Building Blocks of Healing: Where To Begin

Why clean air, pure water, real food, and reducing toxins at home matter more than any supplement

Healing isn’t only found in a supplement bottle or a protocol. It begins in the ordinary rhythms of life: the water you drink, the air you breathe, the food on your plate, the rest you allow yourself, the prayers you give to God. These aren’t glamorous or high-tech, but they’re the roots of healing—the way God designed our bodies to thrive.

From an environmental medicine lens, this means reducing the everyday exposures that quietly chip away at health: chemicals in our water, pollutants in our air, plastics in our food chain, stressors in our homes. Think of it like tending soil. If the roots aren’t nourished—and if the toxins in the soil aren’t cleared—nothing planted there can last. But when the foundations are cared for, every other therapy and treatment has room to flourish.

And I know—some of this may sound like the kind of advice you’ve scrolled past online a hundred times. But the difference is that these points aren’t just trends; they’re evidence-based, deeply rooted in naturopathic medicine, and they matter.

Breathe Clean Air

Your lungs are one of the most intimate boundaries you have with the world. Today alone, you’ll take nearly 20,000 breaths. Each inhale is an exchange with your environment—pulling in oxygen, but also sometimes dust, mold, or chemicals you never intended to invite inside.

Start with the spaces where you spend the most time: your home and your workplace. The air there should be safe to breathe. Watch for signs of water damage or mold and remediate if it’s present (we’ll talk more about proper remediation soon). Using an air purifier is one of the simplest ways to lighten your body’s toxic load.

And remember: what you don’t add to the air matters just as much. Synthetic fragrances, candles, and sprays may smell nice but add chemicals your body then has to process with every breath.

Protecting the air you breathe is one of the most powerful daily medicines for your body. You can take a supplement once a day, but every breath is medicine.

Drink Clean Water

Water makes up more than half of your body. Every cell, every organ, every process depends on it. But here’s the problem: in America, a passing grade from the government doesn’t always mean your water is safe.

The EPA hasn’t updated most of its drinking water standards in decades, and their limits don’t account for the heightened vulnerability of infants, children, pregnant women, or people with chronic illness. Many known contaminants still have no enforceable federal limits at all. This is why groups like the Environmental Working Group (EWG) have created health-based guidelines that are often much stricter than the EPA’s—based not on politics or cost, but on protecting human health. Plug your zip code in EWG’s Tap Water Databaseto see the quality of your tap water at home. 

Common contaminants in U.S. tap water include:

• Heavy Metals – lead, arsenic, chromium-6, copper

• “Forever Chemicals” (PFAS) – hormone-disrupting compounds linked to cancer

• Disinfection Byproducts (DBPs) – formed when chlorine reacts with organic matter

• Agricultural Chemicals – nitrates/nitrites, atrazine

• Industrial Chemicals / VOCs – solvents, gasoline byproducts, volatile organic compounds

• Microbiological Contaminants – coliform bacteria, E. coli, Cryptosporidium, Giardia

• Pharmaceutical Drugs – antibiotics, antidepressants, hormones, painkillers, blood pressure meds

If you drink well water or want to test your own tap, I recommend Tap Score test kits. 

When it comes to filtering tap water, here’s the breakdown:

• Basic carbon filters (Brita, PUR, ZeroWater) mostly improve taste and odor—helpful, but limited. Skip them. 

• Advanced carbon filters (Aquasana, Berkey, LifeStraw, Boroux, Santevia)remove a wider range of contaminants like lead, pesticides, VOCs, and some microbes—good everyday options if RO isn’t practical.

• Reverse osmosis (RO) is the gold standard, forcing water through a semipermeable membrane to remove the broadest range of contaminants, including PFAS and pharmaceuticals. 

• Whole-house filters protect all water in the home, especially showers and sinks, but most don’t filter heavy metals, PFAS, or pharmaceuticals; they’re best for chlorine, sediment, or hard water.

Important Note: Many high-quality filtration systems, especially reverse osmosis (RO), strip water of contaminants and beneficial minerals like magnesium and calcium. That’s why it’s important to remineralize your water—either by adding a pinch of clean, mineral-rich salt (I like Redmond Real Salt) or using trace mineral drops. 

Eat Organic and Reduce Processed Foods

Here's the reality: food today isn’t the same as it was a century ago. Modern farming has traded nutrient density for yield and shelf life, leaving many fruits and vegetables with up to 30% less vitamins and minerals than their mid-20th century counterparts. Which means the quality of what we eat matters more than ever.

