What on Earth is Activated Charcoal Powder?

Before The Natural Health and Supplementary Products Bill is passed through Parliament in December of this year I want to take the opportunity to tell you about Charcoal Powder.  You see I won’t be able to tell you about it next year as making health claims for various natural products like this will be disallowed. That’s quite disturbing isn’t it?

We’ve had a bit of a run on Charcoal Powder over the last few weeks.  People are getting to know how very useful it is?  
 

What is medicinal grade charcoal powder?  A very fine black powder made from charcoal that has been cleaned to high standards of purification then steam activated and dried.  This powder is so fine that it has a huge number of pores in its structure as well as a huge surface area.  You’ll see why that’s important in a minute. Medicinal Grade Activated Charcoal is not produced in NZ.  This is not the same as the charcoal you would find in your fireplace!

What do you use it for?  As it adsorbs most organic toxins, chemicals and poisons before they can harm the body, activated charcoal is an effective antidote against stomach upsets and poisoning.  Some emergency rooms administer large doses of activated charcoal for certain types of poisoning.

I keep it in my first aid kit. It can also be used as a poultice on infections, or infected insect bites for example, as it draws poison out of the cells. Some people use it to clean and whiten their teeth. I haven’t tried that yet.  Though, in theory I could see that it might work because of the absorption capability. 

How does activated charcoal work? It works by binding or rather “adsorbing” chemicals to itself, which reduces their toxicity through the entire length of the stomach and intestines.  The charcoal then passes out of the system along with whatever was causing the stomach upset or poisoning.  Stools will appear black for a day after taking charcoal.

Adsorption is the binding of particles to a surface rather than the filling of spaces or pores in a solid.  Sponges absorb – the spaces within the sponge are filled with water for example.  In adsorption the chemical actually bonds itself to the surface of solid, in this case  charcoal.
 
Activate Charcoal Pore Structure

You can see from the physical structure of the charcoal powder that minute pore spaces mean there is a very large surface area onto which toxins or other substances can attach.

Is it safe to take?  Yes it’s safe to use.  I would only use it once in a while not every day.  It’s a safe, natural remedy that has been used for many years.  In our family if either adults or children are feeling nauseous and we know there’s a stomach bug going around we’re onto the charcoal straightaway.  It has worked well for us.  I have used it as a poultice for an infected cut and I’m going to try whitening my teeth with it.  Don’t use it within two hours of taking other medication or supplements as it will render them ineffective! Before using though, it’s wise to check for any contraindications.  Here are links to the Mayo Clinic and Drugs.com for their comments.

How do you take it? One to two tablespoons in water and drink it QUICKLY!   If you have a stomach upset within a couple of hours you should notice a difference.


There you are then, Activated Charcoal - very worthwhile to have in your first aid kit for vomiting, tummy bug, poisons, stings, insect bites, infections and more.

Happy shopping and remember "you don't need to be fanatical, just wise".

Happy shopping, 
Penelope & Rodney

THE HUNGRY BIN (the best composting & worm farm ever!)

We have just added "The Hungry Bin" to the website as we've been wanting to get a couple of these for ourselves for some time.  We bought our first one this week and thought it would be a good idea to let you have a look at buying one for yourself.

 

Designed and made in New Zealand, The Hungry Bin is a fast and convenient way to compost your food scraps. The innovative design is highly efficient and can process up to 2.0 kilos of waste per day. It not only makes fantastic fertiliser and plant food - it's easy to use and looks good too.

The Hungry Bin is the result of several years of design development by inventor Ben Bell, a keen gardener, composter and worm farmer. He felt that the existing composting worm farms on the market could do with some improvement, and in true Kiwi spirit he decided to do it himself.  The original idea for hungry bin evolved from earlier models Ben created using broken kerbside rubbish bins.

The result of Ben's experimentation is "the best composting & worm farm ever"!

How the Bin Works
The Hungry Bin is a unique design. It creates an ideal living environment for compost worms. The worms convert organic waste into worm castings and a nutrient-rich liquid, which are both high-quality fertilisers. The liquid drains freely from the bin and into a tray placed below it. The tapered shape of the bin compresses the castings, encouraging the worms to move to the surface layer to access fresh food. Compressed castings are easier to handle and largely free of worms. It is a simple process to collect both the castings and liquid produced by The Hungry Bin.


