How to Avoid BPA
Bisphenol A or BPA is a chemical used to make polycarbonates and epoxy resin. Polycarbonates are used in the manufacturing of certain plastic food and beverage containers and epoxy resin is used in the lining of food and beverage cans. BPA mimics estrogen in the body and has been linked to a number of health concerns including cancer, obesity, diabetes, infertility and behavioral issues. France has led the way in banning BPA in all food packaging. The US has banned BPA in baby bottles but has not supported a ban on BPA in food packaging.
AVOIDING BPA
Plastics
BPA is prevalent in plastic food and beverage packaging and storage containers. BPA plastics are easily identified as they are marked with the recycle code 7 or 1. These plastics should be avoided and should never be heated or frozen.
Cans
A 2011 Harvard study showed that volunteers who ate canned soup for lunch daily for 5 days had a 1,221% increase in the BPA level of their urine compared to those that ate fresh soup.
Food stored in BPA lined cans should be avoided. Certain companies such as Eden and Whole Food 365 Brand, to name a few, use BPA free cans. Green Century has published a report card on packaging to help you make the right choice. http://greencentury.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/bpareport2010.pdf
Receipts
The Environmental Working Group conducted tests on store receipts in 2010 and found that 40% were coated with BPA. BPA can be absorbed through the skin and transfered to food. There is no way to identify BPA coated receipts, so excess contact should be avoided and they should not be given to children to handle.
Dental Work
BPA is found in some night guards and sports guards. Be sure to ask for a brand that is BPA free. BPA is also present in composite filling material. Dentists should use the “layering” or “sandwiching” technique to insure the product is fully cured which prevents leaching or use BPA free filing materials.
Playful Parenting – Book Review
Playful Parenting: A Bold New Way to Nurture Close Connections, Solve Behavioral Problems, and Encourage Children’s Confidence, by Lawrence J. Cohen PhD. is not a new release but it is very noteworthy. It is a guidebook on how to connect with your children and overcome behavioral issues using the power of play. He explains how children use play to communicate, deal with stress, learn, express emotions and to simply have fun. The book is well written and easy to follow and the content is supported by research and entertaining personal anecdotes.
Highlights:
Chapter 6 Learn to Roughhouse
This chapter discusses the importance of wrestling, pillow fighting and roughhousing to connect, to build empowerment and to safely release anger. He teaches you how wrestle and sets out rules and boundaries for safe roughhousing.
Chapter 8 Empower Girls and Connect with Boys
Dr. Cohen deals with gender stereotyping and how to use play to develop empowerment for girls and to build communication skills in boys.
Chapter 11 Learn to Love the Games you Hate
This chapter is a must read for any parent that dreads playtime because they simply “can’t” play with Barbie or whatever the child’s favorite toy is. He teaches you how to change the type of play you are engaging in not what you are playing with so you can both enjoy a meaningful playtime.
Chapter 13 Rethink the Way We Discipline
Dr. Cohen takes a different approach to discipline. He believes that bad behavior is due feeling unloved and to fix behavior issues, your child needs to feel loved. Instead of exasperating the feeling of being unloved by sending a child away in a time out, he suggest using having a time in and to use the time to connect.
Chapter 14 Play Your Way Through Sibling Rivalry
This chapter deals with multiple children, how to play with more than one child effectively and how to deal with family dynamics through play.
Although I always played regularly with my child, after reading this book, the quality of our play time went to a new level. It was the first time my daughter literally thanked me for being so much fun to play with. The advice in this book timeless and can apply to children of any age. It is a must read for every parent.
Review by Tiffany Miller
Stop “Trying” to be Healthy
Are you suffering from low energy? Do you need to lose weight? Having trouble staying focused? Today there is a book or a diet claiming to cure whatever ails you. An industry has been created to sell you the right answer; Amazon alone has over 500,000 books on health and diet. The pressure to jump on the latest bandwagon is real, you can’t log into Facebook without following someone’s latest paleo creation, gluten free trick or intense fashionable workout.
We all have different DNA, metabolism, lifestyles and emotional issues, so there is not one diet or plan that is going to be the universal magic cure for the population of the world. Our individual constitutions determine what nutrients we need and how we can or can’t absorb them. We don’t have the same body type, fitness level or medical conditions so there is no reason to think the same fitness routine would be appropriate for everyone.
Many of the popular diet trends have positive short term result, or they would not gain popularity, but over the long term by limiting foods you are limiting nutrients to your body. What a body needs is variety. A variety of protein sources, a variety of fruits and vegetables, a variety of grains, a variety of spices and a variety of physical activity.
Enjoy that piece of cheese but eat a different type every time and don’t deny yourself that slice of bread but try a loaf of spelt for a change. Throw out the books and DVDs and stop “trying” to be healthy.
Parenting by Post
“Look at Johnny at the museum.”
“Susie loves the international folklore festival.”
“Listen to Jack at his violin lessons.”
Parenting has become a series of Facebook posts, a photo scavenger hunt to see who can outpost the last person. Posting uber parenting moments has a benefit, a benefit to you. You will feel good reading the string of comments about what a wonderful parent you are and how great, gifted, enriched and beautiful your child is.
The question is, are you being a wonderful parent by breaking the moment to share it? Do these posts have a purpose? Do people need to know what you are doing? By highlighting isolated highs in your life are you making others feel like they are underperforming?
Do yourself, your child and friends a favor. Next time you are enjoying a special moment, leave your phone off, stay in the moment and know that you are a great parent for doing it.
Image courtesy of David Castillo Dominici / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
iWholistic.com releases new eBook “Home Is Where The Healing Begins”
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Newly Released!
“Home Is Where The Healing Begins, Even For A Family With Special Needs Children!” is a work of observation and from our hearts. This book is the first in a series and is $1.99 to download.
Over the years, we have repeatedly witnessed certain un-serving behavioral patterns causing so much loss of heart-to-heart connection and a fragile home life. We felt the need to share our knowledge and experience to help you create a loving environment in all relationships, including parent and child, and adult to adult. Some of these patterns occur in many families, but we have seen them magnified greatly in families with a non-typical child.
This book addresses some of the common un-serving behavioral patterns and the undesireable consequences. We hope to bring new awareness to help stop this cycle. Our goal with this book is to help you meet any person exactly where they are, bring new wisdom and ease to any relationship.
Copyright © 2012-2013 by Patricia Leat and Marissa Joven