3 Easy Ways to Start Living Naturally and Improve Your Health
But… where do you start?
It can be overwhelming, when faced with a whole internet of information, to understand what to do to improve your health and live more naturally. Your brain may jump to all the many things you’d like to change.
Maybe you’d like to trash all your current home and beauty products and start fresh. You’d like to start doing yoga every day. You are wondering if you should buy a sauna? Should I worry about the material of my clothes?
Stop!
Take a deep breath. Slow down. There are so many parts to a healthy, natural life that promotes health holistically. Food, movement, what we put on our bodies. However, you have the rest of your life to iron out all the ideas. Please don’t let the whole, overwhelming puzzle keep you from starting to put together the first pieces.
So, where can you start today to move toward a natural lifestyle and take charge of your health? Start with some heavy hitters. Start with some chemicals, items, areas that are likely to make the biggest impact in your life for the smallest amount of change. After all, changing habits can be difficult and changing the fundamental way you’ve been making decisions in your life can take time. So let’s get the most bang for our buck. Figuratively AND literally. Let’s face it, some health swaps can become expensive.
What Are the 3 EASIEST, BEST Things You Can Do TODAY to Live a Healthier, More Natural Lifestyle?
As we’ve established, there are a lot of parts to healthy living. But chances are that if you’re reading this it’s because you’re wanting to dive into what I’d call a natural lifestyle. And again, there are many parts to that, but here’s a starting point.
If you are ready to embrace a natural lifestyle, I’d encourage you to start looking at your diet, start evaluating your personal care products, and cut out products with fragrance.
Let’s get into why.
1. Look at your diet
I’m sure you’ve heard it more times than you’d like to hear… but you are what you eat. It’s true! It doesn’t matter how many toxic chemicals you cut out of your life. If you are eating trash, you’ll feel like trash. Even if you manage to not feel like actual garbage while eating junk, your body will certainly feel the effects of it. It’s unavoidable.
A whole nutrition overhaul is beyond the scope of this post. We could get into organic versus non-organic foods, vitamins and supplements, micronutrients, plant-based versus animal heavy consumption. We will go into more of that over time, but for now, let’s keep it basic.
At the simplest level. Your body needs a varied, whole foods diet full of color and with plenty of protein. Today, let’s focus on the argument for reducing processed foods and increasing whole foods.
There is an abundance of research on the gut microbiome, health, disease, nutrition, and the intersections of all of these things. We know that eating whole foods has a big impact on the gut microbiome and thus overall health. Compounds found in individual fruits and vegetables can increase or decrease the presence of certain gut bacteria in ways that appear to improve health and resilience to disease and even improve outcomes for those with diseases such as obesity and gut related issues. Alos, though difficult to measure and requiring more study, the combination of compounds found in a variety of foods can have an even more profound (and positive) impact on health.
All that to say, eating a diet of whole foods, and a variety of whole foods at that, is beneficial to one’s health. So much of your body’s functioning comes down to your gut health, so it’s critical that we start here.
Lack of fiber is not only common throughout the world, but especially in America and may be a proponent of disease and poor health outcomes. Because fiber is found mostly in whole, unprocessed foods, most believe this issue is due to highly processed diets, as the processing of most foods strips them of most of their dietary fiber.
There is increasing evidence that ultra-processed foods may be associated with negative health outcomes. And the impact of processed foods goes beyond a nutrient to nutrient comparison of a processed versus whole food. Byproducts produced during processing as well as the damaged structural integrity of some foods may make them harder for the body to process. It’s also been discussed fact that processed foods impact satiety and desire differently than whole foods, often leading to overeating (a discussion for another day is the role of excessive calorie intake on disease). And again, as touched on above, foods impact the gut microbiome, processed foods seeming to affect it more negatively than whole foods, or not having the same positive effects of whole foods. Part of the problem may be that ultra-processed foods are taking the place of whole foods that are so important for balanced nutrition.
Interestingly enough, some push back against this anti-processed foods craze we’re seeing, stating some research issues that I won’t get into here. An important point is that you don’t have to go 100% into one diet camp, not even the whole foods camp. It can be argued that part of the issue with processed foods is less in what those foods consist of themselves and has more to do with what they lack. For instance, fiber.
Just cutting processed foods may not be the answer as staple processed foods are designed to provide nutrients that a lot of people aren’t getting in their diets, such as folate in cereals, iodized salt, and others.
But generally speaking, proponents of natural living (myself included) would encourage you to reduce ultra-processed foods because they seem to be more difficult for your body to process, often contain a lot of unnecessary and sometimes harmful added ingredients, and just aren’t nourishing you like natural, whole foods do.
The brunt of it? Ultra-processed foods are probably negatively impacting your health for a variety of reasons. Think about it. If you eat a Pop-Tart for breakfast, instead of, say, two eggs and some fruit, are you getting the same quality of nutrition? Probably not. Yes, Pop-Tarts are fortified with some vitamins and minerals, but you’re missing out on all of the micronutrients in the fruit and the protein (which, we didn’t even touch on here) that you would have had.
