Tag Archives: toxins

Toxins, Preparing for Conception, and Simplicity

Do you know what's in your products

It’s really all about simplicity. When I interviewed Dr. Laurel Standley for the Creating Fertile Ground Conference, she shared that even as a scientist, she doesn’t know what all of the ingredients in our products are. After all, there are over 6000!

So what are we supposed to do?

Memorize lists of ever-changing chemicals to be concerned with? I tried that; it’s not so easy.

Ignore the issue and hope for the best? The stakes seem too high for that, as we’re talking about not just our health, but also the health of generations to come.

As I’ve learned more and more over the years, especially when it comes to toxins and the childbearing years, I’ve come to discover a way to do the best you can without getting yourself overwhelmed by tons of information – keep it simple.

I recently had an in person session with a client. She and her husband are planning to start trying to conceive soon, and she is thinking about what’s in her products in an entirely new way now that she’s thinking about her future baby. It was a deep dive into this topic, and after our time together she said, “Thanks again! It was all really helpful and encouraging.” Encouraging. That’s key. You can gather all the information you want online, and you’ll likely find some of it to be helpful and much of it to be scary. That’s not really my idea of helpful, simple, or empowering at all.

Here’s what I taught her about simplicity when it comes to the products we’re using on a daily basis:

Use fewer products. On average, women use a dozen products daily. How many do you use? Often, many of them are ancillary to our needs, and they come at a huge price. One thing that my client realized was that she was seeing the same ingredients again and again as she checked her labels. Not only are we exposing ourselves to these chemicals, but we’re getting exposed multiple times by our products. How can you use fewer products in your routine?

Keep the ingredients list short and readable. One exercise that I have my clients do is you write out all of the ingredients that are in their products. For each one, they make two columns – the ingredients that they recognize and know what purpose they serve and the ingredients that they don’t recognize. The same reaction comes up again and again – so many of the ingredients are difficult to spell, let alone understand. Looking for products that have simple ingredients (ideally 10 or fewer ingredients and that you can recognize) is a great way to release the fear and overwhelm about your products. Check your labels. Do you know what you’re putting in and on your body?

Don’t feel like you need to do all the research on your own. We are surrounded by so much information these days, much of it full of unnecessary fear, much of it contradictory, and it can easily be overwhelming and confusing. Getting lost in a sea of information is not my idea of simplicity. Is it yours? If not, choose simplicity by starting where you can and finding support from those who have a passion for digging for the information and sharing just what you need to make this journey an empowering one. How can you reach out to get support so you can find more simplicity?

I’d love to know what was most helpful and how you plan to bring more simplicity to your daily routine. Join the conversation by sharing in the comments below.

Peace, Love, and Wellness,

Why Toxins are Key to Healthy Conception and Pregnancy

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Peace lilies are great for cleaning toxins out of the air. Note: Toxic to cats.

There is a balance of energy in our bodies – that which creates life and that which impedes it. At the beginning of my journey to prepare myself for my future baby, I recognized the importance of focusing on the energy that creates life but I saw that I needed to clear out the negative energy, the clutter, and the toxins before I could create a sacred and luscious space where my child could grow.

Toxins can be a scary and overwhelming topic, but the risks that we open ourselves to unnecessarily on a daily basis are far scarier and more overwhelming. In fact, when we can be in service of our best health, and therefore our baby’s best health, the topic of toxins becomes one of empowerment. You learn what you can begin to control and in doing so you let go of so much fear.

So many of our fears – infertility, miscarriage, pregnancy and birth complications, birth defects and health related issues as our child grows up – are often deeply connected to the toxicity that has found its way into our bodies. By taking the steps towards learning about the connections between toxins and your health, you see what steps are in your control to reducing the risks of so many of your fears.

And it’s easy. That’s right, I’m starting off the week of the Creating Fertile Ground Virtual Conference with the easy first step. That’s not to say that it’s easy to eliminate all toxins from your life – that’s impossible. It’s easy to begin to take the steps that fit into your lifestyle and that fit into the vision of the world that you want to see flourish for your family.

