A recent report has confirmed that two people in Louisiana have died of a rare brain infection caused by an amoeba found in tap water used in a neti pot. The amoeba, Naegleria fowleri, can be found in freshwater, including tap water. The amoeba infection is rare—only 32 infections were reported from 2001 to 2010, but it can be fatal.

The infection typically occurs when people go swimming or diving in lakes and rivers, but the infection can be acquired when contaminated water from other sources enters the nose, as when the head is submerged, or with the use of a neti pot.

Use of the neti pot can be a helpful practice for people experiencing allergies, a cold, or to help stave off sinus infections, but it is very important that filtered or distilled water is used—not tap water. Also, proper cleaning of the neti pot (they can be washed in the dishwasher), and complete drying between each use is crucial.

Not to be an alarmist, as these infections are rare, but I know a lot of people use neti pots, and for good reason, so I want to help spread the word. Be sure you are using them appropriately.

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In a recent study published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases, meat and poultry samples were tested for the presence of Staphylococcus aureus, a bacteria associated with a wide range of human diseases, including MRSA infection, the most dangerous drug-resistant Staph infection.

In the study, almost half the meat and poultry samples were found to be contaminated with S. aureus, and over half of those bacteria were resistant to at least three classes of antibiotics. Antibiotic-resistant bacteria pose a major health risk, as doctors are running out of antibiotics that will treat these infections. That these bacteria are found on over half the meat at the supermarket is a scary thought.

The bacteria probably come from the food animals themselves, according to the researchers, and proper cooking should kill the bacteria. But cross contamination can occur when preparing the meat, so care needs to be taken during food prep.

A major culprit in bacterial resistance is the overuse of antibiotics in food production. “The fact that drug-resistant S. aureus was so prevalent, and likely came from the food animals themselves, is troubling,” said Dr. Lance B. Price, lead researcher of the study. These animals are exposed to constant low doses of antibiotics, which can trigger the development of antibiotic-resistance in bacteria.

As a matter of fact, consumer groups have recently sued the FDA over the excessive amount of non-therapeutic antibiotics used in animal-food production. The FDA has produced draft guidelines for the phasing out of non-therapeutic antibiotics in food production, but the consumer groups want to put more pressure on the FDA to act with urgency.

In the meantime, I recommend avoiding meats raised with antibiotics. Look for antibiotic-free or organic meat. Those animals are not given antibiotics unnecessarily, and so don’t contribute to the antibiotic-resistant bacteria that are haunting our hospitals.

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My Weekly ‘Renew You’ Challenge

Disclaimer: If you’re a vegetarian, you might want to skip this post!

Okay, so we all know that red meat is not especially healthy for us. The saturated fat content alone is enough to clog our arteries, and experts having been telling us for a while now that a diet high in red meat is linked to a higher risk of developing colon cancer…not to mention that raising cattle is highly energy intensive.

Then again, I believe that if you deprive yourself of something that you absolutely love, it can have a tendency to backfire on you. So first, let me say that if you don’t eat red meat, good for you!

But, if you haven’t quite reached that point, don’t be so hard on yourself. From now on, just do your best to opt for organic, grass-fed beef, since it’s the safest, healthiest choice if you’re going to eat red meat. However, if you like to grill your steaks and burgers—as a lot of folks do—keep in mind that grilled meat is often contaminated with cancer-causing chemicals as the result of the high heat.

The good news? Looking through a natural health magazine the other day, I found the following two recommendations for reducing carcinogenic compounds in red meat and realized that both were pretty smart!

•  Marinate beef in red wine before grilling
• Rub fresh rosemary on the meat before grilling

Both red wine and rosemary are high in health-promoting antioxidants, which help prevent damage to healthy cells in the body. So with summer right around the corner, I wanted to pass on these helpful (and easy!) tips.

Happy grilling!

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Sure, those nifty plastic bottles are convenient, but when’s the last time you actually stopped to think about what’s in your bottled water? Not only is it usually as contaminated (or more) with harmful chemicals as tap water, and its damage to the environment is beyond repair, but now a recent study is giving us one more reason to avoid bottled water.

Researchers in Canada found that the bacteria levels in more than 70 percent of bottled water samples exceed the recommended safe levels for humans to drink, and in some samples they found over 100 times the recommended safe levels of bacteria…yikes!

Now, I know it’s impossible to remove 100% of the bacteria from water—it just can’t be done. Bacteria are everywhere, but at very low amounts they pose no threat to our health. It’s when the levels of bacteria are much higher that we need to worry, especially folks who are more vulnerable to bacterial infections, like infants, older adults, pregnant and nursing women, and people who are immunocompromised (that is, their immune systems are weakened because of illness or treatment). 

