My random ramblings about health, living green, being mom, and loving Jesus....all on a budget.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Ask me your questions and I'll give you your answers!
I'm having a really hard time thinking of a new blog post....so I thought I'd ask you to help!! You tell me what you want to know and I'll start blogging my answers. Hope this works!!
It seems there was a 20/20 or 60 minutes that wired a few months ago about organic foods. The report was saying how companies were not able to keep up with the demand of organics so they began using no-organics just to keep going. Anytime I talk about eating organic foods people bring this up to me and say all of the companies are doing this. So my question is-how do we know which companies to trust and which ones not to. It is hard for me to defend organic when I don't know who to trust. I am buying most of my organics at Costco right now. Thanks Amanda!
Also, what about sunscreens that don't cost a fortune that are safe. I heard a report that they can go way down under your skin and not be good for your body.
Pamela, I'm not familar with the organic food thing. I know it is against the law to put a usda certified organic sticker on something that is not and there are strict regulations they must adhere to to get that sticker. My hope is that they would get caught because they are breaking the law! There are chemical free sunscreens you can get at any health food store. Burts Bees makes a chemical free and so does Alba, and Aubrey Organics. I know there are more too. The only sunscreens you want are zinc oxide and titanium dioxide. The rest are chemicals :)
1) As I've been trying to lose weight, I've cut my dairy intake wayyy back, and am concerned I'm not getting enough calcium. Can you recommend good foods/ supplements to make sure I'm getting enough calcium?
2) I'm not having another baby any time soon, but I need a good pre-natal vitamin to ensure I keep up my folic acid stores etc, and I feel like my target brand vitamin might not be my best option, what do you suggest?
Jennifer, Recent studies have found that Vitamin D is way more important for the integrity of our bones than calcium alone. Without adequate Vit D and even magnesium, the calcium is not absorbed and turns into stuff like bone spurs and kidney stones. Dairy is definitely NOT essential to our diet. Although I eat it because it tastes yummy, I try to stick to things like Whole Milk Yogurt and Raw Cheese. Drinking milk does not do the body good (the Milk industry got sued for those commercials being misleading!) I use unsweetened Almond milk for my tea and I don't notice the difference! So in all honesty I wouldn't worry too much about the calcium. If you're really concerned there is an awesome supplement called Ionic Fizz Calcium that you could take. I would focus on your Vitamin D. You could also eat Kale...which is super high in Calcium. You can make a salad mixing small pieces of Kale with tomato and toss with some olive oil and lemon juice and a little sea salt. I take Rainbow Lights Prenatal One Daily. It's a Whole Food vitamin and is pretty inexpensive on Vitacost.com. The best Prenatal in my opinion is New Chapter's, but it's pretty expensive! For weight loss I'd look into the Fat Flush plan by Ann Louis-Gittleman. Everyone I've recommended it loves it and lost tons of weight safely..plus detoxed at the same time!
How do I know which vitamins and supplements are okay, for instance, I have heard that Costco vitamins are made up of fillers. Trying to keep the cost affordable is an issue, so going to the health food store is not an always an option. So how do we know which companies are making vitamins with filler and which are not? Thanks for your help!
Personally I would never take a supplement from Walmart, costco, sam's etc. They aren't reputable companies and that's why they're sold so cheap at big box type stores. I trust pretty much every brand they carry at health food stores and those brands will also be sold on websites for much less (like www.vitacost.com) for example. Of course there are varieties ranging from the very best to ok. I good middle of the road brand for a multi vitamin is Rainbow Light. If you want the best you can buy from companies like New Chapter and Garden of Life. There vitamins are much more expensive because of the fermentation process they take them through to turn the vitamin into food. Good luck!
Amanda- Could you do a blogpost on how you got into naturopathic/nutrition stuff? How do you do your research? Is it knowledge you just have from study, or are there some good go-to websites?
Donna, Go for it. You can get a liquid or capsule combo of Black Walnut, wormwood, and clove. Take it at night with your laxative pill. Let me know how it goes. My hubby just started and is even passing some gallstones with his coffee enemas. It's amazing!
Hi Amanda, I found your blog through Jennifer's, and if you're still answering these questions, I was wondering if I should worry about mercury in fish oil pills? Thanks and your blog is awesome!
