I’ve had many requests for my top tips for living a less toxic life.

So there they are:

1. Meditate daily.  Even if you feel you haven’t got the time to meditate regularly try a short three minute guided meditation instead (you can find loads of these on YouTube and such like).  When we bring ourselves into the ‘now’ through meditation we stop the toxic thought processes of running over the past or thinking about what will often never happen in the future.  Here’s a blog post of mine about meditation for more information, click here.

2. Learn to belly breathe.  When we breathe in our normal way, we often don’t expel all the toxins we need to.  Normal breathing is shallow, and we need to breathe into the bottom of our lungs to breathe more effectively.  Belly breathing is when you push your belly out when you breathe in and bring your belly in when you breathe out.  It can take some getting used to.   Also try a few deep belly breaths if you feel stressed or anxious as this will help calm you down and also helps with fatigue, as more oxygen in the body means a healthier and more energised body.

3. Adopt a good posture.  By doing this you lessen the levels of toxicity in the body, as all your organs, including the lungs work more effectively because they are not squashed up.  This helps you expel more toxins.  Sit or stand with your weight evenly over your hips and when carrying things carrying them evenly over both sides of the body.

4. Gratitude is the best attitude!  Looking for things to be grateful for in your day helps form new habits of positivity instead of negativity.  This reduces our toxic thoughts about ourselves and our lives and when we do this it not only makes us happier, but these sorts of thoughts have chemical reactions within the brain, creating new positive and less toxic pathways rather than reinforcing old negative pathways and thoughts.  Try listing 21 things in each of your days that you are grateful for (anything from your hair or health to family and pets), do this every day and see what a difference it makes to our life and those toxic thoughts.

5. Drink plenty of fresh clean water and get plenty of fibre in your diet.  Water includes herbal teas and vegetable juices and should ideally add up to 2 – 3 litres a day, more if you are exercising.  This will help you flush toxins from your body.  In the same respect making sure you have plenty of fibre in your diet will help you maintain regular bowel movements, which is one of the body’s main ways of eliminating a lot of toxins.  If you do not have regular bowel movements you will be holding onto a lot of additional toxins, so this is a must to address for detoxification.

6. Swap the white foods for brown. White rice, flours, breads, pastas, potatoes and sugars should ideally be swapped for wholemeal and brown versions, and sweet potatoes eaten instead of white potatoes.

7. Go organic. I know going organic can be expensive, so if you can’t afford it fully then go organic with the dirty dozen (the fruits and vegetables with the highest levels of toxins on and in them).

THE DIRTY DOZEN (try and eat organic versions if you can):

1. Apples
2. Strawberries
3. Grapes
4. Celery
5. Peaches
6. Spinach
7. Sweet bell peppers
8. Nectarines (imported)
9. Cucumbers
10. Cherry tomatoes
11. Snap peas (imported)
12. Potatoes

8. Eat plenty of colourful vegetables every day.  Colourful vegetables like peppers and beetroot are packed full of antioxidants as well as being highly nutritious.

9. Introduce some fermented foods into your diet.  Fermented foods and drinks like kefir, kombucha, unpasteurised sauerkraut and other fermented fruits and vegetables are packed full of healthy yeasts and probiotics, they help balance the gut flora and eliminate the toxic yeasts and bacteria from the digestive system.  They are highly beneficial for digestive disorders and for overall health and well-being.  Here’s a recent blog post of mine about one of the fermented drinks I favour the most, kefir, click here.

10. Lose sugar, sweeteners, processed foods, gluten and MSG from your diet.  In my opinion not only are these full of empty calories (meaning they are high in calories with little benefits), but they are all also toxic to the body and affect the development of our brain and body in a negative way, as well as our body struggling to eliminate them and often storing them in body fat.

11. Replace toxic beauty products with natural ones.  Due to the fact we absorb up to 60% of what we put onto our skin, it stands to reason that beauty products should be as natural as possible otherwise we are taking on board lots of additional chemicals every day.  You can buy a natural alternative to all beauty products these days or you can make you own, very simply and cheaply.  Coconut oil is a great replacement for many beauty products.  To check out my blog about coconut oil for me info, click here.

12. Replace toxic household cleaners with natural ones.  In the same way we absorb beauty products, we can also absorb household cleaners that touch our skin.  Not only that, but we also breathe in the toxic chemicals from the fumes they produce.  Again it is really easy and cheap to make your own natural cleaners.  Check out my blog about making your own natural cleaners by click here.

13. Replace toxic air-fresheners, candles and other home and car smellies with natural ones.  Toxic air-fresheners are some of the worst chemical products within our homes because we absorb all these nasty toxins through our respitory system.  Watch out for future blogs about how to make your own air-fresheners and in the mean time here is one about making your own natural eco tea-cup candles, click here.

14. De-clutter your home.  One of the items greatly overlooked when living a less toxic life is clutter.  Not only does clutter create mess and dust, but is also often prevents us from moving on with our life as it allows us to dwell in the memories of the past that the clutter reminds us of.  When we live in clutter we don’t make room for new things both physically and mentally in our lives.  By letting go of clutter we generally feel less suffocated,  more energised, less stressed and we become open to new things happening in our lives.

15. Return to Nature.  Electromagnetic stress effects us all, but even more so with people who already have existing health conditions.  This is when the electromagnetic field of electrical appliances interferes with our own electromagnetic field.  This causes a whole host of health issues, but can easily be addressed by spending as much time as possible in nature.  Not only does nature ground us, it makes our normal body rhythms work correctly, it helps the body develop and helps with sleep.  Because of all this, it also helps us eliminate toxins and by being out in nature you’re hopefully also breathing better quality air and getting some much needed vitamin D as well.

So as you can see, living a life less toxic, includes mind, body, home and environment and helps our own health and wellbeing and that of our beautiful planet too!

Here’s some more reading for you about reducing toxins in your life:

MindBodyGreen: Four Toxic Triggers That Drain, click here.

Dr Mark Hyman: How to Detox from Sugar, click here.

Lauren Conrad: Fit Tips How to Detox from Head to Toe, click here.

Miss Nutritionist: Top 10 Detox Tips, click here.

The Healthy House: Detoxing Tips for General Good Health, click here.

Do you have any tips you want to share about living a life less toxic?