Friday, July 29, 2011

Alkaline and Acid food chart

Dear Reader,
Many of us need to change our diet so that we have a more acid stomach and alkaline digestive track.  This is confusing.  If the stomach is not acidic enough to break down the food so that it is reduced to a nice soup that will gently open the door to the digestive track, the food putrifies and explodes into the upper intestine, causing discomfort, gas and indigestion.  Start your day with a warm glass of filtered water with half a lemon squeezed into it.  Then to get our system more alkaline, which results in a more efficient, less gassy flow of food through the digestive track, we need to eat more alkaline foods.  Here is an excellent chart that you can print out.  It will help you make your food choices.

Be well,  Betsy

betsybell'sHealth4U
206 933 1889
http://HiHoHealth.com   shopping site
http://HiHoWealth.com   biz op
http://TiredNoMore.com  Get energized

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Help! Now it's hand soap we have to look out for.

Dear Reader,
I feel as though I am always the bearer of bad tidings.  Be forewarned that my task is to educate and remind myself and you that the old adage "buyer beware" is true in all matters.  We do not have a government that meddles or protects us from toxins.  You may think, there isn't much that's harmful in this product.  That may be true.  It is the accumulation that builds up and breaks down your immune system's capacity to heal the frequent hits to the DNA that can become the beginning of cancer.  And then there is the environment to consider.

Here's the article and call to action that just came across my desk.  We do have the power to change the way things are. Just pick up the phone or check the box.

Do not worry, the Shaklee product line of personal care products are safe, work well, smell just find (not heavy scent) and are economical.  You have alternatives.

Meredith Begin, Education & Outreach Organizer for Food & Water Watch, writes "Sometimes I don't wash my hands with soap and water. I just can't bring myself to use a product that causes all sorts of health problems and will exist in our environment forever. What ingredient is so repulsive that I'm willing to walk to find dish soap in the kitchen to use or just forgo the soap all together? Triclosan.

I wonder what it is about Bath & Body Works'"antibacterial" soap that people are so drawn to. It comes in gift baskets and as prizes at baby showers and bachelorette parties, and it's in my friends' bathrooms. While it may come in sweet or fruity scents like "sugar lemon fizz" or "tangelo orange twist" to get the attention of young girls and women, their antibacterial soap contains a toxic chemical called triclosan. I can't help but wonder if the audience that Bath & Body Works targets even knows what triclosan is, and whether the company even cares.

Can you ask Bath & Body Works to discontinue the use of triclosan in their products?
Triclosan poses serious environmental health hazards by disrupting hormones, even lowering sperm counts in animals. After it is washed down the drain, it pollutes our waterways and can transform into dioxins, a class of chemicals some consider to be the most toxic. Bath & Body Works heavily markets their products containing triclosan to girls and young women, leading them to believe that they need antibacterial soaps. But the truth is, antibacterial soaps are no more effective than regular soap and water. In fact, using antibacterial soaps may be worse, even leading to antibiotic resistant bacteria.

We need to ask Bath & Body Works to stop using triclosan. Other major companies, like Colgate Palmolive, have agreed to eliminate triclosan from some of their products. Why can't Bath & Body Works stop using triclosan too?

Send the Bath & Body Works' CEO a message today:
http://action.foodandwaterwatch.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=7319


Thanks for taking action,"

Betsy

BetsyBell'sHealth4U
206 933 1889
www.HiHoHealth.com  where safe alternatives can be found.

Friday, July 22, 2011

Excellent guide to social media for business owners

I don't know about you, Dear Reader, but I sometimes feel as though I am buried under my facebook, twitter, youtube, linkedin, shutterfly accounts.  Just today I was invited to join a google circle and I put my profile information in where required.  My info--personal and business--is all over the net.  I am hoping to increase my friendships and my business while never stepping on anyone's toes or bruising a delicate friendship.

I am passing along an excellent article that came from Ann Sieg whose postings I follow (occasionally).

In the end we are all trying to be more connected and helpful to the people we get to know with our products and services.  We are helper-people, the type Kim Klaver calls Mother Teresa's.  We just want to help other people have a better life, like the one we've come to love for ourselves.

So learning to use social media can be a tool or a burden.  It's like going to multiple cocktail parties which will definitely wear you out.  I learned a technique to save myself from the awful burn out of one more large event after my first husband died.  A dear friend took me under his arm and said, go with us and we'll make our own little party inside the big one.  Since then when I go to these big events where everyone seems phony and fast and looking over your shoulder to find the next best person to talk to, I just find one or two and see if I can get to know them, beyond the surface, you know, really find out who they are.

Social media is the same.  It's not about how many we have in our friendship list. It's about how well we are getting to know that person.  Read this piece http://www.therenegadeblog.com/social-media-marketing-guide?subdomain=paulin and think about the people you already have in your social network and how to get to know them better.