 

Organic Waste

Organic waste is a big and expensive problem. In most Western cities food waste makes up almost half of the waste stream. Food waste is expensive to collect, transport and dispose of. Even using a waste disposal unit requires a lot of water, and creates a burden on the sewerage system. When organic waste breaks down in a landfill, it generates methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. Once it is buried, the nutrients contained in food scraps are lost to the environment, and cannot be reused.

One of the best solutions is to compost organic waste on-site, reducing handling and transport costs, and preventing valuable nutrients from being lost.

The Hungry Bin is one of the most efficient ways to compost, and definitely one of the easiest compost systems to use.


Compost no longer has to be banished to the back of the garden. You can keep your hungry bin right where you'd keep your other rubbish bins. Because hungry bin does not smell or attract vermin, you can keep it in a convenient location where it suits you.
 

About Compost Worms

The secret to hungry bin is the worms it is designed to use.
Compost worms are different from common garden worms that live in soil. Unlike earthworms, compost worms do not make burrows in the soil, but live in the surface layer (the top 30cm or 12 inches). They have evolved to eat rotting plant matter on the forest floor, and are perfectly suited to break down food waste.
The compost they produce is pH neutral, and contains many of the most important trace elements for healthy plant growth. Compost worms are generally smaller than earthworms. A compost worm can eat its weight in food a day!


If you want the best veges from your garden you need the best of composts.  As always, not being fanatical, just learning to be wise.

Best regards,
Rodney & Penelope

Alkaline Water and Why To Avoid It!

Abbreviated from an article written by Lawrence Wilson, MD

This article is a warning to avoid drinking artificially alkalized water.  I am sorry to have to write it, but there is a push to get people to buy alkaline water machines, and the propaganda is intense.  Also, when one starts to use it, one feels better, so many people just assume they are becoming healthier, which is not the case. I am not selling any competing products, and I am only interested in keeping people well.

One reason for the popularity of these machines is that some people do indeed feel better for a while drinking this type of alkaline water.  Quick benefits may include fewer aches and pains, and perhaps a little more energy.  However, the problems with the alkaline water machines more than outweigh any benefits they confer.

WHAT IS ARTIFICIALLY ALKALIZED WATER?
Mostly tap water is put through an electrical machine that runs the water over platinum and titanium plates.  This process causes the exchange of some platinum and titanium ions that makes the water more alkaline in its pH.  In most cases the machine has a carbon filter to supposedly remove impurities.  With some units, one can also add a white powder to make the water even more alkaline.

This is very different from natural alkalized spring water.  Spring water passes over rocks in the earth and picks up various minerals, which helps regulate the pH levels in our bodys.  Good spring water usually has a slightly alkaline pH of about 8 or even 8.5, but not much more.

THE RATIONALE FOR DRINKING ALKALINE WATER
The pH balance of the body is very important, and most people’s bodies are too acidic at the cellular level.  It does not matter if the saliva, urine or other fluids test alkaline.  In almost all cases, the body cells, which are the site of metabolism, are too acidic.  This predisposes one to many metabolic imbalances and diseases including cancer.  The rationale for drinking alkaline water is that it will correct this important physiological imbalance.

Problems with this rationale for alkaline water. 
The main problems with this theory are:

 1. The real cause of excess acidity at the cellular level is a deficiency of what are called the alkalinizing or alkaline reserve minerals. These come from what one was born with, and from your diet, the food that you eat.  They include calcium, magnesium, zinc, selenium, and a few others.

Unfortunately, drinking artificially alkalized water does little or nothing to replace these vital minerals.  In fact, it can deplete them.  It may make the body think it is alkaline, so the body does not need to hold on to its alkaline reserve minerals as much, and it eliminates some of them, making the person even more deficient. If one lives a stressful life, one also depletes these minerals quicker.  

2. Also water from alkaline water machines still contains traces of cadmium, lead, arsenic and other toxic metals found in tap water that are not filtered, that I am aware of, by any carbon filters.  Some carbon only filtering systems claim to filter out toxic metals, but I have not observed this in practice.  Filters that I have seen that are said to remove a lot of toxic metals tend to damage the water even worse.  Reverse osmosis is an example of this type, along with KDF (Kinetic Degradation Fluxion) and other types of “advanced” filtration media.

3. In addition, the alkaline water machines also add traces of platinum and titanium from plates that the water passes over to make it alkaline.  These are both supremely toxic metals, especially platinum.

