Drugs = health risk
Healthy Interiors = healthy life

Having healthy indoor air quality in your home or office is the number one preventitive for controlling your asthma. Having the FDA issues a warning on 4 Asthma Drugs should be enough cause for concern.

Anyone taking Advair, Symbicort, Foradil or Serevent should read the article linked below from Forbes Magazine. The FDA warns that only asthmatics who can not control their asthma should take these medications,and in very short time frames, as the medicines might make the asthma worse.

Having two children with asthma, I completely understand the need for medicine. When a child can’t breathe, nothing else matters. What I have learned is that there are many natural ways to control asthma. And, it starts with the quality of air you or your child is breathing.

It is really easy to understand that if we are trying to lose weight, we can’t be going through drive-thrus before heading out to the nearest ice cream store.  It is common sense.  The same goes for someone with lung disease, whether it is asthma, COPD or even pneumonia. The air should be as free from allergens and toxins as possible.

Be aware! C.A.R.E. about your indoor air will help put the principles of a healthy-n-green space. The are:
C.   Choose healthy products
      no VOC paints, unscented products or airfresheners
A.   Air out and ventilate
      open your windows and “flush” out the built-up
      toxins …. even for a few minutes. control the
      moisture to below 60% – use exhaust fans
R.   Reduce dust and allergens
      remove carpeting if possible – replace with hard
      flooring
      use air-cleaning machines with HEPA filters
      encase bedding with dust mite protectors
     do NOT burn candles or incense inside
E.  Eliminate exposure to toxins
     do NOT smoke or perform hobbies which require
     toxic chemicals inside
     remove shoes at the door, and place large walk-off
     mats at each entrance
     use integrated pest management principles like bait,
     traps and natural deterrents to avoid pests

These are simple steps that you can make over time – or all at once.  You and your family deserve to breathe healthy indoor air  -  it starts with taking control of your health.    When we rely on medications to do it for us, we have to suffer the consequences which we may not know for decades. 

read the entire article:                                                                                      http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2010/02/21/health-us-med-asthma-drugs_7373532.html?partner=alerts

Teenager with Green Hair -  Not happy

I have spent the weekend listening to my teenager tell me how her hair has “turned green.” Of course, I have to laugh about it and tell her that I am doing it while she sleeps, since I want to make the world Healthy-n-Green. (NOT a good answer!)

Anyone who has a teenager – which I so fondly call “mean-agers” will understand how I have to find a little humor in this dilema. (it is called survival for mothers)   As, EVERYTHING is a crisis at this age – and GREEN hair is no exception.   I have to admit, if it were apparent to me that her hair was really green, I would be more concerned.    But, when I have to put on my reading glasses to “see” it….I feel it is okay to laugh – just a little.

After calling my guru-hairdresser friend, she advised me that it was probably some encounter with chlorine – which I knew not to be true, because we don’t use it in our water.    But, I listened to her and got the “chlorine-removal” shampoo.   Guru then told us “this is a little wierd, but, next you need to put ketchup all over her hair to get the ph back in balance.”   Okay……..suuuurrrreee!!

 Here I am, on a Saturday night squeezing Heinze ketchup all over her head. I admit, the “anticipation”  (sorry for the pun) was killing me!!   No one can tell me my life is boring! I told my daughter we needed a few fries to go with her head……again, she was NOT amused.

When the “process” was finished – she stomped downstairs…….(with dry hair) crying….”It’s STILL GREEN!!” – as she reached for the magnifying glass.       Ahhh…..the drama never ends!      “I can’t go to school…..all my friends said why is my hair green?” (the answer of course is….your mom turned it green)

After googling – I found that maybe there is too much copper in my water. This could be the reason for my green tub and toilets!     And to think, I thought I truly WAS turning the world Green!   Tomorrow, we are off to the Drug Store to get “silver-hair shampoo”  which is supposed to be “purple” – to get the green out.    My question  is….do we put mustard on her head after this one?

(please feel free to send any advice -  this is NOT what I meant when I said Iwanted to paint the world green)

The Winter Olympics have begun, and I watch in awe of each athlete’s dedication to his sport. The hours of focus and training just to get to the Olympics are an accomplishment in itself. Perseverance, dedication and commitment are words that come to mind in their unrelentless goal for excellence.

I write this blog, in celebration of the spirit of sportsmanship, dedication and attaining goals. It is not written about my usual topic of how to create a Healthy-n-Green interior. It is written out of respect to those who are presently competing in the Olympics as well as celebrating those from the past.

On the eve of the opening ceremony, I watched with sadness as the fatal accident in the Luge competition claimed the young life of Nodar Kumaritashvili. It was the second luge death in Olympics history, the first death occurring in 1964. Many sports are very dangerous, and the luge is no exception.
As with any tragedy, there will be a lot of questions to why this happened. And, it is important to ask the questions – and eventually there will be answers.

