wood, those are going to be good options. I guess metal, but I don't know that anyone would use a metal cutting board. Someone out there want to test that out for me?
Elara: Yes, I'd say I'm sticking to the wood. The one thing that I'm being conscious of is the type of finish. I don't know. The right word probably isn't "varnish." Varnish, so finish that the wood has on it, because then I'd assume that wouldn't necessarily be good to be cutting into either, so really finding something that's natural. To Diana's point, going back to those period panties, things can be marketed as organic, all-natural, and, wham, they still have some hidden plastic, some hidden epoxy in them that's not good for you just because we don't necessarily have the regulations set up in place to stop that. We need to do our best as consumers to educate ourselves.
Diana: Totally agree. That also brings me to our next kitchen topic and this idea of plastics and the way that they are marketed, which is plastic Tupperware containers.
Elara: Ooh, yes.
Diana: I have glass ones, but they do have a plastic top. People have asked me, "Is that damaging if it's glass bottom but plastic top?" That's something that I feel okay about because the food isn't touching the plastic. I do have some plastic containers. I will be honest. I never heat in them. I don't store anything that's acidic. I don't put tomatoes in them. I don't put any salad dressings. Nothing that has vinegar or acid that's going to leach those plastics a little bit more. If you do have plastic containers, my best advice is to always pull the food out before you reheat and don't store anything that has any sort of acid or vinegar in it.
Elara: To your point, I don't tend to put anything hot in my plastic containers. I stick to fruit that I've cut, things like that, but I'm not going to make a big bowl of chicken noodle soup and then dump it while it's hot into any of my plastic containers. I put that in the glass containers, which also-- Ironically, mine are like they have the clip-ons on the side, so the top is also glass.
Then, obviously, there's a bit of the clips, which is plastic. You know what? Honestly, I don't know how it happens, but I tend to lose some of the tops to my glass Tupperware, and then I end up using Saran wrap to put it on top. I actually have some spaghetti in the fridge as I talk right now that I can visually see. It's in a round, clear glass container with just good old layer of Saran wrap on top.
Diana: Yes, right. It's the same thing with plastic bags, right? I still use plastic bags. I would never heat anything in a plastic bag, but I still use plastic bags. There are some really great silicone bag options. I don't love them as much because, to be totally honest, I feel like they keep the smell of things. I just don't feel like the zipper as well, but I do think that there are some better products out there on the market, but I still use plastic bags.
Elara: This brings to my mind. When I've been out shopping, once again, I see the label "BPA-free." I'm sure that's something that maybe you've been familiar with. What's interesting about something being BPA-free, it doesn't necessarily mean it's free of all bad plastics, right? That's just one range of a microplastic when there's many.
Diana: Yes, thank you for bringing it back there. [laughs]
Elara: Bring it back to the science.
Diana: The problem is that they took out the BPA in all of these plastics because people, rightfully so, got pretty concerned about BPA. The problem is that they replaced BPA with a bunch of other different things that are probably more harmful for us that we just don't have the research on. Anything that's labeled BPA-free, I would not just assume, is safer for you or healthier for you. It just contains different plastics that we have less research on.
Elara: For example, one of the things that people got really upset about was BPAs being the plastic lining in different canned products. For example, to Diana's point, tomatoes, canned tomatoes, a lot of people, right? They think that using canned tomatoes instead of fresh tomatoes, you're going to get a better pasta sauce. I'm one of those people as well.
Instead, what they did is they replaced the BPAs with BPS. It's just as bad. There's been a study, for example, that linked BPS to diminished sperm counts in men and fertility issues in men. For those people out there that are like, "Oh, Elara, I tend to get the boxed tomatoes instead," that is not simply just a cardboard box of tomatoes. It is also still lined with some facet of plastic. Just keeping that in mind.
Diana: I think it just comes down to limiting. In moderation, if you know that canned tomatoes are sort of a staple in your life, then where else in your life could you maybe remove plastics? Does that mean that you keep the canned tomatoes, but maybe you get rid of the cutting boards or you keep the canned tomatoes, but you get rid of your plastic Tupperware?
