Thriving With Technology Podcast - How To Heal Illness By Getting Rid Of Toxins In Your Life Marilee Nelson, Co-Founder of Branch Basics

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How To Heal Illness By Getting Rid Of Toxins In Your Life Marilee Nelson, Co-Founder of Branch Basics

On today's episode, I'm welcoming Marilee Nelson. She's the founder of Branch Basics, human safe cleaning products. Branch Basics is fast becoming a household name. In fact, it's the only name that you're going to find on anything in my house that's used to clean-anything!

Branch Basics is giving you 15% off all Starter Kits with code TECHWELLNESS   I hope you love using it as much as I do!

You're going to get to know Marilee today. And while she was dealt a very tough hand, she turned it around and turned that into her life's work, her passion, and really fabulous success. Can you imagine at just 23-years-old being told you're going to need a kidney transplant just to survive? After she said NO to that idea and healed herself with a new diet of clean foods, she was able to have a normal life and family.  But THEN can you imagine having a perfectly healthy, adorable 10-year-old kid, who gets exposed to banned pesticides and overnight can't even do simple tasks?  Well he is more than fine today, thanks to actions that Marilee took. That was the second chapter that led her to start Branch Basics.

Marilee is going to share how she turned this all around. How both she and her son became healthy, and well, and are doing great today. Marilee has helped so many people get better, feel better. And she does it by first simply having them toss the toxins from their lives. And you know what? You can do this too, because she's going to walk us through the basic, toxin tossing process. And yes, we're going to chat about the tech toxins too, like EMF's, which she definitely wants you to avoid. 

Marilee's a board certified nutritionist, and a certified building biologist, and a materials building specialist. Wow, what an authority.  And I'm so happy that you're going to listen in on our conversation, because her stories of healing give us really super practical tips. You're going to walk away knowing what to do next.  We can incorporate this into our homes, for us, for all the people we love to feel better and thrive.

I hope you enjoy the episode.  If you find what we're doing useful, please like us on the iTunes Store and share the message with your family and friends.  And of course for more information, visit us anytime at Tech Wellness.

Be Well!

August Brice 

Here's the full transcript of the podcast: 

 

Marilee Nelson:

We need to think about this, why would a country allow chemicals in our food, in our products, et cetera, that affect our mental, our physical, and our emotional wellbeing? We need to, as the consumer, become educated. We need to take action by going to the store and buying only safe products. That's going to create the change here.

 

August Brice:

Hi, there. Welcome once again to the Tech Wellness podcast. We talk about thriving with technology care, about enjoying tech in smarter, easier, and healthier ways. I'm August Brice and today I'm welcoming Marilee Nelson. She's the founder of Branch Basics, human safe cleaning products. Branch Basics is fast becoming a household name. In fact, it's the only name that you're going to find on anything in my house that's used to clean. You're going to get to know Marilee today. And she was dealt a tough hand, but she turned it around and turned it into her life's work, her passion, and really fabulous success. So, you guys, can you imagine at just 23-years-old being told you're going to need a kidney transplant just to survive? And then can you imagine having a perfectly healthy, adorable 10-year-old kid who gets exposed to banned pesticides and overnight can't even do simple tasks?

 

August Brice:

Well, she's going to share how she turned this all around. How both she and her son became healthy, and well, and are doing great today. Marilee has helped so many people get better, feel better. And she does it like this simply by tossing the toxins from their life. And you know what? You can do this too, because she's going to walk us through the basic, and this is a tongue twister, toxin tossing process. And yes, we're going to chat about the tech toxins too. So she's a board certified nutritionist, and a certified building biologist, and a materials building specialist. And I'm so happy that you're going to listen in on our conversation, because her stories of healing give us really super practical tips. You're going to walk away knowing what to do. And we can incorporate this into our homes, for us, for all the people we love to feel better and thrive. So here she is, Marilee Nelson from Branch Basics.

 

August Brice:

Marilee, welcome.

 

Marilee Nelson:

Hi, August, how are you?

 

August Brice:

I'm so happy to be talking to you. How are you?

 

Marilee Nelson:

I'm great.

 

August Brice:

Thank you so much for being with us today. I know you've got an incredible story and you've created an incredible product and I can't wait to talk in detail about that. But first, I understand we're so much alike in terms of starting our wellness journeys a long time ago, way before it was cool. And that we both lead a clean, and green, and EMF-free lifestyle. And so I want to know how did you start?

 

Marilee Nelson:

All right. Well, I always have to say that when I came into this arena, I was completely in the dark and without a clue that anything I ate or anything I had contact with affected my health and yet, I was very sickly growing up. I had a fever of unknown origin, that's what the doctor said, a low level fever. And-

 

August Brice:

For how long?

 

Marilee Nelson:

I would have it just almost all the time. I was antibiotics, medication, and then I'd have a fever. It would spike maybe up to a 105, 106 maybe every three weeks, six weeks. You couldn't tell when it would, but I also had a lot of allergies. I had horrific periods. I had asthmatic bronchitis. And by the time I was 23, my general practitioner doctor said, "I think we need to do exploratory surgery." And he got with 11 of some of the best doctors in the Houston Medical Center and I was on the operating table with all of them there. And I was actually decided before the surgery, because I knew they were going to figure out what it was I needed, maybe the right pill, the right therapy, et cetera.

 

Marilee Nelson:

After the surgery, I was laying in my hospital bed, I was on morphine. And my doctor came in and he came to the side of my bed and held my hand. And he said, "Marilee, I'm really sorry, the surgery did not quite go the way we would have hoped." And I looked up at him. And then the next thing he said, he goes, "And you're never going to be able to have children, because you have endometriosis so severe. And you're going to need to go on dialysis and you'll need a kidney transplant.”

