Ep.196 Hidden Toxins in Your Home: Endocrine Disruptors, Glyphosate & Low-Tox Living

After nearly 200 episodes of Asking for a Friend, I realized something surprising—we had never taken a deep dive into environmental toxins and low-tox living.

So I went straight to the source.

In this episode, I’m joined by Dr. Rachel Marynowski and Carly Egoavil, the doctors behind Kale Blossom and creators of the Ask Nook app, a tool designed to help consumers identify hidden toxins in everyday products.

We unpack the confusing world of chemicals in our homes, food, and personal care products—and more importantly, what actually matters versus what’s just noise.

This conversation focuses on practical awareness, not perfection. If you’ve ever wondered about endocrine disruptors, glyphosate, fragrances, or chemicals in household products, this episode will help you think differently about the things you use every day.

In this episode we discuss:

• The reality of 80,000+ chemicals in commerce and how few are tested for long-term safety
• The most common endocrine disruptors found in household and personal care products
• How glyphosate and pesticides show up in everyday foods
• Why fragrance chemicals, plastics, and household cleaners may impact hormone health
• The biggest toxin exposures in the home (and simple swaps that actually matter)
• Why low-tox living shouldn’t be about fear or perfection
• The story behind the Ask Nook app and how it helps consumers evaluate products

If you care about hormone health, longevity, and reducing toxic exposure without going crazy, you will love this episode.

Because at the end of the day, it’s not about perfection—it’s about making smarter choices where they matter most.

Connect with Kale Blossom

Kale Blossom: https://kaleblossom.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kale.blossom

Ask Nook App: Available on the Apple App Store

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Transcripts are created with AI and may not be perfectly accurate.

Disclaimer: This podcast is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute the practice of medicine, nursing, or other professional healthcare services. It is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your qualified healthcare provider with any questions regarding a medical condition.

Transcript

Foundations Before Peptides

Michele Folan 0:00

The information shared on this podcast is for educational purposes only and should not be considered medical advice. Please consult a qualified healthcare professional regarding your individual health needs. You already know I don't believe in shortcuts. If you're not lifting, walking, eating enough protein, managing stress, and prioritizing sleep, peptides are not the answer. Lifestyle is the foundation. Always. But here's the truth midlife biology can be stubborn. Hormones shift, recovery slows, body composition changes, and energy dips even when you're doing the work. That's where medically supported peptide therapy can be layered in, not as a replacement for discipline, but as strategic support. Physician prescribed, clinically guided, compounded through an FDA-regulated pharmacy. This is about optimization, not escape. If you've built the foundation and feel like you've hit a wall, this might be the next intelligence step. Lifestyle first, strength mandatory, support biology when it needs backup. If this resonates, send me a message and let's have a real discussion. Or check out the link in the show notes. Health, wellness, fitness, and everything in between. We're removing the taboo from what really matters in midlife. After almost 200 episodes of Asking for a Friend, it hit me. We have talked about hormones, heart disease, muscle, metabolism, skin, peptides, longevity, but we have not really had a deep focused conversation about environmental toxins and low-tox living. And I'm going to

Why Environmental Toxins Finally Take Center Stage

Michele Folan 1:58

open that door. I'm not going to do it halfway. I went straight to the source. Today I'm joined by the dynamic duo behind Kale Blossom and the creators of the Ask Nook app, two doctors and moms who are helping women think differently about what's in their homes, on their skin, and in everyday products we use without even questioning them. They're not about perfection. They're not about fear. They're about practical, science-based awareness and smart swaps that actually make sense in real life. We're talking chemicals, hormones, household products, vaccines, and what truly matters, especially for women in midlife and grandparents who want to protect the next generation without losing their minds in the process. Dr. Rachel Marynowski and Carly Egoavil. Welcome to Asking for a Friend.

Drs. Rachel Marynowski & Carly Egoavil 2:51

Thank you, Michele, for having us.

Michele Folan 2:53

Yeah, nice to have you both. Love following you. And I want to dive into some questions, but congrats on the new app, too. I think this is all really exciting stuff. I am curious though, you went from practicing medicine to building a low talks platform. How did all this come about?

Drs. Rachel Marynowski & Carly Egoavil 3:19

That is a great question. We never ever ever intended to build an app. Not we're excited about it, but never imagined in 20 years ago that this would have come about. We we actually went to med school together. So we've known each other for gosh, roughly 20 years. We graduated, we kind of went our own ways for a while. We ended up, and this is going really fast through things, but we ended up coming back, moving closer together,

From Medical Practice To Low‑Tox Platform

Drs. Rachel Marynowski & Carly Egoavil 3:44

practicing together, and we built Kale Blossom in started in 2019 as a way to reach more women. And fast forward again, you know, the Lotox world is big and confusing, and it's like a mishmash puzzle. And we were thinking of different ways to reach a greater audience. And this app was a great way to do it. And we realized there is nothing else like this out there. So why not? Yeah. We are not techie. We found a great team. But we're like, we have to do this. We have to do this for moms and women and our kids and the next generations that are coming up. So we're really excited about it.

