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Everyone has to read Christopher Ketcham's article "Warning, Your Cell Phone May Be Hazardous to Your Health" published in GQ magazine!

This article, as scary as it may be, gave me chills of excitement as I read more and more of it.

Why? Because, a well-researched, comprehensive, educational article exposing the truth about cell phones (and WiFi) has made it's way into a major publication - not just one of my natural or alternative-medicine news sources that have been publishing information like this for years.

While I can't promise it will produce the same feeling of excitement (along with sadness, I must add) for you, it's worth reading no matter what you think or feel afterward.

I mean, if you're going to use this gadget every day and night, don't you think you should have an idea of how it works and exactly what you are holding to your head for extended periods of time?!

Allison and I actually went to a 5 day seminar on the health effects of electromagnetic radiation back in August, (yes, we did...and we loved it!) and learned all about the technology that makes cell phones work - information carrier waves, modulation, etc. Ketcham explains a little bit of that in the article...don't worry it's quick and easy to understand. So, it excites me that you have the opportunity to get a mini lesson on what we felt blessed to have learned at that seminar.

You may be shocked to read about the dark history that covers the cell phone industry and the attempts at keeping troubling discoveries from the public. But like Ketcham says, "If all this sounds like some abandoned X-Files script, consider the history of suppression of evidence in the major issues of consumer health over the past half century. Big Tobacco hid the dangers of smoking and the addictiveness of nicotine, supporting its position with countless deceptive studies. Asbestos manufacturers hid evidence that the mineral was dangerous even as tens of thousands of workers died from exposure; the makers of DDT and Agent Orange stood behind their products even as it became clear that the herbicides caused cancer. That the cell-phone industry, which last year posted revenues in the hundreds of billions of dollars, has an incentive to shut down research showing the dangers of cell-phone use is not a radical notion."

So, there you have it. PLEASE read the article for yourselves...The whole article!

Print it out and read it before you go to bed. Read bits and pieces at a time. Whatever you do, just don't miss the opportunity to educate yourself.

After all, Allan Frey, the neuroscientist that first discovered humans could hear electromagnetic radiation from radar in 1960, says today, "The public should know if they are taking a risk with cell phones. What we're doing is a grand world experiment without informed consent."

Note: Don't let this article scare you into never using a cell phone ever again. That'll last for maybe a week (or even a day) before you're back to just ignoring the science and using it for long conversations day and night. Try to use speaker phone as much as you can, turn your cell phones off at night, unplug your WiFi at night, and limit your usage.

Okay, now go read...

Our yummy, go-to dish when we’re craving something healthy, hearty, sweet and filling! This is a take off of Michio Kushi’s recipe in “The Macrobiotic Way”. You can choose different combinations of veggies. Our favorite is onion, winter squash and carrot but you could also add (or replace one of those) with daikon, cabbage, lotus root, rutabaga or parsnips. (But it is best not to cook carrot and daikon or carrot and turnip along together.) You can occasionally add greens towards the end of cooking too. This is a great dish to make, throw in the fridge and pick on for a few days.


Buy: (all organic, of course!)
1 kombu strip (comes dried, at Whole Foods and other health stores)
1 cup carrots, cut into chunks
1 large yellow/white onion, cut into chunks
1 cup winter squash (acorn, butternut, kombucha), cut into chunks
pinch of Pink Salt
purified water
wheat-free tamari (optional)

To Make:

1. Soak kombu for a few minutes, cut into 1-inch pieces and put in pot


2. Pile veggies in pot in this order: onions, squash, carrots


3. Add salt and about ½ inch of water

4. Cover pot and bring water to a boil, reduce flame to low and simmer until tender (20 - 30 minutes or longer)

5. Add tamari and continue to simmer until water is almost evaporated

6. Serve!

Really, this dish couldn’t be easier and honestly the exact amounts don’t make a big difference. Just buy some root veggies (and kombu!), cut them in chunks, slow cook ‘em and enjoy! You’ll be amazed at how sweet they taste when slow-cooked this way. We love to sprinkle ours with nutritional flakes and gomasio.

A few weeks ago Allison and I were in California and were told we had to make a stop by a health conscious bakery that prides itself on having tasty treats free of refined sugar, gluten, wheat, soy, casein, and eggs, so of course we had to check it out for ourselves! After we loaded up on cupcakes and cookies, the traffic we went through to get there didn't matter anymore....they tasted so delicious and came without the guilt and health effects of eating processed, fattening foods!

