4 Nov

Johnson & Johnson yields to pressure

Posted by Sophia in Children, Personal Care Products.

Johnson & Johnson baby shampoo sold in the U.S. has contained known carcinogens for years.  Sadly, their formulas sold in other counties like Japan and Sweden do not.  Thanks to years of pressure from the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, they plan to phase out the preservative quarternium-15 (which releases formaldehyde, a carcinogen) and 1,4-dioxane (also a carcinogen).

Read my post on this issue from March 2009.  It certainly took a long time for Johnson & Johnson to yield to the pressure, and I’m grateful to the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics for their persistence!  Below is a letter they sent to their subscribers.

_________________

Are Canadian babies any less deserving of safety than Japanese babies? Is it OK for U.S. babies to share the bathtub with formaldehyde but not for U.K. babies? We don’t think so, and we’d bet most people would agree that all babies should be safe, regardless of where they live.

Yet Johnson & Johnson sells different—safer, formaldehyde-free—versions of its iconic “No More Tears” baby shampoo in Denmark, Finland, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, South Africa, Sweden and the U.K. than in the U.S., Australia, Canada, China and Indonesia. This news was exposed in an analysis the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics released Tuesday. Continue reading

21 Oct

Insanity is insane

Posted by Sophia in Exercise.

About a month ago, I tried the Insanity at-home exercise DVDs.  I had just finished P90X and was looking for something equally as challenging but more cardiovascular.  Unfortunately, three weeks into Insanity, I aggravated my hips and haven’t been able to do cardio since.  They weren’t kidding when they called it Insanity–not so much in that it’s insanely hard, but that most people would have to be insane to pound their body like this.  I have spent more money seeing doctors, chiropractors and acupuncturists to treat my injury than I spent on the DVDs.  And for the record, I’m 32, a former Strength and Conditioning Coach who knows how to execute proper form, and have never hurt myself in an exercise program before that forced me to stop.

So based on my limited experience with the program, here are my pros and cons.

PROS:

  • The workouts, at least for the first month, are about 35-40 minutes each.  This is totally manageable and much easier to fit into my schedule than the 60+ minutes of exercise many other DVDs require each day.  I believe the second month of DVDs are about 45 minutes each.
  • These workouts are challenging.  You breath hard.  You sweat.  I want an exercise program to be difficult initially and give me something to work towards.  This program definitely does.
  • I usually don’t enjoy cardio very much, but these boot-camp style workouts weren’t too bad.  I liked how the 8-10 minute warm-up was almost a mini-workout in itself.  Just when I was getting tired, it was time to stretch.  It felt like I got a good break before ramping up again.
  • Not all of the workouts, but many of them, are interval training.  This is highly effective for burning fat and improving athletic performance.  Not sure that the 30 second break is really long enough for most people to recover, but that’s what the pause button is for.
  • The nutritional plan, while I didn’t follow it, is not bad.  The advice actually is totally reasonable and do-able.
  • Music is good.
  • I like that the DVDs feel like you’re in the class.  There’s a variety of levels, the gym setting is nice, etc.
  • The abdominal move of being in a plank position while tilting your pelvis under works my lower abs better than almost any other move I’ve tried. Continue reading

18 Oct

Better than organic?

Posted by Sophia in Food and Nutrition, Organic.

What’s better than organic?  Organic and grass-fed, at least when it comes to dairy.  Our family tried to eat vegan for a couple months and quickly learned that we really just weren’t into soy-cheese.  We now consume only organic cheese and in small quantities (many recipes taste just as good with half the cheese!)  It is especially important to buy organic and clean fatty animal foods, since toxins like PCBs and dioxins accumulate in the fat of animals and especially in the concentrated fats of cheese.

I recently found a company that makes organic cheese from cows that have year-round access to pasture.  The company is Rumiano Family and their cheeses are similar in price to other organic cheeses and quite tasty.  This is what the back of the Rumiano cheese label says:

  • Our milk comes from grass fed, AHA (American Humane) certified Jersey cows…. free-ranged and happy.
  • Certified Organic and Kosher… complete traceability of all ingredients.
  • No artificial hormones and pesticide-free…  our milk is pure, fresh, and wholesome.
  • Leading the industry as the first Non-GMO Project certified cheese maker.
  • Created on the coastal pastures of Northern California.
  • Low-impact sustainable milk production flows from the Pacific Terrace pastures to our Fromagerie to your table.
What is described here is honestly how all cheese should be made, but sadly it is not.  So seek out companies like this one and support them!  It’s better for you, for your family, for our earth, and it sends the strong message to larger companies that this is what consumers want.  The government may not mandate it but our purchasing power can help dictate what big companies will do.  Will your cheese and milk come from hormone-injected, industrial cows fed pesticide-laden feed, or from cows that feed on an organic, GMO free, grass diet and are treated humanely?  The government wouldn’t ban BPA, but consumer buying power pushed almost all manufacturers of baby products to change their practices and offer BPA-free alternatives to stay competitive.  Let’s do this with our food too!

16 Oct

Do supplements help or hurt?

Posted by Sophia in Supplements.

I have always been wary of vitamins.  It’s not that I don’t think most people need help getting all the nutrition their bodies require, it’s that I think vitamins allow people to feel safe.  They don’t have to consciously eat well, they can just pop a pill and get all their necessary nutrients.  I prefer that my family try to eat fruits and veggies at every meal, avoid processed foods, and get our vitamins and minerals from real food sources.  We do still use some supplements–everyone but the baby takes fish oil capsules for omega-3′s almost daily, and we regularly take probiotics and calcium/vitamin D.  About once a week, the children take a multi-vitamin and when they’re sick, they do get extra doses of vitamin C and other antioxidants.  I take vitamins even less frequently.  I tell my children that we try to get our vitamins and minerals from food first, and that food offers better and safer vitamins that pills do.

