Tag Archives: information

Eating Disorders on the Rise in Children

Posted on December 19, 2010 | 2 Comments

I just read this article that I would like to share with you. In this time of increasing obesity, much work has been done, especially in the USA, to spread awareness of the health-hazards connected with obesity. The message that kids are picking up is; “Fat is ugly, fat is bad” and this has created an ever-increasing wave of eating disorders among children under 12 years of age.

It takes information and knowledge to change the “obesity-habits” (i.e; nutrition and exercise) and not all people have enough awareness to be able to implement such changes, and the message gets screwed up, instead of “eat better” the message becomes “eat less”.

Here is a paragraph from the article:

“Overall, it is estimated that about 0.5% of adolescent girls in the United States have anorexia nervosa, that about 1% to 2% meet diagnostic criteria for bulimia nervosa, and that up to 5% to 10% of all cases of eating disorders occur in boys.”

Eating Disorders on the Rise in Children.

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Posted in Babies & Children, Lifestyle, Nutrition

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THE BRAIN

Posted on May 12, 2010 | Leave a comment

Previously I have talked about how we react to scents and how essential oils can interact with us through the limbic system of the brain. We constantly program our brains (subconscious) with different information; the more emotional the information is, the stronger the programming. Every time we are subjected to an impulse we immediately go to our archives and do a rapid search to find a correlation. Once some kind of correlation is found, we judge the latest impulse from this.  By doing this we are re-acting on impulses instead of acting upon them as something new and unknown, which hinders us from learning and experiencing. Another result from this is that we stop being in the present which lowers our ability to learn because the mind is associating to a known past or unknown future. Children are amazingly good at being in the present,  learning and remembering continuously.

“Children learn better than adults on average not because they have better brains, but because they are still using their brains in the way they were designed to be used, and have not yet taken on board so many incorrect formulas” Tony Buzan

I have looked at the work of Tony Buzan and I like the simple way he structures thought and learning. By doing the mind-map work you stay in the present and by working creatively you enhance the memory. The mind-map is nothing new, I have done this off and on in my life, and I am sure plenty of you have done too, especially when you were kids!

Here is an interesting page where Tony Buzan tells his story, it’s well worth a read.

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Posted in Lifestyle, Personal development

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LITTLE STORIES ABOUT SCENT

Posted on April 27, 2010 | 4 Comments

Ever since I can remember I have perceived my world largely through the sense of smell. I smell everything! As a little child I could find my way home, eyes closed, just by smelling. My siblings teased me and said I was a dog.  Sometimes I thought that if I would go blind, I could probably make it in the world anyway, just by smelling. I lived my first 7 years in Japan, then moved to Sweden. These countries smell very different, and the first months in Sweden I was busy sorting the scents… Over time and travels I have found that every country has its own scent, even cities. The metro in Paris has a smell like no other metro in the world, though the London underground has a touch of it. (This memory is from a trip to Paris when I was 11).

When I was 9 yrs old I was sent on holidays to friends of the family who lived in a huge mansion by the sea. Behind the mansion there was this beautiful rose-garden where I spent most of my time reading. One day I collected as much roses as I could carry and brought them to my room where there was a wash-stand. There I immersed the rose-petals in warm water to make rose-water, nobody had ever told me how to do this, I just wanted to keep the scent. I knew then, that I would one day work with scents and plants. (I forgot all about that “wish” for almost 20 yrs and when it resurfaced – while smelling an essential oil – I found my present career.)

At 18, I visited with friends in New York. They took me to China Town where I was hit by such an enormous wave of memories and emotions from my (by now half-forgotten) early childhood in Japan. I was in pieces, seldom have I experienced anything so strong.

One day when I went shopping with my little son, aged 8, we went to the cash-machine to get money. While I am putting away the money, my son  asks me: “Mami, first you smelled your card before you put it in the machine, and then you smelled it when it came out. What do you think the machine did to your card?” I don’t notice that I smell things, I just do it. There is no such thing as a bad smell, it’s all information. A “bad smell” usually means something is rotten, ill or poisonous – very important information. The oil of hops (humulus lupulus) is the oddest-smelling essential oil I have ever come across, its scent is on one hand beautifully  floral and sweet and behind that scent it smells like natural gas. Black pepper (piper nigrum) smells like peppercorns, but behind that there is this ethereal floral scent. Our senses give us the emotional experience of living, but I think that scent is the most subtle of them all. So start paying attention to what you smell and feel – it will take you on a most astonishing journey…Enjoy!

