Do you love shopping for antiques? Is your cupboard filled with thrift store trinkets? Do you serve food out of a pewter dish that was passed down from generation to generation? Did you ever think that it might contain lead? Read on…

Not long ago, it was reported that lead and cadmium were found in children’s drinking cups given out by a fast food restaurant. Even more recently, lead was found in reusable shopping bags. Now, another report has found that many items purchased from second-hand or antique shops contain dangerous amounts of lead.

Surface lead concentrations of more than 700 times the federal limit were found on items such as toys, home décor, kitchen utensils, and jewelry. Researchers purchased items from stores in Virginia, New York and Oregon, and were able to purchase an item that contained lead from every store they visited!

Nineteen out of 27 products exceeded the federal standard for lead, which is currently 600 parts per million. One salt shaker lid contained 714 times the federal limit! Regulation of the sale of second-hand and antique items would be both difficult and expensive, so a national public health education campaign will be launched to inform consumers of the dangers of these products.

Children are especially at risk for exposure to dangerous levels of lead and should not come into contact with antiques or use products that may contain lead. Used dishes and kitchen utensils, as well as construction debris and salvage items should be avoided until tested.

Avoiding all toxins is impossible, I know, but we can all take a few steps to lessen our toxic burden. Remember to support your body’s natural detoxification processes by eating a healthy diet high in fruits and vegetables, getting plenty of exercise, and cleansing regularly.

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I often blog about the widespread negative effects of chemicals and pesticides. We live in a toxic soup, and the more people realize that, the more likely they will be to make changes. Ultimately, the more natural products and services you buy, the more those products and businesses will appear until one day (in my perfect world) we will be able to live without all these toxins!

Take a couple of recent studies (out of many) on pesticide exposure—as it turns out, prenatal exposure to pesticides is linked to lower IQ in children at age 7. And people exposed to pesticides near the workplace are at increased risk for developing Parkinson’s disease. Everywhere I look is another study to add to the mounds of evidence that the toxins we are regularly exposed to in everyday life are destroying us. Literally.

In the prenatal pesticide exposure study published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, for every ten-fold increase in organophosphate pesticides detected during pregnancy, the child experienced a 5.5 point decrease in IQ score by age 7. The study found a correlation with prenatal exposure specifically, suggesting that there is a critical time period to which the baby in womb is susceptible.

In the Parkinson’s study, researchers found that exposure to the three commonly sprayed crop pesticides—ziram, maneb and paraquat—while at work was associated with a three-fold increase in risk of later developing Parksinson’s disease. Working near a field (not necessarily in direct contact with the pesticides, as they tend to drift up to several hundred meters from the fields) was enough to increase risk.

These are two small—yet significant—reasons to try to eat organic when possible, and to support your seven channels of elimination—colon, liver, lungs, lymph, kidneys, skin and blood—with regular cleansing and detoxification.

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“It is possible for a person to be too clean for their own good.” This is a recent quote from Allison Aiello, visiting associate professor of epidemiology at Harvard, who is studying the effect of frequent handwashing with antimicrobial soap containing triclosan, or 2,4,4’-trichloro-2’-hydroxydiphenyl ether. Her research has shown an increase in allergies and hay fever in children and teens with chronic use of soap products containing triclosan.

Handwashing with a powerful soap containing triclosan brings up two questions:

1. What is the effect of chronic removal of hand bacteria? We know where these hands go, especially in children (the mouth, for starters).

2. What could this chemical be doing to our body from a metabolic/hormonal perspective?

My input:
1. Science has now discovered that people normally have over a 1000 different species of bacteria not only in our intestinal tract, but also on our skin. This fact points out the normal symbiotic balance with microbes that we have evolved with for millions of years. The human/microbe symbiosis is especially important in childhood immune development. Research and clinical observations support the “Hygiene Theory,” which states that a lack of early childhood exposure to infectious and symbiotic microorganisms and parasites increases susceptibility to allergic diseases (like allergies, asthma, dermatitis, and autoimmune diabetes) by disrupting the natural development of the immune system. Children living in non-industrial countries and closer to nature generally don’t have these problems.

2. Triclosan is also used in toothbrushes, ice-making machines, and in pesticides! This type of exposure has led to research by concerned individuals who have now shown significant evidence that it is yet another toxin with hormone-disrupting qualities which could majorly affect immunity. Due to the increase in negative evidence, the FDA has decided to thoroughly investigate triclosan, but not until 2013—a decade earlier than previously planned!

