Meet Lauren
Lauren’s Story
My name is Lauren. I live in northern Nevada with the love of my life and our two, sweet kiddos (at the time of writing this, my son is six and my daughter is one). I currently work full time and I have a background in hydrogeology and environmental science (I am currently a Hydrogeologist focussing on local water resources).
I have a strong passion for all things health and wellness related. This passion started when I was much younger (although I didn’t know it yet) when my mom was a health advocate before it was cool. I wasn’t allowed to use anti-perspirant deodorant back in the 1990s/2000s because she was convinced aluminum was not an acceptable ingredient to put near your lymphatic system (and she was right). She even replaced the Top Ramen spice packets with her own spice blend so we didn’t eat it with all the MSG but could still enjoy the experience of eating, “Top Ramen.” I resented this at the time and even used my money from my first job to purchase the same deodorant all my friends were using and I’d eat a Cup O’ Noodles any chance I could get when at a friend's house. This sounds disrespectful, but to be fair, the “natural” deodorant back then, truly did not work like the stuff on the market today and I really did sweat and smell like the all online jokes and memes represent. Anyway, the day finally came for me and my wellness journey when I was in my early 20s, like I was predestined to start spending my free time reading books and perusing internet rabbit holes (this drive came even before having children but really heightened once I became pregnant with my first).
I do not claim to be a subject matter expert on any of this. I am not a physician, I do not have a degree directly in toxicology or another related field, and I am absolutely not telling anyone how to live their life or what they should do. I make mistakes and I certainly don’t know everything and I will never claim to. I am a scientist and a mother and even more than that, I am truly interested in this field which aids in my ability to put information together. When you’re actually interested in something and you have a motive (like the health of my children), you’re just better at it than you would be if you weren’t interested. I am also a major skeptic and a critical thinker. I try not to be biased and I believe I do a pretty good job combing through the weeds and getting down to business.
My goal here is simple: I want to share information with other mamas who desire this content. I want to save a mother time by doing the leg work for her because time is our most precious commodity. Can you find all this information on the internet in scientific papers and summed up in blogs and recommendations on the internet? Absolutely. It’s all there, It’s how I found it too. But it takes time and it does take some expertise to parse through the jargon and other bullshit (so much bullshit). Everyone of you can do the same thing, I’ve just spent a lot of time and effort doing it, and I'm hoping my efforts can help another family too.
I call this the 80/20 Family Exposure Guide because truly living a 100% “healthy” lifestyle is unattainable. I don’t strive for 100% perfection because 1) it’s impossible; 2) it’ll ruin your sanity; and 3) we can’t afford it financially. I accept the 80/20 rule with most things in my life and I believe it’s best for my (and your) mental health. I choose things that I believe to be the most important and I tackle those; and the rest, well…the rest can just be an accepted risk worth taking.
Here are some things that you can expect from this page on GEM:
A comprehensive product recommendation list of items I regularly use in my life and with my family (this list will be made available immediately once GEM is officially launched. I will update the list as I find more products or change products). This list will include things like:
Cleaning products
Skin products
Supplements (daily and when feeling under the weather)
Snacks, food, condiments, oils, etc.
Shoes
Diapers/wipes
Toys
cookware/glassware/bottles
Clothing
Water filtration and purification systems
misc.
Non-tangible recommendations like the what, why, when, where on how to start removing the more harmful things you might be exposed to in your daily life. This will also include blog and book recommendations that helped me along my journey. This content will dribble in monthly. Some of it will be available when GEM launches.
A guide for how I vet products (using resources like EWG and others). This content will be made available immediately when GEM is initially launched (I will update as necessary).
Lauren’s weekly TIPPS (new TIPPS will come out weekly. 1 TIPP will be made available when GEM launches):
Tip: a simply weekly health tip for you and your family
Information: an easily digestible tid-bit of information you may or may not know (could be health and wellness related or natural resources and environmental science related)
Paper: I’ll dissect and summarize a relevant published scientific paper or news article (past or present). My hopes for this are to go beyond the click-bait, and often, misleading headlines and arm you with the facts (or supposed facts). I want to help people stay informed and delve into that critical thinking part of the brain.
Product: I’ll go into detail about one product from the “Comprehensive Product Recommendation List” describing why I choose this product
Snack: I’ll post a recipe for a snack or meal that myself and my kids love (this will be easy and digestible content (no pun intended)…just the name of the meal, a picture (maybe), the ingredient list (with links, if relevant), and the how-to. I despise all the recipes online that contain a 1,000 word essay before you even introduce the meal itself and I have absolutely zero intentions in participating in that culture.
Communication: chat with me on the slack channel and I will respond. Please feel free to question me on anything, make a production recommendation, make a correction/suggestion, etc. I’ll also vet some products for you if you have one you’re specifically interested in that are not on my list. This can be an evolution of things and we will see where it goes but please, just communicate any and all the things. Chatting in Slack will be available immediately once you join GEM. We all need each other and I am so excited to be here, thank you for sharing your time with me. You’re doing great, Mama!
Welcome to GEM, I can’t wait to meet you!