Most have never even considered what air fresheners are made of. When we spray their contents into the air, we inhale their fumes and our skin absorbs their chemicals. So wouldn’t you like to know what your air freshener is made of and how those ingredients affect your health?

In a recent study, the Natural Resources Defense Council tested 14 air fresheners taken from the shelf of a nation-wide drug store. They found that 12 out of the 14 products contained the hormone-disrupting chemical phthalates. None of the 12 included phthalates in their list of ingredients on their product label. The federal government does not enforce ingredient regulation on air freshener makers and therefore does not require a complete list of ingredients for consumers.

Exposure to phthalates has been known to disrupt reproductive normalities, brain development and even cognitive behavior. Studies show that infants and small children exposed to phthalates significantly increase their risks of developing autism.

Phthalates are only one of the many chemicals emitted by air fresheners. What’s in your air freshener? If you use one of the common off-the-shelf products, there is a good chance you are exposing yourself to chemicals you would otherwise avoid. A better alternative would be to increase air circulation by opening windows or even finding a more natural air freshening solution like quality essential oils.

December 21 2010 | Clean Home

I will tell you at our house we do not use fluoride toothpastes, we use a RO system on our water and only drink filtered, non-fluoridated water.  But twice a year, I do allow my children to have a fluoride treatment at the dentist. I know… doesn’t seem to make sense right? Well, besides the fact that our dentist is family and firmly believes in his medical training, and I try to not rock the boat too much when it comes to refusing his recommendations, I also believe that there is a huge difference in a twice a year protection treatment and a daily exposure.  My kids bodies will bounce back from a twice annual poisoning…but it will be a lot more work for their bodies to try to keep up daily.

I also believe that fluoridation is another “backward” treatment offered by the medical community.  Science has no doubts that diet makes all the difference in the world when it comes to dental health. So why don’t we put a little more training in nutrition and health in the dental schools, in the media, in peoples homes? Then we wouldn’t need to mass drug our society in the water supply. If we supported our parents a little more, by not bombarding children from all sides with advertisements of pure junk foods, and we didn’t tell them in every way that we can that healthy food is yucky, then maybe these same parents would have the courage to stand up to their children and make decisions based on the health and well-being of their children instead of what was fast, easy, and likable for kids.

Anyway…I had a friend who is a dentist ask me what my position was on fluoridation the other day. He was very non-confrontational and said he sincerely wanted to understand my position and learn more about what I knew. I realized I didn’t know nearly enough about this topic. My basic philosophy is to keep my body as clear from chemicals as possible on all fronts so naturally I would steer clear of the chemically produced fluoride additives as well… but I clearly needed to read and learn more about this. Then this morning I woke up to a very informative, although I admit very anti-fluoride article by Mike Adams, someone I trust very much although I cringe at his reporting style that can tend to be very sarcastic.

So, I wanted to share that article with you and encourage you to read up more about the topic. There is obviously many pieces of information on the web, but it is not all reputable so beware of “opinion” articles.

Click here to read the article!

There is no treatment or drug which can overcome or negate the effects of a poor diet, inadequate nutrition,lack of exercise, and an unhealthy lifestyle. – David Getoffv

I love that quote! So get motivated and work on one of those areas today!

Because of the lowest consumption of High Fructose Corn Syrup products in the last 20 years, the corn refiners association has decided that the consumer no longer desires products with HFCS. So what do they do? Time to stop producing it all together and follow the consumer demands? Not hardly…

The corn refiners association has instead decided that consumers are brainless and all they have to do is change the name and we will stop knowing the difference. So keep your eyes out for the new “corn sugar” coming to ingredient labels near you!  Be smart a smart consumer and refuse to eat products with either ingredient. Share this news with everyone you know… This sugar has been proven to increase obesity, increase your chances of becoming diabetic and are linked to a myriad of other health issues…

Read more below, then follow the link to see what Dr. Mercola has to say about the subject.

