Time for a Lifestyle Change? Keep It Clean

We live in a very different world today from when I grew up in the 50's and 60's. Even though there were issues with pollution and toxicity, it seemed nothing like the saturation point it appears we have reached today.

We are surrounded by chemicals that cause cancer. Chemicals are in our food, clothing, furniture, water and air.

Is it any wonder cancer is so pervasive today? It used to be few knew anyone with cancer. Today, we all have family, friends and neighbors confronted with the horrible diagnosis of cancer. In the Us vs. Them War on Cancer, clearly cancer has won.

So what can we do?

First, make the choice and act to go CLEAN.

The foundation of a healthy lifestyle starts with living clean. Simply speaking, it means removing chemicals from every part of our lives that we control—in and around our homes, in our food, what we put on our bodies, furniture we buy... you get the picture.

Start With Your Food

Open your pantry and refrigerator and throw out anything that has artificial sweeteners, corn syrup (sometimes it may appear as "flavor"), trans fat or hydrogenated oils, artificial flavors and artificial colors. Those might be the obvious ingredients to look for on the label. For a more comprehensive list, check out Eliminating Unhealthy Foods for a list of more ingredients to guide you in your decision.

Nix GMO Ingredients
Anything with corn, canola or soy that is NOT organic is 98% likely a Genetically Modified Organism (GMO). Throw it out! GMO food will contribute to destroying your gut health, add weight particularly around the stomach and overall compromise your immune system causing you to be sick more often. Oh and cause cancer.

Nix Sugar
Once you start reading food labels, you'll realize that sugar has been added to everything in the processed food aisle in the grocery store. Bread, canned beans, dressings, sauces... everything! And if it's listed as simply "sugar" (rather than cane sugar, coconut sugar, etc.) it's likely corn syrup, therefore GMO. Bye-bye! Seriously! Throw it out.

Don't buy anything if sugar is listed on the label. Sugar definitely makes you... ahem... fat and is the cause of the "life-preserver" (not at all preserving your life) around your middle.

Sugar is BAAAAAAD! Don't buy it.

NOTE: I realize this can be an overwhelming project. It's okay to take it in reasonable "bites." Start with a few shelves at a time. Some things you should not be replacing because you really want to eat more real food not from a box or can.

If you eat meat, you have other issues to deal with. Unless the animal is wild (such as wild-caught fish—the only meat I eat) or fed its natural food it will be loaded with antibiotics (because they live in horrible disease-ridden conditions), given hormones (for growth), fed cheap GMO grains and corn (grass is real food for cows—greens, seeds, worms and bugs is real food for chickens, etc).

Also, consider buying only organic produce because it will not be laden with pesticides which cause cancer and upset your gut balance. And organic food cannot be GMO.

Be a Smart Consumer

Furniture is often sprayed with fire retardant. While I don't expect you to throw away your furniture, if you buy or replace something, you should make sure it is not going to add to your home's toxic load. Buy low-VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds: unhealthy solvents that evaporate from a product into the air) paints, cleaners and materials. VOC's are toxic and using them should require a respirator, but no-one ever does that.

If you buy something that has a strong chemical smell, leave it outside or in the garage for a few days to let it out-gas before you bring it in the house.

We recently purchased the most comfortable bed we've ever had. It's manufactured by Loom & Leaf and made from organic cotton, plant-based foam and no chemical flame retardant. Ahhhhh! Blissful sleep.

Detox Your Home

Reduce or eliminate chemical cleaning products. There are cleaning products for every type of cleaning job and most are toxic. Do you really need all those cleaning products? I use water and white vinegar in a spray bottle for most of my cleaning. It's cheap and gets the job done. If I need something a bit stronger I use a "green" cleaning product made from plant material. Same for laundry, automatic dishwasher soap and dish soap.

Some good brands for green cleaning include Planet, Ecover and 7th Generation.

More ways to detox your home:

• Filter your drinking water. 
• Install a chlorine filter in your shower. 
• Don't use a pest control service. 
• Use only organic fertilizers and pesticides.

Check out 5 Tips to Detox Your Home for more details on making your home Clean.

Stop Bathing Your Body in Chemicals

Let's talk shower and bath products, hair-care products, makeup, cosmetics, skin care and dental care products. These can be a toxic soup of chemicals that add to our body's toxic load. The skin is the largest organ in the body so anything put on our skin is quickly absorbed into the blood. These chemicals interfere with our hormones and can contribute to an inflammatory response. Do you have headaches? Could be that perfume you spayed on or that skin lotion you rubbed in.

I buy hand-crafted skin care products that are made in the city where I live. Rachelle Neal the owner of Abundant Life Healing offers salves, tinctures and teas that have pure ingredients with no preservatives. Check out her product line. I LOVE her skin care products and double LOVE the Lemon Lime Deodorant—it is amazing. Don't leave home without it!

