"Stay at home moms and women who work from home are 54% more likely to die from cancer than women who don't work from home."
Let that sink in. This stat has my jaw on the floor.
We are home working hard cooking, cleaning, taxiing kids, keeping people alive and trying to stay sane. All the while, we're slowly killing ourselves with the toxins we've brought into our homes and the stress that we feel to measure up. Mamas, we have a seriously hard job and SO many choices to make! We are all just doing our best! I know it's easy to eyeroll the whole movement of living "clean" and eating organic, to take aim at the mama who goes to great lengths to avoid toxins and processed foods. She's crazy or paranoid or trying too hard. Hey, maybe you cheer her on but it just isn't your thing! There is no shame in this mama game however it is that you roll, but doing better for our kids needs to be all of our thing.
When they lower their standards for the products that can be sold, we have to raise the bar on educating ourselves and making informed choices! We have to know better and do better for ourselves and our kids.
In one study, over 800 of the nearly 3000 (tested) chemicals we find in our personal care products (that we rub all over ourselves and our kids every. darn. day.) were found to be toxic. This is an uphill battle! These chemicals are straight-up banned in other countries.
Here are just a handful of things these toxic chemicals may do:
+ interrupt our hormone production
+ cause acute toxicity
+ cause biological mutations
+ create skin and eye irritations
+ cause respiratory issues
+ cause cancer
Here are just a few places you'll find these things in your home:
+ household cleaners
+ shampoo, conditioner, baby wash
+ lotions and creams
+ sunscreen and bug spray
+ scented candles
+ make up
It's scary how normal it's become to slap buzz words like "clean" or "organic" or "natural" on toxic-soup products just to market them to mamas who are trying to do their best! So what do we do? We educate ourselves!
+ Get the ThinkDirty app and scan all your products. See how they score in terms of toxicity and start replacing the worst offenders!
+ Save a list of the Dirty Dozen and be sure to buy only organic of those things.
+ Make it easy for yourself and look into ALL the things Young Living offers. It's SO much more than oils and I am forever thankful that I can get my cleaners and personal products from YL in my monthly wellness box and never worry that they are anything less than the best! They've got us covered for cleaning ALL the things (with ONE cleaner), laundry, dishes, bathing, moisturizing and pretty much everything else. It doesn't get easier or higher quality. See all the goodness HERE.
Empowered mamas are the best kind! I am cheering you on, friends! You owe it to your kids and yourself to stick around. You don't have to be a statistic. Be a warrior and fight for your health before it's too late!
(Source of quote: 15 year Toronto Indoor Air Conference of 1990 study mentioned by Jen O'Sullivan in her book Essentially Driven)
