nik

I love it too! Esp. mid summer. That's when the produce is ready. Tomatoes in every color, fruits, berries, melons, cucumbers, peppers etc. It's going to be easy to eat much more raw when summer gets here. June/July etc.

Sugar can be considered the substrate from which non-beneficial oral bacteria thrive (basically Streptococcus mutans). The sugar molecule, unlike the pentol structure of xylitol adheres easily to surfaces like tooth enamel. S. mutans thrive on sugar and the lactic acid they produce (this is where the "acidity" actually comes from) is what leads to dental caries. It's one area acidity comes from. But acidity can come directly too as well which eats at the enamal. I heard that soft drinks were acidic in addition to their sugar content. Of course we've got to eat, and there's nothing wrong with eating sugars and carbs or even acidic food. Like oranges, limes, lemons, pineapples, tomatoes, grapefruits, bananas, oatmeal etc. It's the length and frequency of the contact time that matters. Don't let sugars and/or acids sit on the teeth. Rinse and brush frequently. kollision, Check out this article http://www.laleva.cc/food/xylitol.html

Kollision, You don't honestly believe it's that simple do you? Once you've orally introduced the high levels of sugar that sodas contain, you're setting the stage for an acidic environment which non-beneficial bacteria (s. mutans) thrive on. Your own saliva neutralizes better than water, which is still not saying much. It's not the sugar that's such a problem, but the acidity of it directly. The same goes for all acidic drinks including sugar free lemonaide, acid fruit juices, eating citrus etc. Rinsing with water does rinse out the residues of the drink or food, the sugars and acids, and it's far easier to do with a drink. The biggest problem with sugars are from sticky fermentable carbs like dried fruits and soft starches (cookies, cakes, breads etc.) because food particles get stuck in the teeth and the sugars ferment feeding the bacteria a feast. That's why it's good to brush often. But after an acidic meal or drink you should rinse your mouth out with water first before you brush or else you can wear out your enamal if the acid is still in your mouth when you brush. I keep a bottle of water mixed with a bit of baking soda around for a mouthwash after acidic meals. I love citrus and oranges, so the baking soda being so alkaline brings the ph back up in the mouth and the water rinses off the residues of the citrus juice. As far as soda, it is easy to make your own with some bubbly water and flavors sweetened with Xylitol which is actually good for teeth and helps reminerlize them.

Amen! I've never felt like a bigger flake, flip floper until I started researching health information, Esp. on the net! You end up going in circles and chasing your own tail. One day swearing off some food, the next wanting to include it in large amounts, then the next limiting it with certain restrictions and qualifactions, and all over again. One day not concerned, the next, paranoid as *&%@!. All these alerts, articles and vegan doctors etc. made me decide to give it a try. Esp. since I was already starting to take other supplements and concentrates. The major advice is that once you have symptoms of it it is too late and you already have irreversible damage by that point. So I thought maybe I could be deficient and just not have any symptoms of it yet. Plus it is known to have a roll in other secondary type of health problems and deficiencies. I really did think I would feel differently afterwards though cause I was sure I was probably deficient. But maybe you don't feel anything from it? I don't know, but it's easy to take cause it's chewable and tastes good and I only need 1 a few times a week whenever I remember. I have some dried hydrilla powder that is an aquatic weed and it has tons of B-12 listed on it's nutritional facts. But I figured it is probably analog like the seaweed stuff. I think the only major source of B-12 might be fermented foods like fresh sauerkraut and stuff.

It actually can lower excess estrogen levels. Phyto-estrogen's are like a 1000x weaker then real estrogen and they can attach to the estrogen receptors effectively competing with real estrogen, thus lowering real estrogen levels. The main sources of excess estrogen is from the environment and chemical toxins like plastics and paraben preservatives and from meat and dairy because of all the hormones in the meat. Phyto-estrogen's are also in like everything. Soy is ONE source. Flax seeds are an even more powerful source, lignin's. All beans, nuts, seeds, fruits etc. It is common throughout plant foods and herbs. Honeybush tea is also high in isoflavanoids etc.

It's just a bunch of personal opinions and ideas thrown around. I don't see any evidence in it at all. Like the author claims that foods like onions and garlic etc. are "lethal" to intestinal flora. Yet onions and garlic have long been known as Pre-biotic foods that improve intestinal flora. They also claim that a healthy body will expel fermented substances and doesn't use fermented food. No evidence or proof or even logical theory for it, just unfounded claims out of the blue. They also claim that synthetic supplements are not usable by the body only discard unused. There are tons of evidence to the contrary. While isolated synthetic supplements might not be the best thing or could create imbalances in nutrients, and the body discards what it doesn't need of it for water soluble ones, they are used and usable by the body. Again the author provides no evidence, sound theory or studies that back up those claims that the body only discards supplements as quickly as possible and are unusable. B12 vitamins are made from bacteria, so I don't see how that is synthetic and not "naturally derived". The author also claims that if they made supplements from naturally derived ingredients, the pills would be too large to swallow. Again, another ludicrous claim. Many supplements are derived from natural ingredients. Many are just extracts from natural ingredients or concentrates. And they are not too large to swallow but really small. Like olive leaf extract, grape seed extract, and many vitamins and minerals are extracted from foods and concentrated. Some aren't even vegan and derived from animals. If they were all synthetic vegans wouldn't have to be concerned about the source of any of them. Funny that they mention Doug Graham too, since he found out that he had a B12 deficiency and then so supplemented with B12 pills to correct it. As far as B12 supplementation or not, I grew up lacto-veg and then went vegan for 10yrs before I even thought about the need to supplement with B12. I had stayed away from enriched foods too because I didn't trust them. I started taking the pills recently but so far I have not noticed any changes from it. It says it gives you more energy, but it hasn't. I haven't noticed any other changes either. I also didn't have any known symptoms of a deficiency. So I don't know. Maybe I was getting it just fine, or not, but how do you know?

