Therese is a Healthy Home Advocate with Cancer Prevention in Mind; owner
of The Green Living Gurus, LLC and Tee’s Organics. Podcast Host of Green
Living with Tee.
She helps people make the switch from harmful chemicals to healthier alternatives.
She shares that "One of the most significant benefits of adopting a low-tox lifestyle is the positive impact on your health. Chemicals are in the food we eat, the water
we drink, and in many conventional products, from cleaning supplies to
personal care items. These chemicals can contribute to cancer, allergies, skin
irritations, respiratory issues, headaches and more."
Starting with just a few substitutions, we can start to improve the health of our home environments and our bodies. I learned so much from Tee, and I hope you will too!
She offers her own line of healthier cleaning products:
Tee’s Organics - https://thegreenlivinggurus.com/shop-tees-organics/
and has an e-book available:
Top Toxins to Avoid - https://thegreenlivinggurus.com/next/toxins-to-avoid-e-
book/
Her website is:
https://thegreenlivinggurus.com/
For The Storied Human Listeners:
Use ‘Healthyhome’ for 15% off Tee’s Organics
https://thegreenlivinggurus.com/shop-tees-organics/
15% off all Austin Air Purifiers. Email us at tee@thegreenlivinggurus.com to
process the order.
Products Tee recommends: https://thegreenlivinggurus.com/amazon/
I mentioned my niece Regina's company -- Tiny Kitchen Candles -- they are made with non harmful wax, wood wicks, and scented with essential oils! We love them -- check them out:
https://www.tinykitchencandleco.com/
THANK YOU FOR LISTENING!
Check out my Facebook group -- The Storied Human.
The Storied Human is on YouTube now-- check it out:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIHYKJ0fBDIF7hzWCu7b396GMJU-2qb7h
Have a story? DM me on instagram: lthompson_574
Drop me an email: thestoriedhuman@gmail.com
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Keep in touch!
Original music "Saturday Sway" by Brendan Talian (for all interviews before 2025)
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Unknown (00:24):
Hello and welcome to The Storied Human. I'm Lynne
Thompson. My guest today isTherese Forton Barnes otherwise
known as T and we're going tocall her that during the
interview. To Therese is ahealthy home advocate with
cancer prevention in mind. Sheowns the green living gurus, and
teas organics. She's the podcasthost of green living with tea.
(00:47):
She's had a really interestingbackground, including a BS from
Ithaca College with a businessmajor and a health studies
minor. And leave has added toher education in 2020. She got
an environment, environmentalhealth certificate, and she's
currently working on getting hercertificate from the
International Association ofwellness professionals. It's
(01:10):
home to health and wellnessprofessionals and coach coaches
across a wide variety ofholistic modalities. She attends
webinars all year long put on byvarious organizations such as
environmental working group,made safe, Silent Spring,
women's voices for the earth,plastic pollution coalition
clean and healthy New York, andthe collaborative on health and
(01:33):
environment. She never stopslearning and fighting for
regulations and laws to changeto protect us from harmful
chemicals. I love how much youdo and I can't wait to hear
about it. Welcome to soyou're having me you're, I'm
happy to be here.
So I really like to hear howpeople get into what they're
(01:53):
doing currently. And I wasdelighted by your story on your
website about the earliest thingyou did. Can you tell us a
little more about that? Sure.
Well, I was very fortunate. Igrew up in the 60s in the 70s. I
am 61 Now, and three oldersisters in younger brother and
my mother, our mother was veryaware of the chemicals back then
(02:17):
I don't know how many peoplewere even aware of the
chemicals. But she was becausewe were being invaded by all of
these different products on themarket fast food chains, TV
dinners, and she wanted to keepus away from that as much as
possible. And she did a prettygood job at it. She worked at
our little tiny Co Op here,which is much bigger now. We all
(02:42):
still shop there. But she wouldcome home and have apples and
hummus and cottage cheese. Andmy friends of course would be
going to McDonald's. So I grewup that way. I didn't know any
better until I started gettingolder and realized that we were
kind of the abnormal ones. Andsometimes referred to as a
(03:02):
granola head. And I that's all Iknew. So when I went to college,
I wanted to go to college, Iopen up a health food store, a
big health food store, I had abusiness plan. I'm major in
business, as you said a minor inhealth. And my business plan was
what everybody knows is WholeFoods. But I came out of college
(03:25):
as a party planner. I was theparty planner for high school, I
was a party planner for gradeschool as a party player,
definitely in college. And itwas an industry that was just
coming on to the market prettymuch. And so I've had a very
successful event party weddingplanning business here in
Buffalo for 38 years. Butthrough those years, I have been
(03:52):
consistently helping people withtheir detox in their homes. A
lot of cancer patients wouldcome to me and say, you know,
how can what can I do topossibly avoid these toxins that
could be causing cancer. And Ialso had a fruit going back in
(04:14):
further 1983 I know you wereexcited when you saw that. I had
a fruit and nuts stand on thestreets of downtown Buffalo in
the summer, which was the firstof its kind and it was basically
just fruit nuts, teas, fruitnuts stand that simple. So it's
(04:38):
in my blood. It's always been inme I'm been so in tune to what
has gone on in the past fourdecades and the amount of
chemicals and products that areintroduced into our lives and
(04:59):
into the shell. One of themarkets where we all shop,
whether it's a supermarket ordrugstore, and it's just gotten
worse and worse and worse overthe years, luckily, in the past,
I'd say five to 10 years, thereis a lot more out there for us
(05:20):
as consumers to be on thelookout, per se, and a lot of
these companies are gettingtheir hands slapped here and
there. It's a slow movementtowards the right direction, but
it's so worthwhile to rewardingI mean, to see, the changes are
(05:43):
starting to happen, it's gonnatake a long time, it really is,
these chemical companies are sopowerful. And they don't want us
to know, anything that they putin the product that potentially
could be bad for us. And theyare brilliant at marketing, and
they have so much money. Andthey lobby in Washington. And
(06:04):
that is why I am doing what Iset out for the is to help
people understand this. And toget the word out there as much
as possible. And there's quite afew of us that do very similar
things. So that's very exciting,because I felt like I was the
only one for 20 years.
(06:25):
While there Yes, you were, Ithink yeah, yeah, it so it's so
good to educate people. Andthat's one of the big reasons I
wanted to have you on was sothat we can all learn more. I
think my feeling is we all knowa little and we're all doing
things in certain areas. But Ilove how complete and
comprehensive. You are like Iwent on the website. And there's
(06:47):
things to do on the wholespectrum of your you know, from
your personal health, to whatyou're eating, what you're
breathing, just everything. AndI think it's so it's so concise
and good. So what are some ofthe things that you see people
struggle with.
So one of the biggest thingsthat I see people struggle with,
(07:11):
and also probably one of thebiggest things that I tried to
get them to change is fragrance.
