Target Hears Our Voices and Leads the Way to Safer Products on Store Shelves

Me outside of Target before delivering the SCHF coalition letter and Hazardous 100+ list

Target Takes Big First Steps for Consumers...Expect More. Get More
Who would have thought it would be Target who would shine a light on what has been an otherwise horrid week? This past week has been one of the toughest of my life as I said goodbye to one of my dearest friends and I thought nothing could make me cry anymore but Target is making me shed the happiest of tears.

The 4 Keys to a Healthy Life

4 Keys to a Healthy Life

What? Did you think it was going to be something you have never heard before? It is soooo simple I am constantly in awe of why folks do not just do it.

1. Drink water - ditch almost every other drink out there and most certainly doth the high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) which is linked to heart disease and is a genetically modified (GMO) food. See more about GMO's HERE!

FREE Kids Activity Pack from Learning Herbs Herb Fairies - Hey This is for Boys Too!

Free Magical Tale of Plants & Their Remedies

I was recently turned on to Herb Faires by one of my favorite green companies, Learning Herbs.  The good news is that kids love them and it is a wonderful way for them to learn respect for their planet, get unglued form the TV, learn how to make healing remedies and even create some yummy recipes all from the herbs and plants they find in their environment. The bad news is the Herb Fairies only come around once a year so grab this download while you can then be sure to sign up for other freebies from Learning Herbs!  Oh and by the way, there are teachable lessons from boy fairies too!  Enjoy!

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P.S.- People always ask me where I get my organic food and personal care products and I love to tell them about The Green PolkaDot Box! Backed by the Organic Consumer's Association and EnvironmentalBooty.com, you can easily buy NonGMO organic groceries, including Harvest Fresh Organic produce, at wholesale pricing online.  It's like a Sam's club but focused on products for green, healthy living! You can even shop by dietary restrictions like gluten free, vegan or diabetic and it all comes right to your front door. Enjoy!

Want The Artificial Sweetener Aspartame Secretly Placed in Your Kids Milk? Here's What YOU Can Do To Stop It

Who Needs Artificial Sweetener Aspartame Secretly Placed in Their Kid's Milk?
 
Have you heard the latest? It seems that the the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) and the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) have filed a petition requesting that the Food and Drug Association (FDA) amend the standard of identity for milk and 17 other dairy products to provide for the use the artificial sweetener aspartame as an optional ingredient - without labeling it on the drinks. As you might recall, I am no fan of aspartame and I am appalled that the IDFA and NMPF would even try to put this in front of consumers.

Aspartame has a long history of detrimental health problems and neurological implications and the FDA knows this but they continue to allow it on the market. Are you with me that we must not let them put it into our kid's milk?

Here's What YOU Can Do

Please make your feelings known on the FDA website as well as by signing a petiition stating that you do not agree with aspartame being added to milk.

We have control.  Don't relinquish it unless you want your kids sucking down the artificial sweetener aspartame with their unlabeled chocolate milk.

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P.S.- People always ask me where I get my organic food and personal care products and I love to tell them about The Green PolkaDot Box! Backed by the Organic Consumer's Association and EnvironmentalBooty.com, you can easily buy NonGMO organic groceries, including Harvest Fresh Organic produce, at wholesale pricing online.  It's like a Sam's club but focused on products for green, healthy living! You can even shop by dietary restrictions like gluten free, vegan or diabetic and it all comes right to your front door. Enjoy!

Source: Dairy industry proposes aspartame in chocolate milk - TODAY'S TMJ4
Photo Source: Care2 

5 Facts About Fluoride You Should Know

Do We Really Need Fluoride?

My kids have been fluoride free for over three years.  No fluoride in their toothpaste, no fluoride treatments at the dentist and since we are on well water, no fluoride in their water. And guess what?  Not one of my three daughters have had any cavities in the three years since they have been off of fluoride.

When I first started looking into fluoride, I thought the negative information I was uncovering was somehow untrue and was just fear mongering.  What I discovered was that the benefits were non existent and the detrimental affects of using fluoride, were enough to convince me that the best thing for my children was to remove fluoride from their lives.

