Tag Archives: Baking

6 Natural Alternatives to Toxic Toothpaste

Most health conscious people can admit to carefully looking over the nutritional information and ingredient list on the foods they buy, but how often do theydo the same for personal care products?

If your toothpaste contains dangerous ingredients like triclosan, sodium laureth sulfate, glycerin or any artificial sweeteners (includingaspartame, sorbitol and saccharin), then you should seriously consider tossing that tube into the trash and going for a much safer, natural alternative that can get the job done just as well as regular toothpasteif not better.

You could head on over to your local health food store to look for organic toothpastes or you could evenconduct somethorough research on the more common brands of toothpaste sold in stores (since not all of them contain toxic ingredients). But if you want to save a bit of money in addition togoing all natural with your oral care, you could simplystop using toothpaste all together and instead switch to some of the alternatives listed below.

1. Baking soda

A study from the Journal of Clinical Dentistry found that Arm & Hammer baking soda was effective at cleaning teeth and removing plaque to fight off tooth decay. You’re probably already well aware of the manytoothpastes that actuallycontain baking soda already. If you can withstand the taste and the grittiness of plain baking soda, you might want to try it!

2. Peroxide

According to WebMD, peroxide can be an effective cleansing solution for your mouth because of its bacteria-killing power, but you have to be ultra careful with it. If you’re going to try this alternative, make sure you dilute theperoxide inwater so you’re not brushing with it at full strength, which could potentially burnyour gums.

3. Sea salt

Sea salt is rich in a variety of essential minerals, and some people claim thatit really helps to whiten their teeth. Try diluting sea salt in water and using it to brush your teeth. If you decide to use straight sea salt (without diluting it) you could risk abrasion.

4. Xylitol

Xylitol is a naturally occurring sugar alcohol that can be found in fruits and vegetables, which is often used as a sugar substitute in some food products.Some research has shown that it may prevent tooth decay, but ultimately more evidence is needed to back this claim up. You can get xylitol as a gum, as lozenges, or you can simply take it in itssugar form and swish it around in your mouth prior to brushing.

5.Coconut, sesame or sunflower oil

Have you heard of oil pulling? It’s an ancient oral health technique that involves taking about a tablespoon of carrier oil and swishing it around in your mouth for around 20 minutes a day. Research has shown that it can help reduce plaque and fight gingivitis. Just don’t use this as a complete substitute for brushinggives those pearly whites a scrub with your toothbrush dipped in water at the very least!

6. Peppermint, eucalyptus, cinnamon, rosemary or lemon essential oil

It’s no secret that essential oils have some seriously great antibacterial properties that make great cleansers for a range of thingsincluding your teeth. When using essential oils, make sure you follow the safety precautions outlined by the National Association for Holistic Aromatherapy. Use a couple of drops of your favorite essential oil in water and brush away!

If you’re going to try any of these natural oral care alternatives in place of regular toothpaste, make sure to treat it like toothpaste by not swallowing it. Spit it right out when you’re done and give your mouth a good rinse.

Talk to your dentist first aboutany concerns you may have. If you find a natural solution you really like that works well for you and your oral health, you may never go back to regular old toothpaste ever again.

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Photo Credit: Casey Fleser

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

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6 Natural Alternatives to Toxic Toothpaste

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Best Non-Toxic Ways to Freshen the Air In Your Car

The air inside a car can get pretty stinky. Bags of food waste. Spilled coffee and other drinks. Dirty gym clothes. Especially in the winter, when you keep the windows closed, the car just doesn’t get a chance to air out.

If you’re tempted to get one of those air freshener trees that dangle from your visor, don’t. Chances are they’ve been doused with phthalates, chemicals that can cause hormonal abnormalities, birth defects and reproductive problems, says the Natural Resources Defense Council in its report on the hidden hazards of air fresheners. They may also contain terpene, a volatile organic compound that can react with naturally occurring ozone to create formaldehyde, reports PreventDisease.com. Headaches, nausea and depression may ensue.

Instead, here are smart and safe ways to freshen the air in your car:

* Clean it out. Duh! Look under the seats, on the floor and between the seat cushions for old food, dirty clothes and anything else that might be stinking up the place.

* Wash it out. Upholstery and floor mats may need to be professionally cleaned; at the least, scrub them down with hot soapy water if milk, juice and other wet food have penetrated the fabric.

* Keep a trash bag in the car and empty it. Empty the bag when you fill up for gas or run to the grocery store. There are always trash cans you can use to easily dispose of your waste.

* Use non-toxic cleansers when wiping out the inside of your car. If you take your car to the car wash, don’t let the crew there wipe out your car interior with their industrial-grade cleanser; they’ll in all likelihood contain phthalates, synthetic fragrances and other chemicals that could make you sick or at the least, give you a headache. Make up a solution of hot soapy water using fragrance-free, plant-based soap. Use that to wash down your dashboard, steering wheel and other non-cloth surfaces in the car.

