Putting the Pieces of the Puzzle Together

Learning how to become healthy again after being diagnosed with a chronic, debilitating illness (of which the medical community says there is “no cure”) is like putting a puzzle together when you don’t have all of the pieces. I’ve actually learned a few things in the last 11 months since my MS diagnosis. I realized that I either have celiac disease (which is a disease that causes intestinal damage upon the consumption of gluten) or I, at the very least, have gluten intolerance. Either way, I avoid gluten.

The Baklava Incident

I went out to eat with some girlfriends. I did this every Friday, so I knew how to stick to my program at a restaurant. On that day, however, we got to talking about how well I was doing. I shared with them how I was able to get off of all of my medications simply by changing what I ate. I told them I was better – walking better, feeling better, and having more energy. I thought, “I’ve been good. I’ve stuck to my program so well I deserve some baklava.” It was delicious, but I couldn’t sleep that night because my stomach was turning in knots and my legs, which had been peaceful for three weeks, started to spasm again. I told myself, “Baklava doesn’t taste this good. Nothing does.”

Unwittingly Eating Couscous

I unknowingly ate gluten after eating only raw, mostly organic produce for two months. I made some couscous (which I didn’t know was wheat) and ate it for four days in a row for my evening meal. On day three, my MS symptoms started coming back. My right foot dropped and I was tripping, just like when my symptoms first started. I was also losing my balance and had a hard time walking up and down stairs. Once I realized the connection, I limited my diet to organic produce again and I used Shillington’s Intestinal Cleanse and his Blood Detox for a few days. My symptoms were gone within a week.

Gluten Intolerance

I’ve got my theories as to why there is a sudden rise in gluten intolerance lately, but they’re merely theories. What I do know is that right now, and possibly forever, I cannot eat gluten and be well. I can have certain wheat products like the Total Nutrition Formula, which has wheat grass, but wheat grass, if properly harvested, does not have gluten.

This is how gluten affected me. With other conditions, each person with gluten intolerance may experience different symptoms to different degrees. The most common gluten intolerance symptoms revolve around gastrointestinal issues such as bloating, constipation, gas, and diarrhea — these symptoms occur because the body is unable to digest and absorb gluten properly. Some individuals may also experience heartburn, acid reflux, nausea and vomiting. Gluten intolerance may also cause anemia, unexplained weight loss, fatigue, joint pain, headaches and irritability, mouth ulcers, a white coating on your tongue, an itchy skin rash, or open sores on the skin. Some individuals may experience gluten intolerance symptoms after consuming a small amount of gluten, while others may be able to eat small amounts of gluten without experiencing any major symptoms.

The most important thing I learned is that the safest way to eat is to limit myself to raw, fresh, organic produce. With anything else that I am going to eat, I need to be totally sure it does not contain gluten. I’ve learned that my digestive system will be damaged, and those MS symptoms will come back if I eat wheat or any other grain that contains gluten. And I’ve also learned that anyone with a damaged digestive system needs to stay away from gluten to heal. Check out Balance Your Ecosystem and Make Your Own Multi-Vitamin/Mineral. Check out the first source for my story about being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

Recommended Supplements:

• FloraMend-Prime by Thorne
• Shillington’s Intestinal Cleanse
• Formula SF722
• MicroDefense – Pure Encapsulations
• Shillington’s Total Nutrition Formula

Further Reading:

• Foods To Avoid With Gluten Intolerance or Celiac disease
• Being Diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis and Refusing To Live With It
• Kill Candida and Balance Your Inner Ecosystem

Sources:

• Unsafe Gluten-Free Food List (Unsafe Ingredients) – Celiac.com
• Safe Gluten-Free Food List (Safe Ingredients) – Celiac.com
•  Gluten Intolerance Symptoms And How To Avoid Gluten In The Diet – Healthy Reply

We’ve all been told, “Get a coat on or you’ll catch a cold!” Many of us have ignored this advice. We’ve been told by educators and those “in the know” that cold weather doesn’t make us sick, viruses do. New research shows Mom was right, and the so-called “experts” didn’t know what they were talking about.

