Homemade Lotion Bars

Note: This recipe makes a very thick, greasy lotion.  This is something that is best used for seriously dry skin or skin conditions like eczema.  I prefer to use it at nighttime and I find that when I wake the next morning my skin still feels moisturized.  It's that thick!

You can find many different recipes for lotion bars.  Most include beeswax, a butter of some type (shea, cocoa, coconut, etc.), and oil.  After some experimentation, here is what I decided on for mine - Shea butter, Beeswax, Coconut Oil, Almond Oil, and Olive Oil.

Shea butter is pretty much a staple in my house during pregnancy.  I go through an 8 ounce container of it each month in an effort to prevent stretch marks and an itchy belly  (four pregnancies and no stretch marks, so it must do something helpful).  Aside from being a great moisturizer, in Africa where the butter is harvested, it is used as a sunblock and also as a massage oil for painful joints.  This makes it the perfect ingredient for lotion.

Shea butter can be pretty expensive if you buy it at your local health food store in a tiny jar.  It runs me nearly $10 for an 8 ounce jar.  But you can find great deals online in bulk.  For this project I found five pounds for $15 (plus shipping) on Amazon.

 

Beeswax is obviously included in the recipe to help solidify the mixture.

Coconut Oil has many wonderful benefits for your skin - it can help protect you from infection, prevent aging, heal bruises, clear up rashes, and treat skin conditions like psoriasis and eczema.

Almond Oil is a great lubricant that also helps with skin conditions and can fight aging.

Olive Oil is great for dry skin and some scientists believe it can also protect your skin against sun damage and cancer.

 

Once you have all of your ingredients, the process is very similar to making lip balm.  For my recipe I used 1 part shea butter, 1 part oil (1/2 coconut, 1/4 almond and 1/4 olive) and 1/2 part beeswax.  Most recipes call for equal amounts of each, but I wanted my lotion to be a little greasier and less solid.

Throw all of your ingredients into your double broiler and let them melt.

 

Remember, it is much easier to melt the beeswax if it is grated, however, another way to speed up the process is to throw your solid chunk of wax on the heat for a while and once it softens, remove it and chop it into smaller chunks.

Once everything has melted you are are ready to fill your forms.

 

If you prefer a scented lotion, now would be the time to add your essential oils - once everything is off of your heat source.  If you're using cocoa butter, it has a very chocolatey smell, and some essential oils aren't going to mix well with it.  Shea butter has a distinct smell that is very earthy.  I prefer to leave it unscented, but if you don't like the earthy scent, something like lavender oil would be nice.  Just remember that you DO NOT want to use citrus oils on a lotion that you will use before you head out into the sun.  Citrus oils are phototoxic and can burn your skin, leaving permanent dark patches.

Something to consider if you're thinking pretty far ahead of time is infusing your own oils with fragrance.  You could clip fresh herbs and flowers from your garden, or use your kitchen spices, and place them in a jar with the oil you plan to use for your lotion.  Put the jar in a window sill and let it sit for a few weeks to a month.  Calendula-infused oil would be great for eczema and other skin conditions.

Some people like to use silicon molds to create their lotion bars.  These are cute and can be placed in a small tin or jar for storage.  I prefer something that keeps my hands from getting too greasy when I apply it, so I purchased some empty deodorant containers.  These can be reused when I'm done with them.  To fill I used a ladle to get my hot mixture from the double broiler and into something with a spout.

If you're using deodorant containers and you want to use the dispenser tops that come with them, your recipe needs to have a high percentage of oil.  If it is too solid, your lotion will not squeeze through the holes and will just pop the top off.  If you're using them, make sure you don't fill the containers all the way to the top so you can still pop on the dispenser.

If you prefer to skip the dispenser top, you can fill to the top.

 

Either way, the lotion bars are very easy to apply this way, leaving your hands grease-free.

 It's easy to apply on my son's eczema patches on his legs.

 

And it's also great for my pregnant belly.

 

If you want to give these as gifts, you can buy some shipping labels to add a cute touch.  Just make sure to cover your paper label with some clear shipping tape or else it will get really greasy or even start to peel off after a while.

Total cost per 2 ounce deodorant bar was approximately $2.50.  If I skipped the deodorant containers and just used recycled jars from around the house my cost would drop to about 90 cents per 2 ounces.  Not too bad!

Have fun experimenting!

-Jessica

Homemade Lip Balm

I suffer from terribly dry lips.  In the winter they crack and bleed and look just awful.  Unfortunately, my oldest son inherited my lovely dry skin and suffers from the same problem.  I've always settled for less than natural chapsticks for myself, but when my son started needing something to moisturize his little lips, I began a search for safer alternatives.

ChapStick brand lip balm is some seriously nasty stuff.  The original flavor even contains the controversial carcinogenic oxybenzone.  The full list of ingredients is:  arachidyl propionate, camphor, carnauba wax, cetyl alcohol, D&C red no. 6 barium lake, FD&C yellow no. 5 aluminum lake, fragrance, isopropyl lanolate, isopropyl myristate, lanolin, light mineral oil, methylparaben, octyldodecanol, oleyl alcohol, paraffin, phenyl trimethicone, propylparaben, titanium dioxide, white wax, propanol.

Gross!  I wouldn't eat any of that stuff or feed it to my kids, so why would I want to rub it on our lips, where it could potentially end up inside of our mouths?

Burt's Bees is a common "natural" brand that is a little better for you.  The ingredients for the beeswax lip balm are:  beeswax, coconut oil, sunflower seed oil, peppermint oil, lanolin, tocopherol, rosemary leaf extract, soybean oil, canola oil, and limonene.

These ingredients aren't horrible, but I know that the oils and extracts that companies like this use are not food-grade.  I wouldn't fry my eggs in the canola or soybean oil they use in this product, so I don't want to taste it on my lips.

I had finally found a great locally-made chapstick at our local bulk foods store, but the Amish man who made the stuff moved out of the area and it was no longer available.  After my son ruined my last tube of this wonderful stuff, I decided to look at the ingredients and see if it was something I could handle making myself.

I felt really silly for paying that $2.99 after taking a look at how simple it is - beeswax, coconut oil, honey and vanilla extract.

The beeswax is to help solidify the mixture.

The oil is obviously the moisturizer.  As you may know, I'm a huge fan of coconut oil for its nutritional benefits.  But coconut oil is also antimicrobial and anti-aging because of its high lauric acid content.  It's great for skin and can even help heal bruises and rashes.

The honey is what preserves the lip balm.  Not only does the honey taste good, but it will keep the mixture from molding.

The vanilla is for flavor, but you could use anything in its place.

For my balm I decided to use peppermint oil instead of vanilla.  I like the soothing and calming effect that peppermint seems to have on me.

My recipe:

10 T coconut oil
3 T beeswax
1 T honey
30ish drops of essential oil

I placed the coconut oil and beeswax in a double broiler and melted it down.  It would be much faster to grate or chop your beeswax.

Once everything melted I added my honey.  Make sure your honey completely mixes with the oil.  It's going to naturally want to separate, so it takes a little work to keep it mixed.

Once you take it off the stove, add your essential oils.  If you add the oil while it's on the heat you run the risk of breaking it down and losing the scent.

