When Crunchy Moms Get Soggy with Snake Oil
You'll switch to tap water after reading this post with Kaleigh Erin Mason
Being a crunchy mom can be expensive and anxiety-inducing. Of course, we all want what goes into our children’s bodies (and our own) to be, um, not poison? But in the pursuit of the “cleanest” products, it’s easy to fall down rabbit holes—whether it’s mold or parasites—pricing out saunas, buying expensive supplements from sketchy European websites, and downing them without a second thought!
I’ve fallen victim to some of these trends in my quest to be “natural” more times than I can count. (I own a pricey Air Doctor whose filters haven’t been changed since the first Trump administration.) But before you shell out $3,000 for a reverse osmosis system (IS HARD TAP WATER KILLING US??), I recommend checking out one of my favorite Instagram accounts: Nutrition Elements by Kaleigh Erin Mason, a Registered Holistic Nutritionist.
“People could be much healthier just by focusing on the essential nutrients and making sure they’re getting three square meals a day. You know, most people get healthier just having a bedtime every day,” says Kaleigh.
And here’s her very rational (and inexpensive) take on… tap water! Before you invest in a filter that strips your water down to its barest elements, consider this:
Many tap waters around the world are as beneficial to health as good spring water
Tap water can come from wells, rivers, lakes, or aquifers, and they’re all different in both good and bad ways. Start by researching your local water source
Spring and well water contain essential minerals that replenish our bodies
Not all tap water contains fluoride—your county has to opt into fluoridating water.
Most of the time, all you need to keep your tap water healthy is a simple carbon filter, like the one that comes with your fridge!
While reverse osmosis systems are great for removing junk from water, they also strip away essential minerals humans have been consuming from rivers, lakes, and reservoirs since we were dragging our knuckles on the ground
See? Isn’t that a relief?
Kaleigh’s account also looks at products that that crunchy community might deem toxic based on confusing or deliberating misleading information, such as: VASELINE!
But it’s made from PETROLEUM you may shriek! Sort of!? It’s a natural byproduct of digging into the earth’s crust. If you slapped it on your face raw, then yeah, you’d be covered in crude jelly. But petroleum used for Vaseline goes through a rigorous purification process and the result is a waxy, mineral oil that seals in moisture.
“It’s funny how we are the beginning of the ‘vaseline isn’t actually toxic or harmful when it heals the skin’ wave,” Kaleigh says. “It takes me back to 2004 when we were having to reform people’s opinion on coconut oil. I was trying to convince the owners of the [health food] store I was managing that coconut oil was the next wave and they were already losing money by not having it on their shelves. They said, ‘but coconut oil causes heart disease.’”
Kaleigh started Nutrition Elements after working in health food stores for over 20 years. At first, working for crunchy health food stores felt like paradise—shelves lined with “natural” products made by companies that wouldn’t harm or exploit you. But over time, she noticed how many inorganic ingredients were sneaking into products meant to “detox” our bodies. Ingredients like inorganic aluminum and inorganic silica.
“I started to hear a lot of reports about side effects from natural products, which blew my mind because I came in so naive and gullible,” Kaleigh told me in our conversation embedded below. “There are better ways to heal the body than this stuff.”
She also noticed sales reps using tactics eerily similar to those of pharmaceutical or baby formula companies to “educate” health store employees about their lab-formulated products.
Take the current hype around zeolites, for example. This supposed heavy metal detox claims to “remove toxins like mercury and lead from your body at a cellular level to reveal your body’s full potential.” There are also claims that zeolites can cure everything from diarrhea to herpes. Most troubling, if you Google zeolites, you’ll find unverified reviews from customers claiming it helped “cure” their child’s autism.
In our conversation, we dive into the zeolite drama, water filtration madness, and Kaleigh’s history in the natural supplement world. Do yourself a favor: listen to the episode, follow Kaleigh on Instagram and Patreon, and get ready to put away your credit card when all those crunchy products go on sale.
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I def fell into some rabbit holes but it causes more stress>bad for your health!
We’re still programmed to ask someone else to tell us how we are feeling. “THIS is what you need. Everyone NEEDS this. *Says something about vaccines you agree with* Buy MY supplement, it’s non-gmo!” The alternative health folks sell supplements or MLM cleaning supplies, and Pharma sells drugs.
I’m thankful in many ways I had my kid before “waking up” to a lot of the health stuff since it shows me there’s more wiggle room. You can be exposed to Lysol and unfiltered house air and not eat enough fiber etc and still have a pretty healthy baby, so maybe eating out now and again is ok :-)
God knew this time would happen, and that not all people can get RO systems, have air purifiers even in the car, organic mattresses, eat 100% organic, sun bathe for x hours a day, do coffee enemas every morning, have zero stress, buy 95 supplements etc etc. Humans are able to reproduce even with crazy situations (just saw a bio of a lady with 4 legs with 5 kids). We feel if we eat like our ancestors we’ll be healthy and diseases will reverse. Timothy in the Bible had stomach issues, Paul had bad eyesight, many people in the Bible desperately wanted children but were barren for a time. Warrior tribes in Africa can still get sick, homesteaders can have gout, un-injected kids can have eczema and allergies.
Remember, our bodies were designed VERY well and can handle a lot. If we focus on our duties to love and glorify God, to love our neighbors, and to raise our children well, we won’t have time to focus on so many supplement and “cure” rabbit holes and we can have more time being present with our loved ones instead of frantically searching Google for “what is this thing on my skin?!?” only to learn that this other thing I didn’t care about might actually be xyz.
We simply cannot be pure.