Introduction to Autoimmune Detox

Welcome back to the reverse Autoimmune Disease Summit series, everyone, I'm Doctor Kisha, yours. We are on our fourth iteration of the reverse Autoimmune Disease Summit series.

This is, of course, the autoimmune detox component. We're working with those four corner pieces of the puzzle. Each one of us are unique, but we all have genetics that are going to play a part in our own immunity.

We all have our gut and gut health that's going to play a part. We all have our own stress loads and past trauma that play a part in how those genetics or regulated or man are expressed, and also how our gut health is in the microbiota within there.

And then we also the that fourth corner piece is the toxic burden. And each of us is different in terms of how exposure to different kinds of toxins will impact us.

95% of Americans has Epstein-Barr virus. It's a good example, but not 95% of Americans have autoimmune disease with Epstein-Barr. So what we want to know is so what what is that component of toxic load and burden?

And part of that is the genetic aspect of how your body detoxes the toxins that you're exposed to. And what can we do in our exterior world to reduce the burden as much as possible and be kind to these beautiful bodies that carry us around throughout this lifetime.

So I'm really excited to introduce to you Julie Michelson, who is an international speaker, bestselling author, and a National Board Certified functional medicine health coach.

She specializes in inflammation and autoimmunity, so she has created aura the right way to partner with her clients in making changes necessary to reduce inflammation and optimize healing.

And I'm really excited to have you here, Julie, to talk about this. This is something that a lot of people are unaware of is, oh, I can actually reduce my load.

I have some choices that I can do here. So welcome to the series. Thank you so much. Thank you for having me. I always start off all my interviews, because I always say we have a reason that we all sit here, you know, with your own story.

And I find that they're quite compelling. The reasons that we are, are doing the work that we do in the world. And I would love to hear yours and have you share it with our viewers.

I thank you. Like so many of us, I got to this autoimmune healing world through my own journey with rheumatoid arthritis. I was in my early 30s when I was diagnosed as a single mom with three kids, and unfortunately for me, at the time, I believed my doctors when they said that I couldn't heal.

So I spent over a decade in decline, following their advice and taking their prescriptions. I was up to ten prescriptions by the time I luckily woke up and realized that perhaps there were things that I could do, to at least improve my symptoms.

I really never expected at that point that I could completely reverse them and heal. And so, you know, like many of us, that is where my passion comes from.

I want to make sure everybody knows that we can take control. And that's one of the reasons I love this subject of how we can reduce our toxic load, because, again, it's it's steps we can take to really impact our body's ability to heal.

Use that word control. And I always called control. The biggest addiction that humans have was that that's really that's the thing we want is control, right?

We want control over everything, including how we die and when we die, if we can have it, you know, like there's just so much around control that's present that I think autoimmune disease, cancer, things like that really sort of illustrate to us, oh, you really don't have control.

You never did have control in any semblance of control you think you have is just delusional.

Julie Michelsonu2019s Autoimmune Healing Story

But the thing that you have is control over how you respond to the things that are out of control out here. You know? So the idea that we can control out here is, is really that's never happening.

It's a mess. But we can control our own response to these things. And so this is what we're doing today is allowing for that. Right. Like okay so what can I control I can control that.

I put in my mouth. Can't necessarily control how polluted the in the planet is. Right. But I can control the part that I have control over. And so I, I really appreciate the subject so much because, it does have a great deal of impact on how your immune system and genetics will express themselves.

Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. And, you know, control and power are to me are connected. And so many of us with autoimmunity hit a point where we really feel like we have lost our power.

And so everything I do you do is all about regaining that power, you know, and, you know, making sure we we know what our choices are and how to support our bodies.

And so, yeah, this is I'm a total geek. I love all areas of lifestyle connected to autoimmunity. But this is an area very near and dear to my heart. My underlying cause of my rheumatoid arthritis is electricity.

So is what the toxicity. This is toxic overload. Heavy metals, molds and environmental toxins. So I thought I was passionate about it before. I'm even more passionate about it now.

Well, let's talk about the role the toxic burden plays. An autoimmune disease. We haven't made a direct connection. So let's let's talk a little bit about that.

What is the role. Absolutely. So I like to look at toxins as cumulative. Right. As you mentioned our bodies are these incredible things. And they're they're made to heal.

And we are made to detox. But due to things like genetics, some of us detox better than others. And like you said, different. We can you can take 100 people and give them the same exposure and get probably 100 outcomes or close to it.

But we are so overloaded now. You know, people ask me all the time, well, why are the autoimmune numbers, you know, on the rise exponentially? And I truly believe that one of the biggest reasons is this toxic burden, especially because, as you mentioned, it's it affects everything.

It's our air. It's our water, it's our food. It's everywhere. So it doesn't even need to be, you know, strange radioactive material or it's just day to day as we move on the planet.

And, and so that chronic state of inflammation, our body's always finding. It's doing what it supposed to do. You know, these toxins are invaders. And it just really sets up. And it.

You mentioned gut health. You know, we know, you know, the toxic load impacts the gut health food leads to food sensitivities and autoimmune responses.

And so it's this, this vicious cycle. But if we're not addressing again where we can make an impact on our bodies exposure, I think it's shortsighted.

You know, I'm going to use the term to start us off with a little bit, in, in earlier times on the planet, coal miners used to take a little yellow canary down into the coal mine with, and they would hang the cage up, and then they would pay attention.