So what are the solutions? First, take a high quality probiotic and also make your own cultured foods. We may soon find topical probiotics could be beneficial, as well. Second, find safe soaps and use them mostly after exposure to public places. Safe soaps (or hand sanitizers) can be found at www.ewg.org, under cleansing products – hand sanitizers. Third, get involved in social networking by joining “green”groups to help educate and promote the changes we desperately need.

http://www.epa.gov/oppsrrd1/REDs/factsheets/triclosan_fs.htm

Leonard Smith, M.D.Dr. Leonard Smith is a prominent Board-Certified, general, gastrointestinal and vascular surgeon who had a successful private practice for 25 years. In addition to his active surgery practice, he also incorporated lifestyle, diet, supplementation, exercise, detoxification, and stress management into many of the therapies he would prescribe. Many of his patients with cancer, cardiovascular disease, and other serious illnesses did so well under his treatment regimes that he began to devote most of his career to foundational health care and preventive medicine.

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You can say you’re the best all day long, but when Better Nutrition says it, then you know it’s true! I’m happy to say that the magazine’s elite panel recently awarded CleanseSMART™ and Ultimate Flora Critical Care 50 Billion™ Best of Supplements Awards based upon reader feedback and surveys from experts in the medical and nutritional supplements industries.

In the Cleansing and Detoxification Category, Renew Life’s CleanseSMART™ was recognized among the best, while Ultimate Flora Critical Care 50 Billion™ received a Best of Supplement Award in the Probiotics Category.

Here’s how they won them: Surveys were conducted that included questions about quality, ingredients, formulation, price points, customer satisfaction, popularity, and widespread availability. The results led to 76 winners in 31 categories that spanned everything from fish oils and antioxidants to multivitamins and herbs. In the Cleansing and Detox and Probiotics Categories, we are among the top three products in each category.

It’s not surprising to me since CleanseSMART advanced total body cleanse has also been voted the #1 Cleanse by health food retailers for the last 7 years. It’s combination of 23 natural ingredients help support the body’s natural detoxification processes. Like all Renew Life products, it doesn’t contain any added ingredients or fillers. Ultimate Flora Critical Care 50 Billion probiotic is also a huge favorite among customers, and is formulated specifically for people who are engaging in or have recently completed a course of antibiotics to help them re-establish a healthy balance of good bacteria in the digestive tract.

So thank you to everyone who chose CleanseSMART and Ultimate Flora Critical Care 50 Billion. Renew Life will take such high praises any time!

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‘Renew You’ Challenge – Ever just get weighed down by life and feel… well, stuck? Maybe you’re not feeling right physically, or maybe you’ve been out of sorts emotionally or spiritually, or you could just have an everyday case of brain fog. The truth is, there are a lot of ways to feel stuck, but one of the best ways to feel un-stuck is to get moving—your bowels, that is!

When you’re constipated, not only do your insides feel sluggish, but it can affect other aspects of your life too, like whether or not you have the energy to exercise or go to work, and it can even lead to emotional “blockages” in relationships. The bottom line is that constipation can lead to a vicious cycle of stuck-ness, which is why maintaining good bowel function is so important to your overall health. 

This week, if you’re not having at least one good bowel movement per day (and sorry for getting a bit graphic here, but that means about one foot long or more), then you need to get things moving—and cleansing is the answer!

A comprehensive total-body cleanse can get things moving by helping to support the body’s 7 channels of elimination—those are the liver, lungs, lymphatic system, kidneys, skin, blood, and of course, the bowel! Look for a 2-part formula with herbs like cape aloe, rhubarb root, and slippery elm in the evening colon cleanse component. These are gentle laxative herbs that help to jumpstart a sluggish colon, and they aren’t purgative like cascara sagrada and senna, which should both be avoided. 

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As of May 12th the first US state has banned the use of the chemical BPA in baby bottles. The state of Minnesota has ruled it illegal for manufacturers of baby bottles and sippy cups containing the toxic chemical BPA to sell them to retailers in the state. Similar bans are under consideration in California, New York and Connecticut. A nationwide ban has been proposed to Congress.