Choosing organic fruits and vegetables helps cut down your daily chemical load. Conventional crops are treated with pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides that can disrupt hormones, damage the gut microbiome, and increase cancer risk. Organic farming also prioritizes soil health, which translates into more nutrient-dense food on your plate.

If going all-organic feels overwhelming, start small: use the Dirty Dozen as your non-negotiables (strawberries, spinach, kale, apples, grapes…) and relax a little with the Clean Fifteen (avocados, onions, sweet corn, pineapple, cabbage…).

Just as important as produce is the quality of your protein. Conventional meat and poultry often come from animals raised in crowded conditions, treated with hormones or antibiotics, and fed diets of GMO corn and soy. Organic, pasture-raised meats are higher in omega-3 fatty acids and key vitamins and nutrients. When possible, look for labels like organic, pasture-raised, grass-fed, and grass-finished.

Equally important is cutting back ultra-processed foods. Packaged snacks, sugary drinks, and fast food are stripped of nutrients and loaded with inflammatory oils, refined sugars, and additives that push the body toward disease. Real food—colorful vegetables, clean proteins, whole grains, and healthy fats—builds longevity. 

And because health isn’t about perfection, I follow the 80/20 rule myself: 80% whole, organic foods, 20% room for meals out, snacks, or convenience. Eating well should feel like freedom, not punishment.

Reduce Plastic Exposure

Plastic has made life convenient, but it isn’t harmless. Many plastics leach hormone-disrupting chemicals (like BPA and phthalates) and even tiny microplastics into food and drinks. While all of us have some daily contact, certain situations make that leaching dramatically worse and simply avoiding these two things can positively impact your health: 

Heat + Plastic

When plastic gets hot, it starts to break down. That’s why microwaving food in plastic, running containers through the dishwasher, or leaving a water bottle in a hot car is such a problem. One study found that plastic exposed to boiling water released over 50 times more chemicals than the same plastic at room temperature. Even microplastics themselves can shed faster when heated.

Acidic and Fatty Foods + Plastic

Acidic or fatty foods (like tomato sauce, citrus, vinegar, oils) are another major trigger for chemical leaching. Acids literally pull plasticizers and microplastics into the food. Researchers have even found higher levels of metals like antimony (used in making plastics) when acidic liquids were stored in plastic bottles.

Hidden Plastics You Might Not Expect

Even when something doesn’t look like plastic, it often is. Many common household items are lined, coated, or made with plastics that can leach into food and drinks. A few examples:

• Aluminum cans – most sodas, sparkling waters, and canned foods are lined with a thin layer of plastic (often containing BPA or similar chemicals) to prevent corrosion.

• Coffee cups – most paper cups (including to-go cups) are coated with a thin plastic film to keep them from leaking.

• Non-stick pans – Teflon and similar coatings are plastics that can break down at high heat, releasing harmful compounds.

• Receipts – many store receipts are coated in BPA-containing plastics that absorb through your skin when you handle them.

None of this means you need to live in fear, but awareness gives you choices. Whenever possible, choose glass bottles instead of cans, use a stainless steel travel mug instead of paper cups, swap non-stick pans for stainless steel or cast iron, and don’t stress about every receipt—just wash your hands after handling them.

You don’t have to change everything overnight, but even one swap can remove thousands of exposures. Over time, those small choices lighten your toxic load and free up your body to do what it was designed to do—heal and stay healthy.

Use Clean Personal Care & Household Products

What you put on your skin and what you breathe in at home matters just as much as what you eat or drink. Personal care items, cleaning sprays, and even laundry products are common sources of hidden chemical exposure—especially synthetic fragrances, which often contain endocrine disruptors and compounds that irritate the lungs and skin.

The good news? You don’t have to overhaul everything at once. A simple approach is to swap as you go: when you finish a shampoo, deodorant, or cleaning spray, replace it with a cleaner, fragrance-free version. To make it easy, apps like EWG’s Healthy Living or Yuka let you scan products and instantly see how safe they are.

And as a general rule, go fragrance-free. “Unscented” personal care, cleaning, and laundry products help cut down on unnecessary exposures that can burden your hormones and immune system.

Every swap reduces the chemical load your body has to process. Over time, these small, steady choices free up energy for healing.

Healing doesn’t begin with the most advanced protocol—it begins with the simple, ordinary choices you make every day. The air you breathe, the water you drink, the food you eat, the products you use at home: these are the quiet building blocks that either weigh your body down or give it room to heal.

Start small. Open a window. Swap a cleaner. Choose real food. Each shift lightens the toxic load and strengthens your foundations. And when the foundations are strong, every other therapy and treatment can finally take root.

God designed your body with resilience. Your job is to clear the way, so His design can flourish.