Accidentally Green

Making Healthy Decisions That Honor God and Happen to Help the Environment

In the News: Link Between MMR Vaccine and Autism Is ‘A Deliberate Fraud’

On Feb. 28, 1998, Andrew Wakefield and twelve other colleagues from the Royal Free Medical School in London authored a study linking the MMR vaccine to autism and a bowel disease. After the study was published in The Lancet, a renowned medical journal, countless parents throughout the world opted to refuse the MMR vaccine for their children. Since the study was printed twelve years ago, scientists have conducted additional studies and have found absolutely no connection between the MMR vaccine ... Read more

Thought You’d Like to Know about Phthalates

Last Friday, I introduced the concept of body burdens, or how chemicals build up in each person. Today, I’ll start explaining the toxins in detail. Phthalates (pronounced THAL-ates) are colorless, odorless liquids commonly found in many products. 1 In personal care products, phthalates often are hidden as the term “fragrance” on ingredient lists, as they help fragrances last longer. They’re also part of the fragrances in laundry detergents, fabric softeners, deodorizers, glass cleaners, floor ... Read more

How to Choose a Doctor

On Monday, I discussed the tendency to overmedicate children. Part of that danger can be prevented by choosing a good physician for your family. Every doctor is different, just like every family is different. You’ll know if you have a good fit or not – if you and your child’s doctor have opposing philosophical views on medicine, you will never be fully satisfied with the care, no matter how good it may be. Find a doctor you’ll agree with on approaches to treatment, like vaccine policies, ... Read more

Beware of Overmedicating Children

The main focus of Accidentally Green is a healthy approach to life. And for readers who are parents, the health of your child is extremely important. Sometimes, a parent’s misguided attempts at helping a child rebound from a sickness can do much more harm than good. Not so long ago, doctors thought almost every sickness could be treated by antibiotics. (I am living proof of this approach to medicine. When I was young and sickly, my pediatrician prescribed antibiotics to treat every one of ... Read more

In the News: Contaminated Tap Water

In 2001, Julia Roberts won the Academy Award for Best Actress in “Erin Brockovich,” a film about a woman who discovers residents in a California town are being poisoned by water that’s contaminated by a local power company. The water’s contaminant, hexavalent chromium (also known as chromium-6) is a known carcinogen. On Dec. 20, 2010, the Environmental Working Group released results of a nationwide study revealing that high levels of the same toxin – hexavalent chromium – was in tap water in ... Read more

Thought You’d Like to Know about Body Burdens

Welcome to Accidentally Green’s first edition of Thought You’d Like to Know Fridays. Each Friday, I’ll cover a topic I think you just might like to know about. You’ll gain a better understanding of what’s lurking out there and what I’m talking about here on Accidentally Green. Today I’d like to introduce the concept of a person’s body burden. From the time a person is conceived, a body burden starts building from all the toxins he or she is exposed to – both in and out of the womb. Once a ... Read more

Choosing Safe Cosmetics

We’ve talked about the lax standards and regulations of American cosmetics. Now it’s time to talk about what we can do to protect ourselves. A first step is awareness, because it’s easy to expose yourself to harmful chemicals when you assume all products are safe. Next, make a decision to change. For more than twenty years, I loved experimenting with all kinds of makeup. I remember getting makeup tips from my aunts when I was a child and slathering my Barbie makeup all over my ... Read more

Toxic Cosmetics

On Saturday, I shared the story about how I discovered that most personal care products sold in the U.S. include toxic ingredients. I had always - wrongly - assumed that anything sold was safe. What company, in good conscience, can knowingly produce their products filled with poison, and then market them to the masses? Unfortunately, a lot of companies can and do. And, legally, they’re allowed to do it. While the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates cosmetics, they’re not ... Read more

First Day

Welcome to Accidentally Green! I’m so glad you’re here. As I start off this new year with this new blog, I’d like to share my inspiration behind Accidentally Green. First of all, I’ve made a lot of lifestyle choices not because I’m so environmentally conscious, but because I seek to honor God with my life. I try to be as healthy and frugal as possible, too. I’m not a crunchy, granola chick; most of my choices just tend to be green … quite accidentally. As a believer, I think it’s important ... Read more

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