Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - May 23, 2023


Ep 810 ｜ Detoxifying Your Life： Birth Control, Cleaning Chemicals & Fake Food ｜ Guest： Shawna Holman


Episode Stats

Length

45 minutes

Words per Minute

208.35808

Word Count

9,473

Sentence Count

769

Misogynist Sentences

11

Hate Speech Sentences

4


Summary


Transcript

00:00:00.080 How can we make our lives healthier and less toxic, but in a way that doesn't feel totally
00:00:05.780 overwhelming?
00:00:06.860 My guest today, Shauna Holman, is going to tell us how.
00:00:10.040 She runs an Instagram account called A Little Less Toxic.
00:00:13.320 She also wrote a book called Healthier Home, the room-by-room guide to make any space a
00:00:19.540 little less toxic.
00:00:21.160 She's going to tell us about her incredible health journey today, why she started to make
00:00:26.820 her own life less toxic, and how we can do it.
00:00:30.000 In a way that is balanced, in a way that is doable for all of us, and also in a way that
00:00:35.740 helps us maintain our mental and spiritual health as well.
00:00:40.040 You are going to love this encouraging and educating conversation with Shauna.
00:00:44.320 It's brought to you by our friends at Good Ranchers.
00:00:46.560 Go to GoodRanchers.com.
00:00:47.980 Use promo code Allie at checkout.
00:00:49.280 That's GoodRanchers.com, code Allie.
00:01:00.000 Shauna, thanks so much for joining us.
00:01:03.900 Can you tell everyone a little bit about who you are and what you do?
00:01:06.380 Yeah.
00:01:06.780 So thank you for having me.
00:01:08.040 Yes.
00:01:08.320 I am Shauna, and I am a wife, and I'm a mom, and I was a classroom teacher, but I came home
00:01:14.720 when we had our firstborn and thought I would go back in the classroom, but I'm not going
00:01:19.880 to be doing that, but things changed.
00:01:22.440 I don't really know how to describe what I am, who I am, but I am recently an author.
00:01:27.300 I just wrote a book.
00:01:28.220 Yes.
00:01:28.460 I have been on like a 10-year journey of trying to make my life healthier.
00:01:32.180 Yes.
00:01:32.520 Yeah.
00:01:32.940 It's called A Healthier Home.
00:01:34.220 Yeah.
00:01:34.960 I had like, I don't know, do you want to get in like crazy backstory already?
00:01:39.920 Yeah.
00:01:39.940 Let's get into the crazy backstory.
00:01:41.780 Let's just dive in and go for it.
00:01:43.320 Well, I grew up like very conventionally, like most people that grew up in the 80s
00:01:47.960 and 90s, and you know-
00:01:49.660 Did you grow up in California?
00:01:50.680 I did.
00:01:51.220 Yeah.
00:01:51.580 California, born and raised.
00:01:52.920 I know.
00:01:53.420 Yeah.
00:01:53.760 People guess I'm from lots of places, but yes.
00:01:56.640 Yes.
00:01:57.020 Okay.
00:01:57.320 I'm a California girl.
00:01:58.480 And yeah, very conventionally, my parents were like young and not like prepared to have
00:02:03.140 us, and my mom ended up raising us by herself and did the best she could with what she knew
00:02:08.420 at the time, but it was a lot of like mac and cheese and SpaghettiOs and all of those
00:02:13.080 kinds of things and the conventional products and never had a problem with any of it until
00:02:17.620 I did.
00:02:18.680 And I started having chronic pain that we think was either migraines or sinus infections.
00:02:24.080 We treated it like both for five years.
00:02:26.660 And when, how old were you at this time?
00:02:27.980 How old was I?
00:02:28.880 So that started in like 2013.
00:02:31.940 I was, I was around, how old am I now?
00:02:34.200 Who knows?
00:02:34.580 You know, it was like my, my mid twenties.
00:02:37.000 I started just getting-
00:02:38.280 So now this is, this was adulthood.
00:02:40.160 You didn't, as far as you can remember, you didn't have any.
00:02:43.320 Health problems growing up, even with those, you know, conventional products, you felt
00:02:47.500 fine.
00:02:48.000 Totally.
00:02:48.460 Yeah.
00:02:48.640 I think I would just, didn't really have any health concerns until maybe like, there
00:02:52.940 are a few things looking back in like maybe my late teens or early twenties where I'm like,
00:02:56.120 oh, this is some random joint pain or things like that, but just kind of brushed it off
00:02:59.580 until it was something that I couldn't really avoid.
00:03:01.800 So like in college, getting these sinus infections, I thought.
00:03:05.920 So treating it conventionally, I just go to the health center there and you get antibiotics
00:03:09.200 and steroids, right?
00:03:10.580 And it got better and then it came back and then did the same thing and it got better
00:03:15.220 and then it came back.
00:03:16.140 And at first it was kind of spread out.
00:03:17.700 Then they started getting more and more frequent, more like close together and sometimes worse.
00:03:23.480 Just the frequency, the duration, the intensity was all just getting worse over time until
00:03:28.400 it just got kind of debilitating at some points where it was really impacting my life.
00:03:33.140 And then of that five years, the last year of it, I was in pain 24 hours a day, every
00:03:38.560 day for a whole year.
00:03:39.960 And I was still, I didn't want to keep taking these medications.
00:03:42.420 So I had seen like every different, um, a lot of like the ENTs and allergy specialists
00:03:48.320 and, um, the brain people, what's the name?
00:03:51.980 I like a neurologist.
00:03:53.160 Yeah, them, those who, yeah.
00:03:54.240 So I had a CAT scan.
00:03:55.700 I had like my septum corrected.
00:03:57.420 But they thought it was sinuses, obviously.
00:03:59.520 Cause so every time you were having these headaches, even as they were getting more frequent,
00:04:04.060 were they always prescribing you antibiotics?
00:04:06.940 Yeah.
00:04:07.100 So they were pretty sure, or at least they thought they were pretty sure that it was a
00:04:10.920 sinus infection and nothing else.
00:04:12.720 Like it must have felt like sinus pressure then.
00:04:14.660 It's, I still get it when I have reactions, but yeah, sinus pressure.
00:04:18.160 Sometimes it was diagnosed as a migraine.
00:04:20.180 So I tried migraine medication that made me like dizzy laying on the floor.
00:04:24.040 Yeah.
00:04:24.280 Just nothing was really working.
00:04:25.720 I would do, I think the last few years of it too.
00:04:28.320 I was almost daily taking like a combination of like Sudafed, Excedrin and, um, and, uh,
00:04:34.340 Benadryl.
00:04:35.080 And you just thought that's what you had to do to like function.
00:04:37.500 Yeah.
00:04:37.980 I had no other options.
00:04:38.960 I was going to these doctors like begging, you know, I don't want to keep doing these
00:04:42.240 things, but they really had no other answers for me.
00:04:45.320 And so I would not take the antibiotics every time.
00:04:48.120 Cause I, I didn't really have a good understanding of them, but I knew like,
00:04:50.880 that's probably not good to take all the time.
00:04:52.800 All the time.
00:04:53.060 Yeah.
00:04:53.300 So I was trying to avoid them.
00:04:54.920 And then at the end of that last year of those five years, I was on antibiotics for
00:04:59.900 this migraine sinus infection thing at the time.
00:05:02.400 And I had a little hangnail and I was washing a dog dish.
00:05:06.780 And then, uh, right afterward I felt it felt like it was infected.
00:05:10.600 So I like clean it up really good.
00:05:12.580 You know, when you, you felt that probably before, which this feels like it might be a
00:05:15.440 little infected.
00:05:15.940 So I cleaned it up really good.
00:05:17.340 It started throbbing.
00:05:19.100 Oh gosh.
00:05:19.660 That's really weird.
00:05:20.680 And so, you know, put as much as I could do.
00:05:23.540 And my husband and I went to bed when I woke up in the morning, he asked how it was and