I also think that it's important to know that if you are going through something, maybe you have a specific health concern. Maybe you are trying to get pregnant. Maybe you're having some sort of hormonal imbalance. Maybe that's the time in your life to really be cautious and get rid of the cutting boards and start using tomato sauce out of a glass container rather than a canned tomato.
Elara: If you want to bring it a step further because we all know, at least even when I go shopping, I'd say a fancy Whole Foods, things like that, everything is encased in plastic containers, right? If I want to take it a step further from that because of some health concern I might have, maybe I'm shopping at a farmer's market, right? I'm bringing paper bags. I'm storing my tomatoes in paper bags or a fruit bowl, right? Yes, you shouldn't put your tomatoes in the fridge, by the way.
Diana: No, please take your tomatoes out of the fridge. [laughs]
Elara: Take them out of the fridge. They're a fruit. I don't know. This just made me think. A lot of people, when you buy, say, mushrooms and you put them-- you shouldn't also store those in plastic. Always store those in a paper bag, roll it up, and then throw it into the fridge.
Diana: Life lessons here with Elara.
Elara: Just important things I've learned from trial and error. The amount of times, I still-- me and my husband will go shopping and I'll still take the tomatoes out of the fridge. "No, take them out. They go over there."
Diana: Drives me insane. I'm like, "These don't taste good." The second they go in the fridge, they do not taste good anymore. Take them out.
Elara: It just kills the taste of the tomatoes. Exactly. Another thing, we're in the different hazards within the kitchen is sponges. The sponges that we use to clean everything, one really fun fact that I shared with Diana the other day is that the average kitchen sponge, and I'll link this in the show notes, is 200 times dirtier than the average household toilet. Let that sink in. Ooh, that's a good fact, yes. I actually have this favorite sponge company. This is how you know you're in your 30s, right?
I have my favorite sponge company that I just have to tell you about. There's a great sale going on. There's a great sponge company called Skura, S-K-U-R-A. It's actually co-founded by Eva Mendes, right? The beautiful woman who's married to Ryan Gosling of the Barbie movie. She came up with this sponge. What it does is it's double-sided like many sponges are where one side has a color and these little logos on it, and then the other side is just sponge. It's especially antibacterial.
What's cool about it is that it has these little logos on it, these dark logos. The more you use it, the more a sponge is going to take on different bacteria and then become not usable. You usually don't know, right? How do when to throw out your sponge? This sponge, it tells you because the logos will fade away. After about a half a month to a month, you know, "Okay, the logo's faded. I need to replace it." I just think it's so ingenious. I need that reminder.
Diana: Elara shared this with me and I immediately purchased some because I am a clean freak and I hate sponges, but I use them. Okay, so I want you to air out your dirty laundry. I don't know if you have any, but my biggest pet peeve is cleaning counters and then using that same sponge to then clean the dishes. Are you one of those people? Do you use the same sponge?
Elara: No. You know what? This also isn't great, but I tend to use an excessive amount of paper towels, which isn't great for the environment and I know that. I know that. I'm using a lot of paper towels to wipe down surfaces, which I guess leads us to what am I using to wipe down my surfaces like what cleaning product, what disinfectant.
Diana: Okay, really quickly before I move on from sponges though. Do sponges have microplastics in them like normal sponges or is it just the risk of spreading bacteria and that they're really dirty?
Elara: I think it's a combination of both. I can't speak for every single brand out there, but it's also a combination of both. It's what you're using them to clean and it's also what they're made of. It's a double whammy.
Diana: Okay, so let's get into cleaning solutions because this one is a big key.
Elara: I think all of us have heard that bleach is an extremely hazardous chemical. Then as far as a lot of other household cleaning products, yes, maybe they're neon-colored and bright and smell fantastic, but they don't necessarily have any warnings on them as far as how they can be fatal, say, if a child got into your cabinet and ended up drinking some of it. I know it doesn't appeal to us.
For younger children who don't know what it is and it's this bright orange, luminescent solution, it can be something that's really, really dangerous. The ingestion of different cleaning products, whether it's bleach, whether it's something else, you're at risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which is scary, also increased risk of different cancers, respiratory issues as well. Because all of these cleaning products, they tend to smell good, right? I guess, naturally, there's a connection where they could cause issues to our respiratory system.
