Health

Have you ever thought about how amazing your skin is? It is the largest organ in the body, and weighs up to 11kg. It acts as a barrier to infections, preventing microorganisms entering our bodies. It is full of nerve endings that give us our sense of touch. It regulates our body temperature. It secretes waste products through our sweat, and it synthesizes the use of Vitamin D from the sun which is essential for healthy bodies.

However one really important and much overlooked function of the skin is absorption – whatever lotions and potions we put on our skins are absorbed straight into our bloodstream through the dermis layer. Think of all the stuff we rub on our skin without thinking about what is in it….. Now that is scary!

There are some commonly used ingredients that are found in skin care products that are incredibly dangerous for our health, yet because they are going on the outside of our body we don’t think twice about it. More amazingly, they are legal!

Scariest of all is that over 90% of skin and hair products contain substances that break down the skin’s natural moisture systems to allow easier penetration of these toxic and carcinogenic products. These are often called Sodium Laurel or Lauryl Sulfate, and are commonly used in heavy-duty degreasing systems. The very last place you want them in on your skin.

Here are some other really nasty but commonly used substances that are found in your skin care products. PLEASE check the labels on the bottles and jars you use and be aware of what you are allowing into your bloodstream!



Paraffin, Petrolatum and Petroleum coat the skin and act as a barrier but also clog up pores so they can’t breathe which causes all sorts of skin problems. They also disrupt hormonal activity and are suspected to cause cancer as well as bringing on early ageing.

Parabens are extremely widely used as preservatives for skin care products and they have a direct effect on the endocrine system causing hormone disruption and suspected cancer.

Phenol Carbolic Acid even sounds bad, but it can cause skin burns, paralysis, convulsions and respiratory failure plus circulatory collapse as well as being a known carcinogenic. It is used in lotions and creams as a disinfectant.

Propylene Glycol is used as a moisturizer and carrier of fragrance and also promotes absorption through the skin but it has been proved to cause dermatitis, kidney and liver failure and skin irritation.

Acrylamide is found in many hand and face creams and has been proved to have a link to breast tumours.

Tolulene is made from petroleum or coal tar and is found in most synthetic fragrances. It is linked to anaemia, low blood cell count, liver and kidney damage and low foetal growth. They will often call it benzoic, benzyl and butylated hydroxytoluene to it because it is a serious poison.

Dioxane has been confirmed as a carcinogen, particularly in nasal and liver passages and is found in polysorbate, Laureth and ethoxylated alcohols. Don’t be fooled if they say “from coconut” – it is a synthetic derivative and is still NO GOOD!

Synthetic colours are labeled as FD&C or D&C followed by the colour name and are widely believed to be carcinogenic.

Stearalkonium Chloride is basically a fabric softener used in hair conditioners and creams and causes allergic reactions.

By now you will be wondering if there is anything left that you CAN use safely. But don’t fear because there are lots of natural products that are much, much better for your skin. Like Retinol which is a form of Vitamin A and is one of the few real methods of promoting skin repair, and Linoleic Acid which also quickens the skin’s renewal process. Vitamin E is a brilliant anti-oxidant that protects against cell-damage and Allantoin promotes skin regeneration and controls dryness. Vitamin B3 locks melanin below the skin’s surface, honey is nature’s own anti-bacterial and aloe leaf soothes the skin. Many essential oils have a wonderful effect on the skin in many different ways and goats milk soap is a brilliant and soothing soap. Don’t forget that organic salves, organic tinctures and organic lotions contain vastly less toxins and are also unlikely to contain all those nasties listed above.

It will always be our personal choice what products we use on our skin, but it is also essential that we can make informed decisions based on truth and not just what the multinational companies want us to believe. So check out the labels of all your products and empower yourself!

After perusing my store's New Age/Witchcraft shelves for about 20 minutes I spotted the cover of Llewellyn's 2009 Herbal Almanac tucked in behind some other books. I was immediately attracted by the cover. It was, no doubt, Llewellyn's intention to lure unsuspecting green/kitchen witches in with the lovely flora and fauna on the cover. Dispite being told all my life not to judge a book by its cover, I'm guilty of doing it time and time again. If it's aesthetically pleasing I want it immediately! Don't tell me I'm the only one. I mean, it's what they hire graphic designers to do, lol.

