Welcome to our page of resources!
This is an assortment of items and services that have been helpful to us. We have personal experience with everything listed below, and most are used regularly in our homes!
Before getting to the resources, we want to share this disclosure:
There are some links below that are affiliate links. This means that we will make a small commission off any purchases made through the links. But there are no added costs to you! We only recommend companies and items that we know and trust.
Books
"A Beginner's Guide to Mold Avoidance"
This book by Lisa and Erik explains the complexities of avoiding mold and toxins in order to heal from multisystem illness.
Most of the recovered "moldies" we've met have found that mold and toxin avoidance was the most important thing that contributed to their health improvements. To ascertain that health issues are definitely coming from an environment that's frequented, this book explains how to execute a "mold sabbatical." During this sabbatical to a different location, all possessions are left behind, and the goal is to see how the body reacts to being away and going back home.
This book can be obtained free at this link, or click the button below to view it on Amazon.com
"Is Your House Making You Sick?"
This book by Andrea Fabry is the first resource Rebekah bought when mold was discovered inside the walls of her home.
If you think mold may be an issue, or definitely know there's a mold problem and need guidance for what the next best step should be, this book may be helpful. It educates on how everything from testing the home, to advocating for your family's health.
Websites
Paradigm Change – Lisa Petrison
Lisa spent about five years traveling around the western half of the U.S. in a non-moldy RV, visiting 25 states and spending time in hundreds of different locations. She has now recovered from extreme symptoms due to mold toxins, and gives credit to mold avoidance and detoxification.
Mold Avoiders – Lisa Petrison
Along with the Paradigm Change website above, Lisa runs moldavoiders.com in order to make some resources readily available for those pursuing the avoidance methods discussed in the book, “The Beginner's Guide to Mold Avoidance,” and the Facebook group, “Mold Avoiders.”
Moms Aware – Andrea Fabry
momsAWARE‘s mission is to provide practical assistance to families and individuals displaced by toxic mold, and to raise public awareness of the negative impact of toxic mold, chemicals, pesticides, and other environmental hazards on human health.
It Takes Time – Andrea Fabry
Andrea is a mom of 9, certified building biologist, and is passionate about living a low-toxin lifestyle.
Mycometrics – Microbiology Laboratory
This lab performs the Environmental Relative Moldiness Index (ERMI) testing. The ERMI tests dust in your home or environment for 36 species of mold. The goal is to measure enough species to allow the laboratory to estimate the “relative mold-burden” in your home. They also offer a HERTSMI-2 test that detects 5 mold species, and is cheaper than the ERMI. To order either test, select the “Ordering” tab on Mycometrics' website, and follow the prompts. Keep in mind that NO testing is foolproof, and NO testing takes place of the way you or someone you love feels in any given environment. Download our eBooklet here for more information on mold testing and remediation.
Household
EC3 Mold Solution Concentrate
We attempt to follow the strictest guidelines for mold avoidance, but sometimes cross-contamination happens. This cleaner has proven to be invaluable, and in some cases has helped stop immediate reactions to objects that have picked up mold toxins. It works great as a non-toxic household cleaner, too! You can see more in our post about it here, or click the button below to go to the manufacturer's website.
EC3 Laundry Additive
Like the EC3 cleaner, this laundry additive has been very helpful in maintaining our clothing. Due to cross-contamination and personal detox, the laundry seems to need some "extra love" beyond our typical detergent.
It has done well maintaining the newer clothes we've purchased, and though we tried to remediate clothing from a moldy home by washing it multiple times with this solution, that did not work with our sensitivities.
It has a very light citrus-y smell that is undetectable by the end of the wash cycle. This was especially helpful when we were so sensitized to fragrances that we couldn't use scented products (like the tea tree oil below).
