Do you have headaches often? Or does your brain feel sluggish and "fuzzy"? Do these issues every interfere with your work or life?
Ten years ago, I averaged three headaches a week. And brain fog was so normal that I didn't even realize I had it until it went away.
The ingredients in the everyday products we use have a significant impact on our health. What we breathe in, consume, and put on our skin all makes its way into our bloodstream and is dispersed throughout our bodies. There are many ingredients linked to headaches, but I’m going to tell you about three that are easy to identify on the ingredient labels, making it simple for you to avoid them.
Eliminating or reducing just these three can have a real impact. Just try it!
1 – Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS)
Commercially used as engine degreaser, this cleaning and sudsing agent is found in cleaners, shampoos, toothpaste, mouthwash, lotions, cleansers, and more. Even many of the “natural” cleaners will list this as an ingredient. In addition to headaches, it has also been linked to endocrine disruption (hormones), skin irritation, cataracts, and congestion.
2 – Artificial Color
This one has less research done, but I have noticed that around Easter time when I treat myself to those jelly beans that taste so good, I usually end up feeling foggy and have a mild headache. I try to avoid food dyes the majority of the time, and I definitely noticed a difference on the days I ate these highly colored jelly beans. Artificial colors are also found in personal care products, which were among the items I switched out shortly before my headaches began to go away.
Evidence suggests that artificial color causes or worsens ADHD in children, and many parents have successfully managed their children's focus issues or hyperactivity through diet.
Look on your food and product labels for the colors red, blue, and yellow with a number behind them (Red 40, Blue 1, etc.) as well as words like "caramel color" or "lake."
3 – Fragrance/Parfum
Those words mask a multitude of sins. There are literally thousands of chemicals, some toxic, some not, that fall under the umbrella of “fragrance,” and companies are not required to disclose those chemicals.
This ingredient cocktail serves zero purpose in a product other than to make it smell nice. Found in nearly anything scented, long-term exposure, along with headaches, can cause cancer, lung and heart disease, and reproductive disorders. This is the one ingredient that I find the absolutely most important to avoid. I will never purchase anything with "fragrance" on the label.
If you look at your labels, you’ve probably noticed that these ingredients seem to be everywhere, and you might be feeling overwhelmed.
I’m here to tell you that it’s not as difficult as it seems! I have completely eliminated fragrance and SLS from my home and have mostly eliminated artificial color, and I am here to walk you through the process.
I went step by step. Any time I used up a product, I replaced it with a better option. It took me a year to get rid of all the fragrance, but it was well worth it.
If you're ready to take one simple step and swap out your hand soap – a common source of all three of these ingredients – get my free DIY foaming hand soap guide. It's a super simple but rewarding item to ditch and switch!
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