Wellness Wednesday - Why we don't use conventional sunscreen

Everyone is complaining about the heat lately. You won't hear it from me though. I'll take it any day, over a Johannesburg winter! For a born and bred Durban girl, this heat is like heaven:) If there's one thing I absolutely can't stand, it's being cold. No matter how many blankets I throw over me, no matter how long the gas heater is on, no matter how hot the bath, my body just doesn't know what to do with the cold. I can't get warm. The heat I can MORE than handle!

One of my favourite things to do is lie in the sun and soak up some rays. I swear I am part feline because my cats also just love to lie in the sun for hours. They stretch out so that every inch of their little furry bodies can catch the warmth;) I totally relate except for the furry bit! That's why a honeymoon in the Seychelles was RIGHT up my alley! I can just hear the murmurs about sunscreen, melanoma and wrinkles as I'm saying this...

I am fully aware of the sun's effect on skin. I have been an advocate of sunscreen for many, many years. Ask anyone who knows me. I've always been terrified of going into the sun without some kind of protection. Even in the Seychelles we had several bottles of sunscreen and I never lay in the sun without being covered, head to toe, in the stuff.

However, once I went organic and cut all chemicals out of my life, it got a little complicated. It didn't make sense to me to use an organic body lotion from head to toe, and then, straight after that, go and smear my body with chemicals in the form of sunscreen SEVERAL TIMES a day as I soaked up the sun. It terrifies me just how much damage I must have done to my body over the years, and NOT from too much sun, but from too much sunscreen!

I did some research and discovered just how bad conventional sunscreen actually is for you. If you read my blog on conventional beauty products you'll realise that these are products you don't want in your life AT ALL. Well, sunscreen is no different.

According to the EWG (Environmental Working Group),  two-thirds of the sunscreens they analysed either offered inadequate protection, or contained ingredients that may be toxic. You know how I mentioned that your skin is like a big sponge? Well, that stuff doesn't just sit on top of your skin. It enters your bloodstream and sends all those toxins throughout your body. Here are just some of the ingredients you should be avoiding at all costs (Follow this link to find out about more chemicals to avoid):

• Retinyl Palmitate: You would think, as this is a Vitamin A derivative, that this would be good for us. It's very good for you in food form. Unfortunately, when this stuff is mixed in with sunscreen and exposed to the very hot rays of the sun, this ingredient actually ends up raising your risk of getting skin cancer. Avoid any sunscreens that tell you they contain Vitamin A or Retinol.
• Oxybenzone: This ingredient is meant to increase protection against dangerous UV rays. Also called methanone, 2-hydroxy 4 methoxydenzophenone and benzophenone-3, this stuff disrupts the human endocrine system and can negatively affect the cardiovascular system. It's a synthetic oestrogen and can disrupt the hormone system.
• Benzophenone-3 (B-3): This is a sunscreen preservative and UV ray deactivator that triggers DNA damage. What's really scary is that, two days after you've applied the sunscreen, it is still detectible in urine.
• Amino Benzoic Acid: Also known as para-aminobenzoic acid, PABA, Vitamin Bx or padimate O (a water-insoluble derivative), it's a UV filter in many, many sunscreen brands but research has found that it can amplify cellular damage.
• Insect repellant: if your sunscreen tries to sell itself to you by having a built in insect repellant, avoid it.

What's very scary is that the FDA will tell you that these ingredients are safe; proof that you can't believe everything that the powers-that-be tell you. Ultimately, the decisions rests in your hands. Do your research and know exactly what you are exposing yourself and your family to before you go ahead and trust them. They've been wrong MANY times before.

Here's an interesting mindbender: did you know that most people are actually suffering from a Vitamin D deficiency thanks to always wearing sunscreen? People are SO terrified of the sun these days. Let's face it, the doctors and scientists did their job well. We have all taken their warnings to heart and, because of that, we are all suffering from Vitamin D deficiencies. Your body actually needs about 20 minutes in the sun WITHOUT sunscreen, to produce Vitamin D. Ironically, a Vitamin D deficiency ALSO leads to cancer. Damned if you do, damned if you don't?

