Not Feeling 100%? What Your Home Could Be Doing to Your Body

0:02 Welcome to the Ask Good Questions podcast, broadcasting live every Wednesday, 6 p.m. Eastern Time on W4CY Radio at W4CY. com. This week and every week, we will reach for a higher purpose in money and life, as well as a focus on health and wellness. Now, let's join your host, Benita Bell Anderson, as together we start with Asking Good Questions. Hello and welcome to the ask good questions podcast i am so happy you're here we're going to talk about a topic today that is well it's in everybody's home and so we are going to talk about some things that you may not be aware of but you will be shortly I have a guest today, and as soon as I introduce her, I'm going to be telling you the big, long title that is what she is and what she does in homes. So with that, I would like to invite Risa Suzuki to the podcast stage. Welcome, Risa.

1:14 Hi there. Thank you so much for having me. I'm super excited to be here. Oh, awesome. Awesome. Let me tell people just really briefly who you are. You kind of asked the question about ever feel like something's just off, low energy or brain fog or symptoms you can't quite explain, but everything keeps coming back normal. Well, she calls herself the toxin detective. Now, also, just to let you know, Risa is in the Seattle area. I'm in the Tri-Cities area. So we're both in Washington State. This is a new one for me to have somebody actually in Washington State. And let me tell you this title.

1:58 She is a Healthy Home Certified Building Biology Expert. That's a mouthful, Risa. Yes, it is. So she. She reveals how everyday toxins hiding in our homes could be quietly affecting your health. So she's going to share her personal story and a simple three-step approach to creating a cleaner, healthier home. And I think all of us want that. So with that, again, Risa, thanks so much for joining us today. What really got you started in thinking about building biology and home toxins? Where did that come from?

2:42 Well, it was basically my own health journey. And just to kind of go back about a lot of years. So back in 2000, starting like around 2009-ish, 2010. And, you know, I've always had allergies when I was a kid. Right, that's your basic inflammation. And what happened was my allergy symptoms started to not be seasonal anymore. They started to be more year-round without really any kind of going away during the off-season. And then I started getting some headaches, which was very unusual for me. So I started having just these... kind of some minor symptoms. And, you know, I asked my allergy doctor, I said, hey, you know, I've been having these symptoms, which are not, it's not normal, but what do you think, you know, what could this be?

3:43 And him and my MD, they basically couldn't figure out. They, you know, ran some general tests and said, well, everything looks normal, so we don't know what it is. Maybe you're stressed, or is it, you know, they started questioning, like, what other things are happening or going on in your life. And which was nothing, you know, out of the ordinary. And so I, I, my symptoms started to get worse and it got to the point where I noticed a difference when I would go places. So basically, and now that I look back and you know, I can go, Oh yeah, I was developing, I was developing more sensitivities. And at that time it was just, gosh, I just feel like I'm just getting, you know, triggered all the time and I don't, I don't know why. Sometimes it's not so bad. Sometimes, you know, it was just kind of a mixed bag. And so as I started doing the process of elimination, right, I started going to sleep earlier.

4:40 My sleep wasn't very good. I started to, you know, pay attention to what I was eating, but I always ate healthy anyways. I was exercising, so that wasn't, you know, like all the things I was doing, I was doing all the right things. And I had known somebody that had gone through building biology before me. And that's when it started to click. Maybe it's my home. Yeah. That's, that's basically how I, you know, that's, that's how I found it. Cause I don't know. If I've ever really, I mean, obviously I, in my life and the different homes I've owned and the different, you know, when I've done real estate, you have like a home inspector, but that is not this. What is a building biology expert?

5:31 So building biology, so just to give a little history, building biology, it actually started after World War II in Germany. And what happened is when they started doing the rebuild for, you know, all the buildings and everything, they started using prefabricated materials. And, right, so now you're building these buildings that are, they have a tighter building envelope, you know, so it's not quite so drafty and everything. And you have all of these prefab materials that are off-gassing. They're not off-gassing outside because now you have these buildings that are, you know, they're not quite so drafty anymore. And people started getting sick. So that's, that's basically, that's how it started.