Research has now shown that viruses spread more effectively in guinea pigs kept in cooler conditions than those kept in warmer conditions. Epithelial mice cells kept in cooler conditions were more prone to viral infection than those cells kept four degrees (Celsius) warmer. Yale researchers found that in epithelial mice cells, colder conditions helped viruses to thrive. In a human study, the participants who soaked their feet in ice water developed cold symptoms in greater numbers than the control group of participants whose feet were kept warm.

Beyond the Cold Conditions Lie the Answer

Typically, there is more than one cause for anything and “catching a cold” is no exception. It is true that without some exposure to pathogens (like a virus) cold weather alone will not make us sick. For years, researchers forced cold conditions upon research participants in a sterile environment, and sometimes they even exposed them to viruses. Afterward, they declared that cold weather has nothing to do with infection rates and cold can’t give you a cold. In reality, it is far more complicated than that.

Several studies are showing new evidence as to how cold weather effects the cold and flu season. A variety of factors are at play here, including our exposure to pathogens like viruses, temperature’s effect on a virus, the temperature’s effect on our immune system, stress and its effect on our immune system, and our tendency for greater exposure to infected people in the fall and winter.

Without a doubt, cold weather alone will not give someone the cold or the flu. No matter how cold you get, getting cold in and of itself will not cause a viral infection. If you get cold enough, it is possible, even probable, that you can get hypothermia, and that can kill you. You must be exposed to a virus or another pathogen in order to get sick. (Exposure is frequent; some experts say fairly constant.) Cold weather does play an important role in the annual flu season during which 5-20% of Americans catch a cold or flu.

Cold Weather Makes Viruses More Durable

In cold weather, viruses enjoy extra protection from the elements. The outer membrane of many viruses (including the influenza virus) is primarily made up of fatty-like substances known as lipids. At temperatures around freezing and below, this outer membrane hardens and solidifies into a robust gel. This gives viruses extra protection during cold weather. As the temperature rises above freezing, the outer membrane of a virus becomes less solid – more of a gelatinous liquid. At temperatures of 105 degrees and higher, the viruses’ outer covering is liquid with no real solid form. This diminished protection can leave the virus damaged or destroyed by the elements.

Lowered Immune Response Due To Cold Weather

When human beings become cold, one of the unfortunate side effects is constriction of the blood vessels. Our white T-cells are transported via our blood vessels, so getting cold can inhibit your immune response. Also, the stress associated with being really chilled causes the body to release the stress hormone cortisol. Cortisol does facilitate some necessary functions, but too much is a bad thing. Too much cortisol also inhibits the immune system.

A Tendency To Go Kamikaze (Apoptosis)

Cells have the ability to self-destruct. It is not something commonly done, except in the most dire circumstances. If the cell’s survival is impeding the survival of the larger organism, cells have been known to off themselves as a form of altruistic sacrifice. (The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the one). Cells infected with a virus are sometimes able to do this in order to slow the viruses’ spread. Warm cells are more eager to self-destruct than cold cells, which…well… sometimes get cold feet.

Every year as winter approaches, the earth receives less direct sunlight for either the northern or the southern hemisphere. (When it’s summer in the northern hemisphere, it’s winter in the southern hemisphere, and vice-versa). Obviously, this is a gradual process. During the winter, there are fewer hours of daylight in the day and less direct sunlight. Most of us also spend more time indoors. This has a tendency to depress some people. That general feeling of malaise is not caused by our preference for warm weather, alone. The more likely culprit for that blah feeling is a lack of vitamin D. Our bodies require sunlight to synthesize vitamin D. Vitamin D plays an important role in our immune defense and in maintaining our mood. In the winter months, we are likely to be running low on this crucial vitamin.