In many cases, a few simple changes to the products you use can significantly reduce your toxic burden. In some cases, the changes are not practical right now, but there are actions you can take to mitigate the impact. In all cases, you step into a place of empowerment.

This is something that you can do right away, to treat yourself as sacred ground as you begin to prepare for baby. You want to reduce your exposure now so the environment you grow your baby in, from the very moment of conception, is comprised of as much energy that creates and nourishes life as possible. You can do this by reducing the negative toxic energy, both physically and mentally.

The women who will be sharing with you are going to teach you what you can be doing now and why it’s important, but you also might hear suggestions that feel like too much to implement right now, and that’s okay. You’ve empowered yourself with knowledge and you can put it into practice whenever you feel ready.

Clearing out the toxins is a beautiful foundation on which to grow everything that comes next. In order for plants to grow and thrive, they much have fertile and nontoxic soil. That is where it all begins.

If you’re ready to learn more about what you need to know and what you can do about toxins and your fertile health, join us for the Creating Fertile Ground Virtual Conference by registering here.

Peace, Love, and Wellness,

Taming the Toxin of Regret

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Rarely does a day come to an end when we find ourselves thinking that we got absolutely everything done that we wanted to accomplish, and that it worked out just as we had hoped. Most days end filled with small regrets – I wish I’d gotten more accomplished at work, I wish I had eaten better, I wish I had called so-and-so, I wish I had done a better job with that project, and on and on.

When we step back and look at the big picture of our lives, the regrets that we carry with us get even bigger. I wish I had spent more time with loved ones, I wish I had gathered more family stories, I wish I had seen how my actions were impacting my loved ones, I wish I had taken a different career path, I wish, I wish, I wish.

As we learn more about ourselves over the years, it’s easy to want to go back and re-write our stories, our lives. In some cases, what we learn can be helpful in the path to healing not only ourselves but also our relationships with others. When you discover something about who you are, your personality, and it helps you to understand why certain relationships worked out how they did or why certain experiences played out in ways that seemed incredibly painful and unfair at the time, it might actually be part of your healing process to revisit the experience with others who were involved, and healing might come to the relationship as well. That is a productive use of self-growth and self-discovery.

When you take these regrets and let them become part of your narrative, part of who you are, you are poisoning yourself, those around you, and your future experiences, dreams, and desires.

Here are a few ways that regret acts as a poison:

Regret makes you feel like you are flawed, and then you are likely to view every similar situation in your life with the same negative lens
Regret closes the door to the possibility that events played out exactly as they were supposed to, for the benefit of everyone involved
Regret gives undue power to your past

In these ways and more, regret zaps your energy, your life force, and makes it much more difficult to thrive.

Think of a time in your life, an event or an experience with someone else that fills you with regret. Now think about what you have decided that must mean about you, why you’ve held onto it, and how much it has burdened you.

When I was a teenager, my paternal grandparents wanted to take me to see the movie Michael with John Travolta. I was 13, so perhaps needless to say, I had no interest and we didn’t go. A year later my grandmother, who I was very close to, died. I was devastated. And I can’t even tell you how many years I carried a very specific regret with me – the regret of not going to see Michael with my grandparents. It seems so silly to me now. I spent lots of time with my grandmother and we had an amazing relationship. Still, it became something that I latched onto, that I felt such immense guilt and shame about for such a long time. I don’t ever remember when I let it go, but I remember realizing, many years separated from my 14 year old self, that going to that movie with her would not have changed a thing. Not going did not make me a bad granddaughter – it made me a teenager! I could let it go. I could focus on the amazing memories and I could honor my feelings by spending more time with my loved ones in ways that felt good.

So how can you release regret so that you and your dreams can thrive?

Make a list of things that you regret that you have carried as a heavy burden
Explore what you have told yourself each of these things has meant about you, your relationships with others, and how you live your life
Acknowledge how much power and energy it has zapped from you, and make the commitment to take that energy back
Create a ceremony for releasing your regrets (one of my favorite ways to do that is to have a full moon burning)
Treat new situations in your life not with regret but as lessons that are there to teach you about yourself and your journey

As you remove the toxin of regret from your life, you will create space for empowering thoughts instead of draining ones, and you will begin to thrive in ways you could never have imagined.

