Maybe you think I’ve slipped off track, but I want to set the record straight.

I recently started following Blindfold on Facebook. I do not, (repeat) do not endorse all of their messages or sources, but the following three (specific) concepts really appealed to me.

(photo compliments of facebook.com/b1indfold)

(photo compliments of facebook.com/b1indfold)

(photo compliments of facebook.com/b1indfold)

So why is maintaining your health a dire issue of social responsibility?

Because if you support a broken system (examples: the health care/pharmaceutical industry and the food industry), you’re helping it work.

I’ve said this before: your money is your strongest vote. Each dollar supports something.

Do you support the pharmaceutical industry that would rather:

• your child take a dose of medicine everyday instead of learning discipline or concentration?
• your Mom suffer from diabetes, related complications and expenses when she could just lose weight?
• your wife grow dependent on synthetic thyroid hormones when she could just balance her diet?

Or would you like your dollar to encourage changing the cycle?

Maybe these are exaggerated, maybe I didn’t hit home, whatever.

The point is: think about it.

When you hear about bad health care, an ER visit that ran 7 hours long, that cough that won’t go away, a serious surgery that, come to find out, wasn’t necessary, think about it.

Take control of your diet, your immune system, your fitness as your part of correcting or at least freeing yourself from this cycle of illness.

Put this sticker on your ammonia and your face wash bottles. (photo compliments of enviroblog.org)

What’s your largest organ? *insert dirty joke*

The title might give it away, but it’s your skin.

It’s the pretty stuff. The barrier to the harsh outside world. It gives, gives, gives. And we take, take, take.

We want to eat healthy. We want to be fit. We want hearty immune systems.

Well then why would we just slather poisonous chemicals that inebriate our pretty, hard-working skin?

Have you tried to read your face cream, lotion, body scrub or shampoo label? I imagine mad scientists hunched over smoldering beakers of chemicals cackling about the scientific names of them. But we digress.

This is on my mind because Tuesday, I saw that The Health Concern of Towson, Md, a local natural health food store, posted an image on Facebook about what some of those impossible-to-pronounce ingredients really are and what they can do to your health.

This chart lists the health effects of dangerous ingredients found in our everyday body and beauty products.

A few weeks ago, a friend posted a link to Harmful or Carcinogenic Ingredients in Our Skin Care. This document, by LivingAnointed.com, addresses some of the same ingredients (plus more) and gives advice for finding some of them hidden within different names. For example, the term “fragrance” may be masking phthalates.

Seven “What you can do” suggestions are at the end of the document’s list of harmful ingredients.

I strive to clean up my skin and body care regimen products. Checking all of these ingredients is tedious and reminds me of struggling through environmental chemistry class,  but shopping for new products is fun. I like supporting local business and using new stuff adds some zest to the daily routine.

Stay tuned as I find companies and brands that limit usage of these dangerous chemicals.

I’ve lost three pounds in ten days (and I haven’t even been exercising, but that’s about to change).

(photo compliments of SuperTracker.usda.gov)

1. Consume nothing but plain ol’ tap water after 8 o’clock. Breakfast is around 10 in the morning. If you’re only eating 10 hours a day, it’s easier to trim calories. Besides, I’m not hungry when I’m asleep.

2. Use USDA.gov’s SuperTracker to create goals and track my calorie intake. Reduce calorie intake to 1600 or fewer daily.

3. Drink 10-14 glasses of water daily. This helps me stay full, energized, and saves me from feeling hungry when I’m actually just thirsty. Also, I want my skin to glow and stay hydrated as I make these changes and lose weight, too. Chant with me: No more stretch-marks. No more stretch-marks.

4. Take my multivitamin daily. Take a B complex 3-4 days a week.

5. Ween myself from adding sugar to tea and coffee (the coffee is going to be hard).

6. Drink a glass of green tea a day. Only drink water, unsweetened tea (or sometimes coffee), or skim (maybe 1%) milk.

7. Eat 3-4 cups of vegetables daily. Eat 1.5-3 cups of fruit daily. Eat only whole grains. Eat 5-7 ounces of lean protein daily. Eat 2.5-3 cups of low- or non-fat dairy daily.

