1. Buy organic laundry detergent and dryer softening sheets: Your clothes are something you wear every single day (hopefully) and you sleep in your sheets on your bed every single night, so this purchase is well worth it. I love the Ecos Lavender laundry detergent from Whole Foods. (It's actually cheaper than the laundry detergent I used to buy from Target) Who wouldn't want to wash their clothes, sheets, blankets, towels, etc. in a detergent that you KNOW doesn't contain pollutants, chemicals, artificial preservatives, and another ingredients that are toxic to human health? One of the most common ingredients found in non organic detergent are surfactants. Surfactants can release benzene, a toxin linked to cancer and reproductive disorders. In case I haven't convinced you yet...organic laundry detergent doesn't contain chlorine, phosphates, synthetic dyes, perfumes and other artificial additives that are toxic to our health. Another benefit is that by eliminating all of these ingredients you will also avoid allergic reactions or your skin breaking out!
2. Use organic shampoo/conditioner, hand soap, perfume, toothpaste, deodorant: Any products that you use on a daily basis should be used with ingredients that don't contain harmful chemicals.
3. Know which foods are important to buy organic: While it is impossible to eat all organic without effecting your day to day life (going out to meals with friends and family), it is easy to have all organic food in your house. Some of the foods that you should eat organic when possible: beef (grass fed), and then all the foods that fall under "the dirty dozen" category such as strawberries, grapes, celery, peaches, spinach, peppers, cucumbers, apples, cherries, pears, lettuce, & tomatoes. The reason why these foods fall on the Dirty Dozen listen is because they are the foods most commonly found with pesticide residue.
4. Cut back on beauty products: Less is more! The less products you use, the less harm you do.
5. Use organic cleaning supplies only:While there is a cleaning supplies section at Whole Foods, Target also has organic brands as well. Green Works and Meyer's are two easy brands to start with!
These are all big life changes, so start with these 5 things and every once in a while add one or two things that will benefit your health.
