Healthier Attitudes doesn' t mean kill yourself trying.

I like healthy. Right now, looking at me-- tired, overweight, under-exercised, bad eating habits-- I don't *feel* like that, but I have been letting myself go.... Halloween was rough. Lots of candy. Stressful schedule-- I had a VERY busy October, and kind of finished up a lot of things that had been on the top of my "To-Do's" for a while... so I feel like months of not taking care of myself have kind of CRASHED down on me. SO now I am in charge of getting de-stressed, re-budgeting and revising my EATING habits and exercise routine, and taking care of myself and my family for a little while. It happens to the best of us.

I stumbled across this sheet which prioritizes the ways to reduce pollutants in your body and your home and live a more healthy life. I know a lot of families out there are trying very hard to make sure they raise their kids on cage-free eggs and organic produce, BPA-free water bottles, but another and even bigger task is reducing pollutants that aren't EATEN, but still find their way into our bodies. We check for BPA-free and phthalate-free products, but also keep in mind that some of these pollutants get tracked into our houses, or are in products we give to our kids. This flyer from Healthy Child Healthy World (www.healthychild.org) outlines the chemicals we need to avoid, which foods --especially foods you eat the outside of and dairy products-- are more important to focus on organic and hormone-free. My philosophy with this stuff is that the cost is negligible and you don't add to your stress, go ahead and make the change. Because if the effort of a healthier environment kills you from the stress, what good are you doing for you or your kids? I started with cutting down on plastics and hormone-free dairy (except milk, which we go through so fast I'd have to have a trust fund to buy organic there-- it costs TWICE as much!!). We eat a lot of cheese and yogurt, so we try to stick to Kraft and Stoneyfield. We use a lot of plastic dishes because the girls set and clear their own table, so I try not to use those in the microwave and I look for BPA-free for the stuff I store food or drinks in. (Sometimes I'm slack on this, but I try). We are even slowly switching to cloth napkins and composting napkins as much as possible, and we have drastically reduced our paper towel consumption in the last year, which is saving me MEGA bucks, which makes me the happiest! And I stopped using air fresheners, which is extra important because my little one has respiratory issues. So it's a good start, and it hasn't changed my life.

Look over this list, and try to think of 2 or 3 things that you can change in your household. Every little bit helps! Let me know how it goes!
FiveStepsFlyerUpdate6-09.pdf (application/pdf Object)