In my house we are a close family of six.
Natalie (Queen of colour).
Iris (Chief of savoury based snacks & teenage kicks).
Floyd (Captain of fashion).
Caesar (head of security).
and me.
Plus the final, and arguably the most important member, an unsung hero, but a unifier and peacemaker, a work horse going about his business twice a day, the dish washing machine, Big Dave.
Two months ago, Dave had an injury that meant he was out of action and, wow, did we miss him !
He is all better now and back to full fitness, but maybe, just maybe, we have been using dishwasher tablets that are bad for him, the planet and us.
This research popped up recently, and honestly I didn’t think much of it as I did not know there were alternatives to the chemical based ones we were using (in hindsight, this seems a bit odd, as you will see later on).
And the idea of getting rid of Big Dave, and going back to hand washing dishes, is out of the question.
But I saw it a few times and eventually took the bait and did some reading.
The short version, the chemical alcohol ethoxylates in the rinse aid, is the issue.
It could be opening up your “tight junctions” giving you what is more commonly known as “leaky gut”.
It is toxic to the cells, and they die.
Why is gut epithelium/leaky gut a big deal?
Those tight junctions are there to stop undigested food, getting into the blood, bacteria, toxins and more.
If you open the tight junctions, then it is the potential beginning of immune system intolerance.
And that means the beginning of a sustained inflammatory response and autoimmunity.
FUN FACT – One of the reasons gluten is so devastating to so many people is it is unique that it can trigger the release of an endogenous molecule called ZONULIN.
Zonulin is a the gate keeper for tight junctions, it opens them up (this is meant to happen in response to some infections to allow large white cells to move around to clear pathogens).
But gluten triggers it and keeps it open and so it is universally an issue in a sustained inflammatory response and auto-immunity.
Triggering a vicious cycle.
Hence, it is linked with many, MANY conditions.
We want to break the vicious cycle, and get a positive one going.
Anyhoo, I went looking for a natural alternative, and it turned out there were a few of those.
I eventually selected this one.
And I am pleased to say it works just as well as the chemical stuff and, in fact, when you open the dishwasher door, there is no chemical smell, which I have just kind of always accepted, but not really thought about why?
I got them on Amazon.