Episode 20

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Published on:

31st Jul 2024

20: Small Steps to Living Toxin-Free | Kristen van Gilse

Empowering Women to Embrace a Healthier, Non-Toxic Lifestyle

In this episode of the Ever Be podcast, host Mari Wagner speaks with Instagram influencer Kristen, also known as Organa Mama, on the importance of reducing toxins in daily life. Kristen shares her personal journey from being diagnosed with interstitial cystitis to achieving permanent remission through clean living. The discussion covers identifying and eliminating common toxins found in homes, personal care products, and food, along with practical steps for gradually switching to non-toxic alternatives. The episode aims to educate and empower women to make smaller, impactful changes towards living a healthier, Christ-centered life.

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Kristen's Links

Instagram @the.organimama

Website - https://www.organimama.com/

Guides & Resources - https://www.organimama.com/resources

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Crunchi - crunchi.com/mariwagner click the link to get 10% off and use code ADVOCATE10!

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Transcript
Speaker:

Hey, I'm your host, Mari Wagner,

and you're listening to the ever be

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podcast where faith meets lifestyle.

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I'm so excited you're here, whether you're

a new listener or a longtime follower,

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I know there's something here for you.

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Pull up a chair and listen in for

insightful real life conversations

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and actionable steps on how to claim

the full life God created you for.

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If you're a woman desiring to live

a Christ centered life in today's

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modern world, then this is for you.

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Welcome to Ever Be.

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mari: Hey, Kristen, welcome to ever be.

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Kristen: Hi Mari.

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Thank you so much for having me today.

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mari: I'm so pumped to get into our

conversation today because I know

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it's going to be the type of resource

that's going to educate people, um, and

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empower women to start ditching toxins

and leaning into a cleaner lifestyle.

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Kristen: Absolutely.

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Those are two of my favorite

words, educate and empower.

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mari: Yes, exactly.

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I know that when I started like my

whole clean living journey, it was about

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three years ago and it was a little

bit alarming at first to hear about

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all the things that were bad and to

hear that everything in my house was.

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You know, harming me in some way.

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And I felt this like anxiety

and this urgency to get rid of

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everything at the same time.

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And for a while it just kind of

became an all or nothing thing.

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And so I just kind of like focused

on learning and educating, uh,

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myself because I think at first

I was, I was kind of skeptical.

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I was like, how come everything

all of a sudden is bad?

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Like how did I never know this?

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And it wasn't until really that I, like

I said, focused on educating myself and

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focusing on just like a few, Resources

that I feel felt like were trusted

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resources, Christian based resources

of women who were going through similar

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experiences as me and that were really

dedicating time to real research.

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It was then that I felt really

empowered, you know, to actually start

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making small changes, little changes.

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Um, and your Instagram has been

such a wonderful resource to

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me the past, I think, like year

that I've been following you.

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It's been.

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So great.

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So I'm excited to have you and really

dive into all this and help people,

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you know, just gain that confidence

in their clean living journey.

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Kristen: Absolutely.

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Yeah, that's great.

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mari: So let's just kick it off.

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Can you give us all an

introduction on yourself?

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Um, and maybe kind of how you got into

this space, like what really kicked off

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your journey in the non toxic world?

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What?

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Kristen: name is Kristen.

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I show up on Instagram as the Organa Mama.

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and basically my whole platform

is around helping women learn how

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to heal themselves or prevent.

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disease down the road.

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And so, basically this all stems from

my own personal story, which is that,

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um, when I got married at age 21, my

husband and I went on our honeymoon,

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and while we were on our honeymoon in

the Dominican Republic, I developed

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really painful, um, symptoms of what

felt like a urinary tract infection.

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I just assumed that's what it was.

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And we actually went to like a

pharmacy and Nick, my husband

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can like speak a little Spanish.

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So he like tried to like find me

an antibiotic for like a urinary

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tract infection while we were there.

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And.

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I like took some drugs that we got from

the pharmacy, like, don't know how legit

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they were, but, uh, basically what ended

up happening is I suffered from symptoms

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of what I thought was a UTI for months and

I, you know, saw a doctor when we got back

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to the States and they like did a test and

they were like, well, I can't really tell

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if you like actually have an infection or

not, but like, clearly you're symptomatic.

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So let's put you on another

round of antibiotics.

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So I actually did three rounds of

antibiotics, which I'm sure just

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like killed my gut bacteria, but um,

my symptoms really never went away.

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And so I eventually went and saw a

urologist about four months after our

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wedding kind of told him all about what

had been going on, what had happened

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with the antibiotics and all my symptoms.

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And he said, yeah, it

sounds like you have this.

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illness called interstitial

cystitis, and it's lifelong.

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There's no known cure, and you

will probably be in pain for

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the foreseeable future, like

maybe for the rest of your life.

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And here's a pamphlet.

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In this pamphlet, there's some

suggestions on things that might help you.

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Some people have found help from stuff

that's in here, and some people haven't.

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And then he said literally.

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And

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mari: Oh my,

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Kristen: I was

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mari: that's so, that's so tough.

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I mean, especially just like a few

months into your marriage or just

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like in this new chapter of life.

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It's exciting.

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And then you get hit with this bomb.

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Like that must've been really hard.

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Kristen: so hard.

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And we were still seniors in college.

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And so I was wondering like, am I

going to really like have to try to

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finish school, like in all this pain?

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Like, I just thought I had a UTI

and I thought it would go away,

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but like, it hasn't gone away.

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And, um, you know, it definitely

was like a complication on our

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sex life as new newly married,

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mari: Yes.

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Kristen: much pain all the time.

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There was just so many challenges to that

and I think when that doctor said that to

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me, I think that like initially I had this

feeling just like this feeling in my heart

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of like my life is never gonna be the same

like I am like Damaged and I'm like going

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to be sick for the rest of my life But

then there was also this little part of me

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that like is the very like stubborn side

of me that was listening to this diagnosis

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going Really though, like, are we sure

that, that this is going to be my future?

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And I think that I just leaned

pretty heavily into that.

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And I started researching,

trying to understand like what

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causes a disease like this?

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Like why someone like me, like, I

thought I was pretty normal, healthy,

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but what I didn't know is my lifestyle

was terrible, but I was living like

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every other 21 year old college student

that I knew, like, a lot of fast food,

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staying up late, being on social media

a lot, and not drinking enough water.

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Just all these things, these like basic

foundations of health that I didn't

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really realize how important they were.

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then as I started researching and

trying to understand this, diagnosis of

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interstitial cystitis, I started learning

about inflammation for the first time.

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wasn't really familiar with that as a

concept, and the more I learned about it,

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the more it felt like I was just waking up

to a whole new world of, oh my goodness,

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the food I'm eating, the quality of sleep

I'm getting, the amount of water I'm

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drinking, and All of these environmental

toxins, which like who I had no idea what

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those were before either all of these

environmental toxins are contributing

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to my body's inflammatory levels.

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And that's disease is an inflammation

based disease, and I'm sick because

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my body is just full of inflammation.

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So

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mari: Dang.

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Kristen: trying to figure out, okay,

how do I lower my body's inflammatory

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response and inflammatory load?

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And so I started by some diet changes.

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I was able to, um, make also, sorry, you

hear a baby crying in the background.

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mari: good.

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We love babies here, so not a problem.

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Kristen: We're watching my two kids.

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There might be some

screaming in the background.

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mari: All good.

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Kristen: so I started out by cutting

gluten and that was a huge improvement

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for me just in terms of how my

body was handling its pain levels.

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And the flares of my disease really

slowed down when I cut gluten

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out because the gluten I had been

eating for my whole life was.

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Not good quality gluten.

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It was the bleached enriched flour

with all of the preservatives and

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gums and fillers and stabilizers

added to it and all of that stuff.

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mari: Yes.

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Kristen: I cut out like junk food and fast

food and gluten, that was a huge change.

