Pursuit of Wellness - Why You Need To Detox Your Home: Laundry Detergent, Wet Wipes, Bug Repellant & Candles w/ Allison Evans

Episode Date: June 24, 2024

Ep. # 110 Allison Evans, the founder of Branch Basics, joins me for another episode of the Pursuit of Wellness. She shares the story of Branch Basics, from those who inspired it, why its mission is important, and how to get started using their products. We talk about exploring a more holistic approach to health and wellness, especially concerning topics such as cleaning products, gut health, pregnancy and birth control. She shares valuable insights into managing a toxin-free household during pregnancy and fostering overall wellness through dietary habits and detox rituals like coffee enemas and infrared sauna sessions. We also talk about what steps you can take to detoxify your environment from low-level exposure to toxins and the emotional ties we may have to endocrine disruptors. Tune in to learn actionable tips for embarking on your own non-toxic journey toward optimal health and well-being. Leave Me a Message - click here! For Mari’s Instagram click here! For Pursuit of Wellness Podcast’s Instagram click here! For Mari’s Newsletter click here! For POW Brand Promo Codes click here! For 20% off use code POW20 click here! Sponsored By:  Listeners of my show can save $250 by going to mylifeforce.com/pow. Give Lifeforce a try and find out what the healthiest version of yourself is capable of. Get warm weather ready with Quince! Go to Quince.com/pow for free shipping on your order and 365-day return. And one more reminder that Caraway Month is on! Caraway’s dropping limited-time offers every Monday in June. Blink and you just might miss them. Plus, if you visit Carawayhome.com/pursuit you can take an additional 10% off your next purchase.This deal is exclusive for our listeners, so visit Carawayhome.com/pursuit or use code PURSUIT at checkout. Caraway. Non-Toxic cookware made modern. Show Links: Branch Basics - POW20 for 20% off Honest Organic Dry Wipes Dirty Genes Topics Discussed 04:01 - Allison’s health journey 10:09 - Skin care and accutane 12:15 - Explore your healing journey before getting pregnant 16:34 - Allison’s cousin’s journey and “The Douglas Factor” 21:55 - Emotional attachment to endocrine disruptors  25:24 - Tips for dealing with toxins in your home while pregnant 31:11 - All wet wipes have preservatives 32:53 - The ingredients in Branch Basics 34:10 - How Branch Basics works 37:52 - Allison’s health tips 41:31 - Coffee enemas 43:39 - Eating well supports a fuller lifestyle 45:32 - Living in Texas and managing a household 46:44 - Kids and infrared sauna 50:02 - Tips for starting your non toxic journey

Guys, after you get the pesticides out, go to your laundry room, because that's what you are breathing in on your pillowcase. When you're naked in the shower, you have your washcloth. I mean, you quite literally never escape what you choose to launder your clothes in. This is the Pursuit of Wellness podcast, and I'm your host, Mari Llewellyn.

What is up, guys? Welcome back to the Pursuit of Wellness podcast. Today, you are about to listen to one of my favorite conversations I've ever, ever had on this show, and that is with Alison Evans, who co-founded Branch Basics. You guys have heard me talk about that brand so many times. It is a non-toxic cleaning product. They have laundry detergent, hand soap, cleaning products, and it's so safe that you can use it on your pets, on your babies, literally everywhere. My entire house is Branch Basics coded. I am obsessed with Branch Basics. But more importantly, Alison just has the

most incredible story about health and toxins. She has been through so much. She was diagnosed with severe PCOS and told she would never get pregnant naturally. And she went through a whole journey with the help of her aunt Marilee, who kind of built an environment that was free of all toxic chemicals. And there's an amazing story behind this. I want to save it for you guys. We really talk about the toxic chemicals in today's cleaning products and the true impact they're having on our bodies, whether or not we realize it. I'm someone who feels very sensitive around fragrances, fake smells, cleaning products. I get an immediate migraine. For many of us, we don't feel it until much later in life, until it's much more severe. So we talk about that. Here are some things we're going to discuss. The power of removing products from your home, the emotional attachment people have to cleaning products, endocrine disruptors,

tips for dealing with toxins in your home while you're pregnant or trying to get pregnant, wet wipes, the danger behind wet wipes. This one blew my mind. The ingredients and branch basics and how it works. We talk about coffee enemas. We talk about eating well. We talk about kids, infrared saunas, and tips for starting your non-toxic journey. This episode is going to blow your mind, guys. I think Alison is absolutely incredible. We go over so many different topics today. You're going to learn so much. So sit back, relax, and enjoy. Also, guys, if you are listening and you are a fan of the pursuit of wellness or of my brand in general, we are hiring over here at Team Mari and Fi. If you would like to come work for us,

we're hiring for social media management, overall help with the social presence of the pursuit of wellness. And I'm also hiring a personal brand manager. I've never had this in my life, but I'm kind of at the point in my career where I need help. So if anyone is interested in managing me, my personal brand, or helping us with our social media, please reach out to Fi at bloomnu.com. That's F-I at bloom, B-L-O-O-M-N-U.com. Alison, welcome to the show. Thanks for having me. Everyone listening has heard me talk about Branch Basics. I'm pretty sure in every single episode I am truly obsessed. I'm living in a Branch Basics household. Branch. I just can't. See'm living in a Branche Basics household. Branche. I just can't.

