May 20, 2025 • 27 mins
Ever wondered why you're feeling constantly fatigued despite seemingly doing everything right? The answer might be hiding in your kitchen cabinets, bathroom shelves, or even that scented candle you love so much. In this eye-opening conversation with functional medicine health coach Rebecca Glick, we pull back the curtain on the often misunderstood world of environmental toxins.
Rebecca breaks down what toxins really are—not just buzzwords on wellness blogs, but genuine health disruptors lurking in our everyday environments. These substances accumulate over time, creating what experts call a "toxic burden" that can manifest as inflammation, hormone imbalances, energy crashes, cognitive fog, and even stubborn weight issues. The revelation here isn't to inspire panic but awareness: our bodies are incredible detoxification machines when properly supported.
What makes this episode particularly valuable is Rebecca's balanced, realistic approach. She doesn't advocate throwing away everything you own or living in isolation. Instead, she guides us through making strategic, meaningful changes starting with the foods we eat ("if your grandmother can't pronounce it, you probably shouldn't be eating it"), the cookware we use, and the cleaning products that touch our homes. From shopping the perimeter of grocery stores to swapping toxic pans for safer alternatives like cast iron and stainless steel, these practical tips can be implemented gradually without overwhelming your life or budget.
Perhaps most empowering is Rebecca's emphasis on supporting our bodies' innate detoxification abilities through proper nutrition, movement, quality sleep, and stress management. This isn't about buying expensive cleanses or following restrictive protocols—it's about consistent, mindful choices that compound over time to create profound health shifts.
Ready to take control of your environmental wellness without losing your mind in the process? Join us for this conversation that strikes the perfect balance between eye-opening education and practical, actionable advice. Your future self—with more energy, clearer thinking, and balanced hormones—will thank you for listening.
Find out more about Rebecca & her offerings in the MZC Practitioner Collective & connect with Rebecca on Instagram
Thanks for listening to The ModernZen Collective Podcast.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Hi, I'm Lizzie and I'm Nikki.
Have you ever felt that yourlife was missing purpose, joy or
deep connection?
Welcome to the Modern ZenCollective podcast, where we
embrace holistic living for ajoyful, purpose-driven life.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
In this podcast, we'll explore holistic practices
, consciousness expansion andspiritual alignment.
We will dive into personaldevelopment practices that
connect mind, body, spirit andshare secrets that ancient
cultures have known forcenturies.
Together, we aim to guide,educate and connect individuals
eager to transform their lives.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
Join us weekly on the Modern Zen Collective podcast
and elevate your mind, body andspirit.
And now on to today's episode.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Welcome everyone to another episode of the Modern
Zen Collective podcast.
I am Nikki and I'm here withRebecca Glick, one of our
practitioners for Modern ZenCollective.
Rebecca is a certifiedfunctional medicine health coach
and a past season executivecoach that pivoted into wellness
in this wellness world andthat's how her and I got
(01:30):
connected, which has been lovely, and she prioritizes working
with midlife moms, women wantingrenewed energy, and we're going
to talk today about toxins andwhat they mean, what the
buzzword is, everything thatgoes along with it.
But Rebecca and I met in theNorth Shore yoga community, so
we have the same similarinterests, obviously, in
(01:53):
wellness, holistic living, andwhen we started talking about
everything in terms of toxinsand everything else for our
bodily alignment, we quicklyrealized that we should talk
about this on the podcast andshare the info.
So thank you, rebecca, forbeing here, so excited to chat
with you about toxins today.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Thank you, nikki, I'm excited to be here.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
Ah, so let's like, first off, I know that there's
such a buzzword in and aroundeverything whether you're
reading a magazine or you're onsocial or anything like that
about toxins, and can you justexplain to us a little bit about
what that means, just so wehave an idea and a foundation to
start?
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Sure, yeah, happy to it certainly is everywhere.
You can't really turn to much.
You know kind of informationthat we consume about this is
toxic, or this isn't good foryou, or don't do this or don't
do that, and it can be veryconfusing and very overwhelming.
Toxins, you know, by definition, are really anything that
(02:53):
interferes with good health,right.
So anything that is, you know,getting in the way of you
feeling your best, that you knowoften really is defined as
something that is poisonous tolife, right, that's, you know,
kind of a more technicaldefinition of a toxin.
So, and that's a lot of thingsaround us that you know can be
(03:16):
in our food supply, in ourcookware, in our cooking methods
, in personal care products, inthe air, the water, I mean, lawn
care, furniture, clothing, Imean it's really everywhere.
And so it can be prettyoverwhelming.
And you know people can say,well, gosh, what do we do?
(03:38):
Do we live in a bubble?
Because you're telling me, likeI can't step outside and not
breathe in something, right, andwhile, while, yes, you know
that's certainly one way to go,that is certainly not, I think,
realistic and how most peoplewant to live their life.
And so you know, I work with alot of my clients on really
(03:59):
better understanding what theycan do and how they can become,
you know, more discerningconsumers and become more
educated in a lot of thosedifferent areas that I touched
on.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
Yeah, yeah, because you know you can go crazy with
what's going on, what's, youknow?
What's in the air, what's inthe water, how can I filter,
what can I eat, all of thesethings?
So when someone comes to youand wants to, you know, adjust
and decide, you know, to nothave as many toxins, or start to
peel the layer back and do thebig ones.
(04:31):
What would you say are the onesthat you would recommend?
If you know someone was comingto you Like the top, that you
would say let's start to look atways that you can remove these
from.
You know, your everyday life,sure, ways that you can remove
these from you know youreveryday life.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
Sure, before I answer that, I may just say you know,
maybe let's back up a minute andtalk a little bit about sort of
like why does that matter?
Because you can kind of hear,like all these things.
But people often and I foundthis for myself too, as I've
done my own learning and my ownresearch over many years of why
does this really matter?