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And then I started researching like, Oh

my gosh, like these products that I'm

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putting on my body on a daily basis,

my skincare, my makeup, my shampoo and

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body wash, my perfume, all of this stuff

is contributing to my inflammation.

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So I need to change that.

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mari: Yes.

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Kristen: And that's how I got started.

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And that started like a journey for me

of several years of, learning how to

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read ingredient labels, learning how

to identify toxic ingredients in my

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personal care products, in my cleaning

products and in other things in my home.

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And gradually over the years,

Nick and I started swapping

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things out one thing at a time.

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It wasn't like an overnight thing.

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success story, but we started just slowly

whenever we needed to replace one product,

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we would try to figure out what's the most

non toxic version of this that we can get.

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Instead we would swap it out.

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And within two and a half years of

my diagnosis, I was in permanent

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remission from interstitial cystitis.

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So that was summer of 2020

and now it's summer of:

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So it's been four years since

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mari: What?

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Kristen: flare.

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So

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mari: That is amazing, Kristen.

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Like what?

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This is so great.

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Kristen: yeah.

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Yeah,

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mari: Wow, I, I'm like getting so excited

and giddy just listening to you talk,

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because I feel like half the time when

I talk to people about clean living,

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toxins, all this stuff, I just kind of

get like, mm hmm, mm hmm, like little like

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nods here and there, and I think people

probably think I'm nuts or like super

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intense, but I'm like, yes, you get it.

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Oh, gosh.

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Well, praise God.

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I love, I love your story.

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I've, I've.

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Definitely like write it on

Instagram before, but just hearing

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coming from you is just so amazing.

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And I know that it's probably

going to touch a lot of people's

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hearts that are listening.

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Cause I'm sure you're not the only

one, you know, um, we all are dealing

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with some sort of health journey

or chronic illness or, you know,

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whatever it is that's, that's going on.

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And I think that a lot of us don't

really realize some of those root

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causes because especially like

you said, environmental toxins are

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something that we're just everywhere

and that we were never taught about.

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And.

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It's really surfacing in the

past few years and I love that

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more and more is coming out and

people are learning about it.

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So let's kind of dive

into that a little bit.

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Can you just identify what sort of toxins

we might encounter in our life and in

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our home or like where they even are?

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Um, I know that, like I said,

if it's your first time hearing

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this, you might feel a little bit

like, what are you talking about?

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I didn't know everything was bad.

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So can you just touch on like,

kind of where can you find these?

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What are these?

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You know, why is it bad?

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What are the effects?

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Kristen: Sure.

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Um, there's kind of like four

different categories in my mind of

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where you're going to be exposed

to toxins on a regular basis.

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the first is going to be the

things that you put on your body.

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So that's going to be

personal care products.

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So makeup, skincare, shampoo,

body wash, and also clothing.

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Um, so anything that's like touching

your body has the potential to expose

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you to harmful toxins, um, depending

on what it's made from and what

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the materials and ingredients are.

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The second category is going

to be cleaning products.

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So the things that you're

cleaning your home with.

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So those either may be things

that you're actually inhaling

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or things that you're touching.

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So this is kind of more of like a

middle category because it, It falls

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between two of my other categories.

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So things that you're putting on

your body and then you have cleaning

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products, which you might, they

might end up going on your body, like

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touching your hands or you might end up

breathing them in, like inhaling them.

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There's most store bought cleaning

products are full of toxic chemicals

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that are linked to endocrine disruption.

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That's basically if you're

unfamiliar, that means it's

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messing up your hormone levels.

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Um, that's what endocrine disruption

means screwing up your hormones,

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um, or they're linked to cancer or

they're linked to respiratory issues

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like asthma, um, or lung cancer.

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Like there's so many things and there's

hundreds of studies to back this up.

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Um, then the third category is

going to be what's in the air.

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So again, cleaning products could

fall into this if it's something

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you're spraying, but there are

toxins in the air, whether that's.

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smoke, pollution.

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It could be pet dander.

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It could be what we call volatile organic

compounds, which that's a fancy word for

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basically gases that come off of stuff.

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It could be gases coming off of furniture.

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It could be gases coming

out of your perfume bottle.

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It's anything that kind of

releases gases into the air.

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Some volatile organic compounds,

or I like to call them VOCs.

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Some of them are fine.

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Some of them are not dangerous.

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They don't have any.

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negative health implications, but

many of them are very dangerous.

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Um, and then the fourth category is

going to be stuff you put in your body.

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So food, water, and supplements.

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Um, or I guess there's other things that

people like ingest, but, uh, yeah, or

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yeah, food supplements, drugs and water.

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So there's potential harmful

toxins in, in those things as well.

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mari: Yeah, so good.

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Yeah.

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And that's why I'm like, if this

is the first time you're hearing

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this, you're probably like, Oh

my gosh, that is everything.

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Kristen: Yes.

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mari: is why, well, I was just

going to say, which is why, like,

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I want to reiterate, like that

starting small is such a good first

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step and that don't fall into what

I fell into of just like overall.

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I'm in like, Oh my gosh, everything's bad.

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I, I, I am just paralyzed.

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You know, like I can't do anything once.

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I actually was like, okay.

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My shampoo ran out.

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I'm just going to switch that.

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My soap ran out.

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I'm going to switch that.

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My makeup ran out.

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You know, little by little starts

making a difference and makes it,

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makes it so much easier as well as

like I said, like learning more and

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actually like educating yourself.

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So were you going to say something else?

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Kristen: I was just going to say

that I like to think about like toxin

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exposure in your life as like a bucket.

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And I kind of call this

the bucket analogy.

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There's other wellness people that

like share the same analogy too.

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But essentially if you think

about your health as this bucket,

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And all of the toxin exposures

are like a splash of water.

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So you have like a splash of water from

your makeup, a splash of water from your

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toxic shampoo, a splash of water from

toxins in your all purpose cleaner, a

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splash from toxic laundry detergent,

a splash from pollution that's in the

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air around your home, a splash from

pesticides that are in the food you're

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eating, a splash from food dyes in the

candy that you maybe eat on an occasion.

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All of those things are just

a splash, but they add up.

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And then when our body responds

and presents symptomatically with

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chronic illness, infertility, cancer,

it's an overflow of that bucket.

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So that bucket has overflowed.

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Our body cannot handle these exposures

anymore and we're overflowing.

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So don't have to empty

your bucket overnight.

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You just need to take out enough

of those, splashes of water to get

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your level low enough that your

body can breathe and, and operate.

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And it doesn't have to be

empty for that to be a thing.

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mari: So good.

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I'm going to use that.

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That's so good.

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Okay.

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So when it comes to reading ingredient

labels, we know that this can be

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tough and confusing sometimes.

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I mean, half the time we can't pronounce

what's even on the ingredient label.

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And so you just kind of put it down

and kind of hope that it's okay.

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So can you kind of help

shed some light on this?

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What are some of those top ingredients

that you could teach us to look out for?

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Kristen: Yes.

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I would say if you're just starting

out, there's one, there's one that

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you need to look out for Mari.

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I'm sure you know what this is.

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mari: Yeah.

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Kristen: ingredient that I would say,

if you're brand new to this concept

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of toxin free living or low tox.

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There's one ingredient you

need to be able to identify.

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And I strongly encourage that you never

buy anything that contains it again.

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And that's, fragrance.

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fragrance is sadly in so many things.

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It's in shampoo.

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It's in perfume.

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It's basically what perfume is.

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mari: Right?

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Yeah.

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Kristen: you look at the ingredient list

of pretty much anything that is sold

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in stores, you're gonna see Fragrance

it could also be listed as perfume or

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aroma what it is Fragrance perfume aroma.

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This is an umbrella label that

companies are legally allowed

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to use on their products and

Underneath this umbrella label can

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live up to hundreds of chemicals.

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They're legally through the United

States, at least allowed to put

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hundreds of different chemicals into

a product and label it as fragrance.