Diana: Yes. I just want to clarify that I think that we've moved away from PFAs in cleaning products to just toxic chemicals that are in our home. When it comes to cleaning products, the smellier they are, I think the more hazardous you can assume they are for our health. Even if you want to keep those heavy-duty, it's flu season in your house and you don't want a natural product, you want the heavy-duty, I think looking for the scented-free ones is going to be your best bet.
Elara: Yes, it's funny because I do think that several years ago, people were becoming a bit more aware of the dangers of certain cleaning products pre-COVID. Then COVID hit and all of that went out the window and it was like, "I'm spraying my house with Lysol. I'm spraying my food containers with Lysol. I am Febrezing everything." We took a step back. We definitely took a step back because of fear, right? It was just one danger outweighed the other.
Diana: Yes, absolutely. There are great natural cleaning products out there that are scent-free and even the ones that are natural. Again, this just goes to show that a lot of this is marketing, right? Because even if it says natural and organic like we've pointed out, that doesn't necessarily mean that it's better for you. Even with the natural and organic products that Elara and I have recommended and that we use, I would still look for scented-free if you can find it.
Elara: For example, one product brand, a line that I really like is Meyer's cleaning products. When I can help it, to Diana's point, I try not even to use Meyer's and I'll go the all-natural thing. One of my favorite things to have in my arsenal as a natural cleaning product is vinegar. Love vinegar, big fan of vinegar. You can do so many different things with vinegar. It's incredible. Apple cider vinegar as well as distilled white vinegar is amazing.
You could actually take it and mix it with an essential oil. It can actually create a really nice scent with tea tree in particular. I've tested it out. It doesn't work so well with lavender if I'm being honest, but it's really nice. It can be used as an all-purpose cleaner. You can take the Windex, put it in the trash and replace it with some white vinegar, as well as drop a generous amount of some tea tree essential oil.
Diana: I love that. Also, cleaning supplies are no longer that cheap. At least I don't find cleaning supplies cheap. Especially the organic ones are the all-natural ones. Knowing that you can use vinegar, I think, is a really affordable option for a lot of people. I think that that's such a great tip. One of my other, I think, best tips in general for everything that we're talking about is the Environmental Working Group. EWG has an app that you can use to check your cleaning products, your face products, bath products, whatever it is.
You can type that product into the EWG app and it'll give you a rating from like, "This is a bad product. This is a known hormone disruptor. This is very toxic. This is totally green and clean and there's nothing in here that's known to be hazardous to our health." If you have a cleaning product and you're like, "Well, it says natural and organic," but maybe that doesn't mean anything, type it into the EWG app, the Healthy Living app, and a score will pop up for that product, which is really cool.
Elara: The results may surprise you one way or the other.
Diana: Right, yes, I know. There are products that I'm like, "This is great for me," and then it gets a “red." [laughs]
Elara: I know. It's shocking. I'm like, "Wow, that was some really good branding." If I'm not going the distilled white vinegar route, which, some days, I'm just not feeling it. I'm not going to make a little concoction, which is fine. Another product that I love for hardwood floors, which will then, I guess, bring us to carpets, which I have a very strong opinion on carpets, but we'll get there in a second, is Bona Hardwood Floor Cleaner.
I love Bona products. What's great about them is they're not only safe for us, but they're safe for your pets. Important. They're sustainably made. They're great for pets, the planet, and people. Who doesn't love that? They're a good price point. You can get them on Amazon, especially if you have an Amazon Prime account. This is not an ad for Amazon, though Amazon, you can feel free to sponsor us. Bona Hardwood Floor Cleaner spray is great.
Diana: Yes, I love the recommendation. I want to hear you hate on carpet. [laughs]
Elara: Okay, crazy fact about carpets. I guess this is another reason why I've become so fixated on these household hazards is because I'm pregnant because I'm entering this new chapter of my life. I've just heard from so many people and I've done the research to know that children are very vulnerable. They're like sponges in many different ways, not just for language, but as far as the different chemicals and things that you have in your house.
It's made me really reconsider what I had going on in the house and changing to a more natural approach to things. I was googling. I was putting together my nursery. I'm thinking, "What do I do? The baby needs to be able to crawl on the floor eventually." Carpets are nice. Carpets are comfy. Yes, they're also full of bacteria and disease. Crazy facts about having a floor-to-floor carpet. A carpet can hold eight times its weight in different debris, dirt, and bacteria.
