OVERVIEW: In this episode of Fitness & Finance, Aimee Carlson, entrepreneur and host of podcast, The Toxin Terminator, shares how she began her journey of eliminating toxins from her life, some useful first steps you can take today and more. EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS: What was Aimee's upbringing like? Aimee is a registered mechanic and worked in the petroleum and mechanic businesses, which she believes was the main source of her toxic exposures. Aimee is not anti-medicine, but has found most doctors are only treating the symptoms you're presenting with and not looking at you holistically or connecting the dots between seemingly unrelated symptoms. When and how did Aimee realize her environment was harming her? There are over 80,000 chemicals available for use in products sold in drugstores and the US has only banned the use of 9 of those chemicals; manufacturing standards in the UK and other countries are much more strict. Pharmaceutical companies are the ones funding the approval of drugs. It's not realistic to eliminate all toxins from your life, so Aimee says to focus on your home because you can't remove a toxin from the entire environment. A first step would be to address your water sources; if you can't afford to get a whole-home filtration system, Aimee suggests a shower head filter as a starting point. Aimee suggests using lemon—this can be used to rinse your fruits and vegetables because it helps remove dirt, and it supports your liver and kidney function—but if you have frequent UTIs, lemon can make that issue worse. Aimee also loves apple cider vinegar. The number one thing is to remove anything with added fragrance from your home—unscented isn't good enough, it should say fragrance-free. Aimee also recommends getting rid of products that include parabens, phthalates, and sodium laurel sulfate. Bioaccumulation can lead to toxic overload, which presents as very broad symptoms like fatigue, sleeping poorly, skin sensitivity and rashes, headaches, gut issues, etc. Some solutions are pretty immediate, and some solutions take more time, because your body didn't end up in a chronic disease state overnight. Aimee is introducing a new segment on her show called First Steps, where a listener will come on air and share what they're struggling with, Aimee will give them 1-2 changes to commit to making for the next 30 days, and then they'll come back on air to share how those changes have affected their lives. 3 KEY POINTS: The American healthcare system is reactionary, not proactive, and often treats symptoms and not the whole person. You have to do your research to determine products safe for your home, where you can control most of the toxins you expose yourself to. You can decide how far you want to go with it, but even taking a few small steps towards reducing the chemicals and toxins in your home can go a long way. TWEETABLE QUOTES: "If it was being produced in this country, if I could buy it in a story, we live in the United States for crying out loud, we're not a third world country, so it had to be safe. Why would I question it? Then I started finding out just because it's sold in a store, doesn't mean it's safe for us." –Aimee Carlson "The body is made to remove toxins. We remove them through our breath, we remove them through sweat, our blood removes it, our kidneys, our livers… but when we inundate it through bioaccumulation, we get into this state called toxic overload." –Aimee Carlson RESOURCES MENTIONED: Schedule a time to talk with Erik. Find Erik on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter Visit AimeeCarlson.com Find Aimee on LinkedIn, Facebook, and YouTube Listen to The Toxin Terminator Podcast
