With the summer in full swing, you are going out in the sun and having fun. But because of some bad media attention, we are afraid to leave our house without sunscreen on. This sets us up for Vitamin D deficiency which in turn, can set us up for disease states which include cancer. The very reason the media has warned us to stay away from the sun!
Before the 80s, you never heard anything about the harmful effects of the sun. I grew up without wearing sunscreen, in fact I can't count the amount of times my shoulders were burned. Ouch! Now burning skin is not good, but getting 15 minutes a day without sunscreen is beneficial! Some myths surrounding the sun:
So my questions is: Is it the sun that is causing our problems or the sunscreens? Before sunscreen use, we had very little skin cancers because people were working outside and building up a tan (not burning). Starting in the 1950s, the first sunscreens only protected against UVB rays setting us up 30-40 years later for skin cancer. Now (beginning in the 1990s), there is broad spectrum sunscreens that protects against both UVA and UVB rays. I am not against wearing sunscreens, in fact, you SHOULD wear a broad specturm, after you get your 15 minutes or so of Vitamin D. That said, not all sunscreens are not created equal! Let's take a look at what is in your typical sunscreen: If you look at the ingredients in typical sunscreens you will see a host of ingredients you can't even say never mind what they mean! I have talked about the skin absorbing what we put on it, right? So why wouldn't it absorb the chemicals in sunscreen?
What you can do: As with any other label, read the ingredients. Zinc Oxide or Titanium Dioxide should be the main ingredient. Look for sunscreens with minimal other ingredients and make sure you know what these ingredients are or at least can pronounce them! Environmental Working Group (www.ewg.org) puts out a list every year that can help you in your search. A few brands that I like: California Baby, Badger, 100percent pure, Jason. These can be purchased in most health food stores. And a more recent discovery, scratch momma. She has a website where she sells products made from scratch, but you can also purchase the products. I purchased her homemade sunscreen made with only a few ingredients and I love it! I'm not sure how water resistant it is, but it should be fine. Just a quick note on the above products. These are products that I have used and have not reacted to, they also pass my "screening" as cleaner products. There may be others on the market that I have not used that are just as good (clean). I tend to stick with products when I like them, but I do not have any affiliations with any of these companies, I am here to raise awareness. You can take this information and start looking at labels. Do your research and find the best products for you. Sources: The Vitamin D solution, Michael F Holick; Cosmeticinfo.org
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A few weeks ago, I did a blog post about making your own deodorant. I wanted to show you just how easy it is to make it. So, with my son's help, here is the video.
We are going to continue detoxing our pantry. Last week we tackled trans fats and high fructose corn syrup. This week it's Monosodium glutamate (MSG), we are only doing one because there are many places it hides.
What is MSG? MSG is a sodium salt that is used as a flavor enhancer. It is a stimulant that stimulates both the taste buds and the brain. In fact, according to Russell Blaylock it excites neurons and causes them to rapidly fire until they become exhausted and eventually die. If that is not bad enough, it also promotes inflammation on the liver. Typically is was found in Chinese food but because of sensitivities most Chinese restaurants no longer use it. Side effects of MSG: Headaches, flushing, sweating, numbness, tingling, burning in the face or neck, heart palpitations, chest pains, nausea and weakness. I had a very scary experience as an early teenager. My sister had just eaten a can of Campbell's chicken noodle soup (loaded with MSG), her throat started to close and she couldn't breathe. I am so glad that my mother was there because she gave her Benadryl and she was able to breathe. I would've have frozen and not known what to do..I panic in these kinds of situations. Now that I think about it, it was probably scarier for her! Where is MSG found? Salad dressing, sauces, flavored potato chips, seasoning mixes, soups, gravy mixes, frozen foods, low fat foods and other processed foods. This is an ingredient where you need to check your ingredients list. Ingredients that ALWAYS contain MSG: Glutamic acid Glutamate Anything hydrolyzed Anything autolyzed Yeast extract Calcium caseinate Sodium caseinate Gelatin Textured protein Soy protein anything Ingredients that FREQUENTLY contain MSG or free glutamic acid: Carrageenan Bouillon broth, Flavors, flavorings Maltodextrin Citric acid, citrate Ultra pasteurization Barley malt, malt extract Pectin Anything that contains enzymes Anything fermented (excluding traditional fermentation) Anything protein fortified Whey protein Soy sauce Seasonings This is why we are only tackling one ingredient this week. It "hides" in many places. If you can't look at ALL the above ingredients in your pantry, at least look at where it is always hidden. Let me know how you are doing detoxing your pantry. Source: Pantry Principle, Mira Dessey On Facebook I am hosting an event called Detox Friday. Last week we jumped right in and only ate fresh foods for one day, eliminating any processed foods. For some, this was the first detox they had ever done, but they got through it.
