By Susan Weiner, Energy Times

Before the lightbulb, people slept beneath inky skies with only the flicker of a candle or torch to hold the darkness at bay. Today we control when we sleep and when we rouse, staying awake late into the night amid domes of artificial light reflected from homes, businesses and streetlamps.

Cities can be seen from space, yet the bright world we’ve created has its downsides. More than simply hamper our view of the stars, artificial light—or light pollution—affects the migration, reproduction and feeding of wildlife, and is suspected of causing some cancers in people. Plants and coral reefs are also affected by artificial light as it disrupts their natural growth cycles.

Bright lights and haze can extend more than 100 miles beyond the borders of an urban area, exposing deer, coyotes, moose, raccoons, bats and other animals to predators and hindering their ability to search for food. Frogs and other wetland inhabitants become disoriented, leading to a decrease in reproduction. Moths and other insects encircle artificial lights, neglecting to reproduce and pollinate, dying of exhaustion or becoming targets for predators.

In North America, 100 million birds die in collisions with lighted structures. Near coastal areas, marine birds can fly off course to the point where they die of exhaustion. Sea turtle hatchlings, instinctively drawn to the ocean by the reflection of the moon and the stars, crawl towards roads and communities, ultimately dying from dehydration, cars, predators and fatigue.

“All life is related to light. Daylight regulates daily activities,” explains Travis Longcore, PhD, science director of The Urban Wildlands Group and author of Ecological Consequences of Artificial Night Lighting (Island Press). “We have completely altered the system that was predictable throughout all of human history.” According to a report by the National Parks Conservation Association (www.npca.org), only 10% of the US population is privy to clear sight of the galaxy on a regular basis.

From Dusk to Dawn

Night consists of sunset, twilight and dusk, followed by gradations of dark. The constant twilight resulting from man-made lighting interferes with the biological rhythms of wildlife. “As we homogenize the nighttime environment by making it perpetual moonlight, we homogenize their habitats,” says Longcore. “Behaviors are cued by the rhythms of light.”

For more than 20 years, scientists have speculated that increased cancer rates may be attributed to the rising use of electricity at night, which upsets production of a hormone called melatonin that regulates sleepiness. One study links decreased melatonin levels to increases in breast cancer (Cancer Causes and Control 5/06). A 2009 University of Haifa study found that men with the highest exposure to artificial lighting at night faced an 80% increase in prostate cancer risk. Scientists speculate that melatonin may protect against cancer by preventing tumor cells from growing.

Got Milky Way?

Light pollution squanders $2 billion in energy each year, according to the International Dark-Sky Association (IDA, www.darksky.org), based in Tucson, Arizona. “Everyone who uses, generates and pays for outdoor night lighting is contributing to light pollution,” says Terry McGowan, chair of the IDA Technical Committee. “The job of the IDA is to first inform and educate, and then convince people to change their outdoor lighting practices so as to minimize and eliminate light pollution.”

To that end IDA works with lighting manufacturers and approves environmentally friendly lighting with the IDA Fixture Seal of Approval. “Fixtures good for dark skies can also be good looking, energy efficient and inexpensive to operate,” says McGowan. Other ways to reduce light pollution include ensuring that fixtures shine light downward, minimizing wattage, shutting off unnecessary lights and using time controls, energy-efficient light sources and yellow spectrum bulbs.

Those who sleep beneath dark skies can count their lucky stars. But we have a long way to go before all people—and wildlife—can enjoy night as it occurs naturally.—Susan Weiner

By Susan Weiner, Energy Times

When it comes to grilling meat over an open fire, early humans beat us to the punch some 30,000 years ago. But present-day folks indulging in chicken and cheeseburgers face concerns prehistoric man never envisioned: air pollutants and cancer-causing compounds.

Researchers have confirmed that grilling meats creates not one, but two types of compounds that can lead to cancer. What’s more, both briquettes and lump charcoal burn “dirty,” spewing hydrocarbons and soot particles that hasten global warming and contribute to health problems. Still, few among us can resist the pungent bouquet of barbecue. So instead of dodging crispy beef kabobs, learn to grill without the guilt and fewer health risks.

Grills Kill
Barbecue emissions rank well below those from motor vehicles and industry but the environmental effects are just as harmful, given that burning charcoal contributes to smog and, ultimately, global warming. Further, lump charcoal is made from charred wood, a factor in deforestation. A 2005 study from the University of California at Berkeley reports that just the emission-generating production of charcoal is harmful.

