9 Considerations for Low Toxin Living

While I often write about reducing the toxins we breathe in in terms of toxic mold, there are many other factors to hold in mind in the pursuit of low toxin living. What we put in and on our bodies has an impact on how our bodies are able to function in terms of our mental, physical, and emotional health.

Why Toxins Matter

Our bodies are naturally and intelligently designed to filter out many of the toxins we’re exposed to, particularly through the liver, but also though the kidneys, intestines, respiratory system, and our skin. Unfortunately, these detox pathways can become blocked by being overtaxed and not receiving adequate support to function optimally. When detox pathways are blocked, it leads to an accumulation of toxins in an individual’s body, which is referred to as an individual’s toxic load. Toxins that cannot be removed from the body through detoxification cause inflammation as the body’s immune system tries to respond to the toxins and care for the body.

And that, my friends, leads us to Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (CIRS), which is a condition where inflammation has spread throughout multiple systems in the body in response to mycotoxins (and other toxic exposures). My understanding of CIRS is that it develops in people who carry significant toxic load burdens. Low toxin living becomes essential for recovery and resuming any sort of normalcy to life for people with CIRS.

The pursuit of low toxin living is truly relevant for everyone, however, because we all have detox pathways that need regular care to maintain a low toxic load. Think of how tough people can be on their bodies in their 20s, eating processed food, never exercising, hardly sleeping, consuming copious amounts of alcohol, and then in their 30s, some people find that everything hurts, they can’t function without a lot of sleep or they have insomnia, and they start collecting various diagnoses. I’ve wondered if that reality of the 30s for many people is connected to an increased toxic load from so much stress on the body in the 20s.

Epigenetics

Everyone has a tolerance level for the amount of toxins they’re able to effectively detox. When our bodies reach a certain level of toxins, it tips the scale and triggers epigenetics to turn certain genes on and off. CIRS is triggered by epigenetics, just like many mental and physical health conditions.

Epigenetics is more formally known as the study of how the environment of a living organism can impact the expression of the organism’s genes. This means that our behaviors and our environments can turn genes on and off in our cells. I find this rather empowering, because it means that our genes are not our destiny. Just because you’re genetically predisposed to navigate mental and physical health concerns passed down in your family through DNA doesn’t mean you are guaranteed to find yourself in similar circumstances; your environment is a significant factor. While you can’t control the tolerance level you inherit for your toxic load, you can take good care of your body by limiting the toxins you’re exposed to to prevent future illness.

With CIRS, unfortunately, from all the research I’ve encountered, it sounds like there isn’t a way to turn off those sensitive genes once a person has been diagnosed, but there are many things you can do to reduce your overall toxic load and improve your health regardless of where you are in your health journey.

Low Toxin Living

1. Air

Indoor air quality is not regulated or taken into account by most construction workers or average home inspectors, so it’s up to you to care for the air in your home. Considering that the average person takes around 20,000+ breaths a day, the quality of air we breathe in can have a significant impact on our health over time.

The tricky part about the toxins in our air is that they’re often invisible to the naked eye as fine particulates and gases. Some common toxins found in indoor air include mold and mycotoxins, VOCs (volatile organic compounds), and nitrogen oxide. Mold is estimated to be present in 50% of buildings. VOCs impact our air by off-gassing from building supplies (like drywall, paint, caulk, flooring, and cabinet finishes), furniture (sodas, chairs, tables, rugs, beds), and cleaning supplies (like bleach, formaldehyde, and 2-butoxyethanol, to name just a few). Nitrogen oxide can be high indoors when gas stoves are not vented to the outside.

To reduce toxins in your indoor air:

Have an indoor environmentalist inspect your home for air quality concerns and make recommendations
Use air purifiers to filter out toxins
When building or renovating, use low or no-VOC products
Purchase Greenguard certified furniture
Sleep on a non-toxic mattress (my personal favorite is Nectar) and foundation (my fave: Bear)
Vent your stove to the outside
Use simple, natural cleaning products, like vinegar, baking soda, and a gentle soap, or Branch Basics
Avoid air fresheners and use non-toxic candles
Reduce usage of pesticides

2. Food

Overall, many toxins in our food are directly connected to quality of food. While the FDA manages many toxins in our food, like chemicals, metals, and mold, I have many concerns about the unnatural compounds found in processed food, and especially with sugar. In general, organic food has higher standards, which leads to higher quality food with fewer toxins involved in the growing process. Lastly, chemicals can also leach into our food from the materials used to cook and store food, like non-stick surfaces and BPA.

