Skin Care Products - How do you feed the skin you are in??

One of my missions for 2007 will be to educate more people about the need for more stringent regulation on Skin Care Products. For example, did you know that....

* The average person uses 9 personal care products every day, exposing them to 126 chemicals every day.

* 89% of the 10,500 ingredients used in Personal Care products have not been evaluated for safety.

* 1/3 or more of all personal care products contain at least one possible human carcinogen.

If you need to be convinced about just how much your skin absorbs, think about nicotine, birth control, and pain patches....a one inch birth control patch can deliver enough hormones to keep a woman from ovulating.....imagine how many chemicals get "under your skin" every day from what you use in your bathroom every day.

I'll be posting more about this, but for now, you can go here to learn more.

Happy Holidays!

Auto Maintenance for Better Health

I was sitting in our local car repair shop last week, waiting for my car to have it's regular oil change and "check-up", and it occurred to me that we tend to maintain our cars better than we do our bodies!

Consider this - How many of you wait until the oil light goes on to have the oil changed? Do you wait until you have a flat before you get new tires? How often do you sit on the side of the road waiting for someone to bring you a gallon of gas because you waited to long to fill up?

Odds are, most of you have at least a reasonable...and for some of you guys, a strict regime for maintaining your car. Yet you wait until you have a Migraine, Carpal Tunnel, Sciatica, or Back Pain before you go to see a doctor. Often you will be given a prescription and sent on your merry way. This approach is neither sensible nor healthy. The prescription is often just a band-aid, or a cover for the real issue...sorta like adding a quart of oil every day rather than having the oil leak fixed!

So - I would encourage you to make it a point to schedule regular "maintenance" times for yourself. Massage is, of course, my preferred modality! If you have a regular massage with a licensed and trained massage therapist, he or she will get to know you and your body and will often notice changes before you do (just like your car mechanic will notice a worn fan belt before it breaks!). Other ways to care for your body include regular acupuncture and chiropractic treatments, regular workouts (preferably with a personal trainer who will be able to guide you in a healthy and balanced routine), and even perhaps scheduling an appointment with a nutritionist to make sure that the "fuel" that you are giving your body is the right "mix" for you!

Your health is worth far more than your car to you - start a regular maintenance regime today!

Yours in Health

Pamela Marshall, LMT

P. S. I was musing on the nature of being "selfish" the other day and popped this up in another blog...it sorta ties in here, so why don't you go over and read that next!