Eliminate Toxic Chemicals Wherever You Can

Hello Everyone,

A news story on Yahoo News yesterday caught my eye. It's titled Common Chemicals May Delay Pregnancy, by Steven Reinberg. The original story was reported in HealthDay.com on January 29, 2009 from a report in Human Reproduction, online edition. [Whew! researching the veracity of a report is exhausting]

The study concludes that perfluorinated chemicals, commonly found in food packaging, pesticides, clothing, finishes used in upholstery and carpeting and personal care products, may delay pregnancy.

What the heck are Perfluorinated Chemicals?
The link takes you to a site that has documents, but nobody is credited or discredited with the authorship of the document, and likewise, nothing is documented, not even the "quotes". So whatever you read there is very unreliable and unprofessional, but also very inflammatory. Could be true, maybe not. This illustrates the need to use your own common sense all the time.

However, in the spirit of 'where there's smoke there's fire', my point in even bringing this to your attention is this: if ever there were an argument for buying organic as much as possible, and certified organic whenever you can, or buying from a local farmer that you know his farming practices are natural/organic - this is more encouragement.

We live in a time of "pick your poison". Eliminate whenever and wherever you can. Period.

Years ago when Teflon first came out - this is a true story - I picked up a fry pan with this new finish. Wow, look how easily that burnt on food just washed away! But, something inside of me said, "NO." It was that simple and that clear, instantly. I had a gut reaction to it. My own Inner Guidance telling me to stick with the stainless steel - pain in the butt to clean, but stay the course. Of course, my Dad worked for a steel company, so I really knew and understood stainless steel.

Read the information for yourselves, folks. Then, feel the veracity of anything in your own gut.
You have the same Inner Guidance that I do.

One more thing. There are lots of "organic" and organic wanna be's out there.

My recommendation for personal health care products still stands with only one: One Group, makers of Miessence and MiVitality and MiEnviron. They have set the bar for anyone who aspires to be certified organic. Their personal care products are made to FOOD GRADE standards. No one else comes close. Honest Skincare.

When I recommend something, it is because without a doubt I know that these products will do no harm, and they will do lots of Good.

Thanks for reading!

Kath

Potent Herbs, Health and You

Good Day Everyone,

I'm on a kick....just finished reading my favorite author, Barbara Kingsolver's newest book, Animal, Vegetable and Miracle.

I am a writer, as well, but Barbara Kingsolver is the master. She has such a way with her words.
In this book you can learn a bunch, laugh out loud and be inspired to change your life. The journey is about how they moved to Appalachia to the family farm to eat locally for one year.

In the book Kingsolver describes how and why organically grown food is up to 60% more nutritious than commercially and industrially grown food. It's because the plant has to build up it's resistance and fight off bugs and infections. In the course of this "struggling" it builds up character in the form of high nutrition and antioxidants.

Kingsolver is a biologist, yet tells her story in lyrical ways and you hardly know you're learning something profound. No you don't have to smear blueberries on your face, but definitely eat them in season and freeze some or can some for eating later in the year.

Honest Skincare is about the honest naked truth. And the Truth is that the food we eat from the grocery story is largely produced by genetically modified seed and in worn out ground and replete with synthetic pesticides and fertilizers, non of which is good for the plant or the human.

Recently (within the last year) I have been conducting my own personal research on the subject of compromised immune systems. Why? Because people all around me, including myself, have been dealing with compromised immune systems. This startles me because most of the folks I know still really "cook" dinner, don't eat fast foods or junk foods, and pay attention. So I started my sleuthing and it seems (although the final results are still not in) that it all points to our food.

If you want a healthy body, lovely skin, you must start with the nutrition that used to come potently and naturally in the foods we eat. In like if you are using "organic" skin care, then you MUST be certain that it is CERTIFIED ORGANIC. Certified Organic will insure that the plants or herbs are NOT genetically modified and that they are potent and the life force in them viable and available to feed your skin, your body, your hair, your teeth.

Buy now, the Quality you deserve. If not, buy later - the medical bills to fix it.
Quality is a noun...it says Life. You get to choose.

