Amanda Bodine

Sep 20, 2022

DESCRIPTION

Why You Might Want to Start Bringing Less Toxins into Your Life with Amanda Bodine

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

ingredients, avoid, people, products, fragrance, home, toxic, snack, crackers, brands, necessarily, point, doctor, types, buy, food, seasonal allergies, read, lifestyle, clients

SPEAKERS

Amanda Bodine, Megan Swan

TRANSCRIPT

Megan Swan 00:02

Welcome back to Energetically You where we talk about all things optimal wellness, abundant mindset and well partnership. I'm your host Megan swan, a wellness coach and consultant and the founder of the Sustainable Integrated Wellness approach. I help high performance women's read more wellness into their lifestyle so that it becomes a way of life and not a checkmark on their to do list. I love to design custom, approachable wellness lifestyles, because let's face it, there is no one size fits all. Wellness. Today, I am so excited to get to know and dive right in with Amanda Bodeen. She is a friend and former client. She is also a former educator turned low tox living consultant, Amanda teaches women predominantly predominantly new and soon to be moms how to avoid the hormone disrupting chemicals found in the products they use every day, so that they can have healthier bodies, healthier children and safer homes. She is really like a wizard when it comes to all things low talks. So I am so excited for this conversation. Let's get to it. Amanda, welcome. I'm so excited for our conversation. I feel like we're gonna get to explore a whole lot of things. We've never actually talked up to one another about one on one. And I know that you're just a wealth of information. So first, how are you? What's How was your weekend? Let's start there.

Amanda Bodine 01:48

And well, I'm well, it was a good weekend, the weather's just been gorgeous here for us. So it was actually just a joy to be able to go outside a little bit, spend time with my, my little daughter. So it's really nice, relaxing, actually.

Megan Swan 02:04

Nice. Well take us back a little bit and paint the picture of how and when you started paying more attention to these things personally, and and you know, kind of what was the the catalyst for you to become a little bit more informed?

Amanda Bodine 02:21

Yeah, absolutely. So I wasn't someone who paid a ton of attention to things like toxins and pollution. I was a smoker for many years. You know, I drank lots on the weekends, that sort of thing. But I got pregnant with my daughter. And I was 36 at the time. And it really became apparent to me that I needed to, I needed to pay more attention that pollution and toxins and things like that wasn't necessarily the out there issue that I had always made it out to be that it was very much an at home issue. And so yeah, being pregnant at 36. And then sort of sort of being a little bit terrified that I probably hadn't been doing the things that I shouldn't have been doing. My body probably wasn't necessarily as ready as it needed to be. For, you know, this nine month journey, I became increasingly concerned that I needed to pay more attention to the toxins that I was exposed to, especially in the home, I was obsessed with the idea of giving birth to this little girl and bringing her home to like this very non toxic like environment. And I quickly realized that that was a lot harder than just sort of wishing it to be. But I did my best while I was pregnant. And it really wasn't until after giving birth to my daughter that I started to really dive in to all the ways that we are exposed to toxins and pollution. And like all of the really insidious small ways that we don't necessarily consider even those of us who are, you know, paying more attention than I necessarily was those ways that have big impacts. And yeah, so it wasn't until after giving birth to her and having more time to myself because of course, I ended up staying home. I didn't go back to my teaching physician. The world was you know, in turmoil at the time anyway, and so I had some time on my hands and I really started to dive in and do the research.

Megan Swan 04:55

Yeah, okay, well, so many follow up questions. One How do you sort of help your clients manage this, you know, like doing it all from a place of fear, because I can totally relate, like, I was very much in the same boat for my first pregnancy. And I'll be quite honest, like when the second pregnancy came around, and my obsession had definitely dwindled a little, you know, like, I still did bio baby as much as possible. I did, you know, cloth diapers, I did a lot. But you know, at some point there, you know, as mothers, there needs to be this weight of weighing of like practicality and like, you know, impacting our own well being and stress, and then, you know, the benefits of being low talks.