I don't really see why you would need or want to mix it with the oil? Just layer it as two steps. Put the serum on your face - just a few drops until it absorbs into the skin, about a minute. Then apply a layer of your oil as a moisterizer. Most serums are designed to be applied and absorbed by themselves after cleansing and toning, and prior to your moisterizer. I think you mean DMAE. DHEA is a hormone. You can buy DMAE supplements at the health food store. It's promoted as a smart nutrient for brain health and a skin firming agent. http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/dmae.html http://www.vitacost.com/science/hn/Supp/DMAE.htm Here are some studies on Rose Hip Oil. "The first major study on rosehip seed oil was performed in 1983 by a team of researchers at the University of Santiago, Chile. The study's participants included individuals with diverse forms of skin damage: deep wrinkles and other premature aging, UV damage, radiation damage, acne scarring, burn scarring, dermatitis, and other problems of this type. Rosehip seed oil was shown to have significant, noticeable effects in regenerating the skin, reducing wrinkles and scars, and helping the skin to regain its natural color and tone. Another later study was conducted on women ages 25-35 with extensive premature aging of their skin. Again, rosehip seed oil significantly reduced the appearance of wrinkles and sun spots after daily application for four months. Research has continued on the oil, with one study noting: "On some skin troubles like superficial wrinkles, chestnut spots and ephelides, good results have been obtained. After 16 weeks of treatment, wrinkles and spots become imperceptible." The oil has been used to successfully treat a long list of skin related conditions, including: age spots, wrinkles and premature aging, sun damage, scars from acne, burns, and surgery, eczema, psoriasis, dermatitis, hyper-pigmentation, brittle nails, and even dry and damaged hair."

That's great it's all vegan. Is there a website for that company? I haven't seen it in the US. The ingredients look good. So often most companies besides for the beneficial ingredients include a ton on non-beneficial ingredients and preservatives. There are a lot of natural companies now though. There is also this one: http://www.devita.net/products/ProductView.mgi2?mgiToken=AGHU785CR2498D7&ID=DHA Vegan HA serum. They have a lot of other products that say they are vegan with no bad preservatives. There's also this organic company http://www.theorganicpharmacy.com/product2.php?product_group_ID=1 But it's really expensive. Too much to me after shipping and currency exchange. The zenbiotic line is not tested on animals. And the only non-vegan ingredients they have are a few products that have some bee ingredients like bee pollen, but those are listed on those products. On this page is says that it's never animal tested. http://www.zenbiotic.com/skinindex.htm As far as their products I tried I just had gotten some starter products so they didn't last that long. Like the cleanser, skin prep and moisturizer etc. I tried the synergy serum which had an orangish tint to it which gave my skin a nice glow, like a cosmetic bronzer. I also tried the MSM/Vitamin C but I didn't keep it in the fridge and it went bad pretty quickly. That's why I want to start making my own. I didn't use any of the stuff long enough to see any real results or anything cause I didn't reorder. I'm very impatient as well and I hate spending so much money on so many exp. products for like 6mo-1yr to see if they even will do anything. The only thing that lasted which I still use is the sun protector. I really like it because it instantly calms and cools my skin. So I use it even on days when I don't go anywhere and don't go outside, just as a moisturizer. Right now I'm just using rose hip oil and that. I don't really have a good cleanser at the moment. Just use castile soap and castor oil with some olive oil, since oil dissolves oil. It needs some good steaming and a washcloth though to get it off. As far as the vitamin C, that's what I heard to do as far as the L-Ascorbic acid because the water makes it soluble so it can penetrate into the skin better. It dissolves it. Or else I would think that it wouldn't fully dissolve into a liquid form and remain like a powder in the oil? I haven't tried it yet so I don't know. I'll try both methods and see how it goes. As far as internally, a lot of these products I would not take internally. Some of them can have a lot of side effects internally. Not all of them, they would have to be looked into individually, but I still don't think it's a great idea. HA also has negative studies of side effects etc. I think whole foods and concentrates are best internally. I know that some of it does absorb through the skin into the circulation systematically, but the amounts are very small compared to internal supplementation levels. Esp. since you only use a few drops of the serums on the skin. I'm not sure of what the long term results or effects are though for the skin health of these ingredients over time. I know that AHA's brake down the protective layer and cause easier damage from the sun. That's why I look at them for myself as short term correctives and not long term use to prevent overuse of them. Maybe it is the avocado oil I bought then. I don't know. But I don't like the smell or the taste and I love avocados. I tried using it straight as a body oil and did notice the greenish tint. I don't really notice after a while cause it blends in, but while I'm putting it on I notice it. I also had heard about how great macadamia nut oil is for the skin so I put that on my skin, but the smell of that is very powerful. It is a good smell but still it made me hungry and think of food all time and my neighbors cat would start licking my arm to eat it off. If you are looking to correct any scars or bruising look into Helichrysum Essential Oil to add to the rose hip seed oil. Here's a recipe for a vitamin C serum. It's supposed to last for a week in the fridge. Homemade Vitamin C Serum: • 1/4 teaspoon of Lysorbic Acid (Vit-C) powder or crysals • 5 ml distilled water • 5 ml of glycerin • small amber or dark blue glass bottle Put all of the ingredients in the little blue or amber bottle (need to wash it out thoroughly each time before mixing a new batch), replace cap/lid, and shake vigorously then let sit for a couple of hours, coming back to shake the bottle again every hour or so because it can take a little while for the Vit-C to solubulize.

