Lead in children's toys!

Many harmful elements may be lurking in your children's plastic toys! Elements that are known to be harmful at certain levels of children playing with toys  include arsenic, lead and mercury. Young children are at a higher risk as they often place them in their mouths, sucking and chewing to explore them. Their developing brains are more sensitive to the effects of these toxins. Lead is the most common source of toxicity in children.

So let's take a look at lead, which is often added to plastic to make it more pliable. Lead is a neurotoxin which means that when absorbed , inhaled or ingested it can affect the development of a child's nervous system.

Lead poisoning can cause

* Severe fatigue

* Decreased muscle co-ordination

* Seizures

* Lower IQ

* Behavioural problems

* Poor school performance  and

* Impaired growth

Australia imports $100 million worth of toys each Christmas, 80% are from China. Not every single toy coming in to our country is tested and I believe that is putting our children at risk to lead exposure. Don't forget that lead can also be in old painted toys- so be careful of those beautiful vintage heirloom toys.

So what is the answer to the problem? Buy timber toys as they are made from non- toxic materials and use non toxic paints! Too expensive you say? Then hire them from Mr Kipp and little Jimmy Of course!

You now can also buy timber toys from Mr Kipp and little Jimmy. Check out the range at www.voilatoy.com. and you will have it delivered within 48hrs! Free delivery for orders over $50 within the Ballarat area. 
We also offer in home parties where you can view the toys have some fun and earn money off your order. Email us  hello@ecotoyhire.com.au if you are interested in hosting a party.

Helping your kids to want less and be more grateful this Christmas!

As parents we naturally want to give our children the best and we want them to have more. But studies have repeatedly shown, money doesn’t bring happiness and neither does the accumulation of more ‘stuff’. In fact having too much, which often happens at Christmas can have more stress than it’s worth. (not to mention the stress on poor Mum who has to tidy up all this stuff throughout the year!

So here are a few tips to help your children to want less this Christmas and be grateful for what they do get….

      1. Talk to them about items they desire, will it truly make them happy? Will they get sick of it quickly?   

     

       2. Remind them that cheap toys often break easily, they tire of playing with them quickly and then end up in landfill. Let older children know that Australia is the second biggest producer of landfill in the world!    

         

      3. Suggest to you child that they donate one toy to charity for each toy they receive. (A good way to clear the clutter and encourages them to think of others less fortunate) 

     

      4.Role play with children an appropriate response to receiving a gift before the big day. Talk to them about how the giver has invested time into choosing a present especially for them. (I’m sure we have all experienced a child who turns up their nose at an unwanted present!)

    5.  Encourage children to write a gratitude list after Christmas (or chat with younger ones), listing everything that happened at Christmas or even throughout the year that they are thankful for.

  

      6. And finally when your family does receive an abundance of toys at Christmas (especially if they have a birthday close to the day) do a toy rotation roster. Divide toys into 4 lots and rotate on a fortnightly or monthly basis. With babies and younger kid’s you can do it immediately because they have no idea what they received but with older kids you will have to wait a little while until they tire of their new toys.  This causes them to play with play with the toys that are out as they seem ‘new’ every rotation and are not just strewn everywhere around the room and barely touched.

      If you would like to read more on toy rotation click here   

Merry Christmas. xx

"Excuse me, but I think your gut is leaking!"

Weird I know! But please hang in there, this one’s a game changer! Here’s a funny cartoon just to keep your interest.

There’s a theory (a very valid one) going around in all the health circles at the moment, called ‘Leaky gut’. It’s where a person’s gut wall breaks down and becomes leaky (more scientifically known as gut impermeability.)  When you have a leaky gut, the bad stuff like toxins, bacteria and undigested food get into your body instead of being dumped in the loo! And when this happens your immune system gets all out of wack and crazy things start happening…

Signs of a leaky gut include (but are not limited to)

Fatigue, depression, weight problems, auto-immune diseases, irritable bowel, psoriasis and asthma.

I myself had nearly all of these symptoms at one stage or another and having MS (an auto-immune disease) it is now commonly known that ALL auto-immune diseases start with a leaky gut.

