I have Friedreich’s ataxia, a progressive neurological condition that affects
balance, coordination and the nervous system over time. I use a manual
wheelchair, and I manage daily life the way most people do, one decision at a
time.

What most people don’t know about the condition is where it begins, at the cellular level. It causes iron to build up inside the mitochondria, the structures in
every cell that turn food and oxygen into energy. That build-up damages them
and sets off a cascade that reaches the muscles, the nerves and eventually the
heart.

Once I started looking through that lens I couldn’t stop. My condition already puts
my mitochondria under strain, so I have more reason than most to pay attention
to what the industrial chemicals around us might add on top, in our food, our
air and the products we use every day.

The first thing I changed was food. Then I noticed the chemicals I’d cut from my
plate were still waiting in the bathroom and the laundry, in the shampoo, the
deodorant, the cleaning spray, absorbed through the skin instead of swallowed.
Unlike food, which you choose three times a day, that exposure is continuous
and mostly invisible.

I didn’t start making my own products because I was
crafty. I started because I couldn’t find anything I felt comfortable using.

It didn’t happen overnight. I started with the simplest things, a spray cleaner
and a laundry powder, because the ingredients were ones I understood. Then I kept going: personal care, skincare and hair care, then the baby and pet
recipes. By the time I stopped counting, the recipes covered the whole home.
And each time I made the switch, the alternative worked. Not almost as well.
Actually as well, often better.