00:05:27.840 it didn't really hurt anymore.
00:05:29.160 But I noticed I had pain in my underarm.
00:05:31.400 Oh my gosh.
00:05:32.260 And thought that was kind of weird.
00:05:33.900 And my mom's an RN.
00:05:34.920 So I let her know.
00:05:36.640 And, um, later that day I was showering and I noticed there's a little tender spot on
00:05:40.300 my arm right here.
00:05:41.060 And it kind of set off an alarm in my head that it was like pain, pain, pain.
00:05:45.480 And that's aligned in my heart.
00:05:47.300 So let me just, let me just pause for a second and try to, I just want to make sure I know
00:05:51.180 where you are in your journey.
00:05:52.160 So you said in your twenties, there were these like five years of pain, the sinus pain.
00:05:56.980 So this was towards like the end of those five years.
00:05:59.340 Was this before you said those last five years you had pain like all the time, basically.
00:06:04.480 Was this within that time or before that time when you started that time?
00:06:07.900 Okay.
00:06:08.320 Yeah.
00:06:08.900 So this is like almost five full years of living like this.
00:06:11.800 So you're like not feeling good anyway.
00:06:13.600 And then you get this.
00:06:15.420 And so the alarm bells kind of start to go off.
00:06:17.720 Yeah.
00:06:18.120 Yeah.
00:06:18.440 So I called my mom when, when I realized like, Hey, I think this infection spreading, she
00:06:23.280 says, you need to go to urgent care, you know?
00:06:25.420 So I go into urgent care and they say, Oh yeah, you have an infection at the same time
00:06:31.440 too.
00:06:31.700 I had like kind of like a little scab or something around my nose.
00:06:34.380 They're like, Oh yeah, it's like a staph infection.
00:06:36.280 So they gave me, I'm on antibiotics and I have an infection.
00:06:40.680 So then they gave me a shot of a stronger antibiotic and he's like, so this should take
00:06:45.080 care of it, but I'm going to give you a prescription for something topical for what's going on around
00:06:49.300 your nose.
00:06:50.260 And when he's going out to get the prescription, he comes back and now there's a line on my arm
00:06:54.520 like this.
00:06:55.600 So I have like the spot here, the spot here, and now a red line that's sticking out like
00:06:59.480 my vein on my arm and the underarm.
00:07:02.040 I'm like, Hey, it's spreading.
00:07:02.900 And then the thing on your face, but was that already there before you started feeling the
00:07:07.080 pain in your hangnail?
00:07:08.360 Okay.
00:07:08.580 But I didn't really know what that was.
00:07:10.340 Yeah.
00:07:10.460 You didn't connect it.
00:07:11.540 Exactly.
00:07:12.160 Okay.
00:07:12.500 Yeah.
00:07:13.160 So then he comes in and I'm kind of freaked out like, Hey, I think it's spreading.
00:07:16.260 And he's like, well, the thing I just gave you should take care of it.
00:07:19.780 And if not, then you're like, okay, come back.
00:07:22.580 You know, what are you supposed to do?
00:07:24.300 Oh, you don't know.
00:07:25.840 Okay.
00:07:26.560 Yeah.
00:07:27.080 I mean, all you can say is, are you sure?
00:07:28.800 I think that's what I would say in that situation.
00:07:30.260 Are you sure?
00:07:31.140 And of course, they're not going to be like, well, now that you say that, now that you
00:07:34.420 ask, no.
00:07:35.440 Never that.
00:07:35.860 Okay.
00:07:36.260 So your only option at that point is to go home.
00:07:38.580 And I've been living at the doctor's offices for five years.
00:07:41.080 You know, I know, I know how this goes.
00:07:42.580 They're pretty much like take the pill and the end, you know?
00:07:45.200 So you had been basically at this point, almost continuously on antibiotics.
00:07:50.540 Yeah.
00:07:50.940 At this point, pretty regularly.
00:07:52.400 The doctor ever was like, huh?
00:07:54.980 So were you taking basically the same kind?
00:07:57.620 Like, were they always giving you amoxicillin?
00:07:59.580 Amoxicillin and steroids.
00:08:00.260 Every time.
00:08:00.900 Pretty much.
00:08:01.260 And that's not even necessarily a super strong one.
00:08:03.580 No.
00:08:04.000 So they didn't even try to change it up and say, I wonder if there's a reason that you're
00:08:07.380 not kicking these sinus infections.
00:08:09.240 Right.
00:08:09.480 And for that last solid year, it wasn't like I was in there like, hey, I still have pain
00:08:14.120 because I didn't want to keep doing the same thing.
00:08:15.840 It wasn't working, you know, but it would get so bad that I would relent and go in there
00:08:20.000 and say, hey, I need help.
00:08:21.140 Before we even get into how the like infection story ended up, how much was this affecting
00:08:40.260 your day to day life?
00:08:41.680 This pain?
00:08:42.160 How debilitating was it?
00:08:43.460 I mean, I had to learn how to function around it because I had to live, you know, whether
00:08:48.180 I was finishing college or going to work and just living.
00:08:52.620 But it was it was very much impacting my day to day life.
00:08:55.680 It was making it hard to function where it was like, you know, there were like people
00:08:59.080 laying hands, praying on me because it was really it was awful.
00:09:02.380 It was.
00:09:02.700 Yeah.
00:09:02.880 I mean, because you you said that you were in college, you graduated from college.
00:09:05.540 I'm guessing you started to work.
00:09:06.700 You got married during this time.
00:09:09.400 I'm like just thinking about all those life things like your honeymoon and all that.
00:09:13.180 That you had to endure when you just felt so chronically terrible.
00:09:16.720 Yeah.
00:09:17.300 Yeah.
00:09:17.840 And it just was like I said, it was just part of my life.
00:09:20.000 I had to learn how to function around it.
00:09:21.760 Yeah.
00:09:22.100 Which I feel like is very symbolic of a lot of things that we do with this stuff.
00:09:26.000 Right.
00:09:26.240 But yeah, it was there were points where I was just like, I can't really need.
00:09:29.740 You probably didn't even like remember what it was like to not live with pain.
00:09:33.240 No.
00:09:33.460 A certain point.
00:09:34.360 No, it was very much my normal.
00:09:36.300 Yeah.
00:09:36.580 Yeah.
00:09:36.740 But OK, so then so at urgent care, the doctor says, yep, you're good to go.
00:09:42.640 And then you go home with this pain.
00:09:45.220 Yeah.
00:09:45.700 Well, I went to the pharmacy to go get my little prescription filled and I'm texting my mom
00:09:50.280 and she's an RN.
00:09:51.580 So and I think I was like, you know, it's like 10 years ago.
00:09:54.180 I probably had a really crappy little blackberry or something.
00:09:56.200 Yeah.
00:09:56.400 Yeah.
00:09:56.700 Quality, you know.
00:09:57.280 And so I was telling her like, OK, they said this and I'm sending her pictures and she's
00:10:02.360 showing the doctor that she works with.
00:10:04.020 And there's at this point, I have a little line here, a little line here, a little line
00:10:08.180 here.
00:10:08.500 And I still soar in my underarm.
00:10:10.640 And then I'm texting her and she said, the doctor said, if that gets anywhere, you need
00:10:15.200 to go to the emergency room right away.
00:10:16.620 And I look down from the text and I have one solid red line all the way up my arm.
00:10:20.740 Right.
00:10:20.980 I'm like, no, call her.
00:10:22.820 Yeah.
00:10:23.040 I'm going in.
00:10:23.900 You're either like turning into Spider-Man or something.
00:10:26.340 Yeah.
00:10:28.580 So my husband and my mom took me to the ER.
00:10:32.400 And by the time I got there, I had sepsis and it was a resistant strain of staph.
00:10:37.940 So I was on IV antibiotics for a week.
00:10:40.620 I mean, I had like tachycardia.
00:10:42.140 It was I was not in good shape.
00:10:43.840 No, I didn't know.
00:10:44.760 Like, you know, you get to the emergency room and it's like totally crowded and there's
