Low Tox Life

Wow. I learnt so much this week in this conversation. Nicole Avery is a business woman, a mother of 5 and one heck of an organised person. True story. I just had to hack her incredible tips, tricks and overwhelm-preventative measures that her family of 7 take to run things smoothly - most of the time (no one is perfect, remember?). I have been so inspired to look ahead to when my travel is done for the year and develop some of the themes we discussed in a more impactful way in my own family life. We often confuse, as a society, feeling organised and well planned, with lacking the ability to be spontaneous and too serious, when in fact, the discipline of a well organised house hold actually creates the opportunity for MORE spontaneity and freedom - how's that for a mindset shift? Enjoy this wonderful chat with a woman who's truly gifted at getting it all well planned so that she and her family can kick all the goals they fancy, all the while inspiring us to do the same. The show notes and sponsor offer are over at www.lowtoxlife.com/podcast and I hope you love this week's show as much as I did. Alexx x Being planned so you can be present with your family - Here are the questions I asked Nicole (with a few tangents thrown in for good measure as usual) So many of us feel overwhelmed by lack of time, chasing our tails, and many of us have 1-2-3 kids. You have 5 and literally wrote the course on how to be planned... Were you always naturally organised?  As your family grew how did you find you needed to adjust things (ie having babies / older kids in the mix - differences / meeting all needs)  A lot of people feel boxed in by planning... how can we feel spontaneous AND planned - can they coexist?  How does a disorganised, uninspired soul motivate themselves toward the idea of 'getting well planned'?  I'd imagine one of the most important aspects of motivation would be to do the work and figure out how exactly this is going to benefit you personally and as a family? ie personalisation of the 'why' = effective implementation as I talk about in my book...  Let's talk tools for meal planning How do you help people navigate food allergies / intolerances when it comes to planning?  What happens when you've done all the planning and then the plan changes (sick kids / impromptu play dates etc) With the families you've worked with, How have you seen people's lives change when being better planned on the food front. I'd imagine food waste saving / budget saving happen when we plan out our weeks?  Do you recommend involving the family in the plan to maximise uptake of the various meals being cooked "Tonight it's Bob's fave. Good choice bob, delicious" type positive affirmation around kid's choices...  If you had to share your favourite reasons for getting a meal plan happening to finish of everything we've talked about, what would they be?  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week on the show it is my pleasure to welcome Mike Shade, campaign director for Safer Chemicals, Safer Families. It's one thing for us to know we don't want this stuff in our environments, homes and on our bodies, but it's another to find a way to effect change and move us forward. Mike Shade, in his work with Safer Chemicals, Safer families is doing just that. They're committed to getting retailers to use their power as a customer to the product makers, to get safer formulations made. So clever! It's an inspiring chat and I know for those of you who want to achieve more or feel like you and I do make a difference, you will LOVE it. Here are the questions I ask Mike and the show notes and sponsor offer for this month can be found over at lowtoxlife.com/podcast Enjoy! Alexx x How you came to be an activist against toxic chemicals? Reluctant or always a passionate environmentally aware / health conscious person from upbringing?  Why did you join "Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families"? What did you see was missing / needed to really take things up a notch?  Today, a coalition of 450 organisations and most of the organising happening at Kitchen table gatherings - what was the road to get to a place where you have united 450 individual organisations to collectively take action?  Something I love in looking at the work you guys do is seeing "POLICY. RETAILERS. EDUCATION" buttons to explain the different levels of change making - can you talk us through each the the three. The role that retailers can play to protect consumers from toxic chemicals - see RetailerReportCard.com One of your greatest successes so far is giving rise to a growing movement among retailers to phase out the sale of deadly and dangerous paint strippers -- see https://saferchemicals.org/newsroom/the-home-depot-to-be-third-major-u-s-retailer-to-ban-deadly-paint-strippers/ - How did that start? What research did you gather / how many people did you organise and how?  Every activist has their 'pet chemicals' they're particularly vocal about / they champion... Toxic chemicals in food and food packaging - in particular phthalates and PFAS - see http://www.kleanupkraft.org/ - How did you come across this issue - how can we measure how toxic these are?  What do you believe has been your most successful campaign yet?  What are you working on at the moment?  Advice for the conscious consumer to kick things up a notch - how do they link in with your network if they're in the US?  