BPA Found in Canned Food! Yikes!

Just another reason why we need stricter testing and labeling in the U.S!!

BPA has been found in canned food and baby formula!

Click on my title to read the full article.

Canned tomatoes are especially a problem and right now there are no canned tomatoes for sale in the US that are BPA free. Since tomatoes are so acidic it takes special packaging to put them in cans. Even the glass jars of tomatoes have lids that are lined with a substance that contains BPA.

BPA is a problem because it is a known hormone disruptor, similar to phthalates. They have been linked with causing low sperm count, infertility, and genital malformation. In studies, women with high amounts of phthalates had babies with high amounts... the baby boys were also more likely to have smaller penises and undescended testicles. (Study done in 2005 by University of Rochester).

Phthalates leach out of products and end up contaminating our food and environment. They are found in many products such as COSMETICS (anything that says "fragrance"), vinyl shower curtains, toys, and now we find out they are in canned food as well! The question is, with this many products containing the chemical, how much is inside our bodies?

The European Union has already banned some phthalates from toys & cosmetics. When the City of San Francisco banned several phthalates & BPA from children's toys (in 2006), they were then SUED by the chemical industry trade association!! It is easy to see why it is such a struggle in this country to protect ourselves and our kids. As consumers, we have very little rights compared to powerful industries. Instead of waiting and hoping that someone else does something, try contacting your local legislators and telling them that this issue is very important to you!

Mommy Milk

Many people are starting to ask me when I will wean my youngest daughter who is now over 18 months old.

I was thinking about it a few weeks ago, but my instincts told me that I should wait out this flu season just so that she has the added benefits of the immunities from the milk. I found many articles supporting that thought --

http://breastfeeding.suite.101.com/article.cfm/cdc_advises_breastfeeding_during_h1n1_pandemic

www.marchofdimes.com/aboutus/49267_59646.asp

18 Months

Now that Corinne is 18 months old, here are some updates. She is growing up too fast!

She weighs 26 lbs, only 4 lbs less than Elise!

She sleeps through the night in her crib and takes only one nap a day, usually from about 1:00-3:00pm.

She loves to brush her teeth!

Her favorite animals are cows, monkeys and of course dogs. She is a little scared of cats, and small dogs that she sometimes mistakenly calls cats. She recently said "No cat! No cat!" to a yorkie.

She loves to climb!

She loves to swing!

She will eat almost anything - any vegetables, jalapeno's, hot salsa,... Her favorite foods are bananas, apples, cheese, raisins, and avocado.

If any music is on she HAS to dance. She is learning new moves all the time.

She is a very sweet, loving toddler!

October 22nd

Two exciting things on October 22nd...

My little pumpkin turned 1 and a 1/2 today!!

and...

we visited the Circleville Pumkin Show!

It was VERY, VERY crowded, but we had a good time. We did not wait in line to get any pumkin pie or donuts, but we had some pumkin ice cream and saw the largest pumkin- 1636 pounds!

We also checked out the largest pumpkin pie at Lindsey's bakery!

Juicing

Drink your Veggies!!

The girls LOVE carrot juice! Corey said last night he is scared we are all going to turn orange. Who knew that the girls would be so excited about fresh juice? Our awesome next door neighbor, Jeff loaned us his juicer. It was brand new, still in the box. We've had our eye on a Breville Multi-Speed Ikon juicer for about 2 years. Instead of waiting any longer, I took Jeff up on his offer and we finally started juicing!

Elise was a little worried about the apple juice because it looks so different from the normal processed/ from concentrate kind sold in stores, but once she took a sip I did not have to convince her to try many other combinations.

Here is our favorite (with all organic ingredients of course):

1 large carrot

1/2 apple

1/3 lemon

Next we tried adding celery & cucumber too. Easy and so healthy! I only wish we hadn't put this off. I've been reading about organic food, juicing, and cancer prevention for a long time and I feel confident that we are headed in the right direction. This is one huge step for our family!

Milk

If you drink milk, you HAVE to watch this!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JL1pKlnhvg0&feature=player_embedded

I know some of you reading this have already heard me going on and on about Monsanto and GMO food, etc. I am sure I'll have many postings on this topic in the future. For those of you that aren't as familiar, Monsanto is a huge company that is responsible for the creation of things like Agent Orange, RoundUp & rBGH. They created and have patents to almost all genetically modified seeds and have purchased countless seed companies.

They basically have way too much control over our food supply!

Corey

What can I say about my wonderful husband? He's been hard at work lately, but still makes time for his family. Between teaching three different science classes, tutoring, and coaching soccer, he doesn't get a whole lot of sleep! He enjoys it, but I am looking forward to us returning to a normal schedule soon! In the midst of his craziness he still takes the time to listen to me at the end of the day and he is very supportive!