Michele Folan 4:22

But you know, I love these stories though, because you have women doing these incredible things a little bit later in life. I mean, you two are quite a bit younger than I am, but you know, you you uh forget how you can learn new things. And and even though you say you're not techie, I bet you are way more techie now than you were in 2019.

Drs. Rachel Marynowski & Carly Egoavil 4:48

We try. We like to think we are. Lots of help, lots of learning, lots of patience, would you say? Yes. And even the app, you know, was not on our bingo card. We also never set out to be influencers or on social media. That was not anything that was um something that we would have envisioned. I actually, before I went to medical school, this is going way back, I worked for a large hospital system in Atlanta, and I was actually in charge of the biggest, one of the biggest flu vaccine campaigns at the time. Something that I look back on now and go, whoa, I can't believe I did that. And it was a really good experience. And that was the start of my eyes really opening. Um, and I remember in naturopathic medical school, we had a professor, our environmental medicine class, which was one of my favorites when we first started learning about toxins. So this was a long time ago before Lotox was, I mean, we didn't have big social media accounts talking about lotox anyone. And he was talking about parabens. And I'm thinking, parabens, what are parabens? You know, that no one knew about this is back in like 2006. Like, what are these toxins? So it totally makes sense now looking back that we would have been where we are right now. It just was an interesting journey getting there.

Michele Folan 6:01

So then

Root Cause Care And Toxin Testing

Michele Folan 6:02

what gaps in traditional health care made you focus on environmental exposure?

Drs. Rachel Marynowski & Carly Egoavil 6:09

Yeah, you know, I think a big part of what separates us as practicing docs versus conventional medicine, we spend time with women, our patients. I mean, we see men and children too, but we spend a lot of time and we ask questions. And when you're really looking at trying to get to the root cause of someone's whole health picture, you can't not look at toxins because the body is an inventory of experiences, emotions, traumas, toxins, deficiencies, inflammation. I mean, it's just one piece of the puzzle that now it's like, how could we not talk about it?

Michele Folan 6:43

So if I were to come to you as a patient and you're gonna kind of run me through the gauntlet of questions and whatnot, what specifically when you do, because obviously you're running blood work on your patients, are there certain toxins that you flag that you are particularly interested in?

Drs. Rachel Marynowski & Carly Egoavil 7:02

Well, you know, we spend, like she said, a lot of time with patients. So our first visit is an hour, hour and a half, because some for some women it can go to two hours. So we do look for we look, we look at blood work, um, depending on life experiences. So we're looking at, we're talking to about mom too. Mom's experience in utero, your that mom's birth. So we're not just looking at the last 20 years of a woman's life. We want to know about mom's life too. And so from that health history and the experiences, we can kind of pinpoint areas where you lived, the jobs you've had, um, what you've done in the last 10 to 15 years, what we might need to focus in on. One of the most interesting patients I had years ago, um, she had an adopted son. And she had moved here from um, I think it was Indiana, one of those Midwestern states. And we got to talking and talked about her mom's health history while she was pregnant with her. And I said, So I can't remember the way I worded it, but why did you end up adopting? Did you not want to have babies? Were you not able to? She said, We tried and tried for years. That's always a light bulb for me. And I said, Okay, well, and how about the girls that you grew up with, your siblings? Oh, it was like a big thing. No one on my street was able to get pregnant. And I said, Did you grow up near a farm? She said, Yes, it was a cornfield. And so you start putting these, it's not that we're rocket scientists, right? We're just curious and are looking at the bigger picture. And if anyone would have said, okay, she wasn't able to have babies, infertility, hormones aren't right, grew up across from a farm. I don't need her to spend $500 on doing a lab test per se. You know, we always want to do the basic lab work. That's always important. But we're not those doctors that are like, come in and get thousands of dollars worth of the test. You can use your brain and apply simple biochemistry, you know, to certain cases. But we do value those TOX panels. So we could do a heavy metals panel, we could do a volatile solvent panel. I mean, everyone's got glyphosate in their urine now over 80% of people. So it just depends on the person and your experience as to what we would flag

Parenting, Products, And Teaching Without Fear

Drs. Rachel Marynowski & Carly Egoavil 9:05

or want to run further tests on.

