YOU'RE A FEW SWAPS AWAY FROM FEELING BETTER.
Five changes that actually move the needle... covering what you eat, what you put on your body, what cleans your home, and what you drink.
Let's be real.
Clean living sounds like a full-time job. It's not. You don't need a 47-step morning routine or a $400 supplement stack. You need to identify the handful of things quietly working against you every single day... and replace them with better options.
These five swaps are where I started. They cover the highest-impact areas: your kitchen, your skin, your cleaning products, your water, and your fridge. Most of them cost the same or less than what you're using now.
No overhaul. No obsession. Just five things worth changing first.
SWAP 01
Your Cooking Oil
THROW OUT
Vegetable oil, canola oil, sunflower oil, "blended" olive oils
BRING IN
Beef tallow, grass-fed butter, or a single-origin extra virgin olive oil
Seed oils... canola, vegetable, sunflower, corn... are highly processed, oxidize under heat, and are loaded with omega-6 fatty acids that drive inflammation. They're in almost everything, which means your cooking oil is one of the highest-leverage swaps you can make.
My go-to is beef tallow. It's stable at high heat, has a clean flavor, and has been used for centuries before the seed oil industry existed. Grass-fed butter is also excellent for lower-heat cooking.
If you prefer olive oil, the rules matter. Look for: single-origin (not a blend), organic, early harvest (October-November), a specific variety like Koroneiki or Olympia, and acidity at or below 0.5%. Most commercial olive oils are cut with cheap seed oils and don't meet any of these standards. Check the label like you mean it.
Chip's pick: Beef tallow for high heat. A verified single-origin EVOO for finishing and dressings.
SWAP 02
Your Daily Skin Products
WATCH OUT FOR
Parabens, phthalates, synthetic fragrance, aluminum, sodium lauryl sulfate, PEGs
WHAT TO LOOK FOR
Short ingredient lists, mineral-based deodorant, fragrance-free or essential oil scented products
Your skin is your largest organ and it absorbs a significant portion of what you put on it. The average person applies 9 personal care products before leaving the house, exposing themselves to over 100 chemicals before breakfast.
The biggest offenders to eliminate:
Parabens (methylparaben, propylparaben) — hormone disruptors found in moisturizers and shampoos.
Phthalates — hidden under the word "fragrance" on labels, linked to endocrine disruption.
Aluminum — in conventional antiperspirants, blocks sweat glands and has been studied for hormonal effects.
Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS) — a harsh detergent that strips your skin barrier.
Start with your deodorant and body wash. These two products sit on your skin the longest and have the highest absorption potential. Switch to a mineral-based deodorant (magnesium or baking soda based) and a fragrance-free or essential oil-scented body wash with a short, recognizable ingredient list.
Rule of thumb: if you can't pronounce more than two ingredients, put it back
SWAP 03
Your Cleaning Products
THROW OUT
Conventional multi-surface sprays, dryer sheets, scented detergents with synthetic fragrance
BRING IN
Molly's Suds — for laundry, dish, and all-purpose cleaning
Most people obsess over what they eat and drink but completely ignore what's cleaning their home. Conventional cleaning products are full of synthetic fragrances, chlorine bleach, ammonia, and surfactants that leave residue on every surface you touch... and breathe around.
The brand I switched to and haven't looked back from is Molly's Suds. Everything they make is plant and mineral-based, free of parabens, SLS, artificial fragrance, and dyes. Their laundry powder alone replaced three products I was using. It's concentrated, which means it lasts longer and creates less plastic waste.
Their lineup covers laundry detergent, dish soap, all-purpose spray, and oxygen whitener.
One brand, your whole cleaning cabinet handled.
What you clean with ends up on your skin, in your lungs, and on your food prep surfaces. This swap is as important as anything you're eating.
SWAP 04
What You're Drinking
STOP DRINKING
Unfiltered tap water and plastic bottled water
DRINK INSTEAD
Mountain Valley Spring Water (glass) or a quality home filtration system
Tap water in most U.S. cities contains chlorine, chloramine, fluoride, pharmaceutical residue, and increasingly... microplastics. A 2024 study found microplastics in 100% of human blood samples tested. Your water is one of the primary sources.
Plastic bottled water is not the solution. Plastic bottles leach BPA, BPS, and phthalates directly into the water, especially when exposed to heat (like sitting in a delivery truck or a hot car). You're paying for contaminated water in a contaminated container.
The sourcing and bottling of water matters as much as the water itself. Mountain Valley Spring Water comes from a protected underground spring in the Ouachita Mountains in Arkansas. It's naturally filtered through granite rock, high in minerals, and bottled in glass. No plastic contact, no industrial processing.
If you want a home option, look for a filtration system that removes chlorine, heavy metals, fluoride, and microplastics. Reverse osmosis combined with a remineralization filter is the gold standard.
You are mostly water. What kind of water you're made of matters.
SWAP 05
Your "Healthy" Milk Alternative
PUT DOWN
Most oat milk, almond milk, and non-dairy milks with additives
PICK UP
Whole dairy milk (if tolerated), or a non-dairy milk with ONE ingredient
Non-dairy milks got marketed as the clean alternative to dairy. For most brands, that's not true. Flip the carton and read the ingredients. You'll find sunflower oil, rapeseed oil, dipotassium phosphate, gellan gum, carrageenan, and "natural flavors"... a catch-all term that can include hundreds of unlisted chemicals.
Oat milk is particularly problematic. Oats are one of the most heavily glyphosate-sprayed crops in the U.S. Glyphosate is the active ingredient in Roundup, classified as a probable human carcinogen. Unless the oat milk is certified organic, you're getting a dose of it in every cup.
The same goes for almond milk. Most commercial almond milks are 2% almonds and 98% water, thickeners, and additives. You're paying a premium for flavored water.
What to do instead: If you tolerate dairy, whole milk from grass-fed cows is genuinely nutritious and has one ingredient. If you want a non-dairy option, look for brands where the only ingredient is the nut or oat plus water, and the oats are certified organic. Elmhurst and Malk are two brands that come close.
The word "milk" on a label doesn't mean it's simple. Read every ingredient.
Start with one.
You don't have to do all five this week. Pick the one that feels most doable and start there.
The goal isn't perfection. It's progress... removing the things that are quietly working against you, one swap at a time.
If this guide helped, follow along on Instagram and TikTok @chiphh for more of the same... real information, no fluff, no agenda.