8. Eat nothing from a box, a bag, a package or a restaurant. If it has a nutrition label listing more than four ingredients, it’s questionable. This is basically a “clean eating” plan. I read Eating Clean for Dummies for tips, advice and recipes.

9. Program daily exercises to keep the guess work out of things. I use the Skimble Workout Trainer app to schedule a targeted workout calendar for all 7 days of the week. That way, if I miss one day, whatever. On to the next day. Gotta keep it positive and keep it rolling.

The Workout Trainer by Skimble offers a “save for later” option with each workout. I used this feature to create a weekly exercise plan in my Google Calendar.

10. Take luxurious showers instead of indulging in foods. I find that letting the conditioner soak deeply in my hair, exfoliating from head to toe, applying a face mask, shaving my legs and slathering myself in rich, natural body moisturizers makes me feels soft, pampered and fresh. Much better than a pint of Ben & Jerry’s. Plus, I need to take care of my skin so I don’t get stretch marks as all of this weight melts off of me. The added bonus? It helps keep me body-conscious.

11. Desserts and treats? I replaced the old ice cream, oreos, donuts, and nonsense with 1% Horizon organic chocolate milk. So rich. So creamy. So chocolaty. And it’s a low-fat dairy product aka a weight-loss dynamo and one of twelve best foods for your abs.

12. Shop the farmer’s markets. It’s fun. It’s adventurous. Plus, it keeps fresh, whole foods in your home. And local, fresh, in-season foods are packed with the most nutrients. Can we also feel good about supporting local business? Yes we can.

13. Garlic. Garlic. Garlic. It’s detoxifying. It’s tasty. Enough said. Also, include other fresh herbs and spices.

14. Remember that losing 1 pound is a big deal. Imagine a pound of ground beef at the super market. Yeah, that’s a decent chunk of fat!

15. Eat colorfully. For the challenge. For the vitamins. Keep it silly.

(photo compliments of womenworld.org)

It’s taken about ten days (actually more, donuts were the last sacrifice) to slowly incorporate all of these things. I’m not there on the exercising yet. So that’s the next big focus.

The point is, I’m always working. I read Health magazine monthly for good reminders and motivation. I like the blog mythineats. The advice is inspiring and the recipes look amazing. We should all be working toward taking control of our health, always.

(photo compliments of Skimble.com)

Skimble‘s Workout Trainer app is a great guide for starting an exercise program.

1. Customize your fitness goals, and it will recommend workout programs.
2. Search for a workout using filters like minutes (10-60), target body areas, equipment available to you (none, home gym, full gym), and difficulty level, and you’ll get workouts to do on the spot or save for later (with reminder alerts).
3. Create a profile and join a community of people seeking and offering motivation, health advice, eating tips and personal stories.
4. Add your custom workouts, too.

It talks you through each workout with encouraging phrases you’d get from a live personal trainer. You can even play your own workout music while it gives instruction.

I hesitate to workout sometimes because it’s a hassle to learn a new routine. It’s hard to keep my heart rate up when I’m trying to figure out some weird new exercise. This Workout Trainer app gives you verbal instructions with the timing and motivational additions included.

Not to mention that if I only have 10 minutes, I can find something to squeeze in. If I’m wiped from work, I can do something at a casual difficulty just to get some toning in. Plus, I don’t have a home gym stock of equipment yet, so the “none” equipment setting is perfect.

This app has everything you could want.

Yoga workouts? Yes. Building running endurance? Yes. Stretching guides? Yes. Warm-ups? Yes.

What I’m trying to say is: Skimble’s Workout Trainer app is a great guide for any exercise program.

(photo compliments of healthyurbankitchen.com/blog)

I’ve been striving to eat clean(er).

I’ve read about The Master Cleanse or lemonade detoxification diet, and it was recently recommended to me, too. I follow a blog that raves about it, mythineats (great blog, by the way), so if it’s for you, power to you.

It seems too simple, though. And potentially unhealthy. So I kept reading and consulted my Dad, a hobby ‘hoping-to-turn-semi-pro’ nutritionist.

His bottom line: you don’t need to throw your body into shock and deprive it of key nutrients to detoxify. Garlic will wipe the metals out of your system, eating clean detoxifies and regulates your body naturally, and anyone will get the awesome results of this Master Cleanse if they quit eating garbage and had two bowel movements (sorry, had to say it) every day for 10 days.

