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Hands Across the Sand

No to DrillingStand and be counted as opposed to offshore drilling and in support of clean energy.

This Saturday, June 26, 2010 there will be lines of protest drawn in the sand on beaches and all across america. It’s a quiet, respectful way to show your feelings. Check it out at this website http://www.handsacrossthesand.com/.

In the Myrtle Beach, Grand Strand area, we have six (6) different beaches where you can go to participate.  Arrive around 11:00 am and join hands with your neighbors at Noon for 15 minutes.

Not near a beach, no problem.  There are Solidarity events for you.

You can also send a letter to President Obama and your House Representative.

Bless you, and thanks for your consideration of this event.

Toxic chemicals finding their way into the womb

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

* Studies find hundreds of toxic chemicals in mothers’ and, subsequently, babies’ bodies
* Conclusive cause-effect between toxics, infant health problems not demonstrated
* Cord blood contained chemicals found in shampoos, cosmetics, plastics, mattresses, electronics

Story on CNN.com related to the two part investigative program, “Toxic America,” done by Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Read full article at this link: http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/06/01/backpack.cord.blood/index.html.

You are what you eat!

Copyright © 2010 Katie Humphrey

“You are what you eat.” How many times have you heard that expression? It’s true, in my opinion, and it can be a good or bad thing depending on how you look at it.

If you’re in control of your diet – eating whole, healthy foods at least 80% of the time – the above statement should encourage you. The more healthily you eat, the better you will look. The occasional indulgence won’t hinder any progress you make. On the other hand, if your diet (or cravings) is out of control, you may be frustrated and discouraged to think the foods you eat show up on the outside.

Here are 5 steps to eating foods that will make you look and feel fabulous: Eat WHOLE foods. Celebrity personal trainer Jillian Michaels says, “If it grew from the ground or had a mother, it’s whole.” This includes lean meats, whole grains, vegetables and fruits. Eating these foods will help you lose weight, increase energy and balance hormones naturally.

Drink LOTS of water. Drinking water is often neglected by women and is a crucial component to weight loss. Water keeps the body hydrated, increases metabolism and reduces cravings. It helps to flush toxins and reduces bloating! Always keep a bottle of water on you and drink it until your urine is clear (that’s how you know you’re drinking enough!).

Combine protein and carbohydrates. Protein does not just mean “meat.” Vegetarian proteins are just as good as animal products. Combining protein with a carbohydrate guarantees blood sugar levels will remain steady so you don’t feel fatigued or experience any food cravings! If you’re unsure what protein or carbohydrates you should be eating, go to www.katiehumphrey.com and get my free report, “Permission to Eat Freely.” It outlines these foods in detail and how often you should be eating them.

Eat treats every once in a while. Treats include dessert, alcohol and junk foods. You don’t have to cut these foods out, but watch how much you consume them. I also suggest to clients to choose “healthier” versions of their favorite treats. I love making organic, gluten-free chocolate chip cookies instead of regular cookies. I never feel guilty when eating them, and I don’t “puff up” or get bloated. Eating these kinds of foods every so often will keep you from feeling deprived (hint: deprivation can lead to bingeing!).

Write out your personal meal plan. These four eating strategies will help you lose weight, keep it off and get your ideal body. I lost 30 pounds (even with PCOS) eating this way, so I know you can do it, too. The biggest step you have to take is actually implementing the information.

Take 5 minutes right now and map out what you are going to eat from now on. Make time to cook, make meals and pack them in a cooler. Write a grocery list of healthy items with which you need to stock your fridge. Following through with these tips is what will actually gets you results! Next week we will learn the mindset you need to stay committed to a healthy, effective meal plan!


If you enjoyed this article, you’ll love my FREE report, “Permission to Eat Freely: 4 Steps to Lasting Weight Loss (while eating dessert)!” Yours FREE (a $27 value) when you download it at http://www.katiehumphrey.com

Katie Humphrey, author of “Freedom from PCOS,” helps women with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome naturally overcome their condition using an effective combination of exercise, nutrition and lifestyle coaching.

Source: http://www.submityourarticle.com

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Organic Milk: A Pint of the Right Stuff

Cows in organic field

Happy Organic Dairy Cows

This morning I read a terrific article in “The Independent” of UK.  It covers the pros and cons of switching to organic milk.  It’s such a terrific article, let me share some quotes.

If just 5 per cent of us switched to buying organic milk, says Humble, it would turn 52,000 acres – an area the size of Greater Birmingham – into organic land. For an extra pound a week we would get healthier milk, happier cows, more wildlife and a prettier countryside. Not a bad deal.

