Detox Your Daily Life: Hormone-Safe Swaps for Clothes, Cookware & Cosmetics

Your body isn’t overreacting—she’s responding wisely.

This episode of The Daily Practice with Benita invites you to shift your health, vitality, and hormonal balance through mindful choices in clothing, cookware, personal care, and home products—without perfectionism or fear.

✨ Inside this episode:
 • How natural fibers like organic cotton, linen, and wool support hormone balance by avoiding endocrine-disrupting synthetics
 • What research reveals about polyester underwear and reduced sperm count in men
 • Safer cookware swaps: ditch Teflon and aluminum for cast iron, stainless steel, and ceramic
 • The hidden dangers in conventional cosmetics and fragrances—how xenoestrogens build up in our systems
 • Non-toxic cleaning swaps that work (and cost less long-term)
 • Why your period care matters: the hormonal impact of synthetic tampons and pads
 • How one simple swap a week can rewire your relationship to health and embodiment
 • Why creating a hormone-friendly, energetically clear home is self-love in action

This is where ancestral wisdom meets modern science—and where true healing begins with what you wear, eat, breathe, and bathe in.

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Chapters

• 0:27 Welcome to Daily Practice
• 4:15 Why Reducing Toxic Load Matters
• 5:16 Natural Fibers and Hormonal Health
• 15:08 Non-Toxic Cookware Alternatives
• 20:26 Beauty Products and Estrogen Disruption
• 27:47 Making Gradual Changes for Wellbeing
• 32:56 Self-Love on a Hormonal Level

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:27

Hello everybody and welcome back to the daily practice with me, benita. I'm just inviting you to become present in your body, present in this moment, with one deep inhale through the nose and a full exhale through the mouth, just taking a moment to feel how your physical body feels, even closing your eyes if that's appropriate of course not if you're maneuvering a vehicle or anything else there. So very, very welcome back if you've been listening before, or very much welcome to new listeners. Also, today's episode is a little dive into how we can, through daily choices, discernment and awareness, shift our health, vitality, hormonal balance for the better. So we're looking to cultivate and initiate a daily practice of becoming better stewards of our physical bodies and also, of course, of our living environment, through simple shifts. What I'm talking about here is shifting from toxic clothing, toxic cosmetics, detergents and cookware to natural ones that actually support our health and well-being and often also are much more pleasant to the eye and pleasant vibrationally, present vibrationally, and I want to emphasize that this isn't about fear or being perfect. And especially in our modern age, probably you will sometimes be in situations where it's almost impossible or very, very difficult to avoid exposure to plastics, to certain chemicals that might disrupt your physical health or vitality, but it's just about empowerment. It's an empowerment teaching. Okay, I know what these certain things do for me and I'm going to do my best to replace them with something that actually supports my health and well-being. And especially, hormone balance, I think, is the big one that we need to become aware of how certain endocrine disruptors, whether it's in chemicals or plastics or cookware cookware that actually disrupt the natural flow, the natural balance of our endocrine system, our hormonal system.

Speaker 1: 4:17

So first I'm going to talk a little bit about why reducing toxic load matters. So, like I mentioned, today's world is full, is loud with chemical synthetics and all kind of artificial fake stuff, and not only do they disrupt your endocrine system, they burden your nervous system and end up dulling and dampening your vitality. So this is a kind of low grade chronic exposure to hormone disruptors through cookware fabrics, cleaning products and cosmetics and beauty routines. So here we're looking to take our power back on a cellular level. So, first of all, natural fibers and how. What we actually wear, so not just what we put inside our bodies but what we wear on our skin, how that affects our hormones. So, of course, our skin is our largest organ and our skin absorbs whatever it touches. So this is why we can put on certain creams, like medicinal or whatever, and that it actually gets absorbed into our body. So everything that comes into contact with your skin, and especially if you're sweating when your pores are open synthetics like polyester and nylon they trap heat and then, as a result, they shed the heat, actually aids in shedding the microplastics, and they can disrupt the microbiome of the skin and especially in your intimate area where you wear when you wear, um, nylon or polyester underwear or swimsuits they can actually, yeah, negatively affect your microbiome, whereas natural fibers like organic cotton, linen, hemp, wool, cash wool, cashmere and even silk Although I think for me personally, silk has other problems for me, where it's like I love the feel and the look of silk, but actually the harvesting of silk is somewhat unethical and kind of full of suffering of the silkworms. So I almost I might buy silk secondhand, but I try not to buy or increase the demand for more silk, but that's a personal choice. But it is definitely a natural fiber like the other ones I mentioned. But it is definitely a natural fiber like the other ones I mentioned, and these substitutions, or choosing natural fibers over synthetic ones are important for everybody.