Peace, Love, and Wellness,

Yes, I’m Still Talking about Toxins and Fertility!

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I’m reading a book right now, in fact I’m plowing through it because the topic is one I’m so passionate about, and it’s making me think of one of the final points in the recent opinion paper put out by ACOG on reproductive health and fertility. The authors of the paper wrote, “When an activity raises threats of harm to human health or the environment, precautionary measures should be taken even if some cause and effect relationships are not fully established scientifically.”

In the book I’m reading, Generations at Risk, they talk about how the scientific method works (stuff I hadn’t read about since high school), and why it can be flawed when we’re making public health policy choices based on scientific studies.

Here’s the bottom line. If you can make some simple changes that have the potential to greatly improve the health of you and your family there’s no reason not to! Tweet This!

I’ve been working with women to create these types of changes for a long time, and as you know if you’ve followed me for a while and ready my story, this is where I started on my own journey because it was the easiest place to begin.

You know all of those exciting ideas I mentioned? Well a couple of them involve helping you tackle the toxins with fun and ease. One of them is a big project that you’ll hear more about in the coming months, but there’s something else that I’m going to share with you next week, so stayed tuned!

In the meantime, I’d love to know where you feel most stuck or confused when it comes to toxins in your life. Just leave a comment below!

Peace, Love, and Wellness,

An Interview with Alexandra Zissu

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Toxins and reproductive health were in the news again last week, when ACOG released a statement. You can read my response and share what you think. As you probably know, especially if you’ve been following me for a while, this is a topic that I’m really passionate about and that I believe is a key component to living a healthy and empowered life. I ran a detox last fall that focused specifically on the toxins in our homes, and I’ll be teaching a class on that topic in just a few weeks. Speaking of the class, there are still spaces available, but they are limited, so if you’re thinking about it, register today!

preparing for nontoxic pregnancy A few months ago, I had the honor of interviewing Alexandra Zissu for a project I was working on at the time. I am excited to share this with you now. Alexandra and her co-author Deirdre Dolan were hands down the most influential people on my journey in the early stages of dreaming of becoming a mama. I hope you enjoy!

You and Deirdre Dolan wrote an incredible book, The Complete Organic Pregnancy. This is the book that jump-started my own journey, so thank you for that. When I found this book, I was working in a bookstore but I hadn’t come across anything else like this before – it was primer for the type of lifestyle that I was hoping to live and that I was hoping to create before I got pregnant. I was looking for it before I even knew it existed.

1. What opened your eyes to the importance of bringing the discussion of toxins out into the open, especially to women of childbearing age?

I was thinking of getting pregnant and a close friend — Deirdre — asked me how I was going to make the rest of my pregnancy as organic as the food I ate. It was a hypothetical conversation that changed my life. I didn’t know how to answer her and started researching and fell fast and hard into the world of environmental health. Before that, despite always eating organic food, I pretty much had no clue about everything and anything from flame retardants to chemicals of concern in everyday products and cosmetics to plastics etc. It was all new. I figured other people at my life stage should know what I was learning. I’m a journalist. I was eager to share my research and sound the alarm loud and clear. Kids are so vulnerable and pregnancy is an amazing time to make good choices.

2. Did you feel overwhelmed as you started researching for this book and learning more about the prevalence of toxins in our world? What impact did any feelings of overwhelm have on your life and journey?

Oddly I mainly felt empowered. I felt like I was learning this incredible information that was out in the open but not in one place. And that really easy changes could have such incredibly positive impact on a growing baby and I felt great about all of the choices for the better I was making. I was jazzed about the idea that the choices weren’t just good for me and my baby, but for you and for your baby and for the planet we all share. It just seemed like incredible common sense. I was pissed off, too, to discover that our government lets people–and kids–be guinea pigs while they protect giant corporations. But apparently babies don’t lobby. There have been times then and since when I have been overwhelmed. Usually it’s because of this backwards structure of protection–learning things that are harming us all are considered government protected trade secrets. Or realizing that even with known harms — take lead paint — the burden of safety still falls on parents. It’s always up to us to do the protecting. We need better broad public health policy. We need real federal legislation for safer chemicals. But whenever I’m overwhelmed, I keep researching. And then I tend to write about it. If I can help anyone else going through the same journey, I’m happy to.