* Keep the windows open a crack when you’re driving. As long as it’s not raining or snowing, open the windows slightly to keep fresh air circulating when you’re inside.

* Use baking soda to absorb residual odors. You may already have an open box of baking soda in your refrigerator to absorb smells there. You can do something similar in your car. Upcycle a plastic food container, like a small margarine tub, to contain the baking soda. Punch holes in the top of the lid so air can get inside, but keep the lid on so the baking soda doesn’t spill. Put the tub underneath the passenger seat or below the back windshield so it is out of the way.

* Don’t spray perfume or commercial air freshener. The last thing you want is for minute chemical particles to be floating around in your car, where they’d be incredibly easy to inhale. Remove the source of the smell, clean your vehicle and crack the windows open to stay healthy.

Related
Car Washing the Eco-Friendly Way
Natural Stain Removal for Your Car

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

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Best Non-Toxic Ways to Freshen the Air In Your Car

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The Science of Why New York’s Bagels Taste So Damn Good

Mother Jones

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MANHATTAN—New York City has the best bagels in America. This is a truth handed down from generation to generation. Why are the bagels here better than the bagels in Boston, Boise, Birmingham, or even cities that begin with letters other than B? Legend has it that it has something to do with the water that’s piped down here from upstate. That’s never really felt right. I’m not a water scientist but it just seems like some nonsense that sounds like it could be true so what the hell, sure, it’s true! Doctor Oz probably credits NY bagels to the water.

So, anyway, some cats from the American Chemical Society got together and ran some tests and spoke to some chefs and concluded that indeed it’s not the magical properties of the Empire State’s water supply that makes NYC bagels unique, but rather the unique competence of NYC bakers. Yes, the softness of the water plays a role but not an integral one. The baking method used in New York is just better than the baking method bakers in other cities use—but there is no reason why those bakers couldn’t start using the NYC method (with some slight modifications), or so sayeth the video.

Is this video accurate? I have no idea. I am not a professor of baked goods. It sounds maybe reasonable to me. It sort of makes sense, right? Because, yeah, New York has the best bagels but I’ve certainly had good bagels other places. But those bagels are normally the exception to the bagel culture of the area. I’ve definitely had one or two okay bagels in LA. Maybe those bakers are using the NY method? I don’t know. What do you think?

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The Science of Why New York’s Bagels Taste So Damn Good

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Tom’s Kitchen: Gratin of Hearty Greens

Mother Jones

I’m a greens fanatic: mustards, kale, collards, chard, you name it. I eat them in some form more or less every day, sometimes more than once. At this point, a meal—even (or especially) something as simple as a fried egg for breakfast—just seems naked, incomplete, without them. Their ubiquity in my daily life can make them seem unexciting for a special feast like Thanksgiving. Really, again, greens made like I always do them, sautéed with onion until tender and then finished with a lashing of vinegar? At the same time, there was no way I could imagine Thanksgiving without leafy greens—especially since they reach their peak of flavor in the fall.

So rather than forsake them or serve them the same old way, I decided to dress them up into something richer and more elegant: a gratin. To get ideas on how to pull it off, I dug into James Peterson’s excellent 2002 tome Glorious French Food. Along with recipes for the three classic gratins—potatoes, leeks, and squash—it also includes advice on how to improvise one: merely pour cream and cheese over the desired vegetable, and bake in the oven until a “savory crust forms on top.” That’s when I knew that I not only had a winning side dish for the holiday table, but also something dead simple and yet tasty: perfect fodder for a Tom’s Kitchen column.

Peterson advises that in most cases, vegetables should be cooked before the baking stage, “so that the moisture they contain is released during the precooking instead of remaining in the gratin, where it would dilute the surrounding sauce.” So I started the dish in the same way I usually cook greens—which gave me the chance to work in onions and garlic—before finishing in the oven with cream and cheese. The result was magical—sweet, creamy, tender greens, mashed up with a snap of caramelized cheese. Note: there’s also a vegan variation below.

Gratin of Hearty Greens

Enough extra-virgin olive or butter to generously cover the bottom of a large pan
3 medium onions, halved and sliced thin
3 bunches of hearty greens such as kale or collards (I used two kale, one collards)
4 cloves of garlic, smashed, peeled, and minced
Sea salt
1 pint heavy cream
4 ounces grated cheese, such as Parmigiano-Reggiano (which I used) or Gruyère
Plenty of freshly ground black pepper

Place a large heavy-bottom pot over low-medium heat, add the onions, and let them sauté, stirring occasionally, until they are very soft.

