The ‘Real’ Spring Clean

How do you define clean?

I hope to challenge your definition and for those in which I’m “speaking to the choir”, let’s sing!

Toxins are a result of man-made chemicals as well as naturally occurring.  Repetitive low-dose exposure to these compounds over time, such as phthalates, is what we refer with the terms “toxic load” or “burden”.  Collective dose has been a subjective topic within the scientific community.  However, there is a supportive body of evidence for associations between toxic exposures and the onset of a whole host of chronic diseases from autoimmune to cancers.  Children, pregnant women, and older aged adults are significantly more sensitive and vulnerable to toxin exposure such as those from pesticides.  Substrates with toxicity can be found in consumer products, food, and the environment in which we engage.

Do I have your attention?

O.k., now “what the heck can you do about it?“…

I cordially invite you to redefine your spring clean.  Conduct an intervention for yourself by focusing on ridding yourself of the ugly (cleanse) and shifting to more healthful alternatives.  The easiest changes will be in your home.  Pick a room to start with and get going.  (Hint, this will likely be your kitchen and/or bathroom).

Primary areas in which you can easily make shifts;

1. Personal Care – Color, fragrance, additives, synthetic chemicals that few would accurately pronounce… you name it.  Each of these are areas to become keen on when assessing potential toxic load.
2. Cleaning Products – Besides data on unintentional poisoning leading to adverse outcomes including death, the average US household cleaner contributes to indoor air pollution.  These products carry rather harsh hazard warnings, such as “Danger”, “Warning”, or “Caution”, for a reason.  Yet, natural alternatives do not need any of this.  Consider the alternatives.
3. Food –
   • How many ingredients are in a piece of produce?  No, this is not a trick question.  Answer:  ONE!  A follow up question, do you know how that piece of produce was grown, ripened, and shipped?
   • How many ingredients are in the average processed food item?  To be honest, I could not find this data, but I’m certain the average number is over 5!  Whole-food recipes, ie products of resulting in multiples of one, are not what I’m referring to here.  I’m calling out additives, derivatives, isolations, etc.  Many nutritionists suggest to shop by “Five or Fewer”. By this, we mean if it has more than five ingredients, don’t buy it.
   • Finally, pesticide resin, which can also be systemic, and potential harmful exposures picked up during shipping and transit are also variables to take into account.  The Environmental Working Group’s Dirty Dozen and Clean 15 lists provide preliminary guidance (see below).
   • BONUS – don’t forget to check out your food storage, packaging, and cookware options, especially those used for heated items and/or those holding fat based items.

A special note on fragrances – In some cases, natural derivatives can contribute to the scent of an item, however, often the term on a product label is code for chemical concoction and full disclosure is not legally required.

Changes in each of the areas can parallel each other.  We often think of health as diet and fitness and the term “clean living” has been coined to food.  However, our health is impacted by many more variables each of which can be addressed in a “Spring Clean”.  Healthful shifts will incorporate reasonable reduction and realistic transitions.

What about communal spaces?

On a public health landscape, we certainly have work to do.  However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention does incorporate this area into their healthy workplace initiatives and can be leveraged as a resource for change within communal spaces.

Other Resources;

• Chemical Sensitivity Foundation
• Cleaner Indoor Air Campaign
• Lara Adler, LLC
• NIOSH Workplace and Safety advise on indoor environmental quality
• World Health Organization Guidelines on the Prevention of Toxic Exposures
• I also have some wonderful representatives for low-toxin personal care products or essential oils in my network.  Some of the best product options are sold via direct distributor models which not only promotes better options, it provides residual income for a variety of people from moms, working professionals, health professionals, etc.  Please reach out to me if you are interested in an introduction.

Ashley L Arnold, MBA, MPH is a lifestyle health educator and coach who supports clients to channel authority over their health, well-being, and overall vitality.  Offering health education approaches and 1-on-1 coaching modules, she gets them out of excess weeds of information and inconsistent practices that don’t get desired results.  Through helping people focus on the right applications paired with appropriate consideration for bio-individual facets, they become stronger, more confident self-advocates for their health.  Bottom line, they will surpass challenges, embrace healthful living with ease, and, best of all, feel a greater sense of empowerment and more energy!

Motivational Monday: Happy 1st Day of Spring!!!

Wellness Wednesday: 5 Practices to Start Your Day

Love it or Hate it, we set our clocks forward this week.  Therefore, if you are someone who normally gets up at 6 a.m. it will feel as though it is actually 5 a.m. for a little while until internal rhythms adjust and the break of dawn re-centers more in our favor.

So what are a few ways to help jump start your days?

