This is a big post. I was gonna do a list of “20” but I know it’s gonna be a stretch to get a lot of readers to even finish this post. Lot’s of info. This is not your normal “start taking vitamin C” list. These things run a bit deeper, perhaps they are things you have never even thought of before. THIS POST IS FULL OF LINKS. Here’s to your health…
DISCLAIMER: I can’t say this post is well written. I am ALL over the place here. I don’t know what I am talking about. I am not a doctor, nor am I related to one. I believe a lot of what I read and a lot of what I read on the internet. I am just one of those crazy people that believes simpler is better and natural is best. Silly me.
1. Eat as close to the ground as possible. Actually, there is enough fodder here in that one statement for about twenty posts but I will try to keep it simple. The closer you eat just about ANYTHING to it’s original form the better. Find recipes that call for whole foods, eat meat from a local farmer…enjoy Lays potato chips? Slice up some Yukons and broil them in olive oil… a lot of my suggestions could probably fall under this first one, but as you will see; I am trying to drive a point home.
2. Be skeptical. I am, sadly a pretty jaded individual. But I think it often serves me well. Really, Say your Perdue chicken package says “all natural”… please. And by that I mean PUL-LEEEEEEZE! Think again. There is nothing natural about most things on the shelf that say “natural.” Be skeptical, when a written article about alternative foods or health makes sense to you but says something to the effect of “this information has not been proven by the FDA”; smile. You’re probably on the track to better health. … Food and Drug Administration… Phooey!
3. Slam the door on Sodium Lauryth Sulfate and Sodium Lauryl Sulfate. Both, I believe are extremely dangerous. Turn over almost every product you use to get yourself pretty and you will see these ingredients (which is why I began making my own shampoo, body wash, sugar scrub…)
5. Eat your chocolate. When I talk to people about health, and it’s one of my favorite conversations aside from God and Politics (I’m like a bull in a China shop at a dinner party!) but when I talk to people I long for them to understand that I am not talking about growing and juicing your own wheat grass (though knock yourself out if that’s your bag baby!) I am not really talking about chocolate, I am talking about common sense. But let’s take Chocolate for example: Have a piece, or an entire bar of chocolate of real chocolate. Dark chocolate. You can even make your won with cocoa powder, cocoa butter and sugar. Compare that with the list of unpronouncable’s on the back of a peanut M n M’s wrapper…
Milk Chocolate (Sugar, Chocolate, Cocoa Butter, Skim Milk, Lactose, Milkfat, Peanuts, Soy Lecithin, Salt, Artificial Flavors)Sugar, Peanuts, Cornstarch, Less than 1% – Corn Syrup, Gum Acacia, Coloring (includes Blue 1 Lake, Yellow 6, Red 40 Lake, Yellow 5, Red 40, Blue 1, Blue 2 Lake, Yellow 6 Lake, Yellow 5 Lake)Dextrin.
6. If you couldn’t make it yourself don’t eat it. Dugh. With this mantra in mind I have learned to make my own lemon curd, jams, french fries, pesto, granola, cakes, pancake mix, pie crust, breads and so on and so on… A loaf of bread is easy to make and the simplest loaf takes water, flour, yeast and salt. Compare that with a loaf on Wonder bread:
I mean, you can’t walk into a grocery store and purchase “Alpha Amylase” can you? That CAN NOT be a good thing. You can’t make homemade Capri Sun, Sunny D, Pringles, or Dippin Dots can you? I see Mom’s serving these chemicals and sugars to their kids all the time. (Then they wonder why they run around like demonic little maniacs who can’t sleep!) Which leads me to my next suggestion…
7. If you can not pronounce it…. If you can’t find it in a whole food form on the shelves of the store. Just say NO! I don’t have load of science behind this one, it just goes under the “dugh” factor for me. And I suppose it’s the gist of the last two or three suggestions but how in the WORLD are our bodies supposed to know what to do with all that crap? You can’t convince me they do. You can’t convince me that years of putting all that crap, all those chemicals, all those words you can not pronounce into your body doesn’t lead to sickness.