And put fragrance in cleaningsupplies, fragrance in laundry
detergent, and dryer sheets.
That's, that's my number onething that I help people try to
(07:33):
make that switch, because youcan make the most impact when
you switch out your fragrancelaundry detergent. And the what
what people don't understandabout the word fragrance is that
it is an old trade secret fromthe 1940s that Chanel Number
(07:57):
Five went to our government andsaid we don't want to tell you
what's in our perfume becauseit's a trade secret. And they
that is a law still to this day.
So anybody makes a product andputs the word fragrance on
there, you do not have todisclose what that fragrance is
made with. I have no idea. It'svery scary. And the problem with
(08:17):
fragrance is so many people havesuch a connection to a smell, to
a smell that they think that isis flowers or roses or lavender
or a lemon or ocean breeze. Andit might be something they grew
(08:38):
up with our scent. Ourconnection to scents is so
powerful. And that and they knowthat these companies know how
powerful that is. And thefragrance industry is so
powerful you know there'sthey're blowing fragrance now
into airports to make you wantto come back to that airport.
(09:01):
And yeah,so there's a whole psychology to
it.
i Oh, absolutely. I hadno clue. And that's the last
thing I thought you would saylike the thing you see people
struggling with and the thingthat they can change that would
have the biggest effect is tonot is to get things without
fragrance. Yeah, I noticedthere's a lot more on the market
but I didn't connect why. Yeah,there's there's more on the
(09:24):
market now without fragrance atall. I had no clue. Thank you so
much for that because I feellike you know they say learn
something new every day and Ijust did. And it's scary to go
they hide it.
It is it's very scary. There's acompany out of Connecticut
Bella's sure they've beenstarting to test products on the
(09:46):
market and then finding thesethese ingredients in one was a
sunscreen last year they did atest and they found benzene well
benzene is a common ingredientin fragrance, they don't benzene
causes cancer, it doesn'tpotentially cause cancer it can
cause so it's it's there. It'slike a wild world out there that
(10:11):
we as consumers are puttingthese products in our homes
shampoo. Another one, you willlook at the word fragrance,
lotions, cleaning supplies. Soit's it's a really big eye
opener to people when they startto realize how toxic these
(10:32):
fragrances can be. And you startto realize that it's not what
you think it is. And it's notthat lemon fresh oceans, you
know, breeze which I don't knowhow they could ever get ocean
breeze smell into our clothing,but it it's almost comedy, you
(10:52):
know. So when you go down thataisle of the cleaning aisle in
the supermarket and you smellall those smells, that's pretty
much the fragrance and chemicalsoutgassing. And a lot of people
don't know they don't feel welluntil they actually feel better.
(11:13):
And I tried to get people as Isaid, to really switch their
this out. Number one thing is toget rid of the fragrance. I
ideally would love them toswitch to a better detergent as
well. But switching from thefragrance is key. And some
people have allergies that theythink are from pollen. Some
(11:35):
people have sore throats whenthey wake up in the morning from
these fragrances, stuffy nose,headaches, skin irritation,
these are all things that thesechemicals in laundry detergent
and fragrance for that mattercan do. And you're sleeping in
them, you are wearing theclothes all day, you are they
(11:59):
the the the smells are in yourhome. So those are chemicals
that are in your house and ontop of it in the outdoor air,
because you're obviously dryingthe clothes and pushing those
chemicals outside. So that isthe biggest area that I try to
get people to see and to switch.
And once they do that switch,they usually start really paying
(12:24):
attention to ingredients onevery label that you buy. So and
for I mean candles, another hugeculprit, the chemicals that they
put in candles that you'reburning in your home. So you're
burning these chemicals into theair of your home that you think
is RoHS or as I said lavenderand all these other wonderful
(12:46):
scents. And they most likely arenot.
I know it's it's amazing.
You've right you shake yourhead, like really? How do they
allow this out in the market?
That's a question I get a lotall the time, like how does it
how is it allowed? It's allowed?
It is that is a fact it'sallowed? And why would the EPA,
(13:11):
you know, how do they know?
Listen, we have to take it intoour own hands. And if you're
going to make the switch when Itell everybody put it in a
plastic bag tight tight so thechemicals don't come out and put
it in your garage. Get rid of itfor a month or two and and do
the switch. Do the test.
Yeah. See if there's a change,right? If there's a
(13:35):
change, it takes a while to getit out of your clothing.
Unfortunately, in your sheets, Itell people to at least go get
new pillowcases if you can'tafford to get new sheets. Just
to get it out of yours whereyou're sleeping eight hours a
day, you know on your free.
Yeah, yeah. So that is the firstarea that is hard because people
(13:57):
are addicted pretty much tothese smells. I I have many
people that I just can't get myfamily to, to get used to it.
And it just takes time. Samewith dryer sheets. Dryer sheets
are horrific. They are ohyeah, we don't use those that
just feels wrong to me. Butyeah, right. But I'm a real
(14:19):
smell person. I mean, this islike right up my alley. I got to
really take a look at all thesmells that I put in my house.
And also what about like people?
It's funny, I just was onvacation with people that are
very aware. And we're all wetried to be green and we all
like guiltily admitted that westill use regular cleaners. Like
(14:42):
we haven't made the switch. Youknow, we know that they're not
good. But we're kind of likeaddicted to them and used to
them and they work. So do youhelp people make that change to
like in their kitchens andbathrooms are using the same old
Scrubbing Bubbles and the kindsof things that
is the second The area I usuallygo to, because the amount of
(15:04):
chemicals being sprayed in yourhome, that they think you know,
these companies, they're likeyou need this for the counter,
you need this for the tub, youneed this for the toilet, you
need this for the sink. Andit's, first of all, it's a
marketing ploy. And second ofall, but more importantly, the
chemicals in the that are inthose products are very toxic to
(15:32):
your home, and your lungs. Andif you have children, they're
potentially putting theirfingers in their mouth and dogs
licking the floor licking theirpaws. And the there's there's
alternatives. And I as I grew upwith vinegar, soda, baking soda,
(15:58):
and that's how we cleaned. So Iactually have my own all purpose
cleaner, that I have essentialoils that I use only in it with
vinegar and water. But essentialoils have cleaning properties
out in the antiviralantibacterial. So there's
(16:19):
alternatives out there. And onceyou switch over from the toxic,
Clorox 409, whatever thosesmells are, which, if you
understood how they make thoseproducts, you would not want
those in your home. And once youYeah, once you make that switch
you you you'll never go backand, and the plastic part of it,
(16:42):
too is a hugeissue. It's terrible, right? We
have so many plastic bottles,and we're trying really hard not
to have that. But you know, weneed to make a switch. My great
grandmother used to use vinegarwater on her countertops. Yeah,
my mother too. Yeah, yes. That'swhat might Yep, absolutely. You
know, some people don't like thesmell of vinegar. And that's why
I use it with essential oils. Sothat's a
(17:03):
great tip to use essential oils.