00:10:48.260 all these people as a lady like bleeding out.
00:10:50.160 And after they took my vitals, they called me right back and there were still people
00:10:53.940 waiting.
00:10:54.420 And so I knew it was pretty bad.
00:10:55.860 So they put me on IV of like the strongest antibiotics and I had to take those for a week.
00:11:00.760 Oh, my God.
00:11:01.240 Followed by a month of more antibiotics.
00:11:03.240 Oh, my God.
00:11:03.700 So at this point, I'm just desperate.
00:11:06.060 Like, I cannot do this anymore.
00:11:07.660 I'm seeing infectious disease now.
00:11:09.380 And like all these my same doctors, new doctors, I'm begging all of them.
00:11:12.740 Like, I cannot keep doing this.
00:11:14.140 And they had no answers for me at all.
00:11:16.820 So I'm just desperate.
00:11:18.100 So I started reading and looking at other ways I can help my body because I clearly
00:11:23.500 the what they were doing for me or what I was taking was wearing me down so that a hangnail
00:11:28.640 almost killed me.
00:11:30.000 So I didn't want to do that anymore.
00:11:32.640 So is that what they determined?
00:11:34.840 That's really what started the staph infection?
00:11:38.360 So the thing on your face, did I even have?
00:11:40.480 I think I had staph, right?
00:11:42.460 So at this point of entry allowed it to kind of just go into your bloodstream.
00:11:47.800 Wow.
00:11:48.220 It's almost I don't know if it's a blessing or not, but it's like almost a blessing that
00:11:52.240 it happened as quickly as it did.
00:11:53.800 And such a blessing that your mom was like accessible like that.
00:11:57.360 And so that you immediately knew, OK, something's wrong.
00:11:59.540 It's not like like you just don't know.
00:12:02.100 What if it got worse overnight?
00:12:03.300 You fell asleep.
00:12:04.240 You thought everything was fine.
00:12:05.540 Who knows what would have happened?
00:12:06.920 Right.
00:12:06.940 So it's almost better that it went as quickly as it did.
00:12:09.960 Absolutely.
00:12:10.720 Because, yeah, if I would have gone to sleep, I really we don't know.
00:12:13.540 But I I didn't read for years about that particular like staph and MRSA because I just didn't think
00:12:20.000 I wanted to know how scary it was.
00:12:21.800 But it was really not it was not good.
00:12:25.160 So you said you started reading about how to help your body.
00:12:27.980 But where did you start?
00:12:30.420 And like, was there anything that made you think there's got to be something more than what
00:12:36.060 the doctors are telling me?
00:12:37.520 Like, had you heard about other people who had healed themselves naturally or anything like that?
00:12:42.040 Or was it just like a thought you had and you decided to Google it?
00:12:45.940 Yeah, it wasn't really my my lifestyle at all at the time.
00:12:50.440 I had started to think about ingredients a tiny bit because my husband works in oncology.
00:12:55.080 And so cancer is kind of like our second language.
00:12:57.760 But really didn't I knew nothing about any of this stuff.
00:13:01.260 And my mom saw a nutritionist on like a PBS special talking about inflammation.
00:13:08.680 And she told me, hey, I think you should check out this lady's work.
00:13:11.820 And so I read her book and it was about an elimination diet and how these different foods
00:13:16.220 can contribute to inflammation for people when your body is out of balance.
00:13:20.020 Like they can be really healthy foods for some people, but not when you're out of balance.
00:13:24.340 And so you pull them all out, let your body kind of reset and then reintroduce them and
00:13:29.200 see how you tolerate them.
00:13:30.460 So I'm like, I'll try it, you know.
00:13:31.720 So I finished my antibiotics and then I did the elimination diet pretty much right away.
00:13:36.600 And then within days of eliminating these foods, I was pain free for the first time in over a year.
00:13:42.740 It was really fast.
00:13:44.240 So it was undeniable and it just kind of opened up my eyes to this whole world of reading ingredients,
00:13:51.680 basically, because I couldn't eat any of the things in my pantry or going out to eat was
00:13:56.000 kind of impossible because these ingredients are in most things.
00:13:59.980 And I had never really looked at ingredients before.
00:14:01.860 I would turn the package over to look at the nutrition facts or just read the package cover
00:14:06.320 like, oh, it's 100 calorie pack.
00:14:07.740 It must be healthy.
00:14:08.600 That's how I lived.
00:14:09.400 Yeah.
00:14:10.000 Yeah.
00:14:10.480 I was very much like I had Taco Bell on my wedding day.
00:14:13.180 Like I was very much like lived that lifestyle.
00:14:15.400 I thought that fast food made me feel great.
00:14:17.880 And I would say I love chemicals.
00:14:19.760 It does feel great in the moment.
00:14:22.900 Honestly, right now, when you said Taco Bell, I'm like, oh, yeah, that sounds awesome.
00:14:27.040 That's the last time I really wanted to Taco Bell.
00:14:30.000 Yes.
00:14:30.620 OK, I think that a lot of us can relate to that, especially growing up, like even you talking
00:14:34.440 about eating, you know, Chef Boyardee and things like that.
00:14:38.420 Now, my parents, like my mom is a great cook.
00:14:40.880 My grandmother lived with us.
00:14:41.960 And so we did have a lot of home cooked meals.
00:14:43.900 But I mean, also, we ate what a lot of 90s kids did, which was OK, like Reese's Puffs
00:14:49.720 in the morning.
00:14:50.600 I would have Rice Krispies and I would put like me.
00:14:55.760 I mean, it probably wasn't.
00:14:57.240 But in my mind, I'm thinking like it was like a cup of sugar and just like white sugar.
00:15:02.000 Just put it in there.
00:15:03.060 And I would love when it would like get to the bottom.
00:15:04.620 When I got home from school, I would get Oreos and I would, you know, like let them get
00:15:09.640 mushy in the milk.
00:15:10.520 I'm like, oh, my gosh, some of the things that we ate without even thinking about it,
00:15:15.260 then it's wild that like any of us are even functioning at all.
00:15:19.500 Yeah.
00:15:19.840 Yeah.
00:15:20.340 And I think it probably does affect a lot more of us than we realize.
00:15:23.340 But we just consider that, you know, the other things I had before it was so extreme.
00:15:27.500 It was just kind of my normal.
00:15:29.900 Yeah.
00:15:30.120 Like, oh, everyone gets headaches or everyone gets joint pain.
00:15:33.400 Yes.
00:15:33.720 20 years old.
00:15:34.820 Right.
00:15:35.140 And so what were some of those in that elimination diet?
00:15:38.840 What does that entail?
00:15:40.560 Like, what were some of those things that you had to give up that you said were ingredients
00:15:45.380 that were in most of the things in your pantry?
00:15:47.360 Yeah.
00:15:47.680 So I always forget what all the seven words.
00:15:49.980 Gluten, soy, dairy, eggs, corn, artificial sweeteners.
00:15:56.380 And I left one out.
00:15:57.180 Gluten.
00:15:57.660 I'm not sure.
00:15:58.940 There's one more.
00:15:59.500 But yeah, so some really common things that like eggs are so healthy unless you're out
00:16:04.360 of balance and inflamed.
00:16:05.700 They might not be.
00:16:06.880 So, yeah.
00:16:07.820 Yeah.
00:16:08.000 Pulled all those out and it's for 21 days.
00:16:10.100 And then you reintroduce them one at a time.
00:16:11.760 Very much like when you're introducing foods to a baby.
00:16:14.040 Right.
00:16:14.660 So reintroduce one at a time to see if I would react.
00:16:17.740 And I reacted to all of them.
00:16:19.080 Well, some of them you don't really reintroduce.
00:16:20.640 It's like we don't want artificial sweeteners.
00:16:22.200 We're not going to put those back in.
00:16:23.980 And but like gluten, let me try the best bread I can find because I really want to be able
