Sept. 9, 2026

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

Show Notes
Transcript

Ever feel like something's just "off" — low energy, brain fog, or symptoms you can't quite explain — but every test comes back normal? Risa Suzuki, "The Toxin Detective" and a Healthy Homes Certified Building Biology Expert, joins Bonita to reveal how everyday toxins hiding in our homes could be quietly affecting our health. Risa shares her personal story and a simple three-step approach to creating a cleaner, healthier home — so you can start feeling like yourself again.

Ask Good Questions is broadcast live Wednesdays at 6PM ET on W4CY Radio (www.w4cy.com) part of Talk 4 Radio (www.talk4radio.com) on the Talk 4 Media Network (www.talk4media.com). Ask Good Questions is viewed on Talk 4 TV (www.talk4tv.com).

Ask Good Questions Podcast is also available on Talk 4 Media (www.talk4media.com), Talk 4 Podcasting (www.talk4podcasting.com), iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, Pandora, Spotify, Audible, and over 100 other podcast outlets.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/ask-good-questions--6441735/support.

WEBVTT

1
00:00:02.430 --> 00:00:07.190
Welcome to the Ask Good Questions podcast, broadcasting live every Wednesday,

2
00:00:07.190 --> 00:00:13.289
6 p.m. Eastern Time on W4CY Radio at W4CY. com. This

3
00:00:13.369 --> 00:00:16.289
week and every week, we will reach for a higher

4
00:00:16.350 --> 00:00:20.210
purpose in money and life, as well as a focus

5
00:00:20.320 --> 00:00:24.780
on health and wellness. Now, let's join your host, Benita

6
00:00:24.839 --> 00:00:29.859
Bell Anderson, as together we start with Asking Good Questions.

7
00:00:34.719 --> 00:00:40.159
Hello and welcome to the ask good questions podcast i

8
00:00:40.259 --> 00:00:43.149
am so happy you're here we're going to talk about

9
00:00:43.229 --> 00:00:47.390
a topic today that is well it's in everybody's home

10
00:00:48.030 --> 00:00:51.270
and so we are going to talk about some things

11
00:00:51.329 --> 00:00:53.740
that you may not be aware of but you will

12
00:00:53.780 --> 00:00:57.560
be shortly I have a guest today, and as soon

13
00:00:57.600 --> 00:00:59.579
as I introduce her, I'm going to be telling you

14
00:00:59.600 --> 00:01:04.140
the big, long title that is what she is and

15
00:01:04.200 --> 00:01:07.879
what she does in homes. So with that, I would

16
00:01:07.920 --> 00:01:14.609
like to invite Risa Suzuki to the podcast stage. Welcome, Risa.

17
00:01:14.620 --> 00:01:18.370
Hi there. Thank you so much for having me. I'm

18
00:01:18.390 --> 00:01:21.180
super excited to be here. Oh, awesome. Awesome.

19
00:01:21.560 --> 00:01:25.650
Let me tell people just really briefly who you are.

20
00:01:26.290 --> 00:01:28.769
You kind of asked the question about ever feel like

21
00:01:28.810 --> 00:01:32.640
something's just off, low energy or brain fog or symptoms

22
00:01:32.659 --> 00:01:38.079
you can't quite explain, but everything keeps coming back normal. Well,

23
00:01:38.280 --> 00:01:42.980
she calls herself the toxin detective. Now, also, just to

24
00:01:43.030 --> 00:01:47.730
let you know, Risa is in the Seattle area. I'm

25
00:01:47.790 --> 00:01:50.670
in the Tri-Cities area. So we're both in Washington State.

26
00:01:50.730 --> 00:01:53.450
This is a new one for me to have somebody

27
00:01:53.609 --> 00:01:57.530
actually in Washington State. And let me tell you this title.

28
00:01:58.079 --> 00:02:02.540
She is a Healthy Home Certified Building Biology Expert. That's

29
00:02:02.799 --> 00:02:04.280
a mouthful, Risa.

30
00:02:04.299 --> 00:02:07.180
Yes, it is. So she.

31
00:02:08.300 --> 00:02:12.419
She reveals how everyday toxins hiding in our homes could

32
00:02:12.460 --> 00:02:16.759
be quietly affecting your health. So she's going to share

33
00:02:16.819 --> 00:02:21.879
her personal story and a simple three-step approach to creating

34
00:02:21.900 --> 00:02:25.379
a cleaner, healthier home. And I think all of us

35
00:02:25.439 --> 00:02:30.729
want that. So with that, again, Risa, thanks so much

36
00:02:30.810 --> 00:02:35.199
for joining us today. What really got you started in

37
00:02:35.379 --> 00:02:40.469
thinking about building biology and home toxins? Where did that

38
00:02:40.530 --> 00:02:40.949
come from?