8. Burn your bra! No, I am no feminist! Au contraire but I tell you what, I am sans soutien gorge whenever it’s possible.
To boil things down, to be on a safer side you must wear only that bra which supports your breasts in their natural shape. Also, the bras must be made of natural fabrics like cotton and silk.
I have heard reports of the under wire contributing to breast cancer, sort of like the aluminum in deodorant concept and I read an interesting article recently about your lyphnodes not being able to drain properly from the pressure. No, it’s no National Geographic around here but I wear a lot of “built in bra” tank tops when I am home and I found a very soft, supportive but not binding and under wire free bra at Target that I am in love with. If you are in the work force and can not, thanks to our “culture” let it all hang out (and come on, who really wants to “hang“?) I believe there are “safer” bras on the market.
9. Get off the Pill. This is a decision I made 13 years ago THANK GOD! I went on it when we got married, having no idea what I was doing. It made me miserable, bloated, crazy, completely lacking in libido… and then I heard the truth about it’s abortifacient affects, even if you are not pro-life, which I pray that you are, but consider yourself. The pill tricks your body into thinking that it is pregnant, completely screwing with it. You wonder why SO MANY girls my age can’t get pregnant when they have been on it since they were fifteen for Pete’s sake! Again, I believe you can NOT jack with your body like that without paying for it… great article here.
10. Nix RBST from your diet. RbST is a growth hormone given to cows.
“After some battling with the United States Department of Agriculture, dairies in the United States are allowed to use the rBST free label as long as a disclaimer is included suggesting that no harmful human health effects have been linked with the hormone. This claim is contended by some scientists, who argue that further research on the hormone is needed. However, there is some agreement within the commercial dairy industry that the use of rBST is harmful to the cows, forcing them to produce more milkthan they can safely do normally. As a result, cows treated with rBST have been found to develop bone weakness and usually die within one or two milking cycles of rBST treatment.”
Again, no one will convince that this doesn’t have something to little girls starting their cycles earlier and earlier, If we pump our kids full of a growth hormone all day long… well, it just can’t be good. Think of how many glasses of milk “they” want you to drink a day?! Ridiculous. Watch a few of these videos down below and see if you don’t come to think of milk as “Cancer Puss” I know that’s gross but so is cancer.
And hey – can you guess who makes RbST? That’s right – M-O-N-S-A-N-T-O! And you know how I feel about them! And how ironic, they are trying to introduce GMO Alfalfa… which would in essence, kill the organic dairy industry. In the meantime, make sure all your dairy products are either organic or say “Made from Cows NOT treated with RbST.” And be nice to the dairy farmers, especially the small ones. They are good people trying to put food on the table but we can support safer practices too.
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This list is so small, but they are ten things I am pretty passionate about. I am working on another ten if you are interested. Below is a list of sources from books to YouTube clips. This is Pandora’s box here ladies, I know many would rather function under ignorance is bliss, but you owe to to yourself and your families to learn all you can…
I am going to try to compile another list soon… Bon Santé!
Books:
Greater Health God’s Way
Fit for Life
Skinny Bitch
Animal, Vegetable, Mineral (I have not read this yet but have been told I should)
Taking Charge of Your Fertility
YouTube:
The Dangers of SLS
RbST info
Fox News & Monsanto?
Your Milk on Drugs
Movies:
Food Inc.
The Future of Food
The Business of Being Born
Thank you for this list! You and I are in definite agreement about the first ten, which makes me even more curious about your second 10 things! 🙂
A girl close to my heart…my husband was raised on a farm and so I’ve learned from his family all about natural. We do all our own foods as much as we can, jams, breads etc. I’m very interested in making my own shampoo and body soaps. Thanks for the inspiration. Stacey
Thank you so much for posting this. It is extremely important and it is a topic that I am very interested in. I can’t wait to see your next list of 10!
God Bless,
Kahleen
Great post.
