NEW 3-Day Waterfall Cleanse available! Click here to start your journey!

  • Follow
  • Follow
  • Follow
  • Follow
  • Follow
My Account
  • Podcast
    • All Podcasts
    • Ask Kimberly
  • Meditation
  • Blog
    • All Blogs
    • Health
    • Nutrition
    • Beauty
    • Meditation
    • Kimberly’s Corner
  • Recipes
    • All Recipes
    • The Glowing Green Smoothie
    • Smoothies & Beverages
    • Salads
    • Entrées
    • Desserts
    • Snacks
  • About
    • About Solluna
    • About Kimberly
    • Solluna Circle
    • Kimberly’s Books
    • Press & Media
  • Contact
  • Shop
    • Recommended Products
    • Shop All Products
    • Supplements
      • All Supplements
      • Feel Good SBO Probiotics+
      • Feel Good Detoxy 2.0
      • Feel Good Digestive Enzymes
      • Feel Good Starter Kit
    • Skincare
      • All Skincare
      • Feel Good ASC2P Vitamin C Serum
      • Feel Good Cleanser
      • Feel Good Eye Cream
      • Feel Good Moisturizer
      • Feel Good Skincare System
    • Courses
      • All Courses
      • Cooking Course + Recipes
      • 3 Day Waterfall Cleanse
      • 30 Day Roadmap to Healthy Weight Loss
      • The Solluna Circle
      • The Beauty Detox Power Yoga Series
      • 7 Day Meditation Series
    • Manifesting Kits
      • Manifesting Your Goal Kit
    • Charity
      • We Are One Charity T-Shirt
  • Shop
    • Recommended Products
    • Shop All Products
    • Supplements
      • All Supplements
      • Feel Good SBO Probiotics+
      • Feel Good Detoxy 2.0
      • Feel Good Digestive Enzymes
      • Feel Good Starter Kit
    • Skincare
      • All Skincare
      • Feel Good ASC2P Vitamin C Serum
      • Feel Good Cleanser
      • Feel Good Eye Cream
      • Feel Good Moisturizer
      • Feel Good Skincare System
    • Courses
      • All Courses
      • Cooking Course + Recipes
      • 3 Day Waterfall Cleanse
      • 30 Day Roadmap to Healthy Weight Loss
      • The Solluna Circle
      • The Beauty Detox Power Yoga Series
      • 7 Day Meditation Series
    • Manifesting Kits
      • Manifesting Your Goal Kit
    • Charity
      • We Are One Charity T-Shirt
  • Podcast
    • All Podcasts
    • Ask Kimberly
  • Meditation
  • Blog
    • All Blogs
    • Health
    • Nutrition
    • Beauty
    • Meditation
    • Kimberly’s Corner
  • Recipes
    • All Recipes
    • The Glowing Green Smoothie
    • Smoothies & Beverages
    • Salads
    • Entrées
    • Desserts
    • Snacks
  • About
    • About Solluna
    • About Kimberly
    • Solluna Circle
    • Kimberly’s Books
    • Press & Media
  • Contact

How to Keep Your Body More Toxic-Free

My recent visit to the pristine waterfalls located in untouched areas well off the beaten path in Hawaii had a big impact on me. It was so cleansing to swim in the waterfall pools and breath the incredibly clean air of the rainforests there. The pools were always cold, and I can never help but wonder what is in water that I can’t see to the bottom of (ask me one day about my crocodile story from Kakadu, Australia! 🙂 ), but I was always so grateful and glad to feel that slightly scary and exhilarating chill of just diving into the unknown! While I’ve always been very conscious of living as chemical-free and clean a life as possible, being exposed to that ultimate clean environment really brought this topic to the forefront of my mind.

 

LA is not exactly known for its clean air… but living on the ocean here in Santa Monica and having more space definitely feels healthier- heck I even have lemon trees in my yard!

There is an estimated 80,000 chemicals in the market and in products in the United States, and what is really scary is that companies aren’t required to do any safety testing on these chemicals. It is tempting to reason that our exposure to these chemicals in certain products are so small that it can’t really hurt us. But the truth is that when we combine multiple different chemicals from many different sources, we can create toxic overload in our body, which can affect our body and prematurely age us.

Here are a few of the practices that I personally adopt to help keep reduce toxicity in my body:

1.     Use a shower filter. There are an estimated 314 pollutants found in tap water, including arsenic, vinyl chloride, chlorine and benzene. When you take a hot shower your pores open up, thereby allowing some of these chemical compounds to enter your body and bloodstream. I’m so sensitive to non-filtered shower water that when I got to LA I could literally smell the chemicals on my skin— that is until I installed my shower filter a week after I moved in. Highly recommended!

