Warning - Waste Disposal In Your Food and Toiletries?

The 3 Most Common Ways to Get Toxic During the Summer

I. Sunblocks

They offer a double whammy challenge. First, by blocking the sun from penetrating the skin, they prevent the formation of vitamin D, a necessary hormone (vitamin D is a misnomer) for energy and proper bone formation.

Second, their chemicals go directly into the blood stream, bypassing the liver and overtaxing the kidneys. They contain:

- EDTA, a preservative, toxic to your cells and to your genetic information, causing developmental and reproductive problems.
- parabens, substances that prolong their shelf life and that are carcinogenic.
- propylene glycol, also known as antifreeze.

Didn't I say that these poisons, which have very strict disposal guidelines, end up in your food or toiletries?

What to do instead:

1. Expose yourself to the sun early in the morning, between 8 and 11 am, and later in the afternoon, after 4 pm. The advantages of this practice is that you get Vitamin D production from the best source: sunlight.
2. Choose organic, natural sunscreens if you are going to use them, whose ONLY two active ingredients are zinc oxide and titanium dioxide -zinc is better than titanium.
Rule of thumb: the more you can pronounce the other ingredients, the better!

II. Insect Repellents

They contain DEET, a highly toxic substance, specially if inhaled or ingested. It causes skin and eye irritation, nausea, vomiting, and headaches. It affects the Central Nervous System (CNS) and causes drowsiness, seizures and an altered mental status.

Granted, most of these conditions happen after high exposure or ingestion. Yet, considering that we are constantly exposed to toxicity in our environment, a sudden reaction can happen, in which a small amount of the new toxic substance puts our immune system over the threshold of what it can handle, and trigger a massive reaction instantaneously. Why take a chance?

What to do instead:

Choose natural insect repellents, based on citronella oil. Take bitter herbs to make your blood bitter and unappealing to bugs. The same holds true for garlic, insects don't like its taste in the blood.

III. Antifreeze

This comes directly from NYC's Residential Guide to Safe Handling and Disposal of Harmful Products:

Page 6: "Antifreeze is poisonous and can be lethal if ingested. Keep antifreeze away from children and pets, who may find the color and sweet smell appealing and drink it. Never drain antifreeze from your car on the street, and do not dispose of it down the drain, in sewers, or into streams."

So, if this is a substance that shouldn't end up in our drinking water, how is it that it ends up in our food and toiletries? You just have to read the labels carefully to see where antifreeze, also known as propylene, butylene, ethylene or methylene glycol, ends up: ice cream (read Baskin & Robbins ice cream labels - propylene glycol is one of the ingredients), cakes or pies with filling. How does that antifreeze taste?

It is also found in soaps, moisturizers, even poison ivy relief creams, and it gets absorbed directly into the blood stream through the skin.

When you eat poisons, your liver detoxifies your blood, and the toxins end up being secreted by your kidneys or in your feces. When the same toxins end up directly in your blood stream, they bypass the liver detoxification, thereby taxing the kidneys with this task.