Speaker 1: 7:40

One study that really highlights this as a crucial step towards health and fertility, especially for men. So there was a landmark study by Dr Shafiq in the Journal of Virology in 1992, where they found that men who wore polyester underwear had significantly reduced sperm count and motility. Why so what? The conclusion of the study was that the constant electrostatic field from polyester disrupted testicular thermoregulation and hormone balance. Well, that's kind of mind-blowing, okay. So actually it was seen as an effective contraceptive. Wearing a polyester over the genitals for men was considered an effective contraceptive. So, girls, if you want to get off the pill, put your boys in polyester boxers. No, don't do that, please don't. So this is really important. So, especially if you're in a relationship and you're maybe looking to get pregnant, often maybe women tend to take the responsibility or they feel like, if, if the fertilization or pregnancy is not happening, that a lot of women feel guilt or they feel like it's their fault or this or that, but a lot of the times it's also men. And we're living in a time where sperm count, sperm motility, testosterone all those things are at all-time lows. So, without shaming or blaming, maybe buy your boyfriend or husband or whoever, a nice pack of really cute and fitting cotton underwear and see if something changes, okay. So again, it's not about being scared or blaming oneself or somebody else for these things, but it's just becoming aware and making these simple shifts to more natural, more healthy and more, yeah, high frequency materials and that we, that we dress ourselves in. So yeah, I've that's.

Speaker 1: 10:26

This has been kind of my project in the past couple of years, especially since I had my daughter to make sure that our bed linen clothes even this one is hard toys could be more cotton and more natural materials than polyester. Of course, every single stuffy that you find anywhere is polyester fiber, so that toy thing is tricky and of course a lot of toys are plastic. But I try to. You know it's a balance and, yeah, I would emphasize this bed linen. So of course we detox at night. So what you wear at night and what you your, your bed linen, your blankets, all the cushions of those things, even if it's your sofa, I try to. If I have a piece of furniture that is plastic or has a polyester covering, I'd rather put a rug on it that's cotton or put a blanket.

Speaker 1: 11:39

So everywhere your skin touches would ideally actually be a natural fiber. Wool is nice, kashmir is heavenly. So the thing is that we don't have to forego nice things. It is actually so much more pleasant to be surrounded, and it's not just about or I would say that it's not only about the physical effects, but it's actually the vibrational frequency of those fibers is much higher and we feel more elevated and actually I think they're intertwined because they are good for us. They are high frequency Because they are high frequency, because they are good for us. They are high frequency Because they are high frequency, they are good for us.

Speaker 1: 12:27

So there, and one important thing also whether it's a natural fiber or anything, it's always good to wash your clothes before wearing them, even if you buy them new or even if you buy them secondhand. In both cases it's good to wash them to remove any chemical residues, because even in natural fibers, the dyes or whatever that the industrial processes might have left some chemical residues. So always wash your clothes. And if you do end up wearing um, if you do end up wearing synthetic materials nylon, polyester, whatever other fiber then actually buying them secondhand will typically have reduced the chemical load on them. So sometimes if I find a really cute piece like some jeans or a dress or whatever it is that is part synthetic fibers and you find it secondhand, then sometimes I might, I might give that a pass, I might add that to my wardrobe just because somebody else has also already kind of washed several times, used it and and there's less stuff in it that might disrupt my body.

Speaker 1: 13:50

Okay, but that's the choice that everybody makes and I think for me, one controversial or kind of a fabric that I've been on the fence on about is, uh, rayon or bam it's, so it's made from bamboo fibers and it sounds natural, but actually that process to make bamboo into rayon is is kind of intense and industrial and and involves a lot of chemical processing. So there's some really nice rayon outfits that I have to pass on because I'm like, okay, I'm not gonna, you know, burden myself with that, but if it's like a mix rayon and linen, rayon and something, if it's really nice, I might get it anyways, or especially if it's secondhand, then maybe some of that chemical load has already been been lessened. So that's a, that's one alternative, okay, so let's move on to the next part, which is why we should be using non-toxic cookware, because whatever we put in our bodies shouldn't come, obviously, with toxins or endocrine disruptors. So Teflon, aluminum and nonstick coatings leach PFOAs, which are actually forever chemicals and metals, into food, and these are all linked to hormone disruption, infertility, and they are carcinogenic, meaning they can cause cancer. So what to use instead?

Speaker 1: 15:38

Stainless steel, cast iron, ceramic and glass. And cast iron is actually so beautiful because actually, cooking in cast iron you actually get iron. So when we get more iron, iron actually supports hormonal health instead of disrupts it. Just a caveat, like obviously you can also have iron toxicity, you can have too much iron. So, okay, don't go overboard and cook every single meal in cast iron, just being aware that it can be a benefit, but too much can be of harm.