 

August Brice:

Whoa.

 

Marilee Nelson:

Well, I don't know what happened, but inside of my mind, I had to shift and I just looked at him. I said, "Oh my gosh! I'm just glad you're not God. What if in a year you all have figured out what I needed to do and I've lost my kidney? Or what if in five years?" I said, "No, I know there's another way." And you know what? I never looked back. I was kind of at a crossroads right there. Was I going to take road that the trusted doctors that I loved were saying I should do? Or was I going to go a different path? And literally I took the road less traveled.

 

Marilee Nelson:

And I will tell you that in my mind at that point, I thought I was going to find the right pill, the right therapy. So I was looking in medical books, et cetera. And lo and behold, it ended up I was led to a doctor, a medical doctor in a Boston hospital that was using food as medicine. And when I was told that I needed to stop eating the sad standard American diet and eat real food, literally I had no frame of reference for that.

 

Marilee Nelson:

I looked at him and said, "What do you mean? You're saying I haven't been eating real food?" He said, "No, you haven't. And if you want to avoid a kidney transplant, you will have to eat only real food and no food with chemicals." So this was a whole new ball game for me.

 

August Brice:

So how long did you deal with your kidney issues and obviously feeling badly until you found this doctor?

 

Marilee Nelson:

It was a while and I was very sick. I used to call myself a propelled shell, I was so weak. I would just mentally make my arm move up to my mouth. My arm weighed 500 pounds. Everything was such an effort. So there's a lot of detail in here, but the bottom line is within 10 days of eating a nutrient rich diet prescribed for my kidneys, my life was turned around. I literally was off all medication. I've never been on even an aspirin or over-the-counter prescription drug or anything ever since. And after the dust settled after a few months, I didn't have my menstrual cramps anymore. This incredible resolution of symptoms occurred and I was aghast. I wanted to get up on the Empire State Building and scream, "Why didn't someone tell me?”

 

August Brice:

Or your mom and dad. Why didn't somebody tell your mom and dad?

 

Marilee Nelson:

I'd love to just write a book. Why didn't someone tell me? Sometimes I missed six weeks of school. And all I would have had to have done is my mother would have just had to shop for vegetables and fruits and real food. So I changed my career path. I studied to be a medicinal cook and I cooked for people with chronic illness. And I saw just absolutely how much of a difference it made when you got rid of the chemicals and ate real food. It was-

 

August Brice:

Yeah, gave your body the tools it needed to heal itself as our bodies so beautifully do. I don't know if you know, but our friends have told us that we have similar stories. You've probably heard that, but didn't know mine either. Because yours is fabulous and I'm so happy that you were able to... I mean, I'm so sad that you had to go through your life till that point at 23, but at one point in my life, similarly, I was diagnosed with Crohn's disease, MS, and lupus all from one 10-day stay at Scripps. And my journey wasn't as easy as the food, unfortunately. I had always been eating organic from the time I was 18 and this happened about five years later, but I was in a very serious car accident. So that really added layers of issues on top of it. But I think we both ended up at the same place, feeling probably better than you ever have before today, right?

 

Marilee Nelson:

That's right.

 

August Brice:

And leading a very toxin-free lifestyle, but completely enjoying life.

 

Marilee Nelson:

That's right. I wouldn't be here had I not changed my diet. But at that point, I had no idea that there was this entire arena that I had not explored that I didn't realize existed. And I had a son, and when he was 10-years-old, he was extremely chemically injured. And we took him to the doctors and we were told that he would never recover, that he had brain damage so severe, an immune system damaged so severe that he would be a bubble boy for the rest of his life.

 

August Brice:

From what? What happened?

 

Marilee Nelson:

He was exposed to several banned pesticides. So I actually said the same thing to that doctor. I just said, "I can't accept this." And he grabbed my hand and he held it and he said, "Marilee, the brain does not repair.”

 

August Brice:

Oh yes, it does.

 

Marilee Nelson:

I said that. I said, "I can't accept what the medical world has to say." And then of course maybe 15, 20 years later, we realized the neuroplasticity of the brain. The medical world has totally turned upside down on that. So anyway, he told us to take our son home, create a safe room, only use non-toxic products, and we were going to have to medicate him to control him. I was supposed to give him 23 shots a day, et cetera.

 

August Brice:

Oh, wow. Okay.

 

Marilee Nelson:

So he went from being a brilliant, athletic, and very obedient child to being unpredictable, hyperactive sometimes, completely lethargic other times. He couldn't even spell a three letter word or do simple math. It was not good. And we were desperately trying to create a place for him to be able to stay. And I can tell you that the concept of what a safe haven house was then was not clearly understood. And I'll say the same thing, it's not understood today. But anyway, I was trying to do everything they told me to do, and I would go and buy these non-toxic products, so to speak. I'd bring them home, he'd react. He was so sensitive that it was much better if we slept outside.

 

August Brice:

Wow. So he was the ultimate canary in the coal mine for the chemicals test, right?

 

Marilee Nelson:

That he was.

 

August Brice:

Wow.

 

Marilee Nelson:

And we couldn't sleep in a tent, we slept open air on cots. And one night I was just lying there, I was thinking, "What have I not done?" And I had this kind of a thought in my head, "Get up and go take the box out of your closet." What I'd done is I'd thrown away everything I thought, but I kept some of my favorite things like my favorite perfume from high school and a few other things. And I'd put them in this box, because I thought, "Well, when he gets better, I'll just pull them out, back out and use them.”

