Ever found yourself at the grocery store wishing everything didn’t come wrapped in plastic? Can’t decide which non-stick pan to buy or maybe don’t get a non-stick at all? If you’re a parent, have you found yourself worrying about what’s really in those squishy plastic toys? Perhaps you’ve seen images of ocean floors and beaches covered in plastic bottles and it’s got you ruminating on what sort of healthspan we’re curating for the next generations and the planet? Well, you’re not alone. Plastics are everywhere, and in this article we’ll look at how you can take steps to protect yourself, your loved ones and the planet from toxic chemicals. You’ll learn about what endocrine disruptor chemicals are and five steps to get you started living more purely and in harmony with nature. And most importantly, you’ll learn about ReWilding. Let’s go!

So just how bad is it?

Imagine you’re having lunch with 9 of your friends. Out of the 10 people at the table, 9 will most likely have detectable levels of toxic chemicals in their bodies.[5] It’s a fact of life now that we live in a world where it’s near impossible to avoid eating, inhaling, touching or somehow being exposed to chemicals that are affecting our health.

Toxic chemicals that enter our body through food, agricultural pesticides and herbicides, cosmetics and food packaging have a profound impact on your hormone health and reproductive capacity.

These chemicals have been used in the manufacture of things we use like flame retardants on clothing and furniture, utensils we use to cook with and eat out of such as drink bottles. They can leach out of those goods with age and heat, contaminating our bodies. Around a thousand chemicals with the propensity to interfere with our hormones or affect their function have been identified and are called endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs). According to the Weybridge report of 1996 an endocrine disruptor is “an exogenous substance that causes adverse health effects in an intact organism, and/or its progeny, consequent to changes in endocrine function.” [4] Apart from chemicals that disrupt our hormones there are food contact chemicals (FCCs) in the packaging, processing and serving goods that come with our food. A study published last year (2024) in the Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology revealed that 25% of the various food contact chemicals (FCCs) that have been identified were present in human bodies.[3]

Chemicals like bisphenol A (BPA) and several of its byproduct chemicals as well as many others are implicated in endocrine disruption, interfering with the way our hormones work and contributing to conditions like early puberty, obesity, fibroids, polycystic ovarian syndrome and hormone-dependent cancers. [1] If you just look at BPA and phthalates, exposure to these two more commonly studied EDCs is linked to issues with fertility, sperm count, sperm quality, childhood asthma, immune response inflammation, metabolic diseases like type 2 diabetes, liver function, endocrine-sensitive cancers and menopause including early onset menopause.[2]

The main hormones disrupted with these chemicals are oestrogens, androgens and thyroid hormones. These are important for all stages of life for females and males, but particularly important for women in midlife. It could be said that women over 35, the Gen X’ers and Millennials, are really bearing the brunt of a chemical overload at a time of their lives when inflammation, chronic disease, mental health, body image and so many other important facets of health and wellness are already challenging. There’s also a natural increase in fat cells in women through perimenopause which provides more storage for these chemicals compared to premenopausal women.

Research and awareness around the health risks of exposure to bisphenol A (BPA), phthalates, polychlorinated bisphenols (PCBs), per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS) and polybrominated diethyl ethers (PBDEs) and a host of other dangerous is growing. Initiatives like the Global Plastic Treaty (www.globalplastictreaty.com) are popping up and there’s a growing movement toward foraging, wildcrafting and ecological and sustainable approaches to nourishing our bodies, our hormones and our fertility. Enter the ReWilding movement. It’s a return to nature – physically, nutritionally and spiritually.

What is ReWilding?

At its core, rewilding is about returning to a more natural state of being. It’s the act of remembering that we are not separate from nature—we are nature. For women, rewilding offers a powerful invitation to live more in sync with the rhythms of the earth and the moon and to take this as an opportunity to tune into the wisdom of our bodies.

The first use of the term rewilding goes back over 30 years ago as a specific scientific term referring to the Wildlands Project in North America. Traditionally, rewilding was very much about the treatment of natural habitat. It referred to the process of restoring wild lands and reintroducing native species to their habitats. Over the last 20 years however, as rewilding moved into the public sphere, the meaning of the term has become (excuse the irony here) a bit more plastic, meaning malleable. Increasingly, rewilding is being applied to people. It’s a call to us all personally to de-domesticate ourselves—to question the hyper-processed, hyper-scheduled, and over-medicated systems we’ve become used to, and to seek nourishment, healing, and clarity from the wild again.[6]

Small acts of rewilding you can easily achieve

You don’t need to live off-grid or move to the forest to rewild your life. Many of the most powerful rewilding practices are simple and accessible—especially when approached with mindfulness and intention.

