Read those labels

I am once again reminded of how important it is to read labels on what I'm eating and giving to my kids! It is a time consuming, and sometimes irritating, task, but it really is important. I keep three skinny, rectangle drink holders - the kind with the spouts - in our 'fridge. This way, we have three drinks readily available, within the kids reach, and I don't have to continue to make more because they hold twice as much as a regular pitcher. Iced tea, watered-down juice, and usually homemade lemonade are favorites around here. Last week I switched out the lemonade for the new orange sports drink we are trying. I bought it in my last order, and it is supposed to be healthier than the regular gatorade. Duane is in the field a lot right now, so I thought a good, healthier electrolyte drink would be good. Confession, I didn't really read the label, just what they were saying about it. I missed the low calorie part. Low calorie always sends warning lights my way. I don't like chemical sweeteners. I've never counted calories, I have radically adjusted what I eat, but have never worried about calories, just whether something is healthy or not. Anyway, I was cleaning up my 'fridge last night - the spouts do drip a bit leaving juice and sticky residue on the bottom of my 'fridge - I couldn't get the orange sports drink to go away. It stained the inside of my white refrigerator. :( So, this prompted me to read the label to see what they are putting in this stuff. (Since we started drinking it, my kids have broken out in a mysterious, very itchy rash...but this could be due to something poking them while we were working in the garden...can't quite nail it down yet.) Ends up they are using beta-carotene and red beet juice. Not bad, no toxic food coloring there. This is good, but I bet that red beet juice just stained my 'fridge! Maybe they can recommend one of their cleaning products that will take care of this problem. :) However, I did see that in addition to fructose, they are using sucralose - otherwise known as aspartame - to sweeten the drink. Yuck! Not what I look for in a healthier drink. Bummer. Oh how I wish I had the money to go all organic. Oh well, another lesson learned right? Be joyful always...

Return, return

I just posted about face lotion, and then this weekend noticed that my face was peeling! Hmmm, apparently not enough moisture for my dry skin. So, I will be trying out this company's famous satisfaction guarantee policy. We'll see how tough it is to get my money back. More later...

Daytime Face Lotion

I ordered a new bottle of face lotion last month. I've been using the same lotion for a while, so I forgot that I could have just ordered the nighttime lotion. I wish I had. Nothing is really wrong with the daytime lotion, it just has sunscreen in it, and I am not a big fan of wearing sunscreen everyday. I know, all dermatologists are going to hunt me down and tell me differently! But, here's how I see it...I have looked up what chemicals are used in sunscreen on the Skin Deep database, and the only good thing they do is block the sun. They do plenty of bad things...depending on the amount that is put into the lotion. Just ask my friend, Bree, what her son's skin thinks of sunscreen. Plus, God made the sun to give us vitamin D. He gave us trees for shade, and clothes to protect our bodies. I would rather wear a hat, clothes and not be in the sun for more than 15 minutes at a time than slather up with sunscreen everyday. Especially in the winter.
So, if you're looking for a good lotion without sunscreen, go with a nighttime lotion. It's more moisturizing which is good news for those of us living in this Arizona dryness.

Labels, labels, labels

I must say I am quite frustrated as I sit at my computer and try to find out exactly what's in my cleaning products. Companies are not required by law to disclose what is in a cleaning product. There are some companies such as Seventh Generation and Trader Joe's are choosing to do so, and to them I give a standing ovation. :) However, even if there was a full ingredient label on every bottle, I probably wouldn't know what's toxic and what's not because even some natural ingredients can be toxic.
So, until I become fully competent in the names of dangerous ingredients, I will be relying on warning labels. These are required by law. DANGER is worse than warning or caution. The product I am using states this: "COMMON-SENSE CAUTION: Eye irritant...flush with plenty of water." This is much better than hold your open eye under a gentle stream of water for 15-20 minutes and call your doctor. Can you imagine trying to do that while your kids are doing who knows what? Or, what if your child gets a little bit on his hands and then touches his eye? Ahh! The thought of holding Ellie or Will's eye open under a stream of water is not pleasant! Here's some more, wash any skin that comes in contact with the product with soap and water for 20 minutes and remove any clothes that come in contact with the product. I've seen all these labels on a bottle of Fantastic cleaner.
If you are interested in a list of harmful ingredients as well as recipes for homemade cleaners, check out this link: http://www.greenerchoices.org/products.cfm?product=greencleaning&page=RightChoices. This is a Consumer Reports website, and I trust them because they are totally independent.

Ingredients/Poison Control

Whew! It's amazing how life and a little sickness can disrupt your whole routine. I really thought we were going to miss it this year, but the coughing bug has caught up with us!

Someone asked me what the ingredients for the detergent were...here they are:

Laundry detergent: "biodegradable anionic and plant-derived nonionic surfactants, solubilizer, brightening agent, and preservative."

Fabric Softener: "biodegradable, plant-derived softening agent, biodegradable nonionic surfactant, and fragrance."

I called Poison Control today and found out that they can't recommend any specific products because they are a government agency. The representative did look up my new all-purpose cleaner and said it was pretty standard. Some chemicals, some natural. The company claims makes no claims to be all natural, but the product is safe if ingested. Also, it makes a good produce wash.

I checked out the label on a conventional all purpose cleaner I have hidden in a closet, and there were many warnings on it, along with instructions to rinse out the bottle before you throw it away. Also, if you get it on your skin, you need to wash the area for 20 minutes. If the chemicals are hazzardous in my garbage can, and at the dump, why would I use them in my house and around my children? I am glad to say that there are no such warnings on my new products!

Laundry Detergent and Softener

I love it! I used to buy all natural detergent and softener from Sun and Earth online, but the cost, combined with new, higher shipping costs, was just too much. Lately, I have just been buying the Walmart brand and Bounce unscented fabric sheets. I was excited to get back to the natural, and I have not been disappointed! Our clothes are clean and SOFT. I only dry our jeans partially in the dryer and then hang them up--they are still soft. And my corduroys...hello! They feel incredible. These are two products I will definitely be reordering on a regular basis.

Product Review: Dry Skin Lotion

One product I couldn't wait to try out was the lotion for dry skin. For those of you who know the Hubbards well, you know that we suffer from severely dry skin. Will has eczema that wakes him up in the middle of the night itching even if I lotioned him before bed! Poor guy winds up in our bed just scratching, and I have to lotion him again in the middle of the night.
This has not happened since I started using this lotion!! Woo-hoo! I feel the skin behind Will's knees, and it is SO soft. Last night we didn't even lotion and he slept all night long. Now, this lotion is not totally natural. I've been doing some research, and unless you go fully organic you probably won't find a lotion that is totally natural. There is a website called Skin Deep that provides safety ratings for cosmetics, lotions, etc. I have provided a link on this blog if you'd like to check it out. Jason Naturals, which is sold in health food stores, had a product which rated a 9 (10 is the worst) and so did Huggies, which we use on babies! While my new lotion was not in their data base, I did look up the individual ingredients and concluded that it should fall into the low to low-moderate hazard rating. Jordan Rubin says you shouldn't put anything on your skin that you wouldn't eat because everything is absorbed into your body, but I have checked out, and even tried some organic lotions,...they are expensive and didn't work as well as this one! So, until I'm rolling in the money, I will gladly use this lotion and enjoy my sleep-filled nights.