2.     Don’t wear your shoes in the house! My mother never allowed shoe-wearing in our house growing up, so it always seemed normal to me to take my shoes off upon entry. My friends know that they can’t walk past the first doormat in my NYC apt without taking their shoes off- otherwise they get the stink eye from me! The Eleven Eleven Wellness Center in NYC claims that the majority of dirt, pesticides and lead found in your home are brought in from the bottom of your shoes! EW!! It is even more gross if you throw yoga mats down and play all over the floor, the way I do. I always wear my super comfy open-toe white cotton slippers at home!

3.     Don’t wear perfume. I love great smells just like the next gal, but I haven’t worn perfume in at least 6 years. 95% of the chemicals used in perfumes are synthetic and petroleum-based. Toxic!! Even when a product is labeled “fragrance-free”, beware that they can still contain other scary chemicals to cover up scents. Natural oils are acceptable, and sometimes I apply them. The only thing is that they fade rather quickly, so reapplication may be necessary.

4.    If you ever eat processed food, look for “non-GMO” on the label. Upwards of 70% or more of processed foods contain GMO ingredients, and chances are if you see corn or soy on the label it is GMO. The DNA of these foods have been tampered with to grow bigger and faster, but they are low in nutrients and heavily sprayed with pesticides. Check labels- or better yet- do not eat processed foods at all!

Try out one of many of my favorite recipes, like my cauliflower soup recipe!

Please take care of that precious body of yours!

I send my love.

Kimberly

 

29 Comments

  1. Rosemarie Clune
    Rosemarie Clune on October 6, 2010 at 9:13 am

    Please subscribe me to this site.

    Reply
  2. Kara
    Kara on October 6, 2010 at 10:29 am

    Hi Kimberly – you may want to check out a site called safe cosmentics. I read your post today and it made me also think of this. Thanks for all your posts. Happy you are adjusting to your new life in LA! 🙂 Take care, Kara

    Reply
    • kimberlysnyder
      kimberlysnyder on October 13, 2010 at 2:43 am

      Thanks Kara, I will!
      I am loving LA very much – who knew!! I was always a visitor here but now it feels very comfy. Not home yet…but sort of getting there!! 🙂

      Reply
  3. Amanda
    Amanda on October 6, 2010 at 10:40 am

    Hey Kim,

    I actually just bought a shower filter from aquasana 2 weeks ago upon your recommendation from a previous post. My skin and hair are so much softer. I havent needed to use lotion or even much conditioner. I also dont have that suspicious dry cough I used to get immediately after taking a shower. Thank you so much!!

    I just learned that my primary dosha type is Vata. I have also been loosing too much weight with the green smoothies and raw salads. I try to eat a lot of avocados and coconut milk and ginger lemon tea for warmth but am still getting too skinny. Do you think I should add more cooked foods? Glad you enjoyed your trip to Maui 🙂

    Thanks for all you do!
    Amanda

    Reply
    • kimberlysnyder
      kimberlysnyder on October 13, 2010 at 2:42 am

      Hi Amanda, for grounding nuts and seeds might do really well for you. Also cooked grains like quinoa and millet!! Add these things later in the day, but not in the morning.
      Visit me again soon! xo Kimberly

      Reply
  4. Kim Furio
    Kim Furio on October 6, 2010 at 10:55 am

    I have a question about GMO pertaining to fruits/vegetables… I live in Chicago and the best option for organic produce is Whole Foods. On a recent trip I purchased organic apples and cucumbers that were suspiciously quite large. As consumers how can we be sure that organic produce is non-GMO?

    Also, there are so many choices for shower filters… which one have you purchased for yourself? xoxo

    Reply
  5. Peter
    Peter on October 6, 2010 at 2:48 pm

    Hi Kimberly,

    I know exactly what you mean. In August, I spent time on the Big Island and hiked for 3 hours to a truly breathtaking waterfall called Hi’ilawe Falls. It is the tallest waterfall in all of Hawaii, 1,600 feet high with a 1,000 foot free-fall. It had just rained before I went, so the power I felt there was incredible. I sat on a rock at the base of the falls, feeling the hurricane-force winds and mist generated by the falling water, and just meditated for a little while. As I did, it occurred to me that the energy I was feeling from that waterfall was the exact same energy we get from living plant foods. Literally the exact same energy, it all comes from the sun.