This week, I thought since it is the Fourth of July everyone would be barbequing, having fun and not really into giving up foods. So, we are doing a pantry detox! There are a few things that all of us should be avoiding, but just don't know we should. So go through your pantry and look at the ingredients list. If the following ingredients are there, you should consider finding an alternative product.
So, if you have a product for instance ketchup. Most conventional ketchup contains HFCS. Next time you go shopping, look for a ketchup that does not contain HFCS, maybe cane sugar. Since it is a holiday weekend, I didn't want to overwhelm you, so two items this week to look for. Then next week when you go food shopping look for similar items without these two ingredients in them. Next week we will look at a few other items to detox our pantry! If you haven't already joined us, please join the event so you don't miss a single thing! Below is the link to the event. https://www.facebook.com/events/718853661504348/?ref=22 Please let me know how you make out detoxing your pantry! My opinion is you should! Why? Because it is so easy and there are many harmful ingredients in the commercial brands. Some of the natural ones also have questionable ingredients and don't always work. It has been years since I used commercial deodorants. Mainly because of the aluminum, pthalates and parabens in them. But there are plenty of other ingredients to worry about. Studies have indicated that the skin absorbs everything we put on it, so why wouldn't it absorb the ingredients in deodorants? Below are some of the harmful ingredients in commercial deodorants:
Underneath your skin in your armpit area are clusters of lymph nodes which is an essential part of our immune system. Some ingredients like aluminum have come under fire for being a risk factor for breast cancer and alzheimers, although the breast cancer risk is non-conclusive, I err on the side of caution.. So, it's been about ten years (at least) that I have been using natural deodorants. There are so many to choose from, and this is where you can really see bioindividuality clearly. What works for my husband, does not work for me! And I have an added issue, some really irritate! After settling on one that I like and have been using for years even recommending it to people they go and change the ingredients, adding propylene glycol (a preservative, but an endocrine disruptor). Why, I have no idea, there was no issues with preservation. I am down to my last one with original ingredients and have about three others different deodorants in my drawer that I have tried and work decently in cold weather, but not in the summer. In the winter, I was even able to get away with just using coconut oil. I started to try different deodorants, yet again, when my sister inspired me by making her own. She claimed it was really easy and for a busy mother of five, so say it is easy, it has to be! She made me some and it worked better than most store bought but unfortunately my underarms were irritated, too much baking soda for my underarms. Easy fix, less baking soda. My son is now using the deodorant with no problems! I checked online for some recipes, it seems that common ingredients are: Coconut oil Baking Soda or diatomaceous earth (food grade) Arrowroot powder Shea butter Bentonite clay Beeswax or Canuba wax Cocoa butter Vitamin E Essential oils So knowing that coconut oil works ok in the winter, I was definitely using that. I bought shea butter, arrowroot powder and lemon essential oil and I already had the (non aluminum) baking soda, peppermint and tea tree essential oils. The picture up top is the final product :) Some people like stick deodorants in which case you would add one of the waxes or the bentonite clay, but I don't care. This is more like a lotion. I use a spoon to take a little out and keep the deodorant clean. And guess what? It works and it only took about 5 minutes to make! I may have to add a little more baking soda for hubby but this one is great and it smells awesome too! So take a look at recipes online, (they are abundant) and get creative in the kitchen. Source for ingredient list: www.mightynest.com This is an update to my first post from August of 2012