If the canary fell over dead in the cage, they would know that slowly, slowly, these gases were accumulating in the shafts and that they needed to get out.

So the canary was the early warning alert system for them before there was a time of electronics measuring all of this. And so we really, you know, those of us with autoimmune disease, I think of us as those little caged canaries, you know, we're we're on this planet in our little cage of, of the world that we have created.

And those of us that keel over, you know, with an autoimmune illness are really the alert system for the rest of the world, that there's something going on in the toxic burden that the planet is holding between the air, soil and water.

And then our practices of, you know, dumping glyphosate and our farming practices. And just so much of what we do that is actually Covid was amazing to show us toxic burden of the planet before Covid.

And then three months later, so much had lightened because of our practices. Right. And so I'm going to just start us off with we are the canaries in the coal mine, the ones that are listening to this, who are interested in how to reverse their autoimmune disease.

And so if you can think of yourself in that way and say, oh, I happen to have this system that shows early warning, right? And this is actually a beautiful thing.

It's not a betrayal by my body. It's not something anyone's done to me. This happens to just be the system that I inhabit. Right? And I do 100% of my patients.

I do genetic testing on, and 100% of people with autoimmunity over the years have had mismatches between their phase one, phase two detoxification. And so we really do have a little hitch in our get along when it comes to being able to get rid of the toxins that we're exposed to.

So it's not necessarily about the burden out here, but our ability also to be able to release those things. And so this is a this is a really important talk and discussion.

And so I'm really glad for everyone that's joining us. So we've already kind of answered why it's important to pay attention. And if you're mammals, you know, it's really important to teach your children, right?

Because this planetary problem is not getting better. And you've passed your genetics on. Right? So yeah, those beautiful babies, sometimes even toxic soup, I know.

Yeah, yeah. And I always say, if you can't find the energy and the bandwidth and the mental clarity to do it for yourself, then make sure that you think about, okay, I've got a whole family here right?

That needs to because 80% of autoimmune diseases are diagnosed in women. And so, you know, this is this is a really also a very relevant subject. You know, we have more fat tissue than men.

We have breasts, right? Yeah. We have this pelvis that has a little bit more fat around it. And, you know, we're supposed to so that we can bare those babies.

And then in that, that fat tissue milieu of breast, that's where our milk comes through to feed our babies and said, this really becomes important for us to be able to unhook some of this, because a lot of these chemicals that we're talking about are estrogen mimicking, estrogen disrupting.

Right? Yeah, absolutely, absolutely.

Toxic Burden, Genetics, and the Canaries in the Coal Mine

And I mean, as you're saying, and and visualizing, you know, and because we know that that's where those toxins are sitting is in our fat. Yeah. Yeah, it is really it is really remarkable.

And just to circle back to what you said before about, you know, this, we are the Canaries and this isn't a betrayal of our body. No formation. Yes. No, we actually we shift our thinking and realize that it is a gift.

We just sometimes need the support to uncover exactly what it is our body is telling us, so that we can correct it and having a really finely tuned, subtle energy system like that that can pick it up earlier is such a blessing, because then that means you're going to be a little bit more attuned, aware, educated, collaborative, you know, and articulate about what it is the rest of the world needs to hear and so if you can start that dialog with compassionate curiosity with your system, then it can permeate out to the rest of your, your the rings of your community.

Right. And then, yeah. So my, my stories are a totally, they're in my early 30s, you know, and, and I was able to reverse it within six months because I really started that dialog with my body asking, okay, buddy, why?

Why are we killing ourselves right now? You know, like, instead of, how do I get out of this as rapidly as possible? I really started asking that question instantly, like, oh, autoimmune means I'm attacking me.

That means I'm at war with myself. When did I first want to die? You know, and and that was a really important question. And so that's that that body that is such a gift that we're given, you know, is it has its own consciousness and it provides information all the time.

And it will give that to you if you ask it. So where is a good place to start? When we're starting to talk about the toxins in our in our home environment.

Like where, where should we start. Because this is such a huge subject and people can hear the stats that say, by the time my woman leaves her home, she can be potentially exposed to 500 toxins in the morning.

Right? But what if she's even left the house? And so, okay, you know, it's like that can become so overwhelming. So, where should be where should they start eating?

Well, and I want to point out that the, the home where, in my opinion, is the place to start a that control we have control. But also many people don't realize that, you know, inside your home you're exposed to more toxins than you are out and about, even if you live in a city.

And we just don't think of it that way. But, you know, we're inside. Our houses are almost airtight at this point. The chemicals used in construction and, you know, our furniture, I mean, so it's.

And again, I'm not trying to freak anybody out. You know, it it can be overwhelming. And that's why in our day, the right way, for instance, we take six week, like, this is the part that.

Yeah. And again, just like every other aspect of improving your lifestyle, it's not about perfection. I, you know, and it can take years to get I know much like because I didn't have guidance when I was first starting my healing journey, it took me years to optimize my diet.

You know, I would make a change and it would seem better. And it was this really slow process and I found the same thing, because I didn't have people like us guiding me with cleaning up the products in my home.

You know, I thought I was using really green products. And so a place to start is, I say number one before I go to which room to start in, because you already mentioned one, is really educating yourself about the products you're actually using because so many of them are green launched and marketed as natural or green or clean or and they're not.

And I had fallen into that trap. I, you know, I was getting some popular brand things that I thought were so clean, and it took me a long time to circle back.