From here I filled my containers.  I prefer a lip balm that I can use my finger to apply, but my son needs it in a tube or we'll end up with grease everywhere.  You can order empty tubes online.

For this batch I filled empty lidded paint cups that I got at Hobby Lobby 12 for $2.99, so they end up costing a quarter each.  The great thing is that they can also be reused when I make my next batch.

I use one of my kids' medicine syringes to fill them.  Something like this is especially helpful for filling the tubes.

You want to make sure you stir your mixture before filling each container.

The recipe I posted above filled 15 of my containers.  I figured my cost to be a little over fifty cents each.  Why would I ever buy lip balm again??

This stuff is rich and creamy and really stays on your lips for a while (that is if you can keep from licking it off your lips - it tastes wonderful)!

These would make a wonderful Christmas gift for friends and coworkers.  You could even slap a cute mailing label around the container to dress it up a bit.

The total time to make these was less than twenty minutes and it was so easy my five year old could do it.  In fact, when his empty tubes arrive in the mail I plan on having him make his own batch (with a little supervision).

After this project I have realized just how much money you can save by making your own moisturizing products.  In the next week I plan to make some diaper rash cream, lotion bars, belly butter (to prevent stretch marks on my pregnant belly) and cream for my second child's eczema.  I'll make sure to share my results after some experimentation when I settle on recipes that work.

I think we know what everyone around me is getting for Christmas this year! :)

Homemade Banana Freezer Pops

I'm pregnant again.  And when I'm pregnant I crave popsicles.  It's also summer and my kids love the occasional popsicle treat on hot days.  I dislike giving them store-brought frozen treats because of the ingredients.  For example:


Popsicle brand cherry pop - water, high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, sugar, contains 1 percent or less of each of the following: cherry juice (from concentrate), malic acid, citric acid, guar gum, vegetable juice (for color), natural flavor, locust bean gum, red 40.

Edy's fruit bar with real fruit (lime flavor) -  water, sugar, lime juice concentrate, citric acid, natural flavor, lime pulp, guar gum, carob bean gum, lime and lemon peel, ascorbic acid (vitamin c), lime oil, yellow 5, green 3.

I don't know about you, but guar gum (which has been known to cause gastrointestinal problems and can also decrease blood glucose levels), food dye (which has been linked to attention deficit disorder and other behavioral problems in children) and corn syrup/refined white sugar aren't part of the ideal summer snack for my children.

One of the most obvious and easiest ways to avoid the additives and preservatives in most store-bought popsicles is to freeze juice.  But that can get boring and every now and then you want a tastier treat to cool you down during the summer.

I came across an amazing popsicle recipe for dairy-free banana freezer pops in a cookbook and wanted to share it with you.


Here is how we made them:

1. Pulse 4 organic bananas in a food processor.
2. Add 12 ounces organic 100% orange juice concentrate, 1/2 cup filtered water, 2 tablespoons local/raw honey, and 2 teaspoons of organic alcohol-free vanilla extract; process in the food processor until smooth.
3. Pour mixture evenly into cups.
4. Add sticks and freeze.

 
No food dyes, "natural" flavors, or junky sugars to worry about - just a tasty fruit treat to cool the kids down on a hot summer afternoon.  They were a hit!

The bananas really give these freezer pops a nice thick texture, but in place of the orange juice concentrate you could add any type of frozen fruit.  


Enjoy!


-Jessica

Extended Breastfeeding Rant

I wrote this rant for my personal blog, but thought I would share it here too.  It seems appropriate for a blog about health, because I feel that breastfeeding is one of the most important decisions you can make for your baby's physical and emotional health.

I finally got around to reading the TIME attachment parenting (AP) article today.  I knew better, but did it anyways.  I've been hearing nothing but negativity about the cover and parenting philosophy for over a week now, so I should have known that the article would portray these mothers negatively.

At first glance I disliked the picture.  Not because I thought it was "pornographic" or "disgusting", as I've heard it described to me, but I thought it was the wrong choice for an article about this type of parenting philosophy (one that is about nurture and comfort).  I've met some very militant AP moms that have made me roll my eyes HARD before and I feel like this picture (camo and all) just catered to that stereotype.  If the author's intention was to help people understand these types of choices, this wasn't the picture to do it.  But of course, I know now that it wasn't the author's intention to portray these mothers positively.


After a week of hearing negativity, I now love the picture.  It's sort of how I feel about extended breastfeeding in general after hearing comments from the peanut gallery - the more you try to make me feel like a pervert for feeding my child naturally, the more I want to whip my boob out in public just to upset you.  In this respect, the picture is perfect.  The mom is beautiful and fierce, and you know what?  She doesn't give a darn what you think about it.  Take that, America!


I nursed David until 18 months and would have gone longer if my milk hadn't dried up with the pregnancy.  Grace is still nursing at 14.5 months and my plan is to let her self wean.  If she wants to nurse until she's four and I still have milk then, she can have it.  That's why God gave me boobs and there is nothing wrong with using them in a way that gives my child comfort.  I could rattle off a bunch of Scripture to support this notion right now, but I'll spare you.  Just remember that Hannah nursed Samuel well into toddlerhood (most people think around age four).  I have a feeling Jesus was nursing as a toddler too.  Hmmmmmmm.


This all got me thinking about why America is so messed up.  People blame our Puritanical background for our messed up relationship with breasts.  I don't think that's all of it.  I bet the Puritans were nursing their toddlers.  In fact, you find a lot of orthodox religious communities (not just Christians) that support nursing.  Of course you find some that don't, but that's the case in any culture.  I mean, Muslim women who aren't even allowed to expose their face are allowed to nurse their children in public.  A culture that goes to the extreme to deny female sexuality recognizes that the act of nursing is non-sexual, yet a culture like ours that goes to every extreme to expose female sexuality can't tell the difference.  My head wants to explode.


No, America's twisted ideas about nursing have nothing to do with religion.  I believe it has everything to do with the way we view children.  We live in a culture that expects children to grow up WAY too soon.  We're pressured into teaching our kids to read before they can walk well.  Just browse the local Babies-R-Us and look at the amount of junk being marketed to us as necessary for proper brain development.  Everything is about education and preparing them to learn the facts necessary to become smart, successful adults.  Doctors even suggest to mothers that they put their child in daycare so that they learn how to stand on their own and become properly socialized as preschoolers (because obviously a mother can't teach their child that on her own).  True story - I know someone whose doctor said that.


Childhood in its natural sense is gone.


Sure, our culture supports providing our children with all of the toys, tools, and time necessary to have a great childhood, but none of that really has anything to do with being a kid.  The expectation is that our kids should act like mini-adults and be socialized into adult society as early as possible.  You need to learn to stand in line at age two, Jimmy, or else you'll never learn to do it on your own naturally.  Sit in that chair for five hours a day learning, Sally, or you won't be prepared for gainful employment one day.  Naps are for the weak, Buddy, it's time to start being a big boy.  And get rid of that blankie that gives you comfort or the kids will make fun of you at recess.  No more hugging or kissing Mommy on the lips, even if you want to, because that would be pervy.  It's time to start acting like adults, children.


