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How to Choose Toxic Free Shoes
Question from Stacey
Just wondering if you have heard of “Kalso Earth Shoes.” I’m trying to find less toxic shoes, but it’s not easy since you really don’t know what materials are used, and the information is not available sometimes (most times). These shoes have a “negative heel” technology, and supposedly are made of leather. However, when I received a pair, there is an odor to them. I tried contacting the company but got no response. Just wondering how you chose shoes?
Thank you!
Debra’s Answer
It’s very difficult to find toxic-free shoes. Part of the problem, as you said, is that the materials are not disclosed.
In another post, Q&A: Safe Sneakers?, today I talked about the shoes I wear. I look for shoes made from leather or natural fibers. Like I would wear shoes made from cotton or linen. I don’t have any at the moment made from natural fibers, but I would wear them. And I basically avoid any shoes made from plastic or that contain antifungals. That’s about the best we can do at this point in time.
Leather does have a natural odor to it that can smell a bit like cows. But if the odor is a chemical odor, return the shoes. Leather can be treated, but isn’t always. Always ask and try to get information.
Finding Your Voice and Speaking Up About Toxics
Rick Furbush is the Region 8 Advisor for Toastmasters International, which includes all of the Southeast USA and the Carribean. He has acheived the highest honor Toastmasters bestows, the Distinguished Toastmasters Award. I have been a member of Toastmasters under his leadership since 2009. Since his motto has been “Find Your Voice – Make a Difference,” I invited him to come talk with us about how everyone can make a difference in the world to reduce toxic expsoures by improving their speaking and leadership skills. Toastmasters covers all communication skills, from interpersonal conversations to media training..we’ll give lots of examples of how you can communicate in various ways to make a difference about eliminating toxics. www.toastmasters.org
TOXIC FREE TALK RADIO
Finding Your Voice & Speaking Up About Toxics
Host: Debra Lynn Dadd
Guest: Rick Furbush
Date of Broadcast: May 21, 2013
DEBRA: Hi, I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. This is Toxic Free Talk Radio where we talk about how we can thrive in a toxic world. Even though there are toxic chemicals all around us in consumer products and the environment, and sometimes it seems all over the news and every place we look, there are many things that we can do so that we don’t have to be sick from being exposed to toxic chemicals, so that we don’t have to be exposed to them at all in the first place. And so we can remove them from our homes, from our bodies, and our lives. And that’s what this show is about.
It’s Tuesday, May 21st 2013. I’m in Clearwater, Florida. And today, we’re going to actually talk about something a little bit different that’s not about toxic chemicals in consumer products per se or alternatives to toxic chemicals, but about how we can communicate better about toxics issues, and thereby be able to work together and make change in the world so that the world at large is less toxic.
There are a lot of things that we can do in our own homes for ourselves, but then we talk out our front door and we go out into the environment whether it’s toxic chemicals and we go into public spaces where there are toxic chemicals, and we send our children to schools where there are toxic chemicals, and we go to hospitals where there are toxic chemicals.
And in order to change on this larger scale, we need to be able to communicate with others and we need to be able to work with others in groups successfully in order to make change.
My guest today is Rick Furbush who is the Region XIII advisor for Toastmasters International. This is an international executive position. He’s in charge of Southeastern United States and the Caribbean. We’re going to talk about Toastmasters and how Toastmasters can help you and everybody in the world actually communicate better, know how to lead groups and thereby find your voice and make a difference in the world.
Hi Rick, thanks for being here with me.
RICK FURBUSH: Hi Debra. It’s great to be with you.
DEBRA: Thanks! So, where shall we start? There’s so much to talk about. Would you just tell us some about yourself? How did you get so interested in communication and decide to devote so much of your life to Toastmasters?
I just want to interject here that Toastmasters is entirely a volunteer organization. And so people who work in executive positions do not get paid to do this. People are Toastmasters because they love it and they can see the difference that it makes in people’s lives.
So, tell us your story, Rick.
RICK FURBUSH: Well, it’s interesting. I was thinking as you were introducing me, what came to mind, I remember hearing a quote: “If you know how to read, and you don’t, what good is it?”
It’s the same thing as if you actually have the answers, but you never communicate them to anyone, how will they ever know?
So, communication is really important. And you can have all the answers, but if you don’t have the ability or knowledge or the confidence to actually talk to groups, then it’s really difficult to get your point across.
DEBRA: It is! And I don’t want to interrupt you, but I’m going to. I just want to keep saying to the audience that’s listening here that there are in the world people who can communicate about toxic chemicals. There are people who get paid a ton of money to go on television and make commercials or to go on television and speak on talk shows or to go to Washington DC and be lobbyists. And the reason that toxic chemicals are winning in the world is because people communicate about them. And we need to have more people who can communicate about toxic-free alternatives.
So, go ahead, Rick.
RICK FURBUSH: Well, that’s great. Taking a look at this, a lot of people will say, “Well, I’m not going to plan to be a public speaker. Why would I want to have anything to do with Toastmasters?” Well, actually, Toastmasters is something very different.
A lot of people get in Toastmasters first to overcome their fear of public speaking. But they realize, the one thing they really get out of Toastmasters is more certainty and confidence in life to do anything!
Like I said, there’s no long line waiting to be a public speaker. But there are a lot of people that want to get more confidence in life. And if they’ve got something they want to say, they want to have the confidence to be able to get up in a speech and not go crazy, go dry in the mouth, so afraid to speak that they can’t stand up.
And the wonderful thing about Toastmasters (and why I got into it) is that you can do things on a gradient. A lot of people say, “Oh, I could never get up and speak. I have to do something in high school or college” and so forth. Well, they did it the wrong way.
If you do something […] in a stage environment where you can make mistakes and it’s not really serious, then you learn very easily.
Well, it reminds me of a time when I first tried to drive a car. I was scared to death! It was myself in the front, three or four souls in the back and the instructor on the right. We pulled out at the downtown traffic in Waltham, Massachusetts at five o’clock. I was petrified. I had the stick shift. And I was white knuckling it.
Then we came driving down the hill, a truck was coming at us, and I’m holding on for dear life, and the instructor said, “Why don’t you let go of the wheel, and I’ll take over from here.” I said, “Wh-wh-what?!” He said, “Let go of the wheel.” I said, “No, no. We’re going to hit the truck.” He said, “Trust me.”
So, I let go of the wheel. He reached over and grabbed the wheel. He had his own clutch and brake. He turned down to a tree road. And all of a sudden, I realized, “It was safe. I didn’t have to be so serious.”
And what happens in public speaking is people never practice it. Once you’ve started driving a car a few times, all of a sudden, it gets better. Nowadays, people do everything in a car besides drive. It’s so easy! It’s second nature. Well, public speaking can be second nature if you practice it a little bit.
And the great things about Toastmasters is it’s made up of clubs—15 or 20 people in a club, they meet once a week for an hour, and they practice impromptu speaking and prepared speeches. And what’s surprising is […] they start to get more comfortable and more comfortable. And you get to a point where you’re just natural, you don’t believe yourself.
So, I joined Toastmasters in 1989 when I already was a paid professional speaker just to improve myself. I didn’t necessarily have to get over the fear. But Toastmasters is for people of all levels, whether you just want to get over a fear, or you want to polish yourself to be a great speaker.
DEBRA: The reason I joined Toastmasters was that a lot of my friends were in Toastmasters. But I had this idea—I didn’t even have an idea of what Toastmasters was except that it seemed to not pertain to me. But I already was speaking as a published author. People would invite me to speak, and I have been on television and radio and everything. And yet, sometimes, you don’t know what you don’t know.
And because I could get up and speak, I thought, “Well, that’s all I need to be able to do.”
And then, I went to a Toastmasters meeting, and I found out what else I needed to know to be more professional. And that’s why I decided to join Toastmasters.
But once I did, I found that it really improved every aspect of my life. For example, one of the things that you learn in Toastmasters right at the beginning is—I was going to say, there’s a series of manuals that you do. And the first one, The Competent Communicator just teaches you 10 basic things about communication. And one of them is simply how to organize your thoughts, so that you know what it is what you want to say. And so, instead of just rambling on, you can say, “Well, what is it that I want to say?” and really make your point.
And that is something that’s really necessary, whether you’re making a speech in public or giving a presentation in business or having a conversation with a friend or if you’re a parent wanting to know your child […]
Whatever the communication is, you need to know what it is you want to say and be able to say it clearly and get your point across.
And I remember the very day that I recognized this. I wanted to talk to a friend, and I wanted to make sure that I said exactly what I wanted to say, and I wanted to have it go well. I sat down and I wrote a speech (not because I wanted to give my friend a speech, but because I wanted to organize my thoughts).
And since that point, I can see that there’s been a huge improvement in how I communicate just in general.
We need to go to break, but we’ll back with Rick Furbush. And we will talk more about improving our communication and leadership skills, so that we can help make the world a safer place to live.
DEBRA: This is Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. And today, we’re talking about communication and leadership and how important that is in creating a toxic-free world in everything that we do when we talk to people, being able to talk to our neighbors about not using toxic chemicals or going to a public hearing or speaking up, or even going to Washington DC and saying, “I don’t want toxic chemicals” or writing about it. We need to be able to communicate.
And I’ve invited Rick Furbush to be here today. He’s an international executive for Toastmasters International. And we’re talking about how Toastmasters can help you improve your communication skills.
Rick, I know that you probably have many, many examples—as I do myself—of seeing people coming into a club and just not being willing to talk at all, and after a few weeks or months of Toastmasters, you can’t keep them quiet!
RICK FURBUSH: That is so true. In fact, the other point you’re making just before we went to break about getting organized, this is one of the most important things a person needs to do that they don’t realize.
Let’s say you are impassioned about toxic waste and want to talk about it. You show up to a meeting, and all of a sudden, you’re not sure what to say or how to put it in the right words. You’re a little confused. It’s not quite organized. You finish talking and you look at yourself and say, “Wow! I should’ve thought of this, this and this.”
Well, what’s great about Toastmasters is you actually plan out your speeches. You learn how to put your thoughts together, so they really can make a difference.
And one of the interesting things for brand new people when they come, we have them do—their first speech is what’s called an icebreaker. And this is a fun one. And it’s easy for them because they’re talking about themselves. We get to know a little bit about them. They don’t have to do any research on the topic. They’re talking about themselves.
And what’s amazing is, after they’ve done their icebreaker, and they’ve sat down […], their heart is racing, they finally get finished, they’re so happy, then they got to prepare for the next speech. And they don’t know what to talk about.
DEBRA: That’s right.
RICK FURBUSH: Organize your speech. That’s the actually second one. It is so important. And it’s probably where people really start to realize the value of Toastmasters […]
DEBRA: I think it’s basic to us as human beings to want to communicate and to be understood and have people communicate back to us. And when you don’t know the basic nuts and bolts of how to do that and how to listen and how to have a conversation, I think that so much conflict occurs from misunderstandings or that you feel like that you have, as you were saying earlier, valuable information.
I know many people who are listening have valuable information that they’d like to share about toxic chemicals. But they don’t know how to get up and say something that actually communicates that. And that’s where Toastmasters comes in.
I also want to really emphasize that there’s so much more than simply getting up to speak. That’s only part of it. You get the opportunity to take a look at your grammar and how you use words and um’s and uh’s. Now, I don’t even want to say this because I have not totally conquered um’s and uh’s. But now that I’m aware of this, I’ve practiced so much not saying “um” and “uh” and “well” and “you know” and “like” and “so, well…” and all those little filler words that we fill in with.
And then, now I look or listens to professional radio hosts and TV announcers, and they’re all saying “um” and “uh”. And then, I listen to somebody who is more trained and has removed those um’s and uh’s from their speech and how much more clearly they can communicate what it is that they want to say without the distraction of those words.
And we also learn how to have more vocal variety and use gestures and to things like speak to time. That’s one thing that’s been very useful for me since I’m interviewed a lot on radio and now have my own radio show. They only give me so much time, and I need to make sure that I fit in what I want to say in that period of time.
