4 Ways to Improve Your Home’s Hygiene

The answer might surprise you...

Welcome to the Gut Honest Truth blog where a Certified Functional Medicine Practitioner gives you digestible information to tackle your chronic health concerns.

That's me, Katie Morra; and in this blog I'm going to walk you through practical ways to reduce your toxic burden at home — without fear-mongering or telling you to throw everything out and live in a bubble.

And as always, working one-on-one for your specific needs is always our top recommendation, check out our appointment options to get started with one of our licensed health care professionals today.

If you've been exploring functional medicine, you've probably already started looking at personal care products — cosmetics, deodorant, perfume. That's a great start. But have you thought about your home environment? You spend more time there than anywhere else — and your indoor microbiome, air quality, and water supply all have a meaningful impact on your gut health, hormone balance, and thyroid function.

The good news: small, intentional swaps make a real difference. Here's where to start.

1. Get Dirty — But Leave It Outside

One of the most effective ways to support microbial diversity is spending time outdoors in contact with soil. The hygiene hypothesis suggests that our modern obsession with sanitation has reduced the variety of microbes we're exposed to — and our immune systems are less resilient for it. Gardening, hiking, and outdoor activities support a healthy microbiome and help train the immune system to be less reactive to harmless substances.

That said — don't bring too much of it indoors.

Pro tip: Implement a no-shoes-inside policy. Shoes track in pesticides, heavy metals, and outdoor pollutants that accumulate on floors and get redistributed throughout your home.

2. Filter Your Air and Water

As environmental pollution continues to rise, air and water filtration have become less of a luxury and more of a baseline precaution.

Air: High-quality air purifiers eliminate airborne toxins, mold spores, VOCs, and particulates. Good options include the Air Doctor and Austin Air.

Water: Water is used for drinking, cooking, cleaning, and bathing — all potential routes of exposure. Start by looking up your local water quality report, then consider options like Berkey Filters, Clearly Filtered, or pH Prescription.

This is especially relevant if mold exposure is a concern — mold spores and mycotoxins circulate through HVAC systems and significantly impact gut and thyroid health.

3. Reduce Indoor Pollutants

Common indoor air pollutants most of us are regularly exposed to include:

• Mycotoxins (from mold)

• Volatile organic compounds (VOCs)

• Phthalates — synthetic fragrance, cosmetics, packaging

• Perfluorocarbons (PFCs) — Teflon, stain-resistant fabrics

• Flame retardants (PBDEs) — furniture and electronics

• Trihalomethanes — from chlorinated water

The main sources: paint, plastics, pesticides, cleaning products, candles, and furniture.

Practical steps:

• Minimize off-gassing — New furniture, mattresses, carpets, and paint all off-gas chemicals into your air — sometimes for months. Choose low-VOC or natural materials where possible and ventilate well.

• Replace HVAC filters regularly and consider a HEPA or charcoal air purifying unit.

• Swap cleaning products — Conventional cleaners are a significant source of indoor chemical exposure. Branch Basics is a non-toxic concentrate we recommend.

• Check your personal care products on the EWG Skin Deep database — it rates products by toxicity and makes swapping easy.

4. Get Some House Plants

Plants take in carbon dioxide and release oxygen through photosynthesis — naturally replenishing indoor air in a way no mechanical filtration system can. The microbes in plant soil also expose your immune system to diverse organisms in a gentle, beneficial way.

Plants worth considering: spider plant, ficus, English ivy, Chinese evergreen, aloe vera, bamboo palm, rubber plant, snake plant, Boston fern.

Pro tip: If you have pets or small children, verify plant safety before placing them within reach — some common houseplants are toxic to animals and kids.

Testing Your Toxic Burden

If you're dealing with persistent fatigue, gut issues, skin conditions, hormone imbalances, or hair loss that haven't responded to other interventions, total toxic burden testing is worth investigating.

At GHT we use a urine provocation test to identify what's accumulating in your body specifically — heavy metals, mycotoxins, and other environmental exposures. This gives us direct clues about what's most problematic in your environment and allows us to build a targeted detox support protocol alongside the lifestyle modifications above.

There's no shortage of fear-mongering online about environmental toxins. Our goal isn't to scare you — it's to give you practical, empowering steps to control what you can.

Schedule a free discovery call with our team here.