Cancer to me was mostly an obscure disease… something people get when they get old or perhaps when they are unlucky enough to have genes that carry a predisposition to cancer. It was something mysterious and I felt it was the luck of the draw if you faced it down or not… it was not, in my mind, something I could prevent if I wanted to and it was not something I could get from my environment or my poor choices, save perhaps cancer from tobacco products.

But then cancer hit home for me all within the span of a few years. My Aunt died in her early forties after years of working in a factory and the man who exterminated our house died suddenly. It made me think about our choices, our environment, and the exposure to deadly chemicals that was all around us. The link to cancer wasn't so mysterious. I was seeing direct links between environment and this deadly disease. These events and the fact that I had almost lost my youngest child to vaccines made be start looking at things with new eyes. Our environment and our choices were making us sick.

This point was of course driven home all the more when I got sick soon after. I thought my third pregnancy was just the gestation period from hell but I would soon be diagnosed with cancer myself. Genetics were ruled out officially by my doctors but I already knew why a 28 year old woman got a type of cancer common to people in their 60s… poor life choices.

Sure I knew that my diet could have adverse effects… like increasing chances for heart disease later, bad skin, diabetes, weight gain, etc. Cancer was never on my radar though. From about age of 19 to age 26 I lay all the groundwork for my own illness. My diet all through those years was deplorable. I worked at a movie theater while I was in college as a projectionist and manager so I had all the free junk food I could want. It was not uncommon for me to go weeks with my meals only consisting of hot dogs, popcorn, and soda. After college I worked 40-60 hours a week in an office and who had time to cook or prepare meals, so my son and I ate exclusively at fast food places.. breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Ironically I turned this around by the time I was diagnosed a couple years later but the damage had been done.

In many ways getting cancer was a blessing because it is a great teacher. I came to see fully just how closely linked our lifestyle and our product and food choices are to bad health and disease. It helped me to see what kind of risks I am taking with my kids when they eat the processed crap that permeates the grocery store. It helped me see everything with new eyes and I wouldn't say I live in fear… I just have a realistic view of the exposure around us. Our environment matters! Our choices matter!

By calling it a blessing I don't want to make cancer sound glam either. It wasn't easy to spend two weeks in the hospital after being cut from groin to belly button. It wasn't easy to have to stop breastfeeding my son at six months old or worry that my kids wouldn't have a mother. It wasn't fun to come home strung out after becoming addicted to the IV pain medicine. It wasn't fun to have a port-a-cath put in my chest or to have it taken back out. It wasn't fun to throw in up my purse. It wasn't fun to get Pancreatitis and need another hospitalization and surgery. And it wasn't easy to tell my doctor I quit Chemo and that I would rather take my chances with cancer than go through one more minute of torture in his office. You know what would have been easy though? Avoiding it in the first place.

There is risk involved in hiring that exterminator, lawn care expert, or pool guy… for us and for them. There is risk involved when selecting shampoo, mattresses, food, and food storage dishes. The risks may seem to be minimal when you look at the products individually but when you add up all the cumulative exposure the risks aren't so small anymore. When natural substances are outweighed by initials… BPA, PVC, PET, PFOA, PFOS… you are doubling down on risk.

We cannot rely on industry to make the necessary changes on their own because money is more important than product safety. We see this clearly with the plastic industry, the tobacco industry, and the pharmaceutical companies. The ultimate battle against cancer can be fought in large part by becoming aware of what constitutes risk and educating yourself about where the dangers are coming from. We can choose to vote with our dollars on products that are safe and for companies that take environmental responsibility seriously. By doing so we reduce our own risk and we send a message loud and clear.

We may not be scientists capable of finding a cure for cancer but we are savvy people capable of reducing our risk and protecting our families when industry will not. Follow along as some other green moms expose the environmental links to cancer via the Green Moms Carnival. Enjoy!

Environmental Links to Cancer

Lisa at Retro Housewife Goes Green examines the link between a local cement plant and cancer. 

