The Eco-Minded Mama Podcast

Nontoxic Living: Building a Safer Home w/ Loni Brown

• Katie • Season 4 • Episode 33

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Discover the eye-opening world of nontoxic living as we dive into building a safer home with guest speaker Loni Brown, a Healthy Home Expert, Interior Decorator, and founder of Entirely Eco & Wholesome Nest. Join us on this journey to create a healthier living environment for you and your family!

While pregnant with her first daughter, Loni learned how toxins and chemicals commonly found in home products could contribute to disease and impact a child’s development. Shocked by the lack of regulations, she embarked on a mission to find safe alternatives and spent countless hours researching.

As a passionate advocate for safe living, Loni has now helped over 1,000 people make informed choices to create a nontoxic haven by sharing her favorite products and what to avoid.

Tune in now to find out how you can build a toxin-free home, protect your family's well-being, and embrace the joy of living in a healthier environment!

About Loni:
"Loni Brown is a Healthy Home Expert and the Founder and CEO of EntirelyEco & Wholesome Nest. She helps parents design and create beautiful eco-friendly, toxin-free homes for their families and her certified organic eco home online shop has beautiful, eco-friendly home decor for the whole family... Loni is a certified Interior Decorator and has studied Building Biology. She has helped over 1,000 people reduce their toxin exposures so that they can live more comfortably and healthy at home."

Contact Info for Loni:

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Katie Kurpanek:

You're listening to all things sustainable, where we unpack topics related to sustainable living, as well as how to apply specific actions to your own life. I'm your eco living coach and podcast host Katie Kurpanek. Let's jump in. Hello, everybody. Welcome back to the All Things sustainable podcast. I am so happy that you're here. We are continuing season four, which is all about eco minded parenting and caretaking. I have absolutely loved this season so far. We kicked it off at the very beginning with a hypnotherapist and Hypno birthing coach. So talking about the very beginning of you know, parenting from birth. And then the last episode we had Jillian the founder and CEO of MAMMaway, she was with us to talk about tactical tips and tricks for balancing breastfeeding and working and also traveling. So if you need any, like pro pumping tips if you want to continue breastfeeding, if that's important to you, while pursuing your career or traveling or just all the things that require you to, you know, store your breast milk and you're looking for like a sanity saver, and also even like a storage saver. She has all the tips and tricks, so definitely check out that episode if you missed it. Today, we are continuing this series with an episode all about non toxic living. So this episode shares with you the basics of what you need to know if you are going to try to create an environment within your home that is as toxin free and safe and eco friendly as possible. But of course, we need to remember that we are not currently living in a society or a system especially within you know, modern Western society that allows us to do this. There are a lot of things that are unfortunately, not regulated. And there are a lot of toxins around us all the time. So I am actually fairly new to learning about this topic. And so I was really curious to learn from the expert that I brought in for today's episode. So I hope that you enjoy learning alongside with me from the expert Loni Brown. Loni is a healthy home expert. She's the founder and CEO of entirely eco and wholesome nest, and she talks about these two separate businesses in the episode. But basically she helps parents to design and create beautiful, eco friendly toxin free homes for their families, and she has a certified organic eco home online shop. Loni is also a certified interior decorator, and she has studied building biology, she has helped over 1000 people reduce their toxin exposures so that they can live more comfortably and healthy at home. If you're totally new to this like I am Don't worry, Loni explains like in depth what you know, non toxic even means at the beginning of the episode, she talks about the difference between sustainable living or just like natural, eco friendly living and then non toxic living because there is a distinct difference. She shares more of her own personal story and how she got into all of this. And then as the episode goes on, she gives you very specific helpful tips and resources for applying this into your own life. She talks about how to change the right things, not all the things because we can't possibly control all the things, but she helps you to identify what are the right things that you should be focusing on. And then at the very end of the episode is really where she gives so many of the most like useful tips that you can apply directly to your life, a lot of them are even free to begin with. So definitely listen to the end. For all of that, be sure to check out the episode description for all the many helpful resources that we share within this episode. You can find all of that in that description. And without further ado, let's dive right into today's episode with Loni Brown. Loni, welcome to the All Things sustainable podcast. I am super excited to have you on the show today. And just getting to know your realm of expertise about non toxic living. I'm really excited to get into that. But thank you for being here.

Loni Brown:

Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to chat with you today.

Katie Kurpanek:

Wonderful. So I told my listeners a little bit about you in the introduction to the episode but I would love if they could just hear from you in your own words. Tell us a little bit about yourself. You know who you are and what you're passionate about and who are some of the beloved people in your life.

