Five Easy Steps to a Healthier Home

Creating Healthy Environments for Children

Would you do whatever is necessary to prevent harm to your child?  Are you aware of the invisible risks that are difficult to identify and prevent?  Risks right in your own home and backyard?

What could be causing such a dramatic shift in children's health today?  Fifty years ago children weren't overwhelmingly afflicted with diseases like cancer, ADD/ADHD, obesity, diabetes, autism, asthma, or birth defects.  Perhaps a major difference between our current lifestyles and those of our parents and grandparents is the increased number of chemicals being used to develop products that are being used everyday in our homes and in our surrounding environment.  There are currently over 82,000 synthetic chemicals registered for use in the US, most of which did not exist more than 60 years ago.  Less than 20% of those chemicals have actually been tested for harmful side effects, but are still being used in the products that we purchase so often to paint our walls, clean our kitchen counters and bathrooms, clean our cars, wash our hair, and brush our teeth.  

Follow these 5 easy steps to creating a healthier, safer home:

1)  Avoid Pesticides:  Use non-toxic or least toxic pest remedies like using soapy water to kill ants or boiling water to kill weeds.  Prevent pests through good sanitation and food storage habits.

2)  Use Nontoxic Products:  Read labels and ask questions about what chemicals are in products you buy.  Try making your own cleaners.  Use fewer body care products and those made from plant-based ingredients.

3)  Clean Up Indoor Air:  Ventilate your home by opening windows.  Naturally cleanse air with indoor plants.  Vacuum regularly using HEPA filtered vacuum and dust often.

4)  Eat Healthy:  Start making food instead of buying prepared foods to reduce exposure to synthetic additives found in processed foods.  Eat a variety of fresh produce and whole grains.  Opt for organic when possible.

5)  Be Wise With Plastics:  Avoid using plastic in the microwave or with warm foods and beverages.  Avoid PVC/vinyl, Polystyrene/styrofoam, and polycarbonate/PC.  Choose safer plastics or opt for natural materials like glass, steel, wood, or cotton.

False Vitamin Comparisons

I have received several inquiries about the web site
http://www.multivitaminguide.org which has published a
rating of the top 100 multivitamins.

Some of your were a bit surprised by the comparisons
and have asked me whether they were valid.

I have seen many ratings of multivitamins over the
years. Most of them come from questionable sources and
have little or no validity.

So I reviewed this web site with a healthy skepticism.

The opening paragraphs sounded impressive. For example,
they said:

"The guide offers scientific comparison of 100
multivitamin brands, including popular supplements such
as Centrum, One-A-Day, Kirkland, Herbalife, Shaklee,
Nutrilite/Amway, Equate, Nature Made, NOW Foods,
Melaleuca, Puritan's Pride, TwinLab, and Walgreens."

"The information on this site is the result of over 6
years of scientific research and analysis. Each of the
reviewed multivitamins is evaluated against 14 key
parameters, such as potency, bioavailability, and
antioxidant strength."

"Then each supplement is assigned a score ranging from
0 to 10, which enables you to easily compare the
effectiveness of the different brands and helps you
determine for yourself what the best multivitamin to
take is."

While that sounded good I found it a bit unsettling
that their was no "About Us" page to identify the group
who was making these comparisons; no list of scientific
advisors; and no list of the published studies on which
they based their recommendations.

When I looked at their ratings I found it a bit curious
that Centrum, which most people consider the best of
the drug store brands, received a rating of 0.6 (99th
out of the 100 multivitamins rated).

In addition, several multivitamins that I considered to
be quite good received only mediocre ratings, while
multivitamins that I had mostly never heard of were
rated near the top.

I was really curious by this point at just how they had
arrived at these ratings.

So when I got to the bottom of the page I clicked on
the link "How were these vitamin reviews made" with
some anticipation.

Again, I was disappointed. There was no information on
how they assessed things like bioavailability or
toxicity (which were listed among their 14 comparison
criteria) and no list of scientific references.

It appears that their sole comparison criterion was a
list of what they considered to be the optimal doses of
each vitamin and mineral.

And when I reviewed that list it was pretty obvious why
there were no scientific references listed. There was
no sound scientific basis for the "optimal" dose list.

