In Episode 51 of The Holistic Nutritionists Podcast, Natalie Douglas and Kate Callaghan discuss how to live a low tox life and how to go low tox to reduce your exposure.

• Why low tox living is important
• What we use for personal care and hygiene
• What we use to clean our house
• What we use for laundry 
• Kids and toxins
• Kates low tox paint
• Plenty of banter!

• Alex Stuart Low Tox Life
• Nourished Life

Intro 0:00
Hello and welcome to The Holistic Nutritionists Podcast, with your hosts Natalie K. Douglas, Thyroid Healer, and Kate Callaghan, The Holistic Nutritionist. Nat and Kate are degree-qualified dietitians and nutritionists, certified fitness instructors, speakers, and authors. If you love unfiltered banter, unedited bloopers, and authentic heart-sharing, then we are your ladies! Now it’s time to sit back, relax, and get ready for our latest tips on living your healthiest life possible.

Natalie K. Douglas 0:37
Hi, guys! Welcome back to the podcast. I have now lost count of what episode it is but who really cares, right? I’ll take that as a, I don’t care.

Kate Callaghan 0:47
I don’t care.

Natalie K. Douglas 0:56
Thanks and queue your response. Thanks, thanks for that. So, Kate, we actually haven’t been on just you and me for a few episodes now or a couple because we’ve had much more professional people on to talk about stuff.

Kate Callaghan 1:10
I know. It’s been pretty awesome actually chatting to the people, not that I don’t love you but you know.

Natalie K. Douglas 1:15
But we’ve actually been able to ask more questions than banter for a couple of weeks, which has been interesting.

Kate Callaghan 1:21
Correct. That’s going to lead you love the banter?

Natalie K. Douglas 1:24
Yeah, but I know. We do. I do feel like people tell us often though, that they’re quite happy with our banter. So that’s that’s good, because I probably couldn’t stop it if I tried.

Kate Callaghan
Exactly.

Natalie K. Douglas
Anyway, do you have before we jump into today’s podcast? Do you have any important announcements, reminders, anything of that description?

Kate Callaghan
I don’t think so. No. Do you?

Natalie K. Douglas
Yes.

Kate Callaghan 1:48
Yes, I was going to say, yes, you do.

Natalie K. Douglas 1:51
I’m getting married, everybody. I’m getting married on Sunday. I hope, so I assume that I’ll probably release the podcast very shortly. So yeah, I’m getting married. Isn’t that exciting? And then I’m really I’m actually really hoping that I don’t trip down the aisle. You see, I don’t ever wear heels but I am wearing heels. I’m also extraordinarily clumsy. And my mom’s walking me down the aisle. And she’s also very clumsy. So I feel like I’ve had to do a lot of visualization about like, not tripping.

Kate Callaghan
You won’t trip. I wore some some pretty high heels and was kind of walking through mud, not mad but grass where your heels sink in.

Natalie K. Douglas
Yes, I will be doing that too.

Kate Callaghan
I put my bridesmaids in some ridiculously high heels.

Natalie K. Douglas 2:38
Oh, no. I actually, I actually made my bridesmaids wear flats, because I’m so short, and I was like just for once in my life I’d like to be at someone’s eye height. So I mean, I probably still be.

Kate Callaghan 2:49
Yeah, I didn’t I didn’t think about that. That’s a good, that’s a good to do because my all my friends are kind of like, Amazonian models. And then I just made them more Amazonian.

Natalie K. Douglas 2:59
Yeah, right. No, I I doubt you know. I was like, all right, you guys just need to come down and not chin height so because they’re all I mean, yeah, there are what everyone’s taller than me. So it’s not really hard. But you know they’re, some of them are tall, the other ones aren’t that tall, but they’re taller than me. Anyway, that’s beside the point.

Kate Callaghan
Very exciting.

Natalie K. Douglas
Yes, very exciting. And then when I get back, it won’t be too long until I launched my thyroid program, which I will give more information about that as it gets closer. But for now, just know there’s a thyroid program coming in February. But yeah, I will share more about that as it gets closer. Today’s podcast is actually a bit of a casual chat with Kate and I. Just about how we actually decrease toxic load in our life, basically. So we’re going to go through a whole bunch of areas in our life where maybe toxins would come in, and just tell you, openly and honestly what we use and in each area. So you guys have some information there. Because it’s a question that we get asked a little bit I know I get asked a little bit in terms of oh, what do you use for deodorant, or what do you use for perfume, or why do you work your benches down with? And so I thought we just, you know, tackle that all in one podcast and give you some information and feel free to share your what you guys use because there’s heaps of stuff out there. And I don’t know about you, Kate. But I’m always like, interested in what everyone else is using. So yes.

