96: 5 easy ways to live a little less toxic, from a non-toxic ninja

Hello again, everyone, and welcome to today's show. If you're one of the 130 million people that are dealing with Sirs Lyme disease, autoimmune disease, or other conditions that are impacted by mold on a daily basis, and you need to learn how to eliminate that exposure, then you're in the right place. My name is Brian Carr, and you're listening to Mold Finders Radio.

Hey, everyone, what's going on? We got another episode today. Super excited for today's guest. This is Shauna from A Little Less Toxic on Instagram. I asked Shauna how to introduce herself when we did this, and she just kind of laughed at me. And she was like, I don't know, like some regular person that talks about stuff online. So everyone here's a regular person that talks about stuff online. Shauna. Hi.

Hello.

What am I even doing with my life?

You know what? Like, a long time ago, like, if you're like, oh, what do you want to do when you grow up? I just want to be somebody who talks about stuff and people listen to it, I guess, like, God, wouldn't that be awesome? And it is now. That's the thing to do now.

Who'da thunk?

Yes. But everyone, like, joking aside, Shauna knows a lot of stuff, which is evident by the billions of people that follow her on Instagram. Yes, I kind of exaggerated that a little. But there's a. There's a lot of people that listen to what you have to say. So you clearly have some good things to talk about, and I want to talk about some of those things here. So I was thinking. I was thinking a lot of, you know, a lot of our episodes here are so, like, mold specific. Whether it's like, health specific to mold reactions or whether it's inspections or remediation or whatever, that it'd be nice to kind of take a step back and think more just overall environmental sort of toxin load that we're exposed to kind of beyond the mold piece. And so that's what a big chunk of today is going to be. It's going to be taking a step back and understanding that, guys, it's not just mold that. That can trigger, you know, environmental reactions. Right. Like, the whole reason that you're getting exposures to environmental stuff is because it's environmental stuff that is. It's your environment that you're being exposed to. There's way more than mold. There's the products you're using, the furniture you're sitting on, the paints that are happening, and there's so Many things. Right. And. And so, yeah, I thought that that could be kind of what we talk about today.

Yeah. And I mean, they can contribute to each other. Right. Because you can become more sensitive to these mycotoxins and mold, and if you are more weakened or dampened because of all the other contributing factors, and vice versa, too. So I think it all matters.

Yeah, you're so right. I think we. We get so hung up sometimes on, like, thinking that it's like we found the one thing, you know, and yes, the one thing might be a contributor, but you're right. And this. This analogy floats around everywhere. It's the immune bucket, the funnel, the whatever. Right. That your immune system, your body can take on so much of whatever toxin or contaminant is going on and at some point is too much. But that bucket is not just one thing. It's everything added together. It's like mixing a whole bunch of liquids into a glass, and then you really don't know what's what at that point. It's all mixed together, but it's all filling up the glass.

That's right. Yeah.

Yeah.

I've described it before as like a beverage dispenser. I don't know if you've seen. I kind of showed it on my Instagram before. So because I use these. I really like hosting things, I have these big beverage dispensers that have the little spout at the bott and then the big opening on top. So I've shown that, you know, we all start off with, there's always something in our bucket, you know, where no one lives this perfectly pristine life because there's even regular old toxins in our environment, you know, like arsenic or lead or things that just live in the world. Right. And then all the. The other added toxins and toxicants that we add in, and then so as those continue to fill up that the. The beverage dispenser, then it can contribute to clogging up the spout so they can come out more slowly or all of these different things, you know, whatever is coming in, if it's coming into fast, faster than it can spill out of the spigot, then it's going to overflow the top. And mold is one of those things that contribute, but it's not the only thing. So it's all these other things, you know, like pharmaceuticals, chemicals, fragrances, stress, trauma. There's so many different components. So I like to not overwhelm myself or other people by talking about all of the things all at once. But it's it all does matter. And it all does add up.

Yeah, it does. And this isn't to be like overwhelming. It's like, oh, man. Now, in addition to mole, we got to think about all these other things. Right?

Right.

But it's. I just want this, I kind of want this episode to be one of these ones that people can bookmark whenever they're. And we talked about this while we were prepping for this. But like, you don't have to make all the changes that we're going to be talking about like overnight, but when you're thinking about a different type of whatever that your pots and pans need to be, so you need to swap out your Tupperware containers or whatever it is to come back and say, okay, so here's an option that I can use for that. Right. And so a lot of what's in this episode is not going to be. You're going to go out and do all of it immediately, I don't think. But it's one of those things as you start to kind of think about, oh, I need to replace this cleaning product I've been using. Well, what, what are some better options? I need to do something here. You could always come back to this and kind of refresh yourself and say, oh, these are a couple of things I could use to replace. And as you do these little changes over time, it could have a pretty big impact on your overall exposure.

Right, right, exactly.

Yeah. So I get, I get a lot of questions on my end, specific to mold stuff, about what cleaning products should I use. Right. You know, and so there's something I like, you know, specifically for like the remediation cleaning of stuff, which, by the way, if none of you have ever heard, is benefact decon 30. It's a botanical blend. It's an essential oil kind of primary ingredient. It's antimicrobial antifungal. Anyway, that's what I like for that. But then there's kind of like your general everyday cleaning. So it's not like you're cleaning mold everywhere. It's just, you know, you're cleaning your house, right. You're spraying your countertops after you cooked at night, right. You're doing like that kind of stuff. And so I feel like a lot of the questions I get are about sort of things that people could kind of make on their own or do on their own or easy things to buy, you know, kind of the simpler stuff. So maybe we can start with some things like that, maybe like cleaning products in general. And even, like, things that you can maybe make that are, like, pretty, you know, you know, there aren't any chemicals in it, really, because you're controlling everything that's going into it.

Yeah. You know, that was one of the very first things that I did. And it was even before, I think, before I realized what an impact all of these things made. I got really sick in 2013, and I had been kind of fighting sickness for, like, five years leading up to that. And so somewhere in there, I just thought, like, maybe it's not so great to have all these chemicals in my home. And we were living on a budget. I mean, we're still living on a budget.