39
00:02:42.250 --> 00:02:47.830
Well, it was basically my own health journey. And just

40
00:02:47.849 --> 00:02:51.370
to kind of go back about a lot of years.

41
00:02:51.560 --> 00:02:57.860
So back in 2000, starting like around 2009-ish, 2010. And,

42
00:02:58.379 --> 00:03:02.289
you know, I've always had allergies when I was a kid. Right,

43
00:03:02.310 --> 00:03:07.020
that's your basic inflammation. And what happened was my allergy

44
00:03:07.060 --> 00:03:12.400
symptoms started to not be seasonal anymore. They started to

45
00:03:12.580 --> 00:03:19.280
be more year-round without really any kind of going away

46
00:03:19.479 --> 00:03:23.810
during the off-season. And then I started getting some headaches,

47
00:03:24.439 --> 00:03:27.569
which was very unusual for me. So I started having

48
00:03:27.629 --> 00:03:31.699
just these... kind of some minor symptoms. And, you know,

49
00:03:31.819 --> 00:03:34.280
I asked my allergy doctor, I said, hey, you know,

50
00:03:34.680 --> 00:03:39.099
I've been having these symptoms, which are not, it's not normal,

51
00:03:39.259 --> 00:03:42.520
but what do you think, you know, what could this be?

52
00:03:43.259 --> 00:03:48.409
And him and my MD, they basically couldn't figure out. They,

53
00:03:48.569 --> 00:03:51.449
you know, ran some general tests and said, well, everything

54
00:03:51.469 --> 00:03:54.150
looks normal, so we don't know what it is. Maybe

55
00:03:54.169 --> 00:03:56.870
you're stressed, or is it, you know, they started questioning, like,

56
00:03:56.909 --> 00:03:59.810
what other things are happening or going on in your life.

57
00:04:00.870 --> 00:04:04.770
And which was nothing, you know, out of the ordinary.

58
00:04:05.349 --> 00:04:09.289
And so I, I, my symptoms started to get worse

59
00:04:09.330 --> 00:04:12.139
and it got to the point where I noticed a

60
00:04:12.240 --> 00:04:17.079
difference when I would go places. So basically, and now

61
00:04:17.100 --> 00:04:18.939
that I look back and you know, I can go,

62
00:04:19.000 --> 00:04:22.360
Oh yeah, I was developing, I was developing more sensitivities.

63
00:04:22.680 --> 00:04:25.370
And at that time it was just, gosh, I just

64
00:04:25.459 --> 00:04:27.550
feel like I'm just getting, you know, triggered all the

65
00:04:27.589 --> 00:04:30.009
time and I don't, I don't know why. Sometimes it's

66
00:04:30.050 --> 00:04:33.170
not so bad. Sometimes, you know, it was just kind

67
00:04:33.209 --> 00:04:36.149
of a mixed bag. And so as I started doing

68
00:04:36.870 --> 00:04:39.709
the process of elimination, right, I started going to sleep earlier.

69
00:04:40.750 --> 00:04:43.730
My sleep wasn't very good. I started to, you know,

70
00:04:43.750 --> 00:04:46.629
pay attention to what I was eating, but I always

71
00:04:47.009 --> 00:04:51.259
ate healthy anyways. I was exercising, so that wasn't, you know,

72
00:04:51.279 --> 00:04:52.819
like all the things I was doing, I was doing

73
00:04:52.839 --> 00:04:56.699
all the right things. And I had known somebody that

74
00:04:56.860 --> 00:05:00.389
had gone through building biology before me. And that's when

75
00:05:00.410 --> 00:05:05.350
it started to click. Maybe it's my home. Yeah. That's,

76
00:05:05.560 --> 00:05:09.310
that's basically how I, you know, that's, that's how I

77
00:05:09.360 --> 00:05:10.899
found it. Cause I don't know.

78
00:05:10.779 --> 00:05:14.120
If I've ever really, I mean, obviously I, in my

79
00:05:14.160 --> 00:05:17.500
life and the different homes I've owned and the different,

80
00:05:17.819 --> 00:05:20.720
you know, when I've done real estate, you have like

81
00:05:20.759 --> 00:05:26.709
a home inspector, but that is not this. What is

82
00:05:26.829 --> 00:05:29.370
a building biology expert?

83
00:05:31.250 --> 00:05:34.970
So building biology, so just to give a little history,

84
00:05:35.029 --> 00:05:38.529
building biology, it actually started after World War II in Germany.

