The Clinical Herbalist’s Guide to Healthier Swaps for Your Home & Body

From careless mayonnaise and hidden seed oils to bacteria, parasites like Cyclospora, and things missing from the label...Simple, practical swaps for food and everyday essentials—without the overwhelm.

We spend a lot of time thinking about what we put into our bodies—but what about everything that is not disclosed on the labels, hidden manufacturing practices, and everything else we use throughout our homes? Not to make you paranoid, you have enough to think about already!

You don’t have to throw everything away and start over. In fact, I don’t recommend it.

A more sustainable approach is to start making thoughtful swaps as products run out. Look for simpler ingredients, fewer unnecessary additives, small producers, and products made with ingredients you actually recognize.

As a clinical herbalist, I spend a lot of time helping people look at the bigger picture of health. Sometimes that means herbs. Sometimes it means sleep, food, digestion, movement, or stress. And sometimes it means taking a closer look at the products we use every single day.

Here are a few of my favorite places to start.

Swap conventional mayonnaise for a healthier one. I was with you, using Primal Kitchen's Avocado Mayo, exposed to industrial seed oils almost every day unknowingly! How infuriating. I'm a busy mother running a busy clinic, so I want an option on the fly. For some cold dishes and sandwiches, I'm using just olive oil and citrus juice with a splash of herbal-infused vinegar. However, after some research, I found an option that is not chock-full of highly refined seed oils, added sugars, preservatives, stabilizers, and other ingredients that simply aren’t necessary to make mayonnaise. Here is a premade option: Mayonnaise with Olive Oil | Fratelli Carli. Even better? Make your own - that's if you have time, that is. A simple homemade mayonnaise can be made with egg yolk, lemon juice or vinegar, mustard, salt, and a good-quality oil. Add fresh herbs such as parsley, chives, basil, or dill for a flavorful herbal mayonnaise. Check out this recipe: Easy Homemade Mayonnaise Recipe (with olive oil) - Feasting At Home

Swap conventional chips for chips cooked in better oils. This one is probably the easiest—and most enjoyable—swap on the list. But also, hard if companies are not disclosing ALL the oils they are using! Which is why I am trying to find small companies who actually care and have some pride. Here’s a fun New England option: Nantucket Crisps. Nantucket Crisps are made in small batches using 100% avocado oil, along with non-GMO potatoes and seasonings. For tortilla chips I also like MASA, which my local Willimantic Co-op just started carrying. MASA is expensive: cooked in tallow, thick chips, with serious crunch—so good!

Also, I'm just going to throw this out there - I'm a huge fan of baked French fries. I'll cut my potatoes of choice, thickly coat in olive oil, add optional dried or fresh herbs or seasonings, bake for about 45 minutes or until golden brown at a high temp around 400 F. Before serving, I'll add coarse Celtic Sea salt. So delicious!

Swap highly processed hummus for small-batch hummus with real olive oil. Hummus can be an incredibly nourishing food—but read the label, and you just may see "olive pumice" standing in for "olive oil." Really?!? I'll leave the pumice - the byproduct of olive oil that is then saturated with solvents to get what little is left. The result is a highly processed "shadow" of a healthy oil. Look for chickpeas, tahini, lemon, garlic, salt, and real extra-virgin olive oil. You don’t need a hummus with ten different stabilizers and a mystery oil. If you’re buying locally, look for small Mediterranean or Middle Eastern restaurants and specialty food makers that make hummus in-house. Or make your own; it's simple, and here is a recipe I like: Easy Hummus Recipe (Better than Store-Bought). And if you’re buying, I like Yalla organic hummus that can be found at most stores and local co-ops.

Be more thoughtful about where your lettuce comes from. Cyclospora outbreaks have been associated with produce from multiple sources, including produce grown in the U.S. and Mexico. But living in New England gives us a wonderful opportunity: buy local when the season allows. During the growing season, look for: local farms and farm stands, CSA programs, and farmers' markets. I'm opting for greens grown closer to home, Hydroponic or greenhouse-grown greens when appropriate too! Cooking as well is the safest option for eliminating Cyclospora because the parasite is resistant to routine "chemical" disinfection. But please, don't be afraid of lettuce; get empowered by being the informed consumer.

Swap conventional dish soap for a simpler plant-based soap. Dish soap is one of those products we use constantly—and yet rarely think about. Instead of choosing a heavily fragranced soap with a long ingredient list, look for a dish soap with a relatively simple formulation, ideally without unnecessary synthetic fragrance or dyes. And you don’t necessarily need a bottle of liquid soap - I find that I waste more of it in liquid form! Solid dish soap is another option, and there are small New England makers experimenting with simple formulations. For example, NATURAWL, a New England company, makes a solid dish soap using coconut oil and essential oils. I also bet you have a local soap company or an herbal friend who makes fantastic soaps. If you still prefer a liquid version, a castile soap is great too, and often a refillable cheaper option if you have a local co-op.

Swap conventional laundry detergent for a simpler laundry soap. Laundry detergent is another product worth examining because your clothing sits against your skin for hours.

Rather than focusing only on the words “natural” or “plant-based” on the label, look at the actual ingredients. I also like the idea of choosing fragrance-free to protect my little one's sensitive skin and often buy Branch Basics at conventional stores. For a scented option, a New England company I like is Sweet Grass Farm in New Hampshire: Sweet Grass Farm: Natural Laundry Soap Concentrate

The bigger idea: you don’t need to detox your entire house overnight. This is where I want to push back against the idea that wellness has to become another overwhelming project. You don’t need to throw away every product in your kitchen. You don’t need to spend hundreds of dollars replacing everything. And you certainly don’t need to become obsessed with avoiding every single ingredient you can’t pronounce. Instead, start with the things you use every day. When the mayonnaise runs out, buy a better one or make it. When the laundry detergent is gone, try a simpler formula. When you’re buying chips, buy small with good oil. These small decisions add up.

This is holistic herbalism. It's about understanding the whole person and how food, stress, sleep, hormones, lifestyle, and environment interact. Sometimes the best change is adding something; sometimes it’s removing something. You don’t have to do everything. You just need to know where to start.

I work one-on-one with women to create personalized herbal and lifestyle plans that support their health and fit their real lives. If you’re ready to stop guessing and start understanding what your body needs, I’d love to work with you.

With hugs & herbal cheer from my family to yours, live well.

This article is for educaitonal purposes only - and is not intended to treat, diagnose or cure.