So first is familiarize yourself with what you're using. And I do tend to again, we, we let, energy and lack of overwhelm drive where we start. Right.

So I think the two biggest rooms in the house to create impact are the bathroom. I mean, those are just the two. So. And you did you, you brought up, you know, just ridiculous amount of toxins that women are exposed to in our cosmetics and our, you know, even our luxury skincare products and our hair care, I mean, and and again, I would say not even I would say especially our luxury skincare products.

No, that's true for sure, because, you know, breast cancer shows up in higher socioeconomic classes more where there are treated leather seats in brand new cars and, you know, fake fingernails and bottled plastic water and dry cleaning and luxury skin care and hair care products.

So, you know, that's that's, I think, a really important thing for us to understand the more you spend on your cosmetics and your skincare does not necessarily mean it's better for you.

No, not even a little bit. Absolutely, absolutely. And it also doesn't mean, you know, that the cheapest one you can find is going to be great. And although it's, you know, like in your Vedic medicine, which of course is 10,000 year old sister science of yoga, sesame oil, cold pressed organic sesame oil, very inexpensive.

That's what I use as a moisturizer. You know what I mean? Like, that is the least expensive. Like, we go back to basics. Okay, but not from your beauty, beauty, supply store or pharmacy.

Yeah. When we really go back to basics. Well, and that's the perfect rule. I love, you know, I won't put anything on my body that I couldn't put in my body.

Yeah, I think that's a great rule to start with. Does. Doesn't mean I eat my shampoo. No, but could I and would it be okay? Yes, it would. And so the bathroom is just loaded with, you know, anything that foams from, you know, your soaps to your shampoos, toothpaste, you know, is I often that toothpaste and deodorant are usually the places, you know, I start and again it when I say it's a process, I don't mean, you know, room by room, like a room a day.

I mean, it can take a long time. Yeah. And to really so I, I encourage people to do their research and make their plan and then as they run out of their products, unless they're super motivated and they're like, no, now that I've learned this, I don't want this stuff touching me.

That's great too. But, for for cost and, stress management level of energy, you have level of brain fog versus clarity. Like we know there some. Yes. Oh no.

So so the bathroom I think is a huge bang for the buck because, you know, it is so loaded with can be so loaded with toxins. And, and so and again, that's what's direct contact in our mouth, on our skin.

And we know we have you know, we absorb through our skin. It's our biggest organ. So that's often where I will tell people to start. And it's often one of the easier places for people to find clean products as well.

I think, you know, it's they've become, thank goodness, popular enough now. But yeah, you can easily access those cleaner items for sure. One day I went through I kind of do this where, where I'll go crazy over something for a day, you know, and and then kind of trying get things knocked out.

And one day I made. And I'm not suggesting this, you guys. So please don't don't hear those and say, oh, I'm going to be a failure, you know, because I'm not doing this.

But one day I made deodorant and toothpaste and sunscreen and shampoo and conditioner and and detergent for dishes and, and, clothing and blush and lip balm and eyeshadow and, I mean, I had so much fun and I and an anti-aging serum and body butter.

And I did this all in a day, but I had gone through, pulled the recipes because over the years I've done that, ordered everything, got everything here so that that day I could just do it.

I had the containers. I had the ingredients, like you know, and I had a plan. And so I remember it reminded me when I was a little girl, living in Japan, my mom used to make Hilsa.

And what we would do is for an entire day, we would stand there, we'd roll pillows, and then we put them away in the freezer. And you can do this like, you can make large amounts large batches of something, and you can put it in the refrigerator and freezer and it stays good.

And so you can do it that way if that speaks to you, or you can do one thing at a time. But I find that for myself, I used to do that when my four kids were growing up in my home.

I on a weekend, I would take a day and I'd make a whole bunch of base things for food, you know, and then I would freeze them and then I could just pull stuff out, add to with fresh.

And then I would have a very, you know, quick meal that. And so putting the energy into that organization is a really great way of doing this. You know.

Absolutely, absolutely.

Where to Start: Home and Bathroom Detox

And even I mean, that's why I say you start with, you know, realizing what you're using. And like you said, do your research first so that whether you're doing it rotationally as you run out of stuff, you already know what, well, what you're going to use or if you're going to make it, then maybe already have the ingredients ready to go.

Right? Huge. And the your I love the cooking hack too is I use all the time. I mean with those of us with autoimmunity, you know, especially you know, moms, we don't want to be standing in the kitchen or can't, you know, I'm standing in the kitchen every night, right.

Start milk from scratch. And my recipes for that day, by the way, I put together as a little booklet that everybody that's in the summit gets for free.

So those autoimmune detox you know, home care recipes are part of this. And also, Julie is giving her top ten kitchen swaps to reduce toxic loads. So you guys are getting the information right.

And it'll just be. And what I would encourage is also, Julie, when you just talked about kitchen hacks, I just realized I was talking to my daughters about this.

My my dad passed away last week and they were at my whole family was here, and I was watching my daughters and my sons in the kitchen as they were making food for a crowd.

And thought they have learned to not be afraid of the kitchen. And not everybody has that, you know. And so, you know, I would say if you can give yourself permission to fail at some of this and to mess up like that, that's I remember my kids used to watch something on PBS called Magic School Bus, and one of the things I loved about the beginning of it was, let's get messy, you know?

And I just thought, oh, that's so brilliant to be able to tell a child. Right? So I'd say that to you too. Yeah. Play clean. And and it's interesting that you say that, my youngest is 21, and she people marvel at her all the time because she goes, yeah.

