Baby its cold outside !

Its a cold Melbourne winter, foggy crisp mornings filled with rainy grey days and short blissful bursts of sunshine. With the chill outside we are closing up our houses and turning up the heat to escape the cold.

A winter tip for a healthy home is to bring the outdoors in with greenery.....plants will help you keep your indoor air healthy. While the house is all closed up for winter and materials and finishes in the house are heating up (heat encourages off gassing of volatile organic compounds - VOCs ) its a good time to add a few plants to assist in cleaning your indoor air especially when ventilation is minimised.

In our buy it, upgrade it, replace it society good old nature gets another gold star - indoor plants win this weeks gold award for functionality, affordability, beauty and good health ! But don't take my word for it -

" In 1973 during the Skylab III mission, NASA identified 107 volatile organic chemicals (VOCs) that were emitting (offgassing) from synthetic materials inside spacecraft. As a result, NASA realised that indoor air pollution in any tightly sealed structure could present health related problems and should be addressed. In 1989 EPA reported to the U.S congress that they had detected more than 900 VOCs in the air of public buildings." citation from http://www.wolvertonenvironmental.com/air.htm    In further studies conducted by NASA it was found that plants were capable of removing volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that had been outgassed.

Wolverton Environmental Services has done some amazing work in establishing which plants assist to remove particular chemicals from indoor air. For further info visit http://www.wolvertonenvironmental.com/airFAQ.htm.

So snuggle up this winter with Janet Craig or English Ivy !
(botanical name Dracaena deremensis and Hendra helix)

I have always thought there is something very unnatural about drinking water that has been called medicated with fluoride. This video is an insight into where fluoride comes from and having watched this I now know why my intuition was screaming that its not a good idea...  Do you know what is really added to your drinking water ?

May 2011 bring health & happiness to your home

Happy new year to all that pass through....

2011 is looking like an exciting year with lots of opportunities to learn new things and meet new people.
I am looking forward to continuing to design greener kitchens for my clients and helping families create functional inspiring, beautiful low emission spaces for their homes.

Kitchens are the food hub of the home, a choice center for the way we live and choices we make that directly affect our home, health and the environment. Many lifestyle choices that we make effect the health of our families. Many of these choices indirectly pass through our kitchens either consciously or unknowingly.  Some of the issues I hope to explore this year are kitchen gardens - self sufficiency, kitchen gardens and design thoughts,  food storage options and products, organic vs conventional, food lifestyles such as raw living, energy efficiency - appliance choices, food preparation planning outcomes, pest control choices, heating choices, ventilation decisions, product choices and hidden chemicals in brands we trust ... and so much more.

I will continue to ask What, How and Why -  taking some time to question why we do what we do and how we can do things better, healthier and cheaper. Insights into things that may help you make quicker healthier choices for your family - as you can see from previous posts even toilet paper isn't off limits.  Every product and service we buy for our families has a story some with scary plots and others inspiring. In our busy lives we don't have time to ask for the story behind every product or choice we need to make, so hopefully healthy home insight can shed some light on a few issues you may not have thought of ..

A taboo subject - up close and personal

What do we get up close and personal with each day !

This clip shows recycled paper being used to make toilet paper.  

What is interesting about this clip is what is NOT said, but seems an obvious question !

What solutions and chemicals are used to break down the paper, remove the inks, bleach and starch the paper ?

I recently had a discussion with someone where the issue of toilet paper chemicals was raised along with health concerns and skin irritation such as itching, soreness and redness in places we don't discuss.  Since that discussion I have raised this issue with a few people and it has been interesting to note that a few people have mentioned their concerns and sensitivities ....   I had not given any thought to loo paper however given the direct and intimate contact we all have with this product and the chemicals used perhaps its something that should be added to the list of items to carefully consider.  

Recycled content toilet paper traps by Greenliving.com 
"Buying toilet paper made from recycled materials is great but even this can present some challenges.
Recycled paper needs to be deinked before it is pulped and processed. This deinking process may involve chlorine to bleach the paper. Chlorine based chemicals can react with paper fibers to create toxic compounds such as dioxin and organochlorines.

