Non-Toxic Swaps To Lower Your Toxic Load
- nicolettemkent
- 19 hours ago
- 5 min read
What is my toxic load?
Every time you eat, drink, put lotion on your body, or breathe in smoke from a fireplace or candle, you are contributing to your toxic load. Toxic load is a build up of stressors from everyday exposure to things like chemicals, synthetic fragrances, processed food, and poor air quality. Our bodies are amazing, and have detox systems set up in place to filter out this build up. But when our bodies become overwhelmed by the waste our cells and digestive systems produce, our systems aren't able to filter out the toxins, and our toxic load becomes too high.
What happens when my toxic load becomes too high?
When our toxic load becomes too high it starts to affect how we feel every day. All of the waste produced by our bodies must be eliminated in order to stay healthy. Our bodies might start to show signs like fatigue, low energy, brain fog, digestive issues, dry skin, and auto-immune disorders, just to name a few.
What exactly contributes to my toxic load?
Our bodies produce waste naturally after we eat or produce energy, but we live in a time where toxic chemicals in our environment are at an all time high. Common culprits of toxin exposure can be:
Food that is highly processed, or contains additives, dyes, and artificial ingredients.
Personal care products containing synthetic fragrances, parabens, plythates, and hormone disrupting chemicals. This includes many brands of skincare, makeup, body wash, lotion, shampoo & conditioner, perfumes and fragrances, deodorant, and more.
Contaminated water. Drinking tap water containing lead, arsenic, other heavy metals, chlorine, and sediment. This also includes the water coming from all of our other faucets, especially showers!
Polluted air. Unfiltered air in our homes and polluted air in our environments. This can be caused by fireplace smoke, candles, hairspray, cooking fumes, gasoline while pumping gas - you get the point. Yes, there are many pollutants in our air that we cannot control, but the idea is to lower the level of toxins we can control, so our bodies are better able to detox from the ones we can't!
Household products like cleaning sprays, floor cleaner, laundry detergents, and even dish soap, are known for containing cancer causing chemicals, and other toxic ingredients!
STRESS. Chronic mental and emotional stress affect the way our detox pathways perform.
How do I lower my toxic load?
You can lower your toxic load by swapping out personal care and household products to brands that use natural and clean ingredients, focusing on consuming whole foods and limiting your consumption of processed foods, filtering your air and water, and prioritizing nervous system regulation. You can also support your body's natural detox methods by utilizing tools such as dry brushing, castor oil packs, sauna, exercising, and hydration, which I will be writing a blog post about very soon!
Living "non-toxic" doesn’t have to be stressful or scary. I know that was a lot to take in. You’re probably thinking, “Okay… what isn’t toxic?” The reality is, most things contain some level of toxins. What matters is making choices that are best for your body — ones that require less effort for your system to detox from.
There are so many amazing brands out there creating thoughtful, intentional products. You don’t have to swap everything at once. Just start small, with one change at a time. And do it at your pace.
I’ve shared some of my favorites below! As always, reach out if you have questions — I’m here to help.
