Make sure your Home Environment is Free of Toxic Chemicals
Important Note for this step: Major Improvement not Perfection
- Before you had ALS symptoms your blood-brain barrier was intact. Now, your blood -brain barrier has been compromised. This means that any toxins you are exposed to will likely go directly to your brain and where they will likely adversely affect your motor neurons.
- We live in a modern society so cannot control exposure to all toxins. Therefore it is critical to eliminate exposure to all toxins we can control.
- Household Cleaning Products
- Remove all toxic cleaning products from your home, including bleach, cleansers, sanitizers, toilet bowl cleaners, Windex or Glass plus, Lysol, Furniture polish, etc.
- If it has Fragrance listed as an ingredient do not use it
- Use instead: Borax, baking soda, white vinegar, lemon juice, natural cleaning products (see recipes below for making your own)
- Clean Brands include: Forces of Nature, Seventh Generation, The Honest Company
- Personal Care Products
- Eliminate toxic soaps, fluoride toothpaste, deodorants, cosmetics (even Chapstick), shampoo, hand and bath soaps, laundry soap, dryer sheets
- If it has Fragrance listed as an ingredient do not use it
- Use instead: all natural soaps, fluoride-free and aluminum-free/bauxite-free toothpaste, chemical free shampoos, hand and bath soaps, laundry soaps. Use non-toxic dryer balls instead of dryer sheets.
- Check out some items in brands like Dr. Bronner, Branch Basics, Rocky Mountain Soap Company
- Even better, make your own products, see recipes at the bottom of this Step from the book “The Cure for All Diseases”
- Toxic and non-Toxic Cookware
- Did you know that “Teflon”, “Silverstone” and almost all “non-stick” cookware is toxic?
- Ceramic cookware is considered “safe” as long as the manufacturer is good quality. You need to check their website for toxicity.
- Always use bamboo or other non-scratch utensils for cooking. If ceramic cookware is scratched and the undersurface is aluminum, it is no longer safe to cook with.
- There is some controversy over stainless steel cookware. If you wipe off stainless steel cookware with a paper towel after use and see a gray tinge to the paper towel, it is likely toxic.
- Do your own research before purchasing cookware. Start with a
- Basement, Garage and Attic storage: solvents, gardening products, fertilizers, car products, mothballs, pesticides
- None of these products should be stored in an attached garage because they will leach into the house.
- Ideally store in a detached shed at least 20 yards/meters from the house. If you must store items that may freeze in the garage or basement, make sure they are stored in 1-gallon or 2-gallon zip-lock plastic bags inside sealed plastic bins where the PALS cannot breathe them.
- These products should never be used in the home, and if they are, the PALS must leave the house for several hours after they are used.
- Products stored in or used inside your car
- Do not use “air fresheners” in your car. Most are toxic.
- Remove or seal completely any petroleum or cleaning products stored in your car such as windshield wiper fluid,
- New Cars have toxins for the first several years of the vehicle life. Consider buying used cars that have no history of flooding. If you have a new car, you can run a hydroxyl generator in the car periodically to get rid of these toxins.
- Some cars have a reputation for having toxins such as petroleum and lead releasing into the car. Many sports cars are in this category.
- BMW doesn’t have a drain valve in the air conditioning system so mold builds up in the air conditioning system.
- Lawn care and gardening products
- Please avoid using any kind of pesticide or herbicide in your yard. Do not use RoundUp, it is toxic! Chemicals in your yard and garden are brought into your home on the soles of any shoe that has walked across the yard, so that is why it is best for EVERYONE to take off outside shoes just inside the entry door and to wear house-shoes or socks inside the home. The half-life of these chemicals on the grass of the yard can be up to 50 years. The fumes will likely pass the blood-brain barrier and affect the motor neurons.
- Make your own products, recipes can be found below in the book A Cure for Diseases below
- There are some websites and Apps to help you find toxicity about products.
- EWG.org will tell you the toxicity score of ALL your personal and home products.
