Toxic Free Talk Radio Archives
Cookware – What’s Toxic and What’s Not
My guest is Rich Bergstrom from Ceramcor, makers of Xtrema Ceramic Cookware, the cookware I use every day. For 23 years Rich worked for and represented Corning Glass Works, considered the finest ceramics company in the world—makers of Corning Ware cookware, Pyrex bakeware and Corelle dinnerware. It was during these years he worked wit many wonderful people who helped to shape and mold his love for the glass ceramics business. In October of 2004, three years after his tenure with Corning ended, Rich received an unsolicited e-mail from Asia asking if he would be interested in a new high temperature ceramic material that could go on top of the stove and under the broiler, a product that would surpass the cooking performance and benefits of the original Corning Ware (the original Corning Ware manufacturing facility in Martinsburg, WV was closed and dismantled in 2002. Corning Ware is still being marketed today by World Kitchen but the product is now being made of stoneware and not the patented Pyro-Ceram material that made Corning Ware so recognizable). That single e-mail became the catalyst for three additional years of research, testing and product development, which led to the introduction of Xtrema cookware In February of 2007. Their vision is to make Xtrema products the healthiest for you and our planet. We’ll talk about the toxic exposures in various types of cookware and what Ceramcor is doing to make the safest cookware. www.debralynndadd.com/debras-list/xtrema-cookware
Transforming Your Yard Into an Organic Edible Garden
My guest is Bridget Guzzi, owner of Gardens of California LLC in San Ramon, California, which offers products and services for the at-home organic edible garden movement. As a child, her community was graced with fresh home grown gardens. Some fondest memories include lunch in the pea and rhubarb gardens, washing berries for homemade jam and jelly, going to the open fields to collect hazelnuts and to the lakes for fresh fish. Bridget boasts front and backyard organic edible gardens that are visited almost daily by neighbors and friends where she continues to emphasize one at home garden at a time. Bridget also introduced a garden birthday party where children gather to plant edibles. Bridget’s garden apparel line offers elegant comfort with easy care properties. The fabrics used for her apparel include GOTS certified organic cottons from Harmony Susalla, Harmony Art Organic Design, and SPF 50+ fabric that is made rated and tested in the USA. Bridget will give us inspiration for growing our own food at home. www.gardensofcalifornia.com
Electrosensitivity and Smart Meters
My guest is André Fauteux, Editor and Publisher of La Maison du 21e siècle (21st-Century Housing) magazine, a Quebec-based, French trimestrial on healthy and sustainable housing which he founded in 1994. During the summer of 1988, Andre was a reporter for the Montreal Gazette daily. There he wrote about a little girl with leukemia whose parents were trying to raised $100,000 to pay for a bone marrow transplant in the US. Sadly, the effort failed and Danielle Hebert passed away. Moved by this, André began investigating the causes of leukemia and learned that pesticides and magnetic fields were suspected triggers. He has dedicated his career to seeking and communicating ways of preventing and fixing environmental diseases and disasters. In 1990-91, while writing for a housing weekly (Habitabec) and freelancing for a New Age magazine (Guide Ressources), he had the good fortune of discovering his mission by learning about Building Biology and Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s Healthy Housing initiative. Andre will talk about electrosensitivity and why smart meters are making some people sick. http://maisonsaine.ca/electrosmog/
Body Friendly Natural Furniture
My guest is Patrick Clark from Carolina Morning. Patrick has been researching and writing about design, nutrition, deep ecology, sleep, metabolism, minimalism and somatics for over 20 years. His unconventional approach to increasing wellness and energy through an integrated system uses nature, metabolism, and consciousness as the starting point of design. Patrick got into his eclectic line of work from a personal desire to heal from illness. He ‘brought himself back from the dead’ after experiencing two decades of declining health and trying diets and modalities that failed miserably. He found that diet alone was not the answer. The answer came in multiple parts: environment, nutrition, sleep, and exercise. Now, after ten years of putting together a unique protocol based on cutting edge research, he has invented a line of revolutionary ‘body friendly’ furniture as well as highly effective, nutrient dense, anti-oxidant rich recipes and wellness formulas. Patrick has a certificate in Permaculture Design as well as Outdoor Leadership from the Wilderness Education Association. We’ll talk about Patrick’s cutting edge viewpoint for health and how he translated what he learned into products we use every day. www.paleoalltheway.com/wool-sleeping-bag
Organic Cotton: Behind the Scenes
My guest is Harmony Susalla, founder of Harmony Art Organic Design. Harmony has created designs and products for every retail level from Target and Walmart to Nordstrom and Williams-Sonoma and many points in between. Personal conviction and a desire to show the world that organic fabrics can be beautiful led Harmony, in 2005, to become the first textile company to offer only printed organic cotton fabrics and make them available by the yard for businesses and home sewers alike. Harmony Art’s stock fabrics feature organic cotton, wide-width, woven sateens and twills as well as knits. www.harmonayart.com
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
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
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
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
Totally Natural Beauty and Household Products…That Work!
Evan Symonds is founder, owner and “head honcho” of Evan’s Garden. She makes “totally natural products that work” for body and home by hand, with the help of her family. Evan’s viewpoint is that it would be irresponsible to make products that aren’t natural and safe. She has learned from life experiences and vast study of natural health approaches, that only natural substances heal and comfort us in a completely positive way. When it comes to choosing ingredients and formulating, there’s no compromising. She selects the most natural ingredients she can find, as close as possible to their whole, raw and untampered state. Whenever possible, these are organically grown, biodynamically grown (viewed as “beyond organic” because of the time-honored, natural cultivation techniques) or responsibly wild-harvested. Her products deliver the power of organic, whole-plant nutrition. On so many levels, you can feell the love and reverence for nature that went into their making. We’ll be talking about just some of the toxic chemicals you might find in ordinary beauty products, but more about how Evan makes extraordinary alternatives. www.evansgarden.com