85
00:05:39.389 --> 00:05:42.230
And what happened is when they started doing the rebuild for,

86
00:05:42.269 --> 00:05:44.930
you know, all the buildings and everything, they started using

87
00:05:45.230 --> 00:05:50.009
prefabricated materials. And, right, so now you're building these buildings

88
00:05:50.069 --> 00:05:52.990
that are, they have a tighter building envelope, you know,

89
00:05:53.029 --> 00:05:56.629
so it's not quite so drafty and everything. And you

90
00:05:56.670 --> 00:06:00.529
have all of these prefab materials that are off-gassing. They're

91
00:06:00.569 --> 00:06:03.589
not off-gassing outside because now you have these buildings that are,

92
00:06:03.610 --> 00:06:06.269
you know, they're not quite so drafty anymore. And people

93
00:06:06.310 --> 00:06:12.029
started getting sick. So that's, that's basically, that's how it started.

94
00:06:12.990 --> 00:06:16.620
And that's how I, that's how I came, you know,

95
00:06:16.779 --> 00:06:21.959
into becoming a building biology consultant because the whole, the

96
00:06:22.000 --> 00:06:26.649
whole idea is that the building and everything in there,

97
00:06:27.529 --> 00:06:30.290
you know, it's, it supports your health. It shouldn't make

98
00:06:30.310 --> 00:06:30.689
you sick.

99
00:06:32.410 --> 00:06:35.920
Well, if someone's experiencing brain fog or anxiety or any

100
00:06:35.939 --> 00:06:39.240
of these things like what you were describing, how do

101
00:06:39.259 --> 00:06:42.839
they know if it's them or how would they even

102
00:06:42.959 --> 00:06:46.420
start to wonder, is there something about my home that's

103
00:06:46.459 --> 00:06:46.899
doing this?

104
00:06:48.790 --> 00:06:53.029
That is actually very common because most people don't know.

105
00:06:54.449 --> 00:06:57.230
You start doing the same things that I did and

106
00:06:57.329 --> 00:06:59.870
I see this in my clients too. all the time

107
00:07:00.029 --> 00:07:03.550
where they maybe, you know, maybe they've had, cause I most,

108
00:07:03.829 --> 00:07:06.120
I work mostly with women, but maybe they've had something

109
00:07:06.139 --> 00:07:10.199
in the past and they started to, you know, have

110
00:07:10.240 --> 00:07:13.220
some mystery symptoms and they go down all of these

111
00:07:13.300 --> 00:07:17.750
rabbit holes and then they try all these things. And

112
00:07:17.810 --> 00:07:21.370
then the home comes up on the radar somehow. And

113
00:07:21.389 --> 00:07:25.230
it could be they're searching or it could be, you know,

114
00:07:25.250 --> 00:07:27.129
when you're, when you're dealing with things like this, a

115
00:07:27.189 --> 00:07:30.149
lot of times it's, You're talking to a friend or

116
00:07:30.189 --> 00:07:34.250
you're talking to your hairstylist or something kind of random

117
00:07:34.269 --> 00:07:37.069
where it's, oh, you know, I know somebody that had

118
00:07:37.230 --> 00:07:40.920
something that they couldn't figure out. And, you know, they

119
00:07:40.949 --> 00:07:44.040
went to a naturopath or a functional medicine doctor or,

120
00:07:44.060 --> 00:07:47.879
you know, there was something in their home or, you know,

121
00:07:48.339 --> 00:07:52.379
something where they kind of... the back door, but it's like,

122
00:07:52.399 --> 00:07:54.170
you have to kind of go down like the secret

123
00:07:54.269 --> 00:07:58.089
alleyway to find the back door. It's not, it's not

124
00:07:58.149 --> 00:08:00.610
top of mind for, you know, most people.

125
00:08:01.990 --> 00:08:05.939
Well, it seems like a lot of times there's, there's

126
00:08:05.949 --> 00:08:08.420
a lot of people that will get dismissed by doctors.

127
00:08:09.360 --> 00:08:09.920
Absolutely.

128
00:08:11.339 --> 00:08:15.139
Oh yeah. I've had that, you know, and so that's

129
00:08:15.240 --> 00:08:16.480
gotta be frustrating.

130
00:08:17.579 --> 00:08:19.990
It is because we all, you know, we all know,

131
00:08:20.759 --> 00:08:23.819
deep inside, you know, something doesn't feel right. This isn't,

132
00:08:24.540 --> 00:08:27.649
this isn't adding up. Why, you know, if I, it's

133
00:08:27.689 --> 00:08:30.829
something that, you know, if you, if you have symptoms, right?

