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Search All Of My Articles By Topic With Quick and Easy Links Green Living Now News, Edition Eight 1. Ten Minutes To Happiness...
No, it's not what you're thinking. I'm talking about meditating. Have you ever tried it? I love the idea of meditating regularly, it's just the making myself do it daily, or weekly, part that I struggle with. Somehow I can find the time to do 100+ situps (I want my teenage gymnast stomach back) every other day, or read a book (or two or three), or take a walk, ski, knit, almost anything else. So, why can't I meditate? I really like the way it makes me feel. Well, guess what? I found the coolest and most unlikely tool to help me meditate. Maybe it'll help you too. Believe it or not, it's an interactive video game called, The Wild Divine. And, it's fun!! Before I give you more details on the game, let me plug the benefits of meditating a little first. Research shows that even 10 minutes a day can create dramatic results-less anxiety and depression, and more relaxed (alpha) brain waves. That sounds good, eh? Well, Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D., of U. Mass Medical
School, did a study on stressed out high tech folks. 41 employees
of a Madison , WI high tech firm were split randomly into two groups.
25 people were asked to learn meditation over 8 weeks, and the remaining
16 were left to their own devices. All of the participants had their
brain waves scanned 3 times during the study. Once at the beginning
of the study, then after 8 weeks of meditation lessons, and finally
four months after that. The results? The meditators had a "pronounced
shift in activity to the left frontal lobe". In layman's terms,
that means they were calmer and happier So, what is meditation? A tool to quiet the mind, relax the body, and refresh the spirit. Back to the Wild Divine game. It was
created with help from renowned Picture yourself sitting comfortably at your
computer screen, wearing three biofeedback finger sensors (included
in the game kit). The relaxing music begins, and your eyes are treated
to a visual feast. You'll see lush landscapes, dotted with exotic
flowers, majestic mountains, and lifelike Llamas. You'll meet some
spiritual teachers with soothing voices along the way that help
you complete the tasks. You will juggle colored balls of light,
shoot an arrow into a target, balance rocks on top of each other,
and much more. Each task completed moves you forward to the next
level of your spiritual quest. By changing your breathing and heart
rate (using the biofeedback sensors) you actually control events
in the game, and put Try the demo
on my site, using either Real Player or Quick Time. Scroll down
and look to the left, below the image of the woman on her computer.
(You don't need the biofeedback sensors for the demo).
Do you eat Genetically Modified foods? Unless you eat 100% certified organic foods and beverages, you do. Every day. Even I have eaten them, out at a restaurant, or a friend's house, or because I had a craving for something unhealthy like a ring ding (yes, even Organic Amy eats an occasional junk food from time to time. No fast foods, but I do have a sweet tooth or two). Believe it or not, 75% of US processed foods contain genetically modified (GM) ingredients. But we don't know it because GM ingredients are not listed on the label. According to the Grocery Manufacturers of America, nearly every product with a corn or soy ingredient, as well as some containing canola or cottonseed oil, has a GM ingredient. What is a Genetically Engineered Organism? Genetic engineering is the process of combining genes from one species with genes from another species. For example, splicing a fish gene with a tomato gene. In the October 25, 1998 New York Times Magazine article, "Playing God in the Garden" by Michael Pollen, he mentions a German genetics experiment that went awry. Scientists spliced the genes for redness into the petunia. Everything seemed to be going well in the field of red petunias until a hot spell struck and all the pigment in the petunia petals mysteriously disappeared. Scientists believe that bioengineered food can feed the world with increased yields, reduce the use of toxic pesticides, and improve health and nutrition by selecting out certain desirable traits from one organism and injecting those genes into another organism. Bah, humbug. Here's some of what's wrong with GM crops: GM Crops Are Not Safe GM crops have not been proven safe. The initial studies were flawed and designed to push through the technology without considering safety. In rat studies, researchers found, "growth-factor-
like" effects in the rat's GM Pollen is spreading to wild plants, and organic non-GMO plants GM pollen can't be contained or recalled now that it's been released. "The FDA has knowingly endangered public health in order to promote the financial interests of giant corporations. In doing so, it has systematically lied and has flagrantly violated federal law", according to Steven M. Druker, J.D., Executive Director, Alliance for Bio-Integrity. This means that certified organic crops can
be contaminated too, threatening High levels of contamination have been found
in Mexico and Canada. For example, in Canada 33 certified seed stocks
were tested, 32 were found to GM Crops Failed To Deliver Promised Benefits - No Increase in yields, or significant reduction
in pesticide use. BT resistant crops are harmful to many non-target
insects, such as monarch These are just some of the problems with GM
plants. To read more, go to: And an article
on GMO foods that I wrote a number of years ago, goes into What to do? Buy certified organic food, and avoid processed foods (which really aren't good for you anyway.) I have some organic food on my site, take a peek. Check the PLU code #'s on your produce. Those are those annoying little stickers on the produce. For conventional produce, it's a four digit number. For certified organic, it's a five digit number starting with number 9. GM fruit has five numbers, starting with the number 8. AVOID the 8's. If you buy conventional food, look at the product
labels. If it lists ingredients, such as: corn flour and meal, dextrin,
starch, soy sauce, margarine, and tofu, it most likely contains
GM ingredients. Since 75% of processed foods contain GM ingredients,
the products in your kitchen probably do too. It's better to avoid
processed foods anyway. They have little nutrition, often contain
transfat, as well as artificial preservatives, flavors, colors,
and more. 3. Chlorinated Water + Antibacterial Dish Detergent= Poison
Thought washing dishes was a fairly benign activity?
Apparently not. Research What's going on? When the Triclosan in antibacterial dish soap
is mixed with chlorinated water, A follow up study was conducted to determine
how much chloroform was created in normal dishwashing conditions.
They used the Soap and Detergent Manufacturer's recommendations
for water temperature. Given that chloroform, What's so bad about chloroform? The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry says, "Exposure to chloroform can occur when breathing contaminated air or when drinking or touching the substance containing it. Breathing chloroform can cause dizziness, fatigue, and headaches. Breathing chloroform or ingesting chloroform over long periods of time may damage your liver and kidneys. It can cause sores if large amounts touch your skin." Have you experienced any of these symptoms while doing dishes? Why is this such big news? Apparently the reaction of Triclosan with free chlorine is well known (you've heard the warnings about not mixing bleach with any other cleaning products, no doubt). Researcher, Peter Vikesland (of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University) said that this research was "important for demonstrating that the chlorination of triclosan can occur under environmentally relevant conditions". In other words, the fact that you can create toxic chloroform by mixing antibacterial dish soap with chlorinated water is pretty scary. What to do? *Get a tap
water and shower
filter to get rid of the chlorine and other toxic * Stop using all antibacterial products, especially
dish and hand soaps, and toothpaste. Even natural cellulose sponges
now have an antibacterial in it. Buy As you've read in other articles I've written
(and elsewhere), soap and water are *Wear rubber gloves while doing the dishes or cleaning. * Use natural and organic products. (Dish soaps, moisturizers, skin care, hair care, laundry soap, etc.) It's free to subscribe to my monthly newsletter. Sign up for Green Living Expert, Amy Todisco's,
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