Kate Callaghan 4:32
Absolutely. Absolutely. Should we jump in?

Natalie K. Douglas
We should.

Kate Callaghan
Okay, so first of all, it’s probably a good idea to talk about what is low tox living and and why bother?

Natalie K. Douglas
Yes.

Kate Callaghan
Yeah, yeah, yeah?

Natalie K. Douglas 4:47
Yes, we should talk about that. Great question.

Kate Callaghan 4:51
I think you meant to ask me that question. Yeah.

Natalie K. Douglas 4:57
This is going really well. Anyway, everybody. So yes, decreasing toxic load is important for so many things. I mean, we know that toxins, like we’re pretty much exposed to toxins wherever you go, you can’t really escape it. But there are ways that you can actually mitigate how much you are exposed to. And the reason that’s important is because, yes, your body has a great detoxification system, but it still has a limited capacity to detox effectively, and the less load that we can place on that system, the better it’s going to function. And I guess, it will cause the least amount of havoc in our body. So where do we have a high toxic load? Probably the two or three real key areas that would be affected would be our hormonal health, which then has on flows on to lots of different things, as, as you guys know, also your thyroid health, and your skin. So a lot of a lot of people who have a high toxic load will experience thyroid issues, hormonal issues, like period issues, and also skin issues. And it’s not to say you’ll experience all of those, but they are definitely some of the key ones. And then when we get into, I guess, more of the heavy metal type toxic load, we can see a real negative impact on neurological health and, and that side of things. So I guess, it’s not about doing a detox, you know, every season or anything like that, it’s really about trying to live a low toxic life or low tox life for, you know, year-round, so that, you know, you like you are decreasing the load on your system, not just in acute ways and doing like, you know, whatever, a liver detox every few months, but actually, just your baseline is very low, and it will just allow the system to function more optimally. So that was a really long answer. Kate, do you have anything to add to that?

Kate Callaghan 7:08
No, that was pretty thorough. Excellent.

Natalie K. Douglas
Thanks.

Kate Callaghan
And and just because it’s what all the cool kids are doing right now.

Natalie K. Douglas 7:14
Yeah, I know, right.

Kate Callaghan
Yeah.

Natalie K. Douglas
Anyway, okay. So that kind of aside, I think now we’ll jump straight into how do we actually ask personally Kate in that, the holistic nutritionist. In case you’re unsure what podcast you’re listening to? How do we actually live a low tox life? So, let’s start with deodorant. Kate, what do you use as your deodorant?

Kate Callaghan 7:39
So, I have a couple of deodorants that I use. One of them is, so one of my favorites is called No Pong deodorant, and it’s one based in Australia, but I get it shipped over in bulk. I really like it because it’s mainly Diatomaceous Earth and a few other goodies but it’s very good for sensitive skin so it doesn’t have any Bicarb in it, which I need because I tend to react and get a rash with anything with Bicarb in it and it’s actually really really effective. The other one that I use is the the new doTERRA Balance Blend. I’m emphasizing new because their original natural deodorant one wasn’t so fad. It didn’t really work.

Natalie K. Douglas 8:20
As you still smelt like a sock or do you react?

Caitlin Ficken 8:22
Yeah, it still like sock.

Natalie K. Douglas 8:25
You have to say I still smelt like a sock.

Kate Callaghan 8:34
I did, I smelt a sock. Yeah, a moldy sock.

Natalie K. Douglas
I’m just going to cut that partly out and like.

Kate Callaghan
Socks at a bin with a gym bag.

Natalie K. Douglas 8:35
Oh, that’s nasty or like a shin pad when you, I don’t know if you ever used to play sport, but yeah, yeah, shin pad that’s been in a bag for too long. Man, that’s bad.

Kate Callaghan 8:43
Yeah. Anyway, the New Balance one smells delicious.

Natalie K. Douglas
Okay.

Kate Callaghan
And it’s actually really effective. Side note, I was thinking about deodorant, as well. It was actually the last thing that I changed in terms of high tox to low tox, even though it’s probably one of the most toxic things. Because the aluminum and you know, we’re not actually meant to stop ourselves from sweating. We’re meant to sweat, and all the dodgy ingredients that you’re going to try lymphatic system pot by using deodorant, but I I don’t like smelly like sock so.

Natalie K. Douglas
Understandably.

Kate Callaghan
I used you know a dodgy job for a long time. Yeah, but then I changed. I would say it’s a good idea to change during winter. I mean, always you should change but the best time is during winter because you will sweat less and smell less. And to know that it can take a while to and for your for your body to adapt. If you have been using more of those toxic deodorants, those antiperspirants, it can take a while for your body to adapt and decrease that smell. And for moms who’ve just had a baby, yes, it’s hardly normal to smell more than usual. So with all those hormones going around, you probably thinking that you have quite stinky pits. So, along along with you know, still bleeding post-baby and leaking boobs with milk and uncontrollable fat increase.

