Not Subscribed Yet?
Visit Newsletter Archives
Photo
by Ben Aronoff
Bernadette Wulf
Healthy Weight Coach
Naturopath
EFT Therapist
Reiki Master
Earth News
Earth has a message
for us.
Can you hear it?
A Bird Came
Down the Walk
By Emily Dickinson
A bird came
down the walk:
He did not know I saw;
He bit an angle-worm
in halves
And ate the fellow, raw.
And then he drank
a dew
From a convenient grass,
And then hopped sidewise to the wall
To let a beetle pass.
He glanced with rapid eyes
That hurried all abroad,--
They looked like frightened beads, I thought;
He stirred his velvet head
Like one in danger; cautious,
I offered him a crumb,
And he unrolled his feathers
And rowed him softer home
Than oars divide the ocean,
Too silver for a seam,
Or butterflies, off banks of noon,
Leap, plashless, as they swim.
|
| Natural Wellness News
|
| Vol.
1, No. 83 * * * July 2013 |
|
Killer Couches, Allergy Fighters
& Sneaky Superbugs
|
 Message from Bernadette Wulf
Greetings!
We've
been having a heat wave to welcome in the month of July, right after a
freak storm that dumped a couple of inches of rain. The best of both
worlds, I think.
This month, coincidentally, we have several articles on consumer
safety. Meat, couches, and fresh produce are the most likely places to
run into trouble, so check out the articles below to make sure you know
how to protect yourself and your family.
The good news is that there are delicious foods that help fight allergy
symptoms, and there is something you can do every day to keep your
bones strong. Choose your favorite from five different ways to exercise.
Until next month, enjoy these lazy, crazy days of summer. I know I will.
To
Your Health!
Bernadette Wulf
Visit
http://healitall.com
for more information.
Sign
Up For New Newsletter Here! |
|
 Foods that Fight Allergies
What
do anthocyanins (dark purple and red foods), carotenoids, quercetin,
and green tea have in common? They all act as natural anti-histamines
and they are all found in commonly consumed foods.
If
you suffer from seasonal allergies, these foods could be your best
allies in the fight against sneezing, runny nose, and itching eyes.
From
BottomLine.com: "Why these foods help: When a seasonal allergen enters
your body through your eyes, nose or mouth, it upsets the normal
routine of cells located in the nasal passages, sinuses, throat and the
clear covering of the eyes. In response, those cells release the
substance histamine, which triggers the itching, sniffling, sneezing,
tearing and other annoying symptoms.
"Similar
to the way that antihistamine medicines reduce the cells’
histamine reaction to allergens, compounds called flavonoids also have
antihistamine properties—and you can easily get these flavonoids
from your diet, said Peter J. D’Adamo, ND, best-selling author of
Eat Right 4 Your Type and Allergies: Fight Them with the Blood Type Diet."
After living in Sonoma County for more than 30 years, I've come to
accept that allergies are just a part of springtime, as they are for
many people here. Though my allergies have improved quite a bit over
the years, I still have a few days every spring when sneezing and a
runny nose are the order of the day.
More About Foods that Fight Allergies
http://www.bottomlinepublications.com/content/article/diet-a-exercise/foods-that-help-stop-seasonal-allergies
|
|
 Superbugs Invade Meat Industry
If you eat meat, this is an article that should make you sit up and take notice. It could literally save your life!
Did
you know that 81% of supermarket ground turkey, 69% of pork chops, 55%
of ground beef, and 39% of chicken breasts contain superbugs that can
kill you? Or that ground meats are much more likely to be contaminated.
Even if you don't eat meat, you can still pick up these superbugs from live
animals or farm workers who transmit resistant bacteria to water, soil
and air. Vegetable crops have been contaminated with runoff from
superbug infested farms and feedlots, so even vegans are not safe from
this threat!
Here's
what Environmental Working Group's website has to say: "Not
surprisingly, superbugs spawned by antibiotic misuse -- and now
pervasive in the meat Americans buy -- have become a direct source of
food borne illness. Even more ominously, antibiotic misuse threatens to
make important antibiotics ineffective in treating human disease. In
the past, people who became ill because of contact with harmful
microbes on raw meat usually recovered quickly when treated with
antibiotics. But today, the chances are increasing that a person can
suffer serious illness, complications or death because of a bacterial
infection that doctors must struggle to control.
"The
proliferation of antibiotic-resistant bacteria poses special dangers to
young children, pregnant women, the elderly and people with weakened
immune systems."
To
be safe, it’s best to treat all meat as if it’s contaminated, mainly by
cooking thoroughly and using safe shopping and kitchen practices. (See Make Sure Your Food is Really Clean below.)
Read More About Superbugs in Meat
http://www.ewg.org/meateatersguide/superbugs/
|
|
 Is Your Couch Killing You?
If
you are in the market for a new couch, stuffed chair, or bed mattress,
it is a good idea to do some serious homework before you buy.
According to the Rawfor30Days.com website: "New studies have found that the
majority of couches bought over the past 5 years contain chemical flame
retardants that are extremely toxic to the human body. One of
the most common chemicals used in couches is a compound called
Chlorinated Tris, which has been shown to cause cancer and reproductive
disorders in women and small children."
Doesn't that make you want to lie down for a nice snooze? Yikes!
Fortunately, there are a few scrupulous companies that provide non-toxic products. They include IKEA, Ekla Home, Cisco Brothers. Viesso, and EcoSelect.
When it comes to protecting our health, it seems that we cannot ever
let our guard down - not even when we settle down on our comfy couch
with a bowl of popcorn to watch a really good movie.
