We are Water Pigs!

So, I am sure a few of you saw my face book status the other day after getting my water bill and the shock wave it sent through me.

In 63 days our family went through 71 cubic meters of water.

Here's the math on that for you.

1 m3 = 1,000 litres.  

 71x1000= 71,000 litres.

71,000 / 63 = 1126 litres a day

1126 / 7 = 161 litres per person (to make me feel better if Meg and Kay are here that is 125)

ELEVEN HUNDRED & TWENTY SIX LITRES OF WATER  

A DAY

Here's a visual for you.  This picture shows what a 1,000 litres looks like.  There are 62 cooler sized bottles in this picture.  In order to get to our level we'd have to add 8 more!




I can honestly say I almost cried.  This is an insane amount of water...insane!  Let's put that into some more perspective.  The average say 150lb person needs approximately 2.3 litres of water a day to stay properly hydrated.  So our water consumption could hydrate 489 people!  Did you read that 489 people.

Here's some more perspective.  There are 2 Billion people in this world who do not have daily access to clean drinking water.....and our family uses 489 peoples worth a day.....wow time for a change.

I went looking for some statistics, just to see if we are in the "normal range".  Knowing that we have 7 people in our house, I kind of attributed the higher number to that fact.

Turns out we actually aren't that bad!

Here's a bar graph showing the average water use of people around the world.  Canada for some reason is missing but I found that in Canada the average is around 329 litres a day which would put us about 4th on this graph.




That number has actually come down, considering in reports from 1999 we were using 343.  So we as Canadians are getting a bit better.  In our house we are way below the national average...phew!

Remember that these #'s are only related to measurable amounts of water, they do not include water used from fresh water wells used by those of us lucky enough to live in the country, so that # could actually be higher.

So why do we use so much water.  Convenience, industry, we just plain take it for granted!  Not one is a good excuse.  Between 1972 and 1996 our water consumption jumped 90% from 25 million m3 to 45 million m3, but our population only grew by 33%.

So where does all this water get used.  According to Environment Canada we need 5 litres for survival, think that's a tad high since that would require us all to be 400lbs, but let's go with it.  For food prep, sanitation and bathing they say we need to average 60-80 litres.   That seems a tad high too.

So here are some more #'s...man there are alot of them in this blog, but it helps me put it into visual perspective.

Taking a bath uses 60 litres of water
Taking a shower uses 20 litres of water per minute.
Teeth brushing with water running 10 litres
Dishwasher 15-25 litres per load
Hand washing dishes 20 litres of water per minute tap runs
Laundry Front Load Washer- 56 litres Top Load Washer 152 litres

and the big one.....Flushing the Toilet can range anywhere from 0.9 litres to 30 litres depending on the age of your toilet.

No wonder we are way above the 60-80 litres "needed" to survive.

Sooooo how can we change this use age?  Let's go room by room.

Bathroom:

First area in our house that we have changed is the toilet flushing.  No one is allowed to flush if it's a yellow deposit.  As well knowing that we have older toilets I went on line and did some research on how to effect the amount of water used per flush.  It was actually pretty simple, it involved displacing some of the water in the toilet tank so that it doesn't fully empty/fill up each time.

Here's a great video to show you how

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgyinKf5SSM

Be sure to watch you toilet flush so that you 1) make sure it flushes hard enough to get rid of floating deposits and 2) the placement of the bottles doesn't effect any of the mechanisms.

We displaced 3 1/2 litres in total with the bottles/containers we placed in the tank.

Shower/Bath

Everyone has been given a 5 minute time limit in the shower.  So far they've done pretty good, I've threatened to put in a timer if I need to.  Mason is the biggest culprit in the shower as he seems to think standing there for 20 minutes is just a great way to wake up.....he's had a shorter shower every day to "ease" into it.  He has until Monday to get it down to 5 mins or I will be coming in to turn it off!  I've also asked them on the weekends when they aren't heading to school (and thus can be smelly lol) to not shower.  We'll see how that goes!

Kitchen:

This is where I think a significant portion of our water is going....and I am the problem....sigh!  I am the leave the water running kind of hand dish washing culprit.  Welllll that stopped as of the other day!  So what I did instead was this....The washing side only gets about an inch of water to start my washing going, as I rinse instead of letting that run down the drain I add it to the washing side.  This has worked out really well.  I start with the cleaner dishes and work up to the dirtier ones so that when I have the most water, it's all good.  So far I've used 3/4 of of water at the most (and that was a big dish washing moment).

This morning I also enacted another rule-had read it just last night.  Most of us insist on the dishes being rinsed off before we wash them.  Well that can use a significant amount of water.....so scrapping only has been enacted-Tristan doesn't wash the dishes very often-so he'll survive this change lol.

Laundry:

My kids are the worst....and I mean worst for wear a pair of pants/shirt once and they are completely contaminated and can't be worn again...Well the hammer came down on that one this week too.  If there's not a stain or smell...wear em again!  We'll see how that goes.

