Advertising – Letter From the Editor
There is a strict criterion for advertising with Organic Lifestyle Magazine. We will not allow a company to advertise with us unless it shares our vision – to make the world a better place. Companies that are “green washing” or “organic washing” (my Enewly coined term) will not be allowed to advertise in these pages.
We want our readers to know that every product advertised in OLM, is (as far as we know) good for the environment and good for our bodies. But whether or not a product meets these standards can be a little tougher to determine than it sounds. Some health food products and supplements, for instance, may be good for one person and not for another. Multilevel marketing’s latest trend is superfood juice drinks. These products are often too sweet. A very healthy person would not have any need for them. But the average person, one who gets very little nutrition, may get more vitamins and minerals from one of these juice drinks than he or she would get all week from the packaged and processed food.
You may have seen the “OLM Endorses” label on some of our product highlights and product tests. While some products are good products developed by good companies, the OLM Endorses label means that through our research or testing we believe a product to be of superior quality, and we believe the company did what it could to limit its environmental footprint. Some products we’ve tested may meet this criteria, but we were not able to determine whether or not the products were made with the environment in mind (maybe the company was not available for comment) so no OLM endorsement was given.
We want you, our readers, to know also that our product evaluations are as fair and unbiased as possible. Even if a company advertises with us, this does not influence our evaluation. When we highlight or test a product, we may do so after the company decided to advertise with us, but rest assured, this will not affect our opinion of a product.
If you own a company with a product you would like us to try, email us at editor@organicmail.net. If you are a consumer, know that you can trust OLM to be fair, and please, check out our advertisers! When you support companies that advertise with OLM, you support OLM.
Michael Edwards
Editor in Chief
Ask OLM
Sleep
How much sleep do we need to be at optimum health? I’ve heard about people who say they are perfectly healthy and only get a few hours of sleep a night. I find that sometimes I need only 4 hours and sometimes 10, but I usually want 7-8.
Dustin
RAYMOND FRANCIS: Good quality sleep is essential to human health. This is when we repair and rejuvenate the body. Losing even one night of good sleep will depress your immune system and impair mental function. How much sleep you need depends on many factors including your age, amount of physical activity and genetic makeup. The quality of your sleep is very important. Light sleep or interrupted sleep is not as good as uninterrupted deep sleep. If your sleep is of good quality, 7 to 8 hours appears to be adequate for most adults.
Fortunately, you seem to be listening to your body and giving it the amount of sleep it asks for. There is no set formula, so continue to do what you are doing—give your body what it wants.
Hair Regrowth
Hey, Organic Lifestyle! Love the magazine! I have a question. My hair is thinning. I’ve considered Rogaine and other chemical hair regrowth options, but I’m the kind of guy who tries not to put any unnecessary chemicals into my body. And I’m only 33! Are there any natural remedies that I can use to regrow my hair?
Jason
DR. TIM OSHEA ANSWERS: Hi Jason,Hair growth remedies are right up there with Viagra promises and eternal love propositions on the Internet. While male pattern baldness is influenced by body type, ethnicity, and hereditary characteristics, there are two natural components that can make a significant difference.
The first is collagen, which is the principal protein of which hair is made. As we age, collagen production falls way off, which is why skin and muscles have that floorward tendency. Doctors call this ptosis. This is the same reason why wavy hair flattens out into straighter hair as time goes by. Collagen supplementation can have a significant effect.
The other issue is nutrient minerals. It is a well known fact that America’s topsoil is depleted.
Produce contains only a fraction of the minerals it contained 100 years ago, and most Americans have been mineral deficient for most of their lives. Minerals are also necessary for the growth of strong, healthy hair strands.
Sorry, Jason, no magic bullets here. Since the time of patent medicines, the promise of hair restoration continues to be a huge market, now growing larger as the toxic American diet accelerates the thinning process.
For more information about collagen and minerals visit www.thedoctorwithin.com.
Vaccinations
My brother had his newborn twins vaccinated recently. I could not talk him out of it, but he does want to know what he can do to minimize the damage done, and reduce any possible side effects. The twins are only 4 months old.
Stephanie
DR. TIM OSHEA ANSWERS:
Dear Stephanie,
This is a problem I have been lecturing on for the past 10 years. The first thing I have learned is that you cannot take responsibility for another’s health, especially a family member. My goal is to promote informed consent. If parents choose to vaccinate, they have a responsibility to at least find out what vaccines are from a scientific standpoint, not from the people making their living selling vaccines. This is the precise subject of my 2008 book the Sanctity of Human Blood, 12th edition.
