The 3-Cabinet Toxin Challenge

Welcome to the 3-cabinet toxin challenge, beautiful friends!! This 3-cabinet toxin challenge was extremely eye-opening to Dave and I… it has totally changed our perspective on the products that we use every day.

Note: If you’re skeptical about all the home detox “kicks”, please hear me out and give this 3-Cabinet Toxin Challenge a try, because I was in the same skeptical boat a few short months ago!

Knowledge is power! That’s what this series is all about- gaining knowledge, confidence and decision-making power!

This is not a sponsored or brand-specific series, just me sharing some of what I’m learning after doing this 3-Cabinet Toxin Test in our home. In future posts I’ll also share some easy guiding principles to make better product choices! 🙂 Are you willing to put your home to the Toxin Test?!

I’ve always tried to take a rather moderate approach to products in our home- keep it simple, affordable, and as natural as possible without becoming paranoid. I didn’t want to be one of those “elitist” who snubbed common products or the “crunchy granola lady” that would only make her own products harvested from her homestead. That’s just not me.

But what does that mean- “as natural as possible”?

The labeling of products can be sooooooo misleading. I would try to choose products that were affordable and had labels that claimed to be natural, gentle, non-irritant, etc… but when we did our first household toxin test, the results were disturbing.

Some labels are easy to spot as hazardous and toxic. The tricky ones have natural names and packaging, claiming to be safe and gentle. Sadly, unless you are able to verify these marketing claims you may be paying for nicely packaged toxic ingredients (like I was doing for years!)

First, let’s address some common myths:

Myth: “Natural products are more expensive” – Truth: there are extremely affordable, common, and safe options that can be easy switches instead of using their toxic counterparts. I used to think that natural health products and detox research was for rich elitist people who didn’t have better things to do with their money. Yep. Thankfully, I now know how easy it can be to make healthy switches and have peace of mind about our choices and our budget. Knowledge IS power!
Myth: “If these products weren’t safe they wouldn’t be common and legal” – Truth: I wish this was the case, but many big-name and common companies have their financial best interest (not our health) in mind when they develop and market products to our families. I lived under this misconception of social safety for most of my life. I was on a tight budget and just needed the “basics” to get by- I didn’t have the time or money to do better (so I thought). Man, how sad and wrong was I… if only I had known that I was poisoning myself daily and unnecessarily.
Myth: “We’ve never had issues so why change now” – Truth: many of us do not realize how we are slowly poisoning ourselves and our family members. Some reactions can be daily (such as headaches, mood swings, foggy brain, lethargy, depression, anxiety, or overactive energy) and others have been linked to long-term dangers such as cancer, disease, infertility, and mental disorders. If you would like to dive into the science and research behind these scary connections and learn what we can do to clean up our lives check out Kelly Brogan’s book called “A Mind Of Your Own” as a great starting point.

Here’s the problem: I know how to read. I’m intelligent. I’m willing to compare labels and avoid potentially harmful products if possible. But I am a regular person standing in the grocery isle reading the labels that the companies have mass-produced to sell their products– I’m comparing product ADVERTISING instead of chemical FACTS about ingredient dangers. The ingredients are also written in a different language (well, they might as well be since I can hardly discern anything that sounds like English)!

So if you’re a regular person like me, without a chemical research degree, and you appreciate someone else explaining research in simple terms so that you can understand which products are potentially dangerous and which ones are not…. welcome!! This series is for YOU.

The health of yourself and your loved ones is the biggest reason why detoxing your home is important! It doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive, but the consequences of not paying attention to toxins can be very costly.

THE TOXIN TEST:

This is the “3 Cabinet Toxin Test” that first opened our eyes to the poisonous products we were using daily… be prepared to be shocked if you’ve never done this before!

First, find a good, easy-to-navigate resource for researching product ingredients. We downloaded the FREE app “Think Dirty” (TD) to our smart phones and it was super easy to use! You can use other educational apps or websites, just make sure that whatever you use is 1) easy to use, 2) helps you learn about the individual ingredients, 3) provides links to actual research and studies, and 4) provides suggestions for safer options to consider as a substitute.

The TD team has a large database and we were able to find most of the products that we use, but sometimes they do not have a specific brand or product. In such cases, you can search online (example: “ingredients safety of kazoom kitchen cleaner”) or if that doesn’t work, compare the ingredients to a similar product that is already in the TD app.

Cabinet #1 – Toiletries: Start with using your educational app or online resource to scan the top 5 products that you use daily (such as hand soap or body wash, face wash, deodorant, toothpaste, shampoo, or makeup). Take a moment to read the information provided about any hazardous ingredients. Make sure that you understand what the research is showing and become familiar with the names of dangerous ingredients that you may want to avoid in the future.
Cabinet #2 – Laundry Supplies: The clothing that we wear every day may also be responsible for leaching dangerous chemicals into our body, disrupting our hormones, and threatening our health! (is it really worth our lives and sanity to smell like the “tropical island” advertised on the package?!) Follow the same steps as before, checking your detergent, softeners, dryer sheets, etc.
Cabinet #3 – Cleaning Supplies: You know the drill by this point! Choose your top 5 cleaning products and run their ingredients through this test. Think carefully about how you use each product- do you wipe down your counter-tops and surfaces with a product that is dangerous to consume? Or clean your refrigerator or shower with products that are toxic to inhale? We often underestimate how the products we use linger and leach into our bodies by transfer of food, physical contact, or inhalation.

So, how did you do?! Would you give your house an “A+” or “C-” rating? My results definitely left room for improvement!

I’ve always tried to make healthy choices, however, when I did this detox test on our household products I was SHOCKED. Some of the products that I thought for sure were the most gentle and “clean” were actually the most toxic! This is why I’ve been convinced to switch several products all throughout our home.

I have not “arrived” and definitely do not know everything that there is to know, but I feel so much more confident about the quality of my product choices now! I’m so glad that I embarked on this 3 Cabinet Toxin Test challenge! I’ll share more about specific product switches that we’ve made in our home in later posts, but feel free to try out my recipes for homemade lip balm and whitening toothpaste if you’d like some DIY options!

I dare you to give the 3-Cabinet Toxin Test a try this week!! 😀

Happy Detoxing!

XOXO Abigail