National Clean Out Your Fridge Day—Five Practical Nontoxic Tips

by Sophia Ruan Gushée

November 15, 2023 was National Clean Out Your Fridge Day.

As I researched tips through my practical nontoxic perspective, I was delighted to realize that how you clean your fridge can change your life!

How?

Keep reading to learn about the most nontoxic way to clean your fridge AND detox your diet (and, therefore, your body) so that you're consuming fewer toxic chemicals over your lifetime.

Observe what's in your fridge

As you remove items from inside your fridge, observe the following:

1. How many items are in plastic containers or packaging materials?

Too many chemicals in plastic migrate into the food or drinks that they contain. These chemicals can contribute to hormone disruption, obesity, cancer, and more.

Tiny plastic compounds can contaminate what they contain. For example, one study found microplastics in 93% of bottled water, according to Clean Water Action. More specifically, Sherri Mason, a Penn State researcher, reported that an average of 325 plastic particles were found in a liter of bottled water as compared to 5.5 plastic particles per liter of tap water.

So reducing how much you drink from plastic bottles can reduce the amount of plastic particles inside your body! This will also protect our planet's ecosystems (and, therefore, our food supply).

Simple Detox Tips:

• Reduce your purchases of products with plastic.
• When you have purchased food items in plastic, move them to nontoxic glass containers since chemicals can continuously leach into food.
• Use stainless steel or glass water bottles to reduce the amount of chemicals and plastic compounds that you ingest. Ruan Living has a new stainless steel water bottle!

2. How many items are in cartons?

Do you have milk or other things in paper cartons? Does it seem natural that cardboard could contain liquid for weeks without disintegrating? Well, they do it with the help of chemicals. Unfortunately, sometimes, these chemicals are toxic. Some include Forever Chemicals. 

Simple Detox Tips:

• Choose glass containers when possible.
• If you buy things in cartons, then put them in a nontoxic container like glass or stainless steel.
• Learn more simple ways to detox Forever Chemicals from your home and, therefore, body through Ruan Living's Forever Chemicals Detox Crash Course, which includes an ebook. Or, turboboost support your Forever Chemicals detox with the gift set below.

3. How many items are artificially colored?

Notice how many items in your fridge have artificial colors. Usually, these items are accompanied by other Household Repeat Offenders, which I explain in my book A to Z of D-Toxing: The Ultimate Guide To Reducing Our Toxic Exposures. These often include chemicals used as artificial preservatives and sugars.

Simple Detox Tips:

• Which artificially colored items do not mind dropping from future purchases?
• Next time you're shopping, try to choose items that don't have artificial colors, preservatives, and sugars

Nontoxic cleaning

After you've removed everything from inside your refrigerator, you can clean with the following nontoxic approach:

• Use diluted white vinegar (50/50 white vinegar and water) to spray the surface areas of your refrigerator, then wipe clean.
• Sprinkle baking soda on stubborn stains, then scrub clean.
• Spray 3% hydrogen peroxide on surface areas to disinfect by letting it sit for 10 minutes, then wipe dry.
• Leave an open container of baking soda in the refrigerator to deodorize.

While baking soda, white vinegar, and hydrogen peroxide are among the safest cleaning ingredients, you should still protect your skin and eyes from contacting vinegar and hydrogen peroxide. Wearing gloves is the best way.

Pillar 4 at Ruan Living's D-Tox Academy offers many more nontoxic cleaning tips and resources. Click here to learn more: Ruan Living's D-Tox Academy.

Clean your fridge detox tips in the news...

Earlier this week, I shared these practical nontoxic lifestyle tips on 13 ABC's lifestyle program, The Nine, the top-viewed 9 AM show in Northwest Ohio.

 

 

 

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Summary

For the rest of your life, integrate the tips below to transform your body.

1. Observe: How many items are in plastic containers or packaging materials?
   1. Reduce your purchases of products with plastic.
   2. When you have purchased food items in plastic, move them to nontoxic glass containers since chemicals can continuously leach into food.
   3. Use stainless steel or glass water bottles to reduce the amount of chemicals and plastic compounds that you ingest. Ruan Living has a new stainless steel water bottle!
2. Observe: How many items are in cartons?
   1. Choose glass containers when possible.
   2. If you buy things in cartons, then put them in a nontoxic container like glass or stainless steel.
3. Observe: How many items are artificially colored?
   1. Which artificially colored items do not mind dropping from future purchases?
   2. Next time you're shopping, try to choose items that don't have artificial colors, preservatives, and sugars
4. Clean with nontoxic ingredients. After you've removed everything from inside your refrigerator, you can clean with the following nontoxic approach:
   1. Use diluted white vinegar (50/50 white vinegar and water) to spray the surface areas of your refrigerator, then wipe clean.
   2. Sprinkle baking soda on stubborn stains, then scrub clean.
   3. Spray 3% hydrogen peroxide on surface areas to disinfect by letting it sit for 10 minutes, then wipe dry.
   4. Leave an open container of baking soda in the refrigerator to deodorize.

If you don't already have Ruan Living's Nontoxic Cleaning Guide, then download your free copy by subscribing to our email newsletter below.