 

Marilee Nelson:

But anyway, the next day after I had taken them out, my son came in and he kept out. He stayed outside as much as he could just because he felt better outside. But that day he came in and I was making lunch and said, "What'd you do mom?" And I said, "What do you mean?" Boy, I can tell you what, I didn't act like I knew anything. I said, "What do you mean?" He said, "Well, I'm just not feeling like I need to get out of here. I'm not feeling so jittery." I said, "Oh, well then just stay in here until you need to get out." Well, it ended up he stayed the night and I actually was questioning myself. I thought this is great.

 

August Brice:

Could it be? Yeah, could it be?

 

Marilee Nelson:

I said, "I've got to understand that." I did not tell my husband what I had done. I didn't want anyone to think I was crazy, but a few days later I was at the grocery store. And as I turned down the cleaning and the pesticide aisle, I just gasped. I went, "Oh my gosh! That is it. These bottles are not only closed, but they're also sealed and I can smell them." And he's so sensitive that he is-

 

August Brice:

Feeling it.

 

Marilee Nelson:

[inaudible 00:15:15] from those things in that box are affecting him. I will tell you, it was almost like there had been pressure taken off of him and his body started to... We could tell he was starting to recover. He was comfortable in the house. We kind of hit a baseline with the safe haven. And-

 

August Brice:

If we give our bodies a base, right? If we give our bodies the base it needs to heal, then they can. And then eventually he probably adapted.

 

Marilee Nelson:

Yeah. I mean, you have all of these toxic chemicals you're exposed to, when you remove the immune stressors and the body is able to go, "Oh, thank you. Now I can heal." And in this process, which is relevant to what you do, I was desperately trying to figure out how to recover him

 

Marilee Nelson:

I was desperately trying to figure out how to recover him. And I learned about Bau-Biology and it happened that, that year was the first year the Germans were teaching Bau-Biology in America. And I was a part of that class. And so I learned about how the magnetic fields, the electric fields impacted the body. And at that time, the European said that the number one reason that people with chronic illness do not heal is because of the electric field in the home. So anyway, I studied that, I came home, we tested my son in the bed and it takes one millivolt to operate a pacemaker. And in the bed, his body, it was very high. It was over a thousand field of millivolts. We had some issues with our wiring. So we got that fixed. And also, we get him very aware of the magnetic fields and static electricity fields. And we addressed all of those things. Now, at that time, there were no cell phones. There was no internet, it was a whole another world.

 

August Brice:

That's so fascinating. And so yes, an EMF is an EMF, they're electromagnetic fields, and they come in all varieties, wireless, electricity, magnetic, and fortunately, most of our bodies can adapt. But like you're saying with your son, same with me, I always said the energy from wireless did not mesh with the energy of my body. I could just feel it from the moment I held a cell phone. It was very traumatic. So I think it's important for everyone to know that, yes, we need to be aware. We don't need to be fearful that our bodies will tell us one day when there's something amiss. And an EMF is a toxin and chemicals are toxins, not all chemicals are toxins, but yes, definitely toxins come in all varieties.

 

Marilee Nelson:

That's right. So we addressed his thinking, toxic chemicals, the electromagnetic fields. We had him do certain exercises, brain exercises, et cetera. I was homeschooling him. The bottom line is he not only recovered, he's fully recovered. And he ended up going to the Naval Academy, and he got his brains back, and he actually was in Naval Air, flew missions over Afghanistan. And he was in Japan with the Naval Air intelligence. So he absolutely recovered.

 

August Brice:

I have the biggest smile on my face. And then you also became brilliant. He recovered and you're brilliant and you had to be, right? You learned step-by-step. I'm thrilled.

 

Marilee Nelson:

Yeah. And I had this growing feeling, it's going, oh my gosh, Americans are living in this low level chemical soup. They have these toxic products throughout their homes that are emitting these VOCs and that their bodies are having to deal with. And so after my son recovered, just through word of mouth, people started calling me and I started working with people all over the country that had had chemical injuries or chronic illness. And I had been [inaudible 00:20:00] don't cook. I mentioned that before. So I was doing work with people all over the country, looking at food, looking at toxic chemicals, and also looking at electromagnetic fields, just from the standpoint of the AC magnetic electric fields and DC fields. So that, what I did with all my clients is I decided that the first thing after they would call, and most of the people that called me were people who'd been to doctors and they hadn't had resolution of their symptoms.

 

Marilee Nelson:

So I would have them go through what I call now, toss the toxins. And I go to categories by category. Very easy. We just take a box. I get them first to take out pesticides, and cleaning, and laundry products. Like a box, take them out of your house. Just that act creates a dramatic increase in the quality of the air in your home.

 

August Brice:

I can just feel it. I can just breathe just you saying it. I have that. Well I think once you're sensitive to something, you're probably sensitive to many different toxins. So it just feels so fresh as you say that, it's great. I love your whole detox program.

 

Marilee Nelson:

Yeah. And what we don't realize is that everyone is sensitive to these chemicals, that we have one in two children in this country with chronic illness. Over 50% of the adult population has some sort of chronic illness. We are in trouble and it has been documented that our exposure to these chemicals also to the electromagnetic fields are causing this rise in degenerative disease.

 

August Brice:

And not only that, I always believe that even if you don't feel it, even if you think that you feel fabulous, you can feel better when you just step away from the toxins. For sure.

