Great Resource for Finding Safe Personal Care Products

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As a follow-up to the last post, I thought you might be interested in a great resource for evaluating the safety of your personal care products. I use it all the time to find the least toxic shampoos, soap, hairspray, toothpaste... you name it. It's called "Skin Deep," the Environmental Working Group's cosmetic safety database. But, like I said, it covers a lot more than just cosmetics. You can look up products by type of product or by the company name. If you go to the advanced search, you can even choose to have the search engine list only products that "do not include 'fragrance' as an ingredient" or are "made with some organically grown ingredients." It's great! Check it out: http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/

A Breath of Fresh Air

Did you know that February is National "Care About Your Indoor Air" Month?

The picture above is of the lake across the road from our house... last summer. Doesn't it look pristine? It doesn't quite look like that now! Nope-- It's all ice and snow. We've had a lot of sub-zero days this winter, which has unfortunately kept me indoors most of the time. I know, I really ought to brave the cold weather and be a real northern Minnesota girl. Well, maybe tomorrow. :)

When I do go for a walk outside, I love to breathe in the crisp air. It really feels like you're getting more oxygen per breath in the winter. The contrast between the fresh outdoor air and the air that we breathe inside our house each day is quite noticeable. It really makes a person long for warm weather and the opportunity to spend full days outside. But... it's just the beginning of February, so that means we have a couple months to go yet. In the meantime, we'll have to settle for braving the chilly weather outside or doing our best to improve the air we breathe indoors.

What's wrong with the air in our homes? Well... here are some facts for you:

• Studies show (and the EPA states) that indoor air pollution can be 2 to 5, and even up to 100 times as bad as outdoor air pollution.
• One of these pollutants may be Formaldehyde, present in most buildings, which can leach into the air.
• Polluted air can lead to heart disease, respiratory problems, asthma, and even cancer. 
• If health problems have not progressed to the point of serious disease, one may still experience something called "Sick Building Syndrome," which is characterized by chronic nasal congestion, fatigue, reduced cognitive functioning, headaches, dizziness, and an increased sensitivity to odors.

Most people spend 80-90% of their time indoors.


Where does this air pollution come from?
(These are just a few sources)

• Outgassing from paints & stains, furniture, carpet, other building materials
• Biological pollutants (mold, bacteria, viruses, dust mites, animal dander, etc.)
• Household cleaning products
• Cosmetics (think nail polish), Hair-care products (hair sprays), Body care products (scented lotions & potions)
• Candles and Air fresheners
• Office machines and tools (copy machines, computers, printers, correction fluid, permanent markers, etc)
• Second-hand smoke

What can you do?

• Paint over your existing paint or stain with a low VOC (volatile organic compounds) paint like SafeCoat to keep the VOCs out of the air you breathe
• Practice regular surface cleaning
• Purchase a good quality air cleaner
• Burn pure beeswax candles or soy candles naturally scented with essential oils instead of artificially scented and/or parrafin candles. (Beeswax candles actually help purify your air!) Make sure they have cotton wicks. Other wicks have been known to contain lead!
• Use only non-toxic cleaning products. Look at your local natural foods store or make your own!
• Choose safer cosmetics, hair care, and body care products. Here's a great resource.  
• Open the windows on warmer days
• Add some detoxifying plants to your home decor. NASA studies have proven that house plants can reduce toxins in the home by up to 85%. Some of the best are palms, ferns, English Ivy... and even Gerbera daisies!
• Don't smoke! (Just say no to drugs)
• Take the Indoor Air Quality Quiz and learn about the air you breathe.

