Blog

Messages from my eyes keep coming, and my lessons have continued.. Did you read my previous account of all my eye problems over the past 15 years?

Well, there’s more, and the lesson relates to an “age thing”. I was in the second year of the worst bout of my inflamed and ugly eye ailment, and I was about 55 years old. I had been to 4 different specialists, and each would refer me on to someone else. It was exasperating to introduce myself, go through all the tests and same old prescriptions, with the same results - NOTHING!

The last of these doctors (Dr. N.) asked me deeper questions about my life. I discussed all my other skin issues, as well as what I was doing to eliminate skin irritants. One other thing I brought up was that I was in perimenopause. It didn’t seem relevant to me, but I discussed it, along with my thyroid history.

Dr. N was the one who sent me to the allergist for the nasty testing. We got the answers that I was allergic to Iron Oxide and Nickel. We discussed all the changes of cosmetics I had made to adjust to these findings.

Dr. N said eye issues like this have a course or timeline they tend to run before healing happens. That wasn’t news that I welcomed. Dr. N ALSO said:

“You said you’re going through menopause.

I have a suspicion your eyes will clear up after you complete menopause.”

WHOA! I’d never thought about the connection. I love looking for connections and patterns in health, and I’d completely missed this one!

Now, I’ve gotta say that at this point, I’d been without a period for about 8 months. Everything I’d learned stated that when women go for 1 year without a period, menopause is usually complete. I was getting close to that 1 year point.

So I now could estimate a time frame for my eyes to clear up.

You know what? They truly started to turn around when my 1 year menopause date took place! Now was it the power of positive thinking or was it a real and measurable date?

I can’t be completely sure. Yet I'm aware that women’s bodies go through many changes during menopause: some are surprising and don’t seem to be connected.

When I talk about my eyes and this long journey of healing, it is very complicated! There are SO many factors that played into each round of the inflammation. It is another reason why I started my lifestyle as a Chemical Minimalist. Focus upon these areas has helped me to approach aging with grace:

Low-Tox Home

Unprocessed Food

Natural Body Treatments

I’m preparing for a community membership experience, where we’ll look at the

Physical, Emotional, Mental, and Home Health that maturing women experience. We’ll gather each month. I’m excited to tell you this membership is a one-time fee for a “forever” membership! I’ll reveal more details soon. Would you like to know more?

Have you ever had a physical ailment that changed your lifestyle? Mine isn’t something that left me crippled or even risked my life. No, I’m not saying that. Yet my eye issues have helped me focus upon the importance of putting the right products ON my body. My eye problems also helped me realize how important it is to eat the right foods to maintain health.

Over the past 15 years, I’ve experienced some bouts of chronic eye inflammation. There’s been 3 bouts in that time, each lasting from 6 months to 2 years. Whenever this ailment flared up, I’d have swollen eyelids, dry eyes, extreme redness, my eyelids would scratch the eyeball and then severe tearing happened.

This eye problem got so bad, I’d have to quit wearing makeup. Anyone who met up with me would immediately ask, “What’s wrong with your eyes?” This was a horrible time for my self image. And just imagine how it felt being a Kindergarten teacher with little ones who had no social filters: “Your eyes look ouchie!”

If you ask me what my best physical feature is, I would say it is my eyes. I love my green expressive eyes. But when they were BAD, they were VERY VERY BAD!

With each bout, I’d learn a little bit more about what was going on. And remember, this took place over 15 years, so the learning and pattern discovery was SLOW. Every round of eye issues involved eye specialists, moisturizing eye drops, and steroid drops (that risked glaucoma if over used).

The first thing I learned to do in healing was to read ingredient labels. At first, I didn’t know what the irritant was. So I used a product, noted if there seemed to be worse symptoms, then I’d read the label. The next time I found a problem product, I’d compare labels to find what was in common. This also involved internet searching to learn what each ingredient was supposed to do. Eventually I learned that any silicone derivative was highly irritating (dimethicone, simethicone, cyclomethicone, and so on). That was step one, and now all I had to do was read labels and avoid that kind of ingredient.

The next bout of eye issues, I came to recognize that both times I had this ailment, I was in a daily habit of drinking whey protein drinks. I honestly don’t think there was anything wrong with the protein powder. But I believe by skipping eggs in my diet, I was missing out on Lutein and all the benefits It brings for eye health.

The last bout of eye problems was the 2 year round. It was horrible! I bounced from one eye specialist to another, including an appointment with a doctor at Stanford University. The Stanford doctor diagnosed me with Rosacea on the face and possibly in the eyes. But the treatment was the same. Finally, the local specialist sent me for allergy testing. That testing was miserable!

At the end of the testing, the allergist removed the panel, she said, “You show allergies to nickel and iron oxide.” I replied that I know how to avoid nickel, but how can I avoid iron oxide? Her reply was startling….

”Iron oxide is a colorant in ink, paint, makeup, and hair color.

I diagnosed it, Now you are on your own!”

