NutriBullet Commercial

Anyone who watches TV will mostly likely have seen those NutriBullet infomercials on those numerous infomercial channels (the adds are shown on pretty much all channels these days).

The commercial begins with the narrator talking about how the US has become the most over fed yet under nourished nation on the planet - while showing images of overweight people.  The narrator goes on to say it comes down to one thing 'nutrient absorption'. "We need to increase the nutritional power of the foods we eat (images of fruit and vegetables are shown)... to dramatically change the way we look and feel".

An imagine of a man's before and after shots are shown. Images that I have seen on other weight loss commercials prior to the NutriBullet adds coming along.

This opening narrative is a gimmick to suck the viewer in because the truth is, yes we are under nourished but not because we're not extracting nutrients from our foods properly, but because we're not eating the right foods in the first place. It implies that only with the NutriBullet will be begin to get our proper nourishment and nutrient absorption and thus loose weight.

There is no talk of exercise to counteract the weight gain or a change of mindset which often accompanies those who are overweight. The commercial, with it's above image, implies that with the NutriBullet alone you'll be able to lose weight and get healthy because you'll be extracting nutrition from foods.

"Introducing the NutriBullet, the superfood nutrition extractor!!!... with the NutriBullet you can turn ordinary food into superfood!!!..." The add goes on to say that the ONLY way to get the nutrients from food is with the NutriBullet because up until now our bodies have been incapable of extracting nutrients from foods. Hence it's ridiculous link (above) to obesity... as if to say that we're only fat because we've never EVER been able to extract nutrients from our foods or turn our foods into super foods.

It goes on to say, "Open up foods' hidden nutrition on a cellular level..."

Laughable! Um... hang-on... that's what our teeth and our intestines are for right!

We don't need a device like this to 'break down' foods because our bodies are designed to break down and process foods on a cellular level already. Our bodies are an awesome machine unto themselves. We are not overfed and under nourished because the NutriBullet hasn't existed up til now and we've needed it all this time. We're overweight because we're eating an enormous amount of bad foods for the first time in decades. And because giant corporations are deciding what types of foods will be available to us such as, corn syrup, processed wheat, bleached rice and sugars in just about everything we eat!

Instead of being sucked in by this commercial we're better off purchasing natural, organic healthy foods and eating them in larger quantities than the junk food we have on offer.

Those who follow my blog are not very likely to buy into this type of gimmick (or are you?), still I'd love to hear your thoughts.
  

Natural Ways to Deal With BO

JOLI natural skin care's deodorant

Body odor. It is one of those things many of us dislike, on ourselves and others.

Certain things we do in our everyday lives affect our BO, how much we smell and how strong the smell can be, such as: eating lots of garlic, drinking lots of alcohol, smoking, not washing often, sweating more than usual.

Here are some natural ways to combat BO when you notice you've got it.

1) Drink lots of fresh water, with a dash of lemon or lime if you like, and green herbal teas (without caffeine). This will help flush out toxins and replenish your body with clean liquids.

2) Stop the intake of toxins such as sugary or fatty foods, caffeine and alcohol. These can have a stinky effect on our bodies; what goes in must come out one way or another.

3) Cleanse those smelly areas with toner to wash away bacteria that is causing the smell.

4) Apply a natural deodorant or body spray.

5) Repeat steps 1 - 4 until your BO isn't smelling as pongy.
  

P & G Product List

Proctor and Gamble (P&G) test on animals. To avoid buying into the pain and suffering of animals avoid these products.

Ace
Align
Ariel
Always
Anna Sui
Aussie
Bold
Bounce
Bounty
Braun
Camay
Cascade
Charmin
Cheer
Clearblue
Comet
Christina Aguilera Perfumes
Clairol Professional
CoverGirl
Crest
DDF
Dolce & Gabbana Cosmetics
Dolce & Gabbana Fragrances
Dunhill Fragrances
Escada Fragrances
Fekkai
Fusion
Ghost

Dash

Dawn
Downy
Dreft Laundry
Duracell
Era
Eukanuba
Febreze
Gain
Iams
Joy
Gillette
Gucci Fragrances
HUGO BOSS Fragrances
Head & Shoulders
Herbal Essences
Ivory
Lacoste Fragrances
MACH3
Naomi Campbell