I think this is the first step to the realization of how toxic this chemical is to human health. Just like with DDT it unfortunetly takes us (meaning the US government) 40 to 50 years to acknowledge the harmful health effects of a chemical we (meaning the US government) put into commercial circulation.

BPA, which is Bisphenol A, has been used in commerce for more than 50 years, even though the first evidence of it being hazardous to human health was shown in the 1930s. It is one among many chemicals used that is an endocrine disruptor, meaning it can mimic the body’s own hormones but with terrible health consequences. It is especially harmful to babies in early development. The ban of use of BPA in baby bottles is only the first step to ridding the environment and the human body of this chemical. It is a key component in the production of almost everything made of clear, hard plastic, as well as used in medical and dental devices, dental fillings and sealants, household electronics and coatings on the inside of almost all food and beverage cans.

The best thing for babies and young children is to avoid using or buying products containing BPA, such as the baby bottles, sippy cups, teething rings, pacifiers, and toys. There are many companies now that are making such items as BPA free.

For those adults also concerned about the health effects of this chemical, as we all should be, in addition to trying to avoid use of products with the chemical, consider a round of detoxification programs. This would be programs including Renew Life’s CleanseSMART, Liver Detox, and Kidney Cleanse products. These products can help stimulate the natural elimination of chemicals such as BPA from your body.

In the meantime, avoid buying BPA containing products, and keep your fingers crossed all of the United States will join Minnesota’s lead.

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In this blog I discuss the new information being released about defective drywall coming from China and how this could impact your health. But, did you know that you are exposed to toxins everyday. What can you do to help you and your family in our modern toxic environment?

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During these tough economic times every penny counts. That is why I am doing a new series on “Staying Healthy in an Unhealthy Economy.” In part three I discuss some easy and inexpensive ways to lessen the toxic burden on your children.

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During these tough economic times every penny counts. That is why I am doing a new series on “Staying Healthy in an Unhealthy Economy.” In part two I discuss inexpensive and natural ways to clean up your home. This not only saves you money, but takes harmful toxins out of your environment.

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This morning, as I was watching the Today show, a segment came on about Detox Diets and whether they were good for you. The guest was Madelyn Fernstrom, the Today Show Diet and Nutrition Editor and frequent contributor to segments and iVillage content.

My first thought was “Oh no, they’re going to bash the concept of detox”. But I was pleasantly surprised. Overall, I felt the segment was very complementary and fair. Madelyn Fernstrom stated that a detox diet done right, such as getting away from processed foods, eating clean vegetables, drinking more water can be helpful support to your natural detoxification process. She also mentioned that on the other hand doing something to extreme, like not eating at all could be damaging to some people.

A question was posed by the host about juice fasting and Madelyn agreed, as I do as well, that doing a juice fast for 2 to 3 days, for a healthy person, should not be a problem and in fact could make them feel good. But again, to the extreme, and doing a fast when you are on medication, have major health issues or for long periods could be harmful.

The Master Cleanse, a 10 day fasting program of water, some lemon juice and maple syrup, was addressed. Again, I agree with Ms. Fernstrom on her comments that this type of fasting may give you some calories, but no nutrients. And to go without nutrients for 10 days could be harmful to many people. She also reminded us that most celebrities who tout these extreme cleanses are under the supervision of their physician when they do them.

In my book, The Detox Strategy, I explain about the different types of cleansing and detox programs available, when, why and how to do them correctly. The reason most people do a detox program is to help support the body’s organs that are responsible for this function. For example, the liver and the body’s largest detoxification organ, can become sluggish, which slows the body’s natural ability to detoxify. Herbs, like dandelion, artichoke and milk thistle can work to increase the bile flow from the liver, one of it’s means to rid the body of toxins. Herbs are important because they can help support all of the body’s 7 channels of elimination, including the lungs, kidneys, skin, lymph, blood, colon and liver. Fiber can also be an important part of a detoxification program, as it absorbs the toxins the body is trying to get rid of.

I also explain in my book that helping your body to detoxify is not only about diet, but about your daily environment, from your home to your office. I give suggestions about how to clean up your food, your water, your home, even the air you breathe. I explain how to nourish your body so that you support your body’s natural detoxification process, ongoing. In The Detox Strategy, I give you a full spectrum approach to cleansing and detoxifying your body.

Everyone deserves to feel as alive and energetic as possible, and The Detox Strategy can help you do just that.

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