Toxins in your home article

[foley]

Here's a brief article on different Toxins found in the home and several links to more information for anyone interested.

"After analyzing 2,983 chemicals used in personal care products, 884 were found to be toxic.

Manufacturers are not required to list all ingredients on their products. "


www.familycorner.com/justforyou/health/toxins.shtml

Foley

[rosyred45]

Very Informative!!

They have great links there, I just printed out the article and have the other sites in front for reference.

Thanks Foley!
Kaiti

[catatonic]

Thank you, Foley. Very interesting article. I've avoided Tide detergent for years since it causes me and my children to break out in a full-body rash. Now I know why. Who on earth was the genius who came up with the idea of putting fiberglass in a laundry soap?

Aside from good old white vinegar, what do you use to clean your floors/toilets/windows?

[rosyred45]

As I am thinking, I think I will be going to a couple of companies for an ingredient list. I know that Ivory is supposed to be pure, but everyone in my family got a rash when I had used the bar soap a few years ago, and my MIL said she could never use it on hubby cause he would break out.

Pickle juice gets grease stains, I think it's attributed to the vinager. I have used lemon juice on a few things. Orange juice. OK, some of it definately needs a good rinsing, so as to avoid ants in the summer, but I have used both of those on my stove before.

If I think of any more, I'll get it on here. One things I have heard in the past. All of the anti-bacterial stuff.....as long as the water is warm enough, the motion of, say, washing the hands with even plain water for a good 30 seconds, gets rid of the bacteria.

I don't have any anti-bacterial stuff at our house, and boy, we don't get sick half as much as people that do have those things.
Kaiti

[foley]

Hi Rosyred and Cat,
I'm glad you found the article informative :-)

We've been using a home made all-purpose cleaner that consists of white vinegar, white ammonia, baking soda and tap water. I might have to rethink the ammonia after reading that article.

For scouring we use Bon Ami, and for Laundry we use All Free and Clear. Clorox or Oxyclean sometimes to boost the whites. I've read that white vinegar added to the rinse cycle also brightens whites--anyone ever try that?

For the ceramic and wood floors I use the Bissell Steam Mop. It's great! All you need is water and the mop pads are washable, plus the floors have never been cleaner and they dry almost immediately. Of course the best thing is no stinky chemicals. I found the best price at Walmart.

We do use toilet bowl cleaners and occssionaly endust to clean the furniture, but not when DS is in the house.

Anyone have any alternatives to those?

Foley

[AustinsMom]

foley, thanks for the informative link. But does anyone besides me feel totally overwhelmed by this stuff!!?! Just when I think I'm getting one thing under control (diet) I realize we also have to look at water and storage containers and now I have a whole host of new things to investigate. I just started this whole natural process a few months ago and I have learned so much and made huge changes in our lives, but then I look at things like this and see that there is an entire mountain in front of me that I still have to shovel through. Sorry...just needed to vent.

The other day my son, frustrated because he didn't have enough points to buy any TV time after school, said to me "Why can't I have just a regular life, eat regular food, and not do this crazy point stuff?!?" It kinda broke my heart, cause he didn't say it in anger, just in frustration, and I feel like that too--that's what I want for him, for us too. Yet I know our lives are so much better when we DON'T eat regular food, and when we follow our behavioral program, etc. OK, now the vent really is over.

[rosyred45]

Well, personally, I can't say that it is all that much of a change for my family. I have grown up with the waste not/want not bon in my body, and that includes money spent on EVERYTHING.

I have penny pinched to the point of my husband looking at me funny, and with all of the things that we have saved on including prepackaged foods, elaborate cleaners, etc, It all make sense to me. With the exception of sylicitates(sp) we've basically got things covered from the ground floor up.

Don't worry about things seeming to be rough. Just pretend you are a newlywed and have to cheap it out, ;D
My kids used to get jealous at the fact that mommy doesn't buy cookies, I make them. I don't go to the grocery store and fill up on the canned good sale, I go in to the cellar where my kids helped me can it all. And when they realized that they knew how the canning process worked, and could tell their teachers the steps to making this, that and the other thing, the kids around them became jealous. The only thing they got to do over the weekend was go to McDonald's, again.....they didn't get to make jelly.

It's all a matter of how you let your children persieve things. If they see that you want to give up, they see no point in it to begin with. BUT, if you try to shove it down their throats with no explanation, they are going to not pay attention. You have to know what you are doing is right for you, your family, and the enviornment.

Alright, off the soap box for me. It's actually alot more simple than you might think. You know how you tell your kids to stop thinking so hard because an answer is obvious? Well, stop thinking so hard.
I hope that didn't sound mean. I didn't mean for it too. Just honesty
Kaiti

[foley]

It really is overwhelming. Don't try to take it on all at once or you'll just get fed up. I waited until I had the food down cold, before tackling the other stuff.

