Yeates natural skincare

The “natural” beauty industry is on the rise because we’re scared of chemicals

Customer mistrust is so bad now that customers want more regulatory oversight.

 

When Gwyneth Paltrow launched Goop by Juice Beauty in 2016, she told Vogue how vital it was that her line of beauty products —including a face cleanser, eye cream, and moisturizer — was all-natural. “The idea that you’re exercising and trying to eat well and then slathering yourself with chemicals, parabens, and silicones — it’s not great.” A few months later, she went on The Tonight Show to promote the line. She and host Jimmy Fallon dipped McDonald’s french fries into a pot of her moisturizer and ate it, presumably to show how pure it was.

Paltrow often peddles questionable science and theories. But she’s far from alone in her skepticism toward conventional makeup and skin care. Over the past few years, a parallel beauty industry has exploded alongside the traditional one. “Natural” beauty; “clean” beauty. (Yeates Natural Products Hand made in Ireland) Many new brands and retailers are basically saying, “Your regular beauty products contain all sorts of dangerous stuff. Use these safer ones instead.” It’s a complicated claim and pretty hard to prove conclusively, but it’s a message that has caused radical upheaval in the cosmetics industry.

These companies are responding to legitimate concerns about certain chemicals, like BPA and phthalates. Then there have been some high-profile lawsuits like the Johnson & Johnson ovarian cancer talc cases, in which juries have awarded multimillion-dollar settlements to people who claimed using baby powder for years caused their cancer. Then the hair care company Wen settled a $26 million class-action case because one of its products was making people’s hair fall out. Consumers have become afraid of chemicals and started looking for products they think would be “natural” or “safer.”

Gwyneth Paltrow and Jimmy Fallon eat some Goop moisturizer on The Tonight Show in 2016. Theo Wargo/Getty Images

 

The backlash against traditional beauty companies — and the rise of “clean” ones — might have been inevitable. As scary-sounding reports about ingredients made the rounds over the years, consumers demanded answers.

 

Shopping for “safe” cosmetics

Natural products used to be sold primarily in health food stores and farmers markets with labels decorated with pictures of leaves. It was a very specific niche and not taken seriously by the beauty industry. But now sleek new brands positioning themselves as “cleaner” alternatives to the mainstream are exploding.

Daniela Ciocan — the marketing director at Cosmoprof North America, an entity that hosts a large expo where brands can display their wares in hopes of landing retail placement — says that thanks to retailer and customer demand, this year the organization doubled the amount of space it dedicated to new “clean” brands at the 2017 convention.

In the past 12 months, natural brands like (Irish Hand Made Yeates Natural Products )Tata Harper and Jessica Alba’s Honest Company products have made up about a quarter of all higher-end skin care sales, according to the NPD Group. The category is growing at a faster rate than last year.

 

 

“We’re absolutely inundated,” says Annie Jackson, a co-founder of Credo, which was dubbed the “Sephora of clean beauty” when it launched in 2015. It currently has eight stores in the US and a robust online business, where it sells about 115 brands. Credo receives about 200 new products a month from brands hoping to sell there.

And it has a competitor. Follain, which opened before Credo in 2013 as a local shop in Boston, is growing rapidly. It currently has five stores, will open two more in October and expects to have 10 by the end of 2019. Its growth rate is up more than 200 percent in 2018.

In the meantime, customer demand means mainstream companies and retailers are giving more service to the concept of clean beauty. In 2017, Target bumped up its natural beauty offerings. CVS announced it was removing parabens and other ingredients from 600 of its house-branded products by the end of 2019. Brands regularly remove parabens and sulfates and the like, sometimes quietly and sometimes with great fanfare.

Sephora launched its “Clean at Sephora” initiative in May, citing in-house research that revealed that 54 percent of its skin care shoppers think it’s important that their products “have a point of view on clean” and looking to shop brands that are “grounded in a ‘free of’ ingredient perspective,”

Certain ingredients have garnered headlines throughout the past 10 years, bringing cosmetic safety to the forefront. In 2010, large amounts of chemicals that turned into formaldehyde gas when heated were found in a popular hair straightening treatment from the brand Brazilian Blowout.

Shop on line www.yeatesnaturalproducts.com

 

 

How Yoga Changes Your Brain

Did you ever wonder how yoga changes your brain? As it turns out, that post-session happiness you feel isn’t just in your head. Using brain scans, scientists can now prove that yoga actually changes your brain chemistry. And that’s a good thing. Just like practicing tai chi moves, using yoga as a form of exercise and meditation can help naturally treat a range of health issues, particularly ones rooted in the brain.

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How Yoga Changes Your Brain

While natural therapies, including yoga, don’t have a ton of funding for major studies compared to the pharmaceutical and biotech industries, we are starting to see some compelling science emerge. Some of the best science to date showing how yoga changes your brain involves yoga’s impact on anxiety, depression and pain tolerance.

