Healthy Living
Healthy living can go beyond simply eating better and exercising. Our health is also linked to the products we apply to our skin, nails, and hair; the cleansers we use to clean our living space; and the invisible fumes we inhale within our own homes.
For example, we think all too commonly that our skin acts as an external shield that protects our inner organs from environmental pollution and health hazards. This is not the case - in fact our skin is the largest organ of our body. It readily absorbs creams, lotions, or topical medication that we apply to it. For The Whole Story on Skin visit Kids Health
Fingernails and toenails also absorb what you paint on them; therefore you may want to watch out for nail polishes containing harmful chemicals (see Healthy & Beauty Care below for details). Then there are personal cleansing products: shower gels and soaps, shampoos and conditioners, an array of hair styling products, and toothpastes and mouthwashes for squeaky clean teeth and minty fresh breath.
All these products not only enter our bodies, they also enter the wastewater system and by extension our drinking water. If you stop and think for a moment, you will figure out that this is a closed loop system. Our water and wastes from showers, sinks, and toilets go to one of the city's four wastewater treatment plants. Once it has been treated, it gets released into Lake Ontario, from where we also draw our drinking water. Therefore, the fewer toxins we allow to drain down the drains, the easier it is for the sewage treatment to be superior and the better the quality of our lake and drinking water.
For a diagram on 'Where does the water from your toilet go?'
or details on the City's water treatment at Toronto Water.
A holistic approach to healthy living would include looking at the following areas in your everyday life and habits:
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Health & Beauty Care
Makeup & Personal Care Products: Not all that sparkles is gold: Many makeup products contain harmful chemicals that are linked to cancer, damage to the nervous system, hormone disruptors, respiratory illnesses, and harm to children`s development. Unbeknown to many consumers, a group of five nasty chemicals is typically found in many of our products, such as phthalates (in nail polish, body lotions, and deodorants), lauryl sulfate (in toothpaste, shampoo, bath salts, and shower gels), paraben preservatives (in hair conditioners, styling gels, mascara, skin creams, concealers, sunscreen, and hair colouring), formaldehyde family (in shampoos, conditioner, shower gels, skin lotions, hair care products, antiperspirants, nail polish, mouthwash, and makeup remover), and the amine family (in shampoos, hair sprays, soaps, foundations, eyeliner, talcum powders, shaving creams, and hair colouring). (Source: G. Deacon, 'Toxic Teens', greenliving magazine, Spring/Summer 2007)
Just as with your foods, you can buy organic health and beauty products at specialty stores and increasingly at regular supermarkets, like Loblaws. You can also ensure that you buy these products from brands, which assure only natural and healthy ingredients. Some brands are for example, Aubrey, Aveda, Avalon organics, Burt's Bees, Beauty Without Cruelty, Ecco Bella, Giovanni, and Weleda. (Source: G. Deacon, 'Toxic Teens', greenliving magazine, Spring/Summer 2007)
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Household Cleaners
Many household cleaners contain toxic chemicals; the poison warning sign is on the bottle for a reason! By replacing these cleaners with products made with natural, harmless and biodegradable ingredients, you can keep yourself, your family, and the environment safer, including doing something good for our waterways and landfill, where much of those products end up. Brands like Nature Clean, for example, contain only natural ingredients, are non-toxic and hypo-allergenic.
You can even make your own natural cleaning products; good old baking soda, or vinegar solutions, and lemon juice work well too and will leave your home smelling fresh and without any harmful or irritating chemical fumes. As mentioned above, the wastewater from drains in your house ends up in Lake Ontario after treatment at a wastewater treatment plants, and it helps to improve on what you rinse down the sink. For some tips on how to mix your own products, go to www.geocities.com/Heartland/Prairie/8088/clngrn.html
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Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs)
Volatile Organic Compounds are the 'fumes' you can smell in chemical based cleaners, hairspray, paint, or from that new-carpet or new car smell. One of these fumes that our noses can detect is formaldehyde. This is a harmful ingredient that has been linked with respiratory conditions, skin and eye irritation, headaches, nausea, and other more serious ailments caused by long-term exposure.
