When I was growing up, I drank either fizzy drinks or beverages made from cordial with every meal. The kitchen always had crates of aerated water lining one wall. We never drank plain water. At best, we would drink sweet tea heaped with sugar, the way our mom liked it.

My family was well-to-do, so we indulged in anything we liked. The dining table groaned with meat dishes, the larder was well-stocked with snacks, chocolates and other confectionery – you get the picture. As for personal care and household care products, we had all the well-known brands. Nothing but the “best” for us. What ingredients went into those products? Who knew and who cared? We were washed and powdered, and we smelled nice. That’s all that mattered.

From my teens, I bought lots of beauty products. They were a mix of unknown brands as well as famous brands. Skin care, hair products, cosmetics, I had the works. All I cared about was whether they made me look and smell good. In those days, what did anybody know about harmful and even carcinogenic ingredients in personal care products? We believed that well-known brands would only be made of the best ingredients, certainly nothing questionable or damaging to health. We never realised that the personal care and beauty products which we used daily could potentially harm us and make us sick.

We’ve come a long way, baby. Consumers today are better-informed about the dangers of common beauty and personal care ingredients such as:

Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS)
Sodium Laureth Sulfate (SLES)
Propylene Glycol
Ethanol / alcohol
Fluoride
Mineral Oil
Petrolatum
Alpha Hydroxy Acids (AHA)
Retinoic Acid
Avobenzone
Homosalate
Benzophenone
Formaldehyde
PEGs
Parabens
Ceteareth-20
Diethanolamine (DEA)

There are many more toxic chemicals and harmful ingredients we are exposed to at home which can cause illnesses like cancer, respiratory problems, eye problems like cataracts, liver and kidney ailments, Alzheimer’s Disease, and allergic reactions. Many of these harmful ingredients are in products we love to slather on our skin, apply on our eyes, put in our hair and clean our mouths with.

Had I known years ago what I know today, I probably would have avoided using most kinds of commercial skin care, hair and other beauty products, and gone natural as far as possible (safe personal care products were virtually unheard of until recent years). Had my parents known what many people know today, I’m sure they would have made better dietary choices.

Today, half my siblings – including myself – have been afflicted with cancer. One lost the battle. My other siblings grapple with a variety of health problems. My father spent the last 30 years of his life fighting a host of medical conditions. My mother has been in poor health for many years and her memory comes and goes. Sheer coincidence?

Prevention is obviously better than cure. We cannot undo the damage that has already been done, but we can do our best from now on to protect ourselves and our loved ones. This is particularly essential for those who are already dealing with health conditions like cancer. Boycott personal care and household products which use inferior and potentially harmful ingredients. Choose brands which avoid using questionable ingredients. Safety-conscious Neways International avoids using more than 3,000 questionable ingredients, and counting. What about the brands you use? What poison are you putting on your skin today?

Posted: March 11th, 2010 under Beauty Tips, Cancer, Enemies To Health, Health Basics 101, Safe Homes, Toxins & Pollutants.
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Is there anybody here who doesn’t enjoy trying out luxurious skincare products? Who doesn’t like being pampered with beauty products which leave your skin looking and feeling smooth, silky and youthful? Sadly, it’s been years since I’ve allowed any sales assistants at beauty counters to apply strange creams and lotions on my skin. I even avoid beauty workshops. Why? Well, have you seen what goes into common skincare products and cosmetics, even the expensive brands?

Propylene glycol, parabens, PEGs, phthalates, sodium lauryl sulphate, alcohol, petrolatum and talc are some widely-used ingredients which are potentially harmful and even carcinogenic. These are just a few of thousands of questionable ingredients which are used in bath products, skincare, make-up and other personal care products. You may not know it, but what you apply daily on your face and body may be making you sick and aging you prematurely.

Before I buy any personal care or beauty products, I read the ingredients on the label thoroughly. Nine out of 10 times, I end up putting the item back on the shelf. Even so-called “natural” or “organic” personal care products often contain questionable ingredients. When your family has a history of cancer as bad as mine does, you learn to get picky about what you expose yourself to, whether in food, the environment or personal care and household products. Any guest who stays in my home for a while will probably leave in better health than if they had stayed at a six-star hotel, because my family is so fussy about the safety and quality of the products we use.

This weekend brought happy news to me and many other safety-conscious consumers. My favorite safety-conscious health and wellness company, Neways International, launched a new skincare and beauty line which is comprehensive and effective while avoiding the use of at least 3,000 questionable ingredients, like toxins, dioxins, irritants, carcinogens, and contaminants. Can you think of any brand which has achieved this? Three cheers for Neways!

Ingredients and technologies used by Neways are typically safer and superior in quality than those typically used by many commercial brands. What’s got me even more excited is that Neways’ new True Touch skincare and cosmetics range uses a dizzying array of newly-discovered or little-known botanical ingredients. I pride myself in being well-informed, but Neways is now using healthy ingredients and technologies which are totally new even to me. Neways is also using more environmentally-friendly ingredients, such as bamboo, an environmentally-sustainable agricultural product (it’s the world’s fastest-growing plant) in the True Touch skin exfoliator called Clarifier.