But you don't eat and swallow toothpaste. It is a topical application. And that's why I DON'T use fluoride toothepaste or drink the tap water in my fluoridated city and use a shower filter. I try to get as little fluoride as possible because it's a toxic heavy metal that stores up in the body and causes nerve damage too. I have heard also that people in China drinking tea are getting signs of fluoride poisoning as well as Tibet. http://www.ehponline.org/docs/1996/104-12/cao.html http://www.tzuchi.org/GLOBAL/news/articles/20020700.html http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=12619286&dopt=Abstract As far as the tea drinking British and Asians and iron anemia, as a whole they are not VEGANS! These compounds only inhibit NON-HEME iron. In other words - PLANT sources of iron. The only type vegans get. The Brits and Asians get plently of iron from meat sources which are unaffected. This can be a concern for VEGANS, not everyone!

Sounds like a bunch of bunk to me! If you cover all exposed areas, every single time you go outside, 365 days a week, you're getting ZERO vitamin D because sunscreen blocks the absorption of the rays needed to make vitamin D (UVB). So, as a vegan who consumes no dietary vitamin D, where would you get it if you followed that advice? Even for non-vegans it is bad advice. The sun is the primary source for vitamin D consumption and is needed. Most of the damage is from burns and tanning too quickly. Building up slowly and maintaining a tan is far less damaging. However I'm bad at that cause I'm such an indoor person. Too addicted to the glow of my computer screen to get the glow of the sun. If you are really concerned about wrinkles, only wear it on your face but get direct exposure on your arms etc. I would rather risk a little skin damage that can be reversed, then a chronic vitamin D deficiency. Also I think that diet is a better source for natural sun protection against free radicals and all. Lots of anti-oxidants and even topical anti-oxidants to correct the damage without blocking the healing UV rays. I also think the best sunscreen protector is this one: http://www.zenbiotic.com/BODY%20&%20GROOMING.htm Dr. H also has a natural one and if you wear mineral makeup it has it too. Hyaluronic Acid is not always from vegetarian sources, so I would check any product that lists it with the manufacture to make sure. You can just buy Hyaluronic Acid supplements and dissolve them in water like the vitamin C. Most of them mention if they are vegetarian formulas, Now brand is. Also, with the vitamin C, I'm going to start that but it's better to first dissolve it in a bit of water before adding anything else to it, since it is water soluble. Best to make a serum out of it. Just water, glycerin. I've had really bad skin habits. Not washing enough, always touching my face, resting my hand on it. I don't know why I like to touch it so much but I've got to stop. Facial exercises sound interesting, but boring. I hardly have the patients for a reg. skin care routine. Avocado oil is nice, but I don't know how people use it. It tints the skin GREEN and smells like a salad. LOL! I prefer things like jojoba, rose hip seed oil (very anti-aging), olive squaline, aloe vera and shea butter. I use rose hip around my eyes and shea butter on my lips. I've tried sleeping on my back but I can't. If I do manage to fall asleep that way I also wake up and am on my side. My body just feels most natural and comfortable that way. I'd like to get a natural buckwheat pillow though. Blueberries are exp. so I only eat frozen blueberries which are much less, but they do stain the teeth a lot. There are lots of anti-oxidants though. All berries, grape seed extract, pomegranate juice, acai, cocoa, olive leaf etc. Also, often overlooked is stress which ages the skin and body more then anything probably. Reducing stress goes a long way in anti-aging.

I drink 0-3 cups a day of either rooibos, green, white, oolong or yerba mate. With the exception of yerba mate though, they are all high in fluoride (I don't know the levels for white tea though). This kind of concerns me. I've read a lot of bad things about the toxicity of fluoride, even from tea. And that the levels of it vary so much depending on the area it is grown, the soil and pollution levels in the area, which is what it is absorbing in the tea leaves. They also have aluminum in them, in the tea leaves as well. Which fluoride supposedly increases the absorption of. And then there is the problem of the inhibition of iron. It's not just the tannins, but the polyphenol anti-oxidants that inhibits the iron absorption. So even caffeine free beverages like cocoa, mint tea, chamomile, rooibos etc. all inhibit the absorption of iron. Maybe, as vegans we shouldn't drink anything but water with our meals? Drink other beverages between meals. Seems like every single substance out there sans vitamin C, INHIBITS iron absorption. It's so frustrating. Even Calcium inhibits iron absorption! What do you think about the fluoride levels in tea? Are you concerned at all? What bothers me the most about it is that there are no regulations on it and they don't even have to test or list the amount the way that bottled water does and the regulation on bottled water. So they can be way higher then the Max. allowed for any other source. The max for fluoridated water supplies is 1.2PPM, while some teas have been found to be over 6 or 8 PPM. I'm not trying to be alarmist, just bringing it to others attention. It might be a concern, esp. if you have any thyroid problems or anything. Instant tea is the worse culprit with the highest levels, as well as low quality brick tea. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,145423,00.html http://www.webmd.com/content/article/99/105355.htm http://thyroid.about.com/cs/toxicchemicalsan/a/flouride.htm http://thyroid.about.com/cs/toxicchemicalsan/a/fluoridepr.htm http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/infocenter/phytochemicals/tea/index.html http://www.mercola.com/2000/sep/10/green_tea_fluoride_thyroid.htm The last article on mercola's site is alarming, yet I can't find anything that confirms it's wild claims about the levels found. Most sources say the levels are about 0.1-0.4 per cup of green tea. While that article claims "While in 1976 a Belgian analysis showed content of between 50 and 125 ppm fluoride in 15 varieties of tea (3), a Polish study in 1995 found fluoride content of up to 340 ppm in 16 varieties of black tea (5). A major Canadian study published in 1995 reports average fluoride content in tea to be 4.57 mg/l in the 1980's.(6) A website by a pro-fluoridation infant medical group lists a cup of black tea to contain 7.8 mgs of fluoride (7), which is roughly the same amount as if one were to drink 7.8 liters of water in an area fluoridated at 1ppm. It is well known that fluoride in tea gets absorbed by the body similarly as the fluoride in drinking water (1,." 7.8mgs in a cup (about 4-6oz) of tea. I don't believe that! The instant tea analysis found up to 6.5mg per Liter, how many cups are in a liter? Anyways, don't drink instant tea at least! "A study by researchers at the University of Mississippi suggests that very high doses of green tea extract may actually activate - rather than shut down - the genetic mechanisms that help certain tumors survive and grow." http://www.aphroditewomenshealth.com/news/20050208235233_health_news.shtml http://www.nutraingredients.com/news/ng.asp?n=65962-green-tea-egcg-breast-cancer http://www.fluoridealert.org/f-sources.htm#I