Yoga Unleashes GABA

Did you know yoga is a natural remedy for anxiety? That’s because yoga impacts our brain’s GABA levels. GABA is short for gamma-aminobutryic acid, sometimes referred to as your body’s “chill out” neurotransmitter. GABA is crucial for suppressing neural activity. Your GABA neurotransmitters produce a calming effect similar to of drinking alcohol (without the harmful side effects). And, of course, alcohol’s calming effects are only temporary, with anxiety often rising once the buzz wears off. (1, 2)

Yoga bumps up your brain’s natural GABA production without traditional anti-anxiety drugs designed to help your body release GABA. (Getting off of these benzodiazepine drugs can lead to serious withdrawal symptoms.) Yoga sounds much better than insomnia, seizures and, ironically, more anxiety linked with drug withdrawal. (3)

Bring on the asanas! And get this. While walking to lose weight really works, it may not be your best defense against anxiety. Practicing yoga unleashes more anxiety-quelling GABA in the brain’s thalamus than walking, according to a 2010 study published in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. Compared to pleasure reading for an hour, a 60-minute yoga session increases GABA levels by 27 percent. (4) Because of its combination of breathing, meditation and movement, yoga could be one of the best exercises to combat anxiety.

Yoga Builds Healthier Gray Matter in the Brain

Yoga can actually prevent or reverse the effects of chronic pain on the brain, according to the National Institutes of Health. In fact, depressed individuals may have reduced gray matter in the brain as the result of chronic pain.

Gray matter is located in the cerebral cortex and subcortical areas of the brain. Decreased gray matter can lead to memory impairment, emotional problems, poorer pain tolerance and decreased cognitive functioning.

But yoga and meditation have the opposite effect on the brain as chronic pain. And get this: People who regularly practice yoga have more robust levels of gray matter in their brains in areas involved with pain modulation. This means yoga could be an effective remedy for certain types of depression and one of the top natural painkillers you can count on. (5)

Yoga even acts as a natural antidepressant in pregnant women susceptible to depression. A 2012 study published in Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practicefound meditative yoga significantly reduce depression symptoms in at-risk women. (6)

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Final Thoughts on How Yoga Changes Your Brain

Yoga could be the most important forms of exercise to combat anxiety thanks to its unique breathing, meditative and stretching exercises rolled into one practice. While there are many different forms of yoga, I encourage you to start out with gentle yoga and experiment to find the type that works best for you.

Medical research tells us that yoga changes your brain in wonderful ways. These include flooding the brain with calming GABA and bulking up gray matter in areas of the brain that make us able to tolerate pain. This is crucial for those living with chronic pain. Too many doctors are too quick to prescribe painkillers. Instead, give yoga a try. Your brain will thank you.

Yeates Natural Skin Care Products

www.yeatesnaturalproducts.com.

Tapeworm Symptoms to Watch & Natural Tapeworm Treatments

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More than 100 million cases of tapeworm infections occur globally every year. (1) Tapeworm infections affect the intestines of humans and occur when people eat raw or undercooked, contaminated animal foods. Surprisingly, tapeworms don’t cause any noticeable symptoms at all. However when they do, tapeworm symptoms — and those caused by other similar parasitic infections — can sometimes become very serious, even life-threatening.

The actual infections that tapeworms cause mostly affect the intestinal wall but can become more complicated when tapeworm larva/eggs move through the bloodstream and attach to skeletal muscle or tissues, where they’re able to form cysts. These cysts are exactly what humans consume when they eat contaminated meat (especially pork) or fish. Eggs stored inside the cysts eventually hatch, and the newly born worms then continue the cycle by latching on to the host’s intestinal wall as an energy supply.

What can you do to help overcome a tapeworm infection and relieve tapeworm symptoms? Natural treatments include performing a parasitic cleanse, consuming supplements to help improve detoxification, and enemas or colonics.

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What Is a Tapeworm?

Tapeworms are flat, sometimes very long worms that are able to survive inside thedigestive system of both humans and animals. A parasite is an organism that lives on or in a host and gets its food from or at the expense of its host. A parasite’s eggs can even live inside raw meat, including beef, pork and fish. Six different species of tapeworms have now been identified that cause millions of human infections around the world every year — and the tapeworm symptoms that accompany them. (2)

Some of the most common types of tapeworm infections are caused by parasites, including beef tapeworms, pork tapeworms, fish tapeworms, dwarf tapeworms (Hymenolepis nana) and the Echinococcus species of tapeworms. Taenia saginata is the species found in beef, Taenia solium from pork and Diphyllobothrium latum from fish. Pork and fish tapeworms can sometimes grow up to 15—30 feet in length.

And because the worms can lay eggs inside of a human’s or animal’s digestive tract that make their way into stool, the eggs can sometimes spread to other people (refereed to as “intermediate hosts”) through contact with feces or from environmental runoff.

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Tapeworm Symptoms

It’s believed that the majority of people who become infected with tapeworms don’t ever know it or develop noticeable tapeworm symptoms or complications. The tapeworm is eventually killed off inside the intestines and excreted through a bowel movement. However, some people are not so lucky and manage to stay infected with a tapeworm for months or even years, left to deal with uncomfortable tapeworm symptoms.