Tea Tree Oil - Plant Therapy
When it comes to doing laundry, specialty products can get pricey. The EC3 laundry additive above has hardly any smell besides a light citrus scent, and worked well when we were sensitive to all fragrances. Now that we can handle more scents again, we like to add a few drops of tea tree oil to each load of laundry for its antimicrobial properties. It can be smelled as the washer runs, and when moving clothes into the dryer, but the scent disipates when dry.
Plant Therapy sells essential oils with no middle man, and at retail prices. They are very transparent, and publish the GC/MS test results for their oils on each product page.
EnviroKlenz
We chose this air purifier due to the way it handles VOCs, which are extremely tiny particles. The charcoal filters found in many of the high end air purifiers are actually capable of "unloading" their contamination if the humidity "shifts." This led us to choose a model that doesn't rely on carbon for capturing air pollutants. The EnviroKlenz uses metal oxides to adsorb toxins and chemicals. We have been very pleased with the EnviroKlenz!
For more technical data and a detailed review, see this post, or click the button below to view the manufacturer's website.
If you order any of their products, be sure to use our special code "Journey15" to get 15% off your order!
Berkey Water Filtration System
There's a lot of debate on what the best type of water filtration is, and we've decided that no solution is perfect. For drinking water, we either buy RO water and add minerals back in, or stick to methods that remove most of the contaminants, while leaving behind the naturally occurring minerals our bodies need. The Berkey filter has worked well for us, and the supplier we've linked below even has a "scratch and dent" section if you'd like to save some cash and don't mind an aesthetic flaw.
>Aquasana Water Filtration System
Offering shower filtration, under-the-sink RO drinking water systems, and whole-house filtration, Aquasana has it all. We have been happy with the shower head filter pictured here, and we even run our baths from the shower head. The water is noticeably cleaner, and doesn’t smell like chlorine compared to taking a shower without the filter.
Food
>MyFreezEasy.com - Delicious Freezer Meal Plans and Shopping Lists
Is it really possible to prepare 10 freezer meals in 1 hour?! It seemed unbelievable at first, but it's no joke! Erin, the creator of MyFreezEasy, compiles 8 unique meals plans a month, including paleo/Whole 30, keto, gluten-free, dairy-free, instant pot dishes, slow cooker dishes, and more!
Each meal plan has the complete shopping lists, assembly instructions, and cooking directions. These can be printed at the touch of a button, or viewed in the app on-the-go.
The meal plans are completely customizable - serving sizes can be adjusted, individual meals may be swapped in or out of the meal plan, and plans can be created from scratch by selecting from a huge selection of budget-friendly recipes.
>ENERGYbits
The best quality algae available, we love this stuff!
Grown in outdoor tanks with triple-filtered mountain spring water, this algae grows pure and clean. The typical method used to process chlorella is tumbling it with glass beads - BUT that method can contaminate the product with lead. For a safe product, ENERGYbits uses sound vibrations in a sound chamber to crack the chlorella into pieces. It's then tested for safety before it leaves Taiwan, and re-tested by a third party lab once it reaches the USA, guaranteeing its safety and toxin-free status.
Get 20% off your order with the promo code "Journey"
>FarmFoods - Grassfed Meats by Mail
FarmFoods is doing grass-fed/grass-finished meat the right way! They remove the middle man to make their products reasonably priced - much cheaper than Whole Foods and Safeway! Ordering from them supports small scale farmers. Each farm has been personally visited and vetted by Johan and Janna of FarmFoods, guaranteeing the quality and practices we expect.
An order of 10+ lbs ships free, and arrives frozen solid on dry ice. Along with the typical cuts of beef you'd expect, they also have bones, offal, and larger packages of beef (1/16th, 1/8th, etc).
Their ranches and farms are in ID, OR, and CA, but they ship to all 50 states, and there are no subscriptions required! A thorough description of each farm is located on their site. If they have the same cut of beef available from more than one farm, you get to choose which one arrives at your door!