3. Sometimes when it feels like too much, it can seem easier to just ignore the problem instead of taking action. I think many people feel this way when it comes to toxins because it seems like it’s just too much to actually change. What made you realize that this was too important to ignore? What pushed you into action?

In this realm I just really have always felt like once you know, you can’t unknow. I get annoyed and exhausted just like anyone else but it’s not like I’m just going to suddenly paint my baby’s room with the worst possible product because I’m too overwhelmed to buy the better one. I don’t think it’s easy to ignore or go back once you know as much as I do. My kids and their future are pretty motivating. So are their friends and their parents and my parents. And so on. It’s not too much to change. You cannot change it all. I can reduce my indoor air pollution but then I walk outside into the streets of New York City and talk about air pollution… Because I can’t change that, I like to minimize exposure if and where I can in my own realm. And at my daughter’s school. And so on. It’s only about minimizing what you can, where you can, in an increasingly toxic world. It’s common sense. Make the changes you can and move on. Make more as you learn more. You know?

4. What do you think is the most leveraged action that women can take to feel empowered and in control amidst all of this information?

It really depends on the woman. The best actions to take are ones that are easy for you to do and that have a high return on investment. That tends to be empowering. This can be free, by the way. Adopting a shoes off policy at home is the public health equivalent of washing your hands. And it’s free. Try that. It’s a very empowering action, especially if you have a crawling baby at home. You don’t want her crawling in pesticide residue you tracked inside…. I could go on and on and on with which actions to take, but the most empowering ones are really very individual. It depends on who you are, what life stage you’re at, and what you want to accomplish. There are zillions of things to do!

5. Since The Complete Organic Pregnancy, you’ve written and co-authored a few more books: Planet Home: Conscious Choices for Cleaning and Greening the World You Care About Most, The Conscious Kitchen: The New Way to Buy and Cook Food – to Protect the Earth, Improve Your Health, and Eat Deliciously and The Butcher’s Guide to Well-Raised Meat: How to Buy, Cut, and Cook Great Beef, Lamb, Pork, Poultry, and More.

What I love about this is that you’ve taken some of the key components from The Complete Organic Pregnancy and delved even deeper into them. The world of toxins is ever changing. How can women stay on top of these changes without feeling like they need to become toxins experts themselves?

Thank you. I’m trying. That said I’m supposedly on top of these changes and feel behind and am learning new things daily. It’s a lot to take in. I think if you’re passionate about one realm of environmental health, it’s fairly easy to sign yourself up for various e-newsletters to stay on top of recent news. And I also think if you live by the precautionary principle and shift your purchasing habits so you’re conscious and you vote with your dollars, you’ll likely be able to safeguard yourself, your family, and the earth without having to absolutely know the latest news on every topic. Like if you don’t eat canned food and instead buy fresh, dried or frozen foods in an effort to reduce your exposure to BPA, do you really need to be up on the latest state/town/county that banned BPA from infant toys? No. Because you already have your system set and in place. If you want to know the latest state to ban it, great. But you’re already minimizing your exposure. Does that make sense? Hope so. And if you want to become an expert on toxic substances and environmental health, go for it. We need you. And certainly ask your senators to support the Safer Chemicals Act of 2013. http://www.lautenberg.senate.gov/newsroom/record.cfm?id=341330

Alexandra Zissu is an eco lifestyle expert, writer, speaker, and consultant.

Effects of Toxins on Reproductive Health

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There are a lot of anxious and overwhelmed pregnant and thinking-about-being-pregnant women out there right now, and I don’t want you to be one of them. If you’ve heard the recent news about the opinion paper written by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, I want you to know that I’ve got your back. This is exactly what I’m here to support you with. So take a deep breath and give yourself a few minutes to read what I have to share with you.