- Optional: Yuka App from Yuka.io scans bar codes and gives toxicity score.
- Optional: Download “Think Dirty” app to help find non-toxic products.
- Read the excerpts below from the book Cure for All Diseases by Hulda Clark. It has a lot of great ideas on homemade products.
These are excerpts from Hulda Clark’s book “The Cure for All Diseases”
Floor Cleaner
Use washing soda from the grocery store. You may add borax
and boric acid (to deter insects except ants). Use white distilled
vinegar in your rinse water for a natural shine and ant repellent.
Do not add bleach to this. For the bathroom floor use plain
bleach water—follow the label. Never use chlorine bleach if
anybody in the home is ill or suffers from depression. Use grain
alcohol (1 pint to 3 quarts water) for germ killing action instead
of chlorine.
Furniture Duster and Window Cleaner
Mix equal parts white distilled vinegar and water. Put it in a
spray bottle.
Furniture Polish
A few drops of olive oil on a dampened cloth. Use filtered
water to dampen.
Carpet Cleaner
Whether you rent a machine or have a cleaning service, don’t
use the carpet shampoo they want to sell, even if they “guarantee”
that it is all natural and safe. Instead add these to a bucket (about
four gallons) of water and use it as the cleaning solution:
Wash water Rinse water
1/3 cup borax 1⁄4 cup grain alcohol
2 tsp. boric acid
1⁄4 cup white distilled vinegar or
4 tsp. citric acid
Borax does the cleaning; alcohol disinfects, boric acid leaves
a pesticide residue, and the vinegar or citric acid give luster. If
you are just making one pass on your carpet, use the borax,
alcohol, and boric acid. Remember to test everything you use on
an unnoticed piece of carpet first.
For Laundry
Borax (1⁄2 cup per load). It is the main ingredient of non-
chlorine bleach and has excellent cleaning power without fading
colors. Your regular laundry soap may contain PCBs, aluminum,
cobalt and other chemicals. These get rubbed into your skin
constantly as you wear your clothing. For bleaching (only do this
occasionally) use original chlorine bleach (not “new improved”
or “with special brighteners”, and so forth). Don’t use chlorine if
there is an ill person in the house. For getting out stubborn dirt at collars, scrub with homemade bar soap first; for stains, try grain alcohol, vinegar, baking soda.
For Dishes
Don’t believe your eyes when you see the commercials where
the smiling person pulls a shining dish out of greasy suds. Any
dish soap that you use should be safe enough to eat because
nothing rinses off clean. Regular dish detergents, including health
brands are now polluted with PCBs. They also contain harmful
chemicals. Use borax for your dishes. Or use paper plates and
plastic (not styrofoam) cups.
In The Sink
Use a dishpan in the sink. Use 1⁄4 cup borax and add a mini-
mum of water. Also keep a bit of dry borax in a saucer by the
sink for scouring. Don’t use any soap at all for dishes that aren’t
greasy and can be washed under the faucet with nothing but
running water. Throw away your old sponge or brush or cloth
because it may be PCB contaminated. Start each day by steril-
izing your sponge (it harbors Salmonella) or with a new one
while the used one dries for three full days. Clean greasy pots
and pans with a paper towel first. Then use homemade bar soap.
Borax Liquid Soap
Empty 1 gallon jug
1/8 cup borax powder
Plastic funnel
Funnel the borax into the jug, fill with cold tap water. Shake
a few times. Let settle. In a few minutes you can pour off the
clear part into dispenser bottles. This is the soap!
Easier way: use any bottle, pour borax powder to a depth of
a 1⁄2 inch or so. Add water. Shake. When you have used it down to
the undissolved granules, add more water and shake again. Add
more borax when the undissolved granules get low.
Keep a dispenser by the kitchen sink, bathroom sink, and
shower. It does not contain aluminum as regular detergents and
soaps do, and which probably contribute to Alzheimer’s disease.