But I think you were really asking about how to detox the deadly contaminants once the child has been vaccinated. This is a complicated question, and an area full of hype and misdirection. I have a full day seminar which deals with the program for optimizing the health and immune system of vaccine damaged children by chelating the aluminum, mercury, formaldehyde, ethylene glycol, etc. from the child’s blood and tissues. For the complete story look at the chapters called The Last Resort and The 60 Day program, on my site.
Christmas Tree
Should I get a fake Christmas tree or a real one?
Amy
OLM ANSWERS: Artificial trees consume significant energy and petroleum-based materials during their manufacture. Most artificial trees are made from vinyl – the most toxic, least recyclable plastic there is.
If you buy a real tree from a tree farm, as most do, the forests aren’t hurt by choosing a cut tree. Also, be sure to recycle your tree, or you could get a potted tree and plant it after Christmas.
Eye Sight
I am in my mid fifties. I currently use one pair of glasses for reading, one for the computer, and one for driving. I go with out glasses much of the time, and use them only when necessary, but lately I am finding it very difficult to drive at night, glasses or not. I understand detoxifying, nutrition, and working towards better health (but I have a ways to go). In the meantime, what can I do to improve my night vision, or at least keep it from continuing to deteriorate?
Allie
DR. SHILLINGTON ANSWERS: Allie , My Eyebright formula will help with the eyes and stop any further deterioration from happening. Ideally when done with a cleanse (detox), you’ll find the best results. Lastly, I’d not spend so much time in front of the computer. This can really hamper the eyes over a period of years.
Eyebright Eyewash Formula: Suggested use: 1 – 10 drops in an eye cup full of distilled water morning and evening
- 1/2 CUP EYEBRIGHT HERB (CUT)
- Euphrasia officinalis
- 1/2 CUP RED RASPBERRY LEAF (CUT)
- Rubus idaeus
- 1/2 CUP GOLDENSEAL ROOT (CUT)
- Hydrastis Canadensis
- 1/2 CUP BAYBERRY BARK (CUT)
- Myrica cerifera
- 1/16 CUP CAYENNE PEPPER (WHOLE OR CRUSHED)
- Capsicum frutescens; Capsicum minimum
Use base of standard alcohol/distilled water options. When putting a label, date and initials on the jar, tape a note on the lid that says “add 1/8 cup DMSO after pressing.”
The last step of the pressing process should be to filter the solution through the pressing cloth. Since this goes into the eye, all herb particles must be removed. After pressing add: 1/4 cup DMSO
Almonds
I love almonds, but I have read in OLM that the ones I get are pasteurized. Does soaking them remove the enzyme inhibitors even though they are pasteurized?
Michael
DR. SHILLINGTON ANSWERS:Dear Michael,
Pasteurized almonds will NOT sprout. The pasteurization process kills the nut and the enzymes and leaves the enzyme inhibitors intact.
Only Organic Raw Almonds will do the trick here.
Email your questions to questions [at] organicmail.net. Questions may be edited for clarity or length.
Healthy Skin
This month OLM evaluates bath and skincare products. Many people will be interested to know which moisturizers passed the test. But readers should note that skin issues such as dry skin, acne, and eczema are symptoms of overall poor health. The health of your skin is primarily determined by what you eat and what you don’t eat. It is also determined by the chemicals you put on it.
Have you ever noticed how some women slather on hand lotion 30+ times a day? They need to ask themselves two questions:
- What is causing their skin to be dry?
- Could lotion be the cause rather than the solution? Or at the very least, could it be making the problem worse?
Do you have chapped lips or cracked heels? Maybe acne, which is usually a sign of a toxified liver and kidneys. If you have dry skin, you probably have a slow thyroid and/or slow kidneys, and/or do not get enough of the right kinds of fats in your diet (read FAT from our September issue).
Healthy skin comes from the inside out. If your body is getting enough nutrition and not being overwhelmed with toxins, it’s amazing how well it works!
That being said, you may will still want to use a good moisturizer from time to time. You may be working outside with your hands, or your house might be too dry in the winter. If you don’t have a water filtration system for your shower, tap water can dry out your skin. Regardless of the reason, you should not need to repeatedly apply a moisturizer. If you do, it isn’t working.
OLM discovered some wonderful moisturizers. They last, and unlike most other skin care products, they don’t dry out your skin causing a skincare addiction. While these moisturizers nourish your skin, and the moisture they infuse lasts, you will not be putting toxins onto your skin and into your body. Did you know that more than 60% of liquids and creams you put on your skin are completely absorbed into the body?