“Robust scientific evidence has emerged over the past 15 years, demonstrating that preconception and prenatal exposure to toxic environmental agents can have a profound and lasting effect on reproductive health across the life course.”

This was the opening sentence in the ACOG Committee Opinion NO. 575 and a concept that I am very familiar with. The fact that the evidence has been growing is a positive, because it highlights another area where you have power and control over your health and the health of your family. From the time before you conceive your baby, you can create change that will impact your health and your future baby’s health for the rest of your lives – and that may even impact your grandchildren’s health (I wrote more about that here).

Some of the key points that are important for you to know and that I want to talk to you about a bit more:

“An analysis of National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data from 2003-2004 found that virtually every pregnant woman in the United States is exposed to at least 43 different chemicals.”

Women use an average of 12 personal care products every day, and most of them contain numerous chemicals, many of them toxic. We turn the hot water on, open our pores, and welcome these toxins into our bodies. A study conducted by the Environmental Working Group in 2004 discovered that babies still in utero are exposed to almost 300 different chemicals before they are even born!

This is important but doesn’t need to feel hopeless. Many of the chemicals can be avoided by swapping out what you’re currently using for healthier products and by learning a few key tips that will protect your family’s health for generations to come.

“Prenatal exposure to environmental chemicals is linked to various adverse health consequences, and patient exposure at any point in time can lead to harmful reproductive health outcomes.”

The last few decades have seen a significant spike in incidences of birth defects, autism, infertility, cancer and more. In some cases, these have been linked to the chemicals in our products. I’m not suggesting that reducing your toxic exposure can completely reduce your risk of these occurrences to zero, but it will help you know that you are doing all that is within your control, and that’s huge. I wrote more about this over on mom-blog just last week. Taking action as soon as you can (whether this is before you conceive or during pregnancy) can help you and your family stay as healthy as possible.

“Patient-centered actions can reduce body burdens of toxic chemicals (ie: the total amount of chemicals present in the human body at any one time).”

This is so important! This is all about what you can do, and it’s true – there is so much that’s in your control, and that’s what I’m here to help support you with. It’s easy to become easily overwhelmed but when you have someone to take your hand and guide you through what steps you can take to systematically reduce your body burden, it becomes empowering and fun. Knowing what actions you can take and getting the support you need to make them happen is an incredible gift that you can give yourself and your family.

“When an activity raises threats of harm to human health or the environment, precautionary measures should be taken even if some cause and effect relationships are not fully established scientifically.”

We don’t need to wait until all of the evidence is in, because we’ll be waiting for a long time and by then it will be too late. When the EWG tested blood samples of the babies in utero and discovered the presence of almost 300 chemicals, many of them had been banned 30 years before the samples were tested. These chemicals hang around in the environment for a long time and the sooner we can do what is within our control to reduce our exposure to them, the better. There’s no better time to start than right now.

Stay tuned for some exciting ways that you can take action with ease and support! Be the first to know by clicking here.

Remember – “We do what we can as we move forward, and we release any guilt of what we didn’t know.” Let’s move forward together.

Peace, Love, and Wellness,

Quick and Easy Way to Ditch the Toxins

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For years I’d been thinking about it but it always seemed like it would be so complicated, so overwhelming.

As with most things, all it took was the push to finally take action to help me realize how simple it could be to reduce the toxins in my home even more.

You’re here, so let me share with you how 20 minutes saved me time, money and stress.

When I go to the store to buy deodorant or toothpaste, it can sometimes take a while. I know exactly what I want to avoid in my products but it still takes me time to scan the labels for ingredients that are not as safe as I’d want them to be. This is really important when you’re thinking about self-care products because you are applying them to your largest organ (your skin) every day, over and over again.

With the knowledge I’ve gained about toxins, those 99¢ bottles don’t have a place in my home anymore. The upfront savings is not worth the risk of future health concerns for me and my family. It’s true, many of the less toxic options come with higher prices tags but sometimes you have to be willing to make an investment in a healthy future. Luckily, when you make your own products, you have the chance to simplify the ingredient list significantly and save money when compared to many of the products that are available.