Diana: That's disgusting.
Elara: Isn't that gross? Eight times the amount of weight. It makes sense if you compare a carpet to a wet towel, right? Think about how much a towel weighs and then you wet it. Every time you walk on it, it emits whatever is sitting in the carpet. As far as the whole should you have a wood floor or a carpet or a granite or some sort of stone, go the stone, granite, or wood route, and then opt for a carpet that's just a surface carpet that you can then take and wash easily.
Diana: It goes beyond just it being dirty and gross, but also flame retardants and chemicals that they put in carpets, I think, is also very hazardous. When kids are crawling on it or you walk on it and then you touch your feet or something like that, that can easily get into your body and cause problems.
Elara: Yes, crazy. There was this study by Duke University that looked at flame retardants being found in couches, mattresses, carpet, padding, clothing, kids' toys, plush toys, basically everywhere, right? Now, they're starting to show that these flame retardants are showing up in people's bodies. That's a pretty significant health concern.
Diana: Yes, and I think it's mandatory that kids' clothing has flame retardant in it, which is like, it's just sort of unavoidable, but it does-- flame retardant when it comes to burning, obviously, it's very beneficial, but the chemicals that make something flame retardant are very harmful for us.
Elara: The dangers of flame retardants include a link to cancer, a lower IQ. Once again, sperm count, fertility issues, compromised reproductive systems, and birth defects. It's funny. A lot of the flame retardants that are used in the US are prohibited in Canada and the EU, but the US has no federal regulations on flame retardants at this time. Although there are a few states. I think Washington, Maine, California, Vermont come to mind that have banned particular flame retardants, but not all of them. This goes back to the point of what we were talking about with BPAs, right? Everything's going to maybe not have that one specific flame retardant, but they're just going to find another one to use.
Diana: Right. Again, some of this stuff is unavoidable, right? If your house is fully carpeted, maybe you don't have the budget to rip it out and put it in all-natural wood floors because that's a really expensive product. I think it is realistic to look at other areas of your life or maybe look for organic cotton clothing that potentially has less pesticides and chemicals added to it and look at the scents that are in your home.
Along with scents, I think thinking about burning candles, and also if you have diffusers or air-scented things, those are problematic. If you want to burn a candle, look for the unscented ones. If you want to do an air diffuser, go for essential oils, buy fresh flowers, have herbs and spices in your house. I think those are much safer alternatives than the Lysol sprays and the air fresheners and very scented oils with the sticks in them. Do you know what I'm talking about? You know the little sticks that go in the-- [chuckles]
Elara: Yes, the ones that-- and then I always flip them so then they smell. You hide them beneath the toilet or something like that. Then also, if you have a carpeted floor, which if I'm being totally honest, I am staring at a small section of my house that is carpeted. It has this navy carpet. I have dogs coming in and out of the house. One of the simple things I do to keep the carpet clean is we have a no-shoes policy. We don't have people coming in and tracking whatever they're walking in outside onto our carpet.
Then we have a little wipe-down station for the dogs where we wipe down their paws. In the winter, they head right around the back. I actually always stick them in the bathtub and I wash down their paws to minimize it. Then once a month, I use a wet vacuum. I clean the carpet that way. That gives me a little bit of peace of mind. Of course, right, you can't control everything. I'm not going to rip up that section of carpet in the house. To Diana's point, it's just way too expensive at this point in time. You can take different precautions to make it a little bit less bad. Definitely.
Diana: Okay, there are still a lot of toxic things in the house. What do you want to cover next? [laughs]
Elara: Ooh, so you started touching on air fresheners. Just different things that we use in our house to make it smell good. You mentioned candles. I think I mentioned the word "Febreze," right? Febreze, synonymous with probably not being so great for your health. One of the things I love to do to make my house smell nice in a natural way is, in the summertime, I grow lavender outside.
Lavender is pretty easy to maintain. I do not have a green thumb by any means, but you just keep giving that baby some tap water every day, depending on, I don't know, how much rain you're getting, not getting. You're going to grow a good amount of lavender by the end of the season. I then cut it up and I dry it out. I can put it in different little sachets. It has a two-for-one purpose.
