There's always more to think about when it comes to keeping our children healthy.  For true health, we nourish our children's bodies with REAL food and supplements, and we also need to lessen our children's toxic burden. Some things are under your control and some things aren't.  Choose to change what you can control.  Often a mom will work hard to clean up her child's diet but will forget that her child is also 'consuming' things through the skin and air that are contributing to illness or disease. Just like with food in your home, you have the opportunity to support your child's immediate and long-term health by lessening the his toxic exposure.

It’s easy to get overwhelmed these days, trying to keep our children safe from toxins in our environment.  I mean we might as well give up, given the fact that our children are exposed to toxins in-utero and immediately drink 200 chemicals in our breast milk. Why bother? Right? Well, actually wrong.  It’s vitally important that you are aware and put your time, effort and energy into educating yourself (and then spreading the news to your friends and families) that we must reduce our children’s toxic load. Why?

 

It’s hard to stay organized and function well when you’re stepping over “stuff” (I would have chosen another word, but stuff is nicer).

 

Toxins can be endogenous (what our cells create inside us) and exogenous (what we consume from outside us).  Exogenous toxins include pollutants, insecticides, pesticides, food additives, drugs, the list is endless (even stuck emotions are toxic).  Endogenous toxins are the end products from cellular metabolism.  Most people don’t realize that cells are living…they breathe, digest, and dump themselves!  So even if we ate perfectly, drank artisan spring water blessed by a Zen monk, and lived in a stress-free bubble, we’d still have to dump our endogenous toxins. Our bodies are continually working to neutralize these toxins (called detoxification) and drain these toxins (called drainage). Detoxification and drainage are vital processes for keeping your child’s health in balance. Here are products that can add to your child's toxic burden:

There are so many ways to lessen our child's exposure to harmful chemicals.  Two resources to help you are Healthy Child Healthy World and Skin Deep. Our favorite non-toxic cleaners are from Naturally It's Clean - the only enzyme-based cleaning line available for homes. 
 

Maybe you can't change everything at once.  Think about what makes the most sense.  Usually toxic cleaners and what you put directly on your child's skin are great places to start.  If you can limit the hormone-disrupters and the carcinogens your child is exposed to within your home, you are making a big step in the right direction. Think about it just for a few minutes - is a spotless, perfect home or a pristine lawn worth increasing your child's risk for cancer?  Seriously?  Because that is what many of the products you may be using do.  You can stick your head in the sand, but it's true either way. Here are some suggestions to get you started:

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