I am so appreciative there are safer choices out there, such as Get Clean Non-toxic laundry liquid!"Warning! Don’t Eat The Poisonous Detergent Pods!" By Judy Molland
"Have you seen those new detergent pods?
They are small, brightly colored, and children have been eating them because of their bite-size shape, and candy-like colors. Very appealing to kids.
As a result, childhood poisonings from these new detergent packets have soared in recent weeks, with the total climbing to more than 1,200 this week from about 200 in late May.
The detergent packets were introduced by various companies over the winter as a convenience that can be easily dropped into a washing machine. This is puzzling to me. Do you find it especially difficult to pour liquid in a cup, and then into your washing machine?
The New York Times reports that health authorities have been concerned since late March, when poison control centers around the country noted a small number of reports from parents whose children had opened and swallowed the brightly colored laundry detergent products.
Poison control centers first starting putting out alerts about two to three months ago, not long after the products were introduced in the United States. By late May, the number of reported cases had reached 200 to 250 nationwide, prompting widespread news media attention and an announcement from Tide, which makes one of the most popular forms of the products, that the company would change its packaging to make the packets more difficult for children to tamper with.
Still, poison control centers say they continue to see more and more cases. This week, the California Poison Control System announced that at least nine small children in that state were taken to emergency rooms between Saturday and Tuesday after exposure to the packets, bringing the state’s total number of cases to at least 91. Six of the latest cases in California involved Tide Pods. Two were linked to Purex Ultra Packs, and one involved All Mighty Paks.
So far this year, there have been at least 1,210 cases reported to poison control centers in the U.S. Thankfully, no child has died, but at least 11 children have been placed on ventilators, and 10 have been intubated.
And the solution?
WE think it might be time to turn to laundry & cleaning products that aren't poisonous at all!
Our family has been using non-toxic, plant-based, concentrated, & biodegradable cleaners for almost 50 years so we may be a little biased here indeed, but we've had more than 1 grandchild, and more than 1 pet, ingest a Shaklee cleaning product over the years. And you know what? We've never had to call 911 or worry at all. And our laundry is just as clean as can be too!
Our Shaklee journey started with 1 little Shaklee "Basic H" bottle, is it time for your story?
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Sunday, July 1, 2012
Poisonous Detergent Pods vs. Non-toxic Cleaning
Friday, June 29, 2012
Three Ways I Add Nutrition to My Kids’ Meals
In general, I keep a supply of Shaklee Cinch® Snack Bars on hand for when my children need a low-calorie, high-protein snack. Of course, each of my children favors a different flavor, so we keep a Snack Bar Assortment Pack in our pantry at home.
My go-to strategies for creating nutritious meals for my children:
1. Use soy protein whenever possible. We always bake with Shaklee Instant Soy Protein. As a rule of thumb, we substitute about 1/3 soy protein for every cup of flour that a recipe calls for. For example, if a recipe calls for 1 cup of flour, we’ll change it to 2/3 cup of unbleached or wheat flour plus 1/3 cup of soy protein. And a favorite kitchen activity we can all do together is to make Shaklee protein snacks. Add a cup of soy protein to 1/3 cup peanut butter and ¼ cup of honey. Mix the ingredients together like dough and then roll into balls or snakes. Any shape will do. Cover with coconut or nuts and refrigerate until hard. My kids love these for dessert or as an afternoon snack!
2. Sneak veggies in everywhere. Either celery with peanut butter or baby carrots make a great snack. Soups are another great meal to pile with veggies, such as carrots, spinach, broccoli, or celery. For example, I like to cook carrots or celery in a stock pot and then puree in a food processor. This not only thickens the soup base, but my kids never even know the veggies are in there!
3. The more fresh fruit, the healthier. At home, we call fruit “nature’s candy.” Blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, bananas, and apples are always on hand in our kitchen. The berries are easy to grab by the handful, and we often bag a variety of berries and other cut-up fruit to take on the go. Another specialty in the Evans household is to replace sugary jams or jellies in a traditional peanut butter and jelly sandwich with fresh fruit. We put berries or even bananas in the sandwich and smush them into the peanut butter.