I felt the need to give my personal condolence to this young athlete, his family and his Georgian team.

Can you clean your floors with YOUR personal care products?

Many of the same synthetic chemical ingredients in cleaning products are found in personal care products. Since the 1940’s, over 80,000 man-made chemicals have been invented, mostly from petroleum or coal tar.

“No toxicity information is available for over 80% of the chemicals in everyday use products. Less than 20% have ever been tested for acute toxic effects and less than 10% have been tested for chronic, reproductive or mutagenic effects.” National Research Council

Wow – and we freely and willingly lather ourselves with chemicals which we do not know the effects. Listed below are some we DO know the effects of. These are just a few examples, but this should give you a small eye-opener that what we are using to degrease our stoves is being sold in pretty pink packages to make us look beautiful.

Phthalates: A chemical used to “carry” fragrances and help other chemicals absorb into the skin.
Cleaners: glass cleaners, fabric softeners, air fresheners, laundry detergents and most products which have fragrances
Beauty products: fragrances in nail polish, hairsprays, skin lotions
Health effects: It is known to aggravate asthma and has been linked to reproductive harm.

Formaldehyde: A chemical identified as a toxic air contaminant by Air Resources Board on March 12, 1992, and the Office of
Environmental Health Hazard Assessment.
Household products: Cleaning products and building products such as particleboard, insulation, glues, flooring and cabinetry.
Beauty products: Skin, body, hair and teeth products, nail polish, antiperspirants sun block and baby products such as baby wipes or bubble
bath.
Health Effects: Listed by EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) as a “probable human carcinogen” and was determined that NO safe
exposure existed for a prelude to cancer. Respiratory irritant, asthma trigger, watery eyes, burning nose and nausea.

Triclosan: An artificial anti-microbial chemical used to kill bacteria on surfaces and on the skin. (Anyone heard of Hand Sanitizers??)
Household products: “Antibacterial” dishwashing soaps, footwear, toys and trash bags. “In the United States, 75% of liquid soaps and nearly
305 of bar soaps now contain triclosan and other germ-fighting compounds whose prevalence can foster the growth of bacterial
resistance.” (Worldwatch Institute)
Beauty products: “Antibacterial” liquid soaps, body washes, acne treatments, deodorants and toothpaste
Health Effects: It is a thyroid function disruptor, hormone disruptor and accumulates in fat cells, building up in the bodies of people and
animals. It actually “promotes” antibiotic resistance in bacteria due to repeated use of killing most bacteria, allowing resistant strains to
flourish. We need the “good” bacteria to fight the “bad” bacteria, and this is wiped out using triclosan.

Find out what is in YOUR personal care product by looking at the rating system www.cosmeticdatabase.com

February Healthy-n-Green® Tip: Health – Personal Care Products

Can a smell really make your sheets “fresh”??

We are creatures of habit. Did you know it takes 21 days of focus to change a habit? And then, it is many more days/months of deliberate focus so we don’t go back. It is really hard to change.

I had to make some changes when my son was diagnosed with asthma, about thirteen years ago. One of the hardest was changing the products I used to clean with and make my house “smell” good. We are pretty much addicted to smells – which has a very strong emotional connection to our childhood. When these scents have good memories, you are much more likely to purchase a product.

I started with my son’s bedroom, since he spent the most time there. It was overwhelming to focus on the entire house, so I took baby steps and made sure his sleeping environment was a healthy as it could be. Many of the changes were easy – such as choosing a different product or opening the window weekly to flush out the toxins and allergens that had built up over the week. The harder changes were in things I had an emotional connection to – which is a little weird, because you don’t realize it until you go to actually “change” something.

Some my habits came from the daily marketing advertisements on the concepts that “their” product would help you to be a “good mom”. Having a clean “fresh” smelling house was a big misconception that I was lured into as “new mom”. Little did I know that clean does not have a smell – and you don’t have to put a scent on something for it to be “fresh”. And, over time, my habits became my behavior.

When I learned that there are three ways a child is exposed to a chemical: inhalation, skin absorption and ingestion; I realized that he was sleeping on sheets which were bounced around in my dryer with scented perfumes. He was being exposed in two ways – through the inhalation and while his body lay upon the clean sheets! That was one of the easiest, yet hardest things I had to do – get rid of those toxic dryer sheets. Since then (thirteen years later) there have been many studies showing the toxic chemical exposure we receive throughout the night. And since we learned in my first blog for February, that our skin is our largest organ – it only makes sense to make sure it is exposed to natural and non-toxic products.

Luckily, there are many alternatives to the traditional dryer sheet loaded with synthetic fragrances. Health food stores and
using 100% pure essential oils is a safer way to give your clothes a natural smell.

Other sources to check:

http://www.care2.com/greenliving/dinged-by-dryer-sheets.html#

http://www.naturalnews.com/002693.html

February: Healthy-n-Green®Interior Design Principle – Safe Sleeping Zone