It does not contain PCBs as many commercial and health food
varieties do. It does not contain cobalt (the blue or green gran-
ules) which causes heart disease and draws cancer parasites to
the skin. Commercial detergents and non-soaps are simply not
safe. Switch to homemade bar soap and borax for all your tasks!
Borax inhibits the bacterial enzyme urease and is therefore an-
tibacterial. It may even clear your skin of blemishes and stop
your scalp from itching.
Shampoo
Borax liquid is ready to use as shampoo, too. It does not
lather but goes right to work removing sweat and soil without
stripping your color or natural oils. It inhibits scalp bacteria and
stops flaking and itching. Hair gets squeaky clean so quickly (just
a few squirts does it) that you might think nothing has happened!
You will soon be accustomed to non-lathery soap. Rinse very
thoroughly because you should leave your scalp slightly acidic.
Take a pint container to the shower with you. Put 1⁄4 tsp. citric
(not ascorbic) acid crystals (see Sources) in it. For long hair use
a quart of rinse. Only citric acid is strong enough to get the borax
out, lemon juice and vinegar are not. After shampooing, fill the
container with water and rinse. Rinse your whole body, too,
since citric acid is also antibacterial. All hair shampoo
penetrates the eyelids and gets into the eyes although you do not
feel it. It is important to use this natural rinse to neutralize the
shampoo in your eyes. (Some people have stated that citric acid makes their hair curlier or reddens it. If this
is undesirable, use only half as much citric acid.) Citric acid also
conditions and gives body and sheen to hair.
Hair Spray
I don’t have a recipe that holds your hair as well as the bottle
of chemicals you can buy at the store. Remarkably a little lemon
juice (not from a bottle) has some holding power and no odor!
Buy a 1 cup spray bottle. Squeeze part of a lemon, letting only the
clear juice run into the bottle. Fill with water. Keep it in the
refrigerator. Make it fresh every week. Spraying with just plain
water is nearly as good! For shinier hair, drop a bit of lemon
peel into the bottle.
Homemade Soap
A small plastic dishpan, about 10” x 12”
A glass or enamel 2-quart sauce pan
1 can of lye (sodium hydroxide), 12 ounces
3 pounds of lard (BHT and BHA are OK here)
Plastic gloves
Water
- Pour 3 cups of very cold water (refrigerate water overnight
first) into the 2-quart saucepan.
- Slowly and carefully add the lye, a little bit at a time, stir-
ring it with a wooden or plastic utensil. (Use plastic gloves
for this; test them for holes first.) Do not breathe the vapor
or lean over the container or have children nearby. Above
all use no metal. The mixture will get very hot. In olden
days, a sassafras branch was used to stir, imparting a fra-
grance and insect deterrent for mosquitoes, lice, fleas,
Ticks.
- Let cool at least one hour in a safe place. Meanwhile, the
unwrapped lard should be warming up to room temperature
in the plastic dishpan.
- Slowly and carefully, pour the lye solution into the dishpan
with the lard. The lard will melt. Mix thoroughly, at least
15 minutes, until it looks like thick pudding.
- Let it set until the next morning; then cut it into bars. It will
get harder after a few days. Then package.
If you wish to make soap based on olive oil, use about 48
ounces. It may need to harden for a week.
Skin Sanitizer
Make up a 5 to 10% solution of food grade alcohol. Food
grade alcohols are grain (ethyl) alcohol or vodka. Find a suit-
able dispenser bottle. Mark it with a pen at about one tenth of the
way up from the bottom. Pour 95% grain alcohol (190 proof) to
this mark (for 50% grain alcohol or vodka make your mark one
fifth of the way up). Add water to the top. Keep shut. You may
add a chip of lemon peel for fragrance.
Use this for general sanitizing purposes: bathroom fixtures,
knobs, handles, canes, walkers, and for personal cleanliness (but
use chlorine bleach for the toilet bowl once a week). Always
clean up after a bowel movement with wet toilet paper. This is
not clean enough, though. Follow with a stronger damp paper
towel. This is still not clean enough; use a final damp paper
towel with skin sanitizer added. After washing hands, sanitize
them too, pouring a bit on one palm and put finger tips of the
other hand in it, scratch to get under nails, repeat on other hand.