Michele Folan 9:07

And then you you're both moms. So now has this really expanded your view then into how chemicals affect us in the home?

Drs. Rachel Marynowski & Carly Egoavil 9:18

Oh, yes. I think having children open our eyes a lot. And of course, you know, just that experience of having a child and moving through milestones and thinking about what they're being exposed to. Um, and really, you know, there's chemicals being produced every day. You know, when we were younger, when you were younger, right, there weren't so many, but there are so many things out there, and it is very hard to wrap your head around. But doing the best you can, not overstressing about it, is he. So there is a fine balance in it. I think with having daughters too, is different. Son, it's important for our sons too, absolutely. But with the whole Ulta, Sephora, skin craze, we blame the Kardashians. They just like messed us all up, right? But women, you know, especially, and we know our daughters will grow into this too. We slather ourselves with lotions and potions and makeup and our thyroids right here and our hormones. And it's like, okay, we really, really gotta be careful, but we want to do it in a delicate way, especially for our daughters. That's been a really good teaching experience because we don't want her to feel bad about her body. We don't want to feel like they're doing anything wrong. We don't want to traumatize them. Um, my I don't think I told you about this. My second grader came home from a birthday party last week and she said, I told it was a birthday girl, I told her that that red food dye in that cake was toxic. That's gonna be her. And I'm like, okay, all right, let's back up. I'm so glad you're there. And okay. And our older children ask questions now. You know, they hear us talking to each other or, you know, in the world, and they want to know too. They're becoming curious. So it's fun to see as they get older, they're taking a little bit more responsibility um for themselves and what they're using as well. So it's been really a fun journey.

Michele Folan 11:06

You know, your children, we you know, we say the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. You do realize that they will be lecturing their roommates in college about their bad habits and everything else. So just you wait.

Drs. Rachel Marynowski & Carly Egoavil 11:18

It'll we'll see. They'll probably also send us selfies like eating Doritos and drinking soda and like that's okay. There's room for balance in the world.

Michele Folan 11:31

Well, and I want to talk about that too, because I think that's that's what I like about your approach. It's very realistic and it's you're not fear-mongering, but you are shedding light on some things that we really do need to know about. So you reference 80,000 chemicals in commerce.

80,000 Chemicals And What We Don’t Know

Drs. Rachel Marynowski & Carly Egoavil 11:49

Yeah.

Michele Folan 11:49

How many of those are truly tested for long-term safety?

Drs. Rachel Marynowski & Carly Egoavil 11:55

None. None. Yeah. We don't know. None in isolation and none as a cumulative burden. And the interesting thing is the EPA, European countries have done a little bit better. They're further ahead of us. The EPA here in the US has banned nine ingredients. And the thought is that if they even did want to take the time to do the research, it would never happen in our lifetime because there's too many now. So that's where it's like it can easily be easily overwhelming to say, what do we do? I give up. I'm not even going to try. But controlling what you can, where you can, when you can within your budget, that packs a big punch. And we have to do that with 80,000 chemicals not tested in our current commerce.

Michele Folan 12:41

So glyphosate, we got to bring it up because again, it hit the news. Yeah. It was the end of last week, beginning of this week. Very concerning. I understand where both sides come from on this one. So I because I wanted to do some research on it because I'm the one that's been buying organic this and that, because I don't want glyphosate in my food, you know, oats, beans, whatever. But is there a way forward in terms of farming to start to get that out of the biosphere? Because that's it's there.

Drs. Rachel Marynowski & Carly Egoavil 13:20

That's a really great question. And I don't think anybody has the complete answer, but you know, I think there's interesting solutions. And I know things that we try to do, you know, supporting local farmers and people that are growing the right way and trying to put your dollar where, you know, where it should go, where the good people are doing the good things, um, is probably one of the biggest things

Glyphosate, Farming, And Real Food Choices

Drs. Rachel Marynowski & Carly Egoavil 13:42

that we can do. You know, glyphosate lives in the soil and lives in the earth for a very, very, very, very, very, very long time. Um, so in terms of it just completely, you know, walking off this earth, it's going to take a long time to do. Um, yeah, and you know, with over 80% of people now showing glyphosate in their urine, we've all potentially were being exposed to it. But I think it's such a complicated conversation because then you bring in, like, okay, well, it's a national security issue because we're getting so much from China. We need to make it here on our own home front. But if our people are sick, that's also a national security issue, right? Yeah. And another piece is why aren't we doing more regenerative farming? I mean, that's where we are the only animals wouldn't spray their food with to keep away pesticides and then eat it. We're the only ones, it's just nuts. And I think what bothers me the most about the glyphosate conversation is the lobbying and the big time dollar bills underneath it all. Why in the world can someone like Bayer, a pharmaceutical company, buy Monsanto, a pesticide company, and this be okay? A cancer-causing pesticide by a pharmaceutical company that is now investing in cancer firms at the Wazoo. That is the market, the quarter trillion dollar cancer market. Of course they're not looking for a cure because it's big business. That's the more unsettling, disheartening I worry for my children and my grandchildren's future.

