How I Got Healthy

Disclaimer: Healthy living looks different and means so many things to each of us, so know that what I share is what has worked for me and my husband. By no means am I implying that you must follow what I do in order to be healthy. And I am not an expert. The way I see it, I can learn just as much from you and would welcome your comments/tips on what you have found to be helpful in your goal to live a healthy life.

So how did I get healthy?

FIRST, I GOT “GREEN”
Now, I am no tree-hugger. I own a pair of glossy orange boots and nail polish to match them and I wear bejeweled headbands almost daily, so don’t mistake me for someone I am not! At first, getting “green” for me meant recycling and bringing my own bags to the grocery store and Target. And then three years ago I began to look into other ways I could get “green.” What a can of worms I opened!

I got really “green” three years ago by eliminating toxins from my diet by buying only organic foods and using non-toxic methods and products to keep my home and body clean. I know the idea of doing these things can be daunting and it’s easy to be concerned about the cost of it. I completely empathize with you because I was in that same place three years ago and I know it can be overwhelming to sift through all of the information out there and decide what you should do for yourself and your family. It’s no secret that buying organic costs more than buying conventional food and you may be thinking “I can’t afford to do that.”

My advice to you is to start slow and gradually change what you bring into your home and put on and in your body. For tips on how to do this, check out my “Green Series” located just to the left of my blog's main page. I talk about conventional vs. organic foods; eliminating toxins in your home; what to avoid when buying personal products; how to “green” your baby’s world; and more. My approach is to simply educate you so you make the best decision for YOU!

Money-Saving Tip: Contact companies whose products you like or would like to try and ask them to send you coupons, promotional items, and/or samples. I do this from time to time and the last time I did, I had over $40 in coupons sent to me and it took me all but 20 minutes to send a quick e-mail with my request. Often companies will send you coupons for free products and not just coupons for money off a product.

THEN I CHANGED HOW I ATE
I began an anti-inflammation diet in May 2009. After being sick for five months and thinking that perhaps I had cancer because of how my body would react to food each time I ate, I had to do something drastic. For a while, I survived on broccoli slaw for every meal and needless to say, I lost weight because I was only eating that and in the process I became depressed.

After seeing a conventional doctor who simply thought I needed to take Metamucil to feel better (um, going to the bathroom was not my problem) and a natural health professional who told me I just needed to get the yeast levels in my body down (there was some truth to that and I have since eliminated yeast from my diet), I went to an integrative medicine doctor and she nailed what had been plaguing me for so long. She diagnosed me with an inflamed digestive track and immediately put me on an anti-inflammation diet. The diet eliminates the following from your food intake:

• Wheat and gluten
• Cow dairy (goat and sheep dairy are fine)
• Processed sugar
• Caffeine
• Citrus (lemon and lime are fine)
• Peanuts

I have always considered myself a healthy eater: I never eat red meat (raised that way); I don’t eat fatty or fried foods as part of my normal diet; and I don’t stock sugary cereals or empty-calorie snacks in our home. I have always been an oatmeal for breakfast/almonds for a snack/sweet potato for lunch/salad for dinner kind of girl. But the foods I outlined above were always showing up in my diet and they were the culprit wreaking havoc on my body.

My doctor explained that these foods are all known to cause inflammation to human organs (which is a main cause of so many diseases we get, such as certain cancers) and in my case, the inflammation was making food digestion painful and had reduced my serotonin levels to almost nil (a great deal of our serotonin levels come from our gut), so it’s no wonder why I was so depressed.

Within days of eating the anti-inflammation diet I felt better. I could think. I could relax. I had energy. And I had hope. I was on the path to healing my body the most natural way possible: through my diet.

Along with the diet, my doctor put me on several supplements that all work together to ensure that my body is working at its optimum level. She ran a blood panel on me and we learned that my vitamin D levels were only at 14 and they should be between 60-70. Vitamin D is key to our body’s mental and physical health; it’s proven to help combat depression (something I have struggled with since college) and fight off cancerous cells. I am on pro-biotics to keep good bacteria in my gut; ubiquinol and krill oil (a fancy strain of fish oil) for heart health; and magnesium for overall mind and body health. These all work in tandem to heal me from the inside out.