6:12 And that's how I, that's how I came, you know, into becoming a building biology consultant because the whole, the whole idea is that the building and everything in there, you know, it's, it supports your health. It shouldn't make you sick. Well, if someone's experiencing brain fog or anxiety or any of these things like what you were describing, how do they know if it's them or how would they even start to wonder, is there something about my home that's doing this? That is actually very common because most people don't know.

6:54 You start doing the same things that I did and I see this in my clients too. all the time where they maybe, you know, maybe they've had, cause I most, I work mostly with women, but maybe they've had something in the past and they started to, you know, have some mystery symptoms and they go down all of these rabbit holes and then they try all these things. And then the home comes up on the radar somehow. And it could be they're searching or it could be, you know, when you're, when you're dealing with things like this, a lot of times it's, You're talking to a friend or you're talking to your hairstylist or something kind of random where it's, oh, you know, I know somebody that had something that they couldn't figure out. And, you know, they went to a naturopath or a functional medicine doctor or, you know, there was something in their home or, you know, something where they kind of... the back door, but it's like, you have to kind of go down like the secret alleyway to find the back door. It's not, it's not top of mind for, you know, most people.

8:01 Well, it seems like a lot of times there's, there's a lot of people that will get dismissed by doctors. Absolutely. Oh yeah. I've had that, you know, and so that's gotta be frustrating. It is because we all, you know, we all know, deep inside, you know, something doesn't feel right. This isn't, this isn't adding up. Why, you know, if I, it's something that, you know, if you, if you have symptoms, right? Like I'm sure that you know what your symptoms are when you're stressed or when you're tired or right when you get sick. And so when things, when things show up unexpectedly and you can't figure out really what it is, cause it doesn't fit into any of those buckets, you know, you know, your body, your, better than anybody and a lot of times you know unless a practitioner is is educated on environmental medicine which is looking at your environment exactly and a lot of them aren't They might ask something, you know, about, you know, mold or, you know, have you had mold in the house? Have you been exposed to mold? But there isn't this very deep knowledge that, you know, you typically need to be able to dive deeper and start looking for things. Right.

9:26 Well, what are the most common symptoms then? If the house is off-gassing something, right? Right. What are the most common symptoms you see in people whose homes are making them sick then? You know, it really depends. And here's why, because we all have different levels of health. So depending on how strong and robust your immune system is, and then what you... are personally sensitive to. So it could be something where it could be sinus issues, right? It could be allergy-like symptoms where, you know, that could be sinus. It could be itchy eyes. It could be headaches. It could be breathing, you know. And then there's other, you know, chest pains or brain fog or, gosh, I just feel so tired and I don't understand why I'm so tired. You know, I go to bed early or, you know, I'm not getting good sleep because I wake up and I feel like I'm not awake. I want to sleep for another hour or two. So a lot of these symptoms are so easy to just dismiss on something like work stress or things going on with the family or just being, you know, busy because they're very, a lot of times

10:59 they're very common, you know, everyday things. And so when you go to your practitioner, they don't really know what to do with you. Right. Well, what, what then, so you see people having all these things and nobody can figure out where it's coming from. What are the most common sources of toxins in today's homes? And I see a lot of building, new building going on all over the place. What do we need to look out for that are sources of toxins? Well, okay, so if it's a new house, so when I started to really get sick, it was after I bought my house and it was a brand new townhouse.

11:44 because you know, you're, you're from the Washington area. So, you know, it's, it's humid and it's damp. It doesn't freeze too much. So we get lots of mold here. Yeah. State where I am, it's more of a desert. So there's different issues. That's more dust. Exactly. Exactly. But where you are, it could be more mold. So much mold here. It's like a sponge. Um, So, and so anyhow, so when I, so for me, when I bought my townhouse, you know, it was brand, it was brand new and it was built green. So it's one of the first, you know, the first green builders in the area. Perfect. That's what I was thinking. Cause I did not want to have to, you know, deal with all the things that, you know, come with older homes. Yeah. And here's the thing with, with new houses, they're new. So think of what it takes to build a house. It's off-gassing everything.