Michele Folan 15:08

Yeah. And and and I agree with you. And as someone who was, I worked in the pharmaceutical industry for 20 years. I see where this stuff goes. And I it it scares me as it does you. So let's talk about just if I'm at the grocery store, if I'm gonna buy organic and it it fits into my budget, what are the things you would want me to buy organic over anything else?

Drs. Rachel Marynowski & Carly Egoavil 15:37

I would look for things that are that are not in appeal, things like your berries, things that directly touch what's what comes in contact with them. So potentially not a banana, but a strawberry. You know, you can also look up the EWG's Clean 15 and the Dirty Dozen to get a really good idea of the things that typically test higher end pesticides and things. So that's a very helpful list, too, if you're wanting an idea of things to hone in on. We send that one to mom just because it's an easy the clean 15 dirty dozen. But the big thing with glyphosates are going to be your oat products, your corn products, those are the big crops, anything with genetic modification. And you know what? If you're trying to eat healthy, we always say this too: diet trends will come and go, right? We're we don't get super excited about carnivore or keto or the FODMAP. It's like eat real food that goes along with your body, real whole foods, not the store, but like if it roams the earth, grows on a plant bush, you know, if you don't have to open a package to get in it, that's the best way to avoid most glyphosate if possible. When you're looking at things like Cheerios, Doritos, goldfish, I mean, those yucky ones that we don't really want to be eating anyway, those are the ones really loaded in glyphosate.

Michele Folan 16:49

You know, I do work with clients, and I'm like, if you can't pronounce it, yeah, I I think I'd skip it. Yeah. You know, minimal ingredients. And if it's got like weird words there, just keep walking. Just don't throw it in the cart. Ladies, we're gonna take a quick break. We'll be right back. Before

Introducing The Ask Nook App

Michele Folan 17:11

we jump back into today's conversation, I want to ask you something. If you've been listening for a while, you know this podcast isn't fluff. We talk about muscle metabolism, hormones, brain health, longevity, the stuff that actually determines how we live in our 70s, 80s, and beyond. And the show keeps growing because you share it. So if an episode has helped you rethink your health, send it to a friend, text it to your sister, share it with your walking buddy. That's how this community expands. Smart, curious women bringing other smart, curious women with them. Also, I'd love to hear from you. What topics do you want me to explore? Who do you want me to challenge? What questions are you afraid to ask but secretly one answered? You can use the link in the show notes to join the community or send me an email with your ideas directly. This podcast exists because you're asking better questions. All right, let's get back to the episode. Okay, we are back. I want to talk about the Nook app because this is your baby, and I want to make sure we give it ample time. What inspired you to create it? And how does it evaluate products based on hazard?

Drs. Rachel Marynowski & Carly Egoavil 18:30

So we wanted to address a common pain point that we've heard over the years from patients and moms and then our kale blossom community over and over and over in the confusion of what's really low tox? What can I trust? What can I purchase? What it takes forever, right? To Google a pillowcase, right? You want to buy a pillowcase, and you're like, I need a chemistry degree. You know, what am I gonna buy? So we're like, how can we come up with something? And we realize there is literally no app or anything like this. So um we developed it last year, and um, there are tons of apps like this for food, snacks, and even getting into body care, which is great. Um, but this was a real big gap uh with no tools. So it was kind of an easy, natural, like, I mean, it was like God was like, here you go, this is what I want you to do because there's nothing like it. Perfect. Not easy. Not easy. Yeah, it wasn't easy. Um, and we're continuing to add products to it all the time. Um, but the goal is literally to help support you. Number one, pick out things that may be hazardous in your home, like the plastic shower curtain line that so many people have. It just off gas for the whole life of it, darn it anyway. So little stuff like that, Windex, 21 million bottles sold a year. It's the they've cornered, they have 50% of the glass cleaning market. And that's something easy to swap if you know about it. So then if you're gonna say, okay, I've used Windex for years, but now I don't know what to get, you can take Nook to the store. So you can use it in your house, scan things, score, swap if you need to, take it to

Surprising Household Offenders

Drs. Rachel Marynowski & Carly Egoavil 20:02

the store before you invest in a new product when you're trying it out. And so it's not just negative. Nook is also to give peace of mind. So if you have this like set of this pillow that you love and you want to buy four more for the rest of your family members, you can actually scan it and be like, oh, this is actually a great pillow. I chose a good one. Nook, Nook approved. I'm gonna buy some more. Or, oh, wasn't so great. Maybe I need to swap to.