See, I feel that way about your Texas accent. Don't you have a Texas twang? Texas twang is not lovely. I'm complimenting you. Thank you. Thank you. I mean, my accent goes very in and out because I've lived in America for so long. But since moving to Austin, I am obsessed with the Southern accent. I love it. Oh, that's so funny. I think it's so charming. The grass is always greener, right? 100%. So I'm so excited to sit down with you today because I am such a big fan of the brand. I also think our stories have a lot of overlap. So there's tons to discuss. And I really want to

start with the story. Like, where did this all start from? Where did your health journey begin? Yeah. I guess with you, I can go just right into the girly parts. So I had my period in sixth grade and then it never came back. So I think our stories, yeah, they overlap a ton because I had, I may actually have beaten you on how badly my PCOS was because according to my fertility doctor in high school in Houston, Texas, who sees thousands of women, comes running in with this sonogram and he's like, I don't even see your ovaries. They are covered in cysts. And now I realize that you can have PCOS and not even have cysts. But this was 2003. It was more like a one in four, sorry, not one in four, one in 25, maybe it was. Yeah, I think 20. Anyway, women got PCOS. Now it's like one in whatever, 10, 10, 15. Anyway, so I had no idea what it was. And they were explaining,

they're like, it's kind of odd because you're not fat and you're not 40 and you're not this and you're not that, but you got cysts everywhere. There's no way you'll be able to get pregnant naturally. Here's birth control. It's the only answer. And I'll never forget asking, even at 17 years old, I remember saying, what can I do about this? What can I change? What have I done that led to this? And they said, absolutely nothing, nothing you can do. It's just kind of like the deck that you, you know, were given and birth control is the only answer. Thank God for just time and research and all the things. Cause that nurse practitioner has since called me, apologize. We've had lunch. It's been so cool. Now we have a relationship and she's like, we have this whole part of our clinic that is now about lifestyle and this and that.

But so that was the diagnosis I had. I slapped it on me because back then it was mine and I owned it. And I was the girl who would not be able to get pregnant. And thank God I was 17 and it didn't really hit me that hard. But gosh, had you told me that at 27, right? But that's just who I was. I went off to college and I started coming down with this mysterious pain. I was actually down the street at UT and living with Kelly, who is my best friend

and co-founder. So she was my roommate through college and watched me go through this. And it went from, I'm kind of sore. I need a masseuse to, okay, I'm acupuncture and rolfing. Again, this is 2004. Cupping, coming back to the Pi Phi house with like bloody, you know, cups everywhere. My friends are like, what is happening? Allison needs intervention. And it just kept getting worse. I was on hydrocodone twice a day. I was on, you know, muscle relaxers, antidepressants. My body was just like crumbling. And there was no agreed upon diagnosis. I remember seeing a doctor that said it looks like early stage MS, but I can't prove that. I'm like, well, that's not something to throw around. So that's when my aunt merrily comes into the picture.

My alternative hippie out in the hill country, no cell phone, making her own food, like so weird, right? Like everything I want to be now. And she explains about toxins. And so that's when my whole life changed. This was 2009. I ended up going to live with her for the summer in a home completely free of synthetic fragrances, free of pesticides. I ate real food. I put my feet on the bare ground. I didn't use my cell phone. I got in an infrared sauna. We drank juice that wasn't orange juice. I mean, the whole, everything was different than how I had grown up. You know, I thought Splenda was real food. Like I thought, right. By the end of that summer, I was off all drugs. I had no pain and I wasn't even going after the PCOS. That's what's so interesting is the body is one living organism. So as much as

I thought that this shoulder pain had nothing to do with the cysts on my ovaries, it actually had everything to do with it, you know? So when I cleaned up, and I'm so thankful that God actually put me down the path of having this pain and it forced me to wake up because had I not, I honestly think there is no way I could have gotten pregnant in the timeframe that I did because basically I started doing quote unquote prevention for infertility at what, 21. And I didn't even try to get pregnant until 30. So all that to say, I ended up going back to that same fertility doctor about 10 or 11 months after living this clean lifestyle and the cysts are gone. He can't believe it. He can't explain it. He was like, you haven't upped your birth control in a few years. I'm like, well,

it's because my hippie aunt told me I couldn't be on synthetic hormones. I threw those out. He's just looking at me like, what? But my period ended up coming back for the first time since sixth grade. I woke up one morning. This was two years into living healthy. And I just knew IVF. I knew that wasn't for me, even though I wasn't bleeding. I wasn't, I had no signs of that being an awakened part of my body because most people listening may or may not know this, but your reproductive system is not needed. It's really just there to give life to another human, you know? And so it's going to be one of the first things that shuts down. It's going to be one of the last things that wakes up on our healing journey.

And so for me, it was so, it was more like, I'm just curious at how long it's going to take for my body to be healthy enough to say, hey, let's get pregnant, you know? And if that was my mid thirties, that was my forties. Like I pretty much told myself, my husband and I said, we're going to wait for this. And so I woke up one day, I think I was 27, and there was blood in the toilet. It was better than our wedding day. We were screaming, you know. And what's so cool is there was no symptom, no symptom, no PMS, nothing. We think all these things that are so common are normal, and they're just not. And so I have been so blessed to be able to get pregnant easily. But I will say, I think I just took my journey 10 years earlier. You know, it wasn't necessarily easy. It just so happened

that there was another health issue that came in and forced me to wake up at an earlier age. I always say with my acne, I'm almost so grateful because it has forced me to dig so deep into my health. Your acne is like my pain, honestly. With my acne, I just got on Accutane and I've had to pay for that big time. Tell us about the Accutane journey. Oh, I mean, you know, if you have a couple zits and you're in high school

and you think of yourself as this pretty girl that can't have any imperfection on their face, you just go and you get a drug. Like you never, and then what's crazy is that you're on birth control, but you should start thinking, okay, why crazy is that you're on birth control, which you should start thinking, okay, why do I have to be on birth control? Because it's that bad if I were to get pregnant, even though I was not sexually active, not even close to it. And you're hearing all these

stories about depression and even suicide and all these crazy things back then, even this was in the early two thousands, you were hearing these connections to Accutane, but I feel like anyone that had a zit was on Accutane. Um, so I went, I did two rounds of it and, um, later on. So I guess four or five years later, when I started this health journey, I later found out that my liver had really paid for this, my liver and my kidneys and through functional labs, it was just so clear. In fact, one of my practitioners looked at my labs, had never known anything about my Accutane journey and said, let me guess, you were on Accutane. He says, I see this all the time. And he says, it can take a couple of years to recover from this, gut healing, et cetera, et cetera. So, you know, if only I had known about raw beef liver in high school. I mean, yes,

super high in vitamin A, right? A hundred percent. Yeah. And then you were mentioning to me epigenetics. We can actually see that Accutane is causing problems in our children later on. Yes, they're finding that there's first generation, at least, ramifications of Accutane in some studies.

