Did you know that the average woman is exposed to hundreds of endocrine-disrupting chemicals every single day? Our makeup products, personal care products, and the cleaners that we use in our home can all contain harmful endocrine-disrupting chemicals that can interfere with the normal functioning of our body's endocrine system (i.e your hormone system).
Our endocrine system is a group of glands that secrete hormones into the body to help regulate a wide variety of functions from metabolism, sleep, energy levels, and much more. Unfortunately, these days we are exposed to so many endocrine-disrupting chemicals which can impact your hormone balance and overall health and well-being.
What Are Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals?
Endocrine-disrupting chemicals interfere with our endocrine system by mimicking, decreasing, or increasing our hormone levels.
Some are known as xenoestrogens. They have a similar chemical structure to our estrogen and can lock onto estrogen receptor sites and cause problems for hormone function. Xenoestrogens mimic the estrogen hormone, and it's one of the ways that environmental toxins can lead to excess estrogen, or what's known as estrogen dominance. Other endocrine disruptors interfere with thyroid function, liver function, adrenal function, and gut health.
Where Are They Found + Ways to Reduce Exposure:
Our environment is so filled with these chemicals (both inside and outside our home) They are found in household cleaners, skincare products, laundry products, plastics, and much more.
Here are a few ways to get started with reducing your exposure:
Opt For Natural Skin Care Products
Make the switch to cleaner skincare products (fragrance-free and made with natural ingredients that don’t include dyes, parabens, formaldehyde, phthalates, BHA, BHT, lead, and other harmful substances). Switch to natural deodorants and ditch the perfumes.
Make Toxic-Free Cleaning Products
Gradually, you might want to start replacing your toxic cleaning products that contain endocrine-disrupting chemicals with natural products or even homemade solutions. To clean most surfaces, you can make a solution of vinegar and water as a multi-purpose spray cleaner and add lemon or any citrus essential oil for fragrance. Castile soap is another great option. It is made of plant-based fats and oils, such as coconut oil, olive oil, and hemp seed oil.
Be Mindful Of The Products You Use In The Kitchen:
Ditch the plastic containers. Store food items in glass containers. Whether you have to store it in the pantry or the fridge; replace your plastic bottles with glass ones. Opt for cast iron or stainless steel cookware
Even just one small swap is a positive step towards improving your hormonal health.
Be sure to grab my FREE Guide To Happy Hormones + 3-Day meal plan and I'll help you ditch the confusion and stress over your hormone health and give you 6 steps to take today for healthy hormones.
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