January 15, 2008
Contents:
- EDITORIAL: Coming Soon at HANS... Jan 24th
- FEATURE: Look Younger with Safer, Gentler Skin Care
- FEATURE: Cash in on Compost in Time for Spring
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EDITORIAL: Coming Soon at HANS... Jan 24th
Hello HANS Members & Friends;
I sure hope you're planning to attend our
Peace Begins With Me: Motivation to Change Your Life event next Thursday, January 24th in Vancouver, BC. Author Ted Kuntz, M. Ed will share how to live more joyfully using easy, practical techniques for de-stressing. This event will motivate you, no doubt. Prepare to leave feeling happy, healthy and inspired to make the changes in your life that will bring you increased inner peace.
We're also finalizing details about a very important event at the end of March on alternative, complementary and integrated medicine for cancer. Once we know cost and location stuff, you'll be the first to know!
In this e-News, I'd like to draw your attention in particular to the article in our Media Watch section, Vitamins for Bipolar: Cure or Quackery? This Vancouver Sun article shares the trials of Empower Plus, a company that has actively campaigned to protect Canadians' right to a nutritional supplement that is of great importance to people with bipolar disorder. The reason I bring this up is, Shawn Buckley, the lawyer who has represented Empower Plus, is writing an article in the next issue of our Health Action magazine about Health Canada's strategies against another pioneering manufacturer of nutritional supplements: Strauss Heart Drops. Buckley also discusses the effects of imposing a drug-like regime on the natural health product industry, which is what has happened to date. Look for that issue in early March.
Next, I'd like to welcome Karen Bowers, a new Professional HANS Member who has contributed our feature article on the next generation of skin care techniques that are apparently safer and less damaging to the skin.
Because the earth needs protecting from damage, too, our other feature article by Cathrine Gabriel, a regular HANS writer and former staffer, addresses the environmental benefits of composting - in perfect time for spring. Thanks, CG!
Hope to see you on the 24th for
Peace Begins with Me! For ticket purchase (discounted for HANS members), call 604-435-0512.
All the best,
Lorna Hancock
Founding Member, HANS Executive Director
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FEATURE: Look Younger with Safer, Gentler Skin Care
by Karen BowersIt's not only the baby boomer generation that seem to be interested in maintaining a youthful vitality; studies have shown that people in their 20s and 30s believe in the benefits of proactive preventive maintenance when it comes to wellness and their looks.
Since 1997, non-surgical cosmetic procedures have increased 471 percent, resulting in a multibillion-dollar market that did not exist a decade ago. While these procedures meet our demands in helping to maintain our youthful attractiveness, there is very little research to assess their long-term side-effects.
A multitude of thermally enhanced treatments have been formulated to force the production of collagen, primarily to reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkling: intense pulse light, laser treatments, thermage, photo facials, microdermabrasion and ultra sonic radio waves. However, they all induce a thermal injury. These treatments result in localized bulk heating of the dermis and epidermis; there is a significant wound healing response that will generate fibroblasts to produce collagen to heal wounds and calm inflammation. All light treatments that create inflammation are considered thermal-collagen enhancement.
Thermally enhanced collagen procedures are specific in that they will reduce signs of aging for a brief period of time; however, collagen production is short lived and repetitive treatments are needed to maintain results. The heat shock signals are well documented, along with wound healing responses and side effects such as scar tissue and pigment changes. There seems to be very little, if any discussion about the side affects of repetitive thermal exposure.
According to Dr. Leonard Hayflick, a faculty member at the University of California at San Francisco Medical School and past president of the Gerontological Society of America, studies have shown that over-stimulation and inflammation will gradually eliminate the life expectancy of the stem cell, causing DNA irregularities. In 1961, Hayflick found that human cells or fibroblasts only divide approximately 50 times before ceasing to function correctly. This finite number has come to be known as the Hayflick limit.
