Tomatoes in Jars and fewer chemicals in my shampoo

I'm not really sure I like making New Year's resolutions. I think they are just a recipe for bad self esteem. It seems like most people make really outrageous resolutions thinking that since it's the new year they will suddenly change their ways overnight. Then when they slack off or give up a few months down the line, they feel bad about their inability to stick to something impossible in the first place. I believe in making more reasonable suggestions to your self whenever they seem appropriate or whenever you think of them. There's no need to hold off doing something you want to do or need to do just because it's not the new year yet.

In that vein, at the end of last year I decided to make 2 changes in products I buy for my family based on some research I did on toxins in the body. I decided to buy my diced and whole tomatoes in jars or cartons rather than cans, and i decided to start buying toiletries that did not contain sulfates or parabens.

Toward the end of last year I read an article called 7 foods the experts won't eat. For the most part I already follow these guidelines. We eat organic veggies as much as possible, buy milk without artificial growth hormones, buy grass-fed beef from a natural ranch, and buy wild salmon when possible. The only one I wasn't following was #1 Never Eat Canned Tomatoes. I would buy my diced canned tomatoes from Costco to save money thinking that this was a good choice.  But evidently the high acidity of tomatoes causes the BPA lining the can to leech into the food. So I'm switching to glass or cardboard cartons. This article at the Garden of Eating gives a rundown on good alternatives.

The second change I plan to make is to buy toiletries that do not contain sulfates or parabens. I bought a Mamapedia sweet deal about a month or so ago from Babo Botanicals and purchased some shampoo/body wash for the kids with it. According to their website these products contain no parabens, sulfates, or other questionable chemicals. I bought the detangling shampoo for my daughter and the aloe one for my son. I also got lavender body wash and lotion for me. The kids have been using the shampoo for a few weeks and so far all is well. Their hair is clean and smells good and they haven't had any skin irritations. I, on the other hand, had a reaction to the lotion. .I started to get little bumps on my face indicative to me that a product does not work with my sensitive skin. I know I'm allergic to Cocoa Butter in products, and the lotion contains something called Theobroma Cacao (Cocoa) Seed Butter, which may be close enough to cause me a problem. The kids don't have this allergy, though, so they should be able to use the lotion without issue.

So, I believe that making small changes a few at a time is the way for me. And I think these 2 changes I'm currently implementing will be absolutely do-able for the long term.