We were on one income. I mean, it was like, yeah, it was just. We're really trying to make ends meet. And I just wanted to have less toxic stuff in the home. And so I just started experimenting and making my own. So it's very easy, and I found it to be very fun. It's, like, satisfying for me, and it's very inexpensive. So it takes really basic ingredients that most people already have in their home. I was using just regular old white vinegar and baking soda as the basis of all of the things that I was doing, and I still use those things. So what I did, I started. Well, I just started mixing up all kinds of things and along the way learned, oh, you shouldn't really mix those things together. So what I have found.

You know, you learn as you go, and no one got hurt, we're okay. But I just, you know, I found that the simplest thing has worked the best. So what I do is I take plain white vinegar. I get organic if I can find it, and if not, that's okay too. But plain white vinegar, it cost like, pennies, and I fill up a jar with white vinegar. And then when I'm using lemons, if I have the rind intact, like I haven't scraped off the zest, I keep the rinds in that vinegar and I just keep that under the sink. I always have two jars going. And the lemons infuse the vinegar, which make it smell better and it makes it more potent. And then I make a combination of just that, lemon infused vinegar and water, equal parts. And that's my multipurpose cleaner. I use it on everything and it works great. And I've used that for over eight years now, and it costs nothing. And I just find it so fun. And so that's. That's the basis of my, like, cleaning closet. And then other things that I use, I use a peroxide to sanitize, which I don't do often. I'm just not big on sanitizing for several reasons. But there are times when I feel like it's appropriate, like the toilet brush. So I just put a spray top on top of the peroxide bottle, which those cost like A$30 cents. So I just put a spray top on the peroxide bottle. And then if I feel I need to sanitize anything, doorknobs, the light switches, cutting boards, the countertop, whatever, I just spritz it with the peroxide and let it air dry like, you know, after five, 10 minutes. And that will help to sanitize those surfaces. Rubbing alcohol is great for that too. It's also good for spot cleaning fabrics. And it dries really quickly, so it doesn't leave water spots like water spots like a lot of other cleaning products or stain removers can. So that's like the basic basis of my. My stash. And then I like baking soda for deodorizing or cleaning things too. Baking soda with a little lemon oil and olive oil can take off adhesive and remove labels. What else? Oh, there's a. It's like a Jackson Comet alternative, and a lot of people think Bar keeper's friend is the answer, but it's not, because it's pretty toxic too. I realized when it was like, tearing my hands up. But it's called. I don't know how to pronounce it, but I always call it Bon Ami. And that costs like A$20 cents for a can of that. It's like a very easy swap from Comet or Ajax. And that works so great for cleaning stainless steel or things like tubs, toilets, and sinks. Whiten that right up. So that's like, you have those items and you can do basically anything.

That's pretty awesome. I mean, honestly, if nobody takes anything out of this, then other than that two minutes. I feel like you got, like, a lot of stuff out of this talk. So when you're saying peroxide, you're talking like hydrogen peroxide.

Hydrogen peroxide. Yeah. There's food grade, too. That gets a little more. Not complicated. I guess for me it felt complicated because you have to kind of like dilute it in different amounts, but you can buy that and then stretch that a long way because you do dilute it. And then that. That's a little less toxic than regular hydrogen peroxide, but it also costs a little more, too. So I just continue to use regular old hydrogen peroxide. They get it, you know, anywhere CVS or Target.

Yeah, you know, with hydrogen peroxide. A while back I was looking.

I was looking at doing, I was having some oral work done, some dental work done, and getting like kind of, you know, like a wash that you could use mouthwash or something like that. And they're like prescription ones that you can use, but there's like, you can't use them for very long. There's like problems with it. And I was looking at kind of more of a natural sort of thing. I never thought that you could use hydrogen peroxide as a, as like a mouth antibacterial thing. And then I started looking it up and I was like, oh, you can do this. That's interesting.

So, yeah, I don't know. So, so I mean, I'm literally doing a search right now. Like, like hydrogen peroxide, teeth whitening, like there's different things. So like, it's pretty interesting that that's something you look for. Obviously, like, you know, don't take my advice. I'm not an expert on what you can stick in your mouth, but this is just something that, that I saw at one point that I was like, oh, it's kind of cool. I didn't know that you could use things in that way. And so all this stuff is really cheap, right? So like when you're looking at brands like Ms. Meyers or something like that or some of these other brands that are out there, I mean, to get like a multi surface cleaning product, you're probably looking five to seven bucks for a spray bottle. I would imagine something like that. And all this stuff is so much cheaper. And I think that's one of these misconceptions that people have about, well, everything that's like healthier is cheaper. And maybe we think that because of food for some reason, because like, you know, we always see organic foods priced up and different things are priced up. And so we think that everything is healthy, might have to be more expensive because that's just how it works. But I mean, all of this stuff that you're talking about seems to be a lot cheaper than some of those kind of name brand cleaning products that are out there.

Yeah, I think there's a big trade off because some of the items definitely are going to cost more. Like when I, when I went to buy a new mattress for us, we spent the more to get a less toxic one. But not all of the things have to be more. And I think in the end it all balances out. You know, we're eating at home more often. All these different things where we're Saving money on one end and then we're able to use the difference there to save up and make the. Make the other changes that might cost a little more or a lot more over time, you know, so it doesn't have to cost more. And there are products that you can buy and some of them are great and some of them aren't. Like, the Myers stuff is not my favorite. I feel like, very misleading, but some, some of it's great and some of it's not, and some of it costs a lot and you can make it all at home. And I find it really fun and like you said, very inexpensive and also like you were bringing up too very. It's multi. Purpose, multifunctional, a lot of these things. So I find that it really simplified my life because I just have this one ingredient that uses. I have so many different uses for it all over the home. And that for me was a lot less complicated than having 15 different products that all have their own purpose. You know what I mean?

