Back to Basics

I've been reading a lot lately about hormone imbalances. The fact that I am sobbing and thinking very dark thoughts every month in advance of my cycle led me to this conclusion. The only problem was: how did my hormones get out of balance, anyway? Turns out that estrogen dominance is pretty common, and estrogens are formed by contact with plastics (among other things). Plastic? How much plastic could I actually have in my life? Taking a look around, I see the answer is: quite a lot. Everything is encased in plastic, from fruit to meat to lemonade and milk. I make my kids' lunches and wrap them in? You guessed it: plastic. My baby drinks his milk from? A plastic sippy cup.

So, alright, plastics are bad, and they are ubiquitous. How am I supposed to live without them? Which got me to thinking. I am 39 years old. I have been on this planet during the plastic revolution, but I also remember another way of living. My mom used to cook every day. And even though Snak-Pak puddings were invented, and I dearly wanted one in my lunch, we didn't get them because they were too expensive. Lunch consisted of a sandwich wrapped in waxed paper, a couple of lemon cookies, and an apple. We used to get milk delivered by a milkman in a cute little truck in containers like this:

My mom used to go to the butcher store and get meat, and it came in a little package like this:

Although, trying to get the butcher to not wrap it all in plastic when he's done will gain you a few sideways looks.

The other night I was cleaning up after dinner, and I realized that everything that I had prepared usually gets put into my Smart-Spin Storage containers for leftovers. My mom didn't have these. What did we put leftovers in back in the day?

Oh, right, a glass bowl! Genius! It even comes with its own little glass cover.

So now I am reacquainting myself with my glassware. I am putting the plastic cups in storage for a little while, to see if we can live without them. I am going to try to buy my food actually fresh, organic as much as fiscally possible, and prepare it from scratch.

Wow, it seems like I've seen this lifestyle before. Yep, it was my mom's.