Amanda Bodine 05:50

Yeah, absolutely. What I really love, especially about, like, the one on one work that I can do is that it comes from a place of what are your unique circumstances? And what are your priorities? And, and even as, you know, like, what is the budget for making some of these changes. So I really love that aspect of the work that I do with clients is that it is very much geared towards what will work for you, because there are lots of different places jumping off points where we can start. And there are, you know, I could give a list of, you know, the five things you have to avoid, but if it doesn't necessarily work for a moms lifestyle, or a woman's lifestyle, then it's not going to be effective, and it is going to feel very overwhelming. And so I love to just be able to spend some time with my clients are getting to know them and getting to know like, what their goals are, what their priorities are. And and then working from there.

Megan Swan 06:53

Yeah, well, I think it's very similar to my approach with wellness, you know, it's like pulling on the really key threads, and then also giving ourselves permission to, you know, not do it all at the same time. And, you know, be okay with that. So I really wanted to focus today on sort of where we kind of overlap, more so, which is the toxicity that is in the food system, and you know, how important it is to read labels? And what are we reading them for? And, you know, then on a high note with some, like, some good news that, you know, increasingly, there are really easy to find good choices out there. So let's start with, you know, with your knowledge of the food system, and, you know, maybe not the whole history of it by any means. But, you know, what, how many decades ago did we start getting so toxic? And why aren't we doing anything about it kind

Amanda Bodine 07:52

of thing? Yeah, so, you know, especially when feeding, you know, large populations of people and these companies, really only being concerned with their bottom line is the reason why our food system is as polluted as as it is, and why pretty much everything that you buy on this shelf, especially if it's geared towards children is incredibly toxic, cheap ingredients, you know, derived from petrochemicals, and, you know, things that are really flashy and colorful and look good, but are also full of ingredients that are designed to get us addicted to them and want more of them and, you know, sit down and eat an entire bag of potato chips, you know, that sort of idea of that, you know, that came about especially when convenience became sort of the what was necessary, right, we needed, you know, we needed something quick and fast and companies were able to create it and they were also able to make foods that could sit on the shelves for months, years without spoiling and you know, and really it boils down to you know, the bottom line. What money can companies make off of selling us fake food and packaging it as you know, real nutritious for you kind of stuff?

Megan Swan 09:21

Yeah, well, I mean, I'm sure you've or maybe you haven't read? Is it sugar, fat salts, or some different combination of those three words. There's a great book that kind of gives you like a deep dive into understanding like the how the food system sensitive the system even works. I'm forgetting the term right now it's not the sweet spot but there's like this this industry term of the the reality that like so many of these snack products, even when they're like, quote unquote salty, things like chips have sugar in them because there's this like, perfect. What is due to the term It's like this sort of big scientific combination that they figured out of the perfect combination of sugar, salt and fat that just like we cannot say no to. And, and yeah, and then the reality that there are specific chemicals that just kind of turn your brain off and know your cravings are taking over.

Amanda Bodine 10:20

Absolutely. So

Megan Swan 10:22

what, you know, what are some things that for you, if you're giving, like, let's do the top five. I know that I've always said to clients like colorings should be a really big one. What are your top five?

Amanda Bodine 10:41

Yeah, so I'm with you on the coloring. So food dyes, right, red dye, 40 and blue one and yellow five and six, green, you know, all of them. They all are problematic in their own ways. Most of them are linked to cancer. Most of them are also linked to ADHD like behaviors. Also depression and anxiety and all those sorts of things. We have animal studies, but then we also have a ton of anecdotal evidence with children. Even kids who do have ADHD will display you know, worse symptoms when exposed to these types of food dyes in their coloring and their foods. So definitely for me it's it's it's no food dyes, I really really try to completely avoid artificial flavors but natural flavors aren't much better and it gets to be problematic especially when you are trying to you know avoid both of those artificial and natural flavors because there's a lot of there's a lot of food on the shelf that you can't get if you're completely avoiding both of those. Then I you know, when it comes to preservatives and additives tbh que BHA and BHT those types of ingredients I definitely if it's in there, I mean it just doesn't even come home and then you know anything and you know as far as like the Thickers go carry gene and it's an easy one to avoid. So I like to mention that one because it isn't a lot of products but there are equally a products that don't have it so especially when you're looking at like your coffee creamers and anything like that Kara gene is a really Kara Gina and so it see a double r a g WENAN. Corridor chain, what

Megan Swan 12:34

is it?