 

Marilee Nelson:

That's right. So I always say, you don't know how much they impact you until you remove them. You might go, "Oh my gosh, I can't take these things I bought and just take them out." Well, the whole purpose is to change your air quality. And if you don't have replacements for those products, you can put them in a box that is sealed. Put it in your garage, put it in a place where you're not impacting that air quality in your home. And I can tell you, if I had known this when my son was exposed, if I didn't have to go through that learning process, it would not have taken seven years for him to recover. It took us seven years for him to be able to be completely well.

 

August Brice:

Now you think that if you had done what he could have healed quickly? Because it's amazing that he healed the way that he did.

 

Marilee Nelson:

Well, let me say this. I have people coming to me all the time. They've been eating healthy. They've been doing good things, but invariably, I find that people are living in homes with maybe hundreds of products sitting in their house. They may not even be using them, but they are impacting their immune systems. They're impacting their bodies. I have parents that will tell me their child with asthma no longer has to use an inhaler. Doesn't have asthma anymore once they removed the laundry product that have fragrance, or maybe the skincare products with fragrance, or maybe scented candles or cleaning products with certain chemicals.

 

August Brice:

They do sneak into our homes, don't they? And every single one of them is important. And you're really encouraging me and inspiring me to take a look around. I've always been aware, but they tend to sneak in just like an EMF, don't they? Somebody brings you a present or like you said, a candle and you think, "Oh, that's beautiful." And then you forget. We have to be so aware.

 

Marilee Nelson:

Well, we just have to be educated. And it's really easy. I have this EWG's Skin Deep, on the internet. If you just type in an ingredient on a product and EWG Skin Deep, it'll give you a writing from 1 to 10. We recommend products stay in the home if all of their ingredients have a one or two writing. If it doesn't, then we say toss that toxin and find you an alternative.

 

August Brice:

Absolutely. Marilee, can I ask you something that happens probably in every neighborhood? What about the community park or the people next door that are spraying? How do you deal with that?

 

Marilee Nelson:

Well, that is a problem. Definitely, when you notice them one's going to spray or they've done something like that, you keep your windows closed. It's nice to try to educate your community. But I say to my clients, "We go to work, we go to school, we go out and we really can't control that. But what we can control is what's in our house. So if we have removed products with harmful ingredients from our homes, then we have a safe haven." And of course-

 

August Brice:

Yeah, that's very similar to my theory on EMF too, let's start at home. If we can at least make our homes as safe sanctuary, we're that much further ahead for us and our families.

 

Marilee Nelson:

That's key. And that's what I teach all my clients, we want to have a safe haven where the body can repair, restore and rejuvenate at night. So therefore you want to have as clean, an electromagnetic field arena in your bedroom, in your house at night, when you sleep, you want to be not breathing chemicals all night. You want to just be able to recharge and refresh.

 

August Brice:

Such a good point. And are you familiar with the work of Dr. Gunnar Heuser?

 

Marilee Nelson:

Yes.

 

August Brice:

Okay. So you know how he did the brain scans and he's one of the most premier chemical sensitivity research doctors from UCLA. And he's been doing this for what? 40 years, researching chemical sensitivity. And so he did these brain scans and he noticed that the brain scans of people who have chemical sensitivity look very similar to the people who have EMF sensitivity. And what have you found other than, you've told us about your son, how he responded to both, but do you see that with your clients as well?

 

Marilee Nelson:

Oh my gosh, when I first started out, a hundred percent of my people were chronically ill or chemically injured. I'm not sure what year it started happening, but I started getting calls from people that were having problems with electromagnetic fields. And it came as sort of a rash of calls. There were a lot of people that built homes with aluminum foil in their dry wall. They were chemically sensitive, and when they built, they thought, "Okay I'm going put aluminum foil up so that no chemicals can get in from the plywood or any other material." What they didn't realize is there was an unintended consequence. And with the advent of some of the cell phones, et cetera, frequency cell towers and all, people living in those homes were getting sick. So I started getting call after call and the shift in ratio, a hundred percent chemically injured or chronically ill to EMF rapidly changed to later in my consulting, I considered everybody that calls me to have this issue because it's all part of our total load.

 

August Brice:

Exactly. I am fascinated about the aluminum. So what those people were doing was creating hotspots and metal does react with the electromagnetic fields. And so I hadn't heard of this before, but that's probably what was happening. Right? They were just magnifying the waves.

 

Marilee Nelson:

Yes, exactly. So I'll give you an example. I was working with a 25 year-old girl. She was very chemically sensitive. And I said, "Listen, I want you to start thinking about electromagnetic fields." And she goes, "I'm not sensitive to those. They don't bother me." And she was using the phone and et cetera. And I said, "Listen, you need to be proactive and take some preventative steps because it is just like another chemical." She said, "No, I don't think it is." And so I left her on the phone call. I said, "All right, I'm going to tell you three things to do, you think about it. I want you to not sleep with your phone in your bedroom. I want you to not use the phone in the car, and don't charge your phone at night when you sleep. Nowhere in your house, charge it in the morning or in the evening before you go to bed.

 

Marilee Nelson:

Well, about three months later, she called me... Actually, she had someone else call me. She had taken a four hour trip to her parents, it was thanksgiving. She was on the phone the whole time. By the time she got home, she said that she went into her parents' house. She put the cell phone down on the countertop. She went and lied down. When she got up, she walked over to her phone. She could not even hold it. It just dropped. But anyway, the bottom line, this girl ended up... I had to work with her. She had to live outside. She became completely EMF sensitive. It was a horrific story.

