Saturday, November 27, 2010
Small Business Saturday Coupon Code -10% off EVERYTHING!
Use coupon code: SBS2010 at checkout for 10% off your ENTIRE order at http://wilava.com. All Wilava products make great gifts and stocking stuffers, but go ahead, stock up on the best natural skincare for yourself! (Expires 11/28/10). And, Free Shipping on all orders over $85! (no coupon needed for that perk. It'll be automatic at checkout).
Step Away From the Pie!
It's no secret that I have a weakness for desserts. I didn't want to pass that trait along to my kids, so I've worked hard since they were babies to teach them to stop eating when they're full. This means that I end up finishing all the pies. I finished the Lemon Pie first, and the Pumpkin one is left. Luckily for me, Pumpkin -- in both its puree or pie form -- makes a great spa facial.
Here's the recipe:
Mix 2 Tbs pumpkin puree with 1/2 tsp honey, then add, depending on skin type, 1/4 to 1/2 tsp of (milk, cream, or yogurt for dry skin) or (apple cider vinegar or cranberry juice for oily skin). Apply to cleansed face, avoiding eye area and rest for 10 minutes. Rinse with water and moisturize. If you have a lot of leftover pie, make up a larger batch, and add some Brown Sugar for a great body scrub.
Friday, November 5, 2010
All About Aspartame
Well, really not ALL about it, just the parts I don't like. I avoid eating/drinking/buying foods or drinks with aspartame in them when I can, and one of my friends just asked me why, so I told her I'd blog about it. To tell the truth, I'm not really sure if she really wants to know, or if she just thinks I'm a crazy person and is trying to call me out, but I'll be emailing her a link to this post either way.
Where to start? Well, 78% of all consumer complaints to the FDA are about aspartame.
Aspartame (found in NutraSweet and Equal) is comprised of phenylalanine (50% - an amino acid), aspartic acid (40% - an amino acid, nonessential), and methanol (10% wood alcohol, as in "moonshine"). These break down into formaldehyde, formic acid (like the venom in insect stings) and DKP (may cause brain tumors), and this breakdown is accelerated when products containing it are stored at 85 degrees for a period of days or stored for longer periods (over 250 days).
These are all things I don't want in my body.
Now, some of these components are also found in food items like fruits and vegetables. For instance, pears and bananas are on the high-end of those containing naturally-occurring formaldehyde, but fruits also contain ethanol, which stablilizes it. Also, fruits contain natural pectins and enzymes which help to stabilize the compound.
And, before you ask, we all hear about the essential amino acids we need in our diet, right? Well, the synthetic ones in aspartame are incomplete, and as our bodies go to work to break them down, it causes an imbalance in the brain. "What?" our brains ask. "Where's the nutrition?" This contributes to the idea that drinking diet sodas will increase hunger, causing you to gain weight. Ummm, I think I can do without.
Another interesting tidbit: In 1996, there are about 164 peer-reviewed studies relevant to aspartame safety. Seventy-four deemed it safe, and 90 deemed it unsafe. Seventy-four studies were industry-funded, and 90 studies were independently funded. Hmmm.
And I wish more people knew about this, but ask a pilot, and he/she will tell you that aspartame is bad. Pilots are actually told to avoid aspartame in order to pass their yearly medical exam. And in 1992, the US Air Force issued an alert to its pilots in its Flying Safety magazine. In the past, many pilots have passed out in the cockpit while flying and eating/drinking products with aspartame, thus putting the entire flight at risk. (Possibly due to the elevation causing increased symptoms, not unlike how people from sea level can get drunk really fast in the high altitute places like Colorado). Not to mention, aspartame can adversely affect EKGs and the methanol in it can impair vision.
There's lots of anecdotal evidence on the effects of aspartame, too, which you can google if you're interested. But for me, I avoid it simply because it's not something I need, it provides no health benefit, and it may actually be quite harmful. I don't miss it.
