Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
INTRODUCTION
TOXIC FOOD? TOXIC HOME?
When I was growing up, there was a plaque on my grandma’s wall that said it all: This home is clean enough to be healthy, and dirty enough to be happy.
Maybe you’ve seen this saying on a decorative plate or framed needlepoint. It’s still everywhere, and it would be a total cliché if it weren’t so true. Creating a home environment that is healthy and happy is not about perfection and driving your family batshit crazy. It’s about finding a balance between the choices that keep y’all healthy and the sanity-preserving allowances that keep everybody happy too.
In other words, do what you can and then just chill out.
But here is some reality you need to understand. If you thought that the food and products you purchase are independently safety-tested before they hit the shelves, you are wrong. Your family is not protected the way you thought, and it has to do with what crazy chemicals y’all are exposed to, day in and day out. Chemicals that, in many cases, are banned or restricted overseas, but here in the good old U.S. of A. end up on our dinner plates and in products inside our homes.1 Yes, there are rules and regulations governing this shit, but some of that bureaucratic mumbo jumbo is more about shielding manufacturers from legal liability than it is about looking out for you and your family—so who’s to say you’re actually being protected? It also doesn’t mean the powers that be have to tell you what they are not regulating for your safety.
In some cases, you’ve been flat-out lied to; in others, no one bothered to tell you about the fine print. And let’s face it: Had someone pointed out that fine print, would you have really read it? You’ve been a bit busy making awesomeness happen, and those sneaky chemical companies are banking on you being too busy to check that shit out.
So what chemicals are we talking about, and where are they? The answer to that is complicated as fuck, but I’m going to break it down for you. That is what this book is all about.
I’m here for you, girl.
In today’s world of seemingly endless options and totally relentless marketing, it has become more and more difficult to make good, careful choices. The supermarket has become a place of confusion for most people, and when you have a family to protect and care for, you need real answers, really quick.
Well, my dear, you have come to the right place! I am here to end the confusion and get you started on the right track.
Let’s get a few things out of the way first.
Full disclosure: I didn’t used to be a “green mom.” You know, those total killjoys you encounter at playgrounds, parties, and everywhere you want to just relax. (“Everything is toxic! Everything is giving us cancer! You can’t do this because of that, and you can’t do that because of this!”) I hate to be told what to do, so I avoided green moms like the plague. Back in the day, I even worked for politicians who voted against regulations that would have helped protect our children and environment. My life was full of chemicals. I went green slowly, as I learned about chemical contamination in products and food and witnessed the avalanche of chronic disease and cancers, including in my own family.
I’m sure you’ve noticed something similar happen with your family and friends. People are dying and getting sick, and it’s everywhere.
Today, I’m green enough, which means far from perfect, but light-years better than before. I’m the founder of Mamavation, a mom-focused social-media community dedicated to cutting through the marketing bullshit and discovering what’s truly healthy for ourselves, our families, and our environment. I’m a rabble-rouser, and a speaker of truth to power, and I’m here to help you find your way to a greener path. No judgment, just love and compassion—plus need-to-know information leavened with a lot of humor and more than a few cuss words.
I am challenging you to read this book and take action to make things better for yourself and your family; learn as much as you can and share your knowledge with your loved ones and friends; and also help make a difference with your dollar bills by buying more products from companies that are creating a better, healthier world. We will change the system through sharing knowledge and supporting the good guys who are doing things in a better way right now.
And I’ll tell you what this book is not about. This book has not been written to make you feel bad about how you are raising your family. How can I possibly look down on you when I used to eat fast food every single day? On the other hand, you ain’t no badass in my book if you use any of this information to make other moms feel like shit. This book is about us all rising up together, each on her own timeline and in her own way. So take what you want and leave what you don’t. I don’t care. I just want you to have the information so you have true choices.
We are going to update that corny but wise philosophy: This home is GREEN ENOUGH to be healthy, and CHILL enough to be happy.
So buckle up, my friend. It is time to get real and get busy.
TOXIC FOOD? TOXIC HOME?
What would you say if I told you . . .
That cinnamon oat square cereal you bought because it’s chockfull of fiber and protein is not only loaded with sugar—more than 2 teaspoons per half-cup serving—but also butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT, a scary, petroleum-derived preservative that’s banned in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Japan, and throughout Europe),2 genetically modified organisms (GMO) galore in the sweeteners, maybe some monosodium glutamate in that mystery “flavor” listed on the label, and potentially a huge dose of pesticides in the oats and wheat.
If you’d say that’s un-freakin’-believable, I’d totally understand (personally, this makes me want to rip my hair out.)