It’s easy to begin this diet and feel upset and focus on what you cannot eat. I did not feel this way initially, because eating this way allowed me to eat again and not be afraid of how I would feel later. It was a few months down the road that I began to grieve what I felt like I was missing out on (I missed bread and cheese so much) but the benefits always outweighed the feelings of depravation and I forged ahead and after nearly nine months, I am still following an anti-inflammation diet. Besides, the longer I have done this, the more alternatives I have discovered to some of my most missed foods and guess what……they are darn good and sometimes better than what I used to eat!

My husband eats the same way as I do and for us it is no longer a temporary way of eating until I am healed, it’s just how we eat. It makes sense to eat this way. After all, the food that is best for us is the food that GOD made and we should be eating more of that and less of the food that man makes!

THREE THINGS I HOPE YOU DO
1. Become your body’s health advocate. No one knows your body better than you and no one will fight for what is best for you and your body more than you.

2. If you are seeing a doctor who doesn’t seem to respond to what you are telling them; dismisses you; or just gives you the run around, FIRE THEM! Find someone who will partner with you in your journey to health.

3. Listen to your body. Our bodies are wonderfully made and they don’t lie. If something is not right, get it checked out. I am especially talking to those of you who feel sick all the time after you eat…..it’s NOT normal to feel sick all the time and that is no way to live; take it from someone who once felt that way and is now on the other side of it.

Some Tips for Healthier Eating
• Water is key to the health of our bodies. I strongly suggest that you increase your water intake to be at least half of your body weight in ounces. For example, if you weigh 150 pounds, you should be drinking 75 ounces of water each day. Yes, you will be going to the bathroom often, but think of it this way: each time you go to the bathroom, your body is ridding itself of toxins. And the benefits of increased water intake are numerous, including healthy skin and hair. I drink over 100 ounces of water each day and it helps keep me full between meals.

• This is almost goes without saying, but just in case…….don’t buy foods with ingredients that have numbers in them or are longer than three syllables- that just means they were created in a lab somewhere. If an item has more than five ingredients that are not naturally found in nature, consider leaving it on the shelf….do you really need to eat it?

• And stay away from these: sodium nitrate/nitrite; BHA/BHT; propyl gallate; monosodium glutamate (MSG); hydrogenated vegetable oil; aspartane; acesulfame-K; food colors: B 1-2, R-3, G-3, Y-6; olestra, and potassium bromated.

• Consider juicing- it’s an excellent way to get the most benefits of the nutrients in the fruits and vegetables you eat.

• Make easy changes like switching from bread sandwiches to ones made with corn tortillas; buying rice pasta instead of wheat pasta; trying sunbutter or almond butter instead of peanut butter; choosing goat’s milk yogurt and goat’s milk mozzarella cheese; etc.

• Take a look at what you buy on a regular basis and try to make it at home. Granola, sauces, and soups are all great examples of things we can make at home and control/eliminate the sugar and other ingredients unnecessarily put in them.

• Rice cakes (with honey or sunbutter), nuts, and hummus with veggies or GF crackers all make good snack foods.

A Helpful Magazine: I have subscribed to a magazine called “Living Without” and have found it to be a great source of information and recipes that cater to those of us eliminating wheat/gluten from our diets.

For Those Who Have Miscarried

Lately, there has been a lot of loss around me and after hearing yet another friend share her news about losing her baby, I penned these words for her and wanted to share them with anyone else out there who is enduring the pain that comes with losing a baby.

No one can prepare you for the grief you feel after you miscarry; it's a loss unlike any I've known and it's important for you to know that your loss is real and the sorrow you feel is normal.

I allowed myself to grieve my loss like anyone else would grieve if they lost a child whom they had held. I shared with Jason, our families, and our friends that I needed the space and time to grieve as I saw fit and that it was important to me that they acknowledge the loss of our first baby as that and not some medical hiccup. One of the things that I found most difficult was that no one could seem to understand how much hurt I was feeling and that drove me crazy. I wanted to shake people until they hurt as much as I did. And the only time I did not feel that way was when I was sharing my grief with others who I knew had gone through it, too.

