The Importance of Reducing your Toxic Load

It’s a naïve thought that toxins only come from household cleaners or polluted air. In our daily lives, we are exposed to a myriad of toxins, including those in our home, air, food, cosmetics, and personal care products. They can be found in the artificial sugar you put in your coffee, the candle you burn on your desk, and the salad you eat for dinner. The number of toxins that we are exposed to daily is staggering...almost unbelievable. A modest estimate says we are exposed to more than 700,000 different toxins each day. These toxins contribute to what is called our “toxic load” and can have serious effect on our health.

You might be surprised, but here are a few effects that toxins could be having on your body:

• Weight Gain. Toxins in our bloodstream affect our body’s ability to balance blood sugar and metabolize cholesterol. Synthetic toxins are also highly fat soluble, meaning the body will create fat to store them instead of expelling them from the body. Not only can this cause weight gain but overtime it can lead to diabetes.
• Breakouts. If your body is overrun with toxins, your organs and body systems can become overwhelmed. The liver and lymphatic system are vital in filtering out toxins, but if they become congested with toxins, the only way out is through the skin. This can lead to acne, eczema, or other rashes.
• Digestive issues. When your liver, lymphatic system, and large intestine are not working in harmony, waste does not get expelled from the body properly. Carrying a heavy toxic load can lead to chronic problems like inflammation, irritable bowel syndrome, and even Crohn’s Disease.
• Hormone Imbalance. Toxins can be endocrine disruptors and throw off your body’s hormones. The most affected hormones are estrogen, testosterone, thyroid, insulin, and cortisol. Hormone disruption can lead to health issues like reproductive problems, early puberty, obesity, heart disease, and even breast and other cancers.

So how can you reduce your toxic load? With a bit of mindfulness, you can change daily habits to minimize the toxins introduced to your body. Here are some tips:

• Detox. Choose a cleanse or detox program that will help you rapidly expel toxins from your body and restore health and balance.
• Increase Your Water Intake. While your liver and other organs help to filter out toxins, water can aid in flushing them out. Nutritionist Kimberly Snyder highly recommends jump starting your day with hot water and lemon, another easy and quick way to expel toxins.
• Go Organic. Chemical pesticides are heavily used in agricultural practices and the residue can leach onto the food you eat or in the ingredients used in your skincare products. Choosing the organic option will ensure that hidden toxins aren’t lurking in your salad or moisturizer.
• Aerobic Exercise. Getting the heart pumping, legs moving and lungs inhaling and exhaling at a healthy pace are all benefits of exercise.  Activities such as walking, running, yoga, cycling and climbing all benefit the circulatory system and help to keep toxins moving. Hopefully right on out of the body.
• Avoid Products Made with Phthalates and BPA. Phthalates are made up of eight hormone-mimicking chemicals.  They are used to make plastics softer (like shower curtains) or fragrance in candles or personal care products last longer. Bisphenol A (BPA) is an industrial chemical used to make plastics hard and shiny. Both mimic hormones and can feminize small children and cause cancer later in life.
• Introduce Nutrient-Dense Foods to Your Diet. Think kale, broccoli, spinach, blueberries, and almonds instead of processed, fried, or foods made with artificial flavors and colors. These foods offer the body vitamins and minerals that improve health, increase energy, and keep weight in check. A great way to introduce these foods is with a daily green smoothie.

Our bodies are up against a large toxic burden, so it is important to minimize your exposure when at all possible. The origin of Essential Natural Brands is rooted in this idea. Introducing  non-toxic products made from organic ingredients is our way of helping us and you live a clean lifestyle. Instead of the toxic options so commonly found in the beauty aisle, you can rest assured that the products from ENB are benefiting your skin and your health.

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Skin Care Benefits of Vitamin C

Vitamin C has made a name for itself as a powerful and important antioxidant, essential for optimum skin health. L-ascorbic acid is one of the most common forms of Vitamin C, which we use in our skin care products, and is among the most stable and effective. Research shows that L-ascorbic acid, can do several things like repair free radical damage, promote collagen production, reduce inflammation, and strengthen skin and hair.

Repair Free-Radical Damage

Free radicals are unstable cells, meaning they are short an electron caused by external factors like oxidation, pollution, cigarette smoke, and various health conditions. While Vitamin E is the primary defender against oxidation, Vitamin C is particularly powerful against the free radicals caused by pollution. When Vitamin C is added to the skin it neutralizes free radicals by donating one of its electrons to an unstable free radical, making it whole and happy. Contrary to how free radicals are formed, antioxidants like Vitamin C remain stable, even with the loss of their donated electron.

Promote Collagen Production

Collagen is the key to firm, soft, and supple skin. Without it our skin loses its elasticity, which in turn leads to wrinkles and fine lines. Our bodies naturally create it, but as we age our bodies break down the collagen and our ability to produce more diminishes. Luckily, when topically applied, Vitamin C has been proven to stimulate the synthesis of collagen.

