Healthy Holistic Living Blog
Healthy-Holistic-Living.com : Healthy Holistic Living News : March 2007 : 2007-03-12 to 2007-03-18
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Healthy Home Tips March 12, 2007 05:41 |
From time to time, you will find Healthy Home Tips in my Blog, as I try new things and learn what works and what doesn't I will share this information with you.
My home is Green Home Certified and we use nothing but non-toxic cleaners. We have found that it can be quite challenging at times to find good products that work and that are reasonably priced.
**Any tricks or great products you have come across I would love to hear about drop me a note at my Contact Us page or add a comment to the Blog.
#1Try cleaning mold with a paste made out of borax laundry soap and water it takes a little scrubbing but it will kill the mold and it is non-toxic.
FACT: Bleach does not kill the roots of mold on porous material it only kills the flower, which is the gross stuff that we see so it only gives you the illusion that you have conquered your mold!
This was a snippet from my last newsletter if you missed it you can go to my back issues page while your there you should sign up for my E-zine!
#2 Another option for mold is to use straight vinegar. It's a tad bit smelly but it will do the trick. Spray the vinegar straight on the mold and let it set without rinsing.
#3 If you have a flat top range then you know how hard that can be to clean. And sometimes it seems like your only option is that very expensive, toxic white paste made especially for cleaning flat top ranges. The truth is that the only thing you need is baking soda and water! Who knew? First, let your range cool off and then sprinkle baking soda all over your range take a damp rag and clean using circular motions and scrubbing when you hit the grease spots. Let it sit for about ½ hour and then wipe clean! It's as easy as that!!
#4 Do you have hard watermarks on your glass shower door? We have hard water in Florida and it seems like the marks get etched into the glass! They are a real pain to clean! I tried everything. Turns out that good old baking soda is the answer to that as well! It never ceases to amaze me how versatile baking soda is! First, create a paste of baking soda and water and use a soft scrubby to apply to the baking soda to the watermarks using circular motion and a little scrubbing. Let it dry and then come back and clean it with straight vinegar again using a scrubby. All the watermarks should come right off. You may find a few stubborn spots but with a little extra work, it will come clean! Do this weekly and your shower door will look new for years!
To learn more about healthy homes go to My Healthy Home
Check my Healthy Holistic Living Blog periodically for more Healthy Home Tips or better yet sign up for the RSS feed just click on the orange button at the top right of the page!
Have a Great Day!
Michelle
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Today it is My Intention to Manifest Money March 13, 2007 06:51 |
That's right MONEY we cannot live on love alone, or maybe we can but that is for another day right now today is about opening my mind and feelings to inviting money into my life.
"The Universe doesn't know the difference between a small request and a large request"" It's all the same to the Universe so there is no difference between you asking for $1.00 or a $1,000,000!
So take 3 minutes and feel what it would be like to have all the money you could possibly imagine, think about how good it would feel to be able to give to others and share in your unlimited supply of resources. Think about how good it would feel to be able to buy whatever you wanted and travel wherever you wanted! Get excited, feel all the possibilities that come with abundance and wealth! Kind of makes you smile doesn't it?
(UMM......use the image above if you need a little help visualizing or if you prefer just picture yourself rolling around in a huge pile of money)
Any other readers out there that feel the desire to manifest money today jump on board I hear group requests are moved to the front of the line!
By consciously choosing to create balance within your mind, your body and your spirit and by following your passion you have the opportunity to create optimum health and wealth. We are only limited by the tools we choose to use, our vision and our belief system. Learn more about one of the ways to apply your passion to gain wealth by reading my Holistic Wealth Page.
You have all probably heard about the movie The Secret
It will change your life it did mine! Read The Power of the Secret.
Take the conscious road to authentic power!!!
Have a wonderful DAY!
