Junk Food Rewires Brains to make People Addicted and Avoid Eating a Balanced Diet

(NaturalNews – Julie Wilson) The food industry is a sophisticated, calculating and very profitable enterprise that preys on consumer weaknesses, ones they’ve strategically created.

Food sellers have one priority when it comes to consumers, and it’s not their health, but rather assurance. They need you to keep coming back for more, and they achieve this by constructing foods, especially processed foods, with three critical ingredients.

The perfect combination of salt, sugar and fat makes food taste irresistible, triggering intense cravings in the brain. “Salt, sugar and fat are the three pillars of the processed food industry,” said Michael Moss, a New York Times reporter who has investigated the secrets of the food industry’s scientists.

“And while the industry hates the world ‘addiction’ more than any other word, the fact of the matter is, their research has shown them that when they hit the very perfect amounts of each of those ingredients… they will have us buy more, eat more.”

Teams of chemists, physicists and neuroscientists work diligently to develop foods that we can’t stop eating. These perfectly engineered products don’t just leave us craving more but can change the way we feel about healthy foods.

Proof that junk food makes us want fruits and veggies less

Excessive consumption of junk food can change behavior, weaken self-control and lead to overeating and obesity, according to a study by the School of Medical Sciences, UNSW Australia.

Published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology, researchers discovered that feeding rats junk food made them fat and reduced their appetite for “novel foods.” Led by Professor Margaret Morris, experts taught young male rats to associate two different sound cues with flavors of sugar water — cherry and grape.

The rats raised on a healthy diet stopped responding to the cues linked to a flavor after having recently indulged in one of them. This biological signal is hardwired into animals, protecting them from overeating and promoting a balanced diet.

Rats that ate a diet filled with junk food for two weeks, including cookies, cakes, pie and dumplings, increased their weight by 10 percent and changed their behavior “dramatically.”

The rats “became indifferent in their food choices and no longer avoided the sound advertising the overfamiliar taste. This indicated that they had lost their natural preference for novelty,” the study observed.

Even after being back on a healthy diet, the behavior continued for quite some time, leading researchers to suggest that junk food causes lasting changes in the reward circuit parts of the rats’ brains.

The orbitofrontal cortex, an area of the brain containing the secondary taste cortex, is responsible for representing the reward value of taste. The food industry has learned to manipulate this decision-making process by using tactics that enhance food appeal.

The “crunch” factor is an important one. Studies show that people associate crunchy food with being more fresh or crispier. The louder the crunch, the better — at least in the food industry’s mind.

Food texture in general plays a big role in our desire to eat. Scientists working for Nestle developed oval-shaped chocolate, designed to melt more smoothly in the mouth, as opposed to rough-edged chocolate bars.

Flavor enhancers are one of the industry’s biggest secrets. Designed to keep their texture, boxed foods contain many ingredients that have nothing to do with taste, but instead preservation.

“Ingredients like that are kind of bundled under what may seem like relatively innocuous labels like ‘natural flavours’ or even ‘artificial flavours,’ when truly they are much more surprising when consumers really understand what it is,” said Bruce Bradley, a former food executive who worked for General Mills, Pillsbury and Nabisco.

“There’s tremendous amounts of money spent behind creating tastes and smells that feel real but in reality are completely artificial.”

Additional sources:
http://www.cbc.ca
http://www.eurekalert.org
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
http://www.nytimes.com
http://science.naturalnews.com



The Unspoken Link Between GM-Foods and Cancer

(NaturalNews – Cindy L. Tjol) For those living in US, about 70 percent of the processed foods one consumes daily actually contain genetically modified (GM) ingredients. Should this be of concern? Yes! Studies, few as there are, show a strong link between GM-foods and cancer. And it is time to learn about them.

Proponents of GM-foods have been claiming that these “new foods” are safe, but they are actually backed by little or no evidence, except the argument that GM-foods are “substantially equivalent” to non-modified foods so they can be regarded as safe as the latter. At the same time, studies indicating the ill-effects of GM-foods on human health are often hijacked before their completion, or denounced if leaked into the open. It is no wonder that many people are taken aback by the horrendous findings on GM-foods below.

