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It's Time for the Annual 'Chemical Spring Cleaning' - Getting Rid of Unnecessary Household Chemicals · Doctor Turned Health Coach

• 0:21
  Well, even though it's not spring, we're going to do a little bit of chemical spring cleaning.
• 0:28
  So this is something I send to all of my clients about three times a year.
• 0:32
  So if you're new to the Dr. Ashori health coaching program, of course, welcome.
• 0:38
  And this podcast is a great way for me to share this information with all of you en masse.
• 0:44
  So chemical spring cleaning, basically, it is what it sounds like.
• 0:49
  We want to get rid of all of the unnecessary chemicals in our environment because
• 0:55
  chemicals that are in our environment can sometimes cause a little bit of harm.
• 1:00
  Of course, this is not meant to be in any way fear-mongering.
• 1:05
  The goal here is to just give you guys some advice and help you have an overall
• 1:11
  better health by minimizing the amount of damage that can happen to the body.
• 1:16
  Now, the body, the human body, can handle a lot of damage.
• 1:21
  Ultraviolet rays, alcohol, smoking, air pollution, trauma from exercise,
• 1:27
  all of that is considered trauma.
• 1:30
  The good news is that the body is able to manage a lot of that and heal and even become stronger.
• 1:36
  But sometimes, if you're not in the best of health,
• 1:41
  any of these chemicals that are in our environment, such as cleaning products,
• 1:45
  soaps, lotions, hair products, these can eventually add up and they can create
• 1:51
  inflammation or damage in the body.
• 1:55
  And it's more common than ever in our environment to have tons of chemicals in our house.
• 2:01
  So for example, I'm just kind of looking around to see what there is.
• 2:05
  So my wife has a glass cleaner for her eyeglasses.
• 2:09
  So that's one. now I'm in the
• 2:12
  kitchen and I'm looking at two different dish soaps one is
• 2:15
  for the dishwashing it's dishwashing detergent
• 2:18
  and the other one is a hand soap and under the
• 2:21
  kitchen cabinet I'm looking at Comet and some
• 2:24
  bleach and a glass cleaner over
• 2:28
  here in the washing machine room there
• 2:32
  is Pine Sol we got a 7th generation I think this is for dish liquid this is
• 2:40
  a Lysol disinfectant this is the Bona hard surface cleaner we got a spot remover
• 2:46
  an all-purpose cleaner Ajax Windex Goo Gone Old English.
• 2:52
  Anyway, I'll stop. But you guys can see that there is tons of tons of cleaners.
• 2:56
  Now, sometimes some of these cleaners, what they've done, if you look at them,
• 3:00
  I wish I could share a photo with you.
• 3:03
  They all have a green color, often a green with a little bit of brown or wood tone.
• 3:10
  And the reason for that is intentional. It's meant to demonstrate that this
• 3:14
  is actually pretty safe.
• 3:15
  This is natural. Don't be afraid. Right. And of course, Mayer's cleaner and
• 3:20
  Dr. Bonner's soap are advertised as incredibly safe.
• 3:25
  A good way to understand chemicals is that chemicals that we put on our skin
• 3:29
  always get absorbed into our bloodstream.
• 3:33
  Some people think that, oh, well, if I put it on my skin, it's perfectly fine. No.
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  Number one, it does always get absorbed into your bloodstream.
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  Number two, it sometimes compromises the integrity of your skin,
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  which means that other chemicals can get into your skin.
• 3:47
  So classically, people who are mechanics or wash their hands a lot like physicians
• 3:51
  and nurses, they usually lose that protective barrier on their skin.
• 3:56
  So even if they touch paper or a wood chair or their laptop.
• 4:01
  The oils and chemicals from the wood and their laptop, all of that gets absorbed
• 4:07
  on their skin and they develop very bad hand eczema.
• 4:11
  Or other names for it that we have is dyshydrotic eczema or dyshydrosis,
• 4:16
  lots of different names for inflammation that happens because you lose the protection of your skin.
• 4:23
  If you're using a lot of soap, if you're scrubbing your skin really hard in
• 4:27
  the shower, if you're using a lot of different types of chemicals to clean your
• 4:31
  skin, everybody uses all sorts of stuff, you could actually erode the healthy layer.
• 4:37
  Now, this layer, many people will call it grime. Yes, we call it grime.
• 4:41
  That's okay. We actually try to get rid of this,
• 4:44
  because we think it's better for us. And for some people, it's kind of disgusting.
• 4:48
  Now, most of the time, you can't see the grime. You can hardly feel it.
