How to Remove Toxins from Your Body to Keep You and Your Future Generations Healthy.

How to Build a Business With the Power to Change the World with Mina Raver

Welcome to this episode of The Determined Mom Show I have with me today, Cristy Murray, who is a functional nutrition and wellness consultant with Blue Veil Wellness. I’m very excited to talk about this because we all know, especially in the United States, that there is so much stuff in our food and so much stuff in our environment that is toxic to us.

However, we just basically ignore that. Kind of move on and hope that we’re getting the least exposure to it, which is pretty much the American way of doing things, but we’re gonna talk today about how to remove toxins from your body to keep you and your future generations healthy. 

So, Before we get into that, I would love for you to introduce yourself to the audience and tell them about Blue Vale Wellness and about yourself and all of the things I already know, because she was a guest on the, or a speaker at the Business Mom Summit in 2020, so I’m very excited to have her there and also have you back here today.

Thank you. I’m excited. As you said, kind of the way of life has been, you know, what’s easy, what’s convenient, and it’s not until someone encounters a challenge in life that a person starts digging into what’s wrong. What’s wrong? What am I doing wrong? What can I do? I feel like people go into stages at first.

You know, you ask what’s wrong and then you find out what’s wrong and. It is a while until someone decides, okay, it’s time for me to do something about it. For me, my turning point is when I discovered that something was wrong. I wanna say 15, almost 15, 20 years ago when I started my journey to having a family.

Everything, you know, going on with my life, everything was normal, nothing was wrong, and so I thought, Why am I not getting pregnant? It was taking a while. So then that’s when I started my investigation into things. I started doing my research, seeing different specialists, and then I, until I got all that information, put everything together, and then I decided, well, I’m not just going to depend on what people tell me.

I’m not going to just depend on medications. It is a good thing, but we have our responsibility to keep ourselves healthy, keep our bodies, and our vessels ready for either conception or just prime for longevity. And one of those things that I found out was a lot like heavy metals and toxins for that we are just absorbing whether we, you know, we’re doing it on purpose or, or not.

The products that we use in our everyday life are just there. Like we use lotions every day. We use soap every day. Shampoo, deodorant, conditioner, dishwashing, soap, all those things.

If you’re not mindful of it, they’re, you’re doing more harm than good to your body. It’s crazy when you think when you just mentioned all of those things, those weren’t even things that were on my radar or like thinking about like you said, dish soap, and  I wasn’t even thinking about those. And I’m sure our listeners were not either.

So yeah, so that was like I said, 15, almost 20 years ago. And then I went on to study, went to nursing school, and got my master’s in nursing. Then like my passion, I just started building up. Okay, now I’m a provider.

I like treating patients in a clinic, but at the same time, I feel like I need to make a bigger impact by just making people aware of what’s going on so they can have the knowledge to take matters into their own hands and take charge of their help. Then that’s when I decided to get some more certifications in functional nutrition and functional health coaching and I started. 

That’s awesome. So what exactly is functional nutrition and functional health coaching for people like me that aren’t sure exactly what that means?

Functional nutrition. It’s a new science. there’s functional medicine and what it is is going to the root cost of what’s going on, you know? and someone saying, well, I can’t sleep. I have a hard time sleeping. Instead of just, okay, here are some things for you to sleep better. You, we go deeper into finding out, well, why are you not sleeping well?

Your food is, you know, how’s your lifestyle? How are you? So that’s functional medicine in itself. And then we go into functional nutrition. We zero in on the foods that you eat. Are you allergic to what you’re eating even though it’s healthy for everyone else, but it’s not planned for you and it’s hurting you? But then you’re thinking it’s helpful. 

Yeah, that makes complete sense. I love that definition and I kind of wish that all doctors were functional doctors because that seems like the most logical way to approach medical issues. But I know that that’s not how.

Things are, just like we should have talks and free products, but that’s not how things are. So we have to kind of advocate and choose the right people like you and choose the right products. Like I’m sure you’re going to go over with us today.

The biggest change that one can make is just looking, if we start in our kitchen, look. The products or the storage products that you’re using, are you storing your food in plastic containers? I feel like the biggest or the most famous chemical right now is BPA, because everything is becoming advertised as BPA free, sally free, salad free. They’re two different chemicals. 

