Invite: Belly & Baby Fair 2013

  BOGO 50% off (lesser or equal value)!  Come shop green with us!  Perfect time to pick up all your eco, healthy holiday gifts!

Optimum Health: What are you doing?

I love these Louise Hay Cards!  Here is the latest one I randomly selected a few months ago when I started the newest phase of my best health journey!  It is so perfectly worded as to what I am thriving towards…Optimum Health!  I am thinking about posting blog entries about my current experience.  Not sure yet.

One thing I have found useful are coupons towards great recharging activities.  I have 3 Lifestyle Passes left that expire soon on October 31st.  I am happy to give them away so a few more people get the benefits.  Share a post about what you are doing right now to reach your optimum health.  I will randomly draw 3 names on Thanksgiving Day.

Ban Chemicals, not Dandelions!

Signs of Spring are here!  I loved the warmth of that sun yesterday!

This Spring, I also would love to see a Manitoba Cosmetic Pesticide Ban too!

Why is the Provincial Government stalling on this one when 6 other Provinces already have a ban?

Why are they considering a “Phased In Approach” only with “newer biological or organic lawn treatments coming onto the marketplace.”?

Does that mean all existing cosmetic pesticides are still fine to use and available and it will only be the new ones in the pipeline trying to enter store shelves that will be halted?  What about all the current chemicals that are harming our children?

Get our Manitoba nature off drugs!!!  So far as I understand, dandelions are not poisonous. They should be considered or “re-branded” a “yellow flower” instead.   I have not seen any studies stating links between dandelions and the major potential illnesses listed below that have been linked to pesticide and herbicide exposure.  The science is there, not just the precautionary principle!   As per the article:  “Some research has shown links between pesticide and herbicide exposure and childhood cancer, birth defects, neurological problems and respiratory illness.

– Click here to see Winnipeg Free Press Article quoting the Manitoba Minister of Conservation and Water Stewardship.

Integratron?

I asked my hubby if he wanted to visit the Integratron with me to kick off 2013.

“What?  Where are you taking me?  Is this some “ooga booga” crazy place?” , he asked after we travelled for over an hour in the desolate, cactus-spotted desert while visiting Nana this year.

No worries, I did not find this place via some random web search but actually I clipped an article from Vanity Fair a year ago about these “Sound Baths” with pure quartz crystal singing bowls.  My hubby has always wanted one of those bowls for our home, so I thought awesome, lets go to this one of a kind, all-wood douglas fir Dome apparently located at an intersection of strong geomagnetic forces in the Mojave Desert.  I figured, good, that will really kick things up to start off the year.  I am up for testing anything non-invasive and eco that is meant to rejuvenate me!!  This world famous (even listed on the Rolling Stone Magazine’s 2009 Hot List.  Bands record songs in the acoustically sound dome too), circa 1950’s Dome is located above the intersection of 3 flowing underground rivers, hence the strong geomagnetic forces, which focus and amplify sound and energy within the 55 foot round Integratron.  Across the desert road was actually a huge orchid greenhouse, I guess getting their water to grow from those rivers.

So for 30 minutes we lay relaxed on the desert blankets above with our heads pointing towards the bowls and the centre of the dome while we listened live to the separate sound of each one of the 14 singing bowls, keyed harmonically to the body, (we were told each note resonates with a particular one of the 7 Chakras but I can not recall which note is best for which one).  Have you ever been to the Manitoba Legislative building and stood in the basement right under its dome?  When you speak in that spot your voice is super amplified, even a whisper.  That is exactly what it sounded like from where I was standing in the above picture.

Wow, those bowls were intense!  As the postcard noted, “Imagine being “bathed” in beautiful and powerful sound waves.”  They claim it is “nutrition for the nervous system with the result being waves of peace, increased balance and awareness as well as deep relaxation for the mind & body.”  One of the owners, who played the bowls for us, said it is almost like “clearing out your cache” on your laptop.  This experience clears out all the unnecessary junk saved in your mind computer.

I loved the experience!  The sound of each bowl was wildly whipping in one ear and circling out the other.  I felt vibration through my body of some of the notes. Some people even see colors while they listen to the bowls.  I was totally relaxed after my private sound bath, to the point I simply went to bed within 2 hours.  For a number of days afterwards, I had nothing floating around in my head in the sense of “to-do lists”, “remember this lists”, etc.  Clear almost like when the meditation tapes suggest you think of nothing or black outer space which I find impossible to do.  Yet, after the sound bath, my mind just was in that state of being. Yahoo!

Given that I am game for and have tried heaps of different types of complimentary/alternative medicine, my love of such an experience is not surprising!!  However, what did surprise me were my husband’s comments post-Integratron:  “The session was like a massage for your brain… not a head or scalp massage, but actually your brain. It provided a sense of clarity, objectivity and confidence in thought and decision-making, the effects of which I still have some reminiscence of today, a month later. I would like to go regularly just like one would go to a massage therapist or chiropractor. We should all experience and benefit from this!!!”

If anyone knows of any singing quartz bowl experts in Winnipeg, please do post their info below.  We would love to hear more singing bowl meditations!