Also the girls especially are horrid at putting clean clothes away, so never fails I find clean clothes in the laundry to be washed.  To help eliminate this, on the weekend (shhh they don't know this yet) we are downsizing the clothing selection, as I know a few of the pieces aren't being worn because of sizing.

Hoping these changes will lessen the # of loads we do.


Sooooo have I been able to see these changes.  Yeppers I have indeed.  The City of Barrie has an application where you can see you daily water use age. It's about 2 days behind, but from when I got the bill on Wed, and got the toilet flushing changed and dish washing under control.....there has been a difference!  I can see Wed on the application and just that day alone we dropped 0.2 m3 compared to Tues.  Can't wait to be able to see Thurs and today.

So....what does your families water consumption look like??? How can you change it?

Here are some interesting water facts....enjoy

It takes _____ of water to......

2396 l to process a 1  hamburger
43 l to process 1 chicken
35 l to process a can of fruit
3780 l to make 3 1/2 l of milk
1,062,180 to process one tonne of cane sugar into white sugar
21 l to make one foot of lumber
91 l to make 1lb of plastic
7,833 l of water to make 4 new tires
147,760 l to make a new car

Water can dissolve more substances then any other liquid

Water is the only substance found on earth in all three forms (liquid, solid & gas)

A person can live 3-5 days without water depending on conditions

A birch tree gives off 265 l of water a day in evaporation.  An acre of corn gives off 151200 l

80% of the earth's surface is water, 97% of that is ocean or sea water, 2% of that is frozen

More then 25% of bottled water comes from city tap water

If all the water vapor in Earth's atmosphere fell at once, we could cover the entire earth in about 1 inch of water.

It would take our family 6 years and 4 months to use the amount of water it takes to fill an Olympic sized swimming pool.

It would take our family 7 years to use the amount of water that flows over Niagara Falls in one second.

The New York Water supply system leaks 136,080,000l of water a day!

At 1 drip per second a leaky faucet/toilet etc can use 11,340 l of water a year.



and in the TMI realm....being a cleanse day, I have now peed 5 times since waking up this am....haven't flushed once....so I've saved our house about 30 l of flushed down the toilet water.....just thought you'd like to know :o)

Hugs!


Sources of facts used.

http://ec.gc.ca/eau-water/default.asp?lang=En&n=F25C70EC-1
http://ec.gc.ca/eau-water/default.asp?lang=En&n=F25C70EC-1
http://www.janegoodall.ca/project-blue/WaterinCanada.html
http://water.epa.gov/learn/kids/drinkingwater/water_trivia_facts.cfm

Detoxing your house-Simple Starts

The first minute of this video says it all, take a look then come back and read on....

http://www.isagenix.com/ca/en/areyoutoxic.dhtml

It's 9:30 am.  Let's look at what has happened in my house so far today that could lead to toxicity:

Showering, washing dishes, using plastic containers to put food or drink in, sitting on the couch, sitting on stained hardwood chairs, walking across the floor in bare feet, drove Steph to work, drinking unfiltered tap water, sending prepackaged foods (granola bars and yogurt tubes) in kids lunches......wow I think I just scared myself to be honest!

How are these normal daily activities toxic.  Well the driving Steph to work one is easy, the emissions that are put into the air on a daily basis from the use of vehicles is enough to lead to toxicity, that makes sense to all of us.  What a huge part of our population doesn't realize those is that the products we buy and use on a daily basis for basic life are the leading causes of toxicity in our home.

Basically the rule of thumb needs to be....if you wouldn't eat it, don't put it on your skin.  By putting it on your skin I mean: directly via soaps, cosmetics, skin care products, hair care products, cleaning products etc.  Anything that touches our skin can and will be absorbed directly into our blood stream.  Our skin is a our largest organ.  Yes it's the first line of defense, but it is also the most highly abused organ.

Remember these stats from a previous blog....

*Women who use make-up on a daily basis absorb upwards of 5lbs of toxic chemicals a year 

*Men, women and children can absorb up to 3lbs of toxic chemicals a year from using commercial shampoos, bath soaps etc that they use in the shower every day.   

Think about when you're in the shower.  The hot water is opening your pores-which people say is great, helps clean them out.  Fantastic thought, until you coat them with liquid chemicals in the form of the soap you use.  Our skin is like a sponge, it sucks in everything that touches it.

 Hot shower=open pores+shampoo etc=maximum absorption of chemicals in products.

Let's break down the body wash, shampoo and conditioner that was used in my house this am.

**side note so you know how I know these things lol, if you go to the Environmental Working Groups website www.ewg.org they have a tonne of great information on pretty much every popular brand of soap, shampoo, conditioner, cleaning product etc that you can find on your grocery store, drug store shelf***

Brand of body wash:  Irish Spring.

here's the link to the product
http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/product/223531/Irish_Spring_Body_Wash%2C_Icy_Blast/

As you can see the words.....  persistence and bioaccumulation, neurotoxicity, organ system toxicity (non-reproductive) : enhanced skin absorption....those are alllll bad!

