Posted on 4th August 2010 by Mish in frugal | green | health
chemicals in plastics, frugal, Glass Bottles, green, health, healthy kids, mason jars, phthalates, plastics, water bottles
I love my Mason Jars. Because of information I’ve been reading lately about the different chemicals in plastics, including phthalates, I’ve started switching most of our food storage and drink ware to glass (a tough decision to make with little kids in the house). I now use a Mason jar to drink out of everywhere. I put my coffee in it in the morning sometimes as it retains heat well, put my water in it all day and can put a lid on it and take it with me on our walks or other outings. Sometimes I feel like an old mountain man drinking moonshine out of a jar, but that feeling usually passes quickly!
Mom’s “jar of water” is now a frequent – and much sought after – site in the bottom of the stroller, especially on a hot day. I’ve also started saving smaller jelly jars for the kids to use. While buying jelly in the smaller jars isn’t the most frugal thing we could do, I buy the “simply fruit” brands because they don’t contain HFCS and because Alex needs a lesser carb count (he’s a Type-1 Diabetic).
So constantly reusing a Mason jar reduces the number of Phthalates we’re exposed to, reduces the amount of disposable cups and bottles (plastic) we use, and keeps me from wasting water washing out 400 hundred cups everyday (it sometimes seems like that!).
It bums me out a little that I constantly miss out on major product reviews and other money-making opportunities on my blog because I don’t ask my readers to buy a new thingy that will make them more frugal, healthy or green. So many blogs I see say – “You can be green and frugal, just buy this thing!” Oh well. I just don’t see the point. Just use common sense. Grab an old Mason jar. Put a lid on it. Use it. Cheap, simple, healthy and green. You can also use larger jars to store dry food and leftovers.
Here’s more info about Phthalates:
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Technorati Tags: chemicals in plastics, frugal, Glass Bottles, green, health, healthy kids, mason jars, phthalates, plastics, water bottles
Posted on 21st April 2010 by Mish in earth day | food | green | health
cancer, cancer causing, microwave ovens, microwaves
We ditched our microwave. Yes, the teenagers were in an uproar! OMG, Mom…how am I supposed to like, “heat things up?” Ummm….like, the stove? We actually have a very efficient gas stove that heats things up really fast – the oven is so fast it’s almost frightening.
I knew the microwave was dangerous. But I had no idea just how dangerous until I read this article.
Here are the Top 5 reasons you should haul that little cancer box out to your curb right now (these are from the article linked to above at Mercola.com):
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“Continually eating food processed from a microwave oven causes long term – permanent – brain damage by “shorting out” electrical impulses in the brain [de-polarizing or de-magnetizing the brain tissue].”
- “Male and female hormone production is shut down and/or altered by continually eating microwaved foods.”
- “Minerals, vitamins, and nutrients of all microwaved food is reduced or altered so that the human body gets little or no benefit, or the human body absorbs altered compounds that cannot be broken down.”
- “The minerals in vegetables are altered into cancerous free radicals when cooked in microwave ovens. Microwaved foods cause stomach and intestinal cancerous growths [tumors]. This may explain the rapidly increased rate of colon cancer in America.”
- “The prolonged eating of microwaved foods causes cancerous cells to increase in human blood.”
So what are you supposed to use instead? Go get a toaster oven…seriously, it will work just fine.
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Technorati Tags: cancer, cancer causing, microwave ovens, microwaves
Posted on 2nd April 2009 by Mish in health
book, dr. sears, free, giveaway, sinupret for kids
First, I want to thank all of you who have left great comments on articles here at OI and over at Large Families Today. We had a great turnout and I hope that Sinupret for Kids works for you! It’s been working great for us.
I’ll announce the winners tonight at – well, let’s say 7 pm (CST) because if I say 5 pm, I’ll have to do it while driving to pick up my husband from work! Not a great idea! Also, I don’t have a smartphone, so I wouldn’t be able do it any way!
There’s still time to enter! Just comment on ANY article you like (or even one you don’t like) here at OI or over at LFT and you’ll be entered!Here’s what you get if you win.
Technorati Tags: book, dr. sears, free, giveaway, sinupret for kids
Posted on 27th March 2009 by Mish in attachment parenting | health
eating healthy, health
A quick note from Michelle: I have always appreciated the advice of the Sears family as they are wonderful advocates of attachment parenting. I don’t do a lot of reviews and freebies here at OI because I like to keep the information as “pure” as possible, however because I like the Sears family so much I accepted a sample of Sinupret as well as a copy of “The Healthiest Kid in the Neighborhood” by William, Martha, James and Robert Sears to read and offer as a prize here on Organically Inclined. It’s a great book – and I hope you’ll appreciate the information about cold remedies offered in the following article.