As a result of these uncertainties and potential dangers, many skin care practitioners are turning to a non-invasive procedure of photo-modulation instead of thermal stimulation to accelerate the natural production of collagen. Photo-dynamic LED (light emitting diodes) differs in that it does induce inflammation; rather it utilizes the photo-activation of collagen genes to boost natural collagen production in the skin, resulting in a supple firmer and more youthful appearance.
Founder of New Visage, Karen V. Bowers has 33 years of experience throughout Canada, US and Europe. She has received many certificates for advanced anti-aging and noninvasive medical treatments. She has also trained in France and received the highest international certificate of Esthetics available for the five-year CIDESCO program.
To learn more about medically advanced treatments and products visit the website at www.newvisage.ca. To book an appointment, call New Visage Advanced Skin Care and Anti-Aging at (604) 893-8872 or e-mail kbowers@newvisage.ca.
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FEATURE: Cash in on Compost in Time for Spring
by Cathrine GabrielCanadians produce seven millions tonnes of organic waste each year, which accounts for a staggering one-third of the space taken up in landfills. Aside from the fact that our landfills are filling up, decomposing organic waste, such as our vegetable scraps and egg shells, give off methane gas - one of the dangerous greenhouse gases believed to contribute to climate change. The answer? Don't send organic waste to the landfill; compost it!
Whether you cultivate a family-sized garden in the country or your backyard, or you simply tend a few potted plants on your apartment balcony, composting can be incorporated into most any gardening situation with the many ready-to-use bins available today. Even if you don't garden at all, neighbours, friends or community gardens can benefit from your compost. It costs little, if nothing, and provides so many savings.
Adding compost to gardens will improve soil structure, texture, and aeration, increase water-holding capacity, decrease erosion, stabilize soil pH, and provide nutrients to plants. Enhanced soil also means more nutrients and increased health.
What is compost, anyway?
Compost is the end product of a complex system of decomposition of organic (carbon-containing) materials involving a multitude of organisms, including bacteria, fungi, and worms and resulting in rich, dark, earthy humus.
Twenty-seven percent of Canadians are already composting. It's easier to get started than you might think. Many cities provide compost bins at a reasonable price. Private companies even have compost buckets that do not smell and can be kept indoors. Even easier, if you have space outside, is to build a simple wooden box. Simpler yet, is to just pile the compost on the ground in the corner of the yard.
A key to successful composting is to build a compost pile of 30:1 carbon ratio (dry or brown material) to nitrogen (fresh or green material). Some "brown" compostable materials include dried leaves, straw, hay, shredded newspaper or brown paper bags, chopped cornstalks and cobs, dryer lint, vacuum cleaner contents, and sawdust. Your "green" material can be made up of grass clippings, kitchen scraps, garden refuse, coffee grounds and filters, seaweed (wash off salt if using large amounts), hair, manure, grape wastes, and garden weeds (if they don't have persistent roots or ripe seeds). Do not put meat, fat, bones, cat and dog litter, or plants infected with diseases or severe insect infestation into the pile.
The ideal time to make compost is in the spring or fall when materials are abundant and biological activity is highest. Start with a layer of twigs or branches to allow for air flow from beneath. Follow with a 2-inch-or-so layer of brown material and top this with a 2-inch-or-so green layer of perhaps garden refuse mixed with kitchen scraps. Toss on a half-inch layer of garden soil on top (or another layer of brown matter) to provide an abundance of microorganisms, and water lightly so the pile is evenly moist.
Repeat the layering as you discard kitchen scraps. If you have a real use for compost and need it sooner than later, turning the heap once or twice a week will aerate it and speed up the decomposition. Your compost is ready, if all conditions are ideal, typically in two to three months, when it is dark, rich, and crumbly looking and original materials can no longer be recognized.
Composting, however, is an ideal way to divert organic wastes from landfills, saving landfill space, tax dollars and the environment.
Cathrine Gabriel has worked in the natural health field for more than three decades and is a dedicated composter.