(05:05):
Because it, you know it soundsgood or like, oh, you shouldn't
do that, but I think there's somuch data about health concerns
and challenges that people havethat are directly linked to
having too many of these thingssort of in our environment and
in our food and around us.
So you know there's a lot ofdata that connects toxins to
increase inflammation in ourfood and around us.
So you know there's a lot ofdata that connects toxins to
(05:27):
increased inflammation in ourbody, which you know can cause
all kinds of chronic conditionsthat you know are less desirable
from, you know, ongoingdigestive things to.
You know other conditions toblood sugar being sort of off
balance from toxins, hormonaldisruption, stress, and so
(05:48):
people can end up feeling tiredand fatigued.
You know headaches, their mentalhealth may be a little bit off
in terms of just feeling moreirritable, and toxins also play
a big role in weight managementchallenges.
So often, you know, people feellike they've done everything to
try to manage their health,manage their weight, but it's
(06:09):
not coming off and some of thesethings that are sneaking in
that you may not even realizecan be part of it.
So I just wanted to say that interms of sort of like the why,
because it can start to soundlike a laundry list of all these
things to change, like alaundry list of all these things
to change and withoutunderstanding the impact that
that has, it can come a lotharder for people to be willing
to say I want to make thesechanges in my life.
(06:30):
So I just think that'simportant to start.
So maybe, going back to I thinkyour question was around like
maybe where to start or what aresome of the yeah, yeah, yeah,
where to start?
Speaker 3 (06:42):
Because yeah, with the foundation of yeah, yeah,
where to start?
Because, yeah, with thefoundation of knowing you know
this could create inflammation,it can create excess weight, it
could create fatigue, headaches.
You know these different things, starting to peel it apart and
you know, releasing, eliminating, whatever it might be, what
your suggestions would be, or isit individual for every person?
Speaker 2 (07:03):
Well, that's also a great point.
It's certainly maybe and in myapproach, you know, with
coaching individuals, it is avery customized, personalized
approach into what is sort oftheir needs, their concerns on
how that might look.
I do think that there are somemaybe blanket items that apply
to everyone in terms of how youmight want to think about
(07:25):
reducing your toxic burden.
So toxic burden is somethingthat we look at.
Toxins not just sort of, oh,like I ate something that maybe
had red dye, number, whateverthat.
You know a lot of that is nowbeing eliminated.
It's the cumulative effect.
So it's over time how thesethings build up in our bodies
(07:46):
and that's what we're sort oftrying to help people take down
a bit.
I mean, there's no way toeliminate every toxin and
everything that is not meant tobe exposed into your system and
live life out in our world.
But there are ways to certainlystart to minimize it and take
it down and I'm a big believerand I think there's a lot of
(08:08):
data that shows that, you know,little changes can have a big
impact, especially cumulativelyover time.
So one area that I, you know,talk quite a bit about is around
kind of cleaning up in thekitchen.
So, you know, not with kind oflike the sponge and the cleaning
supplies, but really cleaningup things that are not great
(08:30):
that we're ingesting, thathappen to be in the kitchen.
So that's, you know, maybe firstand foremost, looking at our
food and our ingredients andreally looking at, you know,
helping people understand how toread labels and what is
something that is probably notgreat to be eating and putting
into your body.
(08:50):
And you know, there's a sayingthat sort of like if your
grandmother can't pronounce it,then it's probably not something
you should be eating, right?
So like da-da-da-da-da-da,monodiglyceroid, maltodextrin,
like red number seven, you know,and if that's not something
that is like a staple, that isalready in your pantry, that you
(09:11):
can just pull off the shelfbecause no one is probably
pulling off, you know,monodiglyceroids in a little jar
and pouring them into theircookies, then you probably
shouldn't be eating it.
Yeah, and you know, and I, youknow I drive my husband crazy
and he goes to the grocery storeand he's like I can't buy
anything, because you've kind oftaught me what to look for.
(09:34):
But anyways, there are certainlyways to just become a little
more educated and discerningabout where your food is coming
from, what is it made of,especially when things are more
processed?
I mean, an easy way to alsosort of look at that is start
with your refrigerator.
So fruits, vegetables producehealthy proteins that you know
(09:56):
maybe are a little lessingredient focused and just they
are what they are, and so youknow that that's certainly a
route.
You know choosing things likeorganic foods where it makes
sense.
So, looking at, you know, ifyou're familiar with the
Environmental Working Group, theEWG, they have a list of the
(10:17):
dirty dozen of the fruits andvegetables that tend to be most
kind of covered, based on howthey're grown or produced with
more pesticides that you know,maybe you'd rather not ingest.
And so there's ways to sort ofpick and choose based on your
budget, based on you know whatyou're putting into your
household, and sort of choosingorganic and or grass-fed beef
(10:41):
and other things that maybe areproduced in a cleaner way that
is not bringing so much of thoseyou know extra chemicals into
your food supply.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
I think, yeah, I love that.
Your grandma can't pronounce it, you couldn't eat it.
I just love that part, yeah,because you know you can buy
something.
And I remember when I was firstgoing on my journey, learning
that the outside of the grocerystore is the healthiest because
the inside, all of the shelving,is what has to be shelf stable.
(11:14):
It has to have all of thethings in it to not.
You know, they don't want towaste it, so they want to have
it to be able to be there sosomeone can buy it in 6, 10, 12,
15 months.
So they produced it 6, 10, 12,15 months ago.
So having that going around theparameter of the grocery store
was something that I startedjust to know, like before I
(11:34):
started to become aware of thedifferent ingredients, so that
you know great point on havingthat be the first part in your
kitchen we're ingesting it, soit's something that we should be
really aware of and seeing andyou know it's funny that your
husband says that because I hearthat a lot too just in general,
I have some food intolerancesand allergies, so there's things
(11:55):
that I can't eat and I havepeople saying she can't eat
anything.
But you quickly realize I caneat so much.
It's just not the mainstreamthings that are easy.
You could just, yeah, pick upand buy and the cookies or
whatever.
