We live in a world of acronyms.
There is the BOGO - buy one and get one free. There is FOMO - fear of missing out.
And my latest mission, DIY - do it yourself. I have been doing a great deal of research and reading about exactly what is in the products we use and consume. Having lost a dear friend to cancer, my concern peaked as to exactly what goes into these products we grab off the shelves in our chaotic busy lives. What I have come across has been alarming to the point I had to dial it back a bit and decide "everything in moderation."
One can get lost in all the guru reports of what we should or should not eat, what we should or should not drink, and what products we should or should not use. For some time, I have been an advocate for essential oils. And the most essential oil I began using in the 90's was olive oil. Aside from that many oils I use help with congestion, relaxation, and tension in joints and muscles.
My next step beyond this was researching the soaps and detergents we use, which are made up of mostly water. I gathered the ingredients needed to make laundry detergent, both powder and liquid. It was an afternoon of destroying my kitchen to produce enough that continues to last me after almost three months. I still use my favorite store-bought detergent intermittently as recommended for ease on your pipes. That and I am spoiled to our sheets smelling a certain way.
I then took on the challenge of making homemade yogurt after reading about the probiotics we need for gut health. Good gut health seems to be directly related to overall wellness. You need some yogurt to use as a base to make more yogurt, but all plain yogurt I tried to use ended in a soupy mess. Turns out I had to order packs of active cultures for success which means the yogurts I had been eating did not have living cultures in them, which is another article, but a sure sign I was mainly eating sugar.
On to bread. The bread we buy off our shelves has been packed with processed ingredients in order to lengthen shelf life, among other things. Good old-fashioned bread actually has very few ingredients but try making it from scratch. If the water and milk are too cool the yeast will not activate and if too warm the yeast will die. It is still a work in progress.
In short, my household experiments have helped to create a whole new respect for those women in past generations. With all this sweat, mess, and elbow grease I still had a washer and dryer, an oven and mixer.
It is no conspiracy trying to make society ill with by- products and added ingredients as you may come across in research. It is simply supply and demand. We live busy lives that crowd out time to knead bread and shave soap.
I remember the days of raising hungry boys with grass-stained jeans after working all day only to come home, cook dinner, and help with baths and homework. The most I could feed for the least amount of money in the least amount of time was the way I went. No fresh squeezed lemons in the lemonade made from a package. Our lives are shaped in this day and age to hurry buy, hurry cook, hurry pour, hurry wash. I can't see that changing, especially for young parents.
But I can say that I have enjoyed all the research and experiments. I enjoyed the sticky soupy flops and the eventual success. I have shared several internal laughs with my departed friend. I have enjoyed the patience required which I lacked and had to build. I also enjoyed finding a local bakery that bakes fresh loaves of bread daily for just about what I spent on ingredients. And I have realized that certain conveniences will be needed in our busy lives, but making ourselves cognizant and aware of the options is important. Now, I am on to making butter!
