You don’t even need to know me well to tell that this Anthropologie maxi dress (created exclusively for Anthro by Whitney Pozgay of WHIT fashion brand) was actually made for me. It’s vintage inspired slash slow living essence has my name all over it, plus the natural motif of dark beige leaves only proves
The post Tzipora Loves : Anthropologie Maxi dress appeared first on TLV Birdie Blog.
By Dr. Mercola
Slow-cooked casseroles are one of the most convenient oven meals. They’re simply delicious, and if there are any leftovers, you can store them in the refrigerator and just reheat them later.
If you’re tired of eating the usual casseroles, you should try this delicious vegetable casserole recipe. Pine nuts, zucchini, eggplant, and tomatoes make the perfect ingredients for this meatless casserole:
Ingredients:
- 1 eggplant, sliced into chunks
- 2 pounds zucchini, sliced into chunks
- 1 red pepper, sliced into strips
- 2 medium onions, sliced
- 4 medium tomatoes, diced
- 1 cup olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves
- ½ cup pesto sauce
Pesto:
- 2 cups fresh basil or spinach
- 2 garlic cloves, sliced
- 2/3 cup coconut oil
- ¼ cup pine nuts
Directions:
- Blend all ingredients in a blender or food processor.
- Heat coconut oil in a medium saucepan. Add eggplant, zucchini, red pepper, and onions. Sauté over medium heat in small batches, so there is enough coconut oil remaining for all the vegetables.
- Heat the oven to 350 °Fahrenheit. Place the sautéed vegetables in a baking dish, leaving the oil used for the vegetables in the saucepan.
- Add the tomatoes to the oil in the saucepan, press the garlic cloves into the pan, and add salt and pepper to taste.
- Pour tomato mixture and pesto over the vegetables. Place in the oven and bake for 45 minutes or longer for a more crispy texture.
(From Healthy Recipes for Your Nutritional Type)
Make sure you place your casserole in the middle of the oven to ensure that it bakes evenly.1 To achieve a crispy texture, do not cover while baking.
This healthy and delicious casserole tastes even better when made with basil pesto sauce. If you have basil in your garden, you can easily make fresh pesto sauce. You can make fresh pesto sauce in large batches and then freeze it to extend its shelf life. Frozen pesto sauce can be used for up to three months.2
Eggplants provide the meaty texture for this meatless casserole. It is important to pick firm and glossy eggplants with bright green stems. When you push the flesh with your thumb, it should bounce back. If it doesn’t, it’s a clear sign that it may be overripe. Store your eggplants in the crisper drawer of your refrigerator to keep them fresh longer.
For zucchinis, I recommend keeping their skin intact when cooking as it contains most of their antioxidants and fiber.
Look for fresh tomatoes that are bright red and do not have any cracks, wrinkles, bruises, or soft spots.3 It is also better if you avoid using metal pans and storage containers to prevent dangerous aluminum being absorbed by the tomatoes and your body.
This vegetable casserole is a perfect addition to your wholesome diet as it contains the following healthy ingredients:
Zucchini
Zucchini is often classified as a vegetable even though it is actually a fruit. It is low in calories, but is abundant in fiber. It helps slow down aging and prevents disease through the help of its many flavonoid antioxidants such as zeaxanthin, carotenes, and lutein.
Zucchini is a great source of B-complex vitamins such as folate, B6, B1, B2, B3, and choline, which help maintain blood sugar regulation. It also offers minerals such as iron, manganese, and phosphorus.
Eggplant
Eggplant may be one of the most underrated vegetable in the US, as the average American only consumes less than one pound of it per year, but it is actually beneficial to include in your diet. Eggplant is rich in various vitamins and minerals such as fiber, folate, potassium, manganese, copper, thiamin, niacin, and vitamins C, K, and B6.
It also contains nasunin, an anthocyanin phytonutrient that fights free radicals and prevents brain damage by protecting the lipids (fats) in your brain. Nasunin provides iron-chelating mechanism, which is beneficial if you are suffering from iron overload.
Tomato
Tomatoes are known to be beneficial for your health as they contain vitamin E, thiamin, niacin, folate, magnesium, vitamin B6, phosphorus, and copper. They are also an abundant source of manganese and vitamins A, C, and K.
Take note that canned tomatoes can be a health hazard. Many cans linings are contaminated with bisphenol A (BPA), which can transfer to the tomatoes (or any food). BPA negatively affects the brain, behavior, and prostate glands in infants, children, and even in fetuses.
Tomatoes contain zeaxanthin, a phytonutrient that protects the eye and helps prevent age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Tomatoes also provide the antioxidant lycopene that protects the skin from ultraviolet damage. Lycopene also helps lessen oxidative stress and lower the risk of osteoporosis.
Pine Nuts
Pine nuts are rich in monounsaturated fat, protein, iron, and magnesium. They also provide vitamins E and K as well as manganese, which are efficient in maintaining a healthy heart. Another component of pine nuts is pinolenic acid, which supports healthy cholesterol levels.
Pine nuts have a wide range of antioxidants that help combat free radicals and protect your cells from reactive oxygen species (ROS). Pine nuts are also rich in lutein that reduces your risk of AMD (just like tomatoes) and non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
By Dr. Mercola
Root canal is a commonly performed procedure in most adults. But is it a wise one? Dr. Robert Kulacz, a dentist, has spent a significant portion of his professional career trying to answer this question.
What he discovered profoundly changed his life, and led him to write a book about his findings called, The Toxic Tooth: How a Root Canal Could Be Making You Sick, which I think is among the best available on this subject.
Dr. Kulacz began practicing dentistry in Brewster, New York. After six years as an associate, he opened his own practice in Somers, New York in 1992, where he performed all the conventional procedures of dentistry, from restorations to extractions and root canals.
"I did a lot of root canals for many years," he says. "Everything was going smoothly until one day, a patient of mine said to me, 'You know, I heard from my physician that root canals may be bad; that root canals may cause or contribute to other diseases in the body.'
And I said, 'You're crazy. Who is telling you this? That's impossible.' He said, 'You got to look at this information.' He gave me websites of organizations like the International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology (IAOMT) to look at.
I went on to explore this topic so I could come back to him and say, 'Here is where you're wrong, here's where your physician is wrong, and here is where the American Dental Association (ADA) is right.'
Lo and behold, I found out they're right; I was wrong.
I looked at Weston Price's work, the work of Rosenow, and others. I decided to go to an IAOMT meeting... Dr. Boyd Haley's lecture on root canals and how toxic they are changed my life. I realized I was wrong... From that day on, I changed my practice."
Dr. Kulacz stopped performing root canals in 1995. He doesn't promote a ban on root canals across the board, but stresses the importance of informed consent.
The American Dental Association states that root canals are a safe procedure that cannot cause any systemic diseases, and according to Dr. Kulacz and others who have spent time investigating the matter, that's simply not true.
"If a patient is informed that these root canal teeth remain infected; that bacteria can indeed travel to other sites in the body, and that bacteria in root canal teeth and the surrounding bone release potent toxins, then the patient can decide to have a root canal or not," he says.
Many dentists believe they can sterilize a root canal tooth and that the act of instrumenting and irrigating the canal will eliminate all the bacteria, but that's not the case.
“I’ve done biopsies on every root canal tooth that I have extracted. Almost all of them have remnants of necrotic debris still in that canal meaning that they were not thoroughly cleaned. Microbiological cultures of the surrounding bone showed infection almost 100% of the time.” Dr. Kulacz says.
According to the ADA, any remaining bacteria will be "entombed" within that tooth, but that's not true either. The gutta-percha, the filling material used to seal the canal, is not getting into the tiny lateral canals that branch off the main canal, so leakage is almost always possible, especially since the tooth is porous.
And even a perfectly sealed root canal cannot prevent the small molecule exotoxins produced by the bacteria inside the root canal tooth from easily migrating out of the tooth and into the body.
The bulk of the tooth structure is composed of dentinal tubules, hollow structures that run from the main canal outward. If you were to put these tubules end to end from just a single rooted tooth, they would stretch for about three miles.