Did you know that stress is a toxin? It can affect your cortisol levels and play a major role is disease and illness, so you always want to come from a place of minimizing stress. Knowing what’s in your products and feeling confident about what you are putting on your body can reduce your stress because you don’t have to worry every time a new report comes out about a particular company or ingredient. That’s quick and easy peace of mind!

With all of this in mind, I want to share the recipes that my daughter and I used to create toothpaste and deodorant for our family that we could feel great about and that really work for us! The deodorant even passed the test of my husband’s long and labor intensive work days!

Xandra’s Quick and Easy Toothpaste and Deodorant Recipes!

For the toothpaste, combine:

5  tablespoons  aluminum  free  baking  soda

3  tablespoons  organic  coconut  oil  (liquefied  by  running  jar  under  hot  water)

3‐5  drops  of  essential  oil  (peppermint,  cinnamon,  or  any  other  of  your choosing)

Store in glass jar

Cost: $1.00

For the deodorant, combine:

¼ cup aluminum free baking soda

¼ cup arrowroot starch

5  tablespoons  organic  coconut  oil  (liquefied  by  running  jar  under  hot  water)

10 drops of lemon eucalyptus essential oil (or any other of your choosing)

Store in a glass jar.

Cost: $2.50

Try it out and let me know what you think!

If you’d like to learn more about tackling toxins, join me at the Inspired Family Conference on March 22nd.

Peace, Love, and Wellness,

Top 3 Reasons You Should Be Thinking about Your Pre Pregnancy Diet

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Once you get pregnant, you often start paying more attention to food, but what should you be doing while you are preparing for pregnancy?

I’m not a strong believer in getting caught up in all the little details of how many grams of this and that you need. I did that for a while and it was a huge pain and took the fun out of eating for me. Eating needs to be fun!

Of course, if you have reason to believe that you have specific deficiencies or needs, you increase those nutrients and I can help you figure out how.

As a general rule, it is important to start shifting your foods to whole and fresh as much as possible.

Here are a few reasons why, and below I’ll share my #1 favorite way to make it happen!

Reason #1: Did you know that your baby pulls from your nutrient stores? This means that even if you get hit by morning sickness once you’re pregnant, your baby will get nutrients based on what you were eating prior to conception.

Bonus: Getting these habits in place now eases so much stress because you won’t have to think so hard about food once you’re pregnant. That’s a good thing because you’ll have plenty on your mind already.

Reason #2: There are a lot of chemicals and additives in processed foods, and the best way to avoid them is by shifting towards fresh fruits and veggies, grains, hormone free dairy and meat and healthy fat (yes, I said healthy fat!). MSG, which hides in just about everything, and aspartame are two additives that have been linked to infertility, among many other things. Let’s get those out and get you healthy!

Reason #3: Ditch the added sugar. If you have a package of food sitting around (hey, if you’ve got a loaf of bread from the store, check that too!), take a look at the label – I’ll bet that sugar is one of the ingredients (high fructose corn syrup, cane juice, anything ending is -ose). Sugar can wreck havoc on your hormones and as may be quite obvious, hormones play a pretty important role in getting pregnant and maintaining a healthy pregnancy.

Okay, so maybe you’re thinking that you’d love to eat mostly whole, fresh foods but you’re stumped as to how. There are only so many hours in a day. I totally get it. In fact, this feeling of overwhelm kept me from eating the way I wanted to be for years!

So what was one of my first steps? SMOOTHIES!

I love smoothies for a few reasons, but mainly because you can pack a lot of awesomeness into one meal and it just takes a few minutes.

In the coming weeks, I’ll be sharing more smoothie recipes for you because you’ve asked for them and because it’s the perfect season for them.

Here’s the one I made this morning. Clocking in at about 500 calories, it’s a full meal in and of itself and a perfect way to get a good chunk of calories for the mamas-to-be and nursing mamas.

You may be wondering why I used green powder instead of fresh greens, and I’ll tell you – simplicity. Sometimes it’s just easier to throw a scoop of powder into my blender and I know I want to be getting my greens!

