A Hot and Soapy Fourth of July
Much to my children’s amusement, I drank soap last week. To be honest, it wasn’t a LightenUp stunt. It was a simple act of desperation at the end of a family vacation. We had enjoyed a few days of solitude (well as much solitude as possible with 2 children and an infant) up high in the Entiat River Valley.
The last day of our wilderness excursion was a hot Fourth of July; we stopped at our favorite organic farm, just outside of Chelan, WA on our way out. Rafael, our favorite farmer, had just loaded us up with apricots, cherries, onions, shelling peas, hazelnuts, walnuts and tamales. The back of the van was now extra full and my boxes of leftover pantry items were precariously placed near the door.
We stopped at Bear Foods, our favorite natural market, for a few snacks on the way to my Aunt and Uncle’s house in Wenatchee where we’d be for the fireworks that night. In my rush to keep the family moving along I opened the back of the van and the pantry boxes fell out splat on the pavement. Glass jars and all.
Amazingly nothing broke. But there in the mess was my special bottle of liquid supplement that I usually keep in the refrigerator or cooler while traveling. It’s a particularly expensive supplement that I’m taking to support my immune system post birth of my son. So it’s pretty important to me.
The lid was cracked and in the heat and chaos of the moment I kind of overreacted…in a graceful way, of course! I thought “what’s this doing out of the cooler, I’d better have some before it goes bad in the heat and spills out everywhere.” So I snatched it up and took a swig. Eeew! It already tasted like it had gone rancid, souring up my mouth and the back of my throat.
Then my oldest daughter kindly inquired, “are you sure that’s not the soap?”
The moment prior, I was sure. But all of a sudden I was quite unsure. And then all at once sure. It. Was. Soap.
Today, it’s a funny story my daughters like to tell, providing giggles and smiles all around. And it provides good practice for me to laugh at myself! (We all need to Lighten Up, don’t we?!)
The explanation is simple. When we go on family trips I put the dish soap in an old supplement bottle. Previously, it was a bottle from a supplement I didn’t take any more and never thought to label the bottle because I keep it put away between trips. But on this particular trip, I was taking that supplement again. (See picture below. Supplement is on right, soap in old bottle is on the left. My aunt kindly labeled it for me when she heard the story.)
The good news is that the real supplement bottle was indeed in the cooler, still intact.
Label Your Containers
The moral of the story? Always label bottles, jars, etc. of household products that you have filled yourself no matter how gentle and natural the substance is. That soap was gross! And my ice cream bar from the market didn’t taste like much at all after washing my mouth with soap.
Pure Soap
On the bright side, I was able to get back to family vacation matters at hand, like eating ice cream, quickly. I knew that my soap is the purest soap out there. I know what’s in it and didn’t have to worry or even wonder what kind of poison I may have just swallowed. I didn’t have to reach for a bottle of Syrup of Ipecac. But it did take the rest of the day to forget about the yuck and restore neutrality in my mouth. And soap, even my soap, is still not for drinking purposes.
Do you know what’s in your soap? Or in any of your other household products? Are you sure? Most household products have multiple chemicals in them that are untested for safety. Even the ones that are marketed to us as natural. That’s why even the county recycling events won’t take them – they are considered Hazardous Household Waste.
Plus, unless you are in California, there is no law requiring labeling of all ingredients in household products. Take a look at what that new law is about here. So you’d better know who makes it and what their intention in selling it is. Do they care about your health? Or are they just keeping their shareholders happy, not mindful of how their product affects human biology or mother nature?
Or you can talk to me. I’ve spent years honing in on the best companies making the safest products for home and family because I’ve found it really matters. For my family and for the planet.
Manmade Chemicals Affect Every Part of You
Swallowing soap or other products, I realize, may not be everyone’s experience. But every product used at home gets into the air, food or water or gets absorbed through skin affecting our hormones and life at the cellular level. They also have a negative impact on your wonderful microbiome. That’s every part of you.
I think of manmade chemicals that enter our bodies as anti-nutrients because as they require extra resources from our bodies to manage, they use up nutrients that are better used for other important functions – like thinking clearly, and making happy hormones for the enjoyment of life! Thus manmade chemicals in our home and body products undermine the other beneficial things we do for ourselves – like eating well or taking supplements.
Send me a message or set up a consultation today.
I can help you have the confidence you are looking for to finally make the switch to naturally safer products for home and body. You are worth it! www.LightenUpSimply.com