Instead, my sinuses were immediately overwhelmed by the unmistakable scent of a dryer sheet drifting from my neighbor’s most recent laundry cycle.

What surprised me most wasn’t just the smell itself—it was how strong it was, despite the freezing temperatures. This fragrance cut straight through the winter air, traveling well beyond the walls of the home it came from.

For a long time, I pretended exposures like this didn’t matter. Many of us do. We’re conditioned to think that unless something is making us immediately sick, it’s harmless—or at least not worth addressing. When a scent is strong enough to be smelled outdoors, in freezing air, it tells us something important: the compounds involved are highly volatile and designed to persist.

This isn’t about whether the smell is “pleasant.” It’s about what the body has to process.

I’ve actually talked with this neighbor before—specifically about dryer sheets and the chemicals used in them. She likes the smell. And that matters too. This is where detox conversations can easily go sideways if we’re not careful.

Being a “good neighbor” isn’t about control or confrontation. It’s about awareness. It’s about understanding that we share air, just as we share water and soil. Our personal choices don’t always stay personal.

But awareness doesn’t always come quickly. Sometimes the tugboat takes time to turn a large ship. Sometimes it takes repeated conversations, lived experiences, and patience. A lot of patience.

That’s real life. And that’s real community.

Moments like this are reminders of why detoxification can’t be reduced to food plans, supplements, or protocols alone.

You can eat well.
You can support your liver.
You can prioritize hydration and sleep.

And still be adding to your detox load through:

• Air
• Scent
• Household chemicals—yours or someone else’s

This isn’t about blame. It’s about recognizing total body burden.

Sometimes the most supportive detox choice isn’t adding something new—it’s removing yourself from an unnecessary exposure.

So I went back inside.

Not out of anger.
Not out of fear.
But out of respect for my nervous system and my overall toxic load.

This small winter moment reinforced something I see over and over in detox work:

Healing often starts with noticing.
Progress often starts with awareness.
And change—real change—rarely happens all at once.

We live downstream of each other, especially in the air we breathe. Learning how to navigate that reality with clarity, compassion, and patience is just as much a part of detoxification as anything on a plate or in a supplement bottle.

Sometimes the best next step is simply stepping inside, breathing clean air, and continuing the conversation another day.

It doesn’t get any more local than the air you breathe in your own backyard. 

The freedoms we seem to enjoy as Americans are religious freedom, political freedom, financial freedom, medical freedom and food freedom. Or do we? I have spent a large portion of my adult life aiding the shift of the existing food system. Often being told over and over; NO. Sometimes being to told yes. The yeses came only when the paradigm had shifted far enough for it to be the upcoming trend and it didn’t influence someone’s pocketbook or the establishment could benefit in some other way.

Why talk about it now? Because we need to be healthy to be free. And we Americans are not healthy or free.

I’m going to speak about food and medical freedoms as these are the two freedoms that I know that most about and I struggle listening to people who talk about that which they are unaware. I have found that whether one believes they have “freedom”or not is relative to two things. 1) Whether they are able to accomplish what is desired within the existing system and 2) How comfortable they are in the existing system. Number 2 often precedes number 1 meaning that the desire to accomplish something is diminished because of a certain level of comfort. As well as, having a level of acceptance of “this is just the way it is”. It being the system.

Even as a registered health professional I had been going outside of the system for true medical care for some time. This was not because my doctor within the system was not good about the care that he provided, he just didn’t have any answers for me. I won’t say that his hands were tied but I will say that there are established norms for care that most physicians are not willing to question. A more recent example, was at the beginning of 2019 when I found out my kidney function was deteriorating at a rapid rate. My nephrologist said, “Let’s monitor it”. I said, “ You monitor and I’ll figure it out.” Even as I type this, I’m still shaking my head as my GFR, a measure of kidney function was half what it should be for my age and I take pretty good, darn care of myself. I’m not overweight nor do I have high blood pressure which is the cause of 95% of all kidney dysfunction on the planet. The system is good at watching people’s health deteriorate and on some occasions even facilitating the deterioration. We accept this system as gospel for our health for some reason.