One, It’s added into plastic to make it more flexible and fireable, which is convenient for us because that’s what you want. It’s light and it’s flexible. but at the same time, once heated up, whether you put your food in the microwave or after you cook something and you place it in those plastic containers, those chemicals start leaching into the food. 

And you don’t see them because they’re little minute chemicals, and all you see is the food that, Hey, you’re hungry. I’m gonna eat right now. From this container. Those chemicals that are then mixed in with your food, get into your system and you don’t notice it right away because most of the effects are what we call bioaccumulative. In small amounts, they’re not doing much. 

But then as time goes on, those products add up in your system and they damage your endocrine system. Like they mimic your hormones to the where the real receptors are not connecting with, what’s supposed to be connected. So, and, the example that I like to tell people is like a lock and key. 

If you think of a doorknob and you have instead of keys and you don’t know what key opens it, some keys might fit. And you’re thinking, okay, that’s. But then you turn it and it doesn’t, it doesn’t open the door. So those are the endocrine disruptors, they fit perfectly, but they don’t unlock it, so then your hormones don’t work properly. 

Wow, that’s crazy. So what about BPA-free plastics? Are they BPA-free or are they like, is there like a percentage like caffeine-free coffee where it’s like 0.999?

I don’t know exactly the percentage, but there are some. Then, you just look at the numbers. If you flip, I should have brought a container here to show you. If you flip over the container, you see that triangle at the bottom, with arrows that form a triangle, and then there’s a number in the middle.

So just a little nursery rhyme, five, four, and two. The rest are bad for you.

I love it. I’m gonna go as soon as we’re done and hire my children to scour all of the plastics in our house. I love it. Awesome. So other than plastics, you mentioned laundry detergent, dish detergent, you know, I’m sure food, obviously with pesticides and all of those things are some of them. What can we do to eliminate those things?

So going, so now coming from the kitchen, let’s pretend you go into the bathroom after you just made food and you wanna take shower, we’ll get your lotions and your products. The ingredients, if you’re, there’s a big list of chemicals that most of them you can’t pronounce.

If it has a really strong scent, potential allergen potential, triggers, sensitivity issues, and phthalate. I can spell it right, P T H A T H L A T E S. So thas, those little big ones that you look, if you turn over and look at the ingredient. 

And we’re actually, it’s kind of funny that we’re having this conversation because in our household right now we’re kind of in this discovery mode with our four-year-old who has extremely bad eczema and we’re trying to figure out what in the heck she’s allergic to.

And it seems to be a lot of certain fruits like kiwi, strawberry, you know, all of the yummy fruits, which is unfortunate for her, especially being four and loving everything. I’m kind of curious about all of those things and how not just, I mean, I’m sure I know strawberries are one of those things that you should only eat organic strawberries. Is that right? Because like the skin is exposed to something and it can go through the skin. I don’t know.

So if you go to e wg.org, it’s environmental working group.org. They have a list of the dirty. And the Dirty Dozen prep is, it’s the top 12 fruits that have a lot of chemicals in them. If you have a choice of buying something organic versus not organic, choose the one that’s at the bottom of the list. So bananas are okay not to buy organic because you peel off the skin.

So like strawberries and I believe blueberries are in there. You eat the skin. So those are the ones that, okay, I’m not gonna buy organic bananas, but I am going to buy organic blueberries and strawberries.

What about oranges? Oranges, you’re not eating the peel. They might be lower on the list of the ones that you can avoid. Very cool. That’s awesome. I’m gonna have that resource in the show notes for you, so then that way you can easily grab that and tell us more. I know there’s so much, so much to cover.

I know. so that’s with food. And so then we move on to how your body processes food. Right. especially, you know, your liver has to be in good working condition. Because even if you are eating all these clean or clean ingredients and clean products if your body is if your liver is not working properly, not detoxing, all that is just in your system.

One way of making sure that your liver is working properly is to eat a lot of cruciferous vegetables, and a lot of fiber.  like broccoli, and cauliflowers. Yes. Exactly. Okay. I’m like, I think I remember what that means, but I’m not sure. And, of course, no least amount of alcohol that you can tolerate.