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Is Depression and Stress Controlling Your Life? March 14, 2007 05:14 |
Major Depression affects 15% of Americans at one point or another during their lives. That's a heck of a lot of people! Studies suggest that 50 - 75 percent of all visits to the doctor are primarily related to stress and interestingly enough stress poses a greater health risk than tobacco use! Eight out of ten of the most commonly used medications in the U.S. are intended to treat problems directly related to stress!
What are the alternatives? Is modern medicine our only choice to help deal with the stress and depression that seems to be so prevalent in our society?
Dr. David Servan-Schrieber believes we have many alternatives, which he outlines in his book, "The Instinct to Heal: Curing Depression, Anxiety and Stress Without Drugs and Without Talk Therapy."
Essentially Dr. Servan-Schrieber believes that we have two brains, the emotional brain and the cognitive brain. These two brains are either in harmony and are working together or they are in competition causing stress and disharmony in our bodies.
"To live in harmony in human society, we need to find and sustain a balance between our instinctive emotional reactions (emotional brain) and the rational responses (cognitive brain) that preserve our social ties over the long term." Dr. Servan-Schrieber believes that when these two systems cooperate our thoughts, decisions, and movements blend and flow naturally. It seems that at every moment we know what choice we should make. We pursue our objectives effortlessly, with natural concentration, because our actions are in harmony with our values. This state of well-being is known as Emotional Intelligence and it is what we continue to aspire to. "Emotional Intelligence is the sign of perfect harmony between the emotional brain, supplying energy and guidance, and the cognitive brain, bringing it to fruition."
"We experience emotions in our body, not our head. In fact only recently was it discovered that the digestive system and the heart have their own network of tens of thousands of neurons that act like "small brains" in the body. The relationship between the emotional brain and the "small brain" in the heart is one of the keys to emotional mastery. By learning how to control our heart, we learn how to gain mastery of our emotional brain, and vice versa."
Dr. Servan-Schreiber's book, "The Instinct to Heal: Curing Depression, Anxiety and Stress Without Drugs and Without Talk Therapy."
This approach is similar to what I used to help start my own healing process. I used biofeedback to assist in learning heart coherence, which is the key to creating coherence between the brains. You can read more about my experience in my article Biofeedback the Path to Healing.
Dr. Seven-Schrieber goes on to describe other techniques that used in conjunction with heart coherence can help create harmony and emotional health. They include Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Maximize Omega-3's, get high on exercise, wake up to the sun, tap into your meridians and seek a larger connection.
Dr. Germano, a psychiatrist on the cutting edge of combining alternative treatments with traditional to help heal our emotional disharmony wrote an article explaining the connection between our mental health and Omega-3. You can read his article "Is Your Brain Fat Enough" to learn more about the importance of Omega-3's in our emotional health and well-being.
For other articles related to a healthy mind and overall emotional wellbeing read all the articles I have on my Healthy Mind Page.
Take the conscious road to authentic power!!!
Have a wonderful DAY!
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Today it is My Intention to Manifest Optimum Health March 15, 2007 05:35 |
Today I invite the Universe to bless me in my effort to align myself with my soul.
"When we ask the Universe to bless us in our effort we open a passageway between our-self and our guides and Teachers. We assist their efforts to assist us. We invoke the power of the non-physical world."
Once again another great quote out of Gary Zukav's book The Seat of the Soul
Sit quietly, visualize yourself doing all the physical things you love to do - breathe deeply, and feel the exhilaration. Fully embrace the complete physical and mental health that is available to us all. Feel the release of the endorphins and the passion you have for moving your body and stimulating your mind. Feel your body and mind tingling with excitement. Feel the boundless energy you have and the enthusiasm you have to move forth throughout your day. Capture this feeling allow yourself to keep this feeling throughout your day. Take a deep breath and know that anytime during your day you stop to take a deep breath you will initiate this feeling.
Use past images of yourself at your healthiest point feel the exhilaration of those experiences capture that feeling and carry it with you throughout your day.