GM-foods and nutritional deficiency

The GM process often results (unintentionally) in the disruption of functioning genes in the genetically modified organism. In other words, while the GM-tomato may look like the “real” thing, it could actually be totally different in substance and nutritional value from its original form, because the genes that give the tomato its very nature have been altered.

Indeed, the existing few studies that analyzed GM-foods already on the market found that these modified foods were significantly lower in nutritional value than non-GM-foods. This means that the long-term consumption of mainly GM-foods in one’s diet could bring about nutritional deficiencies. And when it comes to cancer, nutritional deficiencies have been found to be a major contributing factor.

GM-foods and toxic genes

The only human feeding study on GM-soybeans found that a gene inserted into soybean to make it herbicide-tolerant spontaneously transferred out of the soybean into the DNA of intestinal bacteria in the human subjects. This means that even if the subjects stop eating GM-soybeans, the bacteria in their guts will continue to produce the herbicide-tolerant protein in their bodies.

Imagine what happens then when GM-corn with a gene inserted for producing a pesticide are eaten. One’s gut bacteria could ensure a lifetime supply of the pesticide, even if one diligently keeps away from crops grown with chemicals. And if this pesticide can kill insects, over the long-term, it is not inconceivable that it can kill a human, if not bring about degenerative diseases like cancer.

Indeed, there had been many reports of farm animals dying from consuming GM-crops inserted with the Bacillus-thuringiensis-pesticide-producing gene.

And in what is considered the first ever published study on the long term effects of consuming GM-foods, Gilles-Eric Seralini (from the University of Caen) and his team found that rats developed huge tumors, incurred widespread organ damage and eventually died prematurely, after ingesting GM-corn and trace levels of a chemical fertilizer (known as Roundup) often used with GM-crops.

GM-crops and farming chemicals

Designed to be tolerant of larger quantities of herbicides and other farming chemicals, GM-crops actually allow for more of these chemicals to be used to increase yields. A study on more than 8,000 university-based field trials found that farms cultivating GM-soybeans (known as Roundup Ready soybeans) actually use 2 to 5 times more herbicides (i.e. Roundup) than farms using traditional weed control.

This means that even if the above harms of GM-foods were not consequential (but they are), the amount of farming chemicals used in growing GM-crops would be enough to poison a person. And not surprisingly, farming chemicals like herbicides and pesticides are found to directly cause cancer, if not death.

Moral of the story: Stay as far away from GM-foods as to lower the risk of cancer.

Sources for this article include:
http://www.naturalnews.com
http://truthwiki.org
Bollinger, Ty. Cancer: Step Outside The Box. 5th ed. USA: Infinity 510 510 Partners, 2011. Print.
Mercola, Joseph, Dr., and Pearsall, Kendra, Dr. Take Control of Your Health. Schaumburg, IL: Mercola.com, 2007. Print.
Murray, Michael, ND., Pizzorno, Joseph, ND., and Pizzorno, Lara, MA, LMT. The Encyclopedia of Healing Foods. New York, NY: Atria Books, 2005. Print.

Recommended Supplements (These supplements help detoxify GMOs):

Further Reading:


FOOD FOR NAUGHT: 5 Reasons To Kick Factory Farmed Meats Off Your Plate

(DrFrankLipman – Frank Lipman) These days, just about everything is mass-produced, including our food, with large, factory-style farms churning out a seemingly endless supply of meat, chickens, eggs and dairy products. All that mass production equals abundance and lower prices, but if those factory-farmed products are eroding your health, is the savings really worth it? Not in my book. Here’s what’s really going on with mass-produced meats and why you should steer clear:

1. Factory-farmed animals eat crap. Literally.

To keep production costs low, animals raised in factory farms are fed the cheapest possible grains and feeds containing among other things, “by-product feedstuff, ” which begs the question, what’s feedstuff? It’s a nausea-inducing assortment of disturbing ingredients, including municipal garbage, stale cookies, poultry manure, chicken feathers, bubble gum and even restaurant waste. So, when you eat factory-farmed animals, you’re also getting an unintentional serving of “feedstuff.” In short, their bad diet becomes your bad diet – which is counter-productive to your health.

