Her book is endorsed by Deepak Chopra,Dr Jospeh Mercola and Ralph Nader, and her inexhaustible knowledge of the toxins around us have saved lives – including her own. Meet Beth Greer, AKA Super Natural Mom
Air pollution, unhealthy takeaways, intoxicating perfumes. We all know the bad stuff that can damage our health, don’t we? Scratch a little deeper below the surface, and you might be amazed at the toxins, chemicals and pollutants that exist in the everyday products, food stuffs and items that fill our homes.
With an ever-spiralling list of ingredients that are potentially life-changing, Beth Greer is an impassioned champion of toxin-free living. Her own life was, she believes, endangered and subsequently rescued by the removal of harmful everyday products from her environment.
“Just over a decade ago, right before my 50th birthday, I developed a pain in my shoulder,” Greer says. “I hadn’t sustained an injury but it got progressively worse and when I saw a chiropractor they recommended an MRI to see what was the cause. It revealed a mass in my chest the size of a tennis ball.
“I was in shock and disbelief, and thought, ‘How could this happen to me?’ I exercised, I ate what I considered to be a healthy diet, didn’t smoke and was generally well. A biopsy showed that the mass was benign but I saw three different surgeons, each of whom wanted to operate from different points of my body to remove the growth.”
Greer had coincidentally booked a programme at the holistic healing Optimum Health Institute in San Diego. Within three days of arriving, she felt the pain in her chest starting to dissipate, and she no longer needed pills to sleep.
“I remember pondering what it was that I had been eating and drinking,” she says. “I realised I was eating processed food, so I resolved to eat real, natural food that contained no product labels, and I started feeling better.
“I then thought what else could I do to simplify my environment. I started to look at the make-up and lotions I was putting on my skin, and everyday products like toothpaste and deodorant. I was astounded by the long list of ingredients in each.
“In my kitchen, I studied the labels of household cleaners and couldn’t believe what I saw – Windex, an everyday cleaner, had a precautionary statement on it. After that I looked more widely at my home and the electro magnetic fields that existed in it, and slowly cleaned up my environment.
“Quickly I noticed I was feeling much better and the pain in my chest was gone. A scan revealed that the tumour had disappeared and it was an epiphany to me that our bodies are actually excellent at self-healing. Unwittingly I had exposed my body to so much for so long, and we take it for granted that the products that are on sale on our shelves are safe.
Home improvement
Greer and her husband ran an adult education company, The Learning Annex, but her background was in journalism, and she began to write a column for the San Francisco Chronicle. In 2009, Rodale published her first book, Super Natural Home, which highlighted how chemicals in everyday items like food, beauty products, household cleaners, bedding and electronics make us sick.
With a Huffington Post column, Greer continues to educate how simple changes can immediately improve our health. “One of my clients suffered from a chronic cough,” explains Greer.
“Her doctor had prescribed inhalers and codeine but the cough wouldn’t shift. When I met her and looked at her living environment, there were 20 scented candles in her bedroom.
“I explained that they were toxic to her system and she should get rid of them. At first she refused, saying the candles were part of her relaxing ritual as she bathed and prepared for bed. Three days later, after removing the candles, she called and said it was a miracle, and that her cough had disappeared. She hadn’t realised that the ‘pure smelling’ candles were loaded with toxins – in fact, fragrance is a generic description used by manufacturers and can contain up to 100 different toxic chemicals.”
Greer is on a mission to educate people on how they can reduce their exposure and improve their health. “We need to make positive choices,” says Greer. “Choose organic – strawberries, for example, are grown with pesticides which are injected into the root system, and drawn up into the plants’ flesh, so you can’t just wash off the chemicals.
“Don’t buy genetically modified food and reduce or eliminate food dyes from your diet – 30mg of artificial food colouring can create behavioural upset, and the average kid’s lunch of mac ‘n’ cheese, orange soda and a small bag of Skittles has around 100ml, so each day’s meal can make a big difference.
“Look at the ingredients in cosmetics – it’s a self-monitored industry so you need to be aware of what’s in a product. The world is a frightening place but when you are educated you have power and choice. Manufacturers will follow consumer demand, so it is up to us to make a difference for our own and our planet’s wellbeing.”
Beth Greer’s Super Natural Mom (supernaturalmom.com) moniker stems from her inexhaustible knowledge of what goes in to everyday products, and she shares these in her book, Super Natural Home.
(CTA) Visit The Best You to discover Beth Greer’s top tips for detoxing your environment.