And that’s something that you learn in Toastmasters. And that can be valuable in all kinds of different areas of your life. So, it really is…
They teach you how to persuade someone else of your viewpoint, they teach you how to negotiate, all these little things that you use in your life or can use in your life if you know how to do them.
And I have to say that it’s the best bargain for personal growth because, as you go through a program, you really need to see parts of yourself. You find out more about yourself. You find out things about yourself that are really wonderful skills that you didn’t know you had. And you find out areas where you have fears and blocks and that you need to get through those in order to accomplish what you want.
It’s one of the most wonderful things that I’ve ever done in my life.
RICK FURBUSH: Wow! I agree with you.
What’s amazing, as you mentioned a little earlier, when you listen, you don’t—when you have lots of uh’s and um’s, you say them, you’re not aware of them. So you actually have to sit down probably your first and second meeting, and they make you the uh’s counter. And you actually have to listen. And what’s a lot of fun is you have an advanced Toastmasters next to the brand new person, and they both count um’s and uh’s and compare notes. [unclear 16:12] would find 35 or 40. It’s shocking!
DEBRA: It is!
RICK FURBUSH: And as you tune in, it’s almost like scratching your nails against a chalkboard when you hear an “uh” and an “um” after a while.
And here’s the thing that the audience may not know, but the only reason you have uh’s and um’s is because people are petrified to have silence. So when you’re trying to think of your next word, instead of a nice pause, they have filler words, “uh… um… uhhh…” They’re just nervous.
So, when you get over the nervousness, you start to get confidence, you can use those moments of quiet as a gesture. A pause is very, very powerful.
In fact, I heard a world champion giving a speech, and he had the most powerful pause. And he told me he had to count to 10 before the next word.
DEBRA: Well, Rick, it’s time for me to put you on pause…
RICK FURBUSH: Great!
DEBRA: …while we go to a commercial break. We’ll be back after the break. This is Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. And we’re talking with Rick Furbush about how to improve our communication and leadership skills.
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Now, we’re back with Rick Furbush, international executive for Toastmasters International. And Rick, let’s talk about the leadership side of Toastmasters. Tell us about how that goes.
RICK FURBUSH: That’s a great point. You know, when you go to learn leadership, when you think about it, did you go to college? Is there a college for leadership? You show up to a business, and all of a sudden, you’re expected to kind of be a leader? How do you learn about it? How do you do it?
Well, Toastmasters is effective because you learn to do it by actually doing it. You learn to speak by getting up and speak. And you learn to be a leader by getting up and leading.
So, what’s amazing about Toastmasters is, first of all, it’s been around for 89 years, number one. Number two, it’s non-profit.
No one in Toastmasters get paid, including the international presidents. And the entire organization is run with volunteers.
In a club, you have seven officers that are elected by your peers for a year. You have a president, three vice presidents, sergeant at arms, treasurer and secretary and so forth. And above that, you’ve got an area governor who’s over five clubs.
Then above the area governor is the division governor over five or six areas and 30 clubs. And then, you’ve got a district governor who’s over 200 clubs let’s say. And then you’ve got 86 of these districts around the world.
So it’s pyramid-shaped where the leadership is done on a voluntary basis. And you actually learn to be a leader by doing.
There’s training involved, but so much doing. And you actually get those abilities by the experience of doing Toastmasters.
So, not only do you learn to speak, but you learn to lead.
As you’ve noticed, there’s never been a great leader that wasn’t a great speaker. So they go really hand in hand.
DEBRA: They do! And I really appreciated this. I’ve been a Toastmasters since 2009. And I’ve done a lot of the manuals, Learning to Speak. But I’ve also done most of the leadership side up to—there’s a designation called Distinguished Toastmaster which is the highest award that you can get in Toastmasters. And it leads you to learning a lot about speaking and a lot about leadership and that you need to do certain different projects in order to get this.
And I’m about to get this award on June 30th. I’ll be done with all of my qualifications. And it is the most valuable thing that I’ve ever done in my life because it does teach you these basic skills of communication and leadership.
And so, I needed to do things like, first, I was the president of my club. And then, I moved up to being an area governor. And I was expected to do things like be in charge of putting on a speech contest. Well, I have never done that before. Where would I learn how to do that?
But they do teach you how to do this. They teach you how to be a leader. They teach you how to get a group of people together united around your purpose and be able to work together as a team.
Now, how valuable would that be for you to get a group of your friends and neighbors together and go down to the city council and make an effective presentation and stop fluoride in your water or something like that.
And this is what is needed to make change in the world. It’s for people to work together. I’ve been in so many groups, local groups, where they didn’t know how to work together. And yet Toastmasters teaches you how to do that. And you can put together a group of Toastmasters, people show up, they do what they agree to do, and they actually produce something like a speech contest or whatever it is that they want to create together. They have the skills to work together and communicate and not fight with each other and disagree—
It’s not that we never fight and disagree. But we have the skills to be able to come together and say, “Alright, this is going to be our accomplishment. And this is how we’re going to get there and do it together and have fun doing it.”
As you said, Rick, where else would you learn that?
And now I feel like I could lead anything! It’s just that you learn those skills. And now I could go into a corporation, be an executive or I could run a non-profit or I could gather together people and make some change in my community because I know how to lead.
And that’s what I’ve learned in Toastmasters. It’s an amazing thing!
RICK FURBUSH: That’s fantastic! What’s very interesting is so many people don’t know how to run a meeting!
DEBRA: That’s another thing I’m going to have to do.
RICK FURBUSH: People have heard of this thing called Robert’s rules or parliamentary rules. They haven’t got the foggiest idea. And of course I think the British came up with it so it’s very confusing. But you learn not only the procedure but how to run a meeting, a democratic meeting, effectively, on time, getting things done.
And we do this every day in Toastmasters, so when you go out to the world, you’ve got an edge up. You can go and run any meeting.
And most meetings that you’ve been to, they run over time, they never get things correctly. They don’t know how to run it. And this is the basic thing you learn in Toastmasters every day in your meetings.
DEBRA: Yes, these are basic life skills. And I’m having Rick here on the show because this is a show about toxics, and these skills need to be learned and applied in the world of toxics so that our voices can be heard, so that we can go to a meeting, and as the meeting is not being run correctly, we can stand up and say, “Okay, let’s do this,” and everybody will follow you and listen to what’s going on with you because you can just bring order to the room. You can call on people to be able to speak and have their voices heard.
It’s just an amazing, amazing thing. And I want people to know that this is what Toastmasters is about, that you can learn those skills there for very, very little money—like really very little money, isn’t it, $46 for six months or something.
RICK FURBUSH: Yeah, it’s equivalent to a cup of coffee a week. It’s very inexpensive. It’s non-profit.
The whole idea, the purpose of the organization which started 89 years ago was to help make the world a better place through communication leadership. And it’s that effective, and it’s doing it every day.
DEBRA: Wouldn’t it be amazing for people to understand? We usually think that there are leaders, and then there are the followers. But what Toastmasters does is it makes everybody a leader.
One of the things that I am so impressed with the way Toastmasters is structured is that you learn the different roles that are necessary to the meeting. And you can just go to any Toastmasters meeting in the world and step in and fulfill that role.
We’ll be back after the break. We’ll talk more about Toastmasters and how you can be empowered to speak and lead.
DEBRA: You’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. And we’re here with Rick Furbush, international executive from Toastmasters International. And we’re talking today about learning to communicate effectively and when leadership skills can help create a toxic-free world, things that you can do that’ll help you have a less toxic life for yourself, [unclear 26:25] and just have there be general harmony.
I just really see people blossom when I go to a Toastmasters meeting […] I’ve been in Toastmasters since 2009. And I just see people who come in and won’t speak and sit in the back of the room, after a few months, they go talking and participating—and their whole lives change.
I know that my life has changed because I really amped up my ability to communicate and communicate well and organize my thoughts. And that’s how I got a radio show actually. I decided that I was going to be able to communicate my message in a way that would make sense to other people and that I’d be able to do it clearly and that I would take a leadership role in my field, create that.
And so, Rick, this is the last segment. Let’s talk about how people can join or create a Toastmasters club for themselves.
RICK FURBUSH: Good point. In fact, I wanted to just [unclear 27:37] people first. I know they were listening for toxic, and then we’re talking about communicating. But the point I want to make is when they use Toastmasters or anything else, you really need to overcome that fear if you’ve got it and really be able to communicate well. And we have found—because it’s so good.
It’s the leader in the field. It’s so inexpensive. And it’s such an ability-building organization—that Toastmasters for us has worked so well. And that’s why we’re talking about it. and
But we’d like to encourage you to go on and use whatever you can to become better speaker.
DEBRA: I agree.
RICK FURBUSH: And I’d like to share a couple of tips because people are going, “Well, I’m going to have to speak next week” or “I’m going to be the maid-of-honor. What should I do?” Well, here are a couple of tips—a couple of tips right off the bat.
If you go to Toastmasters.org, right on the front page, they have the tips. You can just print them down.
But the first couple of tips, one is you want to be prepared. You want to know what you’re talking about. There’s nothing worse than have to get up sort of impromptu and try to wing it. You want to really be prepared. Write down your speech—practice it, and practice it, and practice it. And you’ll have so much more confidence.
That’s probably one of the big tips I can help people with.
But second of all, if you’re going to be going and speaking to a group, see if you can’t go out and introduce yourself to as many people as possible. You’ve sort of broken the ice, and you have some friendly faces in the audience that you got to talk to, and it makes your nerves start to go away.
So, those are two great tips for anyone whether you’re Toastmasters or not if you want to go on and speak.
DEBRA: Those are all great tips. And I would say that, on the other hand, one of the things that you learn in Toastmasters is to just be able to speak extemporaneously off-the-cup. There’s a whole very fun part of each meeting called table topics where you get asked a question, and then you just get to give a 1- to 2-minute reply. And that comes in very handy at parties or if you’re at a job interview, or if you’re meeting somebody for the first time, or if you’re on a radio show and you have to answer a question.
RICK FURBUSH: I think that’s probably one of the most valuable things for me that I get out of Toastmasters, having the competence to be able to [field questions].
If you noticed, some of these politicians, you ask them a question, they don’t answer the question. they tell you what they want you to hear. It’s very amazing! But it sort of has this art of impromptu speaking geared the way they want to go.
So, if you’re really good, you’ll actually be able to answer the question and sound intelligence just because you have that competence with having practiced the impromptu speaking.
DEBRA: Yes. And I know a lot of people are experts in a field of something (like I’m an expert in my fields of tactics. But just because you know your field or doesn’t mean you know how to communicate. And I think that that’s a great area people still need to be trained so that you can communicate what you know and sound like you’re somebody who knows what you know. If you don’t have those communication skills, you can know all the facts you want and somewhat come across as being the intelligent person that you are.
DEBRA: Yes, very good point. In fact, as you’ve mentioned, you asked—before we run out of time—“How could someone join Toastmasters?”, it’s very simple. You can go to Toastmasters.org. And on the front page, it says “find a club.” Click on it, and it’ll say, “put in your zip code.” And it’ll bring up the 20 closest clubs to where you live. There might be one around the corner.
And just here in Pinellas County, there’s 48 clubs in Pinellas county and almost 50 over in Hillsborough. And every major city in the world has a lot of Toastmasters club. They meet either morning, noon or evening. So it’s easy to find a club.
In fact, I suggest that people go and visit different clubs because these clubs have a different personality. But you’ll find that the one thing they all have in common is they’re very friendly, and they’re very warm. And everyone’s in the same boat.
If you show up and you’re afraid of public speaking, they either are or they have been. They know what you’re going through.
So it’s a safe place to go visit and overcome your fear of public speaking.
DEBRA: I totally agree with you. As area governor particularly this year, I’ve had occasion to go to different clubs. The first couple of years, I just stayed in my own club. But I’ve been going around visiting different clubs. And I do see that if you want to go some place, if you just moved to a new city, and you want to meet some new people, and you want to go some place, you don’t have the confidence to say go to a bar and strike up a conversation with someone, go to a Toastmasters club because, when you walk in the door, somebody will walk over and talk to you, I guarantee it.
