Dhru Purohit Show - How to Protect Your Body Against Toxins With Simple Tools Anyone Can Use Today with Kayla Barnes

Episode Date: July 21, 2025

This episode is brought to you by Bon Charge and Maui Nui. With toxins showing up in our food, water, and everyday products, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. But the good news is, a few simple changes can go a long way. By focusing on what you can control, you can lower your toxic load and support your health without the stress. Today on The Dhru Purohit Show, we’re revisiting one of our most talked-about moments with Kayla Barnes. Kayla breaks down the top three essentials for reducing your toxin exposure and shares home optimization tips that she has implemented herself. She and Dhru also discuss why living a low-tox life shouldn’t be overwhelming and how taking a few intentional steps can go a long way in protecting your health. Kayla Barnes is the Co-Owner of LYV The Wellness Space, one of the country’s most innovative precision medicine and biology upgrading clinics. Kayla is also the creator and host of the Longevity Optimization Podcast and co-founder of the Health Optimization Fund. Kayla is certified by the Amen Clinics (Brain Health) and IIN (Integrative Nutrition). She has dedicated herself to the pursuit of preventive and regenerative methodologies aimed at optimizing female human health. In this episode, Dhru and Kayla dive into: The basics to prioritize (1:17) Home optimization options to reduce our toxin exposure (14:25) Air quality is key (17:17) Consuming microplastics and their effect on health (18:45) Final thoughts (21:32) Also mentioned: Full episode with Kayla Barnes Vibrant Wellness Toxin Test  This episode is brought to you by Bon Charge and Maui Nui. Right now, Bon Charge is offering my community 15% off. Just go to boncharge.com/DHRU and use coupon code DHRU to save 15%. Right now, Maui Nui Venison is offering my listeners a limited collection of my favorite cuts and products. Just go to mauinuivenison.com/dhru to secure your access now but hurry, supply is limited! Sign up for Dhru’s Try This Newsletter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hi everyone, Drew Brode here. We all know that microplastics and environmental toxins are lurking in the background, just ready to jump on us, hanging out our environment, you know, from the water that we drink, the air that we breathe, the products that we put on our skin. And they're driving up our health risks and rates of chronic disease. But the good news is there are simple, practical steps that we can take to dramatically reduce our toxic load starting today. And the goal isn't to avoid every toxin and microplastic.

good luck with that. Rather, it's to be informed, take smarter action, reduce exposure where we can, and double down on the basics of sleep, movement, working out, sweating, community, family, Whole Foods, fiber. So in today's episode, I share a segment for my conversation with one of the world's top female longevity experts, Kayla Barnes, all about practical ways to minimize our toxic exposures. Kayla is the creator and host of the longevity optimization podcast and the co-founder of the Health Optimization Fund. If you've been wanting a clear, actionable breakdown of where to start with detoxifying your environment,

this episode is for you. Now, let's tune into my conversation with Kayla Barnes. You talk about microplastics. You're doing some pretty advanced things that are there. And there's a lot of basic things that you talk about that everybody can be doing starting today to significantly reduce their toxic exposure. Now, you've talked about a few different things.

You've talked about environmental toxins, even things like mold and micro toxins that are there. There's toxins that you've been very vocal about in maybe clothing that you're personally choosing to sort of stay away from. So help us understand if you had to prioritize for the average person that's kind of out there, if they're looking to significantly reduce their toxic exposure, what comes first, second, and third in terms of the biggest bank, for their box. Water filtration. So, and you can get a great reverse osmosis, uh, water filter for a couple hundred dollars, um, because microplastics is a massive issue. Not to mention, I actually love a resource called the EWG because every water source has different level of contaminants, right? And so you can type in, um, EWG, go to their local tap water database and you can see everything that's in

your water in the level. So, um, no dangerous chemicals being in this tap water. pharmaceuticals, heavy metals, all sorts of things. So I think getting a super high quality water filter and use it for more than just drinking, too. Like my coffee in the morning, I use the reverse osmosis water. I try to use it for cooking. I use it for a variety of different things. But getting high quality water filtration is a game changer. Second is just try to eliminate all plastic use.