Most people do not drink enough water but believe that they are. Somewhere along the line we have lost our roots. We have forgotten that we are born from water and need to replenish our supply every day. Water is one of the most important nutrients in our body, and, so often forgotten. Our body is about 75% water and our brain 85%. EVERY cell in our body needs water, we won’t survive without it. So why don’t we drink enough? A common misbelief is that if we drink something we are hydrating. Usually the fluids that are covered in this thinking are coffee, soda, tea, sports drinks etc. These do not hydrate the body! In fact, most contain caffeine which actually stimulates you to release fluids from your body. They also contain sugar…not a great combination. How we lose fluids daily: breathing, caffeinated beverages, alcohol, sweat, urine and feces. This creates a cycle of dehydration, if you are not replenishing. When you become dehydrated your body fluids become concentrated and water is taken out of your cells and they shrink. This concentration of fluids can lead to high blood pressure, increased cholesterol, strokes, edema and many other health conditions. The functions of water: one of the most important functions is to clear toxic wastes from the body. If you are not drinking enough water, the toxins accumulate and can cause inflammation which in turn can cause a disease state. Water is a source of energy, it generates electrical energy inside your cells and helps to either heat or cool your body, it helps prevent DNA damage, it helps to break down food because it is a major solvent in the body, it helps reduce fatigue, it even helps to combat cancer by bringing oxygen into your body. There are so many other beneficial tasks that water does; we should be drinking a minimum of 8-10 cups of water (64-80 oz). That is just to replace what you have lost through your daily metabolic activities like breathing and clearing out cellular debris. If you are outside sweating, you need to be drinking more! In fact, half your body weight is what you are striving for EVERY DAY! How to tell if are dehydrated: Most people believe that dry mouth is a good indicator of dehydration. The fact is that this is one of the last indicators of dehydration and this perception decreases as we age. By this time body fluids are already becoming concentrated and energy production decreases. A better indicator is the color of your urine. A well hydrated person has colorless urine. Other indications of dehydration: fatigue, irritable, anxious, depressed, not sleeping well, cravings, these signs can be masked by the use of medications. If you have children, please keep in mind that because of their rapid growth and cell division they are using up a great deal of water and are naturally dehydrated. They need special attention and you need to ensure that they are drinking enough water to meet their needs. Some signs that your child is not getting enough water: difficulty learning, less alert, decreased attention span and asthma and allergies increase. How do we get enough water?
If your water intake is not sufficient, the body will reuse as much water as possible. The water is reclaimed in the large intestine and motility of the feces becomes slower and you become constipated. Water is lubricating and when you add fiber; increases motility. The best way to combat dehydration is to avoid beverages that dehydrate (mentioned above) and make sure that you drink half your body weight in water each day. Source: You’re Not Sick, You’re Thirsty! Water for Health, for Healing, for Life; F. Batmanghelidj MD Do you:
I recently came down with a cold which reminded of all of the changes I have made throughout my life. Let me explain, I grew up in a household where my mother was a nurse. So anytime any one of us (myself or my siblings) would get sick there was always a pill to take. This is what she knew, this was her training, she felt like she was doing something; there is nothing wrong with that. And as a mother myself, when my kids get sick I feel that I need to do something, but is medication the answer? Until my twenties, medications is what I grew up with, it's what I knew. When I became pregnant with my first, there was this whole list of medications and over the counter products that I could not take because it "may" hurt the baby. This made me begin to do some research, why would something I have taken my entire life hurt the baby? I did not like what I found and turned to homeopathy and herbal medicines not only are they safer options, but these were the original "medicines" used. I loved homeopathy, it was so nice not to worry about side effects when my son was teething, had a fever or cold, or got into the cabinet where they were kept. Something was still nagging at me in the back of my mind..is this the BEST option? Yes it is safe but do I really need to take anything in order to be doing something? My gut was telling me no, so I listened. I have found the best way to recover from an illness (cold, fever, flu) is to support your body's healing efforts. What do I mean support my body's healing efforts? How do I do this?
