Practically speaking, what does it look like to reduce chemicals and crazy crapola from your life? Does it mean you have to suffer and not eat any good food anymore? (Nope.) Does it mean you are relegated to a life full of crunchy chia seeds in your kombucha? (Maybe. But probs not.)
1. Removing GMOs.
Did you say, "What is a GMO?" Well, my dearie, that would be a genetically modified organism. Basically, a mutated genetic code. Why would anyone even think of doing this? Well, for example, with 90-something % of all corn and soy in the United States, genetic modification involves splicing in some genes of a bacteria or a virus so that when you spray it with Roundup (glyphosate - the thing causing autism and obesity and cancer), it won't die, but all of the weeds around it will. This is a great (lazy) model for farming, unfortunately, the glyphosate leeches down into your groundwater and you kind of poison yourself, but hey, at least you didn't have to hand pick the weeds. Am I right? Eh? Eh?! TOTALLY WORTH IT!
As you introduce more genetically modified ingredients into your body, you become genetically modified. What is a cell with a mutation called? Oh yeah, that's right, cancer. So, besides your poisoned water, you are also eating cancer. Perhaps you don't care about that, but if you're going to have any children, they might just turn into mutants (hello Mom of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) and sterilize them. I wish I were joking. Read the research right here. It's another case of "we thought this was safe and now we are just kidding, it is "probably" cancerous, whoops!" Yeah, that's not super cool.
If you could start anywhere, start here. Get rid of the GMOs out of your life. If you're eating something with corn in it, you're probably eating cancer. The same for soy. How will you know if something is genetically modified? You really don't, unless it has one of two labels on it: Non-GMO verified (with a lovely butterfly picture) or something labeled as organic (things labeled organic are inherently not allowed to include genetically modified ingredients). Even then, sadly there has been cross contamination from the prolific amounts of toxins being spread all over this crazy world, but it is better to aim at a source that is trying to protect us from these toxins.
2. Read up on what you clean with.
Where? The EWG. The EWG stands for the Environmental Working Group. You can check their database for what ingredients are in your cleaning products (and even your cosmetics, sunscreen, etc!) and for how safe they are. They will rate them for allergies/respiratory issues, cancer, reproductive/developmental toxicity, skin allergies, and safety within the environment. Your home is your personal environment. You and your family are the ones who are most affected by your indoor air quality. You live in what could either be a safe haven or a toxic hell (not to put too fine a point on it...).
You could browse through their products and wonder aloud why Dreft baby detergent is rated F with a high concern for developmental and reproductive toxicity (who cares about the NEXT generation, we're just going to make sales to this one and worry about it later!).
Or maybe you could ask Whole Foods why they have some F rated products. Do you kind of feel betrayed? I am disturbed, to say the least. At least with this product, you won't get cancer, you'll just be totally infertile (and so will your children!). Great! Bet that works great on stains! Take a look at the database and see how your cleaners stack up and what they're adding to your personal environment (hopefully not respiratory issues, cancer, and infertility).
You can look up products with an A rating (so you know you're getting something safe), or you could check out Ms. Daisy's Norwex page and get yourself some amazing microfiber cloths with silver (bacteria and junk can't live on silver and the cloths kill of germs by themselves as they dry!). I wash my counters (kitchen cloth), toilet (Sanira system), windows (a wet enviro cloth and a dry window cloth), and everything else in my house with Norwex stuff. I avoid the toxic fabric softeners by using their wool dryer balls and I love them. If I didn't, I would tell you to avoid it like the bubonic (you know how I roll).
3. Everything else.
Yeah, kind of a broad category, right? There are so many things that you have around your house that you can easily use to make things you thought you would always have to depend on the store for.
Like what? Well, deodorant and lip balm (mine is on sale - $4/tube...message me if you want some, yes, I ship.). Or tortillas. Bread! Did you know you could make apple cider vinegar and kombucha and kefir and yogurt? What about dressings? (Check Pinterest or just google some recipes. It's that easy.) What about using coconut oil in very creative ways (I am not going to directly tell you except to say it turns liquid above 76 degrees F and...this blog is rated PG, I'm just going to let you look it up yourself and whisper you won't have to walk in *that* aisle anymore at the grocery store with your children. Ahem. Oh. And PLEASE get a separate jar for that one, ok?)? What about growing your own herbal medicine? (Not to change the subject or anything...)
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| Waaait, what kind of organic coconut oil? |
Maybe taking this all in at the same time is kind of like drowning quickly in some reverse osmosis remineralized water or something, but maaaaybe something will strike a chord in you and you will use your creative energies for good and just pick one thing.
One do-able thing. You can do EEEET!
Peace, love, and make change,
Ms. Daisy
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