Because, you know, she grew up with cooks and she later all of my kids know how to cook or self-sufficient. And it it becomes a gift, but that. Yeah, that willingness to make a mistake.

I mean, we can't get, you know, into adulthood without making mistakes. But. Right. Be willing to throw a batch away and say, well, that didn't work. What did I what where did it go wrong? What can I adjust?

You know, and that's how we get to the place where this is automatically running and there's no work at it anymore, right? Absolutely. I mean, recipe last night, as a matter of fact.

And they said, you know, when we sat down for dinner and I gave the warning, never made this before. Didn't even taste it before we sat down, you know, and but but I, you know, if it's, if it's decent next time, it'll be even better because I'll know how to improve it.

Has ended up being delicious. I mean, but it you know, you just never know. But it's it's. Well, the reason I'm speaking to this is because I think one of the toxins and it's that addiction to control is perfectionism.

Well, you know, and so I always say, like everybody with autoimmune disease has four P's perfectionism, people pleasing, holding on to the poison and past pain.

And also in your Vedic medicine you have a fair amount of pitta any which is that fire. And you know that that can cause inflammation if it goes awry emotionally, mentally, spiritually too.

And so, you know, the the addiction to perfectionism and control, it'll show up in the kitchen and with finding the perfect nontoxic ingredients. And so, you know, it's like just letting go with that with compassionate curiosity.

Right. Absolutely no foundation, not perfection. Just found out. Right. We want the basis of what we're doing to be supportive. And we can let go of the perfect or keep trying to let go of the perfect for sure.

Right? Right. All right. So we talked about toothpaste. We talked about. And so what are some of the ingredients in toothpaste. You mentioned shampoo.

Soap toothpaste things that foam have got some chemicals there, you know, sodium laurel sulfates and it's cousins and and friends. So anything that, you know, for those of us of a certain age, that foam kind of equals clean, right?

Like that was a pattern we had to change. Just like I used to be afraid of healthy. But, you know, I used to think that foamy things made for good, clean, and we.

So there is a little bit, again of, almost a learning curve, if you will, just changing that mindset. That's something you have to be foamy, for it, for it to be cleaning you or doing its job.

And so toothpaste is another one of those that, you know, they like to make a nice foamy toothpaste. But the other really for me, the big problem ingredient in most toothpaste.

Well, I mean, there's so many. Yeah. As, I was going to say the word, and I'm like. Oh, and artificial sweeteners. Right. Color. Yeah. But. Right. You know, we were I was definitely like raised.

You know, we need more and we need more, right. It's a toxin. I don't want to put that in my mouth every day. You know, I just I filter it out of my water.

Why would I brush my teeth with it? And so it's a direct correlation to your thyroid health, you know, fluoride does. Or lack of health. So if you remember that that elemental table from high school chemistry, right, fluoride, iodide, bromide and chloride all shared the same column with different weights and the fluoride is heavier than iodide.

And so it kicks it off. So our chloride and bromide. And so then we get iodine deficient because of this. Right. Which our I roids use as part of our immune system.

And so we wind up having this immune imbalance when we're introducing fluoride consistently or sealing our teeth with fluoride. And, you know, all of this fluoride stuff that had really great marketing help in that and sure did.

It's kind of like milk or sugar or sugar, right? Yeah, definitely some good marketing. And it's interesting that it is one of the areas where my clients tend to push back most because people just don't understand.

And they they've just received that messaging their whole life, you know. But I can't use it. I can't use toothpaste without fluoride. You know, I'm going to get cavities.

But actually that's not that's not how that works. We'll still give them an alternative. You know, you can do oil pulling. You know, again, 10,000 years old.

They knew about those. They didn't have fluoride. And so oil pulling with a little bit of cold pressed organic sesame oil. And you don't need very much because you have to have it in your mouth 15 to 20 minutes swishing it around.

So your saliva is getting added to that. And so if you put a lot in there, you're going to be like, oh, we've all had that experience in the beginning.

Put it out in the trash can, not in the drain, people. Oh, I use old supplement containers, you know, spit it into that. Put a lid on it. Yeah, yeah. And so and you can use people always ask me about coconut oil.

And you can however the sesame oil is better tested and has a bit more of that, toxic ki lation piece to it. The sesame oil is a little bit stronger for that.

And as well as antiviral and antimicrobial and moisturizing and it's good for your teeth. And you can add a couple drops of an essential oil in there like clove or cinnamon or men, you know, to make it taste good.

And it also has its own properties and swish it around just like half a teaspoon is all you need. And while you're in the shower, right. It's good stuff.

It's. Yeah. So you get the benefit of not only are you not dumping more toxins into your body, but you're also supporting your detox with it. So yeah.

Right. Yeah. And that will reduce your cavity risk, which is what the fluoride is meant to do. So it's a really, really good. All right. So anything else in the bathroom we want to talk about makeup.

I would love to talk about makeup. I do want to touch on the deodorant antiperspirant thing. Because again when I was I use the word push back earlier and I was like, oh, that one also gives, you know, people, and.

I yet to have a client who hasn't eventually made a complete 180. But I have so many clients who arrive and they're like, well, I have to use an antiperspirant.

And so we first work on breaking out of that, because, you know, most have aluminum in them. And also not great to be absorbing in your tender skin all day long.

Also right by your breast tissue and lymphatic drainage, traveling, we are supposed to we have to sweat for students or and so we don't want to block that.