Speaking
of couches, here's a great non-toxic cleaning tip, in case you ever
drop a greasy bowl of popcorn, or other oil, on your couch. Just cover
the spot with a layer of cornmeal and leave it overnight. Vacuum it off
the next day and most of all of the stain should be gone.
For a list and descriptions of safe couches, visit the link below.
Read More About Killer Couches
http://www.rawfor30days.com/blog/killer-couches-part-2-the-good-news/
|
|
 Make Sure Your Food is Really Safe
My
July newsletter seems to have a running theme of toxins in our food and
environment, whether natural (as in allergens) or man-made (as in
chemicals and superbugs), so we may as well take a look at contaminants
in the kitchen. This problem is closely related to the story above,
about the meat industry, since that is where most of these
bio-contaminants are coming from, and it will continue to get worse
until we change the way we raise animals.
For a bit of humor on the subject of chicken housing, check out what Stephen Colbert has to say:
http://www.mfablog.org/2013/06/stephen-colbert-ridicules-
congressman-steve-kings-cruel-farm-bill-amendment.html
The question we need to answer now is: how can we protect ourselves?
Let's start with fresh vegetables. We have all heard about cases of food poisoning caused by eating raw spinach. Here's something I just learned, from BottomLinePublications.com:
"Bagged
and pre-washed lettuce mixes may be somewhat riskier than 'whole'
produce because multiple heads of lettuce are used and mixes are
handled more during processing. To minimize risk…
* Get a package from the back of the store’s refrigerator when buying precut lettuce. The colder temperature in this location inhibits bacterial growth.
* Check the expiration date.
While most people are careful to check the expiration date on dairy,
that’s not always the case for produce. Packaged fresh produce
that’s eaten at least five days before the 'sell by' date is less
likely to cause food poisoning than older produce.
*
Rinsing produce, including pre-washed lettuces, will remove some
harmful organisms, but not all of them. In addition to rinsing, buy the
freshest produce possible, keep it refrigerated and, if possible, cook
it thoroughly to kill any bacteria."
BTW, I recently read about an excellent wash for vegetables, meats,
chopping boards, sinks, and counter tops that will kill about 98% of
all bacteria. Simply spray on, or dip the item you want to clean in white or apple cider vinegar and then in 3% hydrogen peroxide. Don't mix them or it won't have the same effect. They have to be used one after the other.
After
reading this article, I'm glad I don't eat chicken, but if you do, the
article suggests that you don't rinse it, because that will just spread
the germs around your sink and kitchen. Of course, you could use
the vinegar and hydrogen peroxide on it first to eliminate, or at
least minimize the spread of bacteria.
Here's another good tip from the Bottom Line article:
"Throw out food that you dipped into after the cooking was completed but didn’t refrigerate within two hours.
Let’s say you prepared a pot of stew or soup, then had seconds or
thirds after it was cooked. If this food wasn’t refrigerated
within two hours, throw it out. By introducing the spoon multiple times
into the pot, you could have introduced harmful organisms that may have
multiplied. Some bacteria do grow at cold temperatures but at slower
rates. For this reason, you should reuse leftovers within a few days."
Dang, I'm going to have to be more careful about that double dipping.
How about you? I'm definitely going to keep a couple of spray bottles
of vinegar and hydrogen peroxide in my kitchen for washing produce and
daily cleaning.
More Great Tips on Preventing Food Poisoning
http://www.bottomlinepublications.com/content/article/health-a-healing/
don-t-rinse-the-chicken-and-other-secrets-to-avoiding-food-poisoning
|
|
 5 Best Exercises for Your Bones
Not
so long ago, experts were telling us that only old people and
very thin people needed to worry about osteoporosis, but according to
this Bottom Line article, "a mounting body of evidence suggests that obesity is a major risk factor for osteoporosis and fracture risk—no matter your age." It is the fat around the internal organs within the belly, called visceral fat, that can cause brittle bones.
From
BottomLine.com: "For a recent study, researchers analyzed young men
(average age 34) who had an average body mass index (BMI) of 36.5,
which put them well into the “obese” category. The men
underwent a sophisticated CT scan to determine their bodies’
amounts of abdominal subcutaneous fat (fat that lies directly under the
skin)…abdominal visceral fat (deeper inside)…and total
abdominal fat (both of those types), as well as thigh subcutaneous fat
and thigh muscle. The men underwent a different and very
high-resolution CT to determine the strength of their wrist bones.
"Researchers
found that among men with the same BMIs, those who had more visceral
fat had weaker bones compared with those who had more subcutaneous fat.
But no associations were found with the other types of fat. There was a
positive correlation seen with thigh muscle—the more muscle mass,
the stronger the bones, among men with the same BMIs. In a prior study,
these same researchers had found similar results among young women, so
all of these findings apply to both genders."
Here are the 5 best
weight-bearing activities to help give your bones the protection they
need - even 10 minutes a day will help:
1. Walking uphill
2. Climbing stairs or using a stair-stepping machine
3. Dancing
4. Playing tennis
5. Lifting weights while standing
Of course, these forms of exercise are great for anyone, even if you are already at your ideal weight.
Read More About Best Exercises for Bone Health
www.bottomlinepublications.com/content/article/diet-a-exercise/the-exercises-overweight-people-need-to-do
|
|
To read past issues of
HealItAll.com Newsletter go to
http://healitall.com/newsletterarchives.html
Bernadette Wulf is a Law of Attraction
Coach, Ideal Weight
Coach, EFT Therapist, Naturopath, and Reiki Master with a world-wide practice via phone and
Internet.
Visit http://healitall.com
for more information.
For Health & Wellness Coaching
or Law of Attraction Coaching
contact Bernadette Wulf at wulfartist@yahoo.com
707-824-0675 (Pacific time zone)
|
|
