Musings Day 5 Chemicals

My daughter Amy sells do terra essential oils.  The company only uses organic flowers and plants that have not been sprayed with chemicals and they are super concentrated so a little goes a long way.  I decided to buy some just because they smell so good.  I make my room sprays with the orange, lemon and grapefruits oils. That means no chemicals in the air.  That's the only thing I used them for.... at first.  Now I can use them for cooking (the peppermint, lemon and oregano are great). I was watching a doctor on TV saying that most of our environment is so full of chemicals that we should be careful of the things that we put into our bodies, especially processed foods because we can't always know what's in them.  I really think that's true but I also know that it's almost impossible to eliminate all of them.
We get coupons every week in the paper for processed foods that are on sale.  Almost all of the coupons are for these kinds of foods and we never buy them. Rarely do you find coupons for whole wheat bread, lettuce or strawberries.  We rarely buy  processed foods, bologna being an exception as we know. They are too expensive and contain unknown additives that we can't pronounce. We just don't think they taste as good as home made either. Why buy Alfredo sauce when you can make it so easily and quickly?  Why buy canned soups when they are so easy to make?  When you read the labels on so many of these products, it's mind boggling how many ingredients are in them.  We had some ice cream once with a list a mile long.  I know ice cream isn't a healthy food to begin with but sugar, cream, eggs, milk and vanilla sound a whole lot better than what is in some commercial ice creams such as:

caroxymethyl cellulose, butyraldehyde, and amyl acetate diethyl glycol -- a cheap chemical used to take the place of eggs, which is also used in anti-freeze and paint removers.
Aldehyde C-17, flavoring for cherry ice cream, is an inflammable liquid used in dyes, plastics, and rubber. Piperonal, used in place of vanilla, is a lice killer. Ethyl Acetate, a pineapple flavor, can also clean leather and textiles. That is according to  NaturalNews.com.

I am not a purist by any means  but I want the best for us and if we can eliminate a lot of those things, maybe we will be healthier as we live longer.  A lot of the things we have  in the cupboard clean very well and are non toxic.  I use these a lot....soda, vinegar, lemon oil and hydrogen peroxide.  I have not given up everything potentially toxic though because I believe in the benefits of alcohol, and bleach too when needed, but I am open to any good alternatives. 
I try not to microwave in plastic, and I use distilled water, vinegar and alcohol to clean the granite counters,  I  limit my use of antibiotic cleaners because they say we shouldn't use them too often and the monster germs are becoming immune to them.  I do however, use hand cleaning wipes at the grocery store to clean the cart handle every time.  Until this year, I hadn't had a cold for several years and haven't had the flu for many years.  I'm knocking on wood as I type.

I am not giving up my makeup though.  I'm sure there are bad things in them, and I hope one day the manufacturers will start making better choices in these products.  My vanity has gotten the better of me here.  I'm hoping the chemicals in them will stay on the outside.