12:40 You know, the floor finishes. You've got insulation. You've got drywall. You've got paint. You've got carpet. I did not have carpet. But I had everything else. Everything else. And, yeah, and so what happens for the first 18 months, that's typically the most toxic time for a brand-new home because it's off-gassing. Because you have a really tight building envelope, and guess what, you know, it off-gases to the inside, not so much, you know, it goes to the outside, but we're inside. Especially if it's cold, then all the windows are closed. Exactly. Exactly. And so when I, you know, when I went through training and everything and I went and looked back, I went, Oh my gosh, my symptoms, they started to nosedive about a starting about a year and a half after I moved into my house, it was almost like clockwork. And, um, So that's kind of one of the misperceptions, I guess you could say, about new homes is that, you know, unless you're consciously giving direction to use healthier materials, you know, it's going to be off-gassing for the first year and a half that you're there.

13:56 Well, you're making me wonder then, well, what about older homes then? Are older homes more at risk? I'm thinking from what you just said.... Yeah, they both have their own different sets of problems for different reasons. So, right, so with the older homes, depending on when they were built, you could have wiring issues. You could have, because they're older, right, so they've settled a little bit. There's, right, so there's more of a chance that there's going to be something in the attic or the crawl space, right? The house is kind of settled, and maybe there's air getting in. If air gets in, right, then... it could be damp air, right? It could be rain, could be water. Then you're more prone to things, you know, like mold situations. Or then you have, you know, wiring issues too. And then if you have a, you know, if you bought a home that is built, say like pre-1979, 1978, then you could potentially, right? Then you potentially get into lead and asbestos and, you know, other things like that.

15:04 Come up with that all the time. I've seen that many, many times. We have the most recent building, when we downsized and we renovated an old farmhouse, we had a whole lead remediation thing that we had to do. It was ridiculous. It was just, but we were wearing masks and yeah. The whole thing. Right. So was it, was it like lead paint or lead? They actually had this. Okay. And it was also, we were taking down the ceiling and. Okay. All the, the batting that was coming out of this anyway. Yeah. It had to be tested.

15:45 And, and yeah, we had a big, and I went, oh, great. We're getting into a whole bunch of toxic crap. Right, right. So we're in N95 masks and the whole thing. Yep, yep, yep. And then, yeah, I've heard and seen a lot. Right. And so it's great. I mean, we took this old farmhouse down to the studs and then completely reimagined it into a new place. But wow. Yeah, because it was an old farmhouse. We had all those issues. We have lots of stuff, yep. What role does furniture and carpeting and renovation materials play in this then? I mean, I'm thinking, you know, like the experience that we were going through. One other thing, we just, the other thing I'm thinking of is when it comes to furniture, we got a new couch recently.

16:45 And the very, you know, I sit down on that couch and it's like, you can smell, it's just smells. You know, I'm just wondering about off casting when I'm sitting on this brand new couch. Yep. That would be a very correct assumption because you're going to have fire retardant in there. Yes. And then you're going to have whatever. depends on what kind of fabric it is. Right. So what kind of finishes on the fabric, what is in the fabric itself? And that's, you know, that's where you're going to take a look at the tech specs. So, you know, where the, they list out everything that is used, you know, to build it. Right. So, so what do you, what, so what are you going to do about this is like air quality. Is there, um, Air quality inside a home that's very tightly built is not going to be the same as outside. So is that how you start fixing this?

17:49 You can, for sure. So tight building envelopes, absolutely. You have to have. You need to have some sort of circulation, but you also need to, you know, open windows and let all of those toxic fumes have a way to get out for sure. Right. And, you know, there's the challenging thing with the gases, like, you know, formaldehyde, you know, things, or let's say you've got a, like a gas stove or, you know, fireplace, things like that. Um, the, a lot of times the air, the air purifiers are not, they're just, they're really designed to capture particles and the fumes or the VOCs, they're much, much smaller. They're, they're harder to capture.

18:38 So purifiers are good, but you know, if you're, and I know you're in Tri-Cities, so it's probably fine, but you're not in a huge metropolitan city where the pollution is so bad, you wouldn't want to open your windows. Right. So, For you, I would say, yeah, open up the windows. If you have new things, yeah, let it off-gas naturally like that. So is there a way for people to tell what's actually affecting them in their own home? It's pretty hard. And here's why. And I was just talking about this to a colleague of mine. If you're sensitive to things, so let's say.