When you have a culture that expects children to stand on their own at a young age, of course it seems disgusting and pornographic for them to be suckling their mother's breast at age three.  Three-year-olds aren't babies, after all.  They aren't SUPPOSED to be at home with their mothers learning about life through natural nurturing and family experiences.  They are SUPPOSED to be with their peers, learning structured play and socialization.  And since they are mini-adults, they obviously know that boobs are for sex and not food.  It's going to scar them for life if they nurse that long.


The most ironic thing about all of this (it would be really funny if it weren't so sad) is that our culture wants our children to grow up so fast in almost every way imaginable, except for when it comes to responsibility.  We've created this new stage of life called "adolescence" that never existed prior to the mid-20th century and that basically gives our "young adults" all of the freedom of adulthood without any of the responsibility.  Let's face it, our children in America are still children well into their twenties in many cases.  They're just trained to think that they aren't.


All of this is so opposite of the way life used to be or the way it naturally evolves in most of other cultures around the world (or even the way our bodies are naturally designed).  In most cultures children are viewed as children much longer.  A three year old nursing is no big deal because a three year old is still a child.  And then around puberty, when the body is mature, the child is expected to "put away childish things" and become an adult.  You see these rites of passage into man or womanhood around age 13-14 in most cultures around the world.  You're no longer a child, so you start acting like it.


In these cultures that grant adulthood during puberty, it seems like they actually hand over much earlier the one key to adulthood that we withhold.  Their kids have the responsibility of an adult BEFORE puberty, often having to care for smaller siblings, help work to support the family, or cook meals.  It's the complete opposite of what we do.


So I guess my point to all of this is that I feel we're approaching this wrong.  The reason why people think breastfeeding a toddler is gross isn't just because of our relationship with breasts as purely sex objects.  I think it has just as much to do with the idea that the natural evolution of childhood isn't being allowed to play out.  We're disrupting the flow.  Lactivists' efforts to change the way we view breasts are going to be in vain so long as we keep the same approach to childhood.


I co-sleep with my babies.  Actually, I bed-share.  Grace still wakes up next to me every morning.  I like to "wear" my babies in carriers and wraps.  I'll even throw my three or four year old in the Ergo when they are sick and want some snuggles.  I breastfeed my toddlers.  If they needed/wanted to and knew how to do it, I would breastfeed my older boys too.  I make a lot of choices that these AP moms make (selective vaccination, avoiding crying it out, nursing on demand, using the nipple as a pacifier, delaying solid foods, etc.).  I don't do them because some study shows me that it will help my child's brain development and make them smarter,  and I don't do it because some psychologist tells me it will keep them from being an axe murderer when they are older.  I do it because it feels right to me.  It's what my mothering instincts tell me to do.


I'll do what works for me and you do what works for you.


And as you can see, most other cultures aren't sexualizing the act.  So you tell me - who's the REAL pervert?

-Jessica

Fish Safety

I believe that human beings were meant to consume large amounts of fish and other seafood, considering that it is one of the best sources of many of the essential vitamins and minerals.  Fish is one of the few foods on earth that requires little (if any) work on the part of humans to grow and is abundant pretty much anywhere (minus the desert, of course). 

The problem is that modern life has contaminated many of the world's bodies of water, leaving the fish living there unsafe for human consumption.  The main source of contamination that people are aware of in seafood is mercury, but that is only one concern.  Many other toxins are common, including: flame retardants, PCBs, chlorinated dioxins, pesticides, oil, arsenic and melamine, just to name a few.  These toxins are either present in the water in which the fish live, or in the food they are given.

Living in Ohio, there are many streams and lakes nearby for fishing, but after speaking with an ichthyologist at a local university who has tested toxicity, I don't feel safe eating anything that lives in them.*  Since I try very hard to only eat local and ethically-raised meat sources, this leaves me with very few options.

But as the mother of a dairy-allergic child, I realize how important the calcium and vitamin D that seafood provides is for my son.  His options for foods high in these two nutrients are more limited simply because he cannot drink milk.

I have found that the Environmental Defense Fund has some excellent resources for seafood safety.

Here is a complete list of Seafood Eco-Ratings.  According to this chart, you shouldn't consume any of the following items due to high mercury or PCB content:

All bluefish

Chilean sea bass

Blue crab

Summer flounder

All lingcod

All marlin

All opah

All orange roughy

Yellow Perch from Lakes Huron and Ontario

All rockfish

All salmon (except wild Alaskan)

Mutton snapper

Summer flounder

Atlantic sturgeon

Imported wild sturgeon

All swordfish

All tilefish

Canned white/albacore tuna

Bluefin tuna

All wahoo

All walleye

Some people choose to take a fish oil supplement in order to get their nutrients.  The Environmental Defense Fund also has a list of the safest supplements to take.  Never take the following brands of fish oil:

Kmart brand

Omega Protein

Rite Aid

Solaray

To learn about the best sushi choices (both for your health and the environment) check out this list.

So it looks like for me and my family, with a very limited selection of seafood in the grocery store, our safest bet is to stick with wild Alaskan salmon, shrimp from Oregon, U.S. tilapia, and U.S. or Canada albacore tuna. 

-Jessica

* Except for the fish from one river about 45 minutes away that he said had been tested as clean.  This stream runs from a mountain at a high elevation and if you catch fish from higher up, they are less toxic.  This ichthyologist said that is a good rule of thumb for eating fish that you have caught - the higher the elevation (so long as it is upstream from any potential pollution sources), the safer the fish.

Source - Environmental Defense Fund.   http://www.edf.org/



I'm Back

Hello, everyone!  It has been a while since I've posted on this blog.  If you aren't a follower of my personal blog you're probably not aware of what has happened in my family since I was posting frequently over here.

Around the time that I stopped posting (May/June 2010) I became pregnant with our third child.  Between morning sickness, caring for two energetic little boys, and everything else, this blog sort of got put on the back burner.  I had a wonderful pregnancy with Gracie (our little girl born one year ago last Friday) under the care of some great midwives.  Gracie was my first homebirth and I learned a lot about my body and a more holistic, natural approach to pregnancy and childbirth during the process.  I followed a very strict diet, provided by my midwives, during the pregnancy that I hope to share with anyone interested.

Since I was posting here frequently my husband, Adam, also decided to have a back surgery to correct some of the sources of his chronic pain.  Over the last five to seven years he has tried everything - chiropractic care, stretching, diet, exercise, inversion tables, special shoes, etc. - to alleviate his pain, but in the spring of 2011 it became too much to handle and surgery was necessary.  I am happy to report that he is now about nine to ten months out from the surgery and many of the pain issues have since resolved.  He still isn't at one hundred percent, but we keep praying that relief will eventually come.

After everything that has happened in our lives over the last few years, I finally feel like I have a handle on life with three children and can prioritize my time to return to sharing what we are learning about our health and wellness.  I feel like we have grown a lot in the last two years and have a lot of information to share!

-Jessica

Is Eating Organic Really Expensive?

We live in a culture that expects food to be cheap.  REALLY cheap.  Shows like Extreme Couponing now have shoppers obsessed with getting the best deals on what they feed their families, but the problem is that you can rarely find a coupon for anything that is actually good for you.  Because of this, people say that eating organic is just not affordable for the average family.  I beg to differ. 

Here are some of the statements people make that I find to be completely untrue.

Eating organic is too expensive for the average American family.