That translates into about an extra $2 per week for 5% of the UKs population to protect 52,000 acres of countryside for chemical pollution.  Just think what that could mean in the US!  It sends shivers up my spine to imagine it.  We vote with our dollars every day.  If we buy it, they will produce it.  Our family recently switched to organic milk and it tastes better!

Buying organic milk, says Kate Humble, is one of the easiest and cheapest ways of supporting farming with nature. “You will know it comes from well-managed farms, and you are doing something actively to protect and conserve the British countryside – and what an effortless way to do it.”

While this article was written in the UK, all of the principles are just as valid here in the US.  It’s a simple thing to do.  Just switch to buying organic products as much as you can and you will be changing the toxic load on our environment and ourselves.  Please think about it.  And comments are welcome.

Here’s a link to the full article:  http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/features/organic-milk-pint-of-the-right-stuff-1970459.html.

Green products at Amazon for Earth Day

Green EarthWhen you explore the offerings at Amazon.com, you find an astounding array of green and even organic products:   Earth Day at Amazon.  This link takes you to their new page which gives you access to everything green, plus green information and a blog. 

They’ve put together programs for “trade-ins” to reuse and recycle items.  They also sell many well know brands of green products. 

Right now they also have sales and discounts especially for Earth Day.  Check it out!

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Pesticides to Blame for Bee Colony Collapse Disorder

Colony collapse disorder: Scientists blame pesticides for honeybee decline

New research finds systemic pesticides in 60 percent of tested honeybees and their hives in U.S., Canada

 By Leah Zerbe

(This story is reposted by permission of Rodale.com, where it orginally appeared.)

What you can do
Vote with your dollar: Support organic agriculture that keeps harmful chemicals out of the environment—and our bodies (and the bees’).

 

Agricultural chemicals are wiping out bees that  pollinate our crops and flowers.

RODALE NEWS, EMMAUS, PA—Bee fan or not, we all rely on the insects to pollinate the fruit, nut, and vegetable crops we enjoy every day. But in the last few years, the populations of our pollinators, particularly honeybees, have been plummeting. Dubbed colony collapse disorder, the cause of the devastation isn’t known. There are many theories, from mites and viruses to cellphone towers. One potential cause—pesticides—gained more credibility this week with the release of a new study by Pennsylvania State University. Researchers found “unprecedented levels” of pesticides in honeybees and hives in the United States.

THE DETAILS: Scientists tested wax, trapped pollen, and honeybee specimens for chemical pesticides and chemicals originating from those pesticides. Investigating pesticide residue in samples taken from beekeepers from 23 states and one Canadian province during the 2007 to 2008 growing season, researchers found 121 different pesticides and metabolites in the 887 wax, pollen, bee, and hive samples. Nearly 60 percent of the 259 wax and 350 pollen samples contained at least one systemic pesticide—a type of poison that doesn’t remain on the surface of plants, but is taken up inside the plant, too, where honeybees go to feed.
For complete article click HERE.

A Wake-up Call from Healthy Child Healthy World

This is a wonderful little video about working against toxins in the environment.  It is done by Healthy Child Healthy WorldHealthy Child Healthy World Logo

A Wake-Up Story is a must-see video for every parent and anyone that cares about the health and development of children. Watch it. Share it. Join the movement. Awakeupstory.org

Healthy Child Healthy World is a really terrific non-profit organization.  They have a newsletter, lots of on-line helpful information, and a great and inexpensive book (only $6.01 from Amazon)Healthy Child Healthy World book

Healthy Child Healthy World: Creating a Cleaner, Greener, Safer Home

Of course, we recommend that the USDA certified organic, 100% safe and toxin free, MiEssence Mother & Baby line of products is an excellent place to start for these efforts.

ImagiPlay Toys on Sale at Nubius Organics

Eco-friendly, non-toxic toys by ImagiPLAY – On Sale now! at Nubius Organics.

There are a total of 10 toy items from ImagiPLAY included in this sale.  The prices range from a low of $10.36 up to a high of $29.56 for the “Alphabet Dragon” puzzle.  There are wooden “Expedition Sets” and puzzles and two push toys.  Two of the puzzles come with watercolors for the child to use to paint the pieces themselves.  All of the toys are charming and creative.

This is how Nubius Organics describes ImagiPLAY:

The ImagiPLAY company is dedicated to producing each of the toys in their line with the utmost of quality and integrity. Founded with the mission of making safe, high quality toys that inspire imaginations and introduce children to the natural world, ImagiPLAY toys are only made with all-natural, chemical-free, and sustainable materials. More than sustainably made, these toys come with a socially responsible stamp of approval because ImagiPLAY only works with small, family-run facilities, where they have oversight over each and every step of the production process. Because the founders of ImagiPLAY are mothers and grandmothers, they take children’s safety very seriously.