But they’re big enough to harbor bacteria three across, which you can never remove or sterilize. A tooth is more like a sponge than a solid structure.
“If you had a solid tooth structure that was like steel or a metal, you were able to clear out the main canal of that tooth, there were no tributaries, and you can perfectly seal it, and eliminate the residual infection in the surrounding jaw bone a root canal would be great. But we can’t do that,” he says.
"Now, it doesn't mean that all root canal teeth are going to cause disease. It depends upon the type of bacteria that are in there, what kind of toxins they produce, and the immune system health of the individual.
But with 25 to 30 million root canals done per year, multiply that by how many years a person is alive, there's a lot of root canals out there. And a lot of them are not good."
Since root canal teeth are chronically infected, they may contribute to a number of different health problems, including heart disease. While the ADA insists bacteria from root canal teeth can never travel to distant sites in your body, Dr. Kulacz disagrees, explaining:
"Heart disease is caused by the damage to the inside lining of the blood vessel (the cholesterol is a secondary byproduct). The primary cause of heart disease is the damage of the intima lining of the blood vessel and migration of macrophages and cholesterol inside that artery.
Inflammation causes plaque to rupture into the lumen, into the space of the blood vessel, causing a blood clot and a heart attack. [A] study done in 2013... compared the bacterial DNA in blood clots and arterial plaque in heart attack patients to the DNA of the bacteria in the mouth.
The same bacteria found in the root canal teeth and in gum disease are found in the plaques in coronary arteries and in the blood clots that caused the heart attack.
These bacteria move from the mouth into other sites of the body like the arterial plaques. They've also found the same bacteria in the pericardial fluid or the fluid that surrounds the heart... In heart disease you don't want infection and inflammation in an arterial plaque.
The presence of oral bacteria from root canal teeth and gum disease in the arterial plaque and blood clots of heart attack patients points to direct causation, rather than correlation between oral infection and cardiovascular disease.”
Because root canal teeth no longer have a blood supply, the bacteria remaining inside all root canal teeth are effectively “hidden” from the immune system. To make matters worse, the root canal tooth becomes more infected over time due to the influx of bacteria from the gum tissue surrounding the tooth.
Other research has shown pathogenic bacteria from infected root canals destroy or kill the white blood cells designed to eliminate them, which is why the surrounding jaw bone can harbor such chronic infection. The bacteria can also evade your immune system by:
- Bacterial mimicry; mimicking your body's own bacteria, which your white blood cells will not attack
- Disabling your antibodies and white blood cells
- Forming sticky biofilms
The video above was recorded about four years ago. In it, I discuss some of the health effects I suffered from an infected tooth, which were resolved after having the tooth extracted. It's important to recognize that the reason you get cavities and/or infected teeth in the first place is related to your diet—primarily eating too much sugar.
If your diet is inadequate, your immune function will be compromised, and if your immune system is weakened, the bacteria's ability to wreak havoc is magnified. So does this mean you have to extract all of your root canal teeth? No, Dr. Kulacz says.
"We can't become so closed-minded that we ignore mainstream dentistry or mainstream medicine just because we don't believe one part of it. Just saying that we're going to extract all root canal teeth and we're going to cure all disease is not valid. That's as bad as saying that root canal teeth can't cause any problems. We have to find the balance... we have to evaluate objectively and then come to a reasonable conclusion and protocol on what to do with these root canal teeth."
If you’re considering having a root canal done, evaluate the data and your personal situation, such as your health risks, before making your decision. I would also suggest considering ozone therapy prior to root canal or tooth extraction. Ozone therapy is typically administered through a syringe, right into or around to the base of the tooth. Multiple visits are usually needed to address the infection. Ozone is directly toxic to infectious material, and it also stimulates your immune system.
I was able to prevent a root canal by using ozone therapy not too long ago. However if the pulp tissue has completely died due to infection, nothing, including ozone, will bring the tooth back to life. It took about five treatments. It's safe, non-toxic, and relatively inexpensive, so it may be worth considering before taking more drastic measures.
If you decide to have the tooth extracted rather than doing a root canal, there are several options on how to restore that missing tooth. The first and least expensive option is with a removable appliance or partial denture. You need to take it out at night, put it back in in the morning, and keep it clean. It's the least invasive way to restore missing teeth.The second and considerably more expensive alternative is to do a bridge. The teeth on either side of the missing tooth are prepared for caps or crowns, and the missing tooth is attached to those two abutment teeth. The bridge is permanently put in as one unit. The problem is you have to cut down a lot of the enamel on the adjacent teeth, which causes trauma to those teeth, potentially risking the need for another root canal over time.
The third option is a dental implant, where a screw is inserted into your jawbone after a healing time of between three and six months to ensure a base of solid, healthy bone in the jaw. Then a tooth is built upon the top of the implant. The implant functions as your root would have and you have a permanent crown that functions like your real tooth. While that may sound ideal, there potential problems to consider.
First, if you use a titanium implant, you're placing metal into your jawbone, which can cause a galvanic or battery response with other metals in your mouth. There are reports in the literature of allergy and tissue toxicity to the metal used in dental implants that can also negatively impact health. At the very least, if you are considering a titanium dental implant, have an allergy test to all the metals present in that implant. This is especially true if you have a known sensitivity to metals.Dr. Kulacz prefers zirconium implants, as they do not have metallic ions found in titanium implants. However, if an implant is placed into the bone where a previous root canal was done, and the bone was insufficiently cleaned out when the tooth was extracted, then your bone may still be infected. In such a case, you're placing an implant into a chronically infected bone, which is inadvisable.
"It's critical when you extract the root canal tooth that you remove the periodontal ligament (the little sling that holds the tooth to the jawbone), the lamina dura or socket bone (the only purpose of that socket bone is to support the tooth), and then a small amount of bone outside that space. That's done with a slow-speed, round dental bur with copious or lots of sterile sealing and irrigation to keep the bone healthy.
If you do that, you remove the infection, you induce good blood flow into the jawbone – without blood, there is no healing – and you have a non-infected, healthy, and healed bone to which you can then place your dental implant," he says. “Bacterial cultures and tissue biopsy of the surrounding bone after thorough socket cleaning can uncover any residual infection that may remain. This is why I do not favor immediate placement of a dental implant into the socket of a root canal tooth, preferring to wait for the results of the cultures and biopsy as well as adequate bone healing.”
Gum disease is also a common problem associated with implants. An infection or an inflammation in the gums is very similar to having an infection or inflammation in the bone or the root canal tooth. Natural teeth have a barrier against the migration of bacteria into the surrounding bone.
They are full of fibers that insert from the gum into the root of the tooth and the bone, which prevents the bacteria from getting in to the bone area. Dental implants don't have that. They rely on a sticky coating secreted by the gum around the cuff of the collar of the post that supports the crown.
That cuff of tissue has to be maintained with good oral hygiene to prevent inflammation that might otherwise loosen the tissue around the tooth. If you have gum disease and don't clean the implant post thoroughly, the gum disease around implants will progress much more rapidly than around a natural tooth. If you have a dental implant, it's imperative to follow strict oral hygiene, or you may quickly end up with gum problems.
A root canal tooth is no longer alive. It's dead tissue, which should never be left in your body. If you have appendicitis, the surgeon just doesn't isolate it and leave it in there. He has to remove it. Yet when it comes to teeth, this rule is ignored.
According to Dr. Kulacz, many people who came to see him—often as a last resort—were able to resolve chronic health issues once their severely infected root canal teeth were extracted and/or the infection properly treated. Interestingly, Dr. Weston A. Price was even able to reproduce people's diseases in rabbits simply by implanting the person's root canal tooth beneath the rabbit's skin.1
"The ADA tries to refute Price's work, saying it lacks adequate controls and they used too much bacteria when they inoculated the bacteria into these rabbits. Well, that's not true. They took the actual root canal tooth and they implanted the same root canal tooth with no more bacteria than would have been found in the person from which it came.