Once you've thrown out all the icky stuff, look for products that are less harmful. Check for green products on Amazon, Whole Foods, and Thrive Market or look up DIY solutions on Google.

If you do all of the above, you'll be clean as a whistle—figuratively and literally. And you'll feel and look better.

Welcome to CLEAN living! The foundation for a healthy lifestyle.

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Look for the Butterfly ~ Non-GMO Verified

Last month President Obama signed weak and flawed legislation into federal law that addresses GMOs in foods. It is called the DARK (Deny Americans the Right to Know) act by those of us who believe we have the right to know what's in our food. It is a win for big chemical and biotech corporations, but a blow to the American family and the hope for a food supply that is healthy and transparent.

It is also a stain on our republic as it erases any laws that states enacted (like Vermont) that require food labels to identify GMO ingredients. Plus it seems to be a clear violation of the 14th Amendment, as it would allow corporations to use QR codes instead of clear packaging on labels.

Basics of the GMO Labeling Bill (aka DARK Act)
Let's break it down:

• The words "GMO" or "genetic engineering" will NOT be required to be anywhere on the package.
• 95% of the ingredients that are GMO will NOT be included in the "labeling."
• The "labeling" that will be "required" is an option of a QR code, a telephone number, website or symbol. 
• There will be no fines for not complying, so claims that this law is "mandatory" are simply false.
• Vermont's state law (which which would have gone into effect his year) to label GMOs is pre-empted.
• CT, ME and VA that have pending GMO labeling laws have also been pre-empted.

The law is highly discriminatory as well. Many senior citizens, minorities, low income and rural residents do not have access to wi-fi, Smart phones or cell reception. Thus it appears to be a violation of the 14th Amendment.

So you see just how bad and empty this law is? Pathetic comes to mind.

Did someone say, "The system is rigged"?

So much for the rights of the American citizenry vs Big Business. It is very sad indeed.

Read a more thorough analysis by the Cornucopia Institute and how the Organic Trade Association (OTA) betrayed consumers, organic farmers and the many organic-related industry associations, plus what might happen going forward.

Meanwhile, the Non-GMO Project, a non-profit organization, created with the cooperation of food manufactures wanting to demonstrate that their foods do not contain GMO ingredients has been growing its list of Verified products.

What to Look For To Protect Your Family
Even though the battle to clearly label is lost, there is plenty to be thankful for. The process of putting forth federal and state legislation has brought widespread public awareness of GMO foods and what it is.

So what do you do now?

1. Look for the Non GMO Project Butterfly on foods you choose.
2. Buy foods labeled Organic which must be free of GMO ingredients.
3. Eat a clean diet (food that contains NO artificial ingredients—chemicals, preservatives, additives, colors and GMOs)
4. Buy produce from the Organic section.
5. Buy from local farmers, but ask them about their farming practices (what do they put on the crops and when) 

This business of food is big in our world today. With cancer and other disease on the rise and so much in our environment we cannot control, we must be vigilant to put the purest and best into our bodies—It's the fuel (mostly plant-based) that makes our bodies healthy and able to heal from disease.

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Join the Food Revolution With Me

I hope you were able to watch and learn from The Truth About Cancer: A Global Quest docu-series. Perhaps you even invested in the videos—I did—and plan on watching again to get the maximum benefit and so you can pass the videos on to friends and family.

I hope you got that there is not just one way to heal from cancer without harm to your body, but multiple. You can put together a protocol that works for you—with or without the help of a practitioner.

I told you I would be passing on valuable educational opportunities so you could be as knowledgeable as me about your health. If you look to the so-called healthcare system (really should be called disease management) you may not succeed in getting healthy.

You really are in control of your health.

Talk About Food
Getting to the heart of how we become healthy and heal from disease or avoid disease in the first place, we must look at food. Coming up this weekend is the start of the Food Revolution Summit.

Are you worried about what’s happening with our food? About the pesticides and GMOs in meals your family may be eating, and how they might affect you in the long term?

The statistics show an alarming rise in health issues that parallels the spread of harmful chemicals in our food supply.

The good news is there are so many ways to eat deliciously and see your health improve—if you know what to watch out for.

Check out the Food Revolution Summit here.

The food industry has hijacked the marketplace and processed junk food is pretty much everywhere. Even many so-called “natural” foods actually turn out to be hazardous to your health.

And now we’re even seeing genetically modified ingredients showing up in “health” foods, even those labeled “all-natural”!

Enough is enough!

