Friday, October 26, 2012

Please guard your health

  The beautiful red-orange tree in my back yard is now bare,brown leaves litter the ground. We are looking at some very chilly nights ahead, at least for a few days. And a hurricane blowing up the coast may bring some major problems to New England.
   I am a little sad and thinking of several friends who are quite ill just now, one in the hospital, several others facing cancer, blood problems and other health concerns.  Makes me very grateful for my good health. I can't take credit for most of that, God does watch over me. But I have been watching what I eat , drink and do since I was 20 years old and began looking at nutrition as a way of life. It's true you are handed out some genetic probabilites, but if you  look ahead, you can prevent a lot of problems.
    Today I want to give you some harmful additives and processes to avoid. If you can keep yourself and your children from having ADD, ADHD, cancer, high blood pressure, diabetes, why would you not want to? My biggest fear is becoming a vegetable and needing constant care. I have been that caregiver a few times, and don't want to end life that way.
  Not saying you can never enjoy things you like, that would be dumb. But keep the harmful things in moderation and go for the fruits, veggies and things that enhance your quality of life.
  Lets start with the toxins in your home, and the most deadly ones. Number one are flame retardents. These are a chemical, petroleum based product. Used a lot in kids sleepers. Avoid those, and go for natural cotton. Second, formaldehyde.  This one causes me a lot of grief, if I come in contact with it I break out in a rash, called lichenplanus. Miserable, itchy, and many months to heal. Even in flu shots, which a doc finally figured out when I kept getting sick after shots. This stuff is used in carpets, woods(pressed) and building supplies. Try to choose natural woods and fibers.  Next are Parabans. These are absorbed into the body. They cause cancer and disrupt your hormone system. Look for them in makeup, shampoos and personal products.
  Plastics are also suspect. If you have babys, look for ones(plastic, not babys) that say BPA free, or to be safe use glass or metal cups. Check your containers, they should not be labeled #3 or #7 polyvinyl choride. Never heat things in the microwave in plastic, don't reuse water bottles, you know all that stuff. The stuff that plastics are made of take thousands of years to break down in our dumps.  Avoid cans with white linings, these are deadly.
  Now lets get to food additives, and these are some of the biggest offenders.  Fake sugars and aspartame( yogurts use this a lot) are the worst. Watch out for added colors too, red, and blue are the worst. Stay clear of BHA, butylated hydroxyanisole, and BHT, butylated hydroxytolene. Olestra, a fake fat,  gums, and of course nitrites and nitrates. We are all watching out for the saturated fats too. The good thing is, some manufacturers are catching on to the fact that we want better and safer foods, and are making efforts to help us out.
  There is a bill afoot in CA trying to make it a law that food containing GMO's must  be labeled as such, I hope it passes. Monsanto and other big companies are fighting it tooth and nail. They would rather soak the seeds they plant in weed and bug killers than have to work on the fields more. But those killers are passed right into our flour, corn, soy beans etc and are harmful beyond belief.
  It comes down to making healthy choices as much as possible and limiting stuff that will harm your body, to occasional use. I see now that some bacon  brands and hot dogs are finally being made without nitrates and nitrates. We need to look for these safer brands and thank them for their efforts.
  Got a pot of home grown veggies cooking for soup,  so glad we have had a good growing season. Will miss the fresh tomatos and peppers, but they are about gone now.
  Enjoy life, but protect yourself, no one else will do it for you. And do protect your babys, you are all they have.
  It's almost Halloween, there is a peanut butter scare so watch what the tots get. Have a great fall. See ya next time.
  I would be very remiss if i didn't mention a new blessing, a lovely new grand daughter born earlier this week,  now I have 3 grand daughters and 3 grand sons, and a great grand daughter and a great grandson. Life is good.

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