The reality is that the sun is not as scary as we have all been led to believe. I am NOT in any way downplaying the seriousness of skin cancer. But we can't blame the sun alone, for skin cancer. For starters, let your eyes wander back up to those ingredients that are so common in sunscreens. When we were in the Seychelles my body was PERMANENTLY covered in sunscreen because I spent all day, every day, lying in the sun. The only time it was free of sunscreen was after my evening shower. That meant that, for 12 days straight, I was bombarding my body with dangerous chemicals and allowing them access to my bloodstream day in and day out. That means days and days of free radicals having a party under my skin, while I THOUGHT I was doing what was best for me.

Let's move away from the sunscreen for a bit and consider every other beauty product I was also using during those 12 days. Between the body lotion, face cleanser, toner and moisturiser, deodorant, shampoo and conditioner, toothpaste, mouthwash, makeup and any other products I might have been using, that is a LOT of chemicals I was bombarding my body with JUST over those 12 days. In reality, I've been doing it every day of my life since my teenage years so that is about 20 years worth of chemical attack I have been putting my body through.

If you think about how long the sun has been around for, and how long cancer has been around for, it's not a stretch to consider that maybe there is more to skin cancer than just the sun's rays. People didn't have fancy sunscreens 100 years ago and yet cancer was so rare it almost never happened. Yes, there is a hole in the ozone layer... over Antarctica. While it's close-ish to us, it's not directly over our heads. Light travels in straight lines. It doesn't turn corners so I don't think that hole is affecting us directly although, no doubt, it can have devastating consequences where it's happening and, no doubt, it is affecting the general running of the planet.

But I digress. We are FAR more exposed to chemicals than we have ever been before. We are completely under-exposed to Vitamin D, to the point that people are having to take supplements. We live in South Africa where we have LOADS of sunlight so that shouldn't be happening, and yet it is. We are eating SO badly. Our diets are loaded with grains, and completely devoid of nourishing fats which mean we are effectively under-nourished, even though we are ballooning in terms of body fat. Even if we eat fruits and vegetables, they are so devoid of nutrition because they are grown in depleted soils which are ALSO loaded with chemicals. The meat we eat is loaded with hormones and antibiotics and, when we are sick, we load our bodies with yet MORE chemicals which makes it even weaker.

In all honesty, what defense are we actually giving our bodies against cancer? The answer is NOTHING. Our bodies are in a permanent state of sickness. Different levels of it, but sickness nonetheless. The sun is the last thing I'd blame for cancer. There are so many other possible culprits.

What's really interesting is that there seems to be a close link between diet and sun tolerance. Look at Mediterranean climates and people and their tolerance for the hot sun that they experience day in and day out. Then have a look at their diet. Loads of good, healthy fats, very few, if any, grains and no processed or refined foods. It's not just a coincidence. Have a look at this study.

I am fortunate to have a very healthy tolerance for the sun. Some of it possibly has to do with my Mauritian genes (My grandfather was Mauritian), some of it has to do with the fact that I allow my body time in the sun without sunscreen and so I have built up a resistance to it. But I guarantee that some of it is connected to my diet. 

Here are some natural things you can do, and eat, to build up a resistance to sun damage:

• Lycopene - This is a rather famous carotenoid found in cooked tomatoes, tomato paste and tomato sauces, that has been shown in a recent study, to protect humans against sun damage. In this study, healthy women, aged between 21-47, who ate 55 g of tomato paste containing 16 mg of lycopene every day for 12 weeks experienced significant protection against acute sun damage. 55 grams of tomato paste has just over 3 tablespoons worth of lycopene! I honestly LOVE tomatoes and I am a self-confessed tomato sauce addict. Thank goodness Woolies has an organic one but I also love to make my own and I add cooked tomatoes to my daily salad as well. Incidentally, lycopene is also great for prostate cancer.
• Astaxanthin - This is a super-antioxidant which is found in algae and the things that eat algae, and the things that eat the things that eat algae;) Examples are salmon, shrimp and prawns. It is actually considered an “internal sunscreen.” According to studies, it definitely protects against UVA damage. In fact, tests found it to be more effective than retinol. Either way, unless you have a seafood allergy, it can't hurt to eat more of it!
• Vitamin D - Isn't it ironic that the vitamin we are all deficient in, Vitamin D, actually increases sun tolerance and protection against sun damage! Vitamin D offers reduced sunburn and less risk of tumor development. So, in actual fact, getting sun gives you vitamin D, which in turn protects you from too much sun. And yet we are stopping nature in its tracks.
• More Omega 3s and less Omega 6s - When your skin is in danger of damage from the sun, p53 expression is upregulated to protect it, and high p53 immunoreactivity can lead to melanoma. Omega 3s actually prevent that from happening and so protect you against cancer. We all get far too many omega 6s in our diet and they will have an adverse effect so try and cut down on them and up your dosage of fatty fish.
• Eat Saturated Fat - In tests done on mice, a diet high in saturated fat meant lower incidence of melanomas developing. If you’re gonna be out in the sun, and you don't eat them already, best you add some butter and coconut oil to your diet.
• Drink Tea - Green tea gives you a whole arsenal of protective antioxidants which protect your skin and inhibits the development of tumors by controlling inflammation and preventing DNA damage. Even applied topically it offers protection.
• Proanthocyanidins - Sounds complicated but you're probably already getting them in your diet via wine, grape seeds, blueberries, hazelnuts, pistachios, and grains like sorghum and barley. Grape seed extract is a powerful protector against UV damage.
• Resveratrol - This is found in red wine, cocoa and dark chocolate, peanuts and peanut butter, mulberries and blueberries. It has strong anti-cancer, cardioprotective, and lifespan enhancing qualities and it's also becoming known as a photoprotective agent protecting skin against UV damage.

If we use a sunscreen, we use one of these three:

All of these contain zinc oxide which is a great skin protector that doesn't get absorbed by the skin BUT it can tend to make your skin a little whiter. I can live with that personally. They work really well and they won't make us sick. I can look a little ghostly if it means I can avoid cancer. The lovely tan I have after I've washed it off is totally worth it!

Some things to look for when shopping for sunscreen:

• Look for titanium dioxide and zinc oxide based mineral sunscreens, which don't penetrate the skin.
• Choose sunscreens that are unscented or use essential oils for fragrance.
• Choose lotion based sunscreens with water resistance, NOT spray sunscreens. That just means you are breathing in toxins as well as absorbing them through your skin, and you always miss a few spots anyway...
• Choose broad spectrum sunscreens that protect against UVA and UVB rays
• Choose sunscreen products that are rated 0-2 in the Environmental Working Group’s Sunscreen Guide. A lot of them aren't local but have a look and see if you recognise one or two.

There are also certain oils that work very well as sunscreen if you are not basking for hours in the sun. They have a natural spf and are very good protection for the skin:

• Coconut oil
• Shea butter 
• Jojoba oil, sunflower oil, or sesame oil 
• Eucalyptus and lavender essential oils 
• Vitamin E oil 

I'd recommend AGAINST making your own sunscreen though, if you are planning on hours upon hours of roasting yourself. I tried it once. We were in pain for DAYS! I've decided to leave it to the professionals;) But I am all for adding these to my daily moisturiser to give me SOME spf during the day while I go about my business.

That's it. Do your research carefully before choosing your sunscreen and consider giving your body some time to work its magic with Vitamin D for a bit of time each day. You'll feel so much better for it AND your body will begin to build up its own resistance to the sun which will mean less sunscreen anyway.

Happy tanning!