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And the purpose of these products is

to provide a smell to the product.

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Now, the problem with this is it takes

away accountability from the company.

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So if a brand is putting fragrance in

their product, they don't have to disclose

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what the chemicals are that they've

used to make to scent their product.

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And unfortunately, the majority of

times when a brand, when a company is

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manufacturing something that they want to

smell good, and they're using fragrance,

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they're also going to include this

group of chemicals called phthalates.

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It's spelled very weird.

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It's P H T H A L A T E S.

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Phthalates.

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mari: Mm.

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Mm hmm.

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Kristen: This is a very

harmful group of chemicals.

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This is proven with hundreds of studies.

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Phthalates are directly linked

to hormone disruption and cancer.

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Like time and time again, studies

show linked to those two things.

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Now, it's really unfortunate because

is it possible that a brand could be

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using fragrance and not have phthalates?

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Yes.

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But is it likely?

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No, because they don't have to say.

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And the reason why they're using

phthalates is phthalates are a

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chemical that is often most commonly

known in plastic because it actually

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makes plastic more bendable.

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It makes it more flexible.

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That's just like the compound of the

compounds within this group of chemicals

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called phthalates makes plastic bendy.

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And so a lot of times, you know, when

you see plastic bags in grocery stores,

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it'll say like phthalate or BPA free.

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It's because those chemicals are

what makes like bendy plastic.

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So a lot of times if it's a type of Like

flexible plastic they they will say like

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this is free of phthalates This is free

of bpa because they Know that people will

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look at that type of plastic and wonder

if it has those chemicals in it So the

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reason they put phthalates in fragrance

is because it makes fragrance more sticky

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It's the same like um attribute that makes

plastic bendy It makes molecules stick to

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stuff and it makes the scent last longer.

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So that's why they put it in perfume

That's why they put it in In that

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umbrella label of fragrance is

cause they want that set to stick

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around longer to make a better

impression on you with their product.

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mari: Mm.

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Kristen: shampoo to smell good all day.

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They want that perfume to last 24 hours.

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It's that lingering smell.

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Like in theory, it's like,

Oh, that makes sense.

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it's really messed up because what it's

doing is it's causing this epidemic

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in, like, when we start introducing

body sprays to girls in middle school

373

:

and they start covering themselves in

bath and body works and other types

374

:

of perfumes and scented products

like shampoo, conditioner, makeup.

375

:

We're exposing them to so many

hormone disrupting chemicals.

376

:

And then we have these girls who

are going into puberty at age nine.

377

:

um, struggling to get pregnant

when they are ready to, to

378

:

enter that season of life.

379

:

Or for someone like me, it may be

that you suddenly develop a random,

380

:

seemingly random autoimmune disease..

381

:

didn't realize I'd been dousing myself

in phthalates from my personal care

382

:

products for basically my entire life.

383

:

mari: I know.

384

:

Same.

385

:

I mean, like, when you said Bath

and Body Works, I'm like, that's

386

:

what we would do in middle school.

387

:

We would go to the mall and go to

Bath and Body Works and buy everything

388

:

and spray ourselves with everything.

389

:

Kristen: Yes.

390

:

mari: It's consuming.

391

:

Mm hmm.

392

:

Kristen: so if you can.

393

:

Learn to shop for things without

buying anything with fragrance.

394

:

a big change.

395

:

Like if you've been living like

a normal American, you probably

396

:

have a lot of fragrance products

because that's just the norm and.

397

:

It takes a lot of dedication to

walk away from that because that

398

:

means like getting rid of scented

candles scented everything And a lot

399

:

mari: Yeah,

400

:

Kristen: products have fragrance in

them as well so I would say for anybody

401

:

who's totally new to this journey if

you can just start looking at ingredient

402

:

labels and Putting it back on the shelf.

403

:

If you see fragrance or perfume or

aroma on there, you're already making

404

:

a huge step in the right direction.

405

:

mari: cool.

406

:

What about like if the ingredient

label says natural fragrance?

407

:

I know I've seen that before and that

one always makes me pause because

408

:

I'm like, well, you said natural.

409

:

So what does that mean?

410

:

Is, do you feel like that falls

under the same umbrella or is that

411

:

like, Nope, that's a green light.

412

:

Kristen: Uh, I personally, I would

say I'm pretty strict when it comes to

413

:

fragrance and anytime a company is not

fully disclosing their ingredient list.

414

:

That is a hard red flag for me because

that to me indicates that they're a

415

:

trying to trick you into thinking their

product is safe when it might not be

416

:

because they're not actually telling you

what they're using to send the product.

417

:

And B, where was I going with this?

418

:

I forgot what my second thought was.

419

:

mari: We can circle back.

420

:

If it comes back to you, bring it up.

421

:

But the second part of my question was,

I've heard different opinions on this.

422

:

What if it's scented with essential oils?

423

:

Kristen: Yes,

424

:

mari: like, that's how it's

written in the ingredient list,

425

:

like scented with essential oils.

426

:

Kristen: yes.

427

:

Okay, going back a little too,

and then I'll get to this.

428

:

mari: Okay.

429

:

Perfect.

430

:

Kristen: So basically, natural

fragrance is oftentimes an attempt

431

:

by a company to make their product

seem safe when it might not be.

432

:

Because that's still, natural

doesn't mean anything.

433

:

It's not a regulated term.

434

:

It's not a government term.

435

:

It's not anything particular.

436

:

Literally, if a company puts natural

fragrance, might be the exact same

437

:

as them putting fragrance So there's

no regulation on the use of the word

438

:

natural In fact, it's used a lot in

what we would call green washing where

439

:

a brand is trying to make their products

seem nice and safe Like when it says

440

:

safe for all ages that is unregulated.

441

:

That means nothing when it says

natural all natural That means nothing.

442

:

Uh, and so natural fragrance as well, I

think falls into that same category of,

443

:

I would proceed with extreme caution.

444

:

And generally I'm kind of a crazy

person, but I would email a company

445

:

and be like, Hey, what chemicals do

you use in your natural fragrance?

446

:

And if they respond back and say, Oh,

we have like our proprietary blend.

447

:

I'm sorry.

448

:

We can't disclose, but trust us.

449

:

It's all natural.

450

:

I'm like walking away.

451

:

No way.

452

:

mari: Goodbye.

453

:

Kristen: can give me a full

list of exactly what's in there.

454

:

I do not trust it.

455

:

And then in terms of

essential oils, depends oils.

456

:

Um, some of them are good and safe.

457

:

Some of them are sourced very poorly.

458

:

So it really depends on the company

on their, um, standards for sourcing.

459

:

It's, um.

460

:

Preferred that essential oils in a

product would be organic, because that

461

:

mari: Right.

462

:

Kristen: going to have been sprayed

with pestis with harmful pesticides.

463

:

Um, that's not always the case, and there

are some products that I do recommend

464

:

that don't use organic essential

oils, but I trust their sourcing and

465

:

I trust that where they're getting

their, uh, essential oils from is safe.

466

:

But I think 1 thing.

467

:

That this is kind of a hot take of

mine that isn't necessarily shared by

468

:

everybody in the clean beauty space,

but essential oils for the most part

469

:

are antimicrobial and antibacterial,

which means they kill things off.

470

:

A lot of people would consider that

to be a good thing because it's like,

471

:

oh, it's killing off bad bacteria,

but it also kills off good bacteria.

472

:

And something that I am a huge

proponent for is having a home

473

:

that has a healthy microbiome.

474

:

Which means you have good bacteria

that are thriving in your home.

475

:

And if all you're doing is just

disinfecting or using essential oils

476

:

to clean everything, you're actually

killing off all the good bacteria too

477

:

that you want to have in your home.

478

:

So I'm very cautious with the use of

use of essential oils because it can

479

:

kind of over sterilize your home or your

body or your mouth or wherever it is

480

:

that you're using them or applying them.

481

:

I just try to be cautious

and not overuse them.

