BPA Bust

Senate Fails to Pass BPA Ban on Children's Products!

Read the article here. 

NEARING Thanksgiving

The sign of a culture who has lost its tradition!

As we approach the Thanksgiving holiday there is much focus on family coming together and enjoying the 'traditional' turkey dinner. The general population might even take a moment to reflect on which they are thankful. There may be thanks given for 'good health' without a second thought. But what is good health? This is a big topic, more than can be discussed in this one blog. I think a person of good health is not only eating nutrient dense foods but has a positive mind, an active lifestyle and gives thanks daily.

One of my favorite quotes comes from the book, The Making of a Radical by Scott Nearing (published in 1972).

Health is the finally effective test of the interaction of the human organism with its total environment. Judged on this basis, the automated, computer-directed society of the United States is a ghastly failure. In an affluent society like that of the United States, tens of millions of adults are suffering from degenerative diseases, while other tens of millions suffer from constipation, insomnia, indigestion, nervous tension. Why should this be? The answer is obvious. The average American has no idea what good health is or how to go about obtaining it. When he feels the effects of ill health he goes to the doctor, who, like his prospective patient, knows little or nothing about health although he knows a great deal about diseases. He can relieve suffering by administering "wonder drugs", but he cannot prevent the disease which accompanies lack of health. The doctor, who suffers himself from the common ailments and fatal diseases which play such a prominent role in American life, is not concerned primarily with health. His specialty is disease. If there were no disease, that is, if people were healthy, doctors would be out of business except for accidents and the helplessness of infancy and old age.

This blog could quickly become one devoted to food if I followed the path of explaining the benefits nutrient dense foods. Certainly there will be future blogs about food because our foods are laced with toxins and you need to know how to avoid them!

So in general I want to encourage everyone to be meaningful in their thoughts, actions and food consumption. Take the time to prepare your meals from scratch, soak your beans, grind your grains, invest in the organic, humanely-raised turkey, share special moments in the kitchen with family, teach your children the value of nutrient dense food. Because what better investment can you make if not in your health? Health care has us investing in our future diseases, but we can take actions now to ensure a healthy lifestyle and reduce our dependency on the inundated health care system.

From the Weston A. Price Foundation Wise Traditions publication is a great article titled Modernizing Your Diet With Traditional Foods. The following roughly outlines healthy practices among non-industrialized cultures.

Here are nine dietary habits practiced among healthy non-industrialized peoples. The cultures consumed different specific foods, but the patterns among these different peoples were easy to identify.

All traditional cultures . . .
1. Consume some sort of animal protein, including organ meats and fat, every day.
2. Consume foods that contain very high levels of minerals and fat-soluble vitamins (vitamin A, vitamin D and vitamin K2 found in seafood, organ meats and animal fats).
3. Consume some foods with a high enzyme and probiotic content.
4. Consume seeds, grains, and nuts that are soaked, sprouted, fermented, or naturally leavened in order to neutralize a portion of the naturally occurring anti-nutrients in these foods.
5. Consume plenty of natural fats but no industrial liquid or hardened (partially hydrogenated) oils.
6. Consume natural, unrefined salt.
7. Consume animal bones, usually in the form of gelatin-rich bone broths.
8. Provide extra nutrition for parents-to-be, pregnant women, breastfeeding women and growing children, to ensure the health of the next generation.
9. Do not consume refined or processed foods, including white flour, refined sweeteners, pasteurized and lowfat milk products, protein powders, industrial fats and oils and chemical additives.

Have a joyous and meaningful Thanksgiving!

PLASTIC STATE OF MIND - Parody with Purpose

Healthy Home Checklist

Check out the EWG Action Fund's Healthy Home Checklist to see how your home stacks up!

Ready to create an eco-healthy home?

We created this Healthy Home Checklist for you to use as you walk through your home -- and open your bathroom cabinet, look under your sink, and check those laundry supplies. It's an easy, hands-on way to create a less toxic environment for your family. When you're done, you'll breathe easier (literally!) knowing that you've tackled the toxics that matter most in your home.

Notice the mentioning of bisphenol-A (BPA) in the lining of canned foods. And check out this ENVIROBLOG topic: Can EWG staff live a week without canned food? Can you?

Toxic Plastic

BPA - Alphabet Soup

You might have heard a lot about BPA (bisphenol A) in the news. Many plastic water bottles now have stickers announcing that they are BPA-Free. But did you know that BPA is one of the chemicals used in the lining of aluminum cans?


From the report, Seeking Safer Packaging 2010:

Nearly every canned food and beverage product on the market today contains a highly controversial chemical, bisphenol A (BPA), in its can lining.

Since the first publication of Seeking Safer Packaging in spring 2009, momentum to reduce exposure to BPA has increased.

2010 BPA Scorecard

BPA has been known to be estrogenic since the 1930's. That means that BPA can mimic the estrogen made in our own bodies. Estrogen is a key steroid compound for women. And if you guys out there think you're off the hook, well think again! Men have low levels of estrogen in their bodies (All vertebrates produce estrogen).

From BPA Chemical Leaches From Hard Plastic Drinking Bottles Into The Body:

Several studies have shown that BPA disrupts hormones in animals, leading to early sexual maturity, changes in development and organization of tissue in mammary glands and reduction in sperm in the affected organism's offspring. The early stages of fetal development are thought to be the most vulnerable to harm from BPA, said the authors in a prepared statement.

Karin B Michels, associate professor of epidemiology at Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) said that:

"We found that drinking cold liquids from polycarbonate bottles for just one week increased urinary BPA levels by more than two-thirds."

"If you heat those bottles, as is the case with baby bottles, we would expect the levels to be considerably higher," she added, explaining that is worrying because "infants may be particularly susceptible to BPA's endocrine-disrupting potential".

For years I was enjoying my eco-conscious, unbreakable Nalgene bottle (with the #7 recycle number on the bottom). I filled it daily and was proud not to be using bottled water. I was unknowingly dosing myself daily with BPA. Having been diagnosed with an endocrine cancer, I have to wonder about its effects on me.

Hard plastic polycarbonate bottles are often used as refillable containers by students, campers and others. They are also used as baby bottles, although two months ago 6 manufacturers in the US said they would stop selling hard plastic baby bottles made with BPA.

If a hard plastic bottle carries the recycling symbol showing the number 7, then it is most likely made of polycarbonate, since 7 is the category for "all other plastics", which includes polycarbonate (according to the SPI resin identification coding system).

So check your cabinets! Are they filled with BPA canned food? It's time to take your health seriously and stop funneling your hard earned money to these companies who care more about making a buck than your health!