Optimum Health

Reduce your cancer risk by cutting toxin exposure in your home and on your body.

It might make you mad to know that you are a guinea pig for the effects of carcinogen exposure and its effects on the human body. You would be shocked to learn how many known – and suspected – carcinogens are you are using in your home and on your body!

A five-year EPA study of over 600 households revealed that contaminant levels in the average home are up to 70 times higher than those found outdoors!

The Environmental Working Group, a public interest research and advocacy organization, has revealed that more than one third of all personal care products contain at least one known carcinogen. The average woman is exposed to approximately 126 such chemicals on a daily basis. In combination, these products are even worse; some “penetration enhancing” skin care products, for example, allow harmful ingredients to be drawn further into the body.

Penetration enhancers have been used to effectively deliver patch drugs deeper and faster through the skin and into the blood vessels. Although rarely added to cosmetics for the purpose of enhancing penetration, many ingredients used in cosmetics are found to have penetration-enhancing properties. The concern with penetration enhancers in cosmetics lies not in the toxicity of the enhancer itself but in the fact that the enhancers open the skin to greater absorption of carcinogens, toxins, and other harmful chemicals that the product may contain.

My list of what I use.

I make my own facial cleanser with honey, baking soda, lavender oil, rose oil, sweet almond oil, Vitamin C, salicylic acid, a few drops of Dr. Bonner’s hemp soap, xantham gum. It cleans, perfectly, doesn’t strip the skin of essential oils, replenishes with oils that are good for the skin, exfoliates beautifully.  It’s for sale on my web page-  Optimum Nutrition. I also make distill lavender flowers, roses and calendula flowers for toners that nourish the skin.  I have also posted the recipe on my business web page-  Optimum Nutrition – Recipe of the Week.

EveryDay Minerals - Great powders, average packaging. GREAT prices!! And free samples, so you can try them. They let you order FIVE generous samples in different colors so you can find a match. I loved the three colors of powders, wasn’t so wild about the blushes, didn’t show hardly any color on the skin.

Jane Iredale is pricey, but very clean and decadently elegant. I have a real problem with all the packaging and metal compacts and such…but ooohhh…I love her products. Her pressed powders are amazing. Lipsticks are clean and really stay put, but need gloss as they are very matte.

Evans Garden- ineffective cleansers and chalky powders, but the GREATEST facial moisturizers in the world. So clean you could eat them.  They couldn’t be any higher quality, moisturize perfectly and are very affordable.  And the owners are sweeties!

Burt’s Bees has the best Lip Balm I’ve ever found.  Replenishing Lip Balm with Pomegranate Oil is my favorite.  They also

Aubrey Organics has wonderful Rosa Mosqueta Nourishing Shampoo and Conditioner. They are awesome for permed or colored hair. Their Rosa Mosqueta body lotion is the most luxurious and wonderful body lotion I have ever used! However a VERY close second is;

Burt’s Bees Carrot Moisturizer Lotion (the smell is a heavenly vanilla scent!).

Neem Farms Neem Powder- for toothpaste is my favorite.  It’s whitening and anti-bacterial. I also use the Neem Mouthwash.

Dr. Hauschka has my favorite lipstick, lip pencil and eye liner. 

Physician’s Formula Organicwear for mascara- non-gooey, doesn’t clump, stays on and comes off easy.

UVNaturals is the only sunscreen I have found that I am willing to put on my skin! I can even wear it under makeup. Recent medical research is indicating that certain sunscreen ingredients are in fact having a detrimental effect through cumulative use.

Best exfolient and fade treatment in the world- my daughter Rachel, an esthetician, taught me this- make a paste from baking soda and fresh lemon juice, apply as mask, leave on 15 to 20 minutes, re-wet with lemon juice if it starts to dry out.  It fades brown spots and works as well as glycolics to exfoliate!

These ingredients can mimic oestrogen, create free radicals, or accelerate the production of free radicals in the body. The can also damage DNA within the cells.