I don’t want the easy way out. I want to learn positive habits that keep me free of toxins.

I found Eating Clean for Dummies (a book that has my family cracking jokes: “So how would smart people eat clean? Hahaha.”). It has a chapter called, “Eating Clean to Detoxify Your Body.” Perfect.

Here’s what authors Jonathan Wright, MD and Linda Larsen have to say about a well-balanced detox diet:

Defining a detox diet

Detoxification removes the chemicals from your organs, especially your liver, keeps you from eating more of them by getting you to consume foods that haven’t been processed, and emphasizes drinking plenty of water.

So, adopt a clean-eating diet and only eat foods in their most original state like (fresh tomatoes instead of canned, whole, raw chicken breast instead of breaded, frozen ones, fresh herbs instead of dried, grapes instead of raisins) and then follow these additional instructions:

Avoid foods that are “hard on the body:”

• Dairy products
• Wheat products and foods with gluten
• Sugar
• Yeast
• Chocolate
• Caffeine

Include foods with “liver-healthy nutrients:”

• Fresh fruits and vegetables
• Beets
• Cruciferous vegetables (aka broccoli, cauliflower, watercress, Brussels sprouts, kohlrabi, cabbage, kale)
• Onions and garlic

Add fresh (not dried) herbs and spices for detoxification:

• Peppermint
• Parsley
• Garlic
• Turmeric
• Rosemary and sage
• Green tea

Also, consider supplements that detoxify:

• Schisandra chinensis
• Milk thistle
• Citrus oils
• Probiotics and prebiotics
• Vitamin C
• For those with special nutritional needs, vitamin D and calcium with magnesium may be a good idea

So, there you have it.

To transition into this, I’ve been hitting up the farmer’s market more.

It’s been successful except for this cup of herbal tea I choked down, gagging (Traditional Medicinals Chocolate Smooth Move). I’ll bet it’s great for your health, but I am not ready for all that yet.

My only real dilemma: breakfast. I love a hearty bowl of organic steel cut oatmeal or Chobani vanilla greek yogurt in the morning. I’m still working that out.

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Wright, Jonathan & Larsen, Linda. Eating Clean for Dummies. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Publishing Inc., 2011. Print.

(photo compliments of laundry.co.uk)

Saving money on energy and home bills and conserving energy and the environment are the same thing. You want lower bills, everyone needs greener air. Win-win!

Check out a few tips for how to save your wallet and the planet:

1. Cuddle up at night. Lower your heat at night to save. Pile on the blankets, cuddle up, and remember to wear socks. Keeping your feet warm at night helps you fall asleep faster.
2. Check your kilowatts. As author Katherine Neville put it so well in her novel The Eight, “What can be measured can be understood; what can be understood can be altered.” So say you want to save a little on your electric bill. A good place to start would be to know how much electricity is used by your TV, appliances, lights, and other electrical items in your home. The biggest users, of course, need the most attention: You should begin to consistently use those less or possibly even replace them. So now, how to measure? A small company called P3 International market a device called “Kill A Watt,” which records electricity usage for anything plugged into it. Although it doesn’t work for direct-wired devices like water heaters, it’s a handly little device that can tell you more about what you use. If nothing else, it will help settle arguments about which things–or who–around the house uses the most juice.
3. Weatherstrip the house. You’ve probably heard it a hundred times from your utility and read it a dozen times in various magazines. Weatherstrip your home to seal out drafts and keep the cold (and warm) outside where it belongs. It really does work and can save up to 15 percent of your home heating and cooling costs. It’s easy, too, and you’ll have fewer drafts and be more comfortable. After you’re done with the windows and doors, finish up with attic entrances, spaces around pipe entrances under sinks, and even wall switches and receptacles–these “leaks” can cost, too.
4. Fix the faucet drips. A leaky faucet can waste hundreds of gallons every year. If it’s cold water, it won’t cost a lot (a toilet, however, can cost a lot more.) But if it’s hot water, that’s a different story. That leaky faucet can cost 800, maybe 1,000 gallons of hot water a year–twenty or thirty tankfuls. That can translate into sizable energy costs. How to fix the problem? Just enter “fix a leaky faucet” in your search engine; you’ll find a lot of tips. One of the more user-friendly approaches comes from the “Handy Ma’am” section of the iVillage Web site. An added bonus: You won’t have to listen to the “drip, drip, drip”any longer.
5. 

