Well, I am probably the worst skeptic you will ever meet. When someone calls me or comes knocking on my door for a sale, I turn away even the free stuff. Home Publishers Clearing House has probably knocked on my door with balloons and a check larger than the delivery man and I probably sent them away with a “no thank you”. So when friends and family members would rant and rave about all the dangers of foods and cleaners today I was the last to listen. I know what budget my family is on and we eat only what we can afford. That was my argument and I was sticking to it. And I will admit, it was a very true argument.

The first time I relented was when my friend Terrie told me about product she sells and how all the cleaners are chemical free. Of course, I smile and say, “No thanks, I can only afford dollar store cleaners.” The next week at church she brings me a huge box full of spray bottles and cleaners of every sort- for FREE. I deep clean my home every Friday, so I couldn’t wait until Friday to try out these new cleaners that, according to Terrie, if my daughter accidentally swallowed it would not even require a visit to the emergency room!
Friday came and I was very impressed with not only the way the products cleaned, but also how wonderful my home smelled. I decided that the safety of the products could maybe allow me to stretch my budget a few more dollars per month. When I told Terrie to order me these products, I found out to my amazement that the prices were exactly what the dollar store prices were! How wonderful a blessing! Now I can clean the tub and not worry that my daughter bath water may have left over chemicals from the harsh bleach cleaners in it, and my dishes do not have phosphates and other chemicals on them from the dishwasher, and my own body is not inhaling the dangerous chemicals while I am spraying them into my home. I love my organic cleaners because they are safe, practical to my budget, and they make my home smell absolutely wonderful.

The second time I relented was when I was given a pregnancy book by my doctor called, “While Waiting”. I came straight home from the doctor and read it in the bathtub, where I read all my books. I read to see if this book had any more information than the last 125 books I have on pregnancy. After you have had miscarriages, it is funny how you think that maybe one book might have a bit of knowledge the others do not have and therefore you may find the answer to preventing another one! Well, there was a list of foods to avoid while pregnant and why. I was fascinated to find that most foods it mentioned I did have in my cupboard. Keep in mind, my family eats VERY healthy according to nutrition, so I was shocked to find out that we were not only not eating as healthy as I thought, but dangerously. I will give you a list of foods that the pregnancy book listed, plus some additional foods I researched on my own after learning to re-read labels again!

A list of foods to throw out of your cabinet

Monosodium Glutamate (MSG): found in many store brand cream soups, store brand taco seasonings, tuna helper, can ravioli, many salad dressing, hamburger helper, and MANY other foods! Large amounts of this are known to injure brain cells of baby mice in lab experiments.

Hydrogenated oils: these are found in MANY foods!

Artificial Colors: caramel coloring found in sodas, macaroni and cheese, prenatal vitamins, children’s vitamins, jello, juices, and much much more! Most are poorly tested and some are known to cause caner in laboratory animals. Some are causes of hyperactivity.

Aspartame: Sugar free products, puddings, diet sodas and drinks, much more! Not well tested. It is suspected to cause brain damage in sensitive individuals.

Splenda: Many sugar free products, juices, etc.. It can cause shrunken thymus glands (up to 40% shrinkage), enlarged liver and kidneys, atrophy of lymph follicles in the spleen and thymus, increased cecal weight, reduced growth rate, decreased red blood cell count, hyperplasia of the pelvis, extension of the pregnancy period, aborted pregnancy decreased fetal body weights and placental weights, diarrhea

BHA and BHT: Found in certain cereals, potato chips, oils and chewing gums. In a 1982 Japanese study, BHA caused cancer in rats.

Propyl Gallate: Found in some meat products, vegetable oils, potato sticks, some chicken soup stocks, and chewing gum. One long-term study suggested a possible cancer link.

Sodium Nitrate: Found in some meats and bacon, ham, hot dogs, corned beef and lunchmeats. They can cause a formation of nitrosamines which can cause cancer.

Something that caught my attention while researching organic foods was the autism statistics. In 1997, ten years ago, autism was 1 in 1274 births. In 2007, the statistic is i 250 births. One actress in Holly wood struggles with an autistic child. She completely took out all processed foods from his diet and gave him only 100% natural and organic foods. Within 2 weeks he was dramatically different and began testing on the same levels as other children in his class at school on test scores.

My friend has a physical therapist that visits her home to work with her son. She was telling the therapist about our switching to organics and expected a negative reaction. She was surprised when the therapist told her that her father was a food chemist and he never allowed them to eat many of the store brand foods throughout her childhood. I did find that many of the store brand items and cheaper versions of foods were the ones with most of these dangerous ingredients. That is why my family was exposed to so many of these foods, they are inexpensive. It goes back to that old saying, “you get what you pay for”.

These statistics came from the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. Department of Education, and the Autism Society of America.

Sources:

http://www.holisticmed.com/splenda/

“While Waiting”. George Verrilli, M.D., F.A.C.O.G and Anne Marie Mueser, Ed.D.