Your Body "Eats" Over 100 Chemicals a Day!

What’s your morning routine? Do you take a shower? Use soap, shampoo, maybe some conditioner, then some moisturizer, shaving cream, deodorant? You should of course also be putting on sunscreen as well. Lip balm? Some of us women folk put on make-up. Brush your teeth too I hope. Hair spray, mousse or gel? Adults in the U.S. apply about 10 personal care products to their bodies every day. This exposes you to about 125 chemical compounds, more if you add perfume or cologne.

Have you ever thought about whether or not these products are safe? I know I didn’t until recently. I made the assumption, like most people, that the government wouldn’t allow anything dangerous to be sold and used on a daily basis. Some of these 125 chemicals are benign, but many are not. The dangerous chemicals can put you and your family (and pets!) at risk for cancer, allergies, asthma, and reproductive issues; the list for our kids is longer and includes ADD/ADHD, autism, and even brain development problems. Have you heard “rumors” about known carcinogens used in baby bubble bath (http://safecosmetics.org/article.php?id=221; http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2009-03-12-formaldehyde_N.htm) or lead and fish scales in lipstick (http://safecosmetics.org/article.php?id=327)?

You didn’t realize that? You thought the Food and Drug Administration kept things safe? The FDA cannot require companies to prove the claims they make. Think about this the next time you want to buy some great anti-wrinkle cream! There are no required health studies or testing before products are allowed onto the market, except for color additives. In short, the FDA has no ability to enforce the safety of the public when it comes to cosmetics and personal care products. The “FDA has not set limits for contaminants, such as lead, in cosmetics” (http://www.fda.gov/cosmetics/productandingredientsafety/productinformation/ucm137224.htm) so what is there to enforce? And what your skin doesn’t absorb goes down the drain and into our environment.

According to Nena Baker, author of The Body Toxic, the FDA’s office of Cosmetics and Colors only employs 30 people and its operating budget had not changed in nearly twenty years (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nena-baker/being-clean-and-pretty-ha_b_657923.html). Its budget, by the way, does not include anything for product safety assessments.

Jane Houlihan, Senior VP for Research for the Environmental Working Group (http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/2011/04/13/why-this-matters/), reported that scientists found a relationship back in 2005 between phthalates (pronounced thay-lates) (chemical compound found in many fragrances – not just in perfumes and colognes but in anything that smells nice) and the feminization of U.S. male babies. Re-read that one! Parabens were found in breast tumor tissue; the possible source cited was deodorant. (I can’t give THAT up!) And all this gets washed down the drain into our environment. Nothing like a few hormone disrupters in the water for wildlife!

What can you do? Start by being aware. The Environmental Working Group has a great website http://www.ewg.org/ and cosmetics database http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/. I looked at the latter and found Rejuva Minerals make-up. So far I have tried their foundation powder and blush and really like them. I am relieved that my family uses Shaklee products as I know these undergo stringent testing and are safe for us, the kids, and the environment. Another useful place to look up your favorite products is the National Institutes of Health website http://householdproducts.nlm.nih.gov/. Don’t believe the hype – check it out for yourself. It all starts with YOU!

The 1 Secret to Weighing What You Know You Should

Trying to lose weight? Been on diets before? You need to re-think “dieting.”

First, do you believe you need to lose weight? In 1980 35% of Americans were overweight to obese. Over the course of the next 24 years things got…worse. In 2004 65% of Americans were overweight to obese. Being overweight puts you at higher risk of developing heart disease, diabetes, stroke, and even certain kinds of cancer. Our health care system has spent in excess of $40 billion handling this crisis. Our health care system is really a disease management system; PREVENTION is the KEY here.

The current generation of kids may be the 1st generation ever to have a shorter life expectancy than their parents.

OK, onto diets. The problem with diets is that you cut back on eating and send your body into famine mode. You lose muscle mass and as a result lower your metabolism making it harder to burn fat. Plus you feel more tired. Maybe you lose some weight – some fat and some muscle. Once you go off the diet, however, you have less muscle mass and thus will gain weight back easier than before. We call it the yo-yo cycle of dieting.

Once you have created a fat cell in your body, you can never get rid of it; you can only empty it. You need to maintain your muscle mass so you can keep your metabolism working at the highest possible level to burn fat. As you do lose fat, you are also shedding the toxins in your body. Those nasty things tend to get stored in with the fat and come back into circulation as the fat is used up - drink plenty of water to flush the toxins out.

Include a lot of leucine in your diet. Leucine helps you maintain muscle while burning fat. Keep your body healthy while shedding fat, so eat more, smaller meals. Starving yourself will lower your metabolism and make your body want to hang on the your fat even more. So eat well and often but with smaller portions and try to avoid the things you know you shouldn’t eat. Exercise – find something you like to do that gets you up and moving around: running, dancing, swimming, walking, etc.

You should also check out Shaklee’s Cinch Inch Loss program. It is powered by leucine to help you maintain your muscle mass and thus your higher metabolism. The program also includes all the nutrients your body needs. This helps to decrease cravings, stabilize your blood sugar levels, and and will keep you feeling less hungry.

Shaklee’s program focuses on losing inches not weight. Muscle weighs more than fat but you don’t want to lose muscle mass. Fat weighs less but takes up more room. So focus on losing inches – fat. Replace 2 meals a day with the Cinch shakes or a meal-in-a-bar. Both have lots of protein and leucine. So maybe for breakfast you have a shake and for dinner you have a bar. At lunch, have a real, nutritious meal. If you get “peckish” (hungry) try a Cinch snack bar. There is also an energizing tea to help you for those blah afternoons when you need a lift. And be sure to take the 3-in-1 boost – a natural multi-vitamin with leucine - 3 times a day. Keeping your body’s nutrient needs met will help you not feel hungry.

Here's a link to the Cinch sampler pack http://kirstenmouton.myshaklee.com/us/en/products.php?sku=59718
So the 1 Secret is CINCH!

Be Safe with Plastics

Plastics are everywhere in our lives so we need to be careful with their use. Not only can they pose health risks, they also cause pollution of our environment. Check out this article for http://healthychild.org/5steps/5_steps_5/

Dare to Dream again (and Dream BIG!)

Do you remember what you looked when you were thinner? Get back to thin - let's start with just 10 pounds! At the same time let's improve our health and get more energy and vitality! Feel good about yourself again!

If you are local, please join us at Juicy's River Cafe in Needles, CA on Saturday, January 8th at 11am (CA time) (which is Noon AZ time). There will be something for everyone to take home!

If you are not local, I can send you information. Shoot me an email with your address.

Here's to making 2011 the BEST YEAR EVER! I am DEDICATED TO THAT!! For everyone!

Oh, my email is kirstenm@frontiernet.net