To reduce toxins in your food:

Eat real food: If it grows in the ground or it was alive at one point, it’s good. Eating real food allows you reap these benefits
Eat organic as much as your can to reduce exposure to pesticides
Avoid sugar. The average human body does not need any sort of processed sugar to function. In fact, it will likely function better upon breaking the addiction to sugar
Use non-toxic cookware, like ceramics, stainless steel, glass, and cast iron
Store food in glass containers to avoid BPA
Do not cook with aluminum foil as it can cause aluminum to release into your food

3. Water

Much like air and food, water is essential for our bodies, and therefore deserves intentional consideration of its quality. The EPA regulates the contaminants found in our drinking water, including arsenic, lead, and microbial, thankfully. The Environmental Working Group (EWG) has more rigorous standards than the EPA, however, and they track the impact of agricultural pollution in water, especially. The EWG also has an interesting database that documents contaminants in tap water based on your location.

To reduce toxins in your water:

Use a water purification system (I adore my Berkey and can actually taste the difference)
Avoid plastic water bottles. Not only do they often contain regular tap water, but the plastic container allows BPA to leach into the water

4. Sleep

Sleep is one of the most dismissed needs in our society. Instead of prioritizing sleep, culturally, we perceive people who sleep a lot as being “lazy,” and wear a lack of sleep as a badge of honor. Certainly, there are periods in life where interrupted and truncated sleep may occur, but on the whole, there can be pretty significant ramifications from prolonged poor quality sleep.

Sleep is so important because it flushes toxins from the brain. All of our neurons are able to turn off during sleep, allowing cerebrospinal fluid to flow over our brain and wash out toxins. The brain’s drainage system, called the glymphatic system, is only activated during sleep and drains toxins like beta-amyloid through cerebrospinal fluid. Research has shown that beta-amyloid accumulates in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease. Chronic lack of sleep is also connected to increased risk of being diagnosed with diabetes, depression, and obesity. Much like many of these ideas for low toxin living, they’re an investment in your future self. Some added benefits to improved sleep in the near future, however, can include more energy, clarity of mind, improved memory, and improved mood.

To improve sleep:

Sleep in a dark room to protect your circadian rhythm
Limit blue light before bed
Maintain a regular bedtime and consistent sleep routine

5. Movement

Not only does movement support quality sleep, it’s also connected to sweating, one of the drainage pathways that our bodies use to detox naturally. While sweating isn’t going to remove all toxins from your body (spoiler alert: there is no single magical solution that will remove all toxins), it can certainly support your body in releasing toxins. Exercise and movement also helps us to manage stress by increasing endorphins in the brain, which makes us feel good.

Having a high toxic load can limit an individual’s resources for movement, so when you’re focusing on healing, a walk and some gentle yoga or stretching can be just what’s needed. Movement can support improved mood, memory, and focus as well, which are all helpful when navigating life with a chronic illness.

To incorporate movement into your life:

Take regular walks
Walk with a friend or furry companion
Take the stairs instead of the elevator
Stretch regularly: Youtube is full of wonderful yoga and stretching videos
Try tai chi
Find a way to exercise that makes your body feel good

6. Stress & Trauma

Our bodies are designed to respond to stress. When your stress response system, which you may know as fight-or-flight, is triggered, your body releases a surge of adrenaline and cortisol. The flight-or-flight mechanism is controlled by the amygdala, which functions much like a smoke detector: it’s always on watch and it doesn’t care if you burnt your toast or the house is on fire- when it senses smoke, it’s going to alert you. After the stressor passes, our parasympathic nervous system kicks into gear, acting as a brake, and returning us to a state of rest and digest. This is a great system to help keep us safe.

Things start to go awry when this stress response system can’t shut off, however, flooding the body with cortisol and leaving a person on high alert to manage toxic or chronic stress. Not only that, but constant amounts of cortisol disrupt many processes of the body, leading to anxiety and depression, as well as high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, and obesity.

Toxic stress is defined as long-term stress response activation without the supports of a safe relationship, and most often used when referring to children. Similarly, chronic stress is defined as a prolonged period of feeling overwhelmed when the stress response system is activated. Stress is the toxin of all toxins, perhaps.