Probably the most important thing is getting my children involved in deciding what to eat and being creative with meals. The more they are involved, the more likely they are to make healthier food choices when I’m not around—and that makes me a happy parent!
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Dirty Dirty Grapes! ~ Contributed by Eco-liciousMama
If you think running your fruit or veggies under your sink faucet is going to get rid of all those nasty pesticides, residues and just plain dirt, think again! My grandmother and mom loves using Shaklee's Basic H2 as a fruit and vegetable wash. So I thought I would finally give it a try!
My grapes and Basic H2
This is a picture of the grapes after they were rinsed with water and then I let them dry. You can see all of the residue on the grapes.
I added 2-3 drops of Basic H2 to the bowl and then filled it with lukewarm water.
I added the grapes to the water and swished them around a little bit and now you can see the disgusting, dirty water. Let me remind you that these results are after the grapes have already been rinsed in water! The pictures don't do it justice but the water was sooo dirty and gross!
This is really disgusting! After I dumped out most of the water from the bowl, there was so much dirt and debris on the bottom of the bowl. Look at the photo below! To think that is what we digest when we don't thoroughly wash our fruits and veggies!
Here are the Basic H2 washed grapes! Don't they look gorgeous! I'm not even stretching the truth in the slightest when I tell you that the fruits and veggies actually taste so much better after being washed with Basic H2. Once you try Basic H2, you will never go back to using traditional cleaners again!
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Monday, June 18, 2012
Healthy Step-EAT HEALTHY
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Ingredients
1 cup quinoa cooked in two cups water
Extra virgin olive oil, as needed Juice from 2 juicy limes Sea salt, to taste 2-3 tablespoons fresh chopped cilantro or parsley 1 half small red or purple onion, diced fine 1 small yellow bell pepper, cored, seeded, diced fine 1 cup roasted corn kernels (I used frozen, roasted on a cookie sheet for 6-7 minutes, then cooled) 1 large head of crisp romaine lettuce, washed, dried, sliced crosswise Gluten-free tortilla chips 1 large avocado, pitted, peeled, diced Instructions
Cook the quinoa per package instructions. Fluff the cooked quinoa with a fork. Scoop the quinoa into a bowl.
Drizzle the cooked quinoa with extra virgin olive oil and toss to coat. Squeeze on fresh lime juice and toss again. Season the mixture with sea salt, to taste.
Add in the fresh chopped cilantro, diced red onion, diced yellow pepper, and roasted corn kernels. Stir lightly to distribute. Taste test for seasoning adjustments.
Line four salad bowls or plates with the fresh romaine. Spoon the quinoa salad on the center of the lettuce. Add the diced avocado to each plate. Tuck in a few tortilla chips around the edges.
Serve with an extra lime wedge.
More Options:
Add a cup of chilled, drained black beans, if you like your taco salad super hearty.
Add sliced red or yellow cherry or grape tomatoes, if you desire.
Sprinkle with the cheese of your choice.
Serve with your favorite salsa on the side.
Total Servings: 4
Nutritional Information Per Serving
Calories: 240
Carbohydrates: 41.2g Cholesterol: 0mg Fat: 4.4g Saturated Fat: 0.6 g Fiber: 5.4g Sodium: 24 mg Protein: 6.7 g | ||||||
Thursday, June 14, 2012
Top 10 Healthiest Fruit List with Fruit Benefits
You'll want to choose often from the healthiest fruit list in order to get the best fruit benefits. Then you can look better, think better and have more abundant energy.
But that's not all. It turns out that an apple a day (or an apricot, grapefruit, kiwi, papaya or bowl of blueberries) CAN keep the doctor away!
Besides being delicious and nutritious, by reducing your risk of colds, flu, heart disease, stroke and cancer, eating the healthiest fruits with the most antioxidant fruit benefits will help you to feel better and live longer.