People tell us all the time that they want to eat the way we eat, but they just can't afford it.  I wish they knew that we spend the same amount on organic food as they do on their grocery shopping, we just put a lot of effort into it.  If people are willing to spend hours a week looking online for deals and clipping coupons, they could instead be spending that time preparing food at home, taking care of a garden, and saving money on healthy foods.

Here are some examples of the foods we eat that are just as cheap, if not cheaper, than comparable items you find at the grocery store:

• Oatmeal - If I go to our local megatore (Meijer) and purchase the store brand 2 lb. 10 oz. container of old-fashioned oats, I spend $3.59 .  Instead, I go to a local health food store that sells bulk grains for 99 cents per pound.  If I were to buy the same amount there (2 lb. 10 oz.) I would only spend $2.52 - that's for organic, non-GMO old-fashioned oats.  THE ORGANIC OATMEAL IS CHEAPER.
• Chicken - If I go to our locally owned grocery store and purchase chicken breasts for dinner, I am going to pay $5.39/lb.  That is for non-organic chicken that was raised in living conditions that would make the average consumer sick to their stomach.  Instead, I drive to a local farm and get true free-range, organic chicken for $3/lb.  The difference is that the organic chicken is sold whole, so it takes a little more work to prepare it for dinner.  The bonus is that if I roast the chicken whole, I can use the leftover carcass to make my own chicken broth for free (it would cost me $4.29 for that amount of organic broth at Meijer).  THE ORGANIC, FREE-RANGE CHICKEN IS CHEAPER.
• Eggs - At our local grocery store, a dozen regular non-organic eggs can cost $2.46/dozen (Eggland's Best), but a local farm sells truly organic, cage-free eggs for $2.50/dozen.   THE ORGANIC, CAGE-FREE EGGS COST THE SAME.
• Milk - I haven't even looked at the milk in the grocery store for so long that I don't know what the average gallon costs (I'm assuming $3/gallon), but I do know that organic milk in the grocery store used to cost well over $4/gallon.  It costs me $3/gallon at our local farm for raw, organic milk from cows that were fed on pasture.  THE ORGANIC MILK COSTS THE SAME.
• Yogurt - At our local grocery store, a large container of non-organic, plain Greek yogurt costs $5.49.  I take half of the milk we buy and make our own yogurt, so it costs roughly $1.50.  THE ORGANIC YOGURT IS CHEAPER.
• Jam/Jelly - If you were to buy an 8 oz. jar of Smucker's jelly at the grocery store, you would pay roughly $2.  Organic jams and jellies range from $4 -$7 per jar.  I can buy locally grown strawberries ($14/4 quarts) and organic, free-trade sugar from the store ($4.59/2 pounds) and make my own jam for approximately $1.76 per 8 oz. jar.  THE ORGANIC JAM IS CHEAPER.
•  Beef - I don't know what grocery store beef costs, because I haven't eaten it in a while, but I do know that my pastured, organic beef is cheaper.  We spend $1200 every January for a half beef ($700 for the meat and $500 for butchering costs).  That amount of beef will last four of us nine months (we eat red meat five days a week).  If you do the math, we spend $6 per meal (that's $1.50 per person) on our beef. THE PASTURED, ORGANIC BEEF IS CHEAPER.
• Bread - At our local grocery store I would have to pay $4.99 for a loaf of organic bread.  Instead, I can buy flour for $3.99 (that will make 5 loaves) and yeast for $3.19 (that will make 10 loaves).  If I factor in $1 for extra costs (tablespoons of butter, sugar, honey, etc.), I can make a loaf of healthy, organic bread for $2.12.  That's even cheaper than the junky white bread at the grocery store.  THE ORGANIC BREAD IS CHEAPER
• Produce - I know that grocery prices range depending on the season and availability, so this is a hard one to gauge.  Our CSA costs us $25 per week for a bushel of produce (plus $2 for a pint of local honey per month).  Our first bushel contained two different types of lettuce, mint, radishes, green onions, and other herbs.  Just one large container of Wild Harvest Organic Lettuce at the store costs $5.99, so we definitely save money with the CSA.  Green beans cost me $1.50 per meal from Meijer right now ($1.05/pound), but my tiny garden will grow enough to feed us green beans twice a week for two months out of the summer.  If we eat only in season, shop at Farmer's Markets, and preserve excess for the winter months, THE ORGANIC COSTS THE SAME.

You get the picture.  I could keep going with this list, but the bottom line is  - EATING ORGANIC DOESN'T HAVE TO BE EXPENSIVE.  But it is going to be work and you have to sacrifice eating your favorite foods anytime you want. 

But that's still too expensive.

Get out of the grocery store.  When you shop there you are paying for convenience and advertising, and with that convenience there is also an added price - additives and preservatives to make the food shelf stable and which take a toll on your body and the Earth.  Go directly to the source of your food and buy in bulk if you want to save money.  Don't get caught in the green-washing trap in the grocery stores.

Eating organic is a lifestyle choice.  When someone decides to eat this way they are usually saying that they don't feel comfortable feeding their family pesticides, antibiotics, chemicals, or inhumanely raised animal products.  They may worry about the environmental implications of it all.  This is why you usually find that families who eat organic food also make other similar lifestyle choices, like cloth diapering, green cleaning, no-poo, etc.  It makes little sense to worry about chemicals in the foods you eat, but then fill your environment with them through the use of toxic cleaners, candles, air fresheners, and cosmetics. 

You can save lots of money by making other "green" lifestyle changes.  For example, cloth diapering saves my family over $800 per year.  That's an extra $67 per month for groceries.  We don't but expensive, conventional cleaning products or even the "green washed" eco-friendly versions in the store.  Vinegar and baking soda can handle all of your household cleaning and clear space in your budget for food.

Cosmetics are the worst.  Families spend insane amounts of money on these items and they are full of chemicals that are just being absorbed through your skin, instead of through your digestive system.  If you're going to cut it out of your food for your family's health, get it out of your bathroom too.  It will save you more money.

If you're uncomfortable with going no-poo or ditching your deodorant, there are other ways to save money.  Ditch your cable (you'll need to free up time in your schedule for your garden anyways).  Without cable there really isn't a reason for a new fancy television, so why not spend that $1000 on some pastured meat for the upcoming year.  Then you can set aside the money you would have spent on meat during your grocery shopping for organic produce.

Aside from the extra money you will have from ridding your shopping list of this stuff, you will also benefit from lower healthcare costs.  Eating good food and avoiding toxins can keep you from getting sick.  Less money spent at the doctor or pharmacy means more money for good food.

The best way to make room for organic food in your grocery budget is to change your eating habits.  Processed organic foods are EXPENSIVE.  If you try to eat from boxed organic food you're going to spend over double what you would on conventional groceries.  You have to change the way you eat.  Instead of giving your children cookies and crackers for snacks, give them some veggies from your garden.  Ditch the juice that isn't good for them anways and give them water in their sippy cups.  They may resisit you at first, but eventually they too will change their eating habits.

Also, think about how much food you waste.  If you add up all of the money spent on the food thrown away from plates that were overfilled, leftovers that don't get eaten, or food that has expired, you realize that there is a lot of room for savings if you just use what you already have.

But I live in a city.