And then that always leads to, well, but I stink in these natural deodorants. Don't, you know, don't work for me. Well, when you're detoxing the other components in your life, I mean, diets, you find that actually I don't stink anymore.

And so, you know, that's always exciting for me when somebody who was so dug in when we first meet and start working on this, you know, when we get things dialed in and they're like, you know, I actually don't have a body odor.

And again, information our body gives us, I know at this point in my life, if I feel like I have an odor, I'm like, okay, what did I eat? Where, you know, what did I do?

It's information. It's, you know, my first the body responds, letting me, which is great. It's not painful. So, so I just want everybody to know that's contemplating a change.

If you feel like you do have body odor, it will clear as you clean your diet up and manage your stress better and do all of the detoxing things, you know, and and I would say also, play with us again.

I mean, use the word play, not work on it where I had to, when I found a commercial when I was looking for a commercial brand to go from secret, which is what I used to use to something that would, work for me in my head.

I had to try a bunch of them, and I landed on, Tom's of Maine or Jason's, I can't remember, but it was an apricot one. And the others, the other flavors, so to speak, wouldn't work.

It was just that apricot one that would work. And so then I use that one for a while until like a transition to something that I created that, you know, didn't have even what they had in there.

So, you know, you can kind of play with this as you're going and just experiment and, you know, instead of having one failure say, well, these things don't work for me.

Really stay with it and, and use you really are, whether you know it or not. You are a giant science fair experiment. So you know, it's like, okay, let's see what this does, you know.

So I would just encourage that to, curiosity, you know, so body how do you do with that? How do you like it and what information are you trying to give me it.

Yeah. Yes, I went through the same process. And, you know, we all have different body chemistry. Yep. And so, my daughter and I were going through the process together.

And it was funny, you know, we didn't end up with the same thing. Didn't work for both of us.

Kitchen Swaps, Makeup, and Product Research

And so it is the experimental approach is absolutely the way to win because you're already taking it, you know, for what we talked about before being being ready and prepared to fail and get up and try something different.

Yeah. And so it is definitely and I'm not as, as committed, although you're inspiring me, I do use, several commercial products, but I'm really, really careful about what I do.

Here's because some of my initial trials of homemade stuff were fails. Yeah. And so you're inspiring me to try again. I'm going to use those recipes and, you know, just take it to a whole new level and again, just write it just like, oh, a little bit more bentonite clay here.

It might be nice that I feel drier or that a little bit of, you know, so you just kind of, oh, this, this essential oil I really like. Oh, this one makes my armpit break out, you know, like it's you just kind of get information.

Your body's giving you information all the time. So just document it like you would if you were a scientist, you know? You know, I think that, like, you know, driving a car, I mean, you know, get in the car and hold the steering wheel straight and right wherever it is you want to go, right? Yes.

That's what we're kind of always doing. We're always navigating, you know, we get one thing figured out, and then our body tells us something else. We, you know, it is this.

It's very fluid, for sure. Yeah. All right, so the makeup bag. The makeup bag. Oh, my gosh, the toxic bag of goodies. Oh, where to even start? I want to just throw this one out just in case anybody doesn't know, this goes for the makeup.

It goes for, you know, there's no federal regulation for our household products at all. So anybody listening, thinking you know, this can't be right, there can't be all these toxins and that there are, the laws surrounding, you know, protecting what is going into our cosmetics.

I believe I could be wrong about the years, the early 40s. I think the last time anything was, you know, put into that law to protect us. We have a just it's a unique situation in this country.

We are, you know, companies are allowed to use almost whatever they want in these products. So I, I learned a lot by studying, you know, what are they doing in Europe?

Because they don't rule that way in Europe. No they don't. No, not at all. So I think it's a that's a we can get even cleaner than that. But like right away if it's a product that shouldn't be allowed to be used in Europe, I'm not using it for sure.

Right. But there are now this was another again a you are you're like a goddess. I never made my own makeup. I never tried, I did stop wearing makeup for a long time and I would double.

I would find, you know, a truly clean product and I would use it. And it was gross. So, I wasn't getting the results, that I was hoping for. And thank goodness, you know, just like finding cleaner food alternatives.

Now, there are some really good, so many good choices. So many good choices. Easy to access. And they're not a fortune. Some really, really good companies out there that, that make full, clean lines.

I think of it is, is when you detox their emotions and you're not resentful anymore. I always colors that meant the most toxic chemical created on this planet.

And it's done right here. It's not dumped in the air, water and soil by giant corporations maker. So once you do that work and so then you're not scrunching your face and consternation about life any longer, right?

And then once you clean up your diet and you're listening to your body and eating according to your genetics and what your immune system is not reacting to, and and really asking questions of compassion and curiosity.

I don't wear makeup on my face, you know? You know, you don't have to sell. You know, I do a little blush in the winter time, which I have on right now.

And and my blush, it's, cocoa powder based with a mineral added to it, which is so cool. And I was like, are you serious? Like, that's so cool. Right.

So you're in a sense, when you do using your feelings when you're hurt, there's no take away, there's no negative impact. And I, I do especially, you know, I, I work virtually and in these days of camera, you know, I like a little mascara.

Like it's great. Right? I'm that little buff. And, and again, really good options out there now, but do your homework because there's definitely an area where the homework where you can go to look at the ingredients and what you have, even if it says natural and organic on top of it is environmental.

