Change Is Gonna Come

It all started when my good friend J was preparing her nursery. She became one of those people. You know, the kind that read labels and hug trees. Ok, so maybe she wasn't hugging trees. But she kept talking about parabens. They were in this, they were in that, they were hiding in alleyways looking for innocent bystanders...I was blissfully ignorant. I didn't want to know that my convenient lifestyle of store bought products and processed foods was, well, really bad for me. 

She specifically talked about parabens disrupting testosterone levels. As the mother of 2 boys, and being married to a dude as well, this struck a chord. I swept it under a brain rug and tried to ignore it, but I would trip on it most nights at bath time. I avoided the list of strange words on the shampoo bottles. I pretended because it said "baby" it must be good!

Fast forward to December of 2012. My husband, Mr. S, began working out with a trainer at a local gym. Being the smart guy that he is, Mr. S. looked into what he could do to get the best results possible from lifting weights. He found out that his testosterone needs to be at a certain level for his body to successfully build muscle, and that there are several things we use and eat everyday that negatively affect those levels. He read a book that talked about - wait for it - parabens. And brought it home for me to read. It was like I was being hunted by the paraben police and had just been handed my warrant. I reluctantly looked at it last month after putting the boys to bed. I planned to read the table of contents and look for reasons not to read it. I expected to find chapters like "make your own outhouse" and "the top 10 reasons never to eat chocolate again."I didn't stop reading until I finished it. That book led to this book, which led to that article, which linked to this website...I couldn't stop researching. And I couldn't wait to start making CHANGES.

I am documenting the lifestyle changes we make on this blog. Some may be food related, some may be product related, and some may be environmentally related.  In a perfect world I would burn everything I own, go to Whole Foods and buy everything new, and then move into the next HGTV green home. Instead, I will be making baby steps toward a greener lifestyle. My family will be learning how to live naturally in a chemical world, one change at a time. Each blog I write will be about a different change my family is making. 

I am in no way an expert on this. I am truly learning as I go. I hope you will learn with me, and maybe make some changes with me along the way! I'll post our first change soon!

Laura