2. Bad diets make for sick animals – and people too.

Cud-chewing critters such as cattle, dairy cows, goats, bison and sheep were designed to eat fibrous grasses, plants, and shrubs—not starchy, low-fiber grains and feedstuffs. When these animals are switched from pasture greenery to grains, many wind up suffering from a number of disorders and painful conditions. The sickened animals are then given chemical additives, plus constant, low-level doses of antibiotics. Their drugs in turn enter your system when you eat antibiotic-treated animals, setting the stage for drug-resistance in your body, particularly if you’re a heavy-duty carnivore.

3. Lousy ingredients won’t create a nutritious product.

It should come as no surprise that animals fed a crappy diet will make for a less nutritious meal. Compared to grass-fed, factory-farmed, grain-fed meats have less vitamin E, beta-carotene, and little of the two health-promoting fats called omega-3 fatty acids and “conjugated linoleic acid,” or CLA. So what’s the end-result of the feed-’em-fast-and-cheap factory farmed method? Inferior food with negligible nutrients and more of the unhealthy fats. Small wonder the stuff is so much cheaper than grass-fed.

4. Stress hurts everyone.

If your goal is to sustain wellness, factory-farmed products just don’t deliver the nutritional goods. In factory farms, chickens, turkeys, and pigs are typically raised in inhumane conditions, tightly packed into cages and pens, unable to practice normal behaviors, such as rooting, grazing, and roosting. In these conditions, the animals get stressed and wind up producing products that are lower in a number of key vitamins and omega-3 fatty acids – talk about empty calories!

5. Factory farming pollutes the earth.

In a conventional feedlot operation, for example, confined cattle deposit large amounts of manure in a small amount of space. The manure must be collected and removed. As it costs money to haul it away, the manure is often dumped nearby, close to the feedlot. As a result, the surrounding soil gets over-saturated with the stuff, resulting in ground and water pollution. But when animals are raised on pasture, their manure is a welcome source of organic fertilizer, not a “waste management problem.” Bottom line: raising animals on pasture is kinder to the environment.

In short, though factory farming enables us to have plenty of cheap and convenient food, it’s food with little nutritional benefit, that can increase your resistance to antibiotics as it pollutes your air, land and water. With so little going for it, doesn’t it seem slightly crazy to eat factory-farmed meats? It does certainly does to me – which is why I strongly suggest that if you’re going to eat meat, buy the good stuff, even if it means having to pay a bit more or buy less of it. Choose grass-fed beef, lamb, bison and poultry, to insure that you’re eating nutritious and healthy meats, as nature intended.

To learn more about what to look for when buying meat, check out my post on meat labeling and for some additional inspiration, check out this animation movie about the meat you eat at themeatrix.com.



Candida Overgrowth Symptoms

Chances are, you have Candida overgrowth. We all have Candida, just like we all have bacteria. And like the microbes in our gut and the rest of our body, it’s all about balance. The problem is that in this day and age, our modern diet feeds Candida.

Candida is a fungus, a kind of yeast. Candida is as opportunistic as they come.

I know very few people without Candida overgrowth. I know lots of health nuts who are aware of it. I know lots of people who take probiotics, who eat the alternative, healthier sugars when they do eat sweet foods. The thing is; I know very few people who don’t eat too many processed, refined foods. If it’s not whole, completely unrefined food, it’s likely to feed fungus. Even fresh, slow pressed vegetable and fruit juice will lead most people to an overabundance of the fungus.

Check out our latest: Best Supplements To Kill Candida and Everything Else You Ever Wanted To Know About Fungal Infections

In nature, way back in the day, we didn’t have fruit juice. We didn’t have refined foods. Fruit was seasonal and much harder to get than vegetables. We ate pounds and pounds of vegetables. We pulled up leaves and roots from the ground all day. We got meat when we could, but there were times when that was hard to come by. Our brains need a lot of fuel, and before agriculture, it was much harder to meet our needs. Today we tend to think of balance as whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and meat for those who eat meat. But most people are shocked to know that a true Paleo diet would consist of more vegetables than most people would have time to eat in a day.

Here is an incomplete list of symptoms and other clues that are likely to be caused by too much yeast in your body. And while most (not all) of these can be signs of something else being out of balance, more often than not, if you regularly have even one of the symptoms, you’ve got too much Candida in your inner ecosystem.