There are farmer's markets everywhere.  You can also drive to get to a farm.  I know many people who are willing to travel an hour to get to a desirable mall to buy a new outfit.  Isn't your food just as important?

If you don't want to travel, you can grow a container garden on your patio or even plant a rooftop garden.  Urban gardening is becoming very popular and there are tons of resources out there to help you learn.

Some families have built self-sufficient homesteads in the middle of the city!

But I don't have the time to do all of that work.

Once again, it's a lifestyle choice.  You can spend your evenings watching television or clipping coupons, or you can use it to bake some bread or care for a garden.  If eating organic food is a priority, you can always find the time for it.

If you involve your children in the work, it stops feeling like chores and it becomes a family lesson in health.  When you teach your children where their food really comes from, they learn to respect it and become conscious of what they are putting in their bodies.  Making yogurt or sourdough bread can become a science lesson for children, as they learn how fermentation works.  Sprouting grains or planting seeds becomes an experiment for a child.  Baking bread becomes a lesson in math as you measure ingredients.  Children love to be involved.

We take our children to the farms to pick up our groceries and the farmers are always willing to let us roam around.  My kids have gotten to play with baby pigs, chase chickens, pet the cows, and interact with the animals that will one day become their food.  Who needs a zoo membership when you get to enjoy a free petting zoo every week?  Plus, your children learn to respect and not to waste the food they are eating, because they may have been playing with that chicken before it became part of their soup.

If you look at your life and decide that the lifestyle changes necessary to afford organic food aren't something you're willing to do, I completely understand.  It's hard work and very time consuming.  Just remember that the "organic food is too expensive for the average family" line just isn't true!

Links of the Week

Here are some health-related links that I came across this week:

Another McNeil Product Recall from July 8, 2010 for Benadryl, Tylenol, and Motrin.  This is the third recall from this company for various reasons since January of this year.  We will no longer be buying these brands in our house.

Why You Don't Want to Buy Organic Eggs at the Grocery Store – Part 1 by Dr. Joseph Mercola - June 9, 2010

Why You Don't Want to Buy Organic Eggs at the Grocery Store - Part 2 by Dr. Joseph Mercola - June 10, 2010

More doctors coming out against the 2010 Dietary Guidelines - June 28, 2010

How To Make Raw Almond Milk

Step 1:  Soak your almonds for at least 24 hours prior to making your milk. 

For a nutritional boost, use sprouted almonds.

Step 2:  Rinse your almonds and then put them in the blender with filtered water.  For every cup of almonds, add three cups of water. 

Step 3:  Put a large piece of cheesecloth over a bowl and secure with a rubber band.  Slowly pour your almond milk into the bowl to filter the chunks of almonds.

Step 4:  Squeeze the milk from the cheesecloth and set aside your almond leftovers.

Step 5:  If you want to do another filtering, a coffee liner in your funnel works well (but takes a while to filter).

Step 6:  If you're lazy like me, and don't mind a few small chunks, just ladle the milk directly into your containers.

Step 7:  Make sure to add a pinch of salt to each container before you seal them up, which will help to preserve the milk (mine lasted 4-5 days).  You can taste it when it starts to go sour. 

Chill the milk in your fridge before serving.

One pound of raw almonds yielded this much milk and almond pulp:

In the future, I will not make quite as much, because it is hard to use up so much milk before it spoils.

I used my pulp to make two batches of homemade granola bars.

If you're planning to drink the almond milk as a milk substitute, you may want to flavor it with some vanilla or warm it up with some honey.  It has a very bland, nutty taste without any extra flavoring.

You can also add a liquid calcium supplement and probiotic powder to make it a more nutritious milk substitute for people with milk allergies.

My boys and I enjoyed the milk in a smoothie.  Yum!

Enjoy!

-Jessica

Links of the Week

I have a habit of saving interesting links I find in my favorites with the intention of sharing the information here at some point, but what ends up happening is that the links begin to pile up and then I do a mass delete before I get the chance to use them.

What I'd like to start doing is sharing any interesting health-related links that I come across once a week here for you guys.  These are from the last several months, so forgive me if you've already read a lot of these.

PARENTS OF SMALL CHILDREN - PLEASE READ THIS ONE: Lead Found in Children’s Foods and Baby Foods from the Environmental Law Foundation - June 10, 2010 and the list of tainted and safe products.

Food Cravings: What They Really Mean from Naturopathyworks

The Toxic Truth Of Sunscreen (check out the photo slide show) from the Huffington Post - May 27, 2010

What Happens To Your Body Within An Hour Of Drinking A Coke from the Nutrition Research Center

If you want to get sick and gain weight...

...follow the 2010 USDA Food Pyramid Guidelines.

Here is a great article about the proposed changes, written by Sally Fallon Morell, President of the Weston A. Price Foundation.

Some highlights of the article (emphasis mine):

“Basic biochemistry shows that the human body has a very high requirement for saturated fats in all cell membranes; if we do not eat saturated fats, the body will simply make them from carbohydrates, but excess carbohydrate increases blood levels of triglyceride and small, dense LDL, and compromises blood vessel function,” says Fallon Morell. “Moreover, high-carbohydrate diets do not satisfy the appetite as well as diets rich in traditional fats, leading to higher caloric intakes and often to bingeing and splurging on empty foods, resulting in rapid weight gain and chronic disease.”

The proposed guidelines will perpetuate existing nutrient deficiencies present in all American population groups, including deficiencies in vitamins A and D found in animal fats, vitamins B12 and B6 found in animal foods, as well as minerals like calcium and phosphorus, which require vitamins A and D for assimilation. Moreover, low intakes of vitamin K2, are associated with increased risk of heart disease and cancer. The main sources of vitamin K2 available to Americans are egg yolks and full-fat cheese. Incredibly, the Guidelines single out cheese as an unhealthy food!

The Guidelines lump trans fats together with saturated fats—calling them Solid Fats—thereby hiding the difference between unhealthy industrial trans fats and healthy traditional saturated fats. Trans fats contribute to inflammation, depress the immune system, interfere with hormone production, and set up pathological conditions leading to cancer and heart disease, whereas saturated fats fight inflammation, support the immune system, support hormone production and protect against cancer and heart disease.

Her version of the food pyramid looks like this:

Every day, eat high quality, whole foods to provide an abundance of nutrients, chosen from each of the following four groups:

1.Animal foods: meat and organ meats, poultry, and eggs from pastured animals; fish and shellfish; whole raw cheese, milk and other dairy products from pastured animals; and broth made from animal bones.

2.Grains, legumes and nuts: whole-grain baked goods, breakfast porridges, whole grain rice; beans and lentils; peanuts, cashews and nuts, properly prepared to improve digestibility.

3.Fruits and Vegetables: preferably fresh or frozen, preferably locally grown, either raw, cooked or in soups and stews, and also as lacto-fermented condiments.

4.Fats and Oils: unrefined saturated and monounsaturated fats including butter, lard, tallow and other animal fats; palm oil and coconut oil; olive oil; cod liver oil for vitamins A and D.

Here is another interesting article about the new guidelines, written by Robert K. Su, MD, which also supports the idea that a diet high in carbohydrates is a recipe for disease and obesity, and that a diet rich in whole foods and animal fat is much healthier.