If you have chronically dry skin or other skin issues after switching to healthy skincare products, it’s certainly time for a detox (see our detox articles in this issue) and more importantly, a lifestyle change.
Further Reading:
- Detox Cheap and Easy Without Fasting – Recipes Included
- How to Detoxify and Heal the Lymphatic System
- Holistic Guide to Healing the Endocrine System and Balancing Our Hormones
- Candida, Gut Flora, Allergies, and Disease
- Gluten, Candida, Leaky Gut Syndrome, and Autoimmune Diseases
- Hypothyroidism – Natural Remedies, Causes, and How To Heal the Thyroid
- How to Cure Lyme Disease, and Virtually Any Other Bacterial Infection, Naturally
Recommended Supplements:
- Shillington’s Kidney/ Bladder Formula
- Shillington’s Liver/Gallbladder Formula
- Shillington’s Blood Detox
- Oil of Oregano – Gaia Herbs
- Coconut Oil
- Lymphagogue Compound – Wise Woman Herbals
- Lavender Essential Oil – Wise Woman Herbals
Further Reading:
Holistic Approaches to Emotional Eating
Miranda trudges her way up the stairs to her second-story apartment, exhausted after a day’s abuse at a job that she grew tired of three years ago. Dropping her purse on the table, she hypnotically makes her way to the kitchen where, before she is even aware of it, she has opened the freezer, pulled out the triple-chocolate ice cream, and has downed a third spoonful. “There goes my diet.” Realizing her mistake three bites too late, she shrugs and skulks to the couch, hugging the ice cream carton closer as she settles down to start flipping through channels on the TV.
Sound familiar? How often have you stumbled to the kitchen, thrown wide the refrigerator door, and looked for something – anything – to put into your mouth as a way to feel better? At the top of this list are probably things like ice cream and chocolate, two “comfort foods” that typically taste great but pack more of an unhealthy punch than they are really worth. We know this. We’ve read it in magazines, heard about it on the radio, and have seen news reports all about the health dangers associated with the sweet treats we like to give ourselves when we need a fix. And yet, even though we logically know better, we continue to buy that candy bar or indulge in our favorite dessert.
Emotional Eating
Do you eat when you’re not hungry? Do you overeat on a frequent basis? Do you eat when you are bored, angry, sad, excited, or depressed? “Emotional eating” is the term given to a set of habits that all come down to the same point: food is consumed in response to feelings instead of hunger. This problem is widespread, but there is hope.
Several factors may contribute to emotional eating. A poor diet can lead to carbohydrate addiction and low levels of mood-boosting neurotransmitters. A depressed emotional state can affect energy and motivation to make healthy choices. A downtrodden spirit may not even recognize a need to pursue health. Just as any combination of these things – an ill body, mind, or spirit – can manifest as emotional eating, positively affecting one of them can cause a healthy ripple effect that helps heal the others. Healthy living is a holistic affair. Here are my suggestions for how to work with emotional eating.
Body
Good nutrition is always the basis of good physical health. Assuming your digestive system is in good working order, you really are what you eat. Additionally, your body is primed to crave more and more of what you give it. If you eat loads of sugars, that’s what it will want. Likewise, start feeding it fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, and you’ll see a shift in your cravings toward these foods. A good nutritional consultant can help you determine what foods will help you turn around a cycle of poor food choices.
Exercise in proper amounts will energize you on many levels. It helps stabilize the appetite and boost the metabolism. A stronger, healthier body will also help you feel good about yourself and motivate you to stay active and make positive food choices. Even a small amount of exercise can make a big difference.
Mind
Mental and emotional concerns are at the center of emotional eating. Negative emotions tend to fuel overeating and poor food choices. Our modernized food production capabilities have changed our relationship with food. Now a growing number of people view it as a reward, compensation, or activity, rather than what food actually is meant to be–fuel.
If you find yourself repeatedly craving certain foods in direct relation to an emotion, chances are you could use a bit of healing.
Fortunately, emotionally-based addictions are now very treatable. A growing body of techniques centered in the field of Energy Psychology can help transform the emotional energy around addictions. Therapies such as Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) are becoming widely accepted and practiced as powerful tools to retrain the mind and constructively manage emotions. In conjunction with traditional counseling or other therapies such as hypnotherapy or the use of positive affirmations, energy psychology techniques can be incredibly effective for curbing emotional eating.
