Lessons

I learned so much today, important things, things I wanted to share.  I'm very grateful that in our own personal lives, things are fine.  Still, I feel as though I've received a bit of a wake up call and I will be doing my best to make more informed, careful choices for my family.

• BPA and plastics in general are not a choice I should be making for my family.  There appears to be a strong link between plastics, possibly BPA, and estrogen exposure.  Too much exposure to estrogen is not good for us.  It's not just people that are getting bigger.  Rats, mice, raccoons and other animals have grown significantly bigger in the last 30 years.  That's not attributable to over-eating as it tends to be assumed is the cause in people, Dr. Dyer, a renowned endocrinologist at Nationwide Children's Hospital, theorizes that it has something to do with estrogen exposure in the american environment.
• Contrary to media belief, the age of a girl's first period has not significantly changed.  The biggest predictor of when a girl will start menstruating is the age that her mother started.  She will almost always start within a year of her mother.  What has significantly changed is the age breast development begins.  It used to be girls started developing breasts within 1 to 2 years of their first period.  That is no longer the case.  Now, breast development can start as early as 3 years prior to the first period.  Breast tissue development is directly linked to exposure to estrogen.
• Stay away from growth hormones in milk.  (It's illegal to sell milk in Ohio with growth hormones.  I don't know what laws are in other states.)
• Processed foods are also thought to be a big reason why we, and animals, are getting bigger.  Dr. Dyer believes there is something in processed foods, be it corn syrup, preservatives, whatever, that is ultimately not good for us.
• Pubic hair growth has nothing to do with puberty. 

For me, for our family, I will continue to buy the expensive milk I buy, that I trust.  I will be reducing our use of plastics.  I will be trying to buy more organic/grass fed beef and will definitely be buying more from the perimeter of the grocery store--the easiest way to avoid processed foods.  Thankfully, I do not depend on processed foods much, but it will still be an adjustment to make these changes.  My family's worth it however.

Good luck to all of us as we navigate this tricky world we're living in.  I love our advancements, I love the products available, but sometimes I wonder at the damage we're doing to ourselves that we don't even know.  I've suffered a lot of mommy-guilt, fortunately seemingly needlessly at this point, the last few weeks, but it's definitely been a wake-up call.  I think unfortunately there's a lot out there in our environment that is harming us, harming our children and we need to do our best to be educated and make good choices.  Unfortunately, I worry most for all the things we don't even know enough to be worried about.