Loni Brown:

Okay, so my name is Loni Brown. I am based right outside Denver in Colorado. We've been here for about five years and before that I was in California for 30 years. I have two littles Two girls, one is six and the other she just turned six like a couple weeks ago and then the other one is two And then I have a stepson as well, who's he'll be 17. Oh, my goodness, and a couple of months. So. So yeah, so I definitely have my hands full. But I am. I'm just really passionate about supporting moms and supporting families and helping them live healthier lives and reducing toxins at home. So it's been something that's been a almost a lifelong journey for myself. And so I'm so happy that I just actually get to help other people on this journey as well, because it's very overwhelming as a mom in general. And then, and then when you're trying to, you know, provide a healthy home for your family and reduce toxins, it's even more overwhelming. So,

Katie Kurpanek:

exactly, I'm so happy you said that, because that is like the exact reason why I decided to dive into this podcast series, because the whole series for season four is about you know, eco minded, parenting or caretaking. And it all is so overwhelming, or I think for most people, it is like being a parent or a caretaker in general, you have so much on your plate all the time, and so much demanded of you. And then when you're also trying to align your family's life with your personal values, you know, your ethics and wanting to take care of the planet, how to do that the step by step process can be so overwhelming. So in this season, we are having a variety of guest speakers on the show, a lot of them have been talking about, you know, different topics related to sustainability, you and I were actually connected through Jillian with MAMMaway, and she's on the show. And so I'm so happy she connected us because you have a really unique perspective here, your focus is all about non toxic living. And I'll be the first to admit that that is one area of living sustainably. And you know, like being all natural and eco friendly, that I do not know a lot about and growing up, I didn't have any, like awareness of this, or the language or the tools or anything. And so becoming a parent myself in the past couple of years, I'm just now starting to pay attention to that. And I'm learning all the time. And I'm sure there are a bunch of things in my home that are still very toxic. And I'm just slowly trying to like, learn and adjust and do better, which is basically just how life goes. So I'm excited to talk to you. I would love if you could just define right off the bat for all of us newbies who are listening in what makes something toxic versus non toxic in the home. And then why is that even so important?

Loni Brown:

Okay, so when we look at toxins, how I describe it, and how a lot of people in the like, you know, non toxic living environment describe it describes it as toxins basically harm the body, in some way, harm the body harm the planet, right? And even if it's just like the trees and the plant life and the oceans in this, you know, the sea life, and then of course humans, right. so when something's toxic, it actually can harm living, you know, living things and living organisms, when it's non toxic. It could still be chemicals, right? It could still be, you know, it could still it doesn't necessarily have to be natural. If something is you know, if something's toxic, then it's harming the body, it's non toxic, it's not harming the body or not harming plantlife. The, in the US, though, here's the here's the like, kind of caveat to this, which kind of infuriates me, but in the United States, the definition of non toxic versus toxic, like in terms of if you're like labeling things, it's like 49% meaning meaning that this substance, or this chemical, or this ingredient, or this thing doesn't kill or harm, you know, less than 49%. Right? So my god, like, you know, so if it's 49%, like killing, then it's content can be considered non toxic. If it's like 50% or more, it's all of a sudden considered toxic, which I'm like, come on. So that like technical definition, we don't i don't really live by I think if anything, is harming living organisms or things in general, I consider that to be toxic. Regardless of what the technical, you know, definition is, and so, there is a lot of people will say, Well, what is all the difference between eco friendly sustainable now Natural non toxic toxin free, right? What are what are all the differences? And I mean, at, at a, at the highest level, most things that are eco friendly and sustainable, are also probably considered non toxic, you know, toxin free, but not always. So there are these like slight nuances with all of these different terms. I mean, natural just means not synthetic, right. And, and there are natural things that are highly toxic, like arsenic, for example, right, like, that's a natural, that's a natural thing. And so just because it's natural doesn't necessarily mean it's non toxic, right? Because that's a perfect example. And then there are synthetic things that are benign and are not toxic to the human body. Right. And so, and that would not be considered natural, but it would be considered toxin free. And then sustainable. Sustainable just means like, you know, you know, this, this is your whole world, right? Good for the planet, you know, doesn't go into like, you know, waste in landfills. Typically, most sustainable things are non toxic, but not all, but not all of them, right? Like, there's a lot of products that are like made out of like recycled plastic bottles, which is very sustainable, because these plastic bottles aren't going into a landfill, they're being repurposed and reused in other ways. But like, there are chemicals in plastic. And so if you make baby toys out of plastic, recycled bottles, that's probably great for the environment, but it's probably not the safest choice for your baby to be chewing on, you know, at all. Interesting. So that's an exam, those that's an example of something that yes, is probably considered very sustainable, but maybe not toxin free, because chemicals from plastic do leach into things. So okay,

Katie Kurpanek:

that is a super helpful definition. I know, when you even clarify right up front that like, if something is non toxic, that doesn't necessarily mean it's chemical free, because like our entire world is made up of different kinds of chemicals. And I remember when I very first started even being exposed to language like toxic versus non toxic, I had that mistake in my head, like I thought that that meant something needed to be chemical free. And there. So there's a lot to clear up here. And unfortunately, where we're living in the United States is definitely not a it's not a friendly place to live, if you're looking for a non toxic and sustainable living. The whole infrastructure is not set up that way. But also, even from the little bit of research that I've done, there's so much that is allowed to be in the United States that is not even allowed in other countries, like just thinking about makeup and skincare, for example, there are so many chemicals that that I know of, and ingredients that are considered toxic and banned in in countries within Europe. And yep, it's like a free for all here. So okay, so we have a lot to dive into. First let's, let's back up a little bit, because I want to give even more of a foundation for my audience about you know who you are. So you are now a certified interior decorator. This is you know, not what you've always done. This is like a second career to my understanding. And you're specializing in non toxic homes and empowering families. And you've done that by building two businesses. So you have wholesome nest, which is focused on the baby's nursery, and, you know, creating a safe, non toxic place for your baby, and then entirely eco. And that's like an online boutique that is basically for any family wanting to decorate their home in a way that is non toxic as well. So, and you're on the path to becoming a building biologist. So I'm like, fascinated by your entire journey and all that you do. And I would love if you could share a little bit about your origin story and what has brought you here to this point.

