Urban Myths

Germ Killers and Other Nonsense.

Your house does not have to be spotless and germ free. Children raised in ultra clean environments, children who are not around pets and dirt, tend to suffer from more allergies and more illnesses throughout their lifetime.

In fact, household germ-killers contribute to the development of superbugs!!! Regular soap and hot water are good enough.

You do not need an SPF of 200. An SPF of 30 is adequate, but you must remember to reapply every couple hours, every hour is swimming or at the beach. Overuse of sunscreen contributes to our country's rampant Vitamin D deficiency. You need 15 minutes or the equivalent of full-body exposure to the sun daily - or 2000 units of Vitamin D.

A dog's mouth IS cleaner than a human mouth, but a cat's mouth is not.

Gadgets do not ease your cooking woes, they just make more of a mess for you to clean up. Stick with a regular old knife and a cutting board, and maybe a blender or a food processor for the stuff you need to smush. You can do almost anything with a whisk, a good knife, a cutting board, a simple old vegetable peeler, a small blender, a small mixer, and a small food processor.

You need less detergent in your washer than you think - 2-4 tablespoons.

Weight-loss never happens overnight and if anyone tells you it does, they lie like a rug! Weight-loss requires a life-long determination to eat fewer calories and exercise nearly every single day, burning more calories than you take in. As we get older, we need to eat less and exercise more - totally unfair but true!

A little sugar will not kill you. Chocolate, coffee and tea are all loaded with anti-oxidants so indulge yourself once in a while without guilt. Avoid eating too much white stuff, processed foods and items containing high-fructose corn syrup. Whole grains and whole foods - whole wheat bread and real cheddar cheese as opposed to white bread and processed cheese food - burn up to forty percent more calories during the digestive process and you absorb fewer calories, while the whole foods are more filling. Worry less about fats and more about carbs, and try to increase your protein intake - eggs, especially eggs from free-range chickens, are the perfect protein and they will not increase your cholesterol level.

And remember, there is a reason kids don't like broccoli. Broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables are hard for kids to digest. Raw nut milk is not a good substitute for milk - kids do not digest it well and the toxic by-products are hard on their little livers. Toasted nuts are a much healthier choice, they are more easily digested, toasting and roasting remove natural toxins and the nutrients are made more bio-available.

Watching a comedy is good medicine! Sunshine and fresh air are great medicine! Love is the best medicine of all! Read a romance novel and call me in the morning!

Have I lectured you enough? I just get tired of all the TV pundits and food Nazis and their contradictory messages!