I went to mypyramid.gov and took their MyPyramid Plan (2005 Guidelines) and for a woman my age and size, and with my activity level, they are recommending the following food plan:

• 7 ounces of grains
• 3 cups vegetables
• 2 cups fruit
• 3 cups milk
• 6 ounces meat and beans

I should also aim for this each week:

• 3 cups dark green veggies (are they joking??)
• 2 cups orange veggies
• 3 cups dry beans and peas
• 6 cups starchy veggies
• 7 cups other veggies

And only 6 teaspoons of oil per day. 

Yikes!  If I ate like that I can't even imagine how horrible I would feel.  My day looked like this today:

• Breakfast:  2 pastured eggs fried in butter, 1/2 cup soaked oatmeal with raw milk and honey, and some blueberries
• Snack:  apple
• Lunch:  pastured round steak (fried in olive oil and then baked in tomato/basil sauce), quinoa noodles (in the same tomato sauce) and salad with olive oil dressing
• Snack:  homemade whole wheat pretzels (made with coconut oil)
• Dinner: pastured beef liver (fried in nitrate-free bacon grease - I was a bad girl), peas, rhubarb, and watermelon
• Drinks throughout the day: tea, raw milk and water

I'm not going to add up the amount of fat that I ate, because as you can see, it's a lot.  But, I am a mother providing breast milk for two toddlers, who is of childbearing age, and I need healthy fat to support healthy babies.  None of the fat I eat is hydrogenated or unhealthy, and I eat whatever I want without any fear of gaining weight.  I also have a BMI of 19 (in March at least) and I haven't been sick in ages.

The government would like people to think that eating a diet like my family's will make us obese, with heart disease.

For Gabe and David, young boys with brains and bodies still developing, they recommend the following diet:

• 3 ounces grains
• 1 cup vegetables
• 1 cup fruit
• 2 cups milk
• 2 ounces meat and beans
• only 3 teaspoons of oil per day

I don't even know what to say.  In my opinion, children this age need higher amounts of fat in order to develop properly.  I can't imagine feeding this to my kids each day.  That is the amount of fruits and veggies they usually get per meal.

With a healthcare crisis in our country, I cannot believe that our government could be so blind to common sense nutrition. 

Here is how we can stay healthy - Eat whole foods.  Eat food that God put on this earth for us to consume, not things created by man in a laboratory somewhere.  Cook our food at home.  Eat organic.  Avoid processed carbohydrates and sugar.

It's really pretty simple.

-Jessica

Homemade Soft Tacos

We love Mexican food in our house.  But most of the ingredients you find in the grocery store are full of artificial preservatives and other additives. 

For example, an Old El Paso flour burrito contains the following ingredients:  Enriched Flour Bleached (Wheat Flour, Niacin, Iron, Thiamin Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid) Water, Partially Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil (Soybean, Cottonseed) With Mono- and Diglycerides, Glycerin, Corn Syrup Solids, Salt, Baking Powder (Baking Soda, Corn Starch, Sodium Aluminum Sulfate, Calcium Sulfate, Monocalcium Phosphate), Potassium Sorbate and Calcium Propionate (Preservatives), Monoglycerides, Fumaric Acid, L-cysteine Hydrochloride.

Yuck!

What if you go to Taco Bell?  Their flour tortillas contain the following ingredients:  Enriched Bleached Wheat Flour (Flour, Malted Barley Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Water, Soybean Oil, Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil (Contains One Or More Of The Following: Cottonseed Oil, Soybean Oil), with Mono- and Diglycerides, Sugar, Contains Less Than 2% Of The Following: Salt, Leavening (Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate, Sodium Bicarbonate), Fumaric Acid, Calcium Propionate and Potassium Sorbate (used as preservatives), Dough Conditioners (DATEM, Mono and Diglycerides, Enzymes).

All of that for a tortilla??

Then there are the taco seasonings and sauces.  Old El Paso Taco Seasoning contains: Maltodextrin, Salt, Chili Pepper, Onion Powder, Spice, Monosodium Glutamate, Modified Corn Starch, Yellow Corn Flour, Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil With Bht Added to Protect Flavor, Silicon Dioxide Added As Anti-caking Agent, Natural Flavor. 

Nothing like a healthy dose of MSG and trans fat for dinner!

Tacos are really easy to make on your own and can be really nutritious.  Here is how our family likes to eat them.

Tortillas
Organic Whole Wheat Flour
Water

Add water to the flour until you reach a dough-like texture.  You don't want it sticky.  Roll dough onto a flour surface into desired shape.

Cook on the stove on medium-to-high heat approximately 3 minutes on each side.

Some recipes call for baking powder, but I have made them both ways and don't see any difference when I use it.  If you're going to use baking powder, make sure it's non-GMO and aluminum-free.

Taco Seasoning
Paprika
Garlic Salt
Minced Onion
Salt
Pepper

Mix together for desired taste.  I use A LOT of paprika.  If you like it a little spicier, add some crushed red pepper to the mix. 

Meat
Pastured ground meat of any kind.  We used ground turkey tonight, but prefer beef.  Brown it and then sprinkle with your taco seasoning.  Add about 1/2 cup water and a tablespoon of raw honey to the bottom of the pan and let it all simmer for a few minutes.

Toppings
Add whatever raw, chopped veggies you have in the fridge.  We like to use carrots, celery, tomatoes, and greens and stir them directly into the meat mixture.

Tonight's other toppings were raw milk cheddar cheese, sour cream and salsa.

It's a quick, easy dinner that you can get your kids to eat, even when it's full of healthy vegetables.

Enjoy!

-Jessica

A Plastic-Free Life

I've been slowly trying to reduce the amount of plastic in our home over the past few years. It all began during the great BPA (Bisphenol A) scare of 2008, when I decided to replace all of my plastic bottles with glass ones and started storing my food in glass instead of Tupperware.

Lately I have been inspired by several other bloggers to make more drastic changes to our lifestyle. Blessed at O Blessed Day linked to an interesting documentary called Addicted to Plastic, which pretty much sealed the deal for me. I had heard of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, but after seeing pictures of the wildlife affected by our plastic pollution and hearing more about the health effects of these plastics to human beings, I'd had enough.

Just yesterday I came across another wonderful blog, Fake Plastic Fish, that gives many helpful tips for decreasing your dependance on plastic. Because that is the hardest part about all of this - our society is dependent on it. Plastic has revolutionized the ways in which we prepare and store our food, dress ourselves, drive our cars, clean up - every aspect of our lives involves plastics in some form. Thinking about trying to live plastic-free is depressing and overwhelming, because you realize just how impossible it is to do.

With that said, my goal is not to live completely plastic-free, because I know that there is value to it in some parts of my life. I can't imagine a hospital stay without the use of plastics. My goal, however, is to limit my amount of waste from "unneccessary" plastics.

What is the impact of plastic on our health?

Let's start with the manufacturing process, which pollutes the environment with toxic chemicals. Fossil fuels are used to make plastic, and we are all aware of the price our environment is paying for our addiction to fossil fuels. All we have to do is take a look at what is happening in the Gulf Coast right now.

And there is the disposal of these products. Recycling plastics is difficult, because one plastic bottle often contains many different types. When it isn't cost effective, those items are thrown into landfills. In 2007, only 6.8% of total plastics were recycled.