Amanda Bodine 12:35

It's a thickener. So it it it helps with text like story looks

Megan Swan 12:41

like to know. It's actually

Amanda Bodine 12:43

so it is It's seaweed. It's like a type of red seaweed. It's so it's a plant based ingredient. But the issue with it is that it's linked to cancer, but it's also linked to like inflammatory bowel disease, IBS. It's highly inflammatory. So it's yeah.

Megan Swan 13:01

Okay, so I reified. What was that for? I'm awestruck.

Amanda Bodine 13:05

Yeah, I don't I'll add another one in there. Because honestly, enriched flowers like that doesn't come home, either anything enriched or bleached and or bleached flowers. It's just that's just at that point. It's, it's so processed, it's fake food. It's not even real food anymore. So I avoid I avoid that one, as well. Okay, well,

Megan Swan 13:27

we definitely wanted to talk how you're a bit of a snack expert as most mothers are. So they're, there was a time once upon a time where I, you know, home made a lot of things. And, you know, I still do that sometimes, but it's just not realistic for the day to day. It could be like a weekend activity, but I think to the degree with lunches, and all the things going back to school, and then even like, if you're wanting or fortunate to go to the office, or you just want like something to snack on while you're working and not the whole meal. Like what are some go to? I don't know, how do you work with your top brands? Should we talk? Where's the?

Amanda Bodine 14:17

Yeah, you know, so that the whole homemade aspect, especially when it comes to snacks, like I figured this out early on with Tula just knowing that I couldn't really get her the snacks that were geared towards toddlers because everything's made with rice flour, or rice syrup and arsenic and all of those issues were really it's really daunting for me and so it was a challenge to find, you know, what can I feed her and it was kind of this whole idea like do I have to make things from scratch and I don't want to like I make lunch and dinner and breakfast. I don't want to make snacks from scratch and I'm just wasn't willing to. So that is why Yeah, I really sort of started looking into ingredients when it came to snacks like that convenient nutrition. Because, yeah, I wasn't, I wasn't, I wasn't making anything. And I'm not a baker, I don't enjoy any of that. So, but as far as you know, brands and stuff, there are some really surprising ones, you know, brands, there are brands out there that are actually making foods that we're used to eating, or we're used to seeing in the stores, but they don't have all of the extra added ingredients. You know, sometimes they're made with 10, or five or fewer ingredients, and they're really delicious. Some brands that come to mind, you know, it's not perfect, it's not a perfect brand on every single I wouldn't recommend every single item in their product line. But Annie's is a great one for kids like they make all sorts of like, you know, cookies, and they make the instead of goldfish crackers, they make the the gold money crackers, yeah, the little bunnies. And again, like not everything that they make, like they do occasionally use some, you know, enriched flowers and things like that, which we'll just avoid, we tend to go for more of like the whole beat stuff. And then and they're USDA certified organic wine will, you know, we'll invest in those. So we do like we do like the Andes brand. And Amy's is another brand that especially with like frozen for like really quick, convenient lunches. Amy's is one that we like, and, and crackers, like surprisingly, crackers are really hard to, to make good versions of because they are you know, like you want that flaking cracker crust. A lot of it comes from those enriched flowers that we just don't need. And so simple Mills, and hue hue Hu is a brand where it's like surprisingly, the crackers are actually good, because it's not easy to make a low tox. Good for you. Cracker apparently.

Megan Swan 17:08

Yeah, well, here where I am in Mexico, I kind of default to status. But I'm like, Yeah, that's probably not 1,000% Healthy either. But at least it's corn and not wheat. And most of them are only a few ingredients. And you get that sort of crispy cracker like feel. But yeah, to your point. It's hard. What do you think about rice cakes?

Amanda Bodine 17:36

You know, so I'm not a fan. I've never been a fan of rice cakes. I remember being a little girl and my mom putting peanut butter on a rice cake. I was like, cool. It's like, you can't possibly think I'm gonna eat this. I know they've gotten a little bit better. But I will tell you like, you know, rice, especially when it comes to kids, you know, you want to source brands that are sourcing from like either organic or from areas of the country, California is a good example of where you want to source your rice from just because of the high levels of arsenic. And when it comes to little kids and little bodies, those heavy metal toxicity is a lot more important for them. So I'm careful with rice. We do. We are really I'm weary of how much rice we consume and rice products that we do consume, and always has to be USDA certified organic and extra points if they actually test for arsenic levels.

