I Want to Be a Health Nut

Late last year, I discovered the Wellness Mama blog.  Reading up on how easy it can be to go natural with face wash and deoderant challenged me to make the jump to cutting out the harmful things I put on my skin every day.  I put a few projects like this on my 101 Challenge because I wanted to challenge myself to actually make these changes instead of just talking about them.  Well recently, I've found a couple more reasons to not just jump but leap from the products I've been using.

Check out this article from Food Babe about deodorant.  Yikes.  The aluminum zirconium used in deodorant blocks up the sweat ducts in your skin and prevents sweat from exiting your body.  This stuff is a potent neurotoxin, and the manufacturers use lots of it to make their product such great antiperspirants.  Not sweating is nice, but all of this is not good for your body.  Also, there are lymph nodes there in your arm pits, and having all of the toxins near them can affect the immune system.  I bought some coconut oil from the DeKalb Farmer's Market, and I will start making my own with this recipe soon.
(For the record, Caleb thinks the deodorant stuff is BS, and I know some chemicals have been engineered to help the human body, but natural sounds better, dang it!)

So that deodorant article was the last straw on the camel's back, so to speak.

I realized that this health stuff is important.  Really important.  Heck, considering all the cancer causing additives I could be excluding from my diet if only I would eat healthier things, this health stuff if vital!

But a girl can only afford so much change at one time, and I'm talking about the "afford" that involves money.  An organic lifestyle is an expensive one, and while I'd love to be able to know that what I'm putting into my body is pure goodness, I have to take little steps for now.

The good news is, not only are there gentle steps I can take toward better food, there are also other things I can do for my health.  I just bought the ingredients to make my own dry shampoo last month.  I read about the detriments of sitting a while back and found an app that I've programed to ding every half hour so I can be sure to stand up, even if it's just for a minute.  Caleb and I have made it a point to add Juice Plus into our budget, so we're getting all of our fruits and vegetable vitamins (the gummies are so yummy!).  I have fruit, coconut milk, and spinach smoothies a couple times a week.  I've also started having tea at least once a day to help me drink more water.

The author of Food Babe did a short interview on her favorite beauty products, and getting one or a couple of these could help my body in small ways.  I'd love to use the dry brush, because I've heard in a few other articles that brushing the skin is really good for you.

What I'm really interested in is Food Babe's guide on eating organic on a budget.  The most important things to get organic are meat and dairy, and then the importance tiers down from there.  Also, some vegetables with thick rinds aren't necessary to get organic, and asparagus "naturally repels pests," so it uses fewer pesticides, which means you can get it non-organic in good conscience!  When starting on organic fruits and vegetables, here's a simple guide to the ones that are super important to get organice and the ones that aren't that big of a deal.  I'm really glad this information is out there, because I would have no idea!

It will take a while for me to stop depending on my microwave, and we just don't have the budget for shopping at Trader Joe's yet.  Gosh, there's so much information out there, anyway!  Just focusing on food is one thing, but when you get into the fabrics you put on your body, earthing, and detox baths, how are you supposed to keep up with it all?

So, baby steps.  And when I want to/can, big leaps.  In fact, I'm really excited to make my own deodorant.  Would you like to see the finished product when I've finished it?  In the meantime, I'm really glad I like researching, because I've got to find out if I have to stop drinking my Yogi tea.

What things do you do to stay healthy?  Any small, quick tricks?  Also, would you like to see any other information I find later on?  I won't be the one discovering any of these new things, but I can be a curator.