So we know that these plastic water bottles, they are filled with micro and nanoplastics. So I think the figure was somewhere around, like, if you reduce all of your plastic water bottle, you reduce your microplastics by about like 90,000 or something per year. So if you just use glass, you can get one glass bottle. You can refill it. You can take it with you. That's going to be a game changer. Same thing with those little plastic cups, you know, that are at coffee shop.

So I loved it, actually, when I was on the flight from Europe back to the U.S., you know, they have a lot higher standards in terms of food additives and everything over there first fall was in glass, which was beautiful to see. Second thing, though, there was a warning label on the little coffee cup that said that there's plastic in it because a lot of people don't think about the coffee cup, which is paper, being lined with plastic. So that's another way. And in a simple, easy, affordable way to do that is just take your own coffee cup into

the coffee shop and they'll usually just fill it. sometimes I think they even give you a discount for bringing in your own vessel. So those would be two big things. I would say investing, if you can, in a high quality air filtration system, because our home should be as low talks as possible. You know, this is where we're spending most of our time, specifically our bedroom. So having a great quality air filter in your bedroom, I'd like HEPA air filtration is going to be a game changer because there's also the microplastics in the air.

And depending on where you live or what you live next to, you could also. have other chemicals. There could be next to a manufacturing plant. There's a variety of different things. When it comes to mold, I mean, there are some tests. Mold can really wreck people. I know that you know this, but if you have symptoms, you know, there's some relatively affordable tests on the market.

If you suspect something, you could do a test and see, just to make sure you don't have mold because the longer the exposure, usually the worst the symptoms get. That's a big one for molds. Any tests you would recommend or any resources on that topic? Yeah. There's a test called the Ermi test. ERMI. So it's really easy to do. It's a swiffer pad. You go around your house. You do like 10 spots.

You send it in and they give you, you know, a report on on the status. So I think, yeah, mold is, at the clinic, I've seen some really sad experiences with patients that have had mold exposure and have been almost bedridden. So watching out for molds and mycotoxins. And mycotoxins, as you know, can be found in food too. So mostly grains, a lot of times can have. have some of these mycotoxins. So just being aware of that as well. And clothing, I think, is something that is not talked about nearly enough. But again, can have heavy metals, is loaded with microplastics.

So I am choosing, for the most part, I mean, first of all, I'll say it's very hard still to find clothing that is organic and natural fibers and that looks good, too. I mean, some natural organic company just looks like a moo-moo, which, I mean, it's okay, I guess, but I work really hard. A moom? Yeah, you know, like a square box. I don't know. Moomoo?

It's not flattering. We'll say that. But there are a few brands out there that I really love. And they're using natural materials. What brands? Do you want to give them a shot out? Skin is my absolute favorite. Skin worldwide.com.

Yeah. And their owner is amazing. She came from big fashion, but started to realize that, you know, she wanted to use natural fibers and organic. She started saying that the materials were not, promoting health. And so by choosing organic and natural fibers, you know, it's unbelievable. I actually was reading that they used to use linen sheets in hospitals because there's actually

a frequency to sheets. We don't have to get into all bio-energetic medicine or anything. But, you know, natural fibers are more are healthier for you without a doubt. So that's a big one too. And you can just start slowly swapping things out. For women, our personal care products, specifically fragrance is oftentimes has phallates, endocrine disruptors. I know you know this, but we are moving towards a fertility crisis here in the United States. And that is heartbreaking and just extremely sad. I believe the rates have been decreasing at about 1% per year over about the last 30 years, which 1% doesn't sound like a lot.

But when you add it up, it's a big problem. So these endocrine disruptors, we want to be really cautious. of. So I eliminated all traditional fragrances probably a decade ago. Again, you can go to the EWG and look at their skin deep database. It's great because it ranks products. It can help teach you what chemicals to kind of pay more attention to. But fragrance is a big one. And if you think about it, you're spraying the fragrance right onto your thyroid, right onto your lymph nodes. Same thing with deodorants, you know, the deodorants with aluminum. So it should be a thing in the past. So it's not necessarily that you have to overhaul your whole life, but you want to start working towards

making small changes to upgrade your personal care products, cleaning products in the kitchen. You know, I mean, autoimmune conditions seem to be exploding right now. And I think they're about four times more prevalent women. And that could be for a variety of different reasons. But a lot of these makeups, hairsprays, shampoos, you know, different body lotions, you know, a lot of them have endocrine disrupting, hormone disrupting, and foreign ingredients to our body. So I try to keep it as simple as possible. For like a lotion, I use raw, unrefined shay butter. It's not expensive.