You can take the little sachets of lavender and then take the lavender out. Dump it into a pot like on the stove, not a nonstick one. Just a cast iron or stainless steel. You're just going to put it in a pot like that. You could also, say you haven't grown lavender, right? You don't need to grow your own lavender. You can just get a lavender essential oil or any essential oil of your choice out at a store.
You can put a couple of drops in the water and then you just put it at a simmer in the house. It'll diffuse and just create a nice smell throughout the house. For example, I love to add cloves and cinnamon, not do lavender in the wintertime because that creates a nice, cozy feel versus in the summertime. It's more lavender. It's more eucalyptus. It's more tea tree. That's one of my favorite ways to create an air freshener.
Diana: Oh, that is such a good idea. I love that.
Elara: Then you can take a towel like a hand towel and dump it in, and then take that and wipe down surfaces to give it that nice clean smell.
Diana: Will you come be my housewife?
Elara: I can do that for you, of course.
Diana: That is such a good idea. I love that. I just go the fresh flowers route. Get roses, get lilies, things that smell fragrant that at least-- some people are really sensitive to those smells as well, but flowers that you like, I think having fresh flowers is a really great way to make things smell. In the wintertime, I like having a Christmas tree or garland, something like that. The pine.
Elara: Oh, the pine. The pine of a Christmas tree is the best. Peter, my husband, has the worst allergies. I need to be really careful about what flowers and what stuff I bring into the house because he'll just be continuously sneezing the whole time to the point of irritation. It's like, I feel bad for him, but I also feel bad for my ears. It doesn't work well. Then what I did is I really loved the smell of fresh cut lilies. I would actually have the lilies. You know how lilies open. You can actually see where the pollen is quite clearly. I cut them out.
Diana: Oh, smart.
Elara: Then it's good because it stains. That tends to stain. It's like a two-for-one. Sorry. Going back to my lavender sachets, though. I'm just trying to promote the whole growing lavender. Another thing that it's great for is keeping moths from eating your clothing in the closet. Moth balls, not good for your health. They're emitting another type of gas. That's not good. It's linked to different health concerns.
An alternative to that is you take these lavender sachets and you hang them in your clothing, which is going to make your clothing smell better. It's also going to keep moths from eating anything. Then just another thing that attracts moths to clothing in your closet, it's because you probably wore something and then put it back in the closet. If you also take the extra step of making sure you put something in the wash or to the dry cleaner before it goes back in the closet, that's going to make a big difference as well.
Diana: So interesting. While we're talking about clothing, I wanted to mention laundry detergent and also dishwasher detergent. Then a lot of those, the pods contain microplastics. The film that holds all the liquid is a microplastic. What happens is it dissolves, but it stays on your plates, your food, your dishwasher, or your laundry in your washing machine. Those are microplastics and those are things we want to be conscious of.
Buying something, buying either maybe powdered or liquid is a better option. I buy laundry sheets that come in a cardboard box just because I'm trying to limit how much plastic I'm consuming. I really like my laundry sheets. I look for unscented. Finding unscented things is really tough, though. I just have to be very honest. Most things are very scented. I think, again, it's just a step in the right direction, so also thinking, "What are you washing your dishes with? What are you washing your clothes with?"
Elara: Absolutely, yes. I love Seventh Generation liquid detergent. I think the one I go with is the lavender scent, but it's super, super minimal. Once again, my husband, he's very sensitive, his allergies, and also his skin. That's one that I found that works really well for him. Then if you're super sensitive, you're super concerned, you know what's always a smart bet? Going with whatever detergent is approved for infants and newborns.
Diana: Smart.
Elara: There's this one called Dreft, which is what they encourage you to use for cleaning any newborn clothing, which you do a lot because they're going to the bathroom a lot and there are blowups. That's something to consider. You can find it anywhere, Amazon, places like that. The other thing that also you have to watch out for besides the detergent pods are the dryer sheets and fabric softeners. They contain synthetic chemicals that can actually impact your nervous system. They contain chloroform.
Diana: I knew that they were not good, but chloroform?
Elara: Yes, soft clothes comes at a price, Diana.
Diana: They also destroy your clothes, which is not good. They're not good for your clothes.
