You are what you eat.

I think that saying goes for a lot of things, even the things that you 'eat' metaphorically speaking. What I mean to say is, if you surround yourself with bad energy or negative thinking then you are essentially 'eating' those things and they become a part of your self-talk or world view, even inadvertently. So yeah, what I mean is stay away from that crap! The people, the politicians, the environments that are toxic to us as individuals- I say this because it's obvious that we are all different and bothered by myriad things. I personally find it annoying to keep up with all the idiocy that occurs every day in the political world, but others really seem to enjoy it. To each their own I say, although I think it has to be more than a little dizzying to be so 'outraged' all the time. Why not be outraged about the toxic chemicals that the government is allowing go into your food and food packaging instead of what Sarah Palin or the tea party dummies said? Just sayin'. It has a heck of a lot more of an immediate impact on you.

While on the topic of toxic...who else has become a little more than obsessed with food and the products in our every day life lately? I could blame it on my recent obsession with metabolism which stems from a hypothyroid diagnosis, but it's truly not only personal. I am concerned about the things that we eat, the things we cook with, the way our food is produced, the makeup we use, the soaps we 'clean' with and the fact that most people just don't seem to give a crap.

I know, I know. It's more than a little overwhelming and it may seem over the top hippy dippy but I'm not that kind of girl really. I like to look pretty sometimes too and I don't wear Birkenstock's (anymore). It's just that I honestly believe that all of these ailments we find ourselves surrounded by (some types of cancer, ADD, ADHD, psoriasis, asthma, thyroid and hormonal issues) that seem to run rampant today really do have to stem from something. And the only truly feasible explanation other than environment is that we are ingesting and putting these chemicals on ourselves that are causing our bodies to react and our cells to mutate. Don't get me wrong, I know the environment is a huge factor as well, but we can't be helping things.

I read too many books about this stuff to not have started to make some changes in my own life and household and it's truly too expensive and frustrating to do it all at once. Some of the things like teaching yourself how to eat properly again really do have a learning curve and it takes a little research or finding out how to avoid/change certain things. I annoy the crap out of my husband reading labels on things in the store, but I honestly think it is worth the time spent for both of us to not be eating, for example, things cooked in non-stick or teflon pans or things that I can't read the names of. We switched to ceramic not too long ago because that's the only thing I could find here as an alternative. I try to buy hygiene products that don't contain parabens, perfume and all that other crap that we don't need to be slathering on or 'washing' with. Really.. do we need to put these things on ourselves? I'm pretty sure that my grandfather and his parents didn't have shampoo that smelled like strawberries and they were none the worse for it. Maybe smellier, maybe not.

Which brings me to food. Why do I have to read the labels? Because if I don't I might accidentally take home something with soy in it. Personally, I am outraged that there are still products being lauded as healthy that are soy-based or needlessly have soy in it. Yes, I understand for those that are lactose intolerant that it can be appealing, but there are other options out there. Besides the fact that the that 'milk' is most likely genetically modified soy bean juice that leads to higher levels of estrogen in the body, and can lead to lovely things such as premature puberty, low sperm count, testicular cancer, breast cancer and even hypothyroidism. I'm telling you...soy is big money for the government and the companies that use it in their products... they will put it in absolutely anything! I have found soy listed as an ingredient in everything from lunch meat to cookies to bread (they often use soy powder as an alternative for gluten-free breads). So, I don't buy those things. Don't even get me started on vegetable oil. That stuff is everywhere and not the type of stuff we should be eating, especially when it's invisible.

I don't want to rant on and on, but the truth is we as the public need to become more aware of what we are feeding ourselves and what chemicals we are using in our homes- back to basics. Today I tried out making my own dust spray from a recipe online instead of the stuff from the store and you know what? The furniture looks more shiny and smells just as good. If as consumers we start to make better choices when spending our money, the products we need/want will become more readily available. That's just economics.