That same tooth was implanted under the skin of rabbits. Lo and behold, they would find the same disease occur in the rabbits. The ADA says they repeated Price's work and found it to be invalid. Well, they never have. I've looked for it. I've emailed them. There is no repeat of Price's work. Further, current research supports Price’s assertions that bacteria from root canal teeth DO travel to distant sites in the body.”
To learn more about root canals, and/or to help educate your dentist, I strongly recommend picking up a copy of Dr. Kulacz' book, The Toxic Tooth: How a Root Canal Could Be Making You Sick. If your dentist is honest and sincere, he or she will likely come to the same rational conclusion as Dr. Kulacz. Granted, in many cases, you're likely to meet with resistance. This seems to be the norm before changes in thinking finally shift to the majority. In some cases the resistance can be severe.
Dr. Kulacz ended up losing his practice after the New York State dental board drummed up a series of charges against him, including "gross misconduct" for extracting root canal treated teeth. The dental board initially wanted to pull his dental license, but backed off when the prosecuting attorney admitted no dentist had actually reviewed the reams of data he'd sent in defense of his treatment—a case of misconduct on behalf of the dental board.
“I called the chancellor of the board of regents in New York State and said, 'Your dental board is corrupt. The prosecutor admitted to me that my case was not about justice. It was not about the truth. The dental board had an agenda. They already dismissed this patient’s file as a cause of action.'
Now, I’m not a conspiracy guy. I never thought that this kind of thing could happen. In fact, if somebody would have told me in the years prior that this could happen, I would’ve thought they were crazy. But it did happen to me,” Dr. Kulacz says. “The next day, the attorney from New York State called and said, 'The dental board is going to drop all charges if you will accept a records violation.' They had to have something, otherwise I could go after them for false prosecution.”
Considering it would have taken several years and a quarter of a million dollars to continue fighting, he accepted the records violation—not realizing this would effectively put him out of business... He kept his dental license, but he never realized accepting the violation would increase his malpractice premium ten-fold—from $8,000 a year to $80,000. After being shut down for a year because of the board's action, he made the painful decision not to reopen. Dr. Kulacz' story is yet another example of what can happen to a professional who bucks the trend.
It's not very different from the case of Ignaz Semmelweis, an ob-gyn and surgeon who, about 150 years ago, was vilified for his theory that microbes cause infection. Semmelweis was labeled "insane" by his colleagues for having the audacity to suggest they should wash their hands between deliveries, and they fired him.
He tried to continue his research but was ostracized by the medical community. His mental health eventually did deteriorate, leading to his death in an insane asylum.
Fortunately for us, Dr. Kulacz wrote a book instead of mulling on the pain and frustration of losing a two decades long career. It's a great resource, with the details necessary to convince most rational individuals that root canals are not in the best interest of your health. And, if you have a root canal tooth, to be cautious and consider having it extracted if indicated. You can also learn more on his website, coletrex.com, or contact him via email at: rkulacz@yahoo.com.
The following organizations can help you to find a biological dentist specializing in mercury-free dentistry and other holistic approaches:
- Consumers for Dental Choice
- Dental Amalgam Mercury Solutions(DAMS). E-mail them at: dams@usfamily.net or call 651-644-4572 for an information packet
- Holistic Dental Association
- International Academy of Biological Dentistry & Medicine (IABDM)
- International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology (IAOMT)
- International Association of Mercury Safe Dentists
- Talk International
By Dr. Mercola
You might not think much about your grip strength, unless you’re trying to open a jar of pickles, but it turns out this seemingly minute detail of fitness may reveal quite a bit about your overall health.
In a study of nearly 140,000 people, ages 35 to 70 and spanning 17 countries, grip strength was found to be a simple, low-cost indicator of heart attacks and strokes.1 On average, male grip strength ranged between 67 and 84 pounds while female grip strength ranged from 54 to 62 pounds.
For each 11-pound decrease in grip strength, there was a 17 percent increased risk of cardiovascular death, a 7 percent increased risk of heart attack and a 9 percent increased risk of stroke.2
There was also a 17 percent greater risk of death from causes not associated with heart disease. According to study author Dr. Darryl Leong, assistant professor of Medicine at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario:3
"Grip strength could be an easy, inexpensive test to assess an individual's risk of death and cardiovascular disease… Doctors or other health care professionals can measure grip strength to identify patients with major illnesses such as heart failure who are at particularly high risk of dying from their illness."
It’s unclear at this time whether specifically targeting your grip strength could lower your risk of death and heart disease, or if a strong grip is a marker of a healthier lifestyle or a tendency to exercise harder. Strength coach Jedd Johnson told Men’s Fitness:4
“Having strong fingers, hands, and wrists helps you lift more weight and allows you to hold the weight for longer time and more reps… This translates to better results in the gym."
In fact, research published in 2011 found that hand-grip strength is a predictor of total-body muscular strength and endurance.5 Past research again found that grip strength appears to be a useful marker of overall fitness and may be associated with frailty.
In those aged 64-74, low grip strength was associated with more markers of aging than was chronological age alone.6 Lower grip strength is also associated with reduced health-related quality of life in older men and women,7 and is also considered a useful tool to identify people at risk of mobility limitations, such as difficulty walking or climbing stairs.8
Among those in their 80s, a weak grip strength is even associated with higher mortality rates while higher grip strength is associated with higher cognitive function and hemoglobin levels.9 In case you’re wondering how grip strength is measured, it’s typically done using a hand-held dynamometer, which registers pounds of compression as a person squeezes it.
Your grip strength may be partly innate, as it’s positively associated with your weight and height at birth. However, lifestyle factors also play a role, including your diet and, in particular, consuming omega-3 fats.
One study found an increase in grip strength of about 0.9 pounds occurred with each additional portion of fatty fish, rich in omega-3 fats, consumed per week.10 Hand-grip strength was also associated with vitamin D levels in one study of young women,11 which makes sense since vitamin D is critically important for muscle function.
On the other hand, the use of certain cardiovascular drugs is associated with reduced grip strength in older people. Furosemide (Lasix) was associated with average decreases in grip strength of nearly 7 pounds among men and more than five pounds among women after adjustment for age and height.12
Other heart medications, including nitrates, calcium channel blockers, and fibrates were also associated with reduced grip strength. If you tend to crack your knuckles often, you may be interested to know that this habit, too, has been associated with lower grip strength.
If your grip strength is lacking, it’s a sign that your muscles may be starting to waste away. Richard Bohannon, a professor of Physical Therapy at the University of Connecticut told the LA Times:13
“Grip strength reflects your overall muscle status and a general sense of how much muscle mass you have… If you have more muscle in your upper body, you probably have more in your lower body as well."
To improve your grip strength, pull-ups are useful. The pull-up builds grip strength because your fingers, hands and forearms are all used. The Daily Burn also shared the following five exercises to help build grip strength. This shouldn’t be done as one workout, but rather try to incorporate one of these into your strength-training routine (and rotate them regularly).14
“1. Partial-Grip Pull-Up
How to: Grasp a pull-up bar with a palms-down, shoulder-width grip, but leave your thumb out. Perform pull-ups as normal. Sets: 3, Reps: AMRAP (as many reps as possible), Rest: As needed
2. Plate Pinch
How to: Pinch a plate in each hand between your fingers without holding on to the handle or lip of it. Hold them at your side for as long as you can. When this gets too easy, try pinching two plates together. Sets: 3, Reps: To failure, Rest: As needed
3. Towel Pull-Up
How to: Loop a regular workout towel around a pull-up bar. Hold an end in each hand and perform pull-ups as normal. Just make sure to move your head to either side as you get closer to the pull-up bar. Sets: 3, Reps: AMRAP, Rest: As needed
4. Farmer’s Walk
How to: Grasp a pair of heavy dumbbells or kettle bells. Keeping the core engaged, walk from one end of the gym to the other until you can no longer hold onto the weights. Sets: 3, Reps: To failure, Rest: As needed
5. Push-Up
How to: Lie face-down on the floor, hands at shoulder-width palms on the ground, toes driving into the floor. Think about trying to grab a handful of the ground, as this will fire up the muscles in your forearms important for grip strength.