Megan Swan 18:42

And so are their websites that are relatively user friendly? Or is it probably intentionally like this dark rabbit hole? That's very difficult to get clear information on? Yeah,

Amanda Bodine 18:55

I mean, if there are if there are websites out there where you could find the sort of, you know, information or find like, all of like the the safer versions out there sourced in one place. You know, I haven't found it that's for certain. But yeah, I think it's is an intentional rabbit hole because it's it's not necessarily common knowledge people don't necessarily know I think, you know, we've been conditioned to believe that if it's on the shelf, that it's perfectly fine. And if it's an ingredient included in the product, and obviously it's in there for a really good reason. Otherwise, you know, why would a company bother to include it and the truth is, is that it's it's really just in there to you know, to make the product as cheap as possible. Not for the consumer necessarily but for the company.

Megan Swan 19:52

Yeah, so I don't know how well versed you are on this. But you know, I once upon a time saw some and graphic. And I've definitely have studied this to some degree, like there's this sort of dark web of relationships between major not only us, I would say global process food brands, and Big Pharma. And I know the other day you were talking, and I wanted to circle back to this, because I think it's such an important point. And you know, my husband's a surgeon, and he'll be the first to say, like, he doesn't remember, like taking nutrition in school, like maybe, maybe there was an hour or two, but like, it was not a month, or there wasn't a textbook, like, it's not a major thing. And most doctors would also be, you know, we're not talking about functional medicine doctors, but especially a specialist, honestly, they're experts in sickness, they're experts in like, the end of the line, like you've reached the point where you really need, like, do or die help. And there's not a lot of conversation being had. And I know, like, I was just home in Canada, and there's different problems being being a public system, such as when you go to the doctor, most of them have, like, you can only come in with like one problem, or like a maximum of two symptoms or something, and you can't talk about anything else. And this how ridiculous that is. Right? Like, yeah, yeah. How is that holistic to, to the issue. And so I just want to your your thoughts, because I know, you're recently looking into this, and you recently went to the doctor for the first time in a long time. And let's talk about that, like, as someone who's very conscious of not having a lot of toxic food in my home, and meaning, we eat organic as much as possible. I always read labels. I mean, sometimes I, you know, we'll buy a not something I know, has like something really bad in it. And I still let my kids eat it once in a while. But yeah, like 80% of the time, I'm buying anys or whatever, or I'm not even buying those things. And it's just like, the snack is grapes. Yeah, there's carrots, that's all. Yeah. But you're, you know, when the way that I raise my kids, they don't need to go to the doctor, like we don't buy over the counter, like they don't take over the counter meds for they don't get sick. And it's just like, sort of a different perspective, I guess. And I think what maybe some women in amongst need to hear is like, you don't need to go all, you know, for me, that was a process of probably five or six years where I was like, focusing on little pieces of it. So like anything that didn't seem like that overwhelming. It's not the it's not that you go from like one extreme to the other. Overnight by any means.

Amanda Bodine 23:06

Yeah. No, I mean, the system is designed to treat diseases. It's not designed to, you know, help people live healthier. You know, like, so going to the doctor for the first time for that, that physical that I was required to have. Yeah, it was interesting that the two questions, the two questions they didn't bother to ask me were, you know, what, what's your diet? Like? You know, what are you eating day to day, for instance? Or, you know, if I exercised like that, though, what didn't? And it wasn't like that. We were just having a conversation. I mean, they were reading from a form, you know, they were asking me the questions they were supposed to ask. And those two questions were not after

Megan Swan 23:54

they asked you about your sleep? No, no, that would be a third one.

Amanda Bodine 24:00

on that screen, oh, I believe. He asked me about He did ask me about seasonal allergies. And when I responded with you know, I, I haven't had an I haven't had seasonal allergies. And the last several years, you know, I've eliminated synthetic fragrance from my life entirely. And I no longer get, you know, sinus congestion. I don't need an antibiotic, you know, ever, you know, and his response to that was Oh, okay. Good for you.