“It can be compared to fuels we use in furnaces and water heaters, including oil, gas and wood,” says Joseph Laquatra, PhD, Hazel E. Reed Human Ecology Extension Professor in Family Policy at Cornell University. “Like other fuels, charcoal produces respirable particles, or soot, when it is burned. These particles are air pollutants and microscopic solids that are inhaled and deposited in the lungs.” Particle pollution has been linked to asthma, strokes, heart attacks, lung cancer and reduced life expectancy.

When the Fat Hits the Grill
When animal fat drips onto the flame of either a charcoal or a gas grill it triggers carcinogenic compounds known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) that rise with the smoke and deposit on the meat. Other harmful chemicals, heterocyclic amines (HCAs), are formed on the food as it chars. The more time a hamburger, let’s say, spends on the grill, the more HCAs are created. These compounds do not form on vegetables—it’s the reaction with animal-based foods that generates them. However, over-charred food of any kind contains other types of cancer-causing substances.

“Grilling is simply a method of cooking that adds to the formation and deposit of cancer-causing substances on meat,” explains Michael Thun, MD, vice president, Epidemi­ology and Surveillance Research for the American Cancer Society. “Both substances are undesirable. They are both carcinogenic.”

The high heat of grill cooking produces more HCAs than, say, oven roasting or baking at lower temperatures, which create negligible amounts. But burgers, beef and chicken must be cooked at temperatures high enough to destroy E. coli and other illness-producing bugs.

So what’s a backyard barbecue enthusiast to do? “Cancer risk is influenced much more by long-term patterns than occasional patterns,” says Thun. “The goal is to have a diet that balances calories you take in with calories you put out, and to eat a diet rich in fruits and vegetables.”

Grill Tricks
Since animal production is the largest source of the greenhouse gas methane and contributes to deforestation, grilling less meat and more vegetables reduces pollution on many levels. Additionally, vegetarian sources of protein, such as tofu, veggie burgers and mock meats, contain few or no HCAs when grilled. For those summer days when you can’t resist barbecue, forgo traditional charcoal for so-called “natural charcoal,” made from environmentally friendly wood sources and low-emission plant wastes such as coconut shells. All-natural charcoals should be chemical-free and derived from private farms, not clear-cut forests.

To minimize cancerous compounds on the grill, Karen Collins, MS, RD, CDN, with the American Institute for Cancer Research, says to cook at lower temperatures and flip the meat every one to two minutes. Marinating meat, poultry and seafood or precooking it in a microwave for two minutes also reduces HCA compounds. To lessen PAH formation, grill lower-fat meats with fewer fat drippings.

“Limit the animal protein portion and make vegetables and grains a larger part of the meal,” says Collins. “By this one simple step you minimize the carcinogens from the grilled meat and maximize a whole array of cancer-protective vitamins and natural compounds from the plant foods.”

Americans are about as likely to renounce barbecue as they are baseball—no one really expects you to say no to Uncle Joe’s char-cooked steak. So sit back, fire up some natural charcoal and enjoy some broccoli with that marinated burger. Your body, and the earth, will thank you.

By Susan Weiner,  Energy Times

You spray them on countertops, wash your face and hair with them, swallow them in foods and swathe yourself in them when you sleep. Chemicals are so much a part of your daily regimen that you probably don’t think twice about why they’re found in nearly every product seen on store shelves, from tee shirts and mattresses to grapefruits and shampoos. If you harbor lingering suspicions that wallowing in these synthetic chemicals can’t be good for your well-being, you’re correct—and adopting an organic lifestyle might be the key to restoring your natural health.

Over time, exposure to the intensive chemicals used in foods and textiles can cause allergies, asthma and other diseases, which arise from the loss of the body’s natural resistance to fight off these invaders. Since World War II, industry has saturated our indoor and outdoor environments with more than 80,000 chemicals; many government-approved pesticides still in use were registered long before extensive research linked them to a myriad of illnesses. Today, the rampant use of chemicals—and the numbers of individuals suffering their ill effects—have prompted some health professionals to coin the phrase “20th Century Syndrome.”

Defined by the National Institutes of Health as a “chronic, recurring disease caused by a person’s inability to tolerate an environmental chemical or class of foreign chemicals,” the ailment also goes by the name multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS). Like a barrel filling up until it overflows, mounting exposure to chemicals can suddenly cause an allergic reaction. Although much of the conventional medical establishment still has its doubts, a growing legion of practitioners now believe that the body often decides that it’s had enough and plots a coup d’état against a chemical-ridden product.