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Posted in Aromatherapy, Scents

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WHAT IS IN YOUR SKIN-CARE?

Posted on March 24, 2010 | 4 Comments

“The European Cosmetic, Toiletry and Fragrance Association (COLIPA) informed the Cosmetic, Toiletry, and Fragrance Association (CTFA) that the Legal Services of the EU Commission has accepted the names in CTFA’s International Cosmetic Ingredient Dictionary (ICID) without translation. These names, which are now designated as International Nomenclature Cosmetic Ingredient (INCI) names, will be used by EU members to identify ingredients in the EU Inventory of cosmetic ingredients and are expected to be the basis for ingredient labeling on products that will be required in the EU in 1997.”

(taken from a FDA document that you can look closer at here.)

Simplified, this means that until this time there were no regulations regarding the declaring of ingredients in skin-care. You could put anything you liked in there, and nobody would ever know. Because of, or maybe thanks to, increasing allergic reactions, the demand for clarity about ingredients in skin-care pushed the need of this law. To simplify the communication and understanding of ingredients, INCI (International Nomenclature Cosmetic Ingredient) was decided upon: This means that all ingredients by plant extracts are named by their Latin botanical names (according to Linneae) and for other ingredients the chemical names are used. These names are recognized world-wide. Regulations also stipulate that on the label the ingredients should be listed in falling order with the largest ingredient first. To give you an idea of the amounts: A cream consists of about 50-60% water, a lotion of 70-90% water. The ingredients way down on the list are in the proportions of 0,x% or even 0,0x%. So if you buy, for example, a product that is labeled with something special; lavender or Aloe Vera or something, check the list. Chances are that you find this ingredient among the last on the list, and then you know the amounts are around 0.x%. There is no law stipulating WHAT you can say, only that you list it. Following are the INCI-lists of 2 well-known, popular body-lotions. I have highlighted the pure natural ingredients.

This is the INCI-list of a popular body lotion: Aqua, Ethylhexyl Cocoate, Cyclopentasiloxane, Paraffinum liquidum, Glycerin, Cetyl PEG/PPG-10/1 Dimethicone, Prunus Armeniaca Kernel Oil, Tocopheryl Acetate, Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract, Vitis Vinifera Seed Extract, Linoleic Acid, Magnesium Sulfate, Zinc Sulfate, Cera Microcristallina, Disodium Phosphate, Propylene Glycol, Parfum, Phenoxyethanol, Methylparaben, Propylparaben, Potassium Sorbate, Sodium Benzoate, Sorbic Acid, Benzoic acid, BHT, Pentaerythrityl Tetradi-t-butyl Hydroxyhydrocinnamate, Alpha-Isomethyl Ionone, Benzyl Alcohol, Butylphenyl Methylpropional, Citronellol, Coumarin, Geraniol, Hexyl Cinnamat, Hydroxyisohexyl 3-Cyclohexene Carboxaldehyde, Limonene, Linalol.

Several of these chemicals are known toxins.

This is the INCI-list of a natural body-lotion: Water/Aqua, Rose (Rosa Canina) Hip Extract, Rose (Rosa Gallica) Petal Extract, Sweet Almond (Prunus Dulcis) Oil, Alcohol, Glycerin, Quince (Pyrus Cydonia) Seed Extract, Shea (Butyrospermum Parkii) Butter, Carrot (Daucus Carota) Extract, Jojoba (Buxus Chinensis) Oil, Cetearyl Alcohol, Beeswax/Cera Flava, Rose (Rosa Gallica) Wax, Rose (Rosa Damascena) Essential Oil, Fragrance/Parfum (Essential Oil), Citronellol*, Geraniol*, Limonene*, Linalool*, Citral*, Coumarin*, Eugenol*, Benzyl Benzoate*, Propolis Wax/Propolis Cera, Lecithin, Xanthan Gum


I leave it up to you to make your decision about what kind of stuff you want to put on your skin. Remember though that if molecules are small enough, they go straight through your skin and into your bloodstream from where they can access every cell of your body.

