OK...We all know about environmental pollution - particularly us Australians as we are the second highest producers of waste per capita in the world. But do you know about the pollution in your body? The concept of Body Burden came out of the work of the Environmental Working Group in the US who found hundreds of chemical traces in volunteers' bodies.There are many who believe that our increased and consistent exposure to these chemicals is a serious health hazard and is a cause for dramatic increases in certain illnesses like childhood brain cancer...there are others who say that the levels of chemicals we are exposed to are too little to affect us (that is what they thought about lead). Given only 25% of all chemicals in the US have been tested for toxicity I go back to the 'Does My Bum Look Big in this Dress Principle?' (or as scientists like to call it the Precautionary Principle - if you don't know if it is safe, assume it is not). The problem is chemicals are everywhere - our food, water, cosmetics, homes, workplaces. The other problem is that most chemicals are created to help us - for example, flame retardants. Uggghh...it is as hard as avoiding calories during the Christmas Season.
While you can't yet get your own body burden test, you can get a virtual 'body burden' assessment at the Green Goes with Everything website. Sloan Barnett, ex-philanthropist, ex- socialite, ex-NY District Attorney and totally green and gorgeous It Girl has designed a really easy questionnaire to gauge how toxic your house (and hence you and your family) might be. I did mine pre- and post- my recent green transformation and it was an incredible difference in how toxic our house was.
Some of the easy things I have done is to take chemicals out of a lot of our everyday products. Our bathroom is now stocked with gorgeous natural products like Burt's Bees and Korres; in our kitchen we use Murchison Hume's most glam natural cleaning products (more on this later); the Laundry has had a complete overhaul with EcoStore products from New Zealand and I am back to ordering weekly organic food (especially for fruit like Strawberries which are very pesticide intensive and which my kids eat by the bowlful). Here are Sloan's Top 10 Tips for a greener home. (I will be asking for her book for Christmas!).
So go take the test (it is only a few minutes)...I promise it is a lot easier to reduce your Body Burden than get rid of cellulite. xxx
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