Megan Swan 24:28

Like what are you doing? Are you good? Got it? Yeah,

Amanda Bodine 24:33

no, not at all. It's just like, Okay, I'm moving on, you know, and let's, let's talk about family history and, you know, health history and what's you know, who's had cancer in your family and, you know, I so it just isn't it isn't designed to it isn't assigned to revenue? No, exactly. It's not it's not preventative and, and I think that would require to require them to spend a little bit more time in the room with you. Which, again, Like you said, I mean, in Canada, I mean, it's not. It's not designed for that either. We're not we're not spending more than 20 minutes together, discussing your symptoms, and I'll, you know, prescribe you, whatever I can prescribe you that will make the system money. And then, you know, we'll we'll move on, we'll move along. So yeah.

Megan Swan 25:19

Did they prescribe you something for your perfect health? Yeah, absolutely not.

Amanda Bodine 25:23

No. Yeah, Naveen, is I think he was a little disappointed. I left the room before he did. I was like, I was done. And we said our goodbyes, and he was, you know, still typing away. So yeah, it just, it says,

Megan Swan 25:44

We looked into it. The doctors get between two and four hours of nutrition.

Amanda Bodine 25:51

Yeah. Um, so I've actually it's interesting. I've heard it multiple times, from multiple sources, when it comes to you know, how much information when it got like nutrition and even environmental toxins, like how much information are doctors given? or medical students and given? Because they're going to face these types of things? At least we think they are, right. So it's been multiple sources. But more recently, and I have linked it to after I had posted that statistic and after my visit, but what is it Dr. G, on Instagram, I really I like some of his information. And that was the link that I posted where he was saying that, in his his conversations with medical students, that's, that's how much they're getting. I mean, it's less than it's less than eight hours for, you know, environmental toxins. So and, and that statistic could change too.

Megan Swan 26:49

So let's just quickly talk about because I think it's a something that a lot of people aren't aware of, you know, just how toxic your inside air can. Let's say that you can open your windows every day, I certainly try and do that. And, you know, I think everyone can understand when they've bought a shower curtain that's just ABC, like, you open it and you're like, can breathe. Disgusting. But I don't know, what what are some of your recommendations for Yeah,

Amanda Bodine 27:21

so indoor air quality, right, it can be extremely toxic. And it's kind of, it's interesting for people to think that way. Because, you know, they're if they're not smoking in the home, or if they're not even burning candles in their house, they're, you know, it kind of blows people away that how how polluted their indoor air can be, but it is, you know, it can be five times, you know, more polluted inside than it is, you know, your outdoor air unless, of course, you know, your neighbor's burning leaves, which happens a lot here I left you know, especially living in the Midwest, you know, people do that a lot. But opening your windows when possible is definitely a way to sort of mitigate those, that indoor air pollution that we have. And like you say like, it's the off gases from the things like your shower liner, and your you know, your furniture, your couch that's, you know, been treated with flame retardants and, you know, the, the particle board that you know, your desk is made, and all that stuff off gases, and it's all inside your indoor air. So you definitely and anybody who has like a gas stove, I used to love the idea of wanting to grow up and have a gas stove. I just thought that was I would have made it if I had this beautiful gas stove. But honestly, it's just a huge source of indoor air pollution. And so I'd like no longer want that. But yeah, there's just lots of there's lots of what's the word I'm looking for. But sources, goodness, lots of sources for indoor air pollution, for sure.

Megan Swan 28:56

So I know, some specific plants that are particularly better at sucking those things out of the air for you. Are this an opening the windows like is anything else besides obviously, you know, trying to avoid these products from the bottom? It's almost impossible these days. Unless you're like, Yeah, you're young trees and making your own furnitures.

Amanda Bodine 29:17

So I mean, investing in a HEPA air filter is a really good idea. They can be extremely expensive, though. So it can be really difficult for you know, the average family to have access to that sort of thing. But if you can definitely help it. A HEPA air filter would be really helpful opening windows like you say, investing in house plants if you can, I kill house plants, I can't even look at them. They just they don't it's a joke, where I'm not allowed to touch the houseplants because they will die. But that can certainly help but it's honestly it's avoidance. It really is avoiding it as much as possible. You know, even this do the small things in the house that we use that have fragrance in them if you could just stop using them you can significantly cut down the amount of you know VOCs in your indoor air.