The most common tapeworm symptoms and signs include: (3)

• An upset stomach or nausea

• Diarrhea or loose stools

• Muscle weakness and fatigue

• Cramps and abdominal pains

• Changes in appetite, including feeling very hungry despite eating or loss of appetite

• Weight loss (even despite eating)

• Signs of nutrient deficiencies, including cognitive problems like poor concentration and fatigue

• Trouble sleeping

• Changes in stool and sometimes segments of the worm appearing in a bowel movement. Some people can even feel a small piece of the tapeworm exit the anus or notice a moving, ribbon-like worm inside the toilet bowel.

• Animals, including pets like dogs or cats, can also become infected with tapeworms. Tapeworm symptoms in dogs or cats can include vomiting, loss of appetite, low energy or diarrhea.

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Natural Treatments for Tapeworm Symptoms

1. Thoroughly Cook Meat and Fish

Because eating raw or undercooked meat and fish is the most common cause of tapeworm infections, the best way to protect yourself is to cook these foods thoroughly before consuming them. Most experts recommend cooking animal foods to at least 135 degrees Fahrenheit (57 degrees Celsius). Cysts and eggs within meat or fish also commonly die off at this temperature or when frozen for extended periods (more than several days). Unfortunately, drying or smoking meat and fish usually is not enough to kill all eggs.

Because freshwater fish are capable of passing tapeworms to their eggs, it’s recommended that these fish never be served raw (sushi-style). Whenever consuming freshwater fish, make sure it’s cooked, ideally frozen after it’s caught or properly cured/brined. The very best way to prevent tapeworm infections from contaminated animal foods is also having a trained health code adviser check the meat or fish before it goes to market, since cysts within meat/fish are often visible to the naked eye.

2. Parasitic Cleanse

A parasitic cleanse diet can help you overcome intestinal infection symptoms and prevent complications. Eating a healthy diet can also lower the odds of becoming infected with a parasite because it helps boost immunity and excludes certain risky foods (such as pork).

I recommend following the steps below for a parasite cleanse for about a week, at the same time consuming the anti-parasitic supplements listed below. After one week, keep consuming a healthy diet, but take a week off from the cleanse and supplements to help your body adjust. Then complete two more weeks of the cleanse plus supplements.

Here are the steps to take in order to complete a parasite cleanse:

• Avoid pork products. Pork can carry parasites and worms, so if you eat pork consistently, there’s a high chance that you might ingest a parasite. I recommend you cut out all pork products from your diet for good.

• Increase your intake of organic vegetables. Focus on consuming big salads, fresh veggie juices, soups or smoothies made with greens. Garlic, onions and fresh herbs are especially helpful. These have immune-boosting and anti-parasitic effects. Focus on including herbs like oregano and ginger in your recipes.

• Remove added sugar. All sugar and all grains can contribute to gut imbalance and worsen inflammation. During a parasitic cleanse I recommend you mimic a Paleo-type diet to remove these foods.

• Avoid refined carbohydrates and grains. Many grains, especially those containing wheat/gluten, can break down into sugar quickly and cause intestinal inflammation.

• Reduce or eliminate fruit. Stick to about one serving or less daily. However, papayaand papaya juice are an exception, as papaya has natural anti-parasitic properties.

• Consume coconut oil, meat and milk. This can include making coconut smoothies with coconut milk or using pure coconut oil. Coconut oil has antibacterial and antimicrobial properties.

• Consume chia seeds, pumpkin seeds, flaxseeds and bone broth protein in order to get fiber and protein. Pumpkin seeds (along with pumpkin seed butter or pumpkin oil) are especially helpful due to certain nutrients and anti-parasitic compounds they contain.

• Only consume organic meat that has been grass-fed or pasture-raised. Avoid processed meat products or conventionally/farm-raised meat.

• Only consume wild-caught fish. I also recommend avoiding shellfish, which can contain high levels of heavy metals.

• Consume probiotic foods. These include kefir, sauerkraut and yogurt, which help improve the health of the gut.

• Avoid processed foods and alcohol. These lower immune system functioning and make detoxification harder.

3. Anti-Parasitic Supplements

Certain supplements can help kill parasites, as well as rid of the body of other toxins, including:

• Paracomplete: A parasite cleanse supplement that includes thyme leaf, berberinesulfate, oregano, grapefruit seed extract and uva ursi leaf. These herbs have natural anti-parasitic, antifungal and antibacterial properties that have been used in traditional medicine systems for many years.

• Grapefruit seed extract (read directions for dosage recommendations, which vary depending on strength)

• Black walnut (250 milligrams three daily): An herb used historically for the treatment of parasites

• Garlic: Use both raw garlic in recipes and garlic essential oil

• Wormwood (200 milligrams three daily)

• Oregano oil (500 milligrams four times daily): Has antibacterial and anti-parasitic effects. You can also use oregano oil essential oil to improve detoxification.

• Olive leaf: If you have access to an olive tree, then you can use the leaves to make tea. Bake them at about 150 degrees until they’re dry, steep in hot water for 10 minutes, and drink several cups daily with raw honey or lemon.

• Clove oil (500 milligrams four times daily or four cups of tea made using clove essential oil)

4. Improve Detoxification Through Colonics

Performing two to three colon cleanses per week over the course of several weeks can help increase effectiveness of a parasite cleanse. Consider using a coffee enema or performing a salt water flush.

