Today I’m covering Step 3 of the Happy Hormone Code and that’s CLEANSE – minimising your exposure to toxic chemicals and ensuring your detoxification systems are working.
Toxins are all around us. In the air we breathe, the food we eat, the water we drink and the products we use.
Out of the many thousands of chemicals used nowadays, The WHO (World Health Organisation) stated in 2012 that there are 800 or so that are known to interfere with hormones.
They are known as Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals or EDC’s, molecularly similar to certain hormones and our bodies find it hard to distinguish between the fake and the real.
Our genes play a huge part in how well we detoxify and some people can tolerate a huge number of toxins with no apparent effects. However for many of us, these chemicals can cause huge hormonal disruption.
As women, we are particularly at risk. Many of these EDC’s are in household and personal products, which we tend to be more exposed to then men. On top of that we have more hormones to detoxify, so our livers can be more stressed.
Watch the video on this topic;
Or listen to the podcast episode;
How do toxic chemicals affect our Feisty 4 hormones;
- Cortisol – by reducing the toxins around you, you’ll automatically reduce stress on your body. Cortisol loves toxins! So take them out and your body can relax more.
- Insulin – toxic chemicals can damage the insulin receptors on your cells so that you have increased risk of insulin resistance and diabetes and obesity (some of these chemicals are also called ‘obesogens').
- Thyroid – toxins can damage your thyroid gland, and contribute to symptoms including weight gain, fatigue, anxiety, brain fog, depression and much more.
- Oestrogen – getting rid of those fake oestrogens can help balance your own oestrogen. No more mutant oestrogen messing up your cycle!
3 Ways to Minimise Exposure
We can’t live in a bubble and we can't avoid everything, but small changes can make a big difference. A great way to start is to focus on these 3 areas.
- BPA in plastic – switch to glass or stainless steel food and drink containers if you can. At the very least, make sure you don’t heat plastic containers in the oven or microwave. BPA can leach into food and liquids if it’s warmed up.
- Pesticides – try to buy organic fruit and veg where possible to avoid ingesting pesticides. You don't need to worry about foods where you peel the skins as you won't get exposed to the outer surface.
- Synthetic fragrances – look for parfum or fragrance in the ingredients of your personal and household products (air fresheners, candles, cleaning, laundry, perfume, body products, hair products, cosmetics). These contain phthalates which are some of the worst Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals.
Helpful Resources
- Think Dirty App – not what you might think from the name! This App rates beauty products out of 10 for safe ingredients – you can use it to check some of your favourite products! This app has made me much more aware of the brands I’m using (even some of the so-called healthy ones).
- Big Green Smile is a great website for natural alternatives to household and personal products. Look for products that use essential oils instead of synthetic fragrances.
- Low-Tox Life – check out the article in the Happy Hormones Magazine on P45 by Alexx Stuart on all things toxic chemicals!
I hope that you can see now how important it is to clean up your environment to protect your hormones so that they can work properly and keep you in balance.
Don't get overwhelmed by any of this. Just take it slowly and change one thing at a time.
As always, contact us if you’d like to get deeper help with your hormones.
In the final video of this course, I’ll show you how to exercise your hormones into balance!