Marie at Project Earth examines the link to cancer that can be found in our personal care products in Phthalates: It's not Just a Fragrance. It's a Birth Control!

Deanna at The Crunchy Chicken writes about her husband getting leukemia after working in biotechnology for many years.

Jennifer the Smart Mama highlights many common links to cancer found in the home and two books that motivated her to make changes.

Karen at Best of Mother Earth discusses the term carcinogenic and where we can start in making changes.

Kellie at The Green Phone Booth has some good advice to help us avoid becoming overwhelmed about the C-word.

Amber at Strocel.com examines Environmental Toxins, Breast Milk and Cancer.

Sommer at Green and Clean Mom shares her thoughts on empowering ourselves to beat cancer.

Diane at Big Green Purse talks about how we can take precautions with We Don't Wait for Our Child to Get Hit By a Car Before We Tell Her to Look Both Ways When Crossing the Street. 

Linda at Citizen Green writes about cancer and sunscreens which is timely since warmer weather is around  the corner.

Anna at Green Talk discusses toxic chemicals in furniture and building products.

Jennae at Green and Gorgeous, has a child battling cancer, and she asks the question When it Comes to Cancer, I Say Why Take the Chance?

Micaela at Mindful Mama speaks out about her own cancer wake up call.

Lynn at Organic Mania talks about the Hypocrisy of Cancer.

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I swear I can time the illnesses in this house perfectly. With any major holiday that highlights "candy" the kids will inevitably get sick after their school or a well meaning relative decides to send them home with candy. And how lovely for us.. Valentines has been no exception. Since my youngest is home sick I have been rockin the wellness routines.

I have been washing his sheets with homemade dryer bags, lightly scented with Lemon Balm to calm and sedate.

I have made sweet and sour soup with bunches of mushrooms which increase the production and activity of white blood cells, making them more aggressive. Tonight I will make Leek and Potato Soup with tons of fresh garlic… another immune boosting food. Green Smoothies are freezing inside Popsicle molds for sore throats.

All the kids are taking Elderberry Syrup and the youngest is taking Homeopathic cough syrup. Daddy has been making his homemade honey, lemon, ginger tea.

And since I am not one to trust conventional hand sanitizers I will whip up some of my own this afternoon so that we might hopefully contain this illness as much as possible.

DIY Hand Sanitizer

1/4 Cup Witch Hazel

1/4 Cup aloe vera gel

1 tsp vegetable glycerin

1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar

8-10 drops tea tree essential oil

Mix the ingredients in a small glass jar, shake well. Dab on hands and rub it in for a safe way to sanitize hands and kill germs.

This week my daughter came home from school on Thursday with vision screening results. I didn’t even know they were being tested but I was interested in the results all the same. The paper says she tested at 20/32 in each eye. Immediately I started to get antsy that this was bad news. Beyond the fact that I just want my baby to have the best vision with which to see this gorgeous world we live in… I was a child who wore glasses and I don’t want that for my kids.

I didn’t get teased or called “four eyes” or anything but wearing them was a pain in the butt! They got dirty, they got scratched, they got lost, and they gave me headaches. By the time I reached my teen years and got obsessed interested in boys I talked my mom into letting me switch to contacts. Glasses were so not sexy IMO. Well, I had a really active social life, and at 16 I graduated highschool and started college AND working full time. I didn’t sleep much and I wore my contacts all the time. After a couple years the whites of my eyes turned completely red with blood vessels that grew in there in a desperate attempt to reach oxygen that was being blocked by the contacts. My optometrist told me he could no longer prescribe contacts for me and that if I cared about my eyes I would never, ever wear any again.

I went back to glasses until I was 24ish if I recall correctly, and hated every minute of it. Then I got Lasik and it was the single best thing I ever spent money on. It has been amazing to live for the past 8 years with perfect vision. THAT is what I want for my kids but of course I would prefer they not have to go through a risky surgery to get it.