I wanted to mention to shout outto my niece, she has a candle
company that's you know, it'sshe uses soy and she uses
coconut oil and essential oilsand she makes a beautiful candle
that does pollute your home. Andshe feels good about making it
and she's doing great. I'm goingto I'm gonna plug her company
(17:24):
because it's really wonderfulplugin and make sure you send me
the information. Yeah. And youknow, love it. Even if
even if she wasn't my niece, Iwould go crazy for because I
love smells. And these arehealthy smells. Now I understand
how healthy they are. Aftertalking to you.
Yes. Yeah, that's great. Yeah,you
(17:44):
can make switches. And it's notthat hard. If you do, if you do
it bit by bit, you know, you'renot going to do this overnight.
Exactly. Take it slow. Somepeople blame me I love when
somebody comes to me and wantsme to go through their whole
entire house. But that's a bitdrastic, and slow. You know, and
(18:06):
start in the kitchen where or inthe laundry room, as I said, and
then start with your cleaningsupplies. And slowly we will
help you move into new areas.
Because there's so manydifferent things that you can do
to change out and swap out withhealthier products.
(18:29):
Tell me more about the cancerprevention part.
Yes. So my whole life I've beenpretty much aware and scared of
chemicals and how theypotentially could be causing
cancer. My aunt, who was mymother's sister, who I was
(18:52):
extremely close with died ofcancer, right when I graduated
from college in 1985. And atthat point, there wasn't many
people that I knew of dying ofcancer, and it just didn't. And
then all of a sudden it justseems like has exploded in the
past 2030 years. And thechemical industry has also
(19:16):
exploded in the past soscary. Is that too. We never
used to hear about childhoodcancer the way we hear about it
nowkids are babies. Oh my gosh. So
it's, it's everywhere.
Unfortunately, my aunt hadovarian cancer. She was bathed.
She used baby powder all thetime. So now there's lawsuits of
(19:40):
talcum powder causing ovariancancer. There's lawsuits all
over the place. With regards toso many of these different
chemicals Monsanto is beingsued. I forgot how many 160,000
lawsuits for lymphoma and theroundup which is still on the
market. Good, that's how we got,oh my gosh, so. So it's a matter
(20:04):
of just being aware ofeverything you put on your body,
and everything you eat, and whatyou're breathing in. Because we
are bombarded. I mean, you canonly do so much when you walk
out of the house, you know,right, right. Where math but But
you, you can't prevent it onceyou leave your house, but you
(20:25):
can prevent it as much as youpossibly can. In your house, the
EPA has reported that our homesare somewhere between two and
100 times more polluted than theoutdoor air due to the indoor
air quality. And what we arebringing into our homes and all
these homes that our windowsare, you know, air tight,
(20:47):
sealed, very sealed. Yeah.
And, and what is out gassing inour home. So it's just a paying
attention to what you wereusing, what you're buying. And
reading the label, that's themost important thing, read that
label, get to know some of thoseingredients, you might not be
(21:07):
able to pronounce them. But Itell people to Google them once
in a while and see what see whatyou're putting on your skin,
which is going into your body.
So and we don't know how allthese chemicals are interacting
with one another either. So whatyou're breathing, what you're
putting on your skin, whatyou're eating, these are all
things that you want to try toavoid as much as possible. You
(21:28):
can't go crazy with it, youknow, I go out to dinner. And
yeah, I'm not gonna I'm gonnaeat the food that is served to
me, I'm not gonna go crazybecause it's not organic. But I
am gonna bring a glass containerfor my leftovers, because I will
not put it in, I will not takeit in a to go container, which
is usually plastic, and hot foodand plastic you never want to do
(21:50):
so. It's just doing littlethings that you can do for
yourself and your family andyour home.
I do like that idea of focusingon your home. And I didn't
realize how toxic it was. So Ithink that you're, you're right
on, like helping people maketheir personal environments
healthier. Because we spend somuch time and effort in our
(22:12):
homes and we have an olderhouse. So we probably have some
nice airflow.
We do too. Yeah, airflow isgood. You know, even in the
middle of winter. I'm inBuffalo, New York. It's called
here. It's cool. Yeah, yeah, wewill open up a window. You know,
especially when we're sleeping alittle bit cold, but just to get
(22:33):
air in the house, because I'vetalked to some house inspectors.
And they said sometimes theywill go through homes, too. And
you barely can tell that there'sany airflow in the home. And
people wonder why they are sotired all the time. He said feel
well yeah, and why they don'tfeel well. And he's like, I feel
(22:54):
like they're living like in acoffin with no air flow and
toxic chemicals that they'rebreathing in all day. So get
that fresh air as much aspossible. That's
good advice. I can't help butwonder why there aren't
standards or tests being done onthese new homes like I don't
understand how they get awaywith this.
(23:16):
I know I know it scares methere's a lot of a lot of people
out there doing good work withmaking sure that they're
building green homes or if youare building a green home or
remodeling a home there's somegreat websites and people's work
(23:37):
you know that they're doingthese this research and studies
but it's hard I mean yeah, it'syou know, if I ever were to
build a new home I'd have mywindows open an air purifier in
every single room because youcan't get around the drywall you
can't get around the paint andyou know there's just so much
(23:57):
that goes into guessing apt getYeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
you if you're sensitive, you cansmell that in a new home. Like I
can't believe some of the homesI've toured. They have an open
house and it just smells wrong.
It doesn't smell like yeah,complaints that humans should
live you know exactly. Thecarpet especially I've noticed
Oh,the new carpet smells the carpet
(24:18):
in the glue underneath carpetingif it's wall to wall is very
toxic. Yeah, I mean, it's justall these different products
that they use, unfortunately.
Now thankfully our bodies canwithstand some toxic they
(24:41):
process the toxins right andeliminate them. But when your
body starts to overfill withthese toxins, that's when
chronic symptoms or your immunesystem falter and you you are
Cancer on also your body canonly fight off so much. It makes
(25:05):
sense. And yeah, it makes sense.
Definitely. And if you're notgetting them out of your system
properly, then that's when yourbody is telling you something,
something's wrong. So.
So I definitely thought I knew alot about this or a little bit
about it. But I don't think Iknew half the things you today.
(25:27):
That's really good information.
Yeah, there's, I mean, it's, Icould sit here and probably talk
for about six hours oneverything. But it's, again,
taking it slow. If you're, ifyou're listening to the show
here today, you're taking a stepin the right direction already,
by educating yourself and payingattention to everything that
(25:49):
you're using. And you said atthe very beginning, you know,
what is it what's hard for them,that you're making the right
step in the right direction, ifyou're aware of it, and
I would imagine it gets easier,you know, you just get it done.