Brand of Shampoo and Conditioner (let's hope I fare better on this one cuz it's labelled "With 100% pure olive oil", I am not holding out much hope though after reading the ingredients....

Hmmm the brand isn't  listed in the database, so I'll break it down by ingredients:

Cetyl Alcohol:  scores a 1 out 10 (10 being the worst in their database), with organ system toxicity for enhanced skin absorption
Cetrimonium Chloride scores 3 out of 10 for allergies and immunotoxity effects
Olive Oil-no need that's the good part of the ingredients, sad it's so far down the list though.
Phenoxyethanol: 3-4 depending on frequency of usage for: skin, eye and lung irritation, workplace hazard (if you work with it directly they have it on the restricted to low doses only) ang organ system toxicity.
Isopropylparaben: 3/10 for allergies and immunotoxcity, and endocrine (hormone balance) disruption
Isobutylparaben:  3/10 for allergies and immunotoxcity, and endocrine (hormone balance) disruption
Butylparaben: 5/10 for developmental and reproductive toxicity, allergies and immunotoxicity, endocrine disruption, biochemical or cellular level changes (effects cells right from their growth up to their death)
D&C Red 33: no data
Green 5: 0/10
FD & C Yellow 6: 1-3 depending on usage for cancer causing, Use restrictions-not approved for products that can come into contact with the eye.
FD & C Yellow 5:  1/10 for organ toxicity


SIGH ......GUESS I AM GOING SHAMPOO AND BODY WASH SHOPPING TODAY, BECAUSE I JUST CHUCKED IT ALL!!!!!!

Next....lets look at my dish soap-ok this should fare better it's labelled organic (I say with pleading hope)

Hmmm no ingredients list....heading over the the manufacturer website...be back....

Hot damn IT'S ALL GOOOD NEWS!!!  It's all natural plant based, phosphate, chemical free!!!!
I'm not going to eat it simply because I would blow bubbles for the day, but I could!!!!!

So.....just for some fun let's take a look at a couple of the well marketed brands of dish soap and see what we come up with.

Dawn: water, sodium lauryl sulfate, sodium laureth sulfate, lauramine oxide, alcohol denat., sodium chloride, PPG-26, PEI-14 PEG-10/PPG-7 copolymer, phenoxyethanol, magnesium chloride, methylisothiazolinone, fragrance, blue1.


Palmolive: water, ammonium C12-15, pareth sulfate, magnesium isododecylhenzenesulfonate, lauramidopropylamine oxide, sd alcholho #-A, sodium xylenesulfonate, sodium chloride, fragrances, pentasodium pentetate, tricolsan.


So the average score on this ingredients was a 4/10.  Both soaps contain ingredients that are listed as carcinogenic, cause endocrine disruption, allergies, are classified as bio hazards on WHIMS, ......all of the things listed above in the shampoos!


Ok....next.....Laundry Soap.


We generally use whatever is on sale.  I don't have a "favorite" I won't use anything else kind of brand.  I have 7 peoples worth of laundry to wash on a daily basis....if it's on sale, I am buying it!


Currently we have Arm and Hammer and Gain in the laundry room.  Glad to say both are not falsely advertising when they say that they are biodegradable and free of chemicals.  Both do however have fragrance which can cause issues. 


However when I check out other popular brands that I have bought when on sale like: Cheer, Kirkland Signature (Costco Brand), Seventh Generation (supposedly a perfect clean product) and Sunlight.  A different tale is told.  All contain ingredients that range from 3-7/10 in the database.


Guess I have a new, don't care if it's on sale "favorite".


I no longer use bleach in my laundry.  About 3 years ago I discovered the amazing Green Bleach that Presidents Choice sells.  This stuff is AMAZING.  It's a high grade hydrogen peroxide that can literally be poured directly onto any fabric and it will removed the stain and leave the fabric colour just the way it was.  I use this all the time at home births when I need to remove blood and other stains from clients towels, sheets etc.  It has yet to fail me!






So next on the list.  Household cleaners.  SOOOOOO happy to say that this is the easy list in our house. Hot water, vinegar, the green bleach I talked about above and a steamer!!!! I long ago got rid of the Mr. Cleans, Pinesols etc because the fragrances used in them triggered my allergies, so it just wasn't worth it.  When I wash the floor, I will add my favorite essential oil at the time to put a good smell in the house, but that's it.


I am quite surprised to say that when looking up these cleaners that they have fairly low ratings in the data base-based on what the company says are the ingredients.  What scares me though, is that all of them come with strict hazard signs, poison control information and their hazardous material workplace sheets all say HAZARDOUS MATERIAL on them.....so I am sticking to my vinegar, green bleach and hot water!