RICK FURBUSH: That’s absolutely true.
DEBRA: They’ll be friendly, and they’ll be interested. And they’ll introduce you to somebody else. And it won’t be like going to a party and just standing in a corner.
RICK FURBUSH: In fact, I have to point out that when I went to Hong Kong last summer—I was there for two to three weeks—the first week I was there, I’ve been through four Toastmasters’ clubs. And they all spoke English. And it was an incredible experience! They had 40 or 50 people in each of the clubs. And they have over 50 clubs just on the small island of Hong Kong.
I mean China, India, South America, South Africa, you name it, there are Toastmasters clubs anywhere.
So, if you’re traveling, what a great networking experience!
DEBRA: Yeah, yeah.
RICK FURBUSH: So, I feel like, now, I could go any place in the world and I can be part of a family anywhere. If I ever needed something, if I needed to meet people, or I was in trouble in a strange place, I could just find a Toastmasters club, and they would take care of me. That’s not really what it’s for. But I know that I have friends everywhere because I’m a Toastmaster.
DEBRA: Absolutely!
RICK FURBUSH: Well, the call-to-action simply is, if you want to get over that fear of public speaking, it’s a safe, easy place.
Just go online, Toastmasters.org, put in your zip code, find a club and go visit it. It’s friendly, it’s safe. They won’t have you get up and speak. You go at your own pace. And you’ll be shock!
My wife didn’t get into Toastmasters until she was over 50 years old. And she wishes she had done 40 years earlier. It’s made all the difference in her life. And she’s been very public speaking-petrified! And now she does stand-up comedy for fun on weekends.
RICK FURBUSH: Yes, I’ve heard her. And I’ve seen her even just over the past four years that I’ve known her, the transformation that’s gone on with her.
One thing I want to make sure that we do mention before our time is up is that there’s two kinds of Toastmasters club. One is what’s called an open club. And that’s open to the public. And then, there’s also what’s called a closed club. And there are actually a lot of closed clubs. And what a closed club is is a club that is formed around an interest group. A business can have their own closed club where you have an employee of that business or a member of a church or a member of some organization. And so, in that way, people within already established groups can get to know each other and learn to work more effectively together.
So, for example, if you belong to an organization, say a non-profit that’s working on a toxics issue, you could form your own Toastmasters club for that group. You only need to have 20 people to have a Toastmasters club.
And if you have an organization or a business that’s making non-toxic products or something like that, you can form your own Toastmasters club, and then you will be more effective operating as a group, but then you could also go out in the world and speak more effectively about whatever is the purpose of your organization or the purpose of your business.
Say you have a business selling organic vegetables. Maybe you’re a farm or something, and you want to sell more organic vegetables. It would be so much easier for you to go out in the world and talk to people about your organic vegetables if you have the skills of communication.
So, I just really see this as a tool that so many people could use to be more effective to do their toxic-free purpose. And it’s available to anyone everywhere. And if it isn’t there, you can make it be there.
RICK FURBUSH: Very good point. And if they really want to start a club in their group, they just go online, Toastmaster.org.
There’s a place where you want to start a club, and they just fill in the information. They will connect you off with someone in your area to help you start a club. It’s very simple. It’s almost nothing to do. Just find a group of 20+ people, and they’ll come in and do a kickoff meeting, show you how it’s done, and help you start a club!
DEBRA: Well, here’s the red light, Rick. We need to stop. Thank you so much for being—this has been—
You’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. And I will see you tomorrow.
PVC and Lead Dust
Question from Donna
Hi Debra, I have two questions that go hand in hand.
I’ve been reading a lot lately about lead dust on PVC products, but I’m confused. Does the item (like a toy or window blind) need to be deteriorating to produce lead dust, or can household dust settling on an item (that’s intact) get lead in it?
Also, our house is six years old, and the builder used faux wood doors throughout. They’re made of some kind of plastic, and now I’m worried that they’re PVC but have no way of knowing for sure. They’re hard plastic with a fake wood grain. Are you familiar with these doors? If they are PVC, would you suggest replacing them? We have 24 of these doors!
Again, thank you for all you do!
Donna
Debra’s Answer
I think things get confusing when people with no background understanding try to write about toxics.
Lead dust gets created when an item that is painted with lead paint–such as doors or windows–breaks down the paint into dust through the friction of opening and closing it. PVC products contain lead, but there would be no dust unless the PVC item were cut, such as sawing a PVC pipe or window. Lead CAN be released by touching PVC, but it’s not dust.
The only way to know what type of plastic was used to make your faux wood doors is to contact the manufacturer and ask them. If you can’t find out who the manufacturer is, look for a similar door in a store and ask that manufacturer what their doors are made from. It may or may not be the same. I don’t think it’s PVC.
I can do this kind of research for you as a paid personal consultation. If you have 24 of these doors, you might want to know what they are made from. But if your house is six years old, you probably have other materials that are of greater concern. We can go over all of this in a personal consultation. It’s beyond the scope of a blog answer.
Fertilizer for Plants in Pots
Question from Colleen
What do people with MCS use to fertilize flowers in pots outside and in the outside garden for acidic and non-acidic loving plants? Are the 3 month feed pellets ok to use outside in the garden? I haven’t fed my plants outside for 6 years now because I don’t know what is safe to feed them. We have river rock as mulch in our main flower bed so I’d need something that doesn’t have to be worked into the soil. I was thinking mushroom compost for the bed that didn’t have river rock in it but that has cocoa in it and I don’t want to use that because it could poison our dogs. Thank you for your help.
Sincerely,
Colleen
Debra’s Answer
I use organic potting soil in my pots along with these products from Organic Living For All
These made a huge difference in my Florida garden. I suggest you find a local organic nursery or Permaculture group and find out what is right for the place where you live.
Unearthed Paints
“Purely natural wall paints, plaster, and wood finishes,” made with the highest quality, minimally processed ingredients such as clay, marble, and chalk. Following recipes that have been successfully used by people throughout the world for thousands of years, these coatings are 100% free of VOCs and other petrochemical ingredients, and instead are made with fully-disclosed, natural ingredients. They carry six types of paint, which can be used to paint any interior room. “Natural paint relies on the inherent qualities of natural ingredients that can be used as binders (such as casein, a protein glue), fillers (such as marble, which provides opacity and whiteness), and pigments (such as earth pigments that derive natural color from their mineral content). A variety of different unique natural paint types exist, and include clay paint, milk paint, and lime paint. Most natural paints, including the entire line of paints by Unearthed Paints, are 100% zero-VOC and safe to use while pregnant.”
Using Essential Oils for Household Cleaning and Personal Care
My guest is Jackie McLaughlin. As an independent distributor for Young Living Essential Oils and natural health enthusiast, Jackie’s passion is helping others find more natural ways to create and sustain better health, without the harmful ingredients often found in commonly used products. Jackie has been assisting others in switching to a chemical-free lifestyle since 2002. She is currently taking a 300-hour curriculum to become a Certified Clinical Aromatherapist, and has been teaching classes about how to create a more chemical-free environment at home, as well as the workplace. We’ll be talking about the difference between beneficial essential oil and toxic “fragrance” and how to use essential oils around the house. www.oil-essentials.com
TOXIC FREE TALK RADIO
Using Essential Oils for Household Cleaning and Personal Care
Host: Debra Lynn Dadd
Guest: Jackie McLaughlin
Date of Broadcast: May 20, 2013
DEBRA: Hi. This is Debra Lynn Dadd. This is Toxic Free Talk Radio where we talk about how to thrive in a toxic world even though there are many toxic chemicals around us and consumer products in the environment. It seems like every place we look, things are toxic.
There are actually many, many, many toxic-free products and things and many, many people who are working on making the world a safer place to live.
I have been doing this radio show now for – I think this is week four. I look back at the archives of people that have been guests on the show. And I look forward at the huge list of people that I have waiting to book.
I just look at this and I think there are so many people doing so much to make the world less toxic. How can we not eventually do it?
There are so many resources available to you on my website. You just go to ToxicFreeTalkRadio.com and look across the top of the page. There are all kinds of links in the different parts my site. Also go to my guest website. Just look around and look at how much is being on the world. It’s really very, very, very encouraging.
Today we’re going to talk about Essential Oils and how they’re different from toxic fragrance and how they can be beneficial to your health.
First I want to tell you about something that happened over the weekend. A lot of what we’re talking about on this show is change. I’m asking you to change things. I know even in my own life it’s difficult to make changes especially if we think we need to hold on to things. I’ve talked about this before and I know I’ll talk about it again.
But I want to tell you something that happened over the weekend. It just encouraged me that it’s okay to make change. And that is my telephone broke.
Now of course, being an author, a consultant and a radio talk show host, having a telephone is essential. One of the things that I need on my phone is a timer, a call timer so that when I’m doing consultations, I don’t have to set a separate clock. It just times it.
A few years ago, the last time I needed a new phone, there was only one phone that I could find that had a timer. It took me a long time to find it. I have to make a choice between having a call timer and caller ID and then speaker from a different work. But I needed my call timer.
This time, the phone broke. I’m like, “Oh, no. No. No. Now I had to go through all this again.” And then I just looked online. In about five minutes, I got a new phone that not only had a caller timer and caller ID and speaker phone and any other feature that I could possibly get.
But it was only $20. I ordered it. I have it delivered overnight and I just love this phone. It is the best phone that I’ve ever had.
So here I went from a crisis of having to make a change, to be willing to make a change and saying, “Well, let’s go out there and see what there is” and finding that I was delighted that I was forced to make a change.
This is where we are with toxics. Well, not me anymore. I know a lot of you listening and people out in the world have things that are harming their health and their ability to think and spiritual awareness and harming the environment or harming their children. In order to handle that, there needs to be a change.
I just want you to have this example of “I made a change and it turned out for the better. You can do that too.”
Our guest today is Jackie McLaughlin. She is an independent distributor for Young Living Essential Oils. As a natural health enthusiast, she has a passion for helping others from more natural ways to create and sustain better health without harmful ingredients often found in commonly used products.
Now I’ve been looking for products for many years that don’t have toxic chemicals in them. Jackie has been very interested in the specific alternative of using essential oils that have beneficial effects.
She’s currently taking a 300 hour curriculum to become a certified clinical aroma therapist. So we’re going to learn all about natural fragrances and how they can help us today.
Thanks for being on the show, Jackie.
JACKIE MCLAUGHLIN: Thanks, Debra. It’s really a pleasure to be here. It’s a very beautiful day here in western North Carolina. I look forward to our little chat today.
DEBRA: Me too. I love western North Carolina. It’s such a beautiful place. Please tell us how you got interested in learning about toxic chemicals and safer alternatives.
JACKIE MCLAUGHLIN: Okay. Like most people, I was just rocking along in the world like everybody else does, not thinking too much about the products that I was using and the effects that they might have on me.
I had a lot of problems with allergies. I found out that I actually had a thyroid condition and autoimmune thyroid condition that I don’t know.
They never know what brings things on, but a lot of the products that have chemicals in them are endocrine disruptors. And thyroid is an endocrine gland. So that’s where my interest got peaked if you will.
At the time when I was living in Texas, I still am in Texas, as a certified massage therapist. So I was working with clients with health and they’re feeling good and making their body pains go away. One of my friends told me, “Now we’re going to use essential oils. In your body work, you really should use Young Living because they really are the best.”
I said okay. So I got some and I had no idea what I had. They stayed on the shelves and I didn’t do much with them.
One day, the universe tapped me on the shoulder and said, “Hey. You need to look at this stuff.” So I started experimenting with it and reading about it and learning about it. I started incorporating the oils into my session and like I said, I believe the changes that were happening for people. So that really got my attention.
DEBRA: What kind of changes? Tell us about this.