00:16:29.460 to have bread and just know within a day my headache was back.
00:16:32.900 Yeah.
00:16:33.240 So have you kept eliminating those?
00:16:35.560 Like do you eat any of those things today?
00:16:37.480 I do.
00:16:38.000 Yeah.
00:16:38.260 So over time, if you heal your body, then you should be able to reintroduce some of
00:16:42.800 these things or maybe all of them over time.
00:16:45.000 But yeah, I have eggs now.
00:16:46.100 I have dairy.
00:16:47.140 Yeah.
00:16:47.280 I can have soy on occasion.
00:16:48.900 Gluten still does not like me.
00:16:50.520 But one day maybe.
00:16:52.060 It's like you like gluten, but it's unrequited.
00:16:54.680 Yeah.
00:16:54.980 Doesn't like you back very much.
00:16:56.240 So that was really step one of your healing journey.
00:17:00.620 And that was you said, was that still 2013?
00:17:03.600 It was 2013.
00:17:04.480 2013.
00:17:05.300 So 10 years, 10 years now.
00:17:08.520 Tell me like what the other steps were, because that's just one part of the process.
00:17:12.400 But obviously now you talk about a lot of different things in your home, not just the
00:17:16.800 things that you consume.
00:17:17.840 So tell me about how you kind of did an overhaul on your life.
00:17:21.280 Yeah, I think, well, and I can't remember what came first, if it was the, if I was already
00:17:25.960 making my cleaning products or if it was the food, but it was around the same time where
00:17:30.100 that's where I learned to start reading ingredients and was just kind of alarmed by the things
00:17:34.560 I had in my home.
00:17:35.420 But I didn't ever let myself become overwhelmed.
00:17:37.940 I was not working much at the time.
00:17:39.920 We're on one income, newly married.
00:17:41.780 We'd just gone through all these kinds of like health crises and stuff.
00:17:44.680 So I was really taking it kind of like baby steps, but it's what I still do today.
00:17:49.360 It's as something runs low or wears out, I would start to look for a replacement that
00:17:53.380 was a little less toxic.
00:17:54.680 And then I've just done that all along the way.
00:17:56.840 So at first, like with the cleaning products, I made all of my own because I was overwhelmed
00:18:01.160 by the options at the store, just the amount of ingredients.
00:18:04.620 I don't know what all these chemicals are.
00:18:06.420 So I was just started making my own.
00:18:08.460 And so you just kind of looked up how to do it.
00:18:10.380 Yeah.
00:18:10.740 Yeah.
00:18:10.980 So that's when I started finding like Pinterest or blogs or things where people were like,
00:18:15.120 oh, you know, you can use this or that or kind of making my own concoctions and seeing
00:18:19.500 what worked and what didn't.
00:18:20.940 And yeah, I found it fun and it saved us money and it worked and I was feeling better.
00:18:25.520 I just found it empowering.
00:18:26.920 It was cool.
00:18:27.540 And were you already exercising when you were like feeling all this pain?
00:18:32.060 Yeah.
00:18:32.280 Some.
00:18:32.800 Yeah.
00:18:33.120 Okay.
00:18:33.360 Yeah.
00:18:33.620 I wasn't always able to, but yeah, some.
00:18:36.500 And was that part of your everyday life that changed once you started kind of eliminating
00:18:41.100 things and getting healthier?
00:18:42.380 Not really.
00:18:42.860 Not really.
00:18:43.320 I didn't change much.
00:18:44.240 It's always been around the same.
00:18:45.800 Yeah.
00:18:46.280 So it was mostly the things you were putting in your body that you were putting around
00:18:50.360 your home.
00:18:51.140 And I love that you came up with this name a little less toxic because I think it can be
00:18:56.700 so overwhelming for people, even those who have health scares.
00:19:00.140 But for those of us who haven't, like, I don't necessarily have one thing that I can look
00:19:04.540 at in my life or some kind of, you know, adverse health event that I can say, oh my gosh,
00:19:10.480 I just got to do an overhaul.
00:19:11.980 And yet I see the benefit in it, but I'm like, oh my gosh, it just seems like so much.
00:19:18.420 How do I eliminate all of these things?
00:19:20.220 But you're saying it's not necessarily something that you have to do overnight.
00:19:24.720 So talk about that balance because I think it can be really intimidating.
00:19:28.400 Absolutely.
00:19:28.780 Yeah.
00:19:29.240 And I think it depends, too, on the person's health, right?
00:19:31.700 If you're in an absolute crisis, you might need to do more of an extreme overhaul than
00:19:35.400 somebody who's not experiencing severe health issues, right?
00:19:39.180 But I think in either case, if we take on more than we can sustain, it's not going to
00:19:45.340 last.
00:19:46.020 So that's just never been my approach.
00:19:47.600 That's never how I suggest anyone does it.
00:19:50.840 It's always just been what's the next step that I can take that's reasonable within my budget
00:19:54.980 and it makes sense for my lifestyle and all of the things.
00:19:58.460 And there's almost always a choice that is less toxic than what we had.
00:20:02.260 And it might not be perfect.
00:20:03.420 And in the crunchy world, you know, it gets crazy.
00:20:05.660 It's never good enough.
00:20:06.740 Like the thing I laugh about and I don't know, I wouldn't call myself crunchy.
00:20:24.360 I follow a lot of crunchy accounts.
00:20:25.840 You know, I started following your account a while ago and then other accounts.
00:20:29.140 And there are things that I do and have done over time.
00:20:32.420 Definitely over the past couple of years.
00:20:34.100 I think I got crunchier actually during COVID, much crunchier than I was before.
00:20:39.060 Like a lot of people did because you're like, oh, I don't think I can trust the medical establishment
00:20:43.780 completely.
00:20:44.540 I'm not anti-doctor, anti-modern medicine.
00:20:46.720 Neither are you.
00:20:47.740 But I'm like, I think that I need to make sure that I'm taking charge of these things so
00:20:51.560 I don't have to completely rely on them for all of my health and all of my health answers.
00:20:56.260 But I'm still not even close to being all the way, all the way there.
00:21:01.920 But so I say that to say, I don't have any like animosity towards the crunchy community.
00:21:08.360 I respect them a lot.
00:21:09.440 But sometimes, as you said, it's like nothing is good enough.
00:21:13.940 And it's like all these things that people, it's like, oh, we just have to go back to the
00:21:19.220 1800s on everything.
00:21:21.600 If cavemen didn't do it, then we can't do it today.
00:21:26.320 And I'm like, dude, cavemen also lived for like five years total.
00:21:31.440 Like, I think that we can adapt just a little bit.
00:21:34.620 And so sometimes it's just too much for me.
00:21:37.160 How I mean, talk a little bit more about how you strike the balance.
00:21:40.160 You talk about this a lot, like your alt approach, A-L-L-T.
00:21:43.420 Yeah.
00:21:43.620 So just talk a little bit more about that.
00:21:45.040 Yeah.
00:21:45.300 I mean, well, since sharing online too, I feel, yeah, I call them the crunch police because
00:21:49.880 I'm like, it's never good enough.
00:21:51.180 I have not arrived.
00:21:53.680 None of us ever are going to arrive.
00:21:55.140 We're never going to live this completely pristine, non-toxic life.
00:21:58.220 I don't care how much you try.
00:21:59.620 And not everyone wants to.
00:22:01.240 If I'm posting a picture of like, oh my gosh, these Sour Patch watermelons are so good.
00:22:06.960 I promise I do not want you to message me and tell me that they're bad for me.
00:22:11.280 I'm not posting them because I think that they're real watermelons.
00:22:14.280 Trust me.
00:22:15.420 So yeah, crunch police.
00:22:16.460 I'm going to start using them.
00:22:17.260 The crunch police.
