5 Things in Your Kitchen to Avoid to Keep You Healthy
 by Beth Greer, The Super Natural Mom • San Francisco, CA

Your health starts in your home. If you want to get healthy and stay healthy, start in your kitchen.

Eat organic or pesticide-free foods whenever possible. There are shockingly about 54 pesticide residues on non-organic strawberries and 47 on apples. Pesticides are hormone disputers, neurotoxins, reproductive toxins, and are linked to cancer. The good news is that only three days away from eating non-organic produce removes 80% of residues in the body. Shop at farmer’s markets where you can talk to the farmer directly and find out their growing methods. Look at the EWG’s “Dirty Dozen” list and especially avoid those that top the list.

Forgo food additives like MSG, trans fats (partially hydrogenated oils) and artificial food coloring. The latter can cause behavioral and health problems. These synthetic dyes are banned in Europe because studies have shown they cause hyperactivity. Read labels to watch for hidden colors in cereals, soft drinks, cakes, cookies, children’s medicine and vitamins.

Abolish Artificial Sweeteners. Especially aspartame, which is a synthetic chemical found in NutraSweet, Equal, Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi, as well as sugar-free gums, candies, yogurts, and lo-cal breakfast cereals. Three key studies funded by an independent lab found that the sweetener caused lymphomas, leukemias, kidney, and other cancers in rats and mice.

Choose filtered tap water over bottled. It will have less bacteria and chemical contaminants. Choose glass or stainless steel water containers. Scientists have found the longer a plastic water bottle sits on a shelf, whether in a grocery store or your refrigerator, the higher the risk you’ll consume a greater dose of a chemical called antimony, a potential carcinogen.

Replace Plastics. BPA is a ubiquitous chemical that mimics estrogen if it’s introduced into your body. It can get there by leaching out of hard plastic bottles, especially if they are heated (in microwave ovens or dishwashers) or exposed to acidic solutions (tomato sauce) or UV light via sunlight or baby bottle UV sterilizers. BPA is also found in plastic reusable food containers, canned soup, soda cans, and cash register and ATM receipts. BPA is linked to everything from heart disease to obesity to reproductive problems.

Want to know more about how to easily detect and reduce your exposure to toxins inside and outside of your home? Check out my Healthy Home Course www.healthyhomecourse.com where I show you how to identify, and then reduce your exposure to, often hidden toxins in the products we put in us, on us and that surround us. Or you can get a customized Healthy Home Assessment www.supernaturalmom.com/healthy-home-assessments where we virtually go room-by- room to identify where you have potential exposure to hidden toxins and the simple changes you can make to reduce or eliminate your exposure to them.

Beth Greer, Super Natural Mom®, is former president and co-owner of The Learning Annex, expert on toxin-free living, speaker, holistic lifestyle educator, and environmental health advocate who eliminated a sizable tumor in her chest without drugs or surgery. She’s the author of the bestseller, Super Natural Home, endorsed by Deepak Chopra, Ralph Nader, and Dr. Joseph Mercola. Beth helps educate people through her radio show, personalized in-home (or Skype) detox consults, and webinar trainings.