BODY BOOK
How To ‘LIKE’ Your Body
Jan Norn
Smashwords Edition
Copyright: 2011
ISBN: 978-0-9867832-7-2
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Survival
Faithful Feet
Sacred Nails
Good Points
Points of Interest
The Pits
Read the Labels
Pretty Bubbles
Perfume, Pleasure or Plague
Not Too Pretty
Unmentionables
Cold Comfort
Monsters in Your Bed
Flash Point
MS: The Mystery Malady
Be Alert
Don’t Shoot the Messenger
So Sad
Guilty as Charged
Dishwashing Detective
Lock the Laundry
Hit List
Body Care
Body Wraps
Extra Exfoliation
Body Polish
Plain Old Soap and Water
Skin Care for Babies
The Perfect Bath
Porridge
Bath Bombs
Prehistoric Pleasures
Civilised Pleasures
Slip, Slap, Slop
Sunshine
An Oxymoron
Bee Smart
Gardeners Boon
A Puzzle for You
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Did you know?
That if your feet hurt, you hurt all over…
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SURVIVAL
Be Fit and Be Wary
We seem to be living in an age of plagues, made possible by sets of super-bugs that have evolved beyond our capacity to destroy them. West Nile disease, bird flu, mad cow disease and foot-and mouth disease for cattle, a recurrence of tuberculosis and influenza – these are only a few of the potential plagues that are lurking around, waiting to pounce on us.
What to do about the increase of prowling infections? More pills? Live in a cocoon? Take a couple of goats and some seeds and head for the hills? The logical answer seems to be that each of us should give serious thought to our own health habits.
These bugs, like most predators, usually strike the unfit and the unwary, so let’s be fit and let’s be wary. Build up your immune systems from the inside out, not forgetting the importance of your skin’s acid mantle. Eat sensibly and eat fresh whenever possible. Read the labels on packaged food and learn what they mean. Wash your hands (properly!) after you have been in crowded places. Don’t put anything IN or ON your body that poses a threat, even a little threat.
In his intriguing book, “Ishmael,” philosopher Daniel Quinn tells us that we have to look at pre-history for the answers to our problems, the largest problem being our ultimate survival. He gives some fascinating figures about population increase.
For the first 2,000 centuries of human existence, population doubled about every 200 centuries. This is proven by fossil remains.
When the agricultural revolution began, about ten centuries ago, there were an estimated ten million people in existence. With the mass production of food, explosive population growth began, doubling in 5 centuries instead of almost 200…
In the last doubling, from 1900 to 1960, it took only 60 years to bring the population to 3 million.
And since 1960? The population this morning is 6, 674,342,761 and by the time I have finished writing this sentence about 50 more will be added.
For a scary experience, go to www.worldometers.info and you will see the figures changing at the rate of about five per second. No wonder nature is trying to get rid of a few of us! Daniel Quinn offers a reasonable and gentle way out of this predicament, but you are going to have to read his books yourself to find what it is (and no, it is not birth control or any other kind of ‘control’).
As for staying healthy: Recently in the Globe and Mail there was an article headed ‘Food Additives Found to Fuel Hyperactivity in Children’. What a surprise! The ‘experts’ are beginning to catch on. The article specifically mentions artificial colourings and preservatives, especially the common one, sodium benzoate, found in soft drinks, juice, jam and a myriad of other products. So read those labels, folks!
Another expose was the popcorn scare, concerning an additive called diacetyl that gives popcorn its buttery taste, but also is linked to a nasty lung disease. This is a good incentive to make your own popcorn.
These two examples are just the tip of the iceberg. Every week we learn more about the things that are being added to packaged food and drinks as well as to cosmetic and ‘health’ products. It is confusing, because sometimes the ingredients are harmless in their naturally occurring state but harmful when they are synthesized and added in quantities that nature did not intend. Sodium benzoate is a good example of this: it occurs beneficially in some fruits, but when large quantities are added to our food and drink in order to extend shelf life it becomes problematic.
Instead of the wilderness hazards that our ancestors had to contend with, we have to find our way through a jungle of chemical hazards in our food, our furniture, and much of our environment. However the same old qualities of caring, planning, and common sense will help us to survive and to protect our families and friends.
Stay well! Look after the bodies you have been given – they are quite wonderful.
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FAITHFUL FEET
A Masterpiece of Engineering
Socrates told us, “When our feet hurt, we hurt all over”.
Considering that the average person takes about eight to ten thousand steps each day (around 4 ½ kilometers) this is not too surprising. Each step exerts a pressure of three to four times your body weight on the foot doing the stepping, because you are pushing the weight rather than just supporting it. Weight moved by your feet in one day can total hundreds of tons. So survival of the feet becomes an important part of your life.
How do those little things do it? Well, to quote Leonardo da Vinci, who had a pretty good eye for design, they are ‘a masterpiece of engineering and a work of art.’ Each of our feet has 26 small bones, 33 joints, over 150 ligaments and 19 muscles, as well as lots of blood vessels, nerves and (get this!) 250,000 sweat glands capable of processing as much as one cup of sweat per day.
Three out of four North Americans have trouble with their feet at some time during their lives, and we women have many, many more problems than men. Why? Just imagine your poor feet, distorted by elegant high heels and cramped toes, trying to lift and propel a couple of hundred tons each day. No wonder they hurt!
All things considered, I think you’ll agree that your faithful feet deserve a reward at the end of the day. Set them free of shoes and give them a good soak in lukewarm water to which you have added a little baking soda or some zeolite*. Dry carefully with a clean, fluffy towel and massage the soles with some lavender cream or a lavender bar. Pay special attention to the area on the inside of your instep, as this contains nerve endings that influence the spine – a good brisk massage here will help a sore back. If you have a headache, deep massage on the balls of your feet and the pads of your toes will help it. Afterwards, put on clean cotton or wool socks and put your feet up for a few minutes.
Synthetic fibres are a bad idea for feet. Cotton is easiest to find, but any natural fibres such as hemp or silk are foot-friendly. I have a friend who spins her own wool out of creative things like dog, cat or llama hair - she also spins something called soy silk out of fibres left over from the process of making tofu. So you could have dog socks or even soy socks! The main thing is, give your feet a treat. They have earned it.
*Zeolite is a type of clay that is an enormously powerful skin cleanser. Used commercially for purifying water systems, it has the ability to transfer contaminated ions into its own structure. When you drop it into water, it hisses dramatically, which is why the Greeks named it zeolite, or boiling rocks. Makes a wonderful, cleansing foot-soak…
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SACRED NAILS
Upper Class Idiocy?
In ancient China, the mandarins used their long fingernails as an emblem of superiority. Nine-inch nails denoted a member of the ruling class, someone who did not have to do manual labour. Can you imagine how uncomfortable they must have been? I