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Tapeworm Risk Factors and Causes

The most common reason that humans become infected with tapeworms is eating undercooked meat from an infected animal or contaminated freshwater fish. (4) Although exposure to a tapeworm needs to occur in order for an infection to take place, certain risk factors might contribute to worsened tapeworm symptoms. These risk factors include:

• Drinking contaminated water. If you’ve ever been to another country, like China, India, Africa or Mexico, and drank the water, then felt sick afterward, there’s a chance you picked up a parasite.

• Imbalanced gut flora

• Leaky gut syndrome

• Having a weakened immune system

Here’s an overview of how a tapeworm parasitic infection develops:

• Tapeworms lay eggs that turn into tiny larva, and these larva can live inside the meat of animals, which humans then consume for food. After eating infected meat, larva are sometimes able to make their way through the person’s digestive tract into the intestines, where they survive off of other food becoming consumed.

• Other than eating infected meat, it’s less common but still possible to contract certain types of tapeworms from coming into contact with small amounts of another infected person’s stool. It’s believed that this happens with pork tapeworms but not with other worms found in fish or beef. As described above, egg-bearing secretions from pork tapeworms (called proglottids) are passed inside stool. For example, when food is prepared by an infected person and that person doesn’t properly wash his or her hands after going to the bathroom, tiny tapeworm eggs can make their way onto the food and contaminate it. The eggs can then hatch inside the next person’s intestines and survive.

• When untreated, human waste or animal waste carrying tapeworm eggs can be released into the environment and then ingested by another host.

• Animals (especially horses, cattle and pigs) commonly get tapeworms after grazing in pastures where contaminated runoff has entered or from drinking contaminated water.

• Fish can also become infected with tapeworms by eating small crustaceans that carry tapeworm eggs/cysts.

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Tapeworm Infection Statistics and Facts

• Every year hundreds of thousands of people in the U.S. become infected with parasites, although they usually have no idea. (5)

• According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, traveling to parts of Latin America, Eastern Europe, Sub-Saharan Africa, India and Asia can expose Americans to tapeworms and other parasitic infections that are then brought home, although they’re usually rarer in the U.S. (6)

• T. solium is the cause of 30 percent of epilepsy cases in many endemic areas where people and roaming pigs live in close proximity. More than 80 percent of the world’s 50 million people who are affected by epilepsy live in low- and lower-middle-income countries. (7)

• Taenia saginata and T. solium tapeworms are two common tapeworms found worldwide, particularly in Eastern Europe, Russia, Eastern Africa and Latin America.

• The number of new tapeworm infection cases in the U.S. each year is probably less than 1,000, but an exact number is not known due to many people never being diagnosed.

• The No. 1 place in the U.S. where tapeworms are found are those where cattle and people are concentrated, including in factory farms where meat is produced or urban areas where there’s poor sanitation.

• U.S. workers who work in feed lots are at the highest risk for tapeworm infections since they can be exposed to cattle feces. Restaurant workers who don’t wash their hands properly are also at risk.

• Around the world, underdeveloped communities with poor sanitation and countries where people eat raw or undercooked pork have the highest rates of tapeworm illness.

• In the U.S., tapeworm infections are highest among Latin American immigrants.

• Tapeworms affect the digestive system more than any other part of the body, although they can also cause fatigue, muscle aches and cognitive changes.

• Some tapeworms can can grow up to 25 meters long, or 82 feet, depending on the species. (8)

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Conventional Treatment for Tapeworm Symptoms

If the tapeworm symptoms described above sound familiar to you, visit your doctor for a stool sample test and blood test. Stool samples can help identify the type of tapeworm that might be present, while blood tests indicate if an infection is causing complications by looking for signs of increased inflammation and high antibody levels.

Doctors also look for signs of a tapeworm infection using a stool sample by locating either segments of the worm itself or tiny eggs. If it’s suspected that larva have migrated out of the intestines and moved to another body part, your doctor might investigate whether or not cysts are present by performing a CT scan or MRI.

Once a tapeworm diagnoses has been made, doctors commonly use medications to help treat the infection. These can include:

• Antiparasitic drugs, including praziquantel

• Drugs to lower inflammation and complications, including NSAID pain relievers orcorticosteroids, such as prednisone

• If other symptoms or complications have developed, such as nerve damage or digestive dysfunction, various other drugs and procedures might also be used, including diarrhea medications or vitamin B12 and iron supplements.

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Tapeworm Precautions and Complications

Although it’s not very common, it’s possible for tapeworm symptoms to become very serious if a worm blocks someone’s intestines, causes deficiencies in key vitamins or minerals, or causes larva to migrate out of the intestines and into other parts of the body where they form cysts.

Complications Due to Tapeworms:

• Sometimes larva, especially laid from tapeworms that come from pork meat, can move to the the liver, eyes, heart and brain, where they can cause damage. When cysts from tapeworms form in other parts of the body outside the GI tract, it’s called cysticercosis.

• Other times tapeworms might cause small cysts that can trigger complications like headaches, confusion, meninges, neurological symptoms, spinal problems and even seizures.