00:22:18.000 Yeah.
00:22:18.240 And, you know, I think that the stress that we can induce on ourselves trying to live this
00:22:23.660 perfect lifestyle is more toxic most times than any of the ingredients we're trying to
00:22:29.460 avoid.
00:22:30.040 So it's just not my approach.
00:22:31.520 I feel like that's, it's toxic.
00:22:33.920 Yeah.
00:22:34.280 So the alt approach, a little less toxic, um, a is for assess.
00:22:39.800 So you take inventory and consider what you actually use.
00:22:43.500 So let's just break these down.
00:22:45.820 Take inventory and consider what you actually use.
00:22:49.160 And then, then what's what?
00:22:51.060 Yeah.
00:22:51.380 Yeah.
00:22:51.640 Cause you ever look around your bathroom and there are, you know, hundreds of products,
00:22:55.900 but some of them have been sitting in your cupboard probably a year or two and you haven't
00:22:58.980 touched it.
00:22:59.660 Do you really need all these things?
00:23:01.660 If not, and just get rid of it.
00:23:04.860 Clearing up space is going to eliminate dust, but you're also taking out potentially harmful
00:23:08.520 chemicals that are in your cupboard that are off gassing into your air.
00:23:11.540 Right.
00:23:11.980 So by just eliminating things you don't actually need is going to immediately make your home
00:23:16.740 less toxic.
00:23:17.700 Yeah.
00:23:18.080 And then there's L let go.
00:23:20.360 And I'm guessing that's what you just said.
00:23:22.180 Which is hard because you invested money in these things, but you know what?
00:23:25.160 You already spent the money.
00:23:26.520 You're not getting it back.
00:23:27.940 It's just sitting in a cupboard or it's not really something that you need.
00:23:31.040 We have so many products and we can really minimize it and make our life simpler and use
00:23:36.320 less things.
00:23:37.040 And then eventually we'll be spending less money too because we're not buying as many products,
00:23:40.740 but yeah, let it go.
00:23:41.980 Yeah.
00:23:42.280 Even just like for the sake of minimalism and organization at the beginning of the year,
00:23:47.160 I went through our, like one of our cabinets in our bathroom.
00:23:51.340 And then also we put like our medicine and our vitamins on a shelf in our pantry.
00:23:56.700 And I realized when I went through them, oh my gosh, like there are things in here that
00:24:00.800 we have had since before we moved into this house that expired in like 2017.
00:24:05.580 So I went through them and I just threw them all away.
00:24:07.880 And it, even though, you know, it's expired, it's still kind of painful to throw away like a
00:24:11.660 full bottle of medicine or vitamins or something like that.
00:24:15.500 But like you said, okay, is it just going to keep sitting on the shelf?
00:24:18.700 You're never going to use it.
00:24:20.020 You're not going to feel comfortable, but actually, oh my gosh, that cupboard and that
00:24:24.060 part of our pantry looks so much better just because I didn't even buy anything.
00:24:28.840 Right.
00:24:29.040 It costs no money at all.
00:24:30.160 I just threw things away, which is actually kind of fun.
00:24:32.220 Yeah.
00:24:32.340 Doesn't it bring peace to like your nervous system too, when you've got like a clearer
00:24:35.920 space?
00:24:36.460 And that's another way to live less toxic too.
00:24:38.400 Yes, definitely.
00:24:39.380 So assess, take inventory and consider what you actually use.
00:24:42.860 L, let go.
00:24:44.380 Like you don't want to end up being on an episode of Hoarders on TLC because you're collecting
00:24:49.560 expired cleaning items.
00:24:51.500 And then L, level up.
00:24:53.640 So what does this mean?
00:24:54.600 So that's what I was talking about earlier.
00:24:56.240 When something runs low or wears out or it's time to replace it, look for something that's
00:25:00.520 a little less toxic.
00:25:01.460 It doesn't have to be perfect.
00:25:02.540 Something that's within your budget and that makes sense for your lifestyle, but is a little
00:25:06.200 better than the thing you're replacing, whether it be ketchup or shampoo or rug, whatever it
00:25:10.300 might be.
00:25:11.180 And then T, transform over time.
00:25:14.040 The process takes time to be patient and watch how quickly things add up.
00:25:18.600 Yeah.
00:25:18.800 Just keep going.
00:25:20.120 It's like I said, you never arrive.
00:25:22.200 So I'm 10 years into this.
00:25:23.780 I don't live in this perfectly non-toxic house.
00:25:26.000 I don't live a perfectly non-toxic life and I don't really strive to.
00:25:29.760 I think perfectionism can be quite toxic too, right?
00:25:33.260 But it's just keep going.
00:25:34.760 So I still do the same things today.
00:25:36.400 And that way I get to try other products and see if they work better for me or if maybe
00:25:40.160 one's a little more budget friendly or whatever it might be.
00:25:42.780 Yeah.
00:25:43.040 And if people are wondering like, well, what specifically rather than going through all
00:25:47.200 those things, because that could take hours.
00:25:48.880 Like I encourage everyone to get your book, A Healthier Home, but then also you can follow
00:25:53.020 her on Instagram, a little less toxic.
00:25:55.280 You're always posting things like, oh, instead of this, you can use this, which is really
00:25:59.140 helpful.
00:25:59.700 Like that's really easy.
00:26:01.240 And like you said, I don't have to go out and get it right then.
00:26:03.760 I can use the rest of what I have if I want to, or maybe not, depending on like the threat
00:26:08.200 to my health or my kids' health.
00:26:10.720 And then I can go out and get the thing that's a little better.
00:26:14.440 Yeah.
00:26:14.760 And it can just be a little better, right?
00:26:16.900 It doesn't have to be.
00:26:17.680 You don't have to make your own acetaminophen or whatever it is.
00:26:21.000 Like there's some things that you can just get from the store.
00:26:23.920 It's just a little better, but it's still better.
00:26:26.140 Yeah.
00:26:26.320 It's better.
00:26:27.040 Yeah.
00:26:27.760 Yeah.
00:26:28.300 So what is maybe like the most controversial swap, if you can think of, that you have suggested?
00:26:37.300 Because I think I have it on the list and we can talk about it.
00:26:41.520 But is there anything that you've posted like, oh, you shouldn't be using this, that you've
00:26:45.960 gotten a lot of pushback about or that you think is controversial?
00:26:49.800 You know, the internet, people get riled up about all sorts of things.
00:26:54.540 I don't know.
00:26:55.780 The thing that I'm thinking of, I'll just go ahead and tell you so you don't have to
00:26:58.860 guess, is that like hormonal contraceptives.
00:27:01.500 Oh, yeah.
00:27:02.100 I mean, I don't think that's controversial because I too have been talking about that for
00:27:06.980 a while, but talk a little bit more about that.
00:27:08.920 Why?
00:27:09.420 Yeah.
00:27:10.100 Why should women, in your estimation, not be taking the birth control pill?
00:27:14.400 Yeah.
00:27:14.600 Well, there are a lot of studies or a lot of research that shows how it can contribute to
00:27:18.240 poor health outcomes.
00:27:19.220 You know, I don't, I never really sat right with me.
00:27:22.580 I started it for acne and like, oh, yeah, sweating, right?
00:27:26.360 What is that?
00:27:27.060 I know.
00:27:27.420 That was the answer.
00:27:28.520 For no reason.
00:27:29.320 You know, I think it's because the doctors assumed that their patients are really having
00:27:33.400 sex, even though I was not like, I can't speak for all teen girls, obviously, but I
00:27:38.020 was totally not.
00:27:39.200 I was just told, oh, your period was two weeks late one time when you were 16.
00:27:44.060 Let's just get you on birth control.
00:27:45.760 Yeah.
00:27:46.340 Yeah.