You know, there's some products on the market, super expensive, affordable, and very simple. I try to, again, go to the idea that you want to have the least amount of ingredients in your products and just keep them as simple as possible. And we're living in a time where it's pretty easy to swap out. Like I have makeup on right now. It's all organic makeup. There's some really good brands. So you don't necessarily have to sacrifice.

We're not saying, you know, never wear makeup again or never use a fragrance. There are good alternative options out there. But you can really reduce your toxic burden. And I test my toxic burden frequently. And all the things I'm doing, it's working, you know, because I see I have no toxins. Are you familiar with this test? I've seen a few different toxins test. I've seen like doctors data has some tests.

Which one are you using? This one's by vibrant wellness and they combine four different tests. We're looking at heavy metals, environmental mycotoxins, molds. So it's pretty comprehensive. And I have no toxins in the high range. So that's showing what I'm doing is working. I'm taking extra steps. And then, you know, even throughout the home, this is getting like, you know, a lot.

And I don't want people to be overwhelmed. So please stop me if I'm going doing too much. I think people are smart. I think people want to know the full range of things. We're all adults. And the only people that I see that get frustrated are people who just tune in or maybe something gets clipped on social media and they leave a quick comment because they didn't really have a grounded way of starting the day and they're upset because whatever it might be.

So I think people are smart. They're adults. They can understand that we're talking about a range of options. You're not telling me able to work on all this at once. And you've got to start with where you are. Most of us do not have a ton of. extra time for more than a few basics every day. It can be hard enough to try to cook and eat healthy three times a day, work out, get your protein in, and get all of our work done at the same time.

By the time 8 p.m. rolls around, I just want to relax and wind down for bed, maybe get some stretching in. But what if I told you that there was an easy, relaxing way to support your health while you're watching your favorite TV show, reading, meditating, or just chilling out at the end of the day? It's called the Bond Charge Red Light Face Mask, and it effortlessly fits into your day. Just 10 to 20 minutes a day supports your skin health in so many ways. Here's the great thing about the bond charge mask. It combines red light and near infrared light in one sleek lightweight device to stimulate collagen, elastin, and overall skin repair naturally.

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So that people smoking cigarettes wouldn't. I think they still do. I think that they might sometimes. Okay. Like anything you buy, we bought this like restoration hardware, like fancy couch. And the person there was like into like my podcast. and everything. And they were like, hey, just so you know, like, we're mandated by the state of California. Oh. We have to. We have to put flame retardants on it. Wow. I thought it was done,

but apparently not. We're looking to that. All fact check it afterwards. But that's what I was told is that we were mandated because so many people, again, this comes from a good place. So many people were falling asleep on their couch with cigarettes and the whole place. You know, these couches would just ignite. Yeah. And obviously that comes from a good place, but these flame retardants are incredibly toxic. Exactly. So, you know, we went out of our way to find, you know, a couch with no, no stain repellence,

no flame retardants, nothing of that nature. It's a very, like, obscure area at this point for, like, organic couches, but you can find them. Or lower toxin. Even some of the brands are doing, like, more of a lower toxin option. Same thing, you know, with carpet. you really just want to. So we have all hardwood floors with no varnish or stain because, again, we want to just try to reduce those VOCs.

And then in the bedroom, too, thinking about EMF pollution, electromagnetic fields, I actually sleep in a Faraday cage. So my bet is it's an organic, 100% got certified organic mattress. Then I have a grounding pad, which is, you know, grounded to the wall. And then I get the benefits of grounding while sleeping. And then I have 100% organic sheets. and then I sleep in this cage that, well, it's a sheet, but it's also like a ferity cage, so it's threaded with silver. And I have an RF and EMF reader.

And when I take it into the cage, it does go to zero, which I'm so excited about. So, you know, there's been so much controversy on EMFs, right? Like, oh, that's not ionizing. It's not harmful. Well, that might be in small doses, but extended use, even cell phones on the packaging, tell you not to put them up to your head. So these things all add up. And, you know, everybody has a different size cup for their toxic burden, the amount that they can withstand before it tips over and they develop a chronic disease.

