Friday, September 7, 2012

Renovate Right: Avoid Lead Toxicity

Here are some facts about lead:

  1. Lead can affect children's brains and developing nervous systems, causing reduced IQ, learning disabilities, and behavioral problems.
  2. Lead in dust, which is often invisible, is the most common way people are exposed to lead.
  3. Lead-based pain was used in more than 38 million homes until it was banned for residential use in 1978.
  4. Projects that disturb lead-based pain can create dust and endanger you and your family. When renovating, make sure that your contractor follows safe practices. Not all of them do!
If you suspect lead, or other heavy metal toxicity, there is a simple urine test we perform in-office. I recently had myself tested and found out that I was medium-high in terms of heavy metals in general. Since I breathe purified air, drink purified water, and eat mostly organically grown food, it took me awhile to puzzle out a possible source. Then I remembered that I had used cast iron cookware every day for most of my adult life. The cast iron cookware was history, but heavy metals linger on.

Fortunately, we carry a product specifically designed to eliminate heavy metals. It is even safe for children, so people of all ages can rest assured that they can be heavy-metal-free.

Monday, September 3, 2012

Want To Destroy Your Smarts?

A new study out of UCLA demonstrates that this common food substance impairs memory and cognition. It should be easy to avoid because you'll have to read labels to find it.

But why buy food with a list of ingredients a mile long that requires advanced study in biochemistry to understand? If the package has it, it's not really food, and not compatible with human biology.

As one expert said years ago, shop the perimeter of your supermarket. That's where they keep the food. Bon appetit!

Saturday, September 1, 2012

Free Won't

Or why the discoveries of F. M. Alexander, and their application in my daily life, has been so important. Researchers agree that we don't have free will, but we do have free won't. If I care to exercise it (and I don't always; apparently sometimes I want to be a mindless drone) by "inhibiting" my habitual response to some stimulus, I carve out a little moment where I can make a conscious choice about some action or behavior.

The study of the Alexander Technique gives us a means for constructively exploring that in daily life. For more fun! I wonder whether decades of practice enhance the brain center responsibile for free won't. My guess is yes. As a wise man (Glenn Doman) once said to a class I was attending, "The brain grows by use. The brain grows by use. The brain grows by use. If we say something three times, it means we want you to remember it." 

There are a few master teachers in the Seattle area that I highly recommend (in no particular order): Cathy Madden, Catherine Kettrick and David Mills, and Stacy Gehman. The Alexander Technique was the first way in to the concrete block that was my consciousness coming out of childhood, and I would never want to be without it.