For further 'easy' reading:
Summary of symptoms, with references: http://www.ceri.com/aspart2.htm
Article written by a pilot: http://www.aspartamesafety.com/Article4.htm
An Email from Operation Mission Possible re: pilots and aspartame: http://www.dorway.com/betty/avmags.html
Research:
1 Jensen J. Aspartame – The World’s Best Ant Poison. The Idaho
Observer. June 2006.
2 Gold M. The Bitter Truth about Artificial Sweeteners. NEXUS
Magazine. Oct/Nov 1995.
3 Soffritti M. Aspartame induces lymphomas and leukemias in rats. Eur.
J. Oncol., vol. 10, n. 2, 2005
4 Martini B. Aspartame proven to cause cancer. Mission Possible, Jul
21, 2005. http://www.wnho.net
Where to start? Well, 78% of all consumer complaints to the FDA are about aspartame.
Aspartame (found in NutraSweet and Equal) is comprised of phenylalanine (50% - an amino acid), aspartic acid (40% - an amino acid, nonessential), and methanol (10% wood alcohol, as in "moonshine"). These break down into formaldehyde, formic acid (like the venom in insect stings) and DKP (may cause brain tumors), and this breakdown is accelerated when products containing it are stored at 85 degrees for a period of days or stored for longer periods (over 250 days).
These are all things I don't want in my body.
Now, some of these components are also found in food items like fruits and vegetables. For instance, pears and bananas are on the high-end of those containing naturally-occurring formaldehyde, but fruits also contain ethanol, which stablilizes it. Also, fruits contain natural pectins and enzymes which help to stabilize the compound.
And, before you ask, we all hear about the essential amino acids we need in our diet, right? Well, the synthetic ones in aspartame are incomplete, and as our bodies go to work to break them down, it causes an imbalance in the brain. "What?" our brains ask. "Where's the nutrition?" This contributes to the idea that drinking diet sodas will increase hunger, causing you to gain weight. Ummm, I think I can do without.
Another interesting tidbit: In 1996, there are about 164 peer-reviewed studies relevant to aspartame safety. Seventy-four deemed it safe, and 90 deemed it unsafe. Seventy-four studies were industry-funded, and 90 studies were independently funded. Hmmm.
And I wish more people knew about this, but ask a pilot, and he/she will tell you that aspartame is bad. Pilots are actually told to avoid aspartame in order to pass their yearly medical exam. And in 1992, the US Air Force issued an alert to its pilots in its Flying Safety magazine. In the past, many pilots have passed out in the cockpit while flying and eating/drinking products with aspartame, thus putting the entire flight at risk. (Possibly due to the elevation causing increased symptoms, not unlike how people from sea level can get drunk really fast in the high altitute places like Colorado). Not to mention, aspartame can adversely affect EKGs and the methanol in it can impair vision.
There's lots of anecdotal evidence on the effects of aspartame, too, which you can google if you're interested. But for me, I avoid it simply because it's not something I need, it provides no health benefit, and it may actually be quite harmful. I don't miss it.
For further 'easy' reading:
Summary of symptoms, with references: http://www.ceri.com/aspart2.htm
Article written by a pilot: http://www.aspartamesafety.com/Article4.htm
An Email from Operation Mission Possible re: pilots and aspartame: http://www.dorway.com/betty/avmags.html
Research:
1 Jensen J. Aspartame – The World’s Best Ant Poison. The Idaho
Observer. June 2006.
2 Gold M. The Bitter Truth about Artificial Sweeteners. NEXUS
Magazine. Oct/Nov 1995.
3 Soffritti M. Aspartame induces lymphomas and leukemias in rats. Eur.
J. Oncol., vol. 10, n. 2, 2005
4 Martini B. Aspartame proven to cause cancer. Mission Possible, Jul
21, 2005. http://www.wnho.net
Brag Alert -- Wilava's a Top 12 Must-Have!