I have observed slightly higher levels of nickel in those who use alkaline water machines for several years.  The nickel is probably leached from the stainless steel in the machine, or perhaps from a nickel-plated machine part.  Nickel is a deadly toxic metal.  The alkalinity of the water may cause a little to be leached out of the machine parts.

4. Carbon filtration also does not remove enough of the toxic chemicals in the water, so one is also getting a daily dose of chlorine, fluorides, aluminum, copper, residues of medical drugs in many areas, pesticides and more.

5. As a result, alkaline water machines do not really balance the body’s pH, although they will change it a little, giving some people the impression they are getting well when, in fact, they are not.

The only way to truly balance the body is to replenish the alkaline reserve minerals.  To do this, one must eat a good amount of vegetables.  The vegetables, and perhaps some mineral supplements, such as kelp, can and do supply the alkaline reserve minerals.

Good quality, natural spring water also supplies some alkaline minerals, as does good quality sea salt.  Using these on a daily basis, the body can be slowly remineralized.  This is the best way to do it.

The water from an alkaline water machine is not the same as naturally occurring spring water.

First, alkaline spring waters usually have a pH of about 8 or possibly 8.5.  The water from the machines is often much higher, up to 12 or 13.  This is not healthful.

Secondly, alkaline spring water and some well water is high in calcium and magnesium, which are excellent for one’s health.  Water from the machines, by contrast, is artificially made to be alkaline by mixing the water with a small amount of platinum and perhaps titanium, both of which are toxic metals.

Why is the diet important? 
Much of the acidity of the body is due to a diet that is too high in grains, cereals, beans, and sugars.  Refined food diets are the worst, but so are most people’s high carbohydrate natural food diets.  All of these foods have an acidic reaction in the body due to their peculiar mineral content.  Red meats also have a more acidic reaction due to other factors such as their high iron content and the bacteria needed to digest them properly.

Even eating some fruits today seem to have an acidic reaction.  This is due to their content of fruit acids, their higher sugar content, their unbalanced mineral content today thanks to hybridization, and genetic modification.  Some fruits are still alkaline forming, but not all by any means. 

The diets need to be corrected by eating more green vegetables each and every day.  This is the best way to obtain enough alkaline reserve minerals.  Using sea salt, drinking naturally filtered water, and taking supplements of kelp, or kale also helps. 

We hope this article has been helpful,
Penelope & Rodney

Sugar Focus 'Doesn't Let Fat off the Hook'!

From an article in the NZ Herald today http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11335891  “Consumers shouldn't think they can eat fatty foods now the obesity debate has sugar in its sights,” an Auckland academic says.

University of Auckland professor of epidemiology, Rod Jackson, is warning people not to get complacent about foods that are high in fat after recent diet reports saying sugar is to blame for the rise in global obesity.

"We've never been healthier. Heart disease rates are plummeting. The rate of death from heart disease is 90 per cent lower than in 1967," Dr Jackson said, adding that life expectancy had increased.

However, our population is getting steadily fatter. "There's no doubt we're getting fatter but we're getting fatter quite slowly," he said.

"The message that should be out there is - replace saturated fats¹ with vegetable fats² and also eat less free sugar [table sugar] and refined carbohydrates."

I Have Three Comments To Make About This:

One:  While there has been a big focus around the detrimental effects of sugar on our health, which is now recognised medically, I have a concern that there will be a big shift to synthetic replacement sweeteners that in general people know nothing about except that they don’t want to put on weight but still want sweetness.  I’m thinking of Aspartame based sweeteners, Saccharin, Neotame, various fruit alcohol sweeteners.³  As a healthy alternative how about using Stevia or Coconut Sugar (very low GI), or Honey.

Two: Totally replacing saturated fats with unsaturated vegetable fats is not the complete answer either.  Both types of fats are required by the body - more about that in another newsletter.

Three:  ‘Yes’ to less table sugar (sucrose) and other refined carbohydrates (processed foods).  ‘Yes’ to whole foods that aren’t processed.  ‘Yes’ to eating more, healthy, green vegetables.

In answer to the obesity issue, this cannot just be addressed by eating less.  It’s actually what we eat and how we eat it. I’ve found from experimenting with myself (having put on about 8 extra kilos during menopause - yikes) that it was relatively easy to remove that extra weight simply by separating fats & oils from my consumption of carbohydrates and adding more, low carb, green-leafy veges to my meals (I’m just about down to my pre-menopause weight - YIPPEE).