To your good health and wealth,
Betsy

Betsy Bell's Health4u
www.HiHoWealth.com   biz site
www.HiHoHealth.com   shopping site
www.TiredNoMore.com   better energy site

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Exciting news about Safe Cosmetics: Read and take action

Dear Reader,
I opened my email this morning to discover that a bill has actually been introduced which will protect us from toxic ingredients in our cosmetics.  I for one, still use cosmetics even though I'm approaching antique age.  I have Shaklee's safe products to put on my face.  Who I worry about is our children and grandchildren whose young bodies are more vulnerable to the damages caused by the cheaper cosmetic products, and even a lot of the high end ones.  The manufacturers use harmful ingredients to stabilize the color so it stays on your face or lasts a long time on your toe nails.  I've had a pedicure and gotten my toe nails done in Europe, Sicily to be exact, and the job didn't last that long.  The same manufacturer of nail polish is held to a higher standard of safety in the European Union than in the United States.  Here, the personal care industry is "Self Regulated" which means they do whatever they can to sell us products they think we will buy.  It is truly a case of buyers beware.  Our children shouldn't have to worry about disrupting their endocrine system when they choose a lip stick from the drug store, or a nail polish they are going to use on themselves and their baby sister.  The reproductive cycles of our children and grandchildren are literally at risk.

Now there is a bill (H.R. 2359) which would give the FDA authority to change this.  Please read the announcement just made by the Washington Toxics Coalition and then take action.


To your Health and Wealth, Be Well and Do Well, Betsy          



Tired of standing around in the shampoo aisle scanning lists of ingredients you can't pronounce? So are we!  That's why we're so excited about the latest news: Congressional leaders have reintroduced the federal Safe Cosmetics Act of 2011 in the House of Representatives.  Hooray!
 
This bill (H.R. 2359) would give the FDA the authority it needs to ensure that personal care products are free of harmful substances that are linked to cancer, reproductive problems, or learning disabilities, like lead and 1,4 dioxane.
 
Existing law, which has not been updated in 70 years, allows companies to use these and other toxic chemicals in products we use on our bodies every day. We know that the U.S. can do better to protect our families and to remain a world leader in the marketplace!
 
Please urge your House member to co-sponsor the Safe Cosmetics Act of 2011. Here's how:
1)    Email them using our easy form [http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/5121/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=7658] and let us know what they say.
2)    Call them. Enter your zip code into the box on the top right ofhttp://www.house.gov/ to find your representative. You can then dial the number for the Capitol Switchboard (202) 224-3121, and ask for your Representative.  Use the email text (from step one, above) as a guide for your message to the staff person who answers the phone. Calls usually take about 1 minute, but they are really important!
3)    Visit them. You have the right to meet with your Representative (or his or her staffers) to tell them that you want safe cosmetics. If you're interested in scheduling a meeting, contact Anna Dyer atadyer@watoxics.org to learn more.
 
Please take action and spread the word!
 
Thanks for all you do,

Lisa Mikesell
New Media Organizer
Washington Toxics Coalition



Congress is now considering the Safe Cosmetics Act of 2011.  Ask your US Representative to sign on as a co-sponsor!






















photo courtesy of flicker user littledebbie11

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Are you interested in how your eggs are produced?

Dear Reader,

I have raised back yard chickens for a number of years, both for the delicious eggs they produce and for the companionable nature of hens.  My current flock of 6 is just coming into maturity and one of them, a handsome grey whose breed I'm unsure about, has begun to crow.  I call him Blue Beard although he is gentle with his ladies, unlike his name sake.  If he crows too loudly, too early, he will have to become chicken salad.  Seattle has an ordinance against crowing roosters.

I am a member of the local Seattle Farm Coop, a yahoo groups list serve that gets all of us chicken owners a chance to share information and advice.  The members maintain a warehouse where we can buy organic feed and other necessities for raising healthy chickens.

I have also been critical of the mass industrial production of eggs, chickens for food and hogs and other large scale industrial farming practices.  So it is with a great deal of excitement that I pass on this posting about some new laws that may actually begin to change all that.  Read on if you would like to know what is happening with the Humane society with regard to chickens.  Pretty wonderful.

