The Complete Guide to Environmental Toxins at your Home!

Throughout this post, we’ll take a look at what common environmental toxins you should know about. More importantly, I’ll explain how this knowledge can help you make healthier choices when it comes to avoiding all this junk in the best way possible.

Reduce your Heavy Metal Exposure

Avoid Heavy Metals from Foods

Our food naturally contains heavy and semi-metals. However, industrialization has led to a sharp increase in the concentration of heavy metals in some foods.

A classic example here is fish – but fortunately not all fish. Namely, rather predatory fish at the top of the food chain such as swordfish or tuna. Seafood can also be contaminated, depending on the harvesting area.
It is important to know that our body has mechanisms to eliminate heavy metals – they create oxidative stress in the body. Our redox system has to react to eliminate them. I see the consumption of fish & seafood in general as good, because of the DHA. Provided that the person eating it has healthy mitochondria and therefore excellently functioning redox systems.

Another area can be meat that has not been fed a natural diet. Feed is often not only richer in heavy metals but also many other environmental toxins. So avoiding pollutants is another reason for pastured meat.

Avoid Heavy Metals at Home

There are also heavy metals at home, especially in houses with ancient pipes. Lead could be a problem here if they are not yet made of copper. Fortunately, few should have this problem – for testing, there are also many providers online that offer tests.

Amalgam fillings from the dentist are a problem. They contain mercury, which is guaranteed to dissolve ending up in your metabolism. This happens during installation, but also under the enormous forces of normal chewing pressure.
The only thing that helps here is to replace these garbage fillings for the newer ceramic models. The best thing to do is to ask the dentist about it and if he dismisses it as an impossibility, look for a holistic dentist.

Reduce the Exposure to Endocrine Disruptors

Plastics are packed with hormonal Disruptors

Plastic is a huge problem that unfortunately NO ONE addresses.

Substances such as bisphenols or phthalates are used in the production of various types of plastic. Bisphenols give structure to plastic, phthalates are used as plasticizers. We can eat these substances, absorb them through our skin, and even breathe them in, as polyester carpets, for example, off-gas them into indoor air.
In the body, they influence the thyroid hormone and the sex hormones. That is why they belong to the group of substances called endocrine disruptors. BPA & phthalates, for example, enhance the effect of estrogen and feminize. No Bueno! A class book on the subject is Dr. Shanna Swan’s ‘Count Down*’ in which she presents in detail the literature on all endocrine disruptors. Frightening & eye-opening!

The best-known is bisphenol-A (BPA), which is banned in the EU. However, this does absolutely zero good. Companies now use BPS in all their ‘BPA-free’ plastics instead.
Bummer! These are just as harmful, only the legislative apparatus needs another decade to figure that out. Fun Fact: PET is called polyethylenetere ‘phthalate’. The phthalate is in the NAME.

These substances are found in PET bottles, polyester, and many other plastics. Therefore it is important to fanatically eliminate all plastics wherever possible. No plastic bottles, no polyester clothing, and especially no plastic cans for storing food. Rather use natural materials like glass, wood, wool or steel. Medical silicone is also a great alternative.

Phytoestrogens from Plants

Plants, as living beings in their own right, want one thing – to survive & pass on their genetic material. Dawkin’s ‘Selfish Gene’ in action. What they don’t want is to be your favorite lunch. That’s why most plant parts contain defense substances – examples are phytic acid, oxalates, goitrogens, or even estrogen-like substances.

What we are interested in here are the plant estrogens aka phytoestrogens. In particular, flaxseed, hops, and soy are extremely rich in them. Flaxseed contains various lignans, hops also, and soy contains isoflavones. These substances act like estrogen in the body and feminize. They are also extremely concentrated. It happened to me at the beginning of my ‘#fitnessjourney’ that I developed gynecomastia after ~30g of flaxseed a day. My doctor thought I was on steroids….

So everyone, male or female, should radically avoid flaxseed, hops, and soy in all forms. Yes, this includes beer – a few glasses of beer contain as many lignans as if you were taking the hormone pill(!). Therefore, all these are not suitable for human consumption. Read correctly – hops. Beer is the most unmanly thing to drink. Therefore absolutely avoid beer – if you drink, choose wine or liquor.

Environmental Toxins in Personal Care & Cleaning Products

The next buddies that want to get at your hormones are hygiene products and cleaning products. These include:

• conventional shampoo, conditioners, shower gel
• Shaving foam & razor blades with moisturizing strips
• creams & lotions
• conventional make-up and make-up products
• Detergents, hand soap, dishwashing liquid and fabric softener

Assume that all these products are loaded and attack your hormones until you prove otherwise through research.