The Corn Refiners Association (CRA) has petitioned the U.S. FDA to allow manufacturers the option of using the term “corn sugar” instead of “high fructose corn syrup”.

In their press release on the subject, they claim that “independent research demonstrates that the current labeling is confusing to American consumers.”

They blame “inexact scientific reports and inaccurate media accounts” for the current stigma associated with high fructose corn syrup.

In reality, as opposed to the CRA’s dream world, if you need to lose weight, or if you want to avoid diabetes and heart disease, high-fructose corn syrup is one type of sugar you’ll want to avoid.

Part of what makes HFCS such an unhealthy product is that it is metabolized to fat in your body far more rapidly than any other sugar.

Sources:

PR Newswire September 14, 2010

Read more here... check out Dr. Mercola’s take on the subject.

Study shows fructose used differently from glucose

* Findings challenge common wisdom about sugars

WASHINGTON Aug 2 (Reuters) – Pancreatic tumor cells use fructose to divide and proliferate, U.S. researchers said on Monday in a study that challenges the common wisdom that all sugars are the same.

Tumor cells fed both glucose and fructose used the two sugars in two different ways, the team at the University of California Los Angeles found.

They said their finding, published in the journal Cancer Research, may help explain other studies that have linked fructose intake with pancreatic cancer, one of the deadliest cancer types.

“These findings show that cancer cells can readily metabolize fructose to increase proliferation,” Dr. Anthony Heaney of UCLA’s Jonsson Cancer Center and colleagues wrote.

“They have major significance for cancer patients given dietary refined fructose consumption, and indicate that efforts to reduce refined fructose intake or inhibit fructose-mediated actions may disrupt cancer growth.”

Americans take in large amounts of fructose, mainly in high fructose corn syrup, a mix of fructose and glucose that is used in soft drinks, bread and a range of other foods.

Politicians, regulators, health experts and the industry have debated whether high fructose corn syrup and other ingredients have been helping make Americans fatter and less healthy.

Too much sugar of any kind not only adds pounds, but is also a key culprit in diabetes, heart disease and stroke, according to the American Heart Association.

Several states, including New York and California, have weighed a tax on sweetened soft drinks to defray the cost of treating obesity-related diseases such as heart disease, diabetes and cancer.

The American Beverage Association, whose members include Coca-Cola (KO.N) and Kraft Foods (KFT.N) have strongly, and successfully, opposed efforts to tax soda. [ID:nN12233126]

The industry has also argued that sugar is sugar.

Heaney said his team found otherwise. They grew pancreatic cancer cells in lab dishes and fed them both glucose and fructose.

Tumor cells thrive on sugar but they used the fructose to proliferate. “Importantly, fructose and glucose metabolism are quite different,” Heaney’s team wrote.

“I think this paper has a lot of public health implications. Hopefully, at the federal level there will be some effort to step back on the amount of high fructose corn syrup in our diets,” Heaney said in a statement.

U.S. consumption of high fructose corn syrup went up 1,000 percent between 1970 and 1990, researchers reported in 2004 in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

* By Ward, MH, BA Kilfoy, PJ Weyer, KE Anderson, AR Folsom and JR Cerhand
Environmental Health News, June 29, 2010

Nitrates in drinking water and food increase risk of thyroid cancer and thyroid hormone disease.

Long-term exposure to nitrates through food and water may increase a woman’s risk of thyroid disease, finds a study of older women in Iowa. Public water supplies contaminated with nitrates increased the risk of thyroid cancer in the women. Eating nitrates from certain vegetables was linked to increases in thyroid cancer and hypothyroidism, one type of thyroid disease.

This is the first study to show a link between nitrates and thyroid cancer in people, although nitrates have been shown to cause thyroid tumors in animal studies.

Thyroid cancer is the eighth most common cancer among women. In the United States, the incidence of thyroid cancer has increased steadily since 1980.