Rinse with water.
Deodorant
Your sweat is odorless. It is the entrenched bacteria feeding
on it that make smells. You can never completely rid yourself of
these bacteria, although they may temporarily be gone after
zapping. The strategy is to control their numbers. Here are sev-
eral deodorants to try. Find one that works best for you:
Vitamin C water. Mix 1⁄4 tsp. to a pint of water and dab it on.
Then dab on cornstarch.
Citric Acid water. Mix 1⁄4 tsp. to a pint of water and dab it
- Then dab on cornstarch. Only a few drops of these acids under each armpit are necessary. If these acids burn the skin, dilute them more. Never apply anything to skin that has just been shaved!
Corn starch. Many people need only this. Dab it on. (use only unpolluted cornstarch)
Baking soda has been deleted as a deodorant because ben-
zene was found in some boxes. You can find baking soda without benzene or aluminum.
Lemon juice. This acid is not as strong, use what you need.
Pure alcohol (never rubbing alcohol). The food grade alco-
hols are grain alcohol and vodka. Dab a bit under each arm
and/or on your shirt or blouse, then dab on cornstarch. If the al-
cohol burns, dilute it with water. Be very careful not to leave the
bottle where a child or alcoholic person could find it. Pour it into
a different bottle!
Pure zinc oxide. You may ask your pharmacist to order this
for you. She or he may wish to make it up for you too, but do not
let them add anything else to it. It should be about 1 part zinc
oxide powder to 3 parts water. It does not dissolve. Just shake it
up to use it. After you get it home, you can add cornstarch to it to
give it a creamy texture. Heat 3 tsp. cornstarch in 1 cup of water,
to boiling, until dissolved and clear. Cool and add some to the
zinc oxide mixture (about equal parts). Store unused starch
mixture in the refrigerator. Only make up enough for a month.
Alcohol and zinc oxide. This is the most powerful deodor-
ant. Apply alcohol first, then the zinc oxide, then dab on corn-
starch.
Remember that you need to sweat! Sweating excretes toxic
substances, especially from the upper body. Don’t use deodorant
on weekends. Go to the sink and wipe clean the armpits like our
grandparents did. Often, just plain cornstarch is enough! These
homemade deodorants are not as powerful as the commercial
varieties–this is to your advantage.
Brushing Teeth
Buy a new toothbrush. Your old one is soaked with toxins
from your old toothpaste. Use only water or chemically pure
baking soda if you have any metal fillings. Put a pinch in a glass,
add water to dissolve it. Use food-grade hydrogen peroxide (see
Sources) if you have only plastic fillings. Dilute it from 35% to
171⁄2% by adding water (equal parts). Store hydrogen peroxide
only in polyethylene or the original plastic bottle. Use 4 or 5
drops on your toothbrush. It should fizz nicely as oxygen is
produced in your mouth. Your teeth will whiten noticeably in 6
months. Before brushing teeth, floss with 4 or 2 pound
monofilament fish line. Double it and twist for extra strength. Rinse
before use. Floss and brush only once a day. If this leaves you
uncomfortable, brush the extra times with plain water and a
second “water-only” toothbrush. Make sure that nothing solid,
like powder, is on your toothbrush; it will scour the enamel and
give you sensitive teeth, especially as you get older and the
enamel softens. Salt is corrosive—don’t use it for brushing metal
teeth. Plain water is just as good.
For Dentures
Use salt water. It kills all germs and is inexpensive. Salt
water plus grain alcohol or food-grade hydrogen peroxide makes
a good denture-soak.
Mouthwash
A few drops of food grade hydrogen peroxide added to a
little water in a glass should be enough to make your mouth foam
and cleanse. Don’t use hydrogen peroxide, though, if you have
metal fillings, because they react. Don’t use regular drug store
variety hydrogen peroxide because it contains toxic additives.