All readers out there that feel compelled to manifest health today please do - with group manifestations we have the ability to consciously impact the energy field of health for others and ourselves.
Keep in mind that manifesting something does not mean it is going to magically appear. It might come in the form of a renewed sense of commitment to eating healthier or maybe a feeling that you have to go outside and take a walk instead of sitting on the couch. The Universe responds in many ways and it is our job to act on those responses.
I have a bunch of articles that I wrote that have wonderful recipes, a great list of healthy foods and an article that helps you know what foods you should consider buying organic. You can go to my Healthy Body page to learn more.
You can also visit My Journey page to learn more about my struggles with a chronic Illness and how through various techniques I found my path to health and learned the benefits of living healthy.
Allow the Universe to work its magic and inspire you with thoughts, ideas or feelings and then YOU put them into action! You will find things will run much smoother and with less effort by taking the path of least resistance and opening yourself up to the true powers of the Universe.
Take the conscious road to authentic power!!!
Have a fantastic day!!
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Are You Living an Inspired Life? March 16, 2007 05:36 |
"It starts as soon as we climb out of bed in the mornings. A vast array of impulses and information begins to stream across the broadband of our consciousness-even before we are fully present in the world." Our first thoughts maybe of the excitement of a new day...
"But the radio, T.V. or newspaper soon sucks us into a vortex of violence, crises and tragedies. At breakfast, we read the labels from the cereal maker counting calories, carbohydrates or cholesterol. Already we are multitasking. We pack up our children and their lunch bags and backpacks, and on the fly, we review the school day and work assignments. Breathless and wound up, we hurl ourselves into traffic, and our own unique workday worries as we flow into the world, juiced with fear. And we wonder why we are not more INSPIRED!
Fear is the dominant experience of our lives. We are afraid of health risks, suspicious of our business institutions and governments, wary about our neighbors, nervous about financial insecurity and just plain scared of terrorism, violence and dying."
Because fear is so widespread it seems to be the catalysts for everything in our lives. "In every field fear is used as a motivating force: religion (join my religion or you'll go to hell); education (learn what I tell you or I will flunk you); parenting (do as I say or I will withhold my love and approval); politics (vote for me or the terrorists will get you); business (do what I say or I will fire you); advertising and marketing (buy this product or you will be ugly!)
Fear places a wedge in our relationships and distracts us from our daily tasks. It diminishes our effectiveness in the world and the contributions we make as humans. Our basic primal desire is to love and be loved; the second is to inspire and be inspired. But when fear rules our hearts, there is little room for love or inspiration to reside there. When we are frightened we cannot lift up anyone else, because frightened people are not inspiring people."
So many of our lives are run on autopilot that we don't even realize that we are reacting to life instead of living life. Because of the onslaught of fear that dictates our society, we are on guard and reacting to each event in our lives as if we are at war. Life is to be lived not survived. We cannot truly tap into our inspired selves until we stop reacting to life and proactively pursue our own unique thoughts, ideas and selves. We are so fear based we even fear being ourselves! Fear has become the basis for almost all our decision-making. STOP and THINK about why you are doing what you are doing and what your motivation is?
Our actions are so far out of alignment with our true inspired selves that we would not recognize it if we fell over it! There are three questions that author Lance Secretan
Why are you here? What do you stand for? What will you do?
When you stand in the presence of someone who is living their inspired life, you can literally feel the energy of their purpose. Even if it is not clear to you on an intellectual level, you are aware that they have that something- THEY ARE INSPIRED! "They know the answer to the three questions: the source of inspiration."
It is hard to live an inspired life when your "destiny, cause, and calling are not in alignment with all aspects of your life." It is not possible to live an inspired life at home but not at work or at church but not at the grocery store. Living an inspired life means integrating all aspects of your personality and aligning them with the source of your destiny, cause and calling. YOUR INSPIRATION!
Some of us require a catalyst to wake us up to the fact that we are not aligned with our authentic selves. And that what we thought was an inspired life was quite the opposite.