Nitrate is a common contaminant of drinking water, particularly in agricultural areas where nitrogen fertilizers are used. High rates of fertilizer application may also increase the natural nitrate levels found in certain vegetables, such as lettuce and root crops.

Researchers from the National Institute of Health studied 21,977 older women in Iowa who had used the same water supply for more than 10 years. They determined cancer incidence using the state health registry. They estimated nitrate intake from public drinking water sources using a public database of nitrate measurements. Dietary intake was measured through questionnaires. Since nitrate levels in private well water were not available, all private well users were combined into one group.

The results show a nearly three-fold increase in thyroid cancer risk for women with more than five year’s use of a public water supply that had nitrate levels of 5 milligrams per liter (mg/L) or above. The maximum contaminant level of nitrate in drinking water is currently set at 10 mg/L in the United States. There was no evidence of elevated thyroid cancer risk among private well users.

So the search goes on. For several years, many people in the natural health community have been turning to agave nectar, a low-glycemic sugar made from the bulbous roots of agave plants. While agave has a wonderful taste and a relatively low glycemic index, it has also been embroiled in controversy about whether it is truly “natural” or even low glycemic. Some agave nectar providers have, in the past, even been accused of adulterating the product with high-fructose corn syrup (although my sources tell me this practice has ceased for mainstream U.S. suppliers).

Now a new choice for a natural, wholesome sweetener emerges, and it has tremendous promise. It’s called palm sugar.

Why palm sugar is the next big thing in natural sweeteners

Palm sugar is a nutrient-rich, low-glycemic crystalline sweetener that looks, tastes, dissolves and melts almost exactly like sugar, but it’s completely natural and unrefined. It’s acquired from the flowers growing high on coconut trees, which are opened to collect their liquid flower nectar. This nectar is then air-dried to form a crystalline sugar that’s naturally brown in color and naturally rich in a number of key vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients, including potassium, zinc, iron, and vitamins B1, B2, B3 and B6.

It is never refined or bleached like white sugar. So the nutrients it was made with are still there. That’s rare for sweeteners, most of which are highly refined. Even stevia is highly refined in its white powder form (real stevia is a green herb).

The amazing caramel and butterscotch taste of palm sugar

Remarkably, even though palm sugar cooks, dissolves and melts just like regular sugar, it has a far superior taste. As Wikipedia states, “The taste of pure coconut palm sugar resembles that of brown sugar, yet with more rounded caramel and butterscotch notes, without the metallic ending flavor that brown sugar has. It has a rich flavor.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palm_sugar)

I completely agree with that assessment. Palm sugar adds a special richness to almost any recipe. I’ve been using it in smoothies, and I know raw food chefs who are thrilled about using it in raw food desserts (palm sugar is not raw, by the way, but neither is agave nectar). You can use palm sugar as a replacement for regular white sugar in any recipe. You’ll get improved taste, improved nutrition and a lower overall glycemic index for the finished food.

Palm sugar is not a calorie-free sweetener. It has calories like any carbohydrate, but due to its relatively low glycemic index, its calories are absorbed into the bloodstream at a significantly slower rate than regular refined sugar. This property should be of interest to anyone who is monitoring their blood sugar levels and attempting to avoid blood sugar spikes. Palm sugar isn’t medicine; it’s a food with a surprisingly low GI, considering its sweet taste.  It has a glycemic index of 35. By comparison, the GI of honey is 55 – 60, and high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is 62. Maltodextrin, a common powder often added to many sweeteners, has a GI of 105! (http://www.snac.ucla.edu/pages/Reso…)

At just 35, our palm sugar has a glycemic index very similar to milk or cooked carrots. And yet it’s a super delicious sweetener!

One disadvantage: The price

As with many healthy products, the price is higher than conventional, processed “junk” products. Highly-refined cane sugar is dirt cheap because it can be mass produced in sugar factories that churn out huge quantities of that white, nutritionally-devoid powder known as “table sugar.”

