By: Tisha Casida

They are everywhere.  The water you drink, the bed where you sleep, the clothing you wear, and in all parts of a modern household.  They are toxic.  Seeping into one’s skin, lungs, blood, and vital organs.  They are making people sick.  Cancer, sexual problems, and behavioral issues are a part of that list of sicknesses.

Five chemicals have been researched and evaluated for their effect on a human being.  These chemicals include:

-       Bisphenol A (BPA)

-       Phthalates

-       PFOA

-       Formaldehyde

-       Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PDBEs)

David S. Martin, a senior medical producer at CNN, summarized these in an article (Martin, 2010).  Since learning about the dangers of many chemicals in our food supply and general environment, I have been relatively aware of the potential dangers of these to the human body.  What is exciting, and equally frustrating, is that there is finally some body of research to back what should have been understood about these chemicals in the first place – before they became so rampant in our daily lives.

Bisphenol A (BPA)

This chemical is a component of a plastic called polycarbonate, and would be found in products like: water bottles, food storage containers (reusable plastic), and electronics.  Naturally, if we are consuming foods or handling these plastics, then we are being exposed to them.  This is especially important to remember for infants and toddlers, who put everything into their mouth.  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found, when testing the urine of people for exposure, that 93% of those tested had some level of BPA in their system (Bucher & Shelby, 2010).  The folks at the National Toxicology Program (NTP) warranted “some concern” for adverse effects from BPA.  If you would like to see what “some concern” equates to, I encourage you to look at the actual report (see references below).

Potential adverse health risks that have been expressed but not proven (and will likely never will be because of the ties between industry and politics) include: reduced male sexual function, potential cancer risk (by mimicking estrogen and causing chemical reactions in the endocrine system), and negatively affecting the development of fetuses, infants, and young children.

Let me point out a small link here – BABY BOTTLES AND INFANT FEEDING CUPS – made out of plastic, will likely have BPA in them.

The Food and Drug Administration allows BPA in flexible food packaging (Martin, 2010).  The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has called for more rigorous testing of BPA and finds it a “chemical of concern” (EPA, 2010).

Tisha’s suggestions, which are not proven, peer-reviewed, or tested (except on myself of course) include:

1. Do not drink water bottled in plastic, ESPECIALLY if that plastic has gotten hot – use glass bottles, or stainless steel bottles.
2. Do not use reusable plastic containers – use glass.
3. Do not EVER heat up food or water in plastic containers in the microwave
4. DO NOT heat up baby bottles or ANY of baby’s food in plastic containers in the microwave.

You are what you eat.  Don’t make one of those things BPA, which is obviously having negative impacts on the health of our country and kids.

Next time, we will look at: Phthalates

References:

Bucher, J., Shelby, M. (2010). National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences – National Institutes of Health. Retrieved from http://www.niehs.nih.gov/news/media/questions/sya-bpa.cfm

Martin, D.S. (2010, May 21). 5 toxics that are everywhere: protect yourself. CNN Health.  Retrieved from http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/05/31/chemical.dangers/index.html?hpt=Sbin

United States Environmental Protection Agency. (2010). EPA to Scrutinize Environmental Impact of Bisphenol A. Retrieved on May 31, 2010 from http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/eeffe922a687433c85257359003f5340/78110048d7f696d1852576f50054241a!OpenDocument

I stopped eating conventional red meat about 7 years ago (by conventional I mean from a producer that I cannot know, i.e. Tyson).  When mad cow disease (aka: BSE (Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy and Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, CJD) became an issue, I decided that I did not want to have my brain turn into mush, and that I would rather not eat beef.

But I LOVE A GOOD HAMBURGER AND STEAK, so that led me on a quest to find great beef products produced by farmers and ranchers that I trusted.  Luckily, in Colorado, there are several.

In a recent article I found on Mike Callicrate’s No-Bull website, it became apparent, again, that many people in the United States are still eating and cooking meat that is subpar and even dangerous.  Being a food-snob myself, I still refuse to eat beef from even nice restaurants because they are usually not tasty and the meat comes from huge food conglomerates that use growth hormones, large amounts of antibiotics, and new drugs like Optiflex and Zilmax, which (IN MY HUMBLE OPINION) can have untested and could have unknown results on the body of a human being.

Do you ever feel like a guinea pig?  That is because if you are not becoming more aware of your food supply – YOU ARE.

Never has it been more important to be more sustainable – find ways to purchase food from local farmers and ranchers who you trust, and grow your own food.

Read more about what is happening to beef HERE!

- Tisha Casida

What can we do to build local economies while ensuring our food is safe and nutritious?  Well, it’s simple!  We need a “consumption revolution” (a term used by my good friend Paul Alhadef at A Wren’s Nest Farm).

We, the consumers, make choices every MINUTE that affect our local economies.  Agriculture has been and will continue to be centralized and monotonized (that is a word I believe I have just invented)  if we do not start taking drastic steps to change our eating habits!

Food Freedom has a great post on some of those things we can do, VISIT THEM HERE.

- Tisha Casida

Some of our readers know (but certainly not everyone), that the reason that I started That’s Natural! in the first place was because of how sick I got from what I believe to be exposure to pesticides as a child growing up on a small farm in Southern Colorado.

Pesticides, especially those containing organophosphates, are incredibly unhealthy.  It appears that the pesticides act on the same brain chemicals that are related to ADHD, in this particular instance.

