Covenant Natural Health Care

Natural Bath Products: Why It's Important That You Use Them.

It's hard to imagine that bathing and showering can actually be harmful to your health, but it's very true. Skin is the largest organ and the way we treat it is just as important as what we consume. Too many bath products are full of chemicals and preservatives and every time we shower our skin absorbs them. Just as you choose healthy, organic foods, you should also choose healthy, chemical-free bath products, from the shampoo to the shaving cream. Watch this video, read the article that goes with it, and click here to read a blog post on natural beauty (and read this one, too) that I wrote several months ago on this topic.

 

The condition of your skin is a good indicator of what's going on inside your body. If you're having severe breakouts, dry skin, rosacea, etc, chances are good that something's not working properly on this inside. And, the truth is that you will continue to fight your skin until you get to the root of the problem—Nutrition Response Testing can do just that. Call us today to schedule an appointment.

The importance of drinking purified water

After changing the water filters in our home yesterday, I was quickly reminded how dirty and contaminated our water supply is. This photo, one clean filter (left) and the dirty one (right), says a lot about the quality of our water. I don't know about you, but I'd certainly rather invest in a good filter than be the water filter (which is what we are when we drink unfiltered tap water).

Clean water is crucial for detoxification, hydration, and to maintain good health. It also prevents fatigue and boosts energy. Water that's contaminated with pesticides, chemicals, and pharmaceuticals is not good for your health. Check out this video on the topic.

 

Other good articles on the importance of water filtration:
• Your Tap Water Is Legal But May Be Unhealthy
• To Have Access to Clean Water, Make Water Filters a Priority

Any filter is better than none, so if you don't currently have a filter on your drinking water, it's one of the best investments you can make for your health.

 

Health News Roundup

• Why Wisconsin's economic protests will only spread as health care costs bankrupt the states: what we're really seeing today with the union worker protests in Madison, Wisconsin is the collision of money desires with fiscal reality. Everywhere across the country, union workers want to take home more money. Across the board, from teachers and firemen to law enforcement officers and government office workers, everybody wants a bigger paycheck. But the states are going broke. And the economic realities we're now facing are making everybody nervous.

• With US running out of money, Obama turns on Big Pharma: During a time when nearly half of the U.S. states are going bankrupt, and the national debt nears $15 trillion, it only seems reasonable and appropriate to cut wasteful spending and reduce the size of government. And setting aside for a moment the fact that Obama's near-trillion-dollar health care scheme will significantly swell the U.S. budget far more than cutting a few drug industry deals will shrink it, proposals to curb Big Pharma's runaway monopoly on the health care industry are commendable.

• New USDA guidelines fail to capture the whole truth about proper nutrition: The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently released its updated Dietary Guidelines for Americans, a policy manual that includes dietary recommendations for helping people to better maintain proper weight and improve nutrient intake. Though more comprehensive than previous versions, the new manual still lacks some very important essentials that are necessary to attain true health.

• World Bank: Food prices at "dangerous levels": Global food prices have hit "dangerous levels" that could contribute to political instability, push millions of people into poverty and raise the cost of groceries, according to a new report from the World Bank.

•  If You're Tired, You are Probably Lacking This: Plain old tap water: It's easy. It's convenient and it comes right out of your kitchen faucet. However, as I'm sure you've heard, most tap water is contaminated with a host of pollutants that increase your risk of serious health problems. Let's take a look at some of these contaminants and how they can adversely affect your health and that of your family.

• How to achieve skin that glows - Natural beauty secrets for a Hollywood face: What are the secrets of a healthy skin? In this article you'll discover how to step up your skin care regimen to get a skin that glows

•  Raising Awareness about Electromagnetic Pollution: Electromagnetic pollution is a concern for everyone. Increasing news coverage, studies, and even new legislation are all helping educate the public on radiation risks.

• ALERT: Seizures Now Reported in Kids Receiving Flu Vaccine: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is looking into an uptick in young children having febrile seizures following a flu shot. There have now been 36 confirmed reports of such seizures during the current flu season.

• Former McDonald's Executives to Open a New Healthy-Food Chain: Fast food has become synonymous with fatty food, but Mike Roberts, a former president and chief operating officer of McDonald's, aims to redefine the concept. Teaming up with another McDonald's alumnus and an Oprah Winfrey celebrity chef, among others, Roberts is preparing to launch Lyfe Kitchen, a no-butter, no-high-fructose-corn-syrup and fried-food-free restaurant chain.