So, you know, it's, listen, I mean, you can't take a drug that strong and think that it's just hitting that one isolated issue in your body. You know, you're burning down the barn to kill the rats. And unfortunately, our body does keep a score. And especially, I was saying this before the podcast started, but I really believe that our firstborn children, it's a major detoxification for a woman to have a baby. And you're letting a lot of that go. But a lot of times our children are paying for that and kind of getting the brunt of that. So it's almost worth, you know, exploring the healing journey before you think that you want

to get pregnant. And I speak a lot about my fertility on the show. And I'm so grateful I came off birth control two years ago, more than two years ago now, and spironolactone, because these are all things that people are taking regularly, but not realizing it may take you a year to get your period back. Yes. So it's worth starting sooner than you think you have to. And it's not just about, that's the tip of the iceberg is getting your period back. But then what's happening internally? Yeah. You know, those synthetic estrogens that are latching to the tip of the iceberg is getting your period back. But then what's happening internally? Yeah. You know, those synthetic estrogens that are latching to the hormone receptor sites and throwing off the most intricate and delicate system of our body. It takes the same proportion as a drop of water and Olympic size pool is enough for a chemical to make our reproductive

endocrine system react because it's just so sensitive. So actually at a smaller dose, the endocrine system is more affected. Wow. Yeah. As you guys know by now, lab testing is such a big part of finding out what's really going on with you. It's been a huge part of my personal healing journey, but I get asked all the time, where can I get affordable lab testing done? And that's where I recommend Lifeforce. Lifeforce is leading the way for personalized proactive health. They give you access to regular blood testing,

measuring more than 40 biomarkers every three months, coupled with functional medicine support from their team of clinicians. It is so important to test regularly so you can understand how things like your hormones, critical nutrient levels, and metabolic health are impacting how you are feeling today and identify any risks you should be aware of in the future. What sets Lifeforce apart from other testing companies is their clinical interpretation. If you've ever received a lab test, you know, it's basically like reading a different language. I felt super confident when I got mine back and I was like, oh, I can for sure read this. Absolutely not. You need a professional to help you. You won't want to be on your own. And one

of their functional medicine clinicians will help you interpret the results and walk you through your personal blueprint to improve your health. If you ever thought about getting a functional medicine doctor or a concierge doctor to go deeper into your health, you know how expensive this can be. A Lifeforce membership is only $129 a month with no commitments. You are never locked in. Listeners of my show can save $250 by going to mylifeforce.com slash pow. That's mylifeforce.com slash pow. Give Lifeforce a try and find out what the healthiest version of you is capable of. The weather is getting warmer and we are all headed on European summer trips or wherever we're going. And I'm looking to update my wardrobe for the long haul

without spending a fortune. I'm really into the capsule collection vibe, things that can be worn in and out of different seasons, their classics, things I can wear with everything. And luckily I found quints. Now I have a lineup of timeless pieces that keep me looking effortlessly chic year after year. For example, they have premium European linen dresses, blouses, and shorts from $30, washable silk tops, timeless 14 karat gold jewelry, and so much more. A piece I got recently that I'm obsessed with. It's so flattering. It's the 100% organic cotton gauze smocked sleeveless maxi dress. It's so flattering. It's tight on the waist, but looks so, so good.

And it's like so comfortable. I think a maxi dress is the perfect thing for a trip because you don't have to worry about like things going up your crotch or whatnot. And it's a maxi dress is the perfect thing for a trip because you don't have to worry about like things going up your crotch or whatnot and it's a maxi so your butt isn't going to show we love that the best part is all quince items are priced 50 to 80 off less than similar brands by partnering directly with top factories quince cuts out the cost of the middleman and passes the savings on to us and quince only works with factories that use safe, ethical, and responsible manufacturing practices and premium fabrics. I love that. Get warm weather ready with Quince. Go to quince.com slash pow for free shipping on your order and get 365 day returns. That's q-u-i-n-c-e dot com slash pow to get free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince.com slash pow. So back to Marley. Yeah. She sounds incredible, your aunt Marley. I want to talk about her son's

story. So wait, who is that to you? That's your first cousin. Tell us about him because he has a pretty miraculous healing story. And I think it's really good context for how this all kind of came to be. Yes. I love that you asked that. Douglas is the reason our company exists. We call it the Douglas factor internally. But essentially, he was a healthy, intelligent, obedient, just wonderful little boy, um, super athletic. And, um, at 10 years old here in Texas, in the Hill country, he was exposed to chlorine, which is a pesticide that's now banned, um, because of the scientifically backed damage

that it can do irreparable in many cases to the brain. Pesticides naturally seek lipid dense areas in our brain is 60% fat. So you have an exposure to something like Chlordane, which is a basically one of the forever pesticides. The half-life is super long. So if you sprayed your house with Chlordane in the fifties or sixties, you can still test positive even today. So unfortunately, chloridine is still very present. But anyway, he was exposed and merely picked him up from school. Then he had lymph nodes swollen up like BBs.