The immune system malfunctions in this revolt, leading to classic allergy symptoms.
Sometimes, allergy signs aren’t as simple as sneezing; they may also include migraines, breathing difficulties, anxiety, skin irritation, digestive problems, joint and muscle pains, and insomnia. Many individuals have not been officially diagnosed with allergies, but react negatively to the chemicals that are so ubiquitous in our modern world. All told, each year more than 50 million Americans suffer allergic reactions, making it the sixth leading cause of chronic disease in the US.

Chemical Nation

Just look at the word “pesticide” and you’ll notice the Latin root icide—“to kill.” Pesticides and substances of similar ilk were developed to kill insects, rodents, weeds, bacteria and mold. The Environmental Protection Agency—while claiming to regulate pesticides—acknowledges that 60% of herbicides, 90% of fungicides and 30% of insecticides are known to cause cancer, nerve damage, birth defects and other ailments, and that pesticides can block the absorption of important food nutrients necessary for optimal health. Given these facts, it’s only natural that many individuals suffer allergic reactions when exposed to these toxins.

Besides the 1.5 to 2 billion pounds of chemicals sprayed on fruits and vegetables each year, factory-farmed animals consume feed that is loaded with the same chemicals, which are then passed on to human consumers. Pesticides are doused on sheep and used to pre-treat wool, while cotton uses approximately 25% of the world’s insecticides and more than 10% of the word’s pesticides—requiring roughly one-third of a pound of chemicals to grow enough cotton for just one tee shirt, reports the Organic Trade Association. Meanwhile, homeowners apply an additional 90 million pounds of pesticides to lawns and gardens yearly, and the practice is growing.

It’s no surprise, then, that the average person carries at least 13 pesticides in their body, according to the Pesticide Action Network and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, with women and children among the groups disproportionately affected. Long-term, low-dose pesticide exposure increases the likelihood of developing Parkinson’s disease by 70% (Annals of Neurology 2006), while both Emory University and Britain’s Soil Association determined that foods grown with pesticides contain fewer nutrients and minerals than they did 60 years ago.
Even if you don’t suffer from MCS—can you think of any better reasons to go organic?

Hidden Allergies

Visitors are hard-pressed to find food that isn’t organic at the White household in Corning, New York. That’s because Therese White, who grew up on an organic farm, is allergic to food treated with insecticides and pesticides. “If I don’t eat organic, I have trouble breathing, my asthma kicks in, my sinuses get all clogged up and I’m exhausted,” says White. “I toss and turn and I don’t sleep well, if I sleep at all. My body hurts and I find that, because I’m not sleeping, I get short-tempered and cranky.”

Like Therese, many of us experience so-called “hidden” allergies—environmental sensitivities to the chemicals that surround us. “If you begin to take note of how certain foods, substances and environments affect you on a day-to-day basis, chances are you’ll notice a pattern—and increasingly so as you age,” notes Dr. Marcelle Pick, OB/GYN NP, who treats patients in Portland, Maine. Pick, who suggests maintaining a “wellness diary to connect the dots” between allergens and their symptoms, contends that—despite conventional medicine’s skepticism—hidden allergies and sensitivities are very real ailments which can, over time, deplete the immune system.

“Conventional medicine says that unless we react to something with stereotypical allergy symptoms, we’re not allergic. This is patently untrue; whether the allergic response is an ‘allergy’ or a ‘sensitivity’ is just a matter of degrees,” says Pick. “If your body is giving you signals in the form of symptoms you probably have some kind of sensitivity.” Keep in mind, suggests Pick, that symptoms can occur as much as 72 hours after exposure to the allergen, making it difficult to identify the culprit.

Outwitting Toxins Organically

The growth in allergic reactions helps explain why consumer attraction to organic products is growing steadily. Organic fiber is used in everything from home items such as towels and bedding to personal care products like sanitary products and ear swabs. Other areas where organic fibers are hot include clothing of all kinds, stationery and children’s products, including toys and diapers. Industry pundits are betting that the market for organic textiles has nowhere to go but up, with the Organic Trade Association reporting a 44% surge in sales during 2005. During the same period, sales of organic foods reached an all-time high of $13.8 billion.

So where do you start? “The rule I’ve followed my whole life is one of avoidance or substitution,” suggests Walt Bader, author of The Toxic Bedroom (Freedom Press) and president of Lifekind, a California-based manufacturer of organic mattresses and bedding. “Any product that has chemicals should be avoided. If you can’t avoid the product, then substitute one with fewer chemicals.”

