Lifestyle Recommendations Archives - Amie Valpone

Non-Toxic Home Staples

Amie — Wed, 13 Mar 2019 12:00:00 +0000

We’ve been getting a ton of questions lately regarding the best non-toxic home staples so we wanted to share some of our favorites with you! These are products that we not only love but that keep our home and bodies safe from toxins and chemicals that hide in most products. We’re bringing you everything from jar sets and essential oils to bedding and shower curtains. Here are a few of our favorite brands that we trust when it comes to non-toxic home staples.

ORGANIC BATH TOWELS // We love using these organic towels (one option we love is in the first row down below and another option we love in the third row down below) to dry off with after bathing with our favorite non-toxic body wash which you can check out here. Start with one organic towel and see how you like it before going in and purchasing a few. These towels are plush and super cozy!

SMALL GLASS FOOD STORAGE JARS // These are the best for storing your leftover veggies (located in the first row) like from our Crispy Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Balsamic Glaze recipe in your fridge or for your dry ingredients such as dry quinoa and wild rice in your pantry.

LARGE GLASS BEVERAGE + FOOD JARS // Looking for the perfect glass storage container to store all of your dry foods? This is our favorite one (see below in the third row) that you can store your gluten-free oats in. We keep this in our pantry and it keeps our oats and other gluten-free whole grains super fresh!

GLASS FOOD STORAGE CONTAINERS // We love using these storage containers (see below in row two) for leftovers when we make our Baked Chili Pasta Casserole recipe and when we have extra Beautiful Butternut Squash Sauce. You can use these containers for anything from salads to sauces to soups. Our recent recipe, Cr eamy Roasted Cauliflower Soup would keep nicely in these containers. Our food always tastes fresh, even after storing leftovers for a few days in our fridge. It makes such a difference to purchase quality storage containers for your food!

PRESERVING + CANNING JARS // These jars (see below in row five) are perfect for preserving or canning your food. Processing the food at high temperatures helps the food to not spoil while removing any contaminants and air. These are our favorite for preserving some of our veggies.

NON-TOXIC DRYER SHEETS // We no longer use dryer sheets because they are filled with chemicals and the scent is way too much for us to handle, instead we use the wool balls shown below (located in the third row).

ORGANIC BEDDING // Sleeping on non-toxic bedding is not only super comfy but also gives you peace of mind knowing you’re not sleeping with any harsh chemicals. If you’re looking for more ways to transform your sleep you can read our article here. We’re sharing our favorite sheets (see below in the second row) that we love that have no chemicals in sight!

GLASS JUICE JARS // We use these juice jars (see below in the forth row) to store our freshly squeezed orange juice and freshly squeezed grapefruit juice. The jars are ideal for locking in freshness! We also like to filter our water and store it in these jars as well with a few slices of lemons and limes. You can read more about how to filter your tap water from chemicals here.

PARCHMENT PAPER // Using parchment paper instead of aluminum to line your baking sheet will keep you from accumulating heavy metals in your body because the aluminum from tin foil does leach into your food. We love this brand of parchment paper (see below in row five) when we’re making some of our favorite dinner recipes. Make sure to purchase non-bleached parchment paper so you’re not allowing bleach to leach into your food!

NON-TOXIC CANDLES // This candle smells amazing (see below in row six) and it’s perfect to keep in your bedroom to relax your nerves before bed. Many candles are filled with chemicals and the wicks are full of lead so you inhale all of that junk when you light a regular candle. Not healthy at all! Read more about how to make your bedroom non-toxic here.

NON-TOXIC TOWELETTES // We love having some cleansing towelettes on-hand at all times especially when they have essential oils in them. Just sprinkle a drop of your favorite essential oil (ours is below) on the towelette with warm water and use. These are great for kids and ideal for any room in your house, especially the kitchen and bathroom as well as the playroom if you have children. If you don’t want to make your own, you can buy our favorite brand listed below (located in row six).

NON-TOXIC SHOWER CURTAIN LINER // It’s easy to forget that even something as simple as a shower curtain liner can contain toxic chemicals and it’s even more toxic when hot water and heat rubs up against it. We love the brand below (located in row six) because it’s inexpensive and matches any bathroom. Don’t forget, while you’re showering to wash your hair with non-toxic shampoo and conditioner.