For example, their recommendation was for 7500 IU of
vitamin A. The DV recommendation for vitamin A is 5,000
IU, and most experts recommend that half of that come
from beta-carotene to avoid the risk of bone fractures
caused by high doses of vitamin A.

They recommended over 50 mg of vitamins B1, B2, niacin,
pantothenic acid and B6. That is up to a 33-fold excess
of DV recommendations.

There is no scientific rationale for such a huge excess
of B vitamins.

On the other hand their recommendations were
significantly below current DV recommendations for
other nutrients like vitamin D, biotin and iodine.

In summary their recommended "optimal doses" made no
scientific sense, and they provided no published
clinical studies supporting their recommendations.

In my opinion the entire comparison is bogus.

It is impossible to say who is behind this misleading
comparison, but when these types of comparisons have
surfaced in the past it usually turned out that they
were designed to make a particular product look good -
and the easiest way to do that is to make the
ingredient list of that product the standard against
which all others are compared.

I'll let you do your own research as to which product
that might be.

In the meantime it is important to remember that the
Internet is the electronic equivalent of the wild west.

Just because you see it on the web doesn't make it
true.

You need to view what you see online with a bit of
skepticism. Ask the hard questions. Look for the
scientific evidence.

Adapted from Dr. Stephen Chaney
Tips From the Professor

Business Trends - I loved this blog: I just had to share!

9 Business Trends That Aren't Going Away

Scott Ginsberg , NametagTV.com

July 26, 2011

Last time I was in Florida, I passed a woman on the beach wearing a shirt that read: “Pregnant is the new skinny.” While the shirt itself was pretty ridiculous, it inspired me to look around for other new trends and how they relate to business. Today we’re going to explore a collection of trends that are here to stay.

1. Inspire is the new motivate

You can’t motivate anybody to do anything; all you can do is inspire them to motivate themselves. Find out what fuels people. Then fill the tank.  

2. Join is the new buy

Estee Lauder once said, “Women don't buy brands, they join them.” When I first heard that quotation, my inner geography changed forever. And I eventually came to a conclusion that has yet to be disputed: Good brands are bought, great brands are joined. Otherwise, people are just giving you money. And I don't know about you, but I'm not just interested in making money; I want to make history. If you want your brand to last, it has to connect on visceral level, engage on a human level and unite with it on a personal level.

3. Judgment is the new access

When information is infinite, people don’t need information, they need people who can explain the information they’ve already found. The point is: curators aren’t just for museums. In an increasingly commoditized marketplace, service is the key differentiator. And if you can make your customers smarter by explaining the world to them, you win.  

4. Love is the new black

As long as you find the people who don’t deserve it and offer to them freely and fully when they least expect it. Like the Sofitel. When I arrived last month at their New York property, their system showed no record of my reservation. A bit annoyed, I ended up staying across the street at a competing hotel. No problem. But when I got my credit card statement, Sofitel still billed me. Later, after speaking with a Sofitel reservations manager, he decided to refund the charge immediately. The Sofitel earned a fan for life from a guest who never even stayed there. The Sofitel rewarded my mistake.

5. Naked is the new uniform

Wearing a nametag 24/7 is a risk. But it’s also good practice. Practice being vulnerable, that is. There is a connection between vulnerability, approachability and profitability. When you open yourself to the world, the world will opens its wallet to you. But only if you’re willing to strip away the superficialities and occupy your vulnerability.  

6. Offline is the new online

Watson the computer not only won Jeopardy, but was also the first to buzz in on 25 of 30 answers. Still, Watson did manage to answer one question wrong: the question about art. Lesson learned: Having access to 200 million pages of content still doesn’t mean you know how to feel. The heartbeat of the human experience is a function of emotion, not information. Face-to-face is making a comeback. And we can’t solely filter our lives through pixels. Not if we want those lives to matter.

7. Playful is the new professional

Retaining childlikeness makes you more approachable, more relaxing to be around and more relatable to all ages. That's what my nametag does.  From my handwritten nametag, to my trademark philosophy card, to my daily "fill in the blank" exercise, my goal is create simultaneous engagement and entertainment, both online and off. What does your brand do for people? And do those people care enough about your brand to take a moment, take a picture and make a memory? I hope so. Because you have to let people into the moment. Induce participation. And intuitively respond to the human thirst for connection.  

