Plastic Grocery Bags

Are you still using the standard plastic grocery/shopping bags?
You may be wondering what this has to do with Living Healthy. I am a firm believer in thinking that if the environment is kept healthy, we will live a healthier life.
I just returned from an unscheduled grocery store trip and had to use the plastic shopping bags at the store. Normally, I have my own cloth bags with me. As I was loading my grocery purchases into my car, I realized just long ago it had been that I had to use the plastic bags. I was very surprised at how many bags a $65 grocery order could use. After I unloaded my bags and put the groceries away at home, I counted the number of bags it took. Ten Bags! for 21 items. This just seems like to much plastic for one household. I decided to do some research on plastic bags and found this great site for facts and ordering canvas bags. www.reusablebags.com/facts.php Take a moment and check it out. The fact page is a real eye opener.

Help save the environment: Use Canvas Bags

Is Your Home Healthy?

Take a moment to look around you home. Are there products in your home which could be causing you to become ill? Are you having more sinus infections than you use to? Do you or someone in your family suffer from asthma? This could be due to the cleaning products in your home. They could be making your home an unhealthy place to live.
Take the time to look at the ingredient list on products in your home. If the product ingredients list contains chlorine bleach, ammonia, formaldehyde, or fragrance, you should consider looking for other cleaning products. You have choices of what to use in order to make your home healthy. Consider making some of your basic products, shop at natural food stores, or shop through websites which specialize in natural products. Be sure to look at the product labels.

Caution : two tablespoons to a cup can be harmful or fatal

Warning : as little as a teaspoon can be fatal

Danger/Poison : only a few drops can be fatal

You should make sure to read all labels before purchasing and using any cleaning products. You never know what may be lurking in those bottles. Remember, even though the products are closed, toxic fumes can still escape into your home. As a society, we spend around 90% of our time indoors. According to the EPA, indoor air can be up to 5 times more polluted than outdoor. air. EPA has also found that the average American home contains more than 1,000 different chemicals.

Chlorine - there are over 15,000 products in commercial use which contain chlorine. These are used daily in bathroom and kitchen cleaning products, laundry products, bleaching of paper products, including tea bags and coffee filters. Avoid the term "chlor" in any product. It is corrosive, reactive, and toxic.

Ammonia - labeled as DANGER.

Phosphates - extremely bad for the environment

Fragrance - avoid products which contain high levels. These are expecially bad for anyone with allergies or respiratory problems.

Formaldehyde - used in personal care products as a preservative to increase shelf life. It can be listed as Quaternium 15, formalin, aldehyde, methaldehyde to list a few.

Hope this gets you started on reading those labels and becoming a healthier shopper.