134
00:08:30.850 --> 00:08:33.929
Like I'm sure that you know what your symptoms are

135
00:08:34.350 --> 00:08:37.129
when you're stressed or when you're tired or right when

136
00:08:37.149 --> 00:08:40.570
you get sick. And so when things, when things show

137
00:08:40.669 --> 00:08:45.149
up unexpectedly and you can't figure out really what it is,

138
00:08:45.220 --> 00:08:48.440
cause it doesn't fit into any of those buckets, you know,

139
00:08:49.440 --> 00:08:53.779
you know, your body, your, better than anybody and a

140
00:08:54.000 --> 00:08:57.879
lot of times you know unless a practitioner is is

141
00:08:58.080 --> 00:09:02.409
educated on environmental medicine which is looking at your environment

142
00:09:03.269 --> 00:09:08.100
exactly and a lot of them aren't They might ask something,

143
00:09:08.379 --> 00:09:12.159
you know, about, you know, mold or, you know, have

144
00:09:12.200 --> 00:09:14.279
you had mold in the house? Have you been exposed

145
00:09:14.299 --> 00:09:18.679
to mold? But there isn't this very deep knowledge that,

146
00:09:19.019 --> 00:09:22.340
you know, you typically need to be able to dive

147
00:09:22.379 --> 00:09:24.740
deeper and start looking for things. Right.

148
00:09:26.220 --> 00:09:29.860
Well, what are the most common symptoms then? If the

149
00:09:30.039 --> 00:09:37.299
house is off-gassing something, right? Right. What are the most

150
00:09:37.350 --> 00:09:41.169
common symptoms you see in people whose homes are making

151
00:09:41.210 --> 00:09:41.929
them sick then?

152
00:09:42.850 --> 00:09:50.669
You know, it really depends. And here's why, because we

153
00:09:50.730 --> 00:09:55.889
all have different levels of health. So depending on how

154
00:09:56.070 --> 00:10:00.039
strong and robust your immune system is, and then what you...

155
00:10:00.100 --> 00:10:04.759
are personally sensitive to. So it could be something where

156
00:10:04.899 --> 00:10:11.620
it could be sinus issues, right? It could be allergy-like

157
00:10:12.120 --> 00:10:14.860
symptoms where, you know, that could be sinus. It could

158
00:10:14.879 --> 00:10:21.580
be itchy eyes. It could be headaches. It could be breathing,

159
00:10:22.159 --> 00:10:27.820
you know. And then there's other, you know, chest pains

160
00:10:28.159 --> 00:10:32.669
or brain fog or, gosh, I just feel so tired

161
00:10:32.690 --> 00:10:35.009
and I don't understand why I'm so tired. You know,

162
00:10:35.029 --> 00:10:38.730
I go to bed early or, you know, I'm not

163
00:10:38.769 --> 00:10:41.370
getting good sleep because I wake up and I feel

164
00:10:41.389 --> 00:10:43.549
like I'm not awake. I want to sleep for another

165
00:10:43.570 --> 00:10:47.330
hour or two. So a lot of these symptoms are

166
00:10:47.610 --> 00:10:52.740
so easy to just dismiss on something like work stress

167
00:10:53.240 --> 00:10:55.879
or things going on with the family or just being,

168
00:10:55.899 --> 00:10:59.039
you know, busy because they're very, a lot of times

169
00:10:59.059 --> 00:11:01.840
they're very common, you know, everyday things. And so when

170
00:11:01.860 --> 00:11:04.850
you go to your practitioner, they don't really know what

171
00:11:04.870 --> 00:11:06.450
to do with you. Right.

172
00:11:07.710 --> 00:11:12.889
Well, what, what then, so you see people having all

173
00:11:12.929 --> 00:11:15.669
these things and nobody can figure out where it's coming from.

174
00:11:16.539 --> 00:11:21.350
What are the most common sources of toxins in today's homes?

175
00:11:22.110 --> 00:11:24.549
And I see a lot of building, new building going

176
00:11:24.649 --> 00:11:29.250
on all over the place. What do we need to

177
00:11:29.289 --> 00:11:31.370
look out for that are sources of toxins?

178
00:11:32.210 --> 00:11:37.210
Well, okay, so if it's a new house, so when

179
00:11:37.289 --> 00:11:39.740
I started to really get sick, it was after I

180
00:11:39.820 --> 00:11:43.159
bought my house and it was a brand new townhouse.

181
00:11:44.100 --> 00:11:47.399
because you know, you're, you're from the Washington area. So,

182
00:11:47.740 --> 00:11:50.700
you know, it's, it's humid and it's damp. It doesn't

183
00:11:50.840 --> 00:11:54.950
freeze too much. So we get lots of mold here. Yeah.

184
00:11:55.419 --> 00:11:57.809
State where I am, it's more of a desert. So

185
00:11:57.850 --> 00:12:00.009
there's different issues. That's more dust.

186
00:12:00.970 --> 00:12:02.309
Exactly. Exactly.

187
00:12:02.750 --> 00:12:06.529
But where you are, it could be more mold.

188
00:12:07.409 --> 00:12:11.870
So much mold here. It's like a sponge. Um, So,

189
00:12:11.909 --> 00:12:13.929
and so anyhow, so when I, so for me, when

190
00:12:13.950 --> 00:12:15.730
I bought my townhouse, you know, it was brand, it

191
00:12:15.750 --> 00:12:18.250
was brand new and it was built green. So it's

192
00:12:18.309 --> 00:12:20.169
one of the first, you know, the first green builders

193
00:12:20.309 --> 00:12:21.169
in the area.