I can make my own pancakes athome or bread at home or
whatever, and it might take alittle longer, but it's with the
(12:16):
ingredients that I can eatExactly.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
I mean, it's all about you know where you want to
sort of invest your time andyour effort, and some things
take a little more planning andsome things can be really
ingrained habits that people arejust used to.
But this is, you know, the brandthat my kids love, or this is
what I always buy, and it's notabout like changing, you know,
going into your pantry or goinginto your kitchen and throwing
(12:40):
everything out that doesn't sortof fit that bill.
You know, I really think it's.
You know, people are mostsuccessful with making change
when it's gradual, when it'ssmall, when it's starting with
one thing and kind ofexperimenting and trying it out
and saying, oh, actually youknow what this tastes great.
And now that I'm kind of in thehabit of making, as you said,
like pancakes or something fromscratch, I actually like these
(13:03):
better and I can make a bigbatch and eat it over a few days
and it isn't such a burden tomake that shift.
But I am a big believer in sortof starting small, you know,
going at your own pace, seeingwhat works, versus trying to
overhaul everything, becausethen it can be overwhelming.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
For sure, for sure, for your nervous system, for
sure.
So what else in the kitchen,like once you go through the
food, or figure that out.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
That's a great question.
So the other area that I've,you know, learned quite about is
, you know our cooking methodsand our cooking materials also
can play a big role into, youknow, what's kind of sneaking
inadvertently into our food.
So you know there's tons ofthings that you can see on the
(13:53):
internet about.
You know avoiding nonstick orTeflon or things that are going
to have certain chemicalsfloating in there.
You know heating like you knowheating plastics, right, so
putting things in the microwave,whether you use a microwave or
not, you know sometimes that'sunavoidable.
You know avoiding, like,storing a lot of foods,
(14:14):
especially heated in plastics.
There's, you know, chemicalslike BPA.
That that's, you know, beenfloating out there for years and
those are real studied thingsin terms of the disruption they
can have in your hormones andjust overall in terms of how
you're feeling.
So you know, just again, liketaking taking a look at, like,
(14:34):
how you are storing your food,what kinds of pots and pans are
you using?
You know I would say that youknow typically trying to
minimize aluminum, aluminum foil, plastic things that maybe are
lead-based or lead paint thatcan produce endocrine disruptors
are kind of best to avoid, andtrying to focus on stainless
(14:56):
steel glass.
I cook with a lot of cast ironpans but like some of that, I've
changed out over time when youknow something was just not
usable anymore or you know soagain.
It's not about like takingevery pot and pan out in your
kitchen and saying, oh no, Ican't use this, but maybe if
you're in the market forsomething new, you know, factor
(15:19):
in well, I'm going to you knowkind of see what kind of
criteria or do a little bit ofreading about.
you know how this is made,because what happens is, you
know especially this how this ismade Because what happens is
you know especially when you'reusing heat, things can be
released into your food that youprobably don't want to be
eating just like the foods, andyou know that are ingredients in
(15:39):
more processed foods.
So and and also how you cook thefood also matters.
So you know, steaming and lesssuper high heat can be better in
terms of you know what you'resort of releasing into your
foods using filtered water whenyou're boiling water, like
(16:01):
things that you know you may ormay not think about can make you
know a big difference in kindof what you're preparing.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
Yeah, and setting the foundation from the start, and
you know this.
These things are things likeyou might feel it immediately,
but it's more a gradual processbecause you've been using,
possibly, plastic for a while,or your mom's old Teflon pan she
gave you in the 80s, orsomething like that.
But it definitely helps to, youknow, clean and purify and get
(16:36):
you into the right place.
I've also, like, heard you knowabout, you know, using copper
to store water and that has alot of, like minerals in it.
Hel helps to help with yourwater after you filter it.
So you know all these differentprocesses.
But once they become a habit,they're not a process anymore,
but with yeah, so the food,obviously, and then the way
(17:00):
you're cooking.
What about cleaning?
Because I, you know I grow upwhere we're from.
You know, in that same era ofit was all about kill all the
germs and chlorophyll everythingand use all of this stuff that
smells up the house.
You knew your mom was cleaning,you know, and how do you feel
about you know, if you'recleaning the counter in the
(17:21):
kitchen or just you're cleaningyour house in general?
Those things could be, you know, disruptive to our whole system
?
Speaker 2 (17:28):
Yeah, that's a great question too, and I think you
know people probably have lotsof different schools of thought
on this, and I'm not like a, youknow, cleaning expert when it
comes to some of these things,but I, you know, I try to use a
mix of things, right?
So maybe this is like an 80-20rule, like there's some products
that you probably, you know,want to clean your bathroom in a
(17:50):
way that you know isdisinfected and clean, and maybe
that is a more Cloroxy typeproduct that you use, you know,
sparingly, or whatnot.
But I also try to go back tobasics and like I use a lot of
like vinegar and water and likeessential oils vinegar and water
and like essential oils.
(18:11):
There's a great, there's agreat company that I dabbled in
a little bit called BranchBasics and you, they give you
kind of formulas, they give youa whole kit and they give you
formulas to.
Basically it's like water andvinegar and like essential oils,
and they have all kinds of kindof formulas of like what you
use for like stains or a glasscleaner or counters or the stove
, and it's pretty easy to follow.
(18:32):
Um, so I've used that a bit andthat's also, too, that's
something I've changed over time.
I'm I'm someone that is supersensitive to smell and fragrance
and so um and if you know, ifit's something that has that
very, you know, kind ofammonia-y smell, it's probably
not great, it probably has asynthetic fragrance, which you
(18:55):
know is also, you know we couldget into skincare and cosmetics
is often in that too, but thatis definitely, you know,
synthetic fragrances orendocrine disruptors which are
going to wreak havoc on yourhormones.