Yeah, definitely. So Mrs. Meyers is in my cabinets. Can you tell me why you don't like it? So I can, I can have my wife listen to this piece of the podcast and we can talk about it.

To buy them too. And it's one of the brands that I personally have found to be one of the ones that does a lot more of that green washing that I, I learned over, over time it has the label that makes it seem like it's very safe for the home. But if you look at the individual ingredients, not every product that they make, but a lot of them, they. If you look at the individual ingredients, you start to go, wait a minute, what's that doing in here? So it's not my favorite.

What are some, what are some of those types of ingredients that people are looking at? Stuff that are. Because I know a lot of times you look and you don't even know what half of it means. Are there some like kind of key ones that you see that are like immediate no gos?

The biggest one is fragrance. That's one. If I see fragrance on something, it's not coming into my home because it can really be. It's a. It's kind of like natural flavors or even artificial flavors are on food package labels. It sounds like harmless, but you have no idea what it's made up of. It's not transparent and it could contain all sorts of things that I don't want because they do not have to disclose it. It's kind of like this umbrella term that can Hide ingredients, and I'm not a fan of that. I really appreciate transparency with ingredients, and I don't want anything to be sneaking up into my home without my consent.

Yeah, that's. I feel like I've heard that recently, too. And then when it was described, it was like, wait, so, like, fragrance doesn't mean one thing? It means literally whatever they want to lump into that, really.

There's a lot of different numbers thrown around, but it can mean upwards of hundreds or even thousands of different.

And they don't have to be disclosed. It's kind of like this. It's like the natural flavors thing. It's kind of like a catch. All that brands can use for proprietary reasons or. Or sneaky reasons. And I just. I'm not playing that game.

Yeah, that's crazy. It reminds me of. In the mold world, when people call mold mildew and they think that it's different and it's, like, better, I guess. Oh, it's just mildew. Like, guys, mildew is mold. It's what it is. Like, it's. I was. I'm convinced that Clorox came up with the word mildew. That's. I have nothing to validate that. Don't sue me, Clorox. I'm just saying I kind of feel like maybe it was made up somewhere to sell stuff.

I wouldn't doubt it.

Okay, so that was just kind of some cleaning stuff. Maybe we take a step back. Like, what are some of. Just, like, a few of the most common, like, toxin contributors in a house that maybe we don't even know about. I feel like cleaning products is a big one, but, like, what are other things that we just bring into our house? And just. Maybe we've just always been taught, or even, let's say, not taught, that it was an issue when really, that it's something that's maybe a larger contributor to a toxin load.

Yeah, I. I feel like that can vary a little bit depending on what's in a person's home. But I think some of the major contributors are those cleaning products, because they're in every home. They're used almost every day, and they just sit there in a cupboard, like, emitting their. Their. Their stuff into the air, contributing to that air pollution, you know?

Yeah.

What else? Like, personal care products. That's another one that our cabinets are full of. Especially if you got any girls in the home. Boys do, too, but girls, we use so much stuff, and it's in the cabinets. Again, it's not just contained to their containers that, you know, like if you walk down the cleaning product aisle or even near it at the store, you can smell it because what's in there is not completely contained to those containers. Right. Even though it's called a container. And so that's all contributing. Plus it's things that we're, like, applying to our bodies or putting in our bodies. It's layers upon layers of stuff. So I feel like that is a huge one. We're wearing it on our bodies while we're in the home sitting on our furniture. So personal care products. Products, for sure. Furniture can be a huge one, although that's a much more like a bigger investment and maybe more an overwhelming one to look at. So I look at more like the cleaning products, the personal care products, and then items we use in the home, like some people like fabric, like our air fresheners, candles and things like that that are really contributing to the overall air pollution inside of the home, Things like that.

So what's.

Let's talk about candles and air fresheners. Yeah, I'm just thinking about my place. So, like, I know that, like, around holiday times, there are certain, like, smells that we like in the house, right? Like, oh, this makes. This makes it feel like fall. This makes it feel like Christmas time or whatever. So if. If air fresheners and like, scented candles, obviously there's chemicals in those, right? And they're. They're burning off or whatever, and they're good. So that's kind of what the problem is. So do you have. I don't even know. Do you have, like, things that. That are alternatives for. For, like, seasonal sense? This is such a specific question. You may say, Brian, why are you asking me such specific questions? That's fine. I'm just kind of curious.

I do now, but in the beginning, when I pretty much, like, started realizing how much these things were contributing to my poor health, I just got rid of everything. Not all at once, you know, but the things that were fragrance, like the. I was really into, like, body sprays and scented candles and all the things that you're talking about, but I really got rid of those. Not right away, but once I realized those were all gone, and then I didn't invite any of them back in because I didn't know of any that were not toxic. And I looked for ones and that nothing really was just fitting the bill. So things that I would do are like simmer pots and I would just, you know, boil stuff on the stove with, like, orange peels and cinnamon sticks and clove and things like that. For those seasonal scents or even just, you know, lemons or whatever just to. I love when my home smells good. And then after that I started getting into essential oils and I still use and love those. These are things that I still use too. But I have found some products. There's two brands that I really like and I'm sure there are more, but I use Grow Fragrance and Fontana Candle Company. They make, both of them make candles and Grow also makes a fabric and air freshener that would be like Febreze but is completely non toxic. And both of them, they just smell amazing and they do all the seasonal things and they have year round stuff. So I think there's like different levels of like what you can afford or what you are ready for or you know, what you, what you're looking for and all of it's great.

Yeah, that's cool. So you said grow like something growing, Grow fragrance.

Yes.

And then what was the other one?

Fontana Candle Company.

Fontana Candle Company.

Cool. So a little bit different, but they're both wonderful. And then if you're not really into scent and you just want candles, I love plain beeswax candles and they can actually help to clean the air which is amazing. So you can get the vibes from your candles but also be doing something beneficial for your home instead of, you know, contributing to anything that might be harmful.

That's really cool. That's awesome. You said essential oils. Do you, do you use essential oils for cleaning at all? Like what's your thought on essential oils?