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I've popped a bonus show on today because we've found this wonderful online publication that's branching out into ethical city guides too, called Pebble. Georgina Wilson-Powell is the founder and it was wonderful to discuss how she came to realise that Pebble needed to happen, and what they're doing to be the change as a publication and share inspiring resources, ethical brands and more, to connect the low tox peeps out there in the world to the kind of investments they want to make for a better world - through something as simple as our wardrobe and more! We talk B Corps, Zero Waste, Permaculture, ethical city guides and more and I hope you take time to connect to Pebble if it's something up your alley. Show notes and sponsor offer for the month can be found over at lowtoxlife.com/podcast  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Imagine just working through your emails and Gregoire from 1789 comes trotting past you with a smile - don't know about you but I would NOT get much work done if that were to happen to me. This week on the show I interview a psychic - the modern mystic Belinda Davidson. What a special conversation this is and I was quite taken aback by how pragmatic and non woo woo Belinda was. It's not every day that we get to spend time understanding how life must be when you've got a foot in our world, and another foot somewhere else. Belinda doesn't ascribe to any particular religious or spiritual tradition. She simply shares her insights and expertise to help you discover your soul, stay connected to it, and boldly live your unique and magnificent soul purpose. To thine own self be true, is her life motto. She is DEFINITELY not a newbie intuitive or spiritual coach who just popped up last week. Belinda was born psychic, and has been working as a professional intuitive for more than twenty years. And when she used to give readings, she had a two-year waitlist. Here are the questions I asked Belinda (and a few extra ones where we went on delicious tangents - you guys know how I love those, right?)  What's it like to be psychic?  What do you remember about your childhood in relation to everything you've come to do so far in your work? Little aha's that it turns out not everyone could see or do as you did...  Was being psychic as a child a gift or a curse?  Can you read people even if they're not physically with you? How do you find the strongest readings of people come / happen? Is there a pattern to the circumstance?  Can you consciously decide to not read someone and by consequence simply not 'see' anything when chatting? You say you've one foot in this world and one foot in another... What other realms do you experience?   You've found a way to hone exactly what it is about your own gifts that can best serve others and you see your "life purpose as helping people change their energy to heal their lives". What does that look like in your day to day work?  In changing people's energy, do you work with chakras?  What are the principals of chakra balancing / healing that you most love?  If in certain parts of our lives aren't working properly it's because a chakra isn't working properly, how much can we rely on this? Is this for day to day tweaking? I'd imagine the nay sayer saying "oh yes, I'm going to chakra clear instead of get my ankle surgery. SURE" - There's a place for acute care AND chakra healing to work together / complement, surely?  You speak about your enlightened moment/meditation and our purpose being to recognise that we are light when darkness is all around us - that can be hard sometimes with a sensation of everything darkening around us all the time - more death, more threats of war, more hate speech and on and on... how do we best protect our lightness in today's world? Enjoy the show, share your comments and enter the sponsor offer of winning a year's worth of Organic, fair-trade coffee over on the show notes at lowtoxlife.com/podcast - Someone's going to win so it may as well be you right? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My first show with Dr Ralph Esposito was so popular we've just had to do a part 2 on men's health. I hope you enjoy as we dig into more men's health topics that matter to you as polled in the Low Tox Life Club which you can join via Patreon. Here's what we cover in today's show:  Heart health  Cholesterol - when to worry and what to do if your doc recommends statins and make an informed decision.  FATS: Is it one size fits all or are some better suited to sat fats than others and others Mediterranean omegas / olive oil? (ie should everyone be running to the store for coconut oil or for some is that not the best way forward?) Belly fat: Seems that when a man gets a little lax on the lifestyle front, the belly cops it first: Why does that happen? Why a big tummy ain't ok long term and what best to do to reduce belly fat in men?  Man Boobs or Moobs as I heard them called the other day: Too much estrogen? How do our men sort those out? Is intermittent fasting good for all / certain situations where best not? And how is IF different for men / women?  Best way for a man to build muscle mass / reduce fat and maintain?  Brain health: We see the stats on alzheimer's and this one has hit home for me recently with a friend's husband having early onset Alz - what are some of the key stressors to the body / brain in our earlier years that can set us up for a stronger disposition to Alz / Dem?  What are some of the best things men (specifically or say 'for both men and women if yes) can do to grow older with a strong brain leading the charge?  AND of course in true low tox conversation style, we tangent a couple of times for good measure. Enjoy the show and don't forget all the information about our show sponsor and where to buy the book as well as helpful links to resources mentioned in the show are available in the show notes www.lowtoxlife.com/podcast and click on today's show tile. Alexx x See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ever been to a climate change talk or watched a documentary and felt heavy, powerless, despair? Well, this conversation is going to leave you feeling different - can do, ra ra and empowered. Sound better?  Let me tell you a bit about Professor Will… Will Steffen has a long history in international global change research, serving from 1998 to 2004 as Executive Director of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP), based in Stockholm, Sweden, and before that as Executive Officer of IGBP's Global Change and Terrestrial Ecosystems project. Will was the Inaugural Director of the ANU Climate Change Institute, from 2008-2012.  