Have you tried Yuka? Here is my App Review: The Latest in applications for your cell phone to help you eat healthier and become more conscious of what we put on our bodies for beauty.
My Homesteading journey has led me in many directions, including healthier eating, reading labels, buying organic meats and free-range eggs, growing my own food, composting scraps, and overall, less consumption for our family. I have gone through my cosmetic cabinets and purged all those bottles and tubes of "stuff" I may use someday. In reality, we are a culture of consumption. We buy things on sale or because our friends use them. They stockpile in our cabinets until they expire or we run out of space. Then, we purge them and throw them away, donate to a charity, or have a garage sale.
I was sick of the endless dance of overconsumption and needed a solution to this problem/habit. My husband introduced me to the Yuka app for my phone, and it woke me up to the harmful products I was consuming. I downloaded the app from my app store and started my account for free. I could quickly scan the barcode of food and beauty items and get an immediate rating on the products. Even further, the app explains why products may be harmful and options for alternatives. I was in for a wild ride, but it was a path I needed to be on.
Do you know what is worse than me consuming these products? I was enabling my family to consume them because I was the primary shopper. My habits were poisoning the family I would die to protect. I hope you continue reading to learn from my journey and it gets you motivated to start your own.
The Food You Eat: Would you knowingly eat poison?
According to the article Processed foods: Health risks and what to avoid (medicalnewstoday.com) chemically processed foods often only contain refined ingredients and artificial substances, with little nutritional value. They tend to have added chemical flavoring agents, colors, and sweeteners. These ultra-processed foods are sometimes called “cosmetic” foods, as compared with whole foods. Some examples of ultra-processed foods include:
frozen or ready meals
baked goods, including pizza, cakes, and pastries
packaged breads
processed cheese products
breakfast cereals
crackers and chips
candy and ice cream
instant noodles and soups
reconstituted meats, such as sausages, nuggets, fish fingers, and processed ham
sodas and other sweetened drinks
If your family is like mine, you could check off almost every box on that list. To be fair to myself, I try to read labels and, avoid bioengineered food and GMOs, and buy organic. I am not oblivious to the health risks of certain foods like red dyes, saturated fats, corn syrup, and other sweeteners. I thought I did a good job weeding out bad foods. However, I have to share that one of the first foods I scanned into the Yuka app was Garden Veggies Puffs (BBQ flavor). It rated poor with a 33/100 score. It is high in sodium at 150mg and moderately high in Calories at 60 Cal. The app gave me a better recommendation of Sun Chips Harvest Cheddar Flavor. They rank 51/100. The app did it all for me. It gave me a better alternative to my original selection. The white cheddar flavor was even worse, with a rating of 2/100 due to hazardous additives like disodium phosphate. Concerns with consuming disodium phosphate include digestive problems. Too much disodium phosphate can irritate your bowels. This can cause stomach discomfort, constipation, diarrhea, head pain, and other issues. Most products with disodium phosphate don’t label the amount. The app gave me a better recommendation of Harvest Snaps Green Pea Snacks and it rated 84/100.
I try to avoid sugary cereals if I am able to, without the consent of my 10-year-old, of course. So, on the last shopping trip, I purchased BOGO Cheerios (100% whole grain oats cereal). I pulled out my phone, expecting to be very proud of myself for my selection, and scanned the bar code with my Yuka app. To my surprise, the Yuca app rated this item 30/100. Are you kidding me? It was high in sodium at 190mg per serving and contained 2 harmful additives. They include tripotassium phosphate and calcium carbonate. In excess, tripotassium phosphate may increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases, disrupt calcium metabolism and bone mineralization, and negatively affect the kidneys. But the large heart shape on the box says, "Can help lower cholesterol as part of a heart-healthy diet." How can this be? Why would these companies knowingly add things to our food and mislead us? I can only assume that $$$$$ is why.
I went on to scan every label I could find. I was appalled at the conditions of the food we were consuming. Many of these items are under the misconception that even though they may cost a bit more, organic meant a healthier option. Boy, was I wrong! I was wasting money and poisoning my family.
Beauty#2: Is vanity really worth it?
Most days, I pull my hair back and throw on a baseball cap. I rinse my face and rarely wear makeup during the week. As a business owner and homesteader, I just don't have time or a care in the world what others think of my appearance. I have too much to do in the short hours I am awake. But I like to dress up occasionally and get all fancy with my makeup and hair. I like to smell good and use products that make my skin soft and hair healthy looking. I am less picky with beauty products than food products because I haven't prioritized them much. That is until the Yuka app. After learning how bad my food was and how easily I could scan bar codes, I decided to rummage through my cosmetic cabinet and shower shelf to see how bad I was. I am so proud that I am frugal, and I buy things on sale and have lowered my consumption since on my homesteading journey, but man, I was embarrassed to find such harmful chemicals all around me.
Did you know our skin is the largest organ in the human body? I want you to imagine finding a jug of liquid with a skull and crossbones. Knowing it has this label due to the hazardous nature of the chemical inside, and opening it up and rubbing it on your skin? Or massaging it into your scalp. Would you get it near your eyes or eyelashes? Put it on your lips? Rinse your mouth out with it? Wash your hands with it? Of course not. Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you are doing all of those things when you use cosmetics and products and aren't sure of what is in them. It is difficult to understand chemical compounds and added ingredients, which is by design. Manufacturers use fancy names and hide additives by altering ingredients. They chemically treat and combine additives to make new uses, and the research on long-term effects is so costly it just isn't being done. If it was blatantly put on labels, you just may not buy the products. We are just too busy and don't want to prioritize the time. Those who do pay attention, we call conspiracy theorists and demonize them as crazy people. Well, the Yuka app gives you no more excuses and makes the harmful ingredients plain as day. You can now be one of the "crazy people" like me.
You have options, and you just have to know what they are. We have started buying products from Grove Collection, which are healthier alternatives that are delivered to our homes. They may cost a little more, but we just use less, and it evens out. Whenever possible, I will make my own laundry, bar, and hand soap. This year, I made homemade cough syrup with natural honey and garlic cloves that are fermenting. You can buy natural moisturizers from farmers' markets and use castor oil to strengthen your hair. Use makeup sparingly and follow the footsteps of acclaimed beauty Pamela Anderson by not wearing makeup and embracing your natural beauty. We can do better.
What Is Your Family's Health Worth #3: Making Changes
Suppose you are like me and consider yourself a lifelong learner and a consumer who cares about my family's health and financial security. In that case, I hope you began drawing parallels to my journey. The rising cost of food and the apparent danger in the products we are consuming, as shown above, is forcing me to reconsider my choices. I am thankful for the Yuca app, which helps take the guesswork out of purchasing healthy foods and products. I have also decided to adjust the way I think about my consumption. I am digging deep and doing some soul-searching to ask myself these important questions:
Do I need all the gimmicks or to keep up with the Joneses?
Can I get back to the basics of making foods using fresh ingredients?
Can I grow some of those foods myself?
Can I use herbs and plants as medicine and beauty products?
Will reprioritizing my time allow me to make food from scratch instead of buying processed versions?
Can I include my family in the decisions so they are also informed?
Is my family's health and future worth it?
To the last question, I say 100% YES. Is your family's health and future worth it?
Thank you for coming along side me on my homesteading journey. Your feedback is important to me. I want to hear from you about future blog topics.
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