    …And when I finished my meditation, in between the rock I was sitting on and another nearby rock was the most beautifully constructed spider web with a spider perfectly positioned right in the middle, all the while being blasted by wind and mist and yet remaining perfectly unchanging and beautiful. In fact, the mist helped to accentuate the beauty of the web my creating droplets at its vertexes. Nature is so wonderful, and we’re never separate from it…ever.

    Peter, 18 year-old fan of yours

    Reply
  6. Kelli
    Kelli on October 6, 2010 at 3:34 pm

    Shower filters run the gamut–what should I be looking for? Anything specific?

    Reply
    • Peter
      Peter on October 8, 2010 at 8:54 pm

      The BEST shower filter is from a company called Rainshow’r. It is under $30 on Amazon, lasts around 6-8 months, and effectively reduces chlorine by about 99%. Plus, it uses quartz crystal to create negative ions and soften the water.

      Here’s the link to the company’s website: http://www.rainshowermfg.com/ And you can order on on Amazon.

      Truly the best shower filter you can buy, I know this because I looked into shower filter technology when I decided to buy one, and there are really only 3 types of shower filters: activated carbon, KDF and vitamin c. The carbon ones sound like they’d be good since that’s what household water filters are that create drinking-quality purified water… but they’re terrible for a shower filter since they don’t work in hot water, and they don’t work with high flow rates as found in a shower. Plus, all the stuff they do absorb ends up being concentrated in the carbon and then re-released into the shower water due to the hot water and high flow rate. Vitamin c only works to remove chlorine, nothing else. And KDF is simply a zinc/copper alloy that removes chlorine. The Rainshow’r filter uses KDF, plus stainless steel mesh and quartz crystal.

      After using mine, I love it! No more red, dry skin from toxic chlorine.

      Reply
  7. Jade
    Jade on October 6, 2010 at 5:41 pm

    I love these kinds of posts. I’m always looking for ways to live more health-and-environmentally-conscious. Wish I could afford a shower filter.

    About the part about the chemicals in water, pores don’t actually open and close. They soften and harden. In order to open and close, they would need a muscle, like a sphincter. And that would be icky.

    Can you recommend any cheap but effective shower filters?

    Reply
    • Carmen
      Carmen on October 11, 2010 at 9:03 am

      Good point Jade.

      Reply
    • kimberlysnyder
      kimberlysnyder on October 13, 2010 at 2:40 am

      Yes! Expansion and contraction is more what I meant. Thanks for the clarification. 🙂

      Reply
  8. Joi
    Joi on October 7, 2010 at 2:29 am

    Thanks for all the great suggestions. Reminds me I need to ‘change’ my shower filters. Oh, is there a filter you use for an in the kitchen, if your renting scenario? Trying to find one that does reverse osmosis.

    Reply
  9. Katie
    Katie on October 8, 2010 at 8:21 am

    Very helpful post Kim. Thanks for sharing.

    Reply
  10. Carmen
    Carmen on October 11, 2010 at 9:02 am

    I have a friendly “no shoes sign” on my front door and people follow it. I don’t have to ask them. Even the kids in the neighborhood follow it. It keeps the house a lot cleaner.

    Reply
    • kimberlysnyder
      kimberlysnyder on October 13, 2010 at 2:39 am

      That’s wonderful Carmen! I will get a nice one for my apt too. 🙂

      Reply
  11. Debbie
    Debbie on October 11, 2010 at 9:47 am

    Hi Kimberly,
    These pictures are spectacular! Your positive attitude is wonderful. I have a question: when I make the green smoothie, it makes enough for 3 days. In one of your posts, you indicate that it is ok to chill it overnight, and suggest to drink it within 3 days. I read in the Skinny Bitch that the enzymes disintegrate quickly and it is best to consume the drink immediately. Is it better to freeze the smoothie immediately or do you think it is ok to drink it over 3 days? What happens to the enzymes? Is the drink less nutritious as it ages?

