I always placed my and my family’s health as number one priority, as without health what have you got?
In light of National Organic Week here in Australia this week, here is our story!
We have been on a long road with both Master 3 and Master 1 being sensitive to many foods, but also chemicals such as chlorine, additives such as preservatives and colours and even latex. Through kinesiology (which is done by muscle testing, just holding the product to your tummy or head), we have worked out which foods and chemicals the boys are ‘weak’ to.
After seeing Master 3 break out in hives when eating almonds, my initial thought was that it was an allergic reaction. Thankfully a friend who had also been seeing the kinesiologist for her children had tested organic almonds on her children. Completely fine. So we tested organic almonds for Master 3. Completely fine. He ate them. Completely fine. Hmmm.
Muscle testing on products such as corn thins, lentils, dessicated coconut and cinnamon all revealed weakness (or intolerance) to the non-organic variety. Bring in the organic product and yes, completely fine! So after seeing the reactions, seeing the muscle testing and then allowing Master 3 to eat all of these products and no reaction, how could I not start to become very suspect of WHAT is on these non-organic products? And what has it been doing to my child? And yes, I began to really trust kinesiology, over the GPs and medical specialists’ opinions (‘no allergic reaction via prick test, therefore food is not related to the eczema and behaviour, you can go home’), the dietitians and even the naturopaths who didn’t really ‘prove’ to us the importance of going organic.
Seeing this photo, really got my mind thinking.
Image from Rawforbeauty.com
It played on my mind. I’ve always considered organic food as just expensive versions of the food we have always grown up eating. But then again, I don’t do things ‘just because’. What if what we were brought up on was not necessarily the ‘best thing’ but the ‘done thing’? What if all of these chemicals we are eating and including in our life everyday has something to do with today’s epidemics such as allergies/intolerances, eczema, ASD, ADHD and even diseases and cancers? It certainly seems possible, just contemplating it, without any research. But getting trustworthy information that isn’t tainted by big companies and industries is certainly hard. The universities are shifting results of studies to protect the industries they are involved with (such as genetic modification and agricultural biosecurity), so of course our welfare is not necessarily number one priority.
So once we had removed the non-organic pantry foods the boys couldn’t handle, there were still reactions such as eczema and ADHD-type behaviour in Master 3. I just knew we had to look at organic fruit and vegetables and even meat but the price was holding us back. But one day, my top priorities in life came back to me – HEALTH NUMBER ONE. We had paid a fortune on the different professionals and supplements, trying to sort out Master 3’s health, and also my sanity. It came to me – maybe going organic would be a good prevention, rather than trying to constantly ‘fix’ Master 3’s gut from the hits it was taking from all of the ‘poisons’ he was eating.
Along this whole journey, I’ve plodded away slowly but surely, not trying to take on too many changes at once. So when we threw budget out the window and put health as number one, next was organic fruit and vegetables. I tried the farmers’ markets, Woolworths and eventually ended up with online organic fruit and veges for the price and convenience. Then I bit the bullet and looked into meat.
It has changed the way we eat. We eat less meat now due to the price but I make up for it with other products such as avocado, nuts and the vegetables in season. This has made us healthier again, rather than loading up on meat!
And just like big companies have started realising they have to listen to our children’s health by removing artificial colours and starting to work more on preservatives, companies are now coming on board with organic products. Woolworths has their own Macro Organic brand with more and more products popping up as well as ALDI providing more and more organic products. Corn thins now have an organic version. This has also sealed in my mind, going organic can’t be wrong and surely is not a ‘fad’.
Of course, by the time you start to feel like you can ‘see’ the invisible chemicals on non-organic food and start to associate them with doing nasty stuff to our body (just like you feel like you can ‘see’ germs on a child’s hands who has gastro), you start to realise how many other chemicals we are all exposed to in our day, including our little ones. So the deep hole continued and I have started slowly but surely removing air fresheners, chemical-based ‘natural’ soaps, dishwashing liquid and washing detergent and replacing with natural and organic ones.
We might be paying a bit more each week for this lifestyle, but it is indescribable to know that we are not taking on nearly the ‘chemical load’ we once were and the boys are able to be healthier. And we are saying ‘no’ to the industries who aren’t so worried about our health or the epidemics out there. And who knows, our future health is more than likely thanking us too.
I Raise My Kids is at facebook too 🙂
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