Cleaning Up Your Environment While Pregnant

Environmental pollution means you are constantly exposed to a chemical cocktail. It is estimated that you may be exposed to as many as eight hundred chemicals every day however very few generational studies have been made. So we really have very little idea of what affects your exposure to agricultural chemicals and to chemicals in the home or your holiday flights may have on your children your grandchildren or even on your great grandchildren.

The environment certainly affects every one of us and we all need to be aware of its extent. Take whatever active steps you can to reduce your total exposure and take some positive steps to up your environment.

Heavy Metals

The heavy metals include lead mercury and aluminum is substances that have no role whatsoever to play in human metabolism. It can displace essential minerals from enzymes and hormones which can affect your health at any time. Heavy metals accumulated in the body particularly in pregnancy and the placenta which will affect your baby's development.

Almost every facet of our food supply is subject to some sort of chemical treatment. First, the seed is fumigated then the plant is sprayed during planting and harvesting and it is also fertilized a number of times. Further chemical treatment is carried out during storage or before transport. Then, of course, there is refining and processing and finally cooking and serving condiments and relishes. The livestock may be fed antibiotics and hormones and in nonsustainable farming operations, something mostly in the form of a chemical is added to the original product at every step of the production process. I mentioned earlier the reasons for buying organically grown and fed produce. Not surprisingly there is a significant reduction in chemical residues of all types in produce grown by sustainable or organic methods.

Do not think you're safe when you get inside your front door when you open your kitchen, laundry or bathroom cupboards or the door of the garden shed, you will encounter a further assortment of products containing chemicals. Many of the most commonly used household chemicals such as glues and paints or other products which contain organic solvents have been known to have adverse effects on human health so there is absolutely no doubt at all that they will have adverse effects on the developing embryo and fetus. There are even problematic substances in floor coverings and building materials.

• Avoid tinned foods especially unlined or old tins and never leave them open in the fridge but rather transfer contents to glass or plastic containers.
• Avoid fish caught in contaminated rivers and lakes.
• Avoid shark and swordfish as they are high in mercury.
• Avoid aluminum and copper cookware and kettles and avoid cooking or storing food in aluminum foil and use baking paper instead. Do not cook high acid foods like tomatoes in metal or ceramic dishes. Use heatproof glass instead.
• Avoid carbon tetrachloride which is commonly used in dry cleaning as it damages the liver. Check all chemicals you are exposed to at work.

Environmental hazards are regularly cited in the press as becoming more prevalent, and having an effect on health. Working with chemicals for example in printing or hairdressing may be an obvious example. And attention has been focused on those chemicals that are routinely used in toiletries and beauty care products because of their possible toxicity. This may not cause any sort of a reaction but highly toxic chemicals could place an additional demand on the liver over time and the body's organ of detoxification depleting your natural resources.

The ability to keep the body clear of the rest of the toxins you might be exposed to is all a question of toxic load and how your body deals with it. Although most chemicals in regular use are passed to be safe it is the incessant exposure to the use of one or more products over long periods of time that can create problems. Using a moisturizer once a month would create no problem but using the same product with chemical preservatives twice a day for years could possibly be some chemical preservatives found in most moisturizers for both women and men and are known to chemically imitate estrogen which can cause hormonal imbalances. These, in turn, may make the difference to ovulation and sperm quality and quantity in susceptible people.

• Move your bed if it is presently near or on the other side of a wall from a fuse box.
• Consider moving if you live close to a busy highway or flight path.
• Use your mobile phone as little as possible and do not carry it next to your reproductive system.

I hope you are now inspired to reduce your exposure to harmful environmental pollution. As well as reducing your exposure to these toxic substances it is appropriate that you undergo gentle detoxification program to compensate for past exposure.