Natural Holistic Living

Recently, I'm taken on a keen interest in natural living, meaning:

• taking and using fresh food and ingredients whenever possible
• avoiding processed food and anything that comes in a can, 
• looking through the ingredients list and if the product contains too many chemicals or chemical looking things that I don't understand, I'll give it a miss
• be cautious on the way my food are prepared

The above does not apply to food only. It also applies to any products that I'm using (household products, skincare products etc.). Actually, the more I read and learn about natural living, the more cautious I am about every single thing around me (which I'm not sure is good or bad, since I feel I'm getting to the point of being paranoid). We are living in a space surrounded by toxins and harmful chemicals everyday in everything we're using.

Actually, most of the points above are interrelated. The main objective in healthy/natural living is to minimize use of processed products (regardless what it is). Processed products usually contains alot of chemicals and toxins that are not beneficial to the body. However, they are "crucial ingredients" for many processed products, since fresh/natural products perish quickly & easily or does not taste as rich/nice as these processed products. So fragrance and preservatives etc. are added.

Think about it. An apple can only last for 2 weeks maybe? But a processed apple backed in a bag or can (via seasoning/preserving/dried) can last much longer. During the process of seasoning/preserving/drying, what chemicals are added? We have no idea. Not all ingredients used may be listed.

Natural dried fruits may look "ugly", which deter consumers from buying, so what do companies do? They add coloring, or use some chemicals that will alter the way the product looks. I once watched this show that talks about dried fruits. The guest in the talk show was saying he tried drying bananas himself, and the dried banana is black in color (which taste good, but very ugly). Have you ever seen a black dried banana chip? Will you buy it if it's black in color? Can you imagine how much chemicals have been added to preserve its looks?

Have you ever tested on a product that smells sooOoooo strong (like super strong strawberry smell etc.)? Can you imagine the amount of toxic fragrance they have added? I've read somewhere that if a product has too strong a smell, ditch it. It probably means the product contains so much chemicals that it smells too bad that manufacturers have to add in extra dosage of fragrance to mask the smell. Makes sense to me. These days, if I read the ingredients list of a product that contains too many items that I don't understand (you know the name of those chemicals are usually super long and complicated), I'll ditch it. Regardless whether it's food, or detergents, shampoos or skincare products, I'll do the same. Hopefully, I can start to rid or minimize the toxins I'm exposing myself to.