Working Group is a great place to go, right? Which is my absolute favorite. Where every room in your house, if you are like me, you like shortcuts. The easiest thing I can recommend is to eat that.

So environmental working group. But the EWG verified products that's it. There's clean is you're going to get in a commercial product or makeup. And so I just for the sake of time time management, and stress and energy, you know, if I'm going to buy commercially made products, it's the EWG.

They're verified are the ones that I start with because then I'm not, you know, why is it a two? Is it a fragrance? Is, it's like, no, these are clean.

Good. And again, you still may have to play of what's best for you, but it's definitely. Yeah. If it says natural fragrance or natural flavor. No no no any. Yeah.

No no no no no. You know and I it's interesting I have had a hypersensitivity to fragrances for years. It's been a really significant problem. Not a big surprise to eventually find out that I have valid toxicity.

Yeah. I wonder, and again, that's another we get used to this, you know, overwhelm. I, I have a family member who tries really hard at this point. It took a long time.

Like, you know, I can't sit in the car with you if you're wearing perfume or, but people don't even. It's not just, you know, it's your hand cream. It's.

I mean, it's the everything. And many people have used so many products. Right. And the air freshener layering. So. Yeah, that like, their, their clothes smell, even if they think they didn't put anything on with fragrance, the dryer sheet that their clothes were dried with.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I love EWG, I love EWG verified and not even just products. It's the same with, you know, which is off topic, but it is a kitchen item.

You know, they're dirty dozen and clean 15 ways that they put out every year. You know, I you will not catch me, you know, eating conventional off the dirty doesn't look this right.

Yeah. Right. So it's just a fantastic resource to to shortcut for people in, in my cookbook, the Autoimmune Paleo Cookbook, I, you know, I, I the tagline on it is, anti-inflammatory recipes with seven ingredients or less for busy people.

And I would say the same thing is true. And I have the EWG Dirty Dozen and Clean 15 in there and the resources for finding that. But what I would say is the seven ingredients or less is great for busy people and seven ingredients or less, you know, the fewer ingredients and what you're using on your skin is also a key.

Yeah, I if you can pronounce all of them and you know what they are and you would eat them and there are only a few, you're you're doing really well. Absolutely.

And again, be gentle with yourselves. It's a process, you know, especially if if you're in the beginning of this clean up journey, you know, it really does take a lot of time.

That's why that kitchen slop handout, it's ten swaps. And again, I mean, it could take ten months to make those swaps, but the impact would be amazing.

Even if it did, even if it was once a month. It's huge. Really huge. My, we have a whole bunch of birthdays in February. Mine was yesterday. And then I have a son and a husband in February. Right.

And so the whole family was gathered because of my dad's death. And so my daughters were making birthday cakes for everybody at the same time. And one of them was a red velvet cake.

And I don't have food coloring in my home anymore. And my daughter said, do you have any beetroot powder? And I just remember thinking, wow, how cool is that?

Well done mom, I, how cool is that? That she she knew exactly. You know, what to ask for? For a red velvet. And then when I said I don't up here, then she said, okay, I saw some beets in there.

And there's you can see. What about making her own, right, juicing some beets and experimenting with that to see if it would work? She was like, well, when I drink beet juice, my poop turns red in the toilet.

So probably, you know, and we're all laughing about this, you know, so that's that willingness to really move into something and say, would that work?

And you know, oh, oh, I don't have that. But how about if I try this, you know, and and it's just that with everything it's so great. It really is. And what a gift you've given her. Right.

And the cake could have turned out like a muddy brown color, but it probably still would have tasted delicious. It was a muddy brown color because it was chocolate. It was delicious.

It was perfect. Fantastic. And it is. It's such a gift. And I love the I mean, the other gift you're instilling in them is the, you know, that full circle of life with what you guys are moving through as a family to, to, you know, be like, yeah, we're we're in this place.

And, you know, it's it's also our birthday month. Yeah. And so yeah, it was really, really beautiful. I'm so like, all right, so what other rooms? One of the things one of my favorite hacks or detoxifying an environment is houseplants.

Yes, I am around it. Well, you can tell. Same here. But I have to tell you something, Julie. One of my patients is also a student of mine. Said, I found out that the one of the reasons I was having trouble recently is because my house plants had mold.

And I went, oh, I've never considered that. I have, you know, something upwards of 50 something houseplants, you know, and she said, I've had this one for over 25 years.

And, and it was a great big one and a great big pot. And it was had mold. And so, you know, she was talking about, like sprinkling diatomaceous earth over the soil every once in a while, you know, and I thought, oh, that's, that's not a great idea.

So the whole, you know, don't throw the baby out with the bathwater, right. Plants have so much value. Right. But, you know, as, as somebody working on mold toxicity, it's really good to consider.

I hadn't considered it. And that plant would have picked up that mold, you know. Right. House and and you know, house location somewhere. Right. And so maybe maybe creating a day, a year, this is what I kind of thought about, maybe a day, a year that I would go around and repot all my house plants.

You know, they ask for bigger pots as they grow anyway, so maybe I could investigate the root system, give them new soil, make sure there's not mold growing there.

And so just a little, a little new piece of information I had never considered that I, I got recently. You. Yeah.

Water, Plastics, and Whole-Home Detox Tips

Now you have me thinking too about, just the mindfulness around that and also the difference between pots that drain. Yes. But but those. Yeah as well. So.

