avoiding toxins

In the last hundred years, human beings have invented tons of synthetic chemicals which we, as a species have never before been exposed to in the history of the planet. The problems arising from this synthetic exposure are far more terrifying than global warming ever could be. It reminds me of fish swimming in a bowl which has never been cleaned. Eventually the fish inside will choke and die from their own waste, and is not so different than what we humans are doing to ourselves and life on this planet right now.

My goal is to eliminate toxins and synthetics from my home.

I may never fully achieve this goal, but will share with you this journey as I go. Perhaps as the years pass, we will eventually eliminate synthetics, or prove without question that they are safe. They are everywhere. They are in the air, earth, water, food....our furniture, clothing, building construction.....they are taxing our immune systems and damaging our environment.

The first major step I took was to tear apart my pantry and read the ingredient labels on all of the food within. I highlighted any ingredient which I didn't know know what it was, as well as highlighted ingredients I knew were part of the group of additives to avoid such as MSG, aspartame, BHT, among many others...(I will post on this topic later, since the information I have gathered on the subject mysteriously disappeared after I allowed a certain four year old to play PBS Kids on my laptop). It didn't take long before I decided that if I couldn't pronounce an additive, I really didn't want to eat it and divided the items in my pantry into three groups: "Okay to eat", "Eat only in moderation" and "never, ever eat again".

Now, we had already considered our diets to be healthy. We limited our junk food, cooked meals at home regularly, rarely ate "out of a box" or had fast food. I was surprised and highly disappointed in the majority of the food in my pantry. For example, there were additives, preservatives, colors and so on in our breakfast cereal, crackers, granola bars, bread, and so on.

Over the past few months, we have removed the all of the "never, ever eat again" list and cut out a majority of the "only in moderation" list. I've found suitable substitutes for all and by involving the kids in this experiment, I have done so with little fuss from them. By explaining to the kids why certain things are unhealthy and how synthetics impact them and the environment, I have found that their desire to live a healthier and greener lifestyle outweighs (most of the time) their desire for junk foods. The only exception is the above mentioned four year old who is still too young to understand much of this, but has a better grasp on the concept than I thought he would.

Next, I opted to stop storing food in plastic containers due to food absorbing some of the synthetic compounds in plastic. I purchased some glass containers as well as reuse glass jars. As my collection of glass jars grows, I have begun to transfer food (when possible) out of the original packaging when brought home.

There are many other aspects of living healthier which I either am already or intend to explore further such as cleaning products- I've experimented with vinegar and now prefer it over my "green" multi purpose cleaner and used it to replace fabric softener. I am looking into body care items now, which the majority of what one finds on the store shelves contain synthetics which may be harmful to the body and environment. There are many other areas of consideration: chemicals for use in flame retardants, paint, glue, furniture finish....

I will continue to post as I learn. I have not posted in quite some time due to the fact that adjusting our diet in such a way has consumed quite a bit of time. Thank you everyone, for your patience.

Plastic in the Pacific

We all know that littering is bad for the environment. But consider this excerpt from the book "The Hundred Year Lie" by Randall Fitzgerald:

"An area of the central Pacific Ocean about the size of Africa-around ten million square miles-has become a virtual museum for the debris of our civilization's synthetics paradigm. In this region circular winds produce circular ocean currents, and as a result, anything that floats and has washed down rivers into the sea ends up collecting here in the planet's largest garbage dump. Oceanographers who have visited and studied the region have discovered that this huge section of water, down to a depth of thirty meters, is choked with plastics.
....this plastic waste doesn't biodegrade and eventually disappear into the environment. Instead, plastic goes through a process called photo-degrading in which sunlight breaks it down into smaller pieces until it becomes individual molecules of plastic polymers.
...What makes this situation even more perilous is what plastic polymers attract. 'As these fragments float around,' says Moore [referencing Charles Moore, captain of the oceanographic research vessel Alguita, operated by the Algalita Marine Research Foundation in Long Beach, California.], they accumulate the poisons we manufacture that are not water soluble. It turns out that plastic polymers are sponges for DDT, PCB's and nonylphenols-oily toxics that don't dissolve in seawater. Plastic pellets have been found to accumulate up to one million times the level of these poisons that are floating in the water itself...Hormone receptors cannot distinguish these toxics from the natural estrogenic hormone, estradiol...our worst pollutants are being ingested by the most efficient natural vacuum cleaners nature ever invented...These organisms are in turn eaten by fish and then, in many cases, by humans...' "

Now we can clearly see how human impact comes full circle, even when thought to disappear to the bottom of the ocean.

The impact of synthetics on the environment and our bodies is astounding. I highly recommend everyone to read "The Hundred Year Lie", Fitzgerald has compiled a chronological cause and effect demonstrating the introduction of synthetic chemicals and the relationship to human ailments. I guarantee that these facts will scare the you know what out of you.