482

:

mari: Yeah.

483

:

Just mindful and in moderation.

484

:

Okay.

485

:

Great.

486

:

You did mention greenwashing and I wanted

to touch on that a little bit because

487

:

I think this is increasingly getting

worse and worse and you see more and

488

:

more brands pop up that are claiming

to be natural or clean or whatever and

489

:

kind of using these buzzwords to make

people think that it's non toxic and not

490

:

harmful and clearly that's not the case.

491

:

And I even had a conversation with.

492

:

My mother in law recently, um,

which just kind of shows like

493

:

people are being tricked by this.

494

:

And myself included before I've

been definitely fallen into thinking

495

:

that something is clean, but we

were talking about the new laundry

496

:

detergent I've been using truly free.

497

:

I know you use it too.

498

:

And she was like, well, I bought

like tides free and clear version.

499

:

Like that's like their non toxic version.

500

:

So I think I'm good.

501

:

And I was like, I hate to break

it to you, even though it's called

502

:

like free, clear, natural, whatever.

503

:

This is what's called greenwashing.

504

:

This is like brands that are

like trying to market things in

505

:

a way that's not actually true.

506

:

Is that right?

507

:

Kristen: Yes.

508

:

Yep.

509

:

mari: Yes.

510

:

Kristen: um, It's when a brand is

promoting their product making it sound

511

:

safe or environmentally friendly or

good for your body And it's actually

512

:

not and this is why I really encourage

people I want to educate and empower

513

:

people to actually learn how to read

ingredient labels themselves but also

514

:

Rather than just looking at branding on

a product and say, Oh, that looks good.

515

:

Because it's easy to do that.

516

:

I have a graphic design background.

517

:

That's what I have my degree in.

518

:

And we learned about

this in college of like.

519

:

How, like, certain colors make people

more trusting, uh, anything that's

520

:

colored green is, uh, is an automatic

win for people mentally, because

521

:

you assume that it's environmentally

friendly if it has green packaging.

522

:

mari: Yeah.

523

:

Like it's

524

:

Kristen: and

525

:

mari: natural.

526

:

Kristen: really good example of this

is just in, like, the oil industry.

527

:

This is, like, not really

having to do with, like.

528

:

Things in your home.

529

:

But if you think about gas stations,

like BP is no different really than

530

:

any other gas station in terms of like

where they source their oil, how they

531

:

do things, but their branding is green.

532

:

And so people think it's better for

the environment to get gas at BP, which

533

:

is like, That's just a straight up

marketing ploy, but it's a good example.

534

:

It's a good example.

535

:

I mean, they've done a good job with

their marketing to help people think

536

:

like, Oh, BP is like better gas,

but it's like, it's no different.

537

:

You know what I mean?

538

:

But it's the same for like beauty brands

and personal care products, deodorants.

539

:

Like you're going to see all kinds

of buzzwords on the front, like.

540

:

free of aluminum or free of sulfates

or safe for the whole family.

541

:

And those things don't mean anything.

542

:

It's why you need to take a closer look,

flip it over, look at the ingredient

543

:

list, look for fragrance first.

544

:

If you're just starting out,

that's the most important one.

545

:

But then there's also a lot of other

things that you have to watch out for.

546

:

And like you were saying with like

free and clear detergents, those

547

:

ones are fragrance free usually.

548

:

And so that's why they save.

549

:

Free and clear.

550

:

It's like, Oh, fragrance free.

551

:

And that's a good start, but that's not

really enough because a lot of times

552

:

they're using other very toxic chemicals

in their ingredient list, you really

553

:

don't want to be exposing yourself to

554

:

mari: Yeah, for sure.

555

:

So how can we find brands that we trust?

556

:

Can you talk about that a little bit

and then kind of touch on EWG as well?

557

:

Kristen: sure.

558

:

So finding brands that you

trust it, it's a labor of love.

559

:

It's hard.

560

:

And if you're new to this, it can be

really confusing and overwhelming,

561

:

which is why, like you said, at the

beginning, Mari, it's important to

562

:

have some trusted resources of people

who, you know, are really, really going

563

:

to be taking a deep dive into every

single product and you can trust them.

564

:

Now, I always recommend that

people do their own research.

565

:

Don't just take what one person says

at face value and just go with it.

566

:

Like do your own research, trust

your gut on things, and Do a, do a

567

:

double check on everything, but it

can be really helpful to find people

568

:

or sources or sites that are a good

starting point to help navigate.

569

:

Okay.

570

:

Are the ingredients in

this product actually safe?

571

:

And so finding good brands, there's

a couple of things that I value a lot

572

:

when it comes to choosing a safe brand.

573

:

And sometimes brands will

have like one product that's

574

:

good, but the other products.

575

:

aren't.

576

:

So it's kind of nuanced.

577

:

It's kind of difficult.

578

:

It's not always like, Oh, this

brand is great across the board.

579

:

Sometimes it's like, Oh, this one

product, this one sunscreen that this

580

:

brand has is safe, but I wouldn't

recommend all of their products.

581

:

I look for transparency when

brands are listing out everything

582

:

that they're using, when they're

not using terms like fragrance.

583

:

When you can go on their website

and easily find an ingredient list,

584

:

that is usually a green flag for me.

585

:

So a lot of times when you'll go

on to a cosmetics website and you'd

586

:

start looking at a product and you

want to find an ingredient list,

587

:

it might be very hard to find.

588

:

Um, a lot of times they'll have their

ingredients listed somewhere, but

589

:

you really have to dig to find it.

590

:

It may not be listed on

the actual product page.

591

:

You have to go to like a different

part of the website to look

592

:

up the ingredients for things.

593

:

That's never good.

594

:

If a brand is not putting their

ingredients right up front, right

595

:

where the product is, that is

something to be very alert towards.

596

:

And usually that's a red flag because

that means they don't want you to

597

:

see what ingredients they're using.

598

:

When brands are proud to

list their ingredients.

599

:

Right up front.

600

:

That's usually a good sign.

601

:

Not always, but usually it's a good place

to start and then from there You you want

602

:

to start kind of actually just reading

through like what are they using in here?

603

:

Are they?

604

:

prioritizing organic products and

Like are there any of these big red

605

:

flag toxic ingredients in here or not?

606

:

so also the EWG is a website that

you may or may not have heard of.

607

:

It is, it stands for the

environmental working group.

608

:

They are a nonprofit that does a lot

of really good work in helping to get

609

:

safer products into people's homes.

610

:

Now I would consider EWG to be a good

starting point, but not the end all.

611

:

So EWG is a great place to look up an

ingredient and say like, Is this safe?

612

:

Is this like toxic or

how, like, what is it?

613

:

What even is this?

614

:

If you're like, I don't know what

this ingredient is, I want to look

615

:

it up and find out more about it.

616

:

EWG is a great place to go for that

because they rate all ingredients on a

617

:

scale of one to 10 in terms of safety.

618

:

Now there are some EWG because Brands

do have to pay a premium to have

619

:

their products looked at on a very

specific deep level because EWG cares

620

:

about the dosage of ingredients.

621

:

So there

622

:

mari: Hmm.

623

:

Kristen: one ingredient, for example,

that like, let's take, um, sodium

624

:

lauryl sulfate, for example, as a

type of salt it's used in a lot of

625

:

like detergents and things like that.

626

:

The EWG would say that it's.

627

:

It's safe in small amounts,

but unsafe in bigger amounts.

628

:

So if someone that uses that ingredient

wants their product to score well on

629

:

the EWG or become EWG verified in that,

like they approve of it, they have

630

:

to pay a premium for their scientists

to take a look at that product.

631

:

And look at the dosages of the

ingredients used and really determine

632

:

is this at a safe level that this

ingredient is in there or not.

633

:

And so brands that are EWG verified,

that means that they've paid

634

:

for EWG to look at their product

and determine that it's safe.