And just for those of you that don't already have houseplants and you want to start cleaning up your air if you have that also look into some some houseplants are toxic to pets and even dogs as well.

So, just make your your knowledge and and toddlers, children. Yeah. About the human babies. You can tell my kids are grown now. Exactly. Like, that's what I was thinking about too.

Oh, yeah. And and kids. All of those creatures we care for. Yes. So what about furniture and and carpet? And, you know, if you're building a new house, you know, this off gassing piece, playground equipment is one of the most toxic for arsenic that reigns on the wood in the Pacific Northwest here, right?

Emanating arsenic. So. So what? What to do about that? Well, they'll take your kids outside to play. We'll start there. And you're getting play equipment for your for your own home.

You know, it's not pressure treated wood that, is less expensive and last longer is is what has the most arsenic and off gassing in it. So just educate yourself on what your options are.

But also, you know, people tend to think, well, my home's newer, so it's, it's got to be healthier. And again, the newer the home the more airtight usually the home as well.

All of the adhesives used in your flooring and your carpets. And you mentioned your furniture. There are improvements being made. I think it's by 2022 that the new standards will be in for all new home materials.

But again, this is where knowledge is power. Because just because standards are improving doesn't mean like, oh, well then, you know, I'm going to get a new home in two years and it's going to be free of all this stuff.

It's not reducing the levels. It'll be free of mold. And I think that's where people well, supposedly. Yeah, that's not for now. And that was I haven't I built the home in three and a half years ago and was so excited because I was working on my mold toxicity.

Yeah. And, and one of the reasons why mold is still an issue is because they can be in, you know, the plywood and the and the beams and the joints and in those products before the home is even built.

Yeah. And then we've created this airtight, you know, now we're holding the moisture in instead of out. So the new home, I mean, that we just always have to be aware of what's going on around us.

And I think that that's the biggest key, you know, even from old washers, you know, can be like a great place for mold to grow in the gaskets if you're not, you know, leaving the door open and careful and checking, over the furniture issue should be improving.

You know, we are finally learning that those fire routines that we're putting on furniture and bedding and mattresses and clothes and baby clothes and things like that.

Yeah. You know, we're just wrapping ourselves up in toxins. And so those numbers also should start improving. But here's where, you know, air purifiers, plants open your windows when you can open your windows, get that air.

Because, again, many of us are trained to think, you know, it smells good in my house. And so my house is clean and outside is not. And it's actually the other way around.

So get some fresh air moving through your home. And then get outside every day and move in that air to the sunlight. Yeah. And, and and you can find, when you were looking for furniture for this home or even four years ago, there was furniture that, you know, is much lower VOC, you know, flame retardant.

Yeah. Another kind of do your homework area and again, filter like furniture out. But as you're making new purchases, really be mindful of what you can put.

Well I used to I've, I've done a lot of woodworking through my life and, and also I'm a photographer and did my own developing. So a lot of chemicals in both of those things.

And over the years, you know, I remember back when we used to put polyurethane varnish on everything. Right? And, and I kind of liked the smell of it.

Like, I like the smell of my darkroom chemicals, you know, reminded me of home, my dad working in the woodshop. And so, you know, you have to think about those things, and, and you can now find those same exact products that do the job, but with less VOC. So.

Yeah. Yeah, same thing, same thing. And you're you're just speaking to my heart. My mom was a photographer. We had a dark room in the house and so I you mentioned this.

Oh the chemicals. And I got that memory that when I was a kid that love the smell of gasoline when they know me too. Yes. So in this. Oh, I don't know what that smell and that sticky, sweet smell of the crop dusters that we we go pull, you know, it's just like, oh, gosh, you know, yeah I there's toxic word issue.

Yeah. I don't know why I got RA. Yeah. So but also reversed it, you know, by being able to, to bring the awareness to this, being able to clean it. The first time I did a detox, I was so sick and so crappy.

And then I remember remarking several years ago when I was doing, I do a, 21 day cleanse 3 to 4 times a year. And and it's not something you pick up off the shelf because autoimmune people usually have, phase one, phase two mismatch.

You do not want to upregulate phase one at the same rate you do phase two. So and that's why I got so sick the first time through. But I remember running a half marathon on a cleanse going, wow, I don't even notice I'm detoxing right now.

You know, like because I've caught up, my body's now filtering real time instead of all of the back story. I just mean goosebumps. I mean, that's that's, you know, that's my goal.

Yeah. Yeah. So and I take some time to chip away and, you know, get that, get all those filtration systems so that they're operating in real time and not with a build up of a lifetime.

So which is where we all have to start wherever we're at. Oh, absolutely. And, progress is progress. Yes. Yes, we all get there. Yeah. All right. Well, Julie, is there something we have not talked about that you want to talk about?

I just because I have to because I'm such a geek. Water. I said the word earlier. Yeah that's right big one. It is a big one. And it's a it's a twofold because, you know, depending on the quality of the water you're drinking, if you're on city water versus well water.

I cannot encourage enough, you know, looking into a good water filter. As a start, I always recommend a reverse osmosis, at least for your drinking water.

Ideally, you know, the step up from there would be also your showerheads. Again, we want that chlorine and fluoride off our bodies. But. And then if you can, if you're fortunate.

I mean, it was one of my most exciting things about building this house was that I got to put in, you know, a full, a whole house reverse osmosis system that we just absolutely love.

And I have horses on my property. And when I turn that water on it, I did not put a whole barn system in. I have troughs all over the property. That wasn't it didn't really make sense.

