WELL BALANCED

My current favorite podcastsApril 11, 2020

Photo by Melanie Pongratz on Unsplash

I had never really listened to podcasts until I was pregnant. I was suddenly so curious about the changes happening in my body and with my baby every week that I found a weekly update pregnancy podcast I loved. After she was born I figured there had to podcasts about motherhood and started there. Since then I have found several others I enjoy listening to, and hope to continue to find more. If you have any great ones you listen to let me know.

Personally, I have felt like podcasts can be a way to improve my overall wellness as they seem to help me calm down when I am stressed but not make me feel unproductive. I love to listen while I do laundry, dishes, eat, or while I’m on a walk. I tend to be a stressor, and it is very beneficial for me to have ways to help when I can feel my stress rising. Haha which might be my current life as finals start next week, this might explain this post and all the podcasts I have been listening to. Beneath I am going to list my current favorite podcasts I have been listening to lately.

The Mom Hour

-This is definitely my favorite podcast and the one I listen to most frequently. I found it when Thea was a few months old and listen to it consistently, especially walking too and from school every day. I find it very uplifting and relatable, and if I am in need of a mood change this can help me. It is also enjoyable to listen to while I do dishes or laundry. I love that it is two mom’s talking about their everyday lives and things that apply to all mom’s.

Minimal-ish: realistic minimalism

I found this podcast a few weeks ago and have been flying through her episodes because I really like them. If binging podcasts is a thing, I am binging these. These episodes are full of real life, and also real helpful solutions from health, cleaning your house, decluttering , budgeting, body image, and so many more topics.

The Wellness Mama

I have listened to a few of these podcasts and I will say that I do find them enjoyable and informative. I do struggle to. want to listen to lots of the topics though because they seem a bit too far into the holistic side of things where I prefer to stay kind of in the middle. I am choosy when I look through her podcasts and blog but I do like the information she gives, it can just be overwhelming at the beginning of a journey to greater wellness and non-toxic living.

Non-Toxic Pursuits

I just found this podcast and really like all of the episodes I have listened to. Unfortunately she only has 7 episodes and hasn’t done a new podcast in almost 2 years. So they still have some great information, but you probably won’t be getting a long-term favorite podcast out of Non-Toxic Pursuits.

Unruffled

I have only listened to a couple of her short episodes, but I am so excited to utilize this podcast more in the future. Janet Lansbury runs the podcast, she seems to be most well known for her parenting books and belief in respectful parenting. Her episodes are full of specific listeners questions about parenting and her advice on how to help. I love that there are resources out there like this podcast for parents, because just like my babe is currently trying to figure out how to be a toddler I’m trying to figure out how to be a toddler mama and we both are going to learn and grow from it.
My first cast iron panApril 11, 2020
Here is a comparison of my pans. The one on the left (please forgive the weird angle and lighting, I just wanted the scratches to be visible) is my old beat up non-stick pan. The one on the right is my Lodge cast iron pan (which is quite heavy by the way, haha and hard to photograph while holding).
As I have started to search for ways to help clear out the toxins in my kitchen I have began to feel uncomfortable with the Teflon pans I own. The Oxford Dictionary defines Teflon as “a tough synthetic resin made by polymerizing tetrafluoroethylene, chiefly used to coat nonstick cooking utensils and to make seals and bearings.” Teflon is especially thought to be most harmful once your non-stick pans are scratched or flaking. I have sheepishly looked at my HORRIBLY scratched old college pans and thought that this is a change we could stand to make sooner rather than later. There are a lot of big purchases we are holding off making while living in a little apartment, and many of those are to improve our kitchen because they take up more room and are expensive investments.

While searching online I have felt that stainless steel and cast iron pots and pans seem to be the best and hardiest out there. Unfortunately for me, I have never cooked with either. I have always had non-stick pans I got from Ross before I started college which have been fine, but have gotten quite beat up and warped over the years. We were a bit minimalistic on our wedding registry and didn’t even register for pots and pans because I already had some. What I have learned is that sometimes cost does represent quality, and sometimes it is smart to put the expensive higher quality items on a registry just in case you get it, if not there is usually a discount associated with having it on a registry.

For those who have bought a nice set of pots and pans you’ll probably agree with me when I say gosh they are expensive. I’ve searched for hours on Amazon and had just resigned myself to the fact that we would not be getting any until we have more money. Then the other day I saw that there was a very highly rated 10.5 inch cast iron pan for 15 dollars. I decided to just go for it, and see how it works for us. Obviously I am slightly terrified as I have never really worked with one, and they definitely require some different TLC other pans do not, so I am just going to share the things we have done to prepare ours for use.
1. Wash with hot soapy water
2. Dry completely with towel
3. Preheat oven to 375 degrees
4. Cover entire surface of pan (inside, outside, bottom, handle) with a very thin layer of oil of choosing (I wiped with paper towel after to make sure it was smooth and thin). I chose olive oil because that is what I like to cook with, many suggest oils like canola or shortening but I have been trying to cook with healthier oils and didn’t want those covering everything I make.
5. Place pan upside down in oven for 1 hour on top shelf, with a cookie sheet on the shelf beneath to catch any drips
6. Turn off oven after the hour and allow pan and oven to cool down together
After that initial wash I have learned that you should not use soap unless you are going to redo the steps I just listed above, but you should just try to use hot water and a scrub brush to clean out the pan. Once finished washing dry off the pan, place it back on the stove and heat it up until it is completely dry so it does not rust (this is very important, also make sure you do not accidentally leave it on a wet spot on your stove once you’re done). You then rub a thin layer of oil all over the pan again with a paper towel and it should be ready to use the next time you need it.