For more info or if you are ever in Palm Springs, California do go visit http://www.integratron.com

Contest: Valentine’s Day 2013!

VALENTINE’S DAY GIVEAWAY!

All you soon to delivery pregnant Mama’s or brand new Mama’s this one is for you!

Yahoo!  A whole Earth Mama Angel Baby Goodie Bag, complete with Postpartum Bath Herbs; Organic Milkmaid Tea; Natural Nipple Butter; Earth Mama Bottom Balm; and C-Mama Healing Salve. It is so important to find a tiny bit of time to take care of you too once your new little treasure joins your world.  (I know, easier said than done, but this little care package will certainly get you on your way!)

Post your favourite green preganacy tip below for your chance to win next week!

Pediatricians warn: Too many pesticides!

Oh I am so glad to read this Environmental Working Group article titled:  Nation’s Pediatricians Warn against Pesticides in Food.  Thank you American Academy of Pediatrics for acknowledging there is a link between toxins and health and finally recommending ways in which the whole community needs to protect our little ones from toxins!

Here are the sentences from the EWG article that stood out for me:

“The American Academy of Pediatrics has taken the unprecedented step of issuing a policy statement…to take concerted action to protect children from pesticides.”     “…growing body of scientific evidence that links these toxic chemicals not only to outright poisoning but also to subtle and sometimes life-altering health problems to which children are especially vulnerable.”
“Epidemiologic evidence demonstrates associations between early life exposure to pesticides and pediatric cancers, decreased cognitive function, and behavioral problems.”
“Pediatricians need better training on pesticides’ effects, treatment of acute poisoning, ways of addressing more prevalent lower dose chronic exposures in children and pesticide labeling. ”

Check out The American Academy of Pediatricians complete Policy Statement:  “Pesticide Exposure in Children”

Invisible Waves: What effects do EMF’s have on us?

EMF’s (Electromagnetic Frequencies) are often on my mind, literally and figuratively.  It has been a number of years that I have wondered what all these wireless technologies and power lines, etc. are doing to the electrical synapses in our brains.   I do take steps to try to limit my families exposure to them too.

Now there is an actual health condition recognized, called electromagnetic hypersensitivity (EMS), caused by significant exposure from radio waves.  A few weeks ago, in Toronto at the Women’s Health College, the Environmental Health Clinic hosted physicians, experts and patients for a day of interactive lectures, to share and discuss ideas about the issues surrounding EMS.

Check out this link for more details including EMS symptoms.

http://www.womenscollegehospital.ca/news-and-events/connect/the-effects-of-invisible-waves

Green Job Anyone?

I volunteer for Children’s Health & Environment Partnership, a local non-profit project.  The volunteer committee has secured funds for a paid Project Coordinator!!!  If you are looking for a job change, one that will help further great health for children…check out the job posting below…

Chemical in Food Packaging, Fabric Coatings Linked to Cancer

Why are all these toxic chemicals, linked to disease allowed to surround us?  It seems this is a Convenience chemical and it is killing us.   3 more years until phase out!!!  Another reminder that we have got to make our own conscious choices now and live a green life for health sake!  Let there be stains or just use clean them.  Use a non-toxic package for food or just eat whole food with no package!  Here are a few of the sentences I found interesting from the Environmental Working Group news release:

“An independent scientific panel approved by the DuPont company as part of a class action lawsuit has linked an industrial chemical known as C-8 or PFOA, whose full name is perfluorooctanoic acid, to kidney and testicular cancer in humans. Emissions of PFOA, once manufactured by DuPont to produce non-stick coatings, have polluted the water of at least nine states and the District of Columbia.  As a result of widespread pollution, PFOA and related chemicals are now found in the bodies of more than 99 percent of Americans.  People can be exposed to perfluorinated chemicals by using a variety of consumer products, including grease-resistant food packaging as well as furniture, carpets and clothing treated with stain-resistant coatings.   When ingested or inhaled, these chemicals can be converted into PFOA in the human body.  DuPont, the only current American maker of PFOA, has committed to phase out manufacture, purchase and use of the chemical by 2015. But companies overseas continue to produce and use it. U.S. law does not require that that its replacements be screened for safety for the environment and human health.”

Click Here to read the whole article.

U.S. EPA list of carcinogens in Consumer Products

“The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has announced a plan to conduct comprehensive safety reviews of 83 chemicals common in consumer goods and manufacturing and to give top priority to seven chemicals considered the most serious risks to human health and the environment.”  (From the EWG newsletter.)

Wow!  I just checked out the list…shocking that the majority of them are currently used in Consumer Products and most of them are possible, probable or known human carcinogens!   Check out this list of chemicals!

Go clear out your cupboards of any consumer products with these ingredients.  Start with your bathroom drawers!

If you need health-friendly options, go to www.greenpleaseforyou.com!

(The link above is to The TSCA Work Plan Chemicals Methods Document (39 pp., 264 KB) which explains the hazard, exposure, and persistence/bioaccumulation criteria, the data sources used, and how chemicals were scored.)