Loni Brown:

Thank you, I would love to so so let's see. So I'm going to I'm gonna go way back and then I'm gonna quickly come come back to more presently. So about 25 years ago, I was like right around like beginning of college, I was suffering from lots of hormonal issues and also acne. I had really bad acne and like all teenagers do, but I was like, you know, getting into college and I'm like, I'm kind of like an adult. Now why do I have this like persistent like teenage acne. And so back then I learned of all of the different ingredients in things that I was consuming that was contributing to my hormonal imbalances, and my acne and other things, low energy, all the things and a lot of it had to do with the types of foods that I was eating because I didn't grow up Like eating great food. I mean, we grew up on canned food and you know, processed preservatives, like all the things right. And so I learned that, you know, I could I had doctors that were trying to prescribe, like, you know, pharmaceuticals so like work on my, on my acne. The thing is, is that that wasn't like treating the like root of the acne it was yeah, it was just helping to kind of mask what was already there and and I'm really sensitive to just like caffeine and medicine and just different things like that. So I the idea that I would like solve my hormonal things and my acne with like, just pharmaceutical drugs forever, just like wasn't exciting to me. So I was started do a bunch of research on just like, How can I do this a better way. And that's when I discovered what we eat really impacts like what we ingest, drink, eat, put in our mouth and swallow, right even supplements and things that can really impact our hormones, and our energy levels, and acne and all these other things. And so I completely started to become really conscious about ingredients, and reading labels and all of that. And then naturally, I shifted and I became really aware and conscious about what I was rubbing on my skin. Because I'm like, if if what you put in your mouth is, you know, really important and can have a big impact. What you rub on your skin is also probably important because our skin is our largest organ and it's made up of tiny little pores, and these pores are like mouths. So like if you're if I'm being really conscious of what's going in my mouth, I should also be really conscious about what's going on my skin. So then I started diving into like all of my personal care products like my shampoo, my lotion, my makeup, everything. And realizing all the crazy ingredients and bad ingredients in there that can also cause a lot of issues. And so that's really where I started my journey is just looking at those two areas. And I lived there for 25 years. And I didn't look at anything else like that's, you know, I knew about all the ingredients and personal care products and food products. It wasn't until I was pregnant with my first daughter about a little over seven years ago, that this whole other area like was opened up to me and that was our home like our actual home decor, our home products. There is no like nutritional labels for a lot of these things. Were like your flooring and your furniture and your mattresses and your pillows and your cookware and things like that. And so as I was building my baby registry, I like just googled, you know, I Googled something like healthy mattress. And like you know, just something like I don't know, I just was like a healthy mattress for baby you're building your registry in the in the mattress is kind of important, you know? And I came across this article that was like organic mattress versus non organic mattress and I was like, what's an organic mattress? I was used to organic food and like organic skincare, but I'm like, what's an organic mattress? Like? This just seems like is this just like marketing hype? Like, what is this? And so then I read the article, and then I was like, oh my goodness, like, they're like, how are these chemicals in these baby crib mattresses even legal? Like I mean, they spray them with flame retardants. I mean, they're made with like, petrochemical foam that your poor little baby is like sleeping on for like 15 hours a day. Like it's just like, oh, is this legal? So and so once I realized how toxic mattresses were, I was like, I just became an a crazy obsessed person. And was like, what are all the like sheets pillows, like literally everything in the home furniture. And that's what kind of opened me up to this world. I literally did hundreds of hours of research. I was like sobbing crying like building my baby registry. Just like because there was no like I said, there's no regulation, like with home decor and home products like it really it's not like it is with food and even food. It's like not even that great of regulation. But there's some regulation, right? Like, you cannot label things organic, you know, as a food product without the USDA like certifying you and it meeting certain qualifications, but with like a pillow. You can label it organic, you can label it toxin free, you can label it, you know, as long as it doesn't kill more than 50% of people. Like you can label it whatever you want. Right? And so anyway, I went through this whole journey of I was determined to build a healthy environment for my little baby. And and so then everyone around me like if you knew me, you knew of my obsession and you knew all the things I was doing And so sure enough friends started coming to me and they were like, Hey, what did you learn? Share with me all the things. I clearly don't have time am did you all the hours of research? You did? Can you just show me what you what you bought? And tell me what is good and what you found out wasn't good. And so I helped all my friends and family. And then they started sending their friends to me. And I started getting text messages like, hey, so and so referred me to you, is this a better baby sunscreen? Or is this a baby better? You know, like, what do I need to wait in this? And so it just became this natural evolution? And finally, my husband was like, Look, I think this is a business. Yeah, I think that like, you know, you're solving this problem that like moms want to have safe products for their babies and want to have a healthier home, and they don't know all the things that you've learned. And even if they do, they don't have the time or, you know, sanity to like, do all this research. And so that's how it My, my, both my businesses were born, I was like, I really want to just have a place where I'm at, I knew it wouldn't be sustainable for people to just text me all the questions. So I was like, I would love to just build a community and build a site where I can do all the research. And as I do the research, I can just, you know, feature those products feature those brands. So people know that it's like been thoroughly vetted and approved. And so that's how I started. And then surprisingly, with entirely eco, a lot of men shop in the store and come to the site and, you know, get the information. And I have this passion because babies are so much more susceptible to chemicals than adults. I mean, adults are too but babies are even more. And so I really wanted to focus on babies primarily, and moms while they're pregnant. But because I had so many men that came to entirely ego, I didn't want to just start flooding that brand with all the baby and pregnancy stuff. Because I didn't want them to be like I'm in the wrong place I need to get out of here. So that's why we formed wholesomeness so that we can just go full steam into pregnancy and baby related, you know, items. So the missions, the mission of the both brands are the same, but it's just the different audiences. Yeah.