5 Facts About Fluoride You NEED to Know

No matter which scientific studies you examine, the only rational conclusion you can come to is that fluoride's health dangers far outweigh the marginal dental benefits it might offer. The science is clear about the following:

• Fluoride is a cumulative poison that has been proven to cause wide-ranging, serious health problems, such as damage to your bones, brain and endocrine system.
• Fluoride exposure comes from tap water, most toothpaste and many antibiotics, including ones given to farm animals. There is a large variation in exposure levels, making it impossible to accurately predict these variables for any person, family or community.
• Fluoride exposure for many can easily reach toxic levels. For example, poison control should be called if you swallow a quarter milligram of fluoride from toothpaste. Meanwhile just ONE glass of water can contain this amount of fluoride.  Does that make sense to you?
• Fluoride is a toxic industrial waste product that is a poison to your body and is in no way a "nutrient," offering no benefits at all to the human body. The fluoride added to water supplies can be contaminated with lead, arsenic, radionucleotides, aluminum and other industrial contaminants. Additionally, the fluoride added to municipal water supplies is not pharmaceutical grade. Many municipalities are removing fluoride from their water supply for the safety of their constituents.
• Dental caries can be prevented with means other than fluoridation, thereby avoiding the adverse effects of fluoride.  

Another Reason We Need Safer Chemicals!

Wouldn't it be awesome to know that consumer products like toothpaste that are made in the USA are safe?  This illustrates just one more reason to get on board and support the Safe Chemicals Act.  Head over to the Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families website and join their mailing list to stay up to date on what YOU can do to help create a healthier tomorrow for not only your family, but all consumers as well.

Connect with Shane on Google+

P.S.- People always ask me where I get my organic food and personal care products and I love to tell them about The Green PolkaDot Box! Backed by the Organic Consumer's Association and EnvironmentalBooty.com, you can easily buy NonGMO organic groceries, including Harvest Fresh Organic produce, at wholesale pricing online.  It's like a Sam's club but focused on products for green, healthy living! You can even shop by dietary restrictions like gluten free, vegan or diabetic and it all comes right to your front door. Enjoy!

Source: Fluoridegate: Water Fluoridation Affects Children's Health

5 Strategies to Reduce Your Family's Cancer Risk

Preschool Children Particularly Vulnerable to Compounds Linked to Cancer in Food

In a jaw-dropping study published this week in the journal Environmental Health and funded by a Science to Achieve Results (STAR) grant from the United States Environmental Protection Agency, researchers at UCLA and UC Davis measured food-borne toxin exposure in children and adults and found high exposure to cancer causing compounds.  

By pinpointing foods with high levels of toxic compounds and determining how much of these foods were consumed, the researchers found that family members in the study, and preschool children in particular, are at high risk for exposure to arsenic, DDE (a DDT metabolite), dioxins, dieldrin, and acrylamide.

These compounds have been linked to cancer, developmental disabilities, birth defects, hormone disruption and other health related conditions. Even relatively low exposures can greatly increase the risk of cancer or neurological impairment in children.  But here's the good news,  the study also points to dietary modifications that could reduce the risk.

How Are Toxins Getting Into Our Food and What Is It Doing To Our Kids?

How To Be Green? Take 5 for Healthy Families Day of Action and Stand with Kids, NOT Big Chemical!

Wondering What All of This Fuss Is Over Chemicals?
One of my daughter's friends asked her yesterday why I was so worried about chemicals.  My daughter's answer was priceless, "Because lot's of them are bad for us, that's why." she said.

Our children are being bathed in an abundance of neurologically harmful heavy metals like mercury and lead as well as being immersed in a life full of unsafe consumer products.  Today it is easy to see the alarming rise in illnesses linked to chemicals from childhood cancer, infertility, learning and developmental disabilities, birth defects, early puberty, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and certain types of cancer.

When Millennial babies are born, they already have over 200 industrial chemicals and pollutants in their umbilical cord blood.  Hard to believe but hard to ignore once you know what the fuss over chemical laws is all about.

What's The Best Drug Free Anti-Depressant You Already Have?

Want to stay strong, happy and healthy? 

Want to Stay Strong, Happy and Healthy Without Medication?

It's no secret that I love to work out.  What may actually be a secret, though, is that one of the reasons I do it 4-6 times each week, is literally for my own sanity!  There is a history of depression in my family and I like to fight mine with the most natural remedy I have found that you and I both already have...our bodies!  When we use our bodies to get up off the coach and exercise, I promise you will feel better.

Feeling Down But Hate Meds?

Stolen Future: How Lead Poisoning is Stealing America's Intelligence

Ever Wonder What is Wrong with Kids Today?

I have posed the question here on this blog many times before and am asking it once again, "What is wrong with our kids today?" Our standing in the world is dropping along with the concentration level, coping skills and intelligence of our children.  Sadly, this time when I ask the question, I feel like I am closer to an answer than ever before.