In good health.  Do well while doing good.
Betsy
Betsy Bell's Health4U
206 933 1889
www.HiHoWealth.com.  biz info
www.TiredNoMore.com   Product info
www.HiHoHealth.com  shopping site


I am excited to announce a historic agreement that The Humane Society of the United States reached this morning with the United Egg Producers, which could result in a complete makeover of the U.S. egg industry and improve the treatment of the 280 million laying hens used each year in U.S. egg production. Thanks to your support over the years, through our state ballot initiatives and legislative and corporate campaigns, we now have a new pathway forward to ban barren battery cages and phase in more humane standards nationwide.
The HSUS and UEP have agreed to work together to advocate for federal legislation that would:
  • Require a moratorium at the end of 2011 on new construction of unenrichable battery cages -- small, cramped, cages that nearly immobilize more than 90 percent of laying hens today -- and the nationwide elimination of barren battery cages through a phase-out period;
  • Require phased in construction of new hen housing systems that provide hens nearly double the amount of space they’re currently provided;
  • Require environmental enrichments so birds can engage in important natural behaviors currently denied to them in barren cages, such as perches, nesting boxes, and scratching areas;
  • Mandate labeling on all egg cartons nationwide to inform consumers of the method used to produce the eggs, such as "eggs from caged hens" or "eggs from cage-free hens";
  • Prohibit forced molting through starvation -- an inhumane practice that is inflicted on tens of millions of hens each year and which involves withholding all food from birds for up to two weeks in order to manipulate the laying cycle;
  • Prohibit excessive ammonia levels in henhouses -- a common problem in the industry that is harmful to both hens and egg industry workers;
  • Require standards for euthanasia of hens; and
  • Prohibit the sale of eggs and egg products nationwide that don’t meet these above requirements.
If enacted, this would be the first federal law relating to chickens used for food, as well as the first federal law relating to the on-farm treatment of any species of farm animal.
Some of the provisions would be implemented nearly immediately after enactment, such as those relating to forced molting, ammonia, and euthanasia, and others after just a few years, including labeling and the requirement that all birds will have to have at least 67 square inches of space each. (Currently, approximately 50 million laying hens are confined to only 48 square inches each.) The bill would require that all egg producers increase space per bird in a tiered phase-in, resulting in a final number, within 15 years for nearly all producers, of at minimum, 124-144 square inches of space each, along with the other improvements noted above.
In order to protect Proposition 2 (a landmark laying hen welfare initiative passed in California in 2008 that many of you worked on), all California egg producers -- with nearly 20 million laying hens -- would be required to eliminate barren battery cages by 2015 (the date Prop 2 goes into effect), and provide all hens with environmental enrichments, such as perches, nesting boxes, and scratching areas. This will also apply to the sale of all eggs and egg products in California. And this agreement to pass comprehensive federal legislation on hen welfare puts a hold on planned ballot measures related to laying hen welfare in both Washington and Oregon.
Passing this federal bill would be a historic improvement for hundreds of millions of animals per year. We are grateful to all of our volunteers, supporters, and others who have helped to make the cage confinement of egg-laying hens a national issue, and we will keep you informed as we make progress on this issue. I hope you will contact your U.S. senators and representative today and urge them to support this federal legislation to end barren battery cage confinement and provide more humane standards for laying hens.
Sincerely,
wayne pacelle
Wayne Pacelle
President & CEO
The Humane Society of the United States

Friday, July 1, 2011

Are you trying to purify your water at home?

Dear Reader,

A common dilemma for those of us who know bottled water is
a) 100 to 1000 times more expensive than tap water
b) horrible for the environment. Only 1/3 of the plastic bottles end up recycled.
c) just tap water with a fancy label in many cases

IS how to get better tasting clean water and have it handy all the time without spending too much and damaging the environment.

One acclaimed but very expensive solution is the WATER IONIZER, known as Kangen Water.  A friend asked Shaklee to comment on this technique for improving water.  Please read.


Kangen Water is a water treatment system claiming special health benefits from ionized (alkaline) water.

Ionizer water technology claims health benefits from consuming alkaline water, that alkaline water is an oxygen scavenger, thereby, helping prevent the formation of free radicals in the body. These claims are not supported by the scientific and medical data.

From a technical perspective, ionizer units work poorly or not at all on water with low total dissolved solids (TDS), which has few ions to separate into the alkaline and acid water streams. So if you use municipal water with low TDS (San Francisco, New York City, Portland, and Seattle, to name a few)-often below 40ppm-ionizers may not work as advertised. In low TDS areas an optional cartridge that adds TDS can compensate for this problem. In high or adequate (for the ionizer) TDS areas, depending on the materials used in the construction of the unit, cost of maintenance is driven up because ionizers tend to wear out quickly, requiring replacement of the electrodes.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, water ionizers do not reduce particulates, aesthetic contaminants, or health related contaminants-a filter must be added to achieve these reductions. Prices for these ionizer units start at more than $2,000, runs on electricity (look for higher electric bills), requires replacement parts to maintain the unit, plus the regular addition of "electrolysis enhancer" so the machines runs properly. We believe most people will find that for real life use, such machines will become a thankless headache.

When all is said and done, Get Clean Water, proven to reduce particulate, aesthetic and health related contaminants, is a far better and more practical alternative to water ionizer technology, and at a small fraction of the price.

Hope this helps and have a great 4th!
Keith, Shaklee Scientific Research

Hope this helps you with your quandry.

Betsy 

Betsy Bell's Health4U
206 933 1889