Soooooooooo what does all this mean.


The easiest way to detoxify your home is to start from the cleaners on up.  If you won't eat it don't put it on your hands.  Apparently a rule I need to change myself when it comes to body wash and hair care products.  


So let's do it by room for easier explanation:


Bathrooms:


It never ceases to surprise me that the place you go to get clean....gets so unclean!  Now imagine if you will having 7-9 people a day using said cleaning room!!! Enough said!


Soap Scum is the enemy, as is lime/calcium scale especially in the city of Barrie.  (our water is so hard I am surprised it's not rocky coming out of the tap)  On a weekly basis I use my steamer and vinegar to help fight the build up that accumulates so quickly with so many showers.  About every 6 weeks or so I use a descaler that I found at Superior Cleaning Products (in the South end power centre off Bryne Dr)  It is a Green product, yes it's still a chemical, but by lowering the use of it to every 6 weeks or more I lower the effect on our house.  


On the toilet/sink/counter tops and the bathtub I use my steamer and vinegar.  The steamer claims to kill all germs because of the high temperature of the water, and given the clean shine left behind it also wipes out alot of dirt and grime too.


Having lived in older houses that were mould growers, if I see any suspect black spots they get hit with an essential oil mixture of tea tree oil, grapefruit seed oil and vinegar.  The tea tree oil is an anti fungal, as is the grapefruit oil.  I put about 10 drops of each into a spray bottle with about 1/2 cup of vinegar and spray away.  Repeat a couple times during the day to really effectively kill the fungus.


Kitchen:


I use the green brand of dish soaps, just like the laundry, no tried and true favorite, but I do really like the new Life Brand, Bio-Life, especially the price points.  Some green dish soaps I have bought have been really pricey and really crappy at cleaning dishes.  So finding one that is under $5 a bottle and actually does the job is fantastic.


Just like in the bathroom, I use vinegar and steam to clean the counters and sinks.  When I clean out the fridge...the green bleach works awesome.  It has NO smell to it, and if it comes into contact with food it's not harmful.


Floors:


Haven't bought a floor steamer yet.  I have used swiffer wet mops in the past and found that I was changing the pads every 10 seconds and I am afraid the steamer might be the same....so one day I will try it and see what happens.  


I use the vinegar and or green bleach here too.  Hot water, mop, vinegar and a couple splashes of my favorite smelling essential oil at the time and some elbow grease.  I honestly wash my floors 3-4 times a week....lots of foot traffic including two footed and four footed varieties leaves dirty floors.  I usually add cedar essential oil to the water at least once a month.  Cedar is a known flea deterrent and with the four footed creatures this is an essential tool to my cleaning.  


Walls:


I remember when I was about 16-17 I went to a friends house to pick her up.  She was mortified when I walked in to find her parents washing their walls.  Apparently this happened on a frequent basis in her house.  I can say I thought they were a tad loopy, never saw my mom wash walls...but after asking her apparently she did!  Guess what so do I!!!!  It drives me a tad crazy to see little marks all over my walls.  This house has flat paint....but not for long!!! In fact I am surprised it has lasted this long!!!


So...cleaning off finger prints.  Never use on of those Mr. Clean magic erasers.  Talk about a chemical cocktail of poison (formaldehyde, melamine, sodium bisulfite copolymer)  Those things are horrid, and leave a residue behind that if little hands touch then put hand to mouth...well ingestion of toxins 101.  


To get the best clean even on horrible flat paints that don't wash well at all, guess what...vinegar!  Yes I keep the vinegar companies in business.  I also use some dish soap to help cut the grease.  Spray bottle, 1/2 cup vinegar, 1/2 cup hot water, 2-3 drops of dish soap, and elbow grease!


Carpets/Upholstery.


I normally do not have carpet in my house.  This one came with brand new carpet on two levels, and it's almost time to get rid of it.  Spills of many varieties happen in my house, along with the joys of house training a grand-puppy, and potty training some toddlers can equal out the bye bye carpet-one can only steam clean so often before one goes a tad insane-as well every time I steam clean I am drawing the chemical used to make the carpet out into the open....so New Year's gift will be new flooring!


In the mean time to clean up spills of all kinds, the green bleach comes in very handy.  It "bleaches" out all kinds of biological stains while leaving the colour of the material being treated.  Amazing thing that!!!  


Laundry:


Like I talked about before I use products that are labelled free of phosphates etc, and now having gone through the list of the popular brands thanks to this post, I know which ones to avoid no matter the "sale".