His lips were blue as if he had been eating like a blueberry lollipop. He couldn't spell a three-letter word, walk a straight line. It was an immediate chemical damaging reaction. So he was taken to Dr. Ray, who is one of the top environmental health doctors, treats post-war veterans who've been chemically injured. And Marilee and my uncle were told that he would never recover. He was a bubble child. He needed to be given 17 shots a day, kept comfortable. This was back in the 80s, early 90s, when they thought that the brain could not regenerate. So this is why my

aunt is a badass because she basically, she was told she needed a liver transplant when she was in her 20s. She was told that her son would never recover. And she has always thought, you know what, I am not going to be confined to what we know today because what if tomorrow, what if next year, what if in 10 years we find out that there is the possibility of recovery? And she was, this was before the internet. And this woman was like, thanks, but no thanks. Took her, very respectfully, took her son home and they actually had to live outside. They couldn't go inside. He was reacting to every single thing inside the home. And Dr. Ray had said, create a safe room. And she and

her husband thought, well, he's our only child. Our whole life is this, and we're going to create a safe home. So she's laying outside one day on a cot with her son sleeping next to her. And she thinks, what is it about my house that's different than the outside? Why can he not go inside my home for more than seven or 10 minutes without reacting? And she thought about this box. And this is really the crux of what we are as a company, all about removal and removing toxins. And it was her favorite shampoos and lotions and quote unquote non-toxic, you know, cleaners.

This was back when Whole Foods was brand new. And she thought, what if I just remove that box? What if that one box? And she's like, this is kind of crazy. So she did it. She didn't tell her husband, didn't tell Douglas. Comes inside the next day, and he is inside the house for about, you know, over 10 minutes. And he says, mom, I'm not reacting.

What did you do? She's like, no way, no way. So the following day, she goes to the grocery store. She's going down the cleaning product aisle, and it just hits her. She's like, this, I can smell these bottles. They're sealed. They're shut. And I am a normal human adult with strong detoxification system. My son is a canary in

a coal mine. He is reacting at a parts per billion trillion level. So what we think of as clean is making him go completely bonkers inside. So that was really when she discovered the power of removal. It's not just about what we're putting in on our bodies. It's about what we're putting around our bodies because it's all going into our bloodstream. And we're creating this environment in which we are requiring our children and people who are immunocompromised to have to detoxify these things. And his recovery basically sped up after that. He was the first homeschooled child to get into the Naval Academy. And he's fully recovered in his 40s with three kids. And that's why our entire company is about removal and toss the toxins. Incredible. You know, since becoming aware of all of this, and I think listening to you on a podcast

was kind of my first awakening, I am so sensitive to fragrance. Like I will get an immediate headache. So I, you know, definitely not on that level, but I get sensitive around that type of thing. And now every time I'm in a car with an air freshener or I'm in someone's house with a giant candle, like those giant Suntile candles. I know. It kills me. Even the re-diffusers, you know, in a lot of the healthy homes that I'm thinking, oh no, this is so indiscriminate and disrupting for your family. And they all apologize to me that I'm thinking, oh, no, this is so indiscriminate and disrupting for your family. And they all apologize to me. I'm like, no, I feel bad for you.

Yes. You live with us. But it's still a very accepted part of society. Like when I go into the office, every girl has a scented candle on her desk. And I'm just in my head dying inside because I've listened to you and I've kind of educated around myself around this topic. And I think that's why a company like Branch Basics is so incredible. And I think just from observing, people are really starting to catch on and understand. However, I feel like

the older generation is like attached to their cleaning products. Like they're upset. It's an emotional attachment for sure. Yeah. The smell of it, the feel of it. Like, what is that? I mean, it's an addiction, honestly. I mean, they are not only endocrine disruptors, but they affect our neurological system. And the thing about these chemicals, which is basically a cocktail of any amount of about 3,100 different chemicals that can fall under the single word fragrance. And it's said around, I think about 75% have been tested positive for endocrine disruption. And those are just the ones that have been tested. But they adhere to our clothing, you know, especially phthalates. That's actually what a phthalate is, is it's put in to not only soften plastics,

but to really, uh, prolong the kind of sticking nature of that fragrance. And so it gets into the fibers, not only of our clothes, but of our sheetrock of our furniture. I mean, what you use in your laundry room has become part of your home, has become part of your bloodstream. So we always say, guys, after you get the pesticides out, go to your laundry room because that's what you are breathing in on your pillowcase. When you're naked in the shower, you have your washcloth. I mean, you quite literally never escape what you choose to launder your clothes in. For me, with my acne journey, that was one of the major things that took me to Branch Basics because I was like, I'm laying on my pillow. I'm using the towels.

I don't want to be using anything with fragrance. I really want to clear out my whole life. And that's one of my number one recommendations to anyone listening. If you have acne or eczema or hormone problems or asthma, whatever it may be, I feel like the first place to look is in your house. Like what are you using? What are you eating off the counter? You know what I mean? Even weight gain, like people can exercise and eat and do the absolute best they can and still have this unwanted weight that they can't get rid of. And the truth of the matter is that these fragrances actually affect our metabolism, our mitochondria. And what's amazing about the way that God made our bodies is that we actually sequester these chemicals into fat cells to protect our organs. So when we've run out of fat cells quite literally for them to be stored in our fat cells

will either expand or they'll replicate in order to continue to keep these toxins so when people will do our toss the toxins course or go through you know we're working with merrily and they get rid of all these fragrances maybe they're doing it because they have a child who's reacting or a husband that wants you know some lung help and all of a sudden they call merrily and they're like i've lost 14 pounds. I can't believe it. She's like, believe it. I mean, because your body is now dumping all of these toxins

in order to reach homeostasis. Our bodies are constantly trying to achieve that balance. So when we're removing these things from our home, it is so much easier for us to lose that weight. Not for everybody, but it can happen. And it has happened. It's almost like going back to ancestral living a little bit. I mean, we weren't designed to live in chemical-ridden homes. We're supposed to be outdoors or in environments with no fragrance.