Push yourself up, so your hands are under your shoulders, and your body is a straight line from the back of your head down to your heels. Slowly lower yourself down so your chest touches the floor. Sets: 3, Reps: AMRAP, Rest: As needed”
The more you engage in strength training, the more you’ll be using and building your gripping muscles. In addition, a full-body strength-training program is essential to building other muscle groups as well. A strong grip strength tends to go hand-in-hand with muscle strength elsewhere in your body.
If your grip strength is weak, you’ll certainly want to begin a strength-training program… but this is important even if your grip strength is normal. If you’re not engaging in strength or resistance training, chances are you’ll become increasingly less functional with age, which can take a toll on your quality of life.
Interestingly, strength training even has a beneficial impact on your gene expression. Not only has it been shown to slow cellular aging but it can actually return gene expression to youthful levels. In seniors who take up strength training, the genes’ clocks can be turned back by as much as a decade!
Age-related muscle loss, also known as sarcopenia, can actually begin far sooner than you might think—starting as early as in your 20s if you’re sedentary.15 After the age of 50, you tend to lose about 0.4 pounds of muscle with each passing year.16 So what do you have to gain by starting weight training – even if you’re already “older”? According to the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM):17
“Given an adequate training stimulus, older adults can make significant gains in strength. A two- to three-fold increase in strength can be accomplished in three to four months in fibers recruited during training in older adults. With more prolonged resistance training, even a modest increase in muscle size is possible.
…With increasing muscle strength come increased levels of spontaneous activity in both healthy, independent older adults and very old and frail men and women. Strength training, in addition to its possible effects on insulin action, bone density, energy metabolism, and functional status, is also an important way to increase levels of physical activity in the older adult.”
By slowing your movements down, it turns your weight-training session into high-intensity exercise. The super-slow movement allows your muscle, at the microscopic level, to access the maximum number of cross-bridges between the protein filaments that produce movement in the muscle. This is a beneficial and safe way to incorporate high-intensity exercise into your workouts if you’re older and have trouble getting around.
You only need about 12 to 15 minutes of super-slow strength training once a week to achieve the same human growth hormone (HGH) production as you would from 20 minutes of Peak Fitness sprints, which is why fitness experts like Dr. Doug McGuff are such avid proponents of this technique. The fact that super-slow weight training gives you an excellent boost in human growth hormone (HGH), otherwise known as the "fitness hormone," is another reason why it’s so beneficial if you’re older.
As you reach your 30s and beyond, you enter what's called "somatopause," when your levels of HGH begin to drop off quite dramatically. This is part of what drives your aging process. According to Dr. McGuff, there's also a strong correlation between somatopause and age-related sarcopenia. HGH is needed to sustain your fast-twitch muscle fibers, which produce a lot of power. It's also needed to stimulate those muscles.
"What seems to be evident is that a high-intensity exercise stimulus is what triggers the body to make an adaptive response to hold on to muscle," Dr. McGuff says. "We have to remember that muscle is a very metabolically expensive tissue… If you become sedentary and send your body a signal that this tissue is not being used, then that tissue is metabolically expensive. The adaptation is to deconstruct that tissue…"
People of all ages can benefit from super-slow weight training, but this is definitely a method to consider if you’re middle-aged or older. I recommend using four or five basic compound movements for your super-slow (high intensity) exercise set. Compound movements are movements that require the coordination of several muscle groups—for example, squats, chest presses, and compound rows. Here is my version of the technique. I also demonstrate a number of exercises in the video above, starting around the 15-minute mark:
- Begin by lifting the weight as slowly and gradually as you can. In the video above, I demonstrate doing this with a four-second positive and a four-second negative, meaning it takes four seconds, or a slow count to four, to bring the weight up, and another four seconds to lower it. (When pushing, stop about 10 to 15 degrees before your limb is fully straightened; smoothly reverse direction)
- Slowly lower the weight back down to the slow count of four
- Repeat until exhaustion, which should be around four to eight reps. Once you reach exhaustion, don't try to heave or jerk the weight to get one last repetition in. Instead, just keep trying to produce the movement, even if it's not “going” anywhere, for another five seconds or so. If you're using the appropriate amount of weight or resistance, you'll be able to perform eight to 10 reps
- Immediately switch to the next exercise for the next target muscle group, and repeat the first three steps
Remember, exercises such as these will help build your major muscle groups along with your grip strength, leading to significant improvements in overall strength, range of motion, balance, bone density, and even mental clarity. If you’re just starting out, consult with a personal fitness trainer who can instruct you about proper form and technique. He or she can also help you develop a plan based on your unique fitness goals and one that is safe for any medical conditions you may have.
This calm Friday morning, by my first (and far from the last) cup of coffee with biscotti, I am thinking how grateful I am for the opportunity to share my green beauty discoveries, slow living lifestyle inspirations and creations on this blog, with all of you. This is so important to me – this
The post Take a wise skin advice from the Skin Owl appeared first on TLV Birdie Blog.
As May passed, La Mav was proudly featured online and in print. We’d love it if you show the La Mav Love and support all the below publications by clicking through and reading the posts and leaving a comment where you can!
In her article Beauty On The Go: Fabulous Skin At Any Time, Joanna Hall, says "I am always on the lookout for new skin care products for travel, particularly anything which multitasks and is good value for money." And so are we.
The thing is - we want flawless skin with as little effort as possible and we don't want to carry around makeup bags full of primers, foundations, concealers, highlighters and whatnot. We want one product to do it all! We also want it to be safe, free of chemicals and with decent sun protective properties. Can it also be nourishing, with anti-aging benefits? YES (to all these questions)!
La Mav's Organic BB Cream will turn into your best travel beauty buddy, because it's a true multi-tasker that makes your skin look healthy and gorgeous! How could you say no to this?!
Are you planning to get married soon? Are you looking for a good makeup artist? If yes, we'd strongly recommend you to check out Liv Liundelious and her work! And believe me - she is not just a good makeup artists - she is AMAZING!
In her latest blog post (yes, she is a blogger as well) Liz gives us some pretty good ideas how to save our dehydrated, dry skin and keep it glowing throughout the winter months with the help of some organic beauty goodies.
PS: Thanks for the wonderful review, Liz!
If you are unsure whether going organic is worth it, let us share with you a short list of several of the worst chemicals that can be found in your personal care products. For those of you who are new to the organic skin care world, or are still thinking about doing the switch totally check it out! What you put on your skin, goes into your body, so have that in mind. Embrace greenbeauty and your skin & body will thank you!
Last but not least, this month we were honored to appear on the blog of one of the most talented and incredible bloggers on the current green beauty scene. Oly Shamrik is a Syberia born boho queen, currently living in LA. If you are looking for visual stimulation - check out her blog! Truth be told, we just have no words to describe her work (it leaves us speechless)... you'll see for yourself.
In one of her recent green beauty stories, Oly takes you on a tour into the organic skin care world of La Mav where you are sure to find natural solutions for all of your skin concerns and get the healthy skin you've always wanted, with ease!
If you liked this post, let us know by sharing it! Share and get $5 off for youre next order with La Mav!
By Dr. Mercola
The Mediterranean diet emphasizes fresh vegetables, nuts, and healthy fats, particularly olive oil, while downplaying processed foods.
This combination is undoubtedly part of its many health benefits, which includes the reversal of metabolic syndrome, improving body composition, and normalizing your blood pressure and cholesterol levels.
Extra virgin olive oil is clearly one of the "good fats” that should be included in your diet. Just keep in mind that it should not be used to cook with, as it is highly susceptible to oxidative damage when heated. Instead, it should be added cold to salads and other dishes.
Olive oil is a monounsaturated fat whose health benefits stem from it being unrefined and unheated. It also contains vitamin E and A, chlorophyll, magnesium, squalene, and a host of other cardio-protective nutrients.
In addition, it doesn’t upset the critical omega 6:3 ratio, as most of the fatty acids in olive oil are actually omega-9.
Studies have shown that extra virgin olive oil can reduce some cancers, reduce LDL cholesterol levels, and improve rheumatoid arthritis; the same or similar benefits touted by the Mediterranean diet.