This is not something that many GP’s will know about- why? Because there is no drug to fix it!

If you think you may be suffering from a leaky gut you can find lots of info on the internet including how to heal it naturally. There is heaps on you-tube and a site I recommend is www.solvingleakygut.com. I myself have done their protocol

We are more bug than human!

Yep that’s right! The number of bacteria living in our gut (100 trillion) outweigh the number of actual human cells we have in the body by 10:1. Eww- I’m a giant walking bug!

You can even blame 5 pounds of your body weight onto your gut micro biome, but what you really want to be concerned about is getting the balance of good bacteria right. It is common knowledge that antibiotics throw the balance of good and bad bacteria out of wack but so too does:

·         

*         * A diet high in sugar and processed foods

·         * Alcohol

·         * Artificial sweeteners

·         * Chemical sprays on your fruit and veggies

·         * Anti-bacterial soaps      and

·         * STRESS

Your gut micro biome plays a major role in your mood, food cravings, irritable bowel symptoms, obesity, your immune system and chronic illness. While it is just become a major topic amongst health professionals and even the media, Hippocrates (the father of modern medicine) 2000 years ago said “All chronic disease begins in the gut” Go figure?

So, it is really important to take a probiotic but which one to take? Well, it’s a bit like shopping for a dress- very individual and you may like to shop around to see what suits you. The best way is to rotate the different kinds/brands you use to increase the variety of species to which you are exposed.

However, taking a probiotic whilst still eating a crappy diet will not be as effective- damn it! Also eating probiotic rich foods like sauerkraut, good quality yoghurt and drinking kombucha (a fermented tea drink) will have an even greater impact.  We all love to look after our pets so feed your bugs well- they love lots of fibre from fruit and vegies but sugar and refined food will feed your bad bacteria such as Candida Albicans. The nasty bug that causes things like thrush, gas and fatigue!

And finally- Let your kids eat dirt! 

8 easy ways to detox your home!

8 EASY WAYS TO DETOX YOUR HOME!

You may have done some weird green drinking, herb taking detox in order to eliminate internal toxins from your body, but can you say that you have done anything about the toxins in your home? 

The average home contains up to 1000 chemicals, many of which we are unable to see or smell. Unfortunately the air inside our home is three times more polluted that outside  and here in Ballarat in winter we spend so much time indoors. 

Common household and body care products are increasingly being found to have negative health effects and while these chemicals may be tolerated individually and in small doses, problems can arise when one is exposed to them in combination. They can have an effect on any of our nervous, immune, reproductive, endocrine, cardiovascular, and respiratory systems.

Detoxing our bodies and our living spaces will allow the body’s own detoxification to function more efficiently. This strengthens our resilience to the daily onslaught of factors impacting our health.

You could choose to change one thing a week or one a month or heck just choose one full stop and it will be moving in the right direction…

Tip One

No shoes inside thank you very much!

Yep- it’s that easy. That’s how a lot of dirt pesticides and lead can enter your home.

Tip two

Keep the air clean.

Try opening your doors and windows as much as possible to circulate the stale and toxic air (hard here in Antarctica in winter, I know!)

Tip three

Have indoor plants

Plants remove toxins from the air and renew stale air by exchanging carbon dioxide with oxygen. Read our previous blog post on indoor plants here…

Tip four

Switch from standard household cleaners to greener, safer options.

It’ll be safer and cheaper and not to mention, fun to explore mixing up some concoctions!

Tip five

Replace skin care products with less toxic, chemical free products

On average a woman can be exposed to 500 different chemicals in a day from her daily beauty routine. I personally love Twenty8 skin care and use coconut oil for near everything.

Tip six

Keep plastic to a minimum

Some plastics contain BPA, linked to cancer and others phthalates, which are linked to weight gain and developmental problems. Storing food in glass and ceramics is a safer option.

Tip seven

Check for mould

Check your windows and walls for moulds and remove promptly. Mould is extremely toxic especially to children and babies.

Tip eight

Avoid toxic ‘stinkin thinkin’

Finally no amount of detoxification of the body or the home is as important as removing the toxic thoughts. A house full of resentment, jealousy or unhappiness will be just as toxic!