194
00:12:21.250 --> 00:12:21.769
Perfect.

195
00:12:22.590 --> 00:12:24.769
That's what I was thinking. Cause I did not want

196
00:12:24.789 --> 00:12:27.049
to have to, you know, deal with all the things that,

197
00:12:27.090 --> 00:12:31.090
you know, come with older homes. Yeah. And here's the

198
00:12:31.149 --> 00:12:35.929
thing with, with new houses, they're new. So think of

199
00:12:35.970 --> 00:12:39.970
what it takes to build a house. It's off-gassing everything.

200
00:12:40.309 --> 00:12:44.570
You know, the floor finishes. You've got insulation. You've got drywall.

201
00:12:44.590 --> 00:12:49.330
You've got paint. You've got carpet. I did not have carpet.

202
00:12:50.649 --> 00:12:55.049
But I had everything else. Everything else. And, yeah, and

203
00:12:55.110 --> 00:12:58.509
so what happens for the first 18 months, that's typically

204
00:12:58.549 --> 00:13:03.000
the most toxic time for a brand-new home because it's off-gassing.

205
00:13:03.019 --> 00:13:05.779
Because you have a really tight building envelope, and guess what,

206
00:13:05.820 --> 00:13:09.120
you know, it off-gases to the inside, not so much,

207
00:13:09.320 --> 00:13:11.639
you know, it goes to the outside, but we're inside.

208
00:13:11.659 --> 00:13:14.259
Especially if it's cold, then all the windows are closed.

209
00:13:14.919 --> 00:13:19.000
Exactly. Exactly. And so when I, you know, when I

210
00:13:19.039 --> 00:13:22.100
went through training and everything and I went and looked back,

211
00:13:22.179 --> 00:13:26.340
I went, Oh my gosh, my symptoms, they started to

212
00:13:26.419 --> 00:13:29.220
nosedive about a starting about a year and a half

213
00:13:29.820 --> 00:13:35.720
after I moved into my house, it was almost like clockwork. And, um,

214
00:13:36.120 --> 00:13:40.600
So that's kind of one of the misperceptions, I guess

215
00:13:40.620 --> 00:13:43.860
you could say, about new homes is that, you know,

216
00:13:44.019 --> 00:13:50.759
unless you're consciously giving direction to use healthier materials, you know,

217
00:13:50.980 --> 00:13:53.000
it's going to be off-gassing for the first year and

218
00:13:53.019 --> 00:13:54.649
a half that you're there.

219
00:13:56.129 --> 00:13:59.409
Well, you're making me wonder then, well, what about older

220
00:13:59.470 --> 00:14:04.009
homes then? Are older homes more at risk? I'm thinking

221
00:14:04.149 --> 00:14:05.629
from what you just said....

222
00:14:07.080 --> 00:14:09.659
Yeah, they both have their own different sets of problems

223
00:14:09.720 --> 00:14:14.220
for different reasons. So, right, so with the older homes,

224
00:14:14.620 --> 00:14:18.070
depending on when they were built, you could have wiring issues.

225
00:14:19.090 --> 00:14:21.889
You could have, because they're older, right, so they've settled

226
00:14:21.909 --> 00:14:25.009
a little bit. There's, right, so there's more of a

227
00:14:25.049 --> 00:14:27.929
chance that there's going to be something in the attic

228
00:14:27.950 --> 00:14:30.210
or the crawl space, right? The house is kind of settled,

229
00:14:30.269 --> 00:14:34.389
and maybe there's air getting in. If air gets in, right, then...

230
00:14:35.210 --> 00:14:37.370
it could be damp air, right? It could be rain,

231
00:14:37.470 --> 00:14:40.549
could be water. Then you're more prone to things, you know,

232
00:14:40.610 --> 00:14:46.190
like mold situations. Or then you have, you know, wiring

233
00:14:46.269 --> 00:14:49.460
issues too. And then if you have a, you know,

234
00:14:49.620 --> 00:14:54.559
if you bought a home that is built, say like pre-1979, 1978,

235
00:14:54.559 --> 00:14:59.740
then you could potentially, right? Then you potentially get into

236
00:14:59.759 --> 00:15:04.039
lead and asbestos and, you know, other things like that.

237
00:15:04.580 --> 00:15:07.519
Come up with that all the time. I've seen that many,

238
00:15:07.539 --> 00:15:14.110
many times. We have the most recent building, when we

239
00:15:14.169 --> 00:15:19.340
downsized and we renovated an old farmhouse, we had a

240
00:15:19.440 --> 00:15:23.970
whole lead remediation thing that we had to do. It

241
00:15:24.009 --> 00:15:27.350
was ridiculous. It was just, but we were wearing masks

242
00:15:27.470 --> 00:15:28.129
and yeah.

