what goes in us

In today's day and age it would be impossible to live completely toxin free, but I am a strange bird who thinks it's fun to try. I am super passionate about this subject and so I want to write about what I've learned so far...
There are five things we were eating that were killing us: 1)pesticides 2)food additives (MSG,trans fats, & artificial sweeteners) 3)factory-farmed foods 4)genetically modified foods 5)unfiltered tap water.
I began to see that my family and I consumed these 5 poisons all day long, everyday. But how can they be bad if everyone eats them? Doesn't our whole country eat like this? I thought because we didn't eat fast food or white bread that we were healthy. I had no idea that what we were eating and drinking didn't even constitute as food a hundred years ago.
In the beginning of this effort to become healthful I bought everything organic just to be safe. Our rice, oatmeal, all veggies, all meat and cheeses, everything! It didn't take us long to realize that in our budget, buying organic gets us through about half a week and we shop week to week. So I looked into what was most important to eat 100% organic. I am not willing to feed my kids known cancer causing ingredients, but also I have to be mindful of our budget.
I buy all fruits and veggies organic. Now, I know there is a "list" of fruits and vegetables that are low in pesticides, but I personally feel that eating anything that comes directly from the earth should be pure, and healthful and radiant. I buy one or two types of fresh fruit for the kids to eat each morning. I also buy a big bucket of organic spinach for around $4. It lasts all week and I throw some into almost everything I make... I put it on pizza, pasta, and in most sauces. I do the same thing with corn and peas. They are pretty cheap and I sprinkle it on whatever my kids eat for dinner. There I've covered our veggies for the week and I'm not spending $10 a night on an organic salad(like I was in the beginning).
In my searching I have learned that some of the most chemically treated crops on the earth are peanuts, coffee, and potatoes. So these are foods I never ever buy unless organic. Foods made from these are important to buy organic as well, like peanut butter and french fries. I have found relatively inexpensive organic Yuban coffee on amazon.com. Peanuts are tough to find organic, but I have found some at Whole Foods and Trader Joe's both containing organic Valencia peanuts with no hydrogenated oils or high fructose corn syrup.
Pesticides can disrupt the endocrine system and can be carcinogenic(cancer causing) as well. If I ever had to non-organic fruits & veggies I know a simple wash to remove a lot of the pesticides: 1/4 vinegar + 2 Tbsp. salt, soak for 15 minutes then rinse under running water.
Food additives were like a god-send to me a few years ago. I was thankful for the little pink packets of poison that sweetened my coffee... I thought they were helping me stay thin. Once I learned about how dangerous those pink packets are long term(not to mention the yellow and the blue packets too), I switched to agave nectar. I began to see that artificial sweeteners are also in sugar free gums, candies, yogurts, and sugar-free desserts. According to the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, there is a 41% increase in risk of being overweight for every can or bottle of diet soft drink a person consumes each day.
Food dyes are a harmful additive made with synthetic chemicals. They are made from petroleum as well as coal tar. The Environmental Protection Agency says that coal tar is highly toxic. We used to by those pretty cupcakes from the grocery store that had the whipped frosting topping that looked like it was spray painted. My kids would get rashes on their skin, around their mouths wherever the frosting had touched. When I learned about what was in those cupcakes I felt horrible about what I was doing to them! In our house we love brightly colored candy. I am not giving up candy because it makes me very happy. I sometimes will treat myself and my family to regular starbursts or gummy worms, but most of the time I buy the organic ones. We are HUGE fans of the company "Yummy Earth". I buy their organic gummies and lollipops online in bulk. They are cheaper that way and last us a long time.
Another scary food additive that is absolutely treacherous is MSG, or trans fat. Trans fat is a harmful fat that causes about 50,000 fatal heart attacks a year(source:Center for Science in the Public Interest). Trans fats are in partially hydrogenated oil. The most common cooking oils we use today are bad. The generic term 'vegetable oil' is usually a blend of corn and soybean oils. And if not organic, they are mostly genetically modified. Olive oil is good and has no trans fats. Other good oils with no trans fat and high smoke points(a high smoke point is good for cooking, trust me) are macadamia nut oil, rice bran oil(excellent and inexpensive), grapeseed oil, coconut oil, hempseed oil, and peanut oil. The danger with trans fat is this, they clog the linings of blood vessels and surfaces in the brain, they cause obesity, heart disease, diabetes, high cholesterol, and even sudden cardiac death.
Trans fats are everywhere. They are used in almost all restaurants, even the upscale ones. They are in most processed foods at the grocery store... salad dressing, crackers, cookies, candy, pretzels, mayo, spread, etc. If you see any of these ingredients on a food label, it's your cue the food contains MSG:
glutamic acid, sodium caseinate, gelatin, yeast extract, yeast food, autolyzed yeast, textured protein, hydrolyzed protein, monopotassium glutamate, calcium caseinate(source:Price-Pottenger Foundation)