So through my life, I have run the gammit of how I weathered a cold but now my choice will always be to support my immune system because it really does know what it is doing! In my last post I talked about dietary steps to detoxing, but you can take steps to enhance your detoxification pathways EVERY day! This is great news if you are not ready to take on a detox diet.
Remember, your detoxification organs are the skin, kidneys, liver, colon, lungs, lymph and blood. So we want to enhance elimination. Reduce Toxin exposure - The skin is the biggest detox organ, everything that is put onto our skin is absorbed into the bloodstream. We need to be mindful of what we put on it. As we age, our bodily processes slow down so we need to become even more vigilant about reducing exposure so we take the strain off of our body.
Dry Brushing - This will help your skin, lymphatic system and liver. Your Lymphatic system acts like a filter of your body fluids but has no pump moving it and its fluid flows against gravity, so it relies on movement from your muscles to move it. Dry brushing helps to move the lymph fluid, it also removes dead skin cells helping to open up the pores in your skin for easier elimination. To dry brush: buy a long handled brush, start at the soles of the feet with circular movements and go all the way up to the neck. So by dry brushing you are helping three of your detoxification organs! Exercise - Exercising has so many great benefits. It stimulates blood circulation and the lymphatic fluid which helps the body to eliminate metabolic waste. It raises your heart rate, helps you sweat, promotes the reduction of fat storage and toxin removal. There are so many forms of exercise too, walking, jumping rope, jumping on a trampoline or how about a pogo stick. When was the last time you were on one of those? Water - I have already talked in another post about why water is so important for us to drink everyday. You need to make sure that you are getting enough water, my rule is at the minimum 60 ounces per day. But, the optimal is half your body weight in water per day. (Caffeinated beverages do not count as a hydrating beverage). For detox purposes, water with lemon squeezed in it is extremely alkalizing to the body and is great to do first thing in the morning. Soak in a detox bath - this one is great if you are a bath person, but may not be one for a "daily" detox; maybe weekly? I have a great detox product from 100% Pure, Eucalyptus Sea Therapy Bath Salts. The salts are made from kelp and peppermint is added, so it smells great and stimulates your circulation. There are so many more daily activities that you can do and I encourage you to try to incorporate at least some of these into your daily lives because we are bombarded daily with toxins ANYTHING that can be done help ease the stress on your detoxification organs the better you will feel! Spring is the perfect time to detoxify your body. Why? Because we live in a toxic world and are exposed to so many chemicals via our food, water, medications, pesticides etc.
Who needs to detox? Pretty much everyone, because our world is so toxic. When you start feeling congested, stressed, fatigued and an overall feeling of toxicity, it's time for a detox. You can also do a detox to jump start weight loss after a plateau. What is detoxification? Detoxification is a key body function that is done automatically, it involves eliminating the waste products of cellular metabolism through our eliminatory organs which are the skin, kidney, liver, colon, lungs, lymph and blood. The object during a detox is to minimize toxins coming in and maximize your nutrients so your eliminatory organs can catch up. It is a process of cleaning, nourishing and resting your body. How do I detox? Before the detox, you need to plan. Schedule the detox into your life, pick a date and how long you want to detox and stick with it, don't postpone it. Then about a week before, you need to prepare yourself for the detox. You can start reducing your toxic intake. Some suggestions are to buy organic foods, decrease your intake of processed foods and sugar and start to increase your water intake. Make sure you plan for rest during this time as it is vital to healing. During the detox you will be eating simple meals that allow your digestive system to rest and take care of much needed housekeeping. You will want to do simple exercises like walking to stimulate your lymphatic system. After finishing your 7-10 day detox, you gradually start eating the foods eliminated to see if you have any reactions to the foods. This is an important step, so often missed when we try to detoxify our bodies ourselves. You need to transition back or you will shock your body. You may even decide to totally eliminate some foods that you were eating prior to your detox! By detoxifying with a professional, you get guided care and support to help you through the process. We go over everything you need to know before, during and after to have a successful detox. So, What are you waiting for? Call today to schedule an appointment. I wanted to share a little bit more about my journey to health that you won't find in my bio. Once I stopped growing in my teen years, my weight pretty much remained the same until I had children. At the end of each pregnancy, I had gained 10 lbs that would not come off, it was stable, I was not gaining more weight, but nonetheless, it would not come off and I would not go on a diet. I don't believe in dieting, in fact, I have to admit that I have never been on an official diet. Lately, everyone I talk to is on a diet, probably because of the time of year. It starts with Halloween and ends after New Year, parties, heavy food etc. When you go on a diet, it usually means once you reach your goal you go off the diet. In truth, you "go off" your diet because you have been restricting calories and losing muscle and your body can only take so much of that. Then within days or weeks you gain back what you've lost and then some.