Health food store varieties contain solvents from the bottling
process. See Sources. Never purchase hydrogen peroxide in a
bottle with a metal cap.
For persons with metal tooth fillings, use chemically pure
baking soda or just plain hot water. A healthy mouth has no odor!
You shouldn’t need a mouthwash! If you have breath odor, search
for a hidden tooth infection or cavitation.
Contact Lens Solution
A scant cup of cold tap water brought to a boil in glass
saucepan. After adding 1⁄4 tsp. aluminum free salt and boiling again, pour into a sterile canning jar. Refrigerate. Freeze some of
It.
Insect Killer
Boric acid powder (not borax). Throw liberal amounts be-
hind stove, refrigerator, under carpets and in carpets. Since boric
acid is white, you must be careful not to mistake it for sugar
accidentally. Keep it far away from food and out of children’s
reach. Buy it at a farm supply or garden store (or see Sources). It
will not kill ants.
Ant Repellent
Spray 50% white distilled vinegar on counter tops, window
sills and shelves and wipe, leaving residue. Start early in spring
before they arrive, because it takes a few weeks to rid yourself
of them once they are established. If you want immediate action,
get some lemons, cut the yellow outer peel off and cover with
grain alcohol in a tightly closed jar. Let stand at least one hour.
Use 1 part of this concentrate with 9 parts water in a spray bottle.
Mix only as much as you will use because the diluted form loses
potency. Spray walls, floors, carpets wherever you see them. The
lemon solution even leaves a shine on your counters. Use both
vinegar and lemon approaches to rid yourself of ants.
To treat the whole house, pour vinegar all around your
foundation, close to the wall, using one gallon for every five feet.
Expect to damage any foliage it touches. Reapply every six
Months.
Flower and Foliage Spray
Food-grade hydrogen peroxide. See instructions on bottle.
Moth Balls
I found this recipe in an old recipe book. Mix the following
and scatter in trunks and bags containing furs and woolens: 1⁄2 lb.
each rosemary and mint, 1⁄4 lb. each tansy and thyme, 2 tbs.
powdered cloves.
Check for Understanding and Completion of Step 5:
Note: this step may take you several weeks even months to complete since it may take some time to purchase alternative products to the ones you are currently using. Leave this step as “Started” but not yet “Complete” until all toxic items are removed.
_____ I understand that those diagnosed with ALS have a compromised blood brain barrier. This means that until that blood brain barrier is healed, PALS are sensitive to almost even small amounts of toxins.
_____ I understand that since we live in a modern society we cannot control exposure to all toxins. Therefore it is critical to eliminate exposure to all toxins we can control.
______ I have read about recipes for all natural or homemade products for household, personal care, lawn care and more.
____ I or someone else have purchased alternative household cleaning products.. I have removed toxic household products from my home and will no longer use these products.
____ I or someone else have purchased alternative personal care products. I have removed toxic household products from my home and will no longer use these products.
____ I am currently using non-toxic cookware, or as close as I can come, even if it means only cooking in a few pots.
____I or someone else has removed toxic basement, garage and attic storage products from my home OR have placed them in double-sealed containers. I will either no longer use these products or if they must be used I will not be at home.
____ I or someone else has removed car products from my home OR have placed them in double-sealed containers.
____ I or someone else has removed lawn care and gardening products from my home OR have placed them in double-sealed containers. I will either no longer use these products or if they must be used I will not be at home.
_____ I am aware of the websites and apps available to evaluate products for toxicity
_____ I have read the excerpts from Hulda Clark’s book, The Cure for All Diseases.
If you have checked all boxes, Congratulations! It takes time to make this type of change in your household. Give yourself a pat on the back for completing this step! Remember not to check the “Completed” box for this step on the Healing ALS Registry until all items are complete.
If you have checked all boxes, Congratulations! You have completed Step 5!
Click Here to View the Recordings of Step 5