Prior to that, he was Director of the ANU Fenner School of Environment and Society. From 2004 to 2011 he served as science adviser to the Australian Government Department of Climate Change. He is currently a Climate Councillor with the Climate Institute, and from 2011 to 2013 was a Climate Commissioner on the Australian Government's Climate Commission; Chair of the Antarctic Science Advisory Committee, Co-Director of the Canberra Urban and Regional Futures (CURF) initiative and Member of the ACT Climate Change Council. Steffen's interests span a broad range within the fields of sustainability and Earth System science, with an emphasis on the science of climate change, approaches to climate change adaptation in land systems, incorporation of human processes in Earth System modelling and analysis; and the history and future of the relationship between humans and the rest of nature. So: We have a wonderful scientist with a long list of accomplishments in his career that has spanned decades and the best part is that he so passionately and simply states the issues, shares and helps us understand the science, looks at the future projections and what you and I can do to keep on the good side of mother nature. I've wanted to do a show on climate change for a long while and finding Will has meant the perfect show embedded with the low tox values of empowered joyful change, rather than paralysis and overwhelm in the face of the world's biggest issue. I hope you enjoy the show as much as I enjoyed putting it together for you. As usual you can find show notes and our sponsor offers over at lowtoxlife.com/podcast Here's to a happy planet, Alexx x See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

One day with the exciting and looming ‘100th show' being discussed, Elise my awesome assistant decided I should be interviewed for the 100th show. Awesome! But WHO? That's when I thought who better than my publisher Jane who saw something in this whole ‘low tox life' thing worth exploring for a book, and her bringing that curiousity on a personal and professional level to a conversation with me about the state of play in the world today, why I decided to start the Low tox Life in the first place, how I came up with the term ‘low tox' that's now everywhere, how I feel we're going in the direction we're headed and at the speed we're headed? And a few other questions. I hope you enjoy the chat AND I hope you enjoy the Audience Q&A segment after my chat with Jane from all the questions you submitted in the newsletter call out - from teenage boys to IUDs to overwhelm to “what If I were to change just one thing” to “how to deal with cost / overwhelm / misinformation / will power… It's all in today's show. Thank you so much for tuning in each week, sharing the show with your friends and family members and feeding back the successes you've had and submitting 5 star reviews. You are the best audience to work for that I could ever have hoped for. Here's to 100 more awesome shows. Head to the show notes for the sponsor giveaway entry and details on this week's show: lowtoxlife.com/podcast  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There are people you meet who you're instantly on the same vibration as. One of those people for me is Tammi Kirkness. Past show guest Melissa Browne introduced us because Tammi was a fan of the toxin lowering aspect to Low tox Life and wanted to include that in her E course on High Functioning Anxiety and factors to address on the road to quietening it. We shared mouldy apartment stories and our outlook on healing and voila - the rest is history and I HAD to have her on the show. In today's chat we discuss high functioning anxiety,  how it differs from generalised anxiety, lifestyle factors that contribute to HFA, strategies to bust it (perfectionist or imposter syndrome anyone?); we have a blissful and impromptu meditative couple of minutes that we can refocus into positive energy and have negative energy bounce off us… We even discuss energetic healing and the fact that she's a clairvoyant. It's a chat with many twists, turns and practical take homes to live a life of strength and positivity - even if you crumble sometimes. WE ALL DO! The show notes, show supporter offer and Tammi's wonderful course can all be found in the show notes over at lowtoxlife.com/podcast - Enjoy the show! Alexx x See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sometimes you come across people who you just feel in your bones are ‘someone to watch' if what they're able to understand and help people with now is at the level it is. Jake Carter is one of those people and I came across him from past show guest, Dr Carrie Jones. Jake shares how he came to be a body science nerd after experiencing injuries in his teens and going on to be a Personal Trainer, and then how that ignited a thirst for nutrition and an understanding of the many individual things that could be occurring for someone that means no ‘one' thing every fits us all, which then lead him to problem solving tough cases where other avenues had all been explored. His energy bursts from the microphone and into your ears and we talk lifestyle factors, health ‘hand breaks', digestion, constipation and more in today's show. I hope you enjoy it and you can find the show notes and show supporter offer over at lowtoxlife.com/podcast See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week on the show it's a short solo show, checking in with how you're feeling about cooking - I was feeling like it was all too hard this month with everything going on and I find I always need to come back to gratitude, to what I'm best at, and to approaching it with smarts so that it's not hard and I'm not going ‘from scratch' every time. I'd love for you to share your ideas in the show notes comments and when you get my new book Low Tox Life, you'll see how many more simple things you can do to fall in love with cooking - or at least not begrudge it! The show supporter offer and further notes can be found at lowtoxlife.com/podcast  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.