In case you missed it, The President’s Cancer Panel (made up of respected mainstream scientists not “crunchy” people like me) recently released a landmark report entitled “Reducing Environmental Cancer Risk: What We Can Do Now” . The 240 page document sounds a major warning bell about the impact of environmental exposures on cancer risk. Definitely not relaxing bedside reading, but if you want to scare the crap out of some kids (or adults) while sitting around a bonfire, it would work well for that.
So what did it say? Well I don’t want to be smug or self-righteous here- okay maybe I do a little- but basically, it tells you to be an Organic Janet. The Panel strongly advises that action be taken at the consumer, industrial, and governmental levels to reduce the risks of cancer posed by chemicals in our food, air, water, and products, as well as from radiation exposure. Read the rest of this entry »
Well it’s official. The conventional medical community via the AMA’s Archives of Internal Medicine (which incidentally was standard bathroom reading material during my childhood, though surely that had no bearing on my developing 17 chronic health conditions) is touting the health benefits of nuts. While it seems that the AMA is a little late to the party on this, I’m glad to see the “official science” catching up with what the natural health community has known for decades.
So what is this study all about? It was actually a review of 25 previous studies and it confirmed the cholesterol-lowering benefits of nuts (trigylceride-lowering too), and thus their role in heart disease prevention. The results were similar among different types of nuts, but sorry to report that neither chocolate-covered peanuts nor candy coated almonds were researched. (Regular ole walnuts, almonds, peanuts, pecans, hazelnuts, macadamias, and pistachios were though. And they’re all pretty tasty too!) Read the rest of this entry »
There is a great deal of buzz about “detoxing” or “cleansing”. Ellen DeGeneres recently chronicled her Sugar Cleanse on her show. And chances are that you’re friends with someone on Facebook who gives updates on their latest detox cleanse, liver cleanse, or colon cleanse- whether you want to hear about it or not. But what does it really mean? Is is something that would benefit you? And how much do you really need to know about your Facebook friends’ bowel movements?
The truth is that you’re doing a “detox cleanse” all the time. When you breathe, sweat, expel mucus, or go to the bathroom, the body is working to remove waste and toxins. While most people think of the liver and kidneys as doing the heavy lifting, the colon, gall bladder, skin, and respiratory system are no shlumps either. And a cellular detox cleanse is also happening regularly throughout the rest of the body. That being said, I believe that everyone could benefit from some form of detox cleanse. But first, I’d like to address the mainstream misconception that the body doesn’t need it. Read the rest of this entry »