I, I have. You know what? I. One of my favorites is tea tree. I always add it to the detergent for loads that have like funky smell and stuff like the kids clothes and towels because it can help with the odors and things like mold. So I, I use tea tree for laundry all the time and I have used essential oils for different cleaning things too. I made my own toothpaste forever and used some in there things like that or like I was talking about with the adhesive remover earlier with. I use lemon essential oil all the doggone times time. But yeah, so I use them for lots of different things. I'm not like Mrs. Essential Oil all the things, but I do love them and use them often.

That's cool. Is there, is there any issue in like diffusing essential oil at all? Is there any problem with that? I know I've been into homes where, where people are doing a lot of that and so obviously there's the smell that goes with it, but is there any issue in doing that?

I, I believe there can be. There's a book that I like by Robert Tisrand. He, he has been like a major contributor in the aromatherapy world. But he. It's called Essential Oil Safety and it's kind of like the Essential Oil guidebook, like almost like the bible of essential oils. Right. And it's got every single essential oil you can think of pretty much listed in there and then different dangers or toxicity and different things like that. So there are some that I wouldn't use around children, there are some that I wouldn't use around pets, especially in higher concentrations. So it, there, there can be. Because plants are powerful, so they're powerful enough to cause harm too. So it just, it just depends. There are some brands like I use plant therapy mostly. I like that they have specifically on their bottles they'll label kids safe. And I really appreciate that as a mom of little ones, so that I'll know that, okay, these are, these are oils that have been tested and to be safe to use around kids. But you know, not all of them really are.

Yeah, that's good to know. Like you just someone who doesn't know all this stuff, you're like, oh, essential oils, they're good, right?

Yeah.

And I think it's just like this is everything, right? Like, not everything is good for everything. There are things that are good for purposes and not just everything that you could think of. This is not just in, it's not in like cleaning product stuff. It's not in, you know, it's literally everything in life. Like, like there's not one catch all to everything, you know, and so it's nice to be able to understand like, oh, here's the strengths of doing that, here's the weaknesses of that thing. So this is how I'm going to shape it into my daily whatever. Right. And you kind of puzzle together and, and I, you know, I talk about doing this when we're building like sampling plans in a house, but you do this for anything. It's like understand the strengths and weaknesses of what you're looking at and then basically build a plan that maximizes the strengths and reduces the weaknesses. And you kind of fill in the gaps of the weaknesses of other things and really stable, you know, kind of solution that way.

Yeah, I love that so much. I started making a post a couple of weeks ago and I haven't finished it because that's kind of how I operate. It's like working in little two minute chunks at a time. But it's something like everything is toxic when out of balance. So it's really about finding what that balance is. You know, like water can be toxic. If I drink too much of it too fast, I'll die, You know, so it's really not about like being overwhelmed and paranoid. It's about finding the right balance for you. And I always like to say, do what you can with what you're able.

And makes sense for you because that fluctuates and it changes.

It does. And I think that sometimes when people start looking for information, they then want to apply everything that they've learned pretty quickly usually. But it can be overwhelming. One you walk in your house, okay, I have to throw out all of this stuff and then I have to replace all of this stuff. And it could be financially frankly overwhelming to have to do all that stuff. Right. And there's other places in life where you kind of have the same thought process. So when you're talking about. I kind of. I like that, I like the name that you, that you picked and you ran with, which is a little less toxic because the name isn't like all completely non toxic right now. Right. That's like, like that's not the name that you chose to go with. It's a little less toxic. And I think it talks about, at least to me, like the method in which you start implementing things. So maybe we could talk about that a little bit.

Yeah, I mean that's the way that it had to happen. For me, I couldn't do it all at once. I couldn't afford that. My brain could not process all of that information. And I find that most people, if you try and do that, if you get like, oh my gosh, everything's toxic, throw it all out and start fresh. For most people that is not sustainable and you're going to burn yourself out. So for me, it's been really just a little bit at a time. A lot of it was food at first, because I was realizing I did. I started with an elimination diet and I realized that some foods were causing me some pretty significant reactions and they needed to be completely eliminated for a time so that my body could heal. But that opened up my eyes and my world to understanding that there are some things that I felt thought were okay or safe or even healthy and they were not contributing to my health. So what I started to do was just replace one item at a time. And I've been doing that for over eight years and I'm continuing to do that. And I think that we never fully arrive at this completely non toxic place because we live in a polluted world first of all. And even in this like pristine state, like I was mentioning earlier, there are things in the environment that can still be toxic. Right. So it's never getting to this place of I fully arrived and now I'm non toxic and just finding ways to get a little less toxic every day. And it's not just, you know, your cleaning products or your furniture or your cookware. It's. It's everything. It's. It includes our thoughts, it includes our stress, it includes processing and dealing and healing from trauma. All of the things matter and it's just doing what we can, like I said, with what we're able and as it makes sense for us because that looks different every day. Sometimes it looks different at different parts of the day.

Yeah, I'm glad you actually brought up the stress trauma stuff because I feel like a lot of people don't think of that. And I mean just very top line, if you're stressed out, your cortisol levels are spiked. It puts you into.

Kind of the constant fight or flight response. And that's not a place that allows your body to heal because it's on edge. Right?

Yeah.

And so that's, I always mix up the two. That's your sympathetic state.

Right.

You need to be in parasympathetic state to allow your body to go. Right. That's how it goes. Yeah. So, so that, that puts you in that space. What are, what are some things that you've done or have you. I guess just ask the question on that front of things. Have you implemented meditation type things or breath work work or anything like that? Is that anything that you've thought through?