What I didn't mention though is that we don't use dryer sheets or fabric softener.  Both of these products contain high levels of fragrance.  The dryer  sheets are a chemical soup of known carcinogens.  I attempt to buy the laundry soaps that are free of scents, but that can leave laundry not so "clean" smelling.   Again this is where the vinegar and essential oils come in handy.  A splash of vinegar in the wash makes things smell sweetish.  The essential oils add an even better scent.  DON"T pour the oil directly on anything though or you will leave a fantastic oil stain that may never come out.    I have a face cloth aka dryer sheet, that I reuse.  Just apply a couple drops of oil and the whole load is nicely scented. 




Soooooo that's the household main stuff.  It's about using products that if my or my family's skin is in contact with leaves as little damage behind.  No we don't all smell like pickles....oh that reminds me....


Deodorant:


We don't use deodorant or antiperspirants in our house anymore!!!!  No we don't smell (well I can only speak for myself lol).  We have these amazing mineral stone "deodorant" sticks.  They are fantastic.  Check the label of your favorite under arm gear.....then head on over to the Skin Deep database that I listed above.....you will change your mind too.  The worst offenders in the database have a  8/10 score.


The worst part of them is the fact that many contain aluminium.  Aluminium is a heavy metal that once it gets into your blood stream its very hard to get out.  Close to your armpits lay the heaviest density of lymph nodes...once the aluminium gets into these it can wreak havoc in your endocrine system.  It has been said that deodorant and antiperspirant usage is on the leading causes for breast cancer.  




Ok all done for now.  Take a look around you, what things are you putting on your body that you wouldn't put in your mouth.  If there are alot....change it-like we have and are doing!  Your health will thank you!

What do I believe in?

An old friend from high school facebooked me the other day with these questions...

What religion are you?
Did you let  your kids go out for Hallowe'en
What about 2012?
Do you believe there is actually a "hell", Satan?  Reincarnation?

It was a very interesting exercise to answer these questions.  Really got me to thinking about what I truly believe in in this life.  So here goes, would love to hear your answers.....broke it down into some categories, sometimes the lines are crossed between them, but makes it a bit easier...

Religion:

I believe in God
I believe the only way to get into Heaven is through an ongoing relationship with Jesus Christ
I believe that if we live a life guided by Christ-it's a better life-I have lived both ways with Christ is far far better trust me
I believe that yes our path has been laid out before we are born, but that there are forks in the road that we have to make choices about-God already knows which ones we'll chose
I believe that the bible is the most important book you can ever read
I believe that the bible can and does explain dinosaurs

I believe in Satan
I believe that yes there is a hell and it's not here on earth like other religions teach
I believe that each and every day we walk this earth there is a spiritual battle being fought to win our souls from the good side to the dark side-I am currently losing that battle
I believe in spiritual possession and have seen evidence that it exists
I believe in exorcism and have been present for one (scarier then an horror movie I have ever seen)

I did send my kids out on Halloween, because I believe that if they are taught to recognize it for it's meaning, they will understand it's totally just about the candy for them (and I get to share that candy :oD)

I celebrate Easter because I believe in it's truest roots, but am well aware that there are many pagan connections to it's timing

I celebrate Christmas knowing full well that it is NOT even close to the time that Christ was actually born-however, it is an amazing magical time in the lives of christians to be able to come together as a whole and celebrate the "birthday" of the most important man in history!

I did lie to my children about the Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy and Santa Clause-I have since apologized and talked to them about whether or not they should incorporate these "traditions" into their lives with their own children-it is their choice.

Not Really Religion-but I know many friends who put these things under this category...

We watch movies in our house that many other christians will not:  Harry Potter being on the top of that list.  I believe that if children are taught that fictional movies are FICTIONAL that they will not take them on as anything else but fiction.

I do however believe that the media industry has crossed ALOT of lines as far as what is allowed in movies in the PG rating system and that this has lead to a huge down fall in our world.

I believe that swearing is a sin.
I believe that people who swear make themselves look out to be lower class and dirty.  I have sworn in my life-"like a trucker" at times-and have felt that dirtiness and have vowed to not make it a part of my life. (stubbing my toe always makes that a challenge)

Health....lol here goes!

I believe that western doctors know NOTHING about what healthy really means-and I have met one that admits his years in medical school taught him how to prescribe medications NOT how to treat illness
I believe that the more medications you put into your body the higher the chance you will die earlier
I believe that natural alternatives like Oil of Oregano can and do cure diseases

I believe that childhood vaccines lead to life long health crises
I believe that the makers of vaccines are well aware of their dangers but are in love with the money
I believe that everyone should learn THE TRUTH about vaccines and no child should ever be given one EVER!

I believe that cancer is a man made disease
I believe that cancer can be cured without chemo or radiation!

I believe that chiropractors should be everyone's primary care physician
I believe that every newborn's first check up should include a chiropractic adjustment within minutes of their birth
I believe that a properly maintained spine (via regular on going chiropractic care) can and does cure illnesses, diseases etc.