And it gets fun. I have so manypeople that will and I love when
(26:11):
they do this, they'll send me apicture and say, you know, show
me like, I almost bought this atthe store today. And I read the
ingredients and I saw the wordfragrance or the word perfume or
perfume, they can put that onthere too for for everybody's
sake. And I can just tell thatthey have taken their own health
into their own hands andwatching everything that they
(26:35):
buy at the store. So it's feelgood to see that. Yeah, it is it
is definitely.
So is there anything else you'dlike to tell my listeners? Is
there anything that we didn'ttalk about that you'd like to?
So the, in the United States,just to back all this up in the
(26:59):
United States, we have over80,000 chemicals, there are 11
disallowed on the market today,in the European Union, they have
disallowed 1100 chemicals, thosenumbers have probably gone up.
They're very in the EuropeanUnion, they are very cognizant
(27:22):
of chemicals and what it isdoing to people dogs in the in
the environment for that matterto. And so a woman, on average
puts on 168 Different or takesin or puts you know, puts out
168 different chemicals a day inpersonal care products, hair
(27:45):
spray toothpaste, deodorant,lotions, shampoo, conditioner,
you name it, all those add up,right? A man is more like 128 I
think it is. So it's justreducing those toxins from your
body. So they are to you know,so you're not taking the brunt
(28:06):
of it and potentially harmingyourself. And we all want to
prevent cancer. So that's why Ihave cancer prevention in mind,
I never want to say anything isgoing to prevent cancer. Because
of course, we don't fully knowwhat actually always causes
cancer. And it is something thatI just tried to get people to
(28:30):
keep that in the back your headwhen what you're doing what
you're consuming. Our water inthe United States,
unfortunately, is very pollutedwith pesticides and herbicides
and other chemicals that aremaking its way into our waterway
because of all of these otherchemicals that are being used
(28:52):
and run off and people sprayingtheir lawns. It's all going into
the water. And so I get peopleto try to really focus on their
water as well, because I have areverse osmosis in our in our
for our drinking water in ourhome. So I always refer people
(29:14):
to the Environmental WorkingGroup website. They've been
around for No, two, threedecades. And they've a lot of
great information they offer onthat website. And they also have
a spot on there for water andyou can go in and put in your
zip code and it'll tell you whatis in your water. They analyze
(29:36):
all the different water plantsaround the country and it's
pretty scary. The amount ofchemicals in there and the
levels of these chemicals andmost of them potentially cause
cancer. Sowell that's really important. We
all drink water cook with water.
(29:56):
Yes. What was that? You said youhad a reverse osmosis This so
yepreverse osmosis is a filtration
system that is primarily foryour drinking water in your home
and it gets out 99.9% of thechemicals that are found in
drinking water are drinkingwater. The water treatment
(30:17):
plants they treat the water forbacteria and any viruses.
They're not taking out whatcould be in that water,
pesticides, herbicides, allthese other chemicals so it
takes out those chemicals thatyou do not want to be drinking
(30:38):
the PFAs chemicals. I don't knowif anybody saw that news lately.
A law was just passednationwide. This is massive that
I think in three years, everywater treatment plant has to put
something out you know treat thewater so the PFAs chemicals are
coming out. PFS chemicals areused in nonstick cookware,
(31:00):
they're used in fire foam.
They're used in anything that iswaterproof, it's been sprayed.
It is horrific, they call themforever chemicals. And why they
call forever chemicals becausethey're very hard to get out of
your body and to get removedthem. So this is a huge P FOSS
(31:23):
is p p FAS you'll start seeing alot of products that say P FOSS
free pizza boxes. Underneath thepizza is wax that is Lodish
anything like that New Yorkstate actually, that law passed
in January that they had to putsomething else underneath pizza
(31:45):
because that was you know,unfortunately, and anytime it
heats up, but pizza sits righton that P Foz. layer of paper
dental floss as is known to haveP FOSS in it too. Not dental
floss. Yeah, but there's a lotof really good dental floss out
(32:06):
there. I've been experimented Ihave like three or four
different dental floss that Ireally love now that don't have
P FOSS in them. And that'sreally
great that you told us about PFOSS because I heard about the
legislation. It sounded great,but I like hearing the details.
Yeah, there's I've been studyingthat for I want to say four or
five years. Because there's beensome serious health issues with
(32:32):
families with one family, twofamilies I interviewed one in
north of Albany in New YorkState and one down in one in New
Hampshire and another one inSouth Carolina, that they they
live close to where either anairport where the the the foam
(32:52):
is sprayed all the time on AirBase. Her kids were in the
daycare center and the air baseand they have major health
problems. Yeah. The one familythey all have cancer. So this is
a huge development in the UnitedStates. About three years ago,
they sent out a study in sevendifferent cities. And this is
(33:17):
finally a result for everybody.
Thank goodness. Finally, finallyit was bipartisan, you know that
this is affecting everybody.
Really, I'm an encouraged. Andyou had brought up the European
Union. I've heard that beforethat. They're just so much more
careful with chemicals and food.
Yeah, yeah. So they had anexample on social media of I
(33:40):
guess it was oatmeal, like thequick prepared oat with oatmeal.
It's exactly the same brand. Andthe one in America has like a
million chemicals. And the onein England has regular things
you'd recognize as food. So theyare there ahead of us. And my
friend who is you know, hasfamily in Italy. She said that
(34:01):
when she eats bread in Italy.
She doesn't have this upset thatshe thought was a gluten
problem. As you said clay it'sreally because there's nothing
bad in the bread and because Idon't know the details. But I
know the protein that we have inour wheat has been changed. It's
(34:22):
not the same as that old proteinand so when you go to Europe,
it's your body knows what thatis. And she can eat bread till
the cows come home. Yeah,my sister. Yeah, yeah, that's a
lot of it has to do withglyphosate too.
Oh, that's a lot of our Devoabout that. Yeah, that
is not allowed over in Europeand it's it's sprayed I mean
(34:45):
anything corn here in the UnitedStates wheat crop so that
potentially could be what is inour bread and other chemicals.
So I agree with you. My sisterand I went over to Italy she She
can't eat bread here. She was soexcited. She could eat as much
bread as she wanted over there.
And here's the proof. Yeah. It'sdefinitely scary.
(35:09):
Yeah, it is. It's very scary.
I do. I do think it's, it's hardnot to get really overwhelmed.
But I think if you just take itone step at a time, and know
that you're getting better eachday doing making those
decisions. Yeah, I can't thankyou enough for explaining it to
me. And hopefully, you know,we'll all learn everybody who
(35:30):
listens to my podcast. And let'sjust remind people how they can
get in touch with you, you haveyour website. And the name of
that is,the website is the Green Living
gurus.com. And from the website,I have a shop tab, you can find
everything that I recommend outthere. And my teas, organics and
(35:51):
my guides that I have on thewebsite, and then my social
media links, if you want tofollow me. I have a blog. I have
a newsletter, and I'm prettyaccessible. So yeah,
you have a lot on there. I wasscanning the blog. And there's
so many good topics, I think,right? You can really educate
(36:13):
ourselves just hanging out onyour website. Right?