Natalie K. Douglas
It sounds like those, keep selling it.

Kate Callaghan
So glamorous. And sleep deprivation, you also get stinky pits. Totally normal that does balance out after a while, okay?

Natalie K. Douglas 10:19
Okay, nice. So I have. Yes, but very good. Very good advice. And also, I think you’ve extended my contraception for a few more years. Thanks for that. I always love talking to you about this. Anyway, so what I was going to add was just to emphasize what Kate said on the actual, like negative effects of using an antiperspirant because it’s so one of the ways we actually help detox which the less toxic load you have, the less toxins you have in your body, the least like you’re not going to smell as bad. And if we stop ourselves sweating, we’re stopping one key way of detoxing, like we one way to detox is to sweat. So yeah, allow yourself to sweat. And yeah, just gradually change over to a more natural deodorant and also know that as you start to leave a lower tox life and also eat better, drink enough water, you will also stop smelling as bad. There are certain medications and things like that can can also influence your smell. I want to embarrass on, I know I will. So, when I first met my partner, I think he might be listening. He was on antidepressants, and he smelt like a dirty sock. I still I’m actually still marrying him. But anyway, but then when we’re interesting when we when we took him off those and then started to clean up his diet and all that kind of stuff. It completely changed. So that’s an important kind of piece to the puzzle as well. And yeah, as Kate said, there are hormonal influences. In terms of what I use so I used to be like a real DIY warrior and I used to actually just put like, Bicarb and coconut oil under my pits but then I was like no, I think I’m going to move up in the world a little bit and buy a product just because it was easier. So the one I actually have been using and liking is doctor organically, Dr. Organics. Yeah, it’s the pomegranate one and it smells really nice as well. I want to try the black chicken one though. I’ve heard good things about that as well.

Kate Callaghan
Heard good things about that.

Natalie K. Douglas
So, that’s next on my list but I still have plenty of the Dr. Organic one but I’m interested also to try the doTERRA one that you mentioned Kate. I haven’t tried that yet. So there’s lots on my on my list to try but yes, that’s what I use. So moving on.

Kate Callaghan 12:49
Do you know what I also love. So, we’re not we’re not moving on yet.

Natalie K. Douglas
Oh, yes, no we’re not.

Kate Callaghan
Do you know why I also love the No Pong is because it comes in a little stainless steel container it doesn’t come with plastic.

Natalie K. Douglas 12:58
Oh, that’s lovely. I didn’t know that. Maybe, I’ll try that. Okay, No pong.

Kate Callaghan 13:00
And you can and you can reuse it that stainless steel container. So, I rinsed and used it to carry my salt when I went hiking.

Natalie K. Douglas
Oh, that’s nice.

Kate Callaghan
As you do. You clean out your deodorant container and put salt in it for your food.

Natalie K. Douglas 13:13
Of course, you do. Of course, you do. All right, there you go. Decreasing the load on the environment too. All right.

Kate Callaghan
Exactly.

Natalie K. Douglas
So next, perfume. What do you use for perfume?

Kate Callaghan 13:25
I use pure essential oils. Pure doTERRA essential oils. This is coming from, people probably rolling their eyes now, that I used to be a beauty publicist and I worked for some pretty high-end fragrance companies. I think Prada, Hermes, Thierry Mugler, Laura Mercier. I used all the good shit. So I know what it’s like to use really high-end, good quality not just your Britney Spears $30.

Natalie K. Douglas
I used to use that.

Kate Callaghan
Sorry, sorry.

Natalie K. Douglas
It’s okay. I couldn’t. Oh, yeah, keep going.

Kate Callaghan
So now, I literally just use pure essential oils. I might use rose, or jasmine, or ylang ylang, or some of the beautiful blends that doTERRA do like peace, or console, or a cheer. They’re all did some really stunning blends that it just made from plant essential oils and actually coconut oil or you can mix them with jojoba oil which helps to extend the oils a little bit longer.

Natalie K. Douglas
Nice.

Kate Callaghan
You?

Natalie K. Douglas 14:23
I use similar. I will I’ve never used fancy stuff. I was the cheap person looking for the Britney Spears or the Jennifer Lopez in Priceline Pharmacy after school but that’s okay. No judgment.

Kate Callaghan 14:37
I did use impulse. I used to use impulse.

Natalie K. Douglas 14:38
Oh, my God. I used to love impulse too.

Kate Callaghan
Yeah.

