I am in healthcare so I am constantly reminded of what happens when we don't take care of our bodies. Of course there are situations, conditions, diseases, and injuries that are unavoidable no matter what you do, whether it's genetics or trauma related. With that being said, I am a firm believer that what we eat, how we take care of ourselves, how much exercise we get, how active we are, what we allow our attitudes to be, and the all things we are exposed to, can have a big impact on our health!
When I was a Freshman in college, I found out I had high cholesterol. I am not sure if it was my genetics or the fact that I was eating a whole package of sliced american cheese in one sitting, but I knew I needed to do something. For a one of my nursing classes, I did a research project on cholesterol in food. I learned it wasn't cholesterol in food that was the sole problem, but the way food companies manipulated fats into "partially hydrogenated oil/fat" which form trans fats, causing a rise of bad cholesterol in your body. So foods could be labeled: "no cholesterol" misleading the consumer. (That was in 2006, but thankfully today, the FDA is requiring trans fat be listed on the nutrition label) At that time, I made some small changes in my diet and I think that's when I began to realize the every day products we buy aren't necessarily safe, including our food!
A few years ago, during graduate school, I developed acid reflux, which prompted me to change my diet even more. I cut back on processed food, drank less coffee, less alcohol (sigh) and began adding more raw food into my diet. I did go on a juice kick for a period of time, but that took way too much time & effort!! I did permanently add in foods like flax seed, chia seed, homemade almond milk, quinoa (pronounced quuuueee-no, kidding of course, hahaha) and more vegetables. My acid reflux is almost completely gone! It does return around the holidays or on vacation when I am not super strict about what I am eating, or drinking.
As I get closer to the time in my life when I want to start having children I have become even more aware of the dangers in every day products. (Translation I am over 30 and now I'm freaking out). Last year I changed almost all my cleaning products to home made and nontoxic versions. Now, I am taking on my beauty bag! This has been the toughest transition of all. There is not a lot of knowledge out there about the safety of cosmetics. There are however, a plethora of blogs about it! (Check out my hippie links for some great ones I've found).
The best scientific resource I've found, is the Skin Deep Database by the Environmental Working Group. It's what I use to rate cosmetics I review on a scale of 1-to-10, 1-being the safest, 10-being the least safe. Unfortunately, just because a product is safe, does not mean it will be effective as beauty product. Thats the purpose of this blog, to find safe products that also work! For me it is more of a personal journey, but I felt like if I was going to do this much research, I should share it! If you think I'm a little crazy, you're not the first one!
Please enjoy, please comment, please help me with my pursuit in living a more heath conscious life!
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