Live Purely with Allison Evans & Kelly Love

Elizabeth Stein 00:00
Hi, everyone. I'm Elizabeth Stein, founder, and CEO of Purely Elizabeth. And this is Live Purely with Elizabeth, featuring candid conversations about how to thrive on your wellness journey.
This week's guests are Allison Evans and Kelly Love, co-founders of Branch Basics, the clean product brand on a mission to help people create healthy homes and experience the power of pure. After being diagnosed with PCOS at a young age, Allison removed all toxic chemicals from her environment and began eating real whole foods which resulted in her symptoms completely disappearing. Her healing journey inspired her to co found Branch Basics with her friend Kelly, who is an advocate for using food as medicine and advocates that switching to a pure natural lifestyle is powerful, even for those who consider themselves healthy. Through co founding Branch Basics, she's experienced just how much our everyday choices impact our quality of life, and is passionate about helping and educating others. In this episode, Alison and Kelly share all about their wellness journeys that led to starting Branch Basics. They provide such a wealth of information on the effects of chemical and environmental factors, our physical and mental health, and how to best rid them from our daily lives. We talked about their favorite clean products, ways to get rid of toxins, where toxins are coming from in the first place, how to best detoxify and so much more. I am such a huge fan of what they are doing at Branch Basics. Keep listening to learn more. And if you want to try their products, which you absolutely should use code LIVEPURELY for 15% off at branchbasics.com. Enjoy.
Kelly and Allison welcome to the podcast. As we were just saying, as we were getting started, this has been a long time coming. But it's so wonderful to finally connect. I've been such a huge fan of yours for many, many years. You're in every room in my house I think and it's just a pleasure to talk to you guys.
Allison Evans 02:25
I love that so much. You're only in one room of my house, you can take over a lot of my pantry. But I feel like Elizabeth that your product, like you feel famous to me, because I've seen your face for so many years, seen all your products. And I've been telling my girls because we've been trying to do this podcast now for a couple of months. And it keeps getting canceled for various reasons. But she said to me the other day my daughter was like, when are you going to talk to this girl in the back of the granola? So everyone, like my whole family's hyped up about the fact that we're finally coming to live with you.
Kelly Love 02:55
Thank you for having us.
Allison Evans 02:56
Yeah, absolute pleasure. Well, you guys have such an incredible story. And certainly so many founders have amazing stories. But I love those that have this wellness journey and this real why behind it. And you certainly have had that. So I would love for you to share and start off. Bring us back to the beginning. Allison, what happened with your health and what eventually led you to connect and start Branch Basics?
Allison Evans 3:24
Yes, very good question. I would say we're not we don't have the typical cleaning product, company story. So it really started in high school for me. I was diagnosed with severe polycystic ovarian syndrome. And I had 1000s of cysts on my ovaries. According to a sonogram taken here in Houston by fertility specialists.
Elizabeth Stein 3:48
How did you first know just like a for maybe quick for people who don't know what PCOS is? What is it? And how did you first know that you had it?
Allison Evans 3:54
Well, what's really hard now is that there's so many people that have it and the symptoms can range. In fact, people can have PCOS and not even have cysts, which makes very little sense. But I actually had no symptoms. I had my first menstrual cycle at 13. And then I just never had one again. And so my mom was finally like we have got to go in. Of course I'm thinking oh, this is great. I started my period but then I don't have to deal with it for five years. Well, it's not so great. So I was symptom free. And I remember the doctor saying that usually people are 40 and fat and have facial hair, like there's like four F's and I was like okay, but I had cysts everywhere so I was literally handed birth control. I was told there was nothing that I could do. I remember specifically saying is there anything that I can do like not eat or eat or not do or do? Nope, it's genetic. Some people have it some people don't. But you will not be able to conceive naturally and so just come back when you're ready to conceive and until then just stay on birth control. So I just owned it. These are the days like I didn't question anything like if there was someone in a white suit jacket and I identified with it. So fast forward to college where I met Kelly, my best friend and now business partner. And that is when my health took a really big downturn. So I had pain in my upper back that ended up going down to my lower back. I was on painkillers and muscle relaxers. I was getting steroid injections, I was losing motor skills. I remember I went to get a carton of milk back when I drank like conventional cow milk out of the refrigerator and it fell to the floor. I felt like my body was just I was losing control of my body. So I traveled the country in college. And the last thing that someone said to me, a doctor said to me here in Houston actually was it looks like early stage MS. So at that time, I am on a slew of drugs. I really have no help. I have no agreed upon diagnosis. I guess I should say I have no hope. Because there was it was just about drugs and what we can do to keep you symptom free.
Elizabeth Stein 6:00
What was your mental world like at that point?
