July 2008 Eco-friendly Ways to Stay Cool this Summer

Eco-friendly Ways to Stay Cool this Summer!

Here are some great tips from Viva Terra catalog and online retailer for keeping cool this summer without harming the environment or your pocketbook! For more ideas visit www.vivaterra.com

Natural ways to cool down:

• Keep your neck cool with a bandanna dunked in ice cubes, it cools off the rest of your body
• Try eating spicy food which can cause perspiration and open the pores for a natural cooling effect

Keep your house cool:

• Keep your windows & shades closed during the day
• At night create a cross current with open windows to catch the breeze
• Hang wet sheets over your open windows at night to create natural air-conditioning
• Plant trees around your house: their shade reduces the energy needed to cool your home by as much as 50%
• Replace incandescent lights with CFLS* which emit less heat (*there have been some reports that these bulbs can cause migranes and other health-related issues, so ifyou are sensitive use with caution)
• Use candles to create ambiance and save energy (See Candles)

Refresh yourself:

• Freeze grapes, blueberries or chunks of juicy watermelon for a snack
• Drink lots of cooling liquids like homemade lemonade or iced tea
• Avoid using the stove: think salads, cold soups, or snack food
• Dine alfresco especially for breakfast before the heat of the day sets in
• Picnic in the back yard or hang outside late into the cool evening with friends and family
• Camp in your own garden or on the deck for open air dreams

Sleep well...

• Take a cool shower and get into bed on a towel without drying off; the moisture evaporates and cools you down and helps you drift off to sleep
• Try breathable bamboo sheets that wick away moisture and are cool to the touch
• Mist your bed linens and spritz yourself with a spray bottle filled with soothing lavender water

Most of all keep your inner cool. Don’t expend a lot of your own energy either —stay cool when you’re stressed with meditation, keep the peace and avoid needless “hot air” arguments, and remember K.I.S.S. (Keeping It Simple in Summer) is the easiest way to approach cooling off without consumption.

Houseplants & Health...
While green living is good for the environment, green plants can be beneficial to your health. Prevention reports that houseplants can help to reduce stress, fight toxins and even boost creativity! They say that it is due to an evolutionary response - there's something about green that calms us down.

Washington State University found that people in a room full of plants had a 4 point drop in systolic blood pressure after taking a stressful test, versus a 2 point drop in a room that had no plants.

German researchers found that people who had plants in their office considered their environment to be "more natural, personal, refreshing and less stressful" than those who did not have plants.

Don't have a lot of light? Try a snake plant. Have a cold? Get an English Ivy, there are small openings on the underside of the leaves that release moisture which can boost humidity to alleviate cold symptoms. To learn more about various plants and how they can enhance health, read the Prevention article: www.prevention.com/houseplants.

The 5 Healthiest Juices
The following information was found on AOL...

Pomegranate Juice
Pomegranate is the healthiest of them all because it contains the most of every type of antioxidant. It wins in all categories. And it's thought that it might do some very good things; it may protect against some cancers, such as prostate cancer. It might also modify heart disease risk factors, and it could be healthy for your heart. So pomegranate was the clear winner.

Concord Grape Juice
Concord grape juice is a source of very potent antioxidants. And there's some research indicating it may be good for our hearts and also help reduce blood pressure. Grapes are also high in fiber, but much of their goodness is in the seed, so you need to consider whether grape juice is the way to go.

Blueberry Juice
The color alone indicates a lot of antioxidants. But blueberry juice also contains tons of fiber, and is also very high in Vitamin C. One of the qualities of antioxidants is that they can lower inflammation, and so there's some indication that blueberries may have some effect on age-related cognitive abilities. And don't forget that blueberries are very low in calories.

Black Cherry Juice
This one actually has scientists a bit excited. Not only is it high in antioxidants, but there is evidence that black cherry juice can actually diminish exercise-induced muscle injuries.

Cranberry Juice
Like all of these juices, it's high in antioxidants. But cranberry juice is also high in Vitamin C. And there's always been a sort of wives' tale that cranberry juice helps prevent urinary tract infections. Well, it turns out researchers are finding evidence that it actually can decrease the number of urinary tract infections. The thinking is, it helps stop bacteria from sticking to the bladder wall, protecting against infections.

