Toxic Free Talk Radio Archives
Honey, Health, and Honeybees
My guest is Zeke Freeman, CEO of Bee Raw, a leading brand of raw varietal honeys. Zeke gained an appreciation for both home-grown produce and for the rich heritage of artisanal food production on his family’s farm in Northwestern Pennsylvania. Zeke turned this passion into a full-time pursuit of the culinary arts at the University of Montana’s School of Food Management & Culinary Arts in 1989. After earning his degree, he relocated to France to continue his education at the Hotel School of Grenoble and began working under the direction of acclaimed chef, Alain Ducasse. In 1995, following two years in France working with, and learning from, accomplished international chefs, Zeke moved back to the United States where he became a buyer for Dean & Deluca in New York City. Always in pursuit of fine edibles for the upscale food, wine and kitchenware retailer, Zeke discovered the company that has become Bee Raw Honey. Today, Zeke partners with family owned beekeepers around the country to bring high-quality, raw, unadulterated honey to the American table. Zeke also actively promotes the importance of American family-owned apiaries and works to educate the public about the importance of beekeeping and its value in agriculture, so we’ll be talking about toxic pesticides affecting the bees, colony collapse disorder, toxic chemicals you shouldn’t be using in your garden, how to help save the bees, and the process of making and benefits of raw honey as well as ways to enjoy honey. www.debralynndadd.com/debras-list/bee-raw
Get Back to Nature Without Leaving Home
My guest Carol Venolia says, “There’s much more to ‘not toxic’ than the absence of toxic chemicals!” She and I agree there is a whole other world beyond the toxic industrial life: the nurturing, nourishing, healing world of nature. Founder of Come Home to Nature website, Carol is an architect with a passion for reconnecting humans with the rest of life. She wrote the e-book Get Back to Nature without Leaving Home; coauthored Natural Remodeling for the Not-So-Green House; wrote Healing Environments: Your Guide to Indoor Well-Being; penned the “Design for Life” column in Natural Home Magazine for 9 years; and has designed eco-homes, schools, healing centers, and eco-villages. Carol has been honored by The Green Economy Post as one of ten pioneering women in green design, and was named a Green Design Trailblazer by Natural Home Magazine. In this show we’ll be talking about how you can improve your general well-being by bringing elements of nature into your home. www.comehometonature.com
Are You Drinking Enough Water for the Sweaty Days of Summer?
Drinking enough water for your body to be properly hydrated is essential to health. In fact, many body conditions we think of as “disease” are actually simply dehydration. But every glass or bottle of water you drink may be adding more toxic chemicals to your body. My guest Igor Milevskiy runs Pure Effect Advanced Water Filters, a small, family-owned company that makes exceptional water filters which remove fluoride, radiation, and pharmaceuticals as well as chlorine, chloramine, lead, and other common pollutants…at an affordable price. 
We’ll talk about how much water you actually need to drink during the summer to keep your body hydrated and healthy, and how to choose a filter that will give you pure, clean water right in your home. www.debralynndadd.com/debras-list/pureeffect-filters
Toxic Free Nutrition: Drink Plenty of Water on Hot Summer Days
A Taste of Honey
My guest is Ted Dannard, Founder of Savannah Bee Company. Ted grew up on St. Simon’s Island, Georgia, and was first introduced to honey as a 12-year old boy. An elderly beekeeper named Roy Hightower opened his eyes to a world of magic in honeybees. For Ted, the love of bees is a way of life. He kept bees in high school and college. He taught beekeeping to Jamaican farmers in the Peace Corps. Fifteen years ago, Ted had beehives along the Altamaha River. He bottled some of that honey and gave it to a friend who was opening a store in downtown Savannah. When more stores wanted to sell his honey, Ted moved the operation to his garage.With his passion blossoming into a business, Ted decided to quit his job and put all his efforts into Savannah Bee Company. Today Ted is in a 40,000 square foot warehouse on Wilmington Island, Georgia, operating four retail stores, bottling distinct world-class honeys, and creating a luxury beeswax-based body care line. We’ll talk about the health benefits of honey, how to choose pure honey, how to use honey in delicious dishes, and how to pair honeys with various foods. www.debralynndadd.com/debras-list/savannah-bee-company
Naturepedic Mattresses Now Certified “Nontoxic” By New GOTS Standard
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 with hi first grandchild on the way, Barry was appalled to learn what toxic chemicals were used to make baby mattresses, and designed a safe mattress of his own. Last week Naturepedic mattresses received a new certification for the organic and nontoxic standards of the Global Organic Textile Standards (GOTS). Barry will explain this new “nontoxic” GOTS certification, as well as what it takes to have a GOTS certified organic mattress. www.debralynndadd.com/debras-list/Naturepedic
