Now — more than ever — we’re thinking deeply about the bacteria we could be bringing into our homes.

At the same time, as we stock our cleaning cabinets for the next major scrub-down, we might also be wondering if the products we use to clean our kitchens, bedrooms, bathrooms, dishes, and laundry are actually safe for us and our surrounding environment.

Luckily, there are a number of healthy, environmentally-friendly, and plant-based ingredients that can help you achieve a balance between sustainability and home safety.

Highlighted below are common planet-friendly ingredients that can help you clean your home safely as well as five toxic substances to eliminate from your all-natural regimen.

Eco-Friendly Cleaning Ingredients

• Citric Acid

  Citric acid, commonly found in citrus fruits, is a compound regularly used to flavor food and beverages. Research shows that the compound can prevent kidney stones and strengthen hair health. But it can be beneficial outside of the body too.

  Because citric acid is nontoxic, a number of today’s natural disinfectants use the ingredient. Because of the compound’s acidity, it’s can remove various bacteria, rust, stains, and soap scum from surfaces and fabrics in the home. Aside from light messes, it can also be used to scrub out more serious issues, like mold and mildew.

• Cellulase

  Cellulase is a probiotic known primarily for easing digestion, however it's also a handy ingredient in natural detergent alternatives.

  Research from 2018 shows that the enzymes in cellulase can speed up the detergency processes, soften clothes, and remove soil or stains.

  Cellulase isn’t just a great nontoxic alternative, it’s also environmentally friendly and safer for clothing than bleach-based cleaners.

• Methyl Ester

  Methyl ester is initially found as an odorant of Jasminum grandiflorum flowers. There are a number of different methyl esters in natural cleaning products. The ingredient, which is a strong solvent, is good for scrubbing up grease and sticky spills. It's such a strong cleaning ingredient it's been listed on the EPA’s National Contingency Plan for oil spill cleanups.

  While methyl esters are derived from flowers, many cleaning products combine them with other solvents like coconut, soy-bean, and citrus oils for extra strength.

• Glycerin

  Glycerin is a great example of a nontoxic, multipurpose substance derived from natural plant and animal sources. If you’re a fan of natural products, you might have already purchased hand soaps, moisturizers, deodorants, or digestive supplements with glycerin in them.

  Like methyl ester, glycerin is also a strong solvent good for cleaning freezer spills and removing tar, mustard, or other deep stains. Because glycerin doesn’t irritate the skin, it can also be used to make dish or hand soaps.

• Oleic Acid

  Oleic acids — a healthy fat also known as omega 9 — is found in foods or ingredients like olives, olive oil, avocado oil, macadamia nuts, and almond butter. While research has shown that this omega fat can help with brain function, it’s also an emollient — or skin-softening agent — which makes it a solid ingredient in natural soaps or detergents.

• Lavender Oil

  Lavender oil is just one of the many beneficial essential oils you can use for housecleaning. While lavender can relax people with its calming scent, it’s also an insect and moth deterrent, which makes it a useful ingredient in cloth or outdoor cleaning supplies.

Toxic Cleaning Ingredients to Avoid

• Chlorine Bleach

  There’s nothing that ruins a well-cleaned home like the migraine-inducing small of bleach. Not only does bleach smell terrible, it’s toxic.

  Bleach is especially dangerous when mixed with ammonia, discussed more in detail below. This mixture creates toxic gases called chloramines, which can cause coughing, nausea, shortness of breath, watery eyes, chest pain, and nose or throat irritation, and even pneumonia.

  Depending on where you shop or live, it might be challenging to find cleaning products without trace amounts of bleach in them. Luckily, there are a number of healthy, natural, and powerful cleaning alternatives that might already be in your own kitchen. While you can start by looking for products with ingredients on the plant-based list above, you can also try implementing vinegar and baking soda into your cleaning regimen.

• Ammonia

  Among your local grocery store’s bleach-based cleaning products, you’ll also likely find a number of items that include ammonia — a pungent gas that’s often mixed with water to create cleaning solutions.

  Like bleach, this ingredient is toxic. According to the New York Health Department, heavy exposure to it can cause burning of the eyes, nose, throat, and respiratory tract. This exposure can also result in blindness, lung damage, or even death. Meanwhile, inhalation of smaller amounts of ammonia can cause coughing, nose irritation, and throat pain.

• Parabens

  Since the 1920s, parabens have been used in many products including food, body care items, and cleaning liquids. Despite their popularity, parabens can dangerously impact the human body. Specifically, research has linked them to hormone disruption, infertility, and various cancers.

• Triclosan (or TCS)

  In 2016, the FDA banned triclosan’s use in hand soap because research could not demonstrate it was safe for skin. However, it has not yet been banned from some cleaning products or toothpaste.

  What researchers do know is that too much exposure to this chemical, also known as TCS, can harm reproduction and the body’s ability to create mitochondria, or healthy cell membranes.

• 2-Butoxyethanol

  2-butoxyethanol is described by the CDC as a colorless liquid with a mild odor. When exposed to it, the chemical can harm the eyes, skin, kidneys, and blood.

