Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Toxic Cosmetics

I have never been one to use much in the way of cosmetics - traditional stuff on your face. I have so many allergies to metal and fragrances that the most I ever used was a foundation and a little blush and of course lip stick. Nothing around the eyes or they would swell shut.

When I quit my job as the business office manager of a local hospital and was "just a housewife" I stopped using any make up except when I was going out. Gradually I got used to seeing myself without make up and stopped using it all together. When I went back to work at the grocery store as a cashier, there was no point in wearing make up - you just sweat it off in an hour.

Technically, the term cosmetics refers to anything you put on your body such as soap, shampoo, deodorant, hair color, hair spray, nail polish and remover, artificial nails, tanning products, lotions and potions of all kinds.

According to William Campbell Douglass II, M.D. in his daily news letter, cosmetics should be really be called Toxmetics. He reported on research from Chemical Safe Skincare a UK based group that women used an average of 12 products a day for a possible combination of 175 chemical compounds some of which are suspect carcinogens.

It is not just women who face this dilemma, but men and children also face the hazards. As adults we are responsible for our own health and will have to deal with our choices. But it is heartbreaking to think that we are unknowingly putting our children at risk. Is that bubble bath safe?

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According to HSI, a group called Campaign for Safe Cosmetics issued a press release to warn consumers that several popular children's bath products contain a cancer-causing petrochemical with the cumbersome name of 1,4-Dioxane. This chemical is considered a probable human carcinogen and a proven animal carcinogen. Johnson's Baby Wash, Sesame Street Bubble Bath, and Hello Kitty Bubble Bath are all reported to contain 1,4-Dioxane.

The folks at Chemical Safe Skincare have put two widely used cosmetic chemicals high on the "Must Avoid" list: parabens and phthalates. Studies have linked both chemicals to disruption of normal hormone function and increased breast cancer risk.

Parabens are antimicrobial preservatives used in deodorants, creams, body sprays, and many other cosmetics. Phthalates are found in deodorant, perfume, nail polish, and hair spray. Their use has also been linked to lung, liver, and kidney damage.

Needless to say, many groups, such as Chemical Safe Skincare (ChemicalSafeSkincare.co.uk), Campaign for Safe Cosmetics (safecosmetics.org), and others are currently waging campaigns that call for the ban of certain ingredients and a requirement that all cosmetic products carry ingredients labels.

In the meantime, there are two things you can do: 1) Share this e-Alert with friends and family to let them know that toxic chemicals might be hiding in many of the personal care products we use every day, and 2) Choose safe cosmetics.

Here are three sources that offer cosmetic products free of harmful chemicals:
  • Raintree Nutrition (rain-tree.com)
  • Lluvia Skin Renewal System (amazonianherb.com)
  • Elave (elave.co.uk)
Thanks to www.hsibaltimore.com for this information.

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For the last couple of years, I have sold Masters Miracle products which include a deodorant stick that does not contain aluminum. The gel is the only product I have found that I can use around my eyes. If you are interested let me know, I can get you a better price that the published web sites.

You have probably read about the testing done on hair dyes and the possible toxic effects on the body. Millions of women dye their hair every day and more and more men are jumping on the band wagon. One more advertising program that has convinced us that only the young are intelligent or worth while.

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I was talking with a man from the meat market the other day. He was complaining that a new meat market that just opened was stealing his business. He said their meat was grass fed and could not compete with his grain fed beef. I told him I had heard that grass fed was healthier. He just shrugged and said his tasted better. Guess I will have to go check it out. Their meat is less expensive because they do not pay the feed lot, grain fed, hormone injected costs. One question I will have to ask is -- has the meat been frozen at any time.

I bought a 10# chub of ground chuck the other day. When I got home my daughter put the whole thing in the freezer. Now how do I go about splitting it up. My husband offered to use his shop saw. I think it might be a better idea to wait until I have 2 days together off from work, defrost the whole thing and cook up several things with it and then freeze again. What do you think? Would that be fresh left overs?

until next time smile
Sharon
(c) Answers For Your Health

Friday, March 23, 2007

Advertising and Drug Safety

I got on my soapbox today on drug safety. Couple of articles for you. Just click the links to ready the whole thing.

Is that Prescription Drug Safe?

Your doctor wrote you a prescription. He is supposed to know. He is the expert. But is that new drug really safe. Or, will you come up in a few years with cancer or heart disease or stroke or liver failure.

Yes, we all will die. But isn't the goal to live well as long as possible. When I am 100 years old, I want to still be able to walk and drive and think clearly. I want to see and hear the world around me. I do not want to stare at a wall in some lovely nursing home even if the staff there is really good and caring.

Watch TV any evening and you will see dozens of commercials for new drugs. Always with the message to ask your doctor about this drug. The people in the ads are pictured as attractive, younger and healthy and active after taking any of these drugs. Your mind thinks, yes I want that. I could have that problem. Let me go see my doctor and get that new wonder drug.......


Drug Advertising and Reality

Ah the miracle of advertising. TV introduced the world to the mind of the manipulator. The question was never is it good for you or bad for you but only how much money will it make.

You can't feed your body junk and sit like a stone and expect to live long or well. No product herbal or artificial will help. You have to do the work. The best advertising in the world tells you how easy and fast this "product" will work to cure you. Everything from losing weight to better sex to staying young and beautiful. It appeals to our vanity and presents itself as the Genie in the bottle. Your wish is my command.

If you cannot afford to buy the big lie you get stressed. If you exhaust your funds to buy the big lie and it doesn't work or just makes you worse, you get stressed. There you sit, depressed (there is a drug for that) and stressed (there is a drug for that) and you probably can't sleep (there is a drug for that).....

Joke of the Day

Excercise

Walking can add minutes to your life. This enables you at 85 years old
to spend an additional 5 months in a nursing home at $5000/month.

My grandmother started walking five miles a day when she was 60. Now
she's 97 years old and we don't know where the hell she is.

The only reason I would take up exercising is so that I could hear heavy
breathing again.

I joined a health club last year, spent about 400 bucks. Haven't lost a pound. Apparently you have to go there.

I have to exercise early in the morning before my brain figures out what
I'm doing.

I like long walks, especially when they are taken by people who annoy me.

I have flabby thighs, but fortunately my stomach covers them.

The advantage of exercising every day is that you die healthier.

If you are going to try cross-country skiing, start with a small country.

And last but not least...

I don't exercise because it makes the ice jump right out of my glass.
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Time to go pick up the daughter at college. It is a 40 minute drive. Hopefully in the next couple of weeks we can get her car fixed and she can go back to using my gas card instead of my car and me. First the shop has to do a diagnostic ($80) to see which of 4 things in the system is broken. We have a possible: ignition, solinoid, or 2 different sensors in the steering column. It will start randomly and not start randomly. Sort of like some people's exercise program.

until next time smile
Sharono

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Inspirational Videos

I tried to put these videos up on my blog but something in my code was wrong. Please take the time to click the title link and go to the web site for 3 great short videos that will make you smile, laugh and cry.

The titles are Free Hugs, Evolution of Dance and Can: World's Strongest Dad.

After you have viewed the videos, take a moment to check your pet food. There is a massive recall. You can check it out at http://www.menufoods.com/recall/
This web site has all the different brands listed.

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