To My Husband, You Were Right

At what cost should I remain unwaveringly devoted to the principles of natural living? If the principles also happen to be closely connected to my faith (ie. abortion, euthanasia, war, on the conviction that these are all unnatural events and interrupt God's rhythm), then I stay steadfast. But if not, how much of a granola munching fundamentalist should I be? Bottom line: If it makes me go bankrupt, or keeps me from looking gorgeous, I'm second guessing it.

This all comes down to the fact that my culture enables insecure people to change themselves into whatever they want to be, at any price. It is an annoying thorn in my side knowing that if I would lower my standards by just a little bit I could perhaps skip over this whole post-partum haggard look and be transformed into one of those perfect looking moms who can fit into a size 4 right after giving birth. It's funny because for all my dedication to being Miss Organic, half the time it is a huge struggle for me. I don't even look the part of being a modern hippie, my husband and his big fatty beard does. I shave my armpits, thank you very much.

I live this lifestyle primarily for my children, and to give them the best start on life as possible. I also live this way because it how God intended us to live, more by the earth's rules and not our own. So that's why I can't shed my 20 lbs of baby weight as fast as I would like. Because as soon as I started cutting my calories down, my 8 wk old nursing baby, Jov, started fussing constantly. And no matter how much I would nurse him, it always seemed like he would have to hop back on 10 minutes later. Once I added the calories back on, no more Mr. Fussy. Breastfeeding is a non-negotiable for me, and I'm not giving Jov formula just so I can get rid of my love-handle-spillage.

So I started looking for some short cuts to fabulousness. In an attempt to make myself appear thinner I ignored the advice of my facebook friends and the usually wise counsel of my husband, and went tanning. Since I live in rural West Virginia (one of the most poverty stricken areas of the country) my options were limited. I ended up lying in a tanning bed that I'm pretty sure was from the 80's , with a dusty Wal-Mart fan blowing in from outside the bed, feeling much like a piece of fried chicken under some KFC lights. I got twenty minutes for only five bucks, and ten minutes in I knew why. I ended up hopping out after 18 minutes.

Two weeks later and I'm still peeling off the effects of my date with the human oven (sorry if that sounds offensive, but humans are literally baking themselves in tanning beds). I ended up getting a second degree burn! At one point the skin on my backside started to swell, and just walking around feeling my clothes move against my skin was excruciating.

With this much damage done, I decided to look up some facts about tanning bed and their effects. I found a study put out by WHO's International Agency for research on Cancer saying that UV tanning beds have been moved to it highest cancer risk category in "carcinogenic to humans". Which means it's in the same group as cigarettes and asbestos! The report also said,"The relationship between UV exposure and an increased risk of developing skin cancer is only likely to arise where over-exposure and burning in particular has taken place." Holy crap, that's me. An IARC report released in 2006 also found the usage of tanning beds before age 30 to be associated with a 75% increase in melanoma risk. Yikes, I'm starting to wish I've never tanned before. And lastly, the most sobering part of this report :

"The World Health Organization also estimates that as many as 60,000 people a year worldwide die from too much sun, mostly from malignant skin cancer.
Of these deaths, 48,000 are from melanoma, and 12,000 are from other skin cancers. About 90 percent of these cancers are caused by ultraviolet light from the sun."

So, I am very sorry Brandon, Meshach, Zeke, Noah, and Jov for ever stepping foot into a tanning salon. I wont do again!