Michele Folan 20:25

Oh my God. I mean, so my mind's a little blown because there's so many products out there. How do you choose which to review, like what categories?

Drs. Rachel Marynowski & Carly Egoavil 20:36

So we've stuck with only home products and we tried, we're trying to first get those commonly used, um, and again, those pain points we hear from women and moms looking for again the sheets, the cleaners, the kitchen products. So we kind of started with the most use items in the home, and then we're going from there. We literally went room to room in most homes and just looked wall to ceiling, cabinet flooring, everything to figure out what and everything was added up, basically. So carpets, rugs, pillows, sheets, shower curtains, flooring, um, kitchen, body care, clothing, you name it. And we're continuing to add as well.

Michele Folan 21:18

I was at the dermatologist this morning. I was telling her about my conversation with you this afternoon. And she's like, Well, tell me, like, what do you think? You'll talk about it. I go, shower curtains. She goes, shower curtains. I said, Yeah. I said, think about it. When was when last time you put up a plastic shower curtain, that thing smells for days.

Drs. Rachel Marynowski & Carly Egoavil 21:39

Terrible. Yeah. And it doesn't stop off-gassing when the smell goes away.

Michele Folan 21:45

That's interesting.

Drs. Rachel Marynowski & Carly Egoavil 21:46

Everyone thinks, oh, I've had it for a while, it doesn't smell anymore. We're good. No, there are still toxins. It's the perfect war zone, unfortunately, with heat and moisture. It just liberates right out. But I hope you asked your dermatologist. Not to ever use petroleum jelly if you have to get a biopsy site.

Michele Folan 22:05

So I did have a biopsy and she sent me out with Aquapore. They all do. They all use Aquaphore or Vaseline.

Drs. Rachel Marynowski & Carly Egoavil 22:16

So you know what I do? I will take my own little coconut oil or a salve and I will tell them,

Endocrine Disruptors To Watch

Drs. Rachel Marynowski & Carly Egoavil 22:22

please don't put any, because I've had to have a couple too myself. Um I have very freckly skin. I'm a mole maker, they say. And I avoid the petroleum, avoid the Aquafore. I just that's where, see, I can't even, I'm stuttering. It blows my mind. The this dermatology branch of healthcare can put such toxic things on our most absorptive, biggest organ, our skin. Blows my mind.

Michele Folan 22:45

All right. Then what do you use on your lips at night? Like what do you what do you put on your lips at night before you go to bed?

Drs. Rachel Marynowski & Carly Egoavil 22:52

Primality Pure is my favorite. She's got a stash right here. We've got some Rokasa, we've got some Henne Organics. This is an awesome lip serum. So Rach and I are very persnickety about the products we use. And um, so you know, there's a handful of companies we really like. We talk about them on Keel Blossom. So um, but it's very important to us. And these are the same products that we're introducing to our daughters and our kids. And um, yeah.

Michele Folan 23:19

All right. So I do have some Henne. They sent me some samples to try. So that I have the little black little yeah. So okay. All right. See, now the I'm learning. This is so good. This is so good. What categories do you think surprise users the most when they scan?

Drs. Rachel Marynowski & Carly Egoavil 23:38

That's a really great question. Nothing surprises me anymore. So I'm probably looking at it through a skewed lens. I mean, I think body care makeup is probably still really eye-opening for most women. Um, kitchen products, potentially. I think we know it's just when you start to really research and look at the ingredients when they pop up, it's like, oh wow, that really isn't so good. Yeah. You know, it's kind of you kind of know, but when you really dig into it, it's a little shocking and eye-opening.

Michele Folan 24:09

So phthalates are our big endocrine disruptors. Are there some other ones that we really need to watch out for?

Drs. Rachel Marynowski & Carly Egoavil 24:17

Phthalates, parabens, fragrance, fragrance. Oh, don't get new secondhand smoke. Um, that's a big one. Gosh, the volatile solvents, uh, all the petroleum-based stuff. I mean, anything has the opportunity or the ability to get in and just scramble the system. And that's why part within note, when you scan a product, it will come up with the ingredients. So not only are we saying yay or nay and giving you a swap, we wanted to educate. So it will literally pop up the ingredients

Ditching Fragrance Where It Counts

Drs. Rachel Marynowski & Carly Egoavil 24:50

and then it's your decision, right? Whether you want to swap, if you're comfortable with that. But we want people to learn about what is in the products and why it may or may not be the best thing for a person. And we tried to group the ingredients that are flagged in Nook by what they largely negatively impact. So if it's like a respiratory toxin or an endocrine or hormone toxin, or you know, neurological, we try to discern that for people too, because ultimately we want people to be equipped and empowered in their own homes and their, you know, in their own stores to be able to do this on their own.