Katie Kurpanek:

That's so great, too, because this is so beneficial for everybody, like not just people with kids. And so that's huge. I'm so glad that you built two platforms that are supporting and empowering people to live this way. So you grew up in California, and I have lived back and forth between California and Colorado a couple of times throughout my life. And I remember the last time around that I was in California. We my family and I started noticing the little like stickers on windows at like fast food restaurants, for example, that would say something like, you know, This restaurant has food or ingredients or something like that, that is you know, known to contain chemicals related to cancer, something like that. And I remember at that time of my life, it was something that my family and I just saw, and we kind of like even joked about it, like, oh, everything causes cancer nowadays, like it's, you know, stickers on the fast food restaurant windows, like it was funny, but I think it was more because we didn't know what to do with that information. Like, we could only laugh it off, because it was like better than considering the alternative, which is, wow, everything that we're consuming seems to cause cancer the these days, and this is actually really scary. So it was easier to laugh it off. But I bring up that story. Because I think about that as a parent. Now, it's much harder to laugh off those things. Like, if I know that the chemicals that have been sprayed onto my baby's car seat or mattress, or whatever it is, you know, the flame retardant stuff, if I know that those chemicals have been linked to like severe increase in possibly getting cancer later in life. And your website said something like, by the time a baby is two years old, they are already, what was it? It was something like

Loni Brown:

Yeah. So they've developed 50% of their lifetime cancer risk by the age of two by the age of two. I know and it's to me, it's mind blowing. It's heartbreaking because of course I have parents that come to me and their kid is like five and they're like, so it's too late, you know, like and so it can be it can be both shocking and then also like really stressful because if you if you didn't start this, you know, early enough, but I you know, I always tell people that there's this doctor, I think her name is Dr. Judith Stern. It's one of my favorite quotes. And I tell this to a lot of people to just make them feel reassured. So one, so crazy thing is 10% of cancers are genetic. 90% are environmental. So that's like that. But but the thing is, is that you're just genetics load, she says that your genetics loads the gun, your environment pulls the trigger. So even if you, you know, were dealt bad genes or whatever, you can still improve your environment and prevent, like cancer actually like happening in the body because it's all at the cellular level. And the more that you reduce your overall toxic load, the better chance you have and the less risk you have. And so even if you didn't, you didn't get to start off in your baby didn't get to start off with like a perfectly non toxic environment, there's still so many things that you can do in life over time, these small changes compound exponentially. So it's not about living in a completely non toxic home, I think it's virtually impossible unless you like build your home from scratch by yourself. And you know, every single building material that went in there, and you're literally you know, that obsessed, it's impossible to be completely toxin free or chemical free. So the important thing is, is to focus on the areas that you can control, and focus on the areas that make the biggest difference. So like when I tell, you know, my clients and like, if no one can swap out everything in their home, that's just like unrealistic. Even if you're like a millionaire, right? Like, you still can't do that. But you know, sleeping on an organic mattress is going to be way more beneficial than getting organic curtains for the window. Right? Like you're not sleeping on those, you're not like wearing those they're not It's not constantly rubbing on you, you're not breathing it in every single day, like closely, right? So it's, it's not about, you know, making everything toxin free, it's about making the right things toxin free and, and just every time you have to buy something new, you don't have to, like throw stuff out. But just the next time you need to buy something new, just do it a little bit healthier, have a swap. And there's so many free and affordable and cheap things now that are like won't break the bank that you can do that are infinitely more, you know, less toxic than the conventional things out there.

Katie Kurpanek:

Mm hmm. And so focusing on the right things, like you were saying the you know, if that's the starting point, then that would probably be whatever we ingest, and then what touches our skin, right, because like you said skin is, you know, basically a bunch of tiny little mouths or what the pores are. So if we're focusing on what's touching our skin and what is going into our body, then that's a good place to start.

Loni Brown:

Yes, that's the perfect place to start. And then the next and then the next area is your air, your indoor air, what you're constantly breathing in, you know, every day and that and that is, that's also going to be really beneficial for the littles, like for the babies too, because they breathe in, like on a pound for pound basis of from adults, baby's breathing a lot more air than then adults. And so that indoor air quality, especially just in the whatever room the baby is sleeping in, is going to be the most important.