Taking charge of your fertility is the best book i own! It is really helping me.
Thank goodness where i live we have alot of organic farms and in Canada our meat regulations are much tougher than the US hence why so many Americans come over to buy our meat.
I found out that I am “allergic” to SLS six years ago and have bought expensive shampoos since–I would LOVE to know your recipe for SLS-free shampoo, if you’re inclined to share!
Thanks so much,
Katherine
Ok my sincerest soul sister, you had me at “Be Skeptical”!!
This is one of the best post of any blog I have read in a long time. And might I say you are right on track with it all. I’d like to add that you should also omit anything in your life with any ingredient beginning with “prop”. All of the propylene products are known to cause cancer and this is even recognized by the FDA! yet there they stay, right on the acceptable list of ingredients.
We have raised our own beef and I tell you there is no comparison in the taste. Home grown, hormone free, range free beef is unbelievably delicious! And don’t get me started on raising your own chickens. They are not hard to butcher and when you do and see the actual size of a real chicken breast (not very big) it makes you sick to think of what they are feeding the chickens for mass production to get a chicken breast bigger than a turkey breast. Something’s wrong there for sure.
Sorry to get carried away, I just loved this post.
Merci mon ami,
Tamra
Good on you Ang for putting up this list. ‘Eat as close to the ground as possible’ reminds me of the verse in Psalm 104 that says ‘He gives vegetation for the service of man that he may bring food from the earth’ – that verse is taped to my fridge! We follow the principles of Jordan Rubin’s Maker’s Diet – his books opened my eyes up to what the Bible has to say about health and well-being and we have done our best to make our home a healthy home – it has really been a journey and it is a balancing act – organic meat and dairy would blow my household budget and I just wish organic clothing and bedding was more affordable. I have found a reasonably priced sls free shampoo range though. Some of the chemical free shampoos are $20 a bottle! Less ingredients but higher priced!
Some people think we are nuts because we don’t eat pork (for health reasons)and read the labels of dips set out at church buffets – can’t help myself – I always check the ingredients. So today I will be pouring down the sink the bottles of coke and coke zero that people brought to my son’s party that are sitting in the bucket on my patio – I am not even prepared to bring them inside my house! And the chooks will not be getting the left over MSG laden potato chips.
I watched Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution the other night – could not believe there were kids in your country that did not know what a potato was! But they knew what potato chips were!
I must ask about your delightful macarons- do you use natural colorings for them? And refined sugar? I compromise and still use raw sugar for baking alongside rapadura but for certain dessert recipes a finer sugar is needed – especially for icing – what do you do/use?
Love it. I am a health nut too and I cook mostly from scratch. We eat gluten free and organic. I have not given as much thought to the shampoos need to revisit that.
Thank you for posting this. I live in central California and we have many dairies around us. I’ve always held milk at an arms length and have tried to inform my family of this – you know Hispanics have a very high indidence of diabetes – I wonder why? Just a random thought. Anyway, I visited the post you posted on your family visit – just loved your singing and sharing of your family with us-how lovely.
Jenny
Hopefully this is not TMI but your comments on the bra are intriguing. I just got home from a long day at work and the first thing I cannot wait to do is take off my bra. It digs in at so many angles, is black, and has an underwire and I do believe some modern type of boning on the side panels. It is a torture devise!
And I hope this is not too controversial to say, but sometimes I wonder if all the mammograms that are supposedly recommended annually aren’t causing some breast cancers themselves. Yes, they are an early detection tool, but if you are exposing your breasts to massive amounts of radiation like that year after year, does it have an effect? I argue this point with my dentist too who tries to insist on annual dental x-rays and I tell them no, I’m in no pain, my teeth are healthy and I’d rather not expose myself to this just because you can get reimbursed for it from my insurance company.
Sorry to talk so much about boobs there!