I was so excited to learn that SheKnows.com chose one of my handmade products, Wilava Sugar Luxe Body Polish, as one of their Top 12 Must Have Skin Products! Here's what they wrote:
Sugar Luxe was just introduced on Wilava.com this past June, but it has fast become one of my best-selling products -- tied with Vitamin C Serum. So thanks, SheKnows.com!
"Goodbye flaky skin
The softest skin of your life could be just around the corner. After you resist the urge to eat this lucious lotion, spread Wilava's Sugar Luxe Body Polish ($10) over your skin in the shower and feel it melt away any dry, rough patches. Rice bran oil is suspended in a shea butter base to provide a satisfying skin buffing experience. You'll be left feeling silky smooth, not sticky, and smelling yummy too."
Sugar Luxe was just introduced on Wilava.com this past June, but it has fast become one of my best-selling products -- tied with Vitamin C Serum. So thanks, SheKnows.com!
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Hand Drying 101
Last year the big news was that frequent handwashing with plain ol' soap and water is the best defense against germs. But today, a new study released in the Journal of Applied Microbiology (Snelling et al.) tells us that how we dry our hands matters, too. So what should we do? If you're given the option, the best method of hand drying is to use paper towels.
In the study, Snelling and her team looked at bacterial counts after drying with paper towels, traditional hand dryers, and a newer type of dryer that uses high velocity jets to dry hands faster than the traditional model. They also compared the use of hand dryers while either rubbing the hands together or keeping them still. Interestingly -- not at all what I would have thought -- rubbing the hands while using any type of dryer counteracted the initial reduction of germs from handwashing. Apparently, bacteria from deeper within the skin were brought to the surface. (Hand washing reduces the number of bacteria on the skin, but does not completely eliminate it. Keep in mind here that our bodies are naturally covered in commensal bacteria that are not harmful to us. It's the bacteria we come in contact with, say, after touching raw meat, that we really worry about).
To get back to the results, though, the reduction of bacteria was the same for all types of dryers when the hand washers did not rub their hands. And, of course, they found that the best way to keep bacterial counts low is to dry hands with paper towels.
So...
1) Wash hands with soap and warm water -- lather and scrub -- long enough to get through the entire alphabet song.
2) Rinse hands well.
3) Dry your hands -- until they're completely dry -- with a paper towel. And for those times you have to use a hand dryer, avoid rubbing your hands.
In the study, Snelling and her team looked at bacterial counts after drying with paper towels, traditional hand dryers, and a newer type of dryer that uses high velocity jets to dry hands faster than the traditional model. They also compared the use of hand dryers while either rubbing the hands together or keeping them still. Interestingly -- not at all what I would have thought -- rubbing the hands while using any type of dryer counteracted the initial reduction of germs from handwashing. Apparently, bacteria from deeper within the skin were brought to the surface. (Hand washing reduces the number of bacteria on the skin, but does not completely eliminate it. Keep in mind here that our bodies are naturally covered in commensal bacteria that are not harmful to us. It's the bacteria we come in contact with, say, after touching raw meat, that we really worry about).
To get back to the results, though, the reduction of bacteria was the same for all types of dryers when the hand washers did not rub their hands. And, of course, they found that the best way to keep bacterial counts low is to dry hands with paper towels.
So...
1) Wash hands with soap and warm water -- lather and scrub -- long enough to get through the entire alphabet song.
2) Rinse hands well.
3) Dry your hands -- until they're completely dry -- with a paper towel. And for those times you have to use a hand dryer, avoid rubbing your hands.
First Day of School
The kids were so excited to be heading off to school this morning. With the kids officially out of the house, today starts Wilava's busy season! So today I'm wrapping soaps, visiting a store or two to check on inventory, and making Whipped Shea Butter to sell at the Harvard Farmer's Market this weekend. Here's to a great school year!
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Sunscreen Can Kill
I actually wrote this blog post in June, but forgot to post it. There's still a few weeks left to New England sunscreen weather, so feel free to pass this info along...
The sun is shining, and the days are getting longer. For most of us, the arrival of warm weather is like a new beginning each Spring. But for me, it begins the season of anxiety. My son is severely allergic to chemical sunscreens.
With most allergies -- for example, my own shellfish allergy -- there are simple precautions I can take. I carefully read product ingredients, I don’t cook shellfish in my home, and I avoid restaurants that have shellfish on their menus. But with my son’s allergy, it isn’t quite as simple. Of course, we avoid using any sunscreen with the offending ingredients, and we make sure he doesn’t share things like face masks or flippers which may have traces of the chemicals on them. And when the kids have friends over, we provide a chemical free sunscreen for them to use so they don’t rub the offending ingredients into our furniture where they could rub off on my son and cause a reaction. But it’s not quite as easy as that. This is because of the widespread use of spray sunscreens. Whereas with most allergies, there are certain precautions you can take to avoid exposure. A peanut allergic person would never to go, say, Texas Roadhouse, where people are eating peanuts at every table and the dust is surely saturated in the air. But with spray sunscreens, there really is no safe place in summer. People use these products because they are quick and easy to apply. But to the 1-2 percent of Americans who are allergic to chemical sunscreen ingredients, they can be deadly. The particles are quite small and travel through the air quickly and with great dispersion. One slight breeze can carry the product far beyond your beach towel. With this allergy, there really isn’t much control.
My son was diagnosed with this allergy when he was one and a half years old after several bouts of anaphalaxis. For the remainder of that first summer and for the next summer, I simply avoided public places during hot, sunny days when I knew people would be spraying sunscreens willy-nilly in an effort to protect themselves and loved ones from harmful rays. But as the kids got older, they wanted to go swimming, or to parks, and so we ventured out, epi-pen and doses of Benadryl in hand. We joined a private pool and I got in the habit, to let the 10 or so other families know about my son’s allergy and apologetically ask that if they could either wait until there was no wind to apply sunscreen and go to a closed-off pre-determined place to spray, or use the extra bottles of sunscreen I had brought, or just simply alert us they were going to spray so we could leave the area for 30 minutes or so until the particles settled so my son wouldn’t breathe them in. Most people willingly obliged and offered sympathy to my son for having to be so cautious to simply play outside. However, once, while we were in a public restroom at a local Petting Zoo, a woman began liberally spraying sunscreen in the confined space. My son, then 3, smelled the sunscreen and began to panic. In a knee-jerk reaction, I began screaming like a crazy person, “Stop spraying! Stop spraying!” And through tears began to explain my son’s allergy to the other mom while covering my son with a towel. “Relax.” The woman said, looking thoroughly annoyed as she rolled her eyes. “ I stopped. No need to panic..” So I hurried my son outside and looked under the towel covering him to see his eyes, nose and ears swollen shut, and his now-puffy hands quickly tearing at his tongue to relieve what seemed to be an intensely itchy, swollen tongue. Even more terrifying for me was the gurgling, gasping sound he made, followed by his little head and shoulders slumping forward. After I administered the Epi-Pen Jr. I always carried with me, I looked up to see the look of fear on the previously annoyed woman’s face. Then I heard the repeated apologies, which leads me to the moral of this piece:
I can’t think of another product which can invade someone’s persona l space as much as a spray sunscreen. And for a small percentage of people, that invasion can be fatal. There should be a warning on each canister that states that individuals should take precaution when using these products because the spray may cause anaphalaxis in some individuals. It should not be sprayed in confined, public areas, and it should not be sprayed in very windy conditions.
Several of the chemicals in question have already been banned in Japan and in the EU for various reasons (allergy, photosensitivity, increased incidence of tumors, to name a few), and as the U.S. EPA has recently begun to take action to review potentially hazardous ingredients for cosmetics and household products, I believe that eventually these sunscreens will be reviewed and banned in this country as well. But until then, just letting people know of the potential for anaphalaxis in some individuals, especially with a product that really does disperse readily into the air where it can be breathed in and cause an immediate, potentially fatal reaction, would be a good, responsible start.