Katie Kurpanek:

Okay, those are all really good things to do. I'm like tucking away information for myself. I'm like, I'm sure that those who are listening are going to be getting so much from this episode. But if anything, I'm learning a lot from my own family, because my son, at the time of this recording is two and a half. So I'm already like, well, well, we just kind of have gotten over that window and of his, you know, lifetime exposure to chemicals and toxins that could potentially potentially be cancer causing later in his life. So but it's, it's what you're saying is exactly what I tell my clients as well, and anyone listening to this podcast all the time that like when you're looking to live sustainably, first of all, that has to be sustainable for you, that has to be sustainable as in like maintained long term. Because if it's not, you're just gonna be burnt out and frustrated, and then you're gonna give up, most likely, and it also has to be sustainable financially. So there's all the things to consider. So really, you can only do whatever is available to you right now. But then that means this is like the push that I continue to give people. You don't just stop right there. Like our goal, if we're going to live sustainably is to be lifelong learners like and the more that we know, then the better we're going to do so continuing to take one step after another and like you said, when something in your home is ready to be swapped out, then do the research and figure out like what items should replace the one that I had what's going to be like the best item for my family here. Hey parents, are you ready to discover a gentle and non coercive approach to addressing your baby's natural hygiene needs? Introducing go diaper free and the world of elimination communication, basically early potty training. Did you know that like all mammals, human babies instinctively resist soiling themselves and their sleep space from birth, they actually communicate their needs clearly. With elimination communication, we learn to recognize their signals and natural rhythms and assist them in this process until they naturally gain independence, usually between nine to 18 months of age. Imagine tapping into your baby's natural instincts and understanding their cues for elimination. It's like going back to a time when diapers weren't the norm in regions where diapers are not commercially available. Humans have relied on this age old practice. If you've ever cared for a baby who just won't stop crying, you've likely tried everything feeding, holding, rocking, singing, only to discover that their diaper was wet or soiled. What if you had known what that cry meant from the beginning, you could have offered them the potty and nine times out of 10 they would have been crying for you to help them avoid soiling themselves or their surroundings. With elimination communication or EC. We tune into our baby's innate desires and work together to help them use the toilet while they develop motor skills and long term memory. Eventually, we guide them to become independent in this natural transition to toilet use. EC works because it aligns with how nature created us babies are incredibly instinctive. And as parents, when we zoom out, we realize they are trying to communicate their needs beyond eating, sleeping and staying warm. pottying your baby can revolutionize your parenting experience making it cleaner easier and more connected. Plus it's a way more eco friendly choice. I personally started EC with my son when he was 15 months old, and he was fully potty trained by two years old not having to deal with poopy diapers has been a game changer for me. And he has really thrived with this level of independence and communication between us go diaper free provides a range of valuable tools including books, trainings, podcasts, guides and more. I am a happy mama of a potty trained toddler and a proud affiliate for go diaper free. So if you use the link provided in the show notes you will actually be supporting to mama owned businesses including my own at no extra cost to you discover the joy of elimination communication with go diaper free and experience a closer bond with your baby while embracing a more natural approach to their hygiene needs. Click the link in the episode description to grab your resources today. Now back to our show. So on your two websites, wholesome nest and entirely eco, you have a lot of supports for people. And on the wholesome nest website you have a non toxic nursery guide in five simple steps that's available for people and I downloaded it and thought it was super, super helpful. And then you also have through entirely eco and wholesome nest, you have interior design services for families who are you know, looking to build the safest, most non toxic environment possible? So what does that look like? If you were to give like a snapshot of what working with you looks like? What does that entail? Yes. So

Loni Brown:

the funny thing is, is and the reason why I was you know, you can probably see from my background, not on audio, but people will see the video, aesthetics really matter to me, I like my entire life, I've been really into just how things look and feel. But, and so similar to my journey, and a lot of my clients, whenever people think of living eco friendly and living toxin free, they also think that like everything is going to be like beige, and like natural color. And they're going to have to like lose all design style. And it's just not true. Like, you can still have a beautiful, beautifully designed home that like fits your personality and fits your style, and still be able to choose, you know, healthier products, you know, even within those constraints. And so and so really what I do kind of blends, you know, like I help people design just when you're building a baby nursery, yeah, you want it to be safe, but you also want it to be cute and you know, you want like It's like we're moms like we want to like post it and be like Look at the cute baby nursery, right? It's like, like, you know, Pinterest is such a thing, right? Because people love the aesthetics of things so so I really like to help people do both, you know, I don't feel like you should have to sacrifice your the the look and feel and style of your home. This is where you live, you want to feel happy and you want it to be comfortable. So it's a little bit of everything we do decluttering we do detoxing, we do designing and because I just want to just make it all easier for people I don't want them to have to like, you know, Oh, I gotta like work with a designer who's going to help me make it pretty and like this toxins expert that's going to help me like Reduce the toxins and this, you know, other person who's gonna help me like declutter, you know, like, it's, that's just a lot, right. So I'm like, if I could just, you know, and I've done it for myself, but I'm like, I need to, like I need to be, I need to be like, really credentialed, and really, you know, thorough, and if I'm going to be helping people do this at a professional level, so that's why I decided to get, you know, get all the certifications, and the building biology is just really fascinating. I mean, it looks at buildings as like, almost like living, like living things. And, and really, you know, looking at your home environment, and actual physical dwelling building, this same way that you look at, you know, other areas of your life, you know, that to support your health. So, so the study of that has just been fascinating to really how I've learned a lot about just chemicals and materials, and which ones are safe, you know, to the body in which ones you know, cause harm, because, you know, like, like, you can't, some people just avoid all chemicals, and then you'll be safe. But that's not true, right? Like, you can't, and it's very impossible, like you said, it has to be sustainable has to be practical, like you have to be able to do it. And so having people just remove all chemicals is just not it's just not realistic, or practical. And so at least with building biology, you learn about which things synthetic things and chemicals are okay for the body don't, you know, don't cause cancer don't cause you know, autoimmune disorders, hormone disruptors, like that don't cause those things that can still, you know, be used in the home. So that's why, you know, I've been really interested in the building biology. So yeah, I think it's, you know, I want to help people at all levels. So if, if people just want to DIY it, they can follow me on social media, follow all my free content free guides, I give lots of resources. You know, lots of like, help on what ingredients to choose what to avoid, so they can kind of DIY it, but then there's a lot of people that are just like, Yeah, I don't want to DIY it. So that's why we have those services that you saw, because it just allows us to just do it for them, and just really make it make the process easier and smoother.