And so I just try to avoidthings that are smelly even at a
minimum, so like no fragranceor fragrance-free or no
synthetic fragrances, and Ithink, yeah, like I said, it's a
(19:19):
balance right Of like anythingthat you want, things that
quote-unquote, work and clean,but maybe not that you're
exactly that, your kids, thatyour pets, that you're ingesting
, um, things that are are, youknow, maybe more toxic than
others.
Speaker 3 (19:33):
So yeah for sure.
When I learned about thefragrance with endocrine
disruptors, I thoughtimmediately you know Clorox and
Lysol and different things likethat.
I didn't exactly pinpoint it toperfume and that was a journey
of mine to start not wearingperfume, because the perfume,
(19:56):
unless it's organic which CredoBeauty, they Credo has a lot of
really beautiful organic, yeah,and the thing with, or that it
doesn't last that long, which isgreat because you know it's not
synthetic.
So you have it on for a littlebit and then it releases an hour
or two later.
But that was also a journey.
I remember watching somestudies of you know the testing
(20:17):
of how toxic a perfume is.
You're putting directly on yourlargest organ, your skin, and
wearing it, and then also goingaround other people and they're
ingesting it.
So that was part of the journeyfor releasing the toxins.
For me was the perfume part ofit too.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
That's a big part of it, right.
It's like you know you don'tsmell better.
Yeah, I mean better.
Yeah, yeah, I mean it'severything.
It's everything in likemoderation, right, because I
think people have to think about, like, what works for them and
if someone really loves acertain perfume and that's like
their identity and who like,maybe that's something that's
(20:53):
lower on their list to, you know, take off their sort of maybe
more quote unquote toxic list,or they use a little bit, or
they use it for a specialoccasion, and I mean that's.
I think that, you know,applying like an all or nothing
mentality to any of these topicsthat we talked about can
actually then have the oppositeeffect of someone doing nothing
(21:14):
right and then just becomingforget it.
I'm not doing this becauseyou're, you know, suggesting.
I change 10 hundred thingsaround me every day and now I'm
very sad.
Speaker 3 (21:24):
Yeah, exactly, you don't want to be you don't want
to be sad and down in the dumpsand not having joy anymore
because you eliminated all thethings that you enjoyed in life.
Having the small, bite-sizedpieces is huge.
It's a work in progress.
Exactly, it's a work inprogress and I know when we
(21:46):
first talked, we were talkingabout this.
I told you about my journey andhow I started looking into
functional and learning aboutdifferent things that were
creating inflammation or my bodywas rejecting, and I started to
do you know different ways oflooking at my foods and I
started to just eliminate thesetoxins and it really was game
(22:12):
changing to me.
It was really.
I could feel the night and daydifference once I started to
kind of release and adjustthings accordingly.
And I remember hearing a quotewhich stayed with me it's
because you know, like you'resaying, moderation is fantastic,
and the quote that I heard wasa little bit of poison is a lot
(22:33):
of poison.
So if you have like the littlebit of something every single
day, yeah, it's a lot in yourbody, but if you have it, you
know, a little bit every week,then it's your body's going to
be able to have.
That's what our bodies aredesigned for to combat, to fight
to get over it, et cetera.
But if you don't give it timeto reprieve, to heal itself, a
little bit of poison is a lot ofpoison.
For sure, for sure.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
Yeah, that's what I was talking about earlier, like
that cumulative effect over time.
But you raise another point too, nikki, that I just want to
mention.
As you were talking about, youknow what our bodies are
designed to do and that's like areally, really important piece
and that we're talking about allthese things oh hey, don't eat
this, don't eat that, don't cookthis, never leave your house.
But our bodies are designed, ifwe're sort of, feeding them in
the right way and caring forthem in the right way, to
(23:22):
detoxify, because you know,nature is that you're going to
come into contact with thingsthat you're, you know, not
supposed to be ingesting or notsupposed to be processing, have
an amazing way to detoxify andeliminate.
(23:43):
You know the things thatshouldn't be there if we are
caring for them in the rightways in terms of, you know,
proper nutrition and reallynutrients that you know aim to
kind of speed up detoxificationand sleep, and you know,
minimizing stress.
You know movement, movement,doing things that make you sweat
, that like get you know thingsout and eliminate, and so there
(24:05):
is there is that sort ofoffensive strategy that we can
put up and say, okay, we'regoing to kind of do the best
that we can to maybe keep someof the things at bay or, you
know, this is my priority forfood or kitchen or personal care
, whatever wherever someonewants to prioritize but also
knowing that taking care ofthemselves will sort of turn the
(24:25):
system on the way that it'ssupposed to work and help
detoxify.
So our bodies really areamazing and that they can be a
part of this process with us ifwe're caring for them in the
right way.
Speaker 3 (24:38):
Yeah, so intuitive.
Our bodies can really help usout If we're caring for them in
the right way.
Yeah, so intuitive.
Our bodies can really help usout.
If we're helping our body out,it can help us out.
Yeah, full circle.
Give it the movement, give it alittle sweat, a little detox, a
sign that I noticed when I wasgoing through realizing what I
(24:59):
had in my body and eliminating,or even whenever I eat something
that is something that I feelinflamed on.
You know how the liver does allof its work.
While you're sleeping, I wouldwake up like I was in a pressure
cooker, just like sweat,because my liver was working
overtime trying to processeverything that wasn't aligned
for me, and that was part of myjourney where I realized, oh,
(25:22):
when I eat this, every singletime when I fall asleep, I feel
this pressure cooker inside ofme at 4 am, whenever it was that
it started happening.
Yeah, beautiful.
Well, this has been amazing.
We're going to have more withRebecca, where we're going to
talk about other subjects thatwe touched on just a little bit
today, but I think you know thebroad overview understanding
(25:46):
toxins.
I love your mentality of it'snot all or nothing, just looking
at different ways you can startto make little adjustments and
then keep the things that bringyou joy, you know, but you still
have those in your life.
But know that there are waysthat you could introduce
adjustments and changes for you,your family, your loved ones,
everything.