  2-butoxyethanol is a heavy-duty solvent found in paint strippers, thinners, and household cleaners. The CDC notes that employees in many industries, including construction, printing, manufacturing, and cleaning may see higher instances of exposure.

Navigating Natural Cleaning Products

When choosing products for your next cleaning spree, be sure to research brand websites, physical labels, and product reviews to determine if an item and its ingredients are appropriate and safe for your home. Keep in mind that a number of great environmentally-friendly companies offer transparent product labels and ingredient guides directly on their websites.

For more tips on how to research and understand complicated product labels, check out this helpful article.

From Ayurvedic practices, to ancient Chinese traditions, herbs have helped keep humanity healthy and happy for ages. Here are some of our favorites.

Herbs for Stress Relief and Immune Support

• Andrographis

  May help prevent and treat bacterial and viral respiratory tract infections. Appears to have anti-inflammatory, antiviral, and immune-boosting properties. For cold and flu, a typical clinical dosage is 300 mg of a standardized extract (containing 30% andrographolide) taken two to three times a day for up to 10 days. Short-term use is generally considered safe. Avoid during pregnancy and while breastfeeding.

• Ashwagandha

  A calming herb for anxiety and depression, it’s been shown to produce a sense of calm comparable to prescription anti-anxiety drugs. Avoid if you’re taking prescription drugs for anxiety or insomnia.

• Astragalus

  This herb boosts immunity and fights against bacteria, viruses, and inflammation.

• Black Elderberry

  A powerful flu remedy that stimulates the immune system, this remedy has antiviral and antibacterial actions.

• Echinacea

  This herb strengthens the immune system and may be helpful against coughs, headaches, and congestion. Take at the first sign of a cold or flu. Do not use as an everyday supplement.

• Magnesium

  Supports the adrenal glands, which can be overworked by stress. A low magnesium level during stressful periods can cause energy depletion that leads to fatigue, further lowering your defenses.

• Rhodiola

  Strengthens the body, so it can deal with physical and mental stressors. Traditionally used to ease anxiety, depression, fatigue, and insomnia. Those with bipolar disorder should avoid rhodiola.

• Schisandra

  Effective for relieving symptoms of emotional stress, including insomnia, fatigue, and depression. Those who are pregnant or have gallstones or peptic ulcers should avoid schisandra.

Your cardiovascular system (your heart and blood vessels) serves as an essential transport system for oxygen, hormones, and nutrients. The symbolic center of life, vitality, and emotion, your ticker demands TLC. Heart disease is both common and deadly, accounting for one in every four deaths in the United States. A healthy diet, good lifestyle habits, and key medicinal herbs and functional foods can help keep everything flowing smoothly.

Heart-Healthy Diet & Lifestyle

You can dramatically reduce your risk of heart disease with a healthy diet, regular exercise, stress management, and not smoking. A Mediterranean diet high in vegetables, fish and seafood, fruit, fiber-rich whole foods like beans, nuts, and whole grains, and healthy fats including olive oil and avocados helps decrease oxidative damage and inflammation in the cardiovascular system while providing important fats, minerals, and phytochemicals. Limit sodium (especially from processed, restaurant, and fast foods) and use animal products as flavor-enhancing condiments rather than a meal’s mainstay, opting for grass-fed, pasture-raised alternatives. Do your best to keep your blood sugar and body weight in check. Consider herbs. 

Herbs for a Healthy Heart

The following can be useful tonics for overall heart health and circulation. However, they may interact with some medications. Consult your healthcare practitioner.

• Hawthorn

  Hawthorn (Crataegus spp.) berries, leaves, and flowers act as a heart tonic when consumed in regular doses over time. Hawthorn decreases oxidative damage and inflammation, reduces blood pressure, modestly reduces cholesterol, dilates blood vessels, improves oxygen utilization, strengthens the structure and function of the heart, and reduces blood stickiness (also known as platelet aggregation). It also helps with healing from cardiovascular events, improves heart rhythm, reduces chest pain and angina, strengthens the heart in congestive heart failure, and helps achieve and maintain smooth blood vessel lining. Try it as a solid extract, standardized capsule, liquid extract, tea, or low/no-sugar jam.

• Gotu kola

  Gotu kola (Centella asiatica) leaf improves circulation as well as the integrity of blood vessel lining. Several studies support its ability to allay chronic venous insufficiency. Gotu kola also acts as an adaptogen, reducing the effects of stress, calming anxiety, and improving cognition and brain function. Look for organic products in pill, tea, liquid extract, juice, or food form.

• Garlic

  Garlic (Allium sativum) bulb modestly reduces blood pressure and cholesterol while acting as a general cardiovascular tonic. A classic “blood mover,” it helps reduce inflammation and increase circulation by thinning the blood and decreasing plaque formation and blood stickiness, clots, and coagulation. Eat one or more cloves daily or take it in pill form. If you detest garlic breath, you may want to try aged garlic extract or other odor-free forms.