Recent research also suggests a Mediterranean-style diet rich in nuts and olive oil can help boost memory and cognition in older adults.1,2
Previous research has suggested a Mediterranean diet may lower your odds of Alzheimer's disease, but it wasn’t clear whether the diet was responsible, or if people who eat this way also make many other healthier lifestyle choices that decrease their risk.
In an effort to shed more light on the potential links between diet and cognition, the researchers3 randomly assigned nearly 450 seniors with risk factors for cardiovascular disease—such as overweight, high blood pressure, and/or high cholesterol—to follow one of three diets:
- A Mediterranean diet supplemented with one liter of extra virgin olive oil per week
- A Mediterranean diet supplemented with 30 grams of nuts a day
- A low-fat diet
As reported by Reuters:4
“Based on the brain function tests done before and after the study, the group eating low-fat foods had a significant decrease in memory and cognitive function.
The group following a Mediterranean diet with supplemental nuts had significant improvements in memory, while the group adding extra virgin olive oil experienced significantly better cognitive function.”
Results such as these certainly make sense when you consider how important healthy fats are for your brain function. After all, your brain is composed of at least 60 percent fat.
Other diets shown to be particularly beneficial for brain health include the DASH and the MIND diets,5 the latter of which emphasizes fruits and vegetables, especially leafy greens and berries, whole grains, nuts, olive oil, beans, poultry, and fish, while limiting red meat, cheese, butter, sweets, and fried foods.
What these three diets have in common is an emphasis on whole foods, particularly fresh fruits and vegetables, and at least some healthy fats. Unfortunately, all of them generally recommend limiting saturated fats, such as those found in red meats and eggs.
Saturated fats, however, have been falsely vilified for the epidemics of heart disease and obesity. In reality, animal fats promote optimal health. Omega-3 fat is also crucial for optimal brain function, but it’s important to be careful when choosing your sources.
Very few fish are low in mercury while being high in healthy fat, so just eating more fish may be counterproductive, as mercury, PCBs, and other contaminants surely will not do your health any favors.
Good choices include smaller fatty fish like sardines and anchovies, and wild-caught Alaskan salmon. Another option to make sure you’re getting enough omega-3 is to take a high-quality supplement such as krill oil.
Speaking of omega-3, recent research6 found that omega-3 supplementation helped improve attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms and cognitive control in children.
Crazy enough, the omega-3 was given in the form of EPA- and DHA-enriched margarine, which is some of the worst fat you could possibly eat. It would be interesting to see how much better these children might have fared had they not counteracted the beneficial effects of the omega-3 with a processed trans fat...
Here, those who received the EPA/DHA-enriched margarine experienced no benefit in terms of cognitive control, but I would argue that the results may have been adversely affected because of the margarine.
Other recent research7,8,9 suggests animal-based omega-3 in combination with vitamin D can improve cognitive function and behavior associated with certain psychiatric conditions—including ADHD, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia—by regulating your brain’s serotonin levels.
The omega-3 fatty acid EPA reduces inflammatory signaling molecules in your brain that inhibit serotonin release from presynaptic neurons, thereby boosting your serotonin levels. DHA also has a beneficial influence on serotonin receptors, by increasing their access to serotonin.
Another potential pitfall of these diets is their emphasis on whole grains. Along with processed vegetable oils and sugars, excessive grain consumption—even if they’re organic whole grains—contributes to disease and obesity for the simple fact that your body still converts them to sugar.
As noted by neurologist Dr. David Perlmutter, author of the book, Grain Brain, gluten sensitivity appears to be involved in most chronic disease, including Alzheimer’s, and non-vegetable carbohydrates can have a powerfully toxic effect on your brain.
According to Dr. Perlmutter:
"This ‘whole grain goodness,’ as the US Department of Agriculture is trying to convince us we should focus on in terms of our dietary choices, is the cornerstone of our most devastating diseases... Alzheimer's, cardiovascular disease, and obviously, diabetes... It’s the getting away from fat and the substitution with wheat- and corn-based carbohydrate (high-fructose corn syrup) that really, in my opinion, explains this huge explosion of degenerative conditions that are crippling us...
But the quality of the fat we consume is absolutely fundamental. When we're saying high-fat diet, we're not talking about prepared foods on the Twinkie aisle at the grocery store that contain modified trans fats. Hydrogenated fats that are clearly coffin nails. They're a great risk for brain disorders, heart disorders, diabetes, etc. We're talking about these beautiful, natural fats that we have been consuming for more than two million years."
Dr. Perlmutter also cites research from the Mayo Clinic, published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease showing that diets rich in carbohydrates are associated with an 89 percent increased risk for dementia, while high-fat diets are associated with a 44 percent reduced risk.
Examples of beneficial fats that your body—and your brain in particular—needs for optimal function include organic grass-fed raw butter, clarified butter called ghee, olives, organic virgin olive oil, and coconut oil, nuts like pecans and macadamia, free-range eggs, wild Alaskan salmon, and avocado.
With regards to nuts, one recent study10 found that daily nut consumption translated into an extra two years of longevity, and cut death rates of cancer, heart disease, and respiratory disease. As reported by Nutrition Facts, “nut consumers lived significantly longer whether they were older or younger, fat or skinny, whether they exercised more, smoked, drank, or ate other foods that may affect mortality.” They also busted the myth that nuts’ high fat content will make you gain weight.
In related news, another study11,12,13 published in the journal Neurology looking at the correlation between diet and memory loss found that eating a “healthy balanced diet” appears to reduce your risk of cognitive decline. As reported by CNN:14
“Unlike previous findings relating specific diets to improvements in cognitive function, this new study suggests that improving overall diet quality is an important factor for lowering the risk of memory and thinking loss. Researchers defined a ‘healthy diet’ as one containing lots of fruits and vegetables, nuts, fish, moderate alcohol use, and minimal red meat.”
The study, which ran for nearly five years, involved nearly 28,000 people from 40 different countries. Rather than focusing on any specific set of diets, the researchers analyzed the risk for cognitive decline among those who consumed “what most organizations would consider a healthy diet,” lead author Dr. Andrew Smyth said.
“Accounting for regional differences (but not country-specific variation), participants in the study were asked about the overall servings they consumed of different types of foods in both the healthy and unhealthy categories for which they received a corresponding point score,” CNN reports.15
“‘For example, if participants consumed the standard dietary recommendations for fruits and vegetables per day, they would get a high score in that category. The reverse happens for unhealthy food choices,’ said Smyth.”
Cognitive tests were administered at the outset of the study, and again after two and five years. Overall, those scoring highest in terms of following “healthy diet” recommendations were 24 percent less likely to experience cognitive decline, compared to those with the least healthy eating habits. Overall, healthy eaters were also more active, smoked less, and had lower body mass index (BMI).
A number of simple lifestyle strategies can help optimize your brain health. This includes exercise, especially high-intensity interval training, calorie restriction (intermittent fasting appears to have many of the same benefits while being easier to comply with), and reducing non-vegetable carbohydrate (especially grains and sugars). According to Dr. Perlmutter, a low-carb diet high in healthy fats is a key component of Alzheimer’s prevention. Gluten appears to be particularly problematic for brain health.
You also need plenty of high-quality omega-3 fats. I prefer krill oil to fish oil, as krill oil also contains astaxanthin, which is particularly beneficial for your brain. Astaxanthin is a carotenoid that’s very good for reducing free radical-mediated damage to fat—and your brain is 60 or 70 percent fat. Two other nutrients that play important roles in your brain health are vitamin D and choline.
Researchers have located metabolic pathways for vitamin D in the brain’s hippocampus and cerebellum; areas that are involved in planning, information processing, and memory formation. In older adults, research has shown that low vitamin D levels are associated with poorer brain function.
Choline also reduces inflammation and plays a role in nerve communication. Eggs and meat are two of the best dietary sources of choline. If you do not consume animal foods, you may be at risk of a deficiency and want to consider supplementation. The state of your gut is another important consideration that can have a significant influence on your brain function. Your gut is quite literally your "second brain."
