Have you heard this before? Your skin is your largest organ. That means anything you put on it is absorbed directly into your body. I heard the best advice at a Pathways Connect meeting recently: You shouldn't put anything on your skin you wouldn't eat. Really?! Wow....that really has had a big impact on me and what I buy my family.
So what does that mean, "we're trying to reduce our cancer risk"? What are the things we are eliminating, or in some cases adding, to our household? I'm going to spend the next few blog posts describing all of the different ways we have gone from a "typical American family" to the almost "crunchy granola" one we are today, and proud of it! I will go through, step-by-step, the areas we are changing. It would be far too expensive for us to throw everything in our home into the trash all at once, so we are gradually replacing our "conventional" products with more natural alternatives. It's taking a long time, but this is definitely a more economical way!
LAUNDRY SOAPS, BODY WASH & SHAMPOOS
I tried making my own laundry soap which really was cost effective, but my clothes didn't come out smelling like I wanted. The difference? The homemade soap doesn't leave the residue behind in your clothing that normally gives it that clean smell. Luckily, I found a great local person who makes many of these products and tests them out on her large family! Wendy at The Best Pink Salt is a great resource. Her laundry soap was all natural and my clothes came out smelling great! For only $4, I get enough liquid soap to do 100 loads, so it's definitely worth it to buy from her.
I have already replaced our hand soap pumps with about 1 tablespoon of Dr. Bronner's peppermint soap and the rest water (fill most of the way with water first so you don't create too many suds!). He also has an almond flavored one that smells so good! So my next step is to replace all of our body washes and shampoos, too. I will keep you posted as I find great products in this category. However, all you need to do is check out your local health food store, or go to the organic section of your grocery store to find a few commercial options that are much better for your health.
FILTERED WATER
Also, we are saving up to buy a shower filter. At our Pathways Connect meeting, it was mentioned that when we take a shower, we are putting all those chemicals in our tap water directly onto our skin that gets absorbed!
SUNSCREEN & BUG SPRAY
Ever since my children were babies, I was leery of those commercial baby sunscreens with SPF 50+ as well as the widely known as dangerous DEET bug sprays. Something just didn't seem right when I looked at the long list of ingredients I couldn't pronounce. So from the beginning, I've been buying Burt's Bees sunscreen. I usually do not put sunscreen on myself unless I will be in the sun for quite some time. If I am going to the beach or will be outside for long periods of time, I prefer to cover up, or I look for natural products. I'm not advocating going in the sun without protection! But you'd be amazed at how many different ways you can protect yourself and your family naturally.
Mother Earth News is a great resource, in addition to Dr. Mercola. I found a site that published an article detailing how to DIY your own sunscreen here. And I wanted to publish a simple recipe in this blog post, but here's a pretty in depth method to make enough sunscreen and bug spray (all-in-one!) for the summer for your family: Sun and Bug Lotion.
LOTION
TOOTHPASTE
We had already made the switch to "healthy" toothpaste without flouride. I will admit, I was saying to myself, "But don't my kids need flouride to keep them healthy?" Turns out the answer to that is, "No!" Dr. Mercola said, "Fluoride is in fact a systemic POISON..." What?! I thought in order to keep our teeth healthy we need flouride, and that it's crucial for my children's health! A simple search on Dr. Mercola's site about "flouride" yields these articles here. Have you ever read the warning on your tube of toothpaste about what to do if you accidentally ingest some? That alone should clue us in to the dangers of flouride and the other chemicals used in our "regular" toothpastes. And did you know that "[Dentists rarely mention [flouride's] toxic potential or the few studies revealing increased tooth decay after flouride use"? And in that same article, we learn from one study that "61,000 cancer deaths in the US result from flouridation each year." Each year! Does that mean you'll get cancer from using "regular toothpaste"? Not necessarily, but we are trying to reduce our risk, so ours went into the trash and we replaced it with this:
Want to DIY your own toothpaste? I found a great, easy and inexpensive recipe online at this site. This recipe is from Organic Body Care Recipes (Storey, 2007) By Stephanie Tourles.
DIY TOOTHPASTE
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt, finely ground
- 1 drop peppermint, spearmint, sweet orange, clove, or cinnamon bark essential oil
- A few drops (distilled) water
Linking up to the following:
 |
| Food Renegade: Fight Back Friday |
DISCLAIMER: I am not a doctor or a nurse. I am a nutritional consultant student. Everything written is from my studies and gathered from other sources, and compiled according to my opinions. Always consult your doctor for health care advice! Also I have not been compensated for any of the products in this review. All of the opinions of products are my own.