• Blue-Red Pigments

  Blue-Red Pigments such as anthocyanidins, phenols, and flavonoids from berries, dark purple grapes (including juice and red wine), pomegranate, and hibiscus flower calyxes have a broad tonic effect on the cardiovascular system, fighting both inflammation and oxidative stress while improving the integrity and flexibility of the blood vessel lining. In studies, consuming several cups of hibiscus tea (using 10 to 20 grams of dried herb daily) lowered blood pressure as well as several common pharmaceuticals. Consume blue-red pigments regularly as food, pure juice (check ingredients to avoid sugary filler juices), tea, or supplements.

As my college professor closed the door to the classroom, I felt my heart pound. The timed exam was about to begin, and I couldn’t leave the room until I finished. This may not seem like a problem, but it was very stressful for me.

Living with Chronic Illness & Autoimmune Disease

Despite my exceptional academic record, I suffered from severe abdominal pain; just sitting on the hard classroom chair felt like needles stabbing my insides. Distracted by the pain while trying to recall my study materials, I breathed a sigh of relief when I finished my exam. Cradling my stomach, I carefully walked to the front of the room trying to not provoke another spasm attack. I didn’t want my peers to notice I was hurting. Embarrassed, I left the room and headed to the student health center where I could lie down between classes.

“You’re too young to be going through this,” the nurse said. She was referring to my being 20. But I wasn’t too young; older adults are not alone in suffering from chronic illness. In a report published by the Children’s Health Defense Team, over half of millennials surveyed reported having been diagnosed with at least one chronic illness.

Prevalence of Autoimmune Disease

Over 50 million Americans live with autoimmune disease. Experts call these staggering numbers an epidemic. Crohn’s disease, an autoimmune disease affecting the gut, is one of the top four physical conditions impacting millennials. I have Crohn’s disease, also known as inflammatory bowel disease, and have lived with chronic illness for as long as I can remember. Crohn’s disease joins over 100 additional diseases classified as autoimmune according to the American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association, Inc. Others include Type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, multiple sclerosis, endometriosis, and Sjögren’s syndrome.

What Is Autoimmune Disease?

Our immune system is designed to protect us. When we get the flu, our immune system mounts a response to fight the germ causing the illness. A properly functioning immune system recognizes the harmful invader as separate from the self. However, in the case of autoimmunity, something triggers the immune system to attack its own body. The immune system is unable to recognize self from non-self.

This results in a cascade of bodily responses causing pain, fatigue, malnutrition, and brain fog. These symptoms can go into periods of remission during which a person feels better, followed by relapses.

Autoimmune Disease and Inflammation

While each autoimmune disease has its own symptoms, there is one thing they all share in common: inflammation.

Most of us have been bitten by an insect. When the insect, a foreign invader, attacks our body, our immune system sends its team to the injury site to defend the body. We see evidence of this response as redness and inflammation, and we feel pain. In autoimmune diseases, this inflammatory process is in overdrive. Unlike an insect bite, the redness and swelling may not be obvious. Many people describe autoimmune disease as “invisible illness” because an affected person can look healthy on the outside, but have significant discomfort internally.

The Connection Between Autoimmunity, Stress, & Trauma

The 1990s groundbreaking Adverse Childhood Experiences study—ACEs—led by Vincent Felitti, MD, showed the connection between trauma and stress in childhood and poor health outcomes in adulthood. Decades later, studies continue to confirm this relationship and also show how stress is a factor in autoimmune disease. Stress hormones increase inflammation, which is at the core of autoimmune disease, so reducing stress is beneficial.

We all experience day-to-day stressors such as meeting deadlines, having a toilet overflow, or a delayed flight. However, chronic stress can feed an inflammatory cycle in the body and weaken the immune system. Trauma causes changes to our brain chemistry and nervous system.

For example, children who witness domestic violence or are victims of abuse survive in a stress cycle (also called fight or flight). Even when they are safe, their bodies don’t know the difference. The stress hormones continue pumping as though the traumatic event is reoccurring; this increases inflammation and susceptibility to infection. This same cycle is applicable to other traumatic events such as a car accident, hostile work environment, hate crime, death, or environmental disaster.

Unfortunately, conventional medical models often continue to separate physical from emotional. Since trauma and stress are connected to our physical health, working with a licensed mental health therapist, somatic therapies, building a support system, mind/body approaches, and finding joy are all ways to lessen the impact of stress on the immune system.

Individualized Treatments

Find an Integrative Physician or Healer

It is possible to live a quality life with autoimmune disease. For many years I was told I would get progressively worse because Crohn’s disease is “incurable.” This negative outlook did not serve me well because it made me feel at the mercy of the disease process. Recognizing there are many steps I can take to aid my body’s healing has given me my life back.

Autoimmune disease requires an individualized treatment plan. There is no “one size fits all” approach. It is important to find ways to strengthen the immune system and reduce inflammation. Working with an integrative physician or healer can help identify many factors and their contributions to autoimmunity.

Contributing Factors to Autoimmune Issues

• environmental toxins
• pathogens
• diet and food choices
• allergies
• lifestyle choices
• relationships
• family history
• gut health
• mental and emotional health