    Reply
    • kimberlysnyder
      kimberlysnyder on October 13, 2010 at 2:45 am

      Hi Debbie! When you make a juice, you pulverize the vegetables and there is more exposure to oxidation. Juices should be drank in 15 minutes or less. With the blend of the Green Smoothie, you are not pulverizing the vegetables and separating the juice and fiber, as you do in a juice. Fresh is always best, and I make mine daily. But if you are busy you can keep the smoothie fresh and enjoy over 2 days. Beyond that I would freeze the portions!
      xo Kimberly

      Reply
  12. Gillion
    Gillion on October 15, 2010 at 7:49 am

    Pei Pa Koa (www.geocities.jp/ninjiom_hong_kong/index_e.htm ) is one of the few Chinese natural cough remedies that have been scientifically studied. it’s something like herb plus honey, and it’s sweet, thick and black in color. If you have a cough, look for it! It used to be one of my favourite natural cough remedies.

    if your cough persists, seek professional help such as traditional Chinese medicine physicians – I have had very good experiences with them.

    Reply
  13. Pinky
    Pinky on October 16, 2010 at 5:04 am

    Its ok if you buy organic soy milk, organic tofu because organic means that its not genetically modified/tampered with right? Thats what I usually do.

    Reply
  14. MJ
    MJ on October 17, 2010 at 11:19 am

    Interesting article about cancer being a modern disease from our toxic lifestyle:

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/8064554/Cancer-caused-by-modern-man-as-it-was-virtually-non-existent-in-ancient-world.html

    Reply
  15. spletna parfumerija
    spletna parfumerija on June 1, 2011 at 8:55 pm

    Its rare for me to discover something on the internet thats as entertaining and intriguing as what youve got here. Your page is lovely, your graphics are outstanding, and whats more, you use reference that are relevant to what you are saying. Youre definitely one in a million, good job!

    Reply
    • kimberlysnyder
      kimberlysnyder on June 2, 2011 at 4:43 am

      Thank you very much! Come visit again!

      Reply
  16. Parfumi
    Parfumi on August 20, 2011 at 9:30 pm

    What a great post! No idea how you wrote this post..it’d take me long hours. Well worth it though, I’d assume.

    Reply
  17. parfumi
    parfumi on October 14, 2011 at 12:06 pm

    Very useful and interesting article. I have to say that you have very good sense for writing.

    Your other articles are also very good. I bookmarked your blog.

    Reply
    • Kimberly Snyder
      Kimberly Snyder on October 16, 2011 at 8:50 pm

      Thank you! I love sharing info that has been personally useful to me. xx

      Reply
  18. Shanna Neal
    Shanna Neal on December 15, 2012 at 3:18 pm

    Hi Kimberly,
    I would love to know what kind of perfume you recommend? I haven’t worn perfume for about 7 years and sometimes I would just love to put some on…any suggestions would be great! 🙂

    Reply
  19. Arjun
    Arjun on January 30, 2014 at 12:55 am

    Hello,
    I actually have bought and tried a shower filter called Rainshow’r that uses KDF-55 technology. I think it actually started to burn my skin. I did some research online and found out that the KDF-55 produces free radicals that can burn your skin. Can you please tell us exactly which shower filter you used and if you have done any research into the safety for them. Also how long have you been using it?

    Reply
  20. Arjun
    Arjun on January 30, 2014 at 6:55 pm

    Hello,
    Can you please tell us exactly which shower filter you use? I bought a shower filter called “Rainshow’r” that uses kdf-55 to filter the water. I started to get red skin after using it. I did some research and found out that the by-products of the filter are free radicals. Can you tell us if you use a similar filter or a different one and how you determined that its safe?

    Reply

Submit a Comment Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Sign Up To Get Weekly Tips, Videos, and Recipes and 10% Off Your First Order!

About Solluna

  • Our Story
  • Kimberly Snyder
  • Four Cornerstone Philosophy
  • Glowing Green Smoothie®
  • Press & Media
  • Feel Good Podcast

Shop

  • Supplements
  • Skincare
  • Wellness Courses
  • Manifesting Your Goal Kit
  • Kimberly’s Books
  • Recommended Products

Customer Service

  • Contact
  • Shipping Policy
  • Return Policy
  • FAQs
  • Track Your Order

Resources

  • Feel Good Podcast
  • Meditation
  • Ask Kimberly
  • Solluna Circle
  • Blog
  • Recipes

Follow us

  • Follow
  • Follow
  • Follow
  • Follow
  • Follow

© 2022 Solluna By Kimberly Snyder. All rights reserved. All content on this site or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the site owner for the use of brief quotations in an appropriately linked review. We use technologies, such as cookies, to customize content and advertising, to provide social media features and to analyze traffic to the site.

Privacy Policy | Terms of Service

Order Now!

Select a bookseller below to purchase your copy!

  • <!--
  • -->