And of course, proper hydration would water. I’m a firm believer that if you just take out the bad stuff and then you put in the good stuff, you know, you as a person can pretty much. Look at food as the solution first versus reaching for a pill. 

I have a question because this seems like something that you would be well versed in and it’s something that’s come up over the years, about the alkalinity of water. Like when you’re drinking water, should it, it should be more alkaline? Is that my understanding of it? Or is that a myth? Or is it just the people that wanna sell you the water filter? I’m not sure. Those are all the questions that I have all wrapped up into one.

Unfortunately, I have not, I have not turned my attention to water cuz being in Alaska, I just, pretty much have gotten complacent that we have good water, It’s probably the best water in the entire country. I will do the research for you and I’ll get back to you.

Okay, that sounds great. Yeah. It’s one of those things that I’m like, okay, do I need one of those fancy water filters that are like a thousand dollars? Or is it like, okay, I just add lemon to my water, and like I know that’s like a natural way to do it, but just kind of curious about that. We’re talking kind of about what we can do to set our families up, make sure we’re doing things for our children, and to kind of keep them healthy.

So is it like, Building those habits and kind of making them aware of things as they’re growing up that is gonna help them, or just kind of trying not to expose them when they’re at a certain developing age? Which one of those is kind of more important?

Well, I feel like removing exposure as they’re developing, so then they’re in a proper mindset and the habits start right there. 

Kind of scurrying to make some shifts because if that’s what they grew up if they know that, we use fragrance-free detergent and we don’t use fabric softeners at our home, we use wool balls with essential oils.

Some people use vinegar as a fabric softener. It’s for, for them it’s like, okay, that’s what we grew up in. That’s our norm. And they won’t even think of anything else. Because like me, it made for me, it’s a big shift because I like good-smelling products. I like my fabric soft. 

That’s exactly what’s going through my mind as you’re going through this.

I love again, so I love, I have like the, what is it, the midnight something or other? I don’t know what it is, but I shouldn’t be using that is what you’re saying. 

I use fragrance-free. Fragrance-free detergent.  I use Pure Haven and I tried to make my detergent because I saw Die for my Kids.

I’d still like this, the full me and the sud, so I have found a company that makes that Yeah. detergent that I. And then as far as a fabric softener, I like, I saw you smile when I said wool balls. It’s like I have a set of like three wool balls and it helps cut down on the drying time.

Because it’s the ball and as they tumble around in the dryer, it provides more space. So, provide more iteration in the. Wool is a natural antimicrobial, and I learned this when I was cloth diving my kids a lot of outer layers, of cloth, diapers, and wool because it’s naturally antibacterial and antimicrobial and you don’t have to wash them as much.

You just let them air dry. Wow. And then so then that was working and I missed the smell. Very, like my sense of smell is very strong. I did more research and yeah, essential oils. You just put those essential oils, whatever smell you want, put them in the woo balls and throw them in the dryer. 

Coming up, uh, where to get these things. So wool balls, you can get them anywhere, I guess.

Yeah, pretty much anywhere if you, if you, I mean, pretty much can get anything from Amazon nowadays. Woo balls, there are a lot of organic and natural companies that make them and essential oils, whatever company you trust. I’m partial to young living. Because they call it to seed to seal. So they have their farms and they harvest their leaves and flowers and they distill them on their own. 

They don’t buy it and then repackage everything. And then for detergent, as I said, I use Pure Haven and they also have these like cleansing cleaning products as well that I’m comfortable with because my kids are getting older now. And some people have me like, Hey, do you have a housekeeper?

I’m like, no. I train my kids to learn to clean. And I’m confident in that because the products that I give them to use in the bathroom, it doesn’t hurt. My oldest, my oldest has asthma, so I have to be careful about the song, the strongly scented products, and yeah. No Clorox bleach spray

I know, sure. You know, you can find recipes that you can DIY your ingredients. There’s like certain portions of vinegar, tea tree oil, or something. I have tried that as life got busy. Like, I found a company that I just trust and I just, I use them.