The average American produces about 63 pounds of plastic packaging per year, making it 16% of the solid waste in this country. These items take centuries to biodegrade and are filling our landfills at an unsustainable rate.

Littering is also a problem. 60-80% of the litter comes from plastic, which is then consumed by wildlife. This is the wildlife we often eat. Those polyethylene microbeads in our cosmetics are plastic and they are washed away into our waste water, eventually finding their way into our rivers, streams, and oceans. Fish consume the polluted water and then traces of plastic end up on our table when we want seafood.

Just being around it can be toxic to our systems. If we can smell it, we are breathing it in. It we can taste it, we are ingesting it. Heating our foods in plastic and even storing it there in many cases, causes it to leach into the food we eat.

Scientists now believe that plastics, like Bisphenol A, can disrupt our hormone levels.

When there is all of this evidence against it's use, why would we want to continue to damage our bodies and the earth?

My Plan

I went around my house from room to room and wrote down everything I use on a daily basis that contains plastic. I'm sure I forgot many things as I did this exercise, but most of the obvious ones were found. From there I made a list of items that are plastic and need to be changed, items that I have changed already, and an action plan.

I only included disposable items at this point. I realize that most of the furniture and electronics in our home contain some type of plastic, but I am not concerned with them for this exercise.

Bathroom

Plastic

Toothbrush
Hair brush
Lotion
Hair pins
Contact solution
Contacts
Contact case
Mouthwash
Sunscreen
Razors
Toilet paper (for husband)
Shampoo (for husband)
Q-Tips
Toothpaste
Floss
Children's bath soap

Changes Already Made

Bar soap
Baking soda (instead of children's toothpaste)
No make-up
No shaving cream
Family cloth
No Hair-care products
Mama cloth
No shampoo
No deodorant
Cloth shower curtain

Action Plan

1 - The easiest and most obvious change I would like to make is to stop wearing my contact lenses. I have been wanting to stop using them for quite a while, because I don't like rubbing chemicals into my eyeball, but I haven't taken the plunge yet.

2 - I would like to stop using the children's bath soap and have them use my bar soap instead.

3 - A better option for disposable razors and toothbrushes. Possibly reusable bases with only disposable heads?

4 - Homemade lotion

Nursery

Plastic

Diaper cream
Swim Diapers
TOYS

Changes Already Made

Cloth Diapers
Cloth Wipes
Cloth Training Pants
Re-Usable Diaper Pail Liner

Action Plan

1 - Diaper Cream Alternative

2 - Reusable Swim Diaper

3 - No more plastic toys unless they are bought second-hand.

Cleaning

Plastic

Dish Soap
Dishwasher Soap
Vinegar
Dish Scrubbers
Diaper Detergent
Vacuum Bags
Trash Bags

Changes Already Made

Baking Soda
No cleaners
Homemade laundry detergent (all ingredients come without plastic packaging)
No paper towels
No paper napkins

Action Plan

1 - I have had bad luck finding a homemade detergent that works on my cloth diapers. I will continue to experiment.

2 - I read that baking soda works well as a dish detergent, so I will try that. I have yet to find a homemade recipe that works well in the dishwasher.

3 - Switch to vinegar that comes in glass bottles that can be reused and recycled.

4 - No more plastic dish scrubbers. Use rags.

5 - Look into alternatives for trash bags.

Clothing

Plastic

Bras
All clothing items containing synthetic materials
Socks/undies that come in plastic packaging
Pantyhose
Shoes
Plastic Hangers

Changes Already Made

All second-hand clothing for me and the boys
No jewelry containing plastic

Action Plan

1 - No more buying new items made from synthetic materials, especially pantyhose. I can only buy these items second-hand.

2 - No more plastic hangers.

3 - Look into more environmentally-friendly shoe options.

Kitchen

Plastic

Sandwich Bags
Medicine Bottles
Condiments
Yogurt
Produce Bags
Beverage bottles
Bread Bags
Cheese
Spices
Oil
Hummus
Fish
Frozen vegetables
Sugar
Bacon
Straws
Chips
Raisins
Bulk Food Packaging
Coffee
Sippy Cups
Bottle nipples
Breast Pump Parts
Children's utensils

Changes Already Made

Cloth Grocery Shopping Bags
Milk (comes in glass container from local farm)
Glass baby bottles
Meat (packaged at butcher in paper)
Eggs (come from farmer in cardboard)
More homemade foods
Reverse Osmosis Water Filtration System
Reusable Glass Water Bottles

Action Plan

1 - Limit the number of foods on the list that are packaged in plastic.

2 - Start making my own condiments from fresh ingredients that are not packaged in plastic.

3 - Make reusable sandwich bags

4 - Purchase glass straws

5 - Next time we need new sippy cups, buy a glass or stainless steel alternative.

6 - No more plastic produce bags at the grocery store. Bring my own or go without them.

7 - Go to a different bulk food store where the food is not already packaged in plastic.

Purse/Junk Drawer

Plastic

Pens
Tape
Highlighters
Lighters
Batteries
Chapstick
Bank Card
Stickers

Changes Already Made

No credit cards

Action Plan

1 - No more pens. Pencils instead.

2 - Rechargeable batteries.

3 - Paper tape.

4 - Matches instead of lighters.

5 - No more stickers for the boys. We can draw on the chore charts instead.

Entertainment

Plastic

Movies
CDs
Video Games
Photo Prints
Home decor
Ammunition

Changes Already Made

We have been buying a lot of items second-hand, but when we do this it is usually online. The shipping process creates more plastic waste.

Action Plan

1 - Use the library more for books, movies, and music.

2 - No more photo prints to be put in albums. We can save them to disk and print only what we want to frame.

Health/Cost Benefits

Many of these items will cost a lot upfront, like the glass straws, swim diapers, and rechargeable batteries, but in the long run they will save me money. The savings will be significant if I no longer have to buy sandwich bags, trash bags, disposable swim diapers, dish detergent, contacts, etc.

Not buying and eating the processed and packaged foods is better for my health. By buying my ingredients in bulk, storing them in glass, and making all of my food from scratch, I will be heathier and have more money to spend on more important things. Extra money means less stress, which is always good for your health :)

Limiting plastics is going to be a lifestyle change, which is close to where we have been headed on our journey, but just gets us there a little faster. One day, when we eventually build our home, we have decided to do it out of recycled building materials and with as little plastic as possible. 

As sad as it is, our community does not have a recycling program.  In order to recycle you have to drive all of your waste downtown and unload it yourself.  Adam and I did this for a long time, but stopped when David was born.  We are now working to pick this practice back up, and are looking at purchasing a pick-up truck, organizing collection in our neighborhood and driving everyone's stuff there ourselves on Saturdays.  We are just waiting for the Lord to provide us with the funds to purchase the truck, if that is what He wants us to do.

This decision means no more convenient, single-serve items.  There will be no more impulse buying.  It will require more work and more planning on our part, but I feel that our family's health and our responsibility to the planet and God are what is most important!

Join me!