Elara: Yes, this brings us back to the point of different clothing choices when you go for, say, the 100% percent organic cotton. One of my favorite clothing brands that I love is Outerknown, where you know you're getting an all-natural product. Actually, one of the founders is Kelly Slater. It has a bit of a cool factor, right? It's this famous surfer that founded this awesome brand with this great mission of being sustainable. When I ran my husband's Outerknown sweatpants through our washer and dryer four times, it destroyed the waistband. All of these chemicals, when you're actually cleaning something that's natural, it just incinerates it.
Diana: Yes, definitely. That comes back to what we talked about, the period underwear and yoga pants. There are alternatives. Some of the ones that I like are the Girlfriend Collective, MATE the Label, Tentree, Happy Earth, The Period Company, Saalt underwear. Those are all going to be good options. PFAs have been found-- This is really upsetting for me because these are all brands that I buy. In yoga pants like from Lululemon, Athleta, Gaiam, Old Navy, and a whole bunch of other ones. I also thought that this was really interesting. Some company tested for PFAs and they found that out of 22 products, 13 of the products were labeled as non-toxic and organic.
Elara: This goes back to the whole thing at the end of the day is that the regulations are not in place. You have to do your homework. You have to dig into it. You want to look for a brand that seems to be as transparent as possible and is giving you some sort of backstory beyond just the label on the box.
Diana: Don't trust the marketing.
Elara: Don't trust the marketing that's just simply on the products. You've got to be able to dig a little bit deeper, then give you some information in terms of the lab testing they do. I have not tried out period panties. I don't know if I'm one to judge. Are you on the period panty trend, Diana?
Diana: Yes, I love them. I love them because the other-- so in terms of tampons, tampons contain all sorts of chemicals and then you're putting them inside your body. In terms of leaching chemicals, it's like, "What better way could we do this?" I went the period underwear way. I will never go back. I love it. Then I also use the cup.
Elara: The DivaCup, right?
Diana: Yes, right, which is silicone. I just want to say that I think silicone is another really good option for just non-toxic. I've replaced all of my plastic cooking ware with silicone cooking ware because sometimes I don't want to use metal or wood. Silicone, I think, is a decent option in terms of non-toxic. Same for using a DivaCup instead of tampons, I think, is another good option.
Elara: I still use tampons, but two brands that I like and I've vetted myself, but this isn't to say that next week that they'll come out and we'll find out that this is not the case. I like Viv and I like OB organic tampons. I'm just very active. I just like knowing that everything's going to be secure. There's no leakage. I'm all over the place. I run hot. I just want it staying contained.
Diana: Girl, I'm going to work on you for that DivaCup. [laughs]
Elara: You can try. You can get that for me as a present for the next holiday coming up. Now, you know. Write it down. What's bonkers is with tampons to your point is that a lot of crops, and this includes cotton in the United States, are treated with glyphosate, which is one of the primary ingredients of Roundup. Yay, right? That's getting sprayed all over the cotton that's then being used and dyed to make a lot of tampons in the US. I used to be a big Tampax pro-girl. Sorry, we've gotten so deep into the tampons right now and period stuff. To Diana's point, going back to the beginning of this episode, it's a really sensitive place that we're placing just such synthetic products. It's like, no doubt that they're having an impact on our--
Diana: For sure. This goes for men too. I just saw a study linking-- fertility rates are dropping pretty dramatically and men's sperm count is also dropping. Again, linked to fertility, of course, but that has now been very clearly linked to pesticides. What we're consuming and that these pesticides are in our clothing and cutting with plastics, this is having a real impact, whether you are male or female, on our health. This isn't just a women's period issue. This is also, for sure, a men's issue.
Elara: Then this brings me to a completely unrelated point, but I want to hit on it because I know that we're starting to wind things down. Printers. This study blew my mind. There was research that was published in the American Chemical Society that looked at the particulate matter that's emitted by, say, your average household printer. It suggests that it's similar to what's released from cigarette smoke. Having a printer in your house is as bad as living with a smoker, which is pretty crazy. It also makes me feel better about the fact that I don't have a printer in my home.