635

:

But then there's also brands that

are safe that are rated lower

636

:

scores on their website because

they've chosen not to pay that fee.

637

:

so it can be a little bit difficult

sometimes to know if something

638

:

is actually truly safe or not,

because if a brand doesn't pay for

639

:

verification, then they're going to

be scoring lower on the EWG's scale.

640

:

Um, even if their product is really safe.

641

:

So it's a great starting point, but it's

not the only thing I base my decisions off

642

:

of when I'm looking at ingredient lists.

643

:

mari: Mm hmm.

644

:

Yeah, that's very helpful.

645

:

Um, I know it's been a helpful

resource, but I did, yeah, learn

646

:

everything that you just talked about.

647

:

Cause I, I've gotten a lot

of questions on crunchy.

648

:

My audience knows I talk about crunchy

all the time and people are like, why

649

:

is it not on EWG or like, why isn't

it rated the highest or whatever?

650

:

And that's the explanation I give.

651

:

Although I do, I think we did hear

that they're like going to pay now.

652

:

And so it's going to be

accurately rated and everything.

653

:

So that's exciting, but.

654

:

That's helpful to know kind of like

a starting resource that kind of

655

:

helps you learn a little bit about a

product or a brand or not a product,

656

:

an ingredient, uh, or a product.

657

:

And I mean, following OrganiMama

is a great first step as well of

658

:

where to get some more information.

659

:

I know you educate a lot in your content.

660

:

So moving into practicality, just

like what are some practical first

661

:

steps somebody can take to start

reducing toxins in their life?

662

:

Kristen: Yes, that is a great question.

663

:

And listening to all of this explanation

about ingredients and chemicals, it

664

:

might be going right over your head.

665

:

Like when I was starting out on this

journey, I would hear people talk

666

:

about phthalates and fragrance and EWG.

667

:

And I would be like, what?

668

:

Like, I don't understand any of this.

669

:

Like, what do I actually just need to do?

670

:

The first step I would say is Just

start looking at your products

671

:

that you have in your home.

672

:

The products you use on a regular

basis, your toothpaste, your

673

:

body wash, your makeup, your

skincare, look at the ingredients.

674

:

If you can't find an ingredient list

on the bottle, look it up, Google it.

675

:

And if it has fragrance in it, just make

a mental note of when I run out of this, I

676

:

need to replace it with something better.

677

:

mari: Mm hmm.

678

:

Kristen: pressure on yourself to

go and run through your whole house

679

:

and throw everything away all at

once because that does not make

680

:

financial sense for most people.

681

:

Um, be easy at yourself.

682

:

Be gentle on yourself as you're

starting to navigate this

683

:

journey because it is a journey.

684

:

It took me several years of learning all

of this to throw out my toxic products.

685

:

mari: Same.

686

:

Kristen: on yourself.

687

:

Take your time.

688

:

Don't feel stressed.

689

:

There's a lot of people out there

that love to just fear monger

690

:

women into throwing everything out

and freaking out and feeling like

691

:

they need to spend all this money.

692

:

You don't, the best ways

to heal your body are free.

693

:

one of the best things you can do

in terms of getting rid of toxic

694

:

products is just start making a

mental note of when I run out of

695

:

this, I need to find something better.

696

:

And then when you do run out of it,

Then look for those good resources.

697

:

My page is a place you can come to find

good resources on on different things.

698

:

I have a bunch of different guides

that walk you through like how to

699

:

choose toxic cleaning products, how

to choose non toxic personal care

700

:

products, how to choose non toxic baby

products, all of these different guides.

701

:

There are other great resources out

there as well, but that's when you turn

702

:

to a trusted resource to decide, okay,

I just ran out of laundry detergent.

703

:

What should I get now?

704

:

That's, that's a better, safer option,

but just do one thing at a time.

705

:

And like I mentioned earlier,

that's going to slowly reduce that

706

:

amount of water in your bucket

707

:

mari: yeah.

708

:

And I just recommend focusing on

that first category of items you

709

:

mentioned, things that go on your body.

710

:

I think that's what made the most

sense for me when I started finally

711

:

switching things because I was like you.

712

:

It took me.

713

:

Probably at least a year of hearing

things before I really took action.

714

:

Um, and that's because like your skin

just absorbs everything immediately.

715

:

And like you said, like we have this

bucket and our body can, like does have

716

:

the functions to filter out toxins, but

when it's like being exposed to toxins

717

:

and everything that you put in your

body, it's going to be overwhelming.

718

:

So starting with what you put in your

body, I know that I started with,

719

:

um, honestly, I think my first one

was makeup, which I know is like

720

:

usually one of the last ones people

Let go of, cause it's hard to let

721

:

go of those brands that you love.

722

:

But I was like, I'm going all in.

723

:

I had tried other clean beauty

brands before and they all sucked.

724

:

And finally I was like, okay, we're just

going to do one last try one last brand.

725

:

So I switched my makeup and then my

skincare, then my shampoo, then my body

726

:

wash, um, the last thing I'm looking for

is lotion still, which I know that you

727

:

recommended that one baby brand and then

somebody else recommended another brand,

728

:

but it was like 86 for a bottle of lotion.

729

:

And I was.

730

:

I'm, I'm like all in on investing,

but I was not about to spend

731

:

90 bucks on a bottle of lotion.

732

:

So if you have any other recommendations

on that, that would be great.

733

:

Um, but yeah, just start with

products that go on your body.

734

:

I think that's like the less stress

and you feel like you're making the

735

:

most impact because it's directly

being absorbed by your skin.

736

:

Kristen: Absolutely.

737

:

And if someone comes to me and

they're like, I don't, I've, I,

738

:

Have no experience with this kind of

lifestyle, but I want to get started.

739

:

What's the very first

thing I should swap out?

740

:

I always tell people do your

deodorant first because you're

741

:

deodorant, your armpits are a very

highly absorbent area of your skin.

742

:

And there's a lot of

lymph nodes near there.

743

:

And there's just a lot going

on in your armpit area.

744

:

And it's, um, for women, it's very

close to your breasts and breast

745

:

cancer is super prevalent right now.

746

:

And a lot of the toxic chemicals

that are found in deodorant.

747

:

Uh, have very easy access

to your breast tissue.

748

:

So that is always the first thing I

recommend for, at least for women to

749

:

swap out is your deodorant because most

deodorant contains fragrance and you're

750

:

going to, again, you're going to get

those phthalates in there and those

751

:

are directly linked to breast cancer.

752

:

So get fragrance out of your, out

of your deodorant, get heavy metals

753

:

like aluminum out of your deodorant.

754

:

Um, and there are some really

great safe options out there.

755

:

But that's always the

first thing I recommend.

756

:

mari: Absolutely.

757

:

Okay.

758

:

So what are some health benefits

you feel like you could speak to

759

:

or that people might notice after

reducing their exposure to toxins?

760

:

I know we heard your personal

testimony, but I think this is where

761

:

people get skeptical sometimes is

like, okay, is this going to like

762

:

actually make a difference in my life?

763

:

Like, am I going to

notice what's going on?

764

:

So can you just speak to kind of

some of those health benefits?

765

:

Kristen: Absolutely.

766

:

So I actually did a poll of my followers,

um, a couple of weeks ago and I asked

767

:

them, I was like, if you have been

on a low tox journey, can you tell me

768

:

what are some of the positive outcomes

you've seen on your own health?

769

:

Since starting on this journey, and

I, I literally cried when I read these

770

:

responses because it just blew me away.

771

:

So there was a girl who said

that her cancer never came

772

:

back after she started low tox.

773

:

were multiple women who were

able to get pregnant after

774

:

long seasons of infertility.

775

:

There were also women telling me that

their husbands had made big changes,

776

:

like my husband stopped smoking or

my husband finally got on board after

777

:

he saw how much more energy I have.

778

:

Energy is a huge one.

779

:

I heard from tons of women that they have

increased energy and joy in their life.

