Comments (7)

By jamie, March 3, 2010 3:05 pm

And now I have to be the self-appointed ambassador for my family to make sure we don’t poison ourselves with cleaning products, make up, etc. Actually, my mother-in-law has been using natural products since long before I met her. In fact, she has given us everything from toothpaste to dish washing liquid (she buys them from melaleuca.com). I have liked almost all of the products that she has given us so far. However, I have a public confession to make: I choose laundry products based on how they smell. I’m the girl who opens up twenty containers of fabric softener to find the best scented one. When someone walks by in me, or if I hug someone, I take a quick sniff to see what their clothing smells like – don’t worry, no one notices me sniffing them! Anyway, my mother-in-law has given us a lot of environmentally friendly laundry products, from detergent to stain remover, and I have been thinking that I will use it all up and then buy some more of “the good stuff.” Of course, it turns out that we have been using the good stuff thanks to her. So, thanks, M!

Chapter 8 is all about removing endocrine disrupting and cancer causing products from our homes. There are chemicals in everything from cleaning products to mouth wash. One one hand, I have worn make up probably three times since I got pregnant, so I am probably safe there. On the other hand, I DO brush my teeth, and I would like to avoid damaging my hormones (or worse!) in the process.

Did any of you read the article on CNN earlier this week that talks about how the lawn chemical, atrazine, can turn boy frogs into girl frogs? Jillian mentions this in her book as well. It may not turn human boys into girls, but it can negatively affect human endocrine systems. This is particularly disturbing to me because, on more than one occasion, I have caught by daughter licking the bottom of her shoe! I asked my husband what is used on our lawn (we have been paying a service to care for it), and he didn’t know. Homework!

Household cleaners – they may be doing more harm than good, and maybe we can save a little money for our expensive organic meats by cleaning with plain old water, lemon juice, baking soda, and white vinegar. And the plastics. We not only have to check codes to know what to recycle, we also have to make sure not to poison ourselves by putting food in the bad ones. Here are some rules to follow:

• Try to avoid buying foods packaged in plastics, but if you have to, try to make sure only to get the ones coded #1, #2, #4, or #5.
• When you do buy foods packaged in plastics, try to move them to glass containers as soon as possible.
• NEVER microwave food in plastic containers.
• Avoid buying flame-retardant clothing, bedding, pillows, or mattresses, as the chemicals used (PDBEs) are “linked to thyroid disruption, learning and memory problems, damage to hearing, decreased sperm counts, and birth defects.”
• Avoid antibacterial soap if it contains triclosan because “when triclosan combines with chlorinated tap water, it creates the carcinogenic gas chloroform and chlorinated dioxins, a highly toxic form of dioxin.” (Another quote from the book “The EPA found that dioxins, byproducts of chlorine, are three hundred thousand times more carcinogenic than DDT; they’re also very estrogenic.”)

Once again, I have not fact checked specifics, but as I read this section of the book, I was reminded of other things I have read on this subject, but chose to ignore because other sources (including government agencies and the manufacturers of products in question) found the chemicals listed here to be safe for human consumption. The more I hear evidence to the contrary, the more I am being forced to listen.

This chapter is full of ideas to keep your family safe from non-food toxins. Again, if you don’t buy or borrow the book, it might be worth it to skim Chapter 8 when you are somewhere that carries it.

Scroll down for other posts about Master Your Metabolism:

Other posts about Master Your Metabolism:
Review
Part 1: So Long, Chocolate, Old Friend
Part 2: I KNEW It – My Hormones are Out of Whack!
Part 3: Nothing Funny About Chapter 3
Part 4: “There’s No Food in Your Food”
Part 5: Artificial Sweetener Can Mess Up Your Brain?
Part 6: “Okay, I’ll Admit it. Organics Can Be Pricey.”
Part 7: Ice Cream and Chocolate are Allowed!!!
Part 8: Really, Jillian, I Just Wanted a Cute Butt
Part 9: Protein! I Need You Protein
Part 10: Now, Off to the Market

Comments (6)

By jamie, February 25, 2010 1:42 pm

This chapter made me more sad than scared. Before I write about it, I have to say that the one thing that really bugs about this book is that Jillian (or her editor) chose not to properly cite sources. The “selected” bibliography might be extensive, but it’s often impossible to know whether the specific piece of information was taken from a newspaper article or from an actual study. The citations are divided by chapter – and Chapter 3 is heavy on academic journals – but there are no proper end notes. I suspect that this was done to make the book more readable and less “academic,” but it opens the door for doubt – a big problem for a book about health. I have read enough of the environmental literature to believe what she is saying in this chapter, but I can’t help but feel like it might be worth my time to fact check, just in case.

Chapter 3 makes some pretty serious claims, and, while many of them are backed by specific studies (she usually gives credit to the university without naming either article or study), it’s really impossible to tell whether they all are. It’s too bad, because the general public SHOULD know about the dangers of environmental toxins, especially the ones we voluntarily bring into our homes.

If you don’t intend to buy/borrow this book, you probably owe it to yourself to at least skim Chapter 3 in the bookstore (don’t tell them I sent you) and then check out some of the most interesting information at a university library, or even through Google Scholar, if that’s all you have access too.

Here are some highlights (NOT fact checked by me, so buyer beware):

• Many major municipal water supplies have been found to have detectable levels of pharmaceuticals, including antibiotics, sex hormones, and mood stabilizers. Guess how they got into to water supply – through our toilets.
• Those flame retardants sprayed on baby pajamas contain toxins, but so do the fragrances in fabric softeners (which are not to be used on baby pajamas, because they remove the flame retardant).
• Toxins known to have a negative effect on hormones added to perfumes and fragrances to make them last longer (and we spray them on ourselves).
• High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is very bad (regardless of what the corn industry tells us in their current PR campaign), but it’s not the only terrible food additive.

Okay. I have to stop now. I thought this book was just going to tell me how to eat so that my metabolism would start zooming like a teenager’s. There is more it then that, obviously (which I knew, but it’s much easier to have a fitness guru tell you how to eat, no?). I could start a discussion about Big Business and how regular people – but especially the poor – get screwed in the quest for the almighty dollar. It’s more sad than scary, especially because we end up supporting this behavior despite our best interests. And now I really do have to stop, go drink some (possibly toxin-laden) water, wash some laundry (maybe I’ll skip the fabric softener), and check my fridge for food additives.

Scroll down for other posts about Master Your Metabolism:

Other posts about Master Your Metabolism:
Review
Part 1: So Long, Chocolate, Old Friend
Part 2: I KNEW It – My Hormones are Out of Whack!
Part 3: Nothing Funny About Chapter 3
Part 4: “There’s No Food in Your Food”
Part 5: Artificial Sweetener Can Mess Up Your Brain?
Part 6: “Okay, I’ll Admit it. Organics Can Be Pricey.”
Part 7: Ice Cream and Chocolate are Allowed!!!
Part 8: Really, Jillian, I Just Wanted a Cute Butt
Part 9: Protein! I Need You Protein
Part 10: Now, Off to the Market