Creating A Healing Home
By: Aimee Carlson
We’ve all been there, that central calendar looks like a carefully color-coded military mission control center! As a mom, trying to keep everything running like a well-oiled machine, this is a never-ending, daunting mostly thankless job!! Who’s got time to focus on healthy snacks, preventing illness and what’s sleep???
But let’s look at the facts. It’s staggering the overall physical and emotional health of our kids these days. We are a society of what ever is easiest, and I personally feel this is hurting us and our future generations. Here are just some of the sobering facts.
We as a society are overweight. In a recent study, since the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, the average American has put on 15 or more additional pounds without getting any taller. Being overweight increases chances of type 2 diabetes, coronary disease, osteoarthritis, sleep apnea, respiratory problems and the list goes on.
How about our mental state? 5.1 million children have a current diagnosis of ADHD. That’s one in 11 in the age group 4-17 years old, according to the A.D.D Resource Center. According to the Medical Press, the percentage of children diagnosed with ADHD has nearly doubled, with the US significantly higher than other developed countries.
From the American Cancer Society, 10,590 children in the United States under the age of 15 will be diagnosed with cancer in 2018. The rate of increase in children is 24% since the 1970’s.
These numbers and statistics as parents and grandparents should scare us, and put us into action!! I know for me, I want better for my kids and grandkids. So what do we do? How can we make a change within the four walls of our home? The first thing I would recommend is to start reading labels. I’m not just talking about the food labels here, you need to know what is in the products in your home. Below is a list of some common ingredients found in our everyday products that we need to be on the look out for:
1. Synthetic Colors - found in foods and cosmetics
2. Fragrance - found in personal care, laundry and household cleaning products.
3. Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS)- causes products to suds.
4. Toluene - found in nail polish, hair color/treatments, stain removers.
5. Propylene Glycol - found in moisturizers, sunscreen, make up, conditioners, shampoo, hairspray, mouthwash & deodorants.
6. Phthalates - found in deodorants, perfumes, hair spray, moisturizers, air fresheners, laundry detergent.
These ingredients have been found to be skin irritants, organ toxicity, reproductive toxicity, neurotoxicity and endocrine disruptors. A great resource I have found for research on these and other ingredients is www.ewg.org. The Environmental Working Group has researched and provided thousands of studies on these topics. They also have a FREE app you can download on your phone called Healthy Living. This app allows you to scan or type in your products and it will give you a safety rating as well as why it received the rating it did. Another place I like to go for studies is www.pubmed.gov. There are literally thousands of studies done on the harmful affects of the above listed ingredients.
I made a change in our home over 3 years ago. When I switched what I did laundry with and what I cleaned my home with, I stopped having headaches. I made a lot of changes that took almost 2 years to get our homes harmful chemical free. The difference is night and day. We have increased energy, better sleep and we aren’t sick like we used to be. Today we are proactive about our health instead of responding to a symptom. It started with one step and then continued to embrace what we put on our bodies as well as in them.
I am passionate about empowering families with not just knowledge, but simple effective strategies to create a healthy healing home that our families can thrive in. A healing home starts with us and understanding how we can make better choices. You can check out my website at www.aimeecarlson.com and sign up for my FREE monthly newsletter where I share tips and recipes on creating a healing home. I’m happy to help you take control of you and your family’s health and wellness. It all starts with one step!