And when I turn that water on now, that smell of chlorine that hits me in the face, I'm just so grateful that that's not what's coming out of my taps at home.

So, yeah, I get bit by bit, right? Depending on where you are, some kind of filtered drinking water. And because I said that, I need to say, you know, drink it out of glass or stainless, don't not out of plastic.

Don't buy the cases of the plastic bottles. Just give your body a break. And that that is on my my kitchen swap list as well. But actually those things are the water and the plastic.

But that's where they meet. And so many of us spend way too much time drinking. Yeah. The bottles. Yeah. It's so true. I had a reverse osmosis system for my whole house, and it broke while we were out of town and flooded the house, and then caused a mold problem that we didn't know about that had to be dealt with several years later.

So now we don't have one. And, so I will say, I want to move back to that again, but you can buy shower filters and they're very easy. I recently moved to Portland for a few months for school, and I'm back in my other house now, but and it took literally a half an hour.

Yeah. Put a Berkey water filter on the countertop of this house I was renting. Just stick, you know, filters. And every single one of the taps and the shower and boom, boom, boom.

You know, I was all done, and I had 45 house plants in the place. And, you know, open the window every night. Made sure the modem wasn't in my bedroom.

You know, open up the EMF. But Lloyd Burrell, we have a talk on EMF all by itself because it's such a huge right. It's a huge one. But things like that, that you could you can, you can really do I my daughter is 21.

She has done that in every apartment. She's lived on campus in college. And and awesome. Your place sounds just like hers. Filled with plants. She did the filters, had the countertop, her feet.

It was, you know, if if a 21 year old girl or an 18, 19 year old girl can do it, we can all do it. Body boopity bop. It was done, you know, and I, I, I just wanted to say that for people who kind of think like, well, I don't have thousands of dollars to spend on a whole house reverse osmosis system, and I don't have those.

And, you know, but they are very inexpensive. They sell these, filters you can put in your showerhead and on the faucets, they really are and very easy to install.

So I would just encourage that. And they have to be you can't put it on and leave it for the rest of your life, right? Follow the instructions on the package.

Make yourself a little tickler file about when to return back to them. But yeah, it's, it works. Doable. Very, very doable. What else? What else? So there's so many things that we've been talking about.

Have been more hours. Do we have I know. I just just that reminder we, we didn't really touch on. So I'll just throw it out there as a, you know, room by room.

Right. We started in the bathroom when we talked about the kitchen. Because to me again back, you know, you're putting that stuff on your, on and in your body every day in the bathroom and you're, you know, hopefully using your kitchen every day as well.

But you know, you touched on the, you know, the little laundry room and, and the, the cleaning products you're using and, you know, just start to really notice what your, what you to everything you touch.

What is it again. It's back to basics vinegar. You cannot go wrong with white vinegar. It's so true. It is so true. So I always say you know, room by room, bit by bit.

Be gentle. Yes, you're going to try some stuff that you're not going to like. And that's okay. Just try something new. And when you think you've done it all, look around again, because I'm that person I just realized I've been using like a normal people drip coffee pot or I don't know how long.

The carafe is stainless. Lovely. And it hit me. I was like, oh my gosh. The rest of it's plastic. Like even though my water filters or the filter coffee filter was metal, but it's still.

Yeah. And it and I'm not. Everybody needs again it's not about perfection. But for me personally I am working on BPA toxicity, phthalate toxicity. So and I had this idea of like, you know, but I'm so clean and I've, I've, I don't use plastic and plastic in my kitchen.

Right. And so I had to whisper to my daughter, my mom's house, she still has some plastic leftover containers and my daughter's ladling steaming hot things into it.

And I had to go up behind her and whisper in her ear, don't put hot things in plastic. Place any. Well, I'll go find you a glass jar. I think it was my pro tip for, you know, the glass containers with the hot food.

Don't put the plastic lid on it. Well, yeah, not either. Right, right. That the heat is what makes all of that. At least so many layers, so many life.

So for those of you wondering, because I brought it up, what I did about the coffee pot is I got an old school electric belly stainless percolator, and I have to say, makes the best coffee ever.

And there's not a stitch of plastic, you know, that I thought anywhere. And, and again, you know, I do this for a living. I, you know, I was thinking, well, I don't I don't use pods.

Right. This is not a cure egg I wasn't those are to me. Right. And you're running hot water through plastic. So I will say that, people don't like me much.

I live in Seattle, and I. I always take people off of coffee, so hopefully it's not even an issue. And to be fair, I was off of coffee for a really long time, and I.

I find that most people with autoimmune disease in their genetics, they do not process caffeine very well. And so it can cause inflammation. You know, it can contribute to some of the problems.

And so I'm always trying to get people to drink and blend their coffee. Homo or something different than coffee. So this and there's new there's I think SIP herbal is the name of the company.

There's a new product out there that's. Yeah. For those that are like my coffee myself, there are so many good alternative. There are, there are. Yeah.

Thank you so much Julie. And again the the kitchen swap, tool, the ten swaps for your kitchen. We are going to have link to, Julie's talk here and I'm excited for you to see it and to start that process and remember to be kind and gentle with yourself and allow the part of you that has that perfectionistic streak to go play, sit down, have a nap.

Thank you. Anyway. That's right. Appreciate your input. All right. So everybody, until next time you well.

Julie Michelson

Eliminate Toxins for Autoimmune Healing in Your Home