Everyday Products That Are Making Us Sick: Laundry Detergent, Wet Wipes, Bug Repellant & Candles w/ Allison Evans

This episode discusses the dangers hidden in everyday household products and provides guidance on detoxifying your home environment to improve overall health.

1. Many everyday products contain harmful chemicals that can cause long-term health issues.
2. Detoxifying your home can significantly improve health and prevent diseases.
3. Non-toxic alternatives like Branch Basics offer safe options for cleaning and personal care.
4. Awareness and proactive management of household products can lead to substantial health benefits.
5. The episode provides actionable advice for individuals looking to reduce their exposure to harmful chemicals.

1: Introduction

Mari introduces Allison and sets the stage for a discussion on toxic household products. Mari Llewellyn: "Welcome back to the Pursuit of Wellness podcast. Today we discuss the hidden dangers in everyday household products."

2: Allison’s Health Journey

Allison shares her personal health challenges and recovery, highlighting the impact of a non-toxic environment. Allison Evans: "Removing toxins from my environment was a game-changer for my health."

3: Dangers of Common Products

Detailed exploration of specific products and their chemical components that pose health risks. Allison Evans: "We quite literally never escape what we choose to launder our clothes in."

4: Non-Toxic Alternatives

Discussion on non-toxic alternatives and practical tips for detoxifying your home. Mari Llewellyn: "Branch Basics products are a testament to the power of non-toxic living."

5: Audience Q&A

Allison answers questions from the audience, providing deeper insights into non-toxic practices. Allison Evans: "Start with changing one product at a time; every little bit helps."

1. Replace chemical-laden cleaning products: Opt for non-toxic brands like Branch Basics to reduce exposure to harmful chemicals.
2. Read labels carefully: Avoid products with harmful preservatives and fragrances.
3. Use natural alternatives: Consider using vinegar, baking soda, and essential oils for cleaning.
4. Educate yourself and others: Awareness is the first step towards making safer choices.
5. Prioritize vulnerable groups: Take extra precautions with products used around pregnant women, babies, and pets.

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.

People

Mari Llewellyn, Allison Evans

Companies

Branch Basics

Books

None

Guest Name(s):

Allison Evans

Content Warnings:

None

Alison Evans
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 Llewelyn.

Mari Llewelyn
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 in 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 fee. 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 feeblemew.com. that's f I. Bloom. Bloomnu.com. alison, welcome to the show.

Alison Evans
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 based households. Raunch.

I raunch. Love it so much. See, I feel that way about. I feel that way about your Texas accent. Like, you have a.

No, no. Don't you have a Texas, like, twang? Texas Twang is not lovely. Like, I'm complimenting you. Thank you.

Mari Llewelyn
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 a screener, 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?

Alison Evans
Yeah, I guess with you, I can go just right into the girly parts. So give it to me. Had my period in 6th 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 five. Four.

Sorry, not one in four. Uh, one in 25, maybe. It was. Yeah, I think 20. Anyway, women got pcos now.

It's like one and whatever, 10, 10, 15. Anyway, um, 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. Um, 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 were given, and birth control is the only answer. Thank God for just time and research and all the things, because 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, have you told me that at 27?

Right. Yeah, but that's just who I was. I went off to college, and I started coming down with this mysterious pain. Um, 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 kind of sore.

I need a masseuse. To, okay, I'm acupuncture and rolfing again. This is 2004. Cupping. Coming back to the pie fi house with, like, bloody, you know, cups everywhere.

My friends are like, what is happening? Which. 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. Um, 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. Um, 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?

Um, 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 till 30. So all that to say, I ended up going back to that same fertility doctor about ten or eleven months after living this clean lifestyle, and the cysts are gone. He can't believe it. He can't expect. 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, so I threw those out. He's just looking at me like, what? But my period ended up coming back for the first time since 6th 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, if 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's 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 PM's, 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 ten 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. Knee was 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. And then what's 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. So I went. I did two rounds of it, and 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, um, gut healing, et cetera, et cetera. So, you know, if only I had known about a raw beef liver in high school. I mean, yes, super real vitamin a, right?

Mari Llewelyn
100%. 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.

Alison Evans
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, our children are paying for that and kind of getting the brunt of that.

Mari Llewelyn
So it's almost worth, you know, exploring the healing journey before you think that you want to get pregnant. Oh my goodness. 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 hormone receptor sites and throwing off the most intricate and delicate system of our body?

Alison Evans
It takes the same proportion as a drop of water. An olympic size pool is enough for a chemical to make our reproductive endocrine system react because it is just so sensitive. So actually at a smaller dose, the endocrine system is more affected. Wow. Yeah.

Mari Llewelyn
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So back to Mara Lee. Yeah, she sounds incredible. Your aunt Mara Lee. I want to talk about her son's story. So wait, who is that to you?