A few recent TIME magazine articles highlight how vitamins may not only be a waste of money, but may actually reduce the life expectancy in certain populations.  A one sentence clip in the most recent issue of TIME drew attention to a University of Minnesota 19-year study on supplements.  The study began in 1986 with 39,000 women who averaged 62 years of age.  Participants filled out health and supplement questionares every couple of years for 19 years. Continue reading

14 Oct

Top concerns?

Posted by Sophia in Random.

My congresswoman is coming to my neighborhood next week to hold a community forum.  In her request for an RSVP, she also asked that we include our top desires or areas of concern for her to address.  That’s a really great question.  If you were to create a “government wish list,” what would it include?

I’m sure most people feel the economy, jobs, or health care reform should be the focus of government right now.  Of course these are concerns for me too, but I know that I have concerns that are less common that I want to draw attention to.  Here’s my list.  I encourage you to think about what yours would be.

  1. Education Funding.  It’s frustrating that my state’s schools receive almost $1800 less than the national average per student each year to educate our children.  Parents are trying to bridge that gap and it creates incredible inequity in education.  The schools whose families can afford to do this are performing well.  The schools whose families can’t are struggling.
  2. Farm subsidies.  The government should not be subsidizing industrial food production.  I’d like to see the playing field leveled for small and organic farmers.
  3. Labeling of genetically modified foods.  Consumers have a right to know when they are consuming genetically engineered foods.  About 90% of soybeans grown in the U.S. are GM.  We deserve to know when we’re eating GM foods, and to have the power to avoid them if we choose.
  4. Updating the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976.  Chemical regulation in the U.S. is embarrassingly dated.  For example, why do our children have to consume synthetic food dyes when the same companies use natural ingredients to color their foods in Europe (Kraft mac and cheese, McDonald’s strawberry syrup, etc.)?  Because the EU has updated their chemical policies, while we have not.
  5. Labeling of cell phone radiation levels.  Specific Absorption Rates (SARs) should be clearly labeled on packaging and wherever cell phones are sold.  Again, I want consumer rights to trump corporation rights and profits.

11 Oct

We want GM food labeled!

Posted by Sophia in Genetic Modification.

The EWG is seeking signatures for their petition to the FDA, telling them we want genetically modified foods labeled.

This photo I saw on Facebook summarizes it perfectly!

9 Oct

15 minutes of exercise each day to extend your life

Posted by Sophia in Exercise.

Most of us are already aware that regular exercise reduces your risk of death from several causes, including heart disease and cancer.  But did you know that as little as 15 minutes each day can reduce your risk of death from any cause by 14% and extend your life expectancy by 3 years?  And each additional 15 minutes per day after that reduces your risk another 4%, according to a study published in The Lancet of more then 400,000 people.  Who can’t find 15 minutes a day for a longer, healthier life?

3 Oct

Save the dolphins!

Posted by Sophia in Environment.

I love to watch documentaries.  There’s something about being entertained and moved by a true story.  And feeling like knowledge is power, and that you can make a difference.

I recently added a documentary to my Netflix queue called The Cove.  It’s about a fishing village in Japan that captures dolphins to sell to the dolphin industry (think Sea World orca and dolphin performances, and swim with the dolphin programs at hotels in Hawaii).  The remaining dolphins are killed and sold for human consumption.  The film is captivating–with Mission Impossible style suspense and action.  It won the Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival in 2009.  And it won an Oscar for Best Documentary.

If you’re thinking of seeing this amazing film, read no further.  If you don’t have time to watch it but are curious about what is happening, read on. Continue reading

23 Sep

Forks Over Knives

Posted by Sophia in Food and Nutrition.

Thanks to Ellen for sharing this link with me.  The trailer for the movie Forks Over Knives looks great, doesn’t it?  Too bad there’s a “long wait” for it on Netflix.  It looks like this film is based on the book The China Study, which was one of the things that pushed our family to eating mostly vegetarian.  Glad to see this information becoming more mainstream knowledge.

Once I see it, I’ll review it here.

19 Sep

P90X before and after

Posted by Sophia in Exercise.

My husband and I just completed 13 weeks of P90X.  For a thorough review after 8 weeks , please see my previous post.

Most of what I shared at 8 weeks I still agree with.  I would probably drop my overall rating from 4.5 out of 5 stars to 4.  Given the amount of time we dedicated to exercise during this program, I think we should have seen better results.  I attribute this to the lack of cardio in the program.  P90X classic dictates two days of cardio per week (plyo and kenpo).  I would say only plyo was really cardiovascular for me.  One day a week of cardio, no matter how much you’re exercising, is not going to produce significant change.  I know I’m stronger after this program, but if you still have a layer of fat on top of your new muscles, you won’t be able to tell that much has happened.  While we didn’t do the diet, I’ve done plenty of exercise programs without a dietary change and seen impressive results (for example, Tae Bo).  With P90X, I lost a grand total of 1 pound and 1.5 inches (1/2 off my waist, and 1/2 inch off each thigh).  I would have liked to lose 2 inches off my waist, and I don’t think that goal was unrealistic.  My husband didn’t want to weigh or measure, but you can see from our before and after photos that he had better results than I did.  However, he was sedentary before beginning this program. Continue reading

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