BabyCakes NYC is the the bakery and they have an amazing cookbook that I highly recommend for those of you who want to bake healthy desserts. They choose their sweeteners responsibly and use them sparingly. "White sugar will never be found in our bakery nor will we ever use toxic chemical sweeteners. Instead most products are sweetened with agave nectar."

You can purchase the cookbook through Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, Anthropologie, and Random House. I bought it but haven't had the chance to bake anything in it yet, so let me know if you give a recipe a try. And the next time you're in NYC or LA you have to stop by and delight in all the delicious delicacies for yourself....you won't regret it!

I've been anxious to write an article exposing the truth about the all-too-convenient device called the microwave, but found this article by Sheryl Walters from NaturalNews who put it very well...
But before you read on, we just want to say that, no, it's not easy giving up something that makes this busy life quicker and easier, but with just a little extra effort (ie, the stovetop or oven), you could be preventing future health problems. I haven't used one in over two years and while my oatmeal takes a little longer to make, I really don't miss it at all. I mean, why would we want to heat our food with the same waves that Russia used to bombard the US Embassy in Moscow during the cold war...and later banned because it resulted in cancer-related deaths?! (Sorry, had to...)

Take it away, Sheryl...

(NaturalNews) Microwaves are a feature in nearly every American home. Yet their dangers are well documented. You can do your own home experiment to understand the hazards of microwaving. Plant seeds in two pots. Water one pot with microwaved water and the other pot with regular tap water. The seeds that received microwaved water won't sprout. If microwaved water can stop plants from growing, then imagine what microwaved food is doing to your body.

A Swiss study led by biologist and food scientist Dr. Hans Hertel identified the effects of microwaved food. For eight weeks, eight people lived in a controlled environment and intermittently ate raw foods, conventionally cooked foods and microwaved foods. Blood samples were tested after each meal. The microwaved food caused significant changes in blood chemistry. Another study at Stanford University investigated the effects of microwaving breast milk. One of the head scientists said "Microwaving human milk, even at a low setting, can destroy some of its important disease-fighting capabilities." They claimed that besides heating, there were many other disturbing alterations in the milk.
 
In early 1991, a lawsuit was filed against an Oklahoma hospital after a patient died from receiving blood that was heated in a microwave oven. In Russia, microwave ovens were banned in 1976 because of their negative effect on health and wellbeing:

• Eating food processed from a microwave oven causes permanent brain damage by "shorting out" electrical impulses in the brain.
• Male and female hormone production is shut down and/or altered by continually eating microwaved foods.
• Minerals, vitamins, and nutrients of all microwaved food is reduced or altered so that the human body gets little or no benefit.
• The minerals in vegetables are altered into cancerous free-radicals when cooked in microwave ovens.
• Microwaved foods cause stomach and intestinal cancerous tumors.
• The prolonged eating of microwaved foods causes cancerous cells to increase in human blood.* Continual ingestion of microwaved food lowers the immune system.
• Eating microwaved food causes loss of memory, concentration, emotional instability, and a decrease of intelligence.
• Microwaving alters elemental food-substances, causing digestive disorders.
• Microwaved foods lose 60 to 90 percent of the vital-energy field and microwaving accelerates the structural disintegration of foods.
• Microwaved foods lower the body's ability to utilize B-complex vitamins, Vitamin C, Vitamin E, essential minerals and lipotropics.

The bottom line is that microwaves cause cancer and other diseases. They destroy the goodness in our food and weaken our bodies. Ultimately, we should all be thinking about permanently getting rid of them.

http://www.naturalnews.com/023103_microwave_food_foods.html

(long post but worth the time...)

“Studies show that women who work in the home have a 54% greater risk of getting cancer than those who work outside the home. The Cause: Toxic household chemicals! Since 1950, learning disabilitiesand hyper activity in children have increased 500%. Since brain functions are at least, in part, a neuro-chemical process, physiological problems can be a direct result of a chemical imbalance in the brain brought on by the constant exposure to toxins and poisons that are common in the home, school and work environments by the more than 70,000 chemicals in use. The answer is not Band-Aid drugs like Ritalin, but to prevent the cause at its source and remove the toxins wherever possible.”
- Dr. Steven Edelson, Atlanta Center for Environmental Medicine

According to the EPA, the indoor air is up to ten times more polluted than the outdoor air. Since WWII, our society has seen a deluge of new chemicals that are widely used on a daily basis, causing sickness, disease and worse. While their intentions are good (to clean), these products contain chemicals I challenge you to pronounce! Many of these qualify as Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC’s), gases that have vaporized from a solid or liquid and are easily inhaled. The government uses three divisions to protect the consumer from household chemical products: the FDA (food, drug, cosmetics, personal care products), the EPA (pesticides, disinfectants, bleach, mildew remover) and the CPSC (most cleaners, non-chlorine bleach, wood finishes). The EPA, for instance, uses three levels of notice – caution, warning, and danger – when classifying a product’s toxicity. But products with less than ten percent of a harmful chemical can legally evade warnings. Some of these (such as benzene) are known carcinogens.