Reduce Inflammation

Research shows that Vitamin C protects against harmful substances that contribute to disease. Because of this, studies suggest that it has some anti-inflammatory benefits.

Strengthen Skin and Hair

While it is promoting collagen production, Vitamin C is also working to strengthen blood vessels underneath the skin. It also plays a big role in absorbing iron, which helps to keep hair healthy and strong.

Your body naturally produces some antioxidants, but Vitamin C is not one of them. So, it is important that you introduce the nutrient to your body through diet (think broccoli, citrus fruit, strawberries, and tomatoes) and skin care every day. Why every day? Vitamin C is not stored in the body. It is water-soluble and the excess is expelled with urine.

While Vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant, it is more beneficial when formulated with other antioxidant and cell-communicating ingredients. Therefore, we introduce our face cream. The grape-seed oil, passion fruit seed oil, glycerin, xanthan gum, preservative Eco, geranium essential oil, ylang-ylang essential oil, tocopherol is used for a product that repairs and protects. Using our face cream every morning and night can give your complexion a healthy glow, while slowing down the aging process.

5 Things Everyone Should Do for Their Skin

To us, skin care solutions are not black and white. While some companies want you to believe that their product will be the solution for everyone, we will tell you that what works for your friend may not work for you. When a product promises you that it will cure your acne, we will tell you that your acne may not be cleared up with product alone, but rather with some additional lifestyle changes. We believe in the grey area and that everyone’s health journey is personal to them.

While we are genuine with our education about this grey area, there are a few instances where we have a very black and white opinion. Up until now we have been PC with the way we present these opinions, casually working them into our blogs and hoping you will draw your own conclusions. But we’ve had enough! We’ve had enough of hearing people admit they don’t wash their face morning and night! And we can’t believe that some people still douse themselves in perfume!

Many of you have asked us for skin care “rules” that will lead to healthy skin. We usually tell you that rules don’t apply because no two people are alike. But today we respectfully ask to rescind that answer and give you our top five “rules” of skin care that everyone should follow.

5 Things That EVERYONE Should Do for Their Skin

1. Avoid exfoliation beads and abrasive ingredients. Harsh ingredients like plastic micro-beads, Apricot Pits, salt, sugar, grits, or coffee grounds should never be used on the face. They can irritate delicate skin and even break the tiny capillaries found underneath. Plus, micro beads can irritate our precious aquatic ecosystems. Fish eat them, they clog coral, and accumulate in our floating garbage patches.
2. Always wash your face morning and night. Our face is a magnet for dirt, grime, and bacteria and there is no reason to let it fester on your skin. When you do, it clogs pores and can cause acne or cause skin to be abnormally oily. Wash your face morning and night with a gentle cleaner to keep skin clean and healthy.
3. Never buy a hand sanitizer or antibacterial soap containing Triclosan. This ingredient is not good for you or for the environment. It has been linked to hormone disruption and brain damage. It can make its way into breast milk just as easily as it makes it into our waterways, where it converts to chloroform. To top it all off, Triclosan is a completely unnecessary ingredient. According to an advisory panel to the US Food and Drug Administration, Triclosan is no more effective in killing bacteria that plain soap and water.
4. Stop wearing perfume and fragrance. Perfumes are made with ingredients that are not only unregulated but are not required to be disclosed. When you see “fragrance” on a label, what you don’t see are the 3,000 some chemicals, including phthalates, that it represents. You aren’t given the opportunity to research what damage these ingredients could be doing to your health and that of those around you (though you probably realize the headache is a side effect of your overwhelming scent). And if perfume is too hard to quit, consider the tiny, still developing babies you might snuggle with or sit closely too.
5. Remove sugar and dairy from your diet. It’s going to be hard, but you’ll be glad you did. Sugar can cause skin to be inflexible (hello, wrinkles!) and dairy can cause redness and inflammation. We’re not nutritionists and can’t offer much science to why this happens, but we have it on good authority (i.e., customer experience and a NY Times Best Selling Author and Nutritionist that we trust) that limiting sugar and dairy will clear up some of the skin issues you have been struggling with.

We rarely point a finger or call it so bluntly, so you know that we are passionate about these lifestyle considerations. And while they seem like bummer lifestyle changes, the solutions are simple. Buy a simple, organic bar soap to wash face and body; start your bedtime routine 5 minutes earlier so you’re not too tired to wash your face; wash hands with soap and water; use essential oils to add aroma to your persona; and use coconut or almond milk to quench the craving for sweets and dairy. There are officially no more excuses!

The information in this article is for educational use, and not intended to substitute professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment and should not be used as such.