I also hope you’ll enter for a chance to win the Sinupret giveaway pack by sending me an email with your name and address!
By Bob Sears, M.D., F.A.A.P.
(HealthNewsDigest.com) – Winter season is here and once again my office is filled with coughs and runny noses. As a pediatrician I expect to be busier than ever for the next few months. And while having a busy office can be a good thing for any self-employed physician, to be honest, this isn’t the kind of extra business I like to see. Parents bring in their sick kids, hoping that nothing is seriously wrong, yet wanting me to at least offer some type of relief. I don’t know who I feel sorrier for – the child who has to suffer through the symptoms or the parent who has to stay awake all night listening to those symptoms night after night. Well, at least parents can give their child a nice dose of nighttime cold and cough medicine so that the parents can get a good night’s sleep . . . oh, and also so the child can feel better, right? Wrong.
Last year the FDA decided that over-the-counter cough and cold medicines should no longer be used for infants and toddlers under 2 years of age because of possible severe side effects and a lack of evidence that they actually work. Just this week, in response to the FDA’s ongoing investigation which has found little evidence that these drugs work, manufacturers have voluntarily decided to change their labeling and advice for children, and state that the drugs should not be given to children under 4.
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Technorati Tags: eating healthy, health
Posted on 2nd February 2009 by Mish in autism | food
autism, food, high fructose corn syrup, mercury
You know those commercials that are now on TV saying “what’s the big deal about high fructose corn syrup?” Well, here’s your answer. While I can’t say that my family is HFCS-free (we do indulge in sodas when we eat out and I bought some chocolate syrup last night for my ice cream), we do our best. I read the labels of sandwich bread, yogurts, you name it. I won’t buy it if it has HFCS at least 90 percent of the time.
What’s sad about the list of brands posted in this very comprehensive report by the Health Observatory, is that I confidently fed my family many of these products through the years. Indeed, my husband is still an avid Coca-Cola Classic fan and I don’t know how I’m going to get him to quit smoking and quit drinking Coke too!
Here’s the list of brands:
7-Up Beverage
A & W Root Beer Beverage
Aunt Jemima Original Syrup Syrup
Campbell’s Tomato Soup Soup
Coca-Cola Classic Beverage
Dr. Pepper Beverage
Fanta Orange Beverage
Hawaiian Punch Fruit Juicy Red Beverage
Heinz Hotdog Relish Condiment
Heinz Tomato Ketchup Condiment
Hershey’s Caramel Syrup Syrup
Hershey’s Chocolate Syrup Syrup
Hershey’s Strawberry Syrup Syrup
Hi-C Wild Cherry Beverage
Hunt’s Tomato Ketchup Condiment
Hy-Top Syrup Syrup
Jack Daniel’s Barbecue Sauce (Heinz) Condiment
Jell-O Strawberry Snack
Kemps Fat Free Chocolate Milk Dairy
Kool-Aid Bursts Tropical Punch Beverage
Kool-Aid Cherry Jammers Beverage
Kraft Original Barbecue Sauce Condiment
Land O’ Lakes Chocolate Milk Dairy
Lipton Green Tea Beverage
Manwich Bold Sloppy Joe Entrée
Market Pantry Applesauce Snack
Market Pantry Cranberry Sauce Condiment
Market Pantry Grape Jelly Jelly
Market Pantry Ice Pops Dessert
Market Pantry Thousand Island Dressing Dressing
Market Pantry Tomato Soup Soup
Minute Maid Berry Punch Beverage
Mott’s Applesauce Snack
Mrs. Butterworth Original Syrup Syrup
Nesquik Chocolate Milk Dairy
Nesquik Strawberry Milk Dairy
NOS High Performance Energy Drink Beverage
Nutri-Grain Strawberry Cereal Bars Snack
Ocean Spray Cranberry Sauce Condiment
Pepsi Beverage
Pop-Tarts Frosted Blueberry Snack
Powerade Orange Beverage
Quaker Oatmeal to Go Snack
Smucker’s Strawberry Jelly Jelly
Smucker’s Strawberry Syrup Syrup
Snapple Peach Iced Tea Beverage
Sunny-D Beverage
Tropicana Twister Cherry Berry Blast Beverage
Welch’s Grape Jelly Jelly
Wish-Bone Thousand Island Dressing Dressing
Wish-Bone Western Sweet & Smooth Dressing Dressing
Wyler’s Italian Ices Dessert
Yoo-hoo Chocolate Drink Beverage
Yoplait Strawberry Yogurt Dairy
Zoo Juice Orange
I recommend we start writing to our favorite manufacturers and threaten to not buy their products anymore. If we won’t let our kids play with toys made with lead – how can we reconcile mercury in their food?