Natalie K. Douglas
And sometimes I just go in the morning like, like there was a Priceline near the bus stop. Sometimes, I just go and like spray it instead of going and buying it. How bad is that? What a little rebel? I used to just, I’m just under smelling it. Meanwhile, like half the and I and like yeah, nevermind. Anyway, so I actually use the doTERRA cheer blend. That’s my favorite. And everyone’s always like, you smell so nice. I’m like, I know.

Kate Callaghan
Yeah, I do.

Natalie K. Douglas
It’s it’s just natural. I smell like essential oils. No, I tell them I smell nice. So I really I really love that one. And I also like its name cheer. And it just I just really yeah, I really like it although I am about to start using peace and have also heard really good feedback about the passion blend as well.

Kate Callaghan
Yes.

Natalie K. Douglas
So yeah, they’re my favorite and you know, like you’re kind of doubling up in terms of there are benefits to those essential oils in terms of just inhaling and inhaling them and applying them topically and you also smell good. So I feel like that’s a no brainer. Like it’s it’s just an easy switch that has multiple benefits instead of going and trying to find like other I don’t know made-up ones. I’ve smelt some of the natural perfumes and I still like there’s something not right about the smell. Anyway, so I really like those and they don’t like to smell bad after a period of time. Like I feel like they hold really well and you don’t end up smelling like you’re trying to cover up smelling bad if that makes sense. Everyone knows what I’m talking about. Like there’s that smell where you’re like, it’s starting to linger through but I’m covering it up with this other thing. Anyway, so that’s that. All right, next one face wash and moisturizer. Go.

Kate Callaghan 16:27
Face wash? I use Dr. Bronner’s castile soap, the baby mild one. So, it’s unscented that’s what I use. Moisturizer, I make my own. So I have two, I make a serum with a blend of carrier oils. I think I use jojoba, apricot kernel oil, vitamin E oil, maybe avocado oil, I’ve got the recipe website under DIY, nontoxic skincare.

Natalie K. Douglas
Awesome.

Kate Callaghan
And then I add essential oils to that so I might add some frankincense, some ylang ylang, lavender. So all of these oils are wonderful for skin. Keeping me looking 21 forever clearly.

Natalie K. Douglas
Absolutely.

Kate Callaghan
And decreasing pigmentation and blemishes and just really really nourishing for the skin. I might add some rose because I was lucky enough to get rose and jasmine. Making a bit fancy pants.

Natalie K. Douglas
That’s so fancy.

Kate Callaghan
6 US dollars per drop.

Natalie K. Douglas
Oh, my gosh.

Kate Callaghan
Geranium as well. I always add those to my, moisturizes, they’re all well known for your skin. Moisturizer, I will use the Tui baby balm, and again mixing essential oils to that.

Natalie K. Douglas
Nice.

Kate Callaghan
And the new Yarrow Pom. Have you seen the new Yarrow Pom essential?

Natalie K. Douglas
No, I haven’t.

Kate Callaghan
So it’s Yarrow and Pomegranate and it’s blue and is higher in antioxidants and vitamin C and vitamin A so really good for skin and reducing oxidative stress.

Natalie K. Douglas 17:46
Don’t give me more reasons to go and buy more because I will. Okay, cool. So mine’s pretty similar, actually. The only thing I’d say I probably do differently is occasionally when I remember it, I use witch hazel as a toner but I just use witch hazel and then I drop a drop of like tea tree and lavender in there as well and just spray that on. But to be honest, I’m not all that consistent, I’m actually terrible at remembering to do that whole process but pretty similar to you in terms of in terms of what I use. I mean I do sometimes, I go on to NourishedLife.com and sometimes I’ll try like, I don’t know a few different moisturizers or whatever that I kind of have stopped doing that just because it’s it’s much easier and more cost-effective just to make my own and put some essential oils in there that I like. But if you if for some reason you didn’t want to use essential oils or you preferred like not making anything nourish like it’s a good place to look at for certain kind of ones that are already done, although doTERRA do also have some skincare ranges. I haven’t used them personally or looked into them but yeah, there’s lots of different options for that kind of stuff. And yeah, but I totally think that making them yourself is quite easy and you can always just buy like me and Kate have done by like a base and then add your essential oils in instead of having to do I don’t know too much work.

Kate Callaghan 19:24
Yeah, I’m on the other brands in New Zealand. I used to use Tailor Skincare which I absolutely love and I would still use it if I wasn’t making my own. And I’ve heard good things about a Faith as well.

Natalie K. Douglas 19:36
Okay, nice. We will pop those down. All right, now what about body wash?

Kate Callaghan 19:44
Easy, Dr. Bronner’s castile soap, baby mild. That’s it.