Michele Folan 25:24

You know, my sister, I have two sisters, and she always has year for years has bought unscented detergent, unscented this, unscented that. And I would always make fun of her, like calling her a granola head and you know, that sort of thing. But now as I have gotten a little older, I'm way more aware of fragrance. And I think for the average person, we have we really struggle with getting fragrance out of things because I mean it's in our shampoo, body wash. I mean, any tips on like if you're gonna say just get it, if you can a place to start, where would you start with trying to ditch the fragrances?

Drs. Rachel Marynowski & Carly Egoavil 26:13

We posted about this this week, actually. We're like, let's let trash be trash. It doesn't need a signature scent. And you know, trauma is passed down in generations. It may be a trauma thing where, like, before sanitation and sewage was cleaned up and horses walked and pooped on the street, maybe it was so stinky in centuries past that humans have evolved like, I need something that smells like flowers all the time, right? So I think it's the added stuff, like the scented trash bags. There's just no need. There's just no need for it. The pretty and cute Bath and Body Works candles,

Black Plastic And Kitchen Safety

Drs. Rachel Marynowski & Carly Egoavil 26:45

there's just no need, you know. So laundry detergent things, I would look for something that you use frequently. Because it's not, it's not the perfume that you wear once a year on your anniversary when you go up to dinner with your husband. Right. Yeah. Good point. It's not the priority. It's the laundry detergent, it's the cleaners, it's the sprays, it's anything you put on your body that is absorbed in your skin. So look for something, choose one thing, look at it. If it's your deodorant, you know, if you wear that every day, swap that out. Look at your laundry detergent. So start picking up the things that you use consistently and frequently and start there.

Michele Folan 27:22

We talked about the shower curtains. I want to talk about black plastic kitchen utensils.

Drs. Rachel Marynowski & Carly Egoavil 27:30

Oh, Lord. Plastic is bad. Yeah. Especially the black kind.

Michele Folan 27:34

Yeah. What is it about those? What are the big concerns?

Drs. Rachel Marynowski & Carly Egoavil 27:38

Well, the recycled material is just awful. It's coming basically from things like tires and electronics that have been coated in different lubricants. And it's the same thing with turf fills that they're putting in all these poor kiddos that have been cancer connected to cancers and leukemias. Um, it's just really nasty material. And I don't know who had the idea to turn black plastic into kitchen utensils, but it wasn't a good one.

Michele Folan 28:02

Well, I was and I was glad to hear you say about uh Bath and Body Works because I feel the same way about that place as I do about Yankee Candle.

Drs. Rachel Marynowski & Carly Egoavil 28:11

Yes. So we big fans. We in our teen years, Bath and Body Works sells stock up. You live and you learn.

Michele Folan 28:24

And anytime I would walk past a Yankee candle, I'd have to walk on the other side of the mall. I couldn't just

Vaccine Ingredients And Evidence Gaps

Michele Folan 28:29

couldn't handle it. It's just terrible. All right. The other thing that I think we need to chat about here is vaccines. And it I it can be a little touchy subject, I know, but I would love to know your concerns in regard to vaccine ingredients when it comes to particularly our kids. And a lot of my listeners have grandkids.