Hi Amanda! Heba recommended your blog to me. I'd love to have more info on skin care. I haven't searched all of your posts yet, but anything you've discovered would be super helpful!
HI Amanda! I LOVE your blog! I used to be into natural nutrition and slowly fell out of it. I am looking for a good way to detox and build my body back up. Is the cleanse a good place to start or would you recommend something else? Also I teach a cardio mixed martial arts class and do some pretty long and intense workouts. When it comes to fasts/cleanses is there something I can take to help me to be able to keep up my endurance so I can still work out? I do a complete fast one day a week on my off day... not for dietary purposes although it helps jumpstart my body pretty nicely and I feel much better! So anything you would recommend would be great. I don't know if you've ever used it or not but I buy herbs in bulk through a place call the Bulk Herb Store in TN... they are a christian company and I have found their products to be great quality and the prices are wonderful too. Just thought I'd pass it along to anyone who wants to check it out... their fresh peppermint tea is awesome and WAY better than anything you can get at the store. Their site is: www.bulkherbstore.com. Thanks Amanda!
@flanhoodles... I don't worry about the mercury if I know that the company is reputable. I wouldn't take fish oil from walmart or anything. It needs to say on the label that it's been tested for PCB's and metals. The best brand out there is Carlsons...you can get it on Vitacost for half the price. I'd trust almost anything that a healthfood store carries as well.
@carrie...I haven't done a blogpost on skincare, though I should. My favorite company right now is Mychelle. They're not cheap, but they're amazing. There are less expensive options out there that don't offer as good of results, but are still paraben and petrochemical free. Again..I'd browse on vitacost and look at ingredient lists and customer reviews.
@ Sara, The cleanse I recommend is fine if you want to continue your workout. Most people report more energy after their 3rd day so you might want to schedule your start day accordingly. Because you're taking the chlorella and fish oil..you're energy levels are higher than on a typical fast. Also, since you're not consuming a lot of juices, your blood sugar doesn't go up and down. If your exercise is extremely rigorous you could add spirulina to the pills you take to give you a little more energy and not compromise the cleansing process. I'd take 3 pills on top of the already pills each cycle.
17 comments:
It seems there was a 20/20 or 60 minutes that wired a few months ago about organic foods. The report was saying how companies were not able to keep up with the demand of organics so they began using no-organics just to keep going. Anytime I talk about eating organic foods people bring this up to me and say all of the companies are doing this. So my question is-how do we know which companies to trust and which ones not to. It is hard for me to defend organic when I don't know who to trust. I am buying most of my organics at Costco right now.
Thanks Amanda!
Pamela
Also, what about sunscreens that don't cost a fortune that are safe. I heard a report that they can go way down under your skin and not be good for your body.
Pamela
Pamela,
I'm not familar with the organic food thing. I know it is against the law to put a usda certified organic sticker on something that is not and there are strict regulations they must adhere to to get that sticker. My hope is that they would get caught because they are breaking the law!
There are chemical free sunscreens you can get at any health food store. Burts Bees makes a chemical free and so does Alba, and Aubrey Organics. I know there are more too. The only sunscreens you want are zinc oxide and titanium dioxide. The rest are chemicals :)
Amanda- I have a couple!
1) As I've been trying to lose weight, I've cut my dairy intake wayyy back, and am concerned I'm not getting enough calcium. Can you recommend good foods/ supplements to make sure I'm getting enough calcium?
2) I'm not having another baby any time soon, but I need a good pre-natal vitamin to ensure I keep up my folic acid stores etc, and I feel like my target brand vitamin might not be my best option, what do you suggest?
I LOVE your blog!
Jennifer,
Recent studies have found that Vitamin D is way more important for the integrity of our bones than calcium alone. Without adequate Vit D and even magnesium, the calcium is not absorbed and turns into stuff like bone spurs and kidney stones. Dairy is definitely NOT essential to our diet. Although I eat it because it tastes yummy, I try to stick to things like Whole Milk Yogurt and Raw Cheese. Drinking milk does not do the body good (the Milk industry got sued for those commercials being misleading!) I use unsweetened Almond milk for my tea and I don't notice the difference!