Natalie K. Douglas 19:46
Yes, the same, except I made the mistake one day.

Kate Callaghan
You put peppermint in, didn’t you?

Natalie K. Douglas
Yes, Dr. Bronner’s peppermint one and my vagina was on fire like queue Alicia Keys song This girl is on Fire because I just I just and I I just. Do not put peppermint peppermint near your lady garden. Also, don’t put it into your eyes. My partner the other day he had he was putting peppermint oil in his tail or something like that. And then he touched his eyes and was like oh, that sucks but oh and then he also did thing where you use the ice blue and then touch his balls. Not good.

Kate Callaghan
Why?

Natalie K. Douglas
Guys just scratch their balls too often. I think he just forgot to wash his hands.

Kate Callaghan 20:39
Do you know what? I’m beginning to realize this whenever Ed does not have a nappy on. He just he just goes for it.

Natalie K. Douglas 20:44
Yeah what’s what’s with it like it can’t. It can’t be that itchy surely or they’re just adjusting them. I don’t understand.

Kate Callaghan 20:49
Oh, he’s not scratching he’s just he’s just not ashamed about playing with it. Just gives it a good slap.

Natalie K. Douglas 21:00
Well, it’s not awkward yet. I mean when he’s a bit older and you catch him might be but that’s all right. He’s just exploring. I feel like it would be real. I mean imagine having just something like hanging off you. I mean, we have boobs but a penis is weird as well like.

Kate Callaghan
Penises are weird.

Natalie K. Douglas
They are. When you really think about it they are actually really weird. Like everyone just stop what you’re doing and think about how actually funny penises are. Okay, moving on.

Kate Callaghan 21:22
Balls. Yeah, let’s move on.

Natalie K. Douglas 21:26
Yeah, that was supposed to be about body wash not about penises. But anyway, just we thought, do not put peppermint essential oil near any of your bits because it does. Like it’s it’s very not pleasant. And it’s really hard to wash off. The more you try and do it the more it just burns, anyway.

Kate Callaghan 21:43
You don’t wash oils off in the water.

Natalie K. Douglas 21:49
I didn’t know that when my vagina was burning. I was just really concerned about it burning. Okay, anyway, moving on. What about like a surface cleaner? So that’s another thing that people often ask about you know because there’s the old, what did I used to use like.

Kate Callaghan
Jif?

Natalie K. Douglas
Jif flex something.

Kate Callaghan
Spray in what?

Natalie K. Douglas
Smell like.

Kate Callaghan
So, thank you. Ajax spray and wipe.

Natalie K. Douglas
Thanks, Kate, that’s exactly the one I was using. So now I don’t use that anymore. I actually use a mix of On Guard essential oil, the doTERRA On Guard essential oil, like a few drops of that and a few drops of lemon and I mix it with kind of like 50/50 vinegar and water. I don’t know if that ratio is correct. It’s just I didn’t have time to look it up. So it’s like this feels right. And that’s when I use I literally wipe down everything with that. So yeah, Kate, you?

Kate Callaghan 22:45
Yeah, I do something similar or if I’m being lazy and can’t be able to make my own I use the doTERRA On Guard cleaning concentrate. Might just add one and a half teaspoons to my little spray bottle. My two dollar little spray bottle that I got from Kmart, shake that up and use that. It’s really really effective and it works at about 50 cents per bottle.

Natalie K. Douglas 23:03
Awesome. I like it. Yeah, let’s see like, and you can honestly you can actually get bought it like those little glass bottle things yeah from places like Kmart you can also get them online. I can’t remember where I got mine. So I was trying and thinking about it, but I can’t. Anyway, you can also Google it and find them online quite cheaply. And then you know again, you’re being friendly to the environment because you’re not like buying heaps of plastic stuff and it’s so much better for you because when you think about it like you’re wiping down the surfaces semi-regularly depending on how often you use the kitchen or whatever. And you are actually inhaling all of that stuff and I don’t know about you but I used to get serious headaches when I was cleaning when I was using toxic stuff. And I just thought I didn’t really think anything of it for a period there and then now I don’t feel like queasy or unwell after I’ve been cleaning because I’m not using the shit.

Kate Callaghan 23:57
Uplifted and energized and self-righteous.

Natalie K. Douglas 24:06
Like I could do it all over again. Yeah, I know, right. All right, next is laundry liquid. Do you, I’m actually pretty bad on this like I don’t use an unnatural one but I haven’t gone out of my way to make anything yet. What about you?

Kate Callaghan 24:17
I use ecostore.

Natalie K. Douglas
Yeah.