Diana: Also, you don't have to take your receipt. Don't print the receipt when you go to a store because touching that is the same thing. Everything is online these days. My husband always takes the receipts and then crumples them up and puts them on his dresser. I'm like, "Can we just skip that whole step and just not print the receipt?" You can say no to printing receipts. Everything is online. I think unless you really need the receipt, skip printing your receipts.
Elara: I agree with that. Moving out of the home and into, say, your backyard. Off the top of your head, Diana, what are some healthy alternatives to Roundup and pesticides to keep your yard in check?
Diana: One of my favorites is called diatomaceous earth. We use this in our garden. You can also use this in the home. You can actually eat diatomaceous earth. It's that non-toxic. It's used for any sort of critter that has that hard outer shell, like cockroaches, bed bugs. In our garden, we'll use it for white flies or squash bugs. If you're someone who gardens a lot, the white flies and the squash bugs are just-- Ugh, they're really tough. You can sprinkle it all over your garden and it kills those little pests.
I think that it's safe for dogs, safe for kids. Again, you could literally eat this. I'm not recommending that you eat it, but there's no adverse side effects. Actually, you can take a supplement of diatomaceous earth. This is very non-toxic. This is very specific for pests. It's not going to work on rats or something like that, but it is really helpful in the garden if you have white flies, squash bugs, those kinds of things, anything with a hard outer layer. I love that. I've also found a brand called Sunday and they have non-toxic lawn care.
It's okay for pets, kids, humans. To be totally transparent, I haven't taken a super deep dive into the chemicals. They look pretty good to me. They don't look like very harsh chemicals. Everything looks to be verified. I like the sound of them. I go the route of letting my yard just do its yarding thing. I don't rake my leaves. I just let certain areas of the grass die. I think if you are very keen on a perfect lawn, looking into some of these other brands like Sunday. Elara, I think you have a few that you like as well.
Elara: I'm out in the boondocks compared to Diana. I also go the route of like, I don't have a perfectly manicured lawn by any means. There are leaves everywhere, especially in the fall time. I just let them do their thing. I'm not going crazy leaf blowing or anything like that. I don't currently have them, but growing up, I grew up on a farm in New Jersey. We had chickens. Specifically, we have Rhode Island Reds. They are so good at just getting rid of all the ticks on your property.
Knock on wood. I was very lucky growing up in an area where it's very common to contract Lyme. I was the type of kid who was outside all the time barefoot. I was all right. I like to thank the chickens for that. That's something that I'm actually looking into doing in my backyard at the moment, but I have to find a fox-proof chicken coop, which is really heavy duty. That could be a whole other podcast, my horror stories of chickens and foxes and all that stuff on the farm.
Rhode Island Reds, particularly very good at getting rid of those critters and ticks we don't want on the property. Then another thing I recently learned is what can be very effective at not only keeping ticks coming onto your property is taking wood chips. You create a path like a circle of wood chips, like how you create a circle of salt to keep the witches and the evil spirits away. You create a path of wood chips around your property. Apparently, it deters rodents, deer, just animals that would normally be carriers of ticks and ticks themselves from crossing over this barrier.
Diana: Fascinating. See, we don't really have a tick problem here, but I'm very interested to hear about these tick solutions. Okay, before we wind down, there was something that you talked to me about when we were doing research for this podcast. I want to mention it because it was so shocking for me. You talked about rubber duckies in the bathtub with kids. Can you please expand on that?
Elara: One of the things to be especially concerned about, I was actually at a talk at a local YMCA the other day. The speaker touched on was that as far as microplastics and concerns with children and children's toys is a big no-no that you want to avoid, which I'd say is really common, it shocked me, was rubber duckies and toys in the bathtub. You squeeze it over and over again. Those chemicals can just easily leach into the bath water and be absorbed by your children's skin. Down the line, there are some studies where it's potentially linked leading to reproductive issues in the future.
The second thing she mentioned is you want to avoid microwaving any plastics. To our point, if you're going to use the microwave, try and warm it up on a ceramic plate or use glass. That's another thing that's going to be really, really harmful to a child's development and health. Then the last thing, going back to the rubber duckies, you want to avoid any soft plastic bottles. I still do this sometimes when I'm traveling and stuff and I forget my Hydro Flask or my stainless-steel water bottle. Any sort of water bottle or beverage bottle that you can squeeze, that's emitting microplastics. You're consuming them.
