I have been appalled lately by the sheer amount of devious marketing involving so called “natural” products. Finding that my Mrs. Meyer’s soaps, lotions, hand sanitizer and cleaning products have frangrances, which are just as toxic as anything else, scoring an 8 on the EWG.org toxin scale (EWG verified is like zero, the cleanest, and 10 is the worst). It seems that every time I clean out a new space in my house and start scanning I am horrified… especially because I thought I was doing so well! First task: download the EWG healthy living app and save the EWG skindeep database on your bookmarks bar. It is the most helpful tool I have.
This page is dedicated to thoughtfully replacing your toxic (maybe unbeknownst to you) everyday items with clean, EWG verified, and top scoring products. In addition, if you fancy supporting this website and me, please click through the affiliate and other links. Every bit helps! I will follow it up by making this a permanent page on my site and will continue to add to it as needed.
SKINCARE AND BEAUTY: Beautycounter is the leader in clean beauty and is the originator of The Never List. We will never put known harmful ingredients into products and are constantly testing and growing our list. I am very proud to be a consultant and health advocate in this company. If you can’t afford it, please just go buy some responsibly sourced argan oil for your face, and use everyone soap for your family. It’s clean if not luxurious and that is the most important thing. If you’re interested in why I joined Beautycounter, visit my shop page. I also love Primally Pure for their dark locks dry shampoo, their deodorant and their soy free, non-toxic lip balms. They also now have hand sanitizer! I also like Innersence Organic Beauty for clean hair and curl products.
SELF CARE: I use CBD to help manage some of the daily issues of autoimmune disease. CBD supports the endocannabinoid system and helps support homeostasis in the body. If you have issues similar to mine and struggle with exercise induced inflammation, CBD can be extremely helpful for that, but also helps promote healing in the entire body by simply helping the body to function better and do what it was always meant to do. Not all Hemp Oils and CBD’s are created equally. My top pick is from Q Sciences as they have a Full Spectrum Hemp Oil with BioAbsorb nanoparticle technology which allows the body to get what it needs with 85%+ absorption as apposed to most hemp products which only rate at 6% absorption. Despite being full spectrum, any THC from their hemp does not show up in blood tests but only allows for the full entourage effect needed to give the body what it needs. I am also an affiliate for Joy Organics, which has Broad Spectrum (THC free/non-psychoactive) and Full Spectrum (non-psychoactive) CBD products. It is a women owned company that has been featured in Parents Magazine and Forbes. I love their ethos, their methods and that they offer very high quality products and a strong enough sublingual tincture for my needs. Save 15% on ALL Joy Organics premium CBD with the code CULTUREDBITE. Click here to get discount
PROBIOTICS & SUPPLEMENTS: I highly recommend a couple different brands of supplements and probiotics for different needs. My top pick for supplements is Q Sciences because they use nanoparticle technology in their formulations (tiny particles, rather than tiny robots!) and chelated minerals which allows for up to 100% absorption. Their multivitamin, Q Max Premium, has been tested in clinical studies for mental health because the nano nutrients and minerals cross the blood brain barrier. Most supplements do not absorb well into the body so you are mostly paying for expensive urine. My apologies, but it is sadly the truth. I highly recommend everything from Q Sciences as you can genuinely feel or see a difference in your health in 4-7 days and their Hemp Oil activates in a matter of minutes. I also use Plexus because their products are microbiome focused and their pink drink, slim, has chelating agents for aiding the system to detox heavy metals, toxins and bad bacteria. I have used their multivitamin, X Factor, the VitalBiome and ProBio5 probiotics. Their probiotics both contain S. Boulardii which I highly recommend if you are dealing with Hashimoto’s and suspect a gut infection. This beneficial yeast is antagonistic to B. Hominis, which is quite common with Hashimoto’s, occurring in up to 60% of patients. Their “Ease” product is also excellent in place of NSAIDS, which are destructive to the gut and out perform most Omega Fish Oils. You can shop them here and request samples here. I use Codeage for collagen, S. Boulardii based probiotics and other budget friendly supplements. I have used quite a few and they are high quality. The gut healing probiotic, SBO probiotic and Women’s SBO probiotic I highly recommend. We use their turmeric as well and the mimosa pudica as a gentle gut cleanse protocol. Use “CULTUREDBITE” at checkout. I also cannot recommend enough My Allstar Nutrition’s BioHeal Powder supplement for children. I have also used the adult supplement in capsules as well. S. Boulardii is a hyper-vigilant beneficial yeast that helps heal the gut as well as overtake bad bacteria in the gut and both these brands use it in their formulations. I have experienced a decrease in many of my symptoms since incorporating these into my regimen, as well as seen my children thrive on a day to day basis. Their anxiety is lessened, their attention and focus are better and they are generally healthier.
