Pollution inside our homes

“…Pollution inside our homes….” I remember the first time I read that phrase. Pollution was always something that referred to the outside – we go into our homes to be safe! But according to a study by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) (www.epa.gov/iaq/voc.html), the pollution inside our homes is 2 to 5 times greater than outside. Think about that. We spend, on average, 90% of our time indoors – work, school, grocery store, movies, home.

Go to Sloan Barnett’s website (http://greengoeswitheverything.com/) and take the body burden test. You’ll begin to see where all these pollutants are coming from: chemicals in our carpets; mattresses; paints; household cleaners (especially ones in spray bottles where particles can float around your home for days); furniture upholstery, wax, and glue; fireplace pollutants; dry cleaning chemicals; pesticides, just to name a few.

The first time I took Sloan’s body burden test, I was more than twice the national average! That scared me, and little by little, we have changed our lifestyle. After getting educated we now use only green cleaners. We use Basic H for keeping most outdoor garden pests at bay. Over time we are replacing our few carpeted areas with natural stone. We now use natural, safe personal products such as baby bubble bath, shampoo, lotion, etc. We can’t be too careful with our health!

Water is another area of concern. Our water comes from a well since we live in a rural area. We don’t have the smell of chlorine in our water nor do we worry about getting those scary quality control reports about “monitoring requirements for your drinking water not met.” What an awful thing to get in the mail AFTER the fact! But we do worry about what chemicals get washed into our water. Our under sink osmosis system died recently. Those are expensive – the filters alone are well over $100/year. Luckily, we just found a fabulous water pitcher filtration system. It filters 56 toxins including lead and costs less than the filters for the osmosis system! Again, you can’t be too careful with your health and that of your family.

This is part of the Healthy Child Blog Carnival about Clean Water and Air Solutions [http://bit.ly/cleanAir] - an effort by Healthy Child Healthy World to help inspire a movement to protect children from harmful chemicals.

Read more: http://healthychild.org/get-involved/events/comments/blog_carnival_clean_water_and_air_solutions/#ixzz0x1Nl4iWg

Pretty But Dead?

This is a great article (below) on some of the dangers of cosmetics. I found it on Healthy Child but it originated on the Environmental Working Group’s website. We don’t normally think of cosmetics as “dangerous.” We are a little too trusting and too naïve. I have heard rumors about lipsticks with fish scales in them. Yuk! What else don’t we know?

And it is not just women. Do you men use deodorant? Toothpaste? Shaving cream? Shampoo? Soap? You get the idea.

http://healthychild.org/blog/comments/test_your_knowledge_of_cosmetics_safety_8_myths_debunked1/

Here’s a related article from the Environmental Working Group. http://www.enviroblog.org/2010/07/being-clean-and-pretty-has-toxic-costs.html

We need to think about what we are doing to ourselves. Is it any wonder that rates of cancer are on the rise? Did you know that, according to the American Cancer Society, 1 in 5 women will die from cancer? For men it is 1 in 4. I, personally, do NOT like that statistic.

Read up. Take action.

I use Shaklee personal care products so I now feel quite safe, but for years, who knows what was in the stuff I used. We bought what was cheap, and, oh lord, what smelled good.

I’d like to find some safe, natural, good cosmetics since Shaklee is no longer selling that line …

Splendor in the Grass: Greener and Safer Backyards

While we can’t control the chemicals used in our daycare, restaurants, etc (ie bleach!), we make sure that our backyard is a safe haven for our little ones, starting with our cleaners. If you aren’t sure what chemicals are in your cleaners, detergents, etc, please visit www.householdproducts.nlm.nih.gov/products.htm and check out the effects of some of those dangerous chemicals. Many common, commercial brands are actually classified by the Environmental Protection Agency as hazardous waste. You don’t want to use “hazardous waste” around your kids, do you?! Look for green alternatives and keep your kids safe.

My family found a great, multi-purpose natural product that we use for almost everything. I spray it on my rose bushes to get rid of spider mites. Our 2-year-old twins are always curious and wanting to pitch in and now I don’t have to worry about spraying around them. We also use this product, in a different concentration, to green up our lawn. And it’s completely safe for the kids to run around on. We keep our patio furniture and windows clean with it too! And it’s ok for the kids to help out with the cleaning (and they love to get big washcloths and go to town!).

West Nile Virus, borne by mosquitoes, is in just about every place in the US now. Believe it or not, but this same product, again at a different concentration, can safely be applied to the skin to protect against mosquitoes and other insect bites. We don’t have to worry about which is worse, the insect repellent or WNV.