• Although it’s uncommon, tapeworm cysts sometimes develop in the eyes and can lead to visual problems or even blindness if untreated.

• Tapeworm infections caused from eating contaminated fish have also been associated with causing anemia, since the worms wind up consuming vitamin B12and robbing their host. Vitamin B12 is necessary for red blood cell maturation and energy production, and therefore fatigue and weakness are very common.

• Always seek attention from a doctor if you suspect you might have a tapeworm to prevent complications from worsening.

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Final Thoughts on Tapeworm Symptoms

• Tapeworm infections affect the intestines of humans and occur when people eat raw or undercooked, contaminated animal meat and fish.

• Tapeworms often don’t cause any noticeable symptoms at all but can cause digestive issues, fatigue, muscle aches, malabsorption, deficiencies and weight loss in some people.

• Risk factors for tapeworms include working near cattle or livestock, living in crowded areas with poor sanitation, and eating raw or undercooked meat and freshwater fish.

• Natural treatments for tapeworms include a parasitic cleanse, consuming supplements to help improve detoxification, and enemas or colonics. By Yeates Natural Skin Care Products.

• www.yeatesnaturalproducts.com.

You may find this hard to believe, but chances are your indoor air is worse than the outdoor air you breathe. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, it’s often 2 to 5 times worse. (Sometimes, it’s 100 times worse. Yikes!) But take a deep breath, because expensive air filtration and ventilation systems aren’t your only options when it comes to mediating the problem. Scientists are finding another proven, practical (and quite frankly, way more eye-appealing and affordable) way to clean the air inside your home and office: the best houseplants the remove pollution.

For decades, plants’ air-scrubbing abilities have intrigued researchers. Many scientists have been interested in the best houseplants that remove pollution from indoor air. (It’s an area even NASA explored in the ’80s). And every year, it seems, more data emerges showing which plants are best suited to protect us from particular toxic compounds lurking in our indoor air. Let’s take a closer look.

The Best Houseplants that Remove Pollution

In August 2016, Vadoud Niri, a chemist from the State University of New York of Oswego presented his team’s findings on the best houseplants that remove pollution at the 252nd National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society.

The findings of the unpublished study, built on previous work looking at the best houseplants that remove pollution. But his research looked at these common houseplants and investigated how each one has a knack for stripping particular volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, from the air. By testing in a sealed chamber, he was able to show the efficiency and the rate of simultaneous removal of VOCs by these plants. For each plant type, his team noted which VOCs the plants took up, how quickly they stripped VOCs from the air and how much of the VOCs were ultimately removed by the end of the experiment. (1)

The researchers tested common houseplants known as natural air filters and eight common VOCs, and they found that certain plants were better at absorbing specific compounds. For example, all plants could remove acetone — the pungent chemical that is abundant at nail salons. Dr. Niri shared his findings with me and I have to say, it’s compelling stuff. Looks like it’s time to pot up some new houseplants!

Best houseplants that remove pollution 

Bromeliad

The bromeliad plant scored very well at removing six out of eight VOCs studied. The tropical plant stripped more than 80 percent of each of those compounds out of the air within a 12-hour timeframe. Dr. Niri says this is one of the best houseplants to have in the home or workplace.

Importantly, it helped rid the air of toluene, a toxic solvent that even at low levels can lead to tiredness and weakness. Paraffin candles, the most popular type of candles burned inside homes and offices, have been shown to emit toluene and benzene. Benzene is a carcinogenic solvent found in automobile exhaust. (I don’t recommend burning candles in the home, but if you do, stick to unscented beeswax.) (2, 3) This plant was most effective at removing benzene, with a 92-percent removal rate within 12 hours.

Best houseplants that remove pollution -

Dracaena

Acetone, that nasty, stinky VOC found in nail polish remover, can trigger headaches, dizziness, eye irritation and central nervous system damage. (4) (Rethinking getting those nails done?) While all of the plants tested removed acetone from the air, dracaena was a superstar, removing 94 percent of the chemical from the air. Acetone isn’t limited to nail salons, though. It also off gasses from particleboard, household cleaners, rubber cement and paint. (5)

That’s why Dr. Niri says he’s interested in doing further real-world testing to see if placing plants in nail salons could serve as a cost-effective way to help protect workers and customers from toxic emissions in nail salon settings. In fact, the inspiration for this study occurred when he and his wife walked into a nail salon — and he had to walk out immediately due to the overwhelming air pollution. (6)

Best houseplants that remove pollution

Spider Plant

While the spider plant isn’t very good at sucking up benzene and toluene, it’s better at cleaning the air in other departments. This plants removed more than 80 percent of the ethylbenzene, p-Xylenes, o-Xylene and acetone from the air in chamber testing.

Ethylbenzene is a toxic solvent found in inks, paints, fake rubber and pesticides. It’s also commonly injected into the ground during fracking operations, and increasingly winding up in people’s drinking water near these operations. (7,

Xylenes have the power to trigger dizziness, memory problems, fatigue, tremors, breathing problems and even kidney damage. These VOCs are found in paint thinners, in printing and cleaners. (9, 10) Dr. Niri’s testing found the spider plant ranked top in removing ethylbenzene (62 percent removal rate), p-Xylenes (92 percent removal rate) and o-Xylene (93 percent removal rate).