00:27:46.700 I mean, even after my last baby, the doctor was really trying to push it on me and I, I
00:27:51.700 like know better, but she really was trying to be convincing, you know, like, oh, it's
00:27:56.200 normal to, you know, just all the things.
00:27:58.520 But I just never really sat right with me, even though I used them for years, but it did.
00:28:03.340 I don't know what kind of, but I mean, it can mess with a lot of things with, you know,
00:28:06.960 your bone health, your hormonal health, fertility.
00:28:09.800 And, um, I don't know all the scientific specifics right now off the top of my head, but it just
00:28:15.300 didn't really sit right with me.
00:28:16.760 And I knew that there could be another approach, but I didn't really trust myself to do it
00:28:20.620 fully.
00:28:20.960 Like I know people do, uh, you take your temperature and then you chart it and you chart like your
00:28:25.360 cervical mucus and all this stuff.
00:28:27.040 And I just didn't trust myself to do all the things, but I found a little device that helps
00:28:30.740 me to do that because it has an algorithm in it.
00:28:33.140 So I just take my temperature every morning and pay attention to my body and it's been
00:28:36.700 working well so far.
00:28:38.060 And you have to be committed.
00:28:39.080 I mean, there are other ways to, there are non-hormonal birth control options.
00:28:43.040 There's a barrier method if we want to use that euphemism.
00:28:46.160 And so there, I mean, there are ways, there are ways to not take hormonal birth control.
00:28:51.920 It's the same thing with the IUD.
00:28:53.160 And then there's also ethical questions about it because it doesn't necessarily stop the fertilization
00:28:59.860 of the egg.
00:29:00.720 Not everyone knows that it's supposed to, but it doesn't necessarily.
00:29:04.960 And so you could still fertilize an egg and then like an IUD, whether it's copper or hormonal
00:29:10.860 or whether it's a hormonal pill that you're taking, it can simply make your uterus inhospitable.
00:29:16.020 So it can kill the egg after it's fertilized.
00:29:18.840 So if you believe as I do that life starts at fertilization, then okay, there are ethical
00:29:24.800 questions about that.
00:29:25.920 And I'm not trying to shame because, you know, we, not everyone knew, not everyone
00:29:30.680 knows that, but there are questions that we're never even told when we're sitting in a doctor's
00:29:35.400 office.
00:29:35.740 We are never even told about any of that, which is wild to me.
00:29:38.960 Yeah.
00:29:39.280 Yeah.
00:29:39.480 It's nuts.
00:29:39.960 Yeah.
00:29:40.060 No one ever told me that.
00:29:41.040 I found that out on my own too.
00:29:42.420 Yeah.
00:29:42.840 It's an abortifacant.
00:29:43.860 I had no idea.
00:29:44.860 Right.
00:29:45.220 And even like, even the process of stopping a period, because that's what you don't have
00:29:50.220 a period when you're on the birth control pill, as you know, because it's stopping ovulation,
00:29:54.420 it's just withdrawal bleeding.
00:29:56.240 So it's like, well, if women are supposed to have a period and birth control stops us having
00:30:00.500 a period, is that good?
00:30:02.040 Right.
00:30:02.320 I don't know.
00:30:03.060 Right.
00:30:03.440 Yeah.
00:30:03.840 Yeah.
00:30:04.260 And the doctors will, that's what mine was like.
00:30:06.360 Women for all of the time were either like pregnant or nursing.
00:30:09.980 And so they didn't have periods, but that's very different from inducing it with artificial
00:30:14.140 hormones.
00:30:14.880 Exactly.
00:30:15.580 Exactly.
00:30:16.220 Yeah.
00:30:28.380 So you're not, I mean, you still see a doctor sometimes.
00:30:32.000 Like we were just talking beforehand, you gave birth to both of your kids in a hospital
00:30:36.200 and that was after kind of even this health journey.
00:30:38.920 So it's not like you're anti-modern medicine.
00:30:40.820 I'm the same way.
00:30:42.000 So talk a little bit more about that, because I know that you probably are a little bit skeptical
00:30:46.180 though, after being told years and years, just get on more antibiotics and you almost
00:30:50.860 died because you didn't get to the root cause.
00:30:53.600 Right.
00:30:54.420 I mean, how do we balance that?
00:30:55.740 Well, and then antibiotics saved my life.
00:30:58.440 So I have to really, I have, it's both, both, both things can be.
00:31:02.000 That we are probably over-prescribing, over-using a lot of conventional medication and the care
00:31:07.980 is probably outdated or just not really tracking with science.
00:31:12.720 But also modern medicine is life-saving.
00:31:16.500 And so I don't, I don't think that we have to live in either camp.
00:31:20.200 Both things are true and I respect both and value both.
00:31:23.780 And I want to just do the best I can with what I know to steward this body.
00:31:27.860 During COVID, I remember the phrase doing your own research became something that was
00:31:33.260 mocked.
00:31:33.920 I don't know why it's political, but it just happened to be that a lot of people on the
00:31:36.920 left side of the political aisle would mock that.
00:31:39.580 Like you shouldn't be doing your own research.
00:31:41.180 You have no idea what you're talking about, blah, blah, blah.
00:31:44.120 But it's okay.
00:31:44.800 But what's your other option?
00:31:46.280 Because if you had never done your own research, you wouldn't have gotten better.
00:31:49.740 That's right.
00:31:50.040 You would probably still be on antibiotics constantly and maybe in constant pain.
00:31:54.900 Maybe you wouldn't have even had your kids because you were so miserable.
00:31:58.440 So I would love for those people to tell me like, what is the better alternative then?
00:32:03.400 Right.
00:32:03.800 Because apparently a lot of doctors aren't trained in medical school to even look at what
00:32:07.560 the root problem could be.
00:32:08.820 No, no.
00:32:09.600 Or like just nutrition in general.
00:32:11.320 I can't remember the amount of hours is just really non-existent in their training.
00:32:15.880 So it's not that I have great respect for medical professionals.
00:32:20.060 I have many in my family and I value them very much.
00:32:23.520 And I think they don't know all the things.
00:32:25.440 So it's okay.
00:32:26.240 I know my body better than anyone else does.
00:32:28.660 I'm the one living in it.
00:32:29.680 So it's okay for me to look at other things, consider alternatives, and then weigh them,
00:32:35.040 you know, with discernment, with judgment, with science and make a better informed decision
00:32:40.880 for my needs.
00:32:42.960 Yeah, I think so too.
00:32:44.220 And it can be difficult to know.
00:32:46.260 I mean, every situation I think is different, but you are capable as an individual.
00:32:52.940 God has given you the capacity to read.
00:32:55.580 And I know people want to intimidate, you know, I think especially women out of that.
00:33:00.120 Like we had a pediatrician that was just so bullying about everything.
00:33:03.900 And it was only like that.
00:33:06.200 He only had this attitude of like talking over me.
00:33:08.940 And if I would ask a question or ask, hey, can we do something this way?
00:33:12.820 He would say, well, sure we can.
00:33:14.720 You know, you're the parent, but I just want you to know there's no logical or scientific
00:33:17.920 backing behind like what you're suggesting.
00:33:19.600 And like, instead of explaining it to me, he would just make me feel small.
00:33:22.780 But he would not do that if my husband was there.
00:33:24.980 It was only when I was by myself.
00:33:27.560 And I'm like, I'm not some like wilting flower.
00:33:30.040 But when you have someone in front of you who has those credentials, who I know he knows