Most Skin problems are a Sign of Candida Overgrowth

Skin problems such as acne, Keratosis pilaris, dry skin, hives, rashes, dandruff, and eczema are a sign of too much fungus in the body. You know all those white bumps on the back of your arms? You’ve got Candida overgrowth. I’m not saying that whiteheads are fungus. It’s much more complicated that that. Sometimes aforementioned skin problems such as rashes are a direct result of fungal abundance, but other times, the issues are an indirect result of the colon microbes being out of balance. For instance, acne is often caused by hormonal issues. Hormonal issues are often caused by, exacerbated by, or at the very least virtually always are accompanied by, out of control Candida.

Athlete’s foot and even an itchy arch are also a sure sign of too much Candida.

Diaper rash is almost always candida.

Itchy crotch, itchy vagina, yeast infections, and a funky discharge from the vagina and anus are sure signs of too much Candida

If you need a shower every day in order not to itch, you’ve got too much yeast in your body. If you itch or feel a stinging sensation around your anus or your perineum when you wipe after bowel movements, that’s another sure sign. If it smells funky down there, while this may be perfectly normal, it’s also a sign of Candida overgrowth.

Body Odor

Yes, bacteria are one of the primary causes of body odor. But what many people don’t know is that “bad bacteria” (what we call bacteria that doesn’t benefit us) coincides with too much fungus in the body. If you need antiperspirant or deodorant and daily showers, again this is totally normal, but it’s a sign of too much fungus.

You may be thinking, “This writer must be some kind of non-showering hippie or something!” Yeah, well, let’s just say I don’t smell bad at all if I miss a shower. And while traveling the country I have gone weeks without one and smelled just fine. I still love a good shower as much as the next person. But I just don’t feel like I need them unless I am dirty and grimy.

Trouble with Digestion, Gas, Bloating

Digestion problems, gas, and bloating can be signs of other issues such as kidney problems, allergies, and more. But typically, whenever someone is unhealthy in one area, they also have Candida issues.  Too much Candida in the gut means not enough beneficial bacteria to digest food properly, and this can cause fermentation. Too much Candida in the whole body and even the stomach and kidneys are affected. While we’re on the subject of gas, slow kidney function causes flatulence, and as mentioned, this can be caused by too much fungus.

Allergies and Allergic Reactions

Many times when people think they are having an allergic reaction due to a rash with hives, this is actually a spike in fungus that is out of control. Antibiotics cause these reactions in people regularly because they cull all of the beneficial bacteria that balance our body’s ecosystem.

Seasonal allergies and food allergies tend to vanish when Candida is brought completely under control. It sounds radical, I know, but it’s true.

Other signs of too much Candida include thrush or a white tongue, itchy ear canals, and sugar cravings. Candida overgrowth also leads to a host of other health issues from insomnia to severe mood swings. While Candida is not the sole cause of most health issues, it accompanies almost every health issue.

For more information on how to get your body’s inner ecosystem balanced,

Further Reading:

Supplements we Recommend:



Periodontal Disease, Gum Disease – What you need to know (with Recipes)

Periodontal disease is the scientific name for all gum disease, ranging from gingivitis to periodontitis. Gingivitis is inflammation and swelling of the gums; periodontitis is the last stage of periodontal disease when the ligaments that attach a tooth to bone are inflamed and infected as well as the bone itself, usually resulting in tooth loss.

According to the mainstream dental community, there is one cause and one treatment path for periodontal disease. This is their take on it:

  • Our mouths are full of bacteria
  • Mucous that covers our teeth mixes with bacteria to form plaque
  • If plaque is not brushed and flossed away each day, it turns into tartar
  • Tartar attracts more bacteria, resulting in more tartar
  • Tartar and bacteria cause infection of the gums
  • Pockets form in the gums, gums recede and/or no longer adhere to teeth
  • Tartar cannot be brushed away; it must be removed by a dentist.
  • Oral hygiene and dental cleanings are the only defense against gum disease

They tell us, while gingivitis can be reversed with better oral hygiene and regular dental cleaning, untreated gingivitis can (and probably will) result in periodontitis. As the infection spreads under the gum line, pockets form between the gums and the teeth and the gum line recedes. In time, the infection breaks down bone and connective tissues. Conventional treatment for periodontitis includes deep cleaning, antibiotics taken orally and or packed into the gum pockets, and surgery (bone grafts and tissue grafts for advanced cases.)