Conclusion

As previously mentioned, when it comes to catching a cold or the flu, exposure is key. Even before the weather gets cold in early fall, many people come back from vacation, students start college or school, kids are brought back to daycare, and people tend be around each other in enclosed areas more than in the summer months. This combined with other factors tends to make for good conditions for viruses and bad conditions for us.

Does this mean you or your kids should always bundle up before venturing out into cold weather? Nah. A little virus battle is good for us. Try making your immune system strong enough that viruses don’t stand a chance and take some risks. Check out Bullet Proof Your Immune System.

Recommended Products:

• Mother Earth Organic Root Cider – Barrier Island Organics
• Shillington’s Echinacea+
• Total Nutrition Formula
• Black radish
• Coptis Chinensis
• Vitamin D
• Vitamin C
• Shillington’s Total Tonic

Further Reading:

• Make Your Immune System Bulletproof with These Natural Remedies
• Natural Remedies for Colds, Flus, and Other Common Viruses
• How Viruses Work and How to Prevent Them Naturally

Sources:

• Polozov, Ivan V, Ludmila Bezrukov, Klaus Gawrisch, and Joshua Zimmerberg. “Progressive Ordering With Decreasing Temperature Of The Phospholipids Of Influenza Virus.” Nature Chemical Biology 4, no. 4 (2008): 248-55.
• Lowen, Anice C., Samira Mubareka, John Steel, and Peter Palese. “Influenza Virus Transmission Is Dependent On Relative Humidity and Temperature.” PLoS Pathogens 3, no. 10 (2007): E151.
• ASAP Science: Does Being Cold Make You Sick? – YouTube
• Temperature-dependent innate defense against the common cold virus limits viral replication at warm temperature in mouse airway cells – PNAS

In every case I’ve ever seen where unhealthy people with disease-riddled bodies later became vibrantly healthy, they all had to do four things:

1. They all had to completely get off of all drugs, including marijuana, caffeine, alcohol, any and all prescription drugs, and over the counter medications.
2. They had to fix their gut.
3. They had to totally change their diet, eliminating processed foods and eating lots of produce for the rest of their lives.
4. They had to give up coffee, sweet smoothies, and fruit juices, at least for a while.

Eliminate Drugs

You cannot be healthy while you put toxins into your body. It just doesn’t work. This includes vaccines. Injecting, inhaling, or ingesting chemicals and toxins into the body does not bring about health.

Every time you damage your body’s DNA, you age. Chemicals made in laboratories damage the body’s DNA. To a point, you can detoxify and undo most of the damage done by these substances. You can even reverse damage done to DNA. But at some level, every time you damage your body with chemicals, there is some permanency.

Don’t smoke anything. Smoking introduces too many carcinogens. Smoking always adds toxins to the blood, making the blood thick and putting stress on the liver, kidneys, thyroid, adrenals, eyes, and reproductive organs.

Stimulants cause a reaction similar to an allergic reaction. This puts unneeded stress on the thyroid, the adrenals, and kidneys.

Alcohol acidifies the body, stresses the liver, and promotes Candida growth.

I’m not telling everyone that they should get off of all drugs. I am saying that you cannot ever truly be healthy while regularly using drugs.

Fix Your Gut

Every single person  I have known who was sick  had too much Candida overtaking their sick gut and wrecking havoc on their whole body. Gut health is the source of most and often all of people’s health issues.

Most people can repair their gut with proper diet and time, but detoxification protocol and supplements can speed up the process and are required for some people with severely damaged intestines. Look for a strong probiotic and a parasite killer.

Eat Right

If your gut is in poor health, you have to give up wheat and other sources of gluten to get well. Anyone with Candida overgrowth cannot properly digest wheat. Wheat and soy are almost always produced in ways that cause health problems when they are consumed. Soy and corn in packaged products are almost always GMOs. Genetically Modified Organisms destroy gut health.

You also have to give up refined sugars and processed packaged almost everything. Replace them with salads, lots of produce, and home-cooked, whole foods. Eat raw organic crushed garlic, turmeric, and black pepper with your food.