Katie Kurpanek:

That's amazing, you're really making this accessible to people, which gets me so excited, because this information should be so accessible to people. So what does like a, you know, consultation with you look like? Or what would people's first steps be?

Loni Brown:

Usually, you know, they download, download the guide, and they, you know, consume some of my free content. And if that, like, connects with you, and seems like something that you're interested in, then we I offer free consults. So on my website, there's a link to my Calendly. And people can just, you know, reach out and do a consult, people also just DM me and just wanting to learn more, too. So you know, we can, you can, if you don't want to jump on a zoom call, we can, you know, we can work in via email, or DMS, but really, it just comes to their goals, everything is pretty much customized for you know, for the person. And so a lot of people when they come to me, they want to, like just focus on the baby stuff, especially if they're pregnant, or they have a they have a young baby that is like very urgent and top of mind. So you might start there, if that's their situation. Other times, like if it's like men that I work with, and I was so fascinated to see that men care about these things, too. They might want to tackle their bedroom, because they you know, they read to you how toxic mattresses are. And so they want to just get some advice on some swaps. So I do everything from just like quick product, you know, product recommendations, customized to you and your goals to like full blown, like, we're gonna redesign and build the whole, you know, room from scratch and, you know, do the layout and give you all the product selections that you want to choose from that's within your budget. So it can be as little as just a few, you know, product recommendations all the way up to like a full a full blown design. And then I'm watching something brand new, which I am so so excited about, which is an online membership community, because what I learned was that people were like, Hey, you have free stuff. And then you have like, work with you one on one. And there's kind of nothing in between. And so my so I have you know, I have my free Facebook group, which is an AI. And I actually took over this Facebook group from an environmental engineer, her name is Emma, and it's called the green product forum. There's like over 5000 people in this Facebook group. I had my own smaller Facebook group before and I'm actually winding that one down and kind of combining them into this new one. So green product forum is great for quick questions like you can post in the group. If you have disk product questions or want to know about ingredients, I tend to respond and then there's a lot of people in the community that also are really experienced that also respond. So that's kind of With the free things, but people said, you know, hey, you have your free things, and you have your one on one services, but there's really nothing in between. And I was like, Yeah, that's actually right. And so I have this lower ticket membership. And it's only $150 for an entire year, which is only like 12 bucks, like little over 12 bucks a month, which is like, come on 40 cents a day like this is very, very, you know, inexpensive. And this actually takes people on a 12 month journey, to reduce toxins and declutter their homes, we tackle a new area every single month, you get an action guide, a quick, easy action guide for that area of the home for that month, and it's gonna get and it gives you free things that you can do to reduce toxins. And then also if you want to spend a little money and that area, what you know, where it's worth your budget. And so it's literally just this membership that you can come through, and it kind of walks you through exactly what I do with my one on one clients. But in a, you know, it's not fully customized to your home. So you're gonna have to like work within it. But it's really a nice way for me to like, work with you more directly than just like the free, you know, stuff that I do, which has not a lot of structure, right, you can just sift through things. And so I'm really excited about that. And the really cool part about it is I do live calls, so you can come in and get your live questions answered. And it's a little more of that kind of like similar to what I would do in a one on one consulting relationship, but in a group in a group setting. So I'm really excited about this, because I think it's just going to be a really affordable way for people to kind of have their handheld. While you know, not having to spend, you know, on the one on one services for me, huh,

Katie Kurpanek:

that's so amazing. I'm excited. And when is that one launching.