I'm curious. And for context, guys, Allison is pregnant right now. I don't know if we said that, which congratulations. I'm like absorbing all the vibes. What would you say to people listening who are pregnant or trying to get pregnant who are maybe still using chemical cleaners in their homes? I would say if you are one of those really blessed people who is listening right now and you are not yet pregnant, you are in such an incredible position because that preconception stage for not just you, but for your partner, it takes two to tango, is so important. It's one of the best investments that you can make in your baby's future health and their future fertility and their ability to lower the risk of chronic illness and lower the risk of behavioral disorders is to clean your home out now and make those changes now. And if you are pregnant, they're

showing many, many studies that if you are exposed in your first, especially in your first and your third trimesters to certain chemicals, they cross the blood brain barrier. A lot of these toxic chemicals that are brought inside the home and considered safe go straight through the blood-brain barrier and can affect your baby. Many, many years later, these things can show up. And that's one of the things that makes it so hard to prove, right? I mean, there are studies, mounting studies that are happening. But when you have such a delayed effect, we think, oh, that doesn't bother me. I've used these things my whole life. Oh, I got pregnant really easily. I'm fine. I don't have a headache. Well, be grateful if you're the person that does have the immediate reaction, because most of us don't. And we don't wake up with autoimmune. We don't wake up with cancer.

That didn't happen yesterday. It's not contagious, right? It is something that typically comes from a low level exposure day and over a month, over a year, and that can directly affect the baby. So if you've already had a baby and you think, oh my gosh, I wish I had known this. Guys, so did my mom because she's always like, if only I had known, she was like, you know, selling perfume and I can't, soy formula, all the things that she, you know, didn't know back then. There's so much that the body can do even now, if your kids are in your house and they're grown or just, if it's just you and your husband or you and your boyfriend, whatever it is, getting those toxins out is the best thing you can do for your liver.

It is one of the easiest ways to create space for your body to heal from even old injuries and chronic illness. And it's, it's not an either or. Go do the medical Western route. Go take the chemo. If that's what you're called to do, or the fertility treatments. So this is something that can just support all the efforts that you are making. And the body has an incredible ability to heal. I mean, they say that there's actually a study that shows eating organic food. So basically removing glyphosate from your food because organic is not bougie. It's just without the glyphosate,

right? There we go. For three to five days only, that small window can reduce the circulating pesticides in your blood 80 to 90%. Now think about that. I mean, so let's say I've been eating conventional food my whole pregnancy. I'm now so let's say I've been eating conventional food my whole pregnancy. I'm now five months pregnant and I decide for the next four days to just eat all organic. I mean, what a blessing it is for the baby and all the things that are happening during this crucial time. You guys know I am definitely in my cooking era I've been baking I'm cooking dinner every night and I absolutely love using my caraway cookware it's my absolute favorite non-toxic cookware and something exciting is arriving it is caraway month which is four weeks filled with fun deals

and surprises that will keep you on the edge of your kitchen stall all June long they are dropping hot new deals every Monday in June so keep your eyes peeled and your cabinets ready. I have seen such a big difference in comparison to my old cookware to the Caraways I use now. It's such high quality and I feel like it's really easy to cook and clean, but I know I'm not getting the toxic materials in my food. Caraways internet famous kitchenware is a staple for any home and comes in a variety of modern shades to fit any design aesthetic. I love, love, love the sage green. It looks so freaking good in the kitchen. And I know you guys will love it too. Carraway products are made without any toxic materials, no PFAs, no PTFEs, no PFOAs or any other hard to pronounce chemicals. And one

more reminder that Carraway month is on. Carraway is dropping limited time offers every Monday in June. Blink and you might just miss them. Plus, if you visit carrawayhome.com slash pursuit, you can take an additional 10% off your next purchase. This deal is exclusive for our listeners. So visit carrawayhome.com slash pursuit or use code pursuit at checkout. Carraway non-toxic cookware made modern. So, so true. And I've heard you say with Branch Basics, you can even use the formula on like children's skin. Oh, yes.

I just literally, I had to laugh the other day because my nanny, we usually have a little compartment in the house, like actually at our bar where we have like the diapers and we do use dry wipes because I don't love any of the wet wipes on the market because they all have a preservative in them. And then we have like a little spray bottle of water, but we had run out of the water. And so she takes my two-year-old who's yes, is very much still in diapers, sets her on the kitchen floor, grabs the all-purpose bottle that we use to do all of our dishes and just starts spraying

her private area and wipes it. And I looked at her and I just thought, I love you. You get it. Because it took a while. Like the first few months she would show up in my house and it was just so many fragrances and she's putting her nose up at Brunch Basics and now she's spraying my baby's private parts. With Brunch Basics. With Brunch Basics. But that's incredible. And wait, okay, you said something important that I think the moms listening are going to want to hear. Wet wipes have preservatives. So you're using a dry wipe that you spray the Branch Basics all purpose on and you can use that on skin. Exactly. And so y'all, I've done this for three kids. People will say, oh my gosh, it's just one extra step. But I'm telling you, I'm in this industry and it's like,

when you know better, you do better. There is no way that you can take a cleaning product and apply it to a substrate, like a cloth, which is what a wet wipe is, and not add a preservative that is at a certain amount, which is a pretty high amount, to be honest, because if you don't, you'll get mold, right? And so there's a reason that you don't get mold. So if you were to spray Ranch Basics on a dry wipe and leave it there, within two to three days, there's going to be mold, okay? So you have to add benzalconium chloride. You have to add methyl isothiolosanone. There are all these pesticide preservatives. And like I said, even in a very small amount, is going to epigenetics shows

that they could actually turn on and off genetic expression. And think about the amount of times you're using a wipe. If it was just a once in a while thing, I'd be like, okay, whatever. But this is on a very tender, absorbable area of your child going pretty much straight into the bloodstream, super thin skin, multiple times a day. So I use Honest Company organic dry wipes, and I literally just spray it with water or a little bit of all-purpose,

and my kids have never had a diaper rash or anything like that. It's insane to me that those ingredients are in kids' products. I know. Well, and the non-toxic ones. And it makes sense, though. Like, why would a wipe remain moist and perfect and mold-free? It has to have that preservative. Tell us what's in Branch Basics. Like, how does it work?