But we just want to be as conscious as possible in terms of what our surroundings and our home has in it and what that's doing to our biology. A couple of things I'll add to that is that, you know, even just opening your windows, even in a place like Los Angeles, there's a few different. devices that I've used to measure air quality. One of them is called Aware. And we had one in our old studio. We have one in our new studio there. I have one of my bedroom. It's a little monitor. I think it's like a hundred and twelve bucks. And it'll tell you like you'll give you a score from zero to 100 and it ranks all these different areas like VOS, off gassing, carbon dioxide, just from like if there's not enough circulation, too much carbon dioxide in the air in a room that's ventilated, it makes it harder to focus.

You can't do so they rank all these different areas. They look at even temperature and you can set it to like, hey, help me sleep, help me focus, help me do this. And one of the things you see uniquely across the board, even in a town like L.A., which is not known for necessarily having like the best air quality, although they've made a lot of improvements, just even opening your air, even if you don't have filters and like you, I have filters in every single room in the house. It makes such a huge difference.

And we know from the EPA, I think this was a study that was done in the 80s, we'll link to it in the show notes. Indoor air can be 300 times more toxic than outdoor air because of all the stuff that we have. So even regardless of where you are, even if you don't have a filter, opening your air, you know, getting new air in makes a huge difference. I don't know if you've seen this, but I've heard this quote a lot. I'm still having a hard time fathoming it. But I guess it's true. Have you seen this quote that the average person is eating a credit card worth of plastic in a week?

I guess if you're eating a lot of processed foods and it's sort of, I think part of that also comes from a lot of the, it's not just like packaging exposure or microwaving in plastic and some nanoparticulates coming off. I think it's also the more processed food you eat, the more that those factories are literally using sort of micro and nanoplastics to like, coat the equipment or to do this or to do that. Still, it blows my mind that it could be a credit card a week, but I guess that that's the statement. I even saw Rhonda Patrick repeat it in her microplastics episode this past week, which is crazy because you and I are obviously not getting

that much plastic. So for every person that's getting, for us that's not getting it, there's probably someone out there that's getting two credit cards worth of plastic in a week. But one thing that was really nice from all the different people that I've talked to about this topic, including Dr. Yvonne Burkart, a toxicologist, who's come by a podcast before, used to work in the industry to develop crazy fragrances and other stuff, got completely sick and then got on this like campaign to like help especially women completely clean up their lives. I love that. I think our episode on YouTube has like over a million views.

You got to meet her in interview. She's amazing. The way she explains and her advocacy is like she's so good at things. But when I've learned from her and other people that are in the space is that, The biggest microplastic exposure is most likely going to be coming over your lifetime from water. So at least if you filter your water, a lot of other bonuses you can do. If you have that done, maybe you're thinking about clothing, which is something that you talked about earlier. Maybe you're thinking about other aspects.

Maybe you're bringing your own coffee mug that's there. But if you're starting from scratch and you're worried about microplastics and how they're building up in the heart and in the brain, just filter your water. At least that's one big step in the direction of significantly reducing your toxins in the space. But I still can't go over to the fact that we're having a credit card worth of plastics every week. It's totally insane. That's nuts. It's so reckless and so frustrating that these big companies, like, they're just excited. Oh, they're excited that they're doing Teflon pans.

It's like, but you should also have a responsibility to make sure you're not poisoning people because it's not fair. It really isn't. That's like a whole other topic, but it's just, it's so sad because I do know that it's expensive to live a really healthy lifestyle, unfortunately. But doing, you know, what you can when you can, I think, you know, is a really good step in the right direction. I know the conversation about environmental toxins can be overwhelming. Even I get overwhelmed by it sometimes, which is why I think the message of doing what you

can, where you can, is so important. Yes, our toxic burden adds up over time. but so do the benefits of reducing it. And if you've enjoyed this conversation or want to hear my full episode with Kayla, who's fantastic, you can find the link to that in the episode show notes below. We talk about morning routines,

finding the approach to longevity that works for you, and so much more. And as always, if there's someone in your life who would benefit from today's episode, please consider sharing it with them. Until next time, thanks for tuning in.