I will be the first to admit I am definitely not part of the "Lysol generation". I can't remember the last time (if ever...) that I bleached my children's toys. I may sweep my house but I don't mop the floors more than once every few weeks. And I have absolutely no problem with letting my boys play in the mud and the dirt outside.
Now, let me add the disclaimer that I am not nonchalant about health. I make sure that our family has regular doctor's visits, I make sure my children stay out of things like the compost heap, the toilet, and the trash. And everyone ALWAYS washes their hands after they go to the bathroom. I make sure that we are a sanitary family.
This culture's obsession to with being "overclean" has gone beyond impractical - it's become a health issue. Our overuse of antibacterial products has created "superbugs", germs with resistance to antibiotics. Diseases like tuberculosis, once controlled with antibiotics, are becoming deadly again. As one of my cousins, a forensic lab worker, pointed out, we use products which kill 99.99% of germs, but the .01% that survive breed.
One way to stop this alarming trend is cut back or cut out the use of antibacterial products. If you need to clean something like, say, a cutting board used for raw meat, use bleach diluted in water. If you use hand sanitizer (I use it for occasional roadside diaper changes), use it sparingly and wash your hands with soap at the next opportunity. Use regular soap, not antibacterial soap. And avoid the myriad of "anti-virus" products that have come about due to H1N1 (swine flu).
Another way to prevent the development of superbugs is to limit the use of antibiotics. Doctors are partially to blame for this, but so are paranoid patients who think every cough can be cured with antibiotics. Antibiotic use should
be limited to bacterial diseases that will become severe without treatment (strep, sinus infections).
The best defense against germs, then, is resistance. And the only way to build resistance is exposure. I let my six month old play on the (gasp!) unmopped floor. So long as there is nothing he can eat (wood chips) or anything that would make him sick (kitty litter) on it, I don't care. Are there germs? You bet! Am I going to bleach my floor because he might come into contact with them? No, in fact I hope he gets germs on him, so his body will stay healthy. When I had my first son, I was still in college. I attended a university with 30,000+ undergrads and regularly let my son crawl on the floor of the "mother's lounge" in the bathroom. My son never got sick while we were there. Save for the occasional cold, he hardly ever gets sick now. his immune system is hearty because of exposure.
Now here is the exception: of course, there are some children and adults who are immunocompromised in some way. These individuals need to be much more cautious in what they expose themselves to because of the risks to their health. So I say, for the sake of those who cannot expose themselves, all of us who are otherwise healthy, let's brave the occasional bout of flu or cold and stop creating superbugs which threaten all of us.
Tip of the day: A wonderful plant that is purported to help boost your immune system and can clear up colds faster is echinacea. It's a hardy flower that can be grown in a wide variety of climates and can be grown in a home garden for use as a tea (usually the roots and stem are used). Brew a tea of echinacea, peppermint and some honey to help your throat, sinuses and cough feel better.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Friday, March 5, 2010
The Raw Deal
Tomorrow is raw cat food day, meaning it's one of the two days a month we make raw cat food for our three cats.
Growing up, our cat ate the cheap dry cat food because that's what we could afford. He was an indoor/outdoor cat, and I was very sad when he passed away. At the time of his passing, my mother was making special food for him out of cooked eggs, ground cooked meat and ground eggshells because he suffered a severe UTI that almost killed him due to crystals formed by eating dry cat food.
When my husband and I made the decision to get cats, I assumed we would be going the same route of feeding our cats whatever was cheap. In my line of thinking, a cat was "just a cat", not akin to a human being and certainly not high on the list of things to care about. It was a pet to provide companionship and it was there to serve me, not the other way around.
Then I began reading about the concept of a raw diet for cats. At the time (2006), the idea of a raw diet was still relatively new. It was just beginning to gain popularity and was mostly still confined to the fringes, the "crazy cat ladies" of the world. But it interested me. I began to learn more about how a cat's digestive system worked, and I began to wonder why I had never thought it odd that the number one ingredient in cheap pet foods is corn, yet all wild and feral cats eat nothing but meat.
After thinking about it for some time, I came to the conclusion that if we were going to get cats, we were going to feed them right. But the time commitment of raw food, not to mention the mess, was too much for me. I opted instead to get grain-free dry food and see how that worked.
We adopted two rambunctious kittens, Sam and Io, in the summer of 2006, and began feeding them a grainless dry food. After about a month they developed issues with diarrhea. Our vet advised a "holistic" pet food that included grains, vegetables and meat, but was still a dry food. Instead, we decided to give raw food a wholehearted try. Almost immediately, their diarrhea stopped and they were happy and healthy little kittens again. Not long after that, we were adopted by a pregnant mother cat who we named Hope. We have never gone back to dry food since.
Today, we feed our cats the same raw diet they have eaten for almost four years, one developed by veterinarian Lisa Pierson, found on her website catinfo.org. The recipe is made using only human grade ingredients, something many pet foods lack, and is completely devoid of ash fillers, grains, or difficult to digest vegetables. We use a Tasin meat grinder that we have used since we started without any issues, and buy our supplements at iherb.com.