Hydration – if we are properly hydrating throughout the day, we are ingesting water regularly and not taking 7-9 hour gaps.  However, obviously, we don’t drink while we are asleep.  Be sure to have a glass of water in the morning.

Some swear by warmer temperature to the water and the addition of lemon juice (for alkalinity).  It’s likely not as important to get hung up with “how” to drink the water versus simply investing in ourselves  and the day upon us by doing it.  Find what works for you.

Commit Yourself to Consistency – In this instance I am mostly referring to sleep and bed times.  Yes, going to bed is the night before versus the current day.  However, a consistent bed time can help regulate circadian processes including hormonal regulation.  Go to bed early enough to account for time it takes to fall asleep AND obtain sufficient duration.  Furthermore, allow yourself to rise at a consistent time.  In fact, a well-trained sleeper doesn’t even need an alarm clock!

With respect to adjusting to the time change, if you normally go to bed at 9 p.m., even though it feels early and your body may think it’s still 8 p.m., still go to bed.  If you simply can not bring yourself to actually sleep at this time, try various relaxation techniques and be sure to power down electronics a minimum of 1 hour before bed.  This will help reduce the disruption technology can have on us.

*Important side note; studies have suggested that sleep helps aid detoxification.  See two links at the bottom of this post.

Shake Your Money Maker & “Move It” – Does this mean you have to dance?  No.  Although, I’m not a stranger to recommending it!  It does mean you should take part in, at minimum, light physical activity as part of your start of day routine.

This is a good time to emphasize activity that has flow to it, such as gentle movement options.  While at rest and lying down, spinal discs fill up a fluid like substance and at are at their fullest when you rise.  Although this is a natural occurrence that serves a function, it can still inadvertently cause a little havoc in the morning if abrupt activity occurs before the body is ready to take it on.  Adequately limbering up by taking care to understand appropriate types of movement can help prevent injury.

There is also truth to the “morning stretch”.  Need a suggestion, watch Fido.  Animals instinctively take upon movement and stretches as needed upon rise.  Follow this link for a Livestrong article written by Linda Ray on this topic.

Power Up – hey you in the Starbuck’s line grabbing your own the go coffee and pastry!  We see you.  In fact, many of you we notice DAILY!  Do you really think with all the biochemical interactions our bodies endure on a daily basis that’s going to cut it?  Nope!

Studies have shown that children receiving adequate breakfast performed better based on cognitive and behavioral metrics.  This doesn’t just go away because we have become adults.  Substantial nutrition, particularly in the beginning half of the day, can help bring about focus, mental clarity, and overall productivity.  Therefore, allow yourself time to eat a good breakfast and make sure you are getting up early enough for this, even if you prep the night before.

Make sure your morning meal is both macro- and micro-nutrient focused.  In that you are including a balance across protein-fat-carbohydrates AND taking in food choices that are considerate of content with high nutritious value.  For more tips on how to do this, keep following this blog and/or look back through some of my previous suggestions or referrals for meal planning and recipes.

Don’t Worry, Be Happy – Finally, we can’t control the weather.  We can, however, control the attitude in which we set forth on our day with.  Put on your happy face and go with it.

– Keep Calm & Wellness On….

The brain flushes out toxins in sleep, and poor sleep associated with buildup of Alzheimer’s toxins : Discoveries, Oct 22, 2013.

How Sleep Clears the Brain, Oct 28, 2013.

Ashley L Arnold, MBA, MPH is a lifestyle health educator and coach who supports clients to channel authority over their health, well-being, and overall vitality.  Offering health education approaches and 1-on-1 coaching modules, she gets them out of excess weeds of information and inconsistent practices that don’t get desired results.  Through helping people focus on the right applications paired with appropriate consideration for bio-individual facets, they become stronger, more confident self-advocates for their health.  Bottom line, they will surpass challenges, embrace healthful living with ease, and, best of all, feel a greater sense of empowerment and more energy!

 

Motivational Monday: Looking Ahead to Spring

Wellness Wednesday: Autoimmune Disease Awareness

March serves as an awareness month for Autoimmune Disease and Related Conditions.  Although this serves as a wellness blog, advocacy and awareness for conditions, particularly those that may be under-served in traditional medical models, are still areas I feel are important to incorporate.  Due to personal and professional impact, I’m including this into my blog this month.

See the bottom of the post for another way in which you can provide support. 

I credit the New Yorker for publishing a few personal accounts over the last few years highlighting path or circumstances from those living with autoimmune related conditions.  The 2013 article “What’s Wrong With Me?” by Meghan O’Rourke provides an insightful look into a journey with autoimmune dysfunction.  Those with any number of these conditions will certainly find clear areas of relation to her story.

