My journey with “natural living” began when I first became a mom. Before my husband and I started having babies, I really didn’t care too awful much about ingredients, food dyes, or toxic chemicals in our products. But something changes in you when your baby is placed on your chest.
I went from not caring if the lotion I was smothering my skin in, smelled like a perfume factory, to looking at every single ingredient in the products I was using for my baby. She had to have the best, and if that meant changing our entire lifestyle, I was going to do it.
Almost 5 years has passed since, and I feel like I’ve got a good handle of balancing what is healthy for our family. In this blog post you’ll find:
– 4 natural swaps worth making
– What I don’t stress about when pursuing a natural lifestyle
– Why perfection can steal your joy
Natural Swaps Worth Making
Laundry detergent: you and your babies are wearing clothes 24/7. It matters what you wash them in. Regular detergent is filled with chemicals and an ingredient labeled as “fragrance”. These can disrupt hormones, skin irritation, headaches, and respiratory distress. Switching to a nontoxic detergent you either buy or home make yourself Is really one of the most important natural swaps you’ll make.
I am not affiliated in anyway with Truly Free detergent but I do use this brand often! Nontoxic products for your family, that aren’t filled with hormone disrupters and skin irritants.
You can check out the brand I use here: Truly Free Laundry Detergent
OR: you can make your own laundry detergent!
Here’s a recipe you can try from another blog I love!
Raw Milk:
Now I know there’s a ton of controversy around this topic, but in my opinion raw milk is far superior to pasteurized milk. Maybe I’m biased because I milk dairy cows everyday but even still, here’s why we drink raw milk:
beneficial enzymes, probiotics, proteins, bioavailable vitamins, and calcium just to name a few. Many of these enzymes and proteins are lost during the pasteurizing process of raw cows milk. Raw milk in its natural form is truly a superfood.
Do you want to invest in a family milk cow? Read this post I made that can give you a little insight on what it’s really like to own dairy cows.
If milking a cow doesn’t seem like something you’d want to do, source out a local farm you can TRUST, to provide your family with raw milk. Trust is KEY here. Raw milk is a superfood but it also needs to be chilled a certain way, handled a certain way, and the cows 100% need to be clean.
My advice is to ask to tour the farm you’re getting the raw milk from. Ask questions, and know exactly how your raw milk will be handled before you even consider buying milk from them!
Freshly Milled flour:
Freshly milled flour provides superior nutrition and flavor by retaining the entire grain kernel—including the nutrient-dense germ and bran—which are removed in store-bought, refined flour. It offers higher fiber, active enzymes, essential vitamins (E, B), and minerals, leading to better digestion, higher nutrient absorption, and a lower glycemic impact.
I know that this is quite an investment to get your own grain mill, but if it’s not in your budget right now, find a way to get it for your family without the grain mill! Does anyone you know have a grain mill? Can you mill your wheat berries with theirs ? Can you buy freshly milled flour from someone you know?
This is something that I now consider a non-negotiable in our house. We love baking around here and nothing is better than the smell of fresh cookies. Why not make it healthier by using freshly milled flour instead of all purpose flour?
Food Dyes:
This is also a nonnegotiable in our house. We do not intentionally buy food with food dyes in it. Food dyes are linked to cancer and can cause behavior issues in children.
Simply look at the nutrition labels on the food you buy and choose options without dyes!
The easiest way to make sure you’re not buying food with dyes in it is to not buy processed food. Choose Whole Foods instead.
What I don’t Stress About When Pursuing a Natural Lifestyle
Getting it all right, all the time.
I focus on what I can control, and don’t worry about the rest.
I make sure the groceries I’m buying each week are mainly Whole Foods, instead of processed food. Do my kids still eat stuff that’s packaged? Yes 100%. But they’re not eating it all the time. Most the time they have real food that will fuel their body.
So what if my kids are out? Or at a birthday party?
I definitely don’t have a panic attack if they have sugar, or a red lollipop. Because I know that 90% of the time at home , they get real food. I’m not going to stress them out and cause a scene at a birthday party just because I don’t want them having sugar.
Natural living shouldn’t exhaust you. You do not have to listen to every single thing big homesteaders say online. Do what works for your family! It shouldn’t be something that stresses you out.
Why Perfection Steals Your Joy
The easiest way to burn out quickly when switching to a more natural lifestyle, is to change multiple things all at once. The idea that you have to change absolutely everything all at the same time, is all over the internet. But my advice is quite the opposite.
Changing one thing every few weeks is the best way to make sure you’re not going to burn yourself out and let perfectionism steal your joy. Choosing this approach is slow but steady consistency that adds up over time. Start with what you feel is most important, and then go from there.
You don’t have to have it altogether, and all figured out. What matters is that you’re actively choosing a better, healthier lifestyle for your family!
