A Stealthy Cat, the Fall and a Toxic Awakening

It all started with a stealthy cat nicknamed Cato who forever changed my life. Most days, I’m grateful for the jolt she gave me. Of course, she is oblivious to the new me because she’s focused on meal times and sleeping. But I’ve changed.

Here’s the story.

The Stealth Cat – Just Like Cato

Five years ago, we adopted a rescue cat to try to fill the gap our former cat had left. We named her Zoey. And, she’s very cute.

She does have one bad (really bad) habit though. It’s a game she likes to play and it reminds me of the Pink Panther movies where Inspector Clouseau gets ambushed by Cato.

Do you remember these scenes? Here’s one of my favorites.

I was also carrying groceries when it happened…

The Fall — the Crunch was the Worst Part

Anyway, Zoey loves to ambush us which many times ends up in one of us tripping. Usually, it’s no big deal, but one day Zoey tripped me on the stairs.

I recall being airborne and then the crunch of my head on the floor.

She looks pretty innocent, right?

The concussion symptoms lasted for months, and I just kept getting sicker. In hindsight, I must admit that I had only been keeping my head above water health-wise before the fall, so it’s really no wonder that my body gave up on me. It was the tipping point.

And, I was headed down.

I won’t bore you with all of my symptoms, aches, pains and anxieties mainly because I don’t want to relive it. Let’s just say that I was chronically fatigued and developed chemical sensitivities.

Luckily, I found a great physician to help me. Together, we worked on improving the following items: diet, sleep, exercise, stress and reducing environmental toxins.

An Awakening to Toxic Household Chemicals

She advised me to start by getting rid of toxic chemicals in my home, something I had given little or no thought to before. My first reaction was one of disbelief. Could household toxins really be that bad? I listened and decided she was right.

She told me to buy a drinking water filter, to get an air filter, and to change to “safe”, non-toxic cleaning products. She also advised me to change to an organic diet and to try to eat only “clean” foods.

With my husband’s help, we started down this path to pure living and a number of things emerged. We discovered there are dangerous chemicals hiding in many of the everyday products we used and took for granted as being safe, which both amazed and scared us.

What Became Crystal Clear – It’s Up to You

It also became clear that government agencies I thought were tasked with making sure consumer products are safe really are not doing their job. That finding “safe” and effective products that actually do what they say they will do can be a real challenge.

And, it’s up to you to figure this out.

I learned how difficult it was to find accurate information about product safety and effectiveness.

Not only is there a lot of false and misleading information out there, but in many cases companies create “independent” web sites to declare their products as “best”.

We also realized just reading the label on many products does not mean they are free of harmful chemicals as companies are not required to list on their labels all the ingredients.

Really?

Hard to believe, right?

As we continued to do more and more research eventually we discovered better, more truthful and accurate information. We found sites like EWG, discovered NSF certification, learned about “green washing”, and realized that “all natural” does not mean much if anything.

We also realized that we had made a lot of “bad” choices along the way thinking we were buying safe and effective products.

Not only was this discouraging, but it was expensive to realize the water filter you bought does not do what it claims, so you need to replace it.

The “best” air filter you bought might be good at removing particles (HEPA) but not good at removing VOC’s (carbon), and that the one you now know you need to buy actually cost less than the one you bought the first time.

Once I regained my health, my husband and I came up with the idea of Pure Living Space as a way to share what we had learned and to help other people who might be going through these same challenges to find products that truly are safe, free of harmful chemicals, and actually do what they claim.

Sound Advice & It’s NOT All or Nothing

Not only do we want to offer sound advice and guidance, but we also want be a resource for truly safe and effective products that you can trust.

Why trust us? Because I’m an analyst and researcher at heart and a fanatic about accuracy and completeness. We only recommend products that we’re sure are safe and effective. And, we only share articles that are well-researched with science behind the claims.

At Pure Living Space, we believe that it’s NOT all or nothing! Any step that you take toward a less toxic home will contribute to your good health. And, the information we share is critical to your health.

We want Pure Living Space to help you live healthier at home, without a lot of effort on your part. And, we want you to feel confident about the quality of information and products Pure Living Space offers.

Ready to start? Why not take the Challenge to create a healthier, less toxic home?

Sign up for our 12 week e-course. Each week, we’ll walk you through a different topic making it easier to understand the issues with a focus on small changes you can make that will improve your health.

You’ll be happy you did. Subscribers call it a “must read”. Get started today!

And, yes, I’m always on the lookout for another Cato ambush, but so far so good.

Please share!