Becoming Crunchy

Image by phdinparenting via Flickr

I just got done mowing the lawn, and it is HOT outside!

The sad thing is, it’s only 9:30 in the morning. :p

Oh well – guess that makes a good BBQ day, which is what we’re doing today. That means lots of cleaning (can you tell I’m a procrastinator?) and baking a cake (we’re celebrating friends’ birthdays).

The fun thing is, I’ve gone without sugar this entire week – and I don’t think I’ll be tempted to partake of cake (as long as I make sure they bring home the leftovers!).

Yes, I’ve done grains, but right now I’m OK with it. I tried to do too much at once and it wasn’t working, and in my mind sugar is the worst offender, so I’m now dealing with that first.

One surprising help to me in avoiding the stuff has been our decision to join the Nestle Boycott – and you’ll find quite a few links on that in this week’s Sunday Surf (and there are many, many others – too many, of course, to include in this post!).

In truth, I’ve never intentionally bought much Nestle stuff, but after reading more about it this week than I ever had before, the hubs and I discussed it and decided we were on board.

In regards to what this has to do with sugar – well, I’ve never had a huge sweet tooth but chocolate has always been my greatest temptation (to which I usually give in without much of a second thought). But I also had no idea that many of our chocolate bars come to us through the means of child slave labor – I think it’s one of those things I should have known but found it easy to close my eyes to.

So along with our Nestle boycotting, we’ve decided to purchase only fair trade chocolate from here on out (and will progress into doing so for other items as well)…

Honestly, I thought it would be hard to remember if I was out and about and thought about picking up a chocolate bar, but the opposite has happened – every bar I pick up thinking to buy reminds me of what happened to get it there, and I just lose my appetite.

Please don’t feel that I’m getting all pious and holier than thou…there are many things that I still do/purchase/take advantage of that probably do cause harm – things I have been willing to be desensitized to – but I’m trying to wake up to it, and that process is all I’m describing here.

As always, I appreciate your thoughts and feedback as well – I don’t know what I’d do without the conversation that happens here!

And with that, here’s your Sunday Surf – I’ve been so enjoying all these posts over the past week and hope you get the chance to check them out.

• Freedom of Cloth Blog Carnival: This awesome carnival hosted by The New Mommy Files & The Artfulmama is one you’ll definitely want to check out – I’m still enjoying working through the posts and learning so many good tips and tricks and all kinds of stuff – check out the links to all the posts here at the Natural Parents Network.
• “A couple of the reasons you will come across are: 1) Nestle has knowingly promoted an infant formula that puts babies at risk.  2) They use suppliers that violate human rights and destroy the environment.“ 2 Ways to Have a Heart This Valentine’s Day from I Thought I Knew Mama
• “But what if someone came in to your nice little, cozy mountain town and said, “Your mountain run-off water is fantastic. We’re going to set up pumps upstream, take all of it, force your town to relocate since you won’t have any water anymore. Don’t like it? Let’s go to Supreme Court.”“ Nestle Waters is Going Down the Drain from The Daily Momtra
• “So why is the breastfeeding rate in Indonesia disturbingly low and dropping as much as 10% in a two year period, 40% of children under 5 are malnourished enough to suffer stunted growth, babies are dying and women believe that formula is better than their breastmilk? Because Nestle DIDN’T stop their tactics… they just moved on to another country.” Nestle Dupes Moms, Kills Babies in Indonesia from The Daily Momtra
• “My goal has always simply been to raise awareness. There will be people who hear about the Nestle boycott and their unethical business practices and they won’t care one way or the other. Or perhaps they just won’t have time to look into it further. I know that and that’s fine. However, there will also be people who haven’t heard about what Nestle is doing and will want to learn more and find out what they can do and that’s where I like to think I can help. I’m a big fan of providing people with information and arming them with knowledge and letting them make their own choices.“ Raising Awareness About Nestle’s Unethical Business Practices from Crunchy Domestic Goddess
• “As it turns out, the women affected by the free formula samples weren’t stupid…they were misled.” Jemjabella is a Nestle Free Zone from Jemjabella
• “…the child must be made to sleep alone, and its crying ignored. In “controlled crying,” the child is allowed to cry a little more each night before its needs for food and comfort are responded to. As a result, the child eventually stops crying at all. At this point the uninformed may be delighted – believing the child has been trained into better habits. In contrast, what Taylor suggests has happened, is that a basic animal instinct has come into play – one observed in the young of most mammals and birds. The baby instinctively feels, “If you signal your distress, and no one comes, you have been abandoned. You will die unless you conserve energy. Crying expends energy. Therefore in order to survive, you must stop crying, and shut down.”” Primal Parenting: Giving Babies the Best Start in Life from Peaceful Parenting
• “So now to properly dispose of the ‘hazardous waste’ you have left at my door, I will have to take it to the proper City drop off depot. The damage and costs you cause people and the environment are not insubstantial. I would appreciate you picking up your parcel and properly disposing of it according to the City of Toronto hazardous waste materials – which is where your ingredients officially belong.” Dove: Please Don’t Hang Your Chemicals on My Doorknob from Not Just a Pretty Face
• “”As commodity prices continue to rally and the cost of imported materials impacts earnings, we expect to see increasing use of surrogate products within food items. Cellulose is certainly in higher demand and we expect this to continue,” Michael A. Yoshikami, chief investment strategist at YCMNet Advisors, told TheStreet.” 15 Companies That Serve You ‘Wood’ from The Street

OK – now I really need to get back to cleaning!!

What great posts have you been reading this week? Do share!

Also – have you blogged about the Nestle Boycott (either for or against)? Link it up in the comments – I would love to check out your post.

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