Just as you have neurons in your brain, you also have neurons in your gut, and gut bacteria transmit information from your GI tract to your brain via your vagus nerve. Abnormal gut flora has been associated with abnormal brain development, and may be an overlooked culprit in many cases of depression. In addition to avoiding sugar, one of the best ways to support gut health is to consume fermented vegetables, which are loaded with beneficial bacteria.
Last but not least, it is crucial to fully appreciate the importance of sleep. The latest sleep guidelines, based on 300 studies looking at the health effects of sleep, confirm that most adults need right around eight hours of sleep for optimal health.
It’s particularly important for brain health, because the only time your brain can detoxify is during deep sleep, which is why poor sleepers are more prone to developing neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s. So truly, if you want your brain to function optimally, be sure to address any sleep problems you may have.
Are you in need of a good anti-aging treatment? Are you feeling frustrated by the immense variety of ultra-expensive products available on the market that do not deliver the results you want to see? Do you like natural and organic products? If the answer to these 3 questions is YES, allow us to share with you one of our favorite recipes for a homemade anti-aging serum that:
1. Does the job (and it does it really well)
2. Won’t cost you a fortune (and is pretty economical)
3. Is completely natural (free of nasty chemicals! YAY!)
As per usual, the recipe we have for you is super simple and time-saving. You’ll need a small container (preferably dark, in order to preserve the oils and their quality, as direct sun exposure can alter their structure and cause them to lose their properties) and the following naturally-derived-beauty-reviving-elixirs:
20ml Rosehip Oil
20ml Argan Oil
10ml Vitamin E Oil
Mix them in the container, shake it well and you are done! I told you – easy as pie!
To make the bottle of your anti-aging serum pretty-looking, download our free printable labels!
Cleanse and tone your skin (if you use toner) and then add 1-2 drops of the anti-aging serum to your fingertips and massage it gently until it absorbs. If your skin tends to get drier, you can use 3 drops. Don’t forget to exfoliate your face regularly (1-2 times a week), in order to allow the oils to penetrate in depth. When you skip exfoliation, dead cells start to accumulate on the skin surface – they form a barrier that keeps the potent ingredients on top, not allowing them to soak into the skin. The serum can be used as both daily moisturizer and nightly cream.
If you have oily skin, we’d recommend using the anti-aging serum only in the evening, since during the day it can add unwanted shine to your face. Another option is to apply it first thing in the morning and proceed with your usual morning routine. Once you are ready to leave the house (or do your makeup) tap dry what’s left, and hasn’t been absorbed, with a soft napkin.
Rosehip oil had very good penetrating power and it reaches the inner layers of the skin with ease. It aids cell regeneration and boosts collagen synthesis, thanks to its high vitamin C and vitamin A content. Vitamin C, being a potent antioxidant, keeps your skin healthy and protected from free radicals (free radicals and the leading cause of premature aging and age-related hyperpigmentation). Rosehip oil also brightens the complexion (again, thanks to the lightening properties of the “king” – vitamin C!), improves skin’s clarity and reduces dark spots and fine lines. Last but not least, if you have rosacea – this is the oil for you! Vitamin C strengthens the walls of the blood vessels, resulting in less broken capillaries and thus - less redness. Tell me you are not impressed?
If you are wondering where to get 100% pure, organic oils, check our our Oil Therapy Range!
Argan oil is known to be one of the best oils for dry, aging skin, because it has wonderful moisturizing and skin softening properties. If you suffer from chronic skin dryness (which, unfortunately, gets worse with the age) Argan oil can be of great help, because it is composed of approximately 80% essential fatty acids that have impressive effect on restoring skin’s elasticity, firmness and radiance. Also known as ‘liquid gold’, due to its rarity, Argon oil reduces irritation, scarring and dehydration, transforming the appearance of your skin and improving its overall condition.
If you are fed up with chemical-loaded products, that harm your body & the environment and you are looking for natural, toxic-free products, that are potent enough to help your skin heal on it's own, you are welcome to discover the science behind La Mav and make the right choice to switch to certified organic!
Just like vitamin C, vitamin E is an incredibly powerful antioxidant, that apart from preventing premature aging, by neutralizing free radicals, protects your skin from UV damage and helps reverse the negative effects from excess sun-exposure. Vitamin E is a wonderful moisturizing agent and is sure to reduce dryness and flakiness with regular use. By itself, the oil can be a bit thick, but when mixed with Argan oil and Rosehip oil, they make the perfect blend - your skin literally “drinks it”!
If you liked this post, let us know by sharing it! Share and get $5 off for youre next order with La Mav!
By Dr. Mercola
Perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) are so ubiquitous that many of them are now detected in humans—including children. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a dozen different types of perfluorinated compounds were detected in Americans tested.1
The two most talked about PFCs include PFOA, which was widely used to make non-stick cookware, and PFOS, which was a key ingredient in stain-resistant fabrics. These chemicals have been linked to so many health problems – cancer, miscarriages, thyroid problems, and more – that they’ve been phased out in the US and essentially banned in Europe.
The problem is that PFCs, which are scientifically known as poly and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs), are a family of chemicals, and PFOA and PFOS make up only two of them.
The products being used in their place are structurally similar and likely pose many of the same health and environmental risks. Some of the newer PFCs have even caught the attention of international scientists, who released a statement calling for caution. According to the report:2
“…the most common [PFOA and PFOS] replacements are short-chain PFASs with similar structures, or compounds with fluorinated segments joined by ether linkages.
While some shorter-chain fluorinated alternatives seem to be less bioaccumulative, they are still as environmentally persistent as long-chain substances or have persistent degradation products.
Thus, a switch to short-chain and other fluorinated alternatives may not reduce the amounts of PFASs in the environment. In addition, because some of the shorter-chain PFASs are less effective, larger quantities may be needed to provide the same performance.”
In 2006, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) determined PFOA is a likely human carcinogen.3 The chemicals are also known as endocrine disrupters; birth defects, reproductive problems, and other serious health problems have also been linked to their use.
For instance, research from the University of Southern Denmark found women with higher levels of PFASs (specifically PFNA and PFDA) had a 16 times greater risk of miscarriage than women with the lowest levels.4
The statement released by 14 scientists sounded further alarm and urged consumers to avoid the chemicals as much as possible. “PFASs are man-made and found everywhere,” the report noted, adding “PFASs are highly persistent, as they contain perfluorinated chains that only degrade very slowly, if at all, under environmental conditions.”5
The chemicals migrate out of consumer products into air, household dust, food, soil, and ground water, and they make their way into drinking water. The report continues:6
“In animal studies, some long-chain PFASs have been found to cause liver toxicity, disruption of lipid metabolism and the immune and endocrine systems, adverse neurobehavioral effects, neonatal toxicity and death, and tumors in multiple organ systems.
In the growing body of epidemiological evidence, some of these effects are supported by significant or suggestive associations between specific long-chain PFASs and adverse outcomes, including associations with testicular and kidney cancers, liver malfunction, hypothyroidism, high cholesterol, ulcerative colitis, lower birth weight and size, obesity, decreased immune response… and reduced hormone levels and delayed puberty.
Due to their high persistence, global distribution, bioaccumulation potential, and toxicity, some PFASs have been listed under the Stockholm Convention as persistent organic pollutants (POPs).”
