You Are What You Absorb?

There's been a lot of chatter in my Facebook newsfeed lately about healthy living.  At first I chalked it up to everyone trying to make good on their New Year's resolutions.  Then I started noticing a different sort of health posts.  Ones that actually show that some of you out there are actually educating yourselves about what you put in your bodies.  


After reading a few articles about the crap that's in chicken nuggets I decided that we are done with the nuggets.  They are the press board of the meat world.  I also saw a video on youtube where Jamie Oliver (of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution) demonstrates how 70% of America's beef is treated with ammonia before it is delivered to our grocery stores and restaurants.  This is abysmal!  The USDA is supposed to protect us and regulate the food industry to keep us safe and healthy.  Isn't that what we pay them for?!  Instead, they conveniently cover up the processes that beef carcasses go through in order to be fit for human consumption.  The bottom line is: We should all educate ourselves about where our food comes from and what we are putting in our bodies.


Now, I want to ask you a question... What about the things we put ON our bodies?  Is what we put on our bodies as important as what we put in our bodies? YES!  Our skin is an organ.  In fact, it's the largest organ in our body.  It helps the liver and kidneys remove toxins from our body and it's also supposed to protect our internal organs from exposure to dangerous toxins.  But how can our skin do it's job if we slather it with toxins on a daily basis?  Fact: The average woman applies 515 chemicals to her face a day (see article: The Toxic Burden).  Just on her FACE! Makeup, perfume, skin care, lotions, other beauty products all contribute to toxins that cause health problems.  Did you know that 60% of what you put on your skin gets absorbed into your blood stream?  Here are a few of the ingredients most people put on their skin each day:


Mineral Oil -- This is basically a highly refined crude oil.  What is crude oil?  Petroleum!  It is a naturally occurring, flammable liquid.  After it is drilled out of the earth, it is refined into such products as kerosene, asphalt, gasoline, plastics, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics.  Wait, what?!  Pharmaceuticals?!  Cosmetics?!  I don't know about you, but I don't drink gasoline and I don't want it on my skin either.  Would you soak your liver in kerosene?  Didn't think so.  But when you put products on your body that contain mineral oil, you are essentially doing just that. Mineral oil creates a barrier on your skin that does NOT allow ingredients to be absorbed. It's like covering your skin in plastic wrap.  This barrier does not allow toxins to be released from the skin either. It also dehydrates skin by pulling water and moisture from the bottom layers where skin is regenerating. 


Artificial Colors and Fragances -- They are unnecessary as there are plenty of beautiful colors and fragrances that occur in nature.  Soaps, shampoos, and body washes are drying to the skin and leave scum on the surface layer, just like on the bathtub, and can strip the skin of its precious acid mantle and natural moisture. The correct pH would match the acid mantle of the skin which functions best at a pH of 5.5 to 6.5. When the acid mantle is preserved it acts like a bug zapper to germs and bacteria.


and last but certainly not least...


Animal By-products -- Did you know the most prestigious cosmetic companies in this country purchase ingredients from Rendering Plants? But what is a rendering plant?  Rendering plants are collection centers for leftover animal parts and old restaurant grease. Cosmetic companies use the rendered, greasy by-products for lipstick, eye make-up, foundation, facial creams and soaps. These are all ingredients that are not right or necessary for your skin.  I don't know about you, but I'm not about to put french fry grease and road kill on my face or my kids.


It is a fact that U.S. cosmetic companies often create safer products for their European market and sell the more dangerous versions in American stores.  Why?  To date, the European Union (EU) has banned 1,100 chemicals in cosmetics; the Food and Drug Administration in America has banned only ten. In fact, Cover Girl waterproof mascara contains the same ingredient (petroleum distillates, an oil by-product) as Dr. Scholl’s Wart Remover-both of which are illegal in Europe. (click here for full article) 


So why does the U.S. cosmetics industry continue to manufacture and sell products that so many other countries have banned?  Because the FDA has no authority to test chemicals in cosmetics, to require safety testing before products reach the consumer market, or to recall products. Cosmetic manufacturers are wholly responsible for the safety of their own products and for making sure they adhere to the FDA’s guidelines. Why does Europe get the "safe" version of products?  Because the European Union Cosmetics Directive (EUCD) mandates that products “must not cause damage to human health when applied under normal or reasonably foreseeable conditions of use.”  There is no such law or regulation in the U.S.

In a 2007 study, the Environmental Working Group found that:

• One in thirty products sold in the U.S. fails to meet industry or government safety standards.
• Nearly four hundred products sold in the U.S., such as Crest Whitestrips and Neutrogena daily face cream, contain chemicals banned in Japan, Canada, and the EU.
• Ninety-eight percent of all products assessed contained one or more ingredients never tested for safety

It’s inevitable that we will encounter tons of toxic chemicals over a lifetime.  However, your liver can only process so much!  Do yourself (and your liver) a favor and invest in products that have been rigorously tested and manufactured to European standards as we in the U.S. are a little behind.