780

:

After, um, getting rid of toxins in their

home, many of them said, I feel more in

781

:

control of my own health just by knowing

what I'm putting on and in my body.

782

:

And that's huge.

783

:

I mean, just think about the empowerment

that comes from knowing exactly what

784

:

you're putting on versus going, yeah,

I don't really know what's in this.

785

:

I hope it's okay.

786

:

It's a huge shift in, in

the way you think about it.

787

:

there were women who were healed

from chronic illness, just like

788

:

me overcoming things like Lyme.

789

:

Lyme disease, Hashimoto's, other

chronic pain, improved sleep

790

:

quality, so many things like, and

it just depends on the person.

791

:

It's such a bio individual

experience, but I have rarely ever

792

:

heard non positive stories from

people that have been tox journey.

793

:

mari: Yeah, for sure.

794

:

I love that you mentioned energy

because I feel like that's one

795

:

that can be overlooked so easily.

796

:

Like you might not even notice that

unless it's like really severe before

797

:

and after, but I feel like I noticed

that as well as like headaches.

798

:

Like if I look back, I felt

like I got random headaches here

799

:

and there throughout the day.

800

:

High school and college.

801

:

And I kind of attributed to like, Oh,

like I just have a lot on my plate.

802

:

But the truth is I still

have a lot of my plate.

803

:

I'm an entrepreneur.

804

:

I got a lot of businesses to run.

805

:

You know, it's like that hasn't changed.

806

:

And I don't really remember last time

I had a head, like, it's not normal

807

:

for me to get a headache anymore.

808

:

And it used to be.

809

:

And so that's something that

I definitely have just kind of

810

:

kept in the back of my brain.

811

:

Like, huh, I wonder if that's because

I removed fragrance in my home.

812

:

Kristen: Yeah, that's a huge one.

813

:

Headaches, massive.

814

:

I mean, that's a lot.

815

:

Just the number of stories of women

I've heard from who are like, yeah,

816

:

I just stopped wearing like fragrance

perfume and now my headaches are gone.

817

:

Like it's just wild.

818

:

It's wild.

819

:

mari: Awesome.

820

:

Okay.

821

:

Last question before we wrap

up, I get this question a lot.

822

:

Many women tell me that they're getting

started on this clean living journey,

823

:

trying to, you know, switch out to non

toxic products in their home and their

824

:

husband or their family think that they're

crazy or they just are not on board and

825

:

there might be some tension there because

it is a little bit more of an investment

826

:

or people just aren't aware of the reality

and so they, they just don't hop on board.

827

:

So do you have any tips for women on how

to get Specifically your husband on board.

828

:

Yeah, that

829

:

Kristen: If you don't already follow

me on Instagram, you may not know

830

:

this, but my husband is a fourth

year medical student right now.

831

:

So he is very much in the

conventional medicine world.

832

:

Um, I'm really grateful because he

is doing a medical program that is a

833

:

little bit more holistically leaning.

834

:

It's doctor of osteopathics

compared to an MD program.

835

:

So that's definitely like his initial

lean is to lean into that and really

836

:

see the value in it, which I'm, I'm

grateful for because I think that his

837

:

career has kept me from going completely

off the deep end of like crunchy living

838

:

and like, Becoming like a crazy person.

839

:

Like he keeps me grounded and centered.

840

:

And I like have a deep

appreciation for, um, the ways

841

:

that modern medicine saves lives.

842

:

And I really am grateful for that.

843

:

And he's going to be, uh,

hopefully Lord willing a surgeon

844

:

who's able to help save lives.

845

:

So really important.

846

:

It's needed.

847

:

And like a lot of people would

die if we didn't have that.

848

:

So I'm grateful for it.

849

:

But definitely when I first started

on this journey, he had a lot of

850

:

skepticism, you know, like are you sure?

851

:

Like doing this and like eating

beef liver and like all this stuff.

852

:

Like he was just like, you sound crazy.

853

:

And I was like, I know,

but let's just try it out.

854

:

And I think that like, at the point when

I started this journey, I was so sick

855

:

that we were willing to try anything,

you know, and it was hard on him too.

856

:

Like for me to be so sick, it

was challenging on our marriage.

857

:

We were in college, it was tough.

858

:

And so I think his mind was kind of

like, well, if you want to try something

859

:

and it works, then let's try it.

860

:

And so.

861

:

I, you know, asked if we could change

our diet and get rid of gluten and

862

:

start like switching out things like

laundry detergent and skincare products.

863

:

And initially he was kind of annoyed,

especially when I started asking

864

:

him to switch his things too.

865

:

Like, Hey babe, can you like

not use that body wash anymore?

866

:

And he'd be like, Oh, come on.

867

:

I like this one.

868

:

I'm like, I'm sorry, but I

think that it might be also

869

:

contributing to my health issues.

870

:

And so he would kind of just be like,

all right, well, just, you know,

871

:

pick something for me, I guess, and

we'll try it, but he's kind of picky.

872

:

And so it was a little hard at first,

but I think for him, what really got

873

:

him on board was seeing how I healed

myself, you know, like in his experience,

874

:

I think he sees a lot of people come to

doctors and get medications for symptoms.

875

:

And then.

876

:

That medication kind of eradicates the

symptom, but they're not necessarily

877

:

trying to figure out, well, why did I

get sick with that in the first place?

878

:

And so I think for him from kind

of like a little bit of an outsider

879

:

perspective, he watched me make

all these lifestyle changes.

880

:

And then as we covered my health in

prayer and took it to the Lord too, I

881

:

think it was very clear to him, like.

882

:

kind of weird changes that Kristen is

making getting rid of Fragrance and

883

:

changing out all our cleaning products

and all this stuff She's getting better

884

:

and I think that that kind of blew

his mind and he was like, wow Respect

885

:

babe, honestly, like I think he just

had a lot of respect for my like my

886

:

drive to, to be able to heal my body.

887

:

And, and he was really impressed by that.

888

:

And he like saw firsthand how those

changes made me a whole different person.

889

:

but that's obviously not everyone's story.

890

:

And some people choose a toxin

free journey, not because they're

891

:

currently sick, but because they

more so want to be proactively safe

892

:

in what they have in their home.

893

:

They want to protect their future health,

or they want to protect their children

894

:

or their children's future health.

895

:

And so you're making these decisions.

896

:

And it might be a little more tough if

you have a husband who's not on board

897

:

to be like, no, yeah, we all feel fine

right now, but I'm making these changes

898

:

to prevent us from feeling bad later.

899

:

You might get that response of, yeah,

but we feel fine right now, you know?

900

:

And so that's where I think it can be

really helpful to know where to get

901

:

some of these great science, studies,

studies, these peer reviewed studies that

902

:

really point exactly to The potential

health implications of certain chemicals.

903

:

So one of my favorite studies that

I talk about all the time is this

904

:

one study that was done about a year

and a half ago on a group of women.

905

:

And they had two, two groups of women and

the first group of women continued to use

906

:

all of the standard conventional beauty

products They had been always using that

907

:

had all the normal toxic ingredients in

them And then they had a second group

908

:

of women for a month who switched to

products that had no phthalates So no

909

:

fragrance and no parabens, which is

another toxic Group of chemicals that are

910

:

found in a lot of conventional products.

911

:

So they had the group of women doing

normal The products they'd always been

912

:

using a group of women who got rid

of products that had phthalates and

913

:

parabens And before they started the

study, they took a sample of every

914

:

woman's breast tissue and analyzed

how many pro carcinogenic breast cells

915

:

were there so pro carcinogenic cells

essentially to dumb it down means

916

:

like cells that have the potential

to turn into cancer, that are already

917

:

cancerous, but could turn into cancer.

918

:

And so they like did analysis on how

many of these cells each woman had.

919

:

So the group that had that maintained the

same products had the same level of pro

920

:

carcinogenic cells after this was over.

921

:

And the group of women who had

gotten rid of toxic products Had

922

:

a significantly reduced number

of pro carcinogenic breast cells.