Natural Instincts Nice 'n Easy
Nioxin
Luvs
Metamucil
Mr. Clean
Olay
Old Spice
Oral-B
Pantene
Pert
Prestobarba/Blue
Puma
Pampers
Pepto-Bismol
Prilosec OTC
Puffs
Rejoice
SK-II
Safeguard
Scope
Scope4
Sebastian Professional
Secret
Swiffer
Tampax
Tide
Vicks
Venus
Vidal Sassoon
Wella

See Also: Who Tests on Animals

<Click here for products not tested on animals>

  

Fight Back Against Cancer

I've written an earlier article on reasons why I don't support cancer fundraising events - basically because the cancer foundations are NOT demanding companies stop using harmful chemicals in products, ingredients that are known to harm us.  Instead they blithely let these companies continue to use these known hazardous ingredients without even so much as altering the public to this injustice.

Companies that use known

hazardous ingredients in their

products

Here are some ways you can help the fight against cancer.

1) Stop using beauty products containing hazardous chemicals. I know women who don't want to know about this issue. They want to sweep it under the carpet and pretend it doesn't exist. Sadly it is women like this who keep funding those cosmetic companies into producing more bad ingredients. Stop buying into it and supporting these companies.  Instead support natural skin care companies.

2) Stop using beauty products that are tested on animals or that use chemicals / ingredients that ARE tested on animals. See the above hazardous chemical list and KNOW that if an ingredient is on that list, even if a company says they don't test on animals, that ingredient IS tested on animals. There are over 1000's chemicals in production in cosmetics alone as we speak.

3) Stop using chemical laden cleaning products, instead opt for companies that manufacture green cleaning products, such as: Nature Direct or Murchison Hume. Again there will be people who insist those chemical laden products work better, smell better, require less elbow grease. You have a choice. Reduce chemicals that cause cancer and put some hard yakka into your cleaning or not.

4) Purchase organic / chemical free produce even if it costs more. Do what it takes to reduce the amount of chemicals you and your family are exposed to, to reduce the amount of chemicals in use around the world today. Or grow as much produce, herbs, fruits etc as you can, or start a community garden that doesn't use pesticides.

5) Quit smoking. Not because smoking is bad for you - most smokers are addicted and find it hard to find a good enough reason to stop.  Do it because you want the chemicals involved in making cigarettes to stop being produced. Quit smoking so you can force companies into changing their action plans.

6) Use safe sunscreens (as approved by the Environmental Working Group - EWG). Apply sunscreen daily and wash off daily. Spend 10 minutes a day outside to build up your bodies natural defense against cancer, vitamin D.

7) Use green eco friendly washing liquid (such as soap nuts) or plain water with a few drops of essential oils. Wash new clothes before wearing them to reduce the amount of chemicals that will leach into your body when you where these new garments.

8) Don't purchase those cheap and nasty trinket toys and other gadgets that don't last very long. Don't purchase stuff you don't actually need. Hold on to gadgets that do last even if they're updated to the latest, fastest, betterest version. This adds to production of chemicals and the destruction of the earth.

NOTE: There is little point in you donating any funds towards cancer research / cure if you are NOT doing these things because you're only adding to the problem of over production of chemicals in every day life.

Think about that and let me know what other steps can we take to fight cancer?
  

The Lady Stripped Bare - by Tracey Spicer

Tracey Spicer, a respected and renown Australian journalist, did an inspirational TED talk about stripping women bare of their daily routines, encouraging us to take up the challenge.

Tracey talks about the things us females do and questions their necessity. Do we really need to wear nail polish, apply layers of makeup, shave our bodies, dye our hair, suck in wobbly bits (i.e. be ashamed of them), be professionally acceptable size 10, running, exercise to get inner thigh gap, get rid of bingo flaps, wash hair with SLS & condition (with with placenta extract and wonder why overly large breasts are more likely), lather on petroleum by-product otherwise know as moisturiser (but not JOLI's), cleanse, toner containing alcohol, serum, eye cream (parabens), cover in bronzing cream, straighten and style hair, foundation, concealer, blusher, eye shadow, eye liner, curler, mascara, lip liner and lip stick, lip gloss, shape wear to suck in mummy gut, wear fancy clothes (and we own many), remove face hair, high heels that ruin our posture...!

It seems we truly believe beauty is pain.

When you see the list above all put together like that you realise the extent in which we immerse ourselves in things to *change* about ourselves. We don't do all of these things all of the time individually, however, we do makeup a mass collective of those who do many of these things often.