1. Time to ‘earth’! Walk barefoot on grass, soil, or sand at least once daily for 5 or more minutes. This helps to ground the body’s nervous system. Just a few minutes a day can help shift you out of chronic stress and into a calmer, more parasympathetic state.

2. Forage for health! Make it your mission this year to learn to wildcraft and identify one wild plant.

   Foraging is a gateway to wild nourishment. Start with something abundant and safe, like Dandelion, Plantain leaf, Sow Thistle or Bidens species. You’ll quickly notice how satisfying and empowering it feels to know your local plants—and how this practice awakens your intuition around food and medicine. My book ‘Wildcraft Guide’ takes you step by step through this and provides the latest evidence-based information on a range of wild growing medicinal plants just perfect for your next foraging mission. https://herbalwell.com.au/product/wildcraft-guide-botany-herbalism-for-wildcrafters/

3. Stop doing, start being. Take 15 minutes or more of your day and sit outside and observe without distraction. You don’t need to “do” anything. Just sit. Notice the wind, the birds, the way the light shifts. These small rituals build presence and reconnection, helping you feel part of the natural world again. The Aboriginal practice of Dadirri is a great place to start, read more about this here: https://www.miriamrosefoundation.org.au/dadirri/

4. Eat with the seasons. One of the most tangible ways to rewild your health is by shifting to a seasonal diet. Local, in-season foods are fresher, more nutrient-dense, and support your body’s needs as the environment changes. Wild foods—like spring greens, summer berries, or autumn roots—take this even further, offering unparalleled levels of vitality and resilience. As we’re now in May, get started by reading this article on how to live and eat during Autumn: https://herbalwell.com.au/an-acupuncturists-guide-to-eating-in-autumn/

5. Replace one product with a homemade or herbal version.

   Once you start becoming aware of the plethora of harmful chemicals in cosmetics and household goods you’ll want to look at which products you can switch for something more natural. Starting with personal care products and cosmetics is a good first move because they go directly on your skin. Try switching your skin cream for organic, biodynamic herbal-based products using plants like Nettle, Calendula, Rose and Chamomile. You can also try making things yourself! Lotions, creams, shampoos, bath bombs, shower steamers, hair oils and skin gels are just some of the products you can make at home with your own hands. Now you’re stepping into deep rewilding territory, rebuilding self-trust and moving away from over-processed, synthetic products that can disrupt your hormones.

Rewilding realigns us with nature

Truth is, we’re very cyclic beings. I’ve worked as a clinical naturopath for over two decades with women on their hormone health. We start with herbs and good nutrition and gradually move towards rewilding values and practices. These are things like making more time for cooking nourishing meals, exercising, sitting in the morning sun, calming the nervous system, sleeping to rejuvenate the adrenals, contemplation time and investing in our healthspan by living really well. What I’ve observed is that rewilding is more than a lifestyle—it’s a return. A remembering. Each step we take away from the processed, plastic-wrapped version of health and toward the earth’s wisdom is a step closer to feeling grounded, nourished, and whole.

References

1. Piazza, M. J., & Urbanetz, A. A. (2019). Environmental toxins and the impact of other endocrine disrupting chemicals in women’s reproductive health. JBRA assisted reproduction, 23(2), 154–164. https://doi.org/10.5935/1518-0557.20190016 https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6501744/

2. Darbre, P. D. (2020). Chemical components of plastics as endocrine disruptors: Overview and commentary. Birth defects research, 112(17), 1300-1307. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/bdr2.1778

3. Geueke, B., Parkinson, L. V., Groh, K. J., Kassotis, C. D., Maffini, M. V., Martin, O. V., … & Muncke, J. (2024). Evidence for widespread human exposure to food contact chemicals. Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology, 1-12. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41370-024-00718-2#:~:text=In%20summary%2C%20this%20study%20systematically,never%20been%20detected%20in%20humans.

4. Yilmaz, B., Terekeci, H., Sandal, S., & Kelestimur, F. (2020). Endocrine disrupting chemicals: exposure, effects on human health, mechanism of action, models for testing and strategies for prevention. Reviews in endocrine and metabolic disorders, 21, 127-147. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11154-019-09521-z

5. Rochester, J. R., Kwiatkowski, C. F., Lathrop, M. K., Neveux, I., Daza, E. J., Grzymski, J., & Hua, J. (2024). Reducing Exposures to Endocrine Disruptors (REED) study, a personalized at-home intervention program to reduce exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals among a child-bearing age cohort: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial. Trials, 25(1), 793. https://trialsjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13063-024-08627-3#:~:text=Endocrine%2Ddisrupting%20chemicals%20(EDCs)%2C%20including%20bisphenols%2C%20phthalates,%2C11%5D%20metabolic%20syndrome%2C%20%5B

6. Jørgensen, D. (2015). Rethinking rewilding. Geoforum, 65, 482-488. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0016718514002504