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When you get the diagnosis of Cancer, a commonly suggested test is a blood test to check for any genetic mutations that may have predisposed you to a higher chance of getting cancer. Personally, mine came back completely negative which led me to believe that my diet and environment had to contribute somehow. I went down several rabbit holes about the ingredients in our food and products we use regularly. I also met with several people from my medical team that gave me a ton of resources on how to avoid a cancer reoccurrence. What blows my mind is that these ingredients are allowed in our products in the first place but I digress. Let’s dive into how you can cut out some cancer causing toxins in your life.

The biggest thing that all of these medical professionals keep repeating to me is to eat and use clean products as much as possible. These people are dealing with cancer patients every day and seeing how the standard American way of living is leading to the standard American illnesses. It shouldn’t take something as serious as a cancer diagnosis to wake people up to the junk we are putting into our body.

The easiest way to start is by making yourself aware and giving yourself some education. Transitioning from the standard American diet and your beloved bath and body works candles and lotions into a world of whole fresh foods and no fake fragrance is so overwhelming and can be very stressful. To educate yourself you can either pick a topic, ingredient, product, etc. and read about why it may be harmful and what you can use instead.

Another great way to educate yourself and make yourself more aware is to check your product labels and ingredient labels. “But Sydney I don’t know what to look for!” I didn’t either! There are two really helpful apps that highlight the ingredients and rate them for you so you can see what is good, bad, and awful. I use the app “Think Dirty” for products and I use the app “Trash Panda” for food. These apps are so user friendly and have taught me so much just from simply scanning my products bar code.

If you are ready to start making switches but don’t know what to swap first, start with the products or food you use or eat everyday! If you have a cup of coffee with creamer loaded with chemicals every day, start by switching coffee creamers to a more natural option. If you cover yourself head to toe in bath and body works lotion every day try switching to a lotion that doesn’t disrupt your hormones and cause cancer. If you burn candles to hide the smell from your furry friends try switching to a diffuser.

There are so many ingredients in our foods and products that are illegal and banned in other countries because they have seen their links to cancer but for some reason they are legal and used constantly in America. Are we so money hungry and driven for immediate satisfaction that we constantly put our health on the line? I am far from the organic crunchy homesteading mom and I definitely still give into the power that Diet Coke has over me but I am slowly taking the steps to remove these carcinogens from my home and family.

To help you make some changes here are a few of the products that we love:

Lotion: Basd Body Lotion or Weleda Skin Food

Sunscreen: Babo Botanicals

Shampoo & Conditioner : Plaine Products Shampoo and Conditioner

Laundry Detergent: Dirty Labs Bio Laundry Detergent

All Purpose Cleaner: Thieves Cleaner

Toothpaste: Davids Natural Whitening Toothpaste

If you want to get really into it here are few “odd” practices I have started doing:

Dairy doesn’t sit well with me so I use oat milk in my coffee… until I saw all the junk that was in my oatmilk! I have been making my own oat milk following a recipe I found from Love and Lemons. It literally takes me no more than 5 minutes and it’s so yum!

Using Rosemary Tea as a leave in product for my hair. I know this sounds crazy but it’s working! Obviously chemo took away my hair which hit me hard so I want it to grow back in as fast as possible. I have been using rosemary tea in my hair morning and night for a little over a month and my hair has grown faster than ever before + it feels and looks so much healthier.

Replacing plastic in my house where possible and practical - especially when it comes to food storage. We have quite the collection of plastic food containers but I am slowly swapping and replacing as much plastic as I can with glass or bamboo. Some of my favorite food storage containers are even on sale now! Also, this bamboo dish brush set is amazing and great for the environment too!

Soak your produce in water and baking soda for 15 minutes when you come home from the grocery store. Then rinse and store. You will be amazed and disgusted at the junk that comes off your favorite berries. Yuck! I love these bowls that allow you to easily soak and rinse in one.

Here is a quick link to a list of known and suspected carcinogen ingredients commonly used today that was published by The American Cancer Society.

If you have some ideas on more natural products or a way to clean up our homes please share!