And that’s the Safe Haven as well or the Pure Haven? Pure Haven, yes. Okay, awesome. Very cool. Yeah, so we’ll include all of those links in the show notes. So then that way, if you’re trying to find those things, it’s easily accessible as you listen to this. 

So just do those things slowly. It can get overwhelming to make all these changes because they’re all, they’re pretty much, they’re every. You know, the couch it’s sprayed with fi-retardant spray. It’s also a chemical that can lead into your system. and we, you know, we can’t live in a tent or some people do, we can’t live in the silo.

You know, reduce the exposure as much as you can. If you can start with the containers and then move on to the laundry and then, you know, then you start looking into your personal care products. 

That sounds like a great path. Do you have any guides or anything that will help us to kind of walk this, you know, walk into this kind of process? I feel like it’s not an overnight thing. 

Like you can’t just throw everything out. But you kind of, like you, said, just adding different things in and replacing those kinds of things and evaluating what you’re doing right now to see if it’s good, or bad. So do you have anything that you can share with us that is gonna help us along that?

I do have an ebook called 52 weeks. So, it sounds overwhelming, but it is decided not to because you’re supposed to just make one change a week, that sounds doable. If people can, I don’t have it set up as a giveaway, but if people email me, Cristy blue vale wellness.com, I’d be happy to give you the link to the e. So then you can be on your way, to just make slow changes, then it’s more sustainable for you. 

And where can we get the ebook if we wanna purchase it? I can send you the link. okay? I do apologize that I don’t have that setup. No, that’s okay. You can just email it to me.

That sounds great, and I know you also have a freebie for those who are looking to enhance their fertility, so tell us a little bit about that.

I have a freebie, a gift for everyone. It’s called Fertility Boosting Foods. So you can just type fertility boosting foods.com and you’ll get this document that focuses on three systems in or will help you focus on three systems in yours. That you can start working towards and then like some foods that you can concentrate on to get you on your way. 

That’s awesome. I’m sure that there are some that I probably need to eliminate right now, like sugar and all those. Ones that we know we shouldn’t be eating already. So it’s just hard, you know like that’s just the hard thing.

It’s hard. It’s, you know, some people say, well, I don’t have the willpower. But then sometimes it’s not even about willpower. It’s really what your system is used to. And no matter how strong your willpower, It’s like your body craves it, and so you have to target that craving. Why are you craving it?

Very interesting. I love it. And that’s why we need someone like you that is a functional nutritionist to figure that out. Awesome. So do you offer any coaching, consulting, anything like that for someone who’s listening and they’re either, you know, in that space where they do wanna take that journey to be toxin-free in their household or you know, they’re kind of trying to?

Become pregnant or they’re trying to prepare their body for pregnancy, or maybe they already are and they wanna make sure they’re on the right path nutritionally. 

I do, I do have a six-week program. so every week it’s designed to target every, different area of your life. The first one is, of course, we’re going to look at the toxins that you’re using.

I’ll give you a list of chemicals that you should go look for, and then, Then the, you know, and then we talk about your sleep. We talk about going plant-based. And I understand that people are not, you know like not wanting to give up on me and it’s okay. 

And I’m one of them but just the simple reduction of what you eat and then just focusing on the organic foods and then what’s more plant. You know, can definitely, research has shown that some of it actually reverses diabetes and then helps with cardiovascular issues. 

So sleep and then exercise, so yeah, I feel like six weeks is a good enough program for people to get a jumpstart.  home changes and it’s designed to be a group program. So just, gimme a call if you have any questions or if people wanna talk about it. Or send me an email, christie blue wellness.com, and then we can chat.

Well, thank you so much for being here, Cristy, and sharing all of this amazingness with us. We have not had anybody on the show yet talking about toxins and being toxin-free, so I’m really glad that you were here to share this with us and kinda be that catalyst in our lives to get us onto that healthier path. So thank you for being here. 

Well, thank you so much. I’m so excited. It’s one of those things that people need to do. Aware of this, and I feel like if you start making changes, then you really would notice a difference in yours. 

Christy’s resources:

Environmental Working Group

Free PDF Guide

Enhance Your Fertility with Food

PureHeaven

Wool dryer balls 

Young Living Oils