I mean over the years and depending on what I'm able to do too. But definitely always prayer. The Bible is a huge one for me to spending time in, in the Bible and spending time in prayer with God and spending time with, with like minded people that I can be held accountable to. That's been really helpful for me. Also journaling when I'm able to. Sometimes my hands aren't functioning very well because it's different things that I'm dealing with physically. But writing out my thoughts or feelings has been so helpful exercise when I'm able to. That counseling has been huge for me over the years. Therapy, so many different tools like that. But yeah there that it's a big one. And that's why I think too this, this approach of doing it in a sustainable way is important too because stress is toxic and if we get to that place of overwhelm, then that can be. To me, I believe that is more harmful than many or even all of the products or things that we might need to eliminate from our homes.

It's true. And it's something that you can work on yourself, you know, that literally doesn't cost anything. You just have to make the attempt and take some steps to it. But, I mean, there's a reason. For example, like, when someone is pregnant, they're like, you can't be stressed, heavily stressed out when you're pregnant. It's bad, right? Like. Like, if it's bad while you're pregnant, it's probably bad in other times too, for you, like, not just when you're pregnant and being able to manage that. Like, I know I work with so many people that the overwhelm is just so much, you know, and then it's. It's. It's the financial stress, it's the relationship stress that happens because now there's, you know, there's finances to fix things, and maybe the partner, you know, the. Their husband or wife or partner is not completely on board with them, and it creates, like, a relationship sort of issue. And there's, like, so many things that can happen that's beyond the actual, like, physical cause of what's going on, but having just as big of an impact, if not more right on. On the healing journey. And it's, like, such an important part. And I mean, I even struggle with making time to, like, sit down and, like, clear, you know, it's that you have to, like. It has to be part of your day. You have to, like, build out, like, a schedule and say, okay, here's. Here's when I do this stuff, because it's such an easy thing to wipe off, be like, oh, I don't have time to do this, when literally it only takes, like, 10 minutes. If you just, like five minutes. Like, it's really not that long to sit down and just breathe for a few minutes and, like, just try to calm down for a second, you know, But. But it takes work, you know, and a lot of these things, like, it takes thought, you know, but, like, some of the stuff is easy. It's easy to implement some of these things, but there has to be an action. There has to be, like, an intentional move to do some of this stuff, you know, and it's. There are people that like to listen a lot and, like, learn a lot, but then they don't actually do anything.

Yeah.

Versus people that maybe just, like, listen to one thing. Maybe they haven't learned all the things as much as this other person, but they listen to one thing, like, you know what? I'm gonna do that. And then that person is way further along than the person that's been learning for two years and not done anything.

Right.

I think that's just like a big lesson. Like a big life lesson in general is you don't have to know everything right away.

Right.

But as you learn, you start implementing. Because if you don't do stuff, like, nothing is ever going to change, you know?

Right. Yeah. My mom would always say, one foot in front of the other, you know? And I feel like as long as we are taking steps, even if they're the smallest steps, that we're still moving, you know? And I think that over time, I mean, you look back and I get to talk to so many people, and they're like, wow, wow. I just started doing some of this stuff only a year ago, and I thought I wasn't doing enough, but I looked back and, gosh, I can't believe how many changes I've made. Because you just. You keep. It's that intentionality, and it's the implementation, and it's even. Can be the tiniest of baby steps, but it's moving you forward and whatever that looks like.

Yeah. As long as you have a path that you're putting yourself on. And I tell people this all the time. Like, listen, I know it's overwhelming. I get there's a lot of stuff that we have to think about now in terms of how you're going to handle, you know, the house specifically from what we're talking about. But think about two weeks ago, before you knew what was happening. You were kind of like, in this free fall, and there was, like, no way out. Right. And now you may feel more overwhelmed right now because you've seen all the things. You're like, oh, my gosh, like, how am I going to handle all this stuff? But there's like, a light at the end of the tunnel now. Like, you're working towards somewhere that you weren't working toward before. And it may seem a little overwhelming now, but just like you said, you start just kind of taking one day at a time and, like, all these cliches and stuff. But there's a reason all those cliches exist.

Right.

It's because you have to think that way sometimes to get yourself moving.

So the kids. All the time, there's like, the whole house looks like the floor is covered with stuff. Right. And I'm like, you guys got to Help me clean up. And they just look around and they're like, I don't know what to do. I can see that they're overwhelmed. And I have to literally tell them like, look down at your feet, what's right next to you, Pick it up and find where it goes. And if they do that and then continue to do that, you know what, we cleaned up the whole doggone house. And it's, it's like that. I think as grown ups too, I just have to look at what is right in front of me that I can actually do and do it. And if I continue to do that, then hey, what do you know, I've done a whole lot, but if I look around and go like, how am I going to do this? Then I'm never gonna do it. You gotta just start doing something, whatever you can.

Yeah. And something's better than nothing.

That's right.

It doesn't have to be the full solution right now. Like anything is better than nothing, you know?

Yeah.

So we talked about a couple of like the main contributor type of things in the house earlier. So it seems to me that most of these are in particular rooms. Like one thing I do when I talk to people about like air, air filtration for example, and air purifiers in the house, it's where do you spend the most time. And you focus on those areas because you're exposed to those areas more often. Right. So like it's. A bedroom is always number one. Typically like kitchen, living area is kind of number two. And when I'm looking at the list of things that you had brought out here, so we're talking cleaning products, personal care products. I mean that's basically kitchen and bedroom bathroom areas. It sounds like for the most part. Do you, when you're talking to people, do you kind of think of it that way? Like, like, or is it just more. These are the things that you use more often versus like areas of the house?

Well, I think the areas of the house is really important. But like you said the bedroom, I'm in there a third of my life. So that is really important to me. But it was, it was a bigger investment that I could not tackle right away. So that had to come in time. But there are ways to, to mitigate what goes on there too. Like so sheets for example, or just the candles or things that are brought into the room. But like the bed itself or the furniture in there, that was just way too big for me to tackle right away. And it was something we had to save up For. And wait until we were absolutely desperate. Our bed was literally like a taco before we got a new mattress. Like, you know when you have to sleep at both. Both of you are at one end of the bed into the middle. And we just woke up in pain every day.

Oh, my goodness.

