Children of the Toxic Harvest is a compelling read...I'll see what I can dig up link wise for easier reading.
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"If you only believe what you see, then you are limited to what's on the surface. If you only believe what you see, then why do you pay your electric bill?" Dr. Wayne Dyer
It is the EPA listing of causes of death in adults in the US. It basically states that over 60% of people in this country die of cancer or heart disease. Also in the top categories are other diet-related conditions. I commented that if this is how "the rest of America lives" do we really want to live like "everybody else"????
__________________ Jody
Mama to two boys (5-10-98 and 6-01-01), and two girls (11-18-03 and 1-11-07)
I just need to say that my dh doesn't agree with everything I do, but I don't make an issue out of it anymore and neither does he. I don't buy foods that I feel are unhealthy. He use to give me a hard time about it but he doesn't anymore. I use to buy 2 of everything and then I decided that he eats crap all day when he isn't home and that he could deal with ONE meal being healthy. I am a SAHM and realize that he makes the money but I do the shopping and cooking and he will learn to deal or not eat. I use to try to argue the benefits with him, but he was never going to hear them (especially if they came from me) so I stopped. Now after 2 years of cooking this way he eats brown rice and doesn't complain, we don't have processed foods in the house unless they are organic. He will still once in awhile complain about not having soft white bread and bologna sandwiches, but I just can't bring myself to buy them anymore. I never thought we would be here.....not arguing about healthier food choices. I think the difference is time and my not responding when he says something about the food.
Location: When I dare to be powerful -- to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid.
Posts: 9,525
We went through that phase too Shawn. It does get easier when you stick to your guns and don't give in. America is far too unhealthy for my taste. I don't mind junk every now and again, but I won't have it sit in my house, and I don't like paying good money for it either. I just stuck to my guns. Dh has learned to deal.
I just think that having information to back an argument is really important. Mostly with me, it is if he ever does ask, I have the info... right there for him to see. It is not "_____ said that her dh complained of ____ and now it's gone so I think ____ is good." You know?
Val
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Val; Living the dream we have been working towards for over 5 years.
Mama to Alex, Cyan, and Logan. Wife to my very best friend.
You know, I've been really having a fit over DH lately, but the fact is we've come a long, long way. He is balking because I am eliminating yet another layer of food! It started with using whole grains, not buying trans-fat crackers and chips, not using chemical cleaners for the most part. He had adapted to all that. He has dealt with our elimination diets over the past 10 months. And he is dealing, fairly well, with the newest, which is GF/CF. Now I am telling him we need to do more--mainly eat more veggies, um, A LOT more veggies, and way less meat. And he wants meat.
And, there are a lot of things we just don't speak of--like the basket of cloth tp next to our toilet, my personal care products, etc. He buys his toothpaste, and I mix up baking soda and salt. He carries a bottle of Windex in his car because he doesn't like my homemade window cleaner.
I just plain stopped buying plastic wrap. He complained for awhile, but then, when it became clear we just weren't going to have it anymore, he discovered alternatives. I have a good stash of pyrex with lids, and canning jars of various sizes, and I do compromise and still buy ziplocs so DH doesn't go completely nuts when he's trying to help put food away. I do buy paper plates and paper towels and paper napkins, because DH is a paper product nut, but I make sure that the reusable alternatives are easier to lay hands on and use than the disposables.
He is a great guy. He is great with the kids, and helps out often (though sometimes begrudgingly, but at other times, especially when he gets enough sex , is very understanding of things that don't get done, or finished).
It makes me sad that he is not on board sharing in the adventure of finding new foods and new ways for us to enjoy food. Sadly, because I'm not making homemade whole grain bread anymore for all of us, he is buying his own loaves of white bread and has a stash of Ben and Jerry's in the garage freezer. I guess at least I can hope that the increased veggies I put on our plates will benefit him, and, I am grateful that, at least, for the first time in the (gulp!) 18 years I have known him he is seriously working out on a regular basis. One step at a time, I guess....
Location: When I dare to be powerful -- to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid.
Posts: 9,525
I would never be allowed to go as far as you. My dh just wouldn't have it.... but honestly, it is not my deal either. I am a foodie... I LOVE food. I enjoy everything about it, the texture, taste, smell, cooking, growing, sprouting, storing/freezing/canning. Love it. I love finding new ways to make what we already have better. I am on the no transfat bandwagon though... the only thing we still have is some peanut butter ('creamy no stir Adams with hydrogenated peanut oil'), and cheese nips (for Alex's school lunches like once a week) that has transfats. Everything else... well, I have weeded it out like the garden over the last four years. Tried different kinds of things to replace the ones we love, and the ones we just ate and didn't love I got rid of. Replaced Ritz with Right Rounds, replaced Safeway Fruit snacks with Organic Real Fruit Leathers, replaced Tree Top with Solana Gold Organic, just plain got rid of Top Ramen, Cambell's soup and bone bleeched white sugar. We eat more salad (the whole family, dh included eats one with dinner every night) and better salad (very often more spinich and baby greens then even lettuce... and in season strait out of the garden... can't get better than that) than we ever have. I am a whole foods nut though. I don't like using things that are processed more than one or two steps (I consider drying a step, and I am omiting our blatent cheese adiction...lol)...