To truly live an authentic inspired life requires that you not indulge aspects of your personality but to fully live from the inside out. I was forced through circumstances to look at my life and truly understand how the choices that I was making had an effect on my physical and mental wellbeing.
I neglected the fundamentals of living a healthy inspired life. My life was not balanced and I was putting tremendous amounts of energy in one or two areas of my life while neglecting others. Living a healthy inspired life incorporates all aspects of life: the physical, mental and spiritual and truly understanding the source of your inspiration.
Keep in mind your destiny, cause and calling may not necessarily be to live a life like Mother Theresa or Gandhi. Some of us influence the world in smaller ways but with greater results not always known to ourselves. The key is to change your way of living to live your authentic inspired life and through that, you will ultimately change the world.
These wonderful quotes are from Lance Secretan a leadership advisor and author of Inspire! What Great Leaders Do.
Big FYI if you have never read Ode Magazine it is an absolute must! This magazine will keep you inspired and optimistic about your future as well as the future of our world!
Take the conscious road to authentic power!!!
Have a fantastic day!
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What's your Chemical Body Burden? March 17, 2007 07:12 |
Seven years ago, due to an illness I started researching chemical body burden and the affects that the chemicals in my body may be having on my mental and physical health. When I first started doing research, the information was limited but in the last few years, it seems to have gone mainstream.
What is "Chemical Body Burden?"
"Toxic chemicals, both naturally occurring and man-made, often get into the human body. We may inhale them, swallow them in contaminated food or water, or in some cases, absorb them through skin. The term "body burden" refers to the total amount of these chemicals that are present in the human body at a given point in time." These chemicals are often stored in our fat cells for years if not our entire lives. Researches still do not know the potential health risks of the combined affect that multiple carcinogenic chemicals have on our bodies. To learn more go to chemicalbodyburden.org.
Every person alive today, whether living in industrial centers or remote areas, carries a chemical body burden of over 300 chemicals, most of which did not exist before World War II. The health effects of some of these chemicals are documented, but many others have undergone little or no testing. How these chemicals might interact with each other to affect human health is rarely tested and poorly understood.
National Geographic sponsored and published an article by David Ewing Duncan called "The Pollution Within." The author decided to use himself as a guinea pig and get his body tested for toxic chemicals and boy was he surprised! As he describes, "I'm engaged in a journey of chemical self-discovery. Last fall I had myself tested for 320 chemicals I might have picked up from food, drink, the air I breathe, and the products that touch my skin-my own secret stash of compounds acquired by merely living. It includes older chemicals that I might have been exposed to decades ago, such as DDT and PCBs; pollutants like lead, mercury, and dioxins; newer pesticides and plastic ingredients; and the near-miraculous compounds that lurk just beneath the surface of modern life, making shampoos fragrant, pans nonstick, and fabrics water-resistant and fire-safe." Read more about The Pollution Within.
One of the most disturbing things about the research is the lack of information on the synergistic affect the chemicals in our body have on our physical and mental wellbeing. Chemical companies spend hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to ensure that the general public "feels safe" using their products. Read Chemicals in Our Food and Toxic Brain to learn more about what is in the products you use and how they may be affecting your health.
After spending the first year of my illness researching the current data on chemical body burden it led me to looking into what I may have been exposed to during my childhood. What I found was fascinating. After contacting several of the children that I grew up with I found that there were a total of five us with the same or similar disorder. And all of us played and swam in a river behind our houses that was later found to be, as one toxicologist put it a "toxic stew."
After many emails and letters to the Florida state department and the EPA, we found that the river in question was in fact polluted and had recently been cleaned. We actually have a hard copy of the water analysis and the PCB levels were astronomical. Their was even an article published in the Orlando Sentinel reporting the use of 2,4-D for weed control along the river over the last 50 years. Just a little background on this herbicide; it was one of the ingredients of Agent Orange and has been associated with various health problems including nervous system damage when the exposure has been at levels above the maximum contaminant level. And of course as a child, we may have been more vulnerable to lower levels of 2,4-D because of our smaller size and possibly less efficient detoxification systems. All of this would explain the slew of dead fish we would run across from time to time while enjoying this wonderful little stream running through our back yard!