• 4:53
  But it is a little bit of a natural wax and oil that's on the surface.
• 4:59
  Underneath that is a layer of dead skin. Underneath that is the top layer of
• 5:04
  your skin, which is called the epidermis.
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  Then beneath that is the dermis. And then you got the blood vessels and nerves and everything else.
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  If you were to clean your skin perfectly all the time, getting rid of all of
• 5:15
  that dead skin and all of that oil, you would develop what mechanics and physicians
• 5:20
  and nurses develop, which is very bad dry hands.
• 5:24
  And all of that chemical can then easily get into your bloodstream,
• 5:29
  well, get into your bloodstream easier.
• 5:31
  And then you get all sorts of digestion problems, stress, nausea,
• 5:38
  vomiting, headaches, everything else that people develop when they rapidly absorb
• 5:42
  these chemicals in their skin.
• 5:44
  The good news is, for most of us, that doesn't happen. And most of us can handle
• 5:49
  some chemicals, some soap, some shampoo, some detergent, some conditioner,
• 5:54
  but it's always better to minimize it.
• 5:57
  So my recommendation, number one, is always have a good ventilated house when
• 6:02
  you use chemicals. Number two, always, always, always use nitrile gloves.
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  Nitrile gloves, not latex gloves. Most places just have nitrile gloves these
• 6:11
  days because of latex allergies.
• 6:13
  And try to minimize the amount of chemicals you use. So those are the top three.
• 6:17
  Now, for me, I've completely gone the other way. I just use one type of soap.
• 6:22
  It's usually a Castile soap, meaning
• 6:25
  that it just doesn't need a lot of stabilizers and chemicals in it.
• 6:28
  It's just a bar soap that I use for everything. for my skin,
• 6:31
  for my hair, for my body, and also for cleaning surfaces. It's very simple.
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  You don't need a liquid soap just to be able to clean places.
• 6:40
  I also use a lot of vinegar. Vinegar has a lot of great antibacterial properties.
• 6:46
  It can get rid of certain stains very easily. And then I use baking soda.
• 6:51
  Now, for when I'm in the shower, you don't have to use soap on all parts of your body all the time.
• 6:58
  I'm not going to get into the details of it because for some of you this might
• 7:01
  just not be that pleasant to hear, but let's just keep it simple and say that
• 7:05
  you can probably use less soap and you will be still very, very clean.
• 7:10
  And your body might even, and your skin might overall be healthier.
• 7:14
  So when it comes to spraying things, if you use a spray like Windex and you
• 7:18
  spray it, remember that it's going to get on other surfaces and you're going to touch that.
• 7:21
  It's not like Windex is going to evaporate. It's going to stay on other nearby
• 7:25
  surfaces that you touch and then you touch your mouth.
• 7:27
  So that's an easier way for these chemicals to get into your body.
• 7:31
  Other things to consider is if you're spraying and cleaning around dishware
• 7:36
  in the kitchen, anything you spray or if water splatters around it,
• 7:42
  it's going to get up and it's going to land on your plates.
• 7:44
  Now, again, most of us, 90% of us, will never have an issue.
• 7:48
  But there are the 10% that have a lot of digestion problems and other health
• 7:55
  problems because of these chemicals.
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  And because we don't know who's going to respond to what, this spring chemical
• 8:02
  cleaning is meant to give you guys some advice to just do a little bit less.
• 8:07
  You can still use soap to wash your hands. You can still use a lotion on your
• 8:11
  skin. You can use coconut oil.
• 8:13
  You can use coconut oil for your skin, for your hair.
• 8:18
  There's a theory out there that it is bad. It causes comedones.
• 8:22
  Not really. It doesn't cause acne. That's very rare.
• 8:24
  In fact, many gynecologists recommend it as a sex lube. So, perfect.
• 8:29
  You could use that, right? It's safe.
• 8:31
  And if you can get virgin, minimally processed coconut oil, even better,
• 8:36
  especially if you're going to put it on your skin.
• 8:39
  So, my suggestion is try to downsize to about two or three different chemicals in your house.
• 8:45
  If you have chemicals, there are hardware stores that you can safely dispose
• 8:48
  of your chemicals. Don't keep them.
• 8:50
  I don't think it's a good idea to keep chemicals in your house if you're just
• 8:53
  not going to use it, if your idea, if your goal is to just get rid of it, just get rid of it.
• 8:58
  And that's always the best next step.
• 9:02
  So vinegar, baking soda, and a good Castile soap should be everything that you
• 9:06
  need to stay healthy and minimize exposure to chemicals.