Stephanie
great list. yes! great list! while I’m shopping I am always reading labels… but ultimately pretty much always keep this in my mind while I shop….”if your great grandma wasn’t eating it neither should you!” 🙂 it’s really hard to find wholesome foods all year round here in the midwest, I could die for fresh jucy fruit in february! when I was a little girl wholesome food was all we had. a trip to mcdonalds was a “treat” and only happened on long road trips but even during them mom packed sandwiches;) because mcdonalds was too expensive…when did it become okay for a trip to mcdonalds to cost less then then buying wholesome food?.
as a girl who has had two aunts pass away from breast cancer and now a mom who had it 7 years ago and is again battling a metastatic spread to her lungs and brain..from a cancer she was sure she beat… it I STRONGLY RECCOMMEND MAMMOGRAMS. if it is in your family you must do them, it is all we have for early detection…
Thank you for the tips. I’ve been looking at ingredients so much more, recently and there’s SO MUCH JUNK in “healthy” grocery food.
We raise a large garden and have been freezing and canning our veggies, and of course using fresh!
Our brother in law is a butcher and we get our meat from him, instead of WalMart, which is where I used to get it. I’ve noticed more energy, less stomach aches, and haven’t gotten the flu since I’ve done this! (I usually get the flu about 3 times a year).
I am on the pill, yet VERY pro-life. I’ve been praying about it so thanks for the tips!
Can’t wait for your next tips.
God bless!
Your post shocked me into getting in my car and buying some new SLS -free shampoo this afternoon. I will forgo my body lotion until I make certain there is no SLS.
I am seriously reconsidering my next mammogram, too.
I think that’s all my brain can handle for today. Tomorrow I’ll find a new place to buy meats.
Thank you for the big eye-opener!
Adrienne
WOW, I knew there must be a good reason why right after my shoes, my bra comes off. Hate them and only wear one when I’m out, or have company. Great info!
xo,
Debra
FANTASTIC POST!!! CLAPPING OUT LOUD!!! Angela my dear friend…this is one of the reasons I love you……you are so intelligent yet witty 🙂
all great advice….now if only the market would go down for organics to stop forcing the poor to eat poorly
Great list. I think it’s so important to take charge of your health both for yourself and your family. Any steps in that direction are positive, whether that means changing to a less toxic shampoo, learning to cook from scratch, or questioning your physician.
-Karin
I completely agree. I’ve been living like this for 25 yrs. I have raised my children this way…and we are healthy because of it. We rarely have to go to a Doctor…no one in my family is on meds or every has been. We have our own organic garden. I make everything homemade using mostly organic products. We eat farm raised meats and eggs from free range chickens(we are lucky to live near Petaluma,Ca. which provides organic meats, eggs, milks, cheeses) But when my children reached their teens they began eating a lot of the ‘junk’ foods and fastfoods like their friends. I remain cooking and providing the healthy choices and have witnessed my 18 yr. old daughter whom is a manager at Mc Donalds return to the health foods and choices. She is thankful she was raised the way she was and has experienced the difference personally of eating/living healthy and not.
The bra info was new for me. This is so helpful. My son’s girlfriend has been having a problem with getting abcesses near her bra line. She takes anibiotics and they go away then come back. I will share this info with her.
Can I get an AMEN?! 😉 I am so happy that we are all becoming more informed through movies and literature and that there are people out there testing and investigating this junk.
I hope that we can change the future for our kids, so happy the pendulum is starting to swing, Lets give it a big push!
Great Post!
Many Blessings,
Molly
All good points and info to consider… I do think the combination of all these chems in our food and body products could VERY WELL be causing cancer and other maladies… I just got on the anti SLS soapbox a few months ago–that’s why I believe in and write for http://www.jrliggett.com Yep, a shameless plug for his shampoo bar and products–SLS free, made from ingredients you can pronounce, healthy, natural oils and made here in the USA! Check it out, ladies!
Hi Angela! I finally made it over here to read your getting healthier tips. Can I just say…GREAT job on this!!! I’m totally on board with you and completely praise you for putting it all out there on your blog. Hopefully you’ve helped some people to make smarter, healthier choices!
Have a great week ~
🙂 T