anyway... I am totally babbling. But I enjoy food too much to make that a priority. And I know dh would not go for it if I did. This was our largest fight area forever. I am not ok with him eating something different from the rest of the family so I had to give somewhat. Over the years I have been able to work with him to create something healthy and with in his taste zone. It is for the best in our case.
jody, i may have a suggestion for you regarding your dh's longing for your homemade whole grain bread. as you know, we are gluten-free, too, since october. however, this morn i was talking with our homeopath about alternative foods and she said we might try the sprouted wheat and see how ds does... she said the sprouted is totally different than the gluten stuff, but to be careful, b/c some companies put gluten back in... she said to try ezekiel brand.
i don't know, i honestly think i'm too scared to try, b/c we've finally gotten to where ds only has his eczema break-outs once every blue moon and i'd hate to be the cause of another one.
i've read about this, obviously, how sprouted wheat is different than "traditional" wheat breads, etc., but i guess i just wanted to be all-wheat free. maybe i'm going overboard...
anyway, potentially you could get your own wheat berries and sprout them and grind them and then make bread out of that. sounds easy enough, right?!
As far as cleaners if you fill up the old bottles with the natural stuff who would know? Dh will put up a small fight if I make a big deal about something like no more paper plates, but when he asks for them I just say oh I forgot to buy them and he goes and gets a real plate. Last winter he refused to eat squash because I made a big deal out of us having to eat more, this year we must have eaten it once a weeek and he didn't say a word lol
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Amanda mama to
Jonathon(14) Abigale(11) Victoria(5) Isabella(3) Adeline 6-5-08
more ranting: my dh would definitely notice if I switched the cleaners, today with all three of us next to the coffee table he drenched the table in windex, and when I said something, he said, "do you want me to clean or not?" and he has a point, I am lucky to have a dh that loves to clean (for the most part) and he's way cool about the food, probably more than I am.However he's going nuts with the cloth wipe thing... that said, I wouldn't trade him for anything. Just when I thought there was no hope, he came home with those low watt light bulbs that save electricity but cost more. (I'd been mentioning them but lighting is his gig) okay, okay enough venting. Have ya'll seen that www.eartheasy.com it's got some great info on it.
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[b]"Live simply that others might simply live."-Gandhi
I have an easy dh. But I've had exp like this with one of my sisters and some friends' dhs. What seems to work is to do things failry quietly. I know it doesn't seem fair or honest, but things like good food just plain taste good. Some folks don't need to know right away that the food is organic or the milk raw, or the windex bottle is filled with water and tea tree oil, kwim?
My dh is an environmental chemist, so he doesn't need convincing on certain fronts. He was the one who used to wash the cloth diapers and never considered circing our boys, etc. He's the one who caught the babies at home and signed off on eye goop to treat a disease we didn't have. :snort:. Here, have some anti veneral disease ointment, even though you don't have the veneral disease". Ah, no thanks.
OTOH, he knows that some bad sounding 'chemicals' is 'just' salt etc. Information is power. It's hard to find reliable info on the internet, imo. Or even in life. Everyone seems to be selling something and everyone seems to have 'the' answer, and that gets old and tired.
We're more about the safety and history of foods and products, and not about the hucksters. It's hard to convince most folks to 'see the light' when the light seems to be something new every month.
For cleaning products, we know that vinegar, baking soda etc is not harmful. We know that organic eggs from neighborhood chickens, and other 'natural' and easy to find whole foods have stood the test of time. If allergies are not involved, we know we don't need commercial soy or rice or almond milks, which are highly processed. (If other proteins etc were an issue of sensitivity, we'd consider them). We know water is pretty much all we need to know, lol, for instance. We're about the basics, and I think starting from the basics of whole and 'natural' (meaning not highly processed), taking allergies etc into account, is a good starting point. The less processed, the more whole, the better, imo. For us, this includes cleaning products as well as food.
Of course, this precludes such things as our car and computer, which are highly processed, noxious, polluting items. ;-) We do the best we can.
As far as cleaners if you fill up the old bottles with the natural stuff who would know? Dh will put up a small fight if I make a big deal about something like no more paper plates, but when he asks for them I just say oh I forgot to buy them and he goes and gets a real plate. Last winter he refused to eat squash because I made a big deal out of us having to eat more, this year we must have eaten it once a weeek and he didn't say a word lol
OT, Amanda your little babe is just too cute!
Somebody please explain to me the attraction to paper plates???? Even before I was "crunchy", I never got it. Just seems like such a waste of paper, landfill space, and money. How hard is it exactly to wash a plate, LOL? The only time we ever have paper plates is when we have had birthday parties here at the house. Otherwise, I have 16 dinner plates and I wash dishes every day, so I am not worried about running short!
As for DH's, mine has gotten to the point now where he just kind of sighs and says OK, honey, LOL. If he wants something I don't buy, he goes to the store and buys it. I don't have a problem with that. I would prefer he not do it, but I will say that since his recent blood pressure problems, he has been eating sooooo much better, and that has made my life easier.
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Blessings,
Amy
Mama to 3 growing boys and my doggies, Haley and Josie
Jody
, is very understanding of things that don't get done, or finished). 
sounds easy enough, right?!
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