My many reasons for going green

I'd like to think that ever since I was a little girl and learned about recycling and helping the planet that I've been doing it all along.  And I do remember learning about the importance of recycling in school but at a very basic level.  You look at the bottom of the container and see what number it is if it is plastic and you recycle it.  Though growing up we seemed to have more paper in our household then plastic and so I only remember caring about paper.


Reason 1
Though I'm not a little girl anymore, well I'm sure my father might still think so, but I'm guessing he's always going to consider me his little girl.  I've been educated and educated and I've sought out the education on living healthier not only for the planet but for myself.  I think my major change came in 2007 when I moved home to the Iron Range after living four years in St. Cloud, MN.  It wasn't really "due" to the move but what changes I made when I moved.  I had been suffering from endometriosis from just soon after experiencing my first period and I was a 3rd grader when that happened.  The only way the traditional M.D. could figure out how to attempt to manage my severe pain that time around the month was to put me on birth control even though I wasn't sexually active.  I was on various forms of birth control for a decade!  Do you know what that does to you and your body?

I probably still would have been on birth control if my MD at the time didn't forwarn me that the particular birth control that I was on was coming off the market due to people complaining about the side effects and that there just wasn't any other option at the time for the reason I was on birth control.  I was a bit freaked out telling him, I can't handle the pain, its too much.  So, when I moved home to the Iron Range I decided to go grocery shopping at our local foods Co-op where I saw the book, "Prescription for Nutritional Healing."  Ah, maybe they've heard of endometriosis, in which they did and had a whole section on it, someone working in the supplement department saw me taking notes and she photocopied the supplement section for me and showed me where to find the supplements and then asked me if I had ever heard of Monica Liddle, N.D.  I stated, "no, what's an N.D.?"  She stated that an ND is a Natural Doctor and that this particular lady was in Duluth.  She gave me one of her pamphlets and I made an appointment.  Monica was Ah-ma-zing!  Monica took me off the birth control IMMEDIATELY!  Changed my diet and upon the research I had done myself had started exercising.  She told me to drink some dandelion tea, milk thistle tea, take cod liver oil, as well as evening primrose oil, Vit E, and B complex.  So by changing my diet, exercising and all I incorporated into my sedentary lifestyle was walking about 1 mile every day and doing resistance exercises on my upper half every other day and resistance exercises on my lower half the other days, and taking supplements, I HAD NO PAIN associated with my next period.  I didn't get the migraine telling me my period was coming tomorrow, I didn't get any cramps or bloating, and I started to lose weight naturally.  I had gone back to see her in about 3 months and she took a double take cause she couldn't believe I was sitting in the hall waiting for her current appointment to finish.  She was amazed that I had lost so much weight, that my dry skin was healthier as well as my over all complection which really was all just a bonus, because I DIDN'T have pain!

I continued doing what she originally told me to do.  I dropped about 20 lbs before my body stopped losing weight because I was where I should have been, around 130 lbs. 

Reason 2
In 2007, I also bought a house.  So now it was essential to save money and why not help the planet at the same time.  I started recycling everything I could to save on trash bags.  Where I live you have to buy city garbage bags as well as get a monthly service fee on your utility bill for them to haul it away.  So the less garbage you have to throw out the more you save on not buying city garbage bags.

Reason 3
In 2009, my husband and I opened a shop named, "Smith's Infusion."  Our soul purpose was to only sell and represent MN artists but their products had to be "functional."  We were in the beginning of the recession and no one had disposable money any more, so whatever we sold had to be FUNCTIONAL.  Though opening a store isn't a reason for being green. It was some of the products we got from Minnesota Artists that took a different spin on things, example reusable sandwich bags.  How Cool!  Granted they were priced around $5-6 but if you think about it, this is something that will last a life time vs something that lasts 1 time.  It doesn't leak plastic chemicals into your food and they have your own personality on the outside.

Reason 4
In 2010, I thought I was pregnant.  But when I went in for a check-up I wasn't, just severely stressed out I guess.  Though we started talking about how I wanted to have a family and that we had miscarried in the past, that I also had endometriosis and no matter what we did we couldn't get pregnant.  I went thru all kinds of tests to figure out why I couldn't get pregnant.  Some were painful, some were in the form of a pill to make me ovulate more of which they didn't prep me for considering they knew I had endometriosis they were supposed to do a biopsy of my endometrial tissue before giving me the drug because the drug could cause cancer so I stopped because after 2 runs we didn't get pregnant.  Invitro wasn't an option we couldn't afford it.  We stopped all fertility treatment and I did my own research.  Endometriosis produces more estrogen then progesterone and you need progesterone for your body to hold onto a baby and not miscarry it.  So I researched different types of progesterone cream.  Found a legit one that wasn't made from wild yams.  But then in my research found out that there are a TON of things in our daily lives that produce phytoestrogens and xenoestrogens which both mimic estrogen in your body as well as soy.  So I eliminated soy from my diet that was easy.  But phytoestrogens and xenoestrogens are in everything!  Conventional laundry detergent, dish detergent, shampoo, conditioner, body wash, body spray, perfumes, antiperspirant, period pads, lotions, plastic baggies, some water bottles, plastic containers, the list goes on.  I also read that once you eliminate these fake estrogen's from your body and your lifestyle it takes 1 month for them to get thru your system.  I started doing this in the month of July of 2011.  We got pregnant mid August of 2011.  THIS IS MY #1 REASON for going green.  There is so much crap out there its making us sick and causing all these diseases we didn't have 50 years ago.  This is why I made my own post partum pads and I haven't used plastic period pads in 3 years.  Why we recycle, why we don't use conventional cleaners, why we are picky when it comes to diapers to put on our little guy when he comes, why we compost what we can, why we look at the containers of food before we purchase the food to make sure plastic will not be leaking into our foods, why we don't use plastic containers at home to store food, we use glass.

So think about you and your family and how you could be healthier just by going green.  Questions on how to be greener, leave a comment below.

-Jenni