Since we started this raw diet, our cats have had absolutely no health problems. They are full of energy with soft, healthy coats. Some of the benefits for us, beyond low vet bills, are the advantages of very little waste, and very low smell from the waste they produce. If we didn't clean them, we'd forget their litter boxes were there.
Since we started feeding our cats an all-raw diet, the popularity of raw diets has skyrocketed. You can buy premade raw food from any number of companies, and many pet food stores are beginning to carry raw food as well. Price wise, making your own is infinitely cheaper. Chicken thighs, our meat of choice, are very cheap, especially since you buy thighs with the skin and bones still on them. In terms of a time commitment, set up, grinding and clean up take a grand total of 3 hours with one person doing them all, 2 hours or less with two people, and we make enough cat food to freeze and last for 2 weeks or more.
I cannot say enough about the benefits of raw food. I am so happy that we made the decision, together, to commit to making this food for our cats. Cats are carnivores. Have you ever seen a lion mowing grass like a cow? Do feral cats hunt down carrots? Cats were meant to eat meat. One of the biggest problems we see in cats in obesity. One of the biggest causes of obesity is feeding cats food that is full of fillers and low in nutrients. Think of it this way: you might be able to survive on a diet of nothing but McDonald's fries and burgers, but you would gain a lot of weight eating enough to get the nutrients you need. The solution to an obese cat isn't to feed it less food and therefore even fewer nutrients, it's to feed it a different kind of food that's higher in nutrient content.
If you aren't able or willing to make the time commitment to making raw food (it isn't for everyone, I know), consider buying premade raw food. If that isn't an option, as it can get expensive, then feed your cat a good canned food like Wellness. Dry food is not a good choice for a cat. A cat's teeth are not meant to crunch dry kibble and dry food has a different nutrient profile because of the necessity of a lower protein content to make it into kibble in the first place.
If we all strive to feed our pets the best, the closest to what they would eat in nature, we will see lower vet bills and healthier, happier pets.
Tip of the day: If you make your own raw food, a five gallon bucket is a great way to mix it. You can pick one up from any hardware store, and it allows you to mix the liver, meat and bone and supplements with the water without sloshing anything on yourself or your floor. From there you simply scoop it into whatever you want to put it in, freeze it and you're set to go!
Growing up, our cat ate the cheap dry cat food because that's what we could afford. He was an indoor/outdoor cat, and I was very sad when he passed away. At the time of his passing, my mother was making special food for him out of cooked eggs, ground cooked meat and ground eggshells because he suffered a severe UTI that almost killed him due to crystals formed by eating dry cat food.
When my husband and I made the decision to get cats, I assumed we would be going the same route of feeding our cats whatever was cheap. In my line of thinking, a cat was "just a cat", not akin to a human being and certainly not high on the list of things to care about. It was a pet to provide companionship and it was there to serve me, not the other way around.
Then I began reading about the concept of a raw diet for cats. At the time (2006), the idea of a raw diet was still relatively new. It was just beginning to gain popularity and was mostly still confined to the fringes, the "crazy cat ladies" of the world. But it interested me. I began to learn more about how a cat's digestive system worked, and I began to wonder why I had never thought it odd that the number one ingredient in cheap pet foods is corn, yet all wild and feral cats eat nothing but meat.
After thinking about it for some time, I came to the conclusion that if we were going to get cats, we were going to feed them right. But the time commitment of raw food, not to mention the mess, was too much for me. I opted instead to get grain-free dry food and see how that worked.
We adopted two rambunctious kittens, Sam and Io, in the summer of 2006, and began feeding them a grainless dry food. After about a month they developed issues with diarrhea. Our vet advised a "holistic" pet food that included grains, vegetables and meat, but was still a dry food. Instead, we decided to give raw food a wholehearted try. Almost immediately, their diarrhea stopped and they were happy and healthy little kittens again. Not long after that, we were adopted by a pregnant mother cat who we named Hope. We have never gone back to dry food since.
Today, we feed our cats the same raw diet they have eaten for almost four years, one developed by veterinarian Lisa Pierson, found on her website catinfo.org. The recipe is made using only human grade ingredients, something many pet foods lack, and is completely devoid of ash fillers, grains, or difficult to digest vegetables. We use a Tasin meat grinder that we have used since we started without any issues, and buy our supplements at iherb.com.
Since we started this raw diet, our cats have had absolutely no health problems. They are full of energy with soft, healthy coats. Some of the benefits for us, beyond low vet bills, are the advantages of very little waste, and very low smell from the waste they produce. If we didn't clean them, we'd forget their litter boxes were there.
Since we started feeding our cats an all-raw diet, the popularity of raw diets has skyrocketed. You can buy premade raw food from any number of companies, and many pet food stores are beginning to carry raw food as well. Price wise, making your own is infinitely cheaper. Chicken thighs, our meat of choice, are very cheap, especially since you buy thighs with the skin and bones still on them. In terms of a time commitment, set up, grinding and clean up take a grand total of 3 hours with one person doing them all, 2 hours or less with two people, and we make enough cat food to freeze and last for 2 weeks or more.