Eat lots of vegetables. Eat a wide variety of raw organic vegetables. Here are some of the benefits of raw organic vegetables:

• More enzymes
• Feeding the right ecosystem and keeping it clean
• Better digestion and assimilation of all nutrition
• Strong, clean, light, and vibrant blood
• Strong, very efficient immune system

Many of these benefits also come with eating fruit, but for anyone who is sick, fruit should be limited as the sugars do feed infection including Candida, bacteria, parasites, and yeast. Certain fruits are great for certain health issues, and fruits should not at all be avoided. They should just be limited until the gut flora is working for you and not against you.

Cooked foods have some benefits as well, but the importance of enzymes is often overlooked, so eat raw every day.

Drink Right

Sugary smoothies, sweet fruit juices (even when freshly made at home), coffee, most commercial teas, sodas, and almost everything else people drink needs to be completely eliminated for a time until health is restored, and then some of them can be consumed in moderation. Drink water. Lots of it. Here’s a recipe for  cranberry lemonade sweetened with stevia. Also, check out What’s the Best Water for Detoxifying and For Drinking?

Conclusion

Some people need supplements and a very strict diet to get results, but a fair majority can heal the body and be entirely ailment free with proper dietary habits and giving up toxic junk. Check out Balance Your Ecosystem for more on gut health, and this 80% Raw Food Diet has an awesome salad recipe to get you going.

Recommended Supplements:

• Floramind-Prime by Thorne
• Shillington’s Intestinal Cleanse
• Formula SF722
• MicroDefense – Pure Encapsulations
• Shillington’s Total Nutrition Formula

Further Reading:

• Kill Candida and Balance Your Inner Ecosystem
• 80% Raw Food Diet
• Inexpensive, Easy Detox – The One Gallon Challenge
• What’s the Best Water for Detoxifying and For Drinking?
• Top 5 foods that detox heavy metals and toxins

So, you’ve decided to get healthy. You’re going all the way. You’ve cleaned up your diet. You’re exercising regularly. What’s left to do? Detox. But first, you need to take a good hard look at the chemicals you use on a daily basis and get rid of them. Dump the toxic shampoo, conditioner, shaving cream, after-shave or perfume, soap, lotion, make-up – whatever it is you put on your body and pretend your skin doesn’t soak right up like a sponge. Come on; face it. Whatever we put on our skin is drawn right into our bloodstream.

Whatever we breathe is taken right into our system as well. As soon as you are through tossing out the toxic products you use on your body, toss the toxic solutions you use to clean your home. Here are some great replacements for the noxious, dangerous chemicals you have been using.

How to Clean Your Bathtub

For years I’ve leaned over the tub and scrubbed with any number of cleaners from conventional to green alternatives. There are a number of ways to clean a bathtub. Not one of them comes close to this method. It is by far the easiest, cheapest, simplest way to clean your tub.

After you are through washing your body, let out half of the water. Now soap up your washrag, scrubby mitt, or whatever it is you use to wash yourself. Use it to wash out the soap ring around the tub. That same soap ring you have struggled to clean with numerous sprays and powders immediately dissolves when faced with plain old (better be organic!) soap. Just rub in a circular motion and rinse. Do this every time you take a bath and your tub stays clean.

How to Clean Your Oven

The Healthy Food Team suggests this ingenious, easy method of cleaning your oven.

Apply a paste of baking soda and water to the surfaces in your oven. Let it sit for 12 hours. Use a wet towel to wipe out the oven the next day. Spray vinegar on any residue that is left. Again, wipe with a wet towel.

How To Clean Your Floors

Mop your tile, linoleum, and wooden floors with a mixture of water and vinegar. Just add ¼ cup of vinegar to 2 gallons of warm water. Or add a few drops of your favorite essential oils to warm water.

How To Freshen the Air

Boil citrus peels in a pot of water, spritz the air with water mixed with essential oils, or use a diffuser with essential oils. Better yet, open your windows and let in some fresh air.

