I started to be concerned with chemicals in our body care products when our daughter was 7. She was starting to show signs of early puberty and I didn't know why. We ate as organic as possible, we lived a generally healthy life. But, of course, she's a kid. She eats snacks and treats and sometimes, we have no control over it. I ate the same things as a kid and never thought twice. 

We headed to her doctor's office for her annual check up and thank goodness we had a PA that was into the natural side of things. She explained how so many processed foods and snacks have parabens as a preservative and phthalates are often in the plastics we use. This is when I started being a little crazy about labels. Through my research, I also discovered that parabens are sometimes in our foods but are often times "naturally occurring." This means there isn't much we can do about it except educate ourselves.

I took matters into my own hands and decided that I was going to control what I can control and at least limit my family's exposure to parabens and phthalates as much as humanly possible.

When I started shopping for soaps and lip balms and body washes, I was astonished! The chemicals hiding in even the best brands was mind blowing. And the fragrance (another blog post for sure). Ugh...the fragrance. 

Not only is this an issue for our children, but it is for us too! Because excessive parabens can act like estrogen, our bodies start to accumulate it and our bodies start using it like estrogen. But because it's too much, we start to see imbalances.  Some of them are: Belly fat, breast lumps, PMS, ovarian cysts, infertility, cellulite, irregular periods, endometriosis. And some others!

If you have these, find a great functional medicine doc that understands how this works. Trust me, it'll be worth every penny. But in the mean time, the best thing to do is to start reading labels. 

Most parabens and phthalates will have the actual word in its name, such as propylparaben or diethyl phthalate. BUT! If a product lists "fragrance" as an ingredient, phthalates may very well be in that product. 

For a full list, google search "list of parabens" and "list of phthalates." 

Cheers to a healthier life and more natural living!

-Nancy XO