The Healthiest Fruit with Antioxidant Fruit Benefits
1. Apples, with the skin, provide pectin, 5 grams of fiber and a heaping dose of flavonoid antioxidants. Apple fiber helps lower cholesterol and keep you regular. And the powerful flavonoids reduce your risk of heart disease, stroke and cancer. A medium apple has about 80 calories.
2. Apricots are a good source of vitamins A, C and E, potassium, iron and carotenoids. The lycopene found in apricots helps protect your eyes and prevent heart disease, LDL cholesterol oxidation and certain cancers – especially skin cancer. And the fiber in apricots helps relieve constipation. Plus 1 apricot has only 19 calories.
3. Bananas are a great source of potassium (about 400 mg), which helps lower your risk of high blood pressure and stroke and plays a key role in muscle function. Bananas are delicious and sweet to eat, making them a good sugar substitute and natural energy source. The fiber in bananas helps restore normal bowel action. A medium size banana has around 108 calories.
4. Berries are super high in powerful antioxidants, including vitamin C. Numerous studies show berries offer great protection against heart disease stroke, cancer and many other diseases. - Blueberries top the antioxidant fruit benefits list. Besides other health benefits, blueberries help prevent high blood pressure, macular degeneration and brain damage leading to Alzheimer's disease. 1 cup of blueberries has 81 calories and 4 grams of fiber.
- Blackberries – a single cup of blackberries has 74 calories and a whopping 10 grams of fiber.
- Raspberries – there are 60 calories in 1 cup of raspberries with 8 grams of fiber.
- Strawberries – 1 cup of sliced strawberries has 50 calories and 4 grams of fiber.
5. Cantaloupes are packed with Vitamin C, potassium and carotenoid antioxidants. Cantaloupe can help reduce inflammation, prevent cancer and cardiovascular disease, boost immunity and help protect your skin from sunburn. Half a melon has 97 calories and 2 grams of fiber.
6. Cherries are very high in iron and disease-fighting flavonoids. They also have potassium, magnesium, C and E, folate and heart-protective carotenoids. Cherries can significantly reduce inflammation, arthritic pain, bad cholesterol and cancer risk. 1 cup of cherries has 88 calories.
7. Citrus Fruits are best known for flavor, juiciness and high vitamin C content. But they're also a good source of folate, fiber and other antioxidants, vitamins and minerals. Citrus fruit has been shown to help reduce cholesterol, blood pressure and the risk of some types of cancer.- Pink or Red Grapefruit – half a grapefruit has just a scant 47 calories.
- Oranges provide an impressive 50 to 70 mg of vitamin C and a medium orange has only 68 calories.
- Lemons and Limes – 1 lime or small lemon has about 17 calories.
9. Papayas are loaded with vitamin C, folate, carotenoids and natural digestive enzymes that help with protein digestion. 1 cup of cubed papaya has 55 calories.10. Red Grapes contain iron, potassium, fiber and an abundance of powerful disease-fighting antioxidants.
Although red wine gets most of the publicity, dark colored grapes are the original source of the flavonoids, anthocyanins and resveratrol, which have been shown to help prevent heart disease and cancer. 1 cup of red or purple grapes has 60 calories. Contributed by CommonSense
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Lose Fat but be Careful to Keep the Muscle
Many people go on diets to lose weight, then after they lose a little, they hit a plateau and stop losing...sound familiar?
The reason for this is because on calorie restricted diets the body burns fat cells and muscle cells.Since muscle fuels our metabolism, once we lose some of our muscle mass, our metabolism slows down. When it does, we stop losing weight.Ugh!
Later, when the Cinch weight-loss program was being developed (by doctors, scientists and nutritionists) they had an idea to see if the same ingredients that retained muscle in elite athletes could help dieters hold on to muscle while burning fat only. It did! In clinical studies every participant that used the Cinch program lost weight, but held on to 100% of their muscle mass!
