Dreams: Knowing Thyself

Weve all skidded by on our good looks and charm long enough. In this New Year, its time we use more of ourselves, not just to help ourselves and the world, but to know ourselves. That is, after all, why we’re all here.

A Good Reason to Can the Can

Eating out of a can has never appealed to me. Besides the fact that the food inside is dead, it has always seemed just not quite right on some level. Perhaps great if youre stranded in the desert (hopefully with a can opener in your pocket), but for every day living I just dont do it.

I know there has been some talk over the years of aluminium leaching into the foods inside the cans. Whether thats true, I cant say. However, new research is suggesting its the plastic that lines cans these days thats doing the harm.

Dr Fredrick vom Saal, PhD, who is an endocrinologist at the University of Missouri, specialises in studying the effects of bisphenol-A (BPA), the toxic chemical that comes from plastics that wrap just about everything we buy in supermarkets. He says the number one canned food to steer clear of is tomatoes. The following info may well make you re-think your mothers famous spaghetti sauce.

Dr vom Saal says bisphenol-A is a synthetic estrogen that is linked to all sorts of dis-eases from reproductive problems to heart disease, diabetes and obesity. Its the acidity in the tomatoes that reacts with the BPA that causes the chemical to leach into the food. Appetising huh?

Whats the solution? Learning to live like your great grandmother perhaps, and only eating organic food that looks how its supposed to. Freshly picked. Oh and speak to your local grocer about supplying more organic, non-packaged foods. The greater demand, the more supply.

While Im on the subject of stuff to avoid, here are some other foods, as published in a story on Shine.com, that you may want to re-think.

Microwave popcorn ~ Chemicals, including perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), in the lining of the bag, are part of a class of compounds that may be linked to infertility in humans. In animal testing, the chemicals cause liver, testicular, and pancreatic cancer. Studies show that microwaving causes the chemicals to vaporize – and migrate into your popcorn.

Non-organic potatoes ~ Root vegetables absorb herbicides, pesticides, and fungicides that wind up in soil. In the case of potatoes theyre treated with fungicides during the growing season, then sprayed with herbicides to kill off the fibrous vines before harvesting. After theyre dug up, the potatoes are treated yet again to prevent them from sprouting.

Conventional apples ~ If fruits held a “most doused in pesticides contest,” apples would win. An increasing number of studies are starting to link a higher body burden of pesticides with Parkinsons disease.

A Good Reason to Can the Can by Vegan Girl at www.diaryofavegan.com

Defining Natural Foods

If you could bite down on a crispy, crunchy potato chip that was “natural”, tasted great and totally good for you, youd probably buy it, right?

How to Set up the Perfect Home Office

Though the benefits of working from your home include not having to deal with rigid schedules, polluting commutes and irritating co-workers, it can still have drawbacks. Those working from home have a set of challenges to deal with, including unwanted visitors, family intrusions and carving out a little niche that lets you separate your home life from your work life.

The Future of Plastics

More than 40 years after the well-known one-liner, “Just One Word: Plastics” from Mike Nichols classic movie The Graduate, the presence of plastics in society has evolved from a manufacturing wonder material to a hazardous consumer concern.

Feeding Your Emotions

Reason and emotion, mind and heart, are the regulators of the bodys response to whole food medicine. It has been demonstrated millions of times and for thousands of years that whole food diets, colonics, mono diets and fasting restore disturbances in metabolism, the immune system, respiratory function and mental outlook.

Alison Goes to Extreme

World Champion extreme freeskier and activist-athlete Alison Gannett is known for going to extremes for the cause most near and dear to her heart – Save Our Snow*. To bring further attention to the cause, Gannett, along with a few other female environmental crusaders and athletes, just completed 250 miles on a “Big Ben to Brussels Walk”, London to Copenhagen, with skis and a backpack strapped to her back every step of the way.

An Orchard Garden in the City

If you’re planning a trip to San Francisco, be sure to check out (or into) the Orchard Garden Hotel, one of California’s greenest.

7 WAYS TO … KILL YOUR EXCUSES

We all make excuses. But the successful ones are those who can kill them and move on toward their goals.

“Im too tired. I dont have the time. I dont feel motivated. Id rather do nothing. I dont have the money, equipment, space. I cant because” …

Weve all made the excuses. Heres how to kill them…

THE LOOKING BOOK by P.K. Hallinan

Why its great: While The Looking Book is aimed at children, it’s also a great reminder for big kids too: take time to unplug yourself from your computer, television and iPod, and get back to nature. Take time for the simple stuff. Learn to breathe again and be at one with the world outside. With many children addicted to the modern technologies that fill our homes, this beautifully illustrated book (thanks to artist Patrice Barton) teaches there is a world of possibilities outside the front door. It just takes a little imagination to get Kenny and Mikey past the front step.

Whos reading it: Parents who want to show their children there’s more to playing than hooking up Nintendo or spending hours in front of a computer screen. The Looking Book is also a favorite among kids who love to explore and put their imagination into practice.

What youll learn: That it’s important to stop and smell the roses. That using your imagination may well be the key to helping your children use theirs.

Want to know more? Head to Amazon.com to order your copy or visit www.pkhallinan.com

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