I encourage you to share your loss with others as much as you feel comfortable. You will be amazed at the number of women who have miscarried and soon you will see that you are far from being alone in this. It's an awful club to join, but once you do, you find there are many members to journey with.

What's difficult about a miscarriage is that there are no social cues alerting people to grieve with you as there would be if you had delieverd your baby stillborn and had a funeral. With a miscarriage, people either don't know what you are going through or if they do, they may say "Oh, well you were only X weeks along.....you'll get pregnant again." They don't mean to be insensitive, but they don't understand just how real this loss is to those of us who have gone through it.

While the sting of losing our baby has dulled, it is still there and I suspect it always be until we get to meet our sweet baby in heaven. Don't be discouraged if you find that you are feeling okay one moment and then out of nowhere you become quite upset or angry over your loss. For me, a trigger is when someone announces they are pregnant; I feel happy for them but the reality of my loss is far greater in that moment and I often find myself an emotional wreck.

I read a book called "Grieving the Child I Never Knew" and found it to be helpful in processing my grief. The author suggests naming the baby you lost and I did that and while I do not discuss this with others, it is helpful for me to think about our baby with a name because it breathes life into the fact that he was once alive.

Try to understand and be aware that your husband will grieve this differently and you may come to a point where it seems like he has moved on and you are still aching over your loss. We went through this and I had to learn to not be upset with Jason because he seemed fine; he grieved differently than me and for a shorter period of time. I think it is harder for us as women because of the instant emotional and physical connection we feel with our babies and the trauma we endure when we physically lose them.

Your loss is real and you are not alone in your grief. I'll never understand why the LORD allowed our babies to be glory babies, but I trust HIM as the GIVER and TAKER of life and it does my heart good to know that my baby and your baby are in the arms of JESUS.

Welcome to the "Green" Series!

All "Green" Series posts are posted under January 4, 2010 and can be accessed on the upper right corner of my blog page.

Your Body Burden

LEARNING YOUR BODY'S BURDEN

When you grocery shop have you ever thought about why the conventionally grown apples are so much bigger than their organic counterparts? It's almost as if they were put on steroids or something. Or have you ever noticed how some dairy products make sure to mention that the animals used to help make that milk or cheese were not treated with antibiotics or growth hormones, indicating that those products who do not mention this must use animals who do have antibiotics or growth hormones in them?

What do you use to clean your mirrors, toilet, and kitchen sink and counters? Probably Windex, Comet, and 409, right? What would you say if I told you that in the very sprays, gels, and scrubbing bubbles that you use to clean your home surfaces are harmful chemicals that release into the air and breathed in by you and your loved ones? Some of these chemicals pass through our bodies in just a matter of days, but some stay in us for years, absorbing into our bloodstream, muscles, and organs.

The amount of chemicals, pesticides, and other pollutants in our bodies is called our "body burden." Stop right here and take this quiz to find out your body burden.

Welcome back........how did the quiz go? Are you glad you took it or do you wish you would not have? I am glad you took it- things can only improve from here because knowledge is power and I want to empower us both to live cleaner, healthier lives. So don't panic if your score is high because over the next several days we will learn ways to rid as many chemicals, pesticides, and other pollutants from our homes and bodies.

I'd love it if you would post your body burden score by leaving a comment on this post- let's see where we are all starting and then we can take the quiz again and see how much we have improved. I'll start by sharing my score: 20......but realize I have had a couple of years to lower it from the average high of 39 for most who take this quiz.

What's yours?

Getting Green Clean

LESSON ONE: CHANGING THE WAY WE SEE AND SMELL CLEAN

We spend most of our time indoors and most of that time indoors is spent at our home. If you are like me, your home is your haven, a safe place to duck away from the rigors of the world outside. And if you are like me, you like your home to be clean, maybe not white-glove inspection clean, but clean enough to the naked eye. I have come rethink what clean means this past year.

Let me start at the beginning......

Our government only requires companies to list chemicals of “known concern” on their labels. Here’s the problem with that- most chemicals found in conventional cleaning products have not been tested to determine what their dangers may be. And the few that have been tested were tested alone, not in combination with other chemicals. In other words, the testing that has been done on some of the known chemicals in say, your favorite kitchen cleaner, have been tested individually and not in tandem as they are found in that kitchen cleaner. So we have no idea what those chemicals, known and unknown, are doing to us.