What's the magic? Because I know there's not a ton of stuff in there, but what is in there? Yeah. I love that you're asking this. No one really asked this. And I'm not a chemist. I did not formulate our product, but who did actually formulate our product were the thousands of clients that Marilee has worked with for 35 years. They were the ones that were really our testing group. And so we worked with many, many people over, we did, let's

see, over a hundred iterations, about 18 months it took to come out with our concentrate. And essentially it is a natural surfactant. So we have, um, cocoa glucoside and deco glucoside. All of our ingredients are rated either one or a two on the EWG. Um, but those are just general surfactants. We have sodium phytate, um, which is almost like a binder that binds, um chemicals. And then sodium citrate, which is a natural salt that acts as a water softener. And then we have chamomile, which is our preservative. So yeah, people say, what's one thing you can't live without?

You can take everything else away, but don't you take my concentrate. I use it for everything. So explain how it works because when you order Branch Basics, you kind of get a kit with the concentrate and glass bottles. Can you explain to us how it works? Yeah, sure. So we are direct-to-consumer. I mean, we have a couple places around the country that sell, but we're mainly direct-to-consumer because we love to have that relationship with our customer. And that was always our passion. We are an education

company first, and then we are a product company. We really use our products as a vehicle for building community and educating and empowering people. So yes, when you receive Range Basics, you receive a 32-ounce liquid soap and the empty bottles that go along with it, either glass or plastic. So you have all-purpose you have bathroom, you have streak free, um, a laundry bottle and a hand foamer pump, and they all can be made from that same concentrate. And there's little fill lines on the sides. And so depending on the ratio, um, you're using, you can use it to replace every single cleaning product in your home. Um, and the cool thing is we have about 70,000, maybe, maybe closer

to 60,000 people on subscription. But essentially, these are people who, you know, you'll never buy the bottles again, the empty bottles. You just have the concentrate show up at your door. So when you look at the sticker price, you're thinking, okay, this is kind of expensive. But if you actually break it down, it's like $3 or less per all-purpose bottle. And then it's not single-use plastics, which I'm not like a huge, you know, save the earth, hug the trees. Like in our opinion, human health comes first. And once you prioritize human health, the earth benefits. So in that way, I'm a huge advocate. But the point is, I don't understand how this day and age with the stats that we have and how far advanced we are,

we can still have a cleaning product aisle. It's just basically like the water aisle, but with chemicals in it. How are we using all these single-use plastics still when they are, I mean, they're not really even that much more effective. In fact, I would say that the way that we have introduced cleaning can be just as effective as the toxic counterparts. Guys, I use Brunch Basics. I have hand soap in every bathroom, dishwashing, the tablets. We use it as detergent. Like I use it all over our house and it's so effective. It doesn't smell like anything, which I really appreciate. And it's good. I feel good about using it. I have two dogs. I have a husband who's eating off of everything. The pet thing is huge. The pet thing is huge. They lick and they get everywhere. My dog's

climbing. Cleaning your pets. Fleas, I'm not going to say anything about claims. Fleas hate Branch Basics. We hate Branch Basics. So when we used to have a dog, we would take the dog to Petco with the big foamer. This was back in the OG days. We had like a huge, like 24, 32 ounce, 24 ounce foamer. And we would drop off the foamer bottle already ready to go. And I would pick my dog up. We were living at our in-laws. And so we were required to clean our dog a certain amount of times. I finally had to turn to Petco. And they were like, what is in this stuff? The fleas were just literally just flying off of your lab. Oh, my God. Because they hate soap. I mean, when you think about it, it's an exoskeleton reaction.

It's not a neurological reaction. So soap is what a lot of non-toxic gardeners use to keep pests away because it actually breaks up the exoskeleton. Had no idea that I could wash my dogs with it. No claims being made here. No claims are being made. Thank you, but I will be trying that. That sounds really good. It's great. It's great for their skin, you know, that gets so itchy. And if you really look at what we're putting in those quote unquote natural dog

shampoos, the fragrances and, you know. I know. I feel bad when my dog smells like a papaya because I'm like, this really shouldn't be the case. It's not good for us. It's not good for them. Yeah. It's not cute. Yeah. Papaya. You know what I'm saying? Like my dog shouldn't be smelling like a coconut papaya. Right. You're right. Outside of a clean home and not using chemicals, how do you go about living your healthiest life possible? I know we spoke about enemas. Oh yeah. Can we talk about enemas? Oh yes. We can definitely talk about enemas. Because you've struggled with your skin. You've struggled with PCOS. I know recently you struggled with Lyme and mold. So still have, I was telling Mari before the podcast, you know, they're being pregnant is such a blessing

and we keep getting pregnant. And so it's been about eight years and I nurse my babies usually until the next pregnancy. But it has definitely stifled my ability to release toxins. And, you know, so everything I do is obviously very gentle. I'm not using the infrared sauna, but I still have candida and I still have mold. So when I hear about your story, I'm thinking, oh, wow, you're really cleared out. Your heavy metals and such. I have my heavy metals are very, very, very low. But that candida can be super persistent. Yeah.

That was a tough one. Yeah. But that's not to say that I don't have other gut things now. Right. So I'm dealing with that now. Yeah. And sometimes Western medicine has to come into play. And that's something that I've had to realize.