Allison Evans 6:02
Oh, horrible. I mean, absolutely horrible. I mean, I was in a sorority and doing the whole college thing. But like, inside, I was so scared. I've been with my husband since high school. So thankfully, he was with me through all of this. And I'll never forget asking him like, kind of jokingly, because that's just my personality. But I was very much trying to hide my fear. But I remember saying like, would you still marry me? Like, what if I can't walk? And he said, “Yes.” That's good. I can walk. This is very good. But Kelly, watch this entire process. And so my aunt merrily comes into the picture around my sophomore, junior year of college. And she starts asking me questions that nobody else had. And this is my aunt who lives out in the hill country, doesn't have a cell phone, doesn't have a medical degree doesn't. And I'm thinking, okay, for the first time, though, your questions are giving me hope. So she's asking me, Where were you living when the pain started? What are you eating? What's your three day diet diary? What products are you using to clean your home? Clean your body? And as much as I wanted to think she's crazy, I'm like, wait a minute. Like, if there is something here, I can do something because so far everybody has asked me, “What's your family history? What are your symptoms? What other drugs are you taking?” there was nothing that I could actually do. It's so merrily explained about how the environment, the genetics loads the gun, your environment and your choices pull the trigger. And so we have so much more control. And if we would look at the things that we put in, on and around our bodies, we would see that most of the time we're standing in our own way. Our bodies know how to heal, but every single day, for most of our entire lives. We are putting things in, on and around ourselves that are keeping our body from functioning the way that God made it to. So I made some changes as much as I could while being in college, but enough to where I was able to taper off of hydrocodone and antidepressants. I mean, I was starting to incorporate real food, I got rid of Splenda and 100 Calorie packs, all the things that I thought were so healthy. Windex, the candles, the dryer sheets. And Kelly is here, my roommate, my best friend. And she's like, wow, I mean, there's a shift here. And so we decided to go live with Marilee that summer after we graduated in 2008. And that was the summer that our entire lives changed. We go out to her home and her home is completely free of synthetic fragrances and pesticides. It was probably the very first time in my life that I've been in a home that was that clean. And Merrilees like, “Okay, we're going to wake up in the mornings, and we're going to juice. Do y'all love juice?” I’m like, “Yes, we love orange juice.” She’s like, “No, celery, kale, ginger.” Okay, here we go. This was 2008. I mean, this was before the whole craze. So we're eating real food, I mean real food and chopping. And I didn't even know how to chop an onion at that time. So after eight weeks, I'm a completely new person. I mean, my mind my energy, the pain is gone. And I go back to the same fertility doctor, I'd been to six years later. After several months of living this way, leaving Merrilee’s, joining the real world but still eating clean food and living in as clean of an environment as possible, all the cysts were gone except for a couple. So I no longer was diagnosed with “PCOS”. My period ended up coming back naturally, I have conceived my fourth child, I'm pregnant right now. For me, people can deny a lot but you can't take someone's story away. And so for me, it's like I wanted a megaphone and a mountain because I experienced something that I felt personally and I knew that this information could help people. So I'll let Kelly take over. But essentially, that's how we got started. And that's why Branch Basics, in its very core, is a company that wants to educate people to keep people from one day saying why didn't somebody tell me this? And then we just use our products as a vehicle for that message.
Elizabeth Stein 10:00
That's amazing. It's such an incredible story to hear, as you just said, like, it's one thing to know. But when you hear these personal stories, it's so empowering for people. Thank you for sharing. Kelly, I'll let you take over.
Kelly Love 10:15
Yeah, so I was the “healthy one”. And all of a sudden, I'm like, well, first, before we even go to Merrilee’s, I'm like, this makes so much sense. Like, of course, what we eat every day and put on our bodies every day affects our health. Why have I not realized that all these harmful chemicals are in these things. So my eyes were open, I was so intrigued and wanted to learn more. And when we went live with Merrilee I described myself as healthy. I'd grown up eating conventional food and products use conventional products, but I was fine. It's like the typical narrative. And all of a sudden, without even trying to specifically target any of this, my painful menstrual cramps are gone, my body odor is gone. My dry, itchy eyes, and headaches and muscle aches are gone. And I was just like, wow, we all just think we're fine. Because we don't even realize how much better we could feel. And this is not to say that, like, if I wouldn't have changed course, like, would I be fine in 5 years or 10 years. So I was just like, I want to tell my family, I want to tell my friends, I want to tell the world about this. And so we convinced Marilee to let us try and put her brain on the internet. And we started off blogging and talking about all the different things and the best water filter that Marilyn found and air purifier and just talking about using food as medicine, and it was pretty overwhelming for a lot of people we knew. And they were like, where do we start? And we just kept coming back to start with cleaning products. It's an easy swap, like you don't have to think about it multiple times a day like food. Once you make the switch, you're done. And we have this concentrate model that can help replace dozens of cleaning products at one time. And so at that time, we were actually using a product that's similar to ours now that Marilee had used with her son, but we were not able to be fully transparent with that formula. We were selling what we were selling and we wanted to offer full transparency to our customers. And we're like, we can't tell people to go read ingredient labels and not be fully transparent with what we're offering. And so we took the really daunting, scary risk of pressing pause on the business and trying to create our own formula. And that took about two years. But I'm so glad we did. Because now we love our formula even more. And we really didn't know if we were going to be able to meet all of our specifications of efficacy and safety. But we did and it's just been awesome. So we relaunched that formula in 2017, and Marilee has just been such a just a secret, powerful weapon. Because her experience, and I can touch on that. But her experience has led us to be super, super picky with our ] formulation