Three years ago I lost over 35 pounds and I did it without going on a diet. I did change a few of my food choices but mainly made lifestyle choices. I had been eating a pretty clean diet for quite some time to start but after having children my body had "reset" to a higher weight. By changing some foods and some lifestyle habits I was able to lose the weight and keep it off without starving myself. So how did I do it? There are three non-food factors involved in weight loss:
The first thing is to slow down at meal times, chew your food and be present in the meal. What exactly does it mean "to be present" with the meal? It actually starts with meal preparation, as you are preparing the meal, your body is literally getting ready to eat. When you sit down for the meal, create an inviting atmosphere. Light candles, play soft music etc. Think about where the food comes from, how does it smell? What does it taste like? Will it create health in your body or not? Take a few deep breathes and relax. Next once you put the food into your mouth, chew your food. This is probably one of the hardest steps. Many people take two bites and swallow. This will make it harder on your body to digest the food. This is essential, even without changing anything else in your diet, you will see a difference. You will eat less without even realizing it. You also need to slow down in life. It's not a race. Plan ahead so you are not rushing to all of your appointments. This rushing around (stress) takes a toll on your hormonal system and actually makes it more difficult for you to lose the weight. Next is sleep; In order to regain health, you need to heal. In order to heal, you need to sleep. I believe this was the catalyst for my weight loss. I went on a retreat for school and honestly probably ate more there than I do at home, but I literally sat around all day. There were chefs to cook food, there was nothing to clean or people to take care of. It was great! We had class discussions, yoga, and a little bit of free time where groups of us would go for short walks. When class was over at 7 pm, I went back to my hotel room and went to sleep. By the end of the weekend, I think I lost 5 lbs. So rest is really important. Then you have exercise. Exercise has so many benefits besides keeping your weight in check and you don't need to run a marathon in order to see benefits. A combination of weights and aerobic is great. But if you have been working out really hard for a long time, you may need to back of a little on the exercise and take some time to rest. The first few months when I was losing weight, I spent little time at the gym. Not because I didn't want to be there but my schedule wouldn't allow. Again, for me rest was really important. Next comes food: The food you put into your body is probably one of the most important factors in health. You need to eat real food as much as possible. Yes I know the packaged foods seem convenient but have you looked at the ingredient lists on those things? They are loaded with salt, sugar, food coloring, flavors and genetically modified ingredients. Some of the words you can't even pronounce. If you don't know what the ingredient is, do you think your body will know what to do with it? I know it can seem overwhelming, but eating real food is not as hard as you think. It does take some planning but I think it may even expand your food choices and once you feel the effects of eating clean, you will choose to never eat those packaged foods again! A side effect of eating real foods is that your body releases the toxins it's been holding onto, you feel better (without stimulants like caffeine), look younger and you finally reach your ideal weight with little effort. There are so many other factors that can affect weight but dieting is not the answer. They key is finding out why you have the weight gain and addressing that! It's not a "quick fix" like some diet programs but a lifelong eating plan. It may seem overwhelming but it can be done, just take baby steps. I have been there, my diet was the worst...if I can do it, so can you! And the best part is that you don't have to do it alone. |
AuthorKerri Ferraioli Archives
March 2023
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