923

:

that to me is like wow, I mean Clear clear

evidence there and obviously we would

924

:

hope that they'll continue to do more

studies to just keep proving this over

925

:

and over and over of the importance of

Eliminating these toxins in our products,

926

:

but there are a lot of studies out

there that point to Direct correlation

927

:

between phthalates and parabens and other

groups of chemicals that are in all of

928

:

our beauty products that are directly

linked to all of these health issues.

929

:

And right now in the US, 50 percent

of Americans have a chronic illness.

930

:

this is not the minority

that we're talking about.

931

:

It's over 50%.

932

:

So.

933

:

illness is prevalent.

934

:

It is more common than

it's ever been before.

935

:

And it's not just adults anymore.

936

:

It's children and our children are being

exposed to all these chemicals too.

937

:

So it feels to me like if you're trying

to bring your spouse on board with all of

938

:

this, start sharing some of these stats,

start looking at some of these studies.

939

:

If you go on to pub med, you can look

up like phthalates, health effects,

940

:

med, and then you're going to get this

whole list of studies and you can just

941

:

start reading them with your spouse.

942

:

Like, Hey.

943

:

Take a look at this.

944

:

This is really interesting.

945

:

And it takes time.

946

:

You can't expect for someone to

suddenly jump on board overnight.

947

:

It takes time.

948

:

It takes hearing these things over and

over and over for someone to say, okay,

949

:

yeah, I'm willing to try this, but do your

best not to get frustrated with a husband.

950

:

Who's not really ready yet.

951

:

Just be consistent, be kind and,

uh, and make the swaps that make

952

:

financial sense for your family.

953

:

Little by little as you go along.

954

:

mari: was so helpful.

955

:

One thing that came to mind too, was like,

listen to this podcast episode together,

956

:

like play this podcast episode for your

husband in the car or something like

957

:

that, or while you're making dinner or.

958

:

Uh, just in a time where you guys can kind

of sit down and actually pay attention

959

:

because it all comes down to education.

960

:

Like a lot of my skepticism from

the beginning and everyone's

961

:

skepticism is just like, how

come we've never heard of this?

962

:

Is this really true?

963

:

But when you really hear the facts, you

start to realize like, Oh, it's true.

964

:

And I remember when we were, when

we started this journey, I mean,

965

:

I started with products and, you

know, sourcing better food and

966

:

organic and EMFs was one of the ones

that I was like, ah, is this real?

967

:

Or is it like, this is like,

invisible waves in my, you know, air.

968

:

Um, and I listened to a podcast episode

that Jordan Dooley did with her brother

969

:

or something like that, that owns an EMF

remission company or something like that.

970

:

And I listened to it and I

was like, okay, This is really

971

:

intriguing and I'm on board.

972

:

And then I talked to my husband about

it and he was like, uh, no about that.

973

:

And so one time we did a road trip and

I was like, Oh, I just want to listen

974

:

to this like new podcast episode.

975

:

And I didn't even really

say anything about it.

976

:

And we played it and he

had a lot of questions.

977

:

And like, by the end, he was

like, wow, this is crazy.

978

:

And just by playing that podcast

episode, sometimes I feel like.

979

:

Our husbands maybe need to

hear it from someone else.

980

:

That's not us.

981

:

It's someone who's done more research

or who's like kind of in a place of

982

:

authority teaching this kind of thing.

983

:

And so after he heard that

podcast episode, he was like,

984

:

all right, let's buy the things.

985

:

And so we like made some

EMF changes in our home.

986

:

And, and even just playing this

episode might be a helpful start.

987

:

Kristen: Absolutely.

988

:

And like coming from someone who's

married to somebody who is very much

989

:

in conventional medicine, I, I mean,

he'll tell you straight up, he'll

990

:

be like, Oh yeah, fragrance is bad.

991

:

Don't use fragrance.

992

:

Like he's like very much on board now.

993

:

And I think I love, I love it.

994

:

Cause he'll, he'll.

995

:

to me and he'll be like, babe,

I just found this new body

996

:

wash and it's free of parabens.

997

:

It's free of phthalates It's like free

of all the things and then he'll be

998

:

like, can you look at the ingredient

list to make sure it looks good?

999

:

I'll be like, yeah sure and I take a look.

:

00:51:06,692 --> 00:51:07,802

I'm like looks great, baby.

:

00:51:07,802 --> 00:51:08,232

Like sweet.

:

00:51:08,262 --> 00:51:11,762

I'm so excited to try it Like it's

awesome to see how he's gotten on

:

00:51:11,762 --> 00:51:15,052

board and and he's gonna carry that

with him through his whole career

:

00:51:15,052 --> 00:51:17,147

You know of like understanding These

:

00:51:17,277 --> 00:51:17,557

mari: Yes.

:

00:51:17,647 --> 00:51:21,177

Kristen: of health that are so

important that they're not teaching

:

00:51:21,187 --> 00:51:23,877

about in medical school, like you're

not going to learn about the dangers

:

00:51:23,877 --> 00:51:25,247

of fragrance in medical school.

:

00:51:25,627 --> 00:51:26,497

Um, but it's important.

:

00:51:26,867 --> 00:51:27,597

So, yeah,

:

00:51:28,292 --> 00:51:29,012

mari: Absolutely.

:

00:51:29,562 --> 00:51:30,042

Amazing.

:

00:51:30,042 --> 00:51:34,602

This has been such a helpful, such

an awesome, empowering conversation.

:

00:51:34,862 --> 00:51:37,322

Any other, you know, things or

encouragement that you want to

:

00:51:37,322 --> 00:51:39,212

share before we totally close out?

:

00:51:39,212 --> 00:51:40,642

Yes.

:

00:51:40,642 --> 00:51:42,072

Yes.

:

00:51:42,227 --> 00:51:45,867

Kristen: just, um, it, it may

feel easy to just get overwhelmed

:

00:51:45,887 --> 00:51:47,137

when you start this journey out.

:

00:51:47,157 --> 00:51:49,947

And like you were saying earlier,

Mari, I think sometimes when you

:

00:51:49,947 --> 00:51:53,097

first hear about all of this, you can

start having this feeling of like.

:

00:51:53,452 --> 00:51:55,932

Panic of, my goodness.

:

00:51:55,962 --> 00:51:59,802

I probably have so much stuff in my home

right now that's like killing me and

:

00:51:59,802 --> 00:52:01,382

it's toxic and I'm going to get cancer.

:

00:52:01,382 --> 00:52:04,032

And like, you can start spiraling

and just really freak out.

:

00:52:04,032 --> 00:52:09,972

And I always just encourage people, like

take a breath, take a step back, pray

:

00:52:09,972 --> 00:52:13,797

about it, and And make one little change.

:

00:52:13,857 --> 00:52:14,417

That's it.

:

00:52:15,057 --> 00:52:18,227

Know that every little change

you're making is making an impact

:

00:52:18,287 --> 00:52:20,367

on your body's toxic burden.

:

00:52:20,727 --> 00:52:21,777

And it makes a difference.

:

00:52:21,827 --> 00:52:25,077

And you don't have to

do everything overnight.

:

00:52:25,077 --> 00:52:29,597

And I say this a lot, like, don't

compare my year five to your day one.

:

00:52:29,597 --> 00:52:34,727

I was at day one at one point,

and now I'm at year five, but

:

00:52:34,727 --> 00:52:37,087

it took a long time to get here.

:

00:52:37,087 --> 00:52:41,287

And I don't expect people to suddenly

wake up one day and be able to explain

:

00:52:41,287 --> 00:52:44,917

phthalates and be able to understand

all these chemicals and stuff, but

:

00:52:45,267 --> 00:52:47,277

it's one little change at a time.

:

00:52:47,367 --> 00:52:52,107

And, and whenever you start to feel like

your nervous system kind of freaking

:

00:52:52,107 --> 00:52:54,177

out, your heart starts going faster.