So I love your wisdom andknowledge and all that you've
(26:09):
done to help others.
And how can anyone that'slistening contact you or get to
know you or learn a little bitabout you?
We'll have everything in theshow notes for your Modern Zen
Collective page, but how canthey find you other than that?
Speaker 2 (26:23):
Yeah, Thanks, nikki.
So I'm, you know, atnefeshliving on Instagram or
people can reach out to Rebeccaat nefeshlivingcom is my email
and happy to chat, answer morequestions and, you know, help
people kind of create a journeyto wellness.
Speaker 3 (26:44):
Love it.
Love it All right.
Wonderful.
Thanks for being here.
Thanks everyone for listening.
We will connect with you soon.
Have a great day, thankseveryone.
Thanks Rebecca, thanks Nikki.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
Don't miss out on our journey to living an authentic,
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Hi, I'm Lizzie and I'm Nikki.
Have you ever felt that yourlife was missing purpose, joy or
deep connection?
Welcome to the Modern ZenCollective podcast, where we
embrace holistic living for ajoyful, purpose-driven life.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
In this podcast, we'll explore holistic practices
, consciousness expansion andspiritual alignment.
We will dive into personaldevelopment practices that
connect mind, body, spirit andshare secrets that ancient
cultures have known forcenturies.
Together, we aim to guide,educate and connect individuals
eager to transform their lives.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
Join us weekly on the Modern Zen Collective podcast
and elevate your mind, body andspirit.
And now on to today's episode.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Welcome everyone to another episode of the Modern
Zen Collective podcast.
I am Nikki and I'm here withRebecca Glick, one of our
practitioners for Modern ZenCollective.
Rebecca is a certifiedfunctional medicine health coach
and a past season executivecoach that pivoted into wellness
in this wellness world andthat's how her and I got
(01:30):
connected, which has been lovely, and she prioritizes working
with midlife moms, women wantingrenewed energy, and we're going
to talk today about toxins andwhat they mean, what the
buzzword is, everything thatgoes along with it.
But Rebecca and I met in theNorth Shore yoga community, so
we have the same similarinterests, obviously, in
(01:53):
wellness, holistic living, andwhen we started talking about
everything in terms of toxinsand everything else for our
bodily alignment, we quicklyrealized that we should talk
about this on the podcast andshare the info.
So thank you, rebecca, forbeing here, so excited to chat
with you about toxins today.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Thank you, nikki, I'm excited to be here.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
Ah, so let's like, first off, I know that there's
such a buzzword in and aroundeverything whether you're
reading a magazine or you're onsocial or anything like that
about toxins, and can you justexplain to us a little bit about
what that means, just so wehave an idea and a foundation to
start?
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Sure, yeah, happy to it certainly is everywhere.
You can't really turn to much.
You know kind of informationthat we consume about this is
toxic, or this isn't good foryou, or don't do this or don't
do that, and it can be veryconfusing and very overwhelming.
Toxins, you know, by definition, are really anything that
(02:53):
interferes with good health,right.
So anything that is, you know,getting in the way of you
feeling your best, that you knowoften really is defined as
something that is poisonous tolife, right, that's, you know,
kind of a more technicaldefinition of a toxin.
So, and that's a lot of thingsaround us that you know can be
(03:16):
in our food supply, in ourcookware, in our cooking methods
, in personal care products, inthe air, the water, I mean, lawn
care, furniture, clothing, Imean it's really everywhere.
And so it can be prettyoverwhelming.
And you know people can say,well, gosh, what do we do?
(03:38):
Do we live in a bubble?
Because you're telling me, likeI can't step outside and not
breathe in something, right, andwhile, while, yes, you know
that's certainly one way to go,that is certainly not, I think,
realistic and how most peoplewant to live their life.
And so you know, I work with alot of my clients on really
(03:59):
better understanding what theycan do and how they can become,
you know, more discerningconsumers and become more
educated in a lot of thosedifferent areas that I touched
on.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
Yeah, yeah, because you know you can go crazy with
what's going on, what's, youknow?
What's in the air, what's inthe water, how can I filter,
what can I eat, all of thesethings?
So when someone comes to youand wants to, you know, adjust
and decide, you know, to nothave as many toxins, or start to
peel the layer back and do thebig ones.
(04:31):
What would you say are the onesthat you would recommend?
If you know someone was comingto you Like the top, that you
would say let's start to look atways that you can remove these
from.
You know, your everyday life,sure, ways that you can remove
these from you know youreveryday life.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
Sure, before I answer that, I may just say you know,
maybe let's back up a minute andtalk a little bit about sort of
like why does that matter?
Because you can kind of hear,like all these things.
But people often and I foundthis for myself too, as I've
done my own learning and my ownresearch over many years of why
does this really matter?
(05:05):
Because it, you know it soundsgood or like, oh, you shouldn't
do that, but I think there's somuch data about health concerns
and challenges that people havethat are directly linked to
having too many of these thingssort of in our environment and
in our food and around us.
So you know there's a lot ofdata that connects toxins to
increase inflammation in ourfood and around us.
So you know there's a lot ofdata that connects toxins to
(05:27):
increased inflammation in ourbody, which you know can cause
all kinds of chronic conditionsthat you know are less desirable
from, you know, ongoingdigestive things to.
You know other conditions toblood sugar being sort of off
balance from toxins, hormonaldisruption, stress, and so
(05:48):
people can end up feeling tiredand fatigued.
You know headaches, their mentalhealth may be a little bit off
in terms of just feeling moreirritable, and toxins also play
a big role in weight managementchallenges.
So often, you know, people feellike they've done everything to
try to manage their health,manage their weight, but it's
(06:09):
not coming off and some of thesethings that are sneaking in
that you may not even realizecan be part of it.
So I just wanted to say that interms of sort of like the why,
because it can start to soundlike a laundry list of all these
things to change, like alaundry list of all these things
to change and withoutunderstanding the impact that
that has, it can come a lotharder for people to be willing
to say I want to make thesechanges in my life.