I believe that the food we put into our mouths can and does poison us
I believe that soy products are the leading cause of many health issues such as breast cancer
I believe that asparatame and other artificial sweeteners are the biggest hoax in the world-they make you gain weight not lose it, and are a leading cause of diabetes

I believe that nothing in the world is truly organic, but we can at least try to make it as organic as possible by not adding things to it

Birth...

I believe that our health care system lies to new parents on a daily basis
I believe that every baby should be born without medical intervention unless life threatening
I believe that breech babies can and should be born vaginally
I believe that every child should be born with a midwife and a doula in the room
I believe that our local hospital has one of the worst labour and delivery units I have ever been in, because the majority of the nurses are more interested in giving you an epidural then helping you have a natural birth.
I believe our local midwives are amazing
I believe that Ontario should open birthing centres

.......that's just a start, wowsers what a way to really put it out there.....Jean send me more ?s :o)

What's this Isagenix Stuff I keep talking about.

I've heard a few times in the last month-"isa what-what is it and why do you love it so much".

Here's the story....in the spring of last year (2010) a doula client whom I had kept in contact with had been talking up these products that had helped her lose her post baby weight.  Tara chatted with me NUMEROUS times about them and I kept saying, yeah protein shakes been there done that.  THEN the sneaky little person to whom I had sent a wedding invitation to said 'Amy I have a wedding present for you, could you come and pick it up'....the present was a 9 Day cleanse.  Well not to waste a present or the effort/money that Tara put into giving it to me I started my 9 day cleanse and well on day 2 FELL IN LOVE with these products.

When I stepped on the scales last April 8, I weighed 291lbs, by May 16 I was down to 272.  These products are amazing.  (I am not going to go into why I haven't lost more in this blog-that's for another blog entry-but I have to say it's MY fault NOT the products fault just for clarity here)

So what is Isagenix and why am I so thrilled to be part of such an amazing group of people.

At it's simplest Isagenix is a cellular nutritional cleansing system that supplies ALL of the nutrients our body needs for healthy living.   Each and every day we ingest toxins galore just from the air we breath, but also from the products we put on our skin, the food we eat, everything we do on a daily basis loads our body full of toxic products.  These toxins are hopefully filtered out of our system by our filtering organs-the liver and kidneys are the top two.  However, depending on how many of these toxins we put in, and our bodies ability to filter them depends on how strongly our body reacts to these toxins.

So why use Isagenix....well let's talk Toxins and Nutrition and see where that gets us.....

In order to save ourselves from ourselves...our body builds fat cells, these cells envelope the toxins and hold them and protect our body from their harmful effects.  The more toxins in, the more fat cells created, the more overweight we become.  Now wait....that doesn't mean that "skinny" people aren't toxic, in fact if they aren't living healthy lifestyles they are more unhealthy then someone with love handles. But why don't they have the protective layer of fat cells-metabolism overdrive.  Their bodies eat through the fat cells faster, which unless they are cleansing the toxins out, actually results in a very unhealthy body.  A thin person who doesn't cleanse daily has toxic overload that can directly affect their internal organs.


This is a great article that lists some of the toxins we unknowingly ingest on a daily basis and what they do to our body;

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/02/11/earlyshow/health/main6197493.shtml


Every person needs to cleanse their bodies on a frequent basis. Here are some statistics that show how daily living results in toxic overload:

*Women who use make-up on a daily basis absorb upwards of 5lbs of toxic chemicals a year 

*Men, women and children can absorb up to 3lbs of toxic chemicals a year from using commercial shampoos, bathsoaps etc that they use in the shower every day.  Hot shower=open pores+shampoo etc=maximum absorption of chemicals in products. 

*Tests have shown that infants are born with over 287 chemicals and other toxins in their blood stream.  76 of these chemicals cause direct cell damage, 94 are toxic to the nervous system and brain and a startling 79 are directly toxic to the development of the fetus. 

*In the US 1.2 BILLION lbs of pesticides are used a year.  These pesticides are sprayed on the foods we eat, but also released into the air we breath. 

 *Eating non organic fruits and vegetables will result in ingesting 1 Gallon or 16 cups of pesticides a year.

*Today, the administration of drugs and medicines is often through transdermal skin patches.  This has been shown to be 95% more effective then oral administration. Cosmetic companies do not have to claim that their products are absorbed through the skin, if they did, their products would all be labelled as drugs. 

*In 1901 Cancer was considered a RARE disease touching only 1 in 8000 people.  Today in 2011, 1 in 3 people have cancer according to the American Cancer Society.  Smoking only accounts for about 25% of that increase.

Ok enough about toxic build up for now. Isagenix is also about full out nutrition.  The other part of Isagenix that I love is the fact that it is 100% nutritionally sound food.  Yep food, by putting Isagenix into my families bodies I am feeding them.  I've heard the "but if you eat all your fruits and veggies, and have a healthy source of protein you don't need to worry about putting extra nutrition in your body".  WRONG!!!!!