>MCT Oil - Medium Chain Triglycerides
Perfect Supplements created this oil with very high standards. It's certified USDA organic, only made from sustainable and non-GMO coconuts, 100% C8 (caprylic acid) & C10 (capris acid), and there's no palm or hexane in the oil. At 130 calories per Tablespoon, this oil is great for adding to pureed feeds when "calorie-stuffing" for those that need the extra calories (if weaning from a feeding tube, or avoiding a "failure to thrive" situation, every calorie counts).
Some people utilize MCT oil to induce ketosis in the treatment of epilepsy, since carbs don't have to be as restricted with its use. Helping with increasing metabolism and energy are some of the sought-after "side-effects" for some people, and it's a flavorless oil that can be used topically and/or internally.
>Vitacost - Food, Supplements, Household Goods
With discount vitamins, supplements, health foods, laundry products, and MORE, we love taking advantage of their frequent sales and fast shipping.
Their warehouse is in Las Vegas, and we stop by their little storefront when we're in the city (though its selection is limited compared to their products online).
The online store has almost anything you think of, and many brands are what you'd find in a specialty health food store - but for less cost!
Health Products
>Transdermal Vitamin Patches - PatchMD
These transdermal vitamin patches are made in the USA , and are 100% gluten-free, latex-free, and lactose-free. It's a much easier way to internalize nutrients for those that have trouble swallowing pills. When GI issues prohibit optimal absorption from pills, these patches can circumvent that process, and deliver the nutrients into the body via the skin.
A sustained-release process occurs over an 8-hr period. Apply to the body anywhere that doesn't have hair, and it will do the work - day or night (though we DON'T recommend applying B12 at night, unless you're planning on an all-nighter!).
>Liposomal Vitamin C
From Let's Talk Health, this liposomal C supplement is the best-tasting we've found (like sour lemons), and it works very well! Frequent therapeutic dosages of Vitamin C during sickness can help alleviate symptoms and give our bodies a much-needed immune-boost.
The product description says, "Utilizing a proprietary laboratory process, tiny particles of certified non-GMO vitamin C are coated with our specially sourced certified non-GMO sunflower seed phospholipids to create molecules of vitamin C coated with a substance similar to the cell walls. Because our cells and lecithin "carriers" are both fat and water soluble, it makes the vitamin C more amenable at a cellular level."
>Biocidin LSF
A doctor described this formula as being one "that will kill everything," and that's not very far from the truth. Clinical research found it was effective against biofilms of Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas
aeruginosa, Candida albicans, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Staphylococcus aureus.
The Bio-Botanical Research website explains, "University of Binghamton researcher Dr. Claudia Marques, Ph. D. found Biocidin® to be effective at eliminating both single pathogen biofilms and multi-organism biofilms."
See some notes on her research here. It's no wonder this is such a powerhouse considering the botanical ingredients. We've had great success with treating UTI symptoms topically (when nothing else can be done but wait for the results of a urine culture, this formula does its part via the urinary antiseptics, antimicrobials, and antibacterials). Even those overnight toothaches, when a dentist is unavailable, have been alleviated by swishing Biocidin around the offending tooth and gum, keeping pain manageable until the dentist is available.
>Immune Tree Colostrum
There are multiple forms of colostrum available from Immune Tree (capsules, powder, etc), but our favorite is the tablets that are pineapple-flavored. The kids think they taste like candy!
RAW • Gluten Free • 100% Tested Organic • GMO Free BSE Free • Antibiotic Free • Pesticide Free • Hormone Free
Apparel
>Swanwick
We're all bombarded by blue light after the sun goes down (household lights, TV screens, device screens), and this can make our bodies think it's still daytime until the moment we go to bed and turn off the last light. This can prevent the pineal gland from producing enough melatonin, which results in tossing and turning all night.
The Swanwick brothers realized there was a lack of stylish, blue-light blocking glasses on the market, and they decided to fix the problem. With Men's, women's, and kid's styles, Swanwick has glasses for the whole family, including styles that fit over prescription glasses.