But creating something healthier is more complex. Climbing coconut trees to harvest the nectar of their flowers is difficult work, and drying the liquid into crystals takes time (and patience). Palm sugar isn’t fast sugar. It’s slow sugar that takes time to grow, harvest, and dry. Not coincidentally, it also takes time for its complex carbohydrates to be disassembled during digestion, which is why it has a lower glycemic index.

Organic palm sugar usually costs anywhere from $8 – $10 per pound in the USA. There is an issue with adulteration when purchasing palm sugar overseas: Some low-integrity companies adulterate it by mixing in cane sugar.

My experience with palm sugar

As you know, I only recommend products I use myself. I’ve been experimenting with organic palm sugar for about two months now, and I’m really happy with the results. When used as a sweetener in smoothies, it doesn’t give me the “sugar jitters” that more refined sugars used to do. (I used to be borderline diabetic myself, so I’m very aware of how sugars impact the way I feel.)

It also doesn’t make my teeth feel sensitive the way agave nectar sometimes can. I don’t know if you’ve ever experienced this side effect from agave nectar, but it’s something I’ve noticed. I still recommend agave nectar, by the way, because it has many good properties. But it does seem to make my teeth feel funny from time to time. (I’d be interested to hear if you’ve ever felt this, too…)

Palm Sugar mixes really well with water, but it doesn’t mix 100%. There are a small number of palm sugar solids that do end up at the bottom of the smoothie shaker bottle, but this is no big deal as you can just shake it again. (I use a Blender Bottle to shake up my smoothies.)

The future of palm sugar

With everything I’ve learned about palm sugar over the last several months, I expect this to become the next “big thing” in natural, organic sweeteners. Before too long, we’ll begin to see it in health food bars and superfood smoothies.

You may even begin to see it next year in natural food products such as healthy cereals. I’ve come to really appreciate one cereal company called Nature’s Path, and palm sugar is the kind of natural ingredient they may be interested in researching more. (They already have some really great natural cereal products.)

But you don’t have to wait for the food products industry… you can try it yourself in your own smoothies and recipes! Enjoy your palm sugar. I think you’ll really like this natural, nutrient-rich organic sweetener.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
Editor of NaturalNews.com

(go slather-less if you are going to only be in the sun short term and soak up that necessary vitamin D)

Click here to see how your current sunscreen rates!

Thanks to EWG, there is a updated database of the most safe, chemical free sunscreens available out there. Toss all of your banana boat garbage and go chemical free this summer!

Millions of us suffer from disease, sickness and pain because we simply don’t know this truth about our own health: our bodies are not properly eliminating poisons and environmental toxins. The colon’s job is to hold waste before it is evacuated from the body and to reabsorb water from the waste. Years of poor eating habits, low-fiber diets, sedentary living and other lifestyle choices can slow the digestive processes. If waste sits in the colon too long, toxins build up there and are eventually absorbed back into the body.
A toxic colon eventually leads to a toxic liver, which pollutes the tissues  and the bloodstream, making a person very sick.

Do You Have Any of These Symptoms:

Aches & Pain
Allergies – Sinus
Anemia
Arthritis – Rheumatism
Body Odor – Bad Breath
Brittle Nails & Hair
Blood Pressure (Hi or Lo)
Can’t Concentrate – Memory Loss
Circulation Problems
Cold Hands or Feet
Depression
Fatigue – Exhaustion
Fibroids – Endometriosis
Gas – Constipation
Headaches
Hot Flashes – Menopause
Infertility
Insomnia
Irritability
Low Sex Drive
Menstrual Irregularities
Nausea
Nervousness
Overweight – Obesity
Pot Belly
Swelling Legs & Feet
Skin Problems

These are some of the many types of problems that toxicity in the body can cause. Thee are many poisons which can be found in a toxic colon and in  many cases, these toxins can seep out of the colon and poison the rest of the  body through the bloodstream which nourishes all organs.