JACKIE MCLAUGHLIN: Well, where I had worked with people and helped them with chronic pains, we could get things moving and get relief, but it used to come back.
I learned to do Raindrops Therapy, which is using specific oils predominantly on the spine. And unbelievable things were happening for people there. Their chronic disease was literally going away and they had no more pain. They were totally functional. They were able to get back to their daily lifestyle and do all the things that they love to do.
It’s a very powerful oil application that can just boost the immune system. I would use those oils when the flue was going around. Instead of taking medications, I would use essential oils that are anti-viral, anti-bacterial, and anti-fungal. And I was able to keep my health when everybody around me was sick.
As far as my allergies, I used to have to take allergy shots. I used to take medications for allergies. When I discovered Young Living Lavender Oil, all that stopped.
Lavender oil is actually natural anti-histamine. And as I started to have allergy symptoms, I just start using my lavender either rub it under my nose. If my eyes are itching, I’ll put a little bit in my hand and my put hand over my eyes and just let the fumes go in and it will stop itching.
I can even put it in a capsule and take it because Young Living oils are therapeutic grade, which is a little different – actually quite a lot different than the perfume-grade oils that you typically see in the health food stores or on the market.
DEBRA: What’s the difference between a perfume-grade and a therapeutic grade? It’s processed probably in a different way. I actually don’t know very much about essential oils because from my background, one of the things that I was very allergic to in the past was perfume.
So I was around people. I still am. In the early days, there was a general assumption that if you had reactions to a fragrance, it didn’t matter if it was synthetic or natural. This is before anybody talked about aroma therapy.
I just tried to stay away from everything. I remember the day when I went into a store in San Francisco where you could put your own scent in your shampoo. We’ll talk more about this after the break.
JACKIE MCLAUGHLIN: Okay.
DEBRA: This is Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. I’m here with Jackie McLaughlin.
She is a distributor for Young Living Essential Oils. She has lots and lots of experience in the natural health field as a massage therapist and different things.
We were talking before the break about – let me give you her website which is Oil-Essentials.com. My website is ToxicFreeTalkRadio.com where you can read her bio on the link that’s right there.
Before the break, we were talking about many years ago before we knew anything about aroma therapy. I was first being sensitive to toxic chemicals.
The whole point was to avoid anything that has fragrance. There wasn’t a distinction between artificial fragrances made out of toxic chemicals and natural essential oils, which could have benefits.
I was about to say that I remember the first day that I walked into a store in San Francisco where they had various products like shampoo and lotion and things like that where you could scent them with any scent that you wanted. They were all essential oils.
I thought, “Hallelujah.” I went from feeling like I could never have a fragrance again and that I just needed to shut down my entire sense of smell to feeling like “Here were some natural fragrances that I could try.”
What I found was that I could use vanilla as a fragrance. I could use mint as a fragrance. And vanilla mint shampoo was my favorite for a long time. Those two scents just smell wonderful together. Then I added lavender and different things.
And then we started hearing about aroma therapy. I thought, “Well, there could be some benefits.”
So tell us the difference between an artificial fragrance and a perfume essential oil that you might buy at the natural food store versus therapeutic essential oil such as you have with Young Living.
JACKIE MCLAUGHLIN: Yes, it is. The artificial fragrance is first of all mostly synthetic. That’s the reason so many people have sensitivities to them. They come from petrochemical products and things like that.
Essential oils that are not the therapeutic grade like Young Living also are all about fragrance and not necessarily about the chemistry that makes them have a therapeutic benefit.
So you may find oil in a health food store that says 100% pure and it smells just like lavender let’s say. So you buy it and you think you have a product that’s safe to use in your body. You look closely at the label and it will have a warning. They’ll say, “For external use only” or something along those lines.
The reason they have those warnings because they do use some chemicals in their distillation process sometimes. Or maybe you have [tyrosine] in it, which is very bad for you. So they have to put those warnings on.
Young Living is completely different. They don’t use any chemicals, whatsoever in the process on the oil. They don’t add anything to it. Each and every plant has a different requirement for distillation.
Most perfume grade oils just distill long enough to get the fragrance they want and they’re done. With Young Living Oils, every plant has a different requirement to get the full symphony of components of it to create this energy that gives it a therapeutic benefit.
DEBRA: Could you say the difference is somewhat akin that the whole food would have all the nutrients as opposed to just a single nutrient that might be manufactured in a factory? And you talked about whole oils that have all the components that you would find in a plant.
JACKIE MCLAUGHLIN: Correct. Most oil companies don’t go to that trouble. They don’t care about getting the full and to cause any of the components. All they want is the smell.
If you get the smell, that’s nice for your proprio or whatever. But it’s not going to give you necessarily a therapeutic benefit. That’s where Young Living is completely different than the rest of the companies on the market.
When you talk about harmful chemicals in the home, Young Living created an oil blend called Thieves, which was named in honor of the 15th century thieves in Europe that were robbing the dead bodies of the plague. Nobody would touch the bodies because it was so contagious.
They captured the thieves and told them to give up their secret. They spared their lives or whatever. So they told them. “We’re spice traders and we’re using the oils from these plants because they’re anti-viral, anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, et cetera.”
Gary Young, the Founder of Young Living took that information that he got when he was traveling in Europe and studying in the ancient archives there. He took it home and created Thieves Oil, which is an essential oil blend.
It was so successful at killing germs and viruses and bugs and so forth that they create an entire line of products from that one oil. Also in addition to having essential oils, we have personal care products.
There’s a Thieves household cleaner that is so toxic-free, you can drink it. There’s Thieves mouthwash. There’s Thieves toothpaste. There are Thieves anesthetic sprays, Thieves anti-bacterial hand sanitizers. That’s a big one.
The hand sanitizers. I think all of them just about on the market have something called triclosan. Triclosan was originally created as a pesticide and it is a very nasty product that can cause a lot of health problems.
So people go around using these hand sanitizers, carrying them in their purse and they’re using them all day long. They’re harming their health.
DEBRA: We should say that it’s very easy for toxic substances to go in through your skin. I think a lot of people grew up thinking that a poison is something that you need to drink.
Actually if you put any kind of toxic chemical on your skin, it’s actually worse than drinking it because it goes straight through your skin into your blood stream and throughout your body in a second.
JACKIE MCLAUGHLIN: In a second, that’s absolutely right.
DEBRA: If you put it in your stomach, it could slow down by fats and other things that are in your digestive system. But if you put it on your skin, it goes straight into your body.
So it’s even more important to be careful about what you put on your skin and what you’re breathing and even what you’re putting directly in your body through eating it or drinking it. So that’s a really important thing.
We’re going to need to go to break. But after the break, I will hear more about your products.
JACKIE MCLAUGHLIN: Okay.
DEBRA: I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. I’m here with Jackie McLaughlin, a Young Living Essential Oils distributor. Her website is Oil-Essentials.com. We’ll be back in a few minutes.
DEBRA: You’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. We’re here today talking with Jackie McLaughlin who is an independent distributor for Young Living Essential Oils.
Her website is Oil-Essentials.com. You can go to my website, ToxicFreeTalkRadio.com. You can see her beautiful picture there and her bio and the link to her website.
Before the break, we were talking about some of the products that are made from the aroma therapy, therapeutic grade oils that she sells. Before we get back to hearing about those, I just want to mention something that I wrote in my book, Home Safe Home some years ago. I was cleaning out some books that belonged to my great aunt. I found the book from 1927 called The Mystery and Lure of Perfume.
In my book Home Safe Home, I quoted a section from it where they found in Paris that the women, who were working in the Flower District and also working with essential oils, distilling the oils for perfume and things, have less illness than other people in the general population.
From observing that in the people who were working with flowers, there was then a study which was done at the Pasteur Institute in Paris and other places. The results of these experiments showed that the substances in the essential oils did kill, just as what Jackie has been talking about – the Institute Pasteur way back the beginning of the 20th century showed that these were anti-bacterial substances.
The oils that they found to be most effective for disinfectants were cinnamon, thyme, French geranium, Indian verbena, lavender, patchouli, angelica, juniper, sandalwood, [cedar]. When I heard…
JACKIE MCLAUGHLIN: I was just going to say it’s interesting too that according to Dr. Jean Valnet, vaporized oil of lemon can kill meningococcus bacteria in 15 minutes. It can kill typhoid bacilli in one hour, staphylococcus aureus in two hours, pneumococcus bacteria in three hours. And even a 0.2% solution of lemon oil can kill diphtheria bacteria in 20 minutes and inactivates tuberculosis. That’s just lemon oil.
DEBRA: Yes. And the nature is full of all of these things. I went on a nature walk once. I was told that if you touched something and let’s say you got a rash, like stinging nettles or something, the remedy is always within a certain radius of the plant.
JACKIE MCLAUGHLIN: Yeah.
DEBRA: Isn’t that interesting? It’s like nature is so wondrous and has put together in such a way to support health.
Instead of learning more about that as a culture, what we’ve chosen to do is embrace this whole artificial synthetic toxic world.
JACKIE MCLAUGHLIN: Now we have all kinds of disease to go with it.
DEBRA: Yes, we do. It’s the product of lifestyle. It’s a product of choice.
JACKIE MCLAUGHLIN: It is.
DEBRA: And this is one of the reasons why once I got to the point where as a mother and consumer many years ago, I’ve withdrawn and I said, “Wait a minute. I’m consuming all these toxic products. There must be something else.”
I discovered that there was this whole other world. Since then I really had been looking to nature to see how nature guides us and what kinds of gift the nature has for us. It’s not just about being non-toxic. It’s about embracing this whole other idea that there are life-reforming things all around us.
Tell us more about your products.
JACKIE MCLAUGHLIN: Debra, we have a full line of products. We have more essential oils than any other company because we’ve been doing it for so long. Of course ours is a better quality than anybody else’s. But out of that, we’ve created a whole line of other products to help people get away from those toxic products.
Dr. Sandra Steingraber wrote a book called Raising Elijah. She writes in there that well-informed futility refers to a particular kind of learned helplessness.
Basically she’s saying that the more knowledgeable we are about a problem existing, the more we’re filled with paralysis. And we can’t act. It’s almost as if we’ve become immune. She says in this case, the action is too easy. We just need to change our buying habits.
Young Living created this full line of products to help people get away from those toxic chemical-laden products. So we have body lotions and [bath] gels and shampoo and all those personal care products. They’re toxic free with essential oils in them.
And then we have a full line of supplements. We have, as I mentioned earlier, the oral care. We have the toothpaste and the mouthwash and even dental flosses with essential oils on it, with the Thieves oil on it.
There’s a full line of products, deodorants – you name it, anything that you would use in your body or on your body, Young Living has something for everyone so that we can get away from the toxic products just by changing our buying habits.
DEBRA: What would you say to somebody especially who is chemically sensitive? And I’ll just interject here that there are people who cannot tolerate any fragrances or any toxic chemicals because of their particular damage that has occurred to their body.
That’s different from somebody who is basically healthy that they want to be not getting sick from toxic chemicals.
JACKIE MCLAUGHLIN: First of all, I would say that lots of cleansing would be in order and supporting the liver.
DEBRA: My question was what would you say to them with regard to using aroma therapy products?
JACKIE MCLAUGHLIN: Well if it’s the quality that Young Living has, it should be safe. Now if they’re really toxic, they could have a detoxing reaction, which would be the oils are bringing the toxins out.
Sometimes people that are very toxic can get a rash from using the oil. It doesn’t mean they’re allergic to it. It means it’s pulling – the oils actually digest these petrochemicals and pull them out. If you take a drop of lemon oil…
DEBRA: Tell me more about that. How does that work?
JACKIE MCLAUGHLIN: If I take a drop of lemon oil and put it in a Styrofoam cup, it will eat right through it. So you don’t want to put lemon oil in your water if you’re drinking water out of Styrofoam.
DEBRA: Yeah.
JACKIE MCLAUGHLIN: So yes, the oils will go in and they will just break up these petrochemicals that are stored in the body.