One Body, One Source of Disease

While other causal factors are discussed (smoking, hormonal changes, genetics, diabetes) there is little to no recognition of the mouth being one part of an entire system. We know that the balance of good vs. bad bacteria and keeping Candida in check in our gut is essential to health. Most of us know the same is true of our skin. Why would the inside of the mouth be any different? Why isn’t an infection in our mouth considered a failure of our immune system or our bacterial balance rather than our dental care?

This conventional, accepted theory of periodontal disease and tooth decay and its treatment mirrors conventional medicine—symptoms are treated rather than the cause. But through the work of Weston Price, we have known for more than seventy years that isolated populations who did not practice oral hygiene but ate healthy, indigenous foods were free of dental disease—both tooth decay and gum disease. When the Western diet was introduced, dental disease followed.

Today, we are re-learning that simple truth. When it comes to health, in every part of the body, nutrition is the key.

Nutrition

The bottom line is that nutrition is the one cure for anything that ails you. It’s a little more complicated than that, but not much. Our bodies were made to fight disease, to maintain a balance between good bacteria, bad bacteria, and yeast. The common Western diet does not support this balance. Nor does the Western diet give us the nutrition (vitamins and minerals) we need to promote health and maintain a strong immune system.

A healthy mouth requires a healthy body. In a healthy body, bad bacteria do not run rampant, causing infection and disease. The immune system does not become overwhelmed and incompetent when faced with a minor gum infection.

Though it would not be advisable to avoid the dentist, it would be advisable to research the use of fluoride and other chemicals before using them to treat your periodontal disease. One article touted the efficacy of a particular antibiotic used to pack gum pockets, claiming its use resulted in shrinking gum pockets by one millimeter. Natural solutions have been known to shrink pockets by 3 millimeters or more.

A healthy diet is a must. If you suffer from periodontal disease, your mouth is telling you to feed your body right.

  • Avoid all artificial ingredients: colorings, flavorings, preservatives, and GMOs
  • Avoid processed foods
  • Avoid pasteurized dairy
  • Eat organic as much as possible, especially the “dirty dozen” and animal protein
  • Soak or sprout beans, nuts, and grains to release enzyme inhibitors
  • Eat at least 80% raw, focusing on a variety of foods with lots of green leafy vegetables
  • Eat a balanced diet with plenty of healthy fats
  • Drink a gallon of pure spring water daily
  • Stop eating refined sugars

If you supplement your diet with vitamins and minerals, make sure they are not synthetic. Choose whole food vitamins and minerals so your body can properly assimilate them. Vitamin D, vitamin C, and B vitamins are essential to dental health.

If you smoke, stop. If you smoke anything—stop. Smoking cigarettes or marijuana introduces free radicals and other toxins that damage the gums and therefore encourage and promote periodontal disease. Obviously, chewing tobacco products is even worse.

If you are eating 80% raw, chances are you will be eating an alkaline diet. If your diet is acidic, it will promote disease. Sugar creates an acidic pH. In order to self adjust the pH of the bloodstream, the body will pull minerals, such as calcium, out of bone and tissue to regain the proper pH. Sugar is your enemy. You want to heal bone, not degrade it.

How to Treat an Acute Gum Infection

If you smoke, you need to stop smoking. Enough said.

Your diet is key, especially when you have an acute infection. No sugar! Stop eating it now!  Sugar feeds bacterial infections and feeds yeast infections. When your gums are infected and you eat candy, your gums will hurt more. If the infection is severe, they will hurt a lot more—now and later. You just fed the infection.

Now, what else can you do for immediate relief and healing?

Keep your mouth clean. Brush after eating. Get a new toothbrush and brush correctly, not just the teeth, but the gums as well.

Stop brushing your teeth with toxic chemicals. Buy good natural toothpaste or make your own.