Getting over the allure of the rather Victorian graphics, and lovely colour combinations, I begen thumbing through the pages. I'm usualy quite skeptical of Llewellyn publications due to a lot of the nonsense they've published over the years and because, well, they publish $ilver Ravenwolf. I was waiting for the love spell of the week to pop out at me in neon lights, but to my surprise it didn't happen! The book is well organized and nicely illustrated throughout. It seems to be an all around wonderful guide for anyone with a herb garden or who would like to take a stab at growing herbs. It's 304 pages long, and contains a plethora of wonderful information.

The book is divided into 6 sections:
1. Growing and Gathering Herbs
2. Culinary Herbs
3. Herbs for Health
4. Herbs for Beauty
5. Herb Crafts
6. Herb Hisotry, Myth, and Lore

It also contains a monthly moon chart for 2009. It's packed with recipes for meals, lotions, shampoos, compresses, oils and many other things that would be useful not only for witches but for everyone. It also I just bought it today, so obviously I haven't had a chance to read the entire book, but what I have read is impressive and easy to follow. I really can't wait to start digging into it! Once I've finished the book I will make a follow-up post for all of you!

Yesterday night I visited Ilana at her amazing retreat place in Los Gatos, California.

The trip to the center (It is a Yogi community center in the middle of the redwood forest, up in the mountains) was awesome.  We drove through the curved road and since we arrived when it was getting dark, it had some mysterious feeling too, as if we where going to the unknown regions of the wilderness.

Anyways, once we got inside Ilana asked if we wish to have a cup of tea and we said of course.  We chose a non caffeine one (yogi tea of course) and I mentioned that I would like to have some sweetener.

Naturally, in a retreat place like that, they would have alternative answers to sugar, which one of them was Stevia.

The Stevia in its final form looks like a very fine white dust and very attractive (for me at least) and as someone that used to drink his tea/coffee with 2 teaspoons of sugar (now just one!), I decided, in spite Ilana's warning to drop into my cup something like 1/8 of a teaspoon.

When I tried to drink it I had this strong, but really strong, sweet taste, which made me after 2-3 sips (which trying to convince myself to drink more and not look as a dumb), give up on the tea and move to a complete clean of any sweetener tea. I did try to dilute the previous tea with some hot water, but didn't really help... was still too sweet.

So... today morning I woke up with a very strong headache.  Since I am well familiar with my body, I was puzzled about this headache, because I didn't drink anything, didn't smoke anything (for almost 4 weeks now!) and didn't see any reason for this headache to pop up like that. I would go further and say that I never had any such headache in the morning in my entire life.

From being so puzzled and shocked, I went back with my thoughts to yesterday and tried to find what happened to me, and after calculating (and accusing) the free of smoking period I am experiencing, the Stevia came up to my thoughts as a possible cause.

At first I did not think it is possible and after short research I found few websites that where talking about the Stevia and its side effects.

I will quote here few of the paragraphs.  Though as anything you research for, you can never be sure in 100 percent, yet, I can absolutely put my cause on the Stevia in this case, since I am in the field of herbs for some time and in the field of alternative medicine for 8 years.  But moreover than experience (which was lacking the Stevia info apparently), I am extremely sensitive and aware to my body's reaction to any kind of supplement and can say that there is imbalance because a specific reason in my own body.  Of course, after analyzing it and bringing some other components that might be affecting the situation.

Here is an interesting conversation about the Stevia side affects I found on the net:

Why does Stevia give me a headache?
I couldn't find any scientific report directly related the intake of Stevia to
headache. However, some web-articles suggest dizziness, headache,
muscle weakness, bloating, nausea, muscle tenderness and kidney toxicity
as its side effects or toxic effects. Some of these side effects are also
symptoms of hypoglycemia. Let us relate the activities of Stevia,
hypoglycemia and headache together.

It is known that Stevia has anti-hyperglycemic properties. In a study,
researchers recruited 12 patients with Type 2 Diabetes. They found that
the intake of Stevioside could reduce the postprandial blood glucose levels.
In addition, Stevia also has blood pressure lowering activities. Thus,
overdose or excessive intake of Stevia will lead to hypoglycemia and
hypotension.

If the blood sugar levels fall below the normal range (70-110 mg/dl),
episode of hypoglycemia may occur. symptoms of mild-moderate
hypoglycemia include nausea, hunger, nervousness, coldness, rapid pulse,
numbness, dizziness, headache, blurred vision, weakness and difficulty
walking. While, the basic symptoms for headache are dizziness, nausea,
fainting etc. Thus, it makes sense that excessive dose of Stevia causes
headache. However, this is just my thought; experiment is needed to prove
this idea. Thanks.

Was taken from thissite.