Alison Evans
My first cousin. Your first cousin? Yeah. 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, super athletic. And at ten years old here in Texas, in the hill country, he was exposed to chlorine, which is a pesticide that's now banned because of the scientifically backed damage that it can do. Irreparable in many cases to the brain.

Um, 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 chloride in the fifties or sixties, you can still test positive even today.

So um, unfortunately chlordeine is still very present. But anyway, he was exposed and merrily picked him up from school and he had lymph nodes swollen up like bb's. 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 doctor Ray, who is one of the top environmental health doctors, treats post war veterans who've been chemically injured. And merrily 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. Um, this was back in the eighties, early nineties, when they thought that the brain could not regenerate.

So this is why my, my aunt is a badass, because she basically, she was told she needed a liver transplant when she was in her twenties. 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 ten 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 Doctor 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 gonna create a safe home. So she's laying outside one day on a cotton 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 ten 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 removal. Removing toxins. And she. 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 removed that box? What if that one box? 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 ten minutes. And he says, mom, I'm not reacting. What did you do? She's like, no way. No way.

So then 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, um, 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, um, 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. Um, and he's fully recovered in his forties with three kids. And it.

She. 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.

Mari Llewelyn
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 santal candles. I know it kills even the reed diffusers in a lot of the healthy homes that I'm thinking, yeah, no, this is so disrupting for your family. And they apologize to me.

Alison Evans
I'm like, no, I feel bad for you. Yes, you live with us, but it's. Still a very accepted part of society. 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.

Mari Llewelyn
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, their emotional attachment, for sure. Yeah. The smell of it, the feel of it.

Like, what is that? Yes. 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 3100 different chemicals that can fall under the single word fragrance.

Alison Evans
And it's said around, I think, about 75% have been tested positive for endocrine disruption. And those are just the ones that have tested. That have been tested. But, um, they adhere to our clothing, you know, especially phthalates. They, 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.

Mari Llewelyn
For me, with my acne journey, that was one of the major things that took me to brunch 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. Like, I really wanted 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 like, hormone problems or what, asthma, whatever it may be. I feel like the first place to look is in your house. Like, what are you using every. What are you eating off the counter? You know what I mean?

Alison Evans
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, um, we actually sequester these chemicals into fat cells to protect our organs. So when they, when we've run out of fat cells, quite literally, for the 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, working with Merilee 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 also they call Marilyn. 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, right? I mean, we weren't designed to live in chemical ridden homes. We were supposed to be outdoors or in environments with no fragrance.

Right. I'm curious. And for context, guys, Alison is pregnant right now. I don't know if we said that, which, congratulations tell your viewers 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, takes two to tango. Um, is so important. It's one of the best investments that you can make in your baby's future health, in their future fertility, and their ability to lower the risk of chronic illness and lower the risk of behavioral disorders. Um, is to clean your home out now and make those changes now, um, 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, 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. We weren't. It's not contagious, right. It is something that typically comes from a low level exposure day and over month, over a year.

Um, and that can directly affect the baby. So if you've already had a baby and you think, oh, my gosh, this is. I wish I had known this guy. 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. 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 from 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 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, you know, crucial time.

Mari Llewelyn
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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, my, 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 the. We do use dry wipes because I don't love any of the wet wipes on the market because they all have preservative in them.

Alison Evans
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 my house, and it was just so many fragrances. And she's putting her nose up at branch basics, and now she's spraying my baby's private parts with branch basics. With branch basics. But that's incredible. And, wait, okay, you said something important that I think the mums listening are gonna want to hear.

Mari Llewelyn
Wet wipes have preservatives, so you're using a dry wipe that you spray the branch basically all purpose on. And you 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.

Alison Evans
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, 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 branch basics on a wet, on a.

A dry wipe and leave it there, within two to three days, there's going to be mold. Okay. So you have to add benzylconium chloride. You have to add methyl isothiolozidone. There are all these pesticide preservatives.

And like I said, even in a very small amount, um, is going to epigenetics shows that they can 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 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. Yeah, well, and the non toxic ones. And it makes sense, though. Like, why would a wipe remain moist and perfect and mold free.

Mari Llewelyn
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.

Alison Evans
No one really asks 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 merrily 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 100 iterations, about 18 months it took to come out with our concentrate. And essentially it is a natural surfactant. So we have coco glucoside and decal glucoside. All of our ingredients are rated either one or a two on the EWG, but those are just general surfactants. We have sodium phytate, which is almost like a binder that binds minerals and chemicals, and then sodium citrate, which is a natural salt that acts as a water softener.

And then we have camomile, which is our preservative. So, yeah, it's. I. 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 and 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 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 you're using, you can use it to replace every single cleaning product in your home. 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.