A lot of this should become intuitive for you. My staple lunch these days is a turkey stick and a cheese stick, because I’m a busy mom who really struggles with the lunch meal specifically. But this is an active choice to not prioritize my health through nutrition a lot of days. I know that it would be better for me to throw together a quick salad with some chicken on top. But a lot of days I don’t have it in me.
Because of this I tend to prioritize breakfast and, even more so, lunch, since I know I’m more likely to make good choices and put in more effort at those times. I feel better about my lunch when my breakfast is eggs, whole grain toast, and a spread of fruit, and my dinner is grilled salmon with sweet potatoes and asparagus.
And this is what I want you to understand: It’s all about balance. You don’t have to be perfect all the time. In fact, you probably can’t be. The best thing you can do to improve your health and reduce your toxic load is to improve your choices on a regular basis. Choose whole foods more often. Add more fruits and veggies. Eat protein. It’s not complicated, it just takes a little intentionality.
You will find a lot of people out there promoting various diets like keto, paleo, even carnivore and explaining all of the crazy health benefits they’ve seen. Maybe some of it is true. Certainly some people with specific health conditions thrive when following a specific diet. But for the majority of people it is simpler, easier, and more effective to focus on eating a balanced, varied diet full of as many fruits, veggies, whole grains, and quality proteins as you can fit in it.
Phew. That was a lot. And I didn’t even get to all the chemicals that can be found in your food! Another day.
2. Evaluate your personal care products
If you’re interested in a natural lifestyle, you’re concerned about what goes on and in your body, plain and simple. You probably also want to live more chemical free. Reducing the chemicals we’re exposed to is part of living a more natural lifestyle and improving your health, holistically.
A major part of what goes into our body is what personal care products we use on a daily basis from shower products to makeup to household cleaners. Every product you use is entering your system through your ingestion, contact with your skin, breathing the air. Most of the chemicals we are exposed to daily, that aren’t related to food consumption and are within our personal control, are from our personal care products.
There are so many chemicals in most of the products most people use. Look at the back of your shampoo bottle, your all purpose spray, your foundation, and you will see a long list of ingredients, most of which you probably have no idea how to even pronounce. That’s because most of those are synthetic chemicals added to serve some purpose in the product.
Now, I am not an alarmist or an extremist. I am not one of those natural living people who will tell you that every ingredient in your products should come from nature or that all chemicals are bad. I’ve gone through that phase and I find that it’s not realistic or even very helpful for most people. There are also a lot of people out there who are just afraid of EVERYTHING with no evidence to back up their concerns. It’s my mission to help you figure out what to worry about and what to forget, based on the evidence.
If that is something you want in your life, please sign up for our newsletter and explore our catalog of content all about the truth of holistic health and natural living.
Not all chemicals are bad. There are many chemicals in our products that are perfectly safe, well-tested, and with lots of data to show they will not harm you or your family. And honestly, some chemicals are very helpful in making products effective. That’s been a big issue with the natural living world because some natural products, especially some homemade recipes are just not that effective.
I’m looking at you baking soda for shampoo and ACV for conditioner (Please don’t email me that this works for you. I’m sure for some it does. But for this head and many others, it simply does not.)
If you prefer to cut all chemicals, you do you. I think that’s amazing. There’s certainly nothing wrong with that being your goal. People lived for a very long time without the chemicals we have today.
However, if you’re like me and you’re interested in more of a balance that takes into consideration natural, effective, and safe, start with just understanding the chemicals in your products.
Again, it’s beyond the scope of this article to tell you all about all the chemicals I recommend avoiding and ones I think are probably fine. We get into that more in specific posts. But the point is you have to know there’s an issue before you can make a change.
Start looking at labels, look at all the ingredients in your products. Maybe at first you choose to stick with products that have way fewer chemicals. Maybe you’re ready to start learning more about chemicals and what may be safe. That’s what we’re here for.
To start, I recommend you seriously reconsider products that contain parabens, phthalates, and fragrances (which we will get into more below). Here’s a brief overview of why these chemicals are problematic without getting too deep into it:
Parabens are chemical preservatives used in a lot of beauty products to help keep them shelf stable. Phthalates are a class of chemicals typically used as plasticizers (they make things more plastic/flexible). Fragrance is a mix of chemicals used to create a smell.
There are lots of problems with parabens and phthalates and lots of research studies around them. They seem to be bad for your health largely because they are endocrine disrupting, which means they mess with your hormones. This has a variety of implications from reducing fertility, causing imbalances, sleep disturbances, and some links to disease have been shown. For instance, phthalates have been linked to cancer and a ton of other negative health outcomes.
One thing I like to remind people is that the FDA does not test cosmetics products prior to them coming to the market like it does with food and drugs. They can test things if there is an investigation or concerns have been raised about a particular product, but it is not routine. Lots of individual companies do independently test their products for safety, but not all do. So particularly with beauty products, just understand that not everything you find is safe.