243
00:15:28.190 --> 00:15:31.029
The whole thing. Right. So was it, was it like

244
00:15:31.090 --> 00:15:34.340
lead paint or lead? They actually had this. Okay.

245
00:15:34.840 --> 00:15:37.700
And it was also, we were taking down the ceiling and.

246
00:15:37.720 --> 00:15:38.860
Okay.

247
00:15:39.379 --> 00:15:43.039
All the, the batting that was coming out of this anyway. Yeah.

248
00:15:43.120 --> 00:15:44.600
It had to be tested.

249
00:15:45.000 --> 00:15:48.009
And, and yeah, we had a big, and I went, oh, great.

250
00:15:48.649 --> 00:15:54.269
We're getting into a whole bunch of toxic crap.

251
00:15:54.929 --> 00:15:55.490
Right, right.

252
00:15:55.710 --> 00:15:58.220
So we're in N95 masks and the whole thing.

253
00:15:58.269 --> 00:16:04.600
Yep, yep, yep. And then, yeah, I've heard and seen

254
00:16:04.620 --> 00:16:05.019
a lot.

255
00:16:05.580 --> 00:16:08.759
Right. And so it's great. I mean, we took this

256
00:16:08.980 --> 00:16:12.460
old farmhouse down to the studs and then completely reimagined

257
00:16:12.500 --> 00:16:16.360
it into a new place. But wow. Yeah, because it

258
00:16:16.399 --> 00:16:19.110
was an old farmhouse. We had all those issues.

259
00:16:19.649 --> 00:16:21.000
We have lots of stuff, yep.

260
00:16:21.539 --> 00:16:27.399
What role does furniture and carpeting and renovation materials play

261
00:16:27.440 --> 00:16:32.629
in this then? I mean, I'm thinking, you know, like

262
00:16:32.649 --> 00:16:38.470
the experience that we were going through. One other thing,

263
00:16:38.509 --> 00:16:42.080
we just, the other thing I'm thinking of is when

264
00:16:42.100 --> 00:16:44.720
it comes to furniture, we got a new couch recently.

265
00:16:45.179 --> 00:16:46.960
And the very, you know, I sit down on that

266
00:16:47.039 --> 00:16:52.120
couch and it's like, you can smell, it's just smells.

267
00:16:53.360 --> 00:16:56.059
You know, I'm just wondering about off casting when I'm

268
00:16:56.100 --> 00:16:57.980
sitting on this brand new couch.

269
00:16:58.799 --> 00:17:02.860
Yep. That would be a very correct assumption because you're

270
00:17:02.879 --> 00:17:04.349
going to have fire retardant in there.

271
00:17:05.529 --> 00:17:05.869
Yes.

272
00:17:06.480 --> 00:17:09.660
And then you're going to have whatever. depends on what

273
00:17:09.700 --> 00:17:10.920
kind of fabric it is.

274
00:17:10.980 --> 00:17:11.140
Right.

275
00:17:11.180 --> 00:17:13.339
So what kind of finishes on the fabric, what is

276
00:17:13.519 --> 00:17:16.220
in the fabric itself? And that's, you know, that's where

277
00:17:16.240 --> 00:17:18.819
you're going to take a look at the tech specs. So,

278
00:17:18.839 --> 00:17:22.079
you know, where the, they list out everything that is used,

279
00:17:22.480 --> 00:17:24.809
you know, to build it. Right.

280
00:17:24.869 --> 00:17:30.009
So, so what do you, what, so what are you

281
00:17:30.029 --> 00:17:33.829
going to do about this is like air quality. Is there, um,

282
00:17:35.940 --> 00:17:41.049
Air quality inside a home that's very tightly built is

283
00:17:41.109 --> 00:17:44.049
not going to be the same as outside. So is

284
00:17:44.190 --> 00:17:47.369
that how you start fixing this?

285
00:17:49.859 --> 00:17:53.920
You can, for sure. So tight building envelopes, absolutely. You

286
00:17:53.980 --> 00:17:54.440
have to have.

287
00:17:58.009 --> 00:17:59.990
You need to have some sort of circulation, but you

288
00:18:00.009 --> 00:18:04.369
also need to, you know, open windows and let all

289
00:18:04.390 --> 00:18:08.099
of those toxic fumes have a way to get out

290
00:18:08.700 --> 00:18:13.160
for sure. Right. And, you know, there's the challenging thing

291
00:18:13.220 --> 00:18:16.940
with the gases, like, you know, formaldehyde, you know, things,

292
00:18:17.640 --> 00:18:20.880
or let's say you've got a, like a gas stove or,

293
00:18:20.920 --> 00:18:25.569
you know, fireplace, things like that. Um, the, a lot

294
00:18:25.589 --> 00:18:29.240
of times the air, the air purifiers are not, they're just,

295
00:18:29.259 --> 00:18:33.779
they're really designed to capture particles and the fumes or

296
00:18:33.799 --> 00:18:37.980
the VOCs, they're much, much smaller. They're, they're harder to capture.