Our children are being bathed in an abundance of neurologically harmful heavy metals like mercury and lead as well as being immersed in a life full of unsafe consumer products.  When babies are born today, they already have over 200 industrial chemicals and pollutants in their umbilical cord blood.  Although we are working hard to create safer laws to combat the problem, I think it is important to be aware of exactly why we are fighting so hard for our children's future.

Let's start with lead.

3 Easy Ways to Reduce Your Family's Exposure to Harmful Chemicals in Your Home

Today I am heading out of Orlando and over to the west coast of Florida to meet with the Deputy Director of Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families, Lindsay Dahl. To me, Ms, Dahl is a rockstar and I am actually a tee tiny tad bit nervous to meet her.

Lindsay Dahl
Deputy Director, Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families

Seriously. Get this, before joining the campaign for Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families, Lindsay directed policy and media strategy for the Healthy Legacy Coalition of Minnesota. While she held that job she didn't do too much.  She just led the campaign for Minnesota to become the first state to ban bisphenol-A (BPA) and the fourth state to pass the beginnings of a comprehensive safer chemical policy framework.

Latest News on Johnson & Johnson McNeil Infant TYLENOL® Recall

Once again Johnson & Johnson's McNeil Consumer Healthcare (“McNeil") is recalling 574,000 bottles of Infants' TYLENOL® Oral Suspension in the 1oz Grape flavor at retail and wholesale levels in the United States.  The latest news on the voluntary recall is that 7 lots (see full product list below) of  Infants' TYLENOL® are being recalled because of a small number of complaints about difficulty with dosing.  I remember when my girls were babies that my hubby and I would have questions about how much to give the them.  It seems that parents are still having difficulty figuring out the correct dosages even though McNeil's new SimpleMeasure™ dosing system was supposed to eliminate any questions.

McDonald's I am Actually Lovin' It...Keep It Up, You Still Have a Long Way to Go! McDonald's Teams with Humane Society to End Gestational Stall Use

This past Monday, McDonald's took yet another step toward greening their menu as they finally took action to end gestational stall use.  This follows last week's announcement that McDonald's will no longer use what is referred to in the industry as "pink slime" in their burgers.  You can even meet their farmers (who I assume are still feeding their cows GMO corn instead of grass?) and find out about their commitment to high (shall we say higher?) quality food on their website.  Although you have a long way to go Ronald McDonald (think artificial colors, flavors and TBHQ to name a few), I like this side of you and consumers obviously do too.

The HFCS Diabetes Connection, What You Need Know

Is it really okay to let your kids have as much HFCS foods and drinks as they want?

I have been keeping you up to date on the latest news about the HFCS (high fructose corn syrup) corn sugar false advertising case and today I want to fill you in on some of the latest research pointing to a diabetes, HFCS connection.  Researchers reported online February 6 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that they have discovered that fructose (found in fruit, honey and HFCS) can rev up the body’s secretion of insulin by exciting the taste cells on the pancreas.  This is a concern for people prone to diabetes like men, those who suffer from depression, people who do not get enough sleep, certain ethnic groups and those who are overweight.

McDonald's, Burger King and Taco Bell Drop Ammonia Laced "Pink Slime" Beef While USDA Orders 7 Million Pounds for Public Schools. There Is a Better Way

Remember a few years ago when people were laughing at Jamie Oliver and his Food revolution series on TV?  Well I don't hear anyone laughing now.  Last week, due in large part to Oliver's efforts, McDonald's, Burger King and Taco bell announced that they would no longer use beef treated with ammonia.  This type of beef has become known as "pink slime" and is actually the leftover seemingly unusable beef scraps bathed with ammonia to kill any e-coli. salmonella or pathogens.  The only way to avoid pink slime beef is to buy organic beef.

Top 10 Healthiest States for 2011...Did Your State Make The List?

Click the map above to visit America's Health Rankings for an interactive look at just how healthy your state is!

The Top 10 Healthiest States for 2011 as ranked by America’s Health Rankings® are...

3 No Fuss Natural Ways to Fight Your Kid's Cold That Work...Oh and They Work for You Too!

Watching your little one suffer from a cold can be heartbreaking.  Here are 3 natural and easy ways to fight your child's cold that work.

There is nothing worse than watching your little one suffer from a nasty cold.  And I don't know about you but I really hate giving my kids medicine laced with artificial flavors and dyes that may or may not help. In fact, in 2006, the American College of Chest Physicians found that "literature regarding over-the-counter cough medications does not support the efficacy of such products in the pediatric age group."  But don't despair!  I have found 3 no fuss, natural ways to fight my little one's colds that really work.  Oh and by the way, I use these natural remedies on myself and my hubby and we get great results too.