Thanks for reading,

Kath

Greenwashing and Spin

Good Day Everyone!

It's a glorious one up here in the Cuyamaca Mountains. Fall is upon us, at last.

Today I want to talk about the spin doctors of health and wellness. Yep. Sad to say, but everyone wants on the bandwagon of "green" but few, very few are willing to put their dollars into quality to deserve the credit.

We have to start with definitions, because the definitions are what have been muddied. Sigh.
So. Let's start with the word "natural". Natural by definition means that which exists in nature in its pure state. Man has nothing to do with how it got there. It is created and evolved in nature. Natural plants are the ones that have acclimatized to a region or area. They sprout up. OK. We're clear about natural. It is of , in and pertaining to nature without man's interference.

Now let's tackle "organic". First of all there is a course of study called "organic chemistry." I know because I suffered through one of those courses at Ohio State when I was a premed student. It followed human anatomy (real cadavers) and preceded microbiology. Now organic chemistry is pretty much the study of carbon-containing compounds, humans included. For the purposes of heath and wellness, though, this is not the definition of organic that applies. For in this definition, petroleum is an "organic" compound because it is the result of organic (carbon-containing matter) that has evolved over time from heat and pressure into oil.

Gosh, we're gonna get so smart, it's scary.

For the purposes of health and wellness products or all types and for food, the definition of "organic" is something that has been grown, propagated, raised, harvested and processed for market without any synthetic chemicals at any stage of the cycle. This includes the soils that the plants or animals are "grown" in. No steroids, no pesticides, no artificial fertilizers. I can tell you raising anything organically is bloody hard work, for most of the remedies are mechanical which pretty much translates into labor. So we're clear about the true definition of "organic". Now lots of folks grow organically and are not certified. I pretty much find that these people are true to their word, because growing organically is a life style choice and accompanies true hearts with the full intention of bringing only goodness to you.

Now, let's tackle "certified organic". Certified Organic means that an independent third party certifies that the produce, cow, product, formulation is exactly that. They have stringent guidelines that must be adhered to. They inspect and they promise you, sort of like Verisign, that "this is truly safe."

When something is certified organic, such as a skin care cream, shampoo, etc. It also means it meets other standards. Significantly that 95% of the composition of that product must be "organic matter" excluding the water and salt. Yep. Let me repeat that.....95% of the composition of that product is organic matter, which is alive, potent, nourishing and vital. This translates to good for you, all of it.

Now, what does it mean when you read a label in the health food store on a shampoo that says, "73% organic". This is a greenwashing technique. Here's what they do. They boil a vat of water. they throw in organic tea bags to impart the herbs into the water. Now they consider that the water is included in the organic composition, when really what is true is that it's about 3% organic. Then read the rest of the label to see what "fillers" and other synthetics have been added.

You can get perfectly wonderful organic items without it saying "certified organic", but you'd better be darn good at reading the labels and interpreting them. We'll cover this in my next blog.
For now, just know, that there's a brand new standard out there being set by some wonderfully visionary folks - and it's called "Certified Organic". It's a term that absolutely cannot be messed with, because it's absolute.

Won't it be fun to see how these few visionary people change entire industries? Lives?

I can't wait.

Thanks for reading!

Kath

Xenohormones - Get The Facts

Hi Everyone,

Today we're going to learn about xenohormones. I first learned about this in 2004 when a very dear friend of mind was diagnosed with multiple large fibroid tumors within her uterus. She was past menopause. I can tell you now that she did successfully shrink all the tumors and a hysterectomy was avoided. She did it by transforming her diet, what she used on her skin, and by eliminating her exposure to xenohormones. Like you, she had no idea until this situation occurred.
So, the good news is, it is reversible and it's avoidable. So let's get started.

Let's start at the beginning. This is taken directly from http://www.womenlivingnaturally.com/articlepage.php?id=73. I quote. I put the take notice areas in pink.

"Xenohormones are man-made substances that are foreign to the body and have a hormone-like effect. Most xenohormones have an estrogen-like effect and so are sometimes called xenoestrogens.

Common sources of Xenohormones

• Synthetic estrogens and progestins, as are found in oral contraceptives and conventional hormone replacement therapies.
  