297
00:18:38.500 --> 00:18:41.670
So purifiers are good, but you know, if you're, and

298
00:18:41.750 --> 00:18:44.930
I know you're in Tri-Cities, so it's probably fine, but

299
00:18:44.950 --> 00:18:48.430
you're not in a huge metropolitan city where the pollution

300
00:18:48.490 --> 00:18:50.589
is so bad, you wouldn't want to open your windows.

301
00:18:51.150 --> 00:18:51.349
Right.

302
00:18:51.509 --> 00:18:54.980
So, For you, I would say, yeah, open up the windows.

303
00:18:57.400 --> 00:19:00.900
If you have new things, yeah, let it off-gas naturally

304
00:19:00.960 --> 00:19:01.319
like that.

305
00:19:01.759 --> 00:19:05.750
So is there a way for people to tell what's

306
00:19:05.829 --> 00:19:09.970
actually affecting them in their own home?

307
00:19:10.730 --> 00:19:14.880
It's pretty hard. And here's why. And I was just

308
00:19:14.910 --> 00:19:19.420
talking about this to a colleague of mine. If you're

309
00:19:19.480 --> 00:19:21.059
sensitive to things, so let's say.

310
00:19:22.779 --> 00:19:25.079
Let's say you've had some health issues in the past

311
00:19:25.160 --> 00:19:30.680
and you've developed sensitivities. And I'm in that category, obviously.

312
00:19:31.160 --> 00:19:36.079
So I can tell when something is affecting me. And

313
00:19:36.140 --> 00:19:39.119
a lot of people that have had sensitivities typically can.

314
00:19:39.960 --> 00:19:44.170
And then there are people who just, they just don't

315
00:19:44.309 --> 00:19:49.910
feel anything and they're still being impacted. So you can,

316
00:19:50.359 --> 00:19:53.660
if unless you're sensitive you can't it's really hard to

317
00:19:53.700 --> 00:19:57.380
really quote unquote feel anything and so and so that's

318
00:19:57.400 --> 00:20:00.910
where you know just having a knowledge about this um

319
00:20:01.470 --> 00:20:05.289
is is very helpful do.

320
00:20:04.049 --> 00:20:06.529
You start checking things off a list i mean do

321
00:20:06.549 --> 00:20:12.789
you start just checking one thing at a time Because

322
00:20:13.269 --> 00:20:17.049
you're going in to help somebody who feels like something's

323
00:20:17.089 --> 00:20:19.950
going on with their home. What are you going to do?

324
00:20:20.049 --> 00:20:21.069
Are you going to just start?

325
00:20:25.519 --> 00:20:29.819
Well, you basically take a look around everything that could

326
00:20:29.859 --> 00:20:30.839
be affecting you.

327
00:20:31.900 --> 00:20:32.079
Right.

328
00:20:32.099 --> 00:20:35.480
So what, what, what tends to happen a lot is people,

329
00:20:36.119 --> 00:20:39.309
you know, like you'll read something about like you were

330
00:20:39.329 --> 00:20:41.289
just saying air. Oh my gosh, maybe I should start

331
00:20:41.309 --> 00:20:44.109
learning about my air quality. So you're going to open

332
00:20:44.150 --> 00:20:48.549
up your browser and start searching for air quality, learning

333
00:20:48.589 --> 00:20:51.890
all about it. You'll have, you know, let's say between

334
00:20:51.970 --> 00:20:55.059
five and 10 tabs open as you start looking at things.

335
00:20:55.119 --> 00:20:57.700
Cause then it'll, Oh, I didn't know about this. Okay.

336
00:20:57.740 --> 00:20:59.519
Let me check this out. Okay. I'll read that later.

337
00:20:59.539 --> 00:21:02.740
Right. I get overwhelmed because I get too many things

338
00:21:03.640 --> 00:21:07.839
at the same time. What should I be paying attention to?

339
00:21:08.460 --> 00:21:11.980
Exactly. And that's typically what happens to most people is

340
00:21:12.019 --> 00:21:15.519
you start looking at one thing and you're focused on air.

341
00:21:16.009 --> 00:21:20.910
But it's really just the... it's really the sum of everything, right?

342
00:21:21.130 --> 00:21:27.440
It's air, it's water, it's your electromagnetics or your electronic devices.

343
00:21:28.039 --> 00:21:30.980
And then, you know, building materials and furniture and things

344
00:21:31.019 --> 00:21:36.430
like that. So it's looking at everything in your house.

