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

My sister’s new magnetic bracelet is probably the mother-of-all magnetic bracelets. Why? It incorporates four kinds of technologies into one bracelet – Unipolar Neodymium Magnets, Far Infrared Rays Therapy (FIR), Negative Ions and Germanium. I examined Unipolar Neodymium Magnets in my last post. Now let’s look at Far Infrared Rays Therapy (FIR).

Far Infrared Rays (FIR) are waves of energy, invisible to the naked eye, capable of penetrating deep into the human body, where they gently elevate the body’s surface temperature and stimulate major bodily functions. Far Infrared Rays are specific wavelengths of light from the sun, invisible rays of natural sunlight which are safe and beneficial to health. These rays of light are particularly abundant in the morning and evening sun.

Far Infrared Rays are radiant heat, also called infrared energy (IR). This is completely different from ultraviolet radiation (the type which burns your skin) and atomic radiation (the kind from a nuclear bomb).

FIR is also the ‘chi’ (or “Qi”) life force energy in humans and animals. We are constantly emitting far infrared rays without realising it. When FIR intensity in our bodies is high, the immune system functions properly, healing is more efficient and we feel healthy. When FIR declines, we become prone to disease and illness and tend to age more quickly.

Our bodies radiate far infrared energy through the skin at 3 to 50 microns, with most output at 9.4 microns. Our palms also emit FIR energy, between 8 and 14 microns. Palm Healing, an ancient Chinese practice, has used the healing properties of far infrared rays for 3,000 years. Palm Healing practitioners harness energy and heat radiating from their hands to heal, similar to Reiki healers. Recent research in Taiwan measured significant far infrared energy emitted from the hands of Chi Gong masters. Yogis in India also practise Palm Healing and recommend it especially for relieving eye strain. Thermal therapy has existed for thousands of years, and can be traced to ancient civilizations such as the Finns, the Romans, American Indians, as well as the Chinese.

Since ancient times, people have believed that exposure to sunshine can maintain and even enhance health. Sun therapy is a form of natural FIR thermal therapy. FIR is the band of energy which has the greatest output from the sun and this is split into three different wavelengths. Wavelengths in the region of four to 14 microns are the safest and most beneficial to life. My sister’s NewTeq4 magnetic bracelet has ceramic inserts specifically designed to produce Far Infrared Rays with a frequency identical to the sun spectrum’s greatest output.

The human body is composed of 90% water. Far infrared rays cause resonance in water molecules, activating them and ionizing them. Because of this effect, FIR heat therapy offers a variety of health and beauty benefits.

When Far Infrared Rays penetrate the skin, they come into contact with proteins, collagen, fats and water molecules. By stimulating micro-vibrations, FIR cause a thermal reaction which elevates tissue temperatures. Tissues are revitalised because of improved (micro & macro) circulation. This dilates the capillaries, supports blood flow and helps to improve oxygen levels. Stored toxins are flushed out more easily, as is achieving a higher level of cell health.

FIR Benefits:
1) Far Infrared dilates (expands) capillaries, which facilitates increased blood flow, regeneration, circulation and oxygenation.

2) Far Infrared aids detoxification. Scientists in Japan report that when FIR is used to treat clogged capillary vessels, heat expands the capillaries and then initiates the start of a process to dissolve hidden toxins. The elimination of fats, chemicals and toxins from the blood is promoted. Poisons, carcinogenic heavy metals, toxic substances from food processing, lactic acid, free fatty acids, and subcutaneous fat associated with aging and fatigue, excess sodium associated with hypertension, uric acid which causes pain – these are more easily flushed out of the body. Sebaceous glands are activated which helps purge cosmetics clogging the pores, via sweat and oil glands, rather than by the kidneys.

3) Far Infrared stimulates enzyme activity and metabolism. It has been claimed that FIR heat can even break down cellulite as it eliminates trapped water, fat and waste.

4) Far Infrared promotes the killing of many pathogenic (disease-causing) bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites.

5) FIR promotes rebuilding of injured tissue by having a positive effect on fibroblasts, connective tissue cells necessary for the repair of injury. It promotes cell growth, DNA syntheses, and protein synthesis – all necessary during tissue repair and regeneration. This aids in the healing of burns, scar tissue and skin problems.

6) Far Infrared relieves nervous tension and relax autoneuro muscles, thereby helping the body make the most of its intended healing abilities. FIR eases soreness on nerve endings and muscle spasms, as muscle fibers are warmed up.

7) Far Infrared strengthens the immune system by stimulating increased production of white blood cells (leukocytes) by the bone marrow and killer T-cells by the thymus.

8) Far Infrared strengthens the cardiovascular system by causing heart rate and cardiac output increase, and diastolic blood pressure decrease. Extensive research by NASA in the early 1980’s led to the conclusion that far infrared stimulation of cardiovascular function would be the ideal way to maintain cardiovascular conditioning in American astronauts during long space flight.

FIR is gaining popularity as a safe method of natural health care and physiotherapy. For instance, far infrared thermometric therapy garments use thermal technology to provide compressive support and healing warmth to assist symptom control for arthritis, injury & pain http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infrared. Far infrared heat is safe so it is used in hospital incubators to keep babies warm. With regard to domestic applications, the Japanese have integrated FIR technology into everything from hand warmers and blankets to water processors.

My next post will touch on Negative Ion technology and its use in magnetic bracelets for healing and wellness.

Posted: February 26th, 2010 under Alternative Remedies, Health Basics 101, Joint Health, pain relief.
Comments: 4