That's not the brand I have. I bought Sweet Leaf brand Stevia Plus powder in the little packets. I used just one packet, so 1 gram of the powder. It is very strong though. I'll look for the Now brand, but I am skeptical. I just don't care for the licorice taste. It also leaves a lingering evaporating type of taste in the mouth that doesn't go away for a while. I like Agave. Only GI of 11. I usually was trying the vega in the small snack size packets in some water, but then I tried making a smoothie with a whole serving size of it. With fruit juice, banana, frozen berries and frozen mangos. And at that serving level it was so thick and powdery all I could taste was the powder in the drink. I think it needs a lot of liquid for the full serving to dilute the powder and texture of it. Those who drink full servings of it, how much water do you use for it? It says just to use 1 1/2 cups but that seems like WAY too little water for that much powder to dilute the texture enough. Thanks. I do like the bars. Some people say that all they taste is the hemp powder in the bars but I don't really notice that. Well at least with the berry. I don't really care for the chocolate or natural bars, but the berry one is great. A little dry, but all I taste is the sweet berry flavor. At least those are just sweetened with dates and agave. Normal, good tasting sweeteners. Too bad they are expensive though, $3 each.

I can see the points of both sides and approaches. On one hand promoting free range and family farms is kind of giving up. Like I will participate in an effort with others to pressure Trader Joes to stop carrying factory farmed eggs and only carry "free range" eggs, because I don't think it would be possible at current mindsets to convince them to carry no eggs. However I will never be happy with it until they and everyone else carry no animal products. Some people just have the belief that the world will never go all vegan, so by not supporting the small organic farmers, is to support the factory farmers. Since without support they would go out of business or be so small in numbers that the factory farmers take over everything. If it is a losing battle then I would rather have small farms over factory farms. However I don't even think that it would be possible to meet the demand with small farm methods. It would be like stopping the import of goods and cheap labor from China and elsewhere, but still being able to stock the shelves at Walmart to meet the demand for cheap affordable products. It wouldn't be economically possible. It's the demand that has to cease. The Out-of-sight out-of-mind thinking has to stop. I do feel that with big markets and promotions of "organic" meat like at WholeFoods that often it just makes it an excuse for people not to give up animal foods, because they can instead justify that it must be "humane". I would rather people buy that instead, but it does make them complacent and gives them an excuse and justification not the stop all together. I don't support animal farming at all for that reason. I read about this woman who spent all her riches on starting this big natural organic farm with rare endangered species of animals etc. and how she was doing such a great and humane thing by breeding these animals and taking such great care of them. And really they seemed to be well taken care of and were pampered and all.. But I still didn't get it. I was still ed that she could take that great care of them and supposedly think so highly of them, and then just kill them and eat them. It's like killing your own pets. Yes you treated them nice, gave them toys and they bonded with you, then you kill and eat them? I can understand in situations of survival and that's it. But all it is is pure gluttony in our society. No need, not even for organic or pampered until slaughtered meat. It's just unnecessary. Unfortunately in our consumer and desire driven society it is not registered with people as any different then any other consumer indulgence or product, like new shoes, ice cream, wine, a new car, a good steak, fresh strawberries, a flatscreen tv, etc. It's all one and the same to everyone, just one big supermarket of available products with the only thought being what benefits and pleasures can it bring them and for what price for them personally to get it. Emu oil for $4, 90 cent burger, such a deal! How do we even change the mindset to even consider these things and have more consciousness as a whole of what the true cost of all these consumer products are and what people are supporting and where they came from? How do we get people to start thinking holistically and at the big picture beyond the current mindless, self-centered consumer thought pattern that's nurtured by all the manufactures and ad agencies? It totally reminds me of this article on recycling. Same points. "This relationship proclaims that "it's fine to consume because you are recycling, and while you are here why not buy some more?" What the revival of recycling has really done, like the myth of "ethical consumerism", is to give the impression that the environmental crisis presented by global capitalism can be indefinitely delayed if only we all do our bit. It places the blame for environmental problems not on those who make the profits, but on a faceless mass of "consumers". It prevents us asking the important question of capitalism: how much longer can this go on, and if it is to end then how?" http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4877504.stm