Here's the thing about having chemicals hanging out in our bodies- scientists are not certain what affects these chemicals have on our short and long-term health and the reason for that is because very few have been tested on how they affect humans. Check this out:

“Under the terms of the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which administers the act, can’t require chemical companies to prove the safety of their products unless the agency can show the products poses a health risk- which the EPA does not have the resources to do since, according to one estimate, it receives some two thousand new applications for approval every year. ” Green Goes With Everything, page 31

An agency watchdog, the Environmental Working Group, “the EPA approved most applications in three weeks, even though more than half has provided no information on toxicity at all.” Green Goes With Everything, page 32

I don't know about you, but I am not interested in gambling my health and the health of my husband because tests are still pending or have not been conducted on the affects that chemicals may or may not have on our bodies. And because I am not a gambler, we do not use toxic cleaning products. We use non-toxic cleaning products throughout our house.

I want you to look for the following ingredients in your household and carpet cleaners, disinfectants, stain removers, soaps and detergents, and deodorizers- I have included links whenever possible so you can read about the danger that lurks behind each chemical:

Ammonia
Butyl Cellosolve
Cresols
Dichlorobenzenes
Ethylene glycol butyl ether
Formaldehyde
Hydrochloric Acid
Lye
Naphthalene
Perchloroethylene
Petroleum Distillates
Phenols
Propylene Glycol
Sodium Hydroxide
Sodium Hypochlorite
Sodium Lauryl Sulfate
Sulfuric Acid
Terpene
Toluene
Trichloroethane
Triclosan

Researchers have indicated that these chemicals are dangerous in significant doses and they are even more dangerous when combined with each other. The book gives this example of cleaning products gone bad to way worse:
When you spray your chlorine-based shower cleaner to clean the tiles and then clean your shower doors with ammonia-based glass cleaner, you just created a “toxic, lung-damaging cloud” because chlorine and ammonia do that when combined. Turn on the hot water in the stall to rinse the cleaners away, and now you made it worse and are breathing that cloud in. And if you read the manufacturer’s label on either of those products, they would say you shouldn’t have done that.

Did you know that? Glad you do now?

Now there is another problem we need to address with our cleaning products and that is the smell of our cleaning products. Who doesn’t mind the smell of lemons, lavender vanilla, or even pine? Well, we all should mind. A lot. As it turns out, companies use something called phthalates, a class of synthetic chemicals. If you have something in your home that says “fragranced” on it, then you can be sure there are phthalates in it.

So what’s the big deal about phthalates? The EPA and the Department of Health and Human Services has categorized some phthalate as a “possible carcinogens”- which means they cause cancer in animals and can possibly cause cancer in humans. Seems like the European Union is on to phthalates because they are being phased out of products in the EU. If an entire countries are phasing something out, shouldn’t we take notice and take action, too? Fragrance free really is best.

This is a lot of information, I know, but it’s so important that we educate ourselves because no one is going to do it for us, not even our government. After all, we are our best advocates for healthier living.

Please consider ridding your home of products that contain toxic chemicals- if there is a safer way to “get clean” don’t you think it’s worth making the switch? Be sure to call your local sanitation department to determine the safest way to dispose of your cleaners.

So what are your options for “greener” cleaning products? Well, fortunately, there are several and most are available at your local Target, Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, and/or online - here are a few to check out:

http://www.shaklee.com/

http://www.seventhgeneration.com/
http://www.ecos.com/
http://www.mrsmeyers.com/

You want to look for products that say "non-toxic," "frangrance free," and "all natural." Feeling up to making homemade cleaning solutions? Check this site out.

A clean home, in short, should smell like nothing. I have had to retrain my thinking and my senses because for so long I needed the smell of lemons to make me believe my home is clean.

You Look Good in Green!

LESSON TWO: YOU DON'T NEED CHEMICALS TO BE BEAUTIFUL

You look great today! Really, you do! All the lotioning, deodorizing, spritzing, spraying, and primping has really paid off. Only thing is I think you just exposed your body to about a gazillion different chemicals just to look the way you do now.