Here’s a list of some poisons found in a toxic colon:
Phenol, Cadaverin, Agamatine, Indol, Sulphurretted Hydrogen, Cresol, Butyric Acid, Botulin, Putrescin, Urrobilin, Histidine, Ammonia, Muscarine, Methylmercaptan, Indican, Methygandinine, Idoethylamine, Sulpherroglobine, Ptomarropine, Pentamethy Lendiamine, Neurin, Sepsin

Poisons from the colon can:
- Weaken and stress the heart
- Go to the skin and cause blemishes, paleness, psoriasis, liver spots, wrinkles
- Irritate the lungs and cause foul breath
- Go to the brain and disturb mental function
- Go to the joints and cause pain and stiffness
- Go to the muscles and cause weakness and terrible fatigue
- Rob you of your youth and ruin your health

Reasons to keep the colon clean:
- Prevents constipation and disease of the colon
- Eliminates waste such as fatty tissue, cholesterol, cellulite, toxins, mucus, hardened fecal matter, harmful drug residue
- Controls your weight
- Increases your energy level
- For the glow of health inside and out that shows with clear skin, bright eyes, and shiny hair
- Helps deal with our Polluted Environment

We live in an environment of polluted air, water and soil; a surrounding full of chemicals, preservatives, pesticides, additives and other potential toxins. Ideally these toxins are processed by the liver, dumped into the large intestine (or colon) and eliminated from the body. But when this process malfunctions, serious problems arise that no simple laxative can cure.

Autointoxication

Autointoxication is defined as a state of being poisoned by toxic  substances produced within the body. So, the second reason for concern about colon health involves auto-intoxication, or self-poisoning. When the digestive system doesn’t work properly, auto-intoxication may set in. This happens  when food begins to break down without being eliminated. Proteins putrefy and
rot, carbohydrates ferment, and oils and fats turn rancid. The body becomes poisoned from its own waste.

Doctors Promote Cleansing

“If the colon is not working properly, toxins must exit the body through other routes: the kidneys, the skin, the breath. Many of these patients  have bad halitosis, body odor, etc. When a person becomes ill from colon disease, he or she may develop a variety of symptoms, including headaches, muscle aches, fatigue, autoimmune diseases like lupus or rheumatoid arthritis, cancer or cardiovascular diseases.” William L. Cowden, M.D., internist, classical specialist in internal medicine and cardiology
“I like to think of colon cleanses as whole-body cleanses. Cleansing the colon helps virtually every tissue and cell in the human body. Laxative  herbs are important, and they are the major component of many cleanses. Many cleanses contain too much of strong laxative herbs, which results in cramps. Consequently, people won’t use the cleanse. I think it’s better to use a combination of well-proven herbs that can balance each other and provide a more desirable product.” Alvin B. Segelman, Ph.D., CNS, pharmacognosist
“The body is designed to move the bowels every time we eat. It’s called the gastro-colic reflex. After we eat, the stomach gets the signal that it’s distended, and it sends a nervous energy to our colon telling it to make room. But in western civilization we live on tight schedules. And it’s a little inconvenient to get a call of nature right after lunch when you’re supposed to be back at work. So we have taught our bodies not to do that. When food becomes backed up in the colon, serious problems can develop.” Marvin D. Berman, gastrointerologist, former assistant professor of  medicine at Harvard Medical School.

Diet during the cleanse: No red meat, alcohol, sugar, caffeine, fried food or fast food, no artificial sweetners (stevia is okay). NSP stevia now comes in packets just like the “pink and blue stuff” stock #1381-6).  Eat lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, chicken, fish and turkey, whole grains, rice, beans, eggs are okay too if you like them.  Drink lots of water.  A good rule of thumb is 1/2 of your body weight in ounces of water. To replace coffee try the NSP Herbal beverage stock #1600-1.