Drs. Rachel Marynowski & Carly Egoavil 28:55

Yeah, this is a doozy, um, a tough subject, but I think what it boils down to is just like the toxins that we were talking about, there's a lot of things we don't know that have not been properly studied. There are, we are lacking in studies on the cumulative effect of the vaccine schedule and the ramifications on our children's health. Um, studies are, you know, there's studies that are done, they are botched and changed, and it we're not getting the truth, and no one is willing to dig for it. So for me, and I think for most people, no, we don't know. So why are we doing this to our children when we don't know what the potential ramifications can be? And there's so much controversy to it. I mean, when you when you actually dig in and do vaccine research and you start connecting the dots, like, wait a minute, um, measles started to decline before the vaccine ever came out. And wait, polio, so now there's a wild type polio that they're gonna make a vaccine for from the wild type polio that came from the original vaccine. And it gets blurred, and we're like, wait a minute, did you just stop and listen to that? But you know, when I was doing the flu vaccine um campaign when I was fresh out of undergrad and wanted to get some real world experience, I took the flu vaccine. My then boyfriend, who's now my husband at the time, both of us took it. We felt awful. It was the worst flu, and all none of my nurses on my team would take it. None of them, it was like free. The hospital kept pushing all of us to get it. None of them wanted it. But here they are administrating. Nurses are smart. You are go to nurses, way smarter than many, many doctors. But even then, I started learning about vaccines and the flu vaccine, for example. They grow it six to nine months in advance. They have to. That's how long it takes to grow in a chicken's egg. Okay. So they're guessing what flu strain they think is going to affect the population more than half a year from now. I don't care how brilliant of a scientist or researcher you are, that's predicting the future, and it's not possible, especially when viruses mutate so quickly. And the flu vaccine is trivalent or quadvalent, so it covers three to four strains. Like we are literally propagating the flu every single year. Every single year, the flu campaigns start, you see the billboard sleep, the flu shots, and and it spreads. In all the inserts, it says, not only, you know, it's like the vaccinated don't want to go around the unvaccinated, well, the tables are turning because now the unvaccinated are saying, well, you may be chatting, so maybe it's me that shouldn't be around you. I don't know. I hate the the division it creates. It has become a really, really um inflammatory conversation, but I just can't get down to the common sense of it. Why in the world do babies now need over 70 vaccines to survive glyphosate and toxins and whatever aside? And it's just very interesting that in the 80s the vaccine companies lost liability because of the Reagan Act. And it's like, then they just shot up from there. Yeah.

Michele Folan 31:53

It doesn't make any sense. They have such a powerful lobby. Oh and that yeah, lots of money. And so I am starting to see a trend, at least with my daughter's friends who are now having babies. Whereas, you know, they they start those vaccines in the hospital. They're, you know, barely out of the womb and they're they're poking them with whatever. And those and those young moms are saying, Hold on, we're not doing this. We're waiting. There is absolutely, you know, and and this is my opinion. I may lose listeners because of this, but oh, oh well. But I just think that's nuts. And we have to do our homework. I mean, you you gotta do your research and and talk about your concerns when it comes to this stuff.

Drs. Rachel Marynowski & Carly Egoavil 32:44

Absolutely. Always advocate and don't research the night before you go into labor or the night before you go to your pediatrician's office. This needs to be something that, you know, it's cute to plan a nursery and pick out the decor and the name and do a gender reveal. This is the real stuff that that women and and you know, husbands and families need to be talking about before they have babies. We need discernment. We need discernment. And you know, they're pediatricians are really quick to say, only introduce one food at a time so you can monitor for reaction. Well, how about the new vax list, which is a six in one shot and the sneaky thing that

Balance, Grace, And Real‑Life Tradeoffs

Drs. Rachel Marynowski & Carly Egoavil 33:16

pediatricians are doing, they're appealing to the parent's heart by saying, Oh, your child will only need one needle instead of six. We have no long-term, no long-term studies on this.

Michele Folan 33:26

Yeah.

Drs. Rachel Marynowski & Carly Egoavil 33:26

And some of the studies that that have been the bedrock of like, oh, this is safe, they include only 15 to 20,000 patients. So you think, oh, this is thousands of patients. This is a good study. It's a large population. But they've shown that they need closer to, like, for example, 100,000 patients to actually look at the full array of side effects and possible death. And that's where I think it is. We need to weigh the side effects versus the benefits.

Michele Folan 33:54

Yeah. And this is this is a great conversation because I I do want, you know, this generation now having kids to look at things a little differently. Because we didn't, we really didn't question. But I think we've we now have enough data to say, hmm, let's let's hold the phone, let's, let's pull back the reins a little bit and let's make sure that this really is what we want right now for our child. So thank you for that. I really appreciate that. Because like I said, we've got a lot of grandparents that are trying to navigate this conflicting information online as well. And they wanna they want to be there and be supportive as well. Kind of a little personal question for you both. What is one health hill you absolutely die on? Like what's your what's your thing?

Drs. Rachel Marynowski & Carly Egoavil 34:42

There's a lot. Do we have an hour another hour? I think that's what's made us such good friends is that we really do practice what we preach. We're not perfect, but I mean, I think it's so important to us, all those pillars of health. I think sleep is a hill I will die on. I was gonna say, you are not gonna find us up late anymore. We can't make it. We're not gonna do it. So it's like you can you can supplement, you can exercise, you can eat perfect, perfectly, you can do whatever you want. But if you are not getting good quality sleep, nothing's gonna work well. Nothing. You aren't gonna be happy, you're gonna be cranky, right? It life is gonna be harder in a lot of different ways. So sleep, sleep, sleep, sleep, sleep. If you're having trouble sleeping, work on your sleep first. You cannot out-GLP your sleep. You cannot out-Ozempic bad sleep. No, sleep is more important than exercise. If you're someone who exercises every day, and if you have the decision to sleep or exercise, get your sleep. That's way more important. Yeah.