Spirit
Connecting with something deeper than yourself can have a very healing effect. The rapidly growing technological world has had an isolating effect and the resulting disconnect is one that many people feel on a deep or even subconscious level. Yet research continues to suggest that a healthy sense of personal spirituality is a powerful ally in making and sustaining positive lifestyle changes. As you work to transform patterns of emotional eating into healthy living, developing a deeper sense of self and spirituality can only strengthen your resolve, boost your results, and provide calm direction in moments of temptation.
Whichever spiritual path you choose, the result is well worth the effort! An active prayer life or meditation practice can help calm internal dialogue and help you connect with your deeper self. Frequent journaling or artistic expressions (such as painting, singing, or dancing) are wonderful ways to explore your truest feelings, thoughts, and ideas. Active people enjoy yoga, tai chi, and martial arts as spiritual disciplines, which also engage the body and mind. Whatever your choice, taking the time to connect with and expand your inner landscape and relationship to something greater than yourself can help you find your center and utilize untapped strengths and resources to help you overcome emotional eating.
Recommended Reading:
- Detox Cheap and Easy Without Fasting – Recipes Included
- Gluten, Candida, Leaky Gut Syndrome, and Autoimmune Diseases
- Hypothyroidism – Natural Remedies, Causes, and How To Heal the Thyroid
- The Power of Our Hormones and How To Balance Them
- Heal Cavities, Gum Disease, Naturally with Organic Oral Care – Toothpaste recipes included
How to Keep Your New Year’s Resolutions
Chew Your Food
Dr. Kelly tells us that when you chew your food long enough, your body will tell you if you should be eating it. Start chewing your food to the point other people wonder if you ever plan to swallow it. Pay attention to how it feels. Digestion begins in the mouth. Chewing well is the first stage of digestion. Not only will you be preparing the food for the second stage, but you’ll be sending signals to your entire digestive system to prepare itself for what is to come.
When your body doesn’t want the food you are chewing, ironically, your first impulse is to swallow it. Your body is saying, “I don’t need this. Nothing good is happening here. There is nothing to figure out.” Your body wants that food out of your mouth. The next time this happens, resist the urge to swallow. Spit.
When you chew your food well, you become in tune with your body. You will begin to know what your body wants.
Pay Attention To How Things Make You Feel
Like chewing your food, paying attention to how things make you feel is “living in the now.” Don’t put moisturizer on your skin just because it’s a habit. Does it make your skin feel better? How long before you need more? Does it actually make your skin drier in the long run?
If you smoke and you plan to quit on New Year’s, right now is the time to start paying attention. Smoking causes headaches through sinus pressure and by causing tightness in the muscles of the neck. It also causes migraines and allergies (including food allergies), wreaks havoc on your adrenal glands, makes you tired, lowers your overall productivity (making it easier to concentrate right after you smoke, but lowering your ability to concentrate and focus in the long run), and causes your body to stay out of alignment.
Did you know smoking inflames your cerebellum causing your neck to go out of alignment? This causes pinched nerves which can led to a host of problems and misalignment including carpal tunnel syndrome.
Smoking slows down your kidneys causing them to be more susceptible to infection and also causes lower back pain and hip misalignment. Smoking clogs your liver and kidneys leading to acne.
Of course, there are many other problems caused by smoking. And you may notice many of the same problems stem from an energy drink habit. The point is, pay attention. If you hadn’t noticed these reactions before, you will now.
How much energy do you have? Are you running on fumes? Are you pushing through your day more on will power and mind over matter than energy and vitality? It will catch up to you if you don’t pay attention now.
The hardest part about paying attention to our bodies is allowing ourselves to feel the aches and pains, the tension and dysfunction we have spent years learning to ignore. When you first tune in, don’t be surprised if you feel pretty crappy. You might even think you’re sick more often than before. Really tuning in to your body is a tough change, and for many, not pleasant, but in the long run it’s the only way to live a long and healthy life without medication.
Pick New Year’s Resolutions You Know You Can Keep
If you never go to the gym regularly and you’ve signed up every January, don’t do it again. January is the worst time to start going to the gym. It’s crazy! You won’t be able to get the equipment you want or the help you need to learn how to use it.
Try starting with body weight exercises at home. Try Hindu pushups (YouTube) and squats. There are hundreds of body weight exercises you can do without ever going to the gym. You can manipulate your center of gravity to create very challenging body building routines without using weights (and many argue this is a better way to exercise). If you don’t believe it, see how many one-legged squats you can do while holding the other leg out in front of you.