YIKES!

So Now I was on the search for ways to avoid Iron Oxide! Either I had to find makeup and hair color that avoided this ingredient, OR I was going to endure a radical change in my appearance.

Thank the LORD, I finally found fruit pigmented makeup and hair color that is plant based. Both cost more, and must be ordered online. But it works!

And I thank the LORD that He guided me through this experience to build a foundation for my message as the Chemical Minimalist. This eye issue covered a lot of the areas I focus upon:

Home Routines
Food Choices
Body Care (and Parasites)

The Low-Chem Quiz is an easy way to figure out whether you’ve got good things rolling in Home, Food, and Body Care. Take a few minutes to take it. It’s fun!

https://chemical-minimalist.newzenler.com/courses/low-chem-quiz

Most of us really try to do that, but in reality, we may be causing more problems.

Our health depends upon treating our bodies with nontoxic products. My dive into low-tox body care started about 20 years ago, when I suddenly had hives and rash all over my head. My first steps included changing shampoo and reducing the leave-in products. Yet my issues continued to flare up.

This is when I started learning to read labels and look for patterns between products I used and flare ups. It was a LONG and tedious period of trial and error. Eventually, I found that anything containing silicone was a big irritant, and silicone is included in shampoo, conditioners, hair spray, face cream, cosmetics, deodorant and hair color. This process of “cleaning up” my skin and hair care became a big messy endeavor.

I learned that our skin is an organ…the largest organ of our body. Skin isn’t just a covering that can be treated carelessly, like the plastic bag that holds bread. And I learned that the underarms and genital skin absorbs 100% of the chemicals we apply in those areas. YIKES!

Honestly, I thought I was “good to go” after about a year of this investigation. My rashes seemed to happen less often. I really did well, except for some eye issues. (Stay tuned, and I will write about that in my next email.)

So this is a big reason why my Chemical Minimalist’s journey into reducing Body Toxins developed. I notice that more and more nasty chemicals are being added to products, promising to make our hair & skin softer and prettier than ever before. Those promises often include greater toxicity that lowers our health.

‘Want a short list of toxic ingredients in cosmetics and body care?

Parabens
Formaldehyde
Phthalates
Triclosan
Coal tar (P-phenylenediamine)
Fragrance
Petrolatum
Butylated hydroxytoluene (BHA) and butylated hydroxyanisole
Hydroquinone

These ingredients risk endocrine (hormone) disruption, cancer, skin irritation, and respiratory problems.

In This Current World of Craziness, we need inspiration.

Here’s My Latest Inspiration:

Rejuvenate YOU memories are still going through my mind. That was about 1 month ago, yet the impressions and inspirations continue to make a big difference for me.

I learned so much from each vibrant speaker! Each person tells a life event that is full of God’s wisdom. Sometimes I take notes of a speaker’s points, while other times I just soak it in without notes. I learned so much at Rejuvenate YOU.

The BEST part of Rejuvenate YOU is meeting old friends and making new friends! It’s powerful to sit and learn alongside friends. And other new friendships are set during experiences like “The Greatness I See In You”-that deep eye contact and heart connection.

Today’s memories sparked at seeing my inspiration page. You see, each of us taped a blank piece of paper on our backs. Then we circulated around the room, writing inspirational words on the other’s paper. Here’s mine:

People know me as The Chemical Minimalist. Right?

And if you are unsure about what that title means, it's all about kicking toxic chemicals out of our HOME, FOOD, and BODIES.

In my opinion, it's easiest to figure out how I decided to kick out foods with nasty, unhealthy chemicals. Gone are the days of simple, pure foods. I would love to say it was better when I was a kid, but I think we'd have to look way further back than that.

Much of the risky chemicals showed up in our foods when our society began to buy prepared foods. I have recently read that the morning cereal companies were initially promoted with the busy working and "modern" mothers in the ad focus. And I was a full-time working mom with young kids. So I understand the pulls we feel between the job outside the home and the job inside.

Looking back, I think our family's worst eating patterns took place when I was forced into full-time teaching following my husband's bout of Tuberculosis.

I was barely surviving the daily schedule of teaching a First Grade class. I had my most difficult classes of my entire career in those first two years.

I was drowning in the pressure of these factors:

My weak and recovering husband
Our 6 month old daughter and 3 year old son
Teaching some very difficult students
All our family lived in another part of the state, so little daily support

To be honest, I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. We ended up going to counseling to help us figure out how to live in this situation.The food we were eating played a part in our emotional struggles.

My husband took care of shopping for food. I was the one to prepare the meals. So he girded himself up and would take care of shopping at Costco. Simple prep was priority. So he picked up a lot of prepared main courses like lasagna. Cereal was our breakfast.

Don't get me wrong, lasagna is better than some other prepared meals. Yet the sugar and unpronounceable ingredients in our daily menu was probably pretty unhealthy. I really didn't care at that point. It was survival.

I understand this survival thinking, even today.

