Safe Cosmetics- What's in your makeup?

Teens for Safe Cosmetics compiled this list after doing a survey of 500 teens. From their survey, they determined what cosmetics teens are using the most and what the most common dangerous chemicals in them are. Check around your house and see if any of your favorite cosmetics contain chemicals on this list. 

• 1) Butyl Acetate: prevents nail polish from chipping


• 2) Butylate Hydroxytoluene: prevents colors from fading and changing too quickly


• 3) Coal Tar: dissolves dead skin cells and controls itching in shampoo and hair dye


• 4) Cocamide/Lauramide DEA: causes foaming in shampoo and bath products


• 5) Formaldehyde: disinfectant and preservative in deodorant, nail polish, soap, shampoo, shaving cream


• 6) Diazolidinyl Urea: helps the disinfectants (like formaldehyde) work


• 7) Ethyl Acetate: liquid in nail polish, mascara, tooth whitening, perfume


• 8) Parabens: group of chemicals that are preservatives and don't allow bacteria to grow in your cosmetics


• 9) Petrolateum (Petroleum): makes lipsticks shine, creams smooth, and softens skin


• 10) Treithanolamine: keeps lotions, shaving cream, soaps, shampoos and bath powders from clumping


• 11) Triclosan: prevents bacteria on your hands from growing in your cosmetics, like on bars of soaps or deodorant


• 12) Toluene: liquid part of nail polish and hair dye that makes it stick to your hair and nails and look glossy


• 13) Talc: absorbs moisture and prevents powders like eye shadow, blush, deodorant from clumping in the containers


• 14) Sodium Laureth Sulfate: helps the cosmetics stick to your skin


• 15) Propylene glycol: keeps products from melting when it is too hot or freezing when it is too cold


• 16) Phthalates: keeps color and scents dissolved in the nail polish, perfume, hair spray and others

Safe cosmetics do not contain these chemicals (and many others). Check the label on the back of your cosmetics containers to see if your product is safe! 

Breakfast: The Most Important Meal of the Day

Why Breakfast Is The Most Important Meal Of The Day

Now obviously, food is fuel and energy for our bodies and without it we spend the day stumbling around in a fog and fighting off a headache and a bad attitude. Breakfast is literally just that, breaking the fast that your body is in from the night before.


The consumption of an early morning snack increases the metabolic rate (how fast you burn calories) and kick starts your body into gear, telling it what to expect the rest of the day. If breakfast isn't had, your body doesn't process your next meal as quickly and tries to hold onto those nutrients. Since it didn't get any morning fuel, it tries to hold onto the afternoon meal as long as possible — instead of burning it right away.


Studies have shown that weight loss can be more difficult and weight gain more prevalent in folks who opt out on the morning meal. Those who skip breakfast have a tendency to consume more food than usual the next chance they get to grab a bite to eat and also have a higher tendency to snack on high-calorie foods to keep hunger at bay until then.


Research studies have also indicated that children who eat breakfast perform better on cognitive tests and in school. Maybe it works that way for adults too since our brains need fuel to work properly.

Breakfast should include a healthy source of protein and plenty of fiber; the combination will help satisfy your hunger and will keep you feeling full until lunch time.


So next time you stop in at your local coffee house for breakfast, know it won't hold you over till the lunch break and even if you think it does, it isn't helping your body gain the energy needed, or burn the calories it should!

Cinch Shakes vs. Visalus Shakes

Hello everyone, I found some information regarding comparing the Cinch Shakes to the Visalus Shakes and I thought it was very interesting and informative. Please take a chance to read.

1. Visalus compared their shake to the Cinch Vanilla Shake, Whey Protein Blend,only - possibly because it is the only shake in the Cinch line that contains cholesterol (although ours has 2/3 less than the Vi-Shape) - all the

soy-based Cinch Shakes have 0 cholesterol. 

2. The Shaklee Whey Protein Blend shake has only 5 grams of dietary fibre,

the same as the Vi-Shape shake. All our soy-based Cinch Shakes have 6 grams

of dietary fibre, which is also a prebiotic, per serving, so they all would

be better than Vi-Shape in dietary fibre content.

3. Vi-Shape seems to come only in one flavour (Sweet Cream, which smells

like a cake mix!) and it has a blend of natural and artificial flavour.

Cinch Shakes are available in a variety of flavours so dieters don't get

bored with a single flavour and they do not contain any artificial flavours.

4. Vi-Shape contains the artificial sweetener sucralose. Shaklee uses only

natural (and more expensive) sweeteners (like dextrose, fructose, and sugar

alcohols found in fruit). The Visalus Q&A sheet spends a lot of words

justifying their use of sucralose and criticizes companies that use fructose

as a sweetener (it's in Cinch Shakes) by saying it "increases appetite" -

when the serving size of the shake is controlled, this statement seems

totally irrelevant. Natural sweeteners add needed energy and palatability to

products so people will want to consume them! 