 

August Brice:

And you know, I hear this lot. I hear from people when I've been to conferences, just for people who have EMF sensitivity. And story, after story, after story is the same. They get an incredibly high one time dose and boom, the body just like chemicals, the body reacts and says, that's it no more.

 

Marilee Nelson:

That's right. That's right. So anyway, she literally was sleeping outside. She couldn't go in a building. I'm going to give you one more example, just to show you how incredible this whole upswing is with the electromagnetic fields. And we need to really become aware. I had a lady call me and said, she'd been to chiropractor doctors. She was in excruciating pain, her shoulder, her arm, she was almost locked up. She couldn't figure out what was going on. So I went through all my questions, it's like a detective, you just ask question after question. And so I said, "What shoulder is it?" It's her right shoulder. And so I asked her to describe what she did every day. Well, she worked on a laptop all day long. So Well, I said, "All right, here's what I want you to do-

 

Marilee Nelson:

So finally, I said, "All right. Here's what I want you to do. I want you to take a knife, a butter knife, and I want you to go outside and I want you to pour water on the ground. I want you to stick the knife in the ground and hold the knife. You can do two knives with right and left hand for about three minutes. Do that three times a day, morning, middle day, and the night. I asked her if she had a grounded plug to charge her laptop, a three-prong or a two-prong. She had a two-prong. I told her to get a three-prong. I asked her if she put her hands on the keyboard, just like people do with their laptops.

 

August Brice:

Yes.

 

Marilee Nelson:

I told her to get an extended keyboard-

 

August Brice:

Right.

 

Marilee Nelson:

... and a wired mouse, extended mouse so that she never touched the keyboard. In two days, she was out of pain.

 

August Brice:

Oh, yes. Again, the biggest smile on my face. Are you like me? You said you walked down the cleaning aisle and you could smell, because you're home was so toxin-free, the chemicals. When I just see someone with a cell phone in their hand with it up to their head, I physically feel the symptoms. Is that how you are with chemicals, too?

 

Marilee Nelson:

Well, you sit there and you just go, "Please don't do that." You don't want people to have the consequences. We have these unintended consequences. We have this great technology. We have opportunities to do these things because of technology, and we just need to know how to use it smartly and be aware. In terms of a toxic product, we need to know how to vet and choose safe ones and get the toxic ones out.

 

August Brice:

Exactly, and we're going to get into that. I think we should add right now that both you and I, I'm sure, are on wired connections.

 

August Brice:

When we pick up our phones, our phones are wired. Actually, I don't pick up my phone, because I'm sensitive to the magnetic as well. I put it on a stand, and I use a stylus. That works for me.

 

Marilee Nelson:

You'll probably laugh. I use a landline.

 

August Brice:

I have one, too. But we're on a computer right now.

 

Marilee Nelson:

Yes, we're on a computer. Absolutely. I'm wired.

 

August Brice:

Right, and it just feels so good. I'm sure we're both living in EMF-free environments.

 

Marilee Nelson:

As much as possible.

 

August Brice:

Mine's blinking green on the meter, and that's what I like.

 

Marilee Nelson:

Yes, absolutely, absolutely.

 

August Brice:

Yeah, and to that end, you have a consulting company, and are you a building biologist?

 

Marilee Nelson:

Yes, I am.

 

August Brice:

So I recommend to everyone if you are uncertain at all, the way to know if your home is safe and as EMF-free as possible is to have a building biologist come over and assess your home.

 

Marilee Nelson:

Yes. That is really a great thing to do. Learning about the individual fields is great. People don't realize if you've got an air purifier and it's running, don't sit right next to it. Put some distance between you. There's all these little steps that I know that you teach and I teach that are simple. You don't even have to think of it anymore. We teach our kids not to touch a hot stove. We teach our kids to practice, well, these steps. We turn off our wifi at night or ideally are just wired. There's a lot of things we can do.

 

Announcer:

August will be right back with more of the Thriving with Technology Podcast. But first, if you're interested in reducing your exposure to the EMF radiation that comes from all of our digital devices, Tech Wellness has solutions for you. People tell August all the time that reducing exposure helps them sleep so much better. It gives them better focus during the day, and it cures other physical symptoms, like headaches. A great way to start doing it is by shutting down your wifi. That's a big source of radiation in our homes and our offices. Step one might be to hook up one of our wifi kill switches. Super easy to hook up, and a simple touch of the button turns off wifi when you're ready to sleep or you just want your kids to come out of their rooms for dinner.

 

But the absolute best that you can do is to get rid of your wifi altogether. But don't worry. You'll be browsing the Internet faster than ever when you use our Cat8 shielded cables to connect online. There's nothing faster than Cat8, and it's not just for your desktop. We have adapters that will get you blazing EMF-free speeds on your laptop, on your tablet, and even on your smartphones. We've even put together complete hardware kits that give you everything you need to easily wire up. Check out all the solutions for reducing your EMF exposure today. Visit techwellness.com and search keywords no wifi. Now back to August.

 

August Brice:

So Marilee, I've been wondering, is there one toxin that you consider more important to remove from your life than another?

 

Marilee Nelson:

Well, that's difficult, but in terms of toxic products, probably pesticides are at the top of the list. Some parts of the country, they don't need to use them that much, but conventional cleaning products also, fragrance products. Then in the electromagnetic field spectrum, I like people to go wired, take wifi out of their house.

 

August Brice:

Completely, and I'm so excited that we now offer a wire-up kit, because that might seem daunting to someone, what you're saying if they only have a wifi. So I'm really excited that we just tried to make it really simple, because it can be. I know that I was talking to a couple of building biologists about how much does it really cost to wire up your home from scratch? I think they're saying that you can get it done for between 1,500 and 2,000. That's pretty expensive. Eventually, I hope that all new home builds are wired like they used to be.