Another interesting point about the parts of the Stevia:

Whole foods proponents draw a distinction between consuming (and safety testing) only parts, such as Stevia extracts and isolated compounds like Stevioside, versus the whole herb. In his book Healing With Whole Foods, Paul Pitchford cautions, "Obtain only the green or brown [whole] Stevia extracts or powders; avoid the clear extracts and white powders, which, highly refined and lacking essential phyto-nutrients, cause imbalance". However, this statement is not backed by any scientific evidence.

In 1991, at the request of an anonymous complainant, the United States Food and Drug Administration labelled stevia as an "unsafe food additive", and restricted its import. The FDA's stated reason was "toxicological information on stevia is inadequate to demonstrate its safety" [2]. This ruling was controversial, as stevia proponents pointed out this designation goes against the FDA's guidelines, under which any natural substance used prior to 1958 with no reported adverse effects should be recognized as safe.

In 1995, the FDA revised its stance to permit stevia to be used as a dietary supplement, although not as a food additive. Currently, it is legal to import, grow, sell and consume Stevia products in the United States if it is contained within or labelled for use as a dietary supplement.

To conclude, one should be aware of his/her own body when taking the Stevia, especially if there is any issues concerning sugar level in the blood.

Note!  The text above reflects the writer’s personal opinion and DOES NOT COME TO ALTERNATE ANY PROFESSIONAL OPINION (AND TREATMENT) ABOUT YOUR HEALTH.  FOR YOUR HEALTH IT IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED TO VISIT YOUR DOCTOR.

The writer and altglobe WILL NOT take and responsibility about any case of any person who took this personal blog article as a recommendation for treating himself/herself.  Any action taken after reading this blog post is under the sloe reader responsibility.

Men’s Health covers HealthyCar.org — “Oh great, my child’s going to be a mutant,” says Lou Terrier as the woman explains to him why she wants to look inside his car. Then Bobbi Chase Wilding slips into the passenger seat of Terrier’s family wagon, takes a large gray gun from a shopping bag, removes a rectangular, metallic cap from the business end, aims it point-blank at the dashboard, and pulls the trigger.

Are you concerned about chemicals in your car?
Take this survey.

More here

www.ecocenter.org/

ScienceDaily (Feb. 15, 2008) - An Israeli scientist, Dr. Siegal Sadetzki, has found a link between cell phone usage and the development of tumors. Dr. Sadetzki, a physician, epidemiologist and lecturer at Tel Aviv University, published the results of a study recently in the American Journal of Epidemiology, in which she and her colleagues found that heavy cell phone users were subject to a higher risk of benign and malignant tumors of the salivary gland. Those who used a cell phone heavily on the side of the head where the tumor developed were found to have an increased risk of about 50% for developing a tumor of the main salivary gland (parotid), compared to those who did not use cell phones. The fact that the study was done on an Israeli population is significant. Says Sadetzki, "Unlike people in other countries, Israelis were quick to adopt cell phone technology and have continued to be exceptionally heavy users. Therefore, the amount of exposure to radiofrequency radiation found in this study has been higher than in previous cell phone studies. "This unique population has given us an indication that cell phone use is associated with cancer," adds Sadetzki, whose study investigated nearly 500 people who had been diagnosed with benign and malignant tumors of the salivary gland. Controlled Study Reveals Link The study's subjects were asked to detail their cell phone use patterns in terms of how frequently they used one, and the average length of calls. They were compared to a sample of about 1,300 healthy control subjects. The study also found an increased risk of cancer for heavy users who lived in rural areas. Due to fewer antennas, cell phones in rural areas need to emit more radiation to communicate effectively. Sadetzki predicts that, over time, the greatest effects will be found in heavy users and children. While anecdotal evidence has been substantial, the consistency of the results of this study support an association between cell phone use and these tumors. The risks have been hard to prove, mainly due to the long latency period involved in cancer development, explains Sadetzki. Keep Calling but Call Smarter Today it is estimated that more than 90% percent of the Western world uses cell phones. As the technology becomes cheaper and more accessible, its usage by a greater number of people, including children, is bound to increase. "While I think this technology is here to stay," Sadetzki says, "I believe precautions should be taken in order to diminish the exposure and lower the risk for health hazards." She recommends that people use hands-free devices at all times, and when talking, hold the phone away from one's body. Less frequent calls, shorter in duration, should also have some preventative effect. While she appreciates the ease of communication that cell phones allow between parents and their children, Sadetzki says that parents need to consider at what age their children start using them. Parents should be vigilant about their children's using speakers or hands-free devices, and about limiting the number of calls and amount of time their children spend on the phone. "Some technology that we use today carries a risk. The question is not if we use it, but how we use it," concludes Sadetzki. Sadetzki's main research on this new study was carried out at the Gertner Institute for Epidemiology and Health Policy Research at the Sheba Medical Center. Her research is part of the international Interphone Study, which attempts to determine an association between cell phones and several types of brain and parotid gland tumors. Adapted from materials provided by Tel Aviv University. Tel Aviv University (2008, February 15). Heavy Cell Phone Use Linked To Cancer, Study Suggests. ScienceDaily. Retrieved February 18, 2008, from http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2008/02/080214144349.htm

