Sunday, July 26, 2009

So what if I'm a tree hugging hippie..

I was having a conversation with a friend the other day about my experience with Endometriosis. When she asked why I had never before, given her this information, the only thing I could reply was... fear.. Fear that I will be not taken seriously because I will be seen as a tree hugging hippie. And if the truth be known, a tree hugging hippie would not be the worst thing that I could be mistaken for. But, just to head off any misconceptions.. I will start by saying.. I believe in the use of antibiotics... as a last resort. I am a fan of my friend the epidural. A BIG FAN! I use cold medicine.. in moderation. I felt guilty about my ton (literal ton as in 2,000 pounds) in diaper waste that I created with each of my children. I didn't feel like cloth diapering was a realistic option since we were always on the go with Adam being a youth minister so for a while, I used recyclable diapers. It eventually became too much of a burden on our budget so I decided to make changes where it was less costly. I would like to buy all organic food but, it is not something that I can afford to do at this point in my life so I pick and choose the things that I think are most important. But, it is a personal conviction of mine that I find some sort of balance between taking care of my family's health, making wise spending decisions and taking care of God's creation that He loves so much. And yes, in my eyes, that means conserving. And why we're at it.. If you just called me a liberal... Can you please explain to me how CONSERVING can be anything but being CONSERVATIVE? I really don't care for the assumption that I'm politically liberal because I care about the environment and btw, if you look up the word "liberal" in the dictionary, you will find that using it in that way is a severe misuse of the word, thank you very much. And if you do want to know my views on politics...THEY STINK and are most often twisted around someone's pocketbook.

So, off my soapbox and back to the experience..
If you've been here before, you've no doubt heard me mention my quest to have a chemical free home. It is not possible for me to totally explain what started me down this path but, it began with the desire to not just treat the symptoms of the cause of the Endometriosis that I had been diagnosed with that doctors said had most likely left me infertile (read that story HERE) but, to discover the cause of the Endometriosis. In my research, I discovered that the occurrences of Endometriosis has risen by 50% in the last 25 years. Because of a book I read, "What your Doctor May Not Tell You about Pre-menopause", I became pretty convinced that this rise was due to hormone imbalances due to exposure of chemicals that women have encountered through what we breathe, eat, and absorb through our skin. Yes, that was the shocker to me that chemicals could be ingested through my skin. If you are having trouble sleeping, if you are suddenly having skin problems, if you have painful periods, if you're periods are irregular, if you are having serious problems with PMS, or any other issues that could be hormone related., I highly recommend this book. It answered so many questions about what was going on with my body. Anyway, to make a long story short, after following the recommendations that Dr. John Lee gave in this book, I have two healthy children and very regular, pain free cycles, something that had never happened prior to obtaining this information. Not only did I become convinced that these hormone imbalances were the cause of female problems but also certain types of cancers.

When I was pregnant with Chloe, I saw a news broadcast about a frightening study that had been done on infants in where it was found that in infants under eight months old that had baby products used on them (lotions, shampoos, etc), those infants had four times the level of chemicals in their blood as the babies who had not had these products used on them. You can read about that HERE. Fortunately, I have a strong
adversion to certain scents and have never used much of these products anyway, but, after hearing this information, I made a concerted effort to buy chemical free products for my children.

So, with that information and so much more, I have decided that my best hope is the to take the information as it comes (as overwhelming as it can be) and do the best I can do. I pick the things that seem the most harmful and do what I can afford. And for the rest, I feed my children lots of foods with nutrients like antioxidants that will hopefully counter the things that I can not remove from their lives. If that makes me a tree hugging hippie, then I stand guilty.. But before you judge or criticize, please keep in mind that I and other moms like me are just trying to do the best we can to take the best possible care of our families.

Blessings,
Dana

7 comments:

Hyperactive Lu said...

I had to laugh while reading the first part! Good for you for explaining your position!!! :) And I seriously doubt if you'll lose friends over this post!

Allison said...

I suppose there are people out there who wield labels pretty freely, but to me the description of your choices sounds simply like someone who is concerned about the well-being of her family and the world they live in. :-)

Allison said...

Have you ever seen this amazing video about where stuff comes from? It's a real eye opener, and I'm so impressed with the way that she makes her point without coming across as strident or holier than thou. Very cool.

http://www.storyofstuff.com/

Unknown said...

I don't think that being a tree hugger is a bad thing at all... and you're certainly not a hippie, last time I checked, your pits were shaved and your clothes were clean. :)

Am I by any chance the friend that you were talking to the other day, or have you shared that info with someone else since then?

Either way, I ordered the book, should be in to our BAM... today actually! (Yay!)

Maybe this will help me get some things on track.

Love you, and all your "liberal" ways.

Sara-Beth said...

Love it! If you are tree hugger than I am right there next to you- I stroked when we hit the beach yesterday and they have NO where to recycle?!?

I love your natural ways to clean, feed, etc. and Bucky is going nuts hearing me say "Dana uses this.. I want to try that next time."

Lynn Ellis said...

I love my Tree-Hugging Daughter-in-Law: her recycling, liberal philosophy, determination to make decisions for herself based on common-sense and research, ability and willingness to help others, and her strength to stand up for what's right.
- Lynn

Dana said...

Jay,
you were the friend that I was referring to and after having that conversation, I felt a little bad for not have given you that info earlier. I just don't want to shove it down people's throat. I'm glad that you ordered the book. I can't wait to hear what you think about it.

Sara-Beth,
thanks for standing beside me. Tell Bucky I'm sorry for converting you to my hippie ways.

Allison,
Thanks for the story of stuff address. I had heard about it but hadn't seen it. It was very informative, a little overwhelming and served for me as a nice kick in the tail (which I needed).

Lynn,
You made me cry. I know you know that isn't very difficult to do. And I hope you also know that it likely that some of your "liberal" influence caused me to be this so called hippie. However,
we all know that if I was truly a hippie, I would be more peaceful instead of so hostile towards those that call me "liberal". :)