The Hidden Toxins Lurking in Your House Right Now

It's so easy for us often to forget that our environments and where we live are often either the cause of health or the cause of illness. 72% of the toxins we encounter are found inside of our homes. And the fact of the matter is that indoor air is often two to five times more polluted than the outdoor air. Your home can either fuel disease or it can create longevity. The environment you live in, the environment you spend time in, your home is 90% of that environment. So make that place where you invest, make that place a space that your children, that yourself, that your kids, that your family thrive in. Hey, everybody. Welcome back to the Own It Show. I'm your host, Justin Rothling, chauffeur, and it is so good to be with you today. First off, if it's your first time here, welcome to the Own It Show. This is a place where we really help keep tips of the spear people sharp, making sure that we're equipping you, educating you, and empowering you to take ownership of your health so that you can realize the impact and the level of influence that ultimately has been created for you. And I just get so excited. If again, first timers, make sure you put this into your stories, be able to make sure you comment, make sure that you just let me know how it's serving you. Because the reason that I do this show is just to create content that is something that can really help people and take action in a very personalized way. And so today is an exciting episode. It comes off of a personal story. It comes off of, I think, something that a lot of people will find a lot of value in because it's so easy for us often to forget that our environments and where we live are often either the cause of health or the cause of illness. And really what today's podcast episode, if you look at the title, it's home as a haven for Health, healing, or causing disease. What are we actually doing? What are we actually stepping into? And so for Lisa and I, this is something that's very, very meaningful to us because the home that we currently live in is a home that we love to host in, and it's a home that we love to have people around. And when we first moved into our home, I think you've heard this story a year ago, was when we first moved into our home.

It was a major fixer upper, let's call it, that we'd come here and.

It was an acre property in the heart of Miami. Like, you just don't find that it's Very, very difficult to find that level of property and that level of land. But when we saw it, it was this jungle of a backyard and this beautiful big green acred area. And we're just like, man, what this could become.

And then we saw the house and.

The house needed some work. To say it kindly, it was. There was air conditioners that had bees nests in them. There was light switches that God knows what they turned on and off.

There was.

My mom came in and steam cleaned the floor and needed to go over, I'm not lying, 18 times to get the grub of grime off of this thing. She cleaned the windows that had been boarded up for 10 years. Like guys disgusting.

But the thing was is that when.

We got the home, we got it from a man who actually had cancer.

And when we moved in, in the back of my mind, it was there as to like, did this home actually cause that for him?

And as we put some things in, as we start to make some changes, we obviously got the house completely steam cleaned, we got the house completely made over, we redid the kitchen a little bit, we got new appliances, we new air conditioners, we changed out a lot of the light fixtures. Just the thing, little things that we could do right away. We put a water filtration system in, little things like this.

But ultimately, over the course of the.

Next three, four, five, six, seven weeks, Elise and I start to feel exhausted.

Kind of unwell, to be honest with you. Despite optimizing other areas of our lives, still focusing on the quality of food.

We'Re eating, supplementation, the workouts we were.

Doing, and what we ultimately ended up finding was that our sleep quality was.

Going down while at the same time.

Our HRV's were dropping, our respiration rates were going up. Elise was feeling more fatigued, I was feeling more fatigued. And we started to say, I wonder.

If this house is causing us not to be well. And so we started to do a deeper dive. And even though we put a water filtration system on, we still looked and we found high levels of chlorine, high levels of fluoride in our water. We found that there was mold in the, in the walls. We found that there was a poor air quality that we were breathing. We found that the pipes that were having our water that we were showering with had high pH levels but also high levels of chlorine.

And so we were like, you know what?

We're going to take full ownership of turning our home from a source of sickness to a sanctuary for healing and high performance.

We were already going to build the backyard.

We knew what the backyard was going to look like. We knew that we were going to put a gym in.

We knew we were going to put.

A sauna and a cold plunge in. But we were going to make a stand for turning our health, our home, into a source and a sanctuary for healing and high performance. And so when we think about this, the unspoken truth about our homes is that this is not unique. To Elise and I. Six out of ten Americans have at least one chronic illness. 42% of men and women in the US in the United States, will develop cancer in their lifetime. Conversations about chronic disease simply only focus.

On food, exercise, and medication.

But what about where we live? What about where we spend 90% of our time?

When we think about this, we spend 90% of our lives indoors.

