Your nose knows: create a naturally beautiful home with nutritionist Elizabeth Pavka, PhD, LN
Beware of indoor air. Do you walk faster down the
grocery store aisle that has natural house cleaner
products? I do. In that aisle, I feel overwhelmed by
the smells that permeate that part of the store. As a
result, I've learned to use my nose to sniff out chemicals
of all kinds, especially those smelly ones that create so
much of our indoor pollution.
How pervasive is indoor pollution? A recent study with
350 people in New Jersey showed that indoor air pollution
was sometimes 100 times higher than that found in outdoor
air. Why? Over the past two decades, we have sealed up
our homes to make them more energy efficient. And we have
been filling them with more and more products containing
chemicals that smell. Here's a partial list of
natural cleaners that add to home air pollution:
drain cleaners, oven cleaners, furniture and floor
cleaners, ammonia, basin/tub/tile cleaner, mold and
mildew cleaners, disinfectants, rug/carpet/upholstery
shampoos, spot removers, dry cleaning, chlorine bleach,
laundry detergents, fabric softeners, spray starch,
dishwasher detergents, glass cleaner, scouring powders,
air fresheners, dishwashing liquids. Whew, that's a
long list!
And that list does not include plastics, lead,
formaldehyde, candles, combustion by-products produced
by gas appliances, kerosene heaters, fireplaces, and
wood stoves. And then there's household insecticides,
insect repellents, mothballs, lice shampoo, deodorant
sprays and douches, hair spray, styling mousse, shampoos,
mouthwashes, toothpaste, nail polish, nail polish remover,
perfumes, aftershaves, soaps, cosmetics talcum powder,
toilet paper. Are you beginning to understand the scope
of the problem?
If you find your home is full of things that create
pollution, you may feel compelled to change everything
all at once. I suggest you begin with just one change.
Find a laundry detergent without fragrance and use
that for a while. Then make another change for a
month, and so on. In our eagerness sometimes to get
rid of all the problems at one time, we get overwhelmed
and end up not doing anything. Better to begin very
slowly and be consistent with it.
What can you do to protect your own health from the
hazards that surround you in your own home? One of
the easier ways is to replace all the commercial
cleaners, ammonia, oven cleaners, furniture polish,
scouring powder, disinfectant, glass cleaners. You
can do this in two ways. First, you can buy safe
natural house cleaners in many health food
stores or at conventional grocery stores(if they
don't carry these, nag the manager) or on-line.,
Second, you can make some natural cleaners
at home with a few basic, easily available ingredients.
Here are four specific recipes that work well. All the
recipes below are taken from Natural Home & Garden magazine
March/April, 2005, pp. 88-89).
ALL PURPOSE CLEANER
1 quart warm water
1 teaspoon liquid soap
1 teaspoon borax
1/4 cup undiluted white vinegar
Mix ingredients and store in a spray bottle. Use
for cleaning countertops, floors, walls, carpets,
and upholstery.
GLASS CLEANER
4 tablespoons lemon juice
1 gallon water
On lightly soiled windows--think greasy handprints--this
recipe came out ahead of all the commercial products tested
by Consumer Reports January 1992. If you're out of lemon
juice, mix 1/4 cup white vinegar in 1
quart of water.
OVEN CLEANER
1 quart water
2 teaspoons borax
2 tablespoons liquid soap
Mix ingredients. Spray on, wait 20 minutes, then clean.
TOILET BOWL CLEANER
1/4 cup borax
Pour borax into toilet bowl and let sit overnight.
Then scrub. Back to the nose. Please understand that
many people smell nothing." They've developed what's
known as "olfactory fatigue," where after a certain
exposure they cannot smell it. Here's one example.
The first time I visited my daughter and her family,
I went to do some laundry. I opened the detergent box
--I don't remember which brand--and was overwhelmed by
the smell. You see, at home, I use a detergent without
fragrances, so my nose was very sensitive to the smell.
But because my daughter was constantly exposed to the
smell, she could not smell it.
I asked her to take me to the grocery store to buy some
fragrance-free detergent so I could wash my bedding,
which, though rinsed and dried, still carried the
lingering traces of the smell. I know she thought
I was crazy. But several years later, I found out
that she had switched to fragrance-free detergent
because her younger daughter developed a cheek rash
from physical contact with sheets washed with the
detergent containing fragrance.
Make a few changes in your shopping and cleaning
habits and your home will be a safer and healthier
place to live.
RESOURCES FOR A NON-TOXIC HOME
1. The Natural Nursery: The Parent's Guide to Ecologically Sound,
Nontoxic, Safe, and Healthy Baby Care by Louis Pottkotter, MD
2. The Detox Solution: The Missing Link to Radiant Health,
Abundant Energy, Ideal Weight, and Peace of Mind by Patricia
Fitzgerald, MD
3. Clean House, Clean Planet by Karen Logan
4. Nontoxic Home and Office: Protecting Yourself and Your
Family from Everyday Taxies and Health Hazards by Debra Lynn Dadd
5. Warning: Your Home May be Hazardous to your Health by Carolyn Rueben
6. Healthy by Design by David Rousseau and James Wasley
7. The Healthy House: How to Buy One, How to Cure a Sick One,
How to Build One by John Bower
8. Clean & Green: The Complete Guide to Nontoxic and
Environmentally Safe Housekeeping by Annie Berthold-Bond
9. Creating a Healthy Household by Lynn Marie Bower
10. Home Comforts by Cheryl Mendelson
11. Housecleaner's Guide to Eco-friendly Cleaning
WagesCooperatives.org; 510-432-5465
12. A Housekeeper is Cheaper Than a Divorce
by Kathy Firzgerald Sherman
Elizabeth Pavka, PhD, LN, is a wholistic nutritionist
with 25 years' experience, including extensive work
with people with Environmental Illness. She provides
nutritional counseling, teaches classes, and speaks
before professional and lay audiences. Contact her
at epavka@main.nc.us or 828-252-1406.
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