How To Clean Your Carpets

Various sites suggest using cornmeal and/or baking soda for a dry clean of the carpet. No way I am putting cornmeal into the carpets. One of the reasons carpets are so hard to get really clean is that they trap dirt between the mesh that holds the carpet fibers together and the padding underneath the carpet. Why would you want to get edible bug attracting food caught there?

Baking soda? Now that’s the way to go. You not only can get carpets cleaner by sprinkling baking soda on the carpet and then vacuuming it up, the carpets will smell better as well.

You can use plain hot water to wash your carpets or you can add essential oils or vinegar to the water. For spot cleaning, try spraying with a vinegar solution of 1:1 vinegar to water.

Remember that the first thing to do when anything spills on the carpet is to blot, blot, blot. After dabbing, stand on that towel to soak up anything that is trapped under the fibers. Then pour a little bit of boiling hot water on the area and blot it again.

Other Cleaners

Make sure you purchase truly green cleaners for washing dishes and clothes. This is not just for the environment – it is also for you! Remember you will be ingesting any chemicals that come in contact with your dishes and your skin will soak in any chemicals that come in contact with your clothes!

As far as other cleaners, use baking soda, lemons, salt and vinegar as much as you can to replace those toxic chemical cleaners. If you do choose to purchase cleaners, read the labels well – beware of “greenwashing”. Just because it says natural, doesn’t mean it is.

Detox

Now that you’ve cleaned all of those toxic products off your shelves, it’s time to clean their residue out of your body. Many chemicals are endocrine disruptors; others erode our health in numerous ways, including gut inflammation that disturbs the proper balance of bacteria so essential to all processes of the body. For a complete detox, we recommend Doc Shillington’s Total Detox .

You may also want to check out the Cheap and Easy Detox Diet Plan.

Recommended Products:

• Essential Oils

Further Reading:

•  Household Toxins
• 6 Things in Your Home That Are Unintentionally Making Your Family Sick

Resources:

• You’ve Been Cleaning Your Oven The Wrong Way Your Entire Life. This Is Brilliant! – Healthy Food Team
• Clean your floors without store-bought chemicals – non-toxic cleaning recipe and instructions – Natural News
• How to Clean Old Stained Carpet Naturally – SFGATE

A new study clearly shows common over-the-counter medications widely used for asthma, allergies, and insomnia increase the risk for dementia. The study also found that the risk may not be reversible, even after several years off of these medications.

The drugs studied are anticholinergic drugs, which block a neurotransmitter, acetylcholine, in the central and the peripheral nervous system. These drugs are available over-the-counter and through prescriptions. Many are used on a regular, long-term basis to treat a variety of medical complaints including:

• allergies and allergic reactions
• motion sickness
• irritable bowel syndrome
• insomnia
• colds
• ulcers
• asthma
• excessive sweating
• COPD
• urinary incontinence
• depression
• smoking cessation
• cough suppressant
• muscle relaxer
• Parkinson’s disease

These drugs include:

• Zyban
• Wellbutrin
• Dramamine
• Cogentin
• Chlor-Trimeton
• Benadryl
• Sominex
• Advil PM
• Unisom
• Robinul
• Atarax
• Atrovent
• Oxivent

The study showed the risk of dementia rises when these anticholinergic medications are used at higher doses or for longer periods. It is not unusual to find these drugs used in combination, especially with the elderly population. For instance, one individual may be using a sleep aid, an allergy medication, and a medication for depression. If all of these drugs are anticholinergic drugs, the accumulative effect increases exponentially, raising the risk of dementia.

Earlier studies had shown these medications increased the risk of dementia; however, these studies also concluded cognitive decline decreased when these drugs were discontinued. The new study, a more longitudinal study, suggests that years after continuation, the risk of dementia remains higher for people who have used more of these drugs or used them for a longer period of time, suggesting a cause and effect even when the drugs were discontinued years prior to the development of dementia.

