Crunchy Granola, Anyone?

I finally caught the "all natural" bug. It's MckMama's fault, really. She did a post about products she uses to clean her home, and it got me thinking... 

First let me say this: I don't like the negative connotation placed on the word "chemical". THE ENTIRE WORLD IS CHEMISTRY, PEOPLE. We are nothing but organized conglomerations of "chemicals". That's just reality. Now, that said, I also realize that when most people say "chemicals", they are referring to something at least mildly toxic or hazardous. I just have a peeve about people saying they don't want to use "chemicals" or have "chemicals" in their food or whatever... everything is "chemicals" so let's just come to terms with that and move on. Good? Good.

...now, back to my train of thought. How often do we, even as adults (not to mention our children... which I, sadly, do not have... but that's neither here nor there!) put our hands in our mouths? Not fist-in-mouth obviously, but we all bite off the occasional hangnail, lick batter off our fingers while baking... you know what I'm talking about. And how often does our food touch our counter tops, or better yet, our plates and silverware? And while we try to clean all these things (including our hands) regularly, exactly what are we removing with our cleaners? Well, the better question is "what are we leaving behind?" We're removing stuck-on food from plates and kitty paw-prints from the counter tops (DON'T JUDGE ME. YOU try to keep cats off of the counter tops and let me know how it works out for ya!), but in many cases we're replacing those "messes" with harsh chemical residues. 

I haven't even done any research into which cleaning chemicals are hazardous, or exactly what the nay-sayers claim the "hazards" are. I just know that I wouldn't swallow any of the cleaners I use, so maybe I should reconsider what I use on surfaces that I eat off of, or on my hands, etc. And when I think about having children around, I get even more concerned about residues ending up in tiny mouths, and then circulating through tiny systems that can't handle as much toxicity as my adult body can handle, and it makes me want to be even MORE careful. 

Of course there's always the "my mom cleaned everything with straight bleach when I was growing up, and look at me! I turned out just fine!" argument. Which is, of course, a load of crap. You'll never know whether you "turned out just fine" or not. You'll never know whether your cognitive development could've gone a little better than it did, or if your childhood asthma had something to do with a harsh chemical you were repeatedly exposed to, or if you're going to develop cancer some day as a result of some laundry detergent you used. YOU'LL NEVER KNOW. So let's stop deluding ourselves into thinking that everything we've been exposed to in our lives must've been safe because we're not dead, and that if our moms used something then it must be safe. This entire argument is also (clearly) a peeve of mine. 

The bottom line is, why NOT try to use safer, milder cleaners in our homes? Why NOT try to cut down on the fumes we inhale? Why NOT try to keep from ingesting harsh chemicals that aren't meant to be ingested? 

Some might argue cost, and I can't quote exact price comparisons, but I was not at all blown away by the prices I paid at Target the other day when I decided to replace all of our hand soaps, dish soaps/detergents, and surface cleaners with "natural" alternatives that don't contain any unnecessary harshness. At Target, the Seventh Generation and Method cleaners both ran about the same price, so I allowed the Method marketing to lure me in (with their pretty colors and uniquely-shaped containers) and went with Method. There's also Green Works, but their stuff was all spread out all over the place - the Method stuff was just easier to peruse because it was all right there. I did get Green Works liquid dish soap, which smells lovely and works great so far. I also got Method kitchen cleaner and bathroom cleaner (both with disinfectant), disinfectant wipes, dishwasher tablets and hand soaps. Haven't tried the dishwasher tablets yet, but everything else works FABULOUSLY so far. The dishwasher tablets will be the true test... nobody wants to deal with dishes that are still dirty after running the dishwasher. When I told Ben I was switching to natural cleaners he got all "Well I do all the cleaning around here, so if they don't work well enough we're switching back!" Psh. As if I don't clean. (He really does do most of the cleaning, I won't lie...). I suppose he just doesn't buy the whole "dangerous chemicals" thing. Probably citing that argument about mom using them, in his own mind. I can't wait til he meets out first child and suddenly cares what residues are on the surfaces in our home. In fact, I can't wait for a whole LIST of "I told you so"'s that I'm storing up for that fine day... ;] 

ANYWAY, tangent aside, I'm also considering switching laundry detergents. MckMama uses Goat's Milk Soaps in her home, and they sell a 5-lb tub of their laundry soap for $34. Sorta steep, right? Not to mention the shipping on a 5-lb tub of powdered detergent (YIKES!). Before shipping, it comes out to 26 cents per load if you only have to use 1 tbsp, but I think that for our washer (as in, not a high-efficiency washer) we'd have to use 2 tbsp, which doubles the price per load and makes it more expensive than Tide by quite a bit. Although I can't say I've ever counted how many loads I actually get out of one bottle of Tide. I bet it's far fewer than the number of loads that the bottle claims (which is how I calculated that Tide is costing me 21 cents per load). Maybe I'll start counting with my next new bottle. Anyway, I understand that Tide is supposed to be one of the worst detergents for irritants and perfumes and crap, but it clearly doesn't seem to irritate our skin, so I'm not TOO concerned about laundry detergents at this juncture. I'll be much more concerned once we have baby skin to worry about, but unfortunately there's no baby skin in my immediate future! 

I'm also buying organic on the fruits and vegetables that are reported to absorb the most pesticides. According to WebMD, these include peaches, apples, bell peppers, celery, strawberries, pears, nectarines, grapes, spinach, lettuce, potatoes and carrots. Of course, I don't know about your grocery store, but mine doesn't have an organic version of most of these things - at least not that I've noticed. Apples and carrots, maybe. So what's a girl to do, especially once the farmer's markets are done for the season? And it's not like all farmer's market stuff is organic, but at least it's local. And then, of course, there are the antibiotics and hormones in milk and meats. To be honest, meats and milk are expensive enough. I don't know that I'll be committing to going organic on those any time soon. There's just so much to think about, and I only have so much moolah to play with here. Soaps and cleaners are easier because I don't buy them all that often, but trying to go organic on more and more food items is a very expensive prospect! 

Anyone have any suggestions for what to focus on as far as organic foods go, where to find these organic produce items, or which natural cleaners/soaps/detergents give you the best bang for your buck? Leave a comment!