As a therapist, I define trauma is defined as any overwhelming happening that it felt like we had to go through alone. And that trauma stays with us if left unprocessed, whether it’s a childhood full of neglect and emotional abuse, or a car accident. Unresolved trauma leads to inflammation and shows up in our bodies. If you’d like the scientific explanation, read this and this. For a more accessible read, visit this article and this one. Unresolved trauma also leaves us on high-alert, with our nervous system always primed to shift into fight-or-flight. We’re not able to shift into rest and digest so easily when we carry around unresolved trauma.

Fear not, though, as the magic of neuroplasticity allows our brains to be able to shift and change by creating new neural pathways so that we can reduce stress and learn to cope with it, as well as process through trauma.

To reduce stress and address trauma in your life:

Go to therapy
Practice mindfulness
Set healthy boundaries
Sleep
Practice gratitude
Explore your inner landscape
Exercise
Connect with loved ones
Pursue your passions
Care for your body, mind, and heart
Prioritize yourself

7. Connection

As we’ve seen and felt during the pandemic, disconnecting from other people causes stress, which we know can be toxic. Research shows how social distancing can be connected to negative mental health outcomes, like increased symptoms of depression and anxiety. Our brains are designed for us to interact with other people- that’s why we have a social engagement system. Social engagement systems are extraordinarily subtle, neuroceiving safety from others based on cues from body language, facial expressions, and tone of voice.

There’s also plenty of research to demonstrate a connection between loneliness and many health conditions, like depression, cancer, heart disease, and Alzheimer’s disease. Loneliness causes inflammation, and chronic inflammation causes the immune system to keep fighting for healing endlessly, allowing white blood cells to attack organs and healthy tissue.

Connecting with others is linked to living longer, boosting emotional health, and helping us feel fulfilled. It’s through connection with others that we feel love, value, and meaning.

To prioritize connection in your life:

Schedule regular communication with loved ones
Get involved in your community through volunteering or following your interests
Celebrate the small things with others
Learn to infuse conversations with empathy

8. Skincare

We’ve explored a lot of the ways toxins get into our bodies. All that remains is exploring the impact of toxins that we put on our bodies. Distressingly, many skincare products include harmful chemicals. Women in particular are exposed to these chemicals as we often have more extensive skincare practices and may choose to wear makeup. These chemicals are pretty nasty, too, linked to cancer, reproductive harm, and birth defects. In fact, a lot of the chemicals allowed in products in the USA are banned in the EU.

The Environmental Working Group has an informative website to learn about the toxic twelve chemicals to avoid in skincare, and why. The David Suzuki Foundation has another helpful website about toxins in skincare to avoid.

For low toxin skincare:

Abandon nail polish
Wear clean cosmetics
Try out a non-toxic perfume
Switch to natural deodorant
Consider natural hair care products- Rocky Mountain Soap Co. is my favorite shampoo and conditioner, and I use arrowroot powder as dry shampoo
Go through your skin care products with the Think Dirty app. Scan in each item and learn about the ingredients in it, then consider alternatives, if needed

9. Medication

I am all about using medication when it is needed, but medication is not my first solution. When we take medication to reduce pain or inflammation, it is not addressing the root problem of what’s causing the inflammation or pain; it’s simply shutting off our body’s sensors to process this cue. This is the premise of functional medicine: to identify and treat the root cause.

Additionally, some interventions are designed to cause inflammation instead of eliminate it, like the Paragard Copper IUD. When it was presented as a birth control option to me, I thought I was making a good choice for my body since it’s hormone-free. Alas, it’s often not explained to people that copper influences estrogen levels in the body, and elevated levels of copper equate to elevated estrogen. Of course, it must also be acknowledged that copper is a heavy metal that our bodies need small amounts of and is also delicately balanced in the body with zinc. If copper stores are high, then zinc will likely be low, and balancing this ratio is important because it impacts immune functioning and inflammation. Copper levels can even reach a level of toxicity that is fatal.

Take medication only when needed
Seek to determine the root cause of symptoms
Do your research. Visiting the doctor can be empowering when you feel confident that you have an active role in your health and you understand what’s going on with your body

While you cannot control your DNA, you can choose to live in a way that influences your genes in a way that prioritizes your health and well-being by reducing toxins.