Monday Mix-up - Why you aren't losing body fat (not for lack of trying!)

Before I even get started on this post, please note the title of it. I specifically said "body fat" and not "weight" because body fat is what you are trying to lose. If you say "weight" then you are including every part of your body from muscles to water to organs etc. Your weight is not the issue. I am not a believer in scales unless you are pregnant or need to weigh your luggage at an airport.

A lot of people get despondent when they have been working out for a couple of months, because they get on the scale (despite being told not to) and they say the training is not working because they still weigh the same OR they are heavier than before. My immediate response is, "How do your jeans feel on you?" The response is always, "Well, they FEEL looser... but I WEIGH more!" This obsession with scales and weight goes back to the early Jane Fonda days where exercise was suddenly fashionable and everyone wanted to slim down as much as possible so that they could fit into their high cut leotards. They didn't give much thought to what it actually did to your body.

If you are exercising correctly then you are building muscle WHILE you are burning body fat. Muscle is actually heavier than body fat. THAT is why you will probably weigh more when you get on that scale. If I had my way I would banish all conventional scales. All they do is make you feel bad about yourself and distort things completely so that your personal trainer wants to tear their hair out and you feel like eating an entire litre of rocky road ice-cream all the while thinking, "What is the point?!"

A common problem when people first start training is that they use it as an excuse to eat more and specifically, to eat more of whatever they want. Tell me you haven't said this to yourself before, "I can eat this slice of chocolate cake/apple crumble/cheesecake as long as I go to gym tomorrow and run for 30 minutes." That's never going to work. A slice of chocolate cake probably has about 550 calories. It would take a run at full tilt for about an hour to work a portion of that off and you WOULDN'T be better off than when you started. You'd be right BACK where you started. So you've gained nothing really.

The key to losing body fat is that you need to be putting in less than you are using up. You will never achieve that as long as you are using exercise as an excuse to eat and drink whatever you want. So THAT is your starting point. You need to lower your caloric intake.

I've said before that each person has their own basal metabolic rate (BMR). That is how much energy your body uses when it's resting. You are burning energy even at rest because your body continues to function. Your cells are busy rebuilding themselves, or trying to keep you cool, or warm, or you're digesting food etc. Something is always going on. Your BMR depends on your size, shape, age, lean mass, body fat, exercise etc. If you are not exercising much but you are eating a 500 calorie slice of chocolate cake twice a day, you are going to gain body fat. That's not rocket science.

What about the person who is religiously gymming every day, running hell for leather for 30 minutes and then doing some intense weight training, and watching everything they eat, and NOT losing weight? When you first started gymming and dieting, the weight literally melted off you! You're doing all the same things, religiously, and yet it's all come to a screeching halt.

It's demoralising, isn't it? It makes you want to run out and try every fad diet on the planet, swallow diet pills and get major surgery because you are getting no joy out of doing things the right way. But what is the right way, really?

For DECADES, we have been told that, in order to lose weight (and here, weight HAS been the focus which is why I use that word) you need to add more grains to your diet and eat loads of fruit and vegetables and lean meat and skinny cappucinos and low fat this and skim milk that. Basically you need to cut all fat from your diet and pile on the grains and starches (read: sugar).

It's frightening how many people still subscribe to this way of eating. Even now, in 2015,  it's the common way of thinking: To lose body fat, you need to stop eating fat. Nothing could be more incorrect or more damaging to your body, than depriving it of fat. I did it for years and my body fat fluctuated all over the place, my energy levels were completely inconsistent and my health was a mess. I was permanently sick.

Did you know that the cells of your body are comprised mostly of fat? That doesn't make them "fat cells". The cells that CONTAIN fat are just that: fat cells. But the walls of the cells in your body are made of fat. If you think about it, it makes sense. Water and oil don't mix. The inside of a cell is made up of a lot of water. If the membrane is made of fats, that means nothing will be escaping that shouldn't be, and nothing is getting in that shouldn't be. The fat membrane protects the cell.