Megan Swan 30:12

So what give us like a very short list of the common things that people aren't thinking. Like I know toilet paper for one, you can buy it without fragrance here. So they love like really cute with heart and floral smelling toilet paper. I just have to like smell every bag before I buy it because you say that it has fragrance and I take it home when it's six anyway. What else

Amanda Bodine 30:39

that remote? Yeah, I think like I think I had an aunt or something at one point maybe like a great aunt who had toilet paper like that. You know, another surprising one is garbage bags. So many people will purchase those scented garbage bags, like for breeze garbage bags, and you know in the attempt to like mask the smell of your own garbage and just don't like it's so heavily fragrance too. And

Megan Swan 31:09

so all of those quote unquote air fresheners like for freeze blade like all that,

Amanda Bodine 31:14

yeah, absolutely. Extremely, extremely bad.

Megan Swan 31:21

Like, I can't do it anymore. I don't know how I like immediately get ahead, I can detect it. Like I have like a leader for it. I enter a room and somebody's got some sort of, or I entered Airbnb, and I can't find it. And they're like, I know it's very late, whereas

Amanda Bodine 31:41

it was yeah, it's it's, it's some crazy statistic like 72% of homes, you know, use air fresheners. And I certainly was, I mean, my mom always, our home always had a fragrance bomb somewhere squirting and you know, when I left home, I did that too. And it's so interesting to look back now because when you do eliminate synthetic fragrance from your life, you become very sensitive to it. And, you know, the the fragrance in windex is triggering for me. Like I don't use Windex but we were combining households. And this like foamy windex type spray got sprayed on the windows. And for hours I was beside myself because there was no way to get the I just had to wait for the scent to dissipate. It was you know, it's terrible. So there's like unexpected places. Your cleaning supplies have fragrance in them. Yeah. What was always interesting for me, especially when I was starting to look at ingredients and makeup, it was shocking to me. How much fragrance is in things like your foundation in your eyeshadow like, in on my right? Why? Why does that need to have a certain way

Megan Swan 32:58

you would you switch to a brand and I mean, thankfully now there are hundreds of really cool, amazing non toxic beauty product brands. Yeah, you know, I can't go back anymore. Like I buy a Maybelline or something product and I just like, feel and smell like I just you're putting chemicals on your faces. Isn't that?

Amanda Bodine 33:19

Yeah, absolutely. It is. It's kind of interesting that you say that because I haven't gone back. Like, you know, when I made that switch to clean beauty. I just, it's almost like

Megan Swan 33:30

my mom or some you know, some? Yeah, that I said that. But like sometimes somebody will give me something in a stocking or something. And they'll be like, oh, yeah, I love that color. And then I alright, this will be a select

Amanda Bodine 33:45

I guess I mean, there's pros and cons to it, but there isn't someone necessarily giving me you know, makeup and things like that. But I will tell you that you know buying clothes secondhand or you know, getting them from you know those secondhand type websites and things like that. The amount of times that I've ordered clothes from like a Poshmark or something and it's arrived and I'm just overwhelmed with the amount of fabric softener that was on someone's you know, clothes that that I purchased and it takes multiple washes to even get the scent out not necessarily that it's completely gone either. And that's another one too like walking outside. I don't know if this is like an issue in Mexico, but especially here, you know, in the states like walking outside you can smell people's laundry, you know from the dryer vents and it's that's you know, and you get to a certain point where it's it's offensive. really annoyed, locked outside into your heart and your neighbor is polluting you with the another toxic fabric softener. Yeah I mean,

Megan Swan 35:01

it's a it's a,

Amanda Bodine 35:02

you know, the the low tox lifestyle, it's not an easy one. And you do have to, you do have to just allow for those instances when things are going to be out of your control. And you just have to say, Oh, well,

Megan Swan 35:20

okay, well, I'm gonna ask you to tell us a little bit about how you are working with people. And all that, and you know, a little bit more about the snack guide that you've created in your inspiration. But first, can you let like, we've kind of perfectly circled back to the kind of the the fear and like people just completely not getting involved at all, because it seems so overwhelming. You know, where do you recommend women to kind of start focusing, if you're like picking a starting point?

Amanda Bodine 35:55

Yeah, I think for women, especially, it's easiest, or it's, I guess, maybe it's more intuitive to start with the personal care products. Because we already like to consume those types of products, we like to buy new, new makeup, new skincare, it's fun. And I think, sort of beginning the process, there is a great gateway to making the changes elsewhere. Because personal care is so personal. And when you find products that are actually effective, and work, but are with you know, a lot of safer ingredients, you know, free from the most, you know, this one's the ones that are disrupting our hormones. I think when you find products that you really like, then it's, it's, it makes the whole process seem possible. Gotcha. I like that.