:

00:52:54,177 --> 00:52:56,647

You get a little sweaty as you

start to hear about something

:

00:52:56,647 --> 00:52:57,947

or toxins in my brain.

:

00:52:57,967 --> 00:52:58,997

Floss.

:

00:52:58,997 --> 00:52:59,217

What?

:

00:52:59,547 --> 00:53:01,427

And then you start just

freaking out, right?

:

00:53:01,737 --> 00:53:04,777

It's like important to just take a

step back, take a breath and be like,

:

00:53:05,047 --> 00:53:07,377

okay, today I'm going to do my best.

:

00:53:07,457 --> 00:53:08,517

And then I'm going to forget the rest.

:

00:53:09,727 --> 00:53:13,997

I'm just going to let go what I, what

I can't handle or can't control today

:

00:53:14,007 --> 00:53:19,457

because truly If our nervous system is

dysregulated, we can't live well, we can't

:

00:53:19,542 --> 00:53:20,102

mari: Mm hmm.

:

00:53:20,377 --> 00:53:23,957

Kristen: And that's the most important

thing is to learn how to be still, be

:

00:53:23,957 --> 00:53:28,517

calm, get outside, be in the sun, put

your feet in the grass, drink some

:

00:53:28,517 --> 00:53:33,527

water, eat some protein, you know,

get those, those basics of health.

:

00:53:33,587 --> 00:53:36,837

And then yeah, start swapping out

toxic products, but don't become

:

00:53:36,937 --> 00:53:40,737

so obsessed with getting rid of

toxins that your mental health

:

00:53:40,737 --> 00:53:42,597

becomes super toxic in itself.

:

00:53:43,177 --> 00:53:43,807

Because I think that's.

:

00:53:44,052 --> 00:53:48,702

That's a risk that you run when you

start this non toxic lifestyle is this

:

00:53:49,992 --> 00:53:52,402

mindset of I have to switch everything.

:

00:53:52,402 --> 00:53:53,332

I have to swap it all.

:

00:53:53,332 --> 00:53:54,452

I have to do it perfectly.

:

00:53:54,452 --> 00:53:55,732

And that's not the point.

:

00:53:55,942 --> 00:53:59,362

The point is just to give our

bodies the space that they

:

00:53:59,362 --> 00:54:02,312

need to function optimally.

:

00:54:03,012 --> 00:54:05,077

And for anybody who's like, Okay.

:

00:54:05,077 --> 00:54:06,587

I'm looking for next steps after this.

:

00:54:06,587 --> 00:54:10,387

I really want to start swapping out

products in my beauty, in my, um, in my

:

00:54:10,387 --> 00:54:14,647

beauty routine, or I want to know like,

how can I buy toxin free furniture?

:

00:54:14,657 --> 00:54:17,267

Or how can I have toxin free kitchen gear?

:

00:54:17,287 --> 00:54:21,137

I have a whole lineup of guides

that if you go to my Instagram,

:

00:54:21,177 --> 00:54:23,387

it's at the dot organic mama.

:

00:54:23,672 --> 00:54:26,952

If you go to the link in my bio, I

have several different guides that

:

00:54:26,952 --> 00:54:31,232

are all based on different categories

of your life for babies, for homes,

:

00:54:31,262 --> 00:54:36,102

for beauty products, and, um, those

are some great resources if you're

:

00:54:36,102 --> 00:54:41,032

wanting to dive further into this

on how can I lessen my toxic load.

:

00:54:41,307 --> 00:54:43,717

That would be a great place

to start, at least I think so.

:

00:54:43,717 --> 00:54:47,987

I'm biased, but I put those resources

together for people that are

:

00:54:48,117 --> 00:54:49,697

ready to take it a step further.

:

00:54:50,982 --> 00:54:51,382

mari: Yeah.

:

00:54:51,432 --> 00:54:52,552

No, that'll be really helpful.

:

00:54:53,022 --> 00:54:55,222

Uh, thank you for those

words of encouragement.

:

00:54:55,222 --> 00:54:59,072

You have such a spirit of like peace

and kindness and love when you speak

:

00:54:59,072 --> 00:55:03,272

about this, that I hope people feel that

on the other side of their headphones

:

00:55:03,272 --> 00:55:04,502

or car, wherever they're listening.

:

00:55:04,502 --> 00:55:06,492

So, uh, where can we find you?

:

00:55:06,492 --> 00:55:09,272

I know we've mentioned your Instagram

before you mentioned your bio, but one

:

00:55:09,272 --> 00:55:12,122

more time, do you, what your Instagram

handle and do you have a website or

:

00:55:13,227 --> 00:55:13,647

Kristen: Yeah.

:

00:55:13,687 --> 00:55:14,907

So you can find me on Instagram.

:

00:55:14,907 --> 00:55:15,687

It's at the.

:

00:55:15,687 --> 00:55:16,887

organamama.

:

00:55:16,927 --> 00:55:19,397

I do have a website that's organamama.

:

00:55:19,397 --> 00:55:19,727

com.

:

00:55:19,747 --> 00:55:20,947

It's in the works right now.

:

00:55:20,957 --> 00:55:21,487

So maybe by the

:

00:55:21,572 --> 00:55:21,912

mari: Okay.

:

00:55:22,307 --> 00:55:24,057

Kristen: comes out, it'll be updated, but.

:

00:55:24,777 --> 00:55:27,987

working on making that better and

getting my blog back up and running.

:

00:55:27,997 --> 00:55:28,307

But

:

00:55:28,442 --> 00:55:29,202

mari: Perfect.

:

00:55:29,317 --> 00:55:31,297

Kristen: talking on Instagram,

feel free to send me a DM.

:

00:55:31,297 --> 00:55:33,997

I always love having conversations

with people to help them get

:

00:55:33,997 --> 00:55:35,097

their health back on track.

:

00:55:35,872 --> 00:55:36,362

mari: Perfect.

:

00:55:36,392 --> 00:55:37,432

Thanks, Kristen.

:

00:55:37,777 --> 00:55:38,537

Kristen: Absolutely, Mari.

:

00:55:38,537 --> 00:55:40,037

Thank you so much for having me today.

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About the Podcast

Ever Be
A faith and lifestyle podcast.
The Ever Be Podcast is a faith and lifestyle podcast filled with meaningful conversations and practical tips that will inspire and empower you to live a Christ centered life in today’s modern world. Through her own experience of surrendering completely to God and finding true fullness of life, your host Mari Wagner, has committed to having God’s praise “ever be” on her lips and sharing that message with the world. Listen in for insightful, real life conversations and actionable steps on how to claim the full life God created you for.

With over 100K followers and counting, Instagram content creator and founder of the popular Catholic lifestyle brand, West Coast Catholic, Mari Wagner is showing the world how to live a bold, attractive, and fulfilling Catholic life by being in the world but not of it. On the podcast you’ll get a combination of heartfelt solo episodes with Mari, interviews with exciting guests, and up-close and personal time with both the Wagner’s—Mari and Trey. What more could you ask for?!

Finally! Answers to questions you’ve been asking like:
How do I infuse prayer into my daily life? How do I live out my Catholic faith? What is the best dating and marriage advice? What does a good Catholic marriage look like? How do I grow in homemaking skills and build a domestic church? How do I create a beautiful and welcoming home? What does a healthy and balanced lifestyle look like? Is it possible to find a solid community of like minded women?

Host Mari Wagner covers topics that you actually care about from faith life, to relationships and marriage, to homemaking, to healthy living. Each episode is crafted to resonate with your challenges and aspirations as a modern Christian woman seeking purpose, balance, and joy.

Tune into the Ever Be Podcast for valuable advice, relatable stories, expert insights and just some fun girl chats with someone who really gets you. Hit play to get out of the rut you constantly feel yourself in, and subscribe to join the community and experience the fullness of life Jesus has in store for you.

About your host

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Mari Wagner