Thanks Robert. It is strange. My husband doesn't notice anything from it, gives him no problems at all. And he also doesn't taste the odd aftertaste and stevia either. Funny cause he doesn't like the bars and I love the bars. I have no reactions to the bars, just the powder. It's more like the type of side effects you get from overdosing on coffee or being sensitive to coffee, that kind of jitteryness. My diet's really good though so I don't know. As far as the stevia I have tried so far I don't like it. It just tastes like really weird chemical licorice or some thing. I bought some powder and put it in some tea and I couldn't even taste the flavor of the tea anymore. All I could taste was the flavor of the stevia. It is not sweet to me really, it's just a strong odd flavoring agent. Although I have heard that there are better stevia products out there and liquids that taste better, but I haven't tried them so I don't know. By itself it's not that bad, but it ruins the taste of anything it is added to because it overpowers it, to me anyways.

I just started drinking Vega. It is ok except for the horrible Stevia taste. I hate Stevia! That's all I taste when I drink it. Like a weird artificial sweetner (diet coke) kind of flavor and aftertaste. But anyways, physically after I drink it I instantly feel really weird and have weird reactions. My heart starts racing really fast and I feel all sped up inside and start trembling like I'm all nervous or something. I'm wondering if this is normal when you first start taking it and what I could be reacting to? Reading the ingredients I don't understand what I could be reacting to in it. I already ate a lot of hemp and I'm fine with flax. I've also eaten Maca before and that did nothing to me like this. Could it be the Chlorella you think or the vitamin/minerals in it or the pro-biotics or something? I don't get it at all. It doesn't give me anymore energy. It just makes me shake and tremble and feel weird. It goes away eventually in like an hour or so but it's freaking me out. I need to know if it's a negative or positive. Thanks.

No, thank god. But there are many other chemicals and toxins in materials and paints and other things in buildings. VOC's etc. And the newer the materials the more they are still offgasing. When I first moved into my apt. it was just finished construction on it as I was moving in. One whole area of it was all made with some type of plastic material etc. I had major symptoms and each time I walked in I could smell the difference, then not notice it after a while. But I had major sleep problems, felt drugged, tired and spacey (brain fog) all the time and started breaking out a lot. Now, years later, all the smells are gone and so are the weird symptoms I got all of a sudden after I moved in. They only lasted a few months, those were the worst. I'll just pay attention to any symptoms closely. We haven't gotten rid of all toxic materials and substances in buildings. We need to though. We need to go green. "Among the biggest indoor-air-polluting culprits identified by M&O are pressed-wood products like plywood and particleboard, which are assembled using urea-formaldehyde (UF) glues and adhesives. Formaldehyde has been deemed a probable human carcinogen by the EPA. It's also a known irritant that can cause or exacerbate allergic reactions. Nevertheless, it continues to be widely used to manufacture construction materials and household furniture and is commonly found in cabinets and paneling, walls, floors, textiles, and roofs. Formaldehyde is also used to produce permanent-press clothing and curtains, as well as to preserve some paints. All of these products can "offgas" formaldehyde, contributing to poor indoor air quality. "All of us are exposed to a certain amount of formaldehyde everyday," says George Semeniuk, EPA Formaldehyde Project Manager in the Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics. "What concerns us are elevated levels." Perhaps the scariest thing about indoor air pollution is that you don't have to do anything in particular to put yourself in harm's way. Just going about your daily business is enough. The chairs on which you sit, the desk at which you work, and the kitchen in which you eat are all possible sources of formaldehyde. Because formaldehyde and other indoor air pollutants can induce symptoms that look very much like the common cold or flu, faulty diagnoses are not uncommon. To avoid this pitfall, the EPA's Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) division recommends that you pay particular attention to where and when you experience symptoms. If you find yourself sniffling or coughing only after you come indoors, you may want to start investigating your home for possible contaminants."

Don't worry Shelby, you didn't scare me anymore then I was already paranoid. I've already been a germaphobe around people and read many things about drug resistant staph becoming a major problem in gyms and esp. contact sports like football, wrestling and other professional sports. I just hadn't heard of a first hand account from anyone of it happening. "Louis Meier, MD, emergency room doctor at Palmetto Health Richland, says, “We have seen an increase in MRSA among the community, especially in places like the gym and standard drugs don’t work, so we’re left with an even greater complication.” An outbreak of MRSA was discovered among football players at Western Carolina University in 2004. It was traced to the locker room, shared towels, equipment and mats." http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/la-sci-staph26feb26,0,741823.story?coll=la-home-headlines http://www.blogs.mrsaresources.com/2006/02/06/avoid-mrsa-buy-a-home-gym-2/ http://www.jour.sc.edu/pages/wigginsweb/gym.html http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0675/is_6_22/ai_n7578582 I'm still going to go though. I think I will just start bringing my own towel and wipes. I do shower as soon as I get home and wash my clothes right away. I just hate having to worry about it and feeling like all my clothes and everything that's touched anything there is somehow contaminated now. But that's just my uptight mind. Thanks madcat. True, I won't really enjoy it being worried but I never expected to really enjoy working out anyways. And I think the only way to overcome phobias is to face them. I'm sure I would find something to worry about with any kind of outdoor sport as well. I have many friends with horrible long hospital stay stories from outdoor bike riding, and last time I was on my bike I ate pavement with many nasty road burns that are still healing. A person with an anxiety disorder doesn't much enjoy anything because they have a hard time relaxing. I know I have to just address that and overcome it or seek help rather then just avoiding life in general. Thanks everyone!