5. Looking at the contents of individual vitamin and mineral nutrients, most

are in the Vi-Shape shake at 30% of the Daily Value, whereas Shaklee's Cinch

Shakes provide 35% of most nutrients. Adding more nutrients does increase

the cost of the product but does also make it nutritionally superior.

6. In the "Competitor Comparison" chart provided below, produced by Visalus, mixing their product with skim milk adds 80 calories only, whereas most companies (including Shaklee and others on the chart) usually consider a cup of skim or non-fat milk to have 90 calories. Are they misleading consumers here?

7. The total calories of the Vi-Shape shake with skim milk are only 170 and

the fat content is only 1 gram per serving. Using a very low-calorie product

like this as a meal replacement could be a problem for some people as it

does not supply enough of the macronutrients required for balanced

nutrition. Fat in itself does not make you fat. More fat than 1 g per

serving is essential in everyone's diet to supply fatty acids, help the

absorption of fat-soluble vitamins, and to provide satiety, so being on such

a low-fat product over a long period of time is not recommended.

8. I can not find any references anywhere to the weight-loss that consumers

could expect to see when following a program of Visalus products. Our

limited clinical trial on Cinch products at least showed the typical loss on

our plan was about 15 pounds in 12 weeks. 

9. Finally, the fact that Cinch Shakes and Bars contain additional leucine

to help spare the loss of lean muscle when losing weight - and the Vi-Shape

shake does not - needs to be emphasized as one of the most important reasons

to use Cinch. By retaining lean muscle mass, your metabolism remains high.

People who lose weight on other plans that do not have this benefit - and I

imagine Vi-Shape would be no exception - will have less lean muscle mass

when they stop dieting than when they began and this is not a good

situation!

While on the surface, it might seem to many people that Visalus offers a

good product at a great price, good nutrition is not a matter of putting

your health in the hands of the lowest bidder. We have good science and

superior ingredients behind our Cinch formulations and, in the long run,

more people should do better with their weight - and inch - loss with our

products.

Information from:
MICHAEL ROWLANDS, B.Sc. | Director of Operations |  Shaklee Canada Inc.
7-3100 Harvester Road, Burlington, ON, Canada L7N 3W8 | 905-681-1422 Ext 230
mrowlands@shaklee.com
Over 35 Years of Creating Healthier Lives in Canada

10 Reasons to Love Basic-H® Super Cleaning Concentrate

Nontoxic, high performance, economical, and great for the planet.


                                            1. Stop living in a toxic home
Some of the most questionable chemicals used regularly in household products are ammonia, chlorine, phenols, dichlorobenzene, and formaldehyde and can be found under your kitchen sink. Basic-H is nontoxic and safe for your family.

2. Eliminate your ammoniabased window cleaner
Basic-H cleans windows without streaking while being a great alternative to leading brands.

3. Everything and the kitchen sink
Basic-H cleans it all from kitchens and bathrooms to appliances, woodwork, mirrors, painted walls, and floors — it even does windows, so toss those single-purpose cleaners like sink and tile cleaners.

4. Removes the impossible
From lipstick on a linen napkin to crayons on a painted wall, full-strength Basic-H comes to the rescue.

5. On the cutting edge
A few drops on your knife sharpener keep knives extra sharp. Be sure to rinse knives thoroughly after sharpening.


6. Does odd jobs
Two tablespoons of Basic-H in a bucket of hot water lifts off old wallpaper. One tablespoon in a half gallon cleans sticky paintbrushes. Just soak for 24 hours and rinse in hot tap water.

7. Saves money

One 16 oz. bottle of Basic H2 diluted per label directions makes 214 bottles (28 oz.) of ready-to-use all-purpose cleaner.


8. Camping and travel companion
A sample-size bottle of Basic-H is all you need to keep clothes, dishes, and everything else clean. And you’ll help by keeping the great outdoors unpolluted.

9. Easy on the Planet
Biodegradable and environmentally friendly, Basic-H handles even hardto- clean jobs without phosphates, borates, nitrates, corrosive chemicals, or toxic fumes.

10. Less in the landfill
Basic-H is concentrated, so you’ll use fewer bottles of cleaning products throughout the year.

Want to check this product out further?
http://greenertomorrow.myshaklee.com/can/en/products.php?sku=44015

Benefits of Antioxidants

There aren't many things in this world that provide the health benefits of antioxidants!