Many pesticides are neuro-toxins, or they affect the nervous-system of the pests that they are targeted to kill.  Although most of these pesticides have been approved for use, there is really no telling how dangerous they are in minute quantities over a period of time or as they interact with other chemicals that a human may be exposed to.

How to alleviate concern of exposure?  KNOW YOUR FARMER.  Period.  Find out who is growing your food.  Even if the food is natural or organic – KNOW THE FARMER, KNOW THE COMPANY.  Trust no one and be an avid consumer.  Your health is depending on it.

Read the whole article HERE.

- Tisha Casida, Publisher

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We have come across a very good site featuring various articles on what we like to call “real food”.  This is food that is (according to this site, as well as our standards):

• Organic
• Humanely raised (animals on pasture, not in factories)
• Grown locally when possible
• Whole and unrefined (real maple syrup instead of high-fructose corn syrup)
• Processed as little as possible (raw milk instead of pasteurized and homogenized)
• Nutrient-dense (enzymes, vitamins, minerals, and probiotics)
• Free of additives and preservatives
• Free of synthetic and chemical ingredients
• Not genetically modified
• Traditionally produced and prepared

CHECK OUR REAL FOOD MEDIA HERE!

For the first time in my adult life I am sneezing like a mad woman while scratching my itchy eyes that now have all of the makeup removed via sneeze-tears. I look terrible, and I feel even worse! The wind is blowing outside, and I think to myself, WHAT HAPPENED TO ME?

So here’s my question – why is my body reacting to the stuff that is blowing around in the air, and is there any way I can do something with my diet to feel better, or prevent this from happening? I refuse to revert to taking a pill with all kinds of marvelous side-effects that will make me even worse off… so what do I do?

I open up the discussion to our readership – let me know what your ideas/solutions/research/remedies are!

- Tisha Casida

If you ask most health professionals, “which is the more important, diet or exercise?” they will say, “exercise!” Why?   Because your body replaces each and every cell in your body at least once every six months.  Most are replaced every three months.  If we are exercising our cells are healthier therefore they can uptake more nutrients. It all seems so simple. I quote from Dr. Henry S. Lodge.

“You choose whether those new cells come in stronger, or weaker. You choose whether they grow or decay each day from then on. Your cells don’t care which choice you make. They just follow the directions you send. Exercise, and your cells get stronger; sit down, and they decay.”

Read the complete story on Page 7 of That’s Natural! Quarter 1, 2010 here: http://issuu.com/ThatsNatural/docs/tnq1_2010_web

Wow, this health care reform bill is exciting, such big changes to our health care system. OH wait it really seems to be a reform for better ways to pay for insurance, not to really improve our Health and wellbeing. I am not sure, nor is any one else, what this reform will truly bring, we can theorize and debate until we are blue in the face, but the truth is we will not know how it will truly work out until it is implemented in to our lives. Then we will know. One thing I do know is that to really reform our health care system, we need to start at home, “We The People” are the only ones that can really improve our health care.

We need to start at home, we need to make the effort to make positive changes in our health and create a Wellness System not, a wait-until-you’re- really-sick system. What if we used our wonderful technology as the emergency backup system for our health and we depended much more on natural means for maintaining our heath? Mankind has used natural healing since he has been on earth, it obviously works, we are here. Ancient man has survived unbelievable health concerns and for the most part he only had the human touch and his healing intentions to help him get through it. Those benefits are still here today, most likely called alternative/complimentary medicine, (a more natural way of healing and maintaining our health). What if we all used all the natural sources of healing first, then if needed progress to the use of our modern technology.

Read the whole story on Page 7 of That’s Natural! Quarter 1, 2010 – here:  http://issuu.com/ThatsNatural/docs/tnq1_2010_web

“For children, nature comes in many forms.  Unlike television, nature does not steal time; it amplifies it.  It (nature) serves as a blank slate upon which a child draws and reinterprets the culture’s fantasies.”  This begins Richard Louv’s appeal in “Last Child in the Woods”  to recognize that children are losing their connection to nature through their increasingly limited experience of being outside.

Richard Louv received the 2008 Audubon Medal and has coined the phrase “Nature Deficit Disorder” to explain the effect less contact with nature has on children’s’ mental health.  Louv is the co-founder and chairman of Children & Nature Network, an organization dedicated to getting children back into nature.  As well, Louv’s writings have inspired the “No Child Left Inside Act of 2009”.  Imagine having to legislate that children have the right to be taught “environmental literacy,” nature and healthy living?  While mainstream education has all but eliminated any connection between students and nature, almost all “alternative” educators recognize the necessity of unstructured exploration at nature sites to insure that students are equipped with creative problem solving skills. Maybe there is a lesson to be learned here?

Find the rest of the review on Page 8 of That’s Natural! Quarter 1, 2010 here: http://issuu.com/ThatsNatural/docs/tnq1_2010_web

Talk with a tree. Have tea with a shrub. Listen to a flower… Plants can help people maintain a spiritual relationship with the planet. Let the work of living mulch, worms and the soil organisms satisfy a gardener’s heart.

Care for the earth, care for people and share the abundance are the base ethics of permaculture for living sustainably on the Earth and sharing the wealth of the organic. Forest gardening holds that philosophy connecting back into nature. Like French-intensive gardening, a forest garden is packed with food and function to make small produce big and works to increase the output of the land while improving the land’s health.  These gardens can be beautiful and walk in tune with meditation gardens, children’s gardens and xeriscapes.

Read the Entire Story on Page 9, That’s Natural! Quarter 1, 2010, here:  http://issuu.com/ThatsNatural/docs/tnq1_2010_web