Chew raw garlic. This is not for the faint of heart. Raw garlic has a very strong taste and it burns when you chew it, but it works. Eating raw garlic may take practice. Chew as long as you can and try to chew it a little longer each day.

Doc Shillington makes a wonderful solution called Tooth and Gum Formula that aids in healing gum disease. His patients report that their checkups amaze their dentists due to the reduction of deep pockets. We can attest to the power of this formula. Check out Heal Cavities, Gum Disease, Naturally with Organic Oral Care – Toothpaste recipes included for the recipe.

Take a good whole food vitamin. If you are vitamin deficient, one or two days of taking a really good vitamin supplement will make a world of difference. Your gums may stop bleeding and hurting with a day. Total Nutrition – Make your own Homemade Multivitamin and Mineral Formula.

Add oil pulling to your daily routine. Two of the best oils to use are coconut oil and sesame oil. You just put a little oil in your mouth and swish it through your teeth for 20 minutes the first thing in the morning before you eat or drink anything. (See link below). If you want to kick it up a notch, add some neem oil, peppermint oil, clove oil, or oil of oregano to the coconut or sesame seed oil. This will obliterate infection, but if you thought chewing on garlic was uncomfortable…

Oil pulling will get in between your teeth and deeper within your gums to help eliminate bacteria and Candida in ways that nothing else can, without causing damage like conventional treatments.

If you have a infection, this infection can drain into the teeth and gums. Shillington’s Herbal Snuff is perfect for clearing up a sinus infection. It’s also good for sore throats, and other infections in the mouth. You can snort it (only a tiny bit needed, and it burns, but it works), or place it directly on infected area of mouth, or directly on the tonsils. This stuff works amazingly well, but it’s not pleasant.

To Recap:

  • Don’t smoke
  • Eat a healthy, nutrient dense diet
  • Use a good, soft toothbrush and healthy toothpaste
  • Take whole food supplements, paying special attention to your need for vitamin D, vitamin C, and B vitamins
  • Buy a new soft toothbrush (stop tearing up your gums with rough toothbrushes)
  • Avoid conventional toothpastes (buy a good natural toothpaste, or make your own)
  • Help heal your gums with natural solutions that promote gum health
  • Chew raw garlic
  • Practice oil pulling

Recommended Supplements:

Further Reading:

 



Your Healthy Diet Isn’t Complete Without These Foods!

When it comes to eating healthily, we all know roughly what to do –limit the fast food, get our 5 a day, cut out snacks etc. But when it comes to writing your healthy eating shopping list, have you remembered to add these goodies?

Kale

This high-fibre leafy green vegetable is a top source of vitamin A, which works to strengthen your immune system and keep your eyes and skin in top health. As well as this, just 1 cup of kale contains almost the same amount of vitamin C as a whole orange! Need another reason to toss some kale into your salad? To top it all, kale is packed with antioxidants which help to fight off illnesses such as cancer. Definitely a healthy diet must!

Watercress

Watercress is full of iron and contains an abundance of antioxidants that combat lung and breast cancer. Just three daily ounces of watercress can enhance your levels of particular antioxidants by 100%! Also, the high iodine content in watercress means that it helps to strengthen the thyroid gland, making it a beneficial superfood for hypothyroidism sufferers.

Pomegranate

Pomegranate is another food full to the brim with antioxidants,  which lower the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, and heart disease. Studies have also shown that pomegranates can reduce cholesterol and blood pressure, as well as protect the kidneys against harmful toxins, preventing kidney problems. And of course, they taste beautiful!

Salmon

Aside from being absolutely delicious, salmon has a number of great health benefits. Packed with omega-3 fatty acids, vitamins A, B and D, iron, calcium, selenium,  and phosphorous, salmon is definitely brain food that helps to improve your memory. It also contains tryptophan, a natural sedative, which means it can help aid sleep to help you get a good night’s rest.

Lentils

Budget-friendly and versatile, lentils are a very healthy staple to include in your diet. There’s over 9 grams of protein in just 1 cup of lentils, not to mention 8 grams of fibre, which can help to lower cholesterol and reduce digestive problems such as irritable bowel syndrome and constipation.  They are also a fantastic source of folate, which can decrease the risk of heart disease by reducing your homocysteine levels.