The sun is shining, and the days are getting longer. For most of us, the arrival of warm weather is like a new beginning each Spring. But for me, it begins the season of anxiety. My son is severely allergic to chemical sunscreens.
With most allergies -- for example, my own shellfish allergy -- there are simple precautions I can take. I carefully read product ingredients, I don’t cook shellfish in my home, and I avoid restaurants that have shellfish on their menus. But with my son’s allergy, it isn’t quite as simple. Of course, we avoid using any sunscreen with the offending ingredients, and we make sure he doesn’t share things like face masks or flippers which may have traces of the chemicals on them. And when the kids have friends over, we provide a chemical free sunscreen for them to use so they don’t rub the offending ingredients into our furniture where they could rub off on my son and cause a reaction. But it’s not quite as easy as that. This is because of the widespread use of spray sunscreens. Whereas with most allergies, there are certain precautions you can take to avoid exposure. A peanut allergic person would never to go, say, Texas Roadhouse, where people are eating peanuts at every table and the dust is surely saturated in the air. But with spray sunscreens, there really is no safe place in summer. People use these products because they are quick and easy to apply. But to the 1-2 percent of Americans who are allergic to chemical sunscreen ingredients, they can be deadly. The particles are quite small and travel through the air quickly and with great dispersion. One slight breeze can carry the product far beyond your beach towel. With this allergy, there really isn’t much control.
My son was diagnosed with this allergy when he was one and a half years old after several bouts of anaphalaxis. For the remainder of that first summer and for the next summer, I simply avoided public places during hot, sunny days when I knew people would be spraying sunscreens willy-nilly in an effort to protect themselves and loved ones from harmful rays. But as the kids got older, they wanted to go swimming, or to parks, and so we ventured out, epi-pen and doses of Benadryl in hand. We joined a private pool and I got in the habit, to let the 10 or so other families know about my son’s allergy and apologetically ask that if they could either wait until there was no wind to apply sunscreen and go to a closed-off pre-determined place to spray, or use the extra bottles of sunscreen I had brought, or just simply alert us they were going to spray so we could leave the area for 30 minutes or so until the particles settled so my son wouldn’t breathe them in. Most people willingly obliged and offered sympathy to my son for having to be so cautious to simply play outside. However, once, while we were in a public restroom at a local Petting Zoo, a woman began liberally spraying sunscreen in the confined space. My son, then 3, smelled the sunscreen and began to panic. In a knee-jerk reaction, I began screaming like a crazy person, “Stop spraying! Stop spraying!” And through tears began to explain my son’s allergy to the other mom while covering my son with a towel. “Relax.” The woman said, looking thoroughly annoyed as she rolled her eyes. “ I stopped. No need to panic..” So I hurried my son outside and looked under the towel covering him to see his eyes, nose and ears swollen shut, and his now-puffy hands quickly tearing at his tongue to relieve what seemed to be an intensely itchy, swollen tongue. Even more terrifying for me was the gurgling, gasping sound he made, followed by his little head and shoulders slumping forward. After I administered the Epi-Pen Jr. I always carried with me, I looked up to see the look of fear on the previously annoyed woman’s face. Then I heard the repeated apologies, which leads me to the moral of this piece:
I can’t think of another product which can invade someone’s persona l space as much as a spray sunscreen. And for a small percentage of people, that invasion can be fatal. There should be a warning on each canister that states that individuals should take precaution when using these products because the spray may cause anaphalaxis in some individuals. It should not be sprayed in confined, public areas, and it should not be sprayed in very windy conditions.
Several of the chemicals in question have already been banned in Japan and in the EU for various reasons (allergy, photosensitivity, increased incidence of tumors, to name a few), and as the U.S. EPA has recently begun to take action to review potentially hazardous ingredients for cosmetics and household products, I believe that eventually these sunscreens will be reviewed and banned in this country as well. But until then, just letting people know of the potential for anaphalaxis in some individuals, especially with a product that really does disperse readily into the air where it can be breathed in and cause an immediate, potentially fatal reaction, would be a good, responsible start.
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