Last week I wrote about
my husband's concern about electro-magnetic fields (EMF's), and a few people commented that they actually wanted to hear more about his irrational fears well-founded concerns. You asked for it. Well some of you anyway.
Certain of you will have a hard time not mocking him and his paranoia. But really, don't bother holding back on my account. While others (I'm looking at you
Autism Mom Rising) will fantasize about running away with him and starting a chemical-free compound in the wilderness. Again, I think you should go with that instinct...
If I could have figured out how to do it, I would have highlighted the bogeymen in some kind of dripping green font...instead, you'll have to settle for large, bold, and emergency-vehicle
RED.
Everyone knows about
gluten and
casein. Pfffft. GFCF is for amateurs. Many store-bought GFCF foods are still loaded with
refined sugars and other
simple carbohydrates. And of course anything with HFCS (
High-Fructose Corn Syrup) is out of the question.
Hot dogs and deli meats are technically GFCF, but full of
nitrates or other chemicals such as MSG (Mono-Sodium Glutamate). Like-wise French fries and potato chips are GFCF, but are loaded with toxic
acrylamides that are released during the frying process.
Even some fruits and vegetables, such as broccoli and strawberries, should be limited if you are sensitive to
phenols. Needless to say there are few
non-organic foods in our house, nor
grain-fed beef or
farmed fish or whatever the opposite of free-range chicken is...
cooped-up chicken?
Microwave usage is verboten. I can't explain it. The food molecules go helter-skelter, grow horns, and attack your brain cells with cleavers. Or something. We have a $1,000 water ionizer and any other
non-ionized or tap water is frowned upon.
Summer time is interesting. Hubby is very concerned about a
lack of exposure to sunlight so he wants Audrey to be outside a lot, but disapproves of
sunscreens. Notice that the words "skin" and "cancer" are not in large, bold, red letters here. Totally not a bogeyman.
Pool chemicals are, but the trade off of getting exercise and sunlight is OK. Apparently, the sunlight naturally dissipates much of the chemicals. Which means that
indoor pools and
water parks are not allowed.
The scarier thing to me is that I could actually go on and on and on, but this is already getting long and annoying the shit out of me. So I will just jam in all of the other household items such as
anti-bacterial soaps, cheap shampoos and bubble baths, fabric softeners, carpet chemicals, cleaning supplies, "bad" air in the house, etc.
I know that he's right about some of this stuff. There have been billions of new chemicals introduced into our environment in just the last few decades. Some question our ability as a species to adjust to this onslaught and process all of these new toxins...and I don't discount the theory that this may be a contributing factor in the epidemic levels of autism in that same time frame.
But how do you balance this with living your life and not making yourself crazy with paranoia over everything you come into contact with? Well? Tell me!
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Comments (2)
I think you do your research and pick your poisons. Much of this stuff is just plain outside of our control. Some of it has good alternatives out there. For the sun, using shea butter or avacado oil will protect skin without the nasty chemicals. I think he's dead-on correct when it comes to EMF too. Sorry! I know you'd rather read something mocking the advice. Yes, the nitty-gritty details just suck and can drive you crazy, but we don't want to stop trying.
If you can find legitimate scientific evidence supporting the claim, then you're good to go. If not, then you're paranoid.