Preventing Food-Borne Illness
It seems as though we are hearing more and more about fruits and vegetables that are causing illness. The most recent scare involves tomatoes which may have been the cause of salmonella poisoning involving several hundred people. A few months ago spinach was a suspected culprit. Healther McPherson the food columnist for the Orlando Sentinel offers these tips to help protect yourself and your family from illness:

• Purchase produce that is not buised or damaged.
• Always rub firm-skin fruits and vegetables under running tap water. Dry with a disposable paper towel.
• Remove the outer leaves of leafy greens.
• Refrigerate all cut, peeled or cooked fresh fruits and vegetables within two hours.
• When selecting fresh-cut produce, such as a half watermelon or bagged mixed salad greens, choose only those items that are refrigerated or surrounded by ice.
• Bag fresh fruits and vegetables separately from meat, poultry and seafood products when packing them to take home from the market.
• Wash cutting boards, dishes, utensils and countertops with hot water and soap between the preparation of raw meat, poultry and seafood products, and the preparation of the produce that will not be cooked.
• For added protection, kitchen sanitizers can be used on cutting boards and countertops periodically.
• If you use plastic or other non-porous boards, run them through the dishwasher after use.

Go Organic When Buying These Fruits & Vegetables...

According to Envirnomental Working Group the following fruits and vegetables are most often contaminated by pesticides, try to purchase them organically grown when possible:

Peaches ~ Apples ~ Sweet Bell Peppers ~ Celery ~ Nectarines
Strawberries ~ Cherries ~ Lettuce ~ Grapes ~ Pears
Spinach ~ Potatoes

3 Ways to Boost Your Memory
Natural Health Magazine offers these tips to help keep your memory sharp:

#1 Meditate Try meditating for 10-12 minutes each day as a 2007 study from the University of Pennsylvania suggests that daily meditation may train your brain to remember more. Twenty adults aged 52-70 meditated for 12 minutes per day for 8 weeks and follow-up tests revealed increased blood flow to the region of the brain that is linked to learning and memory.

#2 Consider Taking Citicoline This is a form of the B vitamin choline and is said to help replenish the brain's phosphatidylserine, a nutrient believed to enhance memory, thinking, and learning in older adults. A 2007 study from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found people 50-85 with inefficient memories improved their delayed recall after taking 1 gram of citicoline every day for three months. Those who took 2 grams had even better results.

#3 Link Your Left & Right Brain Functions A 2007 British study tested students by asking them to follow a computer program prompting side-to-side eye movements for 30 seconds: the participants remembered 10% more words on average than those who made vertical eye movements or did nothing. So try moving your eyes from side to side for 30 seconds to encourage your brain's two hemispheres to work together!

Words of Inspiration...

The New York Times recently published portions of inspiring commencement addresses given by some well-known people. I was particulary taken with Jessica Lange's (actress) address at Sarah Lawrence College, and J.K. Rowling's (author) speech at Harvard, and wanted to share the excerpts with you:

"Be present. I would encourage you with all my heart - just to be present. Be present and open to the moment that is unfolding before you. Because, ultimately, your life is made up of moments. So don't miss them by being lost in the past or anticipating the future.

Don't be absent from your own life. You will find that life is not governed by will or intention. It is ultimately the collection of these sense memories stored in our nerves, built up in our cells. Simple things: A certain slant of light coming through a window on a winter's afternoon. The sound of spring peepers at twilight. The taste of strawberry still warm from the sun. Your child's laughter. Your mother's voice.

These are the things that shape our lives and settle into the fiber of our beings. Don't take them for granted." ~ Jessica Lange

"By any conventional measure, a mere seven years after my graduation day, I had failed on an epic scale. An exceptionally short-lived marriage had imploded, and I was jobless, a lone parent and as poor as it is possible to be in modern Britain without being homeless. The fears my parents had had for me, and that I had had for myself, had both come to pass, and by every usual standard, I was the biggest failure I knew.

Why do I talk about the benefits of failure? Simply because failure meant a stripping away of the inessential. I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was, and began to direct all of my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me.

Had I really succeeded at anything else, I might never have found the determination to succeed in the one arena I believed I truly belonged.

I was set free, because my greatest fear had already been realized, and I was still alive, and I still had a daughter whom I adored, and I had an old typewriter and a big idea. And so rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life."
~ J.K. Rowling