345
00:21:37.369 --> 00:21:41.099
So that way, you know, let's say for you, you're

346
00:21:41.119 --> 00:21:43.980
really focused on air, right? I'm just using that as

347
00:21:44.000 --> 00:21:46.160
an example because you brought it up. So you're looking

348
00:21:46.220 --> 00:21:50.779
at air and you're focused on air, but really maybe

349
00:21:50.799 --> 00:21:55.000
you should be paying attention to water, right? So like, so,

350
00:21:55.380 --> 00:21:57.420
and I'm just making this up. So let's say that you,

351
00:21:58.039 --> 00:22:01.420
you know, since you're out in tri-cities, it's probably, you know,

352
00:22:01.440 --> 00:22:02.309
it's not a big city. It's not a big city.

353
00:22:02.990 --> 00:22:04.299
I have tested it before.

354
00:22:04.319 --> 00:22:08.200
Okay. Let's say you had it, right? So you're, you're,

355
00:22:08.359 --> 00:22:11.180
you're out, you're on a well or, you know, something

356
00:22:11.200 --> 00:22:12.940
where there's a lot of, you know, you said you're

357
00:22:12.960 --> 00:22:16.000
on a farm, right? So what can happen with farms

358
00:22:16.259 --> 00:22:20.279
is you have lots of, you know, pesticides and things

359
00:22:20.359 --> 00:22:23.240
like that because of all the farms. So you're going

360
00:22:23.259 --> 00:22:26.000
to have, you know, potentially more of those types of

361
00:22:26.059 --> 00:22:31.369
chemicals that are in the soil. So, um, That's an

362
00:22:31.400 --> 00:22:33.789
example of, you know, you want to look at everything

363
00:22:33.829 --> 00:22:35.930
because if you get focused just on one thing, it's

364
00:22:36.069 --> 00:22:38.970
easy to just, boom, go down that rabbit hole. Right.

365
00:22:39.529 --> 00:22:43.549
When actually this other thing over here is really, you know,

366
00:22:43.569 --> 00:22:45.589
going to be the thing that you're going to want

367
00:22:45.609 --> 00:22:46.690
to take a look at closer.

368
00:22:49.029 --> 00:22:54.420
We're going to leave this on a cliffhanger because we're

369
00:22:54.460 --> 00:22:56.720
not going to get into what happened today, but we

370
00:22:56.960 --> 00:23:00.380
are out of time right now. This is going to

371
00:23:00.420 --> 00:23:03.619
be a part one and part two. So the next

372
00:23:03.740 --> 00:23:09.180
time we're going to immediately get into what to check.

373
00:23:10.019 --> 00:23:14.700
And we're especially going to spend time on your three-step approach, right?

374
00:23:15.480 --> 00:23:16.359
And what the.

375
00:23:16.569 --> 00:23:20.930
Action steps are. So watch for those, anyone that's listening

376
00:23:20.970 --> 00:23:24.190
and going, what, they're already done? Yeah, right now we

377
00:23:24.230 --> 00:23:26.960
have to be done because we're out of time. But

378
00:23:27.420 --> 00:23:29.440
we are going to get into this. So if you

379
00:23:29.519 --> 00:23:31.819
know that there's a part two coming up, watch for

380
00:23:31.859 --> 00:23:35.640
that so that you can just continue on this conversation

381
00:23:35.880 --> 00:23:40.680
about what the three-step approach is, how to bring this home,

382
00:23:40.920 --> 00:23:44.089
so to speak, and the action steps that we can take.

383
00:23:45.349 --> 00:23:48.630
So with that, is there anything else for today's discussion

384
00:23:48.950 --> 00:23:51.130
that you want to wrap this up with?

385
00:23:53.009 --> 00:23:57.700
I would say do not freak out. Because what happens,

386
00:23:57.880 --> 00:24:01.730
and I did this too, right? You, you get, this

387
00:24:01.769 --> 00:24:03.569
gets on your radar and you go, Ooh, I want

388
00:24:03.589 --> 00:24:05.569
to go check this out. And then you go, Oh

389
00:24:05.589 --> 00:24:07.509
my gosh, my house is going to kill me. So

390
00:24:07.529 --> 00:24:11.329
there's no perfect house and don't, and don't panic. And

391
00:24:11.369 --> 00:24:13.410
we'll get into the rest of, you know, kind of the,

392
00:24:14.200 --> 00:24:16.839
the how to's and the process and everything. So I just,

393
00:24:17.519 --> 00:24:19.279
I don't want people to feel like, Oh my gosh,

394
00:24:19.319 --> 00:24:22.539
you know, and, and panic. All houses have their own

395
00:24:22.579 --> 00:24:25.099
set of problems. Yes. Yes.

396
00:24:25.980 --> 00:24:29.900

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

Listen On

Recent Episodes