Meanwhile, prep the greens. Remove the stems that run down the center by holding the leaf in one left hand and slicing down each side of the stem with a knife. By the time you’re done, you’ll have two piles: one of stems and one of leaves. I apply a whole-beast ethos to vegetables, and consider greens stems to be highly flavorful. So bunch the stems in a pile and slice them finely, crosswise. Set aside. Now chop the greens and set them aside, too. The point of separating them is to give the stems a head start cooking, as they take a little longer.

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Now the onions should be soft. Add the chopped garlic and stir for a minute or so, until it has released its fragrance. Add the chopped stems and a pinch of salt, stir to mix them with the onions and garlic, and cover the pot. Let them cook for about five minutes, stirring occasionally. Now add the greens and another pinch of salt, using tongs to carefully mix in with the sautéed veggies in the pan. Add about a half cup of water (or stock) to the pan, and turn heat to high until the water begins to boil. When it does, turn heat down a little bit, and let the greens simmer, covered, stirring occasionally until they’re nearly tender but still a little al dente. At that point, remove the lid and let them cook, stirring occasionally, until most of the liquid in the pan has evaporated.

Turn off the heat, taste, and add a little salt if necessary. Arrange the cooked greens in a casserole dish large enough to comfortably fit them all. Pour the cream over. Sprinkle the cheese all over the top. Give it a vigorous lashing of black pepper. Bake until the top is well-browned (30-45 minutes). Serve hot. This dish can be made a day or two in advance and reheated in a 350 F oven just before serving. Better yet, cook the greens until they’re tender and then store them in the fridge until the big day, when you bake them off with cream, cheese, etc.

Vegan variation: Replace the cream with coconut milk and replace the cheese with bread crumbs (or slivered almonds) .

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Tom’s Kitchen: Gratin of Hearty Greens

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Eating on the Wild Side – Jo Robinson

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Eating on the Wild Side

The Missing Link to Optimum Health

Jo Robinson

Genre: Health & Fitness

Price: $12.99

Publish Date: June 4, 2013

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company

Seller: Hachette Digital, Inc.


The next stage in the food revolution–a radical way to select fruits and vegetables and reclaim the flavor and nutrients we've lost. Eating on the Wild Side is the first book to reveal the nutritional history of our fruits and vegetables. Starting with the wild plants that were central to our original diet, investigative journalist Jo Robinson describes how 400 generations of farmers have unwittingly squandered a host of essential fiber, protein, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. New research shows that these losses have made us more vulnerable to our most troubling conditions and diseases–obesity, diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular disease, chronic inflammation, and dementia. In an engaging blend of science and story, Robinson describes how and when we transformed the food in the produce aisles. Wild apples, for example, have from three to 100 times more antioxidants than Galas and Honeycrisps, and are five times more effective in killing cancer cells. Compared with spinach, one of our present-day &quot;superfoods,&quot; wild dandelion leaves have eight times more antioxidant activity, two times more calcium, three more times vitamin A, and five times more vitamins K and E. How do we begin to recoup the losses of essential nutrients? By &quot;eating on the wild side&quot;–choosing present-day fruits and vegetables that come closest to the nutritional bounty of their wild ancestors. Robinson explains that many of these jewels of nutrition are hiding in plain sight in our supermarkets, farmers markets, and U-pick orchards. Eating on the Wild Side provides the world's most extensive list of these superlative varieties. Drawing on her five-year review of recently published studies, Robinson introduces simple, scientifically proven methods of storage and preparation that will preserve and even enhance their health benefits: Squeezing fresh garlic in a garlic press and then setting it aside for ten minutes before cooking it will increase your defenses against cancer and cardiovascular disease. Baking potatoes, refrigerating them overnight, and then reheating them before serving will keep them from spiking your blood sugar. Cooking most berries makes them more nutritious. Shredding lettuce the day before you eat it will double its antioxidant activity. Store watermelon on the kitchen counter for up to a week and it will develop more lycopene. Eat broccoli the day you buy it to preserve its natural sugars and cancer-fighting compounds. The information in this surprising, important, and meticulously researched book will prove invaluable for omnivores, vegetarians, and vegans alike, and forever change the way we think about food.

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Eating on the Wild Side – Jo Robinson

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Organic Golden Flax Seeds – 2.5 Lbs Resealable Bag – Yellow / Gold Flaxseeds – Flax Seed for Sprouting, Grinding, Omega Oils, Baking

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Organic Golden Flax Seeds – 5 Lb Resealable Can – Yellow / Gold Flaxseeds – Flax Seed for Sprouting, Grinding, Omega Oils, Baking

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Organic Golden Flax Seeds – 1 Lb Resealable Bag – Yellow / Gold Flaxseeds – Flax Seed for Sprouting, Grinding, Omega Oils, Baking

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