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Technorati Tags: autism, food, high fructose corn syrup, mercury
Posted on 23rd November 2008 by Mish in health
carb counting, diabetes, health, type 1 diabetes
I called this blog Organically Inclined back when I started it because I try very hard to do things organically and “green,” but don’t always succeed. However, the one area I thought I had down pat was the frugal area. I have always been the epitome of frugal! I always made the frugal decision. It was one area I in which I felt very confident.
Well, no more! Now that I am the parent of a Type 1 diabetic, I have to tell you that pre-proportioned – well, everything – has become my friend.
Because Alex can only eat two snacks per day that are 15 grams of carbs or less, the nutritional labels on the back of packages are a Godsend. 
I was always anti-packaging girl. If it came in a box, I hated it! I liked snacks that are fresh – and package free. Now, I’m in love with items like individually packaged peanuts, applesauces and string cheese.
Why? Because they are easy for alex to grab and go. And while I know that someday we’ll feel confident enough in his ability to judge a portion size of applesauce out of the jar of homemade, right now – it makes me feel good that he can get himself a snack (he is 12 after all), without “Mommy” having to come and count out the amount of peanuts, or get out the measuring cups for the applesauce.
I still hate the packaging – and am saving all the applesauce cups to start seeds in next February – but for now, while we are still adjusting to coping with Alex’s chronic disease, having some of the little things made easier means a lot!
Technorati Tags: carb counting, diabetes, health, type 1 diabetes
Posted on 28th October 2008 by Mish in health
diabetes, health, juvenile diabetes
I recently noticed several changes in my son, Alex’s physical appearance and behavior. Alex is 12 and recently grew about six inches in as many months, so I was not at first shocked by his tendency to eat everything in sight. I have an older son who went through a similar growth spurt, so I just let him eat and said little.
However, in the last four weeks or so, Alex was drinking everything he could get his hands on. He drained the gallon of milk in the fridge. He drank five pints of water while standing at the sink once or twice (he told me this later). He brought a gallon jug of water to soccer practice – and finished it. Apparently, he was getting up three or four times every night to go to the bathroom.
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Technorati Tags: diabetes, health, juvenile diabetes
Posted on 28th May 2008 by mishakennedy in autism
Alex Barton, Alex Hogan, aspergers, autism, kindergarten
After reading (and watching the video) about Alex Barton being voted out of kindergarten by his peers for his Aspergers-related behavior, I was overcome with emotion.
I have an Alex too – and he also suffers from Aspergers. Over the years, I have let him go to school (although not anymore)…and each time I did, he suffered very similar treatment – often at the hands of adults.
Aspergers kids are often very social, at least in their own heads, and this is largely true of my Al. He believes everyone likes him because he likes everyone and unfortunately, that is rarely the case.
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Technorati Tags: Alex Barton, Alex Hogan, aspergers, autism, kindergarten
Posted on 13th May 2008 by mishakennedy in health
family, health, kids, nutrition
Ah…easier said than done? Perhaps, but I don’t think so.
In Helen Nearing’s book , “Loving and Leaving the Good Life” she talks about an old Eastern medical practice where the town “doctor” would visit everyone periodically and make sure they were well. In exchange, the town paid the doctor well for keeping them healthy. If someone became ill, the doctor stopped being paid by that family until they became well again.
This simple story radically changed how I started to view health care. Wouldn’t we stay healthy if we paid our medical practitioners to keep us well – rather than “fix us” once we are broken? It seems to me that we have been doing things backwards for a very long time! (more…)
Technorati Tags: family, health, kids, nutrition
I love my Mason Jars. Because of information I’ve been reading lately about the different chemicals in plastics, including phthalates, I’ve started switching most of our food storage and drink ware to glass (a tough decision to make with little kids in the house). I now use a Mason jar to drink out of everywhere. I put my coffee in it in the morning sometimes as it retains heat well, put my water in it all day and can put a lid on it and take it with me on our walks or other outings. Sometimes I feel like an old mountain man drinking moonshine out of a jar, but that feeling usually passes quickly!
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