ESSENTIAL OILS // Essential oils serve many purposes, they can be calm and relaxing or uplifting and refreshing. They even help treat allergies, especially this Eucalyptus one (located below in row six). Pair this along with our favorite air filter, which you can read about here and your home will smell like a spa in no time.

Shop the Best Non-Toxic Home Staples

WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT NON-TOXIC PRODUCTS? Check out our Non-Toxic Cookware and Amie’s Non-Toxic Shop for more remedies.

TheHealthyApple.com participates in various affiliate marketing programs, which means we may get paid commissions on editorially chosen products purchased through our links to retailer sites.

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Non-Toxic Cleaning with Branch Basics

Amie — Mon, 12 Jan 2015 13:00:15 +0000

Okay folks, we’re taking a break from food today to chat about a subject that’s near n’ dear to my heart. YES, I am an organic foodie and a detox guru when it comes to food, but as you know from my numerous pages on Beauty, Cleaning Products and Personal Care Products — Detox is NOT just about your food. It’s also about what you put on your body – not just what you put in it. Eat all the organic food you want but if you’re using toxic cleaning products and beauty care or personal care products – well then you’ve got a big boo boo. Ya know what I mean?

So, who’s ready to redefine clean with non-toxic cleaning products?

Since the day I was diagnosed with health issues (Hypothyroidism, Lyme Disease, PCOS, Leaky Gut, Heavy Metals, Candida, etc.) I’ve been on the lookout for a cleaning product that isn’t toxic to my health (if you didn’t know this —- cleaning products leach through your skin and into your bloodstream… so if you are using toxic cleaning products like conventional Windex, Tilex, Clorex, etc., you’re absorbing all that toxic junk right into your blood and of course, into your gut – hello Leaky Gut and inflammation. Yuck.

Last year, I discovered these two fabulous women, the founders of Branch Basics – who are my age – and I swear we are sisters! They started a company called Branch Basics which creates cleaning products with 100% whole, natural ingredients to inspire people to understand the TRUE definition of clean.

Branch Basics has:

NO Pesticides (Common in many cleaners, under the ingredient ‘Preservatives’)
NO Fragrances
NO Preservatives
NO Foaming Agents
NO GMO’s
NO Animal Testing

What DO they have? A whole lotta heart and an incredible mission to remove dirt, dust, grease and grime as well as removing the residue left behind from previous cleaners.

It can be used as a laundry detergent-but get this.. it NOT only cleans clothes, it removes TOXIC detergents and softeners in the fabric. This is insanely amazing. Since I started taking hot yoga classes – I’ve been doing most of my own laundry and I love being able to use their products to wash my clothes by hand or in the washing machine. Yay!

Their product is a multitasking powerhouse, tough enough to dissolve car engine grease – yet gentle enough to use with babies (AND on babies skin, too). There are NO precautionary labels such as irritating to the eyes, skin or lungs and NO ‘Keep out of Reach of Children’ Warnings on these labels — no synthetic ingredients. Simply just the power of pure – the true definition of clean.

Their goal is not to frighten you (and neither is mine) about your existing products that you are using but instead to give you the ability to distinguish between toxic commercial claims and the truth behind everyday cleaning products that can be harming your health.

We all know stains are a beast of their own and each one is different! For new, average stains, the 1:5 dilution (used for 99% of uses) will take care of it. Just spray, let sit a few minutes and agitate with a damp cloth. Sometimes it will even disappear like magic and you don’t need to blot. Those are the best. For really tough, older stains, such as almond butter on my shirt, pour/spray straight concentrate (undiluted) and let it sit over night. Then rinse with water/throw in the wash.

Their ingredients are pure and biodegradable. Their FIRST ingredient is purified water. Amaaaaazing, right? This water if recycled through reverse osmosis and is essential to the integrity of their end product (Streak-free windows, anyone?) because tap water used in typical product manufacturing facilities is full of pollutants. Yuck!

Food Grade and Pharmaceutical-Grade: Coconut oil, minerals, enzymes, and fatty acids come from edible, leafy green and seed-bearing plants. They are 100% pharmaceutical and remain in their purest form throughout the process. They also use food-grade alcohol as a manufacturing catalyst, which is completely evaporated out before bottling.

Free: Their formula is free of dyes, preservatives, synthetic fragrances and other synthetic ingredients, neurotoxins, carcinogens and endocrine disruptors. Wahoooo!

Local: They source ingredients as close to their home as possible to minimize their environmental impact with costly shipping.