Speaker 1: 16:18

And obviously not just what we cook in, but also what you serve your food in. If you get, take away, if you get. If you put your leftovers in in containers, make sure that it's not plastic, especially if the food is hot, so you might get away with, you know, putting fruit or crackers or whatever, like little things like that in plastic things. Or if the food has already cooled down, then placing it in a plastic container might not be too bad for you. But if you microwave food or if the food is hot, the best thing for your health and well-being would be to store and heat the food in ceramic or glass, and silicone is actually okay too. So food grade silicone is usually mostly non-toxic, but there's also levels to that. So make sure you check the labels and make sure that it's high quality, food grade silicone and that's usually pretty okay.

Speaker 1: 17:34

And actually microwaving food is a whole other topic that I could get into. Personally, I don't actually even most of the time use that method for reheating. My preferred methods of reheating food would be in an air fryer, oven saucepan, something more, I guess, natural. Just because I think there's certain research or evidence that would point to the fact that heating up the water molecules at such a rapid pace, like in a microwave, might actually change the molecular structure in a way that might not be beneficial for us. But that's a whole big conversation and I'm not gonna get into too much detail here. But I would mostly recommend using alternative methods for reheating food.

Speaker 1: 18:33

And then I think this became kind of went a little bit viral on X or Twitter recently, where they talk about the importance of throwing away all those black utensils in your kitchen, importance of throwing away all those black utensils in your kitchen. So whether it's spatulas, ladles, anything like that, that is black plastic. Those are some of the most harmful, toxic pieces of cookware that there has been. Okay, so when that stuff melts or leaches in, kind of leaks into your food, it's, it's, those are plastics that are and this is the crazy thing they sell it. Sell it to you like you're doing something good for the environment. Might be recycled plastic, but the recycled plastic might be from like electronics or stuff that has like really, really really harmful, bad stuff that shouldn't be in your food or in your body.

Speaker 1: 19:31

So wooden spoons, um, I use, if I, if I have a whisk or anything, spatula. I use also stainless steel for a lot of uh, those things. And the thing is that why did we need like plastic spatulas? Because we didn't want to scratch our nonstick pans, but we don't actually want to be using nonstick pans in the first place. So swap it for wooden or even metal, because your stainless steel pan. So that's that okay. So let's move on to maybe the most I don't know, controversial or debated or it's like a thing that, as women, kind of often I don't know. For me at least it's like okay.

Speaker 1: 20:28

In other areas it might be kind of easy to make those swaps, but then, when it comes to beauty and also to hygiene and cleaning, it gets trickier, because a lot of the products that we're used to using and used to getting for our whether it's makeup or any other like our, you know everyday beauty rituals a lot of that stuff is really really not so good for you, because these cleaning and especially beauty products often contain epithelial parabens and synthetic fragrances that act as xenoestrogens. So then you will have excess estrogen in your system. That leads to a whole host of health issues when it comes to your your menstrual cycle, when it comes to skin problems, when it comes to so many things. Excess estrogen from xenoestrogens cause a lot of harm to our physical bodies and also our mental health through disrupting our hormones, and the crazy thing is that these actually end up accumulating in the fat tissue. They mess with your thyroid, they can up to disrupt your ovulation, increase anxiety and brain fog, like I mentioned. So there's a lot of reasons why this is something that we need to be conscious about.

Speaker 1: 22:19

So here we are talking about everything from the shampoo you use, the soap you wash your hands with the thing that they're dishwashing liquid, your actual perfume, your body wash, your mascara, your foundation. All of those things contain a lot of these chemicals, so contain a lot of these chemicals. So what can we do For cleaning the home? Where there are, there's a whole list of natural methods of actually cleaning with simple ingredients like vinegar, baking soda, castile soap, and the crazy thing is that these things are actually very, very effective used in the right ways and for the right purposes, and they are often so much cheaper. Okay, baking soda costs like a dollar, or vinegar costs a dollar, and then you know, know, a big thing of castile soap can be also very, very, very affordable. And then, when we want our home to smell nice, we can just add the essential oils that actually add to the potency and also give us a beautiful fragrance or smell without all those disruptive chemicals.

Speaker 1: 23:57

And, as a good principle, if you wouldn't eat it, don't put it on your skin. When it comes to cosmetics and beauty products, I know this can be a challenge, but what we also got to start understanding and embodying and what do I say kind of pursuing is the natural glow from the inside when we actually have a healthy, functioning endocrine system. When we have a healthy, functioning liver, kidneys, all that stuff, and we're living a healthy, balanced lifestyle, we have a different glow that you cannot get from a makeup tube. I I like to sometimes quite often even enhance my looks with certain makeup products, but I do my best to read labels and check that okay it doesn't contain at least too many of the kind of worst endocrine disruptors and just mindfully apply these principles. And what I've found is a really beautiful and simple way to lessen the chemical load is, instead of buying some kind of body lotion or cream or whatever, I've started to more and more use oils for my body, for my hair, whether it's castor oil, almond oil, coconut oil, and always. We can use also essential oils to enhance the properties and also the smell of those oils and we can really get a beautiful natural glow doing this simple substitution for natural oils as opposed to these processed, processed, industrially made lotions.