What are your favorite ways to incorporate whole, fresh foods into your daily routine? Tweet this! Where do you feel most stuck? Let me know in the comments below!

Peace, Love, and Wellness,

Toxins and Getting Pregnant

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Did you know that the average woman uses 12 different personal care products on a daily basis? Tweet this!

Did you know that there are over 80,000 chemicals in the products we use again and again and again but only about 100 of them have actually been tested for safety? Tweet this!

The chemicals that we are exposed to by putting them in, on, and around our bodies have the potential to impact our health in many ways and have been connected:

Infertility
ADHD
Autism spectrum disorders
Diabetes
Cancer
Hormonal disruption
Resistant weight loss

I share this not to scare you but to empower you.

As you know, I believe in the importance of beginning with awareness. This leads me to a really important reminder. If you have one takeaway from reading this today, have it be this – you cannot blame yourself or allow yourself to feel guilt for what you didn’t know. Tweet this!

You have to start somewhere, and beginning to understand what’s in the products that you use most often is the perfect place.

There was a recent story involving Johnson and Johnson having their license suspended that led to a lot of confusion. For me, the where, the when, and the reach of the problem did not really matter. Here’s why – regardless of the incident, Johnson and Johnson, and many other companies, continue to use harmful chemicals in our products. Consumer pressure is changing this – there are many more safe products available than there were even a handful of years ago. But in order for there to be consumer pressure, there has to be consumer awareness.

This is so important and I want to make it easy for you. I opened up 10 spots in my schedule for FREE What’s Up with All These Toxins Discovery Sessions. There are only 3 left, so if you want one, click here and grab your spot before they are all gone.

I don’t often offer free sessions so this is a special opportunity for you if you are ready to stop worrying and start taking action.

I look forward to connecting with you soon.

I’d love to know what your biggest questions or concerns are, so feel free to leave them in the comments below.

Peace, Love, and Wellness,

Do Not Be Scared, Be Aware

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There is so much out there to scare you, and most of the time you do not even have to look for it because people are shoving it in your face.

I strive not to be one of those people.

There is a struggle for me in this, in finding the balance as I teach you things that are important for you to know so that you can take care of yourself and your family to your best ability.

The topic that I try to tread most lightly on but also have such passion about teaching is toxins.

Toxins are a crucial topic to have a better understanding of as you begin your journey to starting a family.

Here is the really cool thing about many of the toxins that are wreaking havoc on our health, fertility, and family (yes, there is a cool thing) – you have so much more control than you probably think you do.

Your mind probably goes to pollution from cars, factories, in our water, and the ones that feel so BIG.

What amazes me, and this was the first step on my journey to becoming an empowered mama, is that really, it all starts in our homes.

The very first step, before you even start learning about what to avoid and what to use instead is awareness.

There is an exercise that I like to do with clients and it is such a powerful one. I want to share it with you here because everyone should do this, whether part of your journey is working with me on a deeper level or not.

Go grab a bottle of something from your bathroom (or your bag if you are not home). This could be shampoo, toothpaste, lotion, etc.

Got it?

Before you do the next step I want you to take a big inhale through your nose, and slowly release the breath through your mouth. Be present and know that awareness and nothing else is the next step. Breathe in again, and exhale the fear. Inhale again and breathe in the possibility. Exhale and feel grounded.

Okay, now flip the bottle over and look at the label. If you have a pen and paper handy, this has the potential to be transformational for you as it has been for others.

Take your piece of paper and plan to write 2 columns. (If you don’t have paper and pen, you can just think through this exercise, but writing it out is a powerful piece of the process)

In one column you are going to list all of the ingredients that you know/recognize in your product. This will probably be things like water, coconut oil, essential oil, etc.

In the other column, you are going to list all of the ingredients that you are not sure what they are or why they are in your product (hint: ‘fragrance’ is vague, it goes in this column).

Take a look at your lists. Be aware. Do not be worried or anxious, just be aware.

This is the first step, and now you can take the next.

Are you ready?

Have questions? Leave them below in the comments or email me at xandra@wombtoworldwellness.com

Peace, Love, and Wellness,