There's a lot of fun things inthere. I try to make it as fun
as possible. You know, you don'twant to go too crazy with all of
this, but you definitely don'twant to. You want to you want to
pay attention to what you'reputting on your body and in your
body. SoI'm just so happy that you're
(36:33):
fighting the good fight andyou're raising awareness because
we just you know, a lot of usjust don't know.
No, you don't and they knowthat. Yeah. And yeah, they do,
don't they? Yeah, but now we doknow a little more because of
Yes. Definitely. gonna live onyour website for a while. Please
do absolutely.
Thank you too. It was greattalking to you. Oh,
(36:55):
thank you for having me on. Iappreciate it. was really
good. Have a good one. You too.
Hello and welcome to The Storied Human. I'm Lynne
Thompson. My guest today isTherese Forton Barnes otherwise
known as T and we're going tocall her that during the
interview. To Therese is ahealthy home advocate with
cancer prevention in mind. Sheowns the green living gurus, and
teas organics. She's the podcasthost of green living with tea.
(00:47):
She's had a really interestingbackground, including a BS from
Ithaca College with a businessmajor and a health studies
minor. And leave has added toher education in 2020. She got
an environment, environmentalhealth certificate, and she's
currently working on getting hercertificate from the
International Association ofwellness professionals. It's
(01:10):
home to health and wellnessprofessionals and coach coaches
across a wide variety ofholistic modalities. She attends
webinars all year long put on byvarious organizations such as
environmental working group,made safe, Silent Spring,
women's voices for the earth,plastic pollution coalition
clean and healthy New York, andthe collaborative on health and
(01:33):
environment. She never stopslearning and fighting for
regulations and laws to changeto protect us from harmful
chemicals. I love how much youdo and I can't wait to hear
about it. Welcome to soyou're having me you're, I'm
happy to be here.
So I really like to hear howpeople get into what they're
(01:53):
doing currently. And I wasdelighted by your story on your
website about the earliest thingyou did. Can you tell us a
little more about that? Sure.
Well, I was very fortunate. Igrew up in the 60s in the 70s. I
am 61 Now, and three oldersisters in younger brother and
my mother, our mother was veryaware of the chemicals back then
(02:17):
I don't know how many peoplewere even aware of the
chemicals. But she was becausewe were being invaded by all of
these different products on themarket fast food chains, TV
dinners, and she wanted to keepus away from that as much as
possible. And she did a prettygood job at it. She worked at
our little tiny Co Op here,which is much bigger now. We all
(02:42):
still shop there. But she wouldcome home and have apples and
hummus and cottage cheese. Andmy friends of course would be
going to McDonald's. So I grewup that way. I didn't know any
better until I started gettingolder and realized that we were
kind of the abnormal ones. Andsometimes referred to as a
(03:02):
granola head. And I that's all Iknew. So when I went to college,
I wanted to go to college, Iopen up a health food store, a
big health food store, I had abusiness plan. I'm major in
business, as you said a minor inhealth. And my business plan was
what everybody knows is WholeFoods. But I came out of college
(03:25):
as a party planner. I was theparty planner for high school, I
was a party planner for gradeschool as a party player,
definitely in college. And itwas an industry that was just
coming on to the market prettymuch. And so I've had a very
successful event party weddingplanning business here in
Buffalo for 38 years. Butthrough those years, I have been
(03:52):
consistently helping people withtheir detox in their homes. A
lot of cancer patients wouldcome to me and say, you know,
how can what can I do topossibly avoid these toxins that
could be causing cancer. And Ialso had a fruit going back in
(04:14):
further 1983 I know you wereexcited when you saw that. I had
a fruit and nuts stand on thestreets of downtown Buffalo in
the summer, which was the firstof its kind and it was basically
just fruit nuts, teas, fruitnuts stand that simple. So it's
(04:38):
in my blood. It's always been inme I'm been so in tune to what
has gone on in the past fourdecades and the amount of
chemicals and products that areintroduced into our lives and
(04:59):
into the shell. One of themarkets where we all shop,
whether it's a supermarket ordrugstore, and it's just gotten
worse and worse and worse overthe years, luckily, in the past,
I'd say five to 10 years, thereis a lot more out there for us
(05:20):
as consumers to be on thelookout, per se, and a lot of
these companies are gettingtheir hands slapped here and
there. It's a slow movementtowards the right direction, but
it's so worthwhile to rewardingI mean, to see, the changes are
(05:43):
starting to happen, it's gonnatake a long time, it really is,
these chemical companies are sopowerful. And they don't want us
to know, anything that they putin the product that potentially
could be bad for us. And theyare brilliant at marketing, and
they have so much money. Andthey lobby in Washington. And
(06:04):
that is why I am doing what Iset out for the is to help
people understand this. And toget the word out there as much
as possible. And there's quite afew of us that do very similar
things. So that's very exciting,because I felt like I was the
only one for 20 years.
(06:25):
While there Yes, you were, Ithink yeah, yeah, it so it's so
good to educate people. Andthat's one of the big reasons I
wanted to have you on was sothat we can all learn more. I
think my feeling is we all knowa little and we're all doing
things in certain areas. But Ilove how complete and
comprehensive. You are like Iwent on the website. And there's
(06:47):
things to do on the wholespectrum of your you know, from
your personal health, to whatyou're eating, what you're
breathing, just everything. AndI think it's so it's so concise
and good. So what are some ofthe things that you see people
struggle with.
So one of the biggest thingsthat I see people struggle with,
(07:11):
and also probably one of thebiggest things that I tried to
get them to change is fragrance.
And put fragrance in cleaningsupplies, fragrance in laundry
detergent, and dryer sheets.
That's, that's my number onething that I help people try to
(07:33):
make that switch, because youcan make the most impact when
you switch out your fragrancelaundry detergent. And the what
what people don't understandabout the word fragrance is that
it is an old trade secret fromthe 1940s that Chanel Number
(07:57):
Five went to our government andsaid we don't want to tell you
what's in our perfume becauseit's a trade secret. And they
that is a law still to this day.
So anybody makes a product andputs the word fragrance on
there, you do not have todisclose what that fragrance is
made with. I have no idea. It'svery scary. And the problem with
(08:17):
fragrance is so many people havesuch a connection to a smell, to
a smell that they think that isis flowers or roses or lavender
or a lemon or ocean breeze. Andit might be something they grew
(08:38):
up with our scent. Ourconnection to scents is so
powerful. And that and they knowthat these companies know how
powerful that is. And thefragrance industry is so
powerful you know there'sthey're blowing fragrance now
into airports to make you wantto come back to that airport.