Formaldehyde is utilised in all kitchen cabinets, doors, and furniture that are not made from solid wood. It is used as a bonding agent and the more 'bonding' required - as for construction of MDF fibreboard, particleboard, and plywood, or laminates - the more of the chemical is necessary. Some drapes, upholstery and clothes that are labelled 'permanent press' or 'crease resistant' also contain this chemical, as well as some household cleaners and paints.
Formaldehyde is not the only VOC; other ingredients are also off-gassed from paints, primers, sealers, cleaning products, and personal care products like hairsprays, or deodorants. If you want to have a professional test the level of VOCs in your home and advise you on how to detoxify your living space, contact an indoor air consultant. Toronto-based company Sick Building Solutions (Sick Building Solutions) or the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC)(1-800-668-2642) can test your home for levels of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, radon, formaldehyde, and other VOCs. This can cost you between $250-$700.
For a more gradual approach, start slowly replacing some of the harmful items when you renovate your home or buy new pieces of furniture. Look for materials, fabrics and paints that are labelled 'low-VOC'. Wash new drapes, bedding, and clothes before hanging or using them the first time, and use dry-cleaners who don't use formaldehyde or other toxic chemicals. Furniture should be sealed on all sides to avoid the 'off-gassing' of the glues between the layers of fibreboard. Lower heat and humidity in your home also decrease the rate at which formaldehyde is released, and airing out your house regularly and using exhaust fans also helps remove VOCs. And household cleaners can be replaced with all-natural cleaners, baking soda or vinegar solutions. (Sources: J. Nelson, 'There's what in my house?', and J. O'Connor, 'Home, safe home', greenliving magazine, Spring/Summer 2007)
Links: Grass Roots Store, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, Green Living Online, Canada.com - VOCs make paint a hazard
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Home Improvements
Every home contains wood. It makes up your house's frame, supports roof, ceiling, and floors, makes up doors and door-frames, as well as kitchen cabinets, furniture, porches and decks. Naturally, you want this wood to be stable and long-lasting but you can also ensure that future supplies of wood will be stable and long-lasting, i.e. sustainable.
Canada's northern boreal forests are under threat and continue shrinking due to high demand of lumber for construction, furniture, paper and paper products, as well as making way for roads and industry. Less than 8% of the boreal forest is protected from large-scale industrial development. Our forests are significant ecosystems, important for filtering air pollution and converting and storing carbon dioxide (called a 'carbon sink'), and a natural resource that cannot be replenished quickly.
As a consumer, you can choose to buy only FSC-certified wood and paper products. The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) 'promotes and enhances well-managed forests through credible certification that is environmentally responsible, socially acceptable, and economically viable'. Their independent, accredited certifiers ensure that certified forests comply with FSC regulations in forestry, and which track the chain of forest products so that consumer products with the FSC label can be traced back to their certified source.
Links: Natural Resources Defense Council, FSC, and FSC Canada
Recycling or Reusing Home Installations
You're renovating your kitchen but the cabinets are still in good order and you don't want to throw them on the dump? Or you want to change your kitchen or bathroom cabinets or doors but can't afford to do so? Help is at hand: Home Again Inc. in Toronto offers both these services. They salvage and resell surplus building materials. They will dismantle and remove anything usable from your home, or you can remove it carefully yourself and they will pick it up - free of charge, and you can receive a tax receipt. For buyers, these items are for sale at up to 25% - 80% of original big-box store prices. They also offer flooring, sinks, tubs, faucets, fireplaces etc. See their website for details, Home Again Inc.
Habitat for Humanity ReStores also accept and resell quality new and used building materials at their stores, including lumber, tools, light fixtures and more. Check their website for details, ReStore.
Please keep in mind during a home renovation that all your waste materials are disposed of appropriately. For details on how and where to get rid of different types of household and home construction wastes, such as hazardous wastes (paint cans, batteries etc.), visit the City of Toronto website and look for specific information in their A-Z index, Toronto garbage info.