Spinach

This superfood not only tastes great, it is versatile and packed full of nutrients. One cup of spinach holds 20% of the recommended daily amount of fibre, which helps to maintain low blood sugar and aid digestion. As well as this, the high amounts of vitamin K within spinach means it’s great for keeping your bones healthy and strong.

Broccoli

This yummy green vegetable is bursting with soluble fibre, which is excellent for lowering your body’s cholesterol. It is also a fantastic source of calcium and vitamin K, which are both very important for preventing osteoporosis and maintaining good bone health. Broccoli is also beneficial to the heart, thanks to the anti-inflammatory properties of the isothiocyanates found within it. These can prevent blood cell damage.



How to Clean Your Floors with Homemade Non-toxic Cleaners Instead of Store Bought Chemicals

Our floors are the largest surface area in our homes that require regular cleaning. If we use chemicals, we breathe them in day and night until they dissipate. There is no need to add to our indoor air pollution when we can use simple and handy, homemade cleaning solutions.

How to Clean Wood, Bamboo, and Laminate Floors

It would be so easy to clean every floor of our home with a steam cleaner. No muss, no fuss, nothing but water turned to steam. But regardless of the claims made by the manufacturers, steam cleaners can damage wood, bamboo, and laminate floors.

Laminate floors consist of layers of materials glued together. Any water, but especially steam, will break down the bonds between layers, causing them to buckle and split. Steam can strip the finish that is protecting your hardwood floor. Moisture that seeps into the wood will cause grains to swell and the wood to warp and splinter.

The primary rule for bamboo, laminate, and hardwood floors is the same: do not wet mop–dry mop (though damp mop would be a better descriptive term). After thoroughly sweeping or vacuuming your floor, use a well wrung out sponge or rag mop with plain water, water with a few drops of essential oil, or water with 1/4 cup of vinegar (added to a 2 gallon bucket). Use warm water; it will evaporate faster than cold. Buff the floors dry with a soft cloth or towel.

Perusing the net, you will find other suggestions such as 1/2 cup of lemon juice added to water. However, a manufactures’ site warns against using citrus to clean laminate flooring as it will damage the finish after repeated use.  Many sites, including a manufacturer’s site, suggest using 1/4 cup of dish soap to a bucket of water to clean sealed hardwood floors–without rinsing. But it only stands to reason that, over time, soap residue would accumulate. If you do rinse, you are using more water. Since the object is to clean with the least amount of water possible, this method doesn’t make sense.

One wood laminate manufacturer suggests mixing vinegar and water into a spray bottle. Rather than spraying the liquid on the floor, use it to dampen the bottom of your dust mop.

Another solution, claimed to be even better for wood floors than vinegar, is cleaning with tea. Brew black tea, (1 tea bag per cup of water) and either fill a spray bottle to mist the floor (a small area at a time) then follow with a damp mop, or make enough tea to immerse your mop in a bucket. As before, wring out your mop so it is as dry as possible.

How to Clean Linoleum, Tile, and Stone

Linoleum and tile floors can also be cleaned with vinegar and water. The ratios vary according to preference from 1/4 cup of vinegar to a one-to-one ratio of vinegar to water.  For a really dirty floor, try the following recipe:

  • 1/4 cup white vinegar
  • 1/4 cup baking soda
  • 1 tablespoon liquid dish soap (remember to choose a natural soap)
  • 2 gallons hot water
  • Add a few drops of essential oil, if desired

Rinsing is not required, but if streaking occurs, rinse.

Do not use lemon juice, vinegar or other acids on marble, limestone, or travertine. To wash these floors, use a squirt of liquid soap (such as castile soap or dish soap, not detergent) in your bucket of water and wet mop. Rinse. Too much soap will cause streaking.

These floors may be the best candidates for a steam mop, but first check with the manufacturer to be sure steam mopping does not void your warranty.

All floors of all types are scratched and scarred by dirt. Mats outside and inside each entrance can help limit the amount of dirt on your floors. A shoeless house can make a tremendous difference. Remember, how often you sweep or vacuum and what you use to mop your floors will determine the longevity of your floor’s finish as well as the level of pollution in your home.

Sources: