Unintended Side Effects of Goal #6

A few days ago I went in for a dental cleaning. I may not have the straightest teeth, but I feel lucky that I am blessed with good dental genetics- the dentist always raves about my deep roots ( he once told me "you know, we never get to see teeth like yours in real life, only in text books when we were in dental school"). Maybe because of this, I work hard to take care of my teeth, and make brushing and flossing a priority. In January when I gave up chewing sugarless gum, I was a little concerned that it would decrease my dental health. I have read that chewing gum stimulates saliva production, which is helpful because saliva minimizes bacteria in your mouth and also contains substances that help prevent tooth decay and gum disease. When I gave up sugarless gum, I was also worried about having bad breath. I drink coffee and eat lots of fragrant foods, so I decided to carry a toothbrush and toothpaste in my bag and brush whenever I felt like I had yuck mouth (on average I'm probably brushing twice a day more then I used to). Fast forward six months, and as the hygienist starts to clean my teeth, she says "have you changed your dental routine since your last cleaning? Your teeth have virtually no stain or tarter on them at all. They look really great.". What exciting news to find that in giving up sugarless gum, I also unintentionally improved my dental health! Looks like I can keep smilin' and keep saying no thanks to artificially sweetened gum.

Skin Deep

As is evident from previous posts, I think a lot about the food I put into my body. I prioritize eating food that is high quality, organic, and minimally processed. As far as I'm concerned, the fewer ingredients in a food product the better; if I don't know what something is, I don't want to eat it.

So why is it that I haven't given the same attention to the body care products and cosmetics I use on the outside of my body? While I do tend to buy "natural" body care products, many of them have long lists of ingredients that I know nothing about. I also have at times purchased products that I know are likely to be full of chemicals that aren't good me. For a long time, I have wanted to be more aware of what's in the products I use, and make better, safer choices for myself and for the environment (after all, the issue is not just putting harmful chemicals into your own body, but also that harmful chemicals continue to be manufactured due to the demand for products that contain them).

A few months ago I found a website to help me in achieving my goal to make better decisions when purchasing body care products- it's the Environmental Working Group's cosmetics database Skin Deep. This database examines and rates nearly 80,000 body care products and cosmetics based on the safety of their ingredients. According to this website, in the United States public health law allows:

Almost any chemical as an ingredient in personal care products

Misleading and incomplete labeling of ingredients

Unsubstantiated claims about product benefits

No required safety testing of products or ingredients

When I checked out some of the products I was using, I was shocked to discover that the haircare product I was using received a score of 9 (with 10 being the most dangerous rating). Wow, that was a wake-up call! The database has a lot of great information about how to choose safer body care products, specific chemicals to avoid, and a section that is organized by common (and dangerous) chemicals in products for specific parts of the body (teeth, hair, etc.).

So adding to my list of goals for the year, I'm going to check the database for information about body care products before I buy them, and try not to purchase anything with a rating over 4. Why 4? While I would ideally love to eventually get to a place or using products that have scored only a 1 or a 2, I think I will have better success tapering off gradually, and a 4 seems like a realistic starting place for me.

Stopping Unnecessary Snacking and Tooth Decay Simultaneously

What you see here is my nighttime dental care routine- floss, brush, and inter-dental pick. What I've noticed in the past month is that if I take care of my dental hygiene pretty immediately after dinner, I am a lot less likely to have a snack. Most of the time, I'm not really hungry before bedtime, but as I've said before, it's easy to get into routines and create habits, and snacking at night when I'm not hungry is one of my bad ones. Goal #10 is to brush my teeth after I eat dinner to prevent unnecessary snacking. Typically, I do not want to have to re-clean my teeth, and a snack rarely feels worth the effort of doing the whole dental routine twice. I expect this goal to be pretty easy to work into my life, and I hope that it will make enjoying snacks a more deliberate and intentional occurrence rather than a bad habit.