Juice cleanses may make bold claims about detoxifying the body, but preventing some toxic chemicals from getting into your system in the first place is as easy as stopping them at the front door of your home. From under the bed to inside our medicine cabinet, the products we unwittingly surround ourselves with may make a table sparkle but are basically filled with chemicals that were never properly understood before they were sprinkled in most everything we use.
The common culprits in many unseen hazards in our homes are pesticides and other chemicals. Keeping those out of use also means keeping them out of the environment—out of the air and the water that we flush down drains.
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The NIH survey study also showed that pesticides are endocrine disrupters—meaning they mess with your hormones—but they aren’t the only offenders. When a chemical is an endocrine disrupter, it interferes with the delicate hormonal systems that govern everything from metabolism to reproduction. As shown in the Environmental Working Group’s roundup of 12 of the most common harmful chemicals, the disruption of these hormonal processes changes the way we metabolize food, can cause tumors, can result in brain and kidney damage, and more.
Yes, this is a piece about how all the products you use are slowly trying to kill you—but don’t move into a plastic bubble just yet. Here are the places in your home where you can find the main threats to your health, how they could potentially affect you, and alternatives for a cleaner, leaner, less toxic life.