This morning I was getting a baby box ready for my sister- who by the way is only 3 weeks away from her due date!! She and I decided on getting slightly used baby clothes for her new baby. It does makes a load of sense. For one thing, her little baby will probably only wear new born clothes for just a month or two. Plus, slightly used baby clothes will have already off gassed and should be healthier for her little girl. Should is the key word here!!
As I unpacked, my soon to be niece's cute little box of baby clothes, a reality came over me!! These little infant clothes wreaked of fragrance!!!! Seriously folks, do not use scented detergents, fabric softeners or dryer sheets on your baby clothes!!!!!
There are 3 main ways toxins get into our bodies: absorption, inhalation, and ingestion With laundry and children all three routes come into play. Do children chew on their clothes? Yup! Do their clothes touch their little bodies?- Yup!! Can they smell their clothes? Yup!!!
At the moment, I am washing the little baby clothes in hopes of minimizing any residual fragrance or residues that have been left behind. Of course, this step of washing, I would have done anyway. But fragrances are created to linger- to hold up to life- to stay put. It is very hard to get fragrance out of clothes once they have permeated the fabrics. There is one adorable little outfit with tigers and stripes that I wont even attempt to save! Probably the only way I could get the odor/fragrance out would be to bury it in the dirt and let nature do its wonders and compost it out!! But that may be a wee bit extreme for one little outfit! (This is actually an experiment we tried on a bath towel that had an abundance of fragrance lingering after many washings. It was only after we buried it in dirt did the fragrance let go!)
The crazy thing with fragrance is our bodies and senses get de synthesized to the smells. Which means, if you use scented detergents you probably don't even smell the fragrance anymore. And if you do it is probably only a 10th the actual smell. Our bodies have a wonderful way of protecting us from ourselves and our environment. After time, our awareness to the robust fragrances get minimized and we no longer can smell what is right in front of our noses.
Babies are developing and growing, this is a key time in their life to minimize chemical exposure. Plus, because they are so small, the exposure an infant gets to chemicals is 100 fold to what a full grown person will get. Their little senses have not yet become de synthesized and there is no reason to exposure your baby to a chemical! New babies smell heavenly ( when clean and dry ) please do not not cover up the natural scent of a new born with synthetic- freshness!
O.K, I will now come down from my soap box. But please think about what you use for your families laundry. Not only does your laundry habits impact our health from direct contact but it also can be detrimental to our indoor air quality. Not to mention the strong fragrances that shoot out our dryer vents can be detrimental to our neighbors, birds and bees!
Here's to a health, happy and natural family!!
Denise
Healthy home specialist and incensed sister!
Thursday, February 20, 2014
Tuesday, January 21, 2014
Daily chores and the art a moving meditation
Who has time to meditate and pause anymore? Our days seems to be filled with millions of little events. There are 86,400 seconds in a day. How many of these 86,400 seconds are unaccounted for, open for free-time or just sitting around? If you are like most people here in the US, I'm guessing very few. So who has time to meditate or pause within this day of 86,400 seconds? We all do! Maybe not a formal meditation but we all have time for a moving meditation.
Within each day, we all have repeating tasks, daily chores or consistent habits. Brushing teeth, washing dishes, eating, driving to work, putting on makeup or feeding your dog. Everyday we have a few minutes here and there that we don't need to focus on because we have done it a million times.
Here is an idea to play with this new year: The daily practice of pausing and being present.
This practice is a moving meditation to be done in the course of your normal daily activities. It isn't about adding on to your already full list but pausing withing those 86,400 daily seconds and giving yourself a good dose of TLC.
What is in a pause? A pause is an interruption of mind chattering, pressing, constant movement, brain disconnected and shallow breath that fills our days and seconds.
Here is the challenge I give to you:
Pick a task- any task will do. Your task needs to be something you do daily for about 2-20 minutes. It can be anything from cooking dinner, washing your face, night time dishes, taking your dog for a walk, or driving to work. The most important part is picking one daily event to ground your practice in that event. This event/task/chore keeps you from forgetting or getting off track. When you prepare to brush your teeth- BING! This is your trigger- whatever task you pick- is your trigger to begin.
And once you have picked your trigger- what next?
As you enter your task you take a deep breath, you stand or sit a little taller- extending your spine tall, you breathe again and this time you relax your shoulders. As you breathe in you breathe in deeply holding this breath for a second or two. When you release your breath your posture is tall but your shoulders let go and relax fully. As you breathe again you smile- just a little smile like a little thank you kind of smile. As you breathe out you let your smile relax with your shoulders. As you continue to breathe, smile, and release, your whole focus comes to the present moment. Letting your senses strengthen this practice. As you pause and breathe, you relax and smile. As you pause and breathe you stand a little taller and now you feel your feet and notice you are grounded in the present moment. As you breathe and smile and are grounded you listen a little clearer, you can look around and notice where you are, you take a second and feel your own energy, If you are eating can taste deeper, savoring each bite, you can catch a whiff of the aromas around you. You continue breathing, smiling and relaxing your shoulders. Your posture is tall and your feet grounded. Your breath continues to deepen, slow and expand into your back and abdomen. Life gets a little easier and you will feel refreshed.
This little practice, sandwiched within our busy day is incredibly rejuvenating. Meditation doesn't have to be done at a yoga studio or in lotus position, it can be done while chopping carrots for dinner. My grandmothers both had daily farms when they were my age. Their days were busy and full of hard work. Going off to meditate was not an option, they used their daily chores as their meditation. We can do that to, maybe we don't milk cows but we do something everyday. Pick a task and make it a mindfully quiet place to breathe and see what happens.
Wishing you all a happy new year and a lot of restorative pauses.