Michele Folan 35:41

I love naps. Yeah, yes, I'm a big, I'm a big nap girl. Is there a hill that you used to feel strongly about but you've softened on?

Drs. Rachel Marynowski & Carly Egoavil 35:51

You know, I think um in having kids, loosening up a little bit on just the perfection of things, whether it's allowing, you know, the processed snaps here and there and still choosing better options, but just giving them the reins a little bit more, letting loose, um, and worrying about,

Where To Find Ask Nook And Kale Blossom

Drs. Rachel Marynowski & Carly Egoavil 36:12

you know, being perfect for them, I think. I have six kiddos, and I would say my first two, it was like picture perfect. I was making all their food and it was like nothing went into their body that wasn't pristine. And now, you know, I have two and a half-year-old twin boys, and like they they haven't had any screens. So there's some areas that I'm even better on, but sometimes it's like, I mean, they're not even Cheetos all day. But even with my other kids, it's I don't want to drive myself crazy and not let them go have a food dye cupcake at an Easter party next month. You know what I mean? I'm not gonna die on that hill, but certainly we're gonna rein it in when we're at home.

Michele Folan 36:49

Yeah.

Drs. Rachel Marynowski & Carly Egoavil 36:50

It's all about it.

Michele Folan 36:51

You know what? And you know, we don't we don't want to make our kids afraid. Yeah, right. Right. And so I think there's there's a healthy balance there, but they certainly need to make wise choices. And you're you got you got years ahead of guiding them through all those bad choices that are in front of them all day long. We'll call you Michele in every year and say, what do we do? Yeah, my my daughters are like almost 29 and almost 31. So yeah, so that's yeah, yeah, yeah. And and and now I look back talking to you two, and I think, oh my god, how differently would I have done things? You know, they had the the Velveeta shells and cheese probably three times a week, and deli ham and and little Caesar's pizza.

Drs. Rachel Marynowski & Carly Egoavil 37:44

Oh, little Caesars, the breadsticks were so good though, right? We all had that, right? I think that's part of growing up in a way, you know. And that's one thing I hope it comes across on Kill Blossom. You know, we talk about a lot of negative topics, and unfortunately, social media, like those are the posts that do well. So we have to kind of push that button a little bit. But we're actually quite happy, content, joyful people are very happy. But I hope that's something that's conveyed on Kill Blossom. We don't ever want to shame someone for giving their kids Velveeta growing up. We don't want you to feel judged just because we talk about a product that we love and it may not be your thing. Like it's there's room for everyone to both have grace and make mistakes and learn from it and to be forever growing and improving.

Michele Folan 38:25

Um yeah. I rolled too when you guys had the tinfoil hats on. That was that was the best. I was like, oh, I like these ladies.

Drs. Rachel Marynowski & Carly Egoavil 38:35

They're awesome. We have to have a little fun. Social media can get a little wild. So we have to have a little fun.

Michele Folan 38:41

Yeah, absolutely. Carly and Rachel, where can we find Ask Nook

Closing And Ways To Go Deeper

Michele Folan 38:46

and the body of your work?

Drs. Rachel Marynowski & Carly Egoavil 38:48

Thank you. Yes. Um, Nook can be found in the App Store. Apple, I don't. We we are working hard on making for um Android. Thank you. So it's available for Apple right now, and we're working to release other versions hopefully soon. And you can find us online at kaleblossom.com. We have our Instagram, kale.blossom. We have our Pinterest page. What else? Where are we? Facebook, Kale Blossom. And then Nook's um Instagram is ask.nook. So you can find it there. And there is a link to to download a free trial of the app there also. Fantastic. You know, we're we're always like getting into new things, so you never know what we're gonna do next. So stay tuned.

Michele Folan 39:29

Oh no, I think something's coming. You're just not ready to tell us yet. No, maybe. Oh, Carly and Rachel, this was a lot of fun. I will put all of this in the show notes, and I really appreciate you both being here today.

Drs. Rachel Marynowski & Carly Egoavil 39:43

Thank you. Ciao.

Michele Folan 39:46

Before you go, thank you for being here. If you want to go a little deeper, make sure you check out the show notes for this episode. That's where I link anything we mentioned, resources, partners, or tools I actually use and trust. And if you're not already on the Asking for a Friend community newsletter, that's where I share practical midlife tips, favorite finds, recipes, and the things that don't always make it onto the podcast or Instagram. You'll find the link to join in the show notes. Take care, and I'll see you next week.