Vega powder does contain a lot of isolated and concentrated supplements. I agree about the flax oil though. I haven't found any that doesn't burn my throat, esp Udo's Oil. I only do the whole flax seeds now, eaten fresh out of the fridge in a smoothie or something. I would never overdo the flax seeds though as they do have more phyto-estrogens then soy and also have a lot of cyanide and other slightly toxic compunds that are not deactivated unless cooked. I've seen many sources suggest not eating them unless throughly cooked first. But if you cook them you oxidize their fragile and heat sensitive oils, so they should always be eaten raw, just not too much of them (1-2TB a day tops). Hemp seeds on the other hand need no grinding, are totally safe to eat and not toxic, don't estrogen, and also have GLA which flax seeds don't. They also have an ideal perfect omega ratio and complete protein profile. Also are much tastier and easier to eat. I sprinkle them on everything from oatmeal to salads etc. or just eat them plain. Very good. I would also look into Rhodiola. What ZMA supplement are you taking? The only vegan one I've seen is the Max Growth P.M. by IronTek. For anti-oxidants, foods are the best choice. Berries are very high, esp. blueberries and pomegranates. Dark chocolate, tea (roobios is cafiene free and as high as green tea in anti-oxidants). Prunes are very high. Cloves are high (in many teas as flavoring etc). Of course you can also take a supplement that has like pine bark and grape seeds etc. http://healthforce.com/antioxidant_supreme.htm I wouldn't take isolated vitamin E or A etc. though. Read this article: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06079/673520.stm Gaba is a good supplement for increasing HGH, but I'm wary of high doses of any isolated chemical / nutrient. Most have side effects.

Do you not go to gyms anymore Shelby? Do you think they're not worth the risk? Maybe not without full clothing and full coverage gloves? Infections can get into hands themselves without even touching other parts of the body. I'm sorry about what happened to you, sounds awful, I'm glad you pulled through. I don't need the details though, knowing that alone already is feeding more obsessions and phobias of mine. I'm seriously going to become very phobic of the gym very soon. I'll need a letter from a psychiatrist to get out of the contract.

CollegeB, thanks for your feedback. At your gym did you ever notice any weird smells though, like chemical or construction type of smells? Besides just the lack of airflow. Thanks Kathryn. But I think all gyms are like that right? I mean most all gyms have rubber flooring right? And they all use standard cleaning materials as far as I I know of. I'm just very sensitive to smells, I have a very good sense of smell. I don't know if the bad smells mean that it is more toxic then any other indoor environment or not. I mean even natural rubber smells horrible to me. I know there are gyms that have better air circulation though. But the thing is I'm paying $135 a month on contract. I couldn't just stop going without knowing that I was wasting a huge amount of money for something I'm not using. They have a couple other locations but one is much too far away and the other one is even newer then this location, it just completed construction like a month ago. This location I go to has been open for over 15 months now and I had gone there about 9 months ago to check it out and the smell hasn't really improved. So I don't think in a few more months it will either. I mean it doesn't smell bad like rank or anything weird, it just smells like construction materials in many parts of it. Like a new building smells. The smells of paint, plywood and whatever else is there. Plus all the cleaning materials I guess cause they keep it very clean all day long constantly for hygiene purposes. Which is good, just too bad they don't use natural stuff. I don't know, I just don't want to avoid it or try to get out of the contract out of paranoia or any irrational fears or obsessions. I have always had OCD tendancies and hypochondria etc.

I'm not talking about the germs, I know about those risks but I'm not too worried about that. I'm talking about all the toxins, the chemicals. These are not natural for our bodies to have to deal with and they accumulate in our organs. "According to the World Health Organization, indoor air pollution is responsible for more deaths worldwide than outdoor air in even the most contaminated cities. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) considers indoor air one of the four most urgent environmental health risks in North America (where we don't heat homes with coal or warm food with cow dung), up there with atmospheric air pollution, toxic chemicals in the workplace and contaminated drinking water." "The highest danger comes from volatile organic chemicals [VOCs], asbestos and radon," explains Robert Eitches, M.D., an allergy specialist at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. "Those are the indoor air pollutants that would be dangerous in the sense of ending your life too soon." The VOCs contained in paint, varnish, wax and many cleaning products react with one another in the air and can interfere with your body's natural processes. While some VOCs have no known health effects, others can cause medical problems ranging from ear, nose and throat irritation to liver, kidney and central nervous system damage." "Most adults, when sitting still, take 14 to 20 complete breaths per minute. (That rate can go as high as 80 breaths per minute during a strenuous workout.) With each average inhalation, you take in a pint of air. With a deep breath, you "drink" approximately three times that amount. If all you did was breathe while sitting, then you would consume about 107,000 cubic feet of air per year. That is why air contaminants, measured at parts per million, can eventually overwhelm your body's ability to protect against them." "Elevated levels of indoor air pollution have also been linked to headaches, dizziness, and fatigue." "Low quality of air can have major adverse effects on the benefits of exercise by irritating the respiratory system and reducing oxygen flow." "Exercise makes us more vulnerable to health damage from these pollutants. We breathe more air during exercise or strenuous work. We draw air more deeply into the lungs. And when we exercise heavily, we breathe mostly through the mouth, bypassing the body's first line of defense against pollution, the nose." http://www.epa.gov/iaq/pubs/hpguide.html http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0820/is_2000_Dec/ai_68272837 https://www.utexas.edu/research/ceer/esp/NewsletterarticlesSPR99/IndoorA.html http://www.motherearthnews.com/library/1998_December_January/The_Inside_Scoop_on_Indoor_Air