I vent about it too, it disgusts me that we have to do our own research to keep our families healthy. I can't believe what these companies get away with.

Hang in there!!

Foley

[rosyred45]

Hey Foley, I posted right before you. I guess, just growingup and marrying who I did, it's not as hard for us. Don't worry, any of you. Its really not as hard as you think. Remember, don't overthink it.

I will look for a book that I have after I get done work.
It's called "How to Clean Practically Anything"
It's got a lot of good tips in it.
Kaiti

[catatonic]

Vinegar does help with the whites, but I have to admit, Clorox is better. Vinegar also gets the tile floor nice and clean, but I'm going to take a look at that steam mop and see what I think.

Commercial soaps are a real chemical hotbed. Many of them give me rashes, and two of my children break out from soaps and bubble baths as well. For years, I've made all my own soap to insure its purity. (Shampoo, too.) Out of sheer laziness I use commercial laundry soap until someone ends up with a rash and then I go back to making it for a while. I don't do any of the fancy stuff, just turn my homemade soap into cornmeal consistency in the food processor and dump it in the machine.

Austinsmom, you're right, sometimes all this really does seem overwhelming. And time consuming. And monumentally frustrating. I think it gets easier once you realize that you're not giving up "normal food". What you're actually doing is switching to "real food" by eliminating processed and artificial substances that do nothing for your body except poison it. And you learn shortcuts (like always keeping extra frozen meatballs around for snacks, and making your own hamburger helper mix for nights when you don't have time to cook). It DOES take time and it can be inconvenient. For example, the only reason I'm up at this ungodly hour is because I fell asleep with the baby and forgot to get the bread maching going so we'd have bread in the morning. But it IS worth it. I tell my kids..."You'll thank me when you're 80 and all your friends are either dead, drooling on themselves, or suffering from a neurological impairment."

Of course, I am a food extremist. (My teenager calls me a "Food Nazi".) In addition to the artificials and preservatives banned by the Feingold diet, we consume no MSG, no artificial sweeteners, no corn sweeteners, no sulfites and no nitrites. This means that the only packaged food we eat is Triscuits, an occasional bag of Lays potato chips, tofu and Breyer's ice cream. I tell you, sometimes it's such a huge pain in the b*tt that I long to whip out a little pre-made foil tray of lasagna like the family on the ad.

But you don't have to do everything at once. In fact, some of it you may choose not to do at all, and that's fine. I can tell you the only way you'll take my Lysol Toilet Bowl Cleaner from me is to pry it from my cold dead hand! So just take it slowly and don't worry about everything at once.

You may find, as I have with my kids, that your son will come to take perverse pride in eating a relentlessly healthy diet. My kids' friends always want to sample their homemade trail mix or their hummus or other new and different things. My 9th grader tells me his friends ooooh and aaaaah over his lunches. He'll be eating chicken breast with ranch dip or barbecued meatballs and a green salad while they're microwaving popcorn. It IS different, but kids like to be unique as long as it's in a way they can find a way to take pride in.

(That said, DO NOT ask me which 9-year-old with ADHD cheated on his diet by eating a box of Milk Duds I still don't know where he got, and is still reacting after almost 48 hours!)

[rosyred45]

Catatonic, you said it better with the real food deal.
Mikey goes to school looking like he just steppd out of the hor'derve(sp) line when he's at lunch.

He told me yesterday that he didn't want to take pistacios in anymore because Jordan(a friend) likes them. Apparently they all switch lunches and no body says a word. Let me tell you, if it happens again and Mikey comes home with a bag of Fruit Snacks, heads will roll, and he will NOT eat lunch at school, I don't care if I have to walk him home everyday.

Sorry, been eatin at me. No pun inteneded
Kaiti

[rosyred45]

I just thought about something.

The toothpaste reminded me of it. Tom's of Maine has a wide variety of things. We can't get them all here, since they aren't one of those cheap things and people here haven't bought into the "maybe natural is better" attitude, but they are on the web. You can get a news letter and all. They do have a catalogue you can order from, I just can't find mine.

Anything I have tried from them has been great
Kaiti
That and Aunt Annie's brand stuff. they are online too

[foley]

We use Tom's of Maine toothpaste and Annie's products too. :-)

Luckily for us these products are available at our local market.

Foley

[catatonic]

Target now carries a variety of Tom's of Maine items.

[rosyred45]

I don't even know where the closest Target is around here.

I just keep my eyes out for things. The only thing about the toothpaste is the only one we can find is with the strawberry flavor, and after much trial and error and tears, Mikey does not do well in group settings after eating strawberries, he's very whiny He loves strawberries to, so we let him have them if there is a long break or something.

Oh well, keeping my eyes open
Kaiti