The study showed that even low amounts over long periods of time increased the risk of dementia. While the study focused on older adults, what about children and young adults? How many children and younger adults are regularly taking anticholinergic over-the-counter or prescription medications for allergies or asthma? How many adults of all ages are taking anticholinergic over-the-counter or prescription sleep aids?

This should be a wake-up call for all of us to remember that medications treat symptoms, not the cause of disease. To get well, to be truly well, we must give the body the nutrients it needs to heal. We must detox. We must live lives that are as clean as possible: clean food, clean water, clean environment. It has been made clear over and over that we cannot trust pharmaceutical companies! If you have been taking any pharmaceuticals, it’s time to detox. Start with this Cheap and Easy Detox Plan and consider following the 80% Raw Food Diet.

Recommended Supplements:

• Shillington’s Brain Tonic
• Shillington’s Nerve Sedative Formula
• Shillington’s Total Nutrition Formula
• Coconut Oil
• Krill Oil

Further Reading:

• How to Detoxify from Vaccinations & Heavy Metals
• Prevent Dementia Naturally
• Candida, Gut Flora, Allergies, and Disease
• Mental Health, Physical Health & B Vitamins – Nature’s Valium
• Gluten & Neurological Disorders – Understanding the Connection

Sources:

• MedScape.com
• Higher dementia risk linked to more use of common drugs – ScienceDaily
• Anticholinergic – Wikipedia
• The study: Shelly L. Gray, Melissa L. Anderson, Sascha Dublin, Joseph T. Hanlon, Rebecca Hubbard, Rod Walker, Onchee Yu, Paul K. Crane, Eric B. Larson.Cumulative Use of Strong Anticholinergics and Incident Dementia.JAMA Internal Medicine, 2015; DOI:10.1001/jamainternmed.2014.7663

As parents, we always have our kids’ safety in mind. We rarely hand something over to our children without thinking of how it could potentially harm them. Will he be able to pull parts off that car, put them in his mouth, and choke? What happens if she eats that Playdough?

While we do take the time to analyze various aspects of a toy, we probably don’t put enough thought into it. Does the toy have hidden chemicals and toxins? Did its production harm the environment?

Let’s look at several factors parents should take into consideration before hitting the toy store.

1. Repurpose First

Before buying anything new, take a good look at what you have at home. Has your son been begging for a drum set? Maybe the pots and pans would be a satisfactory alternative. Is your daughter determined to have that hot pink playhouse? A refrigerator box with a custom paint job might do the trick.

Here are some great ideas. Otherwise, google phrases like “toys from trash.”

2. Broaden the Age Range

See if you can adapt toys to fit different age ranges. The longer you can use a toy, the longer it will stay out of the landfill.

For example, all you need to do to make “old kid” toys more age appropriate for a younger crowd is bend the rules a little. For example:

• Move the foul line closer when playing cornhole and tossers so little arms can play, too.
• Don’t worry about forming words with the Scrabble tiles; use them with preschoolers who want to learn their letters.
• Use the Twister game board to help kids sort toys by color.
• Rather than use a big, heavy soccer ball, let younger kids play with a balloon (by the way, this makes it a great inside game for rainy days).

3. Phase Out Dangerous Things

Sort through your kids’ toy box. Take a look at what is already in there. You probably have several things that are no longer safe—toys with broken or missing parts.

You might also have toys that are unsafe because of the products used for their construction.

Rather than throw these toys out and contribute to landfill waste, repurpose them. There are lots of creative ways to make use of discarded toys (you can find examples here and here).

4. Buy Natural When Possible

The best toy construction materials are all-natural. Look for toys made out of sustainably logged, solid wood. Toys sans finish are best; otherwise, look for options with a non-toxic finish (vegetable, water-based, or beeswax).

Avoid any toys made of pressed woods (plywood or particle board). These woods often have toxic chemicals in the glue.

Other natural materials that make great toys include felt, wool, silk, hemp, organic cotton, and bamboo.