00:33:36.120 more than me about medicine and things like that, but still what he's saying, it's like,
00:33:40.200 that doesn't sound right.
00:33:42.700 And I know that I care about my child more than you do.
00:33:45.460 So can I just ask these questions?
00:33:47.040 But sometimes you're just scared to even ask.
00:33:49.020 So I think a lot of what you do is also empowering people to ask questions and not feel
00:33:54.920 silly about it because they know their stuff.
00:33:57.700 Yeah.
00:33:57.860 Yeah, I hope so, because I think that we can get a lot of good info from asking good
00:34:03.420 questions.
00:34:03.900 And I think that our questions should be welcome.
00:34:06.600 Yeah.
00:34:07.000 Especially from professionals.
00:34:09.020 And where do you go to like ask these questions?
00:34:11.560 Because Google is filled with all kinds of information.
00:34:14.260 Yeah.
00:34:14.560 So how do you sift through it?
00:34:16.080 Yeah, I don't know.
00:34:16.820 That's tough, too.
00:34:17.600 I got good at researching like peer-reviewed articles and looking into those.
00:34:22.460 And, you know, there are people that you trust more.
00:34:24.420 But I even so you were asking earlier about like product recognition.
00:34:27.860 Recommendations or that.
00:34:29.120 I don't even like to be like, this is the exact product because things change.
00:34:32.780 And I don't want anyone going to me and saying like, oh, she said this.
00:34:37.200 You know, I want everyone to be able to just read information on their own and make informed
00:34:40.700 decisions for themselves.
00:34:41.980 But yeah, where do you go?
00:34:43.200 There's a lot of information.
00:34:44.300 It's very overwhelming.
00:34:45.300 And what do you trust?
00:34:46.860 And it's always changing.
00:34:48.260 You know, the benchmark's always moving.
00:34:50.540 So I don't really know the good answer to that because I don't know really who we trust
00:34:58.080 besides God.
00:34:59.280 But yeah, I think that I don't know.
00:35:02.220 I don't have a good answer for that.
00:35:03.460 I can't like tell you one specific place or person, but I think that it's a collective
00:35:09.540 of different reliable information and your own God-given discernment and instinct.
00:35:14.780 Yeah.
00:35:14.960 And some of it is common sense.
00:35:16.760 Like when people were, I mean, common sense kind of told us that widespread like cloth masking
00:35:23.080 probably wasn't going to deter a virus just based on what we know about the flu and how
00:35:29.560 cold spread and like how thin the mask was.
00:35:32.380 It's like, well, it probably just won't.
00:35:35.620 And like you didn't actually need peer-reviewed articles to tell you that.
00:35:39.680 But that's, you know, it's the same thing.
00:35:41.700 I couldn't tell someone like the one source that I go to to look at political news and
00:35:45.960 things like that.
00:35:46.800 It is a lot of, well, based on what I know is true and based on what makes sense to me,
00:35:53.080 sometimes I will go to the New York Times.
00:35:56.400 Sometimes it will be Fox News.
00:35:58.440 Sometimes it's the Wall Street Journal.
00:35:59.980 Sometimes it's like a medical study.
00:36:02.400 And like, I mean, you just have to have a kind of, I think, a questioning, not critical
00:36:06.500 necessarily, but a questioning spirit in every source that you look through, not necessarily
00:36:11.300 looking for something that confirms your assumptions, but looking at things that are
00:36:15.400 consistent with the logic that you already have.
00:36:19.160 And I mean, that's a complicated way to put it, but it's kind of hard to say,
00:36:22.980 well, this is exactly, you know, the only source that you should be looking at.
00:36:26.980 Right.
00:36:27.140 And I think with any topic too, you can find an argument on either side and the health
00:36:31.000 world, especially you see that all the time too.
00:36:32.880 Like this, you know, spinach is terrible for you because of oxalates or you really need
00:36:37.200 to eat more leafy greens.
00:36:38.260 Like there's, there's no, it's so hard ever one definitive answer on these things.
00:36:42.560 So you really have to fight cancer.
00:36:44.360 No, you need it.
00:36:45.460 Like a, a, a meat based animal based diet.
00:36:48.420 Right.
00:36:48.720 So hard.
00:36:49.240 Right.
00:36:49.540 Yeah.
00:36:49.780 So yeah, we have to use our own judgment.
00:36:51.860 And, um, yeah, I, I think also be willing to change our minds because I've been presented
00:36:58.440 with new information over time that, I mean, it changed my life 10 years ago, but it continues
00:37:02.080 to, because I, you know, I, I don't live the same way I did 10 years ago, not just because
00:37:06.260 of product swaps, but because I learned new things.
00:37:08.420 So, you know, I avoided dairy for a really long time because I reacted to it, but then
00:37:13.340 I also thought, Oh, it's bad for me.
00:37:15.120 But then I learned more information about, you know, like raw milk or whatever, and started
00:37:18.820 introducing that and just saw how much better it made me feel, you know, just being willing
00:37:22.540 to change my mind and continuing to keep an open mind and also ask good questions.
00:37:26.800 Yeah.
00:37:27.040 Is there anything recent?
00:37:28.560 I know you just said dairy.
00:37:29.800 Is there anything else that has been more of a recent swap or recent change for you that you've
00:37:35.500 learned more about, or maybe that you've changed your mind on?
00:37:39.420 I've been learning more about like mold, but that's an overwhelming topic, but that's
00:37:44.180 something I just was really ignorant to until I got sick again.
00:37:48.360 And, um, so learning about, I don't know.
00:37:50.460 So there's just new stuff I'm trying to learn more about all the time, but not overwhelm myself
00:37:54.380 with, I can't think of anything of a newer swap.
00:37:57.440 Maybe you remember one thing.
00:37:58.620 I've, one of the things I've really only started thinking about recently is like water filtration
00:38:04.260 and we did get a Berkey water filter.
00:38:07.560 And so we have that, but now I'm thinking about all the other water that we put on our
00:38:11.820 bodies, like the bath water, the shower water.
00:38:14.640 I know that's something that you talk about is like shower filters, but I actually looked
00:38:18.880 at my shower head the other day, not even to mention the stuff that's in the pipes that,
00:38:24.160 you know, brings my water to me, or it was the sink, the, the sink faucet.
00:38:30.440 The head of that.
00:38:31.320 And I was like, that doesn't look good.
00:38:33.160 That does not look good.
00:38:34.480 That looks like a bunch of gunk that I am cleaning my dishes with and all that stuff.
00:38:40.460 That's something I've been thinking about, which is also a little bit overwhelming.
00:38:43.560 Cause I'm like, I don't, you know, I don't know what else to do.
00:38:46.480 Yeah.
00:38:46.700 Yeah.
00:38:47.080 Some of it's out of our control, right?
00:38:48.560 I can't control the city pipes.
00:38:50.220 Yeah.
00:38:50.640 I can control the end a little bit.
00:38:52.500 Yeah.
00:38:52.840 Yeah.
00:38:53.440 Yeah.
00:38:53.900 So I guess that's just, you just do what you can.
00:38:57.120 I say, do what you can with what you're able.
00:38:59.580 And as it makes sense for you, because everyone's situation is different.
00:39:03.360 And so I can't tell you like, this is what you need to do.
00:39:06.480 I share what I do in case there's something there that's like a little bit of a nugget
00:39:10.060 of something you can apply to your own life, or maybe it's inspiring or even just entertaining.
00:39:13.840 I don't care.
00:39:14.340 I just want to share in case it's helpful.
00:39:16.360 Yeah.
00:39:16.900 Do what you can.