Mari Llewelyn
Yeah. 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 dogs climbing your pets, fleas. I'm not gonna say anything about claims. Fleas. Hate branch basics.

Alison Evans
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. No claims being made here. No claims are being made.

Mari Llewelyn
Thank you. But I will be trying that that sounds really good. 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.

Do you know what I'm saying? Like, my dog shouldn't be smelling like a coconut papaya. You're 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 lime and mold. 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. Um, but it has definitely, um, stifled my ability to release toxins.

Alison Evans
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.

Heavy metals are very, very, very low. Um, but that candida can be super persistent. Yeah, that was a tough. That was a tough one. Yeah.

Mari Llewelyn
But that's not to say that I don't have other gut things now. Right. So I'm dealing with that now. Yeah. 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 pests and then 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 merrily says, gosh, I can't tell you.

Alison Evans
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 other subject. But, um, 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 that 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, 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 filtreat filter from Home Depot and put it on a box fan and, and filter your home air for $20. You know, meet yourself where you are.

Um, 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. Um, 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 a hundred percent. And so it can upregulate your metabolism. 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 leaving voice texts. Okay, now what do I do? Now? That's gonna be on.

Mari Llewelyn
That's gonna be me after the show. Me and Fia gonna do it together. Sending y'all buckets. Do you know 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.

Alison Evans
It's nothing scary. Cause it has to travel down. Yep. Got gotta. You gotta work with gravity, get on all fours and play your favorite song, read whatever you're gonna 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? Yeah. 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, uh, with my coffee enemas. And you saw an improvement in your skin. That was honestly one of the biggest things.

Mari Llewelyn
Wow. Yeah, that was one of the biggest things is, if you really think about it, I mean, upping glutathione, your master antioxidant. Yeah. You're upregulating so much of your body, you're helping your liver. Um, and I will say, I think the skin and, like, that brightening eye and the energy was the biggest plus.

Alison Evans
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?

Mari Llewelyn
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. Hundred percent. I will be having margaritas. Tacos are part of my boundaries, actually, those are boundaries of my freedom. You can do it.

You can do a clean taco. You can do a clean, mad clean taco. Wait, how do you. Welcome to Texas, girl. How do you do your tacos?

Alison Evans
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, my God. 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. It's really wonderful. You wouldn't even know. You can hide it in those tacos. Your kids.

Yeah, they never know. Yeah. Gotta 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 sole Dorch is north of Austin. Lived there during COVID And our house actually got taken. The house we were 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's 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. It's like an audio, basically like an audiobook 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 2 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 it doesn't have a mosquito truck. And that's very intentional.

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, no, but they don't wear them, and 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.

Mari Llewelyn
Oh, yeah, yeah. 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.

Alison Evans
And I'm like, oh, no, no. We do it. All right. My kids don't have eczema. What is this?

This is a very humbling experience. And, um, 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, from her parents and really weak detoxification system. And she is the one that actually had me read Ben Lynch's book on dirty jeans, 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 ten minutes, slapped some curious George on. Three years old, and she. 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 fire alarm, we really got to the fire, and it took time. It took, like, two years for her. It was really bad eczema, but now there's not even a sign of it.

And it's been really cool to see how epigenetics, which is basically the power of our choice 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 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.

Mari Llewelyn
What is it? Mh 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. Yeah, 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.

Alison Evans
Oh, my gosh. And kids, they, y'all, 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 had 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. Um, she was just constantly crying and just vaginal redness, and she was just a mess.

Um, 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, ten 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 even we were still living in some mold, and the kids just are so, 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. 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, my. 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, this journey is not about actually buying anything, it's about removal. So when I send branch basics out, which I do a lot, I meet someone, 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. Yeah. And then bring in the non toxic, you know.

Um, so our starter kits. 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 Merilee's almost 40 years of client consulting and putting it into a course where marily, Kelly and I are basically sitting on a couch.

And we break down in twelve 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. Um, so, yeah, just power of. Power of removal and then buying branch basics. I will say it, it does work and it does make the process easy. And you guys were kind enough to give us a code for the audience.

Yes. So we can use code Powie. Yep. How? 20 for 20% off kits and hand soap.

Mari Llewelyn
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 is 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, marijuana. And tell us where everyone can find you online.

Branch basics. Yes, we've cornered the market on branch Basics. So branch basics.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.

Alison Evans
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.

Mari Llewelyn
To support this show, please rate and review and share with your loved ones. If you want to be reminded of new episodes, click the subscribe button on your preferred podcast or video player. You can sign up for my newsletter to receive my favourites at mari llewellyn.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 Luis Vargas.

You can also watch the full video of each episode on our YouTube channel at Mario Fitness. Love you powgirls and Pow 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.