Thankfully, I figured it out. I never calculated what it cost me for all of my out of pocket expenses but ALL of it was out of pocket. I decided that if I didn’t have my health I really didn’t have anything and so a half engaged approach just wasn’t going to work. Insurance wasn’t going to cover where I was going for help. This is medical freedom in America or if it is covered, a separate copay for out of network expenses may exist. You know the drill. I pray that it changes however because there are a lot of people out there that can’t afford the out of pocket expenses associated with actually getting better when the system doesn’t help.

Food freedom in America is just as debilitated. The largest supported food system in America puts out massive amount of subsidized, highly processed, unhealthy foods that can be purchased for not a lot of money on every corner in America. It is in fact because of this subsidization that this is so. We eat what we subsidize because its cheap and convenient. Which in turn makes us very unhealthy. Ahh yes, freedom. Freedom to eat whatever we want.

Are we uncomfortable enough yet? Our bellies are full but our health is failing.

On a national level, the Farm Bill which should be renamed the Food Bill, dictates what crops are subsidized in America. “Healthy” food comprises approximately 3.4% of the entire $428 billion, 5 year budget. I can assure you that a local, regenerative farmer would love to get a large chunk of that. All things be as unequal as humanly possible, it’s not likely to happen. Perhaps the current extension of the Farm Bill for 2 more years will allow for some sense to fill the heads of politicians that make the decisions so far removed from the health of that person on one of those corners, where the large Snickers bar is way less expensive than a local, organic apple and more widely available.

Many states have adopted Cottage Laws or Food Freedom Laws which are state level policies for independent farmers, ranchers, and homesteaders designed to govern direct to consumer sales. This is how the industrialized food system can be circumvented. In the state of Missouri, one could grow up to $50,000 worth of food on their property. And someone ,for instance, who wanted to take charge of their food supply outside of the industrialized system, getting a foot hold on what this involves in your state would be a reasonable place to start. You see, as free as well think we are, there are always rules. Food sovereignty is far from alive and well in America.

I found this out when I wanted to have wood fired pizza events on my farm in Ozark, Mo. We locally sourced most of the toppings for the pizza including raising some our own meats. According to written statutes, I had met all criteria for doing so. I owned a food truck that was fully licensed through the County and I had agriculturally zoned land. I regretted even opening the conversation with the county in attempting accomplish my goal with full transparency. Why? Because they came up with 14 more hoops to jump through. Despite all the pasture, I now needed a parking lot and I needed to rezone commercially so they could take a larger cut of the profits. 5% versus 20% seemed like a good deal to them. What about traffic flow? I needed to consider my neighbors after all. This with the VFW across the street consistently having gun shows. I audibly laughed after that road block. They then wanted to know how much food I was growing on the property and where it was going to. Sometimes its better to quietly go about your business and not involve the system. Plausible deniability could be employed if they don’t know who you are or what you are up to, just eating pizza in the yard with a 100 close friends, sir.

All this to say, we need to be healthy to be free. We have become too comfortable with health and food systems that don’t support our health AT ALL! I know of very few people that have been able to advocate for change from a wheelchair or that doesn’t feel like they have a cage around them when dealing with chronic health issues. Fatigue sets in pretty quickly when road block after road block keeps us from being healthy. It’s hard to be the best version of ourselves when there is not a clear path forward. It’s just too easy to revert back to the system.

Why do we settle for this? It’s artificially propped up and most folks don’t know that there is an alternative. Please take your health back by going outside the system. Talk to friends and neighbors about what you want to accomplish with your health and figure out another way to work together. It truly takes community support to change with these sorts of issues by not engaging in the system. Get backyard egg laying chickens, grown some berries or learn how to make kombucha. It’s the baby steps sorts of opportunities when it comes to lasting change and everyone plays a part. Bite off what you think you can manage and then take another bite but choose freedom over illness. It’s always the slow progress always wins over time.

I also am available for what I call a Next Steps Consultation for your health. Its a 30 minute, drill it down and figure out where to go from here visit. I also know quite bit about how to grown your own food. Getting healthy should be fun and encouraging let me know what I can do to help. https://www.healthislocal.com/cart/225298-Next-Steps-Consultation