We actually even have some of the other distributors in Young Living who have experimented with ways to get rid of cellulite and fat because the fat stores toxins to protect your organ. If people have problems with weight, oftentimes it tends to do with the toxins in their body.
DEBRA: I found that too. And I hear my music cue. We need to go to break.
You’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. We’re here with Jackie McLaughlin, talking about the many benefits of essential oils. We’ll be back after this.
DEBRA: You’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. I’m here with my guest, Jackie McLaughlin who is an independent distributor for Young Living Essential Oils.
Her website is Oil-Essentials.com. My website is ToxicFreeTalkRadio.com. You can go to my website and find out more about Jackie and click right through their website.
Before the break, we were talking about how therapeutic grade essential oils can actually break the toxic chemicals in your body. I want to hear more about that, Jackie.
JACKIE MCLAUGHLIN: Okay. If they are the therapeutic grade type like Young Living and they don’t have warning labels that say you can’t take them internally, then you can – I like to drink lemon oil in my water and just drink it all day long. It makes the water taste great and it also helps me.
There are many other ways you can use essential oils. If you’re not sure where to put the oil, just put it on the bottom of your feet. As you mentioned earlier, it will go through the skin and through the body within seconds. In minutes, it will be permeated throughout the entire body.
Because it’s natural, these oils just seem to know where to go and what needs addressing. So they just interact with your chemistry, with your body and take care of things naturally. And there are no side effects. That’s the best part.
DEBRA: So how would one know? How many essential oils do you have available?
JACKIE MCLAUGHLIN: Oh, hundreds.
DEBRA: Hundreds. So if I were to come to you…
JACKIE MCLAUGHLIN: I’d say the number, 240. That’s a ballpark.
DEBRA: Okay. If I were to come to you and say, “I want an essential oil,” how would we know which one I should have?
JACKIE MCLAUGHLIN: Well, we would talk about what you want it for. There’s a reference book. There are actually a couple of reference books that I recommend when people want to start using essential oils.
One of them is called Reference Guide for Essential Oils by Connie and Alan Higley. And the other one is the Essential Oils Desk Reference 5th Edition. It’s the latest one. Higley’s book is the 12th edition.
You could just look up anything. If you had headaches, you could look up headaches and it would tell you which oils could be good for headaches or that kind of thing.
DEBRA: You would just start trying. Maybe there are three oils or something that could help headaches and you would just try taking whichever one…
JACKIE MCLAUGHLIN: And there are different ways to use them. You might take them internally or you might use them topically. You might even just diffuse them when you’re at home or office. There are a lot of different ways.
DEBRA: So then they would go in your body by the methods that you said. See I’ve never used this, of all the things. I’ve tried so many things.
I’ve never tried essential oils and I think it’s because going back to what I was talking about.
JACKIE MCLAUGHLIN: It’s amazing how many times I had that happen everywhere. Somebody will say, “Well, I can’t use essential oils because the smells bother me.”
“Well, they bother me too. I can’t go into a candle store or the Bed, Bath & Beyond place where they have all those lotions and scented products. They give me a headache as soon as I walk in the door. But we’re not talking about the same thing.”
So you just have to help people understand that even though it does have a fragrance, it doesn’t have the chemicals in it that are going to give you the problems. It’s not the perfumes that bother them. It’s the way they made the perfume, the chemicals that’s in it.
DEBRA: Very interesting. Very interesting.
JACKIE MCLAUGHLIN: But there are a lot of different ways you can use them as I said. It depends on what it is you need.
When people are really serious about wanting to use essential oils to improve their lives, I teach classes. I consult with people over the phone. I talk to them one-on-one. The bottom line is I refer to them to resources that can help them educate themselves and figure out what’s the right plan for them because everybody’s different.
One oil will maybe work for headaches for one person. And a different oil will work for headaches for another person. Maybe your headaches are hormone-related or maybe they’re stress-related. So different oils are going to be helpful depending on why you have that headache.
DEBRA: Tell us specifically – I know a lot of people listening have thyroid problems. That’s very common for people who are sensitive to toxic chemicals.
The thyroid seems to be affected. It’s just one of the endocrine things that can be affected by fluoride. It can be affected by lack of iodine. There are so many things.
Let’s just take that as an example of what might be something that people could try for thyroid.
JACKIE MCLAUGHLIN: For thyroid, believe it or not, clove could be a good oil. Myrtle is another oil.
Young Living has a wonderful blend that they created just for endocrine glands called EndoFlex. That’s probably a favorite for thyroid and adrenals and any kind of endocrine gland.
There are also other blends you could create yourself with lemongrass and myrrh. I’m trying to think. It’s on the top of my head. Peppermint, spearmint, all of those can be helpful to thyroid. It’s depending on whether you get hyperthyroid or hypothyroid.
And then Young Living also has a supplement that they’ve created called Thyromin, which helps the thyroid. It supports it. There are a lot of different possibilities there.
DEBRA: Good. I’m trying to remember. I took a look at your website actually some months ago. I’m trying to remember different things that I saw there.
Young Living, they have their own farms or something. Can you tell us more about where these oils come from?
JACKIE MCLAUGHLIN: Absolutely. That’s one of the things that make Young Living by far and away superior to other companies because we do have our own farm.
We have farms on four continents. We have farms in Idaho. We have farms in France, Utah and Ecuador. And now we even have one in Salalah, Oman where we’re growing frankincense.
Young Living tries to grow as much as their own plants as they can. And then they do their own distillation with very stringent guidelines and testing. Every batch is tested.
Like I said earlier, every plant is distilled differently because every plant, to get the full symphony of components out of that oil, one may have to be distilled for six hours. And another one may have to be distilled for 23 hours.
Gary Young has found new plants. He has discovered plants and distilled the oils that no one else has ever distilled. They started distilling Idaho’s blue spruce. No one in the world has ever distilled that before. And they’re having incredible results with that in the research that they’re doing.
They check every 15 minutes when they’re distilling the plant, when they first started distilling it to see when they get the full benefits and when it goes past that and starts to destroy them. Nobody else in the world goes to that kind of trouble in their distillations.
Most companies are actually brokers. And they just buy oil from big brokers all over the world and stick their own label on it.
DEBRA: That’s the way it is with vitamins and minerals and all kinds of [inaudible 00:47:14]. In fact, I think this is one important point.
One of the big problems that consumers have is that most products – the people who assemble them – they’re not even manufactured. They’re just assembled. And the people who assemble them don’t know anything about where the material came from. It just arrives in a barrel or a box or something.
One of the things about Young Living and other companies like Touchstone Essentials, which we’ve talked about is they are actually growing the plant material. And they have control over every single step.
You can go to Jackie’s website. And they have a whole process they call Seed to Seal where they plant the seed. They cultivate the plant. They distill it, they test it and they put it in the bottle. They have everything on that.
JACKIE MCLAUGHLIN: The other important thing about that, Debra is the seed itself. Many companies are now using modified seeds or hybrid seeds. Young Living never uses hybrid. They use the real deal.
As a matter of fact, a couple of years ago in France, they had a virus or a fungus or something that literally wiped out all their lavender fields. It destroyed them.
They actually came to convention at Young Living last year and spoke on the stage about their gratitude towards Gary Young because Gary trained in France with the experts over there about distillation and so forth. They are getting their seeds from Young Living to re-establish their crops in France. And Gary is donating the seeds to help them get re-established in France.
DEBRA: Yeah, that’s so wonderful. That’s so wonderful. Well Jackie, it’s been a pleasure to have you. I’ve learned some things about essential oils and aromatherapy that I didn’t know. And I’m glad that I do know it now.
I think the work that you’re doing is great and I do want people to know. I have been saying “Independent distributor, independent distributor.”
I know that some people have less than kind thoughts about independent distributors. But I want people to know that there are businesses in the world where you can be doing something good and something not toxic and helping people live less toxic-free and [inaudible 00:49:55].
So we’ll be back tomorrow with another wonderful guest. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. You’ve been listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio.
Twine to Make an Outdoor Doormat?
Question from Lisa
Hello Debra, I was wondering if you could suggest a natural or one of the ‘safer’ non-natural twines or yarns that someone could use for an outdoor doormat. I would like to have something that didn’t mildew or mold, since I am sensitive to mold and I have heard that sisal can be bad when it gets wet. Any ideas?
Thank you so much!
Debra’s Answer
I’ve never made an outdoor doormat. If you could send me some possibilities you are considering, I could review the materials, but I don’t even know where to begin with this.
I purchase my doormats, which are usually recycled rubber. I’ve given up on natural fibers because it rains so much here in Florida that they just fall apart.
Readers, any experience with this?
Natural Sun Protection Without Lotion
Question from SVE
Dear Debra, I need to avoid the sun and can’t use lotions. Would you please list the best natural fabrics, kinds of clothing and non-toxic items for blocking UV rays from hitting the skin? It’s especially difficult on hot, very sunny days. Thanks so much!
Debra’s Answer
First, I suggest that you read “Debra’s Guide to Choosing Natural Sun Protection“.
As for fabrics that offer the best protection, there are studies and ratings about this, but the simple guideline is to choose natural fabrics.
So for natural fabrics, a loose long-sleeve black woven cotton or linen blouse and similar pants would offer the best protection, with a wide-brimmed hat.
I would also get a parasol. Here are some cotton parasols specifically designed to provide shade from the sun and not to be waterproof against the rain (even the word parasol means “protect against the sun”. Google results “cotton parasol”
Jacquard Cotton Umbrella @ misterart.com
How Your Bra Affects Your Health
My guest is Maria Monti, founder of The Healthy Bra Company. The wrong bra can harm your health in many ways and the the right bra can improve it. My interest in the subject is that incorrect bras can block the natural flow of lymph in your body, preventing the flow of toxic chemicals through and out of the body, and contributing to the buildup of chemicals levels that contribute to illness. The right bra can actually help your body detox. Maria is a professional Postural Therapist with 18 years experience in analyzing posture and designing corrective exercise programs to relieve the stress and strain of the daily postural duress on the body. With her experience in assessing posture and re-aligning the human structure, becoming a custom bra fitting specialist was a natural next step. Maria founded The Healthy Bra Company, in 2002. With now ten plus years experience (and over one thousand hours) in custom bra fitting, she offers a “highly personalized fitting opportunity” which incorporates a revolutionary way of matching your BODY TYPE, UNIQUE ANATOMY and presenting STRUCTURAL ALIGNMENT with the bra styles(s) most suited to give you the best structural support, look, proper sizing and fit. www.thehealthybracompany.com
TOXIC FREE TALK RADIO
How Healthy Bra Affects Your Health
Host: Debra Lynn Dadd
Guest: Maria Monti
Date of Broadcast: May 15, 2013
DEBRA: Hi, I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. This is Toxic Free Talk Radio where we talk about how to thrive in a toxic world even though there are toxic chemicals all around us in consumer products and then in the environment. Every place you look it seems, there are actually many things that are not toxic in this world and that’s what we’re going to be talking about.
We talk about how to remove toxic chemicals from your home, from your body so that you can be happy, healthy, productive, can think clearly, be spiritually aware, have plenty of energy in your body and all of those good things.
Today is Wednesday, May 15, 2013. I’m here in Clearwater, Florida. Today, I had already scheduled my guest, Maria Monti from The Healthy Bra Company when I saw the news that Angelina Jolie has surgically removed both her breasts in order to prevent cancer. We’re going to talk about that as well as what we were going to talk about originally.
But instead of me giving my commentary on it, I’m going to introduce Maria right away so that Maria and I can both comment on that before we talk about what we decided we were going to talk about.
Maria is the Founder of The Healthy Bra Company. The wrong bra can harm your health in many ways and the right bra can improve it. My interest in the subject is that incorrect bras can block the natural flow of lymph in your body, preventing the flow of toxic chemicals through and out of your body and contributing to the buildup of chemicals levels that contribute to illness. And the right bra can actually help your body detox.