Maybe ESPECIALLY Today, with the economic challenges.

My toxin-reducing focus on the foods my family eats was gradual. We transitioned from frozen veggies to fresh, and eventually to organic, as much as possible.

Next, we cut back on the pre-packaged main course items. More chicken and beef, less processed casseroles,

Eventually, we phased out the bread items from meals. This was a tougher one to do. Yet if you learn about potassium bromate in American breads, it is worth the effort.

Our ongoing focus is to limit the sugars in foods. Processed foods typically have a LOT of sugar or high fructose corn syrup.

We try to limit the foods that are high in glyphosphate exposure on the EWG's Dirty Dozen List.

Other ingredients to be aware of in foods are:

Bisphenol A and similar compounds
Artificial trans fats.
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.
Coumarin in cinnamon
Mercury in fish

All of these make HUGE differences in our immunity, mental processing, emotions, and body wellness! And we truly notice the difference when we fall back into the foods that contain the nasty ingredients.

Don't feel discouraged, though. We've looked at the ingredients to avoid. Well, there's the list of foods we really need to include in our diet. Look at the EWG's Clean 15 list.

I'm going to throw out an old cliche:

You Are What You Eat.

Let's chat about ways to help you reduce toxins in your daily food choices!

Lots of Love,

Pam Schmidt

Chemical Minimalist

P.S. Come on over to my video channel, and follow!

What's inspiring you these days?

I have to admit, I depend on regular infusions of new inspiration in my life. I am grateful that God knows me well enough, that He regularly sends me a little (or big) inspiration quite often.

Sometimes I'm inspired by a video, an article, or a person I speak with along the way. In those moments, a spark is ignited in my mind, and typically it is in the form of a question. Then the spark is ignited and I act upon that inspiration.

This series of inspirations has led me to become the Chemical Minimalist, with a key emphasis upon reducing toxins. And I've gotta admit, God's toxin-reducing path has taken me 35 years.

Reducing Toxins in our home routines started me on the path as the Chemical Minimalist. I was a young mom, who desired to get rid of chemicals that made us wheeze and cough. Vinegar and Simple Green were some of the first alternative products I used for general cleaning. BUT I still depended upon bleach for "killing germs". I continued to use Lysol spray to freshen up the house.

The next big leap on my path of reducing toxins in the home happened when my husband was recovering from a highly resistant and near-deadly bout of Tuberculosis. He was so weak and immune compromised from the TB and the 2 years of Chemo-strength medications! Whenever I used bleach, ammonia, and other cleaners, he would struggle to breathe. I tried all kinds of ways to prevent him from breathing in the fumes, while still using those products. But I finally realized I HAD TO change products for his benefit.

It dawned in me that even though the rest of us were healthy, these toxic cleaning products were hurting my kids and myself TOO! So that's when I decided to find ways to clean the home that weren't going to affect our health.

Now, keep in mind that these were the days before the internet. It took quite a bit more purposeful investigation to find healthy alternatives for home routines. I was lucky when I found someone on a talk show with answers. I really didn't know any friends who were set upon cleaning the home without bleach and ammonia. So that's why the first path of this journey took me a decade of searching.

in time, I started using items that were in my cupboards, like Baking Soda, Hydrogen Peroxide, Castile Soap, Washing Soda, and Borax to handle many of the cleaning chores. Norwex microfiber has been a winner for cleaning surfaces and glass without ANY chemicals.

Fragrance has risen to the spotlight in advertisements and marketing. These ads try to fool us into believing we haven't really cleaned well IF we can't smell it. Home isn't a clean place UNLESS we notice a fragrance of wild flowers or sea breeze. Now, I've gotta say this is marketing greenwashing (they're fooling us into thinking products are clean/healthy, and they aren't).

Fragrance...artificial fragrance is full of synthetic (unnatural) chemicals. These chemicals can mess with the balance of our hormones, disrupt our immunity, and even lead to cancer. So my big tip for you is to skip the detergent with fragrance, or that long lasting fragrance. Watch out for fabric softener liquids and dryer sheets. Kick out Febreeze, Plug-ins, and candles. High quality essential oils are healthy alternatives to all the synthetic fragrances. ANNNNNDDDD we need to get used to living with less fragrance in general (even perfume). That is a big adjustment for some of us, but it will make a HUGE difference in our wellness.

___________________________________________________________________________________________

And while we're on the topic of inspiration:

Rejuvenate YOU was truly an inspirational event at the beginning of March!

Going into Rejuvenate YOU, I was curious what God would show me.

Honestly, my biggest inspiration hit me as we were driving back from Utah to California. God showed me a healing tool I need to add to my healing practice.

I'm pretty excited about it. And I'll write about it in the near future.

Here's one photo of myself with some of our sponsors:

Pam Schmidt

Chemical Minimalist

More Unexpected Messages From My Eyes

I've Had A Love/Hate Relationship

With My Eyes

Are You Protecting Your Skin?

Food Matters! Are You Eating Clean?