   (photo compliments of prweb.com)

   Switch to compact fluorescent bulbs. They’re showing up pretty much everywhere–those little curly-Q fluorescent light bulbs. Yes, they’re more expensive to buy than their traditional incandescent counterparts, but they’ll save a lot in the long run. Typical indoor bulbs save about two-thirds of the energy per equivalent light unit, and they’ll last four to five times as long. And now even those outdoor floodlights have fluorescent versions. Spend a little more now; save a lot later.

6. Turn out the lights! Much is made of saving energy by using compact fluorescent bulbs, energy-efficient appliances, and so forth. But it isn’t just the rate at which you use energy, it’s whether you use it at all that counts! Buying an energy-efficient bulb putting out 75 watts of light with 23 watts is nice, but what if you just turn out the lights instead? You’ll save more. Get in the habit of turning out all lights except the ones immediately needed–and get the family in the habit too. It will save now–and in the future.
7. Wash in cold water. Fully 90 percent of the energy used by a washing machine (and hence the cost of the energy you used) is used to heat the water. So, use cold water. Unless you are washing really soiled clothing, most ordinary dirt will come out with a cold-water wash. You can add to the cold-water cleaning power by loading up the washing machine in the morning with clothes, soap, and water, and then stop the cycle so that it soaks all day long. When you are back from work, start the rest of the cycle.
8. Put on that sweater. Drop the heat down a few more degrees and put on a warmer sweater. Cuddle up on the couch under a warm blanket. Remember to turn the heat down several degrees when you are going out for the evening. Even just a few percentage points can really make a difference on your overall heating bills. The U.S. Department of Energy suggests you can sae around 10 percent a year on your heating and cooling bills by simply turning your thermostat back ten to fifteen degrees for eight hours.
9. Renovating? Try architectural salvage. Need windows, doors, light fixtures? Check out www.redo.org to find an architechtural salvage “ReStore” near you. When buildings are demolished, many elements are saved and can be purchased. Habitat for Humanity frequently receives donations from builders and homeowners and runs many of the achitectural salvage operations around the country. Before you go to Home Depot and buy new, check into ReStores.
10. Set your water heater lower. Water heaters use energy “24x7x365,” and in so doing account for about 13 percent of a household’s utility expenses. According to the Department of Energy, if you lower your water heater setting from 150 degrees to 120 degrees, you could reduce its energy demand by up to 15 percent–and that can add up to as much as $50 or $75 a year if you live in an area with high utility costs. Combine that with using less and insulating hot water pipes, and you’ll save even more.
11. Turn off the lights! It sounds simple, yet so many of us simply walk out of a room and leave the lights on. Now, sometimes we’re leaving a single 23-watt fluorescent bulb on–not a big deal. But if it’s a bank of ten 50-watt track lights, that’s a big deal. And if its an entire houseful of lights, that’s a big deal. Get in the habit of turning off your lights as soon as you leave a room. And get those kids to do it, too. You’ll not only save electricity, but a lot of bulbs during the year, too.
12. 

    (photo compliments of consumerist.com)

    Replace furnace filters. Outa sight, outa mind, right? How often do you look at those filters? Well, especially if you live in a dusty environment, you could plant corn on the average filter in a month or two of service. And that restricts airflow into–and out off–your heating and air conditioning system. That draws more power to move air less effectively. So replace the filters–or get the kind you can wash out. You’ll save, and you may feel better, too, as more dust and allergens with be pulled out of the air.