When you go read the label on most of the personal care products that you are probably using, you will find parabens and phthalates. These chemicals have been definitively linked to breast cancer.

One specific treatment for cancer brought to the “research forefront” is sunshine. According to a study, men with higher levels of vitamin D (typically obtained through sunshine exposure AND grass-fed meat, eggs and butter, which are your best source for Vitamin D) in their blood were half as likely to develop aggressive forms of prostate cancer than those with lower amounts.

Experiments also suggested vitamin D inhibits cell growth. Yet despite sunshine’s apparent health benefits, doctors are not entirely comfortable with prescribing the “sunshine vitamin,” though many see little harm in getting the 15 minutes of exposure time a day the body needs to make enough of this vital nutrient. (It is recommended people get a daily vitamin D amount of 400 international units.) Doctors warn, however, that there must be a “happy medium” to receiving vitamin D: Too little won’t do any good, while an overload can cause critical health problems such as skin cancer.

Sunscreen Found to Generate Harmful Compounds that Promote Skin Cancer

A team of researchers from the University of California has found that sunscreen can do more harm than good once it soaks into the skin, where it actually promotes the harmful compounds it is meant to protect against.

The research team found that three commonly used ultraviolet (UV) filters — octylmethoxycinnamate, benzophenone 3 and octocrylene — eventually soak into the deeper layers of the skin after their application, leaving the top skin layers vulnerable to sun damage. UV rays absorbed by the skin can generate harmful compounds called reactive oxygen species (ROS), which can cause skin cancer and premature aging. The researchers found that once the filters in sunscreen soak into the lower layers of skin, the filters react with UV light to create more damaging ROS.

The Cal team’s research is the first to indicate that sunscreen filters — intended to protect the skin from the very UV damage they apparently promote — have reacted in such a way.

The researchers found that the filters only become damaging when they are soaked into the skin and another layer of sunscreen is not applied.

"This research confirms what the natural health community has been saying for years: That sunscreens are harmful to your health," said Mike Adams, a consumer health advocate. "The best sunscreen is actually achieved with a diet high in antioxidants," he explained. "When you eat berries, superfoods and fresh produce on a regular basis, these natural antioxidants are utilized by your skin to protect you from excessive ultraviolet ray exposure. Sunburns are caused more by poor nutrition than by UV ray exposure."

I wanted to tell you also about a mall company that makes small batches of amazing skin care products.

Evan’s Garden

I use their light moisturizer for day, La Crème de la Crème at night.  I use The Perfect rose about once a week.  It is a very nourishing oil for the skin. 

The ingredients are amazing, look at the ingredients for their light moisturizer;

aloe vera gel, apricot kernel oil, black currant seed oil, calendula extract, callophyllum inophyllum oil, Co-Enzyme Q-10, comfrey extract, cucumber hydrosol, DMAE (amino acid), emulsifying wax, Ester-C© Topical Concentrate* (Mineral Ascorbate [Vitamin C] Complex in natural vegetable glycerin & sorbital), evening primrose oil, fragrance (pure essential oils), German chamomile hydrosol, citrus seed extract, grapeseed oil, gravel root extract, hazelnut oil, horsetail extract, jojoba oil, lavender hydrosol, liquid trace minerals complex, lipoic acid, lobelia extract, marshmallow root extract, Montmorillonite clay, mountain spring water, mullein extract, neem leaf extract, neem oil castor oil, neroli hydrosol, oak bark extract, oat tops powder, palm stearic, Roman chamomile hydrosol, rose hip seed oil, rose hydrosol, rosemary extract, skullcap extract, Swedish Flower Pollen Extract, sweet almond oil, vitamin E ( mixed tocotrienols & mixed tocopherols), walnut bark extract, walnut oil, witch hazel hydrosol, wormwood extract, yarrow hydrosol.

Ingredients so clean you could eat them!  I have very oily skin and this moisturizer is great for daytime, either under makeup or by itself.