 

Marilee Nelson:

Well, that would be glorious.

 

August Brice:

Wouldn't it?

 

Marilee Nelson:

Yes, if we get the information out.

 

August Brice:

We will. That's what we're doing here. So and as far as pesticides go, when my kids grew up and until recently, when I found an organic pesticide service, we had diatomaceous earth all around the border of the house. That was for the spiders to crawl through and scratch through or take their legs off or something because the earth was so fine, and I guess it's real sharp in a spider's world. Then we had borax for all of the ants. What are your go-tos for pesticides for if people have an issue and they don't have a service that uses organic oils?

 

Marilee Nelson:

Well, we do have some links on our website that if you have spiders, you can look up spiders. If you have roaches, you can look up roaches. One of my favorites is here in Texas, we have a problem with roaches, and you make this little mixture of just very fine corn meal, boric acid, and powdered sugar in equal amounts. You get a tablespoon of each, mix it up like a cake, and then you take the powder and you put it in tops, like tops from-

 

August Brice:

Lids from things.

 

Marilee Nelson:

Then you stick it under your refrigerator or under cabinets, et cetera. Literally I'd say in two weeks, you're going to be roach-free.

 

August Brice:

Oh, that's brilliant.

 

Marilee Nelson:

It lasts. The roaches, oh, they adapt to pesticides. They get stronger, and then they're not killed. But with this, they don't adapt, and they stay away. It's fabulous.

 

August Brice:

That's so great. Let's repeat that really quickly. So the mixture is?

 

Marilee Nelson:

Equal parts of powdered sugar. You get the very fine powdered sugar. Equal parts of corn meal. Get the very fine, inexpensive cornmeal, and equal part of boric acid. You would get that at the grocery store pharmacy area.

 

August Brice:

Is boric acid borax?

 

Marilee Nelson:

Well, some people actually do use borax in that recipe. So they interchange it. Borax is not the same as boric acid. Boric acid is more poisonous.

 

August Brice:

Oh, okay. Yeah, for the ants, I would do granulated sugar and the borax. Boy, once it gets wet, it's a mess. It really is, and dries. Then you have to pick at it to get rid of it. But in the home, tell me what the corn meal does.

 

Marilee Nelson:

Well, I think it's the sugar. They love the sugar. They get in there and they eat that mixture, and it just kills them.

 

August Brice:

Yay.

 

Marilee Nelson:

The boric acid is what kills them, but the sugar is the attraction. I guess the cornmeal probably, too.

 

August Brice:

Okay. So now let's get to Branch Basics. How did you start it and why? I mean, I'm sure you were cleaning with toxin-free products for years and years and years before you actually rolled out wonderful Branch Basics.

 

Marilee Nelson:

Well, I call our products products with a purpose. We have two products, and they literally can replace every cleaning and laundry product in your house.

 

August Brice:

It's true. Yes. I use them.

 

Marilee Nelson:

It makes it really easy. The versatility just simplifies your life. I say it's a minimalist dream. You take out all your products. You just have these two left, and they work. As I told you with my clients, my first step is take out your cleaning products. Take out your laundry products and pesticides. Then they can use this one product, these couple of products to replace. So it just makes that first step of tossing the toxins in your home so simple and doable. That's basically what we're here for. We've got products that are just a vehicle for our mission. I want to create this healthy home revolution family by family, and that revolution includes electromagnetic fields, tossing the toxic fields and toxic food in your pantry and the toxic products.

 

August Brice:

You have given us such a wonderful base with the Branch Basics formula. Like you said, it is a minimalist dream. I'm not a minimalist, but I feel so healthy. I feel like I'm living right when I take my concentrate and I mix it with this much water for the windows and this much water for a soap for my hands. I know that you guys say that it's human-safe and I could eat it. I've never tasted it. Have you?

 

Marilee Nelson:

Accidentally, actually. I don't really say you could eat it. We went through extensive testing. We went through about 100 iterations. We did not want our product to irritate the eyes, irritate the lungs or the skin. So we used a lot of my clients as testers when we were trying to figure out the formula. Then when we finally got where we are now, we decided, well, we wanted to get some third-party independent testing. So we sent samples to a company that puts the product in contact with skin-like tissue and eye-like tissue. Our product came back 100% not skin-irritant. The CEO of the testing company actually called me and said, "Wow. We've never had a product test just like the control. Who was your chemist? What are you doing?”

 

Marilee Nelson:

I kind of laughed. I said, "Well, we decided on this formula because of the experience that I had with chemically-sensitive people in my son. I knew the preservatives that were being used in the non-toxic products were problems and some of the other chemicals. So we just were very strict, and I used my client history as the guide for choosing the ingredients.”

 

August Brice:

How on earth, Marilee, does it clean? Because we're conditioned to believe that we need this chemical and that chemical. I'm not going to name any names, but basic anything you might have to store shelf has what, 10 different kinds of chemicals, probably, in every single package that supposedly help get things "clean." So how does your product actually clean?

 

Marilee Nelson:

Well, we are a surfactant-based product, and we looked very hard. We wanted originally to create just a soap, a cleaning soap. That's, sorry, a saponified oil and lye, basically. But we could not get a formula that did not irritate the eyes or irritate the lungs when sprayed. Also, soaps leave kind of a soap scum. So we looked to the European Union Cosmetic Directive, and there were a group of surfactants called the alpha-glucosides that were sanctioned for skin and baby care. Also, they had no toxic byproducts, et cetera. So we used the alpha-glucoside, this decyl glucoside that's in our product, coco glucoside, and then we have this mix of wonderful other ingredients that synergistically just were a win. I mean, we're so grateful that it works so well. Our first priority was human health, but we knew, "Okay, heck, who cares if it's safe if it doesn't work?”