Best houseplants that remove pollution 

Jade Plant

Jade plant, commonly known as “friendship tree,” really could be a great pal when it comes to the gift of clean air.

This plant removed more than 80 percent of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, p-Xylenes and o-Xylene. And in the 70-percent range, it did an OK job of pulling acetone out of the air. Of all the plants tested, this was the best houseplant for removing toluene pollution from indoor air. It removed a whopping 91 percent from the air. Just one quick tip since we’re talking about the best houseplants the remove pollution: be sure to avoid plastic pots, since plastic also off gases and pollutes your air. Look for OMRI certified potting soil (and even organic houseplants, if they’re available in your area.) OMRI can be found on the label and means the soil is approved for use in organic agriculture. This means there aren’t toxic chemical pesticides or additives in the soil.

Phytoremediation: A Plant-Based Solution for Pollution

Since the 1970s, there’s been a huge shift to create more energy efficient homes and offices. That’s a great thing because it conserves energy, but if not done properly, not always a great thing for your health. Well-insulated homes aren’t breathing as much, leaving toxic compounds trapped inside. Enter the idea of finding the best houseplants that remove pollution. The concept of using these plants to mitigate environmental pollution is known as phytoremediation. It’s not only cost effective but super effective, too.

In August 2016, researchers presented findings at the 252nd National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society, showing that specific, common houseplants each had a knack for stripping particular volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, from the air. This is noteworthy because homes and offices of all ages contain VOCs from a variety of sources, including off-gassing furniture, paint, carpeting and other flooring, building materials, copiers, adhesives, upholstery, printers, pesticides, cleaners, air fresheners and candles, co-workers’ perfume and other personal care products and other scented products and even dry-cleaned clothing. It’s not uncommon for building materials and furniture to off-gas VOCs, including carcinogenic formaldehyde, for weeks, months or even years. (11) (Remember, you don’t have to smell VOCs for them to be doing damage.)

VOCs are compounds like acetone, benzene and formaldehyde that are emitted as gases and can cause short- and long-term health effects when inhaled. Some people even develop something known as sick building syndrome when they’re exposed to VOCs or other pollutants in a building where they spend time. Symptoms of sick building syndrome include:

eye, nose and throat irritation

hypersensitivity reactions

dizziness

asthma

allergies

headaches

itching skin

dry cough

fatigue

personality changes

flu-like symptoms

difficulty concentrating (brain fog)

reduced productivity (12, 13)

Final Thoughts on the Best Houseplants that Remove Pollution

Volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, are toxic air pollutants commonly found in homes and offices.

VOCs have been linked to everything from headaches and personality changes to even cancer. VOCs found in buildings are sometimes blamed for “sick building syndrome.”

Over the last several decades, scientists have been able to ID the best houseplants that remove pollution from indoor air.

In 2016, a chemist from the State University of New York of Oswego was able to actually track how fast and efficiently certain houseplants removed specific VOCs.

When you choose houseplants, choose organic ones (if possible).

Use OMRI-approved potting soil to avoid toxic compounds used as additives in soil. (You’ll find it on the label.) OMRI means it’s approved for use in organic agriculture.

Opt for clay pots instead of plastic ones, since plastic can also off gas and pollute your indoor air.

With mountains of data suggesting the antibacterial soap chemical triclosan is a toxic ripoff and completely unnecessary for everyday use, the Food and Drug Administration finally announced it’s banning the ingredient in consumer hand and body washes. As the FDA bans triclosan and related antibacterial soap chemicals, manufacturers have one year to remove it and 18 other antibacterial ingredients from products (or pull products containing these ingredients from store shelves).

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FDA Bans Triclosan: the Details

For years, even the FDA admitted that regular soap and water proved just as effective as antibacterial soaps without the harmful side effects, urging everyday people to skip out on the overkill of using antibacterial soap. (1) One of the major concerns? It became increasingly clear that using antibiotic soaps contributed to antibiotic resistance. The more we expose germs to germ-fighting substances like antibiotics and antibacterial soaps, the better they adapt. Nature’s good at that. So by the time the FDA finally moved to ban triclosan and related compounds in early September 2016, antibiotic resistance exploded into a full-blown global health crisis.

In 2013, the FDA issued a rule requiring companies to provide data proving antibacterial chemicals were safe and effective. In addition, they had to demonstrate antibacterial products were superior to non-antibacterial ones in regards to preventing human illness or reducing infection. (And they had to use data from clinical trials.) Companies weren’t able to do this, according to the FDA.

That prompted many companies to start voluntarily pulling triclosan from their products and replacing them with other antibacterial chemicals not on the FDA’s current ban list. (This begs the question, are we just replacing one list of dangerous ingredients with another?)

