Stumbling Toward Enlightenment

posted by Michelle Schoffro Cook, Care2
‘Tis the season for sunshine, barbecues, and mosquitoes.

Before you grab that DEET-based mosquito repellent in an effort to keep the mosquitoes at bay, consider that research at Duke University links diethyl-meta-toluamide (DEET) use to brain damage —no wonder the mosquitoes leave at the first scent of it. Perhaps we’d be wise to follow their lead and stay clear of the stuff. Check out my article tomorrow on the dangers of DEET mosquitorepellents.

Here are six natural options that mosquitoes hate and you’ll soon love. You don’t have to worry about DEET-induced brain cell damage or scratching yourself to death. And, if you still think that natural means less effective, keep reading. Some of these mosquito repellents are MORE EFFECTIVE THAN DEET!

1. Citronella
   The old standby. Be sure you’re using pure essential oil, not fragrance oil, which is ineffective and potentially dangerous. Most mosquito repellent products “containing citronella” are made with fragrance oil and should be avoided. If you’re applying citronella to your skin, dilute it in a carrier oil or natural moisturizer. A few drops per tablespoon of oil or cream is all that is needed.

   Disclaimer: Care2.com does not warrant and shall have no liability for information provided in this newsletter or on Care2.com. Each individual person, fabric, or material may react differently to a particular suggested use. It is recommended that before you begin to use any formula, you read the directions carefully and test it first. Should you have any health care-related questions or concerns, please call or see your physician or other health care provider.

2. Catnip
   Research at Iowa State University found that catnip essential oil 10 is times more effective than DEET at repelling mosquitoes. Mosquitoes will hate you and cats will love you. Like citronella be sure to use it diluted in a carrier oil or natural moisturizer.
3. Lavender essential oil
   Smells great and is a commonly used and effective mosquito repellent.
4. Soy oil
   Better yet, choose organic soy oil as the carrier oil for catnip, lavender, and citronella essential oils. According to research published in The New England Journal of Medicine soybean oil-based mosquito repellents are as effective as DEET-containing repellents.
5. NEEM seed oil
   “Neem oil” is extracted from a plant that grows in India. An ingredient in Neem seed oil has also been found to be more effective than DEET by researchers at the Malaria Institute in India. Both the US National Research Council and the Journal of the American Mosquito Control Association have confirmed this finding.
6. Garlic
   Eat lots of fresh garlic—mosquitoes will steer clear of you since they hate the stuff. As an added bonus, so will vampires.

Michelle Schoffro Cook, MSc, RNCP, ROHP, DNM, PhD is an international best-selling and eleven-time book author and doctor of traditional natural medicine, whose works include: The Vitality Diet, Allergy-Proof, Arthritis-Proof, Total Body Detox, The Life Force Diet, The Ultimate pH Solution, The 4-Week Ultimate Body Detox Plan, and The Phytozyme Cure. Check out her natural health resources and free e-newsletter at www.WorldsHealthiestDiet.com.

posted by Terri Hall, Care2

Weary, sore eyes after a couple of hours, not to mention a workday on the computer, are a common reality for many. Add to that the leisure hours spent online, engaging social media, or looking at a smart phone screen, and it’s no mystery why this is a growing condition, according to the American Optometric Association. This condition even has a medical name: Computer Vision Syndrome (CVS). In addition to eye strain, people who suffer from CVS often also suffer from headaches, dry and irritated eyes, and fatigue.

With so many professions being computer dependent, it’s nearly impossible for most folks to decrease the time they spend staring at a screen. So, what can you do to protect your vision?