I cannot say enough about the benefits of raw food. I am so happy that we made the decision, together, to commit to making this food for our cats. Cats are carnivores. Have you ever seen a lion mowing grass like a cow? Do feral cats hunt down carrots? Cats were meant to eat meat. One of the biggest problems we see in cats in obesity. One of the biggest causes of obesity is feeding cats food that is full of fillers and low in nutrients. Think of it this way: you might be able to survive on a diet of nothing but McDonald's fries and burgers, but you would gain a lot of weight eating enough to get the nutrients you need. The solution to an obese cat isn't to feed it less food and therefore even fewer nutrients, it's to feed it a different kind of food that's higher in nutrient content.
If you aren't able or willing to make the time commitment to making raw food (it isn't for everyone, I know), consider buying premade raw food. If that isn't an option, as it can get expensive, then feed your cat a good canned food like Wellness. Dry food is not a good choice for a cat. A cat's teeth are not meant to crunch dry kibble and dry food has a different nutrient profile because of the necessity of a lower protein content to make it into kibble in the first place.
If we all strive to feed our pets the best, the closest to what they would eat in nature, we will see lower vet bills and healthier, happier pets.
Tip of the day: If you make your own raw food, a five gallon bucket is a great way to mix it. You can pick one up from any hardware store, and it allows you to mix the liver, meat and bone and supplements with the water without sloshing anything on yourself or your floor. From there you simply scoop it into whatever you want to put it in, freeze it and you're set to go!
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Product Review: Moisturizer
Let me start off by saying I am not being endorsed by any company to advertise their products. Maybe I should be, then I could make some money doing this! No, this is free advertising for products I've found that work especially well and that I would like you to know about.
I have a perpetual problem with dry hands. I always have, since I was a child. I grew up using Johnson and Johnson Baby Lotion but in recent years I've tried to go more organic and natural. One problem I always had with Johnson and Johnson was that when I used it on my chapped knees, they would sting horribly for a while afterwards because of the chemicals in the lotion. But finally, I have found a lotion that not only doesn't make my hands sting if they're chapped, but it works wonderfully in all the ways that make a lotion great.
I use the Aubrey Organics unscented moisturizing lotion to keep my hands from getting chapped and dry, and most importantly, to prevent my most recent problem, onycholysis (the spontaneous detachment of the nail from the nail bed, usually caused by stress to the nail but in my case caused by constant hand washing from having a toddler and a baby with reflux). We originally bought the lotion for my husband as it was unscented and doesn't leave that excessively greasy feeling you get with so many other lotions. But when my fingertips started to split because of the dry winter air and washing my hands all the time, I started using it because it was the only lotion in the house that didn't make my fingertips sting. Since then I've grown to love how soft it leaves my hands without leaving them greasy and unusable. It leaves behind a silky feeling and no scent, so it won't become overwhelming if you use it regularly.
If you're interested in checking out the unique ingredients that Aubrey Organics using you can find them here in the product description. I buy my lotion at our local natural goods store, but you can buy Aubrey Organics at most stores that carry natural healthy products or online at sites like Amazon.
Tip of the day: If you suffer from dry hands like I do, one trick that works well is to cover your hands in almond or apricot oil before bed. Then put on light cotton gloves to keep the oil from getting on your sheets and to help hold in the moisture. In the morning your hands should be in much better shape!
I have a perpetual problem with dry hands. I always have, since I was a child. I grew up using Johnson and Johnson Baby Lotion but in recent years I've tried to go more organic and natural. One problem I always had with Johnson and Johnson was that when I used it on my chapped knees, they would sting horribly for a while afterwards because of the chemicals in the lotion. But finally, I have found a lotion that not only doesn't make my hands sting if they're chapped, but it works wonderfully in all the ways that make a lotion great.
I use the Aubrey Organics unscented moisturizing lotion to keep my hands from getting chapped and dry, and most importantly, to prevent my most recent problem, onycholysis (the spontaneous detachment of the nail from the nail bed, usually caused by stress to the nail but in my case caused by constant hand washing from having a toddler and a baby with reflux). We originally bought the lotion for my husband as it was unscented and doesn't leave that excessively greasy feeling you get with so many other lotions. But when my fingertips started to split because of the dry winter air and washing my hands all the time, I started using it because it was the only lotion in the house that didn't make my fingertips sting. Since then I've grown to love how soft it leaves my hands without leaving them greasy and unusable. It leaves behind a silky feeling and no scent, so it won't become overwhelming if you use it regularly.
If you're interested in checking out the unique ingredients that Aubrey Organics using you can find them here in the product description. I buy my lotion at our local natural goods store, but you can buy Aubrey Organics at most stores that carry natural healthy products or online at sites like Amazon.
Tip of the day: If you suffer from dry hands like I do, one trick that works well is to cover your hands in almond or apricot oil before bed. Then put on light cotton gloves to keep the oil from getting on your sheets and to help hold in the moisture. In the morning your hands should be in much better shape!
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