Understanding where to look for eco friendly product swaps can be a bit confusing. Especially with green washing labels like “natural”, “sustainable” and “clean” that take place in the “healthy living” world. In this post I will show you my favorite “this for that” swaps and explain WHY I chose the products I do over others. I’m so excited for you to take control of your health and understand what the labels mean on your next shopping trip.

Cleaners

1. Multi-Purpose Cleaner

Myers for Vinegar & Water

Fragrance is the word I am focusing on in this section. Alongside fragrance, Myers contains many other harmful ingredients that I don’t want in my home let alone on my surfaces I cook on.

2. Air Freshener

Febreeze for Grow & Diffuser

If you’ve been here awhile, you know I hate fragrance. It’s an unregulated endocrine disrupting chemical that’s in literally everything.. even organic products. So, keep your eye out on label for that one. It’s listed as fragrance, fragrance oil, natural fragrance oil, natural fragrance essence and the list goes on. I stick with pure organic and no added ingredients essential oils. Plus, I just found this Grow freshener that I’m pretty stoked about.

3. “Disinfectant”

Bleach for Seventh Generation Chlorine-Free Bleach

I don’t think I need to go into details on why we shouldn’t be putting bleach in our sink we wash dishes in, our clothes we wear and our bedding we sleep on nightly. Luckily, they make a chlorine-free option that has an A rating on the Environmental Working Group site!

4. Laundry Detergent

Ecos brand for (being updated)

Laundry soap is a tricky one when you’re looking for eco friendly product swaps. There is some pretty tricky labeling that makes it difficult to understand what truly is non-toxic. What makes it more difficult is that “health influencers” are promoting these totally junky laundry detergents even though they contain toxic ingredients like fragrance, Nonylphenol ethoxylates (NPEs), synthetic and petroleum-based surfactants (ALES and PEG), chlorine bleach and the well known sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS). If you want to protect your hormones, stick with a cleaner laundry detergent!

5. Dryer Sheets

Just like the laundry detergent above, these little anti-static sheets can contain endocrine disrupting chemicals that can wreak havoc on your health. I love to put a few drops of essential oils on three wool balls and throw them in with my clothes in the dryer. It makes them smell delicious and I don’t have to worry about toxic chemicals!

Eco Friendly Product Swaps for Textiles

1. Mattress

Conventional for Happsy Organic Mattress (code HOLISTIC25 saves you $225 + free shipping)

If you haven’t read my post on organic mattresses, head over there first. Conventional mattresses contain KNOWN CARCINOGENS and we – quite frankly – should not be sleeping on them for 8+ hours a night! These chemicals cause reproductive health issues, asthma, skin irritation and the list goes on. Instead, I choose Happsy because they are certified organic and extremely comfortable. They’re a fantastic brand.

2. T-Shirt

Walmart for Synergy or Wear Pact

Just like the mattress, conventional clothing contains harmful chemicals. Not to mention, cotton is the #1 sprayed crop in the U.S. and we are wearing these clothing items on our skin 24/7. Besides the fact that this it’s not good to put chemical laden materials on our skin, there’s a huge issue in the ethics of the people making your $2 shirt from Walmart.. yikes, not good friend! Head over to this post to learn about the factory fall in Bangladesh.. a factory that makes cheap clothing for you.

3. Underwear

Haines for Wear Pact

The same goes here as I wrote above in the clothing section. It is even more crucial pertaining to underwear – though – since this material sits right on our vaginas.

4. Bedding

Conventional for HUUT

Do you get the point now, conventional cotton and materials = not good. Do your own research and be your own advocate. We don’t need to be sleeping on these harmful chemicals or putting people in danger to create us extremely cheap products like bedding.

5. Towels

Target brand for Boll & Branch, Amazon or Farm to Home

Marci Zaroff, the owner of Farm to Home, is a friend of mine and she is the real deal when it comes to sustainable textiles. She visits different counties ofter so see the plants, working conditions and more. I trust her – more than anyone – when it comes to sustainable textiles. Plus, these towels (pictured below) are so dang soft and HUGE.

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Kitchen

1. Utensils

Do you know what your black plastic kitchen utensils are made of? E-waste. Yeah, that’s the waste from batters, electronics and more. No way, dude. I don’t want that leaching out into my food. Instead, I cook with bamboo and stainless steel utensils and don’t have to worry about them leaching PFAS into my food.

2. Cookware

We all know teflon is bad but something about it seems to be hard to kick to the curb. Maybe it’s how convenient it makes flipping eggs? Yeah, well it’s time to get over that and learn how to make your cast iron or stainless steel non-stick with high quality fats! I say this because I do it everyday and let me just tell you, my egg flipping is flawless and leaves the pan perfectly clean! What’s more important, convenience or health? Ask yourself.

3. Water Filter

Brita for Clearly Filtered

Head over to my water post to learn why you must must must have a GOOD water filter in your home. It’s a non-negotiable and it’s actually a requirement for any client that wants to work with me as a 1:1 nutrition client. You can’t be well if you are drinking chemicals on a daily basis. Our water is filled with them. Unfortunately, filtered like the Brita do not do the job. That’s why I stick with Clearly Filtered pitchers, under-sink, water bottle and shower filters.

4. Food Storage

Plastic containers are made with PFAS, BPA, BPA and the list goes on. These plastics leach into the food you store in them. Especially when that food is acidic in anyway (think tomatoes, citrus, vinegar, etc). Instead, I use glass locks that last FOREVER and are extremely affordable.

5. Coffee Pot

Black plastic issue (look at Leah’s post)

This about heat and plastic.. like boiling water running through plastic. If that doesn’t make you think.. think about the fact that it’s BLACK plastic like what I talked about in #1 of this section.

This guide for eco friendly product swaps is the perfect way for you to kick-start your holistic lifestyle or even go further if you’ve already started making some swaps! Comment any questions below or share some of your favorite eco friendly product swaps!