Megan Swan 37:06

So let's just very briefly dive into like how these chemicals disrupt our hormones. So we're a little bit aware of what you're talking about. Um,

Amanda Bodine 37:20

yeah, okay, so a lot of, you know, traditional ingredients in personal care products that we use in our makeup, skincare, all of the things, they have ingredients that are capable of mimicking our hormones. And so they're hormone disrupting, we call them endocrine disruptors. And they, the worst ones are the ones that act as like Xeno estrogens, so estrogen in our bodies, think of parabens. I recently did a whole list of different types of chemicals that are estrogen mimickers, but and parabens is one that's actually caught on and a lot of companies will actively avoid them and they'll even put those free from labels. So they've substituted a lot of a lot of parabens, which act as preservatives they've substituted with phenoxy ethanol, which is in itself its own sort of problematic ingredient, but it isn't as as far as we know, it's not necessarily an endocrine disruptor because the research hasn't proven that yet so but parabens are a good one to avoid i i tell my clients especially like anything petroleum derived petroleum based ingredients are ones to avoid. I don't like anything with like PCGS or PPGs and um so those like propylene glycols or you know, they're just ones to completely dismiss formaldehyde releasing ingredients you know, all of these types of anything that ends in like a neon the suffix would be an iu m typically those are formaldehyde releasing releasing ingredients and wants to completely avoid and then Chemical sunscreens. So Chemical sunscreens like those kinds of types of filters are endocrine disrupting oxy then zone is a great example of a chemical filter that is really popular but it should be completely avoided by women who are pregnant or trying to conceive. AIBO Ben zone is another one when it interacts with sunlight and chlorine water it creates, you know, these these chemical byproducts that are even more toxic to us than the actual chemical sunscreen. So it's just important that you know, we understand like the ingredients that we should be avoiding, but it can feel like really overwhelming especially When you've not ever really bothered to read an ingredient list, and then you turn it over, and you see all of these, you know, Latin names, and, you know, like, what, what does any of this mean? And how am I supposed to make sense of it? It can seem really, like, it's just this, it's like an overwhelming facet of, you know, I'm just trying to wash my face, I don't necessarily want to know, what's in it. And so it can be, it can be an annoying side effect of this whole lifestyle, you know, I don't necessarily want to know, what is in my products? Or why they're so bad for me. I think that most people, the idea is that again, you know, if it's sold on the shelf, it can't be that bad. And it just, that just isn't true. Yeah, it's just, it's not true, because these companies are allowed to regulate themselves. And if they say an ingredient is safe, then that is typically enough. Especially in the States, you know, the FDA has to prove without a shadow of a doubt, an ingredient is 100%, toxic causes cancer ultimately leads to death in order for it to be restricted or banned. That's not the case in the EU there, you know, an ingredient gets to be ingredient has to prove that it's safe in order to be, you know, used, not necessarily or there's just approved, approved. Yeah, exactly. And so, um, yeah, but it's the hormone for me, that's what I focus on, like, because there are so many ingredients that you can, you know, look to avoid a lot of people like the idea of only using all natural ingredients, which doesn't necessarily mean much. But I think to people, like all natural would be plant based, or you know, nothing synthetic. And that's, you know, for me, you know, not all synthetic ingredients are bad, not all of them are harmful. It's just the ones that especially the manmade ones that are disrupting our hormones, those are the ones that we need to avoid and working with clients and teaching them how to read an ingredient list. And then spot the most harmful ingredients is one thing, that one aspect that I like to focus on when we do work together, because I could tell someone all day long, I could give them five products that are five brands that I recommend, I could tell them to avoid, you know, XYZ ingredient. But unless someone you know, understands why they need to be avoided, and actually sits down and spends just a little bit of time, you know, really looking at an ingredient list and teaching themselves, you know, with some help with some guidance, how to be an autonomous shopper how to be a conscious consumer, then it's never going to feel like you've got a handle on it. Unless you enter it, I guess unless you take that extra step.