Maria is a professional postural therapist with 18 years experience in analyzing posture and designing corrective exercise programs to reduce stress and strain of daily postural duress on the body. And with her experience in assessing posture and re-aligning the human structure, it was natural for her to go into custom bra fitting.
So she founded The Healthy Bra Company in 2002. Now, with all those experiences, she offers a highly personalized fitting opportunity, which incorporates matching your body type, unique anatomy and structural alignment with the bra styles and materials most suited to give you the best support, look, proper sizing and fit.
Welcome to Toxic Free Talk Radio, Maria. I’m so glad you’re here today [inaudible 00:03:38].
MARIA MONTI: Yeah, it was very much so. I wanted to mention that your summary was very well spoken. I would like to express my sincere gratitude for being able to share my path and the information today with your listeners.
DEBRA: Thank you very much. Let’s get right to Angelina. I’m going to go ahead and let you comment first. I have things I want to say, but you go ahead and comment first.
MARIA MONTI: Yeah, I gave this a lot of thought last night because she is a women beyond all else. What I want to say is that I respect her choice because it is her choice. And secondly, I would like to say that I am not qualified despite the fact that I’m a woman and I have breasts.
I am not qualified to make a judgment about this because it is her body and I don’t live in her body.
But I get calls all the time about women who want to take off their breasts as a result or reduction surgery and we have this conversation weekly. In the sense of her consciousness and the choice she made, I respect it because it is her choice.
DEBRA: Well, what I would like to say is that I think there are other options. I also want to make sure that my listeners understand what has happened here and what she’s saying because it certainly is being presented in shorthand way and certainly it’s a sensational thing to see this beautiful movie star make a decision like this.
And if you really read the articles and find out what the message is, she’s not saying that every woman should remove their breasts if they might get breast cancer.
She happens to test positive for a very specific gene called BRCA gene. Only a very specific group of women have that gene. If you look at the medical recommendation, if you have this gene, they are saying remove your breasts because it’s genetic and that none of the standard things that you might do to resist your cancer risk would affect this gene.
So if you remove your breast for this reason, then it improves your risk of getting cancer by 90%. With that information, I can certainly understand why she would make that choice.
In the articles, they say, “Angelina Jolie is removing her two breasts that don’t have cancer. Why would she do that?” Well, why she would do that is because her doctor told her that to do that is the recommended treatment, which reduces her risk of cancer by 90%. If somebody were to tell you to do something that would reduce your risk of cancer by 90%, you might just do it.
So I wanted to make it clear that women should not just run out and cut their breasts off so that they won’t get cancer. There are many things that contribute to cancer, including toxic chemical exposure, including poor nutrition. There are very specific toxic chemicals that cause cancer and breast cancer and you can certainly remove those from your home.
But I also respect her decision and I’m sure that she considered it. I mean, that’s not the kind of thing that you just do overnight. I’m sure that she considered what was best for her family and for her life and did the right thing.
MARIA MONTI: Can I make one more comment there?
DEBRA: Sure. Go ahead.
MARIA MONTI: I also wanted to refer women as they’re pondering this subject to the pioneers that came before us, Rachel Carson, Silent Spring and Sandra Steingraber who wrote books about these very issues about cancer as well as environmental toxins. These are back in the 50s. So this is not obviously a new subject. And your passion is all about that too.
So there is a lot of material out there that can give solace at a time when perhaps fear is in the [inaudible 00:08:21].
DEBRA: Yes. Yes. I can say that I have a very dear friend personally who has been recovering from breast cancer by using natural means.
But she’s not out of the woods yet, but her recovery has been great. Again, it’s a different kind of situation that she doesn’t have that gene.
What’s being recommended is that women do get tested if they fall into this particular ethnic group. You can find out more about that. I actually put some links on my Facebook page at Debra Lynn Dadd, Queen of Green that has all kinds of information to determine if you’re somebody who should even be concerned about those. But all of us should be doing things to reduce our cancer risk. And you should find out if this gene is a concern for you. And if so, what is the recommended thing to do about it.
I also want to mention, as I said on my Facebook page, that just because somebody has a genetic propensity to something, that doesn’t mean that that’s the end of the story. There’s something now called epigenetics where people are finding that they can reverse genetic damage or change your genes. If toxic chemicals can damage your genes, then doing the right thing can make your genes come back or improve them.
That’s not widely known even in the medical community, but there’s a lot of research on it. So there really is a lot that can be done and we shouldn’t be afraid that women by the…
This is Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd and we’re having a few, little technical difficulties here. I’m not sure what’s going on, maybe a sunspot. We’re continuing on the phone because there was a technical difficulty with Skype and we’re working on fixing it.
What don’t you go ahead and tell us why did you choose to go into health field for your profession?
MARIA MONTI: I’ve always been a very highly sensitive person, particularly very much so in my body and my physiology. I grew up on my grandma’s organic farm in Michigan and I was very heavily influenced by her philosophies of nature and natural laws.
And then we moved to Canada where I was living right downstream from DOW Chemical and a lot of the Detroit automakers.
So I had diagnoses of chronic fatigue syndrome, chronic fatigue immune deficiency syndrome, Epstein-Barr and of course multiple chemical sensitivities. So all of that led me basically into the health field because I knew I was going to need to help myself as well as I wanted to help others.
So I studied health and wellness, personal training for fitness and then later postural therapy. That kept me into the health field.
DEBRA: Wow! That’s very interesting because I didn’t know that about you. I think there are a lot of people who are doing the kind of work that you and I do have that beginning. So what made you choose the field of custom fitted bras as the avenue of health to pursue?
MARIA MONTI: I’ll do a segue way. It took 25 years for me to be my own health advocate, exercising self responsibility and basically trailblazing resources to “get clean” so to speak from a detox standpoint. That led me down different roads.
And since I studied postural therapy, I saw that there were complications to women’s bras and bra-wearing as it related to the symptoms that they presented when they came for their appointments.
So I filed that away and thought that’s something important, but not necessarily timely. But at the time, my heavy patient load started to really get much more fatiguing and it got the best of me. I started to experience non-cancerous and large lymph nodes and I had to retire from postural therapy. And like the people you were interviewing yesterday, you were with Jennifer Parker, I had to find a toxic-free haven to continue my self-healing.
I hear the music. Would you like for me to continue?
DEBRA: Let’s wait until after the break. I’m hoping we’ll be back on Skype, but we will be continuing after the break. This is Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd.
DEBRA: You’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. I’m here today with Maria Monti from The Healthy Bra Company. We’re talking about bras and breasts and how you can be healthy.
Maria, tell us about the body’s lymph system because I know that the type of bra that you wear can either help the lymph system flow or block the lymph system. And you need to have a functioning lymph system to get toxic chemicals out of your body. So explain it to us.
MARIA MONTI: Let me just do a little segue way because it’s really critical. During my healing hiatus, I found these bras and basically simultaneously and serendipitously, I also found another lump in my left armpit. As a part of working with these bras and the manual lymph drainage procedure that we teach with them, the lump actually disappeared after 12 weeks. So this was my connection to the power of the lymphatic system.
Now, we could spend hours talking about it because it’s a system that is critical, but not well-known. It is part of the body’s immune system. I have read recently that the extreme importance of it is that without it functioning and if it’s shut down, autointoxication, which is the internal poisoning of our own body by our own accumulated toxins would cause death within 12 to 48 hours.
So these kinds of things, we want to make sure that the lymphatic system is working against the body’s detox mechanism. And it is very fragile. It is easy to damage and it is very easy to also cut off, especially with tight clothing. So think about anytime you put a rubber band around your finger and it turns purple and it starts to swell, this is what tight clothing can do (for example, bras) if not fitted correctly and properly for a person’s body type, their posture, the weight of their breasts, many aspects that I look at as a postural therapist.
Education is so critical in tying these two things together, bras and lymph health.
DEBRA: Good! So do you want to explain a little bit about the lymph system itself? I know we’ve started late, so it does need to be brief because I want to make sure that we talk about some of the other things too.
MARIA MONTI: Sure. The lymph system is made of vessels and nodes. We often hear about the lymph nodes. Think of those as filtration systems. The lymph vesselsare like a spider network.
So if you were to think about filling up a glass jar with marbles, the space in between the marbles is like the lymph fluid and the lymph vessels. When that is not working properly, not only do your cells not get bathed with nutrition, but the cells do not get to be detoxified.
So this is what we really need to know about the lymph system and why it can’t be overlooked in any situation especially with the load that’s on it these days with so many toxins that are coming in by air, by food, by water, by everything that we are exposed to. And probably the person with even the most perfect health would have a challenge in dealing with all of these lymph issues. So the bra is obviously a woman’s issue.
DEBRA: Yes. Also, when chemicals come into the body, don’t they go into that fluid in between the cells?
MARIA MONTI: Yes.
DEBRA: So it’s like the cells are sitting in this toxic fluid. If it doesn’t move, if the lymph doesn’t move and take the toxic chemicals away, then it’s just like marinating your cells on toxic chemicals.
MARIA MONTI: Exactly. It’s like toxic soup.
DEBRA: Yeah, it’s just like toxic soup. And this is why it’s so important to have the lymph nodes moved. And I’ll just interject here that the lymph is not like the heart where the heart has a pump that moves the blood around in the body. The lymph sits there unless you exercise.
And even if you exercise, if your bra is not fitted properly, it’s like putting a rubber band around your body so that the lymph can’t move.
That’s why we’re here today discussing this.
MARIA MONTI: There are other things besides exercise too that can stimulate it. I’ll talk about those too.
DEBRA: Okay, good. What makes it challenging for women to find the correct or right bra today?
MARIA MONTI: I think four things are really critical. We have cookie-cutter designed manufacturing for mass production. We have advertising coming across radio, TV and magazines saying what look is acceptable and fashionable by society. We have tremendous synthetic fabric cotton and synthetically chemically treated fabric. And then we have the way that bras are fit. We have improper fit and wear and the lack of knowledgeable fitting technicians who can understand the links between the proper fit of a person’s body type, their posture and not impairing the lymph system.
So it’s a multi-faceted, complex situation. That’s why I spend probably two hours with every new person I work with to help them bridge the gap of education and also help quell their frustrations about why they can’t find anything out there that works.
DEBRA: Yes, it is a challenge. Now, don’t tell anybody else. I’ll just tell you. I haven’t worn a bran in years. And fortunately, it’s not a big deal for me because I think I don’t need one and you might think otherwise because it’s supporting. But it was because I couldn’t get past all those things that you just said. I didn’t want to wear synthetic materials. They were uncomfortable. It didn’t seem like it was doing anything anyway. I couldn’t find the solution, so I just gave up on the whole field.
So I’m really glad that you’re there, understanding and giving women other options. Now just briefly, let’s talk about the synthetic materials for a minute. I know I get this question over and over again about, “Why can’t I find an organic bra? Why is it that every organic cotton bra I look at has synthetic materials in it?”
MARIA MONTI: Yeah. It should not be that one cannot find that. What I have discovered in searching out fabric content as well is that there is organic cotton material out there, but depending on what other criteria one has, let’s say they want support (which is often the reason to wear a bra), the more cotton you use, the more something stretchy you have to use also in order to not make it feel like a tablecloth on your body.
So you’ve got to have a combination of good fabrics, but also a design and the fabrics that support the design. We have that difficulty too. I’m not going to say that we don’t have synthetic or some synthetically treated fibers, but we have found a way to work with them and work around them to the best health of the woman and particularly relating back to the lymph system. So I’m very, very cognizant of that.
And you might think I’m a pro-bra person, but I’m not. As a postural therapist, I know some women just have to wear bras because of the heavy weight of their breast or their posture. And we look at postures…
DEBRA: I have to cut you off, I’m sorry, because we have to go to commercial. But we’ll be back.
MARIA MONTI: Okay.
DEBRA: This is Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd with Maria Monti.
DEBRA: You’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. I’m here with Maria Monti from The Healthy Bra Company and the website is TheHealthyBraCompany.com I think, isn’t it, Maria?
MARIA MONTI: Yes.