So in all honesty I wouldn't worry too much about the calcium. If you're really concerned there is an awesome supplement called Ionic Fizz Calcium that you could take. I would focus on your Vitamin D. You could also eat Kale...which is super high in Calcium. You can make a salad mixing small pieces of Kale with tomato and toss with some olive oil and lemon juice and a little sea salt.
I take Rainbow Lights Prenatal One Daily. It's a Whole Food vitamin and is pretty inexpensive on Vitacost.com. The best Prenatal in my opinion is New Chapter's, but it's pretty expensive!
For weight loss I'd look into the Fat Flush plan by Ann Louis-Gittleman. Everyone I've recommended it loves it and lost tons of weight safely..plus detoxed at the same time!
How do I know which vitamins and supplements are okay, for instance, I have heard that Costco vitamins are made up of fillers. Trying to keep the cost affordable is an issue, so going to the health food store is not an always an option. So how do we know which companies are making vitamins with filler and which are not?
Thanks for your help!
Personally I would never take a supplement from Walmart, costco, sam's etc. They aren't reputable companies and that's why they're sold so cheap at big box type stores. I trust pretty much every brand they carry at health food stores and those brands will also be sold on websites for much less (like www.vitacost.com) for example. Of course there are varieties ranging from the very best to ok. I good middle of the road brand for a multi vitamin is Rainbow Light. If you want the best you can buy from companies like New Chapter and Garden of Life. There vitamins are much more expensive because of the fermentation process they take them through to turn the vitamin into food.
Good luck!
Amanda- Could you do a blogpost on how you got into naturopathic/nutrition stuff? How do you do your research? Is it knowledge you just have from study, or are there some good go-to websites?
I'll do that now :)
Amanda I am doing the cleanse-wonder if I should also do some black walnut for parasites at the same time?? Or maye I should have done that first.??
Donna,
Go for it. You can get a liquid or capsule combo of Black Walnut, wormwood, and clove. Take it at night with your laxative pill. Let me know how it goes. My hubby just started and is even passing some gallstones with his coffee enemas. It's amazing!
Hi Amanda,
I found your blog through Jennifer's, and if you're still answering these questions, I was wondering if I should worry about mercury in fish oil pills? Thanks and your blog is awesome!
Hi Amanda! Heba recommended your blog to me. I'd love to have more info on skin care. I haven't searched all of your posts yet, but anything you've discovered would be super helpful!
HI Amanda! I LOVE your blog! I used to be into natural nutrition and slowly fell out of it. I am looking for a good way to detox and build my body back up. Is the cleanse a good place to start or would you recommend something else? Also I teach a cardio mixed martial arts class and do some pretty long and intense workouts. When it comes to fasts/cleanses is there something I can take to help me to be able to keep up my endurance so I can still work out? I do a complete fast one day a week on my off day... not for dietary purposes although it helps jumpstart my body pretty nicely and I feel much better! So anything you would recommend would be great. I don't know if you've ever used it or not but I buy herbs in bulk through a place call the Bulk Herb Store in TN... they are a christian company and I have found their products to be great quality and the prices are wonderful too. Just thought I'd pass it along to anyone who wants to check it out... their fresh peppermint tea is awesome and WAY better than anything you can get at the store. Their site is: www.bulkherbstore.com. Thanks Amanda!
@flanhoodles...
I don't worry about the mercury if I know that the company is reputable. I wouldn't take fish oil from walmart or anything. It needs to say on the label that it's been tested for PCB's and metals.
The best brand out there is Carlsons...you can get it on Vitacost for half the price.
I'd trust almost anything that a healthfood store carries as well.
@carrie...I haven't done a blogpost on skincare, though I should. My favorite company right now is Mychelle. They're not cheap, but they're amazing. There are less expensive options out there that don't offer as good of results, but are still paraben and petrochemical free. Again..I'd browse on vitacost and look at ingredient lists and customer reviews.
@ Sara,
The cleanse I recommend is fine if you want to continue your workout. Most people report more energy after their 3rd day so you might want to schedule your start day accordingly. Because you're taking the chlorella and fish oil..you're energy levels are higher than on a typical fast. Also, since you're not consuming a lot of juices, your blood sugar doesn't go up and down.
If your exercise is extremely rigorous you could add spirulina to the pills you take to give you a little more energy and not compromise the cleansing process. I'd take 3 pills on top of the already pills each cycle.
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