When you think of what 100% means, what do you think of?  Complete?  Whole?   Natural? ....or maybe without errors?  100%  might be of interest if you're aiming to live a healthy lifestyle.  100% organic, 100% pure, 100% local are descriptions that can have significant impact on your health and wellness.  Take some time to learn what qualifies as 100% organic vs  organic vs certified organic.  Be informed--know how terms are defined.  This help guide will get you started. 

There's no dispute high-polluted areas negatively impact health.  The US has environmental regulations in place to safeguard our share of Mother Earth's air, land and water.  Envision your 'world' a little closer to home...say your body.   What safeguards do you have in place?

Years (many years) ago the saying:  Junk In, Junk Out was particularly appropriate as I struggled to write code for a computer program. Think of Junk In/Junk Out in terms of what goes into your body.  How can you expect to perform optimally or feel your best if you ingest highly processed foods with artificial flavorings, added coloring--to make it 'look' more appealing--and/or preservatives?  An occasional soda isn't going to condemn you to ill health, but over-consumption--probably more accurately, addiction--to soda, specifically colas, may have serious consequences.  A study by Tufts University found bone mineral density to be less for women who regularly drank cola type sodas.  Less bone mineral density can set the stage for osteoporosis.

You only get one go round with Life...don't you want to experience it fully?  I'd much rather ACTIVELY participate in Life than be confined or restricted in what I could pursue because of choices like fast food over home-cooked meals or, as I like to say, eating clean.

So maybe you're say, "Yeah, yeah, yeah Karen I've already cut fast food out"  but there's another aspect to eating clean you may not have considered.  The Industrial Revolution changed many aspects of living and working in the US.  New businesses were created and others changed dramatically such as farming.  Pre-Industrial Revolution farming consisted mainly of individual family farms.  A better term for farming currently would be Agro-business with large corporations replacing families in producing our nation's food.  One positive result of this change has been bountiful harvests.  One criticism leveled at Agro-businesses is the focus on the bottom line; producing crops in the cheapest, quickest way. The health of farming soils was discussed in a fascinating article.  A by-product of corporate farming, even if unintentional, is a depletion of nutrients in the soil.  The article noted the "health of soils cannot be determined by chemical analysis because the chemical and biological interrelationships in the soils is too complex."  In other words the sum of the parts is greater than the individual components.  This synergy cannot be replacated by adding chemical fertilizers alone.  The take away message from the article is this:

"A truly healthy soil will produce healthy plants, healthy animals and healthy people."

Have the foods you're eating been grown in a nutrient-poor soil?  Insure you're getting the most vitamin bang for your bite! Get to know where your grocery store gets its produce.  Join a local community supported agriculture (CSA) farm or look into whether your neighbor has a community pea-patch.  You could also add a small, home garden and employ practices that enrich the soil such as using organic fertilizers, rotate crops and use cover crops/mulch to give back to the soil.

Your body's a marvelous creation--in many ways it's like a machine.  Your body has a lot of work to do to process the foods you eat...and everything else that goes into your mouth, into lungs or through your skin.  Just by living the body produces wastes.  As you'd assume with a marvelous creation, it has a process of eliminating wastes.  Urine, feces, and carbon dioxide are a few of the waste products formed just by living.  Eating clean won't overload your body's mechanisms for eliminating wastes.  Your body's a marvelous machine--fuel it right!

Are you curious about what you can do to support your body's system for removing wastes?  I recently contributed an article for Pretty Hard Work on detoxing your body naturally.  I'll give you a hint....it uses yoga! 

Health, Wellness & CURES!!
Karen