5. Buy High Quality Items

You might have to spend a little more, but high quality toys are worth the investment. These toys are preferable for several reasons:

• Quality toys are less likely to break, meaning sharp or dangerous parts won’t be an issue.
• The better the toy, the longer it will last. Several children—sometimes multiple generations—can play with a single quality toy.
• It is much easier to sell used toys if they are quality. Other parents won’t be interested in purchasing (repurposing) your second-hand toys if they aren’t in great shape. That means they could potentially end up in the landfill.
• Higher quality toys are more likely to be made with safe products—sans unwanted chemicals.

6. Buy Local

Reduce greenhouse gas emissions by buying local. The shorter the distance the item needs to travel between manufacturer and consumer the better.

If there aren’t eco-friendly toy makers in your area, see if you can convince someone to give it a try. Ask a local carpenter to make wooden blocks. Ask someone crafty to make eco-friendly dolls and stuffed animals.

7. Be Smart about Imports

If you do buy an imported toy, make smart decisions. Not all countries abide by the same regulations when it comes to making consumer products. Therefore, the country of origin can greatly influence the chemicals included in the toy.

Buy safer toys from Japan, Canada, or European countries.

8. Encourage Creativity

Open-ended toys (ones that can be used in a variety of different settings) inspire the most creativity. Not only is this good for your child’s cognitive development, it also means a single toy can have more uses—meaning fewer toys will need to be purchased.

Great examples of open-ended toys include

• A sand box (or sand and water table for inside play)
• Art supplies
• Wooden blocks
• Dress up clothes

9. Avoid High Risk Toys

While many toys pose a low-level threat, other toys are extremely dangerous because of the chemicals they contain.

Cheap plastic jewelry and cosmetics specifically designed for kids are especially dangerous. These often have lead and known carcinogens. Avoid these at all costs!

While it is impossible to avoid plastic altogether, you can make smart decisions about which plastics make it into the shopping cart. A good way to tell if a plastic product is safe is to check the recycling label on the bottom. If it is safe (free of the most dangerous chemicals), the item will have a number 1, 2, 4, or 5 inside the arrow logo.

10. Get Recall Notifications

Subscribe to recall notifications and find out as soon as possible if a toy you purchased is labeled unsafe. The email alerts from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission would be the best resource for toys.

You can also sign up for recalls from the Food and Drug Administration, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Authority (for safety information related to tires, child restraints, vehicles, and school buses).

11. Don’t Buy Anything!

In the end, your child probably doesn’t really need a new toy. Simplify your child’s toy box. Your youngster’s creativity, your wallet, and the environment will thank you!

What are your favorite eco-friendly toys?

Editor’s Note

We don’t really buy toys for our two year old son. Most of the time when people have given us toys for him, he was not interested. He likes to play with what we use. For instance, we prepare virtually all of our own food, so he loves to mimic us and pretend to cook. We give him pots and pans to play with. Add a few spatulas and a some water and he’s set for at least 30 minutes. Big cardboard boxes are always awesome, we cut them out and make forts. I am convinced that letting him play in this way helps boost his creativity, and it certainly saves us a lot of money!

Sources:

• Natural Toy Care Instructions, by Bannor Toys
• Bringing up baby with safe and green toys, by CNN
• Cornhole for Kids, by Custom Corntoss
• 10 ways to reuse board games, by Mother Nature Network
• Go Green With Eco Friendly Toys, by Health Guidance

Most people aren’t gardeners, and even fewer are bona fide farmers. All of us, though, eat.

For this reason, food producers around the country — and around the world — are faced with a high demand for their products, a demand that might become unattainable in the future. In order to ensure a greater sense of food security, it’s time for us all to consider cultivating our own gardens.

You might be scratching your head if you live in an apartment, urban environment, or any other place that doesn’t have the green space for a garden. Fortunately, green thumbs before you have come up with the idea of a vertical garden. You can hang plants, put them on shelves, or simply put them in pots with trellises so that they can grow onward and upward.