For more detail on how to take the pain out of weight loss go to my article on our blog
“How Do We Say NO to the Cravings and Addictions that Can Make Us Fat?”

As always, not being fanatical, just learning to be wise.

Best regards,
Penelope 

Are Saturated Fats Bad for You?

“It was 1944 and WW2 was raging.  A young mother was wasting away with an infection diagnosed as tuberculosis.  Antibiotics were unavailable.  Her doctor prescribed (1) isolation, (2) bed rest, (3) exercise eventually, and (4) a diet high in fat.”  High fat diets were recommended by the medical profession in those days.  This young woman was the mother of author and medical doctor, Dr Rex Russell.  She went on to recover and lived to be a great grandmother eating plenty of saturated and unsaturated fats as part of her diet.

Several weeks ago I quoted an article from the NZ Herald which stated "The message that should be out there is - replace saturated fats with vegetable fats and also eat less free sugar [table sugar] and refined carbohydrates”.  Really?

What are Saturated Fats?
The macro nutrients are fats, carbohydrates and proteins.  This means we consume these as our 3 main fuel sources to give us energy for daily living. Fats and oils are therefore one of our main fuel sources.

“Saturated” means that the fat molecule has no double bonds in it.  Look at the illustration below.  Every carbon atom is happily linked to the next one – the carbon is saturated.  Saturated fats are usually solid at room temp.  Think of clotted cream, butter, coconut oil, fat around the outside of meat, or the inner marbling fat.

“Unsaturated” means the fat molecule has one double bond (mono-unsaturated) or even several double bonds (poly-unsaturated) between carbon molecules.  Those double bonds can be broken more easily to form new molecules. These fats are usually liquid at room temp.  We call them oils and some examples are olive oil, safflower oil, peanut oil and corn oil. Oil found in salmon, tuna, trout, mackerel, sardines. Oils found in nuts and other seeds.

In reality all fats or oils are comprised of a mix of saturated and unsaturated fat molecules.  Butter is mostly saturated fat but contains some unsaturated fats.  Olive oil is mostly unsaturated fats but contains some saturated.

What has history said about fats? 

• In the 1930s – 40s medical experts declared that fats were good for us.
• During the 1950s there was an increase in occurrence of heart disease. Experts began to be concerned that dairy products and animal fats were the cause.
• The 60s – 80s ruled that monounsaturated fats (fats with only one double bond) were bad for us. Olive oil, butter, avocado, nuts were seen as unhealthy. Polyunsaturated oils were synthesised and “Margarine” was born.
• Nutritionists recommended low-fat/high carbohydrate meals based on lots of grains.
• Now, in the mid 2000s we’ve come face-to-face with the problem of obesity. However there is a solution in the wings - separating fats from carbs. BUT a warning: we mustn’t go overboard we still need to be aware of healthy eating principles.

Is there a problem with Saturated Fats?
“Saturated fats have been assumed to cause heart disease by raising cholesterol in the blood.  No experimental evidence has ever directly linked saturated fat to heart disease.” I’m quoting here from research evidence sourced from “Authority Nutrition”

• This includes a review of 21 studies with a total of 347,747 participants, published in 2010. Their conclusion: there is absolutely no association between saturated fat and heart disease
• 76 studies (both observational studies and controlled trials) with a total of 643,226 participants. They found no link between saturated fat and heart disease.
• The Cochrane Collaboration, which combines data from numerous randomized controlled trials. According to their review, published in 2011, reducing saturated fat has no effect on death or death from heart disease

However, they found that replacing saturated fats with unsaturated fats reduced the risk of cardiac events (but not death) by 14%.
This does not imply that saturated fats are “bad”, just that certain types of unsaturated fats (mostly Omega-3s) are protective, while saturated fats are neutral.

Conclusions:

1. Saturated fat, like butter and coconut oil is excellent for cooking because of its high heat point.  These fats are less susceptible to damage from heat and light.
2. Foods that contain saturated fats tend to be healthy and nutritious.
3. Diets higher in saturated & unsaturated fats, but lower in carbohydrates can even cause weight loss.

Next Time: The state of the fats we consume makes a big difference.  The fact is that fats are required for good health.  Some fats heal and some fats cause great problems for our health. What is it about fats that cause them to be dangerous for consumption?

• The "bad fats" that you should avoid!
• Are you using "rancid oils"?
• What are "trans fats"?

As always, not being fanatical, just learning to be wise.

Best regards,
Penelope