The society of healthy eating is growing by leaps and bounds as people realize how dangerous chemicals in foods are. Many realize that such chemicals can keep you from losing weight.
For me, in light of reading certain testimonials about sick individuals who increased their healing by eliminating external chemicals as well got me thinking. Could external chemicals keep us from losing weight, too? Why is it that men tend to drop weight more quickly than women? Yes, it has to do with them being men, but why does the gender gap seem so wide? Wider than it was before? Could it be because women like to lather and slather themselves more often than men? Could it be because we cover nearly every pore of our bodies with some sort of commercial spray, lotion, make-up, or ointment while men are content to suds up, rinse off, smear the deodorant and go?
Apparently, my thoughts have merit:
It's not just the phthalates and parabens, but it could also be the BPA in the plastic bottles.
Judging by these articles, if you have any sort of hormonal imbalance, even if you can keep the weight off you should avoid cosmetics. I'm getting rid of my Dove shampoo (the smell gives me a headache anyway). I'm going to be more careful about the kind of make-up I buy, too. Giving up make-up is hard on many women. I already cut back on how often I wear make-up. Being a stay-at-home mom gives me liberty to go days naked-faced, but I like to cake-up on the couple of days I actually venture beyond my deeded boundary. I've also developed a love for lipstick, which I discovered is LOADED with parabens. Yuck!
As a side note, there apparently is an episode of "Dirtiest Jobs" where Mark goes to a pig farm outside of Las Vegas. The farmer feeds his pigs a swill made from discarded food from the Vegas strip. The food is poured into a vat to make the swill and the fat from all the food is removed and sold to cosmetic companies. Makes my stomach churn just thinking about it!
Now, I'm not going to leave you hanging with wet hair and nothing to put in it. This blog will feature posts about better-for-you cosmetics and natural and organic options, like I did in the Coconut Oil post below.
For me, I'm sticking with my homemade soap for washing my hair and body and for shaving. I'm sticking with my homemade deodorant, which I LOVE and works better than any commercial deodorant I've tried. My toner is either witch hazel or rose water. My moisturizer is either sweet almond oil, rose hip oil or Bulk Herb Store's Eden Salve. Make-up, I'm going to be moving to organic mineral make-up and search for better options for lipstick and
nail polish. Watch out for perfume, too if you are a daily user of it.
