Archive for General Health
Celebrate Earth Day 2010 with Shaklee Basic H!
Posted by: | CommentsThis year marks the 40th birthday of Earth Day (April 22) and the 50th birthday of Shaklee’s Basic-H.
Basic-H was THE first all natural, biodegradable, non-toxic home cleaner on the market in 1960! That’s 10 years BEFORE the first Earth Day! Dr. Shaklee was certainly a man well ahead of his time with his philosophy of ‘nature first’ and ‘do no harm to the environment’ when he started his business in 1956. And, that philosophy continues today, some 54 years after the company began.
Basic-H was an official Earth Day product in 1970 and is still recognized as the industry leader as a non-toxic, biodegradable, and super concentrated organic cleaner.
Hear what Shaklee Chairman and CEO Roger Barnett has to say about being stewards of the environment which embodies the very essence of Earth Day……
Please do your part to make everyday a ‘Happy Earth Day!’
The Facts About Fats In Your Diet
Posted by: | CommentsDo you have as much difficulty as I do in keeping various information about ‘fats’ straight, like which is good and which is bad? Here’s some information to help clarify things a little. Fats in your diet are absolutely necessary, but the type and amount of fat you get is important. USDA says you should be getting about 30% of your daily calories from fats. So for a 2000 calorie a day diet you should get around 60 grams of total fat, less than 16 grams saturated fat, less than 2 grams trans-fat, and a total cholesterol intake less than 300 mg.
Four Types of Fat in Diet
- Monounsaturated Fat
- Polyunsaturated Fat
- Saturated Fat
- Trans Fat
Are You at Risk of Getting a ‘Clostridium difficile’ Infection?
Posted by: | Comments
Many people are very concerned about the outbreaks of health care acquired infections that have recently been widely reported in hospitals and other settings. These infections have been traced to the bacteria Clostridium difficile, also known as C. difficile. This is a highly infectious pathogen that is very resistant to many front line commonly utilized antibiotics.
In order to increase your ability to live longer and live healthier you must do what you can to enhance your immune system and become as resistant as possible to infections caused by these type bacteria.
The following may increase your risk of getting C. difficile infection …..
- Hospital stay: Staying in a hospital too long or sharing a room with a C. difficile infected person increases your risk.
- Nasogastric tube: A common medical procedure involves using a NG tube or NGT. This is typically put into your nose and down your stomach to feed you or keep your stomach empty. Having an NGT may promote a C. difficile infection
- Age: Elderly are more susceptible to C. difficile infections as the body changes overtime. Newborn babies also have an increased risk of being infected
- Antacids: These medicines decrease the stomach acid that can kill harmful bacteria.
- Antibodies: Antibiotics are medicines that kill bacteria, including the good ones. Taking such medicines may upset the balance between the good and bad bacteria in the colon.
- Dormant Infection: The C. difficile bacteria from a previous infection may still be in your system and could cause another infection.
- Weak Immune System: The immune (body’s defense) system is that part of your body that fights infection. Chemotherapy and other medicines, such as steroids, decrease your immune system and make it weak. Having surgeries or procedures, such as an organ transplant, in the past may also affect your body defenses.
So, what can you do to decrease your risk of acquiring C. difficile?
Plastics & BPA – What you don’t know CAN hurt you!
Posted by: | CommentsThere has been much discussion and controversy lately regarding the safety (or lack of) of plastics in our environment, as well as, in our food and water supplies. As an environmental scientist I can assure you that it is much more insidious with far more negative impacts than most people realize.
Is this intended to scare you? Well, let’s hope so! It would be great if you get concerned enough to actually take actions that can help protect you and your family from plastic ‘pollution’ as much as possible and perhaps allow you to live longer and healthier lives. Many of us have been complacent for far too long assuming that ‘business’ and government agencies have been looking out for our best health interests. Unfortunately, that is just not always the case.
Who cares, what’s the big deal anyway? The big deal is that there are components in plastic containers that break down and leach into the liquid and food they contain. One of major concern is BPA or bis-Phenol A. BPA is a building block of plastics and has long been known to be an endocrine disruptor. That means the human body ‘sees’ this man-made substance as a hormone that can be taken up by our endocrine system and used in place of one of our many human hormones that are essential for so many of our proper body functions. 
Our endocrine system includes our gonads, hypothalamus, pituitary, thyroid, pancreas, adrenal, and pineal glands. These are all critical components of our endocrine system and their proper functioning is essential for good health. Imagine what could happen if a little piece of BPA is mistakenly taken up by your body to be used in place of a human produced hormone. It certainly could ‘disrupt’ your endocrine system and cause untold havoc in your body.
Bisphenol A is found in hundreds of household products, including plastic bottles, as well as, baby bottles and food containers. It is also present in the linings of canned goods such as sodas, soup, baby formula and canned fruits and vegetables.
Pesticide Exposure from Food Products
Posted by: | CommentsWe are all familiar with the saying that ‘you are what you eat’ and never has that fact been more important than today. With all the news we hear regarding global warming and the environment more and more people are aware that everyday choices can make a big difference in their lives or the lives of their children.
This is especially true in choosing the foods we eat which are greatly impacted by the farming methods used to produce them. Is it worth buying organically grown foods instead of conventionally grown ones? Foods produced from conventional farming methods usually contain numerous chemical residues from the many pesticides and herbicides such farming utilizes. Organically grown foods should be free of pesticides and herbicides in order to be ‘certified organic’. It is certainly up to you to decide but a couple things to keep in mind regarding our food products and pesticide exposure in children.