Denise
5 minutes has 300 seconds within. 300 seconds can change your life
Within each day, we all have repeating tasks, daily chores or consistent habits. Brushing teeth, washing dishes, eating, driving to work, putting on makeup or feeding your dog. Everyday we have a few minutes here and there that we don't need to focus on because we have done it a million times.
Here is an idea to play with this new year: The daily practice of pausing and being present.
This practice is a moving meditation to be done in the course of your normal daily activities. It isn't about adding on to your already full list but pausing withing those 86,400 daily seconds and giving yourself a good dose of TLC.
What is in a pause? A pause is an interruption of mind chattering, pressing, constant movement, brain disconnected and shallow breath that fills our days and seconds.
Here is the challenge I give to you:
Pick a task- any task will do. Your task needs to be something you do daily for about 2-20 minutes. It can be anything from cooking dinner, washing your face, night time dishes, taking your dog for a walk, or driving to work. The most important part is picking one daily event to ground your practice in that event. This event/task/chore keeps you from forgetting or getting off track. When you prepare to brush your teeth- BING! This is your trigger- whatever task you pick- is your trigger to begin.
And once you have picked your trigger- what next?
As you enter your task you take a deep breath, you stand or sit a little taller- extending your spine tall, you breathe again and this time you relax your shoulders. As you breathe in you breathe in deeply holding this breath for a second or two. When you release your breath your posture is tall but your shoulders let go and relax fully. As you breathe again you smile- just a little smile like a little thank you kind of smile. As you breathe out you let your smile relax with your shoulders. As you continue to breathe, smile, and release, your whole focus comes to the present moment. Letting your senses strengthen this practice. As you pause and breathe, you relax and smile. As you pause and breathe you stand a little taller and now you feel your feet and notice you are grounded in the present moment. As you breathe and smile and are grounded you listen a little clearer, you can look around and notice where you are, you take a second and feel your own energy, If you are eating can taste deeper, savoring each bite, you can catch a whiff of the aromas around you. You continue breathing, smiling and relaxing your shoulders. Your posture is tall and your feet grounded. Your breath continues to deepen, slow and expand into your back and abdomen. Life gets a little easier and you will feel refreshed.
This little practice, sandwiched within our busy day is incredibly rejuvenating. Meditation doesn't have to be done at a yoga studio or in lotus position, it can be done while chopping carrots for dinner. My grandmothers both had daily farms when they were my age. Their days were busy and full of hard work. Going off to meditate was not an option, they used their daily chores as their meditation. We can do that to, maybe we don't milk cows but we do something everyday. Pick a task and make it a mindfully quiet place to breathe and see what happens.
Wishing you all a happy new year and a lot of restorative pauses.
Denise
5 minutes has 300 seconds within. 300 seconds can change your life
Monday, December 9, 2013
Winter health with Chia Fresca Drink
Welcome to winter and the dryness that comes with cold weather. If you want to have extra energy this season plus happy skin and bright eyes make sure to stay very hydrated.
A few years ago I came across this recipe for super hydration in the book called Born to Run. The ancient running people called the Tarahumara Indians used this drink as a sports and hydration drink for their long runs- think 100 miles wearing sandals!! Before food went into the laboratories it was used in its natural form. Using quality food as your medicine makes smart sense.
Recipe for Chia Fresca
10 oz of fresh/filtered water
1 tbl spoon dry chia seeds and yes just like the chia pet commercial chia seeds
Fresh squeezed lime or lemon- to taste
Raw honey to taste
Mix into a glass or container. For the first few minutes shake or stir the chia seeds until they become suspended. If you don't stir you will have clumps. The chia seeds hold hydration are super hydrating for us. I usually make up a big batch and keep it in our refrigerator for up to 4 days.
This is an excellent first thing in the morning to get you going drink.
The original recipe used wild limes and agave nectar. I don't have access to wild limes so I use organic limes or lemons. You could use either I prefer lime. As for my sweetener, you can use agave, raw honey, maple syrup or coconut sugar.
Warning:
Raw products are not recommended during pregnancy.
Raw honey is not recommended for children under 1 year old.
Chia seeds can be found just about anywhere
Health food stores, Fred Meyer, Super supplements and Winco just to name a few.
If you want a fascinating read and a good Christmas present idea check out the book
Born to Run by Christopher McDougall- one of my favorite books of all time.
A few years ago I came across this recipe for super hydration in the book called Born to Run. The ancient running people called the Tarahumara Indians used this drink as a sports and hydration drink for their long runs- think 100 miles wearing sandals!! Before food went into the laboratories it was used in its natural form. Using quality food as your medicine makes smart sense.
Recipe for Chia Fresca
10 oz of fresh/filtered water
1 tbl spoon dry chia seeds and yes just like the chia pet commercial chia seeds
Fresh squeezed lime or lemon- to taste
Raw honey to taste
Mix into a glass or container. For the first few minutes shake or stir the chia seeds until they become suspended. If you don't stir you will have clumps. The chia seeds hold hydration are super hydrating for us. I usually make up a big batch and keep it in our refrigerator for up to 4 days.
This is an excellent first thing in the morning to get you going drink.
The original recipe used wild limes and agave nectar. I don't have access to wild limes so I use organic limes or lemons. You could use either I prefer lime. As for my sweetener, you can use agave, raw honey, maple syrup or coconut sugar.
Warning:
Raw products are not recommended during pregnancy.
Raw honey is not recommended for children under 1 year old.
Chia seeds can be found just about anywhere
Health food stores, Fred Meyer, Super supplements and Winco just to name a few.
If you want a fascinating read and a good Christmas present idea check out the book
Born to Run by Christopher McDougall- one of my favorite books of all time.
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