An interesting caveat presented in “What’s Wrong With Me?” is the fact that people may not understand how best to support research and advocacy for these conditions.  Within our system of care and related infrastructure, there is often a misguided focus on specialties or specific disease classifications.  In this case, those would be examples such as lupus, celiac, Crohn’s disease, MS (multiple sclerosis), rheumatoid arthritis, and those affecting thyroid regulation such as Hashimoto’s or Graves’ disease.

However, there are upwards of 100 conditions that can be the result of a harmful autoimmunity state in the body.  (The Autoimmune Related Diseases Association maintains an A to Z list).  Many of which have overlap and/or common root causes.  Also, manifestation of an autoimmune condition can vary from one person to the next and is thought to be considerate of “bio-indviduality.”

Unfortunately, variability in manifestation can contribute to difficulty with regards to timely diagnosis.  Diagnosis is typically handled through testing and measurement of autoantibodies, which are used as clinical markers to classify or predict a disease (Eggert, Zettl, & Neeck, 2010).  Symptoms typically present as vague and could include fatigue, chronic low-grade fevers, muscle and joint aches, or rashes (Campbell, 2014).

Leading up to a diagnosis, is a multi-factorial “soup”, so to speak, of circumstances.  A genetic disposition may be present, but it is thought that lifetime exposures play a role in impacting whether or not a condition manifests or not. “Exposures” encompasses a range from environmental, physical or mental stress, and infectious agents.  In addition, onset of a condition could be indicative of underlying conditions such as intestinal permeability or excessive chronic inflammation (Campbell, 2014).

This further leads us to “chicken vs egg” discussions in science and it also presents a paradigm shift in how we are addressing the category of disease.  In this case “autoimmunity” versus a specific diagnosis resulting from autoimmune dysfunction.  However, in actuality, underlying inflammation or cellular dysfunction versus a specific diagnosis of any kind.

For the would be autoimmune related diseases and conditions supporter, this could present some confusion.  Three simple suggestions are as follows;

Understand care models within systems and those of independent health practitioners.  If your knowledge isn’t great, take a pause on donating money.  By all means I’m not promoting a withdrawal of financial support, but do some homework and don’t get distracted by fancy color schemes, ribbons, and other advocacy tactics.

Talk to those living with these conditions or reliable practitioners that treat them.  I suggest this mainly to understand the layers to the conditions.  To further illustrate this, consider the example of Tom O’Bryan.  His team recently broadcasted an impactful series Betrayal, which detailed many stories of those with autoimmune related conditions.  Purchases of the program went to support for children living with Celiac who may be experiencing mental/emotional stress due to social isolation.  Clearly this is a top of mind problem for the children or the loved ones that support them, but how many people external to the spectrum would have thought of this?  …and, are the research and advocacy agencies addressing these issues with fair weight?

Support those with conditions in other ways, particularly in the mental/emotional area and lifestyle behavior spectrum.  Response to a diagnosis may require significant behavior change and due diligence will be needed.  This may present avenues of going against the norm, for example, going to a super bowl party and replacing crock pot nacho cheese with some sort of super food just so there is something on the table.  Human behavior change is a tough cookie and social support matters!  Be sure to not make a big deal about it putting the person on the spot, but find ways to be inclusive of the person.

The list can easily continue.  Feel free to share interesting projects for which you are aware in the comments.  As a final note, I will be making a relevant donation at the conclusion of the month.

Ashley L Arnold, MBA, MPH is a lifestyle health educator and coach who supports clients to channel authority over their health, well-being, and overall vitality.  Offering health education approaches and 1-on-1 coaching modules, she gets them out of excess weeds of information and inconsistent practices that don’t get desired results.  Through helping people focus on the right applications paired with appropriate consideration for bio-individual facets, they become stronger, more confident self-advocates for their health.  Bottom line, they will surpass challenges, embrace healthful living with ease, and, best of all, feel a greater sense of empowerment and more energy!

REFERENCES:

American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association (2014-2016). Autoimmune Info, List of Diseases. Retrieved 2016, from AARDA – American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association: http://www.aarda.org/disease-list/.

Campbell, A.W. (2014). Autoimmunity and the Gut. Autoimmune Diseases, 2014, 12. Retrieved 2016, from http://doi.org/10.1155/2014/152428.

Eggert, M. Z., Zettle, U.K., & Neeck, G. (2010, May). Autoantibodies in autoimmune diseases. Current Pharmaceutical Design, 16(14), 1634-1643.

O’Rourke, M.  (2013, Aug 26).  What’s Wrong With Me?  The New Yorker.  Retrieved 2017, from http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/08/26/whats-wrong-with-me.