Here’s a list of some common household cleaning products and their effects on your health:

Bleach: contains sodium hypochlorite which can burn or irritate eyes, skin and lungs
Disinfectants: often contain sodium hypochlorite, ammonia or phenols. Ammonia burns skin and irritates lungs; phenols are flammable and toxic to the respiratory and circulatory system (toxic chemicals cause injury or death upon ingestion, absorption or inhalation.)
Drain Cleaners: contain sodium or potassium hydroxide, also known as lye, which burns skin and eyes and may irritate lungs.
Oven Cleaners: contain sodium or potassium hydroxide.
Toilet Bowl Cleaners: may contain hydrochloric acid or oxalic acid which are corrosive and cause burns; may also contain toxic chlorinated phenols.
Window Cleaners: contain ammonia, diethylene glycol, which is a central nervous system depressant.
Carpet and upholstery shampoo: may contain perchlorethylene, a known carcinogen that can damage the liver, kidney and nervous system
And the list goes on, especially when we consider building products and finishes (paints, etc.)

We at Three Branches believe that household cleaning products is such an important issue that it’s the first thing we address when dealing with client’s health concerns. Everything from itchy eyes to a rare rash to cancer: we strongly believe that these products create a low-level chemical soup in our homes and offices where we continuously inhale – and if our detox organs aren’t working perfectly – store these harmful toxins which buildup, causing symptoms and diseases.

In fact, just last week we were asked our advice about a dear middle-aged woman who was recently diagnosed with Stage IV cancer. She has been given 6-8 months to live and doctors believe her condition is beyond the scope of conventional treatment. The first thing we advised was to immediately rid her environment of chemicals, which will allow her body to “let go” and focus on healing instead of constantly breaking down, detoxifying and ridding of the unnecessary toxins in her home. The next thing we addressed was cleaning the diet. We believe wholeheartedly that she will turn around and heal.

You’re probably thinking, c’mon, everybody uses Windex or Clorox or Bounty. Yes, and most everyone we know is on some type of antibiotic, allergy medication or daily over-the-counter drug. And cancer is rampant.

So what do we do? Switch to safer brands like Ecover or Seventh Generation. Our personal favorite is  Branch Basics. It’s a multi-use natural soup that cleans everything washable. It can dissolve hard engine grease and is safe enough to wash a baby. It can be used in virtually every cleaning situation imaginable. We use it for our countertops, dishes, laundry detergent and even to clean our vegetables. The testimonials are endless. It was made by a woman who struggled with chemical sensitivity but could never find a safe cleaning product that was effective enough. You can buy it by the gallon concentrate and dilute it with water or it also comes in ready-to-use bottles made for windows, cabinets, countertops, and even lice killer and hand sanitizer. Go to userguide for more information. Although our website is not up yet, we are already selling this product since we think it's so critical and we get so many requests. Email us at info@threebrancheshealth.com if you have questions or wish to purchase Branch Basics from us. (See last post for pictures and pricing.) You will not regret it!

The government is becoming more and more aware of these effects but why wait for them to regulate or outlaw certain chemicals before we take a stand for our health? We must prudently avoid all hazardous cleaning products before it’s too late.

...so give us Houstonians a few days to settle in! But we've already started working on tomorrow's post because, well, it's gonna be really great...arguably the most important and informative one yet! So stay tuned...

Oh, and if you live in Houston, give us a shout and we'll meet you at our favorite lunch spot, Field of Green's (they don't know grammar, but they know good food...)

