A Photographer tries to go the Natural Route

Hello world. I hope that this finds you all doing well out there. Now that Spring is officially here and on its way to being glorious Summer, I find that I am wanting to make some changes in my life. There is something about the changing of seasons that makes one think, ponder and sometimes even, dwell on certain things. One of the things I have been pondering is all the chemicals that we put into our bodies every day. This thought actually came to me in February, as I sat around the table at a beautiful Mexican restaurant with my family. We were talking about the pressures on women these days to look nothing but perfect and how, even if you try not to buy into all of that, it still effects us all. One of the point that I brought up was all the chemicals that we put into our bodies and how I think they make us fat. I mean, our food is pumped full of them, our shampoo is positively dripping with them, our lotions, creams and what not, (You know, the ones that are suppose to make us look better and feel better about ourselves because that's  what the media tells us we need to do...Yea, those) are brimming over with things I can't even pronounce. And on top of all of that, we are constantly bombarded with prescription drugs every time we see the doctor. There is a pill for everything my friends and our physicians are more than happy to prescribe it to us any time we have an ache, pain or just don't feel right. Yes, this is the world we live in. And while I can agree that some of the crop and preservative advancements that we have witnessed in the past 20 years, benefit us...the others simply do not.

So, what does this mean my friends? Well, it means that this gal has had enough. It's time for a change in the Patten household. I recently piled all of my old shampoos, creams, lotions, cleaning products and what not into a box and went on the hunt for natural alternatives. I was pleasantly surprised at what I found. I was prepared for sticker shock, but was met with reasonable prices. I found a wonderful line of hair care products called RenPure, new lotion and some new body wash from Delon Labs. I have been using them for almost 2 weeks now and while the shampoo doesn't suds up, I am liking the results. I found that Walmart has its own series of natural household cleaners and they actually work! I switched our laundry detergent to an all natural one and Buzz just said to me this morning, that he loves it and the way it smells and he's a guy! Today I decided to switch out one of the most important products we use...deodorant. I found the Toms brand and I am going to give it a try. It smells good and does not have any of the icky stuff that you find in name brands. One draw back though, its a little pricey. If it works though, I am all for it. We are also buying more veggies and fruit from the farmers market instead of the store. I am still currently looking for an all natural skin care regime, but I am happy with the little steps we are taking now. 

What have I noticed so far? Well, believe it or not, we are not as bloated as we were 2 weeks ago. Water weight has been lost I think. My allergies are also not nearly as bad as they were before. My hair feels better to the touch, our skin is not so dry and I am not nearly as tired as I have been in the past. Is this proof of chemical poisoning? Well, I can't say really. All I know is that the Patten's are feeling better and we actually might survive the zombie apocalypse when it comes! Whether it be mind over mater or getting the chemicals out of our systems, we are feeling better. I hope to be making another positive blog update on the subject after we have been at this for a month or two, so stay tuned. Given the state of the environment these days, I feel better just trying to lessen my carbon footprint. Other good habits will surly follow.

I would love to hear from some of you out there though. Have you tried the natural route? How did it go? Did you stop cold turkey or take baby steps? I can't wait to hear your comments. 

Have a wonderful day my friends!

Anna

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