The Barrel Effect

Have you heard of the barrel effect?

It’s an analogy used in the holistic health community, as it helps us describe how illness can happen to our clients. Illness isn’t just a result of a few simple factors, like genetics. Genes load the gun, but it's our diet, and exposures that pull the trigger. It is often a result of several or even hundreds of compounding factors that all work together to support disease.

The barrel effect is a very simplistic way of generalizing how our bodies respond to toxins and can lead to disease.

Consider your body as a barrel. When you are first conceived, your barrel is just about empty. This “clean slate” could be argued as we know that toxins do pass through the umbilical cord (it has been detected that over 287 chemicals have been detected in umbilical cord blood) and into the placenta, but the idea is you have been exposed to fewer chemicals and toxins than you would living out in the world.

Now, we are all born with a barrel. Some of us have larger barrels than others. Unfortunately, we don’t know how big our barrel is until it begins to overflow and disease presents itself.

Environmental toxins, poor diet, pollution, electromagnetic fields, medication and drugs, viruses and pathogens, mental and emotional stress – all of these fill up our barrel.

When our barrel is full, it begins to overflow and we exhibit symptoms of disease or illness. The goal is to avoid filling up our barrel by reducing our exposure to these toxins --- giving our body a break from the constant barage of trying to detox and allow our body to heal.

Being mindful of the products we bring into our home is the first step. Avoiding scull + cross bone labels is vital. With windows sealed shut in the winter to conserve heat + in the summer to hold in cool air conditioned air, these toxins build up to higher + higher levels. Use plant based cleaners - be mindful of green-washed brands (see 3 last slides above), as many are misleading + deceiving.

Link in instagram profile for quick links to my favourite clean bundles. Simple swaps over time matter. Check out my Clean Home instagram highlight to learn more about safe, effective + economical swaps my family uses.