Why should you eat local and seasonal produce?

Great question that you have asked! So it's really become a bit of a thing at the mo to spend Saturday mornings at your local farmers market getting all the funny looking vegetables - but why exactly should one eat locally grown and seasonal produce?

Seasonal foods are picked at the peak of freshness and offer higher nutritional content with a variety of vitamins, minerals enzymes and anti-oxidants. When you eat with the seasons you can enjoy a rainbow of colorful and diverse foods that are in tune with our natural rhythms and  help support our bodies natural cleansing and healing abilities. For example in winter we are supplied with root vegetables that can be cooked in warming foods (think stews, soups and roasts.) Whereas in spring the focus is on green leafy vegetables to promote cleansing and detoxing ready for summer when all the delicious  fruits and summer vegetables are available. Eating with the seasons will stop you from having potatoes, carrots and peas on your plate all year round! (I seem to remember having meat and those three veggies a lot as a kid) Many out of season fruit and vegetables depend on waxes, chemicals and preservatives to keep them looking half edible and consequently less nutritious. 

So why local? Most foods begin to loses their nutrients the moment they are picked, so the quicker you can get them on your plate the better they will be for your body. Some fruit and vegetables on supermarket shelves were picked up to a year ago and have been in cold storage since! Not to mention some poor little buggers that have been flown across half the world just so you can have apples in December! By eating locally produced foods not only are you helping the environment by decreasing 'food miles' you are also contributing to your community and supporting it's farmers.

Just something for you to think about? I'm no angel at it, my kids want their apples year round and I'd rather feed them an out of season apple than a processed LCM bar. But I am becoming more conscious and increasing the amount of local and seasonal produce I purchase

Have a great day! x 

Is wheat really that bad for me? or is gluten free just another fad?!

The answer to this from my research is a resounding YES, it really is bad and no- definitely not just a fad!

The problem with modern day wheat is that Agri-business has genetically changed the crop from a 4 and a half ft plant to a 2 ft dwarf, high yield plant that is easier to harvest. Consequently it is now higher in gluten (a protein) than it was 10,000 years ago and it's not just the gluten component that causes problems within the body and mind.

Modern day wheat is also higher in gliadin (a sugar) that stimulates the appetite and has an opiate effect on the body (that's why the idea of giving up wheat breaks you into a sweat!) Amaylopectin (the starch component) is also way higher. This starch has a proven link to heart disease diabetes and obesity. Since the introduction of wheat 10,000 years ago, fossil records of humans show a decrease in brain size, a loss in bone size and height and an explosion in tooth decay and crooked teeth.

According to Dr William Davis author of 'Wheat belly' 100% of people are affected in some way by the consumption of wheat, whether it be irritable bowel, brain fog, depression or a chronic disease. "Nobody escapes the increased bowel permeability caused by the gliadin protein" says Davis, a  leading cardiologist in USA. This gut permeability is the first stage of all (possibly 200) auto-immune diseases. "All grains are a problem, but wheat is by far the worse" says Davis.

A Lot of children are becoming intolerant to wheat, showing up in things such as rashes and asthma. It also causes behavioural outbursts and impairs learning. There is a strong link between wheat consumption and ADHD and autism.

Another problem is that you find wheat in almost everything. We all know of bread, pasta, cake and biscuits but check out packaging labels- it's in chips, sauces, vinegar, lollies, processed meat, gravies, soup and even many personal care products. Look for words such as dextrose, glucose, maltodextrin, 1422, hydrolysed vegetable protein as this is all wheat!

Dr William Davis suggests that you will notice a change within a week to a month when you take wheat out of a child's diet. Adults more likely to be months. When I took wheat out of my sons diet 100% his teacher (not knowing I had) exclaimed to me that 'Kipp has been a different boy this week, he's so happy and not emotional!'

So why don't you just try and take it out of your child's diet for a week and see what changes you notice? It certainly won't hurt but it may just change a life!

You don't have to take my word for it, if you're interested and want to know more I suggest www.wheatbellyblog.com and the book 'Grain brain' by David Perlmutter