Where Do We Draw the Line?

So I was reading the paper today and came across a story about new shower curtains. Did you know they are toxic? Yeah, neither did I. Apparently they are but I guess it's not that big a deal because it was buried in the middle of the first section and it was quite a small story. Seems like it should be a big deal. It feels like everything these days is toxic, dangerous, poisonous, or just plain bad for us. It's amazing anyone lives past age thirty. This morning my Moms club had someone come and talk to us about what to feed our kids. Turns out once you cross of the artificial sugars, food dies, pesticides, preservatives, and that evil thing called fat, there's not much left that we can feed them. I walked out of there thinking, "What the heck is my child supposed to eat???" Even some fruits, which I thought were one of the best things to eat, is bad because of the pesticides. We're supposed to by organic. Yeah, and pay twice as much. Of course I took everything with a grain of salt (oh, that's another thing we need to avoid) and I'm not throwing away everything in my kitchen. In fact, I don't plan on making too many changes because honestly, it's really not that feasible. Between the cost and convenience, trying to reach a 100% level of knowing my kids are eating the best things they possibly can just isn't realistic. I try to do my part - no trans fat, use fresh ingredients, and try to avoid foods with high fructose corn syrup (which is nearly impossible when you realize how many things have it listed as an ingredient). The cost of buying everything organic would pretty much double my food bill, which I can't afford and having to buy everything fresh would require me to visit with food store every three days or so, which is NOT feasible with two little ones. I blame the manufacturers for all this. Did they really need to make all these foods with all these additives? I'm sure people were happy with what they ate many years ago before xantham gum was invented. Just more thing that parents need to stress about in this day and age. Now I'm off to remove all the shower curtains in my house...