On a daily basis our bodies require us to ingest at least 59 nutrients, including 13 from vitamins and 22 from minerals.  Ok so again you say just eat your fruits and veggies.  But our fruits and veggies are being grown in nutritionally bankrupt soil.  When World War 2 ended, the farming culture changed drastically, but not for the better.  Fertilizer companies inherited the huge quantities of nitrates and phosphates left over from making munitions during the war.  Studies at that time showed that these chemical helped to ensure a lush crop growth, what they didn't show was that by adding too much of these chemicals actually ruined the soil.  Add in pesticides designed to kill weeds (and everything else in their paths) and our soil has gone from providing the minerals and nutrients to the foods we eat, to barely being able to sustain their growth.

In 1992 the Earth Summit research indicated that entire earths soil was becoming minerally bankrupt, with North American soil leading the way.



Spinach is a great example, in 1948 a cup of spinach contained 150mg of iron, in 2011 that same cup of spinach only contains 2mg of iron-so basically you would have to eat 75 cups of spinach to get the same amount of iron.

Here are a few more examples that have happened since as recently as 1975:

• Apples: Vitamin A is down 41%
• Sweet peppers: Vitamin C is down 31%
• Watercress: Iron is down 88%
• Broccoli: Calcium and vitamin A are down 50%
• Cauliflower: Vitamin C is down 45%; vitamin B1 is down 48%; and vitamin B2 is down 47%
• Collards greens: Magnesium is down 85%

So the ultimate question that everyone asks me is this...How does Isagenix help ensure that we are receiving the proper nutrition our body needs?

Let's start with fruits and veggies.  Health professionals have signified certain supergreens and superfruits that infuse the body with nutrients. Spirulina, chlorella and wheat grass, to name a few, are supergreens. Mangosteen, Star Fruit and Acai Berry are superfruits. These health professionals have indicated like above in order to ingest the proper nutrition we need to find ways of ingesting high quantities of super veggies and fruits, but how do we do that without ingesting 75lbs of spinach a day....the answer is easy when you use Isafruits and Isagreens products.

Take a look at them yourself:

http://www.amyeaustin.isagenix.com/ca/en/greens.dhtml
http://www.amyeaustin.isagenix.com/ca/en/isafruits.dhtml

Now.....what about protein.

Ready for some more scary statistics....

*80% of cattle raised for meat are injected with hormones, including HGH (human growth hormone) 

*In 1950 the average dairy cow produced 5300 lbs of milk a year, in 2010 with the injections of HGH the average dairy cow was able to produce 18,000 lbs.

 *In 2009-29 MILLION pounds of antibiotics were sold to farmers in the US, the majority of these antibiotics were not used to treat disesase, but the increase the growth of the animals injected.

All of these hormones and antibiotics find their way directly into the meat we eat daily.  The only way to avoid this is to purchase meat from grass fed, organic local farmers.

Isagenix uses only the higest quality whey protein on the planet.  They have chosen to go to a country that won't allow farmers to use the hormones and antibiotics that American farmers use, New Zealand.  To my knowledge they are the only company that has this "Happy Cow Certified Protein" in their protein based products.  You can actually taste the difference, and believe me I have tried many protein shakes over the years, I will never go back to those ones!


So....those are the beginning reasons why I chose to put Isagenix products into my body and into my families bodies on a daily basis.  I could literally go on about the WHY you need to use them for hours and hours and hours...but I have learned that if a person can't see it just with the few facts I have posted above, then they won't ever see it.

For those who believe, no proof is necessary. 

For those who don't believe, no proof is possible!

What do you believe today????





http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=newborn-babies-chemicals-exposure-bpa
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1555173/Body-absorbs-5lb-of-make-up-chemicals-a-year.html
http://www.healthy-communications.com/5cancercausingchemicals.html

Relationships.................

Thought I'd pull a Todd today and look at what the Greek word for relationship is

Koinonia is the anglicisation of a greek word that means communion by intimate participation....Koinonos in classical greek means a companion, a partner, or a joint-owner.  Therefore, koinionia can imply an association, common effort, or a partnership in common.

Yep that's what a relationship looks like alright.  What kids of relationships do we have, I know that I am or have been in a intimate participation as a: mother, wife, sister, daughter, aunt, niece within my family. Those are the first relationships you learn about as you are growing up.  Outside of family I have been a; friend, best friend, lover, employer, employee, doula, business partner, student, neighbour, pseudo mom, daughter, sister.....the list could go on for a while.

What have each of these relationships meant to me over the years (ok saying "over the years" officially makes me feel old).  Wow now that's the question.  I've been loved, cared for, hurt, stomped on, fired.  Hmmm alot of things positive and a lot of things negative.

Being in relationships can be amazing and it can SUCK!  So why on earth do we seek them out, because we get lonely, we need one another because that's how we were designed to be.  Right from the beginning we needed companionship to live.  The words "one another" are listed no less then 56 times in the bible depending on the version you are using.  Of those verses, 45 of them speak of how we should love one another in some way.  Other's speak of how we should NOT act towards each other.