process. Because anyone can go to a lab and say, “Hey, I want a green cleaner.” And they'll give you kind of the standard list of sustainable ingredients. But we had super specific knows in our brief, that most scientists would say, “Oh, those ingredients are fine.” But because of Merrilees history of working with people chemically sensitive for 30 years and chronically ill and because of her experience with her son she's been able to know like, and get ahead of the game on which ingredients actually can cause an immune reaction or skin irritation or whatever. So our product was is actually completely non-irritating to the scan, which is unheard of. Our testing facility couldn't believe it. And so, circling back real quick, Marilee grew up sickly more so than Allison. Was always sick, was always on medication, always missing school, spent tons and tons of money, her parents said, on doctors. And at 23 had exploratory surgery to try and figure out what was wrong with her because they couldn't really figure out what was the cause and was told she needed a kidney transplant and that she would likely never be able to have children without help. And thankfully merrily rejected that and refuse to believe that that was the only answer and ended up coming across Food as Medicine throughout everything in her pantry and fridge. Completely went all in, was able to save her kidney, get pregnant. I mean, just had a total transformation just from food alone, knew nothing about environment and products. So fast forward, her son is healthy and strong, all of a sudden gets exposed to high levels of pesticides, like playing in a field that had just been sprayed, and it rained and he's playing in the water. So it gets all this exposure to these pesticides at 10 years old. So he goes from being a athletic, coordinated, intelligent little boy to not being able to spell a three letter word or walk straight line. He was going to be a bubble boy for the rest of his life, his brain and immune system would never recover. And again, Marilee just refused to believe that that was the only way. She was determined to get her son back. He was the canary in the coal mine and showed her how much these chemicals in the products that we bring into our home, affect us and pollute our air. She thought about the grocery store aisle. When you walk down the aisle that has the cleaning products, you know you're on that aisle and those bottles are sealed and closed, and you can smell them. So all these products that we have around our house, they impact us. And so it wasn't until she cleared everything that he was able to sleep inside because he was having to sleep outside, he was that sensitive. And he fully recovered and went to the US Naval Academy, first homeschool student there and graduated top of his class. Like brilliant, fully recovered his brain. So that's how she started consulting getting on this path of just these chemicals affecting us. And we just don't realize how much they're impacting us until we removed them.
Elizabeth Stein 16:50
That's an incredible story. And I think you touched on this too, you have on the one hand where this extreme example of being exposed to toxins and the effect that it had on him and on you, Allison. But then for you, Kelly, which I think is probably for a lot of people, you're just living your life, and you think that how you feel is normal. And whether that is you're having brain fog or stomach issues, or so many different ways that it manifests in one's body. And then once you take it out, realize, wow, I didn't realize that I was living this way and how much better I feel. So curious what do you guys hear from your community have some of those ahas and how people feel from taking and removing toxins out of their environment?
Allison Evans 17:32
Yeah, it's like, just because it's common doesn't mean it's normal. Everyone feels this low level, like we all just think, oh, it's the time of month that means that I take Mydol, I'm stressed or something happened or I'm exposed to something I have a headache. I think we have a lot of the feedback we get is about headaches, I would say skin irritation, hormones, but I was gonna say more extreme would be like, haven't been able to get pregnant, I've miscarried several times, haven't carried to term, ended up taking your course, ended up doing all the things, I've read through all of your blogs, I just had my first baby. And here's her picture. I mean, we've actually gotten several of those. And that's been so heartwarming. Even more like my husband is a professional runner, and didn't have anything to do with switching the products in the house. But he is now running like a much faster mile, beating his old times. And the only change is his lungs. I mean, people that thought they had asthma their whole lives, had been on inhalers every day, all of a sudden, oh, maybe it wasn't asthma, maybe it was the fact that I was spraying all these cleaners or had a housekeeper spraying all these things or breathing them in my sheets. So I think it's those that have been really fun. There's a ton of hormonal shifts that we see in people. And that can manifest in so many ways. We have a customer who reached out that had seven year old twin girls, and one of them was having early pubic hair. And the doctor basically said, “There's nothing you can do about it. We'll just keep taking hormone panels. Just to make you feel better, we're seeing this a lot.” She's like, okay, thanks. She calls me she's like, “I know you're gonna say something else. I have already been using Branch Basics. I've already had the organic mattresses, we eat organic food. Alliston, I don't know what else I can do.” And I said, “Get every synthetic fragrance out of your house.” So this is all taught in our course and all of our blogs. This is an example of how it's not just about the product, you can buy our product. But if you're not actually getting rid of the things inside your home, it's like your product, Elizabeth. Like you can eat healthy breakfast, but then if you're like having Domino's and McDonald's for lunch and dinner, it's not going to work, you’re not going to see the results. It turns out at that age, all these girls are given these smelly stickers and bath bombs. I mean, the synthetic fragrances infiltrate everything. She went to the room and she's like, “I pulled out so much stuff.” And within just a few months, the pubic hair had fallen out or hormone levels were normal, just like her twin sister. I mean, it was an incredible story. The body knows how to heal. And as Marilee says, when it comes to hormonal issues, it's actually one of the easiest and quickest ways things that you can heal. Even things like endometriosis, which a lot of people are told, oh, we can't do anything about that we have to go have surgery, we have to get us removed. But even though these plasticizers, which are found in synthetic fragrances are everywhere, they're ubiquitous, they actually leave the body very quickly. So once we remove them, there's so much healing that can be done in a pretty expedited manner.