Cleansing Options:
*Clean Start 14-day Program-Stock # 3993-8-Wild Berry  flavor or Apple/Cinnamon flavor stock #3992-6.
Tiao He 10-day Chinese Cleanse-stock #3050-5
Para-Cleanse with Paw Paw for Targeting Parasites-stock #4115-7
Liquid Cleanse #3193-1
Candida Clear #958-7

If you have any questions or need help ordering, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

By Sylvia Booth Hubbard

We’re addicted to soft drinks. According to the National Soft Drink Association, Americans drink more than 600 servings (12 ounces each) every year, and consumption is approaching a quart each day for every man, woman, and child. Males between the ages of 12 and 29 guzzle one-half gallon of “liquid candy” every day. Supersizing a soft drink to 32 ounces is a quarter of the recommended total daily calories for the average woman.

All of that soda is taking a great toll on our health. Obesity is the most obvious effect. During the past 30 years, as our consumption of soft drinks has increased, the rate of obesity has soared.

In fact, Dr. David Ludwig, a Harvard endocrinologist, said that sweetened drinks are the only specific food that clinical research has directly linked to weight gain.

“Highly concentrated starches and sugars promote overeating, and the granddaddy of them all is sugar-sweetened beverages,” Ludwig told CNN.

The sugar provides huge amounts of calories, but also creates a vicious cycle. “It’s rapidly absorbed, which raises blood sugar and in effect causes the body to panic,” Ludwig said. When the body releases insulin to metabolize the sugar, blood sugar drops. The body responds by releasing a hormone called ghrelin, which causes hunger and provokes us to eat even more.

Sodas can cause other health problems including:

• Diabetes. Not only does being overweight increase the odds of developing Type 2 diabetes, some researchers at Rutgers believe that high-fructose corn syrup, an ingredient in most sugar-sweetened sodas, may start a series of events in the body that leads to diabetes.

• Osteoporosis. Phosphoric acid, which give drinks their “bite,” leaches calcium from the bones.

• GI problems.”Sodas contain an array of chemical acids as additives, such as acetic, fumaric, gluconic, and phosphoric acids, all of them synthetically produced,” Dr. Judith Valentine told the Global Healing Center. “Drinking sodas, especially on an empty stomach, can upset the fragile acid-alkaline balance of the stomach and other gastric linings, creating a continuous acid environment. This prolonged acid environment can lead to inflammation of the stomach and duodenal lining which becomes quite painful. Over the long term, it can lead to gastric lining erosion.”

• Dental problems. Phosphoric acid, which causes bone loss, also causes tooth enamel to erode.”Dentists are reporting complete loss of the enamel on the front teeth in teenage boys and girls who habitually drink sodas,” said Valentine.

• Brain disorders. More than 92 side effects are associated with aspartame, a sugar substitute used in diet sodas. They include brain tumors, emotional disorders, and epileptic seizures.

• Pancreatic cancer. Drinking two or more soft drinks a week increases the risk of developing pancreatic cancer by two-fold compared to people who do not drink soft drinks, says a recent report in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention. “The high levels of sugar in soft drinks may be increasing the level of insulin in the body, which we think contributes to pancreatic cancer cell growth,” said Mark Pereira, Ph.D., and senior author of the study.

• Reproductive health. Additives in soft drinks can interfere with the body’s delicate hormone balance. And a recent Danish study found that men who drank a quart or more of cola daily had sperm counts 30 percent lower than in those men who didn’t drink soft drinks.

• High blood pressure. A study found fructose — a form of sugar found in soft drinks and junk food — raises blood pressure.

• Kidney stones. The same phosphate that rots teeth and leaches calcium from the body has been proposed as a contributing factor in the formation of kidney stones. And a study published in the journal Epidemiology found that drinking two or more colas daily — regular or artificially sweetened — doubled the risk of chronic kidney disease.