8. Transience is the new permanence

The Internet is forever. Every tiny moment now lasts forever. Better be careful what you publish. Dishonesty has a limited shelf life. According to a recent study from the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, 80 percent of divorce lawyers have reported a spike in the number of cases that use social media for evidence of cheating. Still, this problem isn’t the computer; the problem is the character of the person using it. People don’t get divorced because of Facebook; they get divorced because dishonesty is written all over their face. If you choose to live a dishonest life offline, there’s going to be a huge echo online. And your digital footprint will slip on the technological banana peel and destroy the things that matter most in your life.

9. Waiting is the new working

I love waiting in lines. I’ve accepted the reality that life is the line. There's nowhere to get to. There's no future. All you have is right now. And I don't know about you, but if I’m waiting, I’m writing. Even if only for 20 seconds at a time. You’d be amazed how easily a year of lines turns into a box of books. Instead of looking at your watch, huffing and puffing and trying to enlist the other people in line to join your pity party, make love to the present moment. Then take notes. Because if you don’t write it down, it never happened. But if you build portable creative environments for yourself, you can leverage every micromoment that presents itself. And I guarantee you’ll triple your output.  

The trends that have nothing to do with clothes are the ones that matter most. Keep these new fashions in the front of your mind. Stick yourself out there today.

Not a Fan of Cooking? Try a Simple Cinch Recipe!

Cooking always serves to be a messy and sometimes fatal endeavor, but it can be fun as well as healthy for the whole family.

If you know me, you know that I do not care to cook, have no interest in cooking, and quite frankly don't even know where to start!  For those few times that I do feel like providing a home cooked meal for my husband and daughter I hunt for a recipe with few ingredients, 30 minute or less prep time, and something that I already have most of the ingredients for on hand in my own kitchen.

A couple of weeks ago I was at my Mom's house picking up my daughter and asked her for a few simple recipes.  She immediately turned to her Cinch Inch Loss Plan recipes through Shaklee among the dozens of cook books she has in her home.  I quickly scanned the ingredient list - I had all but two of them!  I looked over the nutritional information - healthy, packed with protein, and enough calories to refuel my body from the day.  I thanked her, jumped in my Tahoe, raced to Harris Teeter without speeding, and bought a box of cornflakes and a bag of pecans.

I spend less than 15 minutes preparing the chicken, popped it in the oven and moved on to throwing a couple of ears of corn from my friend's garden on the grill and slicing up a juicy watermelon from the Farmers Market.

My husband was impressed and so was I!  When I cook a delicious meal all on my own, I feel like I just earned an A on a test!

From my family to yours, I hope that you will enjoy a delicious family meal!

INGREDIENTS:
1/4t   salt
1/4t   pepper
2lb    chicken breasts, skinless (4 oz each)
1/4c  honey
2T    dijon mustard
3/4t   paprika
1/8t   garlic powder
1 1/4c   crushed cornflakes
1/2c   chopped pecans
cooking spray

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Sprinkle salt and pepper evenly over chicken; set aside.  Combine honey, mustard, paprika, and garlic powder in a small bowl; stir well.  Combine cornflakes and pecans in a shallow dish; stir well.  Brush both sides of chicken with honey mixture; dredge in cornflake mixture.  Place chicken pieces on a large baking sheet coated with cooking spray.  Lighly coat chicken with cooking spray adn bake at 400 degrees for 40 minutes or until done.

Makes 8 servings.
Calories:  294/serving

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION PER SERVING:
30g protein
23g carbohydrates
9g fat
315mg sodium
78mg cholesterol
2g fiber

Can What WE Eat Affect Our Kids??

By Dr. Stephen Chaney
Distinguished Professor at UNC-Chapel Hill
Biochemistry Department
Also teaches Nutrition classes to Medical students

Most of us have been taught in high school and college that all genetic information resides in our DNA.

During conception, we picked up some DNA from our dad & some from our mom, and that DNA was what made us a unique individual.