Considering that we are made up of hundreds of thousands of cells, which use fat to build themselves, it seems a bit dangerous to cut out a macronutrient that is so widely used, and needed, doesn't it? That's not all that fat is used for but it's a very good starting point. Without cells, we simply wouldn't exist. Don't you feel that you should be giving your body all the tools it needs to function properly?

Here's another kicker: you will NOT burn fat without eating fat. As long as you are following your low fat diet full of grains and fruits, your body will be forced to make it's OWN fat so that it can still function. Isn't that a slap in the face? You are cutting out fat and your body is using what you are forcing it to eat, to make more fat anyway.

Fat is a great source of energy. Most people have this idea that carbohydrates are the best source of energy. They may be a good source of IMMEDIATE energy and the only people who should really be utilising them for that are elite athletes who are running marathons or doing triathlons. They will use it to get them through the race but it should never be a long term solution.

Longterm, your diet should be a good combination of ALL the macronutrients. In case you aren't sure what those are, they are protein, fat and carbohydrates. You shouldn't be cutting out any ONE of those at all. If you are, you are causing your body some kind of damage and you are sabotaging your ability to maintain a healthy amount of body fat. Even vegetarians and vegans need to get protein in their diets and it takes some very careful balancing to make sure they get all the necessary amino acids which are so readily available in meat, and not so readily available in plants.

Fruit is another thing that has been given far too much credit. Yes, it's very good for you. You need all the vitamins and minerals it supplies you with. But fruit is full of sugar as well and people tend to forget that. At the end of the day, the only differences between a slab of chocolate and a piece of fruit is that the fruit has vitamins and, obviously, it's real food. Real food should always be first choice. But having a meal comprised ONLY of fruit is going to raise your sugar levels just as the chocolate would. Then it will encourage a release of insulin. You will crash and you will be starving within the next hour or so and probably more than a little grumpy.

Don't eat fruit on its own as a snack. Have it with something that will slow down the release of sugar into your bloodstream. For example, have a banana with some plain yogurt, or nibble on a piece of biltong after having the apple. And always include some fat in that meal as well. Eat full fat yogurt or nice fatty biltong. GASP! It's ok to do that. Stop subscribing to the masses. Make your decisions based on well informed, well thought out reasoning.

If you want to lose body fat, here's what to do:

• Include ALL three macronutrients in your diet: protein, fat and carbs
• Include ALL three marcronutrients in EVERY meal (even the snacks)
• Lower your caloric intake to less than the amount of energy you are actually burning. (most women only need about 1 200 calories a day unless they are exercising a lot. Make sure you eat less than that)
• It's hard to go wrong if you cut all processed foods out of your life. Eat only real food and makes sure that includes LOTS of vegetables. They are very low in calories so you can eat LOADS of them and they fill you up.
• Minimise the amount of fruit you eat. Stick to eating fruit in your morning smoothie (making sure it contains some vegetables, fat and protein as well) That's enough.
• Cut out grains OR make sure they are properly prepared before eating them. Remember that grains are heavy in calories. That means you need to cut down the amount you eat, considerably.
• Do everything in moderation. If you drink alcohol, don't over indulge, if you must have chocolate, only have a few blocks, if you have to have that slice of cheesecake then don't eat the potatoes or rice with dinner. That way you take in fewer calories and you don't have to deal with the guilt. Don't do it too often because cheese cake is not nutritious at all.
• Stop the fad dieting. They may work for a while, but your body will eventually be so out of balance that it will scramble to get some order back and it will start to hoard everything. That will end up as body fat. You will struggle to get rid of that fat.
• Move, move, move!

Live is all about balance. Stop making food and weight loss your focus. Eat when you need to, not because you feel you need to. If you know you have an emotional imbalance and food is your crutch, work to fix that or you will be dieting for the rest of you life and you will never be happy.