Kate Callaghan
Which might shocked people that I don’t actually use doTERRA’s yet. Yeah, I actually haven’t tried doTERRA’s yet. I know I’d slap on the wrist for me. I’ve heard it’s amazing but yeah, I use the ecostore. Usually the sensitive one and then I might add some essential oils into it.

Natalie K. Douglas 24:34
Oh, nice. What what essential oil do you add into it?

Kate Callaghan 24:37
I like the purify, the cleansing blend, or might just add tea tree if I’m doing Ed’s nappies. I’d probably do tea tree and purify because Ed’s stinky man. If it’s more bedsheets then I might add some lavender or lavender piscine.

Natalie K. Douglas 24:50
Oh, nice. That’s actually a really good idea. I haven’t I didn’t even think of that. So yeah, I do a similar thing. I’m pretty sure it’s the ecostore when I use or something something similar like very similar. But yes came to try the doTERRA one as well. And I’m going to try adding the essential oils there you go. I’ve learned something new. Toilet cleaner, I just use again like a like a natural I can’t remember the brand, wow, that’s really hopeless. Sorry, I’m having a mind blank. But a similar like an ecostore type one as well but I don’t.

Kate Callaghan
Not Duck?

Natalie K. Douglas 25:25
No, not Duck. Look if it smells like you’re about to die it’s probably not good for you so.

Kate Callaghan
Not bleach?

Natalie K. Douglas
No.

Kate Callaghan
Money Muscle?

Natalie K. Douglas
Have you worked for them as well? You need to calm down. All right, what do you use?

Kate Callaghan 25:35
I don’t clean the toilet. I get my husband to.

Natalie K. Douglas 25:38
What does us use?

Kate Callaghan 25:41
Either the the On Guard cleaning concentrate, or sometimes a little baking soda combination. It says if it’s really needing a good scrub.

Natalie K. Douglas
All right. Nice. Okay.

Kate Callaghan
Baking soda and vinegar, essential oils, lemon is really good at getting out stains.

Natalie K. Douglas
I didn’t know that. I should know that. That’s good. I have a few stains. Not on my toilet but just. Sorry, everybody. There’s no stains in my pristine toilet. Actually, it probably is. But anyway, moving on. So what about air fresheners? So I, I actually totally forgot that like air freshener, like actual air fresheners were a thing until I was in I was somewhere the other day in some building or maybe I was in the bathroom or something. I don’t know. I think I was just in the building. And then this thing like just like was like, and I was like what the fuck is that? Oh, I swear, sorry. What she did use is that and then I saw like something come out of some air freshener on the wall. And I was like, oh my gosh, I forgot that people do that. But they all smell like look like a toilet. Anyway. So air fresheners. I actually really liked a few like after I clean or after I’ve done a lot of.

Kate Callaghan
Poop?

Natalie K. Douglas
Actually, no, but I probably my, no I actually don’t, but I probably should put something in the bathroom. I think that would be nice. Although I’m like fine if like I poo and then someone walks in after me. And they’re like, oh, that smells I’m like, oh, it’s a shit. Like, what do you expect? I’m not putting roses. I don’t know about you? Anyway, so but I feel like if maybe you could carry like a little one with you if you’re like were on a date or it’s like your boyfriend’s house and you’re just new. And like, there’s that awkward thing where you don’t want them to go into the bathroom after you. So you could probably spray something. But I feel like when people put spray.

Kate Callaghan 27:27
Do you know what, for a good two years when my husband and I first started dating, I would not poo in his toilet.

Natalie K. Douglas 27:32
Two years that’s long.

Kate Callaghan 27:33
It was so uncomfortable that I would run run downstairs and go to like the main one in their building or I’d go across the road to a shop or.

Natalie K. Douglas 27:41
What was your excuse? Oh, sorry, I just need to pop outside.

Kate Callaghan 27:46
I have to go and buy something, or something for dinner, or yeah, already just hold on. It was really uncomfortable.

Natalie K. Douglas
Oh, no. That’s the worst.

Kate Callaghan
To leave in the morning in.

Natalie K. Douglas 27:54
It feels like oh my God. Yes, poo time. Yeah, no, we actually me and my partner disgusting poos a lot. I was.

Kate Callaghan
We do now.

Natalie K. Douglas
Yeah. I think I feel I feel like it took me probably about maybe a year, I’d say probably a year to not be embarrassed about pooing. I don’t know it was like this is actually fine. I can poo, anyway. So feel free to poo everybody. But air fresheners, so I really like just putting something like On Guard in the diffuser, or lemon, or I quite like Eucalyptus as well. And then the other one I really like is Easy Air. Just if I feel like I don’t know breathing better there are any of those ones are nice. Like you don’t have like, I don’t think I mean, I don’t think you need to put them on all the time or anything like that. But those ones particularly On Guard after you’ve like cleaned or something because it’s quite antimicrobial and has those kind of actions can be helpful. Do you have any additional ones you use, or to even bother Kate?