13. Close drapes at night. You don’t want anyone peeking in your windows, rights? But that’s not all–your drapes provide an insulation layer preventing cold or warmth from being transmitted through your windows. They block drafts too. Get in the habit of closing drapes and blinds as a last move before going to bed. And if you don’t need them open–say, in a spare bedroom–leave them closed.
14. Look for energy tax credits. The laws change every year, but in general, if you make qualifying energy-saving improvements to your home, you’ll not only reduce energy costs, but will also become eligible for a host of tax credits. They won’t help pay for all of your improvements, but will certainly help. Check out the Federal EnergyStar Web site to learn more about Federal credits and the North Carolina Solar Center’s “DSIRE” database (Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency) for a more comprehensive summary of federal, state, and local incentives…
15. Close vents in unused rooms. If there are rooms in your house that are not regularly used, go ahead and close the vents there. No sense paying to heat or cool a room no one is using. Jennifer closed the vent in the laundry room; the drying keeps it plenty warm.
16. Get a programmable thermostat. Programmable thermostats are a pretty old idea really. The notion is to be able to set it by time of day to keep the house warmer or cooler according to your preference, when you’re actually home, and when you might be in bed under blankets and not need that hothouse indoor climate. Most of these units cost between $40 and $70 and are easy to buy and install. Some utility companies are even offering them for free or at reduced prices–check to see if yours is on this bandwagon.
17. Don’t block heating and A/C vents. Your furnace and air conditioner work hard to regulate the temperature in your house. So why would you put a big piece of furniture or a rug over your vents? Doing so will make the system work harder, make more air come out in the wrong places (creating drafts), and create warm or cold spots in the house. Make sure nothing is on top of–or in front of–those vents. And don’t forget the cold air return, that big “vent” that sucks air into the system–that one’s got to be free to breath, too.

The above tips are directly quoted from 573 Ways to Save Money by Peter Sander and Jennifer Sander. I recommend borrowing it from the library or buying it for easy-to-read advice on freeing up space in your budget.

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The SuperTracker at ChooseMyPlate provides comprehensive reports on a user’s nutritional needs and successes.

No, calorie counting is not my thing.

I just posted about it. But while researching for that post, I found the SuperTracker at ChooseMyPlate.gov and the curiosity was too much.

All of a sudden I have a profile and I’m entering my breakfast information.

But it’s amazing! And soooooooo much more than a calorie counter.

I set any 5 goals from 5 categories: weight managment, physical activity, calories, food groups and nutrients. Daily, I get to watch a graph display my progress on each goal, and when I succeed at one, I get an email.

Again, it’s not just about calories and weight loss. I know I don’t get enough fiber, so my 5th goal is to meet my nutrient target with dietary fiber.

You can choose to track your intake of: calcium, Vitamin D, potassium, dietary fiber, folate, iron, vitamin B12, sodium (limit) or saturated fat (limit). The food groups goal option allows you to focus on a food group need you’re struggling to fulfill, and the calories goal offers an option to watch your total calorie intake, or to just focus on the empty calorie limit you should maintain for a healthy diet.

It’s so much more than a calorie counter!

Just enter your food, and you receive comprehensive reports on your nutritional health.

My favorite nerdy feature: under your Food Tracker graph, there’s a related link to your Nutrient Intake Report (image below).

I don’t know about you, but as a woman who is hoping to be growing a baby in her belly before her next birthday, knowing my daily nutrient intake from the foods I’m eating seems crucial to pregnancy health while I’m monitoring the vitamins and minerals supplied by my daily vitamins.

I’m not familiar with the details, but it looks as though you can manage information for your children or babies from your profile, as well.

Incredible stuff, really. This is my recommendation to go start your own SuperTracker profile.

The Nutrient Intake Report displays each user’s success in meeting nutrient targets.

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(photo compliments of dailymail.co.uk)

Of the people I know, I can tell you who has been raised without a father, or a mother, or in a home victim to divorce, without having ever asked the person.

The people in the above categories exhibit similar behaviors and conduct their lives similarly.

We frequently hear about women with “daddy problems” who grow up without father figures. These women seek male attention in all of the wrong ways and participate in risky behavior. People say, Oh haha! Her daddy didn’t hug her enough as a child! But any person missing either a mother figure or father figure is starved of essential information in life, and have problems maintaining healthy relationships forever.

I recently read, “Like Father, Like Son, and, Yes, Like Daughter” by Molly B. Koch in Baltimore’s Child. It’s a good read about the importance of father figures.

Over and over, I find my theories to be repeated in articles and studies. And yet, people never learn to take heed of what I say.

One day. One day.

Until then, let’s realize that this is a serious issue. There must be resolution.

I wanna scream, “Keep it in your pants, and take marriage seriously!” But I suppose that it is more complicated than that.

What do you think?

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