How Bau-Biology Can Help Cure Your Sick Home
My guest Lawrence J. Gust from Gust Environmental is an electrical engineer and a certified Bau-biologist. He worked for 25 years in middle management of two Fortune 500 companies. Thirteen years ago building caused health issues within his own family forced him to become knowledgeable sick buildings and how to fix them. This knowledge led to a second career as a Bau-biologist. We’ll talk about various indoor air quality problems your home might have, and what you can do to create a healthier home environment. www.gustenviro.com
Links mentioned on the show:
My Bau-biologie Home Inspection
Bau-Biologie: Humidity, Moisture, and Mold
Bau-Biologie: Mold Inspection and Remediation
Bau-Biologie: How I Reduced House Dust in My Home
Find a Bau-biologie Home Inspector
Dirty Garden Secrets Revealed: What They Don’t Want You to Know
My guest Jai McFall is the owner of Organic Living for All, my local organic nursery and garden center here in Florida. Jai grew up on an organic farm, where her family grew fruits, vegetables, meat, eggs, and other farm products. They baked all their own breads, pie’s cakes, and cookies. They canned fruits, vegetables, jams, jellies, and pickles. Jai is a Master Gardener in Michigan and Florida as well as an organic, edible landscape designer. She does everything from full service landscaping to providing healthy plants and soil amendments so customers become able to grow healthy, nutritious and nutrient-dense food in their own back yards. Under Jai’s direction, I have actually been able to grow tasty vegetables in soil that is basically beach sand. Weekends you’ll find her giving classes and tours at her garden center while serving the most delicious iced tea made with herbs from her garden, including naturally sweet stevia. We’ll be talking about why you should grow your own food as well as how. www.organiclivingforall.com
Organic Bodycare Products
My guest Janis Uquillas is the founder of JES Organics. She has been a registered nurse for almost 40 years. For the past 10 years has been passionate about researching alternative health treatments, alternative medical research, ingredients, toxicity, and chronic illness. She consults with people daily across the country by e-mail and phone about health conditions and helps them find solutions for chronic health conditions. She founded JES Organics in 2006 after becoming frustrated with finding quality, nontoxic, fragrance-free skin care products for herself. She offers a complete line of natural/organic skin, hair, body, cosmetics and home products. We’ll be talking about toxic ingredients in body care products, anti-aging skin care, and how she created her products. www.jescollection.com
Wood Finish Made With Whey Recycled From Cheesemaking
My guest Andrew Meyer is founder and president of Vermont Natural Coatings, manufacturer of patented PolyWhey® whey-based wood finishes. Developed in collaboration with the University of Vermont, PolyWhey has emerged as new wood coatings science, using whey protein to displace toxic ingredients common to traditional wood finishes. CNN Money named Vermont Natural Coatings one of two leaders in innovation and technology in Vermont; the other being IBM. Andrew is a partner in Vermont Soy, LLC and owner of the Hardwick Enterprise Group, LLC, which provides business resources to innovative value-added companies. He is a founding board member of the Center for an Agricultural Economy and serves as a trustee of Shelburne Farms. He is a partner in North Hardwick Dairy, a family organic dairy farm. Andrew served as Agriculture Legislative Assistant to U.S. Senator James Jeffords and operated a congressional legislative consulting firm in Washington, D.C. We’ll talk about toxic chemicals in wood finishes, how he makes wood finish with whey, about creating an innovative nontoxic product, and sustainable businesses in Vermont. www.debralynndadd.com/debras-list/vermont-natural-coatings
Finding the Hidden Toxics in Consumer Products
My guest is Jeff Gearhart, Research Director for HealthyStuff.org, a project of the Ecology Center that tests brand-name consumer products for the presence of a list of chemicals of concern. They then rate products as being of high, medium or low concern. Jeff has worked for over 20 years on a wide range of environmental issues including air quality, pollution prevention, life cycle assessment, consumer product testing, and green chemistry. During his sixteen years with the Ecology Center he has spearheaded numerous chemicals policy market campaigns, co-authored multiple peer-reviewed articles on toxics in consumer products, pioneered citizen science in the use of x-ray fluorescence technology for toxics testing in products, and developed the now internationally recognized HealthyStuff.org product chemistry disclosure project and its extensive website of robust advocacy resources and the product testing results of more than 100,000 products. We’ll discuss the project, what they do, their recent report on toxic chemicals in garden products, and specifically how their research can guide us when choosing gardening gloves and garden hoses. www.healthystuff.org
