My story started with stomach pains, fatigue, and overall brain fog that I had experienced for several years. I had a lot of bloating and painful periods and thought this was normal. My husband and I were also trying to get pregnant, and I had been diagnosed with unexplained infertility.
Improvement from Changing the Diet
About four years ago, I was introduced to a nutritional doctor and started going in for scans and was given some natural supplements for things in which he found I was “deficient”. He also recommended a “cleaner” diet for me as far as eating just protein and veggies and staying away from gluten, refined sugar, and corn. I did this for a while and immediately started seeing an improvement in my energy levels. However, he never mentioned the importance of eating organic or staying away from foods with harmful chemicals (which I later learned sneaks into so much of what we normally eat).
After a few years of going to this doctor, my husband and I took a break since the visits and supplements were pretty expensive. We were feeling better at this time, but still I was experiencing sleeping issues, allergy issues, brain fog, stress/anxiety, energy issues, digestive issues, PMS, painful periods, and certain food cravings (specifically fries and soft drinks at a certain time of the month).
Tossing the Toxins
I happened to meet Allison from Branch Basics through my job, and she learned about my health struggles in the course of our conversation. She asked if she could introduce me to her aunt, Marilee. I said, of course. Marilee and I connected; she asked me several questions about my background, where I had lived, how I grew up, what my diet consisted of, what my current environment was like, etc. She explained to me her system of tossing the toxins, what that entailed and how this no-cost process would remove immune stressors, immediately improve my home’s air quality, and therefore my health.
Marilee and the Branch Basics team came to my house to help me Toss the Toxins! It only took two and a half hours to fill boxes with products that were undermining my health. We started with removing pesticides, laundry, and cleaning products from under sinks, in cabinets, drawers, closets, and the attached garage. Then we moved onto fragranced products, personal care products, plastics in the kitchen, and foods with harmful chemicals.
I ended up tossing two large boxes full of toxic products. I went through my laundry room, bathrooms, makeup drawers, showers, under the kitchen sink, etc. I had a lot of candles (even though I didn’t light them very much) that were emitting lots of harmful chemicals and fragrances that were causing allergies for me and my husband.
Immediate Improvement
After the removal of these toxic products from my home, it was really a matter of hours that I started noticing a difference. The quality of air was better, we slept better that same night, and we noticed an overall improvement from walking back into our house from being out and about.
It has been over a year now since tossing the toxins, and I am so thankful to say that I have seen a marked improvement in my digestion, mood, anxiety levels, PMS, food cravings and periods each month. The quality of air in our home is amazing, and we both sleep better and feel more energetic. My husband had suffered from acid reflux, and that has dramatically improved for him.
When I am out now, shopping, going to the mall, I notice the smells and toxic chemicals around me so much more now that my body has detoxed from them. I am grateful to be able to tell when I am around something harmful and know to limit my time spent.
It’s amazing how much of a difference can be made just by ridding your home of these harmful things. It’s easy and doesn’t cost anything to take those toxic items out of your home. I am constantly recommending this to friends and family because I have experienced the difference for myself! We just don’t know how much these harmful chemicals in our food and homes impact us until they are removed!!!
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Sources & References
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Braun, J.M., et al. Exposures to environmental toxicants and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in U.S. children. Environ Health Project. Dec 2006;114(12):1904-1909.
Choi, A.L., et al. Developmental Fluoride Neurotoxicity: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Environ Health Perspect. 2012;120(10).
Deisher, T.A., et al. Impact of environmental factors on the prevalence of autistic disorder after 1979. J Public Health and Epidemiology. Sep 2014;6(9):271-286.
Environmental Working Group. Body Burden: The Pollution in Newborns. 14 Jul 2005.
Hertz-Picciotto, I., et al. Organophosphate exposures during pregnancy and child neurodevelopment: Recommendations for essential policy reforms. PLoS Med. 2018 Oct 24;15(10):e1002671.
Jett, D.A. Chemical toxins that cause seizures. Neurotoxicology. 2012 Dec;33(6):1473-5.
Napoli, E., et al. Toxicity of the flame-retardant BDE-49 on brain mitochondria and neuronal progenitor striatal cells enhanced by a PTEN-deficient background. Toxicol Sci. 2013 Mar;132(1):196-210.
