Thursday, June 19, 2008

eliminating the yuckie!


Since reading this about Quartenium and how it can affect the skin, as we've ran out of shampoo's and soaps we've slowly switched over to all natural ingredients - mostly Berts Bee's for the kids since they use so little (lasts forever) and for us I'm buying whatever's the most reasonable cost. It was quite interesting to me to learn about Quartenium, since it's a skin irritant and can cause contact dermatitis... it's ironic that it's found in high doses (above 15) in dandruff shampoo's of all things!!! I was particularly surprised at the products in our house that had this in it! With two kids who have very sensitive skin, we just started slowly switching a few things as we could.

We've switched to Clorox Greenworks as our main house cleaning product, and have learned how to make our own cleaners with simple things like vinegar and water, lemon juice, etc. Less toxins make more sense to me. Honestly, after starting this, I've spent LOTS less on cleaners and get the same, if not better, results in cleaning.

Then this came across my computer as I was reading a blog... Triclosan. It is found in lots of things, from soaps to toothpaste - it's an antibacterial and after reading about it, I find myself frustrated! Healthy Child Healthy World posted this article about how triclosan works, and how a 6th grader (there's a built in article on the link I've included) compared how her natural soap to antibacterial soap and how handwashing with plain soap/water is just as effective as antibacterial... but without the Triclosan.

No wonder cancer is increasingly more common this day and time (good heavens I've exposed myself to all of this stuff until recently!), I find it interesting that in the "old days" alot less BPA, Triclosan,Quartenium,and other toxins (pesticides in food) were used and people lived much longer healthier lives. I've even become apprehensive to buy canned foods so often, because BPA from certain can linings leaches into the food at a higher rate because it's heated so much in order to preserve the foods. I've began buying everything I can grown locally/organic - we visit 2 local farmers markets on the weekends in order to get a great price on healthier veggies until our mini-garden starts producing more. I'm glad to see that grocery stores are starting to incorporate 'locally grown' foods into the market section. When I can't find organic fruits, I use this guide to help me decide whether it is important enough to buy non-organic, or should I wait. The list shows the fruits/veggies in order of which are treated w/ the most pesticides. I also learned the differences in organic labels and do my best to find 100% organic, or organic labels as they have the least amount of exposure. Does it cost a little more? Sometimes, but 10-15cent a can is ok for our budget differences, I usually go online to the individual manufacturer's site and request coupons and/or samples - once I do this I generally receive coupons for 6-12 months by mail because they're interested in keeping customers and spreading the word. Harris Teeter has their own brand of organics now that is modestly priced in comparison to other name brand organics.

I guess I'm becoming an "organic" freak. I had always somewhat laughed at others for that in the past, and always felt that maybe they thought they were somehow better then me for being in the "organic cult". HA - now that I'm so interested in this I feel like a total jerk for having thought that - because in reality those feelings were only because I didn't understand their cause, their motives. This is because I never took the time to find out how beneficial changing a few things around could be to my own families health. It doesn't cure diseases, I'm not naive, but it certainly makes me feel better to know I'm not adding too that risk. You could look in my pantry, fridge and freezer and find non organic items {gasp}; but we're slowly changing to products as we find ones we like that are comparable. Not everyone can afford all organic, that's true - we fit into that mold. Dining out isn't organic and we still do- so by all means, we're just trying to do what we can at home - little by little making our little world less toxic.

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

I could have written this very same blog post. It cracks me up how we ended up having so much in common. Still hoping to make it your way in July . . .