If you want more information on different chemicals or skin-care ingredients, you can check out this website: http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/

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Posted in Lifestyle, Product information, Skincare, Wellness

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KNOWLEDGE AND INFORMATION about essential oils

Posted on September 10, 2009 | Leave a comment

lemon_pepper_oilOne thing I keep coming across is the ignorance about aromatherapy and essential oils.  On top of this, essential oils are very easy to find and actually not too expensive. Everybody has heard of aromatherapy and essential oils, many are using them in a vague fashion to scent their homes or help with minor problems, which is okay if you know what you are doing, but if you don’t know, you might be creating all kinds of problems.

To start at the top:

  • Essential oils are mainly used by the food- cosmetics- and perfume industry. Therefore they are easily found on the market. There are no limitations or regulations on producing and selling essential oils, since they are so widely used, except for some oils that are obviously hazardous to health and prohibited for all use.
  • Essential oils are also used by the pharmaceutical industry since they are pharmaceutically active agents. (Vicks vaporub & other cold-remedies)

Here starts the first problem: Since essential oils are pharmaceutically active, they should be marked as medicine, and regulated as such (as is the case with all other pharmaceutically active substances), making them unavailable for any other use. This would mean that the food- and perfume-industry (and toiletries and…) could not use essential oils in any way. Since this would lead to political and economical upheaval, it is putting the essential oils in a kind of “nowhere-land” where it is best not to create too much discussion.

So anybody can buy essential oils everywhere. The manufacturers and distributors of essential oils can claim anything they want and give advice on how to use essential oils. (Sometimes the advice is on a clinical level and the essential oil should not be used in this way without extensive knowledge.)

Essential oil components

do you understand above list?

Next problem is this: In England, America, Scandinavia and Australia you can train exclusively to become an aromatherapist. This education is a state-approved professional training. In these countries there is much more information pertaining essential oils and how to use them, since there are professional therapists that can advice you. As a professional therapist you study basic medicine, biology, chemistry and botany to understand essential oils and what they can do (or not do.).

In Germany, Belgium, France, Luxembourg and other countries in Europe you need to be a Heilpraktiker or a doctor before you are allowed to work with essential oils in a pharmaceutical way. If you are a Heilpraktiker, that means adding  a year of aromatherapy and essential oil studies to your existing diploma.  Since very few people want to do this, only doctors are really allowed to use essential oils for medical (healing) purposes. There are some doctors who do this in France. For the rest, aromatherapy is used for beauty or Spa-treatments, and the therapist has no right to claim any healing attributes to the oils.

essential-oil

This means that the overall knowledge about essential oils in much lower in most of mainland Europe creating all kinds of problems. Essential oils and aromatherapy is widely talked about and people use more essential oils here than in informed countries. There are hardly any warnings or advice. For example: Tea Tree (Melaleuca alternifolia) became all the rave a few years ago because it was said to be good against acne. People started using it indiscriminately, causing all kinds of skin-problems. In Germany and France the oil was banned for a couple of years. All because of ignorance.

tea-tree

Since I started working with aromatherapy I have worked on spreading information and trying to get past all the red tape around what is allowed to be said or not. Sometimes lack of information is the very source of the problem. At the end of the day the essential oils will continue to be accessible to everybody and the information about these substances need to be up-to-date as with any other available substance.

Essential oils can heal and provide well-being. But they can also cause harm when used wrongly.

As I said before; quality is what differentiates essential oils used for aromatherapy as opposed to industrial uses. Quality is also about re-planting, fair trade and cooperation.

handshake

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Posted in Aromatherapy

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SMOKING – PAYBACK TIME

Posted on July 25, 2009 | 2 Comments

Quit smokingWhen I quit smoking I did all the normal things; checking internet and research for information about what happens in the body. I knew I really didn’t want to gain weight so I embarked on a very good dietary plan with detox and I exercised daily. I knew I could use my essential oils for irritation and other mood-swings. So far, so good.