That just leaves us with finding a safe sunscreen. Over 75% of sunscreens at SPF15 or higher either provide inadequate protection or contain harmful chemicals. Go to this link to find an effective and safe sunscreen http://www.ewg.org/2010sunscreen/.

Our kids are so precious to us and it is up to us to keep them safe and healthy. Kids should be playing outside, especially in the summer time. But being outside shouldn’t mean extra exposure to dangerous chemicals. Keep your kids safe and do your homework. Find green alternatives.

This is part of the Healthy Child Blog Carnival (link to http://healthychild.org/blog/comments/splendor_in_the_grass_blog_carnival/) – an effort by Healthy Child Healthy World to help inspire a movement to protect children from harmful chemicals.

Check out these other articles from the Carnival:
Sunshine and Bugs: A Natural Defense at http://www.euphoriababy.com/blog/healthy-living/sunshine-bugs-a-natural-defence/
Green Thursdays: a Green Lawn at http://www.adventureswiththreegirls.com/archives/577
Our Grass is Greener at http://farmersdaughterct.wordpress.com/2010/07/12/our-grass-is-greener/
Making Changes to Protect my Children Outdoors: The Grass IS Greener on my side
Splendor in the Non-Toxic Grass at http://thegreenmomreview.com/2010/07/15/splendor-in-the-non-toxic-grass/
I Am Not the Master of My Backyard at  http://eco-novice.blogspot.com/2010/07/i-am-not-master-of-my-backyard.html

Baking Soda - a bunch of uses

Check out this article!  Great ideas, natural, safe.  http://bit.ly/d11EVy

Going Green Tips

I think a lot of people want to go green but aren't sure what they can easily do. We are all so busy. Start out with baby steps. Work your way into it. Commit to changing something every month. Every little bit helps.

Here are a few simple ideas.
1. Stop buying bottled water. You are putting tons of plastics into the landfills and that stuff isn't biodegradable.
2. For fresh water buy a filter for your faucet or a water pitcher/filter system.  Those aren't expensive.
3. Conserve electricity. Turn off lights and fans when you are not in that room. Turn off your computer at night. Turn the thermostat a little higher in the summer and a little lower in the winter. You'll save money with this one too.
4. When it's time, replace appliances with energy efficient ones, including low-flow toilets and shower heads.
5. Read how one woman saved $10,000 by going green - tons of ideas in there.  http://yhoo.it/9osGDx
6. Buy organic cotton bedding and clothes.
7. Buy organic food. Support your local farmers markets, if you have them.
8. Recycle.
9. Install floors made of recycled and renewable resources.
10. Get educated on the chemicals in your common household cleaners at http://www.householdproducts.nlm.nih.gov/products.htm

Please add your ideas!

Home Health Hazards

I talked to some ladies yesterday at a party and was amazed again at how many people have had problems with common household cleaners, perfumes, and even our kids are having problems. Get one or two women together (I am sorry but I have not been able to have the same level of interest when the group is mostly men) and start talking about environmental indoor hazards. We all have horror stories about getting sick from cleaning or headaches from someone's strong perfume or kids with allergic reactions to weird things. How much more data do we need to see before we take action? Asthma in children has been growing at an alarming rate. The US has the highest rate of cancer in children of any country in the world. Heart disease and cancer in adults is growing rapidly.

I think the US Center for Disease Control has it right. See the summary here and you can go in and read the full policy if you so desire:  http://www.thecanaryreport.org/2010/04/07/centers-for-disease-control/. Basically, no smelly stuff at work. The CDC even goes so far as to include laundry detergents and personal care products like hairspray and perfume. Of course, some of this is fueled by lawsuits, and companies keep losing those. But, finally someone saw the writing on the wall and made a change for the better. Do you think other companies will follow suit?


In this day and age, there is no reason NOT to use green, non-toxic products. They are out there. They aren't that hard to find. They aren't that expensive - some are much cheaper than what you may have been using in fact. 


Take action. Read my other posts. Decide to make one change a month towards going green. It's good for you, your family, and our planet.

Get off the merry-go-round of dieting

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

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. Once you go off the diet, however, you have less muscle mass and thus will gain weight back easier than before. Very frustrating. We call it the yo-yo cycle of dieting.

You need to understand a few things. 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. Also realize that 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.

You want to include a lot of leucine in your diet. Leucine helps you maintain muscle while burning fat, decrease cravings, stabilize your blood sugar levels, and and will keep you feeling less hungry. You need to 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.


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. Take a good, all-natural vitamin to keep your body’s nutrient needs met to help you not feel hungry.

Good luck and stick with it!