(06:30):
So I just think that'simportant to start.
So maybe, going back to I thinkyour question was around like
maybe where to start or what aresome of the yeah, yeah, yeah,
where to start?
Speaker 3 (06:42):
Because yeah, with the foundation of yeah, yeah,
where to start?
Because, yeah, with thefoundation of knowing you know
this could create inflammation,it can create excess weight, it
could create fatigue, headaches.
You know these different things, starting to peel it apart and
you know, releasing, eliminating, whatever it might be, what
your suggestions would be, or isit individual for every person?
Speaker 2 (07:03):
Well, that's also a great point.
It's certainly maybe and in myapproach, you know, with
coaching individuals, it is avery customized, personalized
approach into what is sort oftheir needs, their concerns on
how that might look.
I do think that there are somemaybe blanket items that apply
to everyone in terms of how youmight want to think about
(07:25):
reducing your toxic burden.
So toxic burden is somethingthat we look at.
Toxins not just sort of, oh,like I ate something that maybe
had red dye, number, whateverthat.
You know a lot of that is nowbeing eliminated.
It's the cumulative effect.
So it's over time how thesethings build up in our bodies
(07:46):
and that's what we're sort oftrying to help people take down
a bit.
I mean, there's no way toeliminate every toxin and
everything that is not meant tobe exposed into your system and
live life out in our world.
But there are ways to certainlystart to minimize it and take
it down and I'm a big believerand I think there's a lot of
(08:08):
data that shows that, you know,little changes can have a big
impact, especially cumulativelyover time.
So one area that I, you know,talk quite a bit about is around
kind of cleaning up in thekitchen.
So, you know, not with kind oflike the sponge and the cleaning
supplies, but really cleaningup things that are not great
(08:30):
that we're ingesting, thathappen to be in the kitchen.
So that's, you know, maybe firstand foremost, looking at our
food and our ingredients andreally looking at, you know,
helping people understand how toread labels and what is
something that is probably notgreat to be eating and putting
into your body.
(08:50):
And you know, there's a sayingthat sort of like if your
grandmother can't pronounce it,then it's probably not something
you should be eating, right?
So like da-da-da-da-da-da,monodiglyceroid, maltodextrin,
like red number seven, you know,and if that's not something
that is like a staple, that isalready in your pantry, that you
(09:11):
can just pull off the shelfbecause no one is probably
pulling off, you know,monodiglyceroids in a little jar
and pouring them into theircookies, then you probably
shouldn't be eating it.
Yeah, and you know, and I, youknow I drive my husband crazy
and he goes to the grocery storeand he's like I can't buy
anything, because you've kind oftaught me what to look for.
(09:34):
But anyways, there are certainlyways to just become a little
more educated and discerningabout where your food is coming
from, what is it made of,especially when things are more
processed?
I mean, an easy way to alsosort of look at that is start
with your refrigerator.
So fruits, vegetables producehealthy proteins that you know
(09:56):
maybe are a little lessingredient focused and just they
are what they are, and so youknow that that's certainly a
route.
You know choosing things likeorganic foods where it makes
sense.
So, looking at, you know, ifyou're familiar with the
Environmental Working Group, theEWG, they have a list of the
(10:17):
dirty dozen of the fruits andvegetables that tend to be most
kind of covered, based on howthey're grown or produced with
more pesticides that you know,maybe you'd rather not ingest.
And so there's ways to sort ofpick and choose based on your
budget, based on you know whatyou're putting into your
household, and sort of choosingorganic and or grass-fed beef
(10:41):
and other things that maybe areproduced in a cleaner way that
is not bringing so much of thoseyou know extra chemicals into
your food supply.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
I think, yeah, I love that.
Your grandma can't pronounce it, you couldn't eat it.
I just love that part, yeah,because you know you can buy
something.
And I remember when I was firstgoing on my journey, learning
that the outside of the grocerystore is the healthiest because
the inside, all of the shelving,is what has to be shelf stable.
(11:14):
It has to have all of thethings in it to not.
You know, they don't want towaste it, so they want to have
it to be able to be there sosomeone can buy it in 6, 10, 12,
15 months.
So they produced it 6, 10, 12,15 months ago.
So having that going around theparameter of the grocery store
was something that I startedjust to know, like before I
(11:34):
started to become aware of thedifferent ingredients, so that
you know great point on havingthat be the first part in your
kitchen we're ingesting it, soit's something that we should be
really aware of and seeing andyou know it's funny that your
husband says that because I hearthat a lot too just in general,
I have some food intolerancesand allergies, so there's things
(11:55):
that I can't eat and I havepeople saying she can't eat
anything.
But you quickly realize I caneat so much.
It's just not the mainstreamthings that are easy.
You could just, yeah, pick upand buy and the cookies or
whatever.
I can make my own pancakes athome or bread at home or
whatever, and it might take alittle longer, but it's with the
(12:16):
ingredients that I can eatExactly.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
I mean, it's all about you know where you want to
sort of invest your time andyour effort, and some things
take a little more planning andsome things can be really
ingrained habits that people arejust used to.
But this is, you know, the brandthat my kids love, or this is
what I always buy, and it's notabout like changing, you know,
going into your pantry or goinginto your kitchen and throwing
(12:40):
everything out that doesn't sortof fit that bill.
You know, I really think it's.
You know, people are mostsuccessful with making change
when it's gradual, when it'ssmall, when it's starting with
one thing and kind ofexperimenting and trying it out
and saying, oh, actually youknow what this tastes great.
And now that I'm kind of in thehabit of making, as you said,
like pancakes or something fromscratch, I actually like these
(13:03):
better and I can make a bigbatch and eat it over a few days
and it isn't such a burden tomake that shift.
But I am a big believer in sortof starting small, you know,
going at your own pace, seeingwhat works, versus trying to
overhaul everything, becausethen it can be overwhelming.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
For sure, for sure, for your nervous system, for
sure.