I do not care for thier Dream Soap, it is waxy and doesn’t leave my skin feeling clean.  And the mineral make-up is not good; too powdery and doesn’t apply evenly.  But, their moisturizers are the best thing that ever happened to my skin. (other than great nutrition!)

Some of you asked where I got some of the ingredients I use. 

I use salicylic acid from The Personal Formulator.  I also buy Hyaluronic Acid, and  some oils from them.  I get ascorbic acid from the health food store, I like Solgar.  Be sure to not get the buffered kind.

I get Xantham gum from the health food store, it is used in gluten free baking, but is a great thickener.

I also make my own flower waters by distilling organic flowers.  I mostly use lavender and rose. I get them from Southern Nutrition here in Jacksonville, they have a huge selection of dried herbs and flowers.  I have recently planted lavender though, so will soon use fresh.  I add essential oils and use it as a perfume, and use them to nourish my skin.  Use as you would a toner.

To make flower waters;

Set a 2 quart saucepan on the stove.  Put a one cup Pyrex measuring cup in the pot. Carefully pour 3 cups of water outside the cup, leaving the cup empty.  Now place about a half a cup of flowers in the water.

Take you pot lid and turn it upside down on top of the pot.  Now turn on the heat, gently bring it to a simmer, then dump a tray of ice cubes into the pot lid.

The water will steam and stick to the lid and then drip into the cup.  Replace the ice as it melts, when you have about a half cup of liquid in the measuring cup, your done.  Cool and keep in refrigerator until use..

You have just made a stove top still!

One of the things I realized years ago when studying skin care, was that it made no sense to use a product packed with active ingredients for washing your face. Glycolic cleansers, vitamin c cleansers…seems they always cost 20.00 a bottle.  I could never find a cleanser I loved. Either it stripped my skin of essential oils, or was too creamy and didn’t clean. 

Then 4 years ago my daughter, Rachel, became an esthetician.  She brought me home info on parabans and their link to breast cancer.  Even my cleansers from the health food store had them.  I gave up, decided to make my own.  I wanted it to clean, didn’t want my skin to feel dry or tight.  I wanted it clean enough to eat.

Here is the recipe, I have a few clients who purchase it from me, I make it for my 3 lovely daughters and myself.  I make about a quart at a time, keep a small amount in the bathroom, the rest I put in the fridge.  It keeps for months.

WONDERFUL CLEANSER

3 cup water
2 cups baking soda
1/2 teaspoon almond oil
2 drops lavender essential oil
1 ½  cup honey
1 Tbsp. Dr. Bonners Almond liquid soap
2 teaspoon glycerin
1 teaspoon Vitamin C
1 teaspoon Salicylic acid
3 Tablespoons Xantham gum

On low heat, combine water, honey, almond, Dr. Bonners, oils.  Remove from heat and let cool about a minute. Add honey. Whisk.  While whisking, add ascorbic acid and salicylic acid.  Whisk slowly, do not inhale powders.  Now add baking soda, a little at a time, it will thicken this mix a tad.  Add xantham gum a tablespoon at a time to thicken.  Let sit a few minutes, adjust thickness.  I like it to be kind of thick, like a hair conditioner.  Apply to the skin like a soap and rinse off with tepid water.

You will notice your skin feels incredibly clean, soft with no tightness or dryness.  The honey is a humectic, a good moisturizer and an natural preservative.

Reduce your cancer risk by cutting toxin exposure in your home and on your body.

Remember- what you put on your skin is the same as eating it!  Our bodies absorb very effectively through our skin!

It might make you mad to know that you are a guinea pig for the effects of carcinogen exposure and its effects on the human body. You would be shocked to learn how many known – and suspected – carcinogens are you are using in your home and on your body!

A five-year EPA study of over 600 households revealed that contaminant levels in the average home are up to 70 times higher than those found outdoors!