Plan Toys Discount

Natural Herbal Remedies and Medicines and their History

Natural herbal remedies have been in use for medicinal purposes for more than 3,000 years. Today, more than 80% of the population uses them to treat illnesses of all kinds.

The concept is fairly simple. Find a natural element in the environment and ingest it. See what kind of affect – good or bad – it has on the ailment from which you suffer. Each and every part of the plant, from the seed to the flower, has been used throughout the history of herbal medicine. Natural remedies have been delivered in so many versions – raw, brewed in with tea, topical ointments, and pills. Originally, the uses for these plants were determined by superstitious cues, based upon the plants likeness to a particular body part or because it grew in a particular area. Over time, the practice became more refined. To the point that many prescription drugs available today actually contain extracts of the herbal medicines.

This fairly simple concept has evolved quite a bit over the years. Today, this complex practice effectively treats ailments from headaches to heart disease and the common cold to depression. The first practitioners of natural herbal remedies likely used marshmallow root, which is a grass that can be chewed to treat a sick stomach. Strangely enough, this is probably a practice learned from primates. Who says we come from apes? Similarly, these first users may have used hyacinth as a diuretic to purge the body of excess water.

Cultivating certain plants have become an important role in human society as the knowledge was gained as to which plants treated certain ailments. Eventually, these herbalists began to keep track of what was prescribed and to whom and this knowledge was passed on from generation to generation and to all subsequent forms of conquering societies. Herbal remedies were first systematized by the Egyptians; and then by the Greeks. We can thank the Greek culture for what amounts to the foundation of modern medicine today. They introduced the concept of not only prescribing these herbal remedies, but also recording both the prescription and the result of treatment.

Across the world, different societies took to the earth to seek out their own versions of these natural remedies. Medical concoctions were created by herbalists in India by combining the herbs with parts of animals. In the Americas, the hunt for herbal remedies was driven by spirituality and different tribes collected herbal remedies and passed the knowledge on to other tribes through oral tradition. And in China, where we find the first written record of herbal medicine, herbalist paired natural remedies with acupuncture to balance the ‘life force energies’.

From its beginning as a primate activity, herbal medicine has ridden the roller coaster of being acceptance and rejection by traditional medical field. The use of natural remedies has been documented for over 3,000 years, and in addition to the thousands of years of human testing, the practice has withstood intense scrutiny and real world testing. Though studies continue and remedies continue to alter, herbal medicine has stood the test of time as an effective means of helping humans stay healthy.


Johney Maron, a medical device salesman and active father of 2, is a believer in the power of natural herbal remedies and medicines. Pharmaca offers a large selection of nutritional health products including herbal vitamin supplements and wellness products from some of the most trusted brands in the industry.

Source: http://www.submityourarticle.com

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Mercury in Canned Tuna

In my update from Natural Food Merchandiser today, they highlighted their article titled “Canned tuna exceeds EPA’s safety levels for mercury.”  The information in the articles comes from testing done by the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in 2006.  Nevertheless, it is interesting.  Read the full article at this LINK.  Here is an excerpt: 

More than half of canned tuna samples from three national brands exceeded the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s safety level for human consumption, according to a new study published in Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry. Only 5 percent of the tuna studied contained more mercury than what the U.S. Food and Drug Administration considers safe.

A few things I noticed when I looked into the source a little further…

  1. The EPA guidelines for safe levels of mercury in human food is much lower than the levels set by the FDA.  Who to believe?
  2. While they note that one brand is worse than the other two, they don’t reveal the brand names.  Bummer!
  3. They noticed difference in mercury levels in different “types” of tuna.  Seems that “chunk light” was slightly less contaminated than “solid white” or “chunk white.”  Strange.

The conclusions drawn in the article and the study are that there is a need for a long-term monitoring program to ensure the safety of the tuna we consume.  I certainly agree with that!!  So what’s a body to do?

Of course, the answer to that depends on your situation and intention.  For children and pregnant women, the risks appear to be more dramatic.  It might be advisable to avoid tuna altogether.  Other adults might want to use it in moderation.  But there is an option for purchasing much safer tuna, but of course the cost is three to five times more than mainstream brands.  If you are like me, you will want to pay the extra price to be mercury free.

American Tuna LogoThe best mercury-free tuna I have found so far is American Tuna, a group of six fishing families in San Diego, California.  The 6 oz. cans run about $5 on their website market.  I would expect similar prices at the Whole Foods Market locations and other retailers on their list

Best regards to all of you.  Be safe, be healthy.