Alexx Stuart - Low Tox Life A handbook for a healthy you and happy planet

Alexx is the ultimate gentle activist and takes a practical approach to teaching others how to live a low tox life.

MELANIE EAGER, NUTRITIONIST AND GENETICS HEALTH COACH

Ever stopped to read the list of ingredients in the products you use every day? In Low Tox Life, activist and educator Alexx Stuart gently clears a path through the maze of mass-market ingredient cocktails, focusing on four key areas: Body, Home, Food and Mind.

Sharing the latest science and advice from experts in each area, Alexx tackles everything from endocrine-disruptors in beauty products to the challenge of going low plastic in a high-plastic world, and how to clean without a hit of harmful toxins.

You dont need to be a fulltime homesteader with a cupboard full of organic linens to go low tox. Start small, switching or ditching one nasty at a time, and enjoy the process as a positive one for you and the planet.

There has never been a more important time in human history to take control of your own health. We are exposed to literally tens of thousands of chemicals on a daily basis that humans have never been exposed to before Low Tox Life is your handbook to making informed choices about reducing your exposure. Alexx provides sensible, achievable and affordable solutions to help you build resilience and be the best you can be.

DR RON EHRLICH, HOLISTIC HEALTH ADVOCATE, DENTIST, AUTHOR

This beautiful book identifies many of the man-made toxins that can cause adverse health effects, and provides lots of practical and easy-to-follow tips on how to reduce your exposure.

NICOLE BIJLSMA, ENVIRONMENTAL MEDICINE EXPERT, PHD CANDIDATE

This is just the book you need to show you that with a few simple and delicious changes, you can move beyond surviving and indeed, thrive.

JUDE BLEREAU, WHOLEFOOD CHEF, AUTHOR AND TEACHER

Low Tox Life is a comprehensive, inspirational and, most importantly, do-able guide to a healthy, low tox life. Its a book youll certainly come back to time and time again.

GEORGIA HARDING, NATUROPATH

Future generations will shake their heads in disbelief at the damage we have done to our only home, and ourselves, in these last two centuries Theyll also be thankful that the tide turned when courageous spirits like Alexx spoke up and reminded everyone theres a better way forward.

MARK J. HENRY, FOUNDER AND DEVELOPMENT ENGINEER SOLIDTEKNICS

This book is dedicated to my son, Sebastien. Everything I do, I do in my best efforts to try to create a better world for you, my beautiful. A world that rewards whats good and true over whats shiny and new, and a world that respects the greatest giver of life to us all Mother Nature. May we feed her well so that she can continue to feed us well in the circle of life.

CONTENTS

Introduction:
So theres this girl I know ...

CHAPTER

CHAPTER

CHAPTER

CHAPTER

CHAPTER

INTRODUCTION:
SO THERES THIS GIRL I KNOW ...

She eats microwaved popcorn. It seems to make her cough. She doesnt wonder about that, though. Yummy!

Her idea of a quick meal is the kind where you pour the contents of a sachet into a bowl, add skim milk and microwave for 3 minutes and 50 seconds on high, and add some chopped zucchini at the last minute.

She smokes a lot. Nearly a pack a day. She really enjoys it so shes not quitting any time soon, although she promised her family with some pie-in-the-sky future date she would.

She has a couple of cocktails or wines after work every night, and sometimes a couple of shots of tequila too.

Shes on four different long-term medications for sinus issues, contraception and migraine relief.

She feels nervous if there are no extra-strength painkillers in the house. Shes not sure why she gets so sick all the time and needs to pop so many painkillers and cold and flu tablets. She doesnt really have time to think about that. Off to work.

She gets put on antibiotics every other month for her crappy tonsils, and then antifungal medication to deal with the aftermath.

Her favourite naughty chips are smoky barbecue corn chips. So strange, but she coughs and coughs when she eats them and gets a headache. But. They. Taste. So. Good.

She has a collection of more than 50 perfumes. And constant headaches. She smells good, though. A fragrance for every mood!

She uses a strong-smelling aerosol deodorant and has more than 50 skincare products in her cupboards. She uses a scrub with magical micro-exfoliating beads thousands of them in every tube. Shes pretty sure there are fewer wrinkles on her face because of it, just like the ad said, so she raves about it to her friends.

She has more than 200 make-up items she keeps in a three-tiered display chest. Her eyes water for a couple of hours after doing her face in the mornings and feel a little itchy. Nice colours, though!

She buys low-fat yoghurt, low-fat dressing, low-fat cottage cheese, low-fat crackers, fat-free chocolate pudding, low-fat tasty cheese, skim milk, fat-free marshmallows and low-fat breakfast-shake poppers as part of her regular shop, all of which she believes are the better choice because the ads said so, right?

She uses an air deodoriser so her hospitality uniform is nice and fresh, and fabric softener to make everything super-soft and smell yummy.

Shes really thin, so she must be pretty healthy, right?

She could be any one of us out there and probably is, at least in part. But in this case, she is actually me, aged 26.

MY TURNING POINT

Back then, I was about to have my first encounter with a naturopath Christine during a health crisis of a triple round of super-heavy antibiotics that werent killing my strep throat. I had hit such a low, low point with so many painkillers for all the headaches, and antibiotics for all the bouts of tonsillitis that it finally forced me to think outside the box. As a smart person once said, doing the same thing over and over again but expecting a different result is indeed insanity, is it not? Christine changed my life.

The year after that, my boyfriend at the time, now my husband, would be strong enough to quit smoking alongside me and, over the next few years, learn about additives, preservatives and factory farming. We cleaned up our food, reduced chemicals in our home, and brought a gorgeous boy into the world to become a family. All on a peanuts budget, I might add, and as regular people with lots of stuff to get done each day.

Instagram would have us believe that in order to lower our toxic load and live a peaceful life, with simpler food and home products, we need to be full-time homesteaders with unlimited access to funds for perfect linen, rare jars and ceramics, and whitewashed wood; and a knack for arranging flowers and using a sewing machine. And while I may have had access to incredible ceramics for the photos in this book and adore following the lives of people who are fluent in the art of homemaking, Im rather glad Instagram wasnt around when I first started, because I might have given up, thinking I could never do it all so beautifully. Want to feel the gifts of imperfection on your journey? Follow me there. Youll feel youre doing just fine!