So what else in the kitchen,like once you go through the
food, or figure that out.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
That's a great question.
So the other area that I've,you know, learned quite about is
, you know our cooking methodsand our cooking materials also
can play a big role into, youknow, what's kind of sneaking
inadvertently into our food.
So you know there's tons ofthings that you can see on the
(13:53):
internet about.
You know avoiding nonstick orTeflon or things that are going
to have certain chemicalsfloating in there.
You know heating like you knowheating plastics, right, so
putting things in the microwave,whether you use a microwave or
not, you know sometimes that'sunavoidable.
You know avoiding, like,storing a lot of foods,
(14:14):
especially heated in plastics.
There's, you know, chemicalslike BPA.
That that's, you know, beenfloating out there for years and
those are real studied thingsin terms of the disruption they
can have in your hormones andjust overall in terms of how
you're feeling.
So you know, just again, liketaking taking a look at, like,
(14:34):
how you are storing your food,what kinds of pots and pans are
you using?
You know I would say that youknow typically trying to
minimize aluminum, aluminum foil, plastic things that maybe are
lead-based or lead paint thatcan produce endocrine disruptors
are kind of best to avoid, andtrying to focus on stainless
(14:56):
steel glass.
I cook with a lot of cast ironpans but like some of that, I've
changed out over time when youknow something was just not
usable anymore or you know soagain.
It's not about like takingevery pot and pan out in your
kitchen and saying, oh no, Ican't use this, but maybe if
you're in the market forsomething new, you know, factor
(15:19):
in well, I'm going to you knowkind of see what kind of
criteria or do a little bit ofreading about.
you know how this is made,because what happens is, you
know especially this how this ismade Because what happens is
you know especially when you'reusing heat, things can be
released into your food that youprobably don't want to be
eating just like the foods, andyou know that are ingredients in
(15:39):
more processed foods.
So and and also how you cook thefood also matters.
So you know, steaming and lesssuper high heat can be better in
terms of you know what you'resort of releasing into your
foods using filtered water whenyou're boiling water, like
(16:01):
things that you know you may ormay not think about can make you
know a big difference in kindof what you're preparing.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
Yeah, and setting the foundation from the start, and
you know this.
These things are things likeyou might feel it immediately,
but it's more a gradual processbecause you've been using,
possibly, plastic for a while,or your mom's old Teflon pan she
gave you in the 80s, orsomething like that.
But it definitely helps to, youknow, clean and purify and get
(16:36):
you into the right place.
I've also, like, heard you knowabout, you know, using copper
to store water and that has alot of, like minerals in it.
Hel helps to help with yourwater after you filter it.
So you know all these differentprocesses.
But once they become a habit,they're not a process anymore,
but with yeah, so the food,obviously, and then the way
(17:00):
you're cooking.
What about cleaning?
Because I, you know I grow upwhere we're from.
You know, in that same era ofit was all about kill all the
germs and chlorophyll everythingand use all of this stuff that
smells up the house.
You knew your mom was cleaning,you know, and how do you feel
about you know, if you'recleaning the counter in the
(17:21):
kitchen or just you're cleaningyour house in general?
Those things could be, you know, disruptive to our whole system
?
Speaker 2 (17:28):
Yeah, that's a great question too, and I think you
know people probably have lotsof different schools of thought
on this, and I'm not like a, youknow, cleaning expert when it
comes to some of these things,but I, you know, I try to use a
mix of things, right?
So maybe this is like an 80-20rule, like there's some products
that you probably, you know,want to clean your bathroom in a
(17:50):
way that you know isdisinfected and clean, and maybe
that is a more Cloroxy typeproduct that you use, you know,
sparingly, or whatnot.
But I also try to go back tobasics and like I use a lot of
like vinegar and water and likeessential oils vinegar and water
and like essential oils.
(18:11):
There's a great, there's agreat company that I dabbled in
a little bit called BranchBasics and you, they give you
kind of formulas, they give youa whole kit and they give you
formulas to.
Basically it's like water andvinegar and like essential oils,
and they have all kinds of kindof formulas of like what you
use for like stains or a glasscleaner or counters or the stove
, and it's pretty easy to follow.
(18:32):
Um, so I've used that a bit andthat's also, too, that's
something I've changed over time.
I'm I'm someone that is supersensitive to smell and fragrance
and so um and if you know, ifit's something that has that
very, you know, kind ofammonia-y smell, it's probably
not great, it probably has asynthetic fragrance, which you
(18:55):
know is also, you know we couldget into skincare and cosmetics
is often in that too, but thatis definitely, you know,
synthetic fragrances orendocrine disruptors which are
going to wreak havoc on yourhormones.
And so I just try to avoidthings that are smelly even at a
minimum, so like no fragranceor fragrance-free or no
synthetic fragrances, and Ithink, yeah, like I said, it's a
(19:19):
balance right Of like anythingthat you want, things that
quote-unquote, work and clean,but maybe not that you're
exactly that, your kids, thatyour pets, that you're ingesting
, um, things that are are, youknow, maybe more toxic than
others.
Speaker 3 (19:33):
So yeah for sure.
When I learned about thefragrance with endocrine
disruptors, I thoughtimmediately you know Clorox and
Lysol and different things likethat.
I didn't exactly pinpoint it toperfume and that was a journey
of mine to start not wearingperfume, because the perfume,
(19:56):
unless it's organic which CredoBeauty, they Credo has a lot of
really beautiful organic, yeah,and the thing with, or that it
doesn't last that long, which isgreat because you know it's not
synthetic.
So you have it on for a littlebit and then it releases an hour
or two later.
But that was also a journey.
I remember watching somestudies of you know the testing
(20:17):
of how toxic a perfume is.
You're putting directly on yourlargest organ, your skin, and
wearing it, and then also goingaround other people and they're
ingesting it.
So that was part of the journeyfor releasing the toxins.
For me was the perfume part ofit too.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
That's a big part of it, right.
