How To Health-Hack Your Home

Environmental health is one of the most important pillars in my book and in my life. But it’s also one of the most overlooked. In wellness, we tend to focus on what we eat, how we move, and which supplements we take. But the truth is, you can’t green smoothie your way out of a toxic home. And you certainly can’t heal in the same environment that made you sick. I learned this the hard way.

I grew up low-tox. Our home was clean, our food was real, and I’ve never been one for synthetic fragrance or synthetic-heavy products. But even after decades of doing “all the right things,” I still got sick. The missing piece? Mould. And the deeper problem? Toxic load, from the air we breathe, the water we drink and wash in, and the products we unknowingly absorb through our skin.

Toxic load is the cumulative burden your body carries from exposure to synthetic chemicals, mould, EMFs, poor air and water quality, and even psychological stress. Most of us are living with multiple layers of exposure — often in the very spaces we call safe. Leading a health-optimised lifestyle is not just about your diet. It’s also in considering the detergent on your clothes, the fragrance in your shampoo, the cookware in your kitchen, the microplastics in your containers, and the mould spores in your air conditioning. I have to stress: even the healthiest lifestyle can't compete with a toxic environment.

One of the most underestimated sources of toxic load is our personal care routine. As I state in my book, one study found women are exposed to an average of 168 unique chemical ingredients a day through personal care products — just under double that of men. While, of course, many of these ingredients are safe, many others, including parabens, phthalates, synthetic fragrance, are also increasingly being dubbed as endocrine disruptors or inflammatory triggers.

Let’s remember our skin is absorbent, so from deodorants and serums to shampoo and makeup, we’re often layering ingredient cocktails directly onto our largest organ. For people with chemical sensitivity like me, they’re not just irritating, they’re debilitating. So simplifying your skin and hair care is one of the most immediate ways to reduce the burden on your body.

Now, onto environment. Despite living low-tox, we found mould behind the walls and circulating through the air-con. The impact on my nervous system, hormones and immune health was profound. I developed chemical sensitivity, became reactive to the smallest triggers, and had to leave most of our belongings behind.

My recovery began by going deeper, not just clean living, but conscious living. Healing isn’t a single protocol; it’s an ecosystem. I started by testing for mould and working with professionals on proper remediation, installing a whole-house water filter, and using a dehumidifier to prevent mould regrowth. I switched to truly fragrance-free cleaning and body products, replaced cookware and food storage with cast iron, stainless steel, and glass to eliminate microplastics and forever chemicals, created EMF-free sleep zones, and decluttered my space while incorporating natural textures and air-purifying plants.

Low-Tox Tools That Support Healing

If you’re looking to make some lifestyle changes today, these are the tools I personally use or recommend to reduce toxic load in the home, on the skin, and in the air. They reflect the principles of environmental biohacking outlined in my book Biohack Me.

• Ausclimate dehumidifiers and HEPA air purifiers

• San-Air mould and bacterial control gels
  
  
• Koh universal cleaning system
  
  
• Whole-house water filtration Beautiful Water Co Code BIOHACKME10

• Our Place non-toxic ceramic and titanium cookware
  
  
• Glass and stainless-steel storage containers Seed and Sprout
  
  
• Bamboo or wooden chopping boards Seed and Sprout
  
  
• Fragrance-free, paraben-free and phthalate-free body products - Mukti Organics, Vanessa Megan or lots of options here  
  
  
• The Yuka app for checking ingredients in personal care
  
  
• Red light therapy from Bon Charge
  
  
• Grounding mats from Down to Ground or natural barefoot time
  
  
• Hemp active wear from Zone by Lydia