I just joined this gym, it's pretty new, a little over a year old. So all the materials are all still pretty new. And whenever I walk in there I instantly smell all the off gassing of the toxic materials. I can't help it, I'm very sensitive. Each area of the place has a different smell, but each one is totally off. I walk up the stairs and through one part of it and it smells like a pool to me, even though there is no pool there. Just like chlorine or something. Then I walk in the weight area or spinning room and smell the pure awful smell of rubber. Each area smells different but it all smells like building materials and really bad. There is not much ventilation either as far as fresh outdoor air coming in. There are several balconies but you have to go out on them to get the fresh outdoor air. I usually have to park several blocks away and by the time that I walk or jog to the gym with the clean outdoor air and then walk inside I smell it all and instantly feel claustrophobic and like I can't breathe as easily as I did outdoors. Instantly I worry again about breathing in and absorbing all these toxins I smell, esp. while breathing so much harder working out and taking in even Deeper breaths of these chemicals in the air. I know this is pretty standard for gyms. I don't know of any gyms that are green or built with toxin free or low toxin materials like natural rubber floors instead of synthetic full of chemical additives etc. I also walked into the yoga room while they were cleaning it and the smell was horrible, I had to leave. It just all concerns me because I know all these environmental toxins really contribute to major health problems and are all carcinogenic. I also leave after working out there at night and when I get home I usually start feeling really tired, even on the way home. Even a little spacey even. I thought that it was because of the workout itself and low blood sugar, but maybe it has something to do with breathing in the toxins? Because I don't remember feeling that way after working out at home or outdoors. Exercising usually makes me feel more energetic and alert, not the opposite. I'm going to try switching my workouts to the morning and see how I feel after those. But my main question is do you think the benefits of using the variety of equipment and features of a gym and the health benefits of working out outweigh the health damage of breathing in the toxins in gyms while working out? And do you think that being exposed to that only an hour or two a day would have much effect anyways on our health and toxin level? I know there are toxins everywhere, but when I smell them that strongly, it makes me think that they are that much more concentrated and breathing them in so deeply can't be that good right? Accumulatively. Is there a way to help detox and safeguard ourselves from these toxins both from the gym and in other buildings that are made with a lot of toxic materials? And this is just the toxins, I'm not even talking about the germs and all of the gyms from all the people touching the same equipment and sweating on everything and all. I know that staph and fungus infections are common to spread in gyms and all. Seems like a high risk place in exchange for getting fit and trying to get healthy. What do you think?

So you think that there are foods that are free from all non-plant life-forms? I agree that we should do what we can practically to avoid harming or killing non-plant life. Esp. in avoiding animal based products. I'm not telling anyone else that their boycott means nothing because of the other complications of life, or that they shouldn't bother. I think it's very important. I just have a hard time reconciling my own conscience when it comes to actions that kill so much life. The computer example is a good one. All of it. Harvesting vegetables and how many animals and rabbits etc. who get killed in that process, and in the processes of all industrial life. Just driving on the freeway to another state I was horrified at how many moths got killed by flying into my windshield, just so I could get from one place to another. Not to mention how many animals have been killed in the building of these human cities and houses and societies etc. I don't think it's totally necessary, because we don't "have" to live this way. We don't have to live and go along with living in the modern way, but we do it because we want to and enjoy living this way. I don't know, it's hard to come to terms with my conscience and my own guilt, and wishing that it didn't have to be so hard to avoid. But one thing that is quite clear and obvious is that humans put a lot more value on certain animals over others. Chickens are important and important not to kill but moths and other insects are not. For instance. In light of it though, I just don't understand the idea that someone who found an unfertilized egg on their land or in the forest for instance and ate it would no longer be vegan. An unfertilized egg is not a living thing. It never was alive and is not alive and therefore nothing died, was killed or got hurt by eating the found egg. Yet so many would consider that person now not vegan, I don't get that. At least it is vegetarian as opposed to all the living things in our plant foods that got killed in the process and that we are eating. Again, I do still and always will advocate avoiding purchasing or consuming all animal based products, food and clothing etc. For the cruelty and even just for the environmental and energy impact alone. But I just can't feel good or reconcile my conscience with the fact that I save possibly 93 animals a year or whatever, when I know that many at least probably die each day because of normal actions and living. Does the size of the animal really define the morality?

Well, anyone who reads that or hears about it is now "knowingly" eating things with animal ingredients in it. Doesn't mean they have a choice or can avoid it, but it is still "knowingly". Fresh food is always better and healthier. But this is not logical as far as trying to avoid eating the animal ingredients in the foods. There is no way to avoid it. The products listed are mostly canned or frozen because those are the products that are regulated like that and looked at. Fresh food is full of insects and has problems with mold and other things too. Esp. organic. Esp. the farmers market. I do about 60% of my shopping at the farmers market and always find lots of insects. On greens esp. A lot of them still alive. I try to search for live ones and set them free outside in the dirt. But I can't find all of them and those are just the ones I can see. They're everywhere. We're sucking them in as we breathe. They're hiding inside the organic broccolli forests and on the kale leaves. Crawling on the strawberries. The world is teaming with life. And even if you can wash them well enough, which you never can fully, you're still killing them just so you can eat the food. Which brings me to another issue. How can any non-organic food and produce be ok for vegans? We won't knowingly eat insects and animals but it's ok to support farmers who kill them by the millions with poisons to bring us the food? That is a very abusive practice towards animals and life. I think. But just saying that technically no one is ever free completely from consuming animals, even if they don't know it. Doesn't mean that it is always avoidable or they want to. But technically no one is 100% vegan, 100% plant matter. That's why to me the deffinition lies more in the philosophy of trying to avoid harm as much as possible and to boycott the industries that are cruel.