Tracey talks about how much time we waste trying to fit unrealistic expectations about how we should look. She talks of increasing productivity in work and home, however I don't quite look at it like that, though it's a valid point. I think about how much time we're spending obsessing over it. How much effort we spend judging ourselves and others for all our imperfections.

We judge those who breast feed or don't, judge those who work or don't, judge those who have large breasts or don't, judge those who are thin or fat, those who get surgery and those who don't, those who have children, those who don't.

Tracey and I both agree it's an absurdity to get caught up in the lot of this.

After her TED talk aired, other women in the media (such as the ladies from Studio 10) discussed the topic and were of the opinion it would be impossible to turn the tide. They like  those things and don't really want to give them up. I agree, we do seem to enjoy some of these things (I paint my toe nails because they're I don't think they're attractive and want to cover them up), though our interest borders on compulsion when you think about it. Not all of them are fun, yet we do them anyway.

Many cultures adorn themselves with jewellery and colourful clothing. Many cultures enjoy tattoos, piercings and other adornments, not all of them good (i.e. neck rings that weaken the neck muscles). I've often wondered how much of it is our own free will? How much of what we enjoy today is because we -  as women - choose it?

I only shaved my legs because at 18 some man told me I would have to start shaving them eventually (and my leg hair was nothing back then!).  Girls at school made fun of other girls with hairy legs and armpits. When I was older women and men made negative comments about how much pubic hair I had because I didn't shave it.  I wore makeup because blemishes were/are not pretty, nor were freckles. I've never had naturally long pretty nails or fabulous hair.  And we're told carrying extra weight is seen as unattractive - gotta be size 0.  And heaven forbid women get old!!

How much of how I view myself is really my view of myself without the influence of the media and my peers telling me how I should look and be?

How much of your view is your own and how much are you influenced by the media and peers into doing many of the things listed above?  How much of it is really a choice if you had the freedom to choose?

  

Nature Republic 92% Soothing Aloe Vera Gel

Nature Republic Soothing & Moisture Aloe Vera 92% Soothing Gel 300ml

When you hear the title and the 92% Aloe Vera gel you'd be inclined to think this is quite a natural product.  In fact the name Nature Republic sounds as though they're natural.

Then you read the ingredients list and you realise it is fairly natural with some not so natural (some hazardous) ingredients, to act as preservatives and stabilisers

Ingredients:
Aloe barbadensis leaf extract (92%), alcohol, glyceryl polyacrylate [3], dipropylene glycol, butylene glycol, glycerin, propylene glycol, 1,2-mentha viridis (spearmint) extract, melissa officinalis extract, carbomer, peg-60 hydrogenated caster oil, triethanolamine [5], phenoxyethanol [4], water, parfum [8], disodium edta.

[numbers in boxes denote hazard rating from 1 to 10 - 10 being most hazardous]

You all know my thoughts on propylene glycol - if not read the article to give you a better understanding.  So while this product may appear natural because the label says so it is always important to read the labels and have a good understanding of what those ingredients are and mean.

However, it's always good to make small changes to products that are mostly natural. They're still better than hardly natural at all.

  

Eczema & Food Intolerance part 3

It has been around 4 weeks since we started the skin specialist's advice, using the products we were given (pictured).  Bath gel, moisturiser, low steroid base cream, steroid cream and antihistamine.

virtual chemist

I have to concede that my son's skin has never looked better.  He is so happy with his "new skin" (as he calls it) and I can see the relief and joy on his face.  It never occurred to me that he might also be frustrated and upset with his skin.  He has always been so amicable and quiet about it.

Hubby did the steroid cream for three days to get the flare up under control (then I hid the tube from him).  He also did the bleach in the bath which I hadn't known about (I've also hidden the bleach). We moisturise twice daily, morning and night, with the petroleum based moisturisers (hubby) and Soothing Salve (me- when hubby's not looking).  This stops his skin from drying out, keeps him moisturised and protects his skin from elements, sweat, wind etc.

my son's new skin ~ JOLI NSC

As you know I'm not a fan of petroleum based anything!  However we have the product here and hubby will know if I throw it out or hide it. When the products are finished we will move back to the Soothing Slave we were using on my son before the doctors intervention.