Here is a great video clip that explains how it works. http://images.shaklee.com/video/show.php?video=Healthy-Weight
They also have a great forum of on-line support with meal plans, recipes and buddy systems for those that a partner who is going through it at the same time
Add Cinch to some common sense rules to fat loss and you will be a healthier, slimmer, fat burning machine.
The 5 Rules of Fat Loss
1. Don't eat so much
In other words, if you're eating a typical diet, you're probably eating a bit too much food to lose fat. That's right, the food you eat that isn't used by your body for energy and re-building gets stored as fat. Simple stuff, but it's often overlooked. That's because most of us have no idea how much food we really eat.
We all need to become aware of how much food we are eating. Seems like a small step, but it makes a big difference.
Here's a simple way to do that: Grab a notebook and write down everything you eat for the next three days. After those three days you'll have a rough idea of how much food you normally eat.
Then all you have to do is replace your any simple carbs (things that are white or processed) with complex carbs. Choose breads with five grams of fiber instead of those with just one or two.
Fill your plate with large amounts of energy promoting, oxygen rich veggies as your star attraction. Trim back portions of meat and Voila. Same amount of food, instant calorie-reduction, no stress.
Fill your plate with large amounts of energy promoting, oxygen rich veggies as your star attraction. Trim back portions of meat and Voila. Same amount of food, instant calorie-reduction, no stress.
2. Eat healthy food
Depending on who you ask, "healthy" food can mean different things. But there is one universal truth: More nutrients with fewer calories is a recipe for success.
In general, the best foods are lean meats, vegetables, high-quality fats, and maybe a small amount of starches, depending on your carbohydrate tolerance. The best part about these foods? They're also fairly low in calories compared to processed stuff.
But what's all that look like on a plate? Just check out this graphic:
A simpler way to eat.
A simpler way to eat.
Meals directly after a workout:
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| What about plant-based eaters? We've got them covered too |
A plant based approach to eating.
3. Move more often
We've seen some remarkable fat-loss progress in clients who simply moved more often.
Taking the stairs, going for a morning bike ride, or walking to lunch instead of driving may seem like small steps, but they make a big impact on how your body feels and how many calories you burn.
Of course, this isn't all you need to become a cover model, but it does kick-start the fat loss process. It also supports rules number four and five.
4. Do strength training a few times per week
To look and feel better and speed up the rate of fat loss, you need to do muscle-preserving exercises like weight-training or bodyweight workouts. They don't need to be too intense, and they certainly don't have to take a long time.
The best thing you can do is start slowly and visit the gym two or three times per week. Perform a small circuit of full-body exercises like squats, lunges, rows, and presses. It all takes about 45 minutes.
5. Do intervals (aka "Cardio")
If strength training was your muscle-preserving exercise, intervals are your calorie-burning activity. Doing short bursts of work followed by longer periods of recovery helps your body burn a tremendous amount of calories.
To start, all you have to do is get on an exercise bike, treadmill, or other cardio equipment and try the following:
30 second burst of fast pedaling or running
60 second recovery of slow pedaling or jogging
60 second recovery of slow pedaling or jogging
That's one round. Go back and forth between the "intense burst" and "recovery" and repeat that for a total of six rounds.
Or go walking for 40 minutes after a meal.
It's all about your daily practices.
Your behavior. Your habits. What you do every day. The decisions you make -- both consciously and unconsciously. But how do you change a habit?
Here are a few healthy habits to get into to aid weight loss:.
Take fish oil and a multivitamin. Use Shaklee's Cinch Weight Loss Shakles with Leutein. Leutein has been clinically shown to help the body hold on to lean muscle while losing only fat.
Eat slowly. Work out at least three days per week. Stop eating at 80% full. Eat fewer carbs. Eat veggies and protein with every meal. Cinch protein snack bars help provide heart healthy protein while sustaining blood sugars. Practice de-stressing by deep breathing or yoga stretches.
All you need to do is take the first step and we can help you with the rest.
Visit: www.cinchplan.com/healthysteps for info and meal plans
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