Finding the Green, Eliminating the Toxins

As many of you already know the last two years have been a personal challenge for me. In brief summary for my new followers; In March 2010 I unexpectedly had a stroke, March 2011 my sister was diagnosed with breast cancer, July 2011 my other sister was diagnosed with breast cancer and in August 2011 my Mom was diagnosed too.

Breast cancer has not previously been in our family. I know there are statistics which indicate something like 85% of new breast cancer diagnosis have no prior family members with the disease (I may not have the % exact but it is in the high 80's). But still...I think my family and I thought we might be safe from this fate. We have good genes, our grandparents all lived well into their 90's with our Papa living to be over 100! We didn't see the bad news coming and especially not in this lump sum. 

All of this has led my family to discuss where did this all come from? Of course there could many variables but one of the biggies in my mind is that our environment has too many toxins. I have been on a quest to eliminate toxins in my home and in my life.

My first step was to remove plastics from my home. No more eating or drinking from anything plastic. It is amazing how much plastic you manage to accumulate when your children are small. My children are older now and it certainly was time to move some of these items out. Once I started looking around I was amazed at how much plastic we were using and some of it was very old. OUT it all went. I have to admit that I find it hard when it comes to left overs to find enough glassware for storage. I still need to stock up on glassware in order to complete the plastic removal. But I have definitely eliminated A LOT of plastic.

I am a small step away from no longer going to the grocery store. I no longer buy canned food. I know I cannot eliminate it completely but I will only buy limited amounts of food items there. I realize that I am very lucky to live in an area where farms abound. There are veggie stands everywhere in season, in one direction I have a milk farm and in the other direction I have a "meat" farm. I'm not sure what to call them, a butcher farm? I lean toward being a vegetarian (I will eat chicken occassionally) so I don't love this place but my husband is a meat and potatoes kind of guy, so what can I do? And after that pink slime incident I WILL NOT buy any meat from a grocery store.

No vinegar will be used on this beauty.

There is so much toxic stuff in our immediate environment. Wen we stop to think about it can become overwhelming. I am trying to look at it just one step at a time. I am working on my husband and the choices he makes when it comes to lawn care. I believe we don't need to surround ourselves with that much chemicals. I have recently discovered that vinegar can be used to kill weeds, a great alternative instead of that other common chemical weed killer. 

The next two areas I have begun to tackle are the products I use on my body and the cleaning agents I use in the house. One of my sisters sent me this link today. I am considering changes to the hair products I use and I think this is a great place to start by making my own at home. I have curly hair and find that my hair is very sensitive to shampooing. This just might work for me! I'm working on the cleaning products. I have tried some "green" products but have felt they fall a bit short, especially in the bathroom. I would love to hear about the green solutions you have discovered. Please do share.