chemicals

So You Want to Get Healthy – Is Your Family On Board?

September 11, 2015 By Karen Leave a Comment

Signpost with the words Help, Support, Advice, Guidance and Assistance on the direction arrows, against a bright blue cloudy sky.

I often hear stories like this:

“We’re trying to rid the house of ants, but while I was looking for a safe, non-toxic treatment, my husband went out and bought an insecticide.

And he sprayed it all over. Am I totally screwed?”

Well, no – hopefully not.

As long as this isn’t a daily thing, or you’re not sleeping in the same room that you sprayed in.

More to the point, this kind of conflict crops up all the time in relationships, and it isn’t always easy to resolve.

The next question, of course – and it’s a reasonable one – is this:

What if your spouse, or significant other, DOES think you’re totally nuts for wanting to eat organic foods?

What’s On Your Bucket List?

April 17, 2015 By Karen Leave a Comment

You’ve heard of a Bucket List, right?

That list of things you’ve always wanted to do, but never quite got around to?

In a nutshell, a Bucket List is a way of setting some goals for yourself, namely what you’d like to accomplish in this life, before moving on.

And it’s an awesome idea!

(Perhaps you’ve even seen the movie by that name?)

Today I’d like to share with you a different sort of Bucket List.

It’s an analogy, if you will, a way of looking at the hand you’ve been dealt – your medical history, along with your entire life trajectory and challenges along the way.

In other words, everything that’s you led to where you are today.

So, here’s the thing.

Picture a bucket of water – with the water level stopping about two inches from the top.

Is Detox A 4-Letter Word?

January 9, 2015 By Karen Leave a Comment

We’re just a few days into the New Year, and hardly a day goes by that I don’t come across an email or Facebook post advocating a full body Detox or Cleanse.

The general idea is to undo the damage from all the holiday indulgence.

(I even offer an Extreme Kitchen Makeover – not quite the same thing, but a detox just the same.)

So, what’s the point of a Detox, anyway?

Is this just some “new agey” thing?

Why would the human body even need to detox? And what exactly are you detoxing from?

Are Your Kids Missing School?

September 11, 2014 By Karen Leave a Comment

Allergy Concept Did you know that asthma in children is on the rise, resulting in a lot of missed school days?

(According to the latest statistics, more than 25 million people are affected.)

That’s a lot!

The likely culprit might surprise you even more – toxins in the environment.

Yes, you read that correctly.

The rise in asthma has been specifically correlated to a group of chemicals commonly referred to as VOC’s. (That stands for Volatile Organic Compounds).

Even the word volatile sounds scary, doesn’t it?

You might be wondering what that even means.

Well, you know how, when food has gone bad, it typically has a rather awful smell?

Think of VOC’s in the environment as being the household equivalent to rotten food.

So, just as you wouldn’t eat food that has obviously seen better days (gluten-free, or not) you really don’t want to surround yourself with chemicals that poison the air you breathe.

In fact, we now know that indoor air pollution can actually be 50% worse than outdoor air.

10 Americans – A Gem Of A Video

March 21, 2014 By Karen Leave a Comment

OK, that image might be a bit misleading, but bear with me here.

(There actually IS a large pancake stack in this wonderful video I’m about to share with you – titled “10 Americans“).

Over the past year, I’ve been working with an Environmental Toxins Expert – learning as much as I can about the home environment in particular and the many little things we can do to create change.

(As a former interior designer, with an eye on Green Design – this was right up my alley!)

That’s why, whenever possible, I like to broaden the conversation – so that we’re not just talking about food sensitivities, but understanding that other environmental factors can also impact our health.

Just to share an example – did you know that the average female consumer uses a dozen personal care products every day (which may, or may not contain gluten)? And that those products alone, contain in the neighborhood of 168 different chemicals?

(Men use about half as many products – containing 85 different chemicals, or so.)

Either way you look at it, that’s a lot!

Does Your Kitchen Need A Makeover?

June 21, 2013 By Karen Leave a Comment

Does this sound like you?

You’ve recently eliminated all gluten from your diet, and you’re feeling so much better.

You want that great feeling to last – well, forever.

A clean, healthy diet is certainly the easiest and quickest way to support your health.

So, kudos to you for coming this far!

What you may not realize is that there are other ways your kitchen could be undermining your best efforts.

Yes, this goes beyond food and what you might be eating on a daily basis.

Here’s another way of looking at it.

There are actually three different ways that foreign substances enter our bodies:

We ingest them
We breathe them
We accumulate them on our skin

So, why should you be concerned?

Well, if you’re dealing with any health issues whatsoever – in addition to your food sensitivities – then this is definitely something you want to consider.

For example:

Weight Gain
Behavioral problems in children
Anxiety or Depression

Truth be told, there are numerous household and environmental chemicals that we’re exposed to every day.

(If you’ve already downloaded your copy of the HEALTHY AGING TOOLKIT, you’re already a step ahead – good for you!)

THE FABRIC OF OUR LIVES

March 11, 2011 By Karen Leave a Comment

A few weeks ago, I attended an innovative & enjoyable interior design event, held at the Theo Chocolate factory in Seattle.

If you’re wondering what chocolate has to do with design, this struck me as such a fun concept I couldn’t resist the opportunity to learn more.

As it happened, the chocolate fest was held in tandem with the viewing of a locally owned fabric collection from O’Ecotextiles.

What these two companies – and their products – have in common is an environmentally conscious footprint. In other words, from start to finish, both the chocolate, and the fabrics, are sustainably manufactured!

On their website, Theo’s Chocolates boasts they are “the ONLY Organic, Fair-Trade, Bean-to-Bar Chocolate Factory in the United States!”

O’Ecotextiles describes their fabrics as “Opulent, Yet Organic” and “Sensuous, yet Sustainable”.

Tempting, yes?

Well, I’d like to share some sobering statistics about the many fabrics, luscious and otherwise, that we surround ourselves with on a daily basis.

What most of us don’t realize, is that there are over 2000 chemicals used in fabric production.

That’s right – 2000!

You can be sure that most of them are highly toxic, and harmful to both your health and the environment.

Yet the average person has no idea.

So You Want to Get Healthy – Is Your Family On Board?

What’s On Your Bucket List?

Is Detox A 4-Letter Word?

Are Your Kids Missing School?

10 Americans – A Gem Of A Video

Does Your Kitchen Need A Makeover?

THE FABRIC OF OUR LIVES

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