The Latest Research on Bisphenol-A or BPA May Have You Ditching Soda and Soup

A recent study from Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) may have you ditching canned soda, soup and anything else that comes in a can.  The latest news from HSPH  is that consuming canned soup has been linked to greatly elevated levels of the harmful chemical Bisphenol-A (BPA). 

Remember, BPA is one of the most widely used chemicals of all time and a known hormone disruptor that has been linked to cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and obesity. BPA is used in the lining of metal food and beverage cans and it is in all of us.  Nasty stuff and not what we need for sustainability yet there are ways to lower your levels. 

“Previous studies have linked elevated BPA levels with adverse health effects. The next step was to figure out how people are getting exposed to BPA. We’ve known for a while that drinking beverages that have been stored in certain hard plastics can increase the amount of BPA in your body. This study suggests that canned foods may be an even greater concern, especially given their wide use,” said Jenny Carwile, a doctoral student in the Department of Epidemiology at HSPH and lead author of the study.

The findings were published online November 22, 2011, in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).  You can read more about the latest BPA Harvard School of Public Health  study on the HSPH site. 

Photo Credit: iStockphoto.com

Moms and Dads, Here is What You Should Know About the Gardasil HPV Vaccine for Girls and Boys

Are you considering Gardasil for your son or daughter? 

Obviously, after what happened to my dad, it is no secret that I loathe vaccines.  Still, all of my children have been vaccinated against harmful childhood diseases.  If you have questions about whether or not to vaccinate your children, please check out What You Should Know Before Giving Your Child a Vaccination or Getting One Yourself for more information.  Today, though, I want to talk a little bit about the HPV vaccine known by the name of Gardasil here in the US.  I didn't think I could hate the HPV vaccine any more, but now that they are offering it to boys, I think I might be mustering up a bit more loathing for this vaccine.

 "Story at-a-glance

My Family's Story - 3 Natural Ways to Decrease Asthma and Allergy Symptoms

My Family's Story - 3 Natural Ways to Decrease Asthma and Allergy Symptoms 

When my middle daughter was three, she was diagnosed with an allergy to egg whites which triggered asthma.  That was eight years ago.  Over the years, I have learned a thing or two about natural and not so natural ways to decrease her symptoms.  Initially after she was diagnosed, her doctor told me that she would most likely outgrow the egg white allergy around age 5 and that there were things we could do (like not allowing her to sleep with her stuffed animals and vacuuming frequently) to keep her asthma at bay.  He also told me that the very best thing I could do to treat her asthma and allergies was to give her Singulair.  I followed all of his orders including dosing her with Red 40, artificially cherry flavored, aspartame laced Singulair.

Pregnant? 5 Ways You Can and Should Avoid BPA

Pregnant? 5 Ways You Can and Should Avoid BPA 

Did you know that bisphenol A (BPA) is one of the most widely used chemicals of all time?  In fact, it is probably circulating through your body right now.  It is found in the cord blood of newborns and was present in 93% of 2,517 Americans age 6 and over, tested by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  Researchers have linked developmental exposure to BPA to reproductive harm, increased cancer susceptibility, and abnormalities in brain development and fat metabolism.

Canadian and European leaders have already banned BPA for use in baby bottles and in 2009, Sunoco (a Philadelphia based leading gas and chemical company) told investors that the company would no longer be selling BPA to companies for use in food and water containers for children under age 3. The company reportedly told investors that it could no longer vouch for the safety of BPA when used in those products.  Now, a government-funded study published online Monday in the journal Pediatrics is adding to the large body of evidence that BPA is harmful not only to children and adults, but also to the unborn.

In this latest study, Harvard researchers took urine samples from 244 pregnant women living in Cincinnati twice during their pregnancies and once directly after giving birth and measured the BPA concentration.  The study concluded that mothers with high levels of bisphenol A in their urine were more likely to report that their children were hyperactive, aggressive, anxious, depressed and less in control of their emotions than mothers with low levels of the chemical.  While several studies have linked BPA to behavioral problems in children, this report is the first to suggest that a young girl’s emotional well-being is linked to her mother’s exposure during pregnancy rather than the child’s exposure after birth.

Although a total reduction of BPA is impossible, there are things that you can easily do to have a healthier, greener, BPA free pregnancy and life.