Yet most of our homes are filled with hidden toxins that impact our longevity and energy and overall health. And so we have to come to this understanding and this thought process that if we don't actually take ownership of our home, if we actually just keep our head in the sand and don't try to get more aware, we're going to lean into this very simple place where there's some major issues. And so here's the science, here's the.

Truth, and how our homes can either.

Heal us or how they can harm us.

The epa, okay, when we think about.

An EPA and the, the impact that the inside of our homes and the fact of the matter is that indoor air is often two to five times more polluted than the outdoor air, especially.

When you go into northern climates, places.

Where you're all your windows are locked up, your windows are closed. Think about it. Even in the southern states where you keep the windows closed because you got the air conditioning blasting in the summer. And so these are the things that really come back to this. And so these hidden culprits that sometimes we forget about are things that are flame retardant, things that actually push flames off so we actually don't. That they don't catch flames. Phthalates, VOCs, mold off, gassing furniture. These are all things that start to create major issues. And studies link household toxins to reproductive issues, to cognitive decline, to respiration diseases and even cancer.

And so when we started to sit into this and we started to be.

Like, man, this isn't just something that is a potential. This is something that is real. This is something that we are really.

Needing to get our eyes around.

We ended up really leaning in and knowing that, hey, the big plan for us was to renovate our entire home in about five to 10 years. Like literally take this thing from the 2,000 square feet that it is, turned it into 5,500 square foot home, put two stories on it, really take it down to the studs and build it all the way back up. But we knew immediately, we knew immediately.

That we were going to do an.

Entire backyard project, turn it into something really special, a haven for health.

We knew very, very quickly we were.

Going to do the things that were necessary in order to transform our home into that same haven for health. And so here's where we started, here's what we did. And I want to empower you on this because you need to realize that.

This wasn't a half a million dollar project. This wasn't even a hundred thousand dollars project. This wasn't even a $50,000 project.

This was something that you can do and make really small changes for hundreds, if not very minimal, thousands of dollars just by getting really clear on what it is that you need to do. And so what we did was we put a air quality infiltration system in. So we installed a. That we did. The, the other thing that we did was we made sure that we installed dimmer switches, dimmer switches on each and every one of our, on our lights so that we could make sure that we were putting as much light down as we could at night. So turning it again into this sanctuary just for healing.

The other types of lights that we got, we got salt lights or salt.

Lamps where again, it's just a nice low glow at night. And then we got non scented candles. Yes, non scented candles. Because scented candles actually send up into the air. Again, thinking about the air quality. So we got salt lamps as well as non scented candles for, for the house.

Then we did in our bedroom for.

Sleep optimization, we put an eight sleep mattress cover down so we were able to regulate hot and cold temperatures. I am a guy that loves to sleep cold. Elise is a gal that likes to sleep hot and really making sure that she could, that we each could optimize for how we were sleeping. And that was just again, something so critical that changed everything for us was using this eight sleep mattress, really being able to control that. The second thing we did was in our bedroom we got these EMF mitigation bags. So what they are is EMF blocking bags. That's where we put our phones in at night next to our beds.

We Got those from DreamRecovery IE DreamRecovery.

IO Again, use the code, own it. I think they give you a 20% discount or something. But not only do we get a red light glasses blockers for our blue light blockers, blue light blocking glasses from there, but we also got our eye masks from there. We also got those EMF blocking bags that we put all of our phones in when we go into the bedroom at night in there as well.

We also put a timer on our.

Wireless router and the timer shuts off the wi fi from 11 at night to 6am and so for seven hours there's no wireless WI fi in our home. And thus there's also no EMF radiation, which is a high level radiation that we often suffer from there. So that was, that was again things that we did within the bedroom and things to optimize the environment there. And then we also got a, a dehumidifier which being in, down in Florida, you've got this dehumidification or humidification of the air that's, that's constantly there. So we made sure we got that done as well. And that was really the first stage, the first step of turning our home into a haven for health and making sure that what we were doing was so purposeful and intentional. The crazy part was, was after literally.

10 days, 10 days after all of those changes were made, Elise noticed a 70% increase in her HRV. Guys, she has never been at 70 or greater.

She hasn't been below 70 for the last seven months. Like that's, that's unheard of. Like you're telling me environment doesn't have an impact. This girl has been working out, this girl has been eating well, this girl has been supplementing well. This girl has been focused so heavily on her sleep for the past, ever since I've known her.