It's like you know you don'tsmell better.
Yeah, I mean better.
Yeah, yeah, I mean it'severything.
It's everything in likemoderation, right, because I
think people have to think about, like, what works for them and
if someone really loves acertain perfume and that's like
their identity and who like,maybe that's something that's
(20:53):
lower on their list to, you know, take off their sort of maybe
more quote unquote toxic list,or they use a little bit, or
they use it for a specialoccasion, and I mean that's.
I think that, you know,applying like an all or nothing
mentality to any of these topicsthat we talked about can
actually then have the oppositeeffect of someone doing nothing
(21:14):
right and then just becomingforget it.
I'm not doing this becauseyou're, you know, suggesting.
I change 10 hundred thingsaround me every day and now I'm
very sad.
Speaker 3 (21:24):
Yeah, exactly, you don't want to be you don't want
to be sad and down in the dumpsand not having joy anymore
because you eliminated all thethings that you enjoyed in life.
Having the small, bite-sizedpieces is huge.
It's a work in progress.
Exactly, it's a work inprogress and I know when we
(21:46):
first talked, we were talkingabout this.
I told you about my journey andhow I started looking into
functional and learning aboutdifferent things that were
creating inflammation or my bodywas rejecting, and I started to
do you know different ways oflooking at my foods and I
started to just eliminate thesetoxins and it really was game
(22:12):
changing to me.
It was really.
I could feel the night and daydifference once I started to
kind of release and adjustthings accordingly.
And I remember hearing a quotewhich stayed with me it's
because you know, like you'resaying, moderation is fantastic,
and the quote that I heard wasa little bit of poison is a lot
(22:33):
of poison.
So if you have like the littlebit of something every single
day, yeah, it's a lot in yourbody, but if you have it, you
know, a little bit every week,then it's your body's going to
be able to have.
That's what our bodies aredesigned for to combat, to fight
to get over it, et cetera.
But if you don't give it timeto reprieve, to heal itself, a
little bit of poison is a lot ofpoison.
For sure, for sure.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
Yeah, that's what I was talking about earlier, like
that cumulative effect over time.
But you raise another point too, nikki, that I just want to
mention.
As you were talking about, youknow what our bodies are
designed to do and that's like areally, really important piece
and that we're talking about allthese things oh hey, don't eat
this, don't eat that, don't cookthis, never leave your house.
But our bodies are designed, ifwe're sort of, feeding them in
the right way and caring forthem in the right way, to
(23:22):
detoxify, because you know,nature is that you're going to
come into contact with thingsthat you're, you know, not
supposed to be ingesting or notsupposed to be processing, have
an amazing way to detoxify andeliminate.
(23:43):
You know the things thatshouldn't be there if we are
caring for them in the rightways in terms of, you know,
proper nutrition and reallynutrients that you know aim to
kind of speed up detoxificationand sleep, and you know,
minimizing stress.
You know movement, movement,doing things that make you sweat
, that like get you know thingsout and eliminate, and so there
(24:05):
is there is that sort ofoffensive strategy that we can
put up and say, okay, we'regoing to kind of do the best
that we can to maybe keep someof the things at bay or, you
know, this is my priority forfood or kitchen or personal care
, whatever wherever someonewants to prioritize but also
knowing that taking care ofthemselves will sort of turn the
(24:25):
system on the way that it'ssupposed to work and help
detoxify.
So our bodies really areamazing and that they can be a
part of this process with us ifwe're caring for them in the
right way.
Speaker 3 (24:38):
Yeah, so intuitive.
Our bodies can really help usout If we're caring for them in
the right way.
Yeah, so intuitive.
Our bodies can really help usout.
If we're helping our body out,it can help us out.
Yeah, full circle.
Give it the movement, give it alittle sweat, a little detox, a
sign that I noticed when I wasgoing through realizing what I
(24:59):
had in my body and eliminating,or even whenever I eat something
that is something that I feelinflamed on.
You know how the liver does allof its work.
While you're sleeping, I wouldwake up like I was in a pressure
cooker, just like sweat,because my liver was working
overtime trying to processeverything that wasn't aligned
for me, and that was part of myjourney where I realized, oh,
(25:22):
when I eat this, every singletime when I fall asleep, I feel
this pressure cooker inside ofme at 4 am, whenever it was that
it started happening.
Yeah, beautiful.
Well, this has been amazing.
We're going to have more withRebecca, where we're going to
talk about other subjects thatwe touched on just a little bit
today, but I think you know thebroad overview understanding
(25:46):
toxins.
I love your mentality of it'snot all or nothing, just looking
at different ways you can startto make little adjustments and
then keep the things that bringyou joy, you know, but you still
have those in your life.
But know that there are waysthat you could introduce
adjustments and changes for you,your family, your loved ones,
everything.
So I love your wisdom andknowledge and all that you've
(26:09):
done to help others.
And how can anyone that'slistening contact you or get to
know you or learn a little bitabout you?
We'll have everything in theshow notes for your Modern Zen
Collective page, but how canthey find you other than that?
Speaker 2 (26:23):
Yeah, Thanks, nikki.
So I'm, you know, atnefeshliving on Instagram or
people can reach out to Rebeccaat nefeshlivingcom is my email
and happy to chat, answer morequestions and, you know, help
people kind of create a journeyto wellness.
Speaker 3 (26:44):
Love it.
Love it All right.
Wonderful.
Thanks for being here.
Thanks everyone for listening.
We will connect with you soon.
Have a great day, thankseveryone.
Thanks Rebecca, thanks Nikki.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
Don't miss out on our journey to living an authentic,
purposeful and joyful life.
Join our membership andsubscribe now to the Modern Zen
Collective podcast on all majorplatforms and take the first
steps towards elevating yourmind, body and spirit.
For all resources mentioned inthis episode and to connect with
us and our conscious community,check out the episode show
(27:25):
notes for all links and ourcurrent offerings.
See y'all next time.
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