Elizabeth Stein 20:45
Yeah, it's incredible. And I think, as you're saying, like a really great tip for people listening is if you're going to the doctor and being told like this is just normal, or just take this pill to get on birth control, whatever it is, to always do your homework and not just settle for those answers, because in most cases, there's an alternative.
Kelly Love 21:12
And I want to bring up a point. Allison, when you said twin sister, I think a lot of times people think, oh, well, if that was the cause, then we would all be impacted. If it was fragrance, then the twin sister would have the same symptoms, since they are living in the same room and around the same products. And I think that a lot of times can hinder us from thinking that the stuff that we're exposed to matters. But I mean, just like Erin Brockovich the movie, they're all exposed to the same water, and they all had different symptoms and different time being in their lives that those symptoms came on. So I just want to empower people to go against that thinking that, oh, if it was that, then there's definitely a clear, direct correlation to everyone. Everyone will be impacted the same way because that's just not how it works. We're all different. And we all have different constitutions. Some people can detoxify these chemicals more efficiently than others can and so we are all impacted in different ways.
Elizabeth Stein 22:15
So let's touch on as you're talking about phthalates, let’s go into some of the definitions of some toxins. What are phthalates, microplastics pfas, and then dive into that and go into more specifically, there isn't the home after that.
Allison Evans 22:25
Yeah, that's a great question. I think the first thing we always tell people, because it's not as daunting, like the word fragrance is easy to identify and spell. I guess you could also say parfum. But if you read that on a label, get it out. And people, it just looks so innocent. I mean this Elizabeth, it's like, we don't realize there's over 3,100 chemicals that can be categorized under that one word, and this is one of the things that Marilee is really trying to help people understand. Like, we cannot live by the old toxicology, mental model of the dose makes the poison, which basically says just a little bit of this can kill a rat in the lab. And so as long as we stay under that we're at the LD 50 or 50% of that, we're totally fine. Well, yeah, that's for that one product. But if you have a little bit of this, and a little bit of that, now science is showing with epigenetics that even that very little bit, in fact, Kelly loves this analogy, but one drop in an Olympic sized pool can turn on and off hormone function, then affect your genetics. And so we always tell people, like if you see something at the end of a product list, don't think it's just a little bit. Because it really does matter. If you go through all the products in your home, and you take everything out that has the word fragrance on the back, you've already done a huge shift in your home air quality. So there's really not a fragrance that's been tested that doesn't have endocrine disrupting properties. So I also talked to a lot of older women or men and they're like, “Oh, well, we're kind of over that whole stage.” I'm like, “You're over the whole thing?
Elizabeth Stein 24:19
Fragrances are everywhere. I was just visiting my dad and he had fragranced trash bags. I was like, “Oh my God, you have to get this out.”
Kelly Love 24:30
I will say those are terrible. But the hard thing about this sometimes that people have been around them for so long, they can't even smell them anymore. So they're not strong to them. So it’s difficult to challenge people like okay, just get it out and put it in a box and just get it out that you don't have to throw anything away. But allow your body to get away from it so that you can then start to smell it again. And then people realize how strong they are.
Allison Evans 25:00
Unmasking. And then I would say in terms of cleaning, specifically to just looking at the preservatives. So we always tell people, you want every ingredient to be rated either a 1 or a 2 on EWG skin deep database. So we do utilize that a lot. And we always tell people start with the very last ingredients. Well, first of all, if there's not an ingredient list, get it out. That is a number one red flag. They're hiding something, just trash it. But once you see a product with an ingredient list, there's no fragrance in it, but go to the very end of the ingredient list. And if you start with those, you'll it's just make it expedites the process, because those are usually the most toxic ingredients. And those are usually the preservatives. And so you can type the very last ingredient into the EWG. And if you get anything over a 2, we tell people to get it out. Unfortunately, even these non toxic products are using preservatives that are actually EPA registered pesticides. So you have the Isothiazolinone and own family like Methylisothiazolinone, which is used in most of the non toxic green cleaning lines that we've all heard of that I won't mention. But like I said, even in a small amount, I mean, that pesticide can turn on and off genetic expression, and specifically pesticides love lipid dense areas. And the fattiest part of our body is our brain, which is why pesticides are connected to things like Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, behavioral disorders and such. Once you've gotten rid of the products without the ingredient list, taken out the fragrances and then gone through those last few ingredients in the EWG, you're not going to be left with any products in your home. There are a few products that actually fit the bill in terms of meeting those standards. But the amazing part is that they work. I mean, we don't have to have these toxic ingredients to have a clean home. And in fact, we have really been trained to think we need a different product for a different everything. And we have to disinfect everything. And it's just not true. Because when we disinfect, we're actually killing the germs. And even the CDC says the best way to address germs is by removal so that you're not actually killing the good and the bad bacteria in your gut, you're just getting rid of the germs and maintaining that healthy microbiome.