After one beauty workshop yesterday, where I got to try many of the skincare products from Neways’ new True Touch line, my body was left tingling. Not just because the products had refreshed and invigorated my skin, but because I was excited to get the whole range home for my family to use. The products are so good they’re like vitamins and antioxidants for the skin, almost good enough to eat. No wonder they leave the skin looking and feeling great.

If you know of any other beauty brand which avoids using at least 3,000 questionable ingredients, while providing a range of skincare and make-up products as wide, comprehensive, effective and luxurious as Neways’ True Touch line, please write about it here. The more beauty options we have which are safe and healthy– and, preferably, even nourishing and healing – the better. Why put up with inferior and harmful personal care products anymore? Hallelujah!

Posted: March 9th, 2010 under Beauty Tips, Cancer, Enemies To Health, Health Basics 101, Safe Homes, Toxins & Pollutants.
Comments: 1

Don’t you just love getting away to waterfalls, the seaside, mountains and the countryside? Every visit leaves you feeling so relaxed and rejuvenated. Negative Ions are created naturally in nature by the energy associated with waterfalls, rolling surf and lightning. They’re naturally found in places like the beach, in the mountains, in the country, in pine forests, near waterfalls, and many other places that revitalise and refresh us.

Negative ions are negatively charged particles which form when enough energy acts on a molecule such as carbon dioxide, oxygen, or water to eject an electron. This displaced electron then attaches itself to a nearby molecule, which then becomes a negatively-charged Ion. High levels of negative ions are desirable and good for your health.

Today’s air-conditioned buildings, trains and planes frequently become supercharged with harmful positive ions because the metal blowers, filters and ducts of air-conditioning systems strip the air of negative ions before it reaches its destination. Air conditioner manufacturers have been designing new systems that increase negative ionization. Computers and fluorescent lighting also supercharge environments with harmful positive ions.

My sister’s NewTeq4 magnetic bracelets have ceramic inserts which emit negatively charged oxygen ions in the region of 1000 ions per cubic cm. By comparison the levels of negative ions present in different environments are approximately: Base of waterfall – 3000; Office – 150; Mountain air – 2000; Home – 100; Countryside – 1500; Car – 50. Nothing beats getting away to a pure, natural environment, but when you can’t do that, the negative ions emitted by Neways NewTeq4 magnetic bracelets will at least increase your exposure to beneficial negatively-charged ions.

Benefits of Negative Ions
Negative Ions have a refreshing and invigorating effect on the body; similar to the experience you would have if you were standing next to a waterfall. They produce a calming effect on the mind and support immune function.

Negative ions increase the flow of oxygen to the brain; resulting in higher alertness, decreased drowsiness, and more mental energy,” says Pierce J. Howard, PhD, author of “The Owners Manual for the Brain: Everyday Applications from Mind Brain Research”, and director of research at the Center for Applied Cognitive Sciences in Charlotte, N.C.

Negative Ions are also therapeutic partly because they kill germs. As early as the 1930s. a Russian team headed by A L. Tchijevski found that large ion doses of either positive or negative polarity retarded bacteria colony formation on plates. Ionization also sterilized enclosed air. Latter experiments duplicating Tchijevski’s work noted an exponential bacteria decay rate of 23 per cent per minute for untreated air, 34 per cent per minute for air with pos-ions, and 78 percent per minute for negatively charged air. They concluded that the pos-ion decay rate was due to simple bonding of the ions with the bacteria, whereas the neg-ions actually killed the bacteria.

Animals larger than microbes find negative ions beneficial. Rats learn better and are less anxious. Mice live longer (mice with flu die more quickly If deprived of neg-ions). Silkworm eggs hatch earlier, larvae grow faster, spinning begins sooner, cocoons are heavier. chickens lay more eggs and grow more plump. Sheep grow faster and supply more wool. In the vegetable kingdom. plant seedlings grow up to 50 percent more when charged. Fruit stays fresh longer: after 10 days, ionized tomatoes were still fresh while untreated controls rotted. No wonder negative ions are sometimes referred to as the “vitamins of the air”.

The U.S. has equipped nuclear submarines with ion machines since the late 1950s. There are even combat uniforms which have negative ion emitters embedded into the collars “for performance enhancement without the side effects often associated with drugs”. The manufacturer of these uniforms says that “the material emits negative ions into the surrounding air and if close enough to the face, those emitted negative ions are inhaled. Numerous studies on air ions conclude that a higher proportions of negative ions in the air have shown improved alertness and brainwave activity.” Now you know a military secret for getting fighting fit.

Ionizers are being used industrially in auto spray paint booths, food processing plants, grain storage bins and chemical spray factories. Architects, designers and city planners are increasingly incorporating water features like fountains and rooftop solariums into urban environments. Negative ion technology is used extensively in air filtration and refrigeration products in Asia, particularly in Japan. Next time you change your air-conditioner or refrigerator, look out for models which incorporate this technology.

My final post on the subject of magnetic therapy for healing and wellness will be about Germanium, a trace mineral used in my sister’s NewTeq4 magnetic bracelet.

Posted: February 28th, 2010 under Alternative Remedies, Health Basics 101, Immune System Health, Rest & Sleep.
Comments: 2