Kate Callaghan 28:57
I do. I change them every day, though, depending on how I want to feel. So, today, I had a client just before who was struggling with weight and body image issues. So before she came, I popped some grapefruit in the diffuser, which is really good. It’s the oil of honoring the body. And I put it with some wild orange and lime and it smells so good, beautiful, uplifting blend of citrus. But yeah, it depends on how I feel today and how I want to feel or what time of day for the afternoon. I want more calming, or more uplifting but yes, just essential oils with those with those body air fresheners. They always go off when I’m on the toilet in a public place and I feel so violated.

Natalie K. Douglas
Yes.

Kate Callaghan
I feel so violated.

Natalie K. Douglas
It feels like there’s something watching you in there.

Kate Callaghan
When you’re on the toilet you can’t escape. Right now you just have to sit in your toxic waft.

Natalie K. Douglas
Yeah.

Kate Callaghan
And you might have.

Natalie K. Douglas
Yeah. And I feel like they’re telling me that I’m not allowed to smell. I can smell if I want to smell. I’m in the bathroom.

Kate Callaghan
Big time. You can’t escape these chemicals that they’re spraying on you because you’re stuck in the toilet. Just wanting create quite a mist.

Natalie K. Douglas
Which we wouldn’t advise, anyway. Okay. All right.

Kate Callaghan
I think everyone knows that by now.

Natalie K. Douglas 30:07
Yes, this is true. All right, moving on. So I wanted to ask you if there’s any other work, like, is there anything additional that you can think of that you do for for the kids in terms of decreasing their toxic load that you can think of? I mean, obviously, they’re just mini-humans, so you’re going to do a lot of the same stuff. But is there anything that we’ve missed that you can think of that you’d like to share?

Kate Callaghan 30:32
Yeah, pretty much the same thing. When we’re washing our hands, we use all-natural hand wash, I try and take a little hand sanitizer, the On Guard Hand Sanitizer with us. So if we’re out in public places, and we need to wash their hands, we don’t use toxic triclosan hand soap, or we just use water and pour in their fingers. It’s usually all right for that.

Natalie K. Douglas
Got to watch Ed though.

Kate Callaghan
Oh, I’ve got to watch that boy, Jesus. Yeah, I mean, we get organic veggies where we can to decrease that toxic load. But pretty much it’s mostly coming from a personal care products. And yeah, I don’t really use a lot of products on them. In terms of wash, we use just mostly water, we might use a little bit of gentle soap if needed. But I don’t wash their hair and yeah, they’re hippy children. Really.

Natalie K. Douglas 31:22
I love it. I love it. The other thing I was going to add was in terms of like, I’m just thinking how like, where else do we decrease toxic load. And the other thing I like that really pops into mind is like, obviously, besides diet, we’re not jumping down that bandwagon today, because we’ve spoken about that before. But the other two areas I wanted to mention was how you store your food and heat your food. So I would say I definitely use glass or stainless steel for food storage, or anything like that. And and we drink bottles as well again, using glass or stainless steel as opposed to plastic. So that’s a really, a really good and easy switch to make in terms of starting to decrease your toxic load because there are a lot of hormonal disruptors that come through plastic, not just in terms of when you’re heating, I mean, that’s worse, but even just storing some stuff depending on on what it is. And you can just gradually start to replace those kind of things. And then yeah, definitely the the drinking water and drinking bottles being mindful of that. And then the other thing I would say is water, like water quality. So I you I’m a fan of reverse osmosis water filtration systems. And also, I use the Southern Cross Pottery, water filter as well, that just sits on top of the bench. So I’m a big fan of filtered water because it helps to remove a lot of like chlorine and fluoride and different kind of bacteria and other heavy metals as well which, although in Australia, we have, you know, pretty damn good water quality comparatively, there’s still a lot of stuff that gets through and I feel like filtered water is a really good thing to invest in because you’re drinking, hopefully, you’re drinking quite a lot of it throughout the day. And I think that’s really important. And I think it’s important for not just hormonal health, but also for and obviously, detoxification or liver health, but also for gut health. So we actually know that chlorine and in particular, and even fluoride are antibacterial, and that’s partly why I mean the chlorine. That’s partly why it’s put into the water in the first place, like when they’re doing it through the big filtration stuff before it even gets to us. But if you’re taking in all that chlorine, then you’re essentially putting in something that’s killing all of your gut bacteria or affecting it or changing its diversity on a really constant basis, which I personally don’t feel like is a really good thing to do. So there’s lots of different water filters available. There’s portable ones, there’s ones you attach to your tap, but yeah, I’m a fan of the reverse osmosis ones. And I have used and do use the Southern Cross Pottery ones as well. Kate, do you, like any thoughts on on any of those things?