Diana: One of the easiest things that you can do is to stop buying bottled water and drink water at home that you filter and get a water bottle. I would recommend, if you can, not doing a hard plastic water bottle, but going for a metal water bottle. It's so easy. Carry it with you. There are water fountains everywhere. They are there. You can fill up your water bottle everywhere. If there's nothing else that you can do, nothing else that you can replace in your home. Getting rid of your plastic water bottles is just a huge, huge step in the right direction.
Elara: Getting rid of plastic water bottles, investing in a good stainless steel water bottle, it's going to be a really good investment, I'd say, and then also, like Diana just mentioned, if you caught it, to filter your tap water. Going all the way back to the beginning of the episode, we were talking about PFAs. A lot of studies have shown that there are PFAs present in our water sources. If you just have one of those simple filter pitchers that you can use, you can attach the Brita filter to your tap directly. Anything along those lines, that's going to really help.
Diana: Yes, I love that. That's what I have. Elara, I know that you have more than three, but I just want to leave people feeling hopeful. Three plus, can you give us just some of your easy, top few tips that people can go home with and start implementing to reduce their microplastics and the toxic chemicals in their home?
Elara: Absolutely, so one of my favorites is the natural air freshener, which earned me some brownie points with Diana of being a nice housewifey, is just finding your favorite essential oil or maybe any plants that you're growing in your backyard, from lavender to mint. Just boil some water and then set it on the simmer. You're going to add those essential oils and just let it diffuse throughout your house. You can then throw some hand towels in and use that to wipe down surfaces, especially before you have guests over. Use glass Tupperware and don't microwave your plastics. Those are my three.
Diana: I love it. I just want to be clear that there are still a lot of toxics that we did cover, so I'm going to use my tips to just really touch on them really quickly. Buying either loose leaf tea or buying teas that are made in paper tea bags because a lot of them are made from plastic. Then once you heat it in boiling water, all that plastic leaches into your tea. Again, this is a really simple swap. You already have to buy the tea, so just choose your products wisely. Either picking a bag that has paper or a loose leaf tea rather than the plastic tea bags, getting rid of your plastic water bottle, and filtering your water. It's like my number one top tip. Then I think looking for unscented as often as you can, unscented candles, unscented laundry detergent, unscented dish soap, unscented hand soap, just unscented as often as you can to just reduce that toxic load.
Elara: Ooh, and then I'm super into that. We didn't even touch on this, so I think we just got to go there real quick. Paraben and phthalate-free shampoo and conditioner and bath products. I love Pureology for shampoo and conditioner. Then as far as a body wash, because when you're using a body wash, it's probably because maybe you got a little funk going on.
You worked up a sweat. You want to get rid of that stink. Love Diana's idea of unscented. For some of us, it doesn't do us justice with our Mediterranean roots. We got to get something in there to take care of the situation. I love Method body wash, particularly Pure Peace. That's, I guess, the flavor or the one that I like. It's a pink bottle. You can get it on Amazon. It has a peony scent.
Diana: I use that on. I have the same thing for lotions too. You want to be cautious about the lotions that you're using. I like The Honest Company, their lotion. I actually like Honest Company just in general. I think their products are really safe and good. If you look them up on the EWG app, they're all green. I think I have a peony-scented body lotion that I love.
Elara: Ooh, also founded by an amazing, strong Latina woman, Jessica Alba.
Diana: Lots of amazing product recommendations for you. We will leave them all in the show notes. This is not a doom-and-gloom scenario. This is just how can we pick smarter products, shop wisely, and also send a message to companies, I think, by buying these products that are less toxic. It sends a message to companies that we want more.
Elara: Like Diana said, we did not touch on all of the hidden dangers in our households today, but we hope that we did a little bit of justice in terms of just getting to the tip of the iceberg in terms of just things that we want to be aware of, and also easy and affordable alternatives to make it less bad. We hope you enjoyed this week's episode, and looking forward to talking to you guys next week. If you have any sort of questions, comments about this week's episode, we'd love to hear about it in the comments below. If there are certain topics that we didn't touch on that you think are worthwhile that we can maybe talk about in another episode, we'd love to hear from you.
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