Yeah, that was us. But yeah. So I think that that's a really great way to tackle it, too. I think it just, like, it depends on personality and resources and whatever people have at their disposal too. Or what's the next thing that needs to be replaced. If you're ready for the bed, then do that. Yeah, that's a big one.

So let's just talk about, like, the bedroom as a room and kind of like break down the room a little bit. Right. So. Because this, like you said, this is. And on my end, too, this is always kind of the most important place. If you're talking about, like, air filtration stuff, like you're. This is where you're. You're sleeping and your restoration, your natural restoration is happening and repair and rebuild overnight and everything. So you don't want to. You don't want to, like, diminish that capability, you know, as much as you can. Anyway. So what are, like, the things, the main things in the room. So you kind of mentioned. So there's like linens and sheets. You're laying on that stuff. There's mattresses and the pillows obvious. And then maybe some of the furniture pieces. And then something that's kind of bigger is like if you have carpeting in your room, but that's like a replacing all your flooring type thing if you're going to do that. So that's like a bigger thing. But maybe like, if. Let's talk like sheets and then maybe mattresses. And so what are the things that you're looking for kind of in those that you're trying to avoid?

So in a mattress there. One of the big things that people are starting to realize more is flame retardants are very toxic. And they've been put on a lot of our furniture, including our mattresses and. And the bed itself, especially if they have upholstery and they are toxic. These flame retardants, they just. They pollute our air. And like you said, we're in the bedroom. That's where you're getting all your restorative. Your whole life is being repaired in a third of your day. You know, you're spending like eight hours in your bed of 24. Right. That's a third of your life where so much important work is happening in your body. Like, you're knocked out, but your body's doing hard work. That's why you're knocked out, you know?

Right.

So it's kind of really important what is. What's surrounding you while this is going on. So the flame retardants, that's a huge one. There are a lot of other things too. Like if beds are made up of cotton. Cotton is one of the, if not the most dirty crop known to man because it's not a crop that's made for consumption. It is more heavily sprayed with these pesticides and fungicides and all these different chemicals. And then all those cotton pieces are put together, and then we have them under our head and under our body and wrapped around our body. So those kinds of things are things that I. That was pretty overwhelming, but something to start to consider. So with the map that didn't have all of those different components for, like, layers of toxicity, basically. But I did. Like I said, I didn't do that right away. So sheets can make a difference. Also, mattress protectors, there are ones that are made of better materials that you can put over the mattress to kind of help mitigate that too. And I. I've always used. What are they called? Like, the. The protectors that go over the pillow to kind of help with, like, mitigate things like dust mites and then the pillowcase over that. We've been doing that for, like 10 years. What else? I think I got off track there.

No. So let's. So cotton. So that's a big thing. So, like, most sheets are made out of cotton. So what are. If that's. If that's not what we want, then what are some of the things that we would be looking for as an alternative?

So I think cotton's great, but like I said, it's a dirty crop. So if you're looking for cotton, there are things like there's gots certified different things. Like there's. Oh, I don't know how to say it's O e K O T E X. I call it Oeko Tex. And they test for different contaminants along the whole manufacturing process. So if you're gonna use cotton, I think I. I prefer natural materials to synthetic materials. So I love 100 cotton, but I do want cotton that has not been so adulterated. There's also bamboo is a wonderful material. And we have some bamboo sheets that they feel like almost silk. They're so wonderful. And linen is my other favorite. Linen is probably like one of my all time favorite materials for sheets and clothing. It is so great at containing heat when you're cold or like letting it out when it's hot. It's like such a good temperature regulator and it, to me, I don't know, some people find it kind of scratchy, but it's what's wonderful. I'm pretty sensitive to. To scratch, so I think it depends on the person. But it also wears really well over time and just gets softer. So I like natural materials and then if you can find them that are less adulterated, then that's better.

Okay, so it's gonna sound really silly. I didn't think that linen was a product. I thought that's just what we called stuff. So like, like, oh, your linens. It's like, oh, that's just what people call stuff. So linen is an actual material?

Yeah, most of it, I think is made from flax.

Oh, cool.

Yeah.

That's awesome.

Yeah.

So what about. So Matt, like specific mattresses. So like there's like latex mattresses that's synthetic, right?

Well, it can be some's rubber. Right. So it just depends. So there are lots more brands coming out that make different mattresses, and I'm not familiar with all of them, but when I went down that crazy rabbit hole hole, I was looking for the best bang for the buck. And so I started learning about the different materials that can be used. So latex can be a good option. It just depends how it's sourced and harvested and manufactured. I know we have our mattresses by Avocado and I absolutely love it. We're about a little more than two years into having. Is it two years or three? Think two. And it feels brand new still. And it's just absolutely. It's. For me, it's perfection. They have different styles of mattresses now too, but we have their green mattress and it's very firm on the bottom, but we got the pillow top, so it's got like just enough cushion. It's been absolutely wonderful. It doesn't like make us overheat or anything like that. And it's just held up really well over already a couple of years like I mentioned. But there are other brands too that are using better materials. So like Avocado is G O T.S. certified, GOLs certified. And I think they made safe. There's all these different accolades that these, these materials can. I don't know if it's like acquire or achieve by, you know, whatever they. You can look for these different certifications to help, you know, if these materials have been tested to be safe for you, for your home, for your family.

Yeah, I think that's. I mean, that's super awesome. Were you. So I've seen that avocado brand before. Were you able to actually, like, find somewhere where you could lay on it and test it for. Or is it one of those online things? You had to guess?

Yeah, we had to guess, but it was. So that was like. When I mentioned the rabbit hole, part of it was like, looking for reviews, looking for people's. Like, I was on YouTube, I was on Instagram, Facebook, like, all over the place, looking for, like, real people sharing about it. And it's kind of interesting because that's even like, how I started doing Instagram at all is because I found value in people sharing their real life experiences with things that like this mattress. I was like, I can't go lay on it. I'm like, taking these people's word for it. They have these great return policies. But I was still like, that's going to be such a pain to bring this mattress in, let it expand, sleep on it, and then try and get it returned somehow. It sounds like a pain in the neck, you know? So I was really relying on all these other people's insight and reviews. So that's kind of like how I started sharing. And I, like, that's it. I mean, I started sharing even about my avocado, my old highlights. Oh, my goodness, I don't even know. But yeah, so it was kind of just like, take other people's word for it and try it out. And thankfully it's been an absolute perfect fit. And everything that people said was very true about it. So I feel, like, lucky to get to share my insight with anybody that it might help too.

