How Clean is Your Routine?

My first group program launched last week! I'm not going to lie, I am overwhelmed with mixed emotions: fear, worry, doubt, excitement, pride, joy... all the words! Nevertheless, I feel great accomplishment in the growth of my business to help others Rediscover Health using the power of food and herbs as medicine.

The program I launched, Rediscover You! Group #Cleanse, is designed to give the body a break from the mass amount of chemicals and anti-nutrients that we are around daily. Can you believe that our body comes in contact with over 500 toxins on a daily bases? That is an astonishing number! Although we have a beautifully designed system to eliminate these chemicals and compounds from our body, the more junk we put in results in a sluggish and slower detoxification.

Right now, you might be thinking 'how do we get that many toxins?'

Some of these toxins come from pesticides and herbicides in non-organic food sources. Others come from the chemicals we use to clean our homes, treat our lawns, and guard our gardens. A large portion, though, come from what we put on our skin and hair. Have you taken the time to read the ingredients label on the soap or shampoo that you use? What about your tooth paste or make up?

Our skin is the largest organ of our body and is permeable - meaning what goes on can be absorbed into our blood stream. Chemicals like sodium lauryl sulfate, stearalkonium chloride, and parabens are considered highly toxic and not to be ingested but are found in soaps, shampoos, and conditioners. These ingredients have been linked to genetic mutations, allergic reactions, rashes, hair loss, and even cancer (1). Scary, right?

But I love a good spa night! You know, the kind of night that calls for a glass of red wine and your favorite candles. Hell, bring out the crystals and sounds of the ocean crashing against the shore! I love soaking in the tub and the refreshed clean feeling after a long bath. Face masks and exfoliate scrubs are a girls best friend. So here are a few of my favorite ways to clean up my skin care routine to reduce toxin exposure:

Chose clean products: Shop the #natural aisles at your local health food store. Pick products with fewer ingredients that are sourced from nature. I am more comfortable putting ingredients like "coconut oil" and "sea moss" on my skin than I am "methylisothiazolinone" (which has a terrible rating by the Environmental Working Group by the way). Cocokind is currently my jam using 5 natural ingredients or less to make my face feel amazing!

Know your product ranking: The Environmental Working Group has a great program that scores skin care products based on the toxicity of ingredients. Search over 60,000 skin care products for free at https://www.ewg.org/skindeep/ . The optimal cleanliness score is less than 3 on a scale of 1-10, one being the cleanest products. Honeybee Gardens has a mascara that is ranked 1 and is in my makeup bag!

Make it yourself: All it takes are a few kitchen ingredients and you have yourself clean skin care products! My favorite DIY recipes is for a moisturizing exfoliate scrub using two ingredients from my kitchen: olive oil and sugar. A few other kitchen ingredients that can double as skin care ingredients include coffee grounds, coconut oil, apple cider vinegar, avocado, honey, cucumber, eggs, sea salt, oats, and lemons.

Take some time to review what is hiding in your #skincare products. We don't always correlate what we put on our skin with the way we feel.

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(1) Cook, M. S. (2004). The 4-week Ultimate Body Detox Plan. Hoboken, NJ:Wiley & Sons, Inc.