Bottom line is that the research is out there and we can no longer deny the dangers of the chemicals we are using in almost every product on the market. We are starting to see the affects that these chemicals are having on our children and ourselves.
The number of children and the total number of people with asthma in the U.S. has more than doubled since 1980. Experts agree that the increases in asthma are real and not just an increase in reporting due to increased awareness.
Exposures to chemicals early in life (before birth and during infancy) can be important in setting the stage for later development of asthma. For example, a recent study found that infants exposed to herbicides and pesticides before age one were much more likely to develop early persistent asthma. Some studies are also showing a correlation between the increase in ADHD and chemical exposure.
Living in a society where we are inundated on a daily basis with advertisements and media reports suggesting that the latest research showing the dangers of certain chemicals is false and unfounded makes it difficult to decide what your priorities should be to protect your health and the health of your family.
We have been programmed to distance ourselves from people that are concerned about the use of chemicals in products and label those people as "extremists." For years, you were considered a health food nut or an environmental extremist if you made different choices than mainstream society. God forbid anybody criticize the health benefits of Wonder Bread!
We are just starting delve into the risks associated with all the chemicals we put in everyday products and that we have dumped in our environment. Twenty years ago there was no such thing as "chemical body burden" so progress is being made. And the shift in the market and the general population's opinion about organic and chemical free products is starting to change as well. When you start seeing articles in Newsweek and Time magazine about the Green movement, you know change is coming. And as far as I am concerned, it is about time!
Want a great resource for green products? Consider The Green Guide
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What Products Should I Use to Build My Healthy Home? March 18, 2007 05:26 |
Finding the right green building products can be quite the process the good news is that the green market is growing so fast that mainstream companies are now producing green products. What that means for you is that prices are going down and locating the products you need to build your healthy home has gotten a lot easier.
I spent a tremendous amount of time and energy researching what products I was going to use in my home so I hope that this helps as you begin your green building project.
This is just a starter list I plan to continue to review green building products as well as non-toxic household products on an on-going basis. So keep checking back to make sure you get the latest information. You can even sign up for my RSS feed by clicking on the orange button in the right hand column or you can bookmark my Healthy Holistic Living Blog using technorati, stumbleupon or del.icio.us. You can also mark my blog as a favorite with digg; just use the orange button in the right column.
I am recommending the products below from me to you, consumer to consumer. These are products that I personally have used and continue to use and I am sharing my experience with you. Their is nothing scientific about my process it is simply that I use the product if it works to my standards great, if not I do not continue to buy it or recommend it! My comments are from my personal experience and may differ from other consumer's experience. Building products at times vary in strength and life due to multiple variables such as climate and installation.
I am not affiliated with any of the products listed and do not benefit from the sale of any of the products listed. Although if you go through my Healthy Holistic Living website and happen to visit a store in my Healthy Living Market Place to locate one of the products I do receive some small compensation that helps defer the cost of my website.
The primary criteria for choosing products that appear on these pages are that they be no or low VOC and solvent free and to the best of my knowledge, not harmful to living things. However, some products make claims or allude to being non-toxic and are not. I recommend that you research each product, review the product MSDS and be sure that it meets your specific requirements and goals for your healthy home.
Building Supplies
- C-Cure Grout This is a good grout; the colors you will find are true to the color chart. Their is ONLY one issue because the product does not contain a grout sealer it stains quite easily so you will want to use a grout sealer in areas you expect to spill a lot of stuff! And if you use it in the showers, you definitely need to use a grout sealer.