Bader’s rule extends to nearly every aspect of his life, particularly after witnessing the respiratory irritations, itchy eyes and stuffy noses that many customers experience after sleeping on conventional mattresses draped in non-organic linens. “The advantage of organic mattresses or sheets is that it’s an easy fix because they’re so readily available,” he says. “However, people should be aware that it’s more than just their mattresses: It’s the paint they use on their walls, the detergent they wash their clothing in, the chemicals used in their dry cleaning and the deodorizers in their homes.”

Larry Plesent, co-founder of The Green Products Alliance and founder of Vermont Soapworks, which produces a line of organic cleaning products for home and personal use, couldn’t agree more; he got into organics after his own run-in with allergies. “I knew it happened to me, but I knew that people across the country were also experiencing these sensitivities,” says Plesent. “People have reactions because their bodies are overwhelmed by having to constantly battle these chemicals.”

In fact, the road to an allergy-free lifestyle begins with two words: organic overhaul. In addition to sorting through cabinets and throwing out cleansers, cosmetics, soaps and shampoos with chemical ingredients, replace them with homemade and organic products. Cover your bed in organic sheets, blankets and pillowcases, and consider purchasing an organic mattress. Add organic clothing to your wardrobe and start shopping for organic foods. Keeping house—and keeping allergies and sensitivities at bay—means living in a healthier home and eating foods produced with little or no chemicals.

Until all farmers eschew pesticides and insecticides, and manufacturers turn out products made from all-organic materials, the most complete way to avoid allergic reactions is to stay away from the substances that cause them. That day, according to Plesent, may not be too far into the future. “It’s theoretically possible that business can be a channel for social change,” he says. “Our role is to add value to organic products, increasing the demand so more land is put back into organic agriculture.”

By Susan Weiner, Energy Times

Whether you’re livin’ a little too large or just plain living in a world such as ours, the toxic burden on your body eventually builds up. Learn what bad stuff may be floating around inside you and how to do some housekeeping.

Oops. You did it again. Stayed way too long at that holiday bash, indulging in countless hors d’oeuvres, enough wine to deputize a designated driver and one too many desserts. Sure, you had a great time, but you undoubtedly felt it the next day: achy head, waistband a tad tight and little energy.

Luckily, you don’t make a habit of partying till the wee hours. If you did, your body would simply be a wasteland of toxic soup.

But those nights out, in combination with toxins absorbed from everyday living, are a problem for all of us, since years of exposure to pollutants slows down the body’s ability to eliminate them. In addition to eating and drinking items filled with toxins, day after day and year after year your body absorbs harmful chemicals through gas fumes, paints, second-hand cigarette smoke, plastics, pharmaceutical drugs, pesticides, food additives, hair dyes, household cleansers and lawn chemicals. Stress only exacerbates the problem, adding its own brand of toxicity to the heart and other organs.

It’s a dirty world out there and though your body may be a good housekeeper—automatically cleaning itself up by neutralizing toxins through the liver, colon, lungs, skin and lymph system—it’s just not enough. Doctors and scientists link environmental toxins to many prevalent medical conditions, including cancer, while the American Medical Association considers emotional toxicity to be a contributing factor in 75% of all disease.

If you’re like most Americans, you likely suffer from one or more of the following: headaches, poor digestion, constipation, insomnia, depression, indigestion, adult acne, allergies, weight gain, bloating, or respiratory or sinus problems. With so many chemicals in the environment and so much stress in daily life, finding and exorcising the so-called “smoking gun” that causes these maladies is nearly impossible. But making changes in your lifestyle that reduce exposure to toxins and improve your chances of living longer isn’t as tough as it seems, however. A detoxification program—clearing your system of all that junk—may be just what your body needs.

Chemical Cleanup

Steven Kowalsky is physically fit, but regularly goes on detoxification retreats anyway as a vacation from the stresses of everyday life. During these retreats, he doesn’t have access to unhealthy foods, television, telephones or computers. “I need to detox from life,” explains Kowalsky, who co-owns a demanding business in Utica, New York. “There’s no major medical problem, but what I do have is stress from my business and my life in general. There is a calmness to what the environment and the food at the retreat does to me.”

Amid 60 acres of woodlands and ponds at the Body Mind Restor­ation Center in Spencer, New York, Kowalsky indulges in massages, saunas, exercise and colonics (a sort of extremely thorough, professionally administered enema) to detoxify his body, and dines on organic foods, wheatgrass and other juices. He also uses yoga, guided visualization and meditation to reduce stress and calm his mind. (For a list of similar retreats, visit www.retreatsonline.com/guide/fasting.htm.)

“These practices would benefit anybody,” says Kowalsky, who claims he is more at peace since his body and mind are clearer. We can all take a page from Kowalsky, whose daily routine now incorporates fresh vegetable juice, some raw foods, little or no meat and almost no sugar. “My diet is better than it used to be.