1 Gallon Concentrate - makes 6-12 gallons of ready-to-use solution, less than 7 cents per ounce. So cheap! You simply dilute it with water and use it for everything. Go to userguide and hit
"search" to see the list of uses.
$78






32 oz. concentrate. Just smaller than the gallon.
$24










All-Purpose Cleaner. We use this alllll the time -- to clean our fruits and veggies, wash our dishes, remove red wine stains (really!), spray on bug bites, acne and cuts...the list goes on.
16 oz. $4
32 oz. $6.50








1 Gallon ready-to-use Laundry Soap. Not detergent (which connotes chemicals) but just as effective. So safe you can spray your veggies with it!
$20








16 oz. Bathroom Cleaner. This is one of the most toxic rooms in the house with respect to cleaning. For surface mildew, pre-spray, let it sit and then scrub. (Note: if the source is from behind the tile, you need to treat the problem!)
$4







2 oz. Hand Wash foamer. Great to keep in your purse or car to avoid toxic public restroom soaps. Replaces conventional hand sanitizers (no water necessary) that lower your resistance to bacteria. We love to use this after filling up our gas tanks because it breaks up any oil residue.
$4



Email info@threebrancheshealth.com to place an order. We will send you an invoice that you can pay by cash, check or PayPal.

There's an outside light that comes in through my window that the blinds don't completely shade. Most of the time I sleep with an eye-mask* to make it completely dark because I know that's needed for melatonin production, but I couldn't find it and just thought "oh well, not a big deal." Well, I have to say that for those three nights without it, I kept waking up in the middle of the night, which is super rare for me. I then decided to just make a temporary eye-mask out of a black tank top and a rubber band to see if it would help, and what do you know? It did!

Now there were probably other factors, like the fact that I had been flying and my schedule was a little off, but still total darkness is definitely necessary for better sleep. And good sleep is important for so many things. It helps regulate your metabolism, appetite, mood, etc. Watch this video of Dr. Mercola as he explains the importance of producing melatonin and how to achieve optimum production.

* I would recommend getting a cotton eye mask if you decide you just can't get your room dark enough. Natural fibers allow your skin to breath. Remember, at night is when your body detoxifies so you want to stay away from synthetic fabrics with chemicals.

Did you know cosmetic manufacturers are not required to disclose all the ingredients used in a product nor test them to make sure they are safe? Any raw material can be used as an ingredient without approval from the FDA.

Most consumers assume that skin and hair care products for sale are safe, but in reality most contain chemicals that are neurotoxic, carcinogenic, endocrine disruptors, plasticizers, reproductive toxins, and pesticides/fungicides/mildewicides.

For example, there are thousands of xenoestrogenic chemicals (estrogen disrupters) alone found in cosmetics and personal care products. These estrogen disrupters are carcinogenic and can severely damage and alter multiple functions of the body along with mimicing the fat-storing effects of the body's natural estrogen. Xenoestrogens trigger fat cells to generate non-stop inflammation and it is very difficult to lose weight unless you detoxify your body of xenoestrogens.

Skin Deep, a database from the Environmental Working Group, has a shopper's guide you can print out to help you when you're shopping. You can also type in the products you use and see if it's in the database. It will tell you what harmful ingredients are in the product. (It's kind of fun. I recommend it!)

You want to avoid common ingredients like sodium laurel or laureth sulfate, parabens, triclosan, methylchloroisothiazolinone, fragrance, and urea. Along with propylene glycol, which is very common in almost all skin care products in spite of the fact that the Material Safety Data Sheet warns users to avoid skin contact with it because it's a strong skin irritant that can cause liver abnormalities and kidney damage among other things.

I know it seems like you're just putting it on top of your body but but what you put on your body goes in your body. Your skin is your largest organ and all these awful chemicals are absorbed into your tissues and bloodstream when you apply them to your skin. And, you smell them all day long so you're inhaling the chemicals as well. Many people get headaches and allergies from smelling the fragrances in personal care products.

It's up to you to be a smart consumer and read the ingredient label on your skin care products. This includes your shampoo, conditioner, soap, deodorant, lotion/cream, face wash, shaving cream, toothpaste, etc. Don't just trust the marketing and think because it has a picture of a plant and says "All Natural" on it that there's not a list of chemicals that come before that bit of all natural plant oil. (The term "natural" is not regulated by the FDA so is used very loosely in labeling.)

If you can't pronounce it odds are it's a manufactured, synthetic chemical that doesn't belong in your body (or in your home either since the fragrance out-gasses through the container and pollute your indoor air...think of being at the grocery store and how you can smell all the shampoos and conditioners just walking down the aisle.)

There's lists all over the internet but nutritionalconcepts.com has an easy to read list where you can get an explanation of what each ingredient is and/or does.


So head to your local health food store and check out the personal care products. Aubrey Organics is a great line that is at most health stores. Typically you want as few ingredients as possible though and you can always use coconut oil, sesame oil, olive oil, etc. instead of lotion or cream. But do yourself a favor and become ingredient savvy....you may be a little shocked when you start reading everything that's in all these products!