Nanny to Mommy

Every parent strives to provide their family with the healthiest environment possible. With an emphasis on creating an emotionally safe and loving environment, it can be easy to overlook the need to sustain a healthy physical environment in order to support a healthy family. As reported by Cornell University, housing quality has a tremendous impact on child-wellbeing, including exposure to toxic substances, general organization and cleanliness of the space, and easy access to natural settings. In fact, natural living is cited as the most beneficial in promoting your child’s health. Consider going green in the home to help your family thrive in the healthiest, earth-conscious environment possible. Look to these tips for ways to start living naturally today!

Spring is the perfect season to give your home a thorough cleaning- but before you grab your household cleaners, focus on organizing your space. The clutter you keep in your home has negative impacts on your mental health, including increases in anxiety, general stress, and a deterioration in cognitive productivity. Providing your family with a home free of clutter will simultaneously provide them with a healthy environment that encourages positive development.

Decluttering your home additionally helps improve the environment, as it supports minimalism. Not only does minimalism further promote mental wellness, but also it minimizes the amount of waste your home will ultimately contribute to local landfills!

You may know the importance of drinking eight glasses of water each day, but do you ever think about the quality of the water you’re consuming? Water that has not been purified may contain contaminants such as bacteria, algae, chemicals such as chlorine, and traces of metals. As each state is different in terms of water regulations, your regular tap water can be partially filtered and safe to consume. However, even so contaminants can still be traced within the supply.

Taking measures to purify your water supply will help eliminate these contaminants from your family’s drinking water. Consider hiring a local plumbing professional to install a home filtration system. This will ensure that all of the water you consume or use is of the purest quality! Filtered water helps to promote a healthy body, clear skin, as well as strong hair and nails. If you aren’t in the market to install an entire filtration system, opt for point of contact filters for your kitchen faucet and showerheads to ensure you’re consuming and using the best water for your body and skin!

Plastic not only contributes to our landfills- 8.3 Billion tons have been produced since the 1950s and 60 percent of this is still existing and creating waste- but also brings toxins into your home. Plastic packaging, baggies, and the household’s ever popular food storage containers. Although the U.S Food and Drug Administration has banned it from being included in baby bottles and infant food packaging, more than 80 percent of young adults are found to have BPA in their system. The substance is associated with a handful of potential health concerns such as disruptions in the endocrine system’s development, type 2 diabetes, and fertility issues.

Purge your home of plastic, and make the switch to environmentally friendly materials. Glass food storage containers are durable and reusable, allowing you to safely store and even heat up your food time and time again without concern of chemical transfer. Opt for cast iron pots and pans over non-stick options, which contain plastic in its coating. When cooking and eating, swap out utensils for those made out of bamboo. This substance is far more Earth conscious than traditional wood, as bamboo grows very quickly- It can take decades to reforest trees cut down for the sake of producing consumer goods!

Making the switch to a plant-heavy diet will do wonders for your family’s health, but be sure to choose locally sourced produce in order to minimize food miles. Food miles refer to the length your food traveled to get from production to your plate, which requires the use of transportation that emits harmful greenhouse gases into our air supply. Additionally, cutting down on your consumption of animal products (no, you don’t have to give up meat all together!) can dramatically reduce the impact on the environment as livestock production uses mass amounts of energy and water to sustain. Even cutting down meat consumption by a few days or meals will make a difference!

Indoor air quality (IAQ) refers to the air that is inside and around your home. When IAQ is poor, this can result in a dramatic increase in sinus irritation, allergy symptoms, and cold like symptoms including dizziness and fatigue. If you do not take measures to improve your home’s IAQ, your family can potentially experience long-term effects such as respiratory and heart disease, as well as cancer.

Promote the quality of the air your family breathes by making the switch to natural home cleaners. One way to promote air quality is by switching from air fresheners to natural, essential oils. There are amazing natural properties of essential oils that promote physical and mental health, so you’ll be getting twice the benefit when you diffuse them. Natural cleaners are another way to promote IAQ. Eco-friendly cleaners don’t contain toxic substances that the traditional household brand use in their formulas, so you won’t have chemicals lingering on surfaces and in the air for your family to ingest. Lastly, rely on air-purifying plants to bring a natural style into your home decor while simultaneously purifying the air! Running a household will always come with its own unique challenges, but achieving a healthy environment that promotes the wellbeing of both your family and mother nature doesn’t need to be one of them! Strongly consider going green in the home in order to provide your family with a happy and healthy home environment.