Kelly Love 27:27
And a lot of times people will just look at the front of the bottle where it says like no phthalates, no parabens, but we really encourage people to turn around and look at the actual ingredient list, like Allison said. So you asked about phthalates. They are a group of chemicals mainly used in plastics, plasticizers. Like, it's not going to necessarily say phthalates in the ingredient list, you know. And so that's where like the fragrance comes in where it's an easy word to look for. And it actually hides all the phthalates and the carcinogens and different groups of chemicals. So always look for the actual ingredient list.
Allison Evans 28:00
Yeah, satellites are the chemical that makes those fragrances actually adhere and stick and last, which is why something like a very pure essential oil is not going to last in linger in the air as long because they usually have all the phthalate properties.
Elizabeth Stein 28:18
So when you as you were saying that you don't need multiple different cleaning products or multiple different rooms. How did you guys come up with the idea of the concentrate? Because it's genius certainly.
Kelly Love 28:28
Yeah, it was because of what Marilee had used with her son, she could use few products around him that he that he wouldn't react to. The concentrate model allowed her to clean everything with just pretty much one product around. And so when Allison and I started using that, we were like, wait, this is genius. This is amazing. This is so simple. But it took a while for a lot of people to wrap their minds around using the same thing on their countertop as their toilet, as their fruits and veggies, and baby. I mean, I literally wash my babies with the same thing that I wash my toilet with and it works and it's great. And my clothes and my face and my apples. Thankfully, the whole minimalist movement helps people be more accepting to the concentrate model.
Elizabeth Stein 29:29
What's your favorite hack when it comes to using your products? I recently used the booster to clean a pair of very dirty shoes. And it was beautiful to see how well it worked. What are some of your favorite ways that you guys use it or that your community uses it?
Allison Evans 29:45
Yeah, I think one of the most unique things that when I tell people they're like wait, what is you can actually put the window and glass dilution which is essentially one drop of concentrate and that one drop matters. You can't forget about it. But you can use it for your windshield wiper fluid. I think the stain removing is always going to show off the most I mean, I'm currently cleaning like five year old… I've, I have three daughters. So these pair of white tennis shoes are on my third daughter, and they're going to look new by tomorrow. I mean, it's really amazing.
Elizabeth Stein 30:20
So as you think about advising people to clean up their home, get rid of the toxins, certainly you're starting with cleaning products. But there's so many other things in our house that we've talked about, what are some of the other kind of next step areas that you advise on being some of those biggest offenders, whether it's the products we're putting on our body or in the kitchen?
Kelly Love 30:50
Okay, wait, before we answer that, I have to say, I was gonna say shaving cream, I actually use the foamer, our foaming wash for shaving my legs, and my husband uses it for shaving his face. But yes, great question. So our course we have different categories. And you can watch it in any order, but we kind of put it in the order that we feel is the most impactful categories to tackle first. So pesticides are number one. And we're in the south. So it is very common for people to have regular exterminator visits, and mosquito machines and just bug sprays everywhere in every cabinet. And those are the category Merilee will tell you absolutely. You don't even need to look at the ingredient list, just get them out. And we're in this cycle in America, where enough people get sick, and then they become banned. Enough people get sick, and then they become banned. We think that if something's on store shelves, then it must have been tested and proven safe. But that's actually not the case. So Marilee is always saying, just get them out, they're eventually going to be banned. They're not safe. And then laundry products, we never escape our laundry. You're not only inhaling it all day, but you're also absorbing it. So what you are laundering really impacts our health day and night. And night is actually when our bodies are made to rejuvenate and rest and repair and not having to detox, shouldn't have to be detoxifying chemicals on it. And so what we're breathing in our sheets and our pillowcases, in our clothes, and even our towels when we get out of the shower is so important. And again, going back to that what we were talking about earlier, you kind of don't realize it sometimes until you're removed from it. I showed up to Merrilee’s house that summer. She's like, “Yeah, we're gonna have to put your clothes outside in the sun and the air them out.”
Allison Evans 33:04
Kelly's like sniffing her clothes. I'll never forget this. We're on a walk and Merilee is so sweet. And she's trying so hard to just navigate how can I kindly tell Kelly that she's just like so much surrounded by toxins right now. I'll never forget I look over and Kelly's sniffing her shirt. She's like, “I don't smell anything.” And then by the end of the summer, those clothes had been airing out. Kelly's like, oh my gosh, this is so strong. I can smell the aroma away and I cannot be around them. My dry itchy eyes. I was able to now correlate like, oh my gosh, as soon as I'm around that, I get stuffy and my eyes start getting dried. So yeah, laundry is huge. A lot of people that we've had kind of do our laundry challenge, even just family members. They're like, “Oh, now even when I'm on a walk and outside exercising and somebody walks by me, now I can smell it.” But they couldn't before because a lot of times we use this since we're babies so you're used to it.