We are still sticking to a food safe eating regime for the most part mainly because he doesn't need all those additive/preservative filled foods.  Though we have noticed very little difference in his skin when he consumes a bad additive.  At most he's gotten one or two small spot rashes on his buttocks of all places.  What mostly makes a difference, food wise, is limiting his dairy intake.

Admittedly, we had never been diligent with the moisturising of his skin (too busy/lazy). As written in Part 1, I was moisturising with Soothing Salve which worked a treat, yet application was sporadic at best, while hubby was opting for constant use of the steroid cream (much to my agitation). Now that we are both ensuring he's moisturised often it's making a difference.

It is strange because we already used these types of products already, a safe bath liquid, daily moisturisation, hubby and his over excited use of steroid creams.

my son's new skin ~ JOLI NSC

The thing that is making the biggest difference however, is the antihistamine!!!

As I had often suspected, though couldn't pin point why, his eczema seemed allergy related and the antihistamine is containing that allergic reaction.  For example when he had the spot rash on his bottom he was given antihistamine for three nights in a row (then we stop) and his rash settled down.  I did also apply JOLI's aloe vera gel to the rash.  Bleach kills off the bacteria on the surface of the skin which helps kill the germs causing the rash... aloe vera gel does the same thing naturally.

After years and years of trying to get our son's eczema under control it turns out that working together to moisturise him regularly, morning and night, and giving him antihistamine when his eczema flares up (which is less and less these days) has made all the difference.

UPDATE: months later we rarely need to give our son antihistamine, those other creams have run out except for Elidel which we rarely use and it's back to keeping his skin moisturised with good old trusty Soothing Salve, twice a day, and baths with natural products. He rarely has flareups these days and he is still happy in his 'new skin'.

[You can read Part 1 and Part 2 here]
  

Eczema & Food Intolerance part 2

We began our food elimination diet around the 17th Nov 2014.  This meant cutting out many foods with additives and preservatives, artificial colours and flavours - as per the Fed Up app.

JOLI - eczema flare up (about 2 months in)

Two weeks into we had moments of it looking like the elimination diet was making a difference then moments of flare ups.  Some flare ups coincided with an accidental intake of the wrong foods (i.e. strawberries and mangos which are high in salicylates and a chocolate he ate without asking). Other flares ups happened when he'd been eating clean for a week or two. One flare up (pictured) occurred when we had a stinking hot day, he got sweaty and boom! Major flare up.

JOLI - eczema flare up (about 2 months in)

It has always been the case that most flare ups happen after our son has gotten hot and sweaty, which is many days at school and all that running around.  His rash is confined to only where his clothes are and does not occur in the crooks of his arms or knees. Since school holidays began he's spent most of his time running around shirtless which is certainly helping soothe his eczema.  I found that applying aloe vera gel really helps too.

JOLI - eczema appearing to ease after liberal application

of aloe vera gel

We took him to the skin care specialist for his allergy testing, only she took one look at him and decided he didn't need allergy testing because eczema is pure genetics, he needed an action plan. He was prescribed two creams, one low steroidal that he's to use for 3 days then we stop, the other non steroidal that we're to continue using on him daily.  He was given a (non natural - though surprisingly not laden with bad chems) body wash, moisturiser and QV lotions (paraffinum based) and told to take antihistamine medicine daily.  She also suggested adding a dash of bleach to his bath as this kills off the bacteria around the eczema thus helping it heal (same as what aloe does).  This is the third time I've heard the bleach suggestion and I personally know of others who have tried it much to the improvement of their children's skin.  Still, I am reluctant to try it because bleach triggers asthma.
She at least told hubby I'm doing well trying to eliminate chemicals from my son's skin care products.

As soon as hubby heard the 'good' news (i.e. the doctor agreeing with him), our son doesn't need to eliminate additives and preservatives from his diet, he was wrapped.  When shopping he wanted to load the trolley with a number of additive filled foods.  I was at least able to talk him into holding off on adding bad foods to our son's diet.

JOLI - eczema appearing to ease after liberal application

of aloe vera gel

Now we're trying the plan the dermatologist has implemented for two weeks (aside from the bleach) and we're going to see what effect that has on our son's eczema.  Mean while he'll return to school where most of his flare ups occur, and he'll be eating the occasional 'bad' food because the doctor told hubby he can.

It feels like a game of chess where we make certain moves to try and improve the flare ups and wait to make the next move, waiting for that elusive check-mate.

[Part 1 and Part 3]