Why does skin care matter?

Why bother with pure, safe and beneficial skin care?
"Simply put, healthy skin is vital for our survival both emotionally and physically. To boost these capabilities, we need to understand its role and importance in our overall health and learn how to better care for our skin. What we put on our skin is just as important as what we put in our body; both affect the well being of our entire body (skin included!). The next time you slather on that chemical laden lotion or soak in a toxic tub, remember that your skin absorbs a large percentage of what you put on it."  I put these sentences in quotations as I found it on several sites, and am therefore not sure whom originally penned the words. Nonetheless, it is an absolute truth that I believe in and felt worth repeating.

The skin, as the largest organ, covers about 20 square feet of the human body. It is our...

Protective Barrier - it is our defender from a host of daily threats of bacteria and more. It helps preserve our internal fluids and organs. With everything from chemicals in the skin care products we slather on, environmental toxins and pollutants, harmful bacteria, viruses, parasites, pathogens, antigens and UV radiation attacking it, skin needs to be in tip top shape to ward off illness and keep us healthy.

Waste Remover.  Skin is a passageway that rids our body of toxins and helps prevent chemical and waste build-up. Clean pores enable your body to eliminate waste; and keeping your pores clean provides a clear exit strategy for all kinds of yucky toxins that accumulate in our bodies. Pores that are congested and blocked with chemicals and pollutants prevent skin from functioning properly and removing toxins.

Protection from injury - Our skin is the first communicator to the brain when we are injured. Whether from a sharp object that bodes us to retreat,  heat from a fire that warns us away...healthy skin increases the sensitivity to outside threats and allows us to react more quickly.

The skin, as our largest organ, does so much more. It is a diagnostic tool, with breakouts and lesions an indicator that something is amiss on the inside. Natural oils of the skin provide an anti-bacterial defense, which is why hygiene products that strip the skin of its natural oils break down our defenses. Its an emotion indicator...flare ups of rosecea, acne, and other ailments reflect the body is under stress, etc.

Healthy skin is important for overall wellness. So the next time you reach for your shampoo, or bottle of lotion, you may want to ask yourself, is this pure and safe to use,or am I promoting a build up of toxins in my body and causing harm to the largest organ of my body...the skin?"

May you feel great, look great and live great - by taking care of your skin!

Rita S.

Are Your Genes Controlling Your Health

Nutrigenomics can overcome your genetic predisposition. Diseased cellls are FUELED by the choices you make, and unfortunately, sometimes those choices are made for us. (As an example, a lawn or city park that is sprayed by chemicals that drift into your "intake zone".  

Genetic tendencies, a family tree laden with cancer, does not mean you are assured of getting the disease - unless you continually think about it and as in many areas of our life, including our health "what you think about, you bring about". Fact is, a very small percentage of cancers are actually from genetic make-up - less than 5%. The majority of cancer is caused by environmental exposures.  This is a topic I have written about in great lengths - if any of you have beared with me on those particular posts.

For those concerned about genetic make up and disease - there is GREAT NEWS!  The field of Nutrigenomics has made great strides in recent years.  Holsitc wellness is CURING cancer whereas traditional treatment continues to poison the human body so that it often manifests as another disease, or different cancer, years later - per the holistic and alternative medicine books and newsletters that  I read.  A book I highly recommend is "Cancer is Not a Disease, It's A Survival Mechanism"..

Our genetic mapping begins in the womb, obviously, and it comes in part from the hormones of both parents...a lack thereof of one hormone or another will affect offspring. Some babies already have predispositions to certain traits, such as brain triggers, type 1 diabetes, from birth and early on in their lives.  This is one reason why, as an adult, having hormones tested is a good place to start if you have a concern of family health history.   DNA chains become genes and many many thousands of genes become cells.  

CELLS DIE. CELLS POPULATE.   100 billion red cells, 400 million white cells are produced every hour.

Back to cell death...apoptosis.  This is healthy...we WANT cells to die.  The trouble starts when cells do not die after they do their job.  This happens 94% of the time, because of environmental factors.  Genetics, as I mentioned, accounts for a scant percentage of cancer. In addition to the chemicals in our foods and hygiene products, X-rays, radiation and medication also play a role in contributing to cancer.  It stands to reason that if new cells are generating and "old" cells are dying and excreting from the body - that we can become a new being over and over again, and healthier every day if we cease exposure to environmental toxins and foods.

This article is three years old, and from all that I have read the science of nutrigenomics has advanced. There are nutrients that can flip the switch on a gene "just like that". 

Hormones also play a role - with estrogen producing the Bcl-2 cancer-causing gene, whearas progesterone produces p-53, the cancer-protective gene (1990 Formby and Wiley research published Annals of Clinical Laboratory Science)

Progesterone, a natural hormone made by both men and women, is the only hormone that can counter excess estrogen. Most people are out of balance, with the body containing more estrogen than progesterone.  Women are usually imbalanced by age 35. For one, we tend to use more hygiene products than  men, most of which have endocrine disruptors. 