1. Proper lighting: Whether reading a book or an illuminated digital screen, a desk lamp aimed at your workspace helps minimize eye strain.
2. Proper positioning: Setting your computer in a position so that you are looking downward several inches tends to be the most comfortable for the eyes. Also, try to minimize the amount of glare and reflections from lights or windows picked up by your screen.
3. Blink: It’s easy to get so caught up in what’s on our monitors that we stare excessively and forget to blink normally. Yet, the tears that wash over our eyes when blinking help prevent irritation and drying. So, try to be aware of whether or not you’re blinking and blink frequently.
4. Take regular breaks: If possible take a break from the screen every 20-30 minutes, looking at something more distant for half a minute or so. This shift in focus engages other eye muscles and gives the ones focusing on your monitor some time to relax.
5. Eye exercises: There are a number of exercises you can do to strengthen your eye muscles, including making figure eights with your eyes while keeping your head straight. Another exercise that requires you to alternate the focus of your eyes (thus engaging different muscles) is a little trickier: Point your index fingers toward each other, about an inch apart. Hold them about eight inches away from your eyes at eye level. Look over your fingers at a distant object while still visually being aware of your fingers. If you’re doing it right, you will see a little “hot dog” floating between your two fingers (can take a few tries to get it.) Refocus your eyes on your fingers. Repeat several times.

By Rachel Cernansky, Planet Green

Better Nutrition
If you’re going to eat products like meat and dairy, studies have found that these foods are more nutritious when raised sustainably than when they are produced by industrial agriculture. (And just this week, it became official even in a U.S. court: hormone-free milk is better.)

If you’re vegetarian or vegan, the same is true for organically grown fruits and veggies. (This is a hotly-debated topic, but if you think about it from a basic, non-scientific perspective, it’s not hard to believe that applying chemicals to intentionally kill living organisms will also deplete the soil of nutrients necessary to grow a healthy crop.)

Better Taste, Healthier Taste Buds
There’s an increasing understanding that processed foods, many of which come from factory-farmed meat, dairy, and industrially-grown wheat or corn, are killing our taste buds, making us physically less able to taste and enjoy the naturally-occurring flavors in fresh foods. Anyone who’s tasted a home- or locally-grown tomato knows what a difference those flavors make.

For the Earth
Our readers probably already know this, but meat and dairy production are greenhouse gas culprits—even more so than flying0. There’s also the issue of the basically-unregulated sludge and other pollution that factory farms get to release into the environment.

For the Local Economy
As I’ve pointed out before, when you buy from a national chain—and for this purpose, factory-farmed food is no different than, say, Barnes & Noble—the community keeps $4.30 for every $10 spent. When you buy local (from your farmer’s market, for example, or local natural foods store), $6.80 will stay in the community. Plus, supporting local farms will probably mean supporting more green space and healthier land in your community, which means a healthier lifestyle overall.

Salmonella, Avian Flu, and Swine Flu
(Different reasons, same underlying problem.) This summer’s egg recall is the most obvious example: the overcrowded, unsanitary conditions on factory farms lead to disease. The H1N1 virus is also affiliated with factory farm conditions, as is swine flu.

Sensing a pattern here? Just some food for thought as you put your next grocery list together.

Read more…

What is Homeopathy?
Homeopathy is a system of natural medicine developed by Samuel Hahnemann, a German physician in the early 1800s. He discovered that the same substance that could cause a reaction in a healthy person could also be a remedy for someone suffering from similar symptoms.

That is the basic premise of homeopathy: “like cures like.” It may seem hard to believe, yet the approach to vaccination used in Western medicine is a similar one, albeit one that is fraught with potential side effects, unlike homeopathy which is completely safe. Homeopathy is a natural, holistic, approach to healing a person, using minute doses of specific remedies, rather than simply eliminating a particular symptom using a Band-Aid approach. Unlike many health models, the model for homeopathy is one of individualization. No two people are alike, so just because two people suffer from headaches, the homeopathic remedies provided for them may be completely different.

Next: The Benefits of Homeopathic Medicine
There are many benefits of homeopathic medicine, including:

A colleague of mine, Adjoa Stack, has been running a homeopathic project to combat malaria, which is chronic in some parts of the world, for a few years now.

The Senya/Tamale Homeopathy Project began during the summer of 2006. Adjoa Margaret Stack traveled to Ghana, in West Africa, to help combat the effects of malaria through homeopathic care. Over five years, with the generous support of an extended network of family, friends, colleagues and many others, she has continued to operate two small clinics in the coastal town of Senya and the northern capital Tamale. Last year, Adjoa delivered two presentations on the project’s findings and future at the first International Conference on Homeopathy for Developing Countries.