Ready to learn the truth about what lurks in our lotions and lipsticks? Trust me, you want to know about this.

Let's start with the laws that govern the personal products and cosmetics industry:

The FDA regulates all the personal care products we use, and that includes cosmetics, under the Federal, Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. But the FDA does not have any authority to mandate that the products covered under the Act are tested for safety. And the FDA cannot require companies to recall products if they are later deemed unsafe.

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention this, a company can use ANY raw material they want to when making a product and can market a product WITHOUT approval from the FDA.

So who does keep tabs on the companies that makes the lotions we lather on and the lipsticks we love? The Cosmetic Ingredient Review panel does. They are a panel of experts who are funded by the cosmetic industry. So that means that the people we count on to regulate what goes in the products we put on our skin and faces are being paid by the companies that are looking for their approval. And in the first 30 years of the CIR's existence, they have only tested 11% of the 10,500 ingredients used in all the products you see on the shelves today.

Wait, there's more.

"The Environmental Working Group conducted a sweeping analysis of more than 23,000 cosmetic and personal care products. One of their more amazing findings was that 1 of every 30 products sold in the US fails to meet one or more of the standards set by the industry itself or by the government." Green Goes With Everything, page 85

Here are some of their conclusions:

Nearly 400 products sold in the US contain chemicals that are banned in other countries

More than 400 products contain chemiclas that the cosmetic industry itself has deemed unsafe when used as directed

98% of the products contain one or more ingredients that have never been tested for their safety

Curious to see what's in your lotion and lipstick? Go to http://www.cosmeticdatabase.com/ and you can search by brand name or category and see what chemicals are in your products and what their known or suspected effects are to your body. I tried it and it was alarming.

One last thing, remember how I mentioned that the European Union was phasing out certain chemiclas from cleaning products because of their known affect on humans and the environment? Well, the EU is doing the same thing with chemicals found in personal care products and cosmetics. And they are banning a lot of chemicals that we still find on our shelves here in the US.

Now let's move on to the good stuff- a breakdown of what we all use to get ready and ways to "green" up our beauty routine.

Deodorants/Antiperspirants: Get away from the phalathates (chemiclas used for fragrance- we learned about those in cleaning products) and aluminum, a suspected culprit of diseases such as breast cancer, kidney disorders, and Alzheimers. Consider using products from these companies: http://www.burtsbees.com/, http://www.crystaldeodorantprotection.com/, http://www.kissmyface.com/, and http://www.tomsofmaine.com/

Hair Care Products: Stay away from DMDM hydantion, diazolidinyl urea, imidazolidinyl urea, quaternium-15, and broponol, as they all contain formaldehyde, a probable carcinogen in humans. Also, most dandruff shampoos contain coal tar, a known human carcinogen. And lastly, stay away from DEA and TEA because they have been shown to potentially cause cancer, too. Consider using products from these companies: http://www.aveda.com/, http://www.aubrey-organics.com/, http://www.shikai.com/, and http://www.jurlique.com/

Lipstick: Steer clear of lead in your lipstick, but here's the problem, it's typically not listed as an ingredient because the amounts in a tube of lipstick are so minute. But here's the thing about lead- it is a neurotoxin (damages your nerves) and it is something that builds up over time, that's why no level of exposure to lead is safe. Try lipstick from one of these companies: http://www.aubrey-organics.com/, http://www.eccobella.com/, http://www.paulpenders.com/, or http://www.josiemarancosmetics.com/

Make-up: All of our make-up is laden with synthetic chemicals and most have phathalates. Mineral make-up is your best bet because it is free of talc, perfumes, preservatives, dyes, and mineral oils. But be sure to purchase mineral make-up that does not contain bismuth oxychloride, a known irritant. Here are a few companies that offer a safe line of cosmetics: http://www.aubrey-organics.com/, http://www.eccobella.com/, http://www.paulpenders.com/, and http://www.modecosmetics.com/

Sunscreen: Make sure that your sunscreen offers UVB and UVA protection- most tend to leave out UVA protection.