And she's always been in that. When we first, when we first got.

Together and started dating, she, she was like all about this and she was looking, she was like low 30s. As she started to train differently, eat differently, she got into the mid-50s.

But my gosh, guys, since she's changed the environment in which she was in, she's now in the 70s. And this is just something that can.

Continues to help her feel well, continues to help her change. Even myself, I noticed that myself, I usually have an average about 104, 105 and I had dropped down into the eight for a long time when we first moved into the home. And now again, I'm constantly up in the low one hundreds.

And so that's the cool part is.

That we have now a language that can give us an indication as long as we're willing to listen to it and make changes.

Now, here's something that I'm going to.

Give you a little insight into, and I'm going to take you on this journey. I've promised you this since, since December, is we are actually doing a full backyard project. And this backyard project is turning not only the inside of our home into a haven for health, but the outside of our home into a haven for health.

And so we've got this whole project.

Set up, and we're really excited to share about this, because not only are we doing this in a Miami home, but we have a home in Mont Tremblant, Quebec, up in Canada in the mountains that we have turned into a haven for health as well. And the cool part about this is that all own it clients are going to have access to these. But the Haven for Health home in Tromlon, we are going to start giving.

People access to go and stay in.

This home, to go up there and ski and enjoy the outdoors and enjoy the mountain spaces. And that home up in Canada, it's got everything you could imagine, from a sauna to a cold plunge, to red light, to low PFA pans to the entire inside just done up exactly like we just talked about the Miami home. But you can rent it and stay there and have this whole health experience up in the mountains of Canada. And really excited to share that with you. But I want to take you on a journey as to what we're going to be doing in the outdoors, because when it comes to outdoor optimization, we need to extend health beyond the walls of our home.

As we started to look at our.

Home, we knew we were going to do something in the backyard. But when we started telling people plans.

They were like, my Gosh, this almost 5x is the size of your house.

Because you're giving yourself so much more outdoor space to play in, to be in, to experience, to host in, to have different moments.

And I hadn't really ever thought about.

It that way, but when we intentionally build the outdoor of our home, the space of our home, to be in a place that we enjoy, that we love being, it increases our ability to actually spend time out there and find.

Health wherever we are.

And so I want to take you through what we're actually doing and what is in the process so that you guys can see the intentionality again behind this, but even more so, knowing what is what could maybe inspire you and where you're going. And so our backyard, we are going to turf the entire backyard but the.

Reason when we say turfing it, it's.

Not going to be with the typical turf. You see, it's going to be non toxic organic materials that are going to optimize grounding.

So we know that grounding effect happens.

When you put your feet on the bare ground and you have this electric charge that basically detoxifies and demagnifies your body, helping with cellular healing. So we are going to get specific turf that helps with that.

We already have a home gym built in the backyard.

I've done a, a session that I talked about how we built that, what I put into it, what was purposeful, what was intentional. Everything from the, the sled, everything from the weights, everything from the bike, from the rowing machine, the ski erg, the eccentric weight machine so that we didn't have constant pounding on our joints. We've already done that, we've already put the sauna in, we've already got the sauna from Sisu Sauna, we've already got the chili dip cold plunge which backed website for you.

RTA Outdoors I believe it is, yes, RTA Outdoor living dot com.

And if you go there, what they do is they customize turnkey solutions for your outdoor needs. So whether that is a barbecue area, whether that's a bar area, whether that's a sitting area, whether that's an outdoor kitchen, whatever that is, but they put.

In the outdoor kitchen and this outdoor kitchen has a green egg, it has.

A flat top blackstone, it has a full grill in it, it has a pizza oven, it has the full bar area, it has an island area, it has a little hosting area on the other side. All non toxic materials, all high quality, all custom built, all based off of natural gas so that we can make sure that we're hosting people in the best place possible. Again, we put that underneath the pergola so that we could make sure that we could get the maximal sun that we needed. And so these are the things that I wanted to make sure you could really do in a very purposeful way and really just think about the experiences that you're creating in the backyard. Experiences are giving you a space beyond.

The home so that as you lean.

Into this, it really allows you to expand where you're at.

And so as we kind of move into this on top of. And I hope this podcast gets you.