In addition, EWG’s report on these global contaminants is based on a review of 50,000 pages of regulatory studies and government documents, internal documents from PFC manufacturers, and an examination of independent studies on PFCs. Among the health concerns noted in the report are:
Cancer Hypothyroidism Reproductive problems Birth defects Immune system problems Organ damage
PFCs are used in a wide variety of consumer products, particularly those made to repel water or resist oil and stains. Products that often contain these chemicals include:7,8
- Takeout containers such as pizza boxes and sandwich wrappers
- Non-stick pots, pans, and utensils
- Popcorn bags
- Outdoor clothing
- Camping tents
- Stain-repellant or water-repellant clothing
- Stain treatments for clothing and furniture
- Carpeting and carpet treatments
- Certain cosmetics, particularly eye shadow, foundation, facial powder, bronzer, and blush
It’s important to understand that while PFOA is no longer being used in the US, similar replacement chemicals have been added in its place. As recently as 2013, Greenpeace International tested 15 samples of waterproof clothing, shoes, and swimsuits and found PFCs in all but one, according to the Environmental Working Group (EWG).9
Some food wrappers, beverage containers, pizza boxes, and other food packaging may also be PFOA-free, but not necessarily safe, as the PFOA replacement chemicals have not been adequately tested for safety. According to EWG:10
“Production, use, and importation of PFOA has ended in the United States, but in its place DuPont and other companies are using similar compounds that may not be much – if at all – safer. These next-generation PFCs are used in greaseproof food wrappers, waterproof clothing, and other products.
Few have been tested for safety, and the names, composition, and health effects of most are hidden as trade secrets. With the new PFCs’ potential for harm, continued global production, the chemicals’ persistence in the environment and presence in drinking water in at least 29 states, we’re a long way from the day when PFCs will be no cause for concern.”
Chemicals are all around us, and if you frequent a nail salon, or work at one, you’ll be exposed to a unique set of chemicals that could harm your health. As reported by Scientific American:11
“Chemicals inside of the glues, removers, polishes, and salon products—which technicians are often exposed to at close proximity and in poorly ventilated spaces—can be hazardous individually. When combined, however, they could potentially cause even greater harm. Yet, it is difficult to know how these chemicals affect the body because current evaluations do not look at these substances comprehensively. There are also few reports looking at how each compound individually affects nail workers.”
Nail technicians often report health problems including respiratory, skin and musculoskeletal issues, along with headaches. According to a study published in the Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health:12
“Musculoskeletal disorders, skin problems, respiratory irritation, and headaches were commonly reported as work related, as were poor air quality, dusts, and offensive odors. The reporting of a work-related respiratory symptom was significantly associated with the reporting of exposure factors such as poorer air quality. Absence of skin disorders was associated with glove use and musculoskeletal symptoms were associated with years worked as a nail technician. Work-related health effects may be common in nail salon work.”
The chemicals are not only a concern for workers in nail salons, who are exposed to these chemicals on a daily basis, but also to the women using nail polish products or frequenting salons. Four of the most concerning nail-salon chemicals to watch out for include:
1. Dibutyl phthalate (DBP)
In 2000, EWG released a study showing 37 nail polishes from 22 companies contained dibutyl phthalate (DBP). DBP is known to cause lifelong reproductive impairments in male rats, and has been shown to damage the testes, prostate gland, epididymus, penis, and seminal vesicles in animals.
It’s used in nail polish because it increases flexibility and shine, but research by the CDC revealed that all 289 people tested had DBP in their bodies.13 Worse still, this chemical, which is linked to birth defects in animals, was found at the highest levels in women of childbearing age. EWG’s findings were the impetus for a coalition of environmental and public health organizations, including EWG, to begin a push for companies to get these toxic chemicals out of their products…
2. Toluene
Toluene is made from petroleum or coal tar. Chronic exposure is linked to anemia, lowered blood cell count, liver or kidney damage, and may affect a developing fetus. In nail polish, toluene is used to give the polish a smooth finish.
3. Formaldehyde
Formaldehyde is a skin, eye, and respiratory irritant, and a known carcinogen (formaldehyde exposure has been associated with leukemia specifically). Formaldehyde is used in nail polish as a hardener and preservative.
4. Methacrylate Compounds
Ethyl methacrylate (EMA) is used to make artificial nails. It’s linked to allergies, asthma, and dermatitis, and should only be applied at a ventilated worktable (if at all).
Some might argue that occasional application of nail polish is only going to expose you to trace amounts of chemicals in levels too low to raise concern, but nail polish is just one beauty product that many women use on a regular basis. When you add up the toxic exposures from nail polish, however “small” they may (or may not) be, with those from fragrances, makeup, body lotions, and more (like the PFCs in your food wrappers), it can no longer be brushed off as insignificant.
Many chemicals, including endocrine disrupters, have shown adverse effects at even very low doses, and even more concerning are the effects of such chemicals on the most vulnerable populations, like pregnant women and young children (who may also have their nails painted on occasion).
You'll want to begin with what are likely your largest avenues of chemical exposures: your diet and your home, starting by paying careful attention to what you eat. Eating organically grown, biodynamic whole foods is a primary strategy and, as an added bonus, when you eat properly, you're also optimizing your body's natural detoxification system, which can help eliminate toxins your body encounters from other sources. When your diet is mostly fresh foods, you’ll also avoid exposure to PFCs common in take-out containers. From there, simply leading a healthy lifestyle will help you to have as minimal a chemical exposure as possible. This includes the following:
- As much as possible, purchase organic produce and free-range foods to reduce your exposure to pesticides, growth hormones, GMOs, and synthetic fertilizers.
- Rather than using conventional or farm-raised fish, which are often heavily contaminated with PCBs and mercury, supplement with a high-quality purified krill oil, or eat fish that is wild-caught and lab tested for purity.
- Eat mostly raw, fresh foods, steering clear of processed, pre-packaged foods of all kinds. This way you automatically avoid artificial food additives, including dangerous artificial sweeteners, food coloring, and MSG. Freshly grown sprouts are particularly nutritious, especially watercress, sunflower, and pea sprouts.
- Store your food and beverages in glass rather than plastic, and avoid using plastic wrap and canned foods (which are often lined with BPA- and BPS-containing liners).
- Have your tap water tested and, if contaminants are found, install an appropriate water filter on all your faucets (even those in your shower or bath).
- Only use natural cleaning products in your home.
- Switch over to natural brands of toiletries such as shampoo, toothpaste, antiperspirants, and cosmetics. The Environmental Working Group has a useful database to help you find personal care products that are free of PFCs, phthalates and other potentially dangerous chemical.14 I also offer one of the highest quality organic skin care lines, shampoo, and conditioner, and body butter that are completely natural and safe.
- Avoid using artificial air fresheners, dryer sheets, fabric softeners, or other synthetic fragrances.
- Replace your non-stick pots and pans with ceramic or glass cookware.
- When redoing your home, look for "green," chemical-free alternatives in lieu of regular paint and vinyl floor coverings.
- Replace your vinyl shower curtain with one made of fabric, or install a glass shower door. Most flexible plastics, like shower curtains, contain dangerous plasticizers like phthalates.
- Limit your use of drugs (prescription and over-the-counter) as much as possible. Drugs are chemicals too, and they will leave residues and accumulate in your body over time.
- Avoid spraying pesticides around your home or insect repellants that contain DEET on your body. There are safe, effective, and natural alternatives out there.
By Dr. Mercola
A professor of genetic epidemiology at King’s College London, Tim Spector, wanted to find out what happens to your gut if you eat only fast food, specifically McDonald’s, for 10 solid days.
His son, Tom, became the willing guinea pig and reported his symptoms, as well as sent stool samples to different labs, throughout the 10-day trial. If you watched Morgan Spurlock's documentary “Super-Size Me,” you probably have an idea of how the experiment panned out…
“Tom said that for three days he felt ok, but then started to become more lethargic and turned a slight gray color according to his friends. He reported feeling bad the last few days and says he also experienced some withdrawal symptoms,” TIME reported.1
The most revealing results came from the stool samples, however, which revealed what the fast food had done to Tom’s gut…
Nearly 100 trillion bacteria, fungi, viruses, and other microorganisms compose your body's microflora, and advancing science has made it quite clear that these organisms play a major role in your health, both mental and physical.
When you eat too many grains, sugars, and processed foods, these foods serve as “fertilizer” for pathogenic microorganisms and yeast, causing them to rapidly multiply. Meanwhile, microbial diversity is also important.
In one study, the hunter-gatherer Yanomami tribe—which had never come in contact with outsiders prior to the researchers’ arrival, and have never been exposed to antibiotics—had about 50 percent greater microbial diversity than American subjects.