00:39:17.540 I think a lot of people are kind of waking up to this recently.
00:39:34.100 I mean, there's been a lot of talk and I don't even know why it's like a conservative
00:39:38.420 thing, but it seems like it is recently about seed oils and being like anti-seed oil.
00:39:43.820 I mean, honestly, it was, I think the first time I heard about even what seed oils were
00:39:48.060 or are, it was on Megyn Kelly's show.
00:39:51.420 She had someone on talking about like the hateful eight.
00:39:54.020 And I was like, whoa, I never heard about that.
00:39:56.000 And what I realized is that it's in a lot of organic food.
00:39:59.960 It's typically sunflower oil, like even these organic vitamins.
00:40:03.260 And if I said the brand name, people would know exactly what I'm talking about, but they've
00:40:07.220 got some seed oils.
00:40:08.520 They've got sunflower oil and some of their organic, all natural vitamins.
00:40:12.640 And, and I'm, again, that's one of those things that I'm like, okay, you know, I try
00:40:17.940 to avoid as much as possible.
00:40:19.460 Yeah.
00:40:19.960 Sometimes it's not avoidable, but it is interesting, which is once you start looking into this
00:40:25.020 stuff, how much of it is even in health foods, which is why you really, really have to pay
00:40:30.520 attention.
00:40:31.060 Yeah.
00:40:31.320 Whole foods is kind of going under fire.
00:40:33.100 I see.
00:40:33.420 Well, we went yesterday and got some soup and it had canola, you know?
00:40:36.760 Yeah.
00:40:37.260 Whole foods.
00:40:38.020 Which is unnecessary though.
00:40:39.780 It's unnecessary.
00:40:40.520 I guess it's cheaper than avocado oil and that's just what it is.
00:40:45.100 Yeah.
00:40:45.180 And then no one was making a stink about it.
00:40:47.160 So we would just keep using it because it's cheap.
00:40:49.500 Yeah.
00:40:49.860 Which I know because I still buy some stuff that has, that has that.
00:40:54.340 I try not to, but I really appreciate accounts like yours.
00:40:57.960 And I follow some other accounts that will like take people through the grocery store
00:41:01.980 and say, you know, this is what you're buying, but this is what you should buy.
00:41:05.060 Like just the practical stuff that doesn't overwhelm me and make me feel like I need to
00:41:10.700 overhaul my entire life overnight or else I'm not a good mom.
00:41:14.240 Like, yeah, that's what I want.
00:41:16.020 I want the incremental stuff.
00:41:17.500 And that's what you're about.
00:41:19.020 You're about the balance because it's not just about external cleansing.
00:41:23.040 It's also about your internal state as well.
00:41:25.400 Right?
00:41:25.780 Absolutely.
00:41:26.380 Yeah.
00:41:26.520 It's a whole holistic approach.
00:41:27.680 Like we can't ignore our nervous system and just fry our brains freaking out about everything
00:41:33.380 and expect to be healthy because if we're in a constant state of stress, you're never
00:41:37.280 going to feel well.
00:41:38.300 Yeah.
00:41:38.680 Or a constant state of thinking about how can I present this toxic free lifestyle to people
00:41:44.620 online too, because that will just wear you down and fill you with anxiety, which can
00:41:50.840 lead to a whole host of health problems.
00:41:53.220 Right?
00:41:53.380 Yeah.
00:41:53.720 So it's all about balance people.
00:41:55.500 It's about your mental health as much as it is your physical health too.
00:41:59.960 And there's a whole like, there's a whole spiritual aspect to this as well.
00:42:03.940 The balance of it.
00:42:04.800 Right?
00:42:05.260 I feel like as someone who believes that my body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, I should
00:42:10.640 take good care of it.
00:42:11.840 And I cannot serve well, live well, or do anything really well when my abilities are limited due
00:42:20.560 to illness.
00:42:21.200 Right?
00:42:21.580 So when I was living in all that pain for all that time, I wasn't able to fulfill, you
00:42:26.680 know, I, and this is kind of like, I don't think that God can't use me when I'm sick,
00:42:32.360 but I know that if I'm standing in the way of me feeling my best and living my best, then
00:42:37.180 I'm limiting myself from being able to serve in the way that I'm probably designed to.
00:42:41.620 So, you know, I kind of liken it to what back when we were all single and, you know, people
00:42:46.480 were talking about dating and, um, when I think it was in a book, but one of my girlfriends
00:42:51.580 got the advice that, like, you know, if you want to find a guy, he's not going to come
00:42:55.680 to your door, be a pizza delivery guy.
00:42:57.500 Like you have to like actually go out into the world, you know, and I feel like it's the
00:43:01.480 same way.
00:43:02.220 That's so stupid.
00:43:03.400 But with our health that we can't just sit here and expect like, Oh, God's going to heal
00:43:07.060 me or, you know, like, this is just how it is.
00:43:10.320 This is what like God has for me in my life.
00:43:12.400 When there are things that I could be doing to improve my health or not stand in the way
00:43:16.680 of the balanced body that he designed me with.
00:43:19.060 And when I am limiting myself that way, I'm limiting my capacity to serve.
00:43:24.200 And so I think that we have a duty and a responsibility as believers to take care of
00:43:29.200 these bodies we've been given.
00:43:30.640 So there's the balance there as well.
00:43:32.680 Yes.
00:43:33.000 It's just being a good steward.
00:43:34.740 Yep.
00:43:34.880 Well, also recognizing that, you know, we are all going to die.
00:43:39.780 And so there is joy found in some pleasures that might also include canola oil sometimes.
00:43:47.280 Not always, but, you know, there is.
00:43:49.900 So it's good stewardship while also realizing that things are fleeting and life is certainly
00:43:56.300 too short to be weighed down by shame and guilt over things.
00:44:01.400 Not, you know what?
00:44:02.040 We're not going to have a completely toxic free life until we're in heaven.
00:44:06.100 That's it.
00:44:06.540 That's when toxicity will die.
00:44:09.180 When we are in the new heavens and the new earth, then we will be truly toxic free.
00:44:14.220 That's it.
00:44:14.860 Yeah.
00:44:15.140 Yeah.
00:44:15.340 And so until then, we just do the best that we can, just like anything else.
00:44:18.840 Yeah.
00:44:19.120 Yeah.
00:44:19.320 Without letting it control my life.
00:44:21.460 I'm not going to let non-toxic living be my God.
00:44:24.580 Yes.
00:44:24.980 Yes.
00:44:25.420 But doing the best we can to be responsible and to steward our bodies and our families
00:44:29.340 well.
00:44:29.920 Yes.
00:44:30.300 Is there any last bit of encouragement or anything else you would like the audience to
00:44:35.020 know before we go?
00:44:36.160 Not that I can think of, but yeah, I feel like everyone can do this.
00:44:40.060 Everyone can apply these things to their life and just keep going.
00:44:43.940 Yeah.
00:44:44.740 And I mean, just reference again, her amazing story of how you literally got rid of pain,
00:44:51.420 chronic pain that you had been dealing with for years by just cleansing your body and your
00:44:57.300 environment.
00:44:58.060 So it can really be a game changer and you and your family's life.
00:45:02.420 So I just encourage everyone to go out, get a healthier home.
00:45:06.320 It's the room by room guide to make any space a little less toxic.
00:45:10.520 Also follow Shauna on Instagram.
00:45:12.440 She's a fun follow.
00:45:13.940 So a cleansing follow to cleanse your timeline of all the toxicity that might be on there.
00:45:20.520 And so make sure that you follow her and buy her book.
00:45:23.300 Well, Shauna, thanks so much.
00:45:24.440 It's great to meet you in person.
00:45:25.760 Thanks for joining us.
00:45:26.600 Thank you.
00:45:27.320 So fun.