Thanks Robert. I would appreciate it if you could ask him those questions for me. Thanks. I know that the bars don't have any of that stuff in them, they are just food only ingredients. As far as the VEGA goes, nothing ever says or uses the actual word "isolated" in it when it comes to vitamins and minerals. The way to tell though is if they are listed just as the nutritional facts or if they are listed as part of the actual "ingredients" as they are with VEGA. Sure it does have whole food ingredients such as hemp and maca etc. etc. but it also has ingredients that are just the names of vitamins and minerals. That indicates that it is an isolated vitamin or mineral SUPPLEMENT added to the product. It means that the product is "enriched" just like they do with soy and almond milks when you read the ingredients and see things like vitamin D, A, B12 etc. etc. Those are isolated supplements added to the product, not a whole food. Even though it does have the whole food ingredients of soy or almonds in addition to the vitamin and mineral supplements in it. Vega has things listed on it's ingredients like: "iron HVP chelate, zinc HVP chelate, vitamin C (ascorbic acid), molybdenum HVP chelate, manganese HVP chelate, vitamin B3 (niacin), natural source vitamin E (d-alpha tocopheryl acetate), copper HVP chelate, potassium iodide, biotin, vitamin A (palmitate), selenium HVP chelate, calcium D-pantothenate, vitamin D (ergocalciferol), chromium HVP chelate, vitamin B6 (pyridoxine hydrochloride), vitamin B2 (riboflavin), vitamin B1 (thiamine hydrochloride), folic acid, vitamin B12 (cyanocobalamin)." All of those are NOT food or whole food ingredients. None of them grow in nature. And if they are listed on the ingredients like that it means they come from a lab somewhere and are isolated, usually extracted from something else. Who knows what though. I have heard that all Vitamin C for instance is extracted from GMO Corn these days. Here is an excellent article on the differences between whole food "supplements" and isolated vitamin/mineral ingredients in supplements. "Nutrients never occur as isolates in natural foods. They are integrally related with many other natural molecules that are required for their absorption, assimilation and non-toxicity. The traditional vitamins and minerals that are offered are only a part of the whole vitamin or mineral complex. Isolated and synthetic nutrients are foreign to the body, completely unnatural, are poorly absorbed, offer incomplete results, imbalance body chemistry, deplete the body of co-factor nutrients, and usually have significant toxicities. How do you know if a supplement contains isolates and/or synthetics? If the nutrients themselves are listed as actual ingredients (i.e., Thiamin, Ascorbic Acid, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Chromium Picolinate, Calcium, Magnesium, etc.), rather than constituents of the ingredients, they are isolated and/or synthetic. Synthetic and isolated vitamins and minerals are used almost exclusively for traditional vitamin and/or mineral products! There are problems when using this type of material. Please read on. Although some isolated/synthetic nutrients can and do have benefit, and there definitely are cases that the benefits out-way the risks (especially when compared to the use of drugs), they are a vastly inferior, incomplete, and sometimes worthless way to get nutrients into the body. The body can not absorb and utilize a synthetic or isolated nutrient as is. It must reform them into organic complexes (as they are in whole foods). Only a small percentage is able to be re-formed (by drawing the synergistic nutrients from the body) into absorbable, usable matter. The remaining unusable portion either, at best, settles out in the tissues as harmful deposits, or taxes the liver and kidneys before it is excreted in the urine. And that's mighty expensive urine, with most of your supplement dollar going straight down the drain! Furthermore, when the body attempts to reform isolated/synthetic nutrients into absorbable, usable nutrients, it nutritionally depletes the body of these other nutrients (many of which are other vitamins and minerals). This causes widespread deficiencies. At worst, some isolated and/or synthetic nutrients actually cause you to excrete more than you took of them, adding to a nutritional deficiency (while draining the body), rather than correcting one. Many synthetic and/or isolated nutrients actually suppress beneficial (and vitally essential) bodily cleansing methods, and can be quite toxic and inbalancing! If an isolated or synthetic nutrient is an antioxidant, it may actually weaken the body's immune system. The body's white blood cells use free radicals to destroy foreign bacteria. Isolated or synthetic antioxidants (including preservatives) may weaken the body's ability to do so. They can also interfere with the body's use of oxygen. Antioxidants in whole foods (in addition to being much more effective), do not interfere with the body's ability to use free radicals constructively or it's ability to use oxygen (they enhance both). Despite modern advances in the health field, the best source of nutrients, by far is food! However, almost no one is totally nourished today. Commercial agriculture and depleted soils have resulted in far less than ideal nutrient levels in most foods. If the soil is deficient (as it almost always is today) then the food is...and therefore you are deficient too! Even today’s organically grown produce (although vastly superior to commercial produce) is still not nearly as nutritious as it was 100 years ago. Furthermore, few people are consuming ideally grown, raw foods from the vegetable kingdom 100% of the time, and all of us are exposed to a tremendous amount of stress due to living in our modern world. Click HERE for a list of nutrient drainers." http://www.healthforce.com/wholefoods_vs_isolates.htm