LifeSynch, a Humana subsidiary, offers extensive health behavior resources, including behavioral healthcare, employee assistance program (EAP)/work-life services, behavioral pharmacy services, health coaches and Web-based wellness tools. As part of their commitment to change health behaviors and improve lives, LifeSynch’s health coaches will be contributing a series of articles that demonstrate how easy it can be to make a healthy change. The first, written by Lacey Starkey, offers tips for decreasing the use of toxic chemicals and enjoying a healthier home.

Many homes have cabinets full of toxic chemicals in the form of cleaning products. While you may  believe that you are simply cleaning your home and removing germs, remember that you are also spraying toxic chemicals that your family may inhale. The pine fresh scent of your favorite cleaning products may be covering up the strong chemical smell. Not ready to give up your favorite cleaning products? Consider using chemical-free homemade cleansers for most of the time and your favorite very infrequently — with the windows open. Once you make the switch to natural cleansers, you may realize you don’t miss the chemical-laden products at all. And as a bonus, you may gain cabinet space because you won’t need to store multiple cleansers. Most of the ingredients in the “recipes” that follow are usually basic staples found in most kitchens and have a variety of uses.

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