#Vinegar #Cleaning #Natural #Safe

You can use water and white distilled vinegar with some scrubbing power (or a scrub brush) to clean your counters, tubs and tile. You can use this mixture on your sinks and toilets using paper towels or reusable towels. If you're like me and don't like the smell of vinegar, add a few drops of an essential oil. Consider changing how you clean when you have small children in your home.

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Celebrating 40 Years - #EarthDay, Part I

For my health and wellness home business, I held an Earth Day inspired talk on April 22nd titled: "Taking It Back to Nature" - ('It' was for "Health & Wellness"). 

The event was sponsored by my business and I discussed the importance of eating whole foods. I also provided a sample of a whole food supplement that I wholeheartedly endorse and am proud to represent. 

I prepared tri-fold flyers for all the guests addressing 40 years of celebrating Earth Day and how we can reduce our carbon footprint along with other helpful links on avoiding plastics,"green" toys, where to find a CSA, 'eating right', among many others. 

For Part I of this posting series, I am going to share with you some verbiage (borrowed, permission granted) from my first guest speaker, Jan Tucker, owner and president of White Lotus Living:

"Yes, I am looking to educate people, but also to offer safe products (not containing harmful chemicals) to get more people in the habit of using only the safe ones. If people stop buying from companies that use harmful chemicals, manufacturers will be forced to get on board and produce only safe products (another major theme of a presentation I give).

Before I started White Lotus Living, I noticed there were many places I could go to get info about the topic of harmful chemicals. However, when I went to do something about it ... namely to replace the products in my home with safer ones, there was a real lack of info to help me do that practically. I started White Lotus as a one-stop-shop where people could come and feel safe about what they buy from my shelves. It's a practical solution for busy people who can't take the time to scour the landscape for safe products themselves.

There are a number of manufacturers whose policies won't let them produce products that rank higher than 2 or 3 out of 10 on the Cosmetics Safety Database (lower ratings are better) ... it may be strict, but those are the only ones available at [my online store]. I'd prefer not to contribute to a company that isn't being conscientious toward this important cause. Again, it emphasizes the fact that manufacturers will go where the money is ... if we buy only safe, they'll make only safe!"

She put on a nice presentation that discussed how many chemicals (ingredients) the FDA has banned in the U.S. --- 10, and that our philosophy here is "we must prove that the ingredient is Harmful, before we can remove it". Whereas in the EU, over 1800 ingredients have been banned because their philosophy is the direct opposite of ours: "we must first prove that the ingredient is Safe". Ridiculous isn't it?

Above, Jan said something that has stuck with me and that is she will not purchase any product that scores higher than a 2 on the Cosmetic Database. She said some product brands like Burt's Bees (just an example of the many out there) where many of their products are a 2 or less but they also manufacture other products that score a lot higher. She said she will not "support" businesses who aren't consistent across the board. Why create a few products that are "natural" but yet offer different ones that are harmful to the skin? She has strict protocols in place to pick the "cream of the crop" and real, natural skin / personal care products for her business with White Lotus Living. There are some personal items that she's researching to replace what she is using currently, like shaving gel.

Her website was unveiled at this wellness talk. Support a female-owned business and help teach these "natural" manufacturers a lesson by spending dollars with businesses that are truly organic, or natural, or in her words, beyond green!

In my part II of celebrating Earth Day - 40 years, I will cover my second guest speaker, Leslie Kirchmeier. 

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Choose, eat, and live well! =)