Women Fertility Clinics are staffed medical clinics that assist couples, and sometimes individuals, who want to become parents but for medical reasons have been unable to achieve this goal via the natural course. Women fertility clinics in apply a number of tests and sometimes very advanced medical procedures to obtain the desired conceptions and pregnancies. In about 50% of couples, the primary cause is a female fertility problem with ovulation, fallopian tube function, or other pelvic problems such as endometriosis.

Women fertility clinics in perform tests on women to try and determine what the cause of the infertility is. By using fertility awareness information, blood tests and hormone level tests, doctors can easily check for the most common female infertility problems at their women fertility clinics in . Initial tests of female hormone levels can signal problems with egg production, while tests using cervical mucus can identify infection or any other factors that may be interfering with sperm movement into the female reproductive tract. Also, women fertility clinics can perform tests to examine the reproductive tract, such as a hysteroscopy, ultrasound, or endometrial biopsy to identify disease or structural problems that may be reversible.

women fertility clinics offer several options to those who are infertile, but very interested in having a child. One option for an infertile couple that is offered by women fertility clinics in is Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART). ART involves surgically removing eggs from a woman’s ovaries, combining them with sperm in the laboratory, and returning them to the woman’s body or donating them to another woman. It does not include procedures where only the sperm is manipulated or where the woman takes drugs in order to stimulate egg production. Types of ART offered by woman fertility clinics in are In Vitro Fertilization, Gamete Intrafallopian Transfer, Zygote Intrafallopian Transfer, and Tubal Embryo Transfer.

Other services that are offered by women fertility clinics in the area include surrogacy solutions, which can help assist couples considering the use of a surrogate mother and also help those interested in becoming a surrogate mother. Also, egg donation and egg freezing can be done at fertility clinics for women in the area to allow women the opportunity to potentially preserve their fertility by suspending their eggs in time, allowing the fertility potential of the human egg to be freed of the hardships caused by the natural aging process.

Herbal remedies, also known as herbal medicine or phytotherapy, are folk and traditional medicinal practices based on the use of plants and plant extracts. herbal remedies can be used by anyone, for example as part of a salad, an herbal tea or supplement, although some herbs considered dangerous are restricted from sale to the public. Sometimes specialist companies provide herbal remedies to professional herbalists.

A misconception about herbal remedies and the use of natural products in general is that natural means that it is safe. However, many plants have chemical defense mechanisms against predators that can have adverse or lethal effects on humans. Examples of herbal remedies that may not be safe are poison hemlock and nightshade, which can be deadly. herbal remedies can also have undesirable side effects just as pharmaceutical products can. There is also a danger that herbal remedies will be used in place of other medical treatments, which have been scientifically tested for safety and efficacy, resulting in the development of worsening a medical condition, which could have been prevented or treated. herbal remedies may also itself cause harm, which is unanticipated due to a lack of full understanding of its composition and biochemical effects. This is why it is important to always consult specialist, like those at Thumos Health Center in , before starting any herbal remedies.

There are hundreds of herbal remedies that can already be found in the diets of many, including artichokes. Artichokes have shown to reduce total serum cholesterol levels in preliminary studies. Another herbal remedy is garlic, which lowers cholesterol, reduces blood pressure, reduces platelet aggregation, and also has anti-fungal properties. Honey, Lemon grass, green tea, lemon juice, and peppermint tea are all herbal remedies that can be found in most household kitchens and can help with several common problems such as insomnia, healing scars, treating acne, or even helping with depression.

A survey released in May 2004 by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine focused on who used complementary and alternative medicines, what was used, and why it was used. The survey was limited to adults age 18 years and over during 2002 living in the United States. According to this survey, herbal therapy, or use of natural products other than vitamins and minerals, was the most commonly used CAM therapy when all use of prayer was excluded.