Speaker 1: 26:11

There are, of course, so many beautiful and conscious and natural cosmetics brands too. I was up in Utah this year and there's one beautiful little store called Good Medicine. I'm not affiliated with them. I just really enjoy their products and and their. Their method is very artisanal, natural, and they also have, like these really nice perfumes based in almond oil that are really really, yeah, just have gorgeous smell and they don't have any of those endocrine disruptor perfumes or fragrances or carriers like. They're Just wonderful.

Speaker 1: 26:56

And then, of course, for us women, there's the time of the month when we bleed, when we also often get exposed to a lot of chemicals. Personally, I've made the switch to a cup, a silicone cup, many years ago and I've found that really works for me. But if you're still using tampons or pads, please ensure that it's organic cotton and that it doesn't contain, like surf on the surface, like different chemicals or fragrances or anything like that, so you don't wear your cotton underwear just to put a plastic thing to, um, protect you from the um or or to, yeah, deal with your bleeding. I guess, so, um, I guess that was, uh, all of it. Uh, of course, there's so much detail we could go into for for each point, um, if you're listening on youtube, I invite you to join the conversation in the comment section and let me know what substitutions or swaps you've made in your personal life, how it's impacted, how you feel and, yeah, if this has been an interesting or enlightening or entertaining episode of the daily practice with Benita, please do share with a friend or a family member who might also enjoy it, and please do subscribe. And if you're on YouTube, like and, wherever you're listening, if it's available, please, wherever you're listening. If it's available, please do leave a review. That will help more people have access to this show.

Speaker 1: 29:07

And yeah, just to close off with some remarks, it's not about fear or control, so it's not about having a nervous breakdown when, when your, your, your, your takeaway order comes in plastic. It's about trying to make informed and wise choices to minimize, minimize our exposure to, to certain disruptive chemicals and plastics. And obviously, if this is the first time you hear about it, it might seem overwhelming. You're like shit, like my whole wardrobe is polyester, or everything in my kitchen is plastic or whatever it is. Or like oh my god, like I'm so attached to this hand lotion that I've been using for years, or whatever it might be. You know you don't have to do it all at once. I mean, you don't have to do it at all but if this is something that resonates with you or aligns with you and that's why this message has come to you at this moment then maybe see if you can just like every week okay, do one thing. Okay, this week I'm going to buy a new pillowcase. That's this beautiful sateen cotton that's soft, natural, you know, just a wonderful sensation on your skin. Throw out the polyester one, you don't need it. Get in with the new cotton sateen, beautiful, high thread, count or whatever you like, you know. And then you know that you've done one thing, one step towards your maybe ultimate goal of being surrounded wearing beautiful natural fibers, being surrounded by natural, beautiful fragrances from essential oils and cooking with stainless steel cookware that will last you a lifetime.

Speaker 1: 31:15

Sometimes we look at the prices of of these kind of um products and we're like, okay, like that seems like a lot of money all of a sudden, like I have to buy 10 different pots and pans. But it's those things are. Usually, when you buy high quality stuff like that, it's an investment for life and those, when it's well made it'll, it'll be there for you and you're not only gonna enjoy it for you know, whatever it's a year or or or six months, which is often the time that, like, a lot of those non-stick pans start degrading anyways. So look at all these things as an investment into yourself, to your well-being, and also, of course, all the people that are around you. When they come to your home, they will notice oh, this place has a really nice vibe because it's as nice, oh, woolen blankets and all these cotton sheets are so wonderful and oh, it smells nice and like it's just. It's just a better, more natural and uplifting experience to be in that kind of environment and also to be around a person who has taken the care and foresight to invest in themselves.

Speaker 1: 32:48

So remember this is self-love on a hormonal, energetic and ancestral level. Energetic and ancestral level and, like I often repeat in this podcast and in life, is a good practice, is the one you do. So here we are practicing becoming more aligned and more aware of how our choices impact our well-being and that of those people around us. So just start with a one small step, one daily practice of hey, what if I leave this behind and I bring in this? Does this really resonate with me on a deep cellular level or no? Okay, can I choose something that will work better for me and serve me more? Okay, so that's been today's episode. Thank you again, so much for listening, and I'll be back next week.