We knew that environmental influences could affect our health personally, but never dreamed that the effects
of those environmental influences could be passed on to our kids.

But today we know that environmental influences can actually modify our DNA and that those modifications
can be passed on to our offspring - a process called epigenetics.

Which brings me to the question I posed today: "Can what we eat affect our kids?"

According to two articles that appeared this month in The FASEB Journal, the answer just might be yes!

Previous clinical studies had shown when mothers consumed high-fat, high-sugar diets during pregnancy,
their children were more likely to have a preference for high-fat, high-sugar foods - which would likely
predispose them to obesity latter in life.

But with humans, it is really difficult to sort out how much of that effect was caused by what the mom ate
during pregnancy and how much was caused by how the family ate as the kids were growing up.

So both of these studies were done in rodents.

In the first study (Ong & Muhlhausler, FASB J, 25: 2167-2179, 2011) female rats were maintain on either
standard rat chow or a "junk-food diet" high in fat and sugar during pregnancy and lactation. The weanling rats were then separated from their moms and exposed to a variety of foods and allowed to choose what they wanted to eat.

Both the male and female offspring of the "junk-food" moms showed a marked preference for high fat foods.

They also showed alterations in hormones of the opiod and dopaminergic central reward pathways that may have been pre-conditioned them to require higher intakes a fat to experience pleasure from eating.

In the second study (Jousse et al, FASEB J, doi: 10,1096/fj.11-181792) female mice were maintained on
either standard mice chow or a low-protein diet during pregnancy and lactation.

In this case the offspring of the low-protein fed moms had a lower body weight and less adiposity throughout
their life.

But what made this study particularly significant was that the investigators were able to show that the low-
protein diet in the moms resulted in a specific modification in the DNA of the leptin gene in their
offspring.

This DNA modification led to a greater expression of leptin following a meal in those offspring compared to
the offspring of the moms who consumed regular mice chow during pregnancy & lactation - which makes sense because leptin inhibits appetite.

Thus, this study not only shows that the diet of the moms influenced the eating behavior and body composition
of their offspring, but that this change in eating behavior was caused by a permanent modification of
their DNA.

So what is the bottom line for you?

In the first place, the science of epigenetics is relatively new and these particular studies were done
in rodents, not in humans. It will be many years before we will be able to make specific recommendations as to what your diet should be like during pregnancy and lactation if you wish to make beneficial modifications
to your baby's DNA.

In particular, I certainly do not mean to suggest that a low protein diet would be beneficial during pregnancy
& lactation. No responsible nutrition expert would make that recommendation.

However, I did want to make you aware that what you eat during pregnancy & lactation may influence the health of your children - not just at the time of their birth - but throughout their life, and that a "junk-food" diet
just may not be your best choice.

This is a new paradigm. Most prenatal nutrition advice is currently based on what it takes to have a healthy
baby - not on what it might take for your child to experience better health throughout their life.

What about your diet before conception - and what about guys?

Those studies have yet to be done, but I would not be surprised if we find out that what we eat affects our
DNA as well.

So, a good diet prior to conception is likely to be important too. And since both men and women contribute
DNA to our children this advice may apply to all of us.

Winning the War Against Cancer

Winning the War Against Cancer Begins with Your Personal Choices 

 

You can do a lot, right now, to significantly decrease your cancer risk. Even the conservative American Cancer Society states that one-third of cancer deaths are linked to poor diet, physical inactivity, and carrying excess weight. So making the following healthy lifestyle changes can go a very long way toward ending the failure-streak and becoming one less statistic in this war against cancer:

1. Normalize your vitamin D levels with safe amounts of sun exposure. This works primarily by optimizing your vitamin D level. Ideally, monitor your vitamin D levels throughout the year.
2. Control your insulin levels by limiting your intake of processed foods and sugars/fructose as much as possible.
3. Get appropriate amounts of omega-3 fats.
4. Get appropriate exercise. One of the primary reasons exercise works is that it drives your insulin levels down. Controlling insulin levels is one of the most powerful ways to reduce your cancer risks.
5. Have a tool to permanently erase the neurological short-circuiting that can activate cancer genes. Even the CDC states that 85 percent of disease is caused by emotions. It is likely that this factor may be more important than all the other physical ones listed here, so make sure this is addressed. My particular favorite tool for this purpose, as you may know, is the Emotional Freedom Technique.
6. Only 25 percent of people eat enough vegetables, so by all means eat as many vegetables as you are comfortable with. Ideally, they should be fresh and organic. Cruciferous vegetables in particular have been identified as having potent anti-cancer properties. Remember that carb nutritional types may need up to 300 percent more vegetables than protein nutritional types.
7. Maintain an ideal body weight.
8. Get enough high-quality sleep.
9. Reduce your exposure to environmental toxins like pesticides, household chemical cleaners, synthetic air fresheners and air pollution.
10. Reduce your use of cell phones and other wireless technologies, and implement as many safety strategies as possible if/when you cannot avoid their use.

Simplify Your Cleaning Products and Go Green!

Simplify Your Cleaning Products and Go Green!

I read a really great article today in the Boom! Magazine about cleaning out your current, more toxic cleaning products for safer alternatives - safer for you and for the planet.  Now that I've become more aware of products that are  harmful to the health of my family and our planet, I pay much closer attention to anything regarding going green!

So, how often do you clean your home?  The norm is probably once a week, right?  Now, what percentage of your time is spent indoors rather than out?  According to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) we spend 90% of our ti me indoors rather than out.  Another interesting fact is that stay at home moms are 54% more likely to develop cancer than women who have jobs outside of the home.  The EPA conducted a study over a five year period and the results concluded that the concentration of 20 harmful chemicals was 200 times higher in our homes and offices than outdoors.

 How we keep our homes clean is extremely important to the our own health as well as to the health of our children, pets, and planet.  The question is, how do we know which cleaning products are safe and which are harmful?  Or, which claim to be safe, but really are not so?  Have you heard of the new term called "greenwashing"?  Greenwashing is a fairly recent term that refers to the marketing and branding of products as green or good for the environment, when the company has done nothing or very little to make their products better for you or the environment.  Beware of claims and marketing on the front of the product with words like "natural" or "organic".

Safe cleaning is not just better for the planet, avoiding harmful chemicals is critical to your health. The number of people with multiple chemical sensitivity is on the rise with one trigger thought to be very low-level chemical exposure. A myriad of information is available online and in bookstores to help you clean safely, and save you money in the process. Here are some basic steps to get you started.

Here are some basic tips to help you get started:
Step One: Look through your current products and make three piles. Pile one is for products that you use often and feel are safe to continue using. Pile two is for products you rarely use, or may be more dangerous. Store these products in a location away from your main living areas and out of reach for small hands. Pile three is for products to dispose of safely. Don’t pour chemicals down your sink, your toilet, or in your trash. Check your city’s public works website for what to do with unwanted chemicals. (See “How To Read Labels” below for help on ingredients to avoid.)

Step Two: Rethink your cleaning needs. No doubt you now want to buy some new products to replace those you’ve discarded. Remember to once again read the labels. You are looking for “Non-Toxic” and “Biodegradable.” In other words, you want products that are safe for you and safe for the planet. Even sponges can harbor chemicals. Look for natural cellulose sponges without triclosan or other antibacterial chemicals. Then pop them into the microwave or top rack of your dishwasher regularly to disinfect.

Step Three: Consider reducing or eliminating chemical cleaners and use commonly found products around your home. You can basically handle any cleaning task with lemons, salt, vinegar, baking soda, vegetable oil, essential oils (for fragrance), and even tea and tomato sauce.

How to read labels

Look on the back of the product for the ingredients. If a company is not transparent about their ingredients, that’s a red flag. Here’s a short list of what to avoid or use with care.

• The words: WARNING, DANGER, or POISON
• Ammonia
• Butyl glycol, ethylene glycol, monobutyl
• Chlorine Bleach (Sodium Hypochlorite)
• Monoethanolamine (MEA), diethanolamine (DEA) triethanolamine (TEA) 
• Nonoxynol, octoxynol, nonylphenol, octylphenol, nonylphenol, ethoxylate
• Phenols
• Phosphates
• Phthalates,“Fragrance”
• Triclosan