19:22 Let's say you've had some health issues in the past and you've developed sensitivities. And I'm in that category, obviously. So I can tell when something is affecting me. And a lot of people that have had sensitivities typically can. And then there are people who just, they just don't feel anything and they're still being impacted. So you can, if unless you're sensitive you can't it's really hard to really quote unquote feel anything and so and so that's where you know just having a knowledge about this um is is very helpful do.

20:04 You start checking things off a list i mean do you start just checking one thing at a time Because you're going in to help somebody who feels like something's going on with their home. What are you going to do? Are you going to just start? Well, you basically take a look around everything that could be affecting you. Right. So what, what, what tends to happen a lot is people, you know, like you'll read something about like you were just saying air. Oh my gosh, maybe I should start learning about my air quality. So you're going to open up your browser and start searching for air quality, learning all about it. You'll have, you know, let's say between five and 10 tabs open as you start looking at things.

20:55 Cause then it'll, Oh, I didn't know about this. Okay. Let me check this out. Okay. I'll read that later. Right. I get overwhelmed because I get too many things at the same time. What should I be paying attention to? Exactly. And that's typically what happens to most people is you start looking at one thing and you're focused on air. But it's really just the... it's really the sum of everything, right? It's air, it's water, it's your electromagnetics or your electronic devices. And then, you know, building materials and furniture and things like that. So it's looking at everything in your house.

21:37 So that way, you know, let's say for you, you're really focused on air, right? I'm just using that as an example because you brought it up. So you're looking at air and you're focused on air, but really maybe you should be paying attention to water, right? So like, so, and I'm just making this up. So let's say that you, you know, since you're out in tri-cities, it's probably, you know, it's not a big city. It's not a big city. I have tested it before. Okay. Let's say you had it, right? So you're, you're, you're out, you're on a well or, you know, something where there's a lot of, you know, you said you're on a farm, right? So what can happen with farms is you have lots of, you know, pesticides and things like that because of all the farms. So you're going to have, you know, potentially more of those types of chemicals that are in the soil. So, um, That's an example of, you know, you want to look at everything because if you get focused just on one thing, it's easy to just, boom, go down that rabbit hole. Right.

22:39 When actually this other thing over here is really, you know, going to be the thing that you're going to want to take a look at closer. We're going to leave this on a cliffhanger because we're not going to get into what happened today, but we are out of time right now. This is going to be a part one and part two. So the next time we're going to immediately get into what to check. And we're especially going to spend time on your three-step approach, right? And what the. Action steps are. So watch for those, anyone that's listening and going, what, they're already done? Yeah, right now we have to be done because we're out of time. But we are going to get into this. So if you know that there's a part two coming up, watch for that so that you can just continue on this conversation about what the three-step approach is, how to bring this home, so to speak, and the action steps that we can take.

23:45 So with that, is there anything else for today's discussion that you want to wrap this up with? I would say do not freak out. Because what happens, and I did this too, right? You, you get, this gets on your radar and you go, Ooh, I want to go check this out. And then you go, Oh my gosh, my house is going to kill me. So there's no perfect house and don't, and don't panic. And we'll get into the rest of, you know, kind of the, the how to's and the process and everything. So I just, I don't want people to feel like, Oh my gosh, you know, and, and panic. All houses have their own set of problems. Yes. Yes.

24:25 So with that, we need to wrap up today's episode. So this was part one. Be watching for part two, which will be in a few weeks. And in the meantime, thank you so much, Risa, for joining me today. And thank you all to everyone listening in and for joining us on the Ask Good Questions podcast. We will see you next time. Thank you. Today's episode is over, but we did ask good questions again, didn't we? Don't miss out as we broadcast live every Wednesday, 6 p.m. Eastern Time on W4CY Radio at W4CY. com. Join Benita Bell Anderson next week for more conversations with experts on finances, retirement, behavioral finance issues, health and wellness, and more.

25:17 Until then, remember to ask good questions.