That's awesome. So for, like, the mattress and pillow covers, are you looking for, like, what type of material you're looking there because you probably want something that's not as porous to try to seal in whatever is there. So what type of material are you looking for there?

I'm not real sure. I have some that I found that use eucalyptus, and they're really good. I've been using them for a couple years, actually, since we got the avocados. Like, well, I can't afford what they sell and I want something that still works really well. I can't remember the exact brand or what else is in it, but it's mainly made with eucalyptus and they have worked really well. I mean, even, like, because we have one on the mattress as, like, a Mattress protector and kids have spilled things on the bed and nothing has gone through. Like, it's a really tight weave and has. Has worked really well with like moisture barrier and everything like that.

Yeah. And moisture barrier is big actually. And people don't think about this, but like you sweat in your sleep and, and you can get mold that grows on the interior of your mattress and there's really no way to know about it.

No. Or nothing you can do about it.

And there's nothing you do. You can't test it. You can't look to see if it's there. It's literally in like the cushion. So, so protecting from. From sweating and moisture, like I putting a mattress cover. I mean, obviously you want a more like a healthier one, but anything in general that's going to help like moisture wick and protect moisture is big time because your, your sweat is water just like water from anything else. And it can create like growth issues within the cushions and then you're kind of. You're kind of screwed at that point.

Yeah.

Well, that was cool.

Yeah. So we cover the mattresses. Sheets, pillows are kind of. So. So our pillows.

Well, I guess kind of the same thing with mattresses.

Right.

Because there's different types of materials. They're softer, there's more. So you probably use the same thought.

Process on pillows on your head's on it directly if you use a pillow. So you're breathing that all night. And that's a lot less expensive than a mattress to replace. So a lot of people will replace their pillows before they're able to invest in the mattress. So I think that's another great one to look into.

Yeah. And a couple other things I do in my. So I haven't really gotten into any of this in my room yet, but a couple of things that I do. One good air filter in your room, like always runs 24 7, never stops. And you know that all this stuff that's in your room, it's. It's also going to. Particles are going to come off. There's going to be off gassing from different chemicals. There's going to be, you know, maybe there's formaldehyde in the glues and adhesives that were used for your carpet or something else in your room. So the air filtration is really important in there. And then another thing I started doing recently is I actually I've. I've added a grounding mat on my mattress. So I sleep on a grounding mat now.

Which helps to just consistently decrease overall inflammation in Your body throughout that time. And that's the easy thing. I mean, I got one probably. I mean, you could find other ones on Amazon, I'm sure they're a little cheaper, but. But I got one kind of from the guy who I feel like is the one who really discovered all this stuff. So I used his.

And I've actually noticed in the last week because I've been trying to track it with my Oura ring. My sleep ring.

Yeah.

And over the last week my HRV has been like climbing. I basically put it on. So I went on vacation. I came back last, I don't know, Wednesday or something. So today we're recording on a Wednesday. So I've been home for a week. When I was on vacation.

My sleep readings were a disaster.

Oh yeah.

As I started to come back, you know, I noticed that my, my HRVs were like pumping into the 40s. And then I just went into 50s last night when normally like before that, for like weeks before that, I would have a couple nights that would spike up a little that high. But I was more often like in the 30s usually. And so I was really curious to start like looking at this while I was sleeping on a grounding mat to see if that, you know, that, that kind of reduction and, you know, we don't have to get into all the biochemistry of all of it. But if all of that is helping, you know, and it's interesting, you see stuff like this and that's really the only change that I've made in the last week or so. And I'm seeing that things have consistently gone up. So like It's. Is it 100% the ground? I don't know. I don't know what it is. Right. It's one change that I've made. But I think the point of it is the cool thing about these like, rings with HRV and your sleep tracking and stuff is you can see like different things you're doing in your day and how they're actually impacting your restorative time when you're sleeping. And I think that's super awesome. I like nerd out on that stuff.

Totally tangible evidence that something you're doing is actually contributing to something good in your life. It's really cool.

Yeah, Like I've stopped. Not that I was like a drinker or anything, but there would be nicer, like, ah, it'd be cool to like have a drink tonight or whatever. I'm just kind of sitting around. I do one drink at like, you know, 7 o' clock or something, and I look and my HRV is like, in the 20s, and then it, like, goes down, like, 20 or something. I'm like, well, one drink, like, four hours before I go to bed, and my body is like, what the hell is this?

I'm like, oh, my God. And so. So, like, it helps me make little small decision, like, do I really need to have a drink? So I, like, I used to do it because it was, like, a fun thing maybe to do. You're sitting with. You know, you're sitting down with your wife having a shit. But, like, is it doing anything for you? Not really. You know, what it's actually doing is making you not recover as well when you're sleeping. So, like, is it worth it?

You know, when you can actually see that makes a big impact. That's.

Yeah. Yeah. So it's like, fun things like that. But anyways, yeah, I think we covered a lot of stuff, so. So one other thing before we wrap up. So I was telling you about this before. So last couple episodes I've done, I started doing this thing I'm calling Parent Quarter, which I'll probably say this the next five times I do it. This is not my idea. I listen to the Bill Simmons podcast, which is like a sports pop culture podcast, and he's been doing this forever. And I was like, oh, that's a cool idea. And I was. I was, like, trying to think, should I name it something else? Like, so does. It's not like, a blatant steal of somebody segment, and then I'm like, I don't even know what else to name it. And honestly, he doesn't care. He's got other things to worry about. So.