Even things like SIBO. I mean, sometimes you have to bring out the bigger guns for sure. But just, you know, it's kind of like what I said a little bit earlier. We just have to know that when we do, it's usually not isolated to fixing that one issue. And so if we can support our body through the castor oil packs and the coffee enemas and the grounding and the removal of toxic pesticides and the not being addicted to our phones, which are just making everything so much harder, You know, practitioners these days, it's like the protocols that used to work. Marilee says, gosh, I can't tell you in the past 35 years, it has gotten so much harder for the same supplement and the same protocol and the same

treatment plan to work. And she's like, it's a hundred percent because of the electromagnetic fields. So that's a whole nother subject. But I think for me and just my lifestyle, people look at me and what I eat and what I do, which it's been 15 years now and it's second nature. And, you know, people will say, gosh, how do you eat that way or how do you avoid refined sugars or how are you taking the time for this? And for me, it's not a restriction. These are boundaries of my freedom. I've never felt better. And so people can say, you know, oh, well, I need

more balance or you need more balance. And for me, I'm like, well, guess what's not balanced? Chronic pain and muscle relaxers and painkillers and living at a pharmacy and, you know, being told I would never get pregnant. Like that's not balanced or having a child with chronic illness, you know? So I get, I get a little bit fired up on that topic because yes, I think that when we are feeling our best and we're not fighting a health issue, sure. Like go have that hamburger and fries and this and that. And listen, people, I have struggled with emotional eating. I understand that there's definitely a time and place for restrictive eating, but I'm more just talking about the bigger picture of choosing healthy products. And if the eating thing is a big thing,

maybe put that aside and think about the things that you're cleaning with, that you're washing your hair with. Think about finding a person to dye your hair that doesn't use ammonia and formaldehyde. You can start anywhere. Start at the place that causes the least amount of stress. Take the pesticides, mildewicides, fungicides out of your home. That can't be that stressful. They are the biggest underminer of our health. Open our windows. Take our shoes off. It's not just about bringing dog poop in the house. It's about lowering the pesticide exposure in our home. So filter your water. Get a Filtrete filter from Home Depot and put it on a box fan and filter your home air for 20 bucks. You know, meet yourself where you are. But there are things nowadays that I just do. I love, yeah,

back to the coffee enemas. I love them. I will say I've been doing it for 15 years. I did one this morning. I am five months pregnant. If you're listening, do not start them when you're pregnant. But our body produces glutathione. And so when you do a coffee enema and you are, especially with the coffee and the caffeine, it goes up the hemorrhoidal vein and it basically instigates your natural glutathione production by almost 100%. And so it can upregulate your metabolism. It's amazing for skin. It's amazing for skin.

It's amazing for brain health, gut health. I could just go on and on about, I've gotten so many of my friends addicted. People are leaving voice texts. Okay, now what do I do now? That's going to be me. That's going to be me after the show. Me and Fia are going to do it together.

Sending all buckets. What's the bucket for? Well, you have to put the coffee in a bucket and then you hang it on a hook. And then you have like a small tube. It's nothing scary. Because it has to travel down. Yep.

You got to work with gravity. Get on all fours. Okay. And play your favorite song. Read whatever you're going to do. And I'm telling you, even just like once a week, once every other week, it's one of those things that detox, you know, habits that actually you can see the biggest difference in a short amount of time. I'm one of those that really likes like that quick, you know, like you have a dusty table

and you just see where you're wiping, you know, like I like the satisfaction of vacuuming and that's how I feel about coffee enemas. You know, the castor oil packs are amazing and the sesame oil pulling in your mouth and the oil cleansing. You can do all these amazing grounding, but I see the most bang for my buck with my coffee enemas. And you saw an improvement in your skin. That was honestly one of the biggest things. Wow. Yeah. That was one of the biggest things. Because if you really think about it, I mean, up in glutathione, your master antioxidant, you're upregulating so much of your body. You're helping your liver. And I will say, I think the skin and like that brightening eye and the energy was the biggest plus, obviously gut motility were the biggest pluses of the coffee enema.

I love what you said about eating the way that you do gives you freedom. And I feel that way as well. Like finding whole foods and eating the way I do allows me to live my life to the best of its ability. And I feel like there is some judgment around clean eating. And it's like, are you really enjoying yourself? Like it gets a little tricky. And I feel like when you've had a health issue, like chronic pain, like PCOS, like acne, food can be medicine. It can be so healing. And there's a time and a place. Like, I'm going on a trip for my birthday. I will be having tacos. I will be having margaritas. Part of my boundaries, actually. Boundaries of my freedom. You can do a clean taco.

You can do a clean, mad clean taco. Welcome to Texas, girl. How do you do your tacos? I like to do the 100% organic corn and we'll, you know, steam the corn tortilla. I've just started reintroducing cheese after two years and I'm really enjoying this cheese journey. Oh, I can't wait. But I do raw, organic, you know, I don't do much. But that and then some, you know, great force of nature or primal pastures or, you know, whatever meat. I mean, we get very ancestral with our meat at my home. Liver. Lots of liver.

Maybe not my tacos. Although Force of Nature does a liver ancestral blend that is really wonderful. You wouldn't even know. You can hide it in those tacos. Your kids, yeah, they never know. Yeah. Got to add some cilantro and guac. So you guys recently moved from Houston to the countryside.

No opposite. So we actually, I grew up in Houston. We moved to Salado, which was north, which is north of Austin. Lived there during COVID. And our house actually got taken, the house we're building got taken by a tornado two years ago and so we moved back to houston and that's where we are with our three girls and almost boy how do you guys like to manage the household in terms of not having too much phone time and grounding and keeping everything like you know oh man it is a constant

battle we're actually moving homes next week so our TV time has skyrocketed because we're like, this is the best babysitter while we pack the house. So it's just about giving yourself grace. And there are seasons where I feel like I really have it together as a mom. I have a seven, five and two year old and we got our Yodo players. Yodo is like the, uh, it's like an audio, it's like an audio book for kids. And you collect these cards, you know, and I'm like, I am just like, I am on top of it. We haven't turned our, we have one TV. We haven't turned our TV on in a couple of weeks. This is great. And now we're like an everyday TV trying to keep it under two hours, you know? So I think there's just grace in parenting. I will say we would never treat our lawn. We live in a neighborhood that doesn't have a mosquito truck