Happiness is the first step to sorting out your body issues. You'd be amazed how quickly everything will fall into place when you stop subscribing to the masses who tell you you should be thin. Listen to your body and it will treat you kindly in return.

Wellness Wednesday - Mercury Fillings: Ticking time bombs in your head?

Mercury vs porcelain.

In a previous post about dental health and nutrition, I briefly mentioned mercury or amalgam fillings. All I really said was that you should get them out but I didn't elaborate on the "why" of it. The "why" is really important and definitely deserved its own blog post.

Let's face it, mercury fillings are NOT aesthetically appealing... If I see an open mouth in front of me, filled with silver, it makes me cringe away bit, I can't lie. Most of us have fillings, but a mouth that is more silver than white messes with my head. It doesn't look terribly appealing, but it says something about a person's health because, as I mentioned in my dental health post, your health starts with your teeth. If your teeth are unhealthy, your body is definitely in even worse shape!

Mercury fillings are a constant, hot debate between conventional medicine and holistic medicine. Conventional medicine will tell you that mercury, in small doses ie. in fillings, is not bad for you at all. However, the next sentence after that is always "but it shouldn't be used for children under 6 or pregnant women."

I've never really understood that kind of thinking. To my mind, if it's harmful to a child under 6, or to a foetus, it's not exactly going to be GOOD for anyone, is it? Children under 6 are still developing. I get that. You don't want to affect their development. However, after the age of 6 our bodies are still going through constant changes. As I've mentioned before, in this post, you can lose anywhere from 200 000 to 3 000 000 cells per SECOND so your body needs to regenerate those cells and it actually goes through a complete turnover about once every 7 years. That doesn't mean you get a whole new body as you hit the 7 year mark. It means that, by the end of those 7 years, all the cells you started with at the beginning of that 7 year cycle, will have been replaced with new ones and those new ones are going to be built from the fuel you have been putting into your body.

Surely that means that you should be putting good stuff into your body as much as possible? Otherwise that 7 year turnover is going to make a huge difference from a wear and tear point of view! You know when someone says, "Wow, she literally aged overnight!" Yeah...

Mercury fillings are small. That's why most institutions say that there isn't enough of them to make much of a difference. But these things are IN YOUR MOUTH. Think about how young you probably were when you got them. Most people start getting fillings before the age of 10 (boggles the brain because kids just shouldn't be getting holes in their teeth) By the time they are 30, they've had over 20 years of exposure to the mercury. The problem with the mercury in your fillings is that it doesn't just lie dormant. Simple, everyday acts like eating, drinking, chewing and grinding up food against your mercury fillings increase the amount of mercury vapour released and absorbed into your body. If you are an incessant gum chewer, you are in an even worse situation because you are constantly activating that mercury to release vapour. Heat causes the mercury to release vapour in large amounts as well so if you are a big coffee and tea drinker, you are setting off the vapour with every cup.

If we're going to only take things at face value and believe that the FDA and the SABS are right and the dose is too small to really have any consequences, then that means that processed foods, GMOs, household cleaning products, beauty products and fluoride are also fine for us because they've ALSO approved those. And yet, there is NO question that heart disease and cancer are now as common as a cold. Diseases like Alzheimer's and Hyperthyroidism and many autoimmune diseases are becoming just as common. I do think that the body is fairly tough. If you are going to be exposed to stuff like that a handful of times in your life, but 90% of your life is filled with clean, organic, natural products, then you'll probably be ok, not taking genetics into account.

BUT...

Mercury fillings are in your body FOR LIFE. That means its not going to be just a small bit of exposure. It's going to be every second, of every minute, of every day for the rest of your earthly life. I wonder, when they ran their tests, if they let it run for 60 or 70 years to test just what mercury can do to a person's health in the longterm...

Mercury is a poison. That's a fact. Just like fluoride is a poison. So many countries have stopped adding fluoride to drinking water BECAUSE it's so toxic. Yet we are still allowing them to put mercury into our mouths.