OR THIS:
When you microwave that handy bag of popcorn, you are unleashing tons of toxic substances inherent in the packaging materials and chemicals that are strongly suspected of being potent hormone disrupters and carcinogens.3
If your response to the oh-so-convenient bag o’ hormone hackers and cancer is a big eye roll and a heavy sigh, I’m right there with you.
ALSO THIS:
Ninety-nine percent of conventionally grown strawberries tested by the USDA in 2014 and 2015 came up positive for contamination with pesticides—and that’s after the berries were washed. On 20 percent of samples, the pesticides included a fungicide that has been banned in the European Union because of its intense toxicity.4
It’s a total horror show.
PLUS THIS:
Eighty-two percent of ground-turkey samples collected for a study in 2012 were contaminated with E. coli—and more than half of the bacteria found on the ground turkey were resistant to at least three classes of antibiotics, according to FDA scientists.5
Shrieking is totally understandable at this point, as are gagging noises.
AND HOW ABOUT THIS:
Ninety percent of household dust samples from multiple studies of American homes contain 10 harmful chemicals that may be linked to infertility, birth defects, autism, early puberty, obesity, diabetes, and hormone-related cancers, as well as a flame-retardant (TDCIPP) that is known to cause cancer. But wait, there’s still more! One-hundred percent of the dust samples contained large amounts of substances called phthalates, which are believed to interfere with hormones in the body and are linked to declines in IQ and respiratory problems in children, poor sperm quality (among other reproductive problems), and many other health hazards.6
I’d hazard a guess that you’re mighty tempted to slap this book shut and go vacuum the bejesus out of your entire domicile.
AND (LAST ONE. FOR NOW.):
Most shampoo, soap, lotion, and other personal care products we slather all over ourselves and our children on a daily basis contain hormone-disrupting chemicals that have been linked to asthma, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), obesity, type 2 diabetes, low IQ, neurodevelopmental issues, behavioral issues, autism spectrum disorders, breast cancer, altered reproductive development, and male genital defects and fertility problems. These chemicals are called phthalates. And they only rarely are listed on product labels.7
Are you thinking, Leah, could just shut up?! I feel ya. But no.
If it sounds like I’m telling you that your food and the packages it comes in are polluted, and so are your home and your family’s personal care products, that’s because I am. These everyday toxic exposures we are contending with add up, eventually burdening our bodies with a toxic load that can lead to serious health problems.
The good news is that there are a lot of reasonably easy ways that you can dial your family’s toxic load way down.
First, we’ll cover everything you need to know to get smart about your food choices, including issues about processed food and food packaging (Chapters 1 and 2, respectively), followed by produce, meat, and dairy (Chapters 3 and 4). Chapter 5 is all about setting you up with great foods and easy ways to prepare them. Then comes Chapter 6, a room-by-room guide to reducing toxic exposures at home. Finally, there’s Chapter 7, where I’ll help you navigate the treacherous terrain of personal care products.
If you want to get right to the part where we open up a can of whoopass on those toxic exposures, just turn to page 208.
However, if you want more background on what kind of chemicals we’re concerned about here; how they’re getting into our food, our household items, and our grooming products; how little we are protected by the powers that be; and what the potential health consequences are, then dig in to the rest of this chapter.
This is where I’m going to get you acquainted with the main chemical offenders and important details on exactly how they threaten your health. I’ll also dish up some dirt on chemical companies and the government agencies that are falling down on the job of protecting you and your family, or straight-up ignoring it. Basically, I’m going to give you a whole slew of reasons to get serious about lightening your family’s toxic load—complete with some seriously scary science. You can refer back to this information as you make your way through the practical steps you’ll get into in the chapters that follow.
So, are you ready to kick the toxic shit to the curb? Brace yourself. (And I wouldn’t discourage you from pausing to pour yourself a glass of organic wine, either.)
HELLO, HAZMATS
From preservatives, flavorings, and fragrances to pesticides, plasticizers, and flame retardants, there are thousands upon thousands of synthetic chemicals in the products we consume and use on a daily basis—more than 85,000, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. The vast majority of these chemicals have not been proven safe for human and environmental health.8 In fact, every day we are learning about more chemicals that are more dangerous than they are useful. Mind you, a chemical doesn’t have to be synthetic to be dangerous—lead, arsenic, and mercury are just a few examples of naturally occurring elements that cause grievous harm.
Basically, we live in a toxic soup, and still we wonder why so many people are having trouble conceiving children, so many others are dropping dead of cancer, and chronic disease is becoming so prevalent among young children that our offspring have been dubbed “Generation Rx.” Check out these seriously scary stats (as of 2017):
1 in 3 children are overweight9
1 in 6 children have a learning disability10
1 in 9 children have asthma11
1 in 10 children have ADHD12
1 in 13 children have food allergies13
1 in 27 male children have autism14
What the actual hell is going on here?