(09:01):
And yeah,so there's a whole psychology to
it.
i Oh, absolutely. I hadno clue. And that's the last
thing I thought you would saylike the thing you see people
struggling with and the thingthat they can change that would
have the biggest effect is tonot is to get things without
fragrance. Yeah, I noticedthere's a lot more on the market
but I didn't connect why. Yeah,there's there's more on the
(09:24):
market now without fragrance atall. I had no clue. Thank you so
much for that because I feellike you know they say learn
something new every day and Ijust did. And it's scary to go
they hide it.
It is it's very scary. There's acompany out of Connecticut
Bella's sure they've beenstarting to test products on the
(09:46):
market and then finding thesethese ingredients in one was a
sunscreen last year they did atest and they found benzene well
benzene is a common ingredientin fragrance, they don't benzene
causes cancer, it doesn'tpotentially cause cancer it can
cause so it's it's there. It'slike a wild world out there that
(10:11):
we as consumers are puttingthese products in our homes
shampoo. Another one, you willlook at the word fragrance,
lotions, cleaning supplies. Soit's it's a really big eye
opener to people when they startto realize how toxic these
(10:32):
fragrances can be. And you startto realize that it's not what
you think it is. And it's notthat lemon fresh oceans, you
know, breeze which I don't knowhow they could ever get ocean
breeze smell into our clothing,but it it's almost comedy, you
(10:52):
know. So when you go down thataisle of the cleaning aisle in
the supermarket and you smellall those smells, that's pretty
much the fragrance and chemicalsoutgassing. And a lot of people
don't know they don't feel welluntil they actually feel better.
(11:13):
And I tried to get people as Isaid, to really switch their
this out. Number one thing is toget rid of the fragrance. I
ideally would love them toswitch to a better detergent as
well. But switching from thefragrance is key. And some
people have allergies that theythink are from pollen. Some
(11:35):
people have sore throats whenthey wake up in the morning from
these fragrances, stuffy nose,headaches, skin irritation,
these are all things that thesechemicals in laundry detergent
and fragrance for that mattercan do. And you're sleeping in
them, you are wearing theclothes all day, you are they
(11:59):
the the the smells are in yourhome. So those are chemicals
that are in your house and ontop of it in the outdoor air,
because you're obviously dryingthe clothes and pushing those
chemicals outside. So that isthe biggest area that I try to
get people to see and to switch.
And once they do that switch,they usually start really paying
(12:24):
attention to ingredients onevery label that you buy. So and
for I mean candles, another hugeculprit, the chemicals that they
put in candles that you'reburning in your home. So you're
burning these chemicals into theair of your home that you think
is RoHS or as I said lavenderand all these other wonderful
(12:46):
scents. And they most likely arenot.
I know it's it's amazing.
You've right you shake yourhead, like really? How do they
allow this out in the market?
That's a question I get a lotall the time, like how does it
how is it allowed? It's allowed?
It is that is a fact it'sallowed? And why would the EPA,
(13:11):
you know, how do they know?
Listen, we have to take it intoour own hands. And if you're
going to make the switch when Itell everybody put it in a
plastic bag tight tight so thechemicals don't come out and put
it in your garage. Get rid of itfor a month or two and and do
the switch. Do the test.
Yeah. See if there's a change,right? If there's a
(13:35):
change, it takes a while to getit out of your clothing.
Unfortunately, in your sheets, Itell people to at least go get
new pillowcases if you can'tafford to get new sheets. Just
to get it out of yours whereyou're sleeping eight hours a
day, you know on your free.
Yeah, yeah. So that is the firstarea that is hard because people
(13:57):
are addicted pretty much tothese smells. I I have many
people that I just can't get myfamily to, to get used to it.
And it just takes time. Samewith dryer sheets. Dryer sheets
are horrific. They are ohyeah, we don't use those that
just feels wrong to me. Butyeah, right. But I'm a real
(14:19):
smell person. I mean, this islike right up my alley. I got to
really take a look at all thesmells that I put in my house.
And also what about like people?
It's funny, I just was onvacation with people that are
very aware. And we're all wetried to be green and we all
like guiltily admitted that westill use regular cleaners. Like
(14:42):
we haven't made the switch. Youknow, we know that they're not
good. But we're kind of likeaddicted to them and used to
them and they work. So do youhelp people make that change to
like in their kitchens andbathrooms are using the same old
Scrubbing Bubbles and the kindsof things that
is the second The area I usuallygo to, because the amount of
(15:04):
chemicals being sprayed in yourhome, that they think you know,
these companies, they're likeyou need this for the counter,
you need this for the tub, youneed this for the toilet, you
need this for the sink. Andit's, first of all, it's a
marketing ploy. And second ofall, but more importantly, the
chemicals in the that are inthose products are very toxic to
(15:32):
your home, and your lungs. Andif you have children, they're
potentially putting theirfingers in their mouth and dogs
licking the floor licking theirpaws. And the there's there's
alternatives. And I as I grew upwith vinegar, soda, baking soda,
(15:58):
and that's how we cleaned. So Iactually have my own all purpose
cleaner, that I have essentialoils that I use only in it with
vinegar and water. But essentialoils have cleaning properties
out in the antiviralantibacterial. So there's
(16:19):
alternatives out there. And onceyou switch over from the toxic,
Clorox 409, whatever thosesmells are, which, if you
understood how they make thoseproducts, you would not want
those in your home. And once youYeah, once you make that switch
you you you'll never go backand, and the plastic part of it,
(16:42):
too is a hugeissue. It's terrible, right? We
have so many plastic bottles,and we're trying really hard not
to have that. But you know, weneed to make a switch. My great
grandmother used to use vinegarwater on her countertops. Yeah,
my mother too. Yeah, yes. That'swhat might Yep, absolutely. You
know, some people don't like thesmell of vinegar. And that's why
I use it with essential oils. Sothat's a
(17:03):
great tip to use essential oils.
I wanted to mention to shout outto my niece, she has a candle
company that's you know, it'sshe uses soy and she uses
coconut oil and essential oilsand she makes a beautiful candle
that does pollute your home. Andshe feels good about making it
and she's doing great. I'm goingto I'm gonna plug her company
(17:24):
because it's really wonderfulplugin and make sure you send me
the information. Yeah. And youknow, love it. Even if
even if she wasn't my niece, Iwould go crazy for because I
love smells. And these arehealthy smells. Now I understand
how healthy they are. Aftertalking to you.
Yes. Yeah, that's great. Yeah,you
(17:44):
can make switches. And it's notthat hard. If you do, if you do
it bit by bit, you know, you'renot going to do this overnight.