The general consensus is that a good home filtration system is best, and if you need water on the go, do yourself a favor and invest in a stainless steel or BPA- and phthalate-free water bottle that you can fill up at home and carry with you. Yes, convenience is usually a good thing, but I think I speak for the majority when I say that our health and the health of our environment are much more important.

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Disclaimer: If you’re a vegetarian, you might want to skip this post!

Okay, so we all know that red meat is not especially healthy for us. The saturated fat content alone is enough to clog our arteries, and experts having been telling us for a while now that a diet high in red meat is linked to a higher risk of developing colon cancer…not to mention that raising cattle is highly energy intensive.

Then again, I believe that if you deprive yourself of something that you absolutely love, it can have a tendency to backfire on you. So first, let me say that if you don’t eat red meat, good for you!

But, if you haven’t quite reached that point, don’t be so hard on yourself. From now on, just do your best to opt for organic, grass-fed beef, since it’s the safest, healthiest choice if you’re going to eat red meat. However, if you like to grill your steaks and burgers—as a lot of folks do—keep in mind that grilled meat is often contaminated with cancer-causing chemicals as the result of the high heat.

The good news? Looking through a natural health magazine the other day, I found the following two recommendations for reducing carcinogenic compounds in red meat and realized that both were pretty smart!

• Marinate beef in red wine before grilling
• Rub fresh rosemary on the meat before grilling

Both red wine and rosemary are high in health-promoting antioxidants, which help prevent damage to healthy cells in the body. So with summer right around the corner, I wanted to pass on these helpful (and easy!) tips.

Happy grilling!

Share this Post...

antioxidants, arteries, beef, cancer-causing, carcinogenic, cattle, cells, chemicals, colon cancer, compounds, contaminated, damage, diet, energy, fat, grass-fed, grill, Health, healthy, helpful, intensive, organic, red meat, red wine, risk, rosemary, saturated, tips

We’d all like to think we’re safe from harmful pesticides as long as we wash our fruits and veggies really well, but a recent study featured in the journal Pediatrics brings to light just how harmful pesticide exposure can be…especially for our kids.

Funded in part by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the study revealed that children exposed to organophosphate pesticides—the most commonly used pesticides in agriculture—are more likely to develop attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). More than 1,000 U.S. kids ages 8 to 15 were tested for levels of an organophosphate metabolite (breakdown product) in their urine, and results showed that those with higher concentrations were twice as likely to meet the diagnostic criteria for ADHD. 

Similarly, previous studies have found that children who were exposed to higher blood concentrations of organophosphates in the womb were more likely to have poor mental and motor development by ages two and three, and that postnatal exposure to organophosphates was associated with memory difficulties and problems with attention, motor tasks, behavior and reaction time. 

Because organophosphates are used on most conventionally grown fruits and vegetables, children especially are at risk due to their age, size and developing bodies, so taking steps to reduce their exposure is one of the most important things parents (including expectant moms) can do today to ensure the health of their little ones.

My advice? Opt for organic foods as often as possible, especially when it comes to the top 12 most contaminated foods, otherwise known as the “Dirty Dozen”. Regular total-body cleansing and specialized liver and kidney detox programs are also helpful for supporting the vital organs and organ systems that help eliminate harmful toxins from the body (also called the Seven Channels of Elimination): the liver, lungs, lymphatic system, kidneys, skin, blood and bowel, or colon.

Again, I’m glad to see this kind of information making into the hands of mainstream medicine. It means people are finally starting to open their eyes about the dangers of our highly toxic modern world, and it sure is a refreshing change!

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As if smoking isn’t bad enough for your health, researchers recently discovered that cigarettes are “widely contaminated” with hundreds of species of infectious bacteria… yuck! Not only that, but they think those bacteria are somehow able to survive the smoking process, which means it’s not just smokers who are affected, but people exposed to secondhand smoke may be at risk too.

Talk about an eye-opener! When I heard the story I can’t say I was shocked, but it was interesting to learn that even though scientists knew they were going to find bacteria in cigarettes, even they were surprised that most of those bacteria are infectious to humans—like clostridium, klebsiella, and pseudomonas aeruginosa, which can cause damage the lungs, urinary tract and kidneys… holy smokes!

More research is planned to find out just how these bacteria affect human health, so it will be interesting to see what they learn. And in the meantime, do you really need any more reason to quit smoking???

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