I take a sauna almost every day and I try to get in three colonics a month. I have a lot more energy. Of course, I’m not perfect all the time.”

Why Detoxify?

In fact, the majority of us are far from perfect. Many of us are engaging in poor dietary choices, inactivity and smoking—all of which contribute to inner toxicity. The combined stresses of work, relationships and family responsibilities only aggravate this toxicity, leading to less sleep and more between-meal and late-night eating.

“You can’t fool the body,” says Marcia Radin, MA, founder and director of Body Mind Restoration. “It’s an incredible computer that requires the right data.” The culprits that crash this computer, reckons Radin, are acidic foods, such as meats, fowl, dairy products, eggs and coffee, together with sugary foods, which create an acid buildup in the body, ultimately releasing toxins and creating an imbalance. Meats, she says, are especially toxic: “Meat houses a lot of toxins, which are stored in the animals. Then you’re eating it and storing their toxins.”

What each of us can do, suggests Radin, is eliminate sugars and cut back on acidic foods. Instead, load up on organic vegetables, fruits and juices. “The ideal detox eliminates toxins while giving the body what it needs: a diet that facilitates elimination and provides enough calories so the body does not shut down,” notes Radin.

When it comes to choosing a diet designed to detox, the options can be head-spinning: juice fasts, raw foods, herbal remedies and colon cleanses abound. If you’re opting for a detoxification program without the advice of a professional, the best idea is to go slow and make it simple. For instance, for seven to 21 days, opt for a cleansing diet of juices, fruits, vegetables, cooked whole grains and filtered water. Add a colon detox with fiber and, if possible, enemas or colonics.

Size Matters

If you’re a woman, chances are you’re hauling around even more toxins, since the fairer sex typically carries as much as 10% more body fat than men. Since so many toxic materials are fat-soluble, that makes women especially vulnerable to soluble synthetic chemicals, such as flame retardants and other known carcinogens linked to hormone disruption and breast cancer. These same chemicals are transferred in utero and through breast milk to children, affecting fetal development and childhood growth.

“Fat is an easy place to store toxins, yet it’s not an area your body needs,” says Radin. So what’s a gal with a few extra pounds to do? Apparently, cutting back on caloric foods and dropping excess flab can actually be more harmful than helpful when it comes to purging toxins from the body. “We store toxins unless we are eliminating them in some way,” says Radin. In other words, losing weight does not equate to detox. Though pounds melt away, the toxins themselves are left to re-circulate and build up inside the body.

Toxins are released via many areas of the body, including breath, sweat, hair, tears, earwax, urine and bowels. “It’s how you get them out of the body that matters,” explains Radin. “If you do aerobic exercise, you can sweat it out. If you drink lots of water, you can pee it out.” The bottom line? Eat a cleansing diet, drink a lot of filtered water, and get moving.

Body, Mind and Spirit

Juicing, fasting and refraining from alcohol or smoking won’t offset the stress of daily living. A detoxifying diet won’t transform your mundane job into a dream career, nor will it eliminate nagging family issues. But a detox process that incorporates activities such as meditation and yoga can provide the opportunity to purge the day-to-day pressures and emotional baggage that weigh us down, and help us reach our greater potential.

It’s well documented (often in Energy Times, in fact) that stress, anger and depression can harm our physical health. While the  complexity of emotions are not always easy to articulate, sitting quietly in a meditative state is an easy way to look within, while techniques including breath work, yoga, reflexology and massage can help to release tension. Simple visualizations and affirmations, such as “I will not shout at my spouse today,” can work wonders towards controlling anger and keeping other emotions in check.

Bolster the physical detoxification process with a supplement program geared toward purging the body of toxins. As a result of its many metabolic functions, the liver is the most important detox organ, so it makes sense to use liver-supportive nutrients, such as the B vitamins and vitamins A, C and E, along with zinc, calcium, selenium and L-cysteine. Enzymes, obtained from fresh raw fruits and vegetables, can also be ingested daily in supplement form. In addition to boosting detox efforts, enzymes help cleanse the bowels.

The ultimate question is, how much do you want to detoxify and find a greater sense of wholeness?  Your answer will define the extent of your lifestyle changes, including dieting, drinking more water, exercising daily and even enjoying an occasional massage. Detoxification also takes some planning: if you’re headed out for a night on the town or a week-long cruise, watch your diet, hit the sauna and work out beforehand and afterwards. You might find the occasional indulgence to be even more gratifying—and less guilt-inspiring—with your healthy detoxification regimen in place.