In the next blog I'll finish writing about the five harmful substances I mentioned at the beginning of this one. I still want to write more about eating organic foods, factory farmed foods, genetically modified foods, and unfiltered tap water. I'll entitle it #2. If you have any resources or tips to add to this, please do. I may print them out and use them in a book I want to write. :)

Thanks for reading crunchy moms and crunchy dads. Have a wonderful day full of love and joy and freedom!
Love,
Jackie

Introduction

My first entry in the new blog! I have to admit I am really excited to have a place where I can freely express my findings, feelings, and practices without sounding preachy. If you're here and reading it probably because you're a crunchy mama too! Or because you're my friend on facebook and I asked you to come here. Several years ago I was a part of an "attachment parenting" group. In that group I made dear friends that I still love today. Discussions within the group led me to do my own research and discover information for myself. Now, I know this is an online blog, not the same thing as a group, but I am really hoping good things will come of it. By the way, if you don't know what attachment parenting is you can either google the phrase or google 'Dr. Sears' and you'll get a good definition.

Since this is the first entry, I'd like to talk about my family and where we are in this journey. We live in Gainesville, Florida. We moved here in order to be a part of an organic church and express Christ freely. Kinda' like the pilgrims did when they came from England, then to Holland, then here, to America. Well, my husband Chris and I went from one place, one church to the next looking for a non-commercialized Christ. We believe God led us here.
It is easy to be ourselves in Gainesville. It's a really pretty town and a lot of former hippies live here. There are several natural medicine(herb)shops here. It's also a pleasure to be able to do my shopping at little mom and pop type stores rather than giant corporate chains. It feels good in my soul.
We do not vaccinate our children on the regular recommended schedule. I used to, until one of my children had a severe allergic reaction to the DTaP. He was in the hospital just hours after receiving the vax. We were told it was a coincidence so I went for the second round of vaccinations 2 months later. Wouldn't you know it... he had the same reaction and we were back in the ER that night. This is the child of mine that is on the autism spectrum. It was after this that I realized it was up to us as parents to decide what the recommended schedule for vaccination should look like. I am not against vaccines. I know that they are not safe for a small portion of society, but for most it doesn't hurt them. Unfortunately we don't know who will have a bad reaction until it happens. Every batch of vaccines is different, the chicken pox vaccine that a child got a year ago won't be the same one he gets this year.
Something else our family does is home school. We buy different curriculum intended for homeschooling families and then I use that as inspiration and write my own. My husband is encouraging me to organize it all and sell my own curriculum. Maybe one day I will! The only child of mine that will ever see the inside of a school will be my son who is on the spectrum. We do not qualify for the state's help unless he is enrolled in school. And because he can't pronounce beginning and ending sounds of words, we need speech therapy. I know my limits and I can't give him all that he needs in that area. Hopefully by the time he is in second grade I can bring him home.
Our home school journey is more than just reading, writing, math, science experiments, and history facts. With Christ as the center of our home, I am trying to give my children a love for learning, a love for each other, and a very closely knit home. Also, in the state of Florida schools have cut back on music, poetry, and art. Those things are very important to us. Another important reason we hs is because my oldest son is extremely energetic and active and I have no doubt that we would be forced to medicate him with amphetamines if I enrolled him in school.
The last things I will share before I must go tend to my mountain of dishes, is that I am a label reader. I have learned the difference between "all natural" and "organic" and I take that very seriously. It seems like a lot of the problems we have today were just not around 200 years ago. I believe that what we eat, breathe in, and put on our skin, nails, and hair plays a role in that. I used to clean my home with tilex, windex, pledge, and clorox wipes. And then breathe in the toxic fumes the omitted all day long... thinking that I was smelling "cleanliness". I have learned about the ingredients in those cleaners and how even a small amount is harmful to living beings. I am really excited to write a blog entry on buying and eating organic food... that may end up being my next one! I am diligent about anything that touches our skin for more than a moment, like lotion for example. I always treated my skin like it was the protector, barrier to my body and wouldn't let anything harmful pass through. Wrong. It is the barrier, but everything passes through. Our skin absorbs, not repels toxins. These are just a few examples of the ways we used to poison ourselves slowly. I am super excited to write in more detail. It's hard not to get too carried away here since this is just an introduction blog. Hopefully my readers will be able to add to what I write as I am always looking for input, feedback, and new knowledge.
Be healthy, live fully, and thanks for reading!
Love,
Jackie