The dental establishment claims that amalgam lets off very little to no mercury vapour, but, interestingly enough, they then turn around and blame mercury–free dentists for “unnecessarily exposing patients to excess mercury” when removing mercury fillings. So I have to wonder why they are contradicting themselves there. They have all but admitted that they release mercury vapour. There is NO DOUBT that mercury fillings DO release harmful mercury vapour. You can read these articles, The Scientific Case Against Mercury Amalgam and Understanding Risk Assessment for Mercury From Dental Amalgam.

So, what can you do about it? Well, the dental establishment IS right. Removing amalgam fillings can expose patients to unhealthy amounts of excess mercury. According to this website:

"Less well studied than mercury vapor is the problem of amalgam particulates. Taking out fillings with a high speed dental bur generates a cloud of particles, at least 65% of which are one micron or less in size. These are fully respirable, get deep into the lungs, where the microscopic particles are broken down and the mercury is systemically absorbed within a few days. This mercury exposure can be as much as a hundred times greater than that from the vapor."

Unfortunately, about 12 years ago, I visited a dentist for a check up and, without a word to me, he simply removed my mercury fillings. I'm grateful for it today, but I'm pretty sure that he didn't know the proper procedure back then and it must've sent a huge dose of poison into my body! However, NOT removing them is going to be worse in the longterm so today I'm grateful that they're gone.

A lot of dentists will tell you that the white fillings aren't as resilient. I CAN tell you that mine have been going for 12 years with no problems. I'm also confident that, since I am eating the right foods for my teeth, those childhood cavities are healing themselves under all that white stuff.

There are loads of dentists that are now mercury-free and, if you google mercury-free dentists, you will definitely find one. We have one just down the road from us which is handy. Even better if you can find a dentist that believes in holistic treatments rather than just shoving chemicals into your mouth.

Your health is paramount. If you are doing everything in your power to improve it, but you are still getting exposed to mercury on a daily basis, you are basically running to stand still. If you haven't given it a thought up until now, then now is the time. Start taking steps to get your fillings replaced and allow your body to remove the years of toxic build up of mercury in your system. There are any number of reasons a person might get cancer. This is a big one it's something that can be fixed quite easily.

Very few people actually like visiting dentists. I think I may dislike them more than anyone else;) But this is  a really, really good reason to do it. It may just save your life.

Monday Mix-up - Planning on starting a family in your 30s? Better chuck the makeup!

Women are bombarded from ALL sides with advertising telling them how to make themselves smell good, look younger, be skinnier, be more beautiful, less hairy etc etc. How ironic that all of that extra stuff they feel compelled to buy, and use, is the reason breast cancer, and plenty of other cancers, are becoming increasingly common, as well as infertility and the early onset of menopause.

Smelling good, looking young, being skinny, more attractive and less hairy actually have very little to do with being a woman in my opinion. If I think about what draws ME to a woman, it would have to be her confidence, strength of character, sense of humour and her respect for herself, for people, animals and the world in general. In my opinion, a woman that respects herself, looks after herself, which is also something I find appealing. I don't mean looking after yourself by using all the unhealthy, supposedly "good for you" products that advertisers try and sell to all of us, I simply mean that she needs to respect her body by eating right and exercising and basically treating her body like the temple that it is.

There are VERY few products out there for women that DON'T contain dangerous chemicals, like phthalates for example. I spoke about them at length in this blog. Phthalates are chemicals that are very commonly found in makeup, shampoo, body lotions, cleansers, perfume, nail polish, liquid soap and hair spray. You'll also find them in children’s toys (even toys for teething!), food packaging, air fresheners, paint, wax, print ink, and MANY other things. The reason that manufacturers use them is because they increase a product’s flexibility, transparency, and/or durability. In terms of beauty products, they are used because they keep the products smelling good for longer.