DIY lemon & rosemary bath salt

I found out, a couple of weeks ago, that I am sensitive to essential oils. Really? How could this be? They are natural, yes, but apparently some people, like me, just don't react well to essential oils. Needless to say, I was bummed. Quite a few of my favorite beauty products contain them. So, here I am, learning how to make more beauty products at home from whole ingredients and without essential oils.

Even if you aren't sensitive to essential oils, I think your skin and senses will love this combination of ingredients—most of which you probably have in your kitchen or bathroom cabinets. 

Shopping list:
• 2 Cups epsom salt
• 1 Cup course sea salt
• 1/2 Cup baking soda (aluminum free, if possible)
• 1 Fresh rosemary sprig, the leaves picked off and chopped into small pieces
• The rind of one lemon, grated

Directions: Combine the epsom salt, sea salt, and baking soda in a glass bowl. Mix well. Add in the chopped rosemary and grated lemon rind. Mix well. Store in glass jars until ready to use.

• Double or triple the batch, store in recycled, pretty glass jars and embellish with a pretty ribbon for a delightful Christmas gift (or other special occasion).

• Looking for other gift ideas? How about giving a bottle of homemade vanilla extract?

Health News Roundup

• Obama's health care scheme ruled unconstitutional: U.S. District Judge Henry Hudson dealt a severe blow to Obamacare today, ruling that the government's attempt to force citizens to buy health insurance violates the U.S. Constitution. This decision puts the enforceability of Obama's health care system in doubt.

Obama's health plan was designed around a "minimum essential coverage provision" that seeks to force every American to purchase health insurance beginning in 2014. This is essentially a Big Brother commerce requirement where the government dictates that private citizens must purchase a product or service even if they don't wish to. It also forces followers of natural medicine to buy into a system of drugs-and-surgery conventional medicine even if they have no intention of ever using it.

• US life expectancy continues to plummet, but not because of inadequate health care: A new report published in the journal Health Affairs says the U.S. has dropped to 49th place in overall life expectancy among the nations of the world. The report blames the nation's failing health care system and lack of universal health coverage as the culprit. But the true causes of America's poor health include things like its broken food system, overuse of chemical pesticides, and dependence on pharmaceutical drugs -- all of which are poisoning the population and the environment, and lowering lifespans.

• Energy Drink Ban Proposed for Teens on L.I.: Anyone 19 or younger would be banned from buying non-alcoholic energy drinks under a proposed law now before the Suffolk County Legislature.

• Hospitals to begin publicly reporting preventable infections, deaths they cause: Millions of preventable infections occur at U.S. hospitals every year, and hundreds of thousands of patients needlessly die or become severely diseased from them. And up until now, hospitals have not been required to disclose this information to the public. But a new government initiative that threatens to pull a portion of Medicare funding if hospitals fail to start reporting this crucial information will have most of them in compliance beginning January 1, 2011, according to a recent report.

Hospital-related infections are the sixth leading cause of death in the U.S., according to government figures. Many patients admitted to hospitals for routine surgeries or other procedures end up contracting infections from dirty equipment or from hospital staff that failed to maintain proper hygiene. Roughly 250,000 serious infections are caused by catheters every year, for instance, and 31,000 of those result in death.

• Norovirus cases soar as hospital outbreaks increase by 50 per cent in a month: Symptoms of norovirus include stomach cramps, projectile vomiting and diarrhoea. Sufferers are advised to stay at home and drink plenty of fluids

• 13 Million Packages of Rolaids Recalled
 


• General Mills cuts sugar content in children's cereals but still uses GMOs: Breakfast cereal giant General Mills recently announced plans to slightly cut the sugar content in its children's cereals in accordance with overall pressures on major food producers to fight childhood obesity and its related diseases by making healthier products. However the company continues to use genetically-modified (GM) ingredients in its cereal products, as well as corn syrup, artificial flavors, and artificial colorings -- all of which wreak havoc on health.

• Study: Soda Taxes May Not Be Enough to Curb Obesity: Money talks, but according to a new study analyzing the potential effect of a tax on soda, it might not speak loud enough to help people lose weight.

• 8 Skin Moisturizer Ingredients You'd Best Avoid: Even if you buy your lotion at a health food store, you may be putting something potentially toxic on your skin... Here's what you should really know about caring for your skin, your body's largest organ.