Loni Brown:

So we actually launched, I'm actually launching it on Tuesday. So by the time this by the time this airs, will be launched, and it's thriving mamas.com I know yet another website, but thriving mamas.com. And we're doing a founding member beta launch, which is the$150 for the year. And that's and then if you join, you get locked in at that price for life. So you can continue, you know, to renew each year and get support. And we have product guides, like where we've you know, each category of products, we list all this the safest ones in those categories, we stay up to date on all the baby product recalls and things like that. So it's a really good way to just not have to like spend your own time doing lots of research, the price will go up later this fall to $199 a year. So you know, all through the summer and you know, the beginning of fall, it'll be this founding member beta kind of launch. So I'm really excited about it, because I think I'll be able to support people at a deeper level than the people that have just consumed my free content. But but you know, there's a lot of people that couldn't really afford maybe the one on one services. And so this is a nice in between, for them to get a lot of direct support from me, in this kind of container.

Katie Kurpanek:

Mm hmm. That is so huge. Yeah. So that that will be up and running by the time this episode is out. And I mean, even when the price goes up to 199 per year that is still so reasonable. So that's amazing. I will have like all of this plus any other contact info and important things that you might want to share with the audience in the show notes. So if listeners click on the episode description, they can find all of this listed there. And then the other thing to keep in mind too is that this fall, Loni is going to be joining the community partnership that I've created with that minimal life, anybody who is a client through that minimal life or a patron of this podcast, so that link is also in the show notes, but patreon.com/all Things sustainable, you get access to an exclusive discount bundle that goes out every three months, it's updated, new partners are consistently added. And you right now there's currently 23 partners and growing. So Loni will be added to that in the fall when the next round goes out and you could get you know, even more discounts to all of the wonderful things that Loni has to offer. So I'm very excited about that and talking with you Loni, I think to bring this conversation in for a landing. I would love if you could just share with our listeners 1 to 3 actionable steps, it could either you know, re emphasize something you already shared or completely brand new information. But what are 1 to 3 steps that listeners could take like as soon as today to empower themselves to tackle the toxins within their life. And likely within their homes, and to just feel like they can really take this on.

Loni Brown:

Okay, great. I love this so much. Okay, so I all because because when you start to go on this journey, it can become really overwhelming like, like in my situation crying and sobbing your registry. I know how intimidating and overwhelming this can be. And so I have everyone start with free, easy things. And so my first actionable thing for you is going to be the quick easy things that you can literally do right now today. There's a there's three things. First thing is don't wear your shoes in the home. Like if you do nothing else, if you want to just remove the toxins in your home and you do nothing else Don't you know, don't wear shoes. A lot of the toxins that are in our home get trapped in from the bottom of our shoes. And when you have babies that's even more challenging because they're crawling all over the floor with their hands and putting their hands in their mouth. When we walk outside, there are heavy metals, chemicals, like you know, pesticides, all those things right. And then you wear your shoes around the house and especially if you have carpet and even if you have like hardwood floors, it just falls off your shoe onto your onto your you know, flooring and carpet and everything else. And then the thing is, is when you have dust, those toxins get kicked up into the dust and then you actually inhale them. So it's like there's an issue with inhaling these things and then also babies you know, crawling around and putting their hands in their mouth so that one step alone can help reduce your toxin exposure at home and it's free and you just you know you just don't wear shoes in the house and I know this that for some people this is hard to get used to like having to remember to take off your shoes, but I promise if you if you just be conscious about it and start to do it then it just becomes like it's weird for me to wear shoes in anyone's home now like it's very it's like feel so weird. And so it'll the reverse will happen it'll start to feel weird not wearing shoes in your home if you're really used to and then it eventually it'll start to feel common and then when you have people over like sometimes people are like they don't want to take off their shoes you might have contractors coming in. So I have these little washable footie shoe cover footies and so when someone comes to the door and you know they were contractor, they need to come and check something or whatever or they're doing a delivery or something I just have them put on these you know shoe covers, and then they can come in and the toxins you know, don't get everywhere else in the house. So there's just little things like that. Okay, the next free easy thing, open the windows, open windows like at least if you can 15 minutes a day 15 minutes a day, open up the windows. If you have some fans even better turn on the fans open your windows. Our homes are so energy efficient now which is a great thing right? It's a great thing that there's so energy efficient. The thing is is like toxins in the home and for indoor air quality have no has nowhere to go. And back in the day. Our homes were leaky, they weren't energy efficient, they were leaky so that bad air had like places to escape. Now they don't because everything is just so tightly confined. So opening your windows kind of cycles out some of that bad air and let's send some of that fresh air. So doing that on a regular basis really helps and then vacuuming and dusting, vacuuming and dusting again toxins are in the dust toxins are on the floor, especially if they got tracked in with your shoes. So if you vacuum and dust regularly, that's going to minimize toxin. So just doing these things alone, not even swapping anything out right, that's going to really reduce your toxin exposure on a day to day basis. So those are some easy free quick things you can do today. Then beyond that, invest in something to purify the air so it can be an air purifier and you want to find one with like a HEPA filter or one that is certified to actually remove VOCs from within the home. These are volatile organic compounds VOCs come from things like paint, stains and finishes furniture. Your you know cushions things like that right. All these things release the off gas some of those chemicals and they're VOCs and we're inhaling them and it's It's why our indoor air is so bad like the EPA says that our indoor air and building indoor air is two to four times more polluted than outside air. And it's crazy because there's like a lot of chemicals and stuff outside and the thing is is that outside breathes outside has trees outside you know things are getting filtered right in our homes. If we don't have anything in there actually purifying the air. Everything just stays so open and windows and vacuuming helps but if you can invest in an air purifier that is you know can remove those VOCs and toxins in the air. That's the Even better if you can't afford an air purifier, and some of them are only like a couple $100. So it's a really good investment. If you can, if you can't invest in air purifier, then NASA has this list of the top like 20 indoor air purifying plants, and you can buy these plants. And they give all the varieties, you can just research all the varieties and see which ones thrive in your kind of climate. But they are determined by NASA to be the best at purifying the air. And so I you know, have our clients buy an air purifying plant and place it every 300 square feet. So if you have you know, so if you have a 2000 square foot home, you want to buy enough to kind of cover you know, all the areas and then those plants are gonna like around the clock purify the air. So something to purify there. So do the free things first and then step two, find something that purify the air. And then And then the third step would be minimize your use of plastic. That's a big one plastic leeches, you know, there's chemicals in plastic that leach in into products. BPA, right is a known carcinogen, meaning it causes cancer, it's found in all kinds of plastics. BPA, is a chemical that basically helps plastic maintain its structure, it makes it more stable, it makes it clear, you know, or, you know, and so a lot of products have BPA. Now that it's known that BPA is cancerous. A lot of companies who manufacture plastic products are removing BPA bps. But here's the thing, like when I say you can find a lot of BPA plastic and be like, Oh, it's BPA plastic, it's great. The thing is, is that like they had to swap that BPA out with another chemical. Because I call you know, I call companies and I'm like, Hey, years that your product doesn't have BPA. What did you use instead? And they're like, What do you mean? I'm like, BPA had a purpose, right? It's what made the, you know, plastic stable and shatterproof and clear. And so there was a purpose for it. So what are you using instead? And that's the thing, like once something is known to be bad companies just swap it out with something else. And whatever they swapped it out with, it's not known to be harmful right now. But in 20 years, it probably will once there's research and like you said earlier in Europe, the burden of proof is on the manufacturers. So they have a lot of bad chemicals. And if you're introducing a new kind of chemical, a lot of times the European Union is going to be like, yeah, you need to prove to us that this is safe, right, like the burden is on the manufacturers to kind of prove that things are safe in the US not so much. Right? Like you can just make chemicals. I mean, there are literally 80,000 chemicals, you know, being produced every single day and new ones coming. And you can just freely use them. And the United States, it's not until a chemical has been determined by studies and years of research that it then becomes banned. But it's 20 years too late at that point. So I always say just try to avoid plastic in general, because plastic is loaded with chemicals. And we don't know yet which ones are harmful to the body and which ones aren't. And so if you want to be safe, or the safest, just minimize it. I'm not saying give away all plastic and stop using all plastic. But where counts, like in your food containers, you know, you're storing your food and it's sitting in those plastic containers or your water bottles, right? You stainless steel use class and a lot of people are like Well I can't swap out all my Tupperware for glass. Here's the thing, there's a spaghetti jar, there's the pickle jar, probably just gonna throw away anyway. So wash that spaghetti jar, wash that pickle jar, and that becomes your leftover container instead of the plastic glad where you know, more Tupperware. So, so just find these easy ways to just reduce your use of plastic. Because that's going to, you know, really, really help on a daily basis. And then from there, you know, there's more advanced things that you can start looking at, like I said, your mattress, your pillows, like things like that, that you're you're sleeping on for lots of hours a day, but those are more expensive things to replace. So I would start with these three, you know, easy areas first and then kind of build from there.

Katie Kurpanek:

Yeah, that and then you know, when people are ready for that, that is where your services and all of the resources that you support are so helpful because even speaking for just myself, I know that this information gets so overwhelming, and I'm somebody who is like specializing in sustainable living, so if I weren't doing that, I think it would be even more overwhelming. So your tips and tricks are so Super, super helpful. I really appreciate how much you focused on, you know what is free what is available right now within people's homes. And then I think the thing that just kept ringing through my head as I was listening to you is, we kind of talked about this earlier, but it's just so important to do something, you know, one of my favorite quotes is, don't do nothing because you can't do everything, do something, anything. And that's by Colleen Patrick Goudreau, she's an amazing activist. And as you know, someone striving to live sustainably, I remind myself of that daily because if you start looking into you know, like, everything that causes climate anxiety, you know, eco anxiety, the world is burning, like all these things, we could go down the deep dark rabbit hole, and feel so overwhelmed. If I feel like I can't change everything about my life and everything about the world and the way other people are living, then I can get stuck in that sense of paralysis, like I just can't do anything. So same with this situation with non toxic living. Just do something, do anything like doing something will be better than nothing at all. And like you said, it compounds you know, it builds off of each other step by step. And it's way better than just giving up and throwing in the towel completely. So I'm very appreciative of you and your time and your expertise. Thank you so much for sharing all this with our listeners. And if they want to get in touch with you again, all that information will just be in the episode description.

Loni Brown:

Thank you so much for having me.

Katie Kurpanek:

I hope you enjoyed today's episode, and if you did, I would love it if you would share it with a friend. Spread the word over your social media, or simply leave a review wherever you subscribe to this podcast to help others find it as well. Thank you so much for being here. I'll catch you next time.

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