The Environmental Working Group, a public interest research and advocacy organization, has revealed that more than one third of all personal care products contain at least one known carcinogen. The average woman is exposed to approximately 126 such chemicals on a daily basis. In combination, these products are even worse; some “penetration enhancing” skin care products, for example, allow harmful ingredients to be drawn further into the body.

Penetration enhancers have been used to effectively deliver patch drugs deeper and faster through the skin and into the blood vessels. Although rarely added to cosmetics for the purpose of enhancing penetration, many ingredients used in cosmetics are found to have penetration-enhancing properties. The concern with penetration enhancers in cosmetics lies not in the toxicity of the enhancer itself but in the fact that the enhancers open the skin to greater absorption of carcinogens, toxins, and other harmful chemicals that the product may contain.

.EveryDay Minerals -  Great powders, average packaging.  GREAT prices!!  And free samples, so you can try them.  They let you order FIVE generous samples in different colors so you can find a match.  I loved the three colors of powders and the two blushes I tried.

Evans Garden-  ineffective cleansers and chalky powders, but GREAT moisturizers.

Burt’s Bees has the best lip gloss with color and Lip Balm I’ve ever found.

Aubrey Organics has wonderful Rosa Mosqueta Nourishing Shampoo and Conditioner. They are awesome for permed or colored hair.  Their Rosa Mosqueta body lotion is the most luxurious and wonderful body lotion I have ever used!  However a VERY close second is Burt’s Bees Carrot Moisturizer Lotion (the smell is a heavenly vanilla scent!)

Toms of Maine are wonderful non-toxic toothpastes.   But then so is baking soda!

UVNaturals is the only sunscreen I have found that I am willing to put on my skin!  I can even wear it under makeup.  recent medical research is indicating that certain sunscreen ingredients are in fact having a detrimental effect through cumulative use.

These ingredients can mimic oestrogen, create free radicals, or accelerate the production of free radicals in the body. The can also damage DNA within the cells.

Sunscreens are divided up into two groups: Chemical (toxic) and Physical (safe).

The Chemical sunscreens work by absorbing the UV radiation – this process creates extremely dangerous and active free radicals.  The Physical sunscreen work by reflecting the UV light.

Zinc and Titanium are classed as the only Physical sunscreens, in fact, Titanium only reflects 30% of UV light and ABSORBS 70%.  It functions more as a Chemical sunscreen rather than a Physical one. So it should not be grouped with Zinc at all.  Titanium also acts as a “photoactivator” meaning, that in the presence of light, it will activate (catalyse) free radical activity and production, including cancerous and precancerous activity.

So next time you see a natural sunscreen labeled “safe and natural for your Baby” have a close look at the ingredients.

When you go read the label on most of the personal care products that you are probably using, you will find parabens and phthalates. These chemicals have been definitively linked to breast cancer.  Here are two excellent articles on the subject. 

Cosmetics, Parabens, and Breast Cancer

Here is a direct link to EWG’s page that will let you see what products are highest in toxic chemicals. 

ScienceDaily (Oct. 21, 2007) — A research team from the Northern California Cancer Center, the University of Southern California, and Wake Forest University School of Medicine has found that increased exposure to sunlight — which increases levels of vitamin D in the body — may decrease the risk of advanced breast cancer.

In a study reported in the American Journal of Epidemiology, the researchers found that women with high sun exposure had half the risk of developing advanced breast cancer, which is cancer that has spread beyond the breast, compared to women with low sun exposure. These findings were observed only for women with naturally light skin color. The study defined high sun exposure as having dark skin on the forehead, an area that is usually exposed to sunlight.

The scientists used a portable reflectometer to measure skin color on the underarm, an area that is usually not directly exposed to sunlight. Based on these measurements, they classified the women as having light, medium or dark natural skin color. Researchers then compared sun exposure between women with breast cancer and those without breast cancer. Sun exposure was measured as the difference in skin color between the underarm and the forehead.