Skin Care: Be sure to look for products that do not contain coal tar dyes, sodium lauryl sulfate, DEA, propylene glycol, parabens, petroleum distillates, hydroquinone, synthetic fragrances, and formaldehyde. I provided links so you could learn more about these chemicals in my post from January 7. These companies are a sampling of some that offer safe skin care: http://www.burtsbees.com/, http://www.shaklee.com/, http://www.eccobella.com/, http://www.jason-natural.com/, and http://www.originsorganics.com/

Toothpaste: If you have children, you'll want to give them toothpaste that contains little or no flouride until they learn to spit it out and not swallow it. The reason being is that too much fluoride consumption can lead to nausea, diarrhea, and fluorisis, a condition that leads to the pitting of the teeth and spotting. These companies offer great choices: http://www.burtsbees.com/, http://www.jason-natural.com/, and http://www.tomsofmaine.com/

Personally, I am not about to throw out all of my products, but rather, I am phasing out "bad" ones and introducing "green" ones. The one item that I did not waste any time on throwing out was anything that went on my lips, and then subsequently in my body because as Glamour magazine found out, a woman comsumes about 4 pounds of lipstick/chapstick in her lifetime just by eating, drinking, and licking out lips. Eeww!

Laundry and Dishes the Green Way

LESSON THREE: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT GETTING YOUR CLOTHES AND PLATES CLEAN

Some of you wanted to know about what to be on the watch for when choosing laundry detergent and/or dishwasher detergent/dishsoap.

Well, there are some things to be mindful of.....here they are.

Laundry Detergent/Fabric Softener/Dryer Sheets
You can find many of the chemicals I listed out in the household cleaning supplies post in your laundry detergent, fabric softener, and dryer sheets, especially our friends phathalates (the chemicals that add fragrance). As you know, these chemiclas are dangerous for us but they are also dangerous for the envirnonment since they end up in our streams, rivers, lakes, and oceans. And who know, they may just end up in your drinking water.

You might be thinking that it is no big deal to have these chemicals in your detergents or dryer sheets because you really do not handle them for that long- just pour it in the washer or throw it in the dryer and you are done. Not so fast, friend- these chemicals stay on your clothing and unltimately, next to your porous skin. Just try washing your next load of laundry without adding any detergent- I can guarantee you that their will be plenty of suds in your wash cycle just from the residue that is on your clothes from the last time you washed them.

I use Seventh Generation's laundry detergent and love it! I feel like our clothes are softer and more vibrant. They also make a fabric softener and dryer sheets that are safe for you and the envirnonment. You can find Seventh Generation at Target or just about anywhere else and you can download coupons on their site for most of their products.

Shaklee makes a green laundry detergent concentrate, as well as fabric softener, and dryer sheets.

A Word About Chlorine Bleach
Chlorine bleach is the most commonly misused household cleaner and its misuse can be very toxic, especially when it comes in contact with ammonia. And this happens more than you think since household cleaners are often mishandled. Can you guess what happens when these two chemicals make contact? They make chlorine gas, a close cousin of the gas used in chemical warfare during World War 1. Nice, huh?

Chlorine is known to cause respiratory problems, as well as eye and skin irritation. Remember, the ingredients in your products stay on your clothes, thus you breathe them in and they touch your skin all day.

Instead of chlorine belach, consider using a non-chlorine bleach, such as this one.

Dishwasher Detergent and Dishsoap
Have you ever noticed detergents that boast that they are phosphate free? Well, that's good because phosphates increase algae in our water and algae in turn kills fish because algae depletes the water of oxygen. You'd think it would be against the law to include phosphates in products given what we know about them. But it's not. And companies still use phosphates.

Chlorine is typically found in dishwasher detergents. You can probably smell it when you open your dishwasher after the dry chycle is complete- there's a cloud of toxicity that fills your kitchen...and your lungs.

I was telling a friend the other day that since I made the switch to a dishwasher detergent that has no chlorine I have noticed that my dishes are not as white. In fact, there is a little stain of brown on them. But I don't care because at least I know that chlorine is not filling my lungs or coming into contact with my food!

Be aware that dishsoaps often contain 1,4-dioxane, a probable human carcinogen. Check out this and this for a safer, and greener dishsoap.