Dioxins cause cancer, learning disorders, decreased immune response, diabetes and all sorts of other nasty problems in the environment. By the way, the same chlorine issue is prevalent when using virgin-fiber based toilet tissue too.

When shopping for earth friendly toilet paper look for statements such as "unbleached", "processed chlorine-free" or "totally chlorine free."

What women, choices & breast cancer have in common - BPA

Sadly there is little media attention and up roar about this chemical here in Australia. Given we have a smaller population than the USA we also generally speaking have less funding available for chemical studies. So here in Australia we often follow, watch, sit and wait for alarm bells to ring in other countries ....and then maybe we will begin to seriously look at an issue.  If I can impart any message along with these videos it is that even if you live in a country other than the USA, it is very likely the same type of foods are packaged using BPA. This certainly is the case here in Australia !


It was great to see a recent report stating the following by CHOICE (Australia) which stated :
"Choice spokesman Christopher Zinn said laboratory samples on 38 tinned products - including baby food, baked beans, coconut milk, corn kernels, soups and fish - revealed 29 contained "potentially harmful" levels. Choice found the highest levels of BPA (300-420 parts per billion) in samples of Edgell corn kernels, John West tuna olive oil blend, and Heinz smooth custard with banana." To read the complete story refer to :
http://www.news.com.au/business/strip-danger-drug-from-food-tins-says-choice/story-e6frfm1i-1225913100587

What can we do to avoid BPA   - 

- Choose fresh food whenever possible
- Consider alternatives to canned food, beverages and juices
- Use glass or ceramic containers when heating food.
- Avoid handling receipts as the paper is coated in BPA
- Avoid buying product in plastic bottles/packaging marked plastic code #7


As the number of people diagnosed with cancer rises I keep asking myself  "How are our lives different to that of our grandparents ?"  We have so many new chemicals being approved for use each year without the precautionary principle to protect human health, I am not a scientist but surely this reality should be raising some red flags as to a possible causes for some of the rising serious illnesses !   


Take care ....

A Greener Kitchen

Its an exciting few weeks coming up and not just because the festive season is around the corner.

Relish designs has experience in kitchen design and custom cabinetry however we are excited to be launching a researched and specialised "green kitchen" design service as the Melbourne  "Greener Kitchens" design consultancy.  www.greenerkitchens.com.au are based in Brisbane and have been broadly published in green magazines throughout Australia. Its an exciting collaboration as green kitchens are made with materials that have low environmental impacts along with lower emissions - so air quality within the home contains less pollutants - just the thing we are passionate about. Bring on cleaner air for Melbourne homes and more options to help people create healthy homes !

Sustainable, lower emission building products are available although a little harder to find than conventional products as we wait for large manufacturers and suppliers to see the demand for healthier, more sustainable  products. I am loving getting into the nitty gritty on where to find what and what can be used where ...

The concept of acknowledging the quality of our indoor air despite not being able to see it or test it daily is gaining recognition. 

In my travels I found a great book you may find of value - Good Green Homes gives an overview of ways we can make our homes healthy for the environment and ourselves for those buying, building and renting - theres some good info for everyone.

Green, clean, healthy & beautiful for the hub of the home - your kitchen.

Happy reading !

Mercury in the home and @ the dentist  ...

Although this topic strays a little from toxins within the home environment I felt this was something worth mentioning ...

I have heard many times that it is not healthy to be exposed to mercury. I had listened and taken note of  mercury found in certain fish products, immunisations and from broken lamps. I have been focused on a healthy lifestyle and what confronts me in my environment and have not given a great deal of thought to my past.

Like many of you, I try not to give too much thought to the past as I am often reminded what has gone before can not be changed. Although, I have recently learnt more about mercury dental fillings. I am not a fan of visiting the dentist but after watching the video below I have been inspired to investigate promptly having my mercury fillings taken out of my teeth, it seems this is one thing done in the past that I can change ...

My mother had no idea that the dentist was implanting toxic fillings into my teeth so many years ago. I am so grateful that this information is now out there so we can take steps to protect ourselves and our children. It seems industry and government has again let us down by not applying the precautionary principle to products that could potentially effect human health. With so much negative press about fluoride bubbling to the surface will fluoride will be the next dental industry health blunder ...

I am thinking I will look into having mine safely removed !