From April 30- May 8, my friends, John and Ocean Robbins, are interviewing 25 of the top doctors, activists, and scientists in the food world—including speakers like Christiane Northrup, MD; Mark Hyman, MD; Joel Fuhrman, MD; Jane Goodall Ph.D; David Perlmutter, MD; and Vani Hari.

You can get it all online, from anywhere on earth—for no cost. FREE! You’ll discover tips and tools to keep you and your loved ones healthy for life. So if you want to feel good about your food, enjoy more energy, vitality and increased immunity, this is the place to be!

When it comes to your health and the lives of those you love, the time to get informed and take action is NOW. And this is the place to do it.

Check it out and sign up for the Food Revolution Summit here.

I’ll see you there!


P.S. Remember, The Food Revolution Summit is free! Now you can enjoy inspiration and support from the top 25 food experts, showing you how to eat safe, healthy and delicious food. I hope you’ll join me! Just click the link to reserve your spot and get the truth about the connection between food and your health.

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Please Don't Keep Us in the DARK

Despite the fact that nine out of 10 Americans support mandatory GMO labeling, the U.S. House of Representatives recently passed H.R. 1599, otherwise known as the Deny Americans the Right to Know – or DARK Act.

The actual name of the bill is more nefarious IMHO: the Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act of 2015.

Really?

Can someone tell me how labeling is "Safe and Accurate" when GMO ingredients in our food are not permitted to be labeled? And any group (Hello Non-GMO Project) labelling foods found to be free of GMO ingredients is not allowed? Poof!

I was steamed about the bill passing! Earlier in that day I made a special trip to let my Congressman's representative in the field know I was dead set against it. It was a matter of freedom, health and State's Rights. When I saw it had passed and my congressman had voted for it... Well, let's just say bought and paid for by big business.

If you think the system is rigged, you might want to check this non-partisan effort I've signed on to called MayDay.us.

Not only would the DARK Act block all states from labeling genetically engineered foods, but it would also make it much harder for the FDA to ever mandate national labeling. See what I mean! If we’re going to stop this reprehensible bill from becoming law, we need to show the Senate and President Obama how serious we are about GMO labeling.

If you want to see how things are shaping up in your state to require GMO's be labeled, check this link. *

Please take a minute to sign the petition now and help get to 500,000 signatures against the DARK Act – before it’s too late.

Sign the Petition

Want to test your knowledge about GMO foods? *


* Links are a year or two old, but still reflect what is happening with GMO's and the effort to label them.

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Kudos to Chipotle for Dumping GMOs

Recently we stopped for lunch at Chipotle. I knew Chipotle has healthy choices AND they were the first food chain to announce they had GMOs in some menu items, but were busily trying to source all non-GMO ingredients.

Well, I'm happy to say, they have achieved what they said they would do. I give them huge props for sticking out their necks and listening to consumers who know what GMO foods are and their danger to health.

What Did I Eat at Chipotle?
I had a bowl (a burrito without the wrap) with the following ingredients:

• Sofritas—cooked organic, crumpled and seasoned tofu
• Cilantro-Lime Brown Rice (half of normal serving)
• Black Beans
• Fajita Veggies (lots of them)
• Topped with—
• Mild Fresh Tomato Salsa
• Medium Hot Tomatillo Green Chili Salsa
• Medium Hot Roasted Chili-Corn Salsa
• Lettuce

It was YUM. What do you think?

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Oppose the DARK Act

Without your help, the entire campaign to label genetically engineered food could be at risk!

Rep. Mike Pompeo is expected to re-introduce the Deny Americans the Right to Know (DARK) Act any day now. This biotech industry-backed bill would not only preempt state efforts to label GMOs, it would make voluntary labeling the law of the land – permanently. In other words, if the DARK Act passes, the fight for mandatory GMO labeling is over.

That’s why this week Just Label It is participating in a national week of action to call on Congress to oppose the DARK Act and support mandatory GE labeling.

Click here to join the movement, contact your representatives in Congress today and push them to reject the DARK Act!

For the past 13 years, the food industry’s voluntary labeling system has failed us. With the exception of Chipotle Mexican Grill, not a single company has disclosed whether its products contain GMO ingredients. Pompeo’s “DARK Act” would lock in this shocking, anti-consumer approach.

Monsanto and others have already spent millions fighting to keep consumers in the dark about GMOs. And with so much more at their disposal, you can bet that Big Food will be pulling out all the stops to get the DARK Act passed this year.

If you're in the dark about the dangers of GMO, check out my post Why Avoid GMO Foods?

Let’s show them that American consumers are louder than these corporate bullies!
 

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Over the Top for Organic Food

I love that there are so many beating the drum for your health, dear readers. And there is no better person that I'd rather occupy the proverbial soap box with than Jennie Zraick. Listen to what she has to pass on today.