Men's progesterone levels decrease by age 50 - allowing estrogen to get out of hand. Testosterone alone does not cause prostrate cancer...a common sense statement by Dr. Michael Platt in his book "The Miracle of BioIdentical Hormones", states that if prostrate cancer were caused by too much testosterone we would have an epidemic amongst 17 yr old boys. The first time I read that it was an AHA moment - makes a lot of sense, don't you agree?  I do believe that traditional medicine is finally catching one a little bit, as they give drugs that prohibit estrogen.  It's too bad, in my opinion, that more oncologists and men don't know that bio identical progesterone can do JUST THAT - keep the estrogen levels in check.    One study referenced in a book shows that enlarged prostrate reduces and prostrate cancer cells die when progesterone is added and brought back into balance.

Many auto immune diseases are also caused in large part by hormone imbalance and dietary choices.  A family history of disease does NOT DICTATE a future of the same.  Educate yourself on the particular "disease", or as author Moritz describes, a SYMPTOM you may be prone too.  THEN change your DNA by nutrigenomics.  Find a knowledgeable naturopath, and if one is not available to you - the books certainly are.  Many are found in your local library for FREE.

Take an ATTITUDE CHECK.  If it is "woe is me....I come from a line of XYZ disease so I know I will get it" - YOU WILL.  I encourage you to be an OVERCOMER!!   Take control of your CELLS - yes, you can! Fuel them with anti-oxidants that can overcome the free radicals that mutate cells.  Avod the endocrine disruptors.  Make healthy choices 80% of the time. Use pH strips to monitor your body's acidic vs. alkaline status, and if is on the acidic side - consume more anti oxidants n the form of vegetables to tip the scale towards alkaline.  Disease cannot survive an alkaline state. Which is another topic I will not get into...thanks for reading, I hope that this post gives you HOPE if you feel you have been dealt a deck of diseased. genes. It's how you play those cards that will determine if you WIN and enjoy health!

To your health, 
Rita S.

Purity Bests Organic

Good. Better. Best.  When I worked for a window treatment company we had three grades for our products.  The discount, big box stores bought and sold "good", department stores offered better...but the premium stores and design houses offered the BEST.

As we wrap up 30 days of clean eating in our home I thought I should digress from the clean food topic for a bit, and bring up another subject that affects our health - that would be our skincare.  As I have discussed in my cancer prevention workshops, when it comes to toxic food - thankfully our bodies have a liver to filter the toxins.  When it comes to what we put on the largest organ of our body, our skin, there is no filter.  Everything we put on our skin is absorbed into our system, and per the EPA reaches our bloodstream and organs in less than 30 seconds.  So why should we be concerned about our lotions and shampoos?

Toxins in - does not necessarily mean toxins out (unless you are on some sort of regular detox program).  Toxins store up inside - a little toxin a day multiplied by 365 days a year multiplied by.....  get the picture?  It creates a hormone imbalance, interupts our divinely created endocrine system.  Consider that for a moment...and then - be on guard.  Just because a label states "all natural" or "organic" does not mean it is toxin free.

Truth of the matter is - organic farmers have a hard time keeping their produce pure, in some parts of the world more so than others.  I learned a while back from my chiropractor, Dr. Joe Teff, also a highly respected nutritionist, that the fall out of radiation from Japan has affected organic food crops.  Where, you might ask? Well, California, Hawaii and another friend tells me the fall out has reached much further north. To help the organic farmers of California, the state simply raised the allowance of radiation in order to label a product organic.  If you would like to be your own personal watchdog on this topic - check out www.enviroreporter.com or www.compassnaturalmarketing.com and look for the effects of the Fukushima disaster.  It is affecting much more than I could have imagined.

This is not to say you should not eat organic - you can obtain 40% more nutrients from organic than traditionally grown produce, but for certain -wash it! Small organic farms adjacent to Monsanto's huge, chemical laden farms also fall victim to chemical fall out from their genetically modified crop farm/corporation.

So my point here is the ORGANIC label on skin care.  Unless you are growing it yourself - I feel you need to have a higher standard than organic. 

PURITY bests organic.  For myself and my own family - we look for purity standards, and frankly, the European cosmetic industry has standards that far exceed any skin care products made here in the U.S.  Having said that - watch out for foreign sounding names on your product labels. They may sound French, Swiss, or whatever, but may actually be formulated here in the U.S.  I remember a friend telling me her mother uses a high end French sounding product from a fancy department store...and when I researched the ingredient labels the product contained petrolatum (a derivitive of crude oil) and parabens.  It turns out the product line is simply a more expensive offshoot of the Big L in cosmetics.

Know the company from whom you purchase products.  What is their ingredient policy? Are raw materials tested for purity on a regular batch-tested basis?  Even organic soy beans contain naturally occuring toxins such as formaldehyde and trace metals from the soil.  Just one example of why PURITY is the standard by which skin care products are chosen for our family.