- Shoppers Guide To Pesticides indicates that 96% of some fruits and 82% of some vegetables contain pesticide residue
- According to a report in Environmental Health Perspectives , blood samples of children aged 2 to 4, concentrations of pesticide residues are six times higher in children eating conventionally farmed fruits and vegetables compared with those eating organic foods.
Additional information regarding children and health can be found at the US EPA website America’s Children and The Environment.
Still not convinced that organic may be the way to go for you and your family in order to minimize pesticide exposure from the foods you eat? Then at the very least be sure to thoroughly clean your fruits and vegetables with a non-toxic, biodegradable cleaner prior to eating. This can help to remove at least some of the pesticide residue present on nearly all conventionally produced fruits and vegetables. Be aware and be proactive in helping to protect yourself and your family from the many environmental pollutants we face each day. It can certainly make a difference in your health and longevity.
Your Health IS Your Greatest Wealth!
Earth Day April 22 – End Toxic Cleaners
Posted by: | CommentsApril 22 is Earth Day and a great time to look in your kitchen cabinets and see how many toxic cleaners you’re using that are polluting your home and our environment. Did you know that the average home generates over 26 pounds of toxic, hazardous waste every year ? Most of that is attributed to typical household cleaning products. What’s under your sink ? See for yourself what the National Institute of Health has to say about toxic household cleaners and see if the ones you use are on their list.
Next, check out a short video from the Rachael Ray show about ‘Green Cleaners’ and see how you can help save the environment and save money too.
(You can order Shaklee non toxic cleaners here if interested)
Live Longer & Healthier With a Healthy Lifestyle
Posted by: | CommentsThere is no doubt that optimal health is the most prized possession one can have. So the real question is how do we get and maintain such a state so that we can be more productive, live longer, and live healthier? It comes from maintaining a healthy lifestyle on a consistent basis. Do you believe you currently have a healthy lifestyle or that perhaps it could be improved upon?
Ever even think about it?
Well, here are 10 very powerful factors that contribute to a healthy lifestyle and optimal health:
1. Having a well balanced and nutritious diet
2. Augmenting that diet with high quality vitamins and mineral supplements to ensure you’re getting all your essential nutrients
3. Exercising regularly …… that means doing something everyday to help keep your body in shape. Whatever it is you enjoy doing as exercise, do it for at least 30 minutes each day without fail.
4. Maintaining a weight that’s appropriate for your height. Being overweight is the leading cause of declining health in America today.
5. Eliminating or reducing stress on a day to day basis. It’s not what happens to you as much as how you react to a particular circumstance that creates stress…..practice patience and acceptance. Read More→
Should You Be Eating Genetically Engineered Foods?
Posted by: | CommentsWarning!
According to Organic Consumers Association
(http://www.organicconsumers.org/) many of the large food manufacturers and distributors like Kellogg’s, Coca Cola, Kraft and others are getting their sugar from Monsanto’s genetically engineered sugar beets. Do you have any idea how many processed foods contain sugar? Thousands!
Many scientists are concerned that genetically engineered foods may affect you in many ways such as:
- Aggravate allergies
- Increase cancer risks
- Result in antibiotic resistant pathogens
- Decrease food quality
- Produce dangerous toxins
- Spread to non genetically altered plants and change them forever,
- Permanently alter the gene pool of many plants
- Increase toxic pesticide use since genetically engineered foods can withstand them
- Increase pollution
- Result in super pests and superweeds
Also, Read More→
Are Supplements The Key to Complete Nutrition?
Posted by: | CommentsThink you’re getting all the vitamins and minerals you need from the foods you’re eating? Well I used to think that too until I did some research and found out otherwise. Things are not always as they seem though. Unfortunately, no matter how conscientious we are about choosing wholesome nutritious foods we still need to augment that with high quality vitamin and mineral supplements. I’m talking about needing to take additional vitamins and minerals to supplement primarily anything grown and sold as food, including fruits, vegetables, grain products.
There are many factors that may influence the vitamin and mineral content we receive from the foods we eat daily;
SOIL
- One of the most important factors is the soil in which it is grown. That soil is probably alot more important than most people realize. Various studies by the US Department of Agriculture has shown declining nutrient content in several foods over the last 30 years because the nutrients are no longer in the soil for the plants to absorb.
- Paul Bergner shows in his book The Healing Power of Minerals …..’ that between 1963 and 1997 several fuits and vegetables studied by the USDA were found to have their calcium content down nearly 30%, iron down 32%, magnesium down 21%, phosphorus down 11%, and potassium down 6.5%.
- Similarly, a 50 year British study from the UK Ministry of Agriculture shows that from 20 different fruits and vegetables considered there was a decline in vegetables of 81% in calcium content, 65% for magnesium, and 86% for potassium, just to name a few.
- Modern farming practices use massive amounts of fertilizers (nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus) to prepare the soil for further planting but this doesn’t replace other needed nutrients. Also, phosphorus actually interacts with iron, sodium, calcium, boron, and aluminum and may keep those nutrients from being available to the plants, thus lessening their availability
- Plants take about a dozen nutrients from the soil but typical large scale farming practices only add three (nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus) ….. ever wonder why that is? Read More→