Kate Callaghan 34:29
All right. Yeah, no, I totally agree. We’re looking into some reverse osmosis water filters, I really want to get one of those big ceramic ones as well. I think what you’re just talking about, then the Pottery ones. I’m just going to try to find trying to find a source in New Zealand.

Natalie K. Douglas
There’s Southern Cross Pottery there?

Kate Callaghan
Just one final thing. I don’t know. I haven’t looked. But I will get those details from you. One final thing that I didn’t mention is that also building our house, we’ve been using non-toxic paint.

Natalie K. Douglas
Oh, yes.

Kate Callaghan
So I have to give a shout out to the Natural Paint Co because their paint is fabulous. We went there the other day, literally straight after they’d painted. I don’t know who actually meant to go in because it’s kind of all taped up but we went. We went the red oh, anyway. Didn’t smell at all. Whereas you might go into a house that’s been painted two weeks ago, and it would still smell all chemically.

Natalie K. Douglas
Oh, yeah. That is the worst smell.

Kate Callaghan
It was really important to us. Yeah. Especially as we’ve got small humans, we don’t want them absorbing those chemicals.

Natalie K. Douglas
Yeah. That’s awesome. That’s a really good.

Kate Callaghan
So, Natural Paint Co if you’re in New Zealand, check it out.

Natalie K. Douglas 35:32
Yeah, that’s awesome. I really like that. Alright, cool. Well, I think that hopefully has given people a bit of information, sorry, we’re a bit silly. We both are quite tired this week. So we thought we’d just do something easy. But you know, it’s nice to kind of let you guys in on what we actually do. And I know that it can be helpful to just get ideas. So I guess the last thing I just wanted to touch on before we do wrap up is, Kate, if ever if someone’s listening, and they haven’t really started down this path yet, where would you say to start, or where did you start? And I can give you give you guys where I started over. I’d recommend as well. But where did you start or where would you recommend?

Kate Callaghan 36:17
I think just making simple swaps. Whatever you feel most comfortable with, I would actually start with personal care products, maybe your perfume, it’s literally a simple swap, and it’s going to have a big impact. The junk that is in most mainstream perfumes is really, really toxic. So switch it out for some natural essential oils. Yeah, a lot of the time, you probably be saving money and getting health benefits and not getting the toxic load.

Natalie K. Douglas 36:43
Yes, agreed. The other thing I’d probably start with or what I kind of did start with is water. Life-changing where my like the source of water and how I store it. That was kind of just the first thing I change. But it really, as Kate said, it really doesn’t matter. Like just start and don’t feel overwhelmed by all of the changes, just tackle one at a time. And before you know it, you’ll have like no chemicals left in your house and everything will be replaced. And don’t be afraid to ask questions or ask other people that you know are kind of living this way what they use, because I guarantee you they’re more than happy to to share people who are living this way are pretty passionate about it. So feel free to ask including us if you have questions. And also feel free to share with us if you feel like you, you know, I don’t know you use some product or thing that we didn’t mention that you really love them. I know I’d love to hear about it. So feel free to shout out to us. Kate before we go anything?

Kate Callaghan
Actually.

Natalie K. Douglas
Yes?

Kate Callaghan 37:46
Sorry, before we go. One thing, I know we’re running overtime, but I think it’s important and I want to give a shout out to Alex Jewett and her book Low Tox Life, which is fabulous.

Natalie K. Douglas
Yeah, and she has some program.

Kate Callaghan
Really, really easy. Yes, she’s up programs, but the book is really well laid out. It’s beautiful. And she’s got really easy swaps, and she explains why you need to make those swaps as well.

Natalie K. Douglas 38:07
We should try and get her on the podcast.

Kate Callaghan 38:10
We should. Yeah, I think she would.

Natalie K. Douglas 38:12
Awesome. Alright, well, we will work on that for everybody. But in the meantime, go check out her book, her website, her podcast as well and shoot us any questions that you have. We will see you guys in a few weeks’ time. Kate, have a lovely day.

Outro 38:28
Thanks for tuning in to The Holistic Nutritionists Podcast. Remember, we love to make the show relevant to you. If you have any questions or topics you’d like us to discuss, just submit them to [email protected] and we’ll get them answered for you. Also, don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and review the podcast on iTunes and share it with your friend. And if you’re looking for more info about how we can accelerate your journey to your optimal health, you can find me, Nat, over at NatalieKDouglas.com and Kate at TheHolisticNutritionist.com. See you next time!