Here is the problem with phthalates when it comes to women being exposed to them as much as they are. An analysis was conducted by a team of scientists at Washington University, which involved examining the level of phthalates in the urine of 5,700 women. According to the study, women who had the highest levels of phthalates in their blood were found to start menopause a full 15 years before the other women. It's not the first time this has been researched either. Many other studies have been performed. It begs the question: Why has no-one been taken to task about it and why are they still being used!

The doctor in charge of this particular study, Dr Grindler, spoke at a medical conference in more detail about the study saying that some women might be going through menopause as early as their mid-thirties as a result of chemical overexposure.

Infertility has become a HUGE problem for women these days. Some might say it's because women are leaving it very late to start families, and that is true to an extent, but what's also very evident is that infertility is not just affecting women in their thirties. It is affecting women of all ages and those younger women are hitting menopause in their mid-thirties. That is just scary. Even more scary is how prevalent breast cancer has become and how often it is hitting women in their 20s and 30s when they are supposed to be low risk.

It's pretty evident, to me, that the level of toxins in our environment have reached critical amounts and age and genetics no longer have as much to do with getting cancer as they used to. What is making the difference is our constant over-exposure to toxic chemicals. Scientists can say what they want about how the levels are not high enough in beauty products to be toxic. The fact is that women are using SO MANY of these products, constantly and their systems are so over-exposed that their bodies are reacting in an entirely negative way. Never mind that, when we use these products, we wash them down the drain, sending them back into the environment thereby exposing others to the toxic chemicals. They don't just disappear. They stay for good. Remember that trickle-down effect I always speak about? What you use has a direct impact on your loved ones, your fellow human beings, the environment and wildlife.

However, this post is mostly about YOU and how you can stay healthy, cancer-free and fertile. So, what CAN you do to try and prevent early onset menopause and keep your body functioning the way all women expect it to function?

1. Stop using conventional makeup and beauty products - Your skin absorbs chemicals into the blood so easily. Did you know that the average women, who uses conventional makeup and other beauty products, absorbs over 1.8kgs of chemicals each and every year? That is entering your bloodstream and your body is using it to build cells and carry out normal bodily functions. It's no wonder we end up with cancer when our bodies are using fuel that is completely foreign to it. Your cells are being built out of chemicals and toxins. I find that frightening, I don't know about you.
2. Eat only fresh food and avoid anything that is processed and in packaging - Phthalates are used in the packaging of all processed foods, not to mention all sorts of other rubbish that goes into them. Give your body the proper fuel it needs to function. There really shouldn't even be a question about it.
3. Eat lots of homemade bone broth - Bone broth is very high in an amino acid called glycine which is essential to help the liver perform its detoxification duties. If there isn't enough glycine in your diet, your liver won't function at 100% of its ability which is going to have a serious effect on your body's ability to get rid of toxins. That's why it makes sense to get as much glycine into your body as possible and bone broth has glycine in a form that is very easily absorbed by the body.
4. Have a daily dose of true Vitamin A - true Vitamin A (retinol, NOT beta carotene), and vitamin A hormone (retinoic acid), are necessary for normal functioning of the immune system and for the protein synthesis processes involved in reproduction. Foods like cod liver oil (fermented), liver, cayenne pepper, sweet potatoes and dark leafy greens contain true Vitamin A. The problem with phthalates is that they interfere with the functioning of Vitamin A so you need to compensate by getting as much as possible into your system.
5. Avoid conventional air "fresheners" - I wrote a whole blog about these which you can read here. These are shockingly bad for you. If you want to know how to make your house smell good naturally, check out this blog post.

If you are not sure where to find yourself some natural makeup, check out Inthusiasm. They are a product of South Africa and totally natural. I use their products myself and I am more than happy with them. If you are not sure about beauty products, check out this blog. There are ALWAYS options.

If you think all of this sounds like too much hard work, consider possible early menopause, breast cancer or infertility. 

I'd imagine those would be pretty hard work.