and that's very intentional. And I And my kids are barefoot a lot. We have a guy that comes to our house once a week for heavyweight training. And he's like, do your kids even own shoes? I'm like, they do, but they don't wear them. They take them off immediately when they see grass. So they've been well-trained and there's just, there's, you know, I've thrown my kids in the infrared sauna and it has done wonders for their health. So yeah, you told me, okay, what did that do for them? So, um, my firstborn, um, was born, you know, healthy and strong and on time and at home. And then all of a sudden at six months old, we have this huge eczema issue. And I'm like, oh no, no, we do it. All right. My kids don't have eczema. What is this? It was a very humbling experience. And thank God I didn't

go straight to the cortisone creams and the typical route because I ended up doing genetic testing and the poor girl, I mean, double MTHFR from her parents and really weak detoxification system. And she is the one that actually had me read Ben Lynch's book on dirty genes, which really convinced me about the power of epigenetics and how we are not victims of our genetics. My daughter has no eczema. We went through, we did herbals, we did binders. We stuck her in the sauna for 10 minutes, slapped some Curious George on, three years old. And she is, her skin is perfectly clear. And we just didn't, we took a different route. And I'm so thankful because instead of taking the batteries out of the didn't, we took a different route. And I'm so thankful

because instead of taking the batteries out of the fire alarm, we really got to the fire and it took time. It took like two years for her. It was really bad eczema. Um, but now there's not even a sign of it. And, um, it's been really cool to see how epigenetics, which is basically the power of our choice, um, and our lifestyle. It's called the science of hope. It has totally trumped the genetic deck that she was given because I had the CEO actually, or CMO, of this genetic testing company reach out to my health practitioner who then forwarded me the email and said, this child is going to need a lot of support throughout her whole life. This is a really, really weak detoxification. I mean, I was just weeping as I'm reading this email and my child is so strong. She's rarely sick. She, yeah. So it just shows it does, it does help. That's so inspiring to hear. I actually just did my own genetic

testing and I could see that I have a hard time detoxifying. I don't have the M, what is it? MTHFR. I don't, which is shocking. Wait, that's amazing. I know it's shocking, but I do have other markers that indicate that I have a hard time clearing out the cell and there's certain things I don't absorb. So it's really nice to have that information and just know that going forward. Yes. Genetics loads the gun. Choices pull the trigger.

Yeah. But great to know that we can put our kids in the sauna for 15 minutes. Oh my gosh. And kids, they heal so quickly. I remember being so jealous because we moved into a home with mold when my second child was one. And Lyme disease that I'd had my entire life and didn't know about was activated. And I gave her Lyme through my breast milk, which, of course, I felt horrible about.

She was just constantly crying and just vaginal redness. And she was just a mess. So we ended up taking her in, positive for Lyme, pretty high markers. We put her on some herbals. Again, put her in the sauna, 10 minutes, curious George, maybe some Peppa Pig. And within six months, tested negative for Lyme.

And you know, I'm still over here, like testing very positive. Like, gosh, it's just amazing, you know? And we were still living in some mold. And the kids just are so resilient. Wow. It's inspiring for us, though, to see, okay, if my child can do it, I can too. Yes, absolutely.

Just takes us a little bit longer. We have more baggage. For anyone listening who maybe wants to start their non-toxic journey and purchase Branch Basics, what would you recommend as like the starter product? Yeah. Well, I always tell people this, please don't buy Branch Basics thinking that this is your ticket and okay, I'm going to be healthy because this journey is not about actually buying anything. It's about removal. So when I send Bridge Basics out, which I do a lot, I meet someone and I'm like,

give me your address. But I say, please get rid of X, Y, and Z from underneath your countertop. And please get rid of your Glade plugins. And please, I hate to name brands, but please, please get rid of your pesticide guy that's coming, you know? And then bring in the non-toxic, you know? So our starter kit's great. That's where to start. And, you know, just know that it's really about removal. We have a, we have a toss the toxins online course that is essentially taking Marilee's almost 40 years of client consulting and putting it into a course where Marilee Kelly and I are basically sitting on a couch and we break down in 12 different modules where to start. So pesticides, cleaning products, laundry room, we go through everything from, you know, filtering your water at a budget-friendly rate all the way

to emotions because emotions are toxic. So if something here that I'm saying is making you feel overwhelmed, don't start there, you know, because it's toxic. So yeah, just power of removal and then buying Branch Basics, I will say it does work and it does make the process easy. And you guys were kind enough to give us a code for the audience. So we can use code POW20 for 20% off kits and hand soap. I will put the link in the show notes. I'm such a big fan of the brand. I think you've done something incredible here. The story's incredible.

I'm so inspired. And I will be texting you for coffee enema recommendations. Oh, I will be answering those immediately. Thank you so much, Alison. Thank you, Mari. I appreciate it. Oh, and tell us where everyone can find you online, Branch Basics. Yes, yes, yes.

We've cornered the market on Branch Basics. So branchbasics.com, at Branch Basics. You'll find my co-founder Kelly and I have kind of taken over our Instagram. So just come on. We answer every single DM and most of them are about health issues. Where do I get this mattress? How do I, you know, help my child's this or that? So please just DM us with any questions. Thank you. Thanks for joining us on the Pursuit of Wellness podcast. To support this show, So please just DM us with any questions. Thank you. marilowelland.com. It will be linked in the show notes. This is a Wellness Out Loud production produced by Drake Peterson, Fiona Attucks, and Kelly Kyle. This show is edited by Mike Fry, and our video is recorded by Louise Vargas. You can also watch the full video of each episode on our YouTube channel at Mari Fitness. Love you, Power Girls and Power Boys. See you next time.

The content of this show is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not a substitute for individual medical and mental health advice and does not constitute a provider patient relationship. As always, talk to your doctor or health team.