Over the past few years, I’ve been trying extra hard to live a healthier life, in terms of chemicals in products that I use/eat/wear. This has come in part from new health awareness in my family, as well as the general amount of knowledge floating around on the internet. (Visiting super eco-friendly Portland didn’t hurt either) The more I research, the more I understand that there are chemicals EVERYWHERE and in EVERYTHING. To be 100% clean of man made toxic chemicals, you’d probably drive yourself nuts after about an hour of venturing out of your home. It really does take some serious dedication and time to figure out what is worth the effort to avoid, and after doing a bunch of research, I think I’ve found a happy middle ground for myself.

In general, I’ve focused mostly on foods and products that touch or go in my body, including shampoos, soaps, food storage containers, clothing, lotions, etc. You could go so far as to monitor the way these items are manufactured, how far they travel to reach you, the companies behind them, etc… but at this point in my life, I want to start with something more manageable. Maybe in the future I’ll dig a little deeper, but for now this is enough.

I’ve found that a lot of informational websites tend to focus very specifically on one brand, or product, or chemical, so you need to visit lots of sites to get a wide range of info. It’s easier to me if I can keep all my info in one place, so this is going to be a REALLY long article encompassing all of those things. If you don’t feel like diving into this all at once, I totally understand, and this would be a good time to click over to Pinterest or whatever. If I’ve peaked your curiosity, I hope I can provide a good base of knowledge to kickstart your healthy living.

In general, there are a few important key ideas… Continue reading →