What Branch Basics is NOT:

Allergenic: No gluten, wheat, soy, dairy, nuts or corn.
Genetically Modified: No ingredients whose cells have been modified or whose traits don’t occur in nature.
Cross-Contaminated: They’re a dedicated facility, which means there are no other products made in their building. Their mixers are only used to produce their product!
Heated or Cooled During Manufacturing: There is no damage to live plant enzymes which enhance and boost cleaning power!
Perishable: Their ingredients are stabilized through a proprietary process so that they remain fresh for years. Thus, I order in bulk and I can feel good about purchasing them without having them expire!

Aside from all this info about the actual product, I just want to say that I truly believe in this brand and love their mission – they’re more than just soap. Their message is about ditching synthetics in your life, what you put in, on and around your bodies all goes to the same place — your bloodstream! Just as its crucial to eat real food, it’s just as important to use products with real ingredients in your home and on your body and discovering the power of pure. I feel so honored to have met these women last year and I feel that we’ve grown together since we’ve met…. we’re all fighting our own personal health battles and we’re overcoming them day by day with clean foods, clean personal care products and now clean ‘cleaning products’. And an itty bitty side-note — I was just with these ladies at a conference in LA in September and I went over to their booth to give them both a BIG hug and seriously spilled their glass of RED WINE all over their table cloth of their beautiful booth – YES they have pictures to prove this and I was SO embarrassed and felt so terrible…. but they actually thanked me (ahhaa) because they used their cleaning products on this HUGE stain and a few hours later the tablecloth was white again. Seriously — magic without chemicals? I was shocked – and so I had to write this post about their products to tell you all about them, hehe!

Please note, all opinions in this blog post are my own. I am a HUGE fan of Branch Basics and this blog post is meant to educate you, my readers, whom I love – about the harmful ingredients in everyday cleaning products and how just making this one small change to clean up your household cleaners – can make all the difference in the world with your health. I am living proof. I tossed my chemical cleaners and I use this soap to clean my home, my body in the shower, my clothes and so much more. It’s amazing to have finally found ONE product that does everything for me – without having to worry about toxins floating around my home.

P.S. I spend SO much time cooking and cleaning in my kitchen, which I’m sure you do too, and Branch Basics has been a lifesaver for my awful spills and stains that happen more often than not.

You can visit the Branch Basics website and check out their products for more info but I’m confident you’ll love ’em as much as I do. Happy Cleaning!

xox

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Ready for a Career Change?

Amie — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 12:00:20 +0000

This got me thinking…

Someone once asked me a question that was so simple, yet so profound it took me back. Here it is…

“What do you really, and I mean REALLY, want?”

Nothing particularly unusual about the question… unless you take it seriously. There are things we know we kind of want, even things we definitely don’t want. But how often do we allow ourselves the deep reflection it takes to truly answer that question? I know I hid from that real answer for years.

Then one day I realized life isn’t a dress rehearsal, and I found the answer for myself. My life changed when I decided to enroll in the Institute for Integrative Nutrition (IIN).

As a student (and now a graduate and Ambassador) my time at IIN brought me:

Strategies to transition from my old job to a satisfying career as a health coach
Much more revenue and freedom to my life
A thorough education to make better food and life choices
Painless ways to improve my health
Easy-to-understand knowledge that explained nutrition on many levels
An opportunity to make a significant difference on global scale

If any of this resonates with you then you definitely want to explore IIN a little further.

The program at IIN is backed by sound scientific research and tons of happy, healthy success stories – one of them is MINE!

Whether you’re looking for a new, significant career, want to reclaim your own health back, or simply coach others on how to make better nutritional choices, I believe IIN can do for you what it did for me.

P.S. If you have any questions you’d like to ask me personally by all means email me. I’d love to help you get answers.

As many of you already know, I am a proud graduate of IIN, the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, and I’d love to refer all of you to this amazing program.

What’s the best part about IIN?

Their Distance Learning Program allows you to enroll and become a student and receive your certification from anywhere in the world!

And now for… In The News This Week...

Cooking Light Introduces New Rules for Healthy Eating

Chefs Whip Up Commodity-Food Wonders

’10 Things You Need To Eat’ Book Review

Eat to a Better Nights Sleep

King Arthur Flour Launches Gluten-Free Line

Many Colleges Are Adapting to Food Allergies

A Sampling of New Gluten-Free Mixes in Food Stores

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