So why do we get relationships so wrong some days.  Better yet why do I get relationships wrong so many days....Yep back to the patterns of day ones blog.  That's another pattern for me.  Looking at the relationships in my life, the longest one I've had (other then family-cuz they are always going to be family) would be Steph.  We've been together for 16 years and 2 months.  I can't say that I have been friends with anyone that long, oh I have high school "friends," and public school "friends" that I have known for quite a bit longer then that, but I don't have a real relationship with them.  We don't get together once a year to rehash old memories etc.  If it wasn't for face book I wouldn't know if some of them were even still alive let alone what has happened to them since we last met.

So why do relationships come to an end.  I don't remember the first time I saw this poem, but it makes so much sense.  I can pinpoint what "season" most of my past relationships were just by reading it's words and thinking of the time of life that person was there for.

Reason, Season, or LifetimePeople come into your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime.When you figure out which one it is,you will know what to do for each person.When someone is in your life for a REASON,
it is usually to meet a need you have expressed.
They have come to assist you through a difficulty;
to provide you with guidance and support;
to aid you physically, emotionally or spiritually.
They may seem like a godsend, and they are.
They are there for the reason you need them to be.
Then, without any wrongdoing on your part or at an inconvenient time,
this person will say or do something to bring the relationship to an end.
Sometimes they die. Sometimes they walk away.
Sometimes they act up and force you to take a stand.
What we must realize is that our need has been met, our desire fulfilled; their work is done.
The prayer you sent up has been answered and now it is time to move on.
Some people come into your life for a SEASON,
because your turn has come to share, grow or learn.
They bring you an experience of peace or make you laugh.
They may teach you something you have never done.
They usually give you an unbelievable amount of joy.
Believe it. It is real. But only for a season.
LIFETIME relationships teach you lifetime lessons;
things you must build upon in order to have a solid emotional foundation.
Your job is to accept the lesson, love the person,
and put what you have learned to use in all other relationships and areas of your life.
It is said that love is blind but friendship is clairvoyant.

It still hurts when those relationships come to an end.  In the last year, I've had quite a few of them, I have several reason and season friends, even at least one lifetime friend, but for some reason they've all gone away for one reason or the other.  Yet have they, in my past patterns I would have "un-friended" them, would have deleted their phone #s from the call list, memory list etc-but they're still there!  

I am grateful that I have semi broken that pattern, still some work to do on it, because trust me there are a few that the delete button is very tempting for.  Hmmmm maybe I'm growing up?  

Breaking the Patterns

Patterns....sat through a very emotional meeting with some very dear friends a few weeks ago.  It was about the fact I had hurt someone very dear to me, because I have a pattern....well one of many, but this one specifically involves, not wanting to say no in case you don't like me anymore.  That decision hurt alot of people and yep it all came directly back at me because it was my pattern that started it.

I've been thinking about that meeting ever since then, and the patterns of my life.  These patterns have set me up in some "comfort zones"-that aren't very comfortable to say the least. And then there is that fact that I can almost always pick someone to blame the pattern/comfort zone on...and alot of times I have used God as the blamee-welllll a certain Pastor whom I love dearly and listen to weekly stood up at the front of church this week and said

"I bear complete responsibity for my own actions and my own decisions. I must take responsibility for my own choices, no other person or circumstance can be blamed for where I am at today."

 

He then went on to talk about the fact that we understand the rules that are set out for us, and when we break them, it is premeditated.  We know the rules and yet we take that step off the sidewalk anyway, just to see what happens. Basically we are in wilfull rebellion to the things we know are right and chose to do the opposite just to see what will happen.
Well this was God's version of taking the wooden spoon and slamming me over the head with it and hoping that I get it this time around.

What actions have I blamed on others over the last few years....

1. My weight-My family genes.....This is the body God gave me
2. My finances-If I had more we'd be better off.....If God would give me more I could....If Steph would help out with the budget it would....I learned how to manage money from my parents and they sucked at money management.
3. My lack of faith/following God fully....friend who are hypocrites so how can I be any better.

The list could go on...but let's stick with these ones, cuz well they pretty much define everything else in life.

The patterns I have followed for these things in my life have been the same pattern for gosh, the last 20 years-actually more, but I can pinpoint the beginning of choices for both, starting at that time for sure. I have known REALLY known how to deal with each in those 20 years and I have willfully made decisions and choices that have left me stuck in the comfort zone of bad patterns for all 3, which have had domino effects on my entire life.

Today-I start to break those patterns....this blog will be about the struggles, choices, steps forward etc that I take to break them.  I hope that in that journey I don't offend anyone, I will not name names, but I may name circumstances that some may be able to say "hey I was part of that" and understand that that circumstance is part of the journey that  need to take.

Here goes........ 

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