Elizabeth Stein 34:10
How about dry cleaning? How bad is that?
Allison Evans 34:15
That's such a hard one. I was talking about this yesterday with my five-year-old’s teachers because I went to go pick her up and her teachers are like, “Oh my gosh, we had this sequined dress and I thought that I always had to dry clean it but I ended up just spraying the armpits with Branch Basics.” And I was like, “Oh my gosh, okay, that sounds like a big liability and glad it worked out.” But I honestly think us as Americans, we have been conditioned to think that we really do have to dry clean so many things. I've started to question just like I question pretty much everything now in life, that when I see dry cleaning, I'm like, but really? I think it's a liability thing. Like these companies are trying to make sure that they don't get in trouble. But if you go to Europe and you buy these custom shirts and beautiful clothes, they actually tell you. I remember on my honeymoon I was with my husband, one of his guests was to get a custom shirt. They said, in this kind of really thick fringe act, it was like, “Do not dry clean this in America, you're gonna ruin it.” It's like you have a custom beautiful shirt and like it better be dry cleaned. So the number one thing is like, do you have to dry clean this? Let's flip the script. And then if you do, fortunately, there's a lot of Eco Cleaners. We have a few in Houston. Of course, Houston has some more offerings, maybe than most cities. But at the very least, if you go to a regular dry cleaner, just tell them to skip the added starch or fragrance that they'll add at the end as a finisher, and then they'll just stuffed it in these Saran wrapped plastic bags. And so it's just all in there, like getting absorbed. So I always like to skip that part. And then as soon as I get home, I'll take them out of the bags and put them outside for just a little bit. And that alone, like love will literally hang our some of our stuff on the basketball net. But even just for a couple hours, I mean, that alone is significantly lowering the toxic load even just before bringing it into your closet.
Kelly Love 36:06
And even rolling the windows down on your drive home if you can. And don't ask for the plastic overlap. Sometimes they don't listen to that part. And be sure when you air it out to take that plastic off so that it can truly breathe and air out. So we know that we're obviously exposed to toxins outside of the home that we can't control. We can control what's in our home, there's stuff that we can't control outside. So diet certainly plays such an important role for how we detoxify the toxins that we're getting into our body. How do you guys think about diet and some of the best ways to be either both, I guess detoxing from toxins in the environment, but also protecting are there certain things that you suggest to eat, or to detoxify and protect?
Allison Evans 37:01
Yeah, I love that question. I mean, I think it's the same message throughout, like how can we reduce the toxic load through our diet and we have never been ones to advocate, go vegan, go paleo go carnivore. I mean, there is something for everybody. Marilee has seen in her practice that the blood type actually does influence how certain foods work with certain people. But it's for me, it's really hard to get on board with the idea that there's a best diet because we are all made different. And I think instead, why can't we just be focused on eating real food and having a chemical or toxin free diet. Because, sadly, the gluten free and the dairy free and I mean, all these things, I mean, a lot of times you pick these things, and I am personally gluten free. And even my children understand that sometimes. We were talking about this last night, many of the gluten free items are actually more toxic than the regular ones. I mean, the ingredient list is so long as they're having to add these other chemicals in to flavor the food. And so last night my daughter who is seven was like, “So if I ever wanted to try a pretzel, maybe I would actually try the one with the gluten because it probably only has a few ingredients.” But then she because she's looked at the some of the other brands were pretzels she goes, “But mommy, the gluten free pretzels, the ingredient list is so long.” I'm like, “You're probably right. That's the time that we may have gluten, I don't know.” because I think we're just so far these categories. And we end up just getting so many more chemicals in our diets. I think number one is just making sure that we're eating real food. And then after that, I mean, if Marilee were here, she would go on in a way more eloquent way, but she really has experienced the power of using food as medicine. So food is not just, okay, let's just keep it at food. Like there are ways to utilize beans, for instance, can be so detoxifying and can be amazing for people with chronic migraines and hormonal issues. It's really amazing how even like cilantro can pull out heavy metals from the body. And combining that with polenta or always having that on the side with fish. I mean, the balance and the way that God has made food. If we look back at some of these cultures, we're like, oh, wait, yeah, that's funny how the Greeks always put like those two things together. And it turns out that they actually negate each other's negativities. It's just really cool. I mean because you're in this space, but it's so important to look at our ingredient list because we can see all the things on the front of the label that tell us that we're getting our vitamin D and C and all these minerals and what a great start to the day. But it's like yeah, but they're full of inflammatory oils and refined sugars. And it may have all those good thing but then once your body has been so depleted from all the refined sugar, like are we even able to absorb all the nutrients in the oats. This is why we love your product. Because it's been vetted and you're using real ingredients? It's amazing.