DEBRA: Good! So tell us what you offer. What are your products and services that you can offer to women to have them have the correct bra?
MARIA MONTI: Okay. With the health of the breast in mind, I always look at the individual uniqueness.
So the first thing we do is a proper assessment of that uniqueness. That’s really, really critical because you have to have that in order to get the right bra for that unique person. We look at if their circulation has already been cut off by what they’re wearing with the weight of their breast.
The proper bra design is then selected and oftentimes, custom alterations are made in order to perhaps increase the support or make the bra fit so that there are no bindings anywhere or stresses that would again cut off the lymph system, which we also don’t want to do.
We also teach them a manual lymph drainage technique when they’re putting the bra on so that they’re stimulating lymph flow. And then I will give them resources, additional resources to understand how their lymph really needs to be addressed every day.
For example, when I was going through my issues, I needed additional help with the toxic load. And so I started going to a company in Bellingham, Washington called Internal Harmony that had far infrared saunas. Now, the interesting thing about this is that a regular sauna will produce 97% sweat and 3% toxins, whereas the far infrared sauna is 80% sweat and 20% toxins.
So teaching women that the bra is one aspect of this, but also looking at all the other things that they can do throughout the day in making healthier choices helps them look at prevention, detoxification and the maintenance. And then also always checking in on how their body changes because obviously a bra fit at one time that might be great for the circumstances of that situation (they gain weight or they lose weight, it doesn’t fit properly anymore), we need to address those issues again. So that’s it in a nutshell.
DEBRA: How do you work with women who don’t live where you are in Washington? Can people work with you at a distance?
MARIA MONTI: Yes. I’ve been doing that actually for five years. We call it a virtual fitting and it’s not exactly technically virtual as one would call it on the Internet, it is a way where I create the same kind of assessment process and then I mail them the bras that I choose for them with any other alteration pieces that might need to be fitted in with the bra. And then I’m on the phone with them for generally about an hour for the fitting, teaching them how to put the bras on, what to look for for getting the proper support for their body type.
For many women, it works very, very successfully. Obviously, we screen for any kind of difficulties. Surgeries are difficult to do long distance and other anomalies. But we’ve been very, very successful with about 80% of the long distance fitting.
DEBRA: You mentioned about stimulating lymph flow. How do you that?
MARIA MONTI: If anybody has ever had a massage (which I would imagine most people have), stimulating lymph flow is a directional massage in the direction of the lymph pathways and it’s very, very gentle. I’ve heard of it called the lover’s kiss because it is such a gentle stroke. It’s like you’re moving water right under the skin.
So we teach this as part of the overall lymph drainage in order to make sure that women are being cognizant of their body and being in touch with their body quite literally every day. If you’ve ever heard of skin brushing, it’s a similar technique where you’re doing circulation by tactile stimulation.
DEBRA: Yeah, I’ve done skin brushing. I actually myself get massages every week (and in fact, two massages every week). I know that sounds like a luxury, but it’s not. Most people I think go and get a massage when they’re injured or their body isn’t feeling good. I’ve been getting massages twice a week for I think a couple of years now. And as I do it, I just get healthier and healthier because it releases tension in your body on a deeper and deeper level. I’m getting that lymph stimulation as well. So I highly recommend that.
MARIA MONTI: Also, lymph drainage massage is a very different kind of massage than what you’re speaking of. Highly trained technicians who specializes in lymph drainage massage are the ones that you would look out for to do this kind of thing because standard massage, although it can assist, you have your peripheral or superficial, very close to the skin lymph and then you have your deep lymph and both of them have to be addressed in different ways.
DEBRA: Yes, I agree with you. If anybody wants to get the right kind of massage for your lymph, you need to specifically get the lymph massage. I get some lymph massage, specific lymph massage as well as standard kind of massage as my body needs it.
I know that our time is cut short. But we do still have some time that we can talk. Is there anything that you’d like to cover that you haven’t had time to mention?
MARIA MONTI: I think yes, I would because as we see, this is a growing concern for women. And as a result, The Healthy Bra Company is growing after 10 years of doing this. We need help. So I think what I’d like to do is make a national call out right now for the kind of health that we’re looking for and have women recognize that there are jobs available for this kind of thing.
DEBRA: Go ahead!
MARIA MONTI: We’re looking for seamstresses who want to work in the field of custom alterations for these types of bras. We’re looking for women who would like to be trained in professional fitting as it relates to lymphatic health.
And another callout that’s of major importance is for any trailblazing textile manufacturers who are out there and interested in working with more natural fibers and notions. We want to hear from them.
And I think the last thing of importance that I’d like to speak out to the community is this call out to charities too who are working with the future infrastructure that will help support people on their journey of detoxification. I was so impressed yesterday with the Jennifer Parker Foundation, but I know that when I walked this path, I felt alone. I didn’t have the resources that I do now and I didn’t have people to talk to.
So I support charitable foundations who are working toward what we would call a toxic epidemic and bra is just a part of it. I’m a postural therapist first, I am a woman first, so I work in that avenue, but it gives me the tools by which to address the lymphatic system that really hasn’t had enough attention to it.
DEBRA: I agree, it hasn’t had enough attention. I like that you’re using the terminology “toxic epidemic” because it is an epidemic. When I look at the numbers of all the different ways that toxic chemicals can affect our health and the sheer number of people who are being affected and not knowing it, if it is really recognized as it should be, it would be more than an epidemic. The numbers of people affected would be more than what we could call an epidemic.
It’s something that is there that needs to be addressed in many, many, many ways. So I really appreciate when an individual like you has taken up your own specific area of interest and say, “How can I make this area nontoxic? How can I figure out what is the solution? How is this contributing to the problem and what to do about it?”
I was just talking to Jennifer Parker Foundation yesterday. I was just seeing that, oh, my God, what we really need are safe places for not just a handful of people or thousands of people, but really everybody on earth should be able to go to a safe place and not be exposed to toxic chemicals and wear the right clothes and eat the right foods and really just handle their exposures to toxic chemicals.
I think we’re moving in that direction. Each of these things that we’re doing, each time I do a radio show (since I’ve been doing this radio show in particular), I’ve been seeing so many ways that we need to be getting the word about so many things and that it all fits together into one big picture.
Thank you so much Maria for being with me. I’m sorry we had technical difficulties and we didn’t get all the time that I thought we would have. But I want everybody to know…
MARIA MONTI: Well, it happens. I’ll tell you what, I’m a compassionate humanitarian and I have to share the stage with Angelina Jolie, I don’t have any problem with that.
DEBRA: Oh, good. Okay. Her making her statement brings attention to the problem and opens the way for people to have discussions like we had today. And it opens the way for people to be thinking about “What is causing cancer? What can we do about it? What am I willing to give up in order to not be sick?” which is a whole other question that I think needs to be dealt with.
MARIA MONTI: Exactly! Well, I’ll be happy to come back again if you want me to and we can discuss more.
DEBRA: I think that we have a lot more to discuss and I will have you back again. Again, that’s TheHealthyBraCompany.com.
So, that’s about all the time that we have today. This is Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. You can find out more at ToxicFreeTalkRadio.com. There are more resources there. And I’ll be back tomorrow.
Why Your Newborn Baby Needs an Organic Crib Mattress
My guest is Barry Cik, founder of Naturepedic, the leading brand for organic baby and children’s mattresses (they now make adult mattresses too). As an environmental engineer Barry understands toxic chemical issues better than most product manufacturers and has a “no compromise” policy when choosing materials from which to make Naturepedic products. We’ll discuss why an organic mattress is so important for babies and children, toxic chemicals found in common mattresses and their health effects, and what goes in to designing and constructing a “certified organic mattress.” www.naturepedic.com
LISTEN TO OTHER SHOWS WITH BARRY CIK
TOXIC FREE TALK RADIO
Why Your Newborn Baby Needs an Organic Crib Mattress
Host: Debra Lynn Dadd
Guest: Barry Cik
Date of Broadcast: May 13, 2013
DEBRA: Hi, Barry.
BARRY CIK: Hello. How are you?
DEBRA: I’m fine. I’m very happy to hear your voice. I was wondering what I was going to say for the next hour.
BARRY CIK: No problem. I’m happy to help out. I’m still delighted to hear this program is going well.
DEBRA: It is. We’re having a lot of great guests and you are yet another one of them. So let’s just start over. You started at the beginning of the hour.
I’ll introduce you again. This is Barry Cik. He’s the founder of Naturepedic. Naturepedic is the leading brand of organic baby and children mattresses. They now also make adult mattresses. And as an Environmental Engineer, Barry understands toxic chemical issues better than most product manufacturers and he has a no-compromise policy when choosing materials from which to make Naturepedic products.
And so, today we’re going to discuss why an organic mattress is so important for babies and children. What are toxic chemicals found in mattresses and their health effects and what goes into designing and constructing organic mattress?
Now Barry, I told you while I was waiting for you to come on the line, but I want you to tell again how you became interested? Well first, many years ago, why did you become an environmental engineer? And then, what made you decide to make certified organic baby mattresses?
BARRY CIK: We have to start with my background. I’m a board-certified environmental engineer. And I’ve been chasing toxic chemicals for a living for pretty much all my adult life. We’re talking 30 years of doing this. So I do know little bit about toxic chemicals.
I’m also certified by the Institute of Professional Environmental Practice. I’m also a certified Hazardous Materials Manager. I’m an author of a textbook for Government Institute for Environmental Matters. I’m a Diplomat Forensic Engineer. I’m entitled to testify in court as an expert witness. I’m certified by the Ohio EPA and a few other smaller things.
Anyway, 10 years ago, my wife sent me to a baby store to buy a crib mattress and a few other things for our first grandchild. Now, truth be told, as of that day, I had never been in a baby store in my life. My wife used to buy all these things that we needed for our kids and I just never paid attention to it.
But here I was in a baby store, looking for a crib mattress, and every single one was made with foam and styros. They contain various chemicals that I didn’t think were appropriate for my grandchild. I talked to the salesperson. I said, “What else do you have?” And salesperson pretty much said, “No. There’s nothing else. This was the way it’s done. This was the way mattresses are made.” And that was that. I was not comfortable with all that.
At one point in the conversation, the salesperson said, “Well, if it wasn’t safe, the government wouldn’t allow it on the shelf,” but I knew better. The government doesn’t regulate everything. The government regulates a few things. For example, they have [inaudible 00:04:39] standards and now they have some standards for certain chemicals like lead and certain phthalates, but the government really doesn’t know what’s going into mattresses. The government really doesn’t know what’s going into a mattress if it’s coming from China and so on.
So I was not impressed to say the least. I came home and I told my wife, “I just didn’t buy it, sorry.”
My grandfather sent some straws. Maybe, we should go to some of our neighbors and borrow some straws or something because in my opinion, we think we’ve made progress, but in some ways, we have not made progress. It’s quite the contrary.
DEBRA: I agree.
BARRY CIK: So one thing lead to the other, and here I am.
DEBRA: Well, you certainly have the finest — I was going to say ‘one of the finest’, but I think that you actually are considered by most people to have the top-of-the-line baby mattress, particularly in the organic category.
I want to talk to you about the toxic chemicals that are in regular mattresses. I want you to tell us little more. We’re coming up on a commercial break, but just start and tell us about what you think is the most dangerous toxic chemicals. Then, we’ll continue after the break.
BARRY CIK: Truth be told, the problem is not trying to find the single most toxic chemicals, because the real problem is trying to identify what’s there in the first place.
There are 80,000 chemicals in the marketplace currently, and nobody has any clue as to what combination or what chemicals they use in any particular product. Different manufacturers, the same kind of material will often add or subtract this or that or the other thing. There’s nobody keeping track. So the biggest problem is not even knowing what’s there to begin with. That’s the biggest issue.
DEBRA: We’ll talk about that more after the break. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. You’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio, and I’m here with Barry Cik, founder of Naturepedic.
DEBRA: This is Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd, and I’m here with Barry Cik, founder of Naturepedic, the leading brand of organic baby and children’s mattresses.
