Going Through Detox (It's not what you think : )

Last year, I made some really HUGE changes in my life. After 3 surgeries and 4 rounds of chemo, losing my hair, getting fat, dealing with severe anxiety and depression, and finally coming to grips with it all and getting my act together, I started reducing the toxic burdens in my life. Up until last year, I thought I led a pretty healthy lifestyle but as it turns out, I was blindly using products on myself, my kids and in my home that were not very safe after all.

I'll back up to December 2013.

My chemo treatments were done and I had recovered from my double mastectomy. I was finally cleared for exercising at the gym. On my very first day back, I was hot flashing on the treadmill, me and my G.I. Jane look. As I slowly lifted one foot in front of the other, one of the trainers asked me if it was ok to put the big fan on in the corner. (Usually people cannot handle "the big fan"). In true form, I began to spill my guts and the floodgates opened. I told her the more fan the better, as this girl was always on fire lately. Point that fan over here, please!

As I got to know this kind woman named Lori, I learned that she, too was a breast cancer survivor. Hey, why not? It's only an epidemic, right? In no time at all, she was educating me about the dangers of parabens in beauty care products and how in some studies parabens have rendered Tamoxifen INEFFECTIVE. Of course, this caught my ear. Since I am on this 5 year plan of estrogen-blocking Tamoxifen, why would I continue to use products that contain parabens if they are going to counteract each other? After so many painstaking steps to become "cancer free", did I really want to take a gamble with my health? The answer was a simple "NO". (And p.s....not ONE of my doctors ever thought to mention this very important piece of information with me. Disappointing!!!)

It turns out, parabens were just ONE thing to worry about.

I told Lori that I used and sold Mary Kay products for years. She told me about the skin care products she uses and sells, Ava Anderson Non-Toxic.   I had never heard of it, even though this company is right here in my home state of Rhode Island. She was willing to come to my house and let me try everything I wanted for free. So, I let her. The old me would have politely declined her offer but the new me was really intrigued by this "non-toxic" concept.  Immediately, I was hooked and this was after using the same skin care from the same company for 31 years straight (talk about loyalty!).

I immediately ordered the entire Ava skin care set and then booked a party so I could earn free products. Oh, and she suggested I use some of Ava's Diaper Cream on my chest as my foobs were suffering from the dreadful expansion process (see past blogs if you need to get caught up!). The diaper cream worked wonders and I was now an Ava convert!

I'll fast forward to now. Since then I have signed on as a consultant to sell Ava's products and share the Ava Anderson Non-Toxic message with everyone who will listen, and even those who won't. I absolutely love these products and everything this company stands for (and doesn't stand for). I am not an expert in this field but I have learned so much in the last 9 months. Ava's website has some great tools for anyone who is nervous or overwhelmed about getting started on the non-toxic road. Trust me, it's very easy and can be done all at once or even just little by little.  Any step in the right direction is always a good thing. The link provided will give you a list of some of the biggest toxic offenders lurking in your skin care products.

I'm so happy that Lori shared her knowledge with me that fateful day. I do believe knowledge is power and that ignorance is not bliss, especially when it comes to your health.  It's my time now to share what I know and hopefully help someone else who will benefit from this information. Why keep such a wonderful thing a secret?

I will be sharing more about Ava's products and how to help detoxify your life in my upcoming blogs. I hope you enjoy it and share it with those you love and care about. Thank you xoxo

P.S. In the mean time, take a look at my site and do a little shopping for yourself, a loved one, someone having their 1st or 10th baby, and even your pets!  Any questions, please reach out to me and I'll be happy to help.