- AFM Safecoat Grout Sealer I used this to seal the grout in my showers I really didn't see the need to do it in any other part of the house. Keep in mind you are going to need this if you use C-cure grout.
- Safecoat Safe Seal This is a really great product especially if you can't afford some of the more environmentally friendly products. For instance, we used it on all our doors. Even though they were all solid wood, the glue used to make the doors was toxic so we needed to use a sealer to prevent off-gassing.
- Safecoat Dyno Flex This mastic is great for sealing around pipes during construction. I also used it around the hose bibs outside the house.
- Taylor 2071 Tuff-Lock X-Link Wood Floor Adhesive According to the installers, they loved this product. We made a compromise on the product it is Low VOC and has no solvents we could not find a no VOC product that would not negate our warranty. If you are looking for no VOC, I have listed better alternatives below.
- Titebond Construction Adhesive by Franklin International This is a solvent free construction adhesive (no VOC's) for plywood, paneling, hardboard and wet or frozen lumber. I personally did not use this product but it comes highly recommended from the green building supply stores.
- Timberline 2051 Wood Flooring Adhesive This adhesive is for laminated plank and parquet flooring, again this is not a product I used personally but is highly recommended by the green building supply stores.
- Pittsburg Paint Pure-Performance Excellent paint it coats beautifully. I really recommend this product I was pleasantly surprised that I could remain in the house while my other half painted for over a week!
- Cera CT-12 Ceramic Tile Adhesive This product comes highly recommended but the jury is still out on product quality. It seems to be holding but a few of my bathroom and kitchen tiles have separated which no doubt could be an installation issue. I will keep you up-to-date.
- Murco Joint Compound This stuff works fantastic it can also be used as a texturizer. So far their is only one problem it requires an additional day for drying and trust me your drywallers will not like that!
- Fantech Fresh Air Intake System This seems to work quite well but I have nothing to compare it to and really how can you tell? The only warning I have for you is if you are not prepared to climb into your attic every three months to clean the filters don't get a fresh air intake system!!
- Weldbond Universal Adhesive Great adhesive for all around projects. I am pretty handy around the house so I use this stuff for just about everything.
- Gorilla Glue Gorilla Glue PVC Gorilla Glue is fantastic wood working glue with an extremely strong hold. Their is also a Gorilla PVC pipe glue that is non-toxic that I have not tried but if it is anything like there regular glue I would use it in a second. And trust me if it was available when I was putting my sprinkler system in I would of bought it by the gallon!
- Kontaktkleber Contact Glue This is a basic around the house contact glue for ceramics etc.. This product seems to hold well on the few items that I have glued. The company is out of Germany so I couldn't list the link to the manufacturer but I did create a link to a store that carries the product. FYI I have never purchased from this store so I can not vouch for them.
- Zymol Cleaner Car Wax According to the guy at the auto store, he says this product works 100% better than the products with all the chemicals! I don't wash my car much less wax it so I can't weigh in on this but it works quite well when I polish tagua nuts!
- 100% pure silicone caulking You can pretty much get this anywhere and it works great for all your caulking needs without all those annoying toxic chemicals! Although your painters may hate you for it! It is not as easy to work with as the standard caulking.
Healthy Home Building Tip
- Borid
Boric acid can be used as a treatment for roaches and termites. This is a wonderful substitute for pesticides. I recommend using it during construction sprinkle it in the walls between the studs prior to dry walling and on the foundation where you will have all your kitchen and bathroom cabinets installed. You can get this at almost any hardware store but make sure you read the bottle sometimes they slip in a very toxic chemical to kill roaches.
FYI, if you are on a budget, as we were check around and look for sales what I did was key in the product name followed by the word "sale" and did a web search, for the most part, I found great deals. But watch out for those shipping costs you are buying heavy items and some of these store jack up their shipping costs to make a little extra money.
If you would like more information on building a healthy home or healthy holistic living visit my website at healthy-holistic-living.com.
Want a great resource for green products? Consider The Green Guide
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