In doing a bit of research on what the vision scales mean, 20/32 is actually classified as near normal but to me it means there has likely been some vision deterioration and she, as well as my other kids, may need to adopt some serious “vision specific” healthy habits in order to contradict the bad vision genes they got from me.

The core of any natural vision improvement program would have to be a healthy, natural diet obviously. I have actually started writing out a core diet mission plan of sorts so we can be reminded of our goals.

Our core diet mission plan:

* A plant based diet… high raw
* Heavy on leafy greens like spinach, kale, collards and chard
* Fruit and especially “berries”… raspberries, cranberries, blackberries, blueberries, goji berries
* Nuts and Seeds
* Superfoods (goji berries, chlorella, chia seeds, maca)
* Herbs

Supplements Plan:

* Elderberry Syrup daily (homemade or Sambucol)
* Greens powders (like Amazing Grass)
* Algae

I think keeping a mission plan is good because as you learn and grow things change. 2 years ago my mission plan would have been something like “an omnivore’s diet, high on veggies, fruit, raw dairy, beans and legumes, whole grains, and fish (cooked and raw)”. There would have been no emphasis on leafy greens and there would have been a whole lot more animal products, grains, and pastas than there are now.

So… now that I have my core diet I see something important to vision that I need to add:

* Colored veggies with lots of phytonutrients like orange carrots, yellow squash, and red cabbage

 So we need to more colored veggies, uncooked, in juices… to the mix. We do green smoothies but I think we need to start having a daily glass of carrot/apple juice from our juicer. We could juice beets and add them to smoothies.

We have also been forgetting the algae oils lately so I think we will start using chlorella tablets in conjunction. It’s green algae and it’s a superfood. They taste good and you just chew them like nuts. But the DHA in the oils is essential for healthy eyes so we need to be more vigilant about this.

We also need to concentrate on the “dark” berries… blackberries, blueberries, cranberries, etc. The bioflavonoids are good for your eyes.

So what do you think? What are your tips for improving or reversing eye vision issues?

Update: Stacy  (below) linked to an awesome article that points out that SLS in shampoo might be  large culprit in eye degeneration among modern kids. EXCELLENT point! We already avoid SLS but the reminder never hurts! Yet another reason I love shampoo bars instead of bottled shampoo.

Hot on the heels of my post about staying well this season with healthy eating I thought it was a good time to post about Boiron Homeopathic Remedies for Children.

Boiron graciously sent me three of their homeopathic products… the Oscillo, Coldcalm, and Chestal for Children. Since we never buy over the counter medicines I am always eager to try homeopathic remedies. My kids don’t get sick for long usually or have severe symptoms so we usually just let things run their course. Unlike when I was growing up and got children’s fever medication at the first sign of a fever, I realize that fevers are the body’s natural way of healing so I don’t medicate my kids fevers away. I also won’t try to suppress a cough but if requested I can use teas or herbs to try and make their throats more comfy.

Looking at the Boiron ingredients I like what I see for the most part… allium cepa (onion), Belladonna, kali bichromicum and the like… homeopathic ingredients. The children’s chestal is sweetened with honey.

The Coldcalm is a dose of little pellets that dissolve in the mouth and is supposed to help with sneezing, running nose, congestion, and sore throat. The Chestal Honey is supposed to help with throat discomfort and loosening phlegm. The Oscillococcinum is more pellets designed to help with body aches and chills from the flu.

Boiron is heads and tails better in terms of healthiness than what you will find in a drugstore IMO. I love that homeopathics are getting more mainstream. I was not, however, so thrilled with one of the inactive ingredients… sucrose (table sugar). Since white sugar suppresses the immune system I am not sure why it makes an appearance here. Yes, I am sure it tastes better but it seems to me that selling an unsweetened version you could dissolve in tea and honey would make more sense.