If you are too overweight or too weak to do any exercise you find on the Internet, try “get ups.” Lie flat on your back on the floor and get up into a standing position. Lie back down. You might be so out of shape you have to start with one or two get-ups. But you’ll be amazed what this simple exercise will do for you and how quickly you’ll build up to doing 20 or 30 (or more!) at a time. Two things to note: Alternate legs, changing both the one you use to get up, and the one you use to get down. Also, this is where we are legally obligated to tell you to consult a physician before starting any workout program. But if you do decide to consult with a conventional doctor who tells you that you are too unhealthy to work out in any capacity, please go get a second opinion.
Vow to Begin a New Resolution Every Month or Every Week
On the first week you can vow to start exercising. Try a few pushups on your knees and a ½ mile walk. On your second week, you can vow to start recycling. A few weeks down the road you can vow to remove any and all toxic body care products from your bathroom. A couple of months later you can vow to start going to the gym (after things have settled down, of course) when you know you are ready to stick with a routine.
Most Importantly – Don’t Give Up
If you fall off the wagon with any one of your resolutions, that doesn’t mean you need to wait until next year. You don’t even have to wait until next month, or next week, or even tomorrow. Health is a choice we make every minute of every day. Almost every time we are choosing anything, our health should play a part in the decision.
Our Toxic Loads
People who understand that there is only one disease, malfunctioning cells, are decades ahead of their doctors. While this may sound mundane, it is actually quite profound. Likewise there are only two causes of disease: deficiency and toxicity. When deficient, cells aren’t getting everything they need to support normal cell function. When toxic, cells are getting something they don’t need, which damages normal function.
Most people immediately think of toxins as things coming from outside the body, like pesticides and prescription drugs. But the truth is most of our toxic load comes from the body itself. Normal healthy metabolism produces lots of metabolic waste products, just as a factory produces industrial waste. Abnormal metabolism produces even more toxins. In fact detoxification is the biggest single item in our biochemical budget, not only for handling outside toxins, but for getting rid of metabolic products like used hormones and neurotransmitters. Otherwise, these can build up in the body and cause cellular malfunction and disease.
At some point, we have to get rid of nearly every molecule that the body encounters. To do this, our detoxification system involves a complex process to render a molecule inactive. This system is entirely dependent on the foods we eat for the raw materials it needs.
Our detoxification systems are designed to keep us in good health. Problems occur when we eat poor diets and fail to supply the system with what it needs or if we overload the system beyond its capacity with too many toxins. In today’s world, virtually every American is in some degree of toxic overload.
To achieve optimal health we have to nutritionally support the detox systems and reduce their loads to manageable levels. The first step in learning how to reduce our toxic loads is to recognize that the tens of thousands of man-made chemicals that make our every day living possible are not harmless. Many of these chemicals are invisible, odorless, and tasteless so we may not even be aware of their presence. We are exposed to toxic man-made chemicals from everyday items like magazines, newspapers, carpets, pillows, mattresses, clothes, cosmetics, toothpaste, and processed foods.
Toxic chemicals are responsible for many of our 20th century disease problems, especially the new syndromes that mystify our doctors. Fatigue, headaches, digestive upsets, flu-like symptoms, aching joints can all be caused by environmental chemicals. High blood pressure and even fatal cardiac arrhythmias can be caused by chemicals ranging from solvents to pesticides. People who wake up feeling sluggish may not realize that the cause is right under their nose, the polyester chemicals coming off their pillow.
Short of going back to living in mud huts, what can we do to protect our health? The answer is a lot! We can minimize our toxic loads. We can supply our body’s detoxification systems with the raw materials needed for efficient operation. This means eating a varied diet of fresh, whole organic foods, avoiding processed foods, and foods with known high toxic contents like meat and dairy. We can supplement our diets with high quality nutrients like folic acid, vitamin B6, magnesium, essential fatty acids, vitamin B12, methionine, reduced glutathione, alpha ketoglutarate, dietary fiber, and vitamin C. Minimize toxic loads by avoiding pesticides, prescription drugs, tap water, and packaged foods with their additives and packaging chemicals. Don’t breathe the fumes when putting gasoline in the car. Buy clothes, furniture, carpets, bedding, and personal care products made from all natural materials.
By getting adequate nutrition and avoiding toxins, average people can reduce their toxic loads to levels their bodies can handle, thereby pushing their personal equations toward health.