Megan Swan 43:12

Yeah. Okay. Cool. So we've kind of I feel like done a really nice overview of all the things that you touch on potentially with clients, can you speak just very briefly to like, since you've personally, you know, shifted all these things in your own life? How have you felt differently other than, like, you would avoid going into Doctor? Yeah. Have you noticed, like in your quality of life or in your health, your wellness, anything there that of note, since you are low talks? Yeah.

Amanda Bodine 43:51

So since, you know, really investing in this lifestyle and doing it for the last several years. You know, the biggest thing for me that I noticed initially was the sinus congestion that I've always suffered from sinus congestion. And, you know, I would get bronchitis most years. Those types of symptoms and situations like I just, they just were a non issue. I don't have I used to think I had seasonal allergies, you know, I was always looking at like, what was the pollen index, and now, I mean, I couldn't care less because it really doesn't have much of an impact on me at all. But then, just like just just overall for me, I wasn't necessarily someone who had acute reactions to ingredients. I didn't notice if, you know, for products was, you know, toxic or not, it really didn't seem to have much of an impact on me, or at least I didn't think that it it. So for me, like eliminating all of the ingredients that I teach people to avoid, I'm avoiding, like, the long term, negative chronic effects of using these types of products, because I don't have like this testimony of someone who was suffering an autoimmune disorder or infertility, or was chronically ill, and then, you know, switched to this lifestyle and was able to reverse all of that. And there are people who have those stories. But for me, it was all about the prevention of chronic illnesses and the prevention of, you know, raising a little girl in a really toxic world. And, you know, for me, it's like, you know, and granted, she's, you know, not quite three years old yet, but she, you know, I've done something, right. Because she doesn't go to the doctor, you know, she's I don't have her in and out of the pediatricians office. We're not battling eczema. We're not battling asthma. You know, I mean, granted again, she's only three but like, I I'm not entirely worried that we're going to be, you know, dealing with ADHD symptoms, you know, things like that. So I did this. I did it for me. I really did it for her. And so

46:38

it's, yeah,

Amanda Bodine 46:39

I Yeah.

Megan Swan 46:42

I got it. I got it. I love it. All right. So tell us how people can connect with you on yeah, really powerful, informative videos on Tiktok. You're also on Instagram. Where should people find you?

Amanda Bodine 46:57

Yeah, so Instagram. I love Instagram, like Instagrams, like my office and Tik Tok. Like where I take my lunch breaks like that, because it's just more it's more casual. And I do enjoy I enjoy making content over on tick tock. I like the short form video that I can edit and really quick. And I am doing I am doing well over there, you know, as far as, you know, follow followership. But, yeah, Instagram, I would say that's where you're gonna get a lot of the statistics and facts and, you know, things that you can, you know, save and look to graphics, I guess. But yeah, tick tock, if you want. If you like short form video, then definitely head over to tick tock and then I have a website as well. So it's just Amanda libo. Nine, it's my name Amanda. libo, nine.com. And, you know, there's, yeah.

Megan Swan 48:01

Yeah. And if somebody's interested in signing up for your snack guide, we'll share that link as well. That's in the brief snack guide. It's focuses on three major stores that are in the Canada in the US. What else can you say?

Amanda Bodine 48:20

Yes. So yeah, I created the snack guide for moms especially who are wanting to give you know that nutritious convenience, not to have to make things in the kitchen, not be slaving away. Home making all of that sort of thing. But yeah, Walmart, Target and Whole Foods are the three main grocery stores. But a lot of the products can be found at like any local supermarket if you know whatever it is Kroger Ralph's Vons, what you know Publix, whatever it is for you. But yeah, it's, it's, it sounds like a handy little shopping list. Essentially. It is it is and it's all Yeah, it's, it's divided up into you know, sections so you can find crackers and popsicles and and then we've had this conversation on the dupes the low talks.

Megan Swan 49:18

That's gotta read American thing.

Amanda Bodine 49:21

I'm looking for an Oreo cookie. Better for you. I have a do. So yeah.

Megan Swan 49:30

All right. Well, note, I guess. We'll share links in the show notes. Absolutely. Well, thank you for your time and your wisdom and sharing all of these tidbits with us. You know, if anyone's interested in being Amanda's low, tox BFF. Or I guess it'd be the other way around, you know, she can basically kind of whip you into shape and really make it not overwhelming. From the get go, if you're interested in becoming less toxic, your beauty routine in your home and your kitchen, in your cleaning all the things so Thank you Amanda we absolutely