For parents stuck in the habit of reaching for that Tylenol cold medicine this is a much better alternative. It also good for parents who are just getting to know about homeopathic and herbal remedies. I am just learning myself and taking a class about herbs for kids. Until I know how to set my own home apothecary Boiron products will be a convenient alternative. There is a coupon for $1 off on their web site for anyone who may be interested.

LOTS of news sources are talking about staying well this season. Mostly if seems they share a message of doom and gloom and then follow it up with talk of vaccines. Or they promise to share the secrets for staying well and it ends up being obvious things like get enough sleep and wash your hands.

As a natural family we are taking a different approach. There will be no vaccines… EVER. Instead we usually like to tackle the season of sickness with healthy eating, natural germ killers, and herbal tinctures.

Why exactly do so many people get sick this time of year? Well, public schooling makes sharing the germs all to easy. The average person starts eating badly this time of year to. White sugar suppresses the immune system up to 50% for 24-48 hours and starting with Halloween kids eat lots of candy. My own kids got sick after we went to a Halloween party early this month. It is not rocket science to figure out why. I love Halloween but the candy part sucks big time.

White flour is another thing people consume alot of during the winter months and it too is bad news. People bake, they eat lots of bread and pasta, and they get sick. White flour and rice has had all the good stuff removed during processing and it is left with chemicals from the bleaching and enrichment processes. These chemicals suppress our immune system. Add white sugar in baked desserts and you get a double whammy.

Staying healthy this winter will be a whole heckuva alot easier if we stay away from the white stuff. The good news is that there are some wonderful, nutritious and delicious alternatives to white pasta, white (refined) sugar, and rice. 

* Quinoa is a protein-rich grain which is native to the Andes.  It has a delightful flavor and is easy to prepare.  You can use it in place of rice for stir fry and you can use it cold in salad. It tastes great either way.  It can also be made into pasta.

* Whole wheat pasta has become a high demand product that you can often find it in your local supermarket right alongside the traditional white pasta.  It’s higher in fiber, protein, B vitamins, and minerals than standard white flour varieties. You can also bake with whole wheat flour obviously.

* Buckwheat is another awesome alternative. My husband loves the stuff in pancakes and soba noodles?  Soba is made from buckwheat and is high in protein and fiber.  It’s delicious with Japanese recipes and flavors and also wonderful in soup.

* Spelt can be used to make gluten-free bread and cereal, and can also be used to make pasta. It has a sweet, nutty flavor. 

* Brown rice is just as filling and versatile as white rice but it’s much healthier for you.  It is a great source of fiber, has a bit of protein and other nutrients and has a delightful texture. 

* Honey can be used in baking instead of sugar. Banana bread with whole wheat flour, honey, and extra bananas tastes every bit as good as banana bread made with the white stuff. Honey is also great for sweetening tea.

* Agave Nectar is what we use for most of our desserts like raw chocolate fudge cookies. There is a raging debate on how similar the extraction method is to that of HFCS but we rarely use more than a few tablespoons a week.

* Dehydrated dates and other fruits are the reason we can get away with using so little agave in our cookies, nut bars, pies, etc. They are amazingly sweet and combined with good old fashioned nuts you have pie crusts and breakfast bars.

Avoiding foods and sweeteners that actually work to encourage sickness will be a great component in the battle to stay well. Killing germs is another but we don’t crazy with that here. We use soap and hot water and Four Thieves Vinegar which is a blend of wine vinegar, herbs, and garlic.

To encourage wellness we drink green juices, green smoothies, and tea with herbal tinctures. Herb Pharm’s Children’s Herbal Compound is a good one for kids that was recommended to me by an herbalist mom.

Staying well or getting well fast after an illness does not require elusive information… just some common sense practices and healthy eating. If we aren’t willing to saddle that pony and ride it then we shouldn’t be surprised when we get sick. It does, however, provide some teachings moments when your kids see a direct correlation between sugar intake and illness. Some things need to be learned the hard way.