Labeling is what labeling does - MARKET. I think about the irony of products who wash their labels PINK in October to support the Komen foundation...when the products themselves have cancer causing ingredients.  All I am saying is be a WISE consumer, and do your research.

Check out those web sites I offered above, and become a SMART consumer about the truth of the nuclear disaster.  Mainstream's media coverage, or lack of it, is rather disturbing. How would you like to apply a skin lotion made with organic ingredients that contain radiation? Think about that. The thought makes me shudder.

European standards, specifically the European Union Cosmetics Directive and the European chemicals agency known as REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorization, and Restriction of Chemicals) are two watch dog agencies that I trust more than any U.S. resource. Therefore, the products we use in our family,  adhere to these European standards - and I feel very very good about the safe approach to skin care that my family is using. The company has been formulating with green science and offering pure and safe products for 33 years, before organic was a popular word.

Many of my readers may be familiar with Safe Cosmetics.org - and I will leave you with a link to their article which points out the level of excellence that is established by the European cosmetics directive: www.safecosmetics.org/article.php?id=346

May you feel great, look great and live great as you make wise decisions, not only in your food choices, but in your skin care as well!

To your health,

Rita S.

Is Your Baby's Skin Care Toxic?

Babies are amazing, little miracles - they are of a DIVINE design, intricate in all their workings, inside and out. Thier systems are carefully planned out by the Creator - every vessel, strand of DNA and amino acid working together to create a human body. Babies are born in an alkaline state - they smell so good, without the aid of extraneous powders and lotions.
In contrast, nursing homes do not smell so good, because by then - the human bodies have become toxic, highly acidic and typically on the far left side of the pH scale.
How do we go from pure, pH balanced bodies (assuming the baby in the womb had proper nutrition and safety from environmental exposure) to out of balance, toxic bodies as senior citizens? Well, it is a lifetime of environmental and chemical exposures and poor food choices; and it all starts with the products our mothers patted on our soft baby hineys and rubbed on our arms and faces. Products, most likely, recommended by the family doctor or pediatrician.
I remember visiting a friend's nursery, all set up for the baby to come - and being apalled at seeing Johnson and Johnson baby oil on the changing table. This person had already been told about the detrimental effects of mineral oil, but it was a product her doctor recommended.  It is good to trust in your doctor for many reasons, but it is also good to realize that they are human, and BUSY, and don't have time to continue their education outside their clinic life and learn in great part, from the reps of the drug companies that pay them a visit.
Dr. Joe Mercola, who has made time to learn outside his practice and is helping people live healthier lives through awareness (of that mentioned above) and nutrition, makes a statement in his newsletter today about baby care that everyone who is expecting, has a baby, has children, or grandchildren...should be made aware of. Mercola writes:

In my opinion, if you had a hospital birth, you may need to trash some of the sales samples you were given there, and shed your preconceived notions about caring for your new little bundle of joy.
You probably know that there are very few softer surfaces than a newborn's skin.
It is important to remember that most items you apply to this soft skin, just like your skin, will be absorbed into their bloodstream. There are plenty of reasons to be especially concerned with what you allow to go on your baby's skin – for these four reasons.

• Your baby's skin is ten times thinner than yours is
• Their sebaceous glands are not fully developed, making them more sensitive to mother's hormones – and by extrapolation, probably other things
• Like you, their skin is their largest organ
• Your baby's rapidly dividing cells make her even more sensitive to DNA-disrupting toxins than an adult is.
• So it stands to reason that your baby's (or grandbaby's) skin care products may have much more 'damage' potential than even your own skin products do.

Think about the brands that are sent home with your from the hospital. These are BIG NAME companies, companies who want you to keep on using their products once those samples are gone. Do you think the hospital gets some kind of kickback for handing out those product samples? No doubt...and in doing so they lead unwary new parents into thinking they are using safe baby care products on their newborn.
I saw "good" ol' Vasoline Petroleum Jelly on a table while visiting a friend who had a baby a few months ago. These friends are very much aware of the food they eat - organic consumers, whole foods, nothing processed. Yet they were using a petro-chemical, an endocrine disruptor, on the baby for naval care - just as we were instructed to do when our son was born. Had I only known then what I know now.  Food choices and skin care choices are not seperate factions of living a healthy life style - they go hand in hand. Both feed our organs.
Consider what you use on your newborn baby's body, born pH balanced in a hopefully healthy alkaline state. Everything you do...from lotions to food will affect the health and long-term well being of the child. And it all begins in the womb...from what the mother uses and absorbs through her skin and consumes for nutrients. Learn to read your labels, not to trust every product sample given to you, and look for products that are PURE, SAFE and BENEFICIAL for the sake of your precious, little miracle - who depends on you to make smarter choices.

To your health, and that of your family's a well!
Rita S.