 

August Brice:

Right, and it works. It definitely works. So have we been overcleaning? Have we been trying to kill too much bacteria, because does the Branch Basics kill bacteria on our kitchen counters?

 

Marilee Nelson:

Branch Basics is a soap or surfactant cleaner, and soap is used to remove germs. Now, we just had the COVID crisis come up, and so this has been very much brought to the forefront, how important it is to understand how to clean. The CDC recommends you use soap on all surfaces that you clean in the home and only use a disinfectant on frequently touched surfaces, because, for one thing, these chemicals, they can cause bacteria resistance or antibiotic resistance, just like you were mentioning. If we're using too many chemicals, it can cause destruction of the microbiome, even. So we don't really need these harmful chemicals in our homes for claiming, and an interesting fact about soaps is that they found that the coronavirus and many of the other viruses and some bacteria have what's called a lipid layer. Soaps literally just dismantle that, break it down and destroy the Channel that, break it down and destroy the virus. And I'm sure you've heard the CDC say, "If you want to wash your hands, use soap and water.”

 

August Brice:

Yes. And-

 

Marilee Nelson:

Yeah. And they warn, only use a sanitizer if you do not have soap and water with you.

 

August Brice:

Exactly. And that's always been just intuitively how I'm sure you were just like me. It's like, "Oh no, don't use that sanitizer. It just doesn't feel right. It doesn't feel right to take all of the good and bad bacteria off your skin at once.”

 

Marilee Nelson:

No, and we found with COVID, the New York Times had an article last March and said, "Wait a minute. Polluted air, harmful chemicals in your air, disrupts your immune system making you more vulnerable to catching viruses, COVID contagious illness." So, from this hardship of COVID, there's been a bright light shown on how we need to use safer products in our homes.

 

Marilee Nelson:

The poisonings have been up. And there's just more awareness. So that's a good thing that's coming out of this.

 

August Brice:

Great. Yeah. Thank you for bringing that up and explaining it to us. And also, I don't know if you are aware of this study, but I recently had Lee Johanson on a podcast. And he said that the biggest concern that he had was a research study done two years ago that found that when our skin is exposed to just plain old wifi and cell phone radiation, that the bacteria becomes antibiotic resistant.

 

Marilee Nelson:

I love it that you're bringing this up. This is so important.

 

August Brice:

Uh-huh (affirmative).

 

Marilee Nelson:

It is because, are you familiar with Dr. Klinghardt?

 

August Brice:

Sure. Yes.

 

Marilee Nelson:

Okay. He did studies with [inaudible 00:50:03] cages where he put mold. This was one of his experiments. And he had mold that was exposed to wifi and mold that wasn't. And the mold that was exposed, it mutated, became more virulent, grew faster.

 

August Brice:

Right.

 

Marilee Nelson:

And when you think about how we're so upset today about how grains are moldy, et cetera, and all. Well, years ago, we didn't have that problem. You could go to Whole Foods and buy grains in bins. And they weren't moldy.

 

Marilee Nelson:

Today most people, or a lot of people do not buy in bins because there's a lot of mold issues. And one of the reasons is, I'm sure what a lot of people are concluding is that molds, also viruses, bacteria, our microbiome, there is a reaction. There is a problem. The viruses are more virulent. They are multiplying, et cetera.

 

August Brice:

And so it's so important that we give our bodies a fighting chance and toss the chemicals. Use a beautiful cleaner like Branch Basics. And I love the way that the laundry comes out. I put the oxygen boost, into the washing machine. And also the concentrate that I've made into the laundry detergent. It's a great concept, really it's fabulous.

 

August Brice:

And the only thing is, is that, what do you say to people who say, "But it doesn't smell clean?" Because they're not smelling a fragrance. Do you ever recommend, I also have the dryer balls, maybe putting an essential oil on a dryer ball?

 

Marilee Nelson:

Yes. People can do that if they choose for sure. We recommend that you use an organic or a wild crafted essential oil. Because the ones that are less expensive are typically processed with a solvent. And those are toxic chemicals. So yes, a good quality essential oil can be used if you would like.

 

August Brice:

And do you put them on the dryer balls? Or do you put them into the rinse container in your washing machine? How do you advise people to do that?

 

Marilee Nelson:

Some people will put it in their dryer ball. Some people will put it in the concentrate or the cleaner, their laundry solution.

 

August Brice:

Great. Okay. That's a great tip I've been wondering. Because of course the clothes are clean and then they just smell like clothes.

 

Marilee Nelson:

That's right.

 

August Brice:

We're just so conditioned with this whole fragrance thing. And I love that there's no fragrance in Branch Basics because that's been, I know you can give us a little information on how incredibly toxic fragrances are.

 

Marilee Nelson:

I would like to do that actually. You asked the most toxic products, they're pesticides I said. Well, pesticides and fragrances both have something in common. One, and I'm talking about synthetic fragrance now, which is a blend proprietary ingredients. It's not just one chemical. It may be hundreds by the way.

 

Marilee Nelson:

But pesticides and fragrances are called asthmagens. They cause asthma. They're neurotoxic. They affect the nervous system. They are carcinogenic. They can cause cancer. They are endocrine disruptors. They disrupt our hormones. They are allergens. They're absolutely devastating to expose ourselves to.