-Jessica

Sources:


http://discovermagazine.com/2009/oct/21-numbers-plastics-manufacturing-recycling-death-landfill

A Call To Action

This is a post I wrote for my other private blog, but decided I wanted to share it here too. The intention of this blog is to help people achieve physical, mental and spiritual health and the title of it is based on scripture (1 Corinthians 6:19). If you're a follower of this blog, you obviously care about your health and try to take good care of your body. But the way we take care of the earth directly impacts our health. That is why I wanted to share this with you.

I want to speak to the Christians out there - everyone who claims they are a follower of Jesus Christ and lives according to the Gospel. I want to talk to you about the environment.


There are several camps of Christians when it comes to this topic. Some think environmentalist is for the Hippies, and since we have moral differences with their movement, we dismiss the information they are giving us. We call the green movement “liberal, Hippy stuff” and feel like there is no place for it in our religious lives.

Other Christians think the destruction of the earth is imminent and since God is in control, nothing we do matters. By that same thinking, if we were diagnosed with a terminal illness and knew our death was imminent, would we just wildly abuse our bodies? I would hope that we wouldn’t, because our quality of life here on earth and in eternity depends on the way we choose to respect our bodies and God’s word.

How is the earth any different? Just as He gave us our bodies as a gift - as a temple that should be kept holy and clean - He gave us this earth as a gift. In Genesis 1:28 it says, “And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.”

And what instructions does God give those who rule over other living things? In Proverbs 8:15 we are told that rulers should be wise and just. Since you and I are responsible to taking care of this earth, we had better be making wise decisions. That is what God has asked us to do.

God gave us this earth as a gift to enjoy while we are here in this life, but He still owns it. Psalm 24 tells us that the earth is the Lord’s and we are just borrowing it. Who would ever want to intentionally disrespect something that belongs to God, which He gave us to cherish? We don’t do it to the other gifts He has given us – our children, our spouses, etc.

Right now there is a patch of garbage in the Pacific Ocean the size of the state of Texas. Our water supply is full of toxins like mercury and rocket fuel. We dump toxic waste into the oceans and eat contaminated fish. We treat animals with zero respect, like they are inanimate objects designed to make us profit and feed us as cheaply as possible. And as if it isn’t bad enough that we are destroying our own earth and everything that lives on it, we are now polluting the heavens with space trash. There are no limits to our filth.

I met my breaking point yesterday. I broke down after seeing the pictures of the Gulf Coast from the recent oil spill and hearing the reactions in the media. I could not control the tears and the pain. I cried out to God to forgive me for the role I have played in this.

Everyone wants to pass the buck and play the victim. The Democrats blame the Republicans, the Republicans blame the Democrats, the people blame the government, government blames big business, and big business blames a few workers…

STOP IT. STOP ACTING LIKE FOOLS. GROW UP AND TAKE SOME ACCOUNTABLITY FOR YOUR LIFESTYLE CHOICES.

WE are the problem. You and I and every single one of us who continues this lifestyle of waste and excess is the problem. Every time we consume this unnecessary pop culture trash that society tells us we need, we contribute to it, because the manufacture, packaging, distribution, marketing, sale and disposal of every single good we buy uses up fossil fuels, pollutes everything around us and eventually clutters our landfills. Every unnecessary shopping spree that serves no other purpose than to fill an empty void in our lives that we should instead fill with Jesus contributes to the problem. Every time our gluttony causes us to indulge in foods we don’t need, we are contributing to the problem. Every time we decide that our comfort is more important than preserving the gift God has given us, we sin. And God will make us accountable for this one day. We must repent and change our ways.

These things that make us so modern, like all of the technology, and the things that entertain us – we tend to only think of the moral implications, like the amount of time wasted doing them when we could be serving the Lord, or the way they allow sin to fill our minds and hearts, but there are also environmental impacts that are just as displeasing to the Lord.

I have been studying character qualities lately and what we as Christians tend to forget is that the bad decisions we make concerning the environment are just as important as the other moral decisions we make that chisel away at our character. Sin is sin is sin is sin in God's eyes.

God wants us to show contentment.

Is my happiness dependent on buying more things? Does that expensive gas, guzzling car bring me closer to God? Does that large home and all the energy it takes to maintain it glorify Him? Or do those things glorify man?

God wants us to be dependable.

Dependability is “fulfilling what I consented to do, even if it means unexpected sacrifice.” Am I willing to sacrifice my comfort so that God can depend on me to make wise decisions with the earth? Can my children depend on me to do my part in leaving them a healthy earth, where they can breathe clean air, and have a safe food supply and drinking water?

God wants us to be diligent.

Our lives should not be about instant gratification and convenience. Slothfulness is evil. We live in a single serve society where everything has to be easy, quick, and painless – and all of those items that help us reach that convenience are hurting this earth. Am I willing to make tough choices, sacrifice and work harder to help the environment?

God wants us to show endurance.

Endurance is the inward strength to withstand stress to accomplish God’s best. Am I willing to endure some hardship in order to turn around the mess we have gotten ourselves into?

God wants us to show generosity.

Generosity is “realizing that all I have belongs to God and using it for His purposes.” If we have excess, are we willing to give it to someone else so it doesn’t go to waste? Are we willing to let others have or borrow our things so they don’t have to continue to waste?

God wants us to be gentle.

Are we willing to stop supporting the abuse and mistreatment of the animals we consume?

God wants us to be grateful.

How can we be telling Him how grateful we are for this gift He has given us in one breath and then turn around and spit on it with our actions?

God wants us to show initiative.

People are waiting to be required to make change. Why does it take something like a tax credit to motivate us to make some effort?

God wants orderliness from us.

Can we take care of our things instead of letting them fall apart and end up cluttering a landfill?

God wants us to show patience.

Can we save up and wait to purchase something of quality instead of buying cheap things now that are bad for the earth and just end up broken?

God wants us to be resourceful.

Is having this season’s fashion important when you know you can’t wear it next year and it will end up being tossed? Does God really care how stylish your shoes are? How could your resources be used for His glory instead of the glory of man?

This list could go on and on….

God wants us to be Responsible.


God wants us to show Self Control.


God wants us to be Thrifty.


God wants us to be Virtuous.


God wants us to make Wise decisions.

But most importantly, God wants us to love. Matthew 22:39 tells us to “love thy neighbor as thy self.” It is one of the two commands that Jesus gave us. The way we treat the world around us is directly linked to the way we treat our neighbors and the way we treat God. If I'm one of those people who doesn’t care about how I am harming the environment because I won’t be around when the next generations have to clean up our mess, that speaks volumes about how much I obey Jesus' command and love my neighbors. If this world is all about me and my comfort, success, and pleasure at any cost, that clarifies where God lies in my list of priorities.

There are people who won’t do it for themselves. They won’t do it for others. They won’t even do it for their children. They don’t care about the animals. You can’t even get them to buy into it when they realize that it will save them money. If for no other reason people, do it for God. He does care!

Nonbelievers are watching us and our hypocrisy. What message are we sending them when we preach how important these qualities are and then we don’t personify them in our real lives? How can we ever expect our children to become men and women of character if we aren’t modeling good behavior? How will we ever witness effectively?

My life needs to change and I made a commitment to God last night to do something about it.  I have some big projects in mind to help my community that I will be sharing with you soon.  Please join me.  Once we know that what we are doing isn't pleasing to God, we cannot continue to do it.  We must repent and make changes.