Eliminating Toxins in Your Home with Bri Pruitt

Eliminating Toxins in Your Home with Bri Pruitt

[This is also an episode of Friday Free Talk on The Tranquility Tribe Podcast on iTunes. Listen here.]

All about Bri

Bri is a registered nurse and nutrition health coach and has been focusing on a healthy and holistic lifestyle for seven years.  She lives in Idaho with her six year old daughter and has countless tips and tricks for transitioning to a toxin-free lifestyle in steps so that you can achieve the life you want without feeling overwhelmed.

For as long as she can remember, Bri has been facing a variety of health issues.  From migraines to depression and anxiety to fatigue, she has always been curious about what was causing her health problems and how they could be prevented.  In an effort to avoid taking medication and create a healthy environment for her daughter, Bri really decided to pursue a clean lifestyle when she became pregnant.

As a nurse, Bri found that the hardest part was continuing to work in a hospital setting after transitioning to a holistic lifestyle because she felt that the patients that she worked with could benefit from the same type of lifestyle but those ideas were not well supported in her work environment.  This belief in the power of living a healthy lifestyle lead her to become a nutrition health coach so that she could help others achieve the same benefits that she had.

Reaching your toxin-free lifestyle

Pregnancy was a major catalyst for Bri to pursue a healthy lifestyle.  She first began her transition by switching to more green cleaning products after realizing how many chemicals the products that she had been using contained.  As Bri points out, you can start the switch anywhere in your life - whether it’s cleaning products, the food you eat, or the health products that you use, find the part of your life that most affects you and go from there.  

In addition to paying attention to the products that she uses, Bri also focuses on educating her daughter about the products and food that surround her.  In addition to using essential oils, Bri makes an effort to talk to her daughter about sugar, especially because of the increasing amounts that both adults and children consume in today’s society.  

Effects of household products on newborns

As Bri explains, studies done on cord blood of newborns have shown that the chemicals contained in everyday products can have an impact on your little one before they are even born.  Having a baby is one of the best times to switch to living a healthier lifestyle because by doing so, you give your tiny human a good baseline right from the beginning.

One change that can make a huge impact on you and your family’s health is trying to limit the amount of plastic you are exposed to.  From baby bottles to tupperware, chemicals from the plastic can leach into your food and affect your health. Bri advises replacing as much plastic in your life as possible with glass containers.  

As far as skincare, beauty products, and sunscreen, Bri and Hehe recommend avoiding products with toxins such as parabens, phthalates, and fragrance.  These ingredients indicate that the products contain chemicals that can be absorbed into your skin and affect you and your environment. Instead, look for products that contain natural ingredients.  This advice also applies to laundry detergents and fabric softeners, which contain a lot of fragrances and other chemicals. Hehe and Bri also point out that it’s important to look for period products that don’t contain fragrances and chemicals, especially because that area of your body is extremely absorbent.

As you make the switch to a cleaner lifestyle, Bri says that some of the health benefits that you can expect include better skin, better sleep, more energy, and decreased brain fog.  If that’s not convincing enough, Bri also points out that many people even experience decreased allergies and asthma, decreased hair loss, and even some weight loss!

Bri’s parting piece of self-care advice for parents is to let go of mom-guilt - you have to take care of yourself so that you can effectively take care of your kids!  Taking some time for yourself and not feeling guilty while doing so can make a huge difference in your energy and mood, and therefore your overall ability to be a caregiver for your family.

If you want to hear more from Bri, you can find her online at hippiedippiemom.com, on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest at @hippiedippiemom.  You can also email her at bri@hippiedippiemom.com.  

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Written by our Guest Blogger, Kyra Shreeve. She is a Biochemistry, Health Policy, and Music student at Brandeis University.