So as the FDA bans triclosan & related compounds, including triclocarban (triclosan’s cousin found in antibacterial bar soap) here’s are the main takeaways:

• The active ingredients involved in this FDA antibacterial ingredient ban include: cloflucarban, fluorosalan, hexachlorophene, hexylresorcinol, iodine complex (ammonium ether sulfate and polyoxyethylene sorbitan monolaurate), iodine complex (phosphate ester of alkylaryloxy polyethylene glycol), nonylphenoxypoly (ethyleneoxy) ethanoliodine, poloxamer-iodine complex, povidone-iodine 5 to 10 percent, undecoylium chloride iodine complex, methylbenzethonium chloride, phenol (greater than 1.5 percent), phenol (less than 1.5 percent) 16, secondary amyltricresols, sodium oxychlorosene, tribromsalan, triclocarban, triclosan, triple dye

• Manufacturers will have one year to comply with the rulemaking by removing products from the market or reformulating (removing antibacterial active ingredients) these products

• This FDA ban applies to over-the-counter consumer hand soaps and body washes . It does not ban the uses of these antibacterial soap chemicals sanitizers or wipes, or in soaps used in hospital or food service settings.

• The FDA is allowing one more year before ruling on three other antibacterial ingredients in consumer soaps and body washes — benzalkonium chloride, benzethonium chloride and chloroxylenol (PCMX) Consumer antibacterial washes containing these specific ingredients may be marketed during this time while data are being collected. (2, 3)

“Consumers may think antibacterial washes are more effective at preventing the spread of germs, but we have no scientific evidence that they are any better than plain soap and water.” — Janet Woodcock, MD, director of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research

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FDA Bans Triclosan: What Took So Long?

Let me be clear: Whenever FDA makes a decision that favors public health over corporations, we need to take a moment and applaud that effort. But let’s not forget —that’s the agency’s job. And over the year’s, there’s been quite a bit of evidence suggesting triclosan should not have found its way into everyday products in the first place. As the FDA bans triclosan today, it’s important to notes that we’ve known for quite some time that it’s one of worst endocrine disruptors to date. It threatens the efficacy of our lifesaving antibiotics. And it begs the question: Why are questionable ingredients allowed on the market? Why is the FDA allowing the American public to be guinea pigs?

While scientists hunkered down to bring us years of data, organizations like Environmental Working Group conducted research and even built the Skin Deep Cosmetics Database to help consumers figure out the dangers of everyday personal care products. In a first-of-its kind study, in 2008, EWG found triclosan and 15 other toxic chemicals in blood and urine of 20 teen girls from eight states and the District of Columbia.

“EWG research found industry adding this sketchy, endocrine-disrupting germ killer to all kinds of soaps and even to toothpaste. Nine years ago we found it at disturbing levels in San Francisco Bay.

Worse yet, EWG studies detected the stuff in breast milk and in bodies of teenage girls. Clearly this is an industry that needed a good, swift kick in the triclosan. It took far too long, but … the FDA delivered.” — Ken Cook, co-found and president of EWG

As the FDA bans triclosan, it’s a good time to look back on its ties to numerous health and environmental problems:

Hormonal Havoc

Aside from making our drugs less effective and in some cases, useless, antibacterial overkill is also impacting our immune systems. Triclosan tampers with testosterone and thyroid levels. It also impacts estrogen adaptors and synthesis. Triclosan stores itself in certain cells and even is able to hide in breast milk and blood. This poses the threat of long-term hormonal effects that could impact the immune system health, fertility and pregnancy. (4)

Allergies

In 2013, Norwegian researchers found that triclosan concentrations in urine samples were associated with allergic sensitization, especially inhalant and seasonal allergens, in children. The study found that triclosan levels measured in urine were associated with elevated levels of immunoglobulin E and rhinitis (blocked nose/hay fever) in the more than 600 children studied. (5) Studies in the U.S. came to similar conclusions. (6)

Cancer

A 2014 animal study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciencesfound that long-term exposure to triclosan caused liver damage, including increased risk of liver cancer. (7)

When triclosan degrades, it turns into dioxin. Dioxin is a carcinogen and has been linked to different types of cancer. In fact, triclosan can manifest itself in the body as a producer of uncontrolled cell growth. Combined with chlorinated, toxic tap water, it forms chloroform, another cancer causer.

Gut Destruction

Oversanitation is leaving us sicker than ever. According to the American Academy of Allergies, Asthma & Immunology, rates of allergies, learning disabilities, infections and inflammatory bowel disease have only continued to climb despite better hygiene. (8) According to a 2013 publication in the Journal of Gastroenterology & Hepatology, studies show that wiping ourselves clean of beneficial microbial organisms — whether by taking antibiotics, over-cleaning our homes or never acquiring them in the first place — affects the microbiome in a way that can contribute to seasonal or food allergies, asthma, obesity, digestive issues like IBS, and autoimmune disorders. (9)

And get this. Oversanitation might even make you more susceptible to nutrient deficiencies and digestive issues. For example, in certain animal studies, it’s been found that in germ-free rats, intestinal epithelial cells — those that line the gut and form a physical barrier that’s important for immunity — experience abnormal changes tomicrovilli (which help with nutrient absorption) and decreased rates of cell turnover compared to animals living in the wild.