You, too, can grow onward and upward if you start your own vertical garden. Aside from improved food security, below are six more reasons home gardens are the way of the future.

It’s Good for the Environment

Imagine the journey the vegetables you buy in a grocery store must go through to get there. They’re often picked in another state or country and transported for miles to reach you. That effort requires a ton of resources that your backyard garden can eliminate. Your own fresh fruits and veggies will produce less waste, help prevent soil erosion, and stave off future droughts.

It’s Healthier for You

You’ve heard — or you might know from sampling them yourself — organic fruits and veggies typically taste better than their pesticide-laden counterparts. Naturally grown produce also boasts more vitamins and minerals, especially if it’s locally grown and bought as fresh as possible. Imagine how flavorful and beneficial your vertical garden will be: freshly picked vegetables and fruits can go directly into your cooking, no middleman or nutrients lost.

Many home gardeners also get creative, growing produce that might otherwise be hard to come by or expensive in stores. This daringness has health benefits, as your body craves dietary diversity. New fruits and vegetables without steep price tags or miles of travel? Sign us up.

It Keeps Water Cleaner

As previously mentioned, many farmers rely on chemically based products to keep insects and other plant-eating pests at bay. These might be helpful to the farmer and improve overall yield, but they’re not good for us or for our water supply.

Perhaps it rains or the farmer waters his plants after spraying on a layer of pesticides. Where does the run-off go? According to the Environmental Protection Agency, it often goes into our groundwater, and more than 35 states have contaminated groundwater because of this cycle. Your home garden can help cut down on this, and you can drink from the tap with a little more confidence.

It Cuts Down on Energy Usage

You probably don’t think about farms as places where a massive amount of energy is used, but think again: modern farming uses more petroleum than any other industry. This figure includes the production of synthetic pesticides, which actually account for more energy usage than the planting and harvesting of natural crops. If you say “yes” to gardening — and “no” to synthetic pesticides — you can help reduce this number.

It Boosts Biodiversity

Crop fields are often dedicated to, well, one type of crop. This makes the farmer’s life easier, for sure, but it doesn’t do much for the environment. It saps nutrients from the soil and allows pests to become smarter in their attack on our food supplies; that’s why fertilizers and pesticides have become commonplace.

By planting your own garden with a bunch of different plants, you’ll be doing your part to mix it up. Even if you don’t have a plot of land to improve with your green gardening, your vertical garden can attract bees and other helpful insects that might not show up to tired farmlands. They’re vital to the biodiversity of an area, too, because of their role in pollination.

It Bulks Up Your Wallet

This one might not necessarily save the world, but it might mean the world to you and your family. A vertical garden can help you save grocery money.

You can also use scrap wood and recycled containers, rather than buying new supplies to start your vertical garden. It doesn’t take much: seeds, soil, and some basic power tools can transform an unused corner of your patio or apartment into a tiny farm.

You can also create your own compost in order to fertilize your plants for free. Once your garden starts yielding produce, you’ll save money at the grocery store, too. You’ll avoid rising food costs, help the environment, and eat more flavorful meals. Who said saving the world had to be hard?

If you want to contribute to sustainable lifestyles and grow your own food, vertical gardening is a great solution! Nearly anyone can do it; you just need the right inspiration.

What vertical gardening strategies could you use in your home? I’d love to hear about them in the comments section below!

Further Reading:

• How to Start a Vegetable Garden – How to Grow Vegetables
• Planting a Fall Garden
• DIY Solutions for the Garden
• Medicinal Herb Garden – What To Grow and How To Keep It Growing All Winter
• 12 Organic Ways to Keep Your Garden Free of Slugs
• Planning Your Organic Garden
• 5 Reasons Small Scale Gardening Could Save the World

Sources:

• Growing A Vertical Vegetable Garden – Gardening Know How
  
• Power Tools – Hermance
• Top 10 Reasons To Grow Your Own Organic Food – Food Matters
  
• How to Start a Vegetable Garden – How to Grow Vegetables – Organic Lifestyle Magazine