Have you ever thought about all of the things being brought into your home and the potential consequences to your health? It’s scary to consider. We define items as clean when they are produced without toxic or controversial ingredients. We all want to live cleaner and make the best choices about what we use and expose our loved ones to, but it can be so overwhelming to ascertain what is clean. Trying to look up every ingredient in every item we use could literally take months. In today’s fast paced world, none of us have time for that!
One of our primary goals here at Tempted Temple is to provide our followers with the tools to grow their understanding of the food they consume, the products they utilize and the little decisions they make on behalf of their household day by day. Knowledge is power, and when you know better, you do better. In today’s blog post, we’re going to provide some tools to help you quickly and easily access the safety or toxicity in items you use every day.
One of the easiest ways to access the cleanliness of items you use is to utilize a mobile phone app. There are a number of them available today, and they are highly user friendly.
EWG’s Healthy Living: Since 1993, the Environmental Working Group (EWG) has been working to educate consumers to help them make healthy and informed choices and to live a healthy life in a healthy environment. It is a nonprofit group that is funded by donations from private foundations. The app rates personal care items, food, sunscreens and household cleaners from 1-10 or A-F. You can search by name, browse by category or simply scan barcodes.
Think Dirty-Shop Clean: This project began as founder Lily Tse’s personal journey to get a better understanding of ingredients used in the beauty industry. After a history of family cancer, she wanted to better understand the impacts of cosmetic and personal care products. The app scores beauty, personal care and household products with a 1-10 ratings. The app also allows users to purchase products they endorse. Additionally, they offer a subscription box of clean items for purchase.
Detox Me: This app was created by the research institute, Silent Spring Institute. The organization is dedicated to uncovering the links between products and environmental factors that impact women’s health with a focus on breast cancer. The app is a clean lifestyle guide that helps reduce exposure to toxic chemicals in the user’s environment. It offers tips and recommendations to help people eliminate sources of toxic chemicals, allows users to track their progress, provides buyers guides that help decode ingredient lists and pertinent news.
Yuka Foods & Cosmetics: The app was created by three friends who wanted to create a way to quickly analyze ingredients in food products. They strive to help consumers make better choices for their health. Users can scan food, cosmetic or personal hygiene products and get a detailed data sheet to help justify the score. If an item scores poorly, the app will suggest similar items with better ratings. The app also keeps user history, so there’s no need to scan items multiple times.
Clearya: Clearya is actually a free Chrome extension and app. It was born out of one couple’s cancer recovery experience and goal to keep toxic chemicals out of their home. Clearya “wakes up” when users shop for beauty products, personal care, baby care and cleaning products on Amazon, Walmart, Target, Sephora and iHerb websites (these are current- the list of online shopping websites may grow in the future and encompass more retailers). Clearya automatically searches the web page for the item’s ingredient list. Of note: if the ingredient list isn’t provided on the shopping website’s page. If toxic ingredients are identified, Clearya will suggest alternatives. Alerts can be personalized.