Kelly Love 40:07
Yeah, the main things that we always look for on ingredients are no refined sugar, no inflammatory oils, no natural flavors, it's as good oftentimes be very a mysterious, and then we actually have a whole list of excitotoxins on our website, like a guide that people can print off. It's just really getting the chemicals out and Merilee always said, it's really just common sense. Like, if we actually were to say, like, okay, if here's a granola option with harmful chemicals, here's a granola option that is free of all that, which one do you want, and which one do you want for your kids? We would, of course, choose the one that doesn't have the harmful chemicals. But again, we kind of assume that if it's on store shelves, and it must be safe. So anyway, those are kind of our big buckets, though, that we look at when choosing food. I get that it is hard. I've been in the camp where my kids are strong and healthy, and we only bring in good food into our home, like you were talking about, like what we can control on our home. So when we are out, I typically do have a little bit more leeway or freedom. But if my kids were really sick or trying to overcome chronic illness, then I would be a lot more stringent. But I think food can be hard. To circle back earlier, it's one of those things, we do have to make a choice about every day, multiple times a day.
Elizabeth Stein 42:01
it can be so overwhelming, you hear all of this information of like, okay, gotta change this, I gotta change that, I need to change so many things in my house that we didn't even get to the things that you're putting on your body, the make up, the lotion, etc. So I think really giving people that place to start is helpful. And to say that it doesn't have to be everything at once and kind of start as you have products in your home that you finish using, then replace it with the better one, but the idea of having to throw everything away can certainly be overwhelming. So start small.
Allison Evans 42:42
One of the things that we really try and emphasize is that you don't have to throw all this stuff away, but we're moving it from your environment quickly or at once is when you are going to get the true benefits when you're gonna get that shift and really feel the difference. Because a lot of times, yes, it is definitely like easier to comprehend or like, kind of accept the idea of slowly getting the stuff out. But the, the downside of that is your body's never really going to get that chance to make that big shift. And so we recommend people just getting like a big Sterilite box, those big bins and just put stuff in there, especially stuff that you're not really using every day. And put that outside. And at least you still have access to it if you need it, but at least it's out of your indoor space. And that is when you're gonna really like give your body that chance to see how it can feel when it's not exposed to that stuff every day. But yeah, food is a different story. And so again, it's just trying to focus on whole organic real food.
Elizabeth Stein 44:06
Love it. Alright, well with that we're gonna move on to some at Rapid Fire Q&A. We will back and forth for you guys. Three things that you're currently loving. It could be a product, it could be a TV show anything.
Allison Evans 44:26
I would say and I'm not just saying this because it's you. I had it this morning. I love, oh my gosh, what is it where you add the water like the instant with the quinoa? The oatmeal. Packets. Oh, I love them so much because I love that it has different grains in it and not just the oats. So yeah, really loving that. And then there is a product by Lemon Laine that Kelly and I are actually both loving. That's an oil but there's no fragrance. It's actually so hard to find, like oil cleansing and oil moisturizing finishing. That is completely fragrance free even without a central oils. Because we love just like the smell of the actual oil and I think it's called Glow, Kelly? I forget but it's so good. It's one of my very favorites. I bought my second bottle. I'm loving that and then I'm kind of on a back to the food category. I'm doing polenta with pumpkin seed kick. I don't know if it's a pregnancy thing, but I'm making it like every other day. My daughter is like we are having polenta again? I'm like yeah, it’s so good, adding some organic raw cheese. So yeah, those are my three things right now.
Kelly Love 45:43
Yeah. Okay, so let me think. The jovial einkorn crackers, the einkorn sourdough crackers, really loving those right now. I recently discovered them. And the OY-L body butter. They have an unscented body butter that is really great. And Drift, it's actually a customer who sent us some of their tallow recently. It's like whip tallow. And it's really awesome. So those two have been really great like skin to skin stuff recently that I'm loving. The weather right now in Jackson, Mississippi, it's feeling like spring. So just being outside and not being cold is so great. I would have my windows my door open right now. But if it wasn't for outdoor noise, I didn't want there to be noise, but it's just been great. But loving being outside right now.
Elizabeth Stein 46:53
Love that. Productivity hack.
Allison Evans 47:00
Audio stuff, I mean, I'm going on a few podcasts upcoming that I have never heard of them or any of their podcasts. And so I'm like listening to them so that I know more about them as I'm driving carpool or as I'm getting my steps in. I don't count steps, but I try to get my steps in every day. I do like a daily Audio Bible. I'm like, it's the only way I can get this in. Like I got to be able to clean the kitchen while I'm listening to that. So I think audio has been great for me.
Kelly Love 47:26
So I used to stay up late, wake up like right before I needed to get my kids ready. And I've recently switched. I've always known it's better to like go to bed early, wake up early. But I've just been so tired lately that I've just been falling asleep earlier actually when I put my kids down, a lot of times, I'll fall asleep with them. And so I've been getting up earlier and just like starting my day off more productive in the morning. And Allison's been doing this for years. And I've been wanting to be like her for years. But I've just been doing that the last month or two and it has been really great. This morning, I actually got up early and worked out which I never do.
Elizabeth Stein 48:21
They're listening to your body more.