PUBLIC ENEMY NO. 1: ENDOCRINE DISRUPTORS
The chemical culprits I am going to give top billing to here and throughout this book are endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs), substances that, depending on the chemical, interfere with hormones and sometimes entire hormone systems.
We tend to think of hormones mostly as important factors in sexual development and reproduction. Well, they’re certainly vital in those ways, but it goes way beyond that.
If you thought the brain was unilaterally responsible for ruling the rest of the body, guess again. The endocrine system is an exquisitely complex and finely tuned system that works at a grassroots level to control the body’s other systems, which in turn deal with the business of vital functions such as development, growth, metabolism, immune response, reproduction, intelligence, and behavior. To manage this feat, the endocrine system uses a variety of chemical messengers, including hormones.
If these chemical messengers could be hijacked, just imagine the severity and extent of the mayhem that could ensue. Unfortunately it’s not a matter of if, but when—because that’s what’s going down in our bodies.
These hijackers are devious; they mimic, thwart, disorient, and otherwise interfere with hormones, and they can change the way our cells develop and grow. Some of these chemicals mess with sexual development. Certain ones can diminish intelligence and derail behavior. Others have the potential to throw our metabolic function and/or immune systems out of whack.15, 16
In terms of fertility, the consequences can be horrendous. Men may have declines in sperm count, increases in malformed sperm, and sperm that lack the requisite swimming skills to get the job done.17 Worldwide, sperm counts have tanked by as much as 50 percent in recent decades, while rates of testicular cancer have surged.18 In women, endocrine disruption can cause egg production or ovulation to malfunction, pregnancy to terminate, or fetal development to go awry. Hormone-related cancers, endometriosis, and other reproductive disorders are on the upswing among women.19
For those fortunate enough to conceive, there are grave concerns about chemicals that can pass through the placenta and/or can be passed from mother to infant through breast milk. In the womb, exposure to EDCs during pregnancy can be dire because hormones play a programming role during fetal development, and the damage is irreversible if this is tampered with at such an early stage.20 For example, the entire male sexual-differentiation process depends upon certain hormones (androgens) arriving on the scene during a very specific window of time. Any interference—which can happen when the mother is exposed to phthalates via plastic food containers and fragrances, among many other things—has been linked to increased incidence of undescended testicles and malformations of the penis (such as the urethra coming out the side rather than the end), both of which are on the rise in baby boys.21 Similarly, the disruption of thyroid hormones (from pesticides, for one) before birth has been associated with all manner of neurodevelopmental problems, from learning disabilities and impaired IQ to ADHD and autism.22
Once a kid is born, several distinct factors come into play. As we all know, most children spend their first few years exploring life low to the ground, so they have a lot of opportunities to come in contact with potentially contaminated soil and dust; they also love to put just about everything in their mouths; and they eat, drink, and breathe more per body weight compared to adults, while undergoing many rapid body changes. All this leaves kids susceptible to even minute doses of environmental toxins.
Standard testing logic assumes that higher doses of anything cause greater harm, but many EDCs—heavy metals, solvents, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), organophosphate pesticides, phthalates, and bisphenol A (BPA)—have been found in animal and human studies to result in ill effects at lower doses.24 At low doses, EDCs cause adverse effects by interfering with specific receptor systems.25 At high doses, those receptor systems shut down, so then the EDCs find different targets with different effects. Basically, if you are testing for EDC effects at high doses, you won’t see the low-dose consequences. And what might result from many different doses combining and accumulating—especially in children’s smaller and much more vulnerable bodies—is an unanswered and truly terrifying question.
Did you catch that? In this case, dose does not equal the poison. Teeny-tiny parts per trillion can affect the future of your family.
Even in adults, minuscule amounts of an endocrine-disrupting chemical can have a disproportionate effect, and small amounts of different ones may have a cumulative effect. In some cases, the by-products of EDCs (when the body’s enzymes break it down) may have greater harmful effect than the parent chemical.26
Speaking of ill effects being passed along from a parent—and being amplified in the process—some of the most god-awful news about endocrine-disrupting chemicals is coming from an emerging science called epigenetics. This new science indicates that children inherit more than just DNA from their parents—studies suggest that EDC exposure may leave chemical marks on a parent’s genes that manifest later in the child’s life, triggering an array of health problems that run the gamut from asthma, autism, diabetes, and obesity to infertility and reproductive diseases, cardiovascular dysfunctions, and schizophrenia.27 And let’s not forget one of the most terrifying: cancer. There is also evidence that the alterations these EDCs make on our own genes may be passed down to subsequent generations, so the reality is your children—and quite possibly your grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great-grandchildren—could inherit a lot more than your eye color and dimples!28