Many contain nanoplastics, parabens, PUFAs, and many other harmful substances. Natural cosmetics are sometimes better and free of harmful substances, but not always. Here, too, unfortunately, you have to do research. So the burden is clearly on the consumer – companies unfortunately don’t have to prove (yet) that their substances are safe for humans.
A great starting point for this topic is the book ‘Estrogeneration*’ by Dr. Anthony Jay, also he has exemplified his favorite products on his website and written about the ‘why’ behind the choice.

Avoiding Polyfluorinated-Alkyl-Compounds in Everyday Life

Yes, it’s a terrible word. That’s why we call it PFAS. The industry loves fluorine and chlorine compounds because of their properties. Therefore, they are also increasingly common in our everyday lives, in the form of:

• Wall paints & building materials
• Teflon and non-stick coatings
• Anything that is ‘water repellent’ such as clothing
• Lubricants and waterproofing agents
• Cosmetics

It is well known that they are harmful and persist in the environment for a long time. Even Wikipedia knows about it in great detail. As previously, avoidance is the way to go – throw away Teflon, avoid water-repellent high-tech clothing or wear only as a top layer without skin contact, and above all avoid cosmetics.

Reduce your Exposure to non-native EMF Radiation

Avoid EMF at Home

In everyday life, the two biggest criminals are your cell phone and Wi-Fi. If you use smart home technologies, these are added to the list. Unfortunately, there is no improvement in sight here, since the technology is always evolving. With the emerging 5G and the era of IoT comes more and more electrosmog from the manufacturing side.

EMF radiations have been shown to manage to open voltage-dependent calcium ion channels. Thus, leading to the manipulation of cellular voltage ratios with all sorts of consequences. For example, little is as well supported in the literature as the extremely negative effect of cell phones worn in the pocket and male testosterone. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

So again, the responsibility is on us consumers to not use most junk and if to do so responsibly with our health in mind. These are the most important points:

• Always have your cell phone in flight mode when not in use, especially during transport. If necessary, carry the cell phone in a Faraday bag, at best in a backpack or pocket.
• Never put the cell phone in your pocket or bra.
• Use LAN instead of WLAN. If not otherwise possible, switch off WLAN at night with a timer.
• Remove the fuse from the power supply in the bedroom at night. Flowing current = electromagnetic field.
• Never put your laptop in your lap.

Even your Environment radiates you with EMFs

There is even more radiation from the surrounding area, the most important for health are the various mobile phone connections such as 4G & 5G. In my area, for example, there are (unfortunately) two 5G towers in the vicinity. With the coming expansion, this could look similar to you. Here, for example, you can see a map with the expansion in Switzerland – the things are fucking everywhere!

Unfortunately, there’s little you can do here except move to the countryside. Or aiming at 5G antennas for target practice. Neither is an option for many people, including me.
So, unfortunately, there is little you can optimize here. What helps is to live close to the ground and be grounded. A great book on EMFs is Arthur Firstenberg’s ‘The World Under Electricity*’.

However, if you are serious, you can get EMF-blocking curtains and wall paints. They have colloidal silver built into them that shields some. Also, if you are building a new house, you can include a silver mesh in the walls. If I lived in a condo, this would be a no-brainer for me….

Avoid Mold Exposure

Mold from Foods

In food, mold toxins are found in many things that have been dried and stored. At the forefront are:

• Cereals, beans, rice, etc.
• Muesli
• Dried fruits
• Coffee beans and teas
• Feed for animals: therefore also milk & meat from conventional husbandry
• Wine and beer
• Nuts and seeds

Here, quite clearly, an animal-based diet also shows its advantages – one avoids the highly contaminated representatives anyway. Among many other reasons, mycotoxins also speak for the avoidance of grains, beans, and nuts. Animal products such as meat & milk can also accumulate if the animals are fed forages or silages. Animals raised on pure and species-appropriate pastures logically do not have these problems.
As far as coffee beans or wine are concerned, there are now even manufacturers who have their products tested for mycotoxins.

Mold at Home

Mold from the apartment probably everyone has seen. The fungi are similar breeds to the food mold. Like them, they produce a range of toxins that they release into their environment. Actually, the mycotoxins are meant to prevent the growth of other molds – people who inhale them are just ‘collateral damage’.

They develop in damp corners and poorly insulated areas. Traditionally, mold has never been a problem – every forest is full of them. Mold is everywhere in nature. Here, air regulates detoxification due to the enormous amount of air in the earth coupled with the constant drafts.
However, indoors when the air is stagnant, it becomes an issue: indoor mold is a disaster and must be eliminated immediately. It is not something that should be downplayed. The toxins are enormously harmful and can even lodge in the human body. The symptoms are meaningless and versatile, while eliminations are difficult and tedious.