In women with naturally light skin pigmentation, the group without breast cancer had significantly more sun exposure than the group with breast cancer. The fact that this difference occurred only in one group suggests that the effect was due to differences in vitamin D production — and wasn’t just because the women were sick and unable to go outdoors. In addition, the effect held true regardless of whether the cancer was diagnosed in the summer or in the winter. The difference was seen only in women with advanced disease, suggesting that vitamin D may be important in slowing the growth of breast cancer cells.

“We believe that sunlight helps to reduce women’s risk of breast cancer because the body manufactures the active form of vitamin D from exposure to sunlight,” said Esther John, Ph.D., lead researcher on the study from the Northern California Cancer Center. “It is possible that these effects were observed only among light- skinned women because sun exposure produces less vitamin D among women with naturally darker pigmentation.”

These new findings about breast cancer risk and sun exposure based on skin color measurements are consistent with previous research by John and colleagues that had shown that women who reported frequent sun exposure had a lower risk of developing breast cancer than women with infrequent sun exposure.

The researchers stressed that sunlight is not the only source of vitamin D, which can be obtained from multivitamins, fatty fish and fortified foods such as milk, certain cereals and fruit juices. Women should not try to reduce their risk of breast cancer by sunbathing because of the risks of sun-induced skin cancer, they said.

“If future studies continue to show reductions in breast cancer risk associated with sun exposure, increasing vitamin D intake from diet and supplements may be the safest solution to achieve adequate levels of vitamin D,” said Gary Schwartz, Ph.D., a co-researcher from the Comprehensive Cancer Center at Wake Forest University School of Medicine.

“Since many risk factors for breast cancer are not modifiable, our finding that a modifiable factor, vitamin D, may reduce risk is important,” said Sue Ingles, Ph.D., a co-researcher from University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine.

The researchers compared 1,788 breast cancer patients in the San Francisco Bay area with a matched control group of 2,129 women who did not have breast cancer. They included non-Hispanic white,

Hispanic and African-American women, thus women with a wide range of natural skin color and a wide range of capacity to produce vitamin D in the body. Skin color is an important factor that determines how much vitamin D is produced in the body after sun exposure. Dark-skinned individuals produce up to 10 times less vitamin D than light-skinned individuals for the same amount of time spent in the sun. People with darker skin are also more likely to be vitamin D deficient than people with lighter skin.

The research team also included Wei Wang, Ph.D., of the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine. The work was supported by grants from the National Cancer Institute and U.S. Department of Defense Medical Research Program.

_____________________________________________

Note from Millie; I have never used sunscreen, make sure that I get daily sun exposure.  Although this article says that Vitamin D “can be obtained from multivitamins, fatty fish and fortified foods such as milk, certain cereals and fruit juices”, the best source is grass-fed beef, raw butter and free range chicken and eggs.  Grass fed beef has 10 times the Vitamin A, D and E than feed lot cattle.  Raw butter can be obtained here-  Raw Dairy.  I do not recommend drinking milk however.  Please see my articles on this subject at- Optimum Nutrition- The Truth about Dairy.

It might make you mad to know that you are a guinea pig for the effects of carcinogen exposure and its effects on the human body. You would be shocked to learn how many known – and suspected – carcinogens are you are using in your home and on your body!

A five-year EPA study of over 600 households revealed that contaminant levels in the average home are up to 70 times higher than those found outdoors!

The Environmental Working Group, a public interest research and advocacy organization, has revealed that more than one third of all personal care products contain at least one known carcinogen. The average woman is exposed to approximately 126 such chemicals on a daily basis. In combination, these products are even worse; some “penetration enhancing” skin care products, for example, allow harmful ingredients to be drawn further into the body.

Penetration enhancers have been used to effectively deliver patch drugs deeper and faster through the skin and into the blood vessels. Although rarely added to cosmetics for the purpose of enhancing penetration, many ingredients used in cosmetics are found to have penetration-enhancing properties. The concern with penetration enhancers in cosmetics lies not in the toxicity of the enhancer itself but in the fact that the enhancers open the skin to greater absorption of carcinogens, toxins, and other harmful chemicals that the product may contain.

