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25 Best Nutrition Secrets July 08, 2011 |
| Marilyn and I hope you're well and enjoying adding Nature's Super Foods to your diet!
Today we thought we'd share with you 12 tips to a healthier home.
12 Tips To a Healthier Home Let's start in the kitchen. Cook on Cast Iron Teflon pots and pans release potentially hazardous fumes and illness-inducing particles into the air, including toxic gases, carcinogens, and global pollutants. Healthier Strategy: Use a chemical-free, cast iron skillet to cook your food instead. Open the Windows There is a cumulative effect of pollutants in our living areas. We start with the polluted air from the outside and add in the off-gassing toxins from the glue holding down our carpets, the paint on our walls, and even our furniture, which is most likely sprayed and stained with multiple chemicals. Healthier Strategy: Open your windows as often as possible to keep cleaner air flowing into your home. Sleep Smarter There are numerous questionable chemicals found in many common fabrics like polyester, nylon, as well as anything labeled, “static resistant,” or “wrinkle resistant." Healthier Strategy: Make an effort to buy clothes and bedding made from safer, more natural materials like organic cotton. Consider New Light Bulbs Those new Compact Fluorescent Lights (CFLs) may be marketed as good for the planet; but, if they break, they’re no good for you. The reason: They contain mercury vapor, a very toxic substance. Healthier Strategy: Either handle and dispose of your light bulbs very carefully or, if you're concerned about the vapor, but also the environment, purchase regular incandescent light bulbs at lower wattage (which use less electricity). Give Your Garage a Break Generally we pull into our garage after a long drive, right? You may want to reconsider. Why? As your car's engine cools it naturally releases health-hindering gasses, ultimately polluting your garage and connected living spaces. Healthier Strategy: Park your car outside in your driveway for an hour or two before moving it into the garage. Stick With Old-Fashioned Fabrics Surprise: Clothing labeled as “no iron” or “wrinkle-free” can actually expose you to perfluorochemicals (PFCs), compounds which have been linked to reproductive and developmental toxicity, as well as cancers of the bladder and liver. Healthier Strategy: Take an extra five minutes to iron any wrinkled clothes, and ditch the chemically treated fabrics. Try to Clean Green Ever wonder what your household cleaners contain? Surprisingly, many products today actually possess health-hindering ingredients that have the potential to harm you or your family. Healthier Strategy: Instead of using harsh chemicals to kill germs, leaving potential toxins behind for you, your family, or your pets to pick up, use cleaning products that are labeled green, items that are nontoxic and plant-based. Air Out Your Dry-Cleaning Dry cleaners use perchloroethylene, a solvent and volatile organic compound (VOC), to remove stains from your clothes. Unfortunately, the cleaning process doesn’t remove the solution, leaving your clothes covered in this toxic chemical. Healthier Strategy: Look for a “green” dry cleaner in your area, or, if you can’t ditch the regular dry cleaner, make sure you unwrap and air out your dry-cleaned garments for at least two days in an exterior area, like a garage, before moving them inside any part of your home. Wash Your Face When You Get Home (& hands) If you’re one of the millions of women who wear makeup every single day, consider this: These items all contain some degree of chemicals, and these compounds spend quite a bit of time coating your skin. Healthier Strategy: Wash your face right when you get home instead of waiting until bedtime. A few extra hours of chemical-free face time each day could add up to more than six years over a lifetime. Keep the Lights Low Your pineal gland creates melatonin when it begins to get dark out, allowing your body to sleep. But just a quick flash of light in the middle of the night is enough to signal this gland that night is ending and its time to get up. Consequently, melatonin production is immediately ramped down and it can be difficult to get back to sleep. Better Strategy: Nix the nightlights and keep the lights low to maximize your slumber. Another idea: Consider buying alarm clocks and other bedroom electronics that are illuminated with red light, which is less disturbing to melatonin production than blue or white. Resist Recirculation Surprise: Programming your vehicle's air conditioner or heater to recirculate air amps up the amount of health-sapping pollutants in the car. Healthier Strategy: Selecting the outside air option on your dashboard will reduce the number of pollutants you’re circulating inside the car, or simply roll down your windows and enjoy the fresh air if its a warm day. Let Your Mattress Breathe Nearly every mattress in the North America is made with at least some type of flame-retardant chemical and many of these compounds can off-gas, releasing toxins which can create health problems. Healthier Strategy: Whenever you launder your sheets, open a window and leave your mattress exposed in order to allow your bed to off-gas this toxin for the day. Now that we have that out of the way, here's a great recipe we're sure you'll enjoy! Mediterranean Wraps Get whole grains, tummy-trimming fats, and plenty of healthy protein in this sophisticated sandwich. Roasted red peppers, goat cheese, and olives provide so much delicious Mediterranean flavor, you'll never notice it's just 300 calories. Mediterranean Salad-Wraps Whole grains, healthy proteins, and tummy-trimming MUFAs (monounsaturated fatty acids) transform your favorite sandwiches. Time: 20 minutes Servings: 4 Ingredients: 1/2 c. green olive tapenade (MUFA) 2 Tbs. freshly squeezed lemon juice (about 1 lemon) 4 c. salad greens (4 oz.) 1/2 c. canned no-salt-added chickpeas, rinsed and drained 1/2 c. drained and sliced jarred roasted red peppers (blotted dry) 1/4 med. seedless cucumber, halved and thinly sliced (1/2 c.) 1/2 sm. red or sweet onion, thinly sliced (1/4 c.) 2 oz. crumbled goat cheese 4 whole-wheat wraps or tortillas (8" diameter) Preparation; 1. Mix tapenade and lemon juice in large bowl with fork. Add greens, chickpeas, peppers, cucumber, and onion, and toss to mix well. Add cheese and toss gently. 2. Warm wraps or tortillas per package directions. 3. Arrange one-quarter of the salad mixture onto the bottom of a wrap and roll up. Cut in half on an angle, placing a wooden pick in each half. Repeat with remaining wraps. Nutritional Info: Per Wrap 297 cal, 11 g. pro, 37 g. carb, 6 g. fiber, 12 g. fat, 3.5 g. sat fat, 11 mg. chol, 684 mg sodium* Nutrition Bonus: Green olive tapenade is a versatile MUFA: Spread it on whole-wheat toast for a simple snack or on grilled fish for a sophisticated lunch or dinner. The concentrated flavor is a bargain at only 54 calories per 2-tablespoon serving. *Limit your sodium intake to 2,300 mg or less per day. Sadly, that's all the time we have for today. We hope you enjoyed and found some value in this Edition! Until next time, we want you to, Live Longer & Live Younger!
You can do it with MaxLifeDirect
MaxLifeDirect
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