Pollution

The Environmental Protection Agency even admits that when triclosan reacts with sunlight, it dioxin, a potent carcinogen. That’s a big problem, considering that triclosan routinely turns up in water samples. Studies show its present in nearly 60 percent of U.S. streams and rivers. It damages aquatic animals and plant life, kills algae, and affects and even changes hormones and sex of fish. And it’s everywhere. Not just inside of us, but also inside of fish, sea worms, dolphins and even earthworms. (10)

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Are the New Antibacterial Ingredients Safe?

As the FDA bans triclosan, it’s important to note it’s still allowed on store shelves for a year. And three other antibacterial chemicals, including benzalkonium chloride, benzethonium chloride and chloroxylenol (PCMX) are still getting a free pass. Let’s take a close look at these three ingredients that skirted the current FDA antibacterial ingredients ban.

Benzalkonium chloride

There’s strong evidence that this antibacterial ingredient is linked to allergy problems in humans, including severe skin, eye and respiratory irritation. Environmental Working Group notes this ingredient is considered especially dangerous to people with skin conditions like eczema. Unfortunately, this ingredient is also associated with the development of resistant bacteria. (11)

Benzethonium chloride

EWG rates this as a safer ingredient, but notes there’s a “data gap,” meaning more research is needed for this ingredient. It’s generally used in cleaning products (it’s part of the quaternary ‘quat’ ammonium salt family), and Canada and Japan don’t allow it in cosmetic products, and it’s proven to trigger allergies. (12, 13) Again, it’s overkill to put this in everyday soap products. Just use regular castile soap and water.

Chloroxylenol (PCMX)

Known to trigger allergies in humans and highly toxic to cats, this is another example of oversanitation. You don’t need this high-powered cleaner in your home. (14)

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Final Thoughts on the FDA Triclosan Ban

I’ve been warning of the dangers of triclosan and oversanitation for years. The truth is making our homes and food supply squeaky clean is actually leading to weaker immune system function, increasing the risk of allergies, digestive diseases and even cancer. Just use regular castile soap and water. it’s as simple as that! You don’t even need to use hot water. Just be sure to suds up and scrub your hands for about 20 seconds.

Apple cider vinegar (ACV) seems to be all the rage these days, from body detoxification to skin care, but it has actually been around since about 400 B.C. when Hippocrates, the Father of Medicine, used it for its amazing natural detox cleansing, healing and energizing qualities. Hippocrates even prescribed apple cider vinegar mixed with honey for its health properties.

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Most of the products on the market today Apart from Yeates Natural Products, Strip hair and skin of its natural oils. This causes dryness and can even cause dandruff! But the acidity found in apple cider vinegar can stop that process by balancing your scalp and hair’s natural pH levels. In fact, these acids and enzymes in ACV can kill bacteria, which can cause many scalp and hair conditions such as dandruff, itchy scalp from eczema, hair loss and even baldness.

Let’s make an at-home apple cider vinegar for hair rinse!

In your bottle, add the apple cider vinegar. It is important that you use organic apple cider vinegar with the mother so that your apple cider vinegar lemon and rosemary rinse does not contain toxins. One of the great things about ACV is that rinsing with apple cider vinegar can help balance the pH of your hair. Apple cider vinegar is great in that it can remove residue that may be in your hair from product buildup. Another benefit is that it works as a natural detangler and revitalizes your hair, leaving it soft and smooth. It can even make the hair luxurious and super shiny!

Okay, ow that you have the apple cider vinegar in the bottle, add the purified water. Purified water can be achieved by simply boiling the water for one minute on the stove. Make sure to let it cool before adding it to your apple cider vinegar rinse. Or you can use Yeates Deionised Pure Water. Once added, shake well.

Having a nice scent to your mixture is an added bonus which comes from the essentials oils. Lemon essential oil not only provides a refreshing scent, but it’s best known for it’s ability to cleanse toxins from the body. It can rejuvenate providing energy, purify the skin and even act as a bug repellant! Rosemary is an amazing addition as it can help with baldness as well as act as serve as a hair thickener. Add the essential oils, tightly screw on the cap and shake well.

To use, after using yeates natural shampoo, pour apple cider vinegar rinse into your hair making sure to cover all of the hair and scalp. A spray bottle is an easy way to get it evenly dispersed throughout the hair and scalp. Allow the apple cider vinegar rinse to sit in your hair for a 3–5 minutes before rinsing. While this rinse will condition your hair, if you feel you need more conditioning

For best results, use cold water to rinse as it will help seal the ends and openings of the cuticle, locking in shine and moisture that can keep your hair from getting frizzy.

Apple Cider Vinegar for Hair Rinse

Total Time: 5 minutes

Serves: makes about 8 ounces

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/8 cup organic apple cider vinegar with the mother

• 3/4 cup purified water

• 10 drops lemon essential oil

• 10 drops rosemary essential oil

• Clean bottle

DIRECTIONS:

1. In your bottle, add the apple cider vinegar.

2. Then, add the purified water. Replace the cap and shake well.

3. Now, include the essential oils. Shake again until well blended.

4. Apply to hair and scalp after shampooing.

5. Rinse with cool water for best results.