Thinking, like really inspiring you for what you're trying to do with your home, how you're trying to create this awesome space. Because for Elise and I, this was a vision that we had when we first came here, but little did we know that our home was making us sick. And and it had been a home that in past years had made people sick, quite frankly took somebody out of the state of cancer.

And so I hope this podcast really inspires you to think about your home.

Differently, think about your space differently. And I've got a couple I've got a book recommendation for you and it's called Place as Medicine, How Our Homes Can Make Us Sick or Help Us Thrive by Carrie Denning Jackson. So Place as Medicine, How Our Homes Can Make Us Sick or How they Can Help Us Thrive by Carrie Denning Jackson. And this was a book that again, just really kind of inspired me to start thinking about this differently and how this really started to work. And what I'm going to do for the last little part of this podcast is just list out a whole bunch of options that you can utilize and brands that you can go to. So for the healthy furniture materials, Cisco Home is a great place. Medley Alchemist, Paint, Keems Innostar, all great for healthy furniture and materials for the inside of the home. Things that Elise and I used, the.

Water filtration system, like I said, Beyond.

O2 Berkey is a great one as well as Water drop.

I mentioned that previously non toxic building materials. If you're wanting to look and you're actually building your home, Shiku S H I K K U I plaster instead.

Of using drywall, cork flooring, wool insulation.

Air filtration, IQ air, Austin Air Air.

Dr. All great options. I listed those other three up above when we were talking specifically about the ones Elise and I used. Lighting biological bulbs is a great one. Full spectrum lighting. And then obviously for red light therapy you're looking at mito red light.

And then when you're looking at your.

Outdoor health optimization, like when you're really looking at building it, the RTA outdoor kitchen, the Chili dip cold plunge, the hyperbaric oxygen therapy from O2 oxygen. You can look into Hypoxico, you can look at Sisu Sauna.

And these are just some of the.

Things that we can really put into play so that your home can be a space for healing and not a space for decay. Because at the end of the day Elise and I learned that the hard way is we've made a conscious choice, an intentional effort to make not only our home here in Miami a haven for health, but even the place that now we get to share with people up in Tremblant, a haven for health. And this is something that I think we often forget the impact that we can have. And so your home can either fuel disease or it can create longevity. Your home can either be a space that fuels discomfort and fuels dysfunction, or a place that helps you thrive. And at the end of the day, you don't have to go and go all in like we did. You can make small, iterative changes. They really start to add. They really start to add up. If you're sitting here and you go, man, you know what, we should just get our water tested. We've never had that water tested.

Go do that today because that could.

Be a big impact. You drink half your body weight in ounces of water. You shower every single day. It might be just starting with a jolie head shower head on all your water on all your heads and putting a new water filtration system in underneath. That could be your start. And it could make such a big difference. But small changes add up. And so I want you to encourage you to start with one today. What is that one gonna be? And I want you to comment on this podcast. I want you to maybe go to the comments section of this podcast and say, this is what I'm starting with. Or post this onto your social media and share it with somebody who you care about and say, this is where I'm starting.

Because when your home supports your health.

You show up as the best self in every other area of your life. We know what home is all about. Home is where the heart is. And if we can protect the heart, we can ultimately heal.

And so I want you to really.

Just share this episode with somebody. Share this episode with somebody who needs.

To hear this message. If you want to tag me on Instagram with your biggest takeaway from this.

Because I want to see people healing. I want to see tip of the spear, sharp. I want to see people educated, empowered, and equipped to take ownership of your health. And so if you want some more information on this, if you want more help on this, be sure to just DM me Haven when you go onto Instagram, DME Haven. And I'll be able to give you any type of insights, any more that I can that I haven't already given you through this podcast. But I want to make sure that we equip you to take ownership of your health. I want to make sure we equip you to set up your home as a place where you can truly heal, that you can find health in a big, big way. And I'm excited to take you on this journey. You're going to start seeing a lot of this on my social media, as we start to really start to do a lot of the work in the backyard, as you start to see some of the things and the building that goes on.

But even on the inside, I need.

You to realize that it starts with one step. It starts with the first action. And what is that first step for you today? What does that look like for you? Because the environment you live in, the environment you spend time in, your home, is 90% of that environment. So make that place where you invest, make that place a space that your children, that yourself, that your kids, that your family thrive in. And you'll be surprised about what just one choice can do for you.

We know at the end of the.

Day, success is different. So own your different. I'll see you guys next week.