There is obviously more detail to get into here, but the take home today is that it’s probably best to minimize these chemicals as much as possible, especially considering they’re in so many things we use daily.
3. Cut out fragrance
Fragrance is a unique beast. You may be thinking, “why do I need to give up fragrance, isn’t that just a smell?” Well yes, but also no. Yes, fragrance is what makes our products smell. But what accomplishes that? A mixture of synthetic chemicals. Sometimes, not very safe chemicals. And I’m not just talking about a few chemicals. Some fragrances are made of up to hundreds of synthetic chemicals (though dozens is more common).
Of course, there are natural fragrances. Herbs, essential oils, flower essences, etc. But I’m talking about chemical fragrance, or synthetic aroma chemicals, sometimes listed as parfum. Usually in the US, they’re listed simply as fragrance.
The other issue with these fragrances is that the FDA does not require companies to disclose what is in them. Not only are they not in the ingredient list, you’d be hard pressed to find them anywhere, because companies don’t have to and because sometimes they probably don’t want to because the chemicals they use may not be the best, especially as concerns about product toxicity rises in the general population.
Some argue that the fragrance issue probably isn’t as big of a deal as it’s been made out to be. “They don’t want to kill off their customer base.” This is a valid point, most products won’t make it far if people are dropping dead. So keep in mind that using a product with fragrance isn’t going to end you. However, the concern with these chemicals, especially phthalates, is the long term accumulation and the links to various diseases and disorders (though some evidence is mixed and continued research is certainly required).
The reality is that a lot of companies will choose what is cheapest and most effective over what is best for the customer. The evidence seems to point to major concerns with use of chemicals like phthalates in fragrances, even in areas such as epigenetics. That implies long-term consequences companies couldn’t necessarily understand up front and that would take decades, and sometimes generations, to appear.
So while companies may not be killing customers with fragrance, they’re likely greatly impacting their health. Regardless, transparency is a huge issue and very necessary for you to take charge of your health. There is legislation in place that will be changing requirements on ingredient disclosure (such as needing to disclose known allergens) but it’s unclear exactly what this will look like and won’t occur until at least 2025.
Personally, I’m not willing to take a chance on my DNA and the DNA of my kids being impacted just so my product can smell a certain way. Especially when there are other, natural options to add scents to products. The market has come so far in providing alternatives to fragrance that there’s just really no reason not to avoid it if you’re concerned about it.
I will caveat this by saying fragrance has come a long way since concerns about them started rising. A lot of fragrance manufacturers are intentional not to include phthalates of any kind, which are the main concern when it comes to fragrances. Additionally, some local and state municipalities are better than others at regulating products that utilize fragrances for safety.
So when you see “fragrance” at the end of the ingredient list of your vanilla body wash, please understand that it’s not really one ingredient, it’s a mixture of possibly hundreds of synthetic chemicals that have the potential to negatively impact your and your family’s health. And even if the specific chemicals they’re using wouldn’t harm you, you really can’t know that.
If you aren’t willing or wanting to completely avoid fragrance, I would encourage you to research the specific product and company that produces your desired product to see if you can find more information about the fragrances they use. Some are safer than others, but it can be a dig to find out sometimes.
Summary
There are so many places you can start working on your health and working toward a more natural lifestyle that supports well being. We recommend starting with three things:
Look at your diet
Without even considering concerns about chemicals that are found in our food or the organic vs. inorganic debate, understand that ultra-processed foods are probably negatively impacting your health by decreasing gut health and performance and keeping you from eating a varied, whole foods diet that is essential for optimal, holistic health. You just can’t get all of the micronutrients you need on an ultra-processed diet. And because health starts in the gut, it’s so important we focus on this.
Start evaluating your personal care products
Your products are full of ingredients that you probably know very little about. The first step to taking control over your health is gaining knowledge and awareness. So with our products, it’s important that we try to actually understand what they are composed of and if they are a good choice for us.
A few important chemicals to keep an eye out for, and that it would likely benefit your health to avoid, are parabens, phthalates, and fragrances. These are all synthetic chemicals used for a couple different purposes to improve the performance of your product or deliver a specific feature, but that appear to carry negative health impacts, especially as related to hormone production and regulation and long-term concerns for the development of diseases such as cancer.
Check your labels.
Cut fragrance from your products
Fragrance is the wild west where anything goes. The reality is usually fragrances are made of many synthetic chemicals with their own impacts and combined impacts and companies don’t have to tell you what they are. Again, knowledge is crucial to controlling your health, so when you can’t know what’s in a product, that’s a big red flag.
Some will feel comfortable taking a chance on fragrances, a lot of which are full of phthalates (see above), but there are so many alternatives out there at this point that it doesn’t really seem worth the risk.
I hope this information was useful and that you feel empowered to make little changes to improve your health and work toward a more natural lifestyle. If you did and you want to be kept in the loop about more posts like this as well as news and updates in the natural living and holistic health world, please sign up for our email list! We currently send out monthly emails packed with helpful information to help you make the best choices for you and your family.
