Recent Blog Posts

  Why is Your Body Toxic? How You Can Easily Remove and Stop Absorbing Toxins! Thanks to the industrial revolution, there are now more than 85,000 chemicals registered with the U.S. government, and about 1,000 new chemicals are added every year. These chemicals, it’s becoming increasingly clear, have found their way into the most pristine and isolated corners on Earth -- even the snow atop the Andes Mountains is no longer pure. You try to eat healthy and exercise, but is that enough to keep toxic environmental chemicals out of your body? But it’s not just the oceans, mountains and air that are suffering from chemical overload, of course. Your body, too, is likely circulating a chemical cocktail through your cells as we speak, a cocktail the likes of which has never been experienced by the human body. You Probably Have Hundreds of Chemicals in Your Body The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently released its Fourth National Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals, 2009, the most comprehensive assessment to date of the exposure of the U.S. population [...]

  LASIK Surgery: What are the Risks vs. the Benefits?   Every year, 1.3 million Americans undergo LASIK surgery to correct their vision, and most have good results. In fact, only 2 percent to 3 percent of LASIK (which stands for Laser-Assisted In-Situ Keratomileusis) patients have complications, according to the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery. The allure of never wearing glasses or contacts again draws over 1 million Americans to LASIK surgery every year. Most leave happy, but a small percentage suffer dry eyes, eye pain, and even permanently impaired vision. But while the opportunity to see clearly without glasses or contacts is a tempting one, is it worth the potential risks that do exist? This is the question that everyone considering LASIK surgery must face. How Does LASIK Work? LASIK surgery permanently changes the shape of your cornea, which is the clear covering in front of your eye. The surgery works like this: A special knife is used to cut a flap in your cornea, which is folded back to reveal the middlesection, or stroma, of the [...]

  Toddler Safety: Eight Important but Overlooked Ways to Keep a Baby Safe in Your Home   Accidents are the leading cause of death among toddlers, so keeping your home baby-proof is an essential part of being a parent, grandparent or anyone who has babies and toddlers who visit their home. It takes just a few minutes for you to baby-proof your home and keep your children, grandchildren or youngest visitors safe. While most people are aware of the major risks, such as keeping toxic chemicals and medicines out of the reach of children, there are many other, less known ways that children can get hurt. If children are ever in your home, here are the top things you can do to make sure that they stay out of harm's way. 1. Cover Your Electrical Outlets Most electrical outlets are located in areas of the home that children can easily reach, and close to 4,000 injuries associated with electrical outlets are treated in U.S. emergency rooms every year, says the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). About one-third of these [...]

  Is Your Crawlspace or Attic Making You Sick?   Crawlspaces and attics are dark, dingy and sometimes damp: all ideal conditions for mold, fungus, and other germs to flourish. If your attic is not ventilated properly, mold spores could be congregating. Mold in crawlspaces is extremely common, and may impact one in three crawlspaces in the United States, according to mold remediation specialist Jim Dobbins. It's usually the result of increased humidity and moisture in the crawlspace, typically from the ground in the crawlspace, a leak, or inadequate ventilation. In attics, meanwhile, mold often forms as the result of inadequate ventilation. Warm moist air, created from the people living below, rises toward the ceiling and enters the attic around light fixtures and other openings. If the attic is well-ventilated, the moisture will pass outside, but if the warm air has nowhere to go, the moisture will accumulate. Both attics and crawlspaces are also rich in the organic materials that molds, fungi and other microbes need to feed on. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), "Mold [...]

  The Risks of Neotame and How You Can Curb Your Sweet Tooth Neotame is a relatively new artificial sweetener that has yet to become a household name like aspartame (Nutrasweet), sucralose (Splenda) and saccharin (Sweet 'n Low). Neotame, a chemical derivative of aspartame that some experts believe may be even MORE toxic, is approved for use in soft drinks, baked goods, chewing gum, confections and more. This high-intensity sweetener was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2002 as an artificial sweetener and flavor enhancer. It's called high-intensity because it's considerably sweeter than other sugar substitutes out there: depending on its use, the FDA says it's 7,000 to 13,000 times sweeter than sugar. For comparison, sucralose (Splenda) is 600 times sweeter than sugar. Neotame looks like white powder and has been approved for use as a tabletop sweetener as well as for use in products like baked goods, soft drinks and other beverages, chewing gum, confections and frostings, frozen desserts, gelatins and puddings, jams and jellies, processed fruits and fruit juices, yogurt-type products, candies, toppings and syrups. [...]

  Are You Overlooking the Importance of "Magnesium”" -- the Fourth Most Abundantly Needed Mineral in Your Body?   Although magnesium may not be at the top of the list of minerals that first come to your mind as necessary for good health, it is in fact very important to your body and is required to maintain wellness. Magnesium is actually the fourth most abundant mineral in your body, which demonstrates how much your body depends on its presence. More than half of the magnesium found in your body is located in your bones, and the remaining quantity is primarily located in cells of tissues, muscles, organs, and bodily fluids. Like other minerals found in your body, magnesium cannot be produced within the body and therefore must be received through outside sources, such as diet and supplements. You can find magnesium in spinach, broccoli and certain other foods, but the majority of Americans do not get enough of this healthy mineral from diet alone. There are multiple benefits to keeping a healthy level of magnesium present in your body, including [...]