CLEANING PRODUCTS: Replace your household Lysol and Mrs. Meyers with Branch Basics. The oxygen boost is fantastic! I have recently become a Norwex consultant after following Dr. Annie’s Experiments on YouTube. Norwex wins out on antibacterial cleaning OVER Bleach, Lysol and every other method. I’m sold. Message me for recommendations, I also offer discounts for locals! The mop, envirocloth, body cloths, dust mitt, veggie scrubber, window cloth, laundry detergent and cleaning paste are some of my must haves! I also use e-cloth
PERFUME AND FRANGRANCES: I don’t use them! They are toxic! A single scent may contain anywhere from 50 to 300 distinct chemicals, which by anyone’s standards, stinks! My top pick for essential oils is doTERRA because they now do heavy metal testing and have QR codes on each bottle so you can see the lab tests. Just as importantly they do the polar opposite of what most companies do when they search out their sources. They pay a fair wage and give back into the communities where they source their oils. I never planned to do direct sales with essential oils but their stories both broke and won my ex-missionary’s heart. For perfume replacement doTERRA has created their first clean Perfume Spray, Kintana, and I love these roll ons as Vanilla and Neroli are favorites of mine. This doTERRA Family Essentials Kit is a great place to start as well as this Kid Safe Set! I also love Plant Therapy‘s vanilla and use many of their essential oils every day. They are high quality and affordable. If you prefer Young Living, my lovely friend Anita sells it and is extremely knowledgeable.
WATER AND BEVERAGES: I do NOT drink out of cans any longer because of the BPA. I use glass ball canning jars that I fill up at home (we have a well) and I drink sparkling water in glass bottles only when I am out and about as well as Whole Foods 365 brand sparkling water as it is BPA free. If you do need a good brand reverse osmosis filter (no other will take out the toxins in the tap water) then Berkey is a good brand, as are the Multi-Pure AquaVersa and the AquaTrue.
FOOD & BEVERAGE: I find a lot of my organics at Costco, Amazon Subscribe and Save and Amazon Prime Pantry. I also get organics on Amazon Prime: Whole Foods Market delivery. For my fellow Autoimmune Protocol readers, I highly recommend Shop AIP. They are the first 100% compliant online shop and have a lot of great products. Use code SHOP to get 20% off your first purchase. If you are a cured meats fan, I highly recommend Carnivore Club for their Keto Box! I don’t really snack much but I’ve always enjoyed a charcuterie board and I approve their Keto options for my husband’s snacking enjoyment! I am Thrive Market Affiliate and get quite a few of our staples from this shop. If you didn’t know, they support families in need all over the US. One brewed beverage I am especially fond of and excited about is RASA, which is a small, responsible, woman owned business that creates some incredible adaptogenic brews (like tea & coffee) to energize your life without the big caffeine hit. What a lovely way to enjoy ayurveda… click through for a discount on your first order and use code “CULTUREDBITE”. For extremely well formulated superfoods to boost your health, I recommend YourSuper Superfoods. My current favorites are the Magic Mushroom, Moon Balance and Forever Beautiful. Use code “CULTUREDBITE” for 10% off. They even have a whole detox system for starting off strong, which I highly recommend.
WINE: I know this should be part of food and beverage but I feel it needs a category by itself! One thing that has changed drastically since developing autoimmune disease is my wine consumption, both in quantity and quality. It has taken me some time but I am now far enough along in my healing journey that I can enjoy very high quality wines from time to time, but it has been an interesting time trying to figure out which ones will kick me out of ketosis or cause an inflammatory response and which are okay. Not anymore! I am a Dry Farm Wines Affiliate because they are organic, biodynamic, clean and TEST EVERY BOTTLE for glyphosate, sugars and sulfites! You can visit in the shop tab or here: www.dryfarmwines.com/culturedbite and they have a 100% satisfaction guarantee. Also! You can get an additional bottle for a penny on your first order!
CANDLES: I have been seeing soy candles everywhere! But with Hashimoto’s I have to avoid soy products so I lean toward beeswax or coconut oil candles. I love Edens Garden’s candles and Pure Plant Home coconut wax candles.
I will add to this as I go and it will hopefully become a bit more polished and easy to use. Many of my links you will find in my shop tab.
If you have any questions or suggestions, message me on Instagram and I’ll do my best to research and update this list. If you want to contact me about Beautycounter, Q Sciences, doTERRA or any of my affiliate programs you can message me as well on my @brennaamay Instagram & Facebook accounts.
With love and eyes wide open,
Brenna May
