Every one of us uses and eats numerous harmful chemicals a day. Some more than others. For some people it's a matter of just NOT knowing. My hope is that if any of you read this blog post that you will start to think about your own lives and what chemicals you are exposing yourselves to on a daily basis.
Sometimes I think that people don't really care about the harmful effects of shampoo or the chicken breast they are eating because they don't really think that this one thing is going to make that big of a difference. Maybe they are right, but guess what? It's usually never that ONE thing. If you start to pay attention to all of the little things that you do that are harmful to your body, they start to build up. When they start to build up, that is when you are really risking your own personal health and well being, and the well being of those that you are responsible for taking care of.
So, let's start the day of a typical American. Let's call her Susan. Susan wakes up in the morning and jumps into the shower. Susan washes her hair with her favorite shampoo(loaded with the harmful chemical called sodium lauryl sulfate) and then washes with her favorite bar soap or body wash(harmful chemical triclosan). Susan brushes her teeth(fluoride and sodium laurly sulfate). Susan gets dressed and puts on her lotion(full of diazolidinyl urea and parabens) and then proceeds to put on her makeup(broad array of chemicals). Susan blow dries her hair with the use of hair gel and hair spray(sodium laurly sulfate again and a HUGE slew of BAD chemicals including parabens, ethanol, copolymer). To finish it all off, Susan sprays herself with a dash of her favorite perfume(unnatural scents are made with harmful chemicals) and puts on deodorant(AHHHHHHH, aluminum!!!!!!!).
Susan goes in to the kitchen to fix herself breakfast. Susan has toast with margarine(cancer causing trans fats) and fruit(laced with harmful pesticides and genetically modified). Susan heads off to work and works at her office until her shift is over. They just did some work in the office and she can smell the fresh paint and carpet still(horrible chemicals). Or maybe Susan is a stay at home Mom. Susan spends the day playing with the kids and letting them chew on toys from China(BAD).
At the end of the day, Susan makes dinner for the family. She is making baked chicken breast(factory farmed and full of antibiotics), garlic bread(bleached) and potatoes(tons of pesticides are used). Susan puts the kids to bed and spends the rest of the night talking with her husband and doing a few chores. During her chores, Susan sprays cleaner on the counters(full of chemicals that you breath in and end up on your food). Susan decides to put one last load of laundry in the washer before bed and puts in the detergent(alkyl phenoxy ethanols, petroleum distillates and quaternium 15 which releases formaldehyde). Susan goes to bed and starts it all over again the next day.
I understand that not all of our lives align with Susan's. However, we can all find similarities and differences. My challenge to you is that you figure out what your "chemical count" is. Take a day and think about each product you use along the way. What is harming you and what is benefiting you? When you add it all up, it makes a huge difference. There are so many products and foods out there that are harming us each and every day, but with the right choices, you can change that. The products and foods CAN benefit you if you choose to make the right purchases.
I have made a lot of changes to our lifestyle, but we still have a "chemical count". I try to keep it as low as possible. Personally, I have found that the easiest way to do it is to do right at home. We don't use harmful hygiene products or eat harmful foods. That way when we want to have a chemical fest, we don't feel that bad about it. We can go out to eat and not feel so guilty about it because we know that we are doing good on a daily basis at home. I think it's when we expose ourselves to chemicals every step of the way in our lives that we run in to some serious problems in terms of health and happiness.
Preach it sister!
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