I know some of you think I'm a bit over the top with my passion for buying organic food whenever possible. Perhaps you think my "conspiracy theory" attitude towards our government and commercial agri-business tips to the paranoid side of the scale.

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Mothers Across America March to Label GMOs

The day we celebrate our county's Freedom is the day we turn the tide. Tomorrow, at over 169 parades, thousands of moms are marching in hometown parades with Moms Across America. The Moms Across America March (MAAM) will connect with millions of our neighbors and community members who have never heard of GMOs, as smiling faces, festive cheer and patriotic gear deliver the message: Label GMOs. Parade viewers will wonder... And when they wonder they will be open to finding out more.

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Wisdom Wednesday

Tip
Stay away from GMO corn. Unless it's organic or carries the Non-GMO seal, don't eat it. Tests show GMO corn contains 13 ppm of glyphosate (poison in Roundup®) plus high levels of formaldehyde. The EPA standard for glyphosate in American water supplies is 0.7 ppm, and organ damage in animals has occurred at levels as low as 0.1 ppm. Plus a 2012 nutritional analysis shows GMO corn severely nutrient deficient.

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What is Real Food?

Just because a food product says its real or natural means nothing. In fact, I am suspect that it is far from real.

Case in point. I've just returned from a road trip with my hubby to visit a number of friends. Being a foodie, I can feel comfortable in anyone's kitchen making breakfast, lunch or dinner. In the three kitchens I maneuvered about these past 10 days, I found three jars of Best Foods Mayonnaise.

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Genetic Roulette: A Must-See Movie

I watched the film Genetic Roulette this week and became even more concerned, even horrified, about the effects of genetically modified organisms (GMO) on the health of Americans and some unsuspecting countries.

The movie was released shortly before California citizens voted on the mandatory labeling of foods that contain GMO ingredients. When the proposition qualified for the November ballot as Prop 37, support for it ran about 70%. However, Monsanto and other organizations that created and benefit from GMOs entered the fray and contributed huge resources to defeat the measure. Opponents scared consumers into thinking food costs would increase measurably based on the assertion that re-labeling added too much cost to the manufacturers.

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Why Avoid GMO Foods?

The majority of corn, soy, canola (rapeseed) and cotton seed crops are GMO (Genetically Modified Organisms). Because that makes the food un-natural, I consider GMO corn or soy an artificial food/ingredient. Removing artificial ingredients from the diet is a major step in making healthy eating choices. If that's not enough to convince you to avoid GMO foods, let's dig further.

Why are the plants modified? So they can spray the heck out of them with Roundup (a Monsanto weed killer that most people have used in their yard). The modified plant is not affected by the weed killer. So now you're eating a food that has been doused with weed killer.

The problem is the weeds have become increasingly immune to the spray, so they spray more Roundup on the crops during the course of their growth.

Doesn't that sound yummy? Okay, now do you want to be more discriminant about your corn, soy, canola and cotton seed food choices?

Need More? How about approval without adequate safety studies:

"In 1992, the Food and Drug Administration claimed they had no information showing that GM foods were substantially different from conventionally grown foods. Therefore absolutely no safety studies were required.

But secret internal memos made public by a lawsuit show that the actual consensus among FDA scientists was that GMOs can create unpredictable, hard-to-detect side effects, including allergies, toxins, new diseases, and nutritional problems. They urged long-term safety studies.

Sadly, the FDA official in charge of policy ignored the warnings." ~Jeffery M. Smith author Seeds of Deception 

Here is a list of problems stemming from GMO foods—pick your favorite:

• Since GMO introduction in 1996 chronic illnesses have increased from 7% to 13% in 2005, allergies more than doubled and other ailments are on the rise.
• Introduces new allergies or elevates existing ones.
• Animal studies show drastic reduction in digestive enzymes which can increase allergic sensitivity and cause digestive issues.
• GM corn and cotton produce a poison called Bt-toxin linked to animal deaths in several countries.
• May cause infertility. Pigs and cows became sterile and rats had reproductive problems when fed GM corn.
• May hurt newborns. Most of the babies of rats fed GM soy died within three weeks of birth.
• The only human study done shows GM food alters DNA of bacteria in gastrointestinal tract.

In Europe food producers are required to label foods that are GMO. Not so in the US. You can only be sure if the food is 100% organic or stated non-GMO or GMO-free.

Be good to yourself and your family and stay away from GMO food. Read How to Avoid Genetically Modified Food to get more information.

For a thorough look at the issue, watch The Unhealthy Truth video (important 15 minutes of your time) given by Robyn O'Brien, a mom campaigning to educate the public about the dangers of GMO.

What are your thoughts on the food supply? Scroll down and leave a comment.

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