**Some things I have learned:

Make sure before you season it that the oil is very thin, be sure that you use the paper towel to wipe down every single part of the pan. The parts I missed on the wipe down, got a bit too much oil on them and were super sticky. Also don’t be afraid or embarrassed to research as you use it, I’m constantly googling what I should or should not do with my pan. So far I really like it, although I have not gotten brave enough to get rid of my non-stick pan yet. I am hoping as it continues to get more seasoned and non-stick that I will have the confidence to do just that. I also have never had a pan that I could stick in the oven, and after using it to make a cobbler the other day I think my husband and I are both hooked. I’m sure that I will continue to learn and improve my cooking in Cast Iron as I continue to use this pan, and I can’t wait to see how much I use this pan.

Also do not feel bad if this is a step you are not ready to make or if you are currently living your life with all Teflon pans. Please understand that everything else I own is scratched Teflon, and that although I do intend to replace them it will probably be one at a time. Also from what I saw it appears that Teflon is most dangerous when being used at too high of a heat, or once they are scratched/flaking flaking. So if you use non-stick pans make sure you are using the correct utensils with them that will not scratch them and are cooking on low-medium heat. Obviously by the state of mine I am very guilty of ignoring this no metal instruction (sorry Mom), and cannot be trusted with metal utensils.

Sources:

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/nonstick-cookware-safety#section4
Favorite baby wipes without harsh chemicalsApril 11, 2020

When baby girl was a newborn we discovered Huggies Natural Wipes in big refill bags on Amazon, and found them to be very affordable and easy to pull out of the box. Unfortunately, when I went to reorder them a few months ago on Amazon I found that they’ve stopped selling them and that individual sellers have them listed for more than double what we were paying. This has caused us to be on a wipe search (although I actually did find them back on a few days ago so maybe they’ll be back for good).

My list of needs in baby wipes

-Don’t cause irritation or rashes

-Unscented/fragrance-free

-Affordable

-Clean ingredients (specifically no phthalates, parabens, or fragrance)

-Preferably in refillable packs as we already have containers to put them in

-Easy to peel apart and get one out at a time, we hate it when they are difficult and a handful comes out

-Thick enough that they don’t just tear apart

Kinds we have tried

Huggies natural: Easy to pull only one out of the container, thick, soft (we always bought them on amazon, but they stopped selling them for a while so we needed another option we like)

Abby & Finn: Very wet, clean ingredients

Pampers: Too thin, tear apart

Hello Bello: Very hard to get out of the container and peel apart, clean ingredients

Target up and up Sensitive Skin: Very soft, easy to pull out, clean ingredients

Target cloud island: Difficult to pull out, I hate how they smell (my husband said he hasn’t noticed a scent but it bothers me)

We quite like being able to order wipes online as we are getting low especially where we know we get them so quickly with prime, but I truthfully could not find any with the ingredients I wanted for the price I liked on Amazon. Then I saw the ingredients in the Babyganics wipes and was sold…until I read their reviews, oh my gosh there were so many complaints of black mold being on the wipes. No thank you. I decided to continue my search. I ended up on Target’s website, and saw they were having a sale on diapers and wipes so I decided to just start looking through their ingredients lists on the different wipes they sell. I was happily surprised to find that they have two of their baby store brands that have wipes with good ingredients. These are Up and Up Sensitive Skin wipes and Cloud Island Wipes. I ended up ordering some of both to figure out which we prefer and am really hopeful that one of them will work out for us.

After trying both we had a favorite by far. The Up and Up Sensitive Skin Wipes (this distinction is important as these have much better ingredients than both the unscented version, and scented version of Up and Up wipes) are fantastic. Like we loved them. Also can I just mention that it is only $12.39 for 736 wipes. Just for reference one of the most highly talked about natural wipes right now are called Water Wipes, they cost $42.99 for 720 wipes. For me, that’s just not affordable. These may have a few more ingredients than water wipes, but I have been very happy with their quality, price, and the ingredients they chose not to include.

Seriously after changing her the first time with the Up and Up wipes I knew they were a winner, but had to wait a while to make sure they didn’t cause a reaction or anything. They are so soft, didn’t have any apparent smell to me, and were SO EASY to get out of the container…finally (haha you might have noticed that is important to us). I also love the ingredients. Unfortunately as we all know there is currently a shortage in many things, and these are included in that so we haven’t been able to buy more in a few weeks. We were very grateful to see our Huggies Natural Wipes back on Amazon to get us through the next bit until we can get more. If you have been looking for a gentle baby wipe with clean ingredients I highly suggest trying the Up and Up brand (just make sure you check ingredients between their different scents, I felt like sensitive skin were the cleanest). I will list the ingredients below because I couldn’t find them on the website, so I got them off the package.

Up and Up Sensitive Skin Baby Wipes Ingredients

Purified Water

Citric Acid

Decyl Glucoside

Sodium Citrate

Tetrasodium Glutamate Diacetate

Gluconic Acid

Sodium Benzoate

This is what Target has started showing on their products and I love it. I got this one off of the Up and Up Sensitive Skin Wipes. It is so nice to have another safe way to know what companies are not putting in their products.