So, about me…

I am a scientist . . . I am a mother. In my days before children, I was a believer in the wonders of medical technology and pharmaceutical innovation. It was amazing to ponder the potential scientific and technological developments that could impact Western medicine and benefit humanity. Scientists and physicians are more and more willing, and able, to try to “play God” in our ever-evolving culture of scientific innovations which has resulted in some amazing, valuable, and useful information, therapies, and treatments.

It was not until I became a mother that some of my ways of thinking about medicine began to change. While it was appreciably cool what we could do as scientists, it became quickly clear to me that it might not be cool to inject too much science and technology in natural human processes such as birth, infancy, and childhood.

As my years of motherhood begin to accrue, our family has had a few health issues and hurtles to tackle that have challenged me to further consider and carefully weigh each and every health care choice.

Our health issues are thankfully quite minor in the grand scheme of things, but they have awakened my motherly intuition and have challenged my scientific way of thinking about many health-related issues. These experiences have caused me to appreciate my love of science and my science education from an entirely new perspective. My education has equipped me with the tools to help me understand the science behind Western medicine and my intuition tells me when to question Western medicine. Broken bone - yep, mainstream medicine - x-ray, cast, etc. Chronic childhood constipation – a little more to think about than giving a laxative long-term. . .

The concept of The Science Mom was born a few years ago as I began trying to meaningfully merge my maternal intuition and my knowledge of science. This blog will reflect on my evolution as a mother and a scientist, which has now extended beyond questions of health and medicine to include nutrition, urban farming, self-sustainability, and working toward becoming an eco-conscious family.

You know there's a problem when

Eggs. At least according to some establishments, eggs are more than just eggs.

Don't ask me why I was looking at Taco Bell's on-line "ingredient statement" - it was a temporary lapse in judgment... I tried to justify it to myself with the thought - "well, what if..." - as in, "what if we were driving a long distance, and Taco Bell were the only option at the time...?" But really, I think it was more driven by the "old me" pondering how nice it might be to have another 'fast food' option in our current gluten-free, casein/milk-free, soy-free, mostly egg-free, but sometimes fast-paced life...

So, I perused the Taco Bell "ingredient statement"- in awe at the complexity of what should've been rather simple food ingredients, amazed by the commonplace appearance of terms like "anti-caking agent," and perplexed by the sheer length of the list of ingredients for some menu items and then I noticed the entry for "egg."

Seriously - "egg" is the actual 'name' for this menu item for which I think 17 ingredients are listed (it's a bit hard to discern what is an "ingredient" and what is a description of an ingredient or what is a sub-ingredient)....

Wow! SEVENTEEN ingredients comprise the Taco Bell version of "egg." And no, it's not simply a listing of the wholesome, natural ingredients in the feed that some humanely treated hens were given prior to laying beautiful, fresh, free-range, organic eggs.

No, this is a list in which "Butter Flavor" has it's own parenthetical listing of eleven (I think I've got it right, 11) ingredients - including an "anti-foaming agent" and "natural and artificial flavors." Don't forget the undefined "BHT" which is apparently added to help "protect flavor" - really?...what IS BHT anyway? Do they abbreviate it because the chemical name is too scary for an average patron to read in a food ingredient list? (BTW, "BHT" is presumably butylated hydroxytoluene - which I'm pretty sure I don't want to purposefully ingest, but . . .)

Over the past couple of years, I have become more knowledgable about prepared and processed foods as a result of my family's need to eliminate certain foods from our diets (e.g., gluten, casein/milk, soy, and egg; and for a while at least, corn).

I have realized how artificial our food supply actually is in the U.S. and I have changed my way of thinking about what is a "healthy choice" in foods. I have realized that 'convenience' is truly a state of mind - and in the U.S., current beliefs on what is convenient in relation to food results in our consupmption of stuff that is called "food" but is not exactly what ought to be considered food.

I hope you'll tune in and join me as I continue to evolve as a scientist-turned-patent-agent-turned-freelance-editor-turned-home-birthing-homeschooling-mother who is discovering the joys of living gluten-free, casein-free, soy-free, mostly-egg-free. It's been quite a journey thus far and certainly more adventures await us as we work toward becoming more self-sustainable, delve into urban farming, and work to build a sense of community in our town of Altadena, CA.