 

August Brice:

So, this is anything that has a fragrance? Or when we see natural fragrance, does that mean that we're safe?

 

Marilee Nelson:

Like I'm saying, if it's an essential oil that's organic or wild crafted, yes. But if it's a synthetic fragrance, you're going to know. It'll say, you can tell if you've got a synthetic fragrance. Because if a company that's going to spend the money and do an organic essential oil, they're going to say that on the label. They'll just say the word "fragrance" on labels, it's synthetic.

 

August Brice:

Okay, great tip. When you're reading the label, looking for all those things that you can't pronounce, also, if you see fragrance, stay away.

 

Marilee Nelson:

Absolutely.

 

August Brice:

Okay. Thank you. Wow, this has just been amazing. Thank you so much, Marilee is there anything else? If there's one thing that you want people to know today, what is it?

 

Marilee Nelson:

I want to encourage people to just stop and think a minute. I mean, I'll just relate back to the aftermath when I avoided a kidney transplant and I became a completely different person. We need to think about this. Why would a country allow chemicals in our food, in our products, et cetera, that affect our mental, our physical, and our emotional wellbeing? We need to, as the consumer, become educated. We need to take action by going to the store and buying only safe products. That's going to create the change here.

 

Marilee Nelson:

And once you really realized the reality of this, it's just common sense. I mean, why would you want to sit there and breathe something that is really the reason why you have migraine headaches? You take it out of the house and go, "Oh my gosh, I'm not having headaches anymore.”

 

Marilee Nelson:

We just don't realize how much they impact us until we take them out. And if someone's skeptical, because I'm sure people go, "Well this can't be." Well, I invite you to do an experiment. It's not that hard. Get a box, go through your kitchen, your bathroom, your closets. Gather up those products. Take them out, put them in your garage. Wait a weekend. See what happens.

 

Marilee Nelson:

Maybe you have to take Claritin because you have allergies. And now, you're going, "Oh, I'm not having that problem." Or your allergies are better. Or you're thinking better. Your kids are less irritable. I cannot even begin to tell you the stories that are so just heartwarming when people are so excited that they have tossed the toxins. And it's really, it doesn't cost them money.

 

Marilee Nelson:

It's free. You just pick them up and get them out. And voila, you've got improved air quality.

 

August Brice:

That is so good. Yes. Go ahead.

 

Marilee Nelson:

And same thing with the electromagnetic fields. All right. Let's just turn your WiFi off.

 

August Brice:

And I hear the same stories. I have so many moms that say, "Oh my gosh, I turn off the WiFi and the kids are sleeping through the night. Or I turn off the WiFi and now my kids are napping." It's true.

 

August Brice:

These are experiments that we can do ourselves. And thank you for reminding us that we have the power.

 

Marilee Nelson:

We do.

 

August Brice:

At the store and at home. We can be mindful consumers. Thank you so much.

 

Marilee Nelson:

It's been so much fun.

 

August Brice:

It has. I just want to call you back and chat some more.

 

August Brice:

Thank you Marilee Nelson.

 

August Brice:

Marilee Nelson, the founder of Branch Basics, the power of pure. I use the booster and I use the concentrate and I clean everything in my home. My laundry is clean. My mirrors are clean. The windows are clean. The floor is clean. The tables are clean, all with Branch Basics.

 

August Brice:

So I'm going to put a link to Branch Basics. I'm also going to put a link to Marilee's story, which is detailed and wonderful. I encourage you to read it. You know, Marilee also advise me to write my story. And so I did. And I'll also put a link to that in the notes, as well as links to other things that Marilee And I talked about.

 

I've lived toxin free for about 40 years now. And in the beginning, that meant just vinegar to clean the floor, borax, to do the laundry. But now Marilee with her Branch Basics really makes it simple. And the cleaning products really work. They really do. I hope that you'll try them.

 

And as always, my biggest takeaways here, Marilee's reminder that most of us are living in what she called a low level toxic soup. Gross, right? It doesn't have to be that way. We know what to do. I took the cue and I grabbed a box. I walked all around my house, picking up anything that had an unnatural fragrance or a chemical that I couldn't pronounce. And I tossed it out. I did. It's in the garage, far away from our living space. Because the toxins really do creep in from time to time. And you just have to keep it in check.

 

And it's most important as she said, to make sure your bedroom is a safe Haven. I couldn't agree more so you can rest and rejuvenate, no EMF, no chemicals, no fragrance. If it says fragrance, it's most likely chemical. So look for those words that say organic or natural oil.

 

And finally, yes, electromagnetic radiation, wireless energy is a toxin. Marilee confirmed that. It's actually classified by the World Health Organization as a class 2B possible carcinogen. Toss it by wiring up Marilee and I are definitely on the same page here.

 

So I hope you'll tune in next week as we talk to another world changing woman. She's truly living healthier and happier with technology by making sure that her family lives in balance with tech. And she does this by unplugging with her kids every summer and making magical memories. So it's going to be really inspirational. And you're going to get great tips from her too.

 

And if you haven't yet, go back and listen to the man who makes EMF meters. Also, we had the world's most renowned and respected female internet addiction specialists who actually coined the term internet addiction. And please listen to the incomparable Dr. George Carlo, who ran the original research study, the big one, decades ago that found out that our phones weren't as safe as the mobile companies were pretending they were. And really that started this whole movement. And you can hear him here on Thriving With Technology.

 

So listen, rate, subscribe. I'd be so honored. I love sharing information that can help you live safer, healthier, and happier in our digital world. Be well.