Sources/Additional Reading:

Natural News:

• Indoor Air Pollution is a Serious Threat to Your Health
• Indoor Air Pollution: Look at the Causes and Solutions 
• Indoor Air in Homes Often Contaminated with Formaldehyde from Building Materials
• Air Pollution Has Negative Effects on Heart Health

The Daily Green: How to Purify the Air in Your Home

The Environmental Protection Agency: Indoor Air Pollution: An Introduction for Health Professionals

The Ontario Lung Association "Your Healthy Home: Tips for Improving Air Quality In and Around Your Home"

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"Go Green"... with Green Smoothies

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Just about everyone knows they *should* include more green leafy vegetables in their diet. However, those are just the foods at which children tend to turn up their little noses. It took Popeye the Sailor Man half a century ago, to encourage the eating of spinach. After all, he knew it would help build strong muscles and give him lots of energy. It's true! (Although canned spinach hardly compares to fresh, raw greens). Green leafy vegetables, including spinach, chard, kale, collard greens, mustard greens and the like are full of important nutrients:

• Vitamin C
• Vitamins A, D, E, and K
• Fiber
• Cancer-fighting compounds
• Vitamin K, Calcium, and Magnesium, which help strengthen bones
• Heart-protective nutrients
• Anti-inflammatory agents
• Protective nutrients for eyesight
• Vitamins to improve cognitive function
• Iron for energy
• B Vitamins for energy and the ability to deal with stress
• Manganese to help balance blood sugar, activate enzymes, and improve thyroid function
• Trace minerals, which most Americans seem to be deficient in these days

These a truly "super-foods!" With all those benefits available to us, why should we skimp on our greens?!

Okay. So, not everyone likes to eat salads three times a day. Especially not for breakfast. And those green leafies are a lot of fiber and can take FOREVER to eat properly (chewing *at least* 30 times per mouthful until you have created a watery "bolus," but that's another discussion). So, how can we make sure to get our greens--reducing them to a pulverized state so our bodies can digest them well-- without taking an hour or two for each meal?

Ann Wigmore (1909-1994) was co-founder of the Hippocrates Health Institute and the author of several books on "living foods." She was both a holistic health practitioner and a nutritionist, and a strong advocate of a diet that consists of only whole, raw, "living" foods. To include more greens in a form that is easier on the digestive system, she pioneered the blending of greens into raw "soups," which were then served at the Hippocrates Institute to those who were working to overcome serious illness.

Green Smoothies were made popular by a woman named Victoria Boutenko, a Russian woman who came to America with her husband and two children in the 1990s. She was invited to teach about Russia at community college in Denver. When she and her family first arrived, they were thrilled with the new variety of "foods" sold in American grocery stores... things that were convenient and didn't take much time or effort to make, i.e. our great variety of processed foods. After consuming American processed foods from grocery stores and fast food restaurants nearly exclusively, all four of the Boutenkos became very ill. The father had rhumatoid arthritis, the mother was obese, the son had juvenile diabetes, the daughter had athesma. After a lot of research and networking, they stumbled onto the raw food vegan way of eating. Gradually, their health problems went away, and they regained vibrant health. As a part of this new way of eating, Victoria struggled to get more greens into her family's diet, in a way that was palatable and more exciting than simply eating salads all the time. The answer? Green Smoothies! She even wrote a book about the benefits of including daily green smoothies as a part of a healthy diet: Green For Life.

Green smoothies, as mentioned in a previous post, are simply delicious fruit smoothies with a handful or two of leafy green goodness blended right in! Some basic guidelines follow:

• Fruit or berry base (frozen berries, fresh or frozen bananas, other fruit or combinations: pears, oranges, pineapple, coconut flesh, apple, etc)
• liquid to thicken (water, coconut water, coconut milk, juice, low-or non-caffeinated tea)
• sweetener (soaked dried fruit like dates, raw honey, stevia)
• greens (spinach, kale, collards, arugula, chard, mustard greens, dandelion greens, foraged greens, parsley, cilantro)
• optional additional herbs/spices/flavorings: mint, basil, coconut oil, vanilla, almond extract, cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, etc)

Challenge for the week:

Using the guidelines above, experiment on your own. If you come up with a particularly delicious recipe you'd like to share, post it below!

For more information:

http://www.rawfamily.com/

http://www.greenforlife.com/

http://www.whfoods.com/