Exactly. Take it slow. Somepeople blame me I love when
somebody comes to me and wantsme to go through their whole
entire house. But that's a bitdrastic, and slow. You know, and
(18:06):
start in the kitchen where or inthe laundry room, as I said, and
then start with your cleaningsupplies. And slowly we will
help you move into new areas.
Because there's so manydifferent things that you can do
to change out and swap out withhealthier products.
(18:29):
Tell me more about the cancerprevention part.
Yes. So my whole life I've beenpretty much aware and scared of
chemicals and how theypotentially could be causing
cancer. My aunt, who was mymother's sister, who I was
(18:52):
extremely close with died ofcancer, right when I graduated
from college in 1985. And atthat point, there wasn't many
people that I knew of dying ofcancer, and it just didn't. And
then all of a sudden it justseems like has exploded in the
past 2030 years. And thechemical industry has also
(19:16):
exploded in the past soscary. Is that too. We never
used to hear about childhoodcancer the way we hear about it
nowkids are babies. Oh my gosh. So
it's, it's everywhere.
Unfortunately, my aunt hadovarian cancer. She was bathed.
She used baby powder all thetime. So now there's lawsuits of
(19:40):
talcum powder causing ovariancancer. There's lawsuits all
over the place. With regards toso many of these different
chemicals Monsanto is beingsued. I forgot how many 160,000
lawsuits for lymphoma and theroundup which is still on the
market. Good, that's how we got,oh my gosh, so. So it's a matter
(20:04):
of just being aware ofeverything you put on your body,
and everything you eat, and whatyou're breathing in. Because we
are bombarded. I mean, you canonly do so much when you walk
out of the house, you know,right, right. Where math but But
you, you can't prevent it onceyou leave your house, but you
(20:25):
can prevent it as much as youpossibly can. In your house, the
EPA has reported that our homesare somewhere between two and
100 times more polluted than theoutdoor air due to the indoor
air quality. And what we arebringing into our homes and all
these homes that our windowsare, you know, air tight,
(20:47):
sealed, very sealed. Yeah.
And, and what is out gassing inour home. So it's just a paying
attention to what you wereusing, what you're buying. And
reading the label, that's themost important thing, read that
label, get to know some of thoseingredients, you might not be
(21:07):
able to pronounce them. But Itell people to Google them once
in a while and see what see whatyou're putting on your skin,
which is going into your body.
So and we don't know how allthese chemicals are interacting
with one another either. So whatyou're breathing, what you're
putting on your skin, whatyou're eating, these are all
things that you want to try toavoid as much as possible. You
(21:28):
can't go crazy with it, youknow, I go out to dinner. And
yeah, I'm not gonna I'm gonnaeat the food that is served to
me, I'm not gonna go crazybecause it's not organic. But I
am gonna bring a glass containerfor my leftovers, because I will
not put it in, I will not takeit in a to go container, which
is usually plastic, and hot foodand plastic you never want to do
(21:50):
so. It's just doing littlethings that you can do for
yourself and your family andyour home.
I do like that idea of focusingon your home. And I didn't
realize how toxic it was. So Ithink that you're, you're right
on, like helping people maketheir personal environments
healthier. Because we spend somuch time and effort in our
(22:12):
homes and we have an olderhouse. So we probably have some
nice airflow.
We do too. Yeah, airflow isgood. You know, even in the
middle of winter. I'm inBuffalo, New York. It's called
here. It's cool. Yeah, yeah, wewill open up a window. You know,
especially when we're sleeping alittle bit cold, but just to get
(22:33):
air in the house, because I'vetalked to some house inspectors.
And they said sometimes theywill go through homes, too. And
you barely can tell that there'sany airflow in the home. And
people wonder why they are sotired all the time. He said feel
well yeah, and why they don'tfeel well. And he's like, I feel
(22:54):
like they're living like in acoffin with no air flow and
toxic chemicals that they'rebreathing in all day. So get
that fresh air as much aspossible. That's
good advice. I can't help butwonder why there aren't
standards or tests being done onthese new homes like I don't
understand how they get awaywith this.
(23:16):
I know I know it scares methere's a lot of a lot of people
out there doing good work withmaking sure that they're
building green homes or if youare building a green home or
remodeling a home there's somegreat websites and people's work
(23:37):
you know that they're doingthese this research and studies
but it's hard I mean yeah, it'syou know, if I ever were to
build a new home I'd have mywindows open an air purifier in
every single room because youcan't get around the drywall you
can't get around the paint andyou know there's just so much
(23:57):
that goes into guessing apt getYeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
you if you're sensitive, you cansmell that in a new home. Like I
can't believe some of the homesI've toured. They have an open
house and it just smells wrong.
It doesn't smell like yeah,complaints that humans should
live you know exactly. Thecarpet especially I've noticed
Oh,the new carpet smells the carpet
(24:18):
in the glue underneath carpetingif it's wall to wall is very
toxic. Yeah, I mean, it's justall these different products
that they use, unfortunately.
Now thankfully our bodies canwithstand some toxic they
(24:41):
process the toxins right andeliminate them. But when your
body starts to overfill withthese toxins, that's when
chronic symptoms or your immunesystem falter and you you are
Cancer on also your body canonly fight off so much. It makes
(25:05):
sense. And yeah, it makes sense.
Definitely. And if you're notgetting them out of your system
properly, then that's when yourbody is telling you something,
something's wrong. So.
So I definitely thought I knew alot about this or a little bit
about it. But I don't think Iknew half the things you today.
(25:27):
That's really good information.
Yeah, there's, I mean, it's, Icould sit here and probably talk
for about six hours oneverything. But it's, again,
taking it slow. If you're, ifyou're listening to the show
here today, you're taking a stepin the right direction already,
by educating yourself and payingattention to everything that
(25:49):
you're using. And you said atthe very beginning, you know,
what is it what's hard for them,that you're making the right
step in the right direction, ifyou're aware of it, and
I would imagine it gets easier,you know, you just get it done.
And it gets fun. I have so manypeople that will and I love when
(26:11):
they do this, they'll send me apicture and say, you know, show
me like, I almost bought this atthe store today. And I read the
ingredients and I saw the wordfragrance or the word perfume or
perfume, they can put that onthere too for for everybody's
sake. And I can just tell thatthey have taken their own health
into their own hands andwatching everything that they
(26:35):
buy at the store. So it's feelgood to see that. Yeah, it is it
is definitely.
So is there anything else you'dlike to tell my listeners? Is
there anything that we didn'ttalk about that you'd like to?
So the, in the United States,just to back all this up in the
(26:59):
United States, we have over80,000 chemicals, there are 11
disallowed on the market today,in the European Union, they have
disallowed 1100 chemicals, thosenumbers have probably gone up.
