So Hard to Do the Right Thing…

 Although I no longer do resolutions at the beginning of the year, for the past few months, I have been trying to continue doing better for my all-around health and well-being.  It should not be so difficult!

For a long while there, I thought I was using better products on my hair, skin and body Turns out most of the shampoos, conditioner, and body washes are just full of the wrong stuff. In some cases, the ingredients are just fake and unnecessary, but in other cases, they could have been causing the problems I was trying to solve.

I have completely changed the hair wash and conditioner I use, and I am working on finding better body wash. The problem is that the safest and best products are tricky to find and also usually pricier. If the cost is because of testing and obtaining quality products fine. Although, I almost choked when I checked out one recommended hair care line. It's the Caviar Anti-Aging Replenishing Moisture Shampoo/Conditioner from Alterna. I will not be washing my hair with something for which I need to set up installment payments. (Just thinking about it has me using my best grammar!)

What a did settle is something from a brand that has never (yet) let me down: Taliah Waajid. I am going to be trying her Total Body Black Earth Shampoo & Herbal Conditioner. I have been using and just love, love, loving her Black Earth Products African Healing Oyl. I use it mostly on my face but I will probably be using it on my hair a lot more when I shampoo out all this silicone buildup... (And, my ladies of all races, don't shy away from the "African" in the name. This stuff is the truth!)

I had to look for a while to find a few shampoo/conditioner brands that have ingredients I feel better about. You have no idea what kind of hissy fit I had after I saw a video on spices! Oh, my goodness. I have probably been dusting my foods with all kinds of sawdust and who knows what else. I was actually feeling smug because I have been getting most of my spices from Frontier Coop for at least 7 years or so. Then, all of a sudden, that brand popped up. It's one of those "been bought out" situations. (Lord, please don't let Taliah Waajid sell out - or at least not to some evil corporation...)

Back to the food situation. I pulled some Italian sausages out of the freezer last week to thaw. I was going to mix boil then and mix them in with some steamed veggies. Because I was trying to see the date I'd bought them, I was looking closely at the packaging. The front makes bold claims about having no artificial flavors, colors, nitrates, etc. - which is why I chosen them over the cheaper Walmart brand I used to buy. Walmart straight up says on the front that their sausage has BHA and propyl gallate. The Johnsonville meat that I had hid that detail in smaller print higher up on the front. Wow.

By the way, I encourage you to check out Eat This Not That. This page really made me feel some kind of way.

The worst thing about the BHA and friends is that I can't find any sausages without them. I'm going to be going to the local butcher. They don't deliver, but I won't have to worry about what is or isn't in the meat.

You'd think I'd be done crying and whining, right? Nope. We have to talk about beverages. 

• I cannot find any kind of water enhancer drops that does not contain stevia, sucralose, sucra-anything, aspartame, etc.
• there are no decently rated canned or bottled beverage without any of the above ingredients or with allulose or tagatose as a sweetener
• Torani comes closest as a flavor additive but... it is either high in calories or uses one of those dreadful sweeteners

Also, I am really upset that Stevia gets to be listed as "natural". That makes it hard to avoid when you are searching for anything without "artificial" sweeteners. On my tastebuds, it comes off as too sweet - just before it becomes slightly metallic. I hate how popular it is. It's the same thing as with Starbucks - everybody raves about it, and I have no idea why.

source

What I finally found to try out is the Soda Stream drops. I plan to use them in the cheap sparkling water I've been getting since Topo Chico has gotten out range of my budget. I don't know how it will work, but...

When I get to try the drops in the water, I will probably blog about it. The thing is, I had to really hunt around for a Soda Stream flavor that had none of the sweeteners. At least there were a couple, including this one. I wanted the peach or peach/mango, but they had added sweeteners (aka grossness). 

Okay, now, I'm done with my wailing and whining. 

Peace

--Free

P.S.: I will be looking for sites that lists information about foods, beverages, and various consumer goods. I'm looking for directories. I'll work on it as health allows.

Aye Yo 2026 - Already?!?!

 Ain't time a funny thing? It seems to have sped up for me, the older I get. For younger people, it seems to stretch out longer than it is.

Talking with one of the younger family members a while back, they made an observation about "old folks" always talking about "slavery time things". The conversation was about food. I was explaining about "hoe cakes" coming about when slaves (and other poor people) would cook the flour or cornmeal "cake" in a hoe held over hot coals or a fire.

I wasn't mad about the remark because we joke around like that in my family. I was struck (as I sometimes am) by young people thinking of "slavery times" as ancient history.

I asked if the young person remembered us older relatives talk about Grandpa Bud. They did. Did they remember that he was a veteran and lived to be just over 100 years old? They did. Well, did they know that my Grandpa Bud was the child of slaves? See, that's time being funny, I told that "young 'un".

Their jaw dropped. I told them that Grandpa's parents were eventually freed, but they had lived as slaves. They didn't realize that Grandpa (who passed in 1986 or 87) had been born in just over 100 years before. I think I read once that the last known slave was still alive as late as 1970-something.

When my young person got over their shock, I introduced to some of the "old folks" stories about Grandpa Bud. They didn't realize that, unlike Alex Haley, I had not found a way to trace my grandfather's ancestry. His parents being born (or just taken) into slavery meant that their genealogy was a mystery to us.

But, still...

As it is with the beginning of every year, I start tallying anniversaries. How many years since loved ones have been gone, and who is celebrating which year of marriage, and how many years since I last saw talked to or heard about so-and-so.

When I first moved here over 8 years ago (9 years this coming summer), I had more than a few spry old neighbors who told me some stories about their youth. Some of them shared recipes and kitchen tips. One gentleman was the historian at the town library. He told me about some of the local homes and locations.

Just before the end of the years, two of those neighbors - very, very sweet women - were moved into nursing homes. It was no longer safe for them to live on their own and both had children that lived farther away than the ladies wanted to move. One of them, God willing, will be turning 99 this year. She's still mentally sharp, she just doesn't walk well and isn't able to cook and clean the way she did in her own place. I'm ashamed to say that she might have been in better shape a couple of years ago than I am now!

All in all, I tallied up 5 neighbors who have passed and at least that many who have gone into nursing care. And those are just the ones that I chatted with on a regular basis.

So yeah. I've been thinking a lot about time. When my sister was a young woman, Al Green was a favorite singer. Even though one of the tunes she loved most is a love song, the opening lines seems fitting for this post.

Sung by Al Green

Lyrics by Willy Nelson

I hope this a safe and happy year for us all.

Peace

--Free

P.S. Not sure how long the song will stay so here is a link.