  
• All American-grown, non-organic livestock, which are fed estrogenic drugs to fatten them.
  
  
• Petrochemically-derived pesticides, herbicides and fungicides.
  
  
• Solvents and adhesives (as in fingernail polish and polish remover, glue, cleaning supplies).
  
  
• Car exhaust.
  
  
• Emulsifiers found in soaps and cosmetics.
  
  
• Almost all plastics, given off especially when plastics become hot or are heated.
  
  
• Industrial wastes such as polychlorinated biphenyls(PCBs) and dioxins.

Disorders related to Xenohormone exposure

• Increase in reproductive-site cancers (breast, uterine, & ovarian).
  
  
• Decreased fertility.
  
  
• Increased PMS problems.
  
  
• Estrogen dominance epidemic.

NOTE: You can absorb xenohormones by ingestion, inhalation and direct skin contact.

What You can do to minimize Xenohormone exposure

• Avoid all synthetic and horse hormones (oral contraceptives and conventional HRT).
  
  
• Eat Certified organic meat and dairy, and/or avoid the fat of non-organic meat and dairy (this is where the xenohormones will concentrate).
  
  
• Decrease or stop all conventional pesticides, lawn and garden chemicals, etc. (use natural instead). Don't contract with conventional lawn services that use these sprays (most do); they are extremely toxic, and full of xenohormones.
  
  
• Wear protective gloves and clothing when in contact with any glues, solvents, cleaning solutions, etc., that contain xenohormones.
  
  
• Buy cosmetics and skin care and personal care products without xenohormones.
  
  
• Avoid particle-board, synthetic-fiber carpets and fake woods as much as possible. (Those chemicals you smell are toxins and xenohormones.)
  
  
• Ventilate properly when in contact with any of these materials. (Think ahead; for example, if you do install synthetic-fiber carpets, do so when the windows can be opened-it takes months to out-gas the chemical.)

Estrogen dominance is when your body has excess estrogen in relation to the amount of progesterone.This almost always occurs when women have used birth control and are exposed to exogenous sources of "estrogen like" chemicals/xenohormones. Estrogen dominance can be reduced by supplementing with Bioidentical progesterone cream and by reducing your exposure to environmental toxins or xenohormones. "

So what does this have to do with you? Everything. When you consume foods that have pesticides, you are consuming xenohormones. When you apply cosmetics that use synthetic preservatives, you are consuming xenohormones. You body does not know what to do with these "false" estrogens. So they are "stored" in areas like your breast, your uterus, your ovaries. This is also true for children and young adults, boys and girls alike. When you consider how many ways in a day that you are "consuming" xenohormones, it becomes problematic by its frequency and intensity. Every time you microwave in plastic. The plastic water bottle that you leave in the car. Your skin lotion, the SPF, the shave cream, the pesticides in the water supply, prescribed medicines.

Better living through chemistry is not necessarily so.

Here's what can you do?

• Use glass or ceramics whenever possible to store food and water
• Heat food up in the microwave in glass or ceramic covered dish
• Use a simple detergent with less chemicals. This includes laundry detergents and household cleaners
• Use certified organic soaps, shampoo and personal care products.
• Use natural pest control not pesticides
• Don't use herbicides instead use a cup of salt in 4ltr of vinegar

• Wear natural fibres

• Buy hormone free certified organic meats
• Buy organic produce, vegetables and fruits grown without pesticides, herbicides or synthetic fertilizes or hormones
• Use anti-oxidant supplementation of Vit A,C,E to combat Xeno-Estrogen effects
• Eat Broccoli Cabbage etc.
  
• Use condoms without spermicides instead of birth control
  
• Avoid parabens used in skin lotions.Check the ingredients
  
• Balance your system with natural progesterone creams (yam, cohash, thistle) that have no parabens.
  

Now you're informed. Take it one step at a time. It took me over a year to transform my cosmetics and medicine chest. I bought a stainless steel to go mug. I use a recycled iced tea bottle for water. I use glass for heating up foods in the microwave. But do begin. You're worth it and so are all the members of your family.

Thanks for reading!


Kath