As for mood-swings, I didn’t really have any. I would get cravings but they were not too bad, every time it happened I went walking or did something else and it would go away. But physically! Ajajaj…I got so sick! Immediately when I stopped I got constipated – big time. After 3 weeks I went to the doctor who gave me medication to get transit going. It helped a bit but the constipation only got worse, nothing would help. On top of that I suffered crippling pain in my musculo-sceletal system,  was constantly exhausted and gained weight relentlessly. I did research and nowhere did I find any information that even touched on the subject, all I got was positive stuff like: “you should now feel happier, more energetic, glowing skin, better breath”…etc… bla,bla,bla…NOT! I looked like shit, I felt like shit but I didn’t have a problem with cigarette-cravings. Sometimes I felt so bad that I would seriously think about smoking again, just to stop the suffering.

weakness

After about 4 months I found a brilliant Heilpraktikerin in Germany. She told me I was heavily toxic, analysis showed high levels of heavy metals, especially quicksilver and cadmium. On top of that I was still badly constipated. The Heilprakterin taught me how to administer different herb-enemas to counter the constipation which was getting worse with every passing day. I then embarked on a big cleansing-trip; Detox every 3 weeks with different herbs, enemas every second day to not irritate the system, strict diet with no milk-products, bread, pasta, sugar, alcohol, meat or most fish. Changing dietary habits is really difficult, especially as I already had good habits. I just had to go extreme for some time to heal. My daughter, of course, continued to eat normally as she needs her nourishment.

Today 18 months have passed and I am slowly healing, at least I am on the right side. It is very slow going and sometimes I can feel really low on motivation when I don’t see the results I want. My constipation lasted 13(!) months, during which time I had natural transit only 3 times. I didn’t resort to medication since it only worsens everything. My digestive system is now in order but I still pay attention to what, how and when I eat.

I have had a personal trainer the last 5 months who helps me to work my body into health again, I am strong and fit and I don’t experience any pain. I still have too high levels of toxins in my system but it is slowly clearing. My skin is better, and I have more energy. I am not really loosing any weight as of yet and I still detox every 3 weeks.

SUMMARY: After 18 months of research, I still haven’t found anything that even slightly resembles what I have gone through. I have spoken to plenty of people that had the same experience and they say this was the reason they went back to smoking after time-spans of 1 or more years. I have spoken to doctors and researchers and finally a picture emerges:

  • Nicotine leaves your body-system quite rapidly but stays as an emotional, mental or psychological dependence which is the hardest to kick.
  • The heavy metals in cigarettes are stored in the skeletal-system. Once the body is not receiving more metals it dumps large amounts of the stored metals into the system which then goes toxic. To counter this the body builds up fatty deposits to hold and store the toxins. If these fatty deposits are shed too quickly there is a toxicology problem and this is the reason why it takes such a long time to loose it.

I think different people have different reactions; we all have different genetic weaknesses in our body-systems, apparently mine is the digestive-system. I also think that the physical reaction to quitting smoking is dependent on how long and how much we have smoked. I know plenty of people who has no problem at all. But I am angry that this information is not readily available. I am a therapist and tend to see myself as a study -  this helps me through a lot of difficulty because I am my school; I am studying myself from outside. But I so understand people who go back to smoking. Maybe with more knowledge we can be better prepared to return to health on the other side of smoking. I really believe smoking to be a terrible thing – a killer in disguise – and I am sure it will soon be banned all together. At that point honest and true information is needed to help people, not only this starry-eyed rubbish that is served up today, because we all do know that we will be healthier without smoking.

This said, nobody can better understand the dilemma of smoking than me. I have no opinions on other people’s smoking, I don’t think that is my business. But if I can help someone through the difficulties of quitting, I am more than glad to help.

Strength-training

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Posted in Smoking

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THANK YOU

Posted on July 3, 2009 | 2 Comments

comfort-zoneThank you people for such nice feed-back on my post yesterday,  I was – again – reminded of the rewards that come when I step past my comfort zone.

I received quite a few comments, ideas and questions that led me to believe that there is a great need for communication out there. So last night while falling asleep I had the idea to post questions and answers on this blog, this way you will get information on stuff that interests you; be it aromatherapy, herbs, natural skin-care, personal development, nutrition, stress-management or whatever…this way everybody helps each-other, which is how it should be.

By the way, please click on the ad to the right. It is a charity widget – every click helps children.

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