They also had 30 percent to 40 percent more diversity than the Guahibo and the Malawian tribes, the latter two of which have adopted some Western lifestyle components, such as living indoors and using antibiotics.2 According to one of the authors:3
“As cultures around the world become more ‘Western,’ they lose bacteria species in their guts… At the same time, they start having higher incidences of chronic illnesses connected to the immune system, such as allergies, Crohn’s disease, autoimmune disorders, and multiple sclerosis.”
Echoing these sentiments were the results from Tom’s stool samples during and after 10 days of a fast food diet. The results, from Cornell University and the British Gut Project, found his gut microbes were “devastated.”
About 40 percent of his bacteria species were lost, which amounted to about 1,400 different types. Losses of microbial diversity such as this have been linked to diabetes and obesity.4
In 2012, the UK’s Department of Health created The Public Health Responsibility Deal (RD), a public–private partnership involving voluntary pledges between government and the food industry in an effort to improve public health.
Some of the interventions agreed upon included improved nutrition labeling, salt and calorie reduction, and increased fruit and vegetable consumption.
There were problems from the start, as the Department of Health charged the food industry itself, including companies such as McDonald's, KFC, PepsiCo, Kellogg's, Unilever, Mars, and Diageo, with writing the policies.Health secretary at the time, Andrew Lansley, set up five "responsibility deal" networks with businesses and according to The Guardian:5
"The groups are dominated by food and alcohol industry members, who have been invited to suggest measures to tackle public health crises... In early meetings, these commercial partners have been invited to draft priorities and identify barriers, such as EU legislation, that they would like removed."
Industry members were allowed to decide which interventions they would follow through on, and there were no penalties for not completing the interventions or for not committing to any at all.
Now, new research has assessed whether the Responsibility Deal is working as planned… and revealed it has failed quite miserably. Not only has it not improved eating habits among Britons, but most of the food pledges do not reflect the most effective strategies to improve diet, such as restrictions on marketing and reducing sugar intake.6 Further, the study revealed:
“Most RD partners appear to have committed to interventions that probably were already underway.”
And as The Guardian reported:7
“Most of the pledges concerned providing information, raising awareness, and communicating with consumers, steps that evidence shows ‘may have limited effect…’ a focus on sugar intake is absent from the promises.
Even though it is increasingly recognized as a major contributor to rising obesity levels and despite ‘good evidence that an explicit focus by industry members on reducing sugars in processed and pre-packaged foods could have a positive impact on public health.’In addition, ‘though RD partners claim that considerable sugar reduction has occurred under their calorie reduction pledge, the current [companies’ own] progress reports do not substantiate these claims.”
Simon Capewell, professor of Clinical Epidemiology at Liverpool University, further pointed out that asking the food industry to voluntarily make their products healthier was unlikely to happen:8
“The very idea that industries whose profits rely on unhealthy products would voluntarily do anything to cut sales is like expecting turkeys to vote for Christmas. We and our families will pay the price in terms of disability and death for the coalition government pursuing the responsibility deal and shunning more effective policies.”
In the US, the Better Business Bureau (BBB) created the Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative, which is “a voluntary self-regulation program comprising many of the nation's largest food and beverage companies.”9
Members of this Initiative pledge to only feature food options that meet certain criteria in ads directed at kids, while at the same time not emphasizing toys and promotional characters that will obviously heavily influence a child’s perception of the food.
Historically, research has shown that the food industry’s supposed self-regulation is nonsense, so is this voluntary initiative working? Many of the companies have met their targets; for instance, Kellogg pledged to feature foods with no more than 200 calories and 12 grams of added sugar per serving to kids.10
However, when researchers assessed the efficacy of industry self-regulation by comparing advertising content on children’s TV programs before and after self-regulation was implemented, they found the changes have done little improve the overall nutritional quality of foods marketed to children.
They may have met their targets, but the foods being advertised are still far from healthy. According to the study, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine:11
“Findings indicated that no significant improvement in the overall nutritional quality of foods marketed to children has been achieved since industry self-regulation was adopted. In 2013, 80.5% of all foods advertised to children on TV were for products in the poorest nutritional category, and thus pose high risk for contributing to obesity.
The lack of significant improvement in the nutritional quality of food marketed to children is likely a result of the weak nutritional standards for defining healthy foods employed by industry, and because a substantial proportion of child-oriented food marketers do not participate in self-regulation.”
Even Crayola, most well-known for its crayons and markers, has jumped on the junk food bandwagon. Among their products are artificially colored (and flavored) candies designed to color your tongue while you eat them. They’re actually called “Color Your Mouth” candies… and are packaged to resemble the brand’s crayons and markers.
In 2007, a carefully designed, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study published in the journal The Lancet concluded that a variety of common food dyes and the preservative sodium benzoate cause some children to become measurably more hyperactive and distractible.12 This wasn’t the first time such a link had been established. In 1994, researchers found that 73 percent of children with ADHD responded favorably to an elimination diet that included removing artificial colors.13
But in the case of the Lancet study, it prompted the British Food Standards Agency (FSA) to issue an immediate advisory to parents, warning them to limit their children's intake of additives if they notice an effect on behavior. They also advised the food industry to voluntarily remove the six food dyes named in the study and replace them with natural alternatives if possible.
In the US, however, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) continues to allow these toxic ingredients in countless popular foods, including those marketed directly to children.
Nine-year-old Alessandra, who herself has experienced behavioral problems after eating artificial dyes and is highly sensitive to many artificial foods, is now petitioning Crayola to stop the use of unnecessary and unhealthy dyes, especially in a product marketed directly to kids.14 If you’d like to get involved, you can sign the petition to Crayola President and Chief Executive Officer Mike Perry, calling for the company to “stop telling kids to color their mouth with fake dyed candies.”
In 2013, the FDA announced it would consider removing partially hydrogenated oils—the primary source of heart-destroying trans fats—from the list of "generally recognized as safe" (GRAS) ingredients. If finalized, the FDA's decision means that food manufacturers can no longer use partially hydrogenated oils, i.e. trans fats, in their products without jumping through hoops to get special approval.
An estimated 5,000 Americans die from heart disease caused by synthetic trans fats each year, and another 15,000 will get heart disease as a result of eating too many trans fats.
Other CDC statistics suggest that as many as 20,000 heart attacks could be avoided each year by eliminating trans fats from the food supply.15 As the health risks became widely known, food companies began quietly removing the ingredient from their foods, and trans fat intake has steadily decreased over the past several years.
According to FDA estimates, Americans consumed an average of one gram of trans fat per day in 2012, compared to 4.6 grams per day in 2003. However, according to the Institute of Medicine, trans fat is unsafe at any level.
The FDA’s final trans fat ruling is set to be released, and it’s expected the ruling will essentially force food companies to remove all synthetic trans fats from their products. Unfortunately, the food industry is fighting back, and the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) is leading an effort to draft a petition in favor of trans fats.16 The GMA apparently believes low levels of trans fats are safe and wants to continue to use partially hydrogenated oils in your food. If the petition is accepted, the FDA’s ruling may allow for “very limited amounts” of trans fats to remain in food – even though it’s been widely proven that no amount of synthetic trans fats should be consumed.
If you want to eat (and be) healthy, I suggest you follow the pre-1950s model and spend quality time in the kitchen preparing high-quality meals for yourself and your family. If you rely on processed inexpensive foods, you exchange convenience for long-term health problems and mounting medical bills.
For a step-by-step guide to make this a reality in your own life, simply follow the advice in my optimized nutrition plan along with these seven steps to wean yourself off processed foods. Unfortunately, marketing is everywhere, and you cannot insulate your child from all of it all of the time.
However, in terms of mental and physical health, junk food ads are among the most harmful, and here you can lend your support for change. Talk to your kids about what they're seeing, and why fast food and processed foods simply aren't good for them—despite what the ad says.
Remember, ads are designed to sell products; not to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth... The Prevention Institute's "We're Not Buying It" campaign17 has petitioned President Obama to put voluntary, science-based nutrition guidelines into place for companies that market foods to kids. I urge you to go a step further and also stop supporting the companies that are marketing junk foods to your children today.