Scrolling down the list of brand after brand of shampoos, toothpastes, perfumes, shaving products, skin moisturizers, lipsticks and eye makeup, consumers might make some alarming discoveries about the ingredients in the products they use. For instance, a Dove cream facial cleanser was rated 9.2 out of 10 for harmful ingredients used, with 10 being of the highest health concern. The product was cited for areas of concern in cancer, unstudied ingredients, harmful impurities, allergies and penetration enhancers.

Even “trusted” brands are not necessarily trustworthy. Some of the most toxic brands are Ponds, Crest, Avon, Cornsilk, OPI, Estee Lauder, Coty, Liz Claiborne, Blistex, Crabtree and Evelyn, Clarins, Playtex (Baby Magic lotion), RoC, Charmin

(fragrance in toilet paper and wipes!), Alpha Hydrox, Johnson and Johnson (Act fluoride treatments, Ortho vaginal contraceptives), Nexxus, Revlon, Puma personal care products, Murad and Origins. Starting to get scared, ready to jump up and start reading labels of your moisturizers, toothpaste and make-up?

You can go to the website- Environmental Working Group – find the brand name, type of product or most toxic list and go from there.

Unfortunately, the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) does not review or regulate most personal care products or household cleaners. Even many known or suspected carcinogens need not be listed on product labels due to “trade secret” protections and loopholes.

Consumer buying power can pressure companies to clean up their acts. Vote with your wallet for safer products, share information with friends and relatives.

This is a subject I have been researching for a long time. Here is a list of the cleanest personal care products I have found.

Makeup;

Jane Iredale - wonderful pressed powder and lipsticks, but expensive. Expensive packaging. Clean lipsticks that really stay put and have great colors are hard to find, these are the best I’ve ever found!

Everyday Minerals- Great powders, average packaging. GREAT prices!! And free samples, so you can try them. They let you order FIVE generous samples in different colors so you can find a match. I loved the three colors of powders and the blushes I tried.

http://www.valeriebeauty.com/index.php – wonderful mineral powders (my fave!) and she offers a great compact to carry loose powder in!

Evans Garden- ineffective cleansers and chalky powders, but GREAT moisturizers.

Burt’s Bees -has the best lip gloss with color and Lip Balm I’ve ever found.

Aubrey Organics has wonderful Rosa Mosqueta Nourishing Shampoo and Conditioner. They are awesome for permed or colored hair. Their Rosa Mosqueta body lotion is the most luxurious and wonderful body lotion I have ever used!

Toms of Maine are wonderful non-toxic toothpastes.

UVNaturals is the only sunscreen I have found that I am willing to put on my skin! I can even wear it under makeup. recent medical research is indicating that certain sunscreen ingredients are in fact having a detrimental effect through cumulative use.

These ingredients can mimic oestrogen, create free radiate, or accelerate the production of free radicals in the body. The can also damage DNA within the cells.

Sunscreens are divided up into two groups: Chemical (toxic) and Physical (safe).

The Chemical sunscreens work by absorbing the UV radiation – this process creates extremely dangerous and active free radicals.

The Physical sunscreen work by reflecting the UV light.

Zinc and Titanium are classed as the only Physical sunscreens, in fact, Titanium only reflects 30% of UV light and ABSORBS 70%.  It functions more as a Chemical sunscreen rather than a Physical one. So it should not be grouped with Zinc at all.

Titanium also acts as a “photoactivator” meaning, that in the presence of light, it will activate (catalyse) free radical activity and production, including cancerous and precancerous activity.

So next time you see a natural sunscreen labeled “safe and natural for your Baby” have a close look at the ingredients.

When you go read the label on most of the personal care products that you are probably using, you will find parabens and phthalates. These chemicals have been definitively linked to breast cancer. Here are two excellent articles on the subject.

Think Before you Pink

Cosmetics, Parabens, and Breast Cancer

Here is a direct link to EWG’s page that will let you see what products are highest in toxic chemicals.

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