Kelly Love 48:22
Exactly. I'm glad you said that. Because I am one that can just go and push through. And I've really been prioritizing rest and just knowing that when it gets done, it'll get done and just like trying to set more boundaries. So that's been really good and actually more productive.
Elizabeth Stein 48:45
Favorite Branch Basics moment. Could be like day one of business, could be milestone, anything.
Kelly Love 49:00
Thankfully, we've had a lot. We've had a lot of hard, stressful ones, but we've had a lot of good ones too. Just yesterday, I don't know I can't think of anything else. So this is just coming to mind. Someone told us that they were talking to their sister in Wheeling, West Virginia. And the girl in Wheeling was talking to someone local there. And she goes, “Have you ever heard of branch…” And before she could even say basics, the other girl finishes her and says, “Basics?” She’s just like, “Yes.” So they started chatting and come to find out, the girl tells her, “Oh, so there's actually a group at our church of women that get together and we have like a Branch Basics club. And we all follow all their stuff and try the recipes and do all these things.” So they're like little support group of making healthy living changes at Wheeling, West Virginia, which is pretty amazing.
Allison Evans 50:00
That's awesome. I think my favorite moment, this was actually at the farmers market a year and a half ago. And I was with Kelly's twin sister who was my other really close, close friend. They look a lot alike but they’re not technically identical twins. This woman came up and was like, “Kelly and Allison. Oh my gosh.” She started crying. I mean, I didn't even have a chance to say that it wasn't Kelly. I was like, we'll just go with it. So she starts hugging us. And she said, “My husband, we were we've been watching y'all because we can see y'all from across the farmers market. I didn't want to bother you. My husband made me come over and say this to you. But you actually saved my husband's life a few years ago, because you posted something about mold. And he had had a heart attack. And he was getting a battery of testing. And I watched your story as I was waiting for him in the ER. And I went and I proposed the idea that this could be mold toxicity because we had never checked our home. But there's been these leaks and blah, blah.” Well, the doctors looked at her like she was crazy. They ended up dismissing everything she said. But then they later did testing, they found out that it was actually mold at a high levels of sacubitril that had triggered his heart issues, earlier heart attack. And he is now completely recovered. They have done all this talks to talk to toxins work and he has started a clean mold remediation company that only uses Branch Basics for remediation and for cleaning. And they're here in Houston and we happen to see him at the farmers market. So that was a moment that I thought, Okay, God you are in the details. We couldn't have planned this. It wasn't even about the product. It was like something that I was sharing. So that was really cool.
Elizabeth Stein 51:34
That is incredible. I love hearing these stories. Okay, lastly, what is your number one non negotiable to thrive on your wellness journey?
Kelly Love 51:45
Hmm. Okay, not being fearful of all this stuff. Because it's so easy to hear all this stuff and be educated. And awareness is great. But it can very easily make you just fearful of every little thing. It's in our homes, or that's outside of our homes when we're traveling that we can't control. So I really actively choose to just do the best I can. But if fear starts to come over me as I know, it's okay, my body is made to handle this. I'm gonna process it and just make whatever choices I can in that moment to help mitigate but really try and resist the fear.
Allison Evans 52:30
Dang. Took mine. For me, I think sleep. Even Kelly can push forth and like she can stay up late and try to like hide through emails, or scripts or something we're working on. And I'm like, I just can't do it. Sleep is like my number one. I think sometimes we get caught up in all the non-toxic hacks and all things, we just like need sleep and water and some fresh air which is actually very basic. So I would say that's been for me.
Elizabeth Stein 53:00
I feel the same way. Yeah. Well, Kelly and Alison, thank you so much for being on the podcast today. It was so great talking to you. And everyone, go check out Branch Basics. You guys have done such a phenomenal job educating your community providing all the information, take the courses, do all the stuff, follow you guys. Where can everybody find you?
Allison Love 53:26
branchbasics.com. Instagram, @branchbasics. We've cornered the market on Branch Basics to consumer. So most people, once they love it, sign up for a subscription where you just receive every four to six to eight weeks, whatever works for you, like the concentrate. Because if you're not familiar with our products, you only buy the starter kit once and it comes with empty bottles that are filled with the concentrate in a certain dilution of water. There's a dilution ratio, that line, that makes it really easy to fill up the bottles. And then you never have to buy those bottles again, then you can just refill. The model makes it super economical and streamlines everything. So we explained all this on our website, which is one of the reasons going into retail for us. Like Elizabeth, you have such an easy product to understand, like you buy it, you eat it. For us, it’s like what is this? Why are there empty bottles? This is confusing. So we love having that relationship, that direct to consumer relationship, at least for now where we can handhold and educate.
Elizabeth Stein 54:24
Well, you guys have done a phenomenal job. Thank you for being here and great to talk to you. Thanks so much for joining me on Live Purely with Elizabeth. I hope you feel inspired to thrive on your wellness journey. If you enjoyed today's episode, don't forget to rate, subscribe, and review. You can follow us on Instagram @purely_elizabeth to catch up on all the latest. See you next Wednesday on the podcast.