Califorganification

So I'm much more upbeat now...and what I want to write about is being swept up in the California organic movement. After reading the well-written but not-so-well-edited book 'Gorgeously Green' by Sophie Uliano, I became a slow convert. It's not just the health benefits, which she emphasizes. It's good not to have pesticides and hormones in working environments, it's good to be eco-friendly and not consume in ways that can't continue for our kids and their kids, and it's good to support small and independent businesses, which are often the ones developing eco-friendly, organic products (especially in beauty).

Even in a down economy, people still care about the environment, and farm laborer working conditions, and not putting pesticides on said workers or into their own (the consumers') bodies. I know Alice Waters and Chez Panisse put the whole 'local, organic, California' thing on the map eons ago, but now it is so mainstream that there are a million Whole Foods chains in the Bay Area alone. And the parking lots are always crowded, may it remain so.

Which brings me to my next point: although popularly known as Whole Paycheck, I have not found Whole Foods to be that expensive. In fact, when I comparison shop at Safeway, I get a much better value for money. Today, I bought the following:


Produce: All local, some organic
-Baby spinach, pre-washed in a recyclable container
-Oranges
-Apples
-Mini bananas
-Carrots

Dairy:
-Plain yogurt, organic low fat
-Milk in a recyclable gallon jug, organic nonfat
-Cottage cheese, organic low fat
-Goat cheese

Grains:
-Cereal, Kashi
-Couscous, organic
-Whole wheat english muffins
-Whole wheat bread
-Whole grain crackers

Meat:
-Canned tuna, no preservatives
-Turkey bacon, no preservatives
-Boca burgers, organic (okay, not real meat, but whatever)

Cleaning supplies:
- Two boxes 100% recycle, 80% post-consumer face tissue
- Eight rolls of recycled toilet paper from 7th Generation
- Earth-friendly dishwashing liquid

Other:
-100% cranberry juice
-Honey bear
-Face scrub
-Dark chocolate, fair trade 88%
- Baby bib, powder, and toy, all organic or eco-friendly & talc-free

This is enough food to last me and whoever comes over for food for at least two weeks, some for a month, and it's good quality food. Not a single item in here contains high fructose corn syrup or trans fats, and a lot of it is whole grain and either organic, local, or both. The baby stuff is part of a gift package for a new-mom friend of mine.

The entire bill? $134.32. Including the baby present.

I also am excited about the gradual organification of my bath & beauty routine. I try to buy things without parabens and synthetic fragrances at the very least. I also avoid petroleum-based ingredients wherever possible. The cosmetics safety database, known as Skin Deep, rates cosmetic products based on available safety data:

http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/wordsearch_free.php?query=facial%20scrub&&order=webscore&&start=240&nothanks=1

I try not to go above a 4. Sometimes I do. Oh, well. I'm trying. Right now, I'm experimenting with some products from Juice Beauty, which I think I like a lot.


I'm trying to wean myself off Clean & Clear's Dual Action Moisturizer, which was my favorite as a teen. I think my skin no longer likes it as much, and check out the ingredients:

Active Ingredients

Salicylic Acid 0.5% (Acne medication)

Inactive Ingredients

Aluminum Starch Octenylsuccinate, BHT, Cetearyl Alcohol, Ceteth-10 Phosphate, Dicaprylyl Ether, Dicetyl Phosphate, Dimethicone, Disodium EDTA, Fragrance, Glycerin, Lecithin, Magnesium Aluminum Silicate, Menthyl Lactate, Methyl Gluceth 20, Neopentyl Glycol Diethylhexanoate, Neopentyl Glycol Diisostearate, Sodium Hydroxide, Steareth-2, Steareth-20, Water, Xanthan Gum

Because of the aluminum starch octenylsuccinate, fragrance (which, if synthetic, often contains known carcinogens), and salicylic acid, it got a 7 from the folks at Skin Deep, where 0 is non-toxic, 4 is moderate hazard, and 7 is high hazard. Huh.

New beauty lines I'm trying: Juice Beauty, Aubrey Organics, Terranova, Organix (this one seems iffy, it's just my hair conditioner so I might switch.)

I don't want to obsess over this, obviously, but I do want to vote with my dollars and support companies that are producing less-toxic, less-wasteful products that are not tested on animals, are better for the environment in both production and waste-management, and are better for me.

Plus they smell really good and genuine.

Ideal Bite is a good website if you're interested in learning more. I plan to be the kind of doctor who supports tea as medicine :)