Barry, you said something that’s really interesting before the break. You said that it’s really difficult to find out even what is in these materials and ingredients that are used in products. Tell us more about that because I think that most consumers think that you can just go to a label somewhere and it will tell you everything that’s in everything. That hasn’t been my experience. I think that’s not your experience too. So tell us more about that from your experience inside the industry as an environmental engineer.
BARRY CIK: You’re totally correct. Basically, even I, let alone the public, can’t find out what’s in those materials. But let me go back and paint the bigger picture here, so everybody can understand the bigger issue.
It all goes back to the 1970s when the public woke up and realized that we’re using all kinds of chemicals that are polluting our environment. There was a big, huge push to deal with the issue. And here is how Congress at the federal level dealt with that issue. It created several laws. Several laws have worked in different areas. There are some other ones that don’t apply to consumer products.
For example, something like [inaudible 00:14:12]. This is [inaudible 00:14:13] that I’m protecting workers in the factory, so that if the factory uses toxic chemicals, they have to admit that to their workers and they have to provide the workers with a basic knowledge about the chemicals that are being used and how to protect themselves and what to do in the event of a spill or another accident, so on and so forth. So that’s one kind of law that was created.
Another kind of law that was created was the Superfund, where our Congress created laws to clean up real old toxic dumps that are just polluting the groundwater and so on. That’s another kind.
Then, there were different laws to protect forests, laws to protect [inaudible 00:14:57]. There are various different laws all created during the ‘70s and the early ‘80s.
Now, among all those laws, there are two that are most relevant to consumer products and to the consumers in general. Those two are called RCRA and TSCA.RCRA is the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. TSCA is the Toxic Substances Control Act.
Now, RCRA was designed to track the use of toxic chemicals from cradle to grave. So if you have a toxic chemical, you have to identify it and you have to monitor it as it’s going through the system. And most importantly for RCRA, at the end of the system, so to speak, it’s got to go to a hazardous waste landfill.
So let me give you an example. If you’re making a product and you’re using arsenic in the product, when you make that arsenic, you identify it, you identified it going through the product. And when you’re done making the product, if you have some arsenic left over, that waste material, it’s yucky and gummy and you can’t use it, that leftover arsenic can no longer be dumped into your nearby lake or river or out your backdoor. It has to go to a hazardous waste landfill where it’s buried in a proper kind of landfill where it won’t leak out into the environment. That’s what RCRA does.
Now, TSCA was the other side of the coin. TSCA regulates the introduction of the chemicals to begin with. What chemicals are allowed to be used? In what ways are they allowed to be used?
So now, what happened was that the RCRA was a very severe, well-done law. TSCA was not. Let’s go backwards. TSCA does not really control the introduction of toxic chemicals. It’s pretty much the wild west where manufactures can introduce whatever chemicals they want to. There’s very little oversight from the EPA. There’s very little oversight.
Today, if you want to introduce a new chemical, you fill out a form and you usually get it approved within three weeks without saying too much about your product. You can pretty much get it introduced. Sometimes, the EPA will ask you to do a little bit of some analysis, but for the most part, you can introduce whatever you want and get away with it. That’s TSCA.
And so, what’s the bottom line?
Oh, and the way, as far as TSCA is concerned, when TSCA was created, there were already 70,000 to 80,000 chemicals. I’m saying 70,000 to 80,000 chemicals on the market and all those were grandfathered. None of those ever got tested. You can use it all you want.
So at the end of the day, what that really means is if you’re making a widget, and you’re starting with 100 lbs. of arsenic as part of the formula for the widget, at the end of the day, when you’re done making your widget, 95 lbs. of the arsenic went into the widget, 5 pounds are leftover yucky, gummy waste. The 5 lbs. that are controlled by RCRA must go to a landfill, but 95 lbs. that went into your baby product is completely uncontrolled.
DEBRA: Yeah. This is what’s so ridiculous about it. There are laws when I started studying this just as a consumer 30 years ago. I’m looking all this and I’m saying, “This doesn’t make sense.”
If you buy a bottle of formaldehyde, there’s a warning label on it telling you all the dangers of formaldehyde, “Don’t drink it. Don’t breathe it” and all that stuff. And yet, here, then I thought a particle board piece of furniture that is out-gassing formaldehyde perpetually, there’s no warning label on it at all – or bedsheets that are coated with formaldehyde.
Probably, an even more graphic example is that you have to put a filter on a cigarette and put a warning label on the package of the cigarette for the smoker, but the person standing next to the smoker has no warning label and no filter.
This is what’s going on in virtually on all the products that have toxic chemicals in them, am I right, that we’re being exposed to.
BARRY CIK: Exactly.
DEBRA: There are regulations for the toxic wastes that are produced and there are regulations for if we dispose of them (we have to take it to the household hazardous waste dump), but there are a very few regulations that say, “Don’t put this chemical in the products in the first place.” And that’s what people are trying to change.
We need to go to a break now, but when we come back, I want you to tell us about what you’re doing as a manufacturer and how you’re making products that doesn’t contain toxic chemicals. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. This is Toxic Free Talk Radio.
DEBRA: You’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. And I’m here today with Barry Cik, founder of Naturepedic, the leading ground for organic baby and children’s mattresses. They now make adult mattresses too. You can see all of them at Naturepedic.com. You can also learn more about this radio show, Toxic Free Talk Radio ToxicFreeTalkRadio.com.
Barry, tell us now about your standards and materials that you use to make your mattresses and how they’re different from the kind of mattresses that you would find in a regular mattress store.
BARRY CIK: A typical baby mattress, for example, has to be waterproof. So let’s just start with that. There’s a waterproof and there’s a surface material. So we do not use the vinyl because of all these issues with plasticizers that are used to make vinyl soft.
Vinyl is actually polyvinyl chloride for the most part. In order to make a soft polyvinyl chloride or vinyl, you have to add various plasticizers commonly known as phthalates chemicals. They’re the most common type of plasticizer. There are all kinds of issues with phthalates.
Four years ago, the Consumer Product Safety Commission finally banned some of them, but there are many others on the market that are being used now. It will take many more years until people determine whether those are safe or not safe. You can’t really make vinyl without the use of plasticizers. This is one issue after the other after the other.
We took a position. We’re just not interested in using vinyl or phthalates chemicals of any kind in baby products. We believe that it’s not a prudent way to design a product for a baby.
DEBRA: Yes. We should also mention that babies, their bodies are not developed like adults are. They are many, many times more susceptible to toxic exposures. If you were to put an adult and a baby on the same mattress, it would be much more harmful to the baby than to the adult because they’re so susceptible to exposures at that age.
BARRY CIK: Exactly, exactly. So then comes the question (and you’re asking me) of how do we do things in a practical manner? How do we solve these issues?
So let’s continue on this one example for a moment. There are two ways to waterproof a mattress. There are plasticsand there are chemicals.
So let’s go backwards. Chemicals like perfluorinated compounds are frequently used to waterproof. I saw a recent study done by the Mount Sinai School of Medicine’s Children’s Environmental Health Center that correlated the use of perfluorinated compound in a different setting, but nonetheless correlated it with some very serious health issues. And so, we took the position that we don’t want to use any waterproofing chemicals to waterproof a product.
So if we’re done with chemicals, how about the use of plastics? That’s really the only other practical way to waterproof a product, but we all know that plastics can be pretty nasty also. There are chemicals that are added to plastic that are not very cool.
So how do we deal with that issue? The answer is there are many ways to make a plastic. There are thousands of ways to make plastic. There are a thousand and one chemicals you can put into the plastic or not put into the plastic.
So if you have to waterproof a product and you have to use a plastic or you’re down to a plastic, why not at least use a plastic that is rated as a safer plastic? It’s really not asking that much. It’s not that difficult. It can be done.
So in our case, you listeners can go, for example, to www.GreenPeace.org Green Peace is certainly a very reliable and conscientious organization when it comes to chemicals. They have a page on their website called the Pyramic of Plastic…
DEBRA: Yes, I’ve seen that.
BARRY CIK: …where they rank all the common plastics. They consider PVC or vinyl can be the most hazardous of all the plastic. And they consider bio-based to be the least hazardous of all the plastics. It’s a new corn plastic that have come out recently.
We’ve been working on the corn plastics. We have not been able to use them yet because the corn plastics on the market are very noisy. They make a lot of potato chip bags out of corn plastic, but it’s a very noisy bags. So the corn plastic itself has not worked yet, but the very, very next best plastic that Green Peace would approve of is PE or polyethylene.
And we decided that we agree. Polyethylene happens to be a fairly simple plastic. It is a plastic. It is petroleum-based. It’s not for Tarzan and Jane, but that’s fine. But if you need to have a plastic to waterproof a product, why not use something like polyethylene, which is a fairly simple plastic. It’s synthetic, but it doesn’t have all the harmful chemicals that some of the other plastics have. So why not use something like that? So that’s what we decided to do.
We even took it a step further because we realized that there is something called food grade polyethylene. It’s an FDA standard, which is used at your grocery, your supermarket. If you go in and you buy a loaf of bread and if that loaf of bread comes wrapped in a clear, thin plastic, that’s a food grade polyethylene. They wrap your teas in the food grade polytethylene. It’s the purest, cleanest plastic on the market and we decided we’re going to find a way to use that to waterproof a mattress. No one has ever thought of that before and that’s what we use.
So this is one example of testing facts and saying, “Okay. How can we achieve something that the consumer wants, the consumer needs and do it in a more responsible manner with less risk than some of the more common materials?” And that’s we’ve done. We follow that across the board.
We found ways to get rid of the use of flame retardant chemicals entirely, entirely. We don’t use flame retardant chemicals in our product.
DEBRA: I think that one of the things that I see (because I hear people discussing products all the time and asking me questions) is that I think a lot of consumers have in their mind that if it is natural, it’s safe. And if it is made from petroleum, it’s bad. And that’s pretty simplistic because I see what you’ve done.
I’ve been calling your company since almost the beginning I think. I see what you’ve done, you’re always choosing the least toxic, but the most natural material that you can. So in your top-of-the-line crib mattresses, you’re Naturepedic brand, you’re making those from certified organic cotton. Your whole mattress is certified organic by GOTS, the Global Organic Textile Standard.
Aren’t you the only that’s certified by GOTS to be a certified organic mattress?
BARRY CIK: Not the only one, but we’re the only commonly used baby mattress and the only that’s been waterproofed that meets the GOTS standards. That’s correct.
DEBRA: Yes. So here, you started out and said, “Well, the most totally pure thing that we could use would be organic cotton. But then we have this problem that babies wet their beds. And so is there a natural material that could be used?” And finding that there was none, you jumped outside of the box and found an acceptable material and then said, “How can we use this acceptable material to fulfill its function?” And I think that that’s really growing design.
If parents are concerned about wanting to keep their mattress dry and having that waterproof layer, then they know that they have a non-toxic option in your mattress. If they want to go 100% absolutely natural, no petroleum product, no plastic, then then you can also sell them a very-well made, well-crafted excellent material mattress that has no waterproofing, none at all.
So you really give a lot of options here for parents. I think that you’re really doing an excellent job with that.
Barry, we only have just about a minute left. Is there anything else that you’d like to add? You know so much about toxic chemicals in manufacturing, in products, in laws, and everything. I certainly want to have you back again. But is there anything you want to say just for us today?
BARRY CIK: Well, sure. And remind me, when I come back, we need to talk about the Global Organic Textile Standards and how that works, things your listeners would love to hear about and…
DEBRA: We certainly will. We certainly will.
BARRY CIK: And if I have to say one thing very quickly that’s more in line with what we covered today, I just want to remind the audience that there are 80,000 chemicals out there and we don’t really know which ones are being used in what quantity and in what product. There’s just no way to keep track of all that. That’s the underlying crust of the problem.
And another way of saying the same thing…
DEBRA: But I have to cut you off because the music is going to cut you off. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. This is Toxic Free Talk Radio. We will still be talking tomorrow.