Yeah, so I've done a couple of things, like talking about what's going on on my end, but maybe what's. What's something that's happening with your kids that's just kind of interesting or. Or weird, or you're like, oh, my gosh, want to bang my head against a wall or fun or whatever.

Abigail, my youngest, she's four. She broke her collarbone two weeks ago. So that's been pretty interesting.

Oh, my goodness.

Yeah. You know, it's always an adventure. I don't know. Ezekiel, he's my older. He's. He'll be 6, coming up in the summer, but he is. He's very into safety and. And procedure and protocol, and Abigail's a little bit. Not so much, but. And some of these things haven't even been her fault, but she did one time swallow a washer. That was a little over a year ago. That sucked. She. Last year, as soon as the pandemic started, got a busted lip. I had to get stitches in her lip. She's had to have an ultrasound on her tummy because she couldn't stop vomiting once. That was. Well, that was also fun. But, yeah, two weeks ago, she just slipped and fell really randomly and broke her collarbone. And so, I mean, that was. Gosh, yeah, that was traumatic. But I couldn't tell what was going on because she. Well, she said, my arm hurts on the inside. She was crying for like an hour, poor thing. But she couldn't show me anywhere on her arm that hurt. She was pointing to her underarm. I'm like, that's weird. And she couldn't really lift her arm up, but she was insisting she was fine. Didn't want to go to. To the doctor. But after. After a little bit over an hour, we're like, no, you gotta go. So, yeah, after an X ray, found out, yeah, it's completely cracked. Broken. But, yeah, that's been pretty fun. She's been eating. It's been mostly fine during the day. But laying down, like, the actual physical part of laying her down has been really challenging. That's getting a little better every day. But I had. Speaking of sleep, it has been really interrupted, so sleep for. Especially the first week, week and a half. It's getting better and she's getting better, and that's helping her to heal up too. But that. That's been a party. The sling won't stay on, so I got, like, a nice bandage to wrap around her, and that won't quite stay on either. I think she's almost done with the sling altogether and it's been a party. She takes leafy. This. It's a. Like a turmeric tincture. Turmeric and ginger tincture for the pain and inflammation. And also is using arnica and another homeopathy. I forget what it's called, but for bone trauma. And so she takes the little pellets and holds them under her tongue. And I don't know where she got this term, but she calls them her absorbers. I. I don't know, but she's like, I need my absorbers. So we're all just calling it that now. Just like I need my absorbers and my leafy.

Oh, my goodness. I feel like. How old is she again?

She's four.

She's four. So mine is two and a half. And I feel like at this point she's been. She's been talking for since she was a lot younger, she started talking before she even started walking, which is cool. But now she's at the point where she gets, like, super excited and says a bunch of things that you literally have no idea what she's saying and then looks at you like you're supposed to know what she's saying. And I feel. I literally feel like I'm talking to, like, a foreign immigrant in my house and I'm. I'm trying to, like, understand.

Yeah. Like, point to it or like, maybe. I don't know, like. Like, as much as I feel like I understand what she's saying and as well as she can talk, there are times I look at her, I'm like, what are you talking about? Like, I have no idea what you're talking about. And then, like, frustration starts happening.

I'm like.

I'm like, don't be upset. I. It's. I don't know. I'm trying. Here, do you want this? Do you want this? Do you want this? You don't want any of this stuff.

Okay.

So I'm in the weird, like. Like foreign interpreter stage of child life right now.

And so what I'll do is I'll try to, like. If there's something I want to do, I'll try to like, make it seem like that's what she's telling me. I'm like, oh, you. Here. You want to go do this, right? This is cool. This is what I want to do. Cool, let's go do this. And I like, try to, like, reverse psychology her into doing whatever I want to do.

So I don't know if that's good or bad, but yeah, so that part is fun. The other fun thing that's been happening is she's getting really into arts and crafts stuff, which is cool. I just don't like messy stuff. I just don't. It just bothers me. I don't like when the house is messy. I don't like when stuff gets on me. I don't know, whatever. And so for Mother's Day, we were going to make this kind of like, flower vase with flowers out of construction paper and popsicle sticks. And so that's what we did. And so I like, pre cut everything, right. So all she really had to do is, like, use a glue stick and whatever. But there was some stuff I wanted her to, like, put her hand print on it and like, have that be her signature kind of, you know, So I got like, the little, you know, the paints out, the hand paints and stuff or whatever. And I'm like. And I mix them all up. I'm like holding her hand. I'm like, okay, here's what's going to happen. We're going to put your hand in this. Almost like she was in prison and I was making her give thumbprints. Like that's what was happening when I was doing with this. I'm like, okay, so we're going to do this and then you're going to put your hand right here. And again I'm like talking to a Russian immigrant. So she doesn't know anything that I'm saying. And so she somehow breaks out of my grasp, which how a 2 year old is so freakishly strong to get out of my. I don't know. And she slaps down on the paint and then she slaps me with it and then she gets it on my leg and she gets it and I'm in such like chaotic response mode that I don't even know what to do. And within 30 seconds it's everywhere except where I wanted it to be.

So, yeah, at the end I'm like, okay, can we just touch the spot too while you're at it? And then, and then that was it. And that was my Mother's Day experiment with arts and crafts.

That's how it goes.

So anyway, I'm sure a lot of people have their own fun stories about this stuff too.

But anyways, well, thank you so much for taking the time to chat about all this stuff today. I think all the stuff is these types of things. The more broad scope improvements you can make that are the smaller changes over time that you can make in life, they all add up. I think it's super important to be able to step back and think big picture like this and you're one of the best people there is to talk to about it. So thank you so much.

Oh, thank you for having me. It's been so fun. It's truly an honor. So I really appreciate it. Thanks, Brian.

Yeah, no worries. I'll talk to you soon. Bye. Bye.

Bye.

So that's it for today's show, everyone. Thanks so much for tuning in in. If you enjoyed the show, please take a moment and subscribe and give a rating wherever you get your podcasts. It'll help spread the word to those who really need it the most.