They're very in the EuropeanUnion, they are very cognizant
(27:22):
of chemicals and what it isdoing to people dogs in the in
the environment for that matterto. And so a woman, on average
puts on 168 Different or takesin or puts you know, puts out
168 different chemicals a day inpersonal care products, hair
(27:45):
spray toothpaste, deodorant,lotions, shampoo, conditioner,
you name it, all those add up,right? A man is more like 128 I
think it is. So it's justreducing those toxins from your
body. So they are to you know,so you're not taking the brunt
(28:06):
of it and potentially harmingyourself. And we all want to
prevent cancer. So that's why Ihave cancer prevention in mind,
I never want to say anything isgoing to prevent cancer. Because
of course, we don't fully knowwhat actually always causes
cancer. And it is something thatI just tried to get people to
(28:30):
keep that in the back your headwhen what you're doing what
you're consuming. Our water inthe United States,
unfortunately, is very pollutedwith pesticides and herbicides
and other chemicals that aremaking its way into our waterway
because of all of these otherchemicals that are being used
(28:52):
and run off and people sprayingtheir lawns. It's all going into
the water. And so I get peopleto try to really focus on their
water as well, because I have areverse osmosis in our in our
for our drinking water in ourhome. So I always refer people
(29:14):
to the Environmental WorkingGroup website. They've been
around for No, two, threedecades. And they've a lot of
great information they offer onthat website. And they also have
a spot on there for water andyou can go in and put in your
zip code and it'll tell you whatis in your water. They analyze
(29:36):
all the different water plantsaround the country and it's
pretty scary. The amount ofchemicals in there and the
levels of these chemicals andmost of them potentially cause
cancer. Sowell that's really important. We
all drink water cook with water.
(29:56):
Yes. What was that? You said youhad a reverse osmosis This so
yepreverse osmosis is a filtration
system that is primarily foryour drinking water in your home
and it gets out 99.9% of thechemicals that are found in
drinking water are drinkingwater. The water treatment
(30:17):
plants they treat the water forbacteria and any viruses.
They're not taking out whatcould be in that water,
pesticides, herbicides, allthese other chemicals so it
takes out those chemicals thatyou do not want to be drinking
(30:38):
the PFAs chemicals. I don't knowif anybody saw that news lately.
A law was just passednationwide. This is massive that
I think in three years, everywater treatment plant has to put
something out you know treat thewater so the PFAs chemicals are
coming out. PFS chemicals areused in nonstick cookware,
(31:00):
they're used in fire foam.
They're used in anything that iswaterproof, it's been sprayed.
It is horrific, they call themforever chemicals. And why they
call forever chemicals becausethey're very hard to get out of
your body and to get removedthem. So this is a huge P FOSS
(31:23):
is p p FAS you'll start seeing alot of products that say P FOSS
free pizza boxes. Underneath thepizza is wax that is Lodish
anything like that New Yorkstate actually, that law passed
in January that they had to putsomething else underneath pizza
(31:45):
because that was you know,unfortunately, and anytime it
heats up, but pizza sits righton that P Foz. layer of paper
dental floss as is known to haveP FOSS in it too. Not dental
floss. Yeah, but there's a lotof really good dental floss out
(32:06):
there. I've been experimented Ihave like three or four
different dental floss that Ireally love now that don't have
P FOSS in them. And that'sreally
great that you told us about PFOSS because I heard about the
legislation. It sounded great,but I like hearing the details.
Yeah, there's I've been studyingthat for I want to say four or
five years. Because there's beensome serious health issues with
(32:32):
families with one family, twofamilies I interviewed one in
north of Albany in New YorkState and one down in one in New
Hampshire and another one inSouth Carolina, that they they
live close to where either anairport where the the the foam
(32:52):
is sprayed all the time on AirBase. Her kids were in the
daycare center and the air baseand they have major health
problems. Yeah. The one familythey all have cancer. So this is
a huge development in the UnitedStates. About three years ago,
they sent out a study in sevendifferent cities. And this is
(33:17):
finally a result for everybody.
Thank goodness. Finally, finallyit was bipartisan, you know that
this is affecting everybody.
Really, I'm an encouraged. Andyou had brought up the European
Union. I've heard that beforethat. They're just so much more
careful with chemicals and food.
Yeah, yeah. So they had anexample on social media of I
(33:40):
guess it was oatmeal, like thequick prepared oat with oatmeal.
It's exactly the same brand. Andthe one in America has like a
million chemicals. And the onein England has regular things
you'd recognize as food. So theyare there ahead of us. And my
friend who is you know, hasfamily in Italy. She said that
(34:01):
when she eats bread in Italy.
She doesn't have this upset thatshe thought was a gluten
problem. As you said clay it'sreally because there's nothing
bad in the bread and because Idon't know the details. But I
know the protein that we have inour wheat has been changed. It's
(34:22):
not the same as that old proteinand so when you go to Europe,
it's your body knows what thatis. And she can eat bread till
the cows come home. Yeah,my sister. Yeah, yeah, that's a
lot of it has to do withglyphosate too.
Oh, that's a lot of our Devoabout that. Yeah, that
is not allowed over in Europeand it's it's sprayed I mean
(34:45):
anything corn here in the UnitedStates wheat crop so that
potentially could be what is inour bread and other chemicals.
So I agree with you. My sisterand I went over to Italy she She
can't eat bread here. She was soexcited. She could eat as much
bread as she wanted over there.
And here's the proof. Yeah. It'sdefinitely scary.
(35:09):
Yeah, it is. It's very scary.
I do. I do think it's, it's hardnot to get really overwhelmed.
But I think if you just take itone step at a time, and know
that you're getting better eachday doing making those
decisions. Yeah, I can't thankyou enough for explaining it to
me. And hopefully, you know,we'll all learn everybody who
(35:30):
listens to my podcast. And let'sjust remind people how they can
get in touch with you, you haveyour website. And the name of
that is,the website is the Green Living
gurus.com. And from the website,I have a shop tab, you can find
everything that I recommend outthere. And my teas, organics and
(35:51):
my guides that I have on thewebsite, and then my social
media links, if you want tofollow me. I have a blog. I have
a newsletter, and I'm prettyaccessible. So yeah,
you have a lot on there. I wasscanning the blog. And there's
so many good topics, I think,right? You can really educate
(36:13):
ourselves just hanging out onyour website. Right?
There's a lot of fun things inthere. I try to make it as fun
as possible. You know, you don'twant to go too crazy with all of
this, but you definitely don'twant to. You want to you want to
pay attention to what you'reputting on your body and in your
body. SoI'm just so happy that you're
(36:33):
fighting the good fight andyou're raising awareness because
we just you know, a lot of usjust don't know.
No, you don't and they knowthat. Yeah. And yeah, they do,
don't they? Yeah, but now we doknow a little more because of
Yes. Definitely. gonna live onyour website for a while. Please
do absolutely.
Thank you too. It was greattalking to you. Oh,
(36:55):
thank you for having me on. Iappreciate it. was really
good. Have a good one. You too.
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