Because they work in every cell in every part of your body, there doesn't seem to be a health issue that doesn't respond to them. Specific health benefits of antioxidants that people have reported include, but are not limited to, the following:

• better resistance to colds and flu
• softer, younger-looking skin
• relief from allergies
• weight loss


• increased energy
• relief from asthma
• improved circulation


• reduced high blood pressure
• improved digestion
• relief from arthritis
• help in controlling diabetes


• improved sleep
• relief from menstrual symptoms
• better memory, concentration

These are diseases that can all be prevented by increasing the antioxidant level of your diet. Antioxidants have been shown to significantly reduce the risk of all of the diseases listed below, and more than 60 others! If you eat a diet full of antioxidant-rich foods and use antioxidant supplements daily, you can avoid being one or more of these statistics.

Heart Disease. Statistics show that about 81 million Americans have been diagnosed with some form of cardiovascular disease. Every year, there are 650,000 deaths attributed to this disease, 27 percent of all deaths.

Cancer. There are over 1.3 million new cases of cancer every year, and over 500,000 deaths.


Immune System. Arthritis, gout, lupus or fibromyalgia afflict over 46 million adults, two-thirds of them under the age of 65. By the year 2030, the numbers for arthritis sufferers alone are projected to climb up to 67 million Americans over the age of 18, reflecting a 40 percent increase over current numbers.


Diabetes. Almost 24 million people in America — 7.8 percent of the population — have diabetes.


Alzheimer's. Over 5 million people in the United States currently have symptoms of Alzheimer's. This number is expected to increase by half a million every year as the baby-boomers become senior citizens.


Glaucoma. The leading cause of blindness in the United States, glaucoma affects 4 million Americans. Approximately 120,000 of these people have become blind from this disease.


Macular Degeneration. 10 percent of people between the ages of 66 and 74 have macular degeneration, 30 percent of the population from 75-85 years old.

Benefits of Antioxidants:

Prevention of Heart Disease

There are really only two things that you need to know about the causes of heart disease:

High cholesterol levels do not cause heart disease. Although high LDL-cholesterol levels have been (incorrectly) associated with an increased risk of heart attacks, there is actually NO correlation between the two — statistics bear this out. What you're being told in the media is nothing but a relentless marketing campaign by the pharmaceutical industry to sell cholesterol-lowering drugs.

The most effective plan for heart attack prevention is regular exercise and a unprocessed, nutrient-rich diet full of antioxidants. Antioxidants prevent the free radical attacks to your arteries that are the root cause of atherosclerosis and almost all cardiovascular diseases.

Benefits of Antioxidants

Include the Prevention and Treatment

of Cancer and Many Other Diseases

Studies have suggested that antioxidants are useful in a number of ways in regards to cancer. Many studies have shown that eating lots of fruits and vegetables can decrease the risk of many types of cancer.


Studies have also shown that cancer patients typically have lower levels of these phytonutrients in their blood. Other benefits of antioxidants for people with cancer include improving the effectiveness of chemotherapy, while decreasing the side effects.


Check out my website for Antioxidant Supplements
http://greenertomorrow.myshaklee.com/can/en/category.php?main_cat=Nutrition&sub_cat=antioxidants

The Importance of Being Green

Give this a thought. Canadians use 9-15 billion plastic shopping bags every single year.Is that number too big to think about? Well if we tied 9 billion bagstogether they would circle the earth 55 times!

GET INVOLVED

WHAT CAN YOU DO

Plant a tree. Change a lightbulb. Drive less. Everyone can make a difference
and everyone can do their part.

Here are some ways you can help:

Walk This Way

Consolidate errands so you complete them all in one car journey or if possible,ride a bike or walk to your destination.

See the Light

Switch from traditional to energy-efficient, compact fluorescent light bulbs.

Offset your Carbon Footprint

Go plant some trees!

Clean Up Your Act

Use nontoxic, concentrated cleaners. Try Get Clean the new natural line of
household cleaners from Shaklee that are safe for you, your home and your planet.
At Shaklee they believe that the small act of scouring your sink can be part of the
giant act of changing the world. You can make an incredible difference by switching
from conventional brands to the Get Clean Starter Kit. You'll eliminate 108 pounds
of packaging waste from landfills, 248 pounds of greenhouse gases and have the
environmental equivalent of planting 10 trees! To date, consumers who've bought
Get Clean Starter Kits have eliminated 4,247,248 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions.

Remember the 3 Rs (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle)

 Reduce your consumption of natural resources by reusing and recycling as much as possible.Consider the garbage can a last-resort option to be used sparingly.

BYOB (Bring your own bag)

 Whether you're shopping at a grocery or department store, bring your own bag. There is enoughpertroleum in 14 plastic bags to drive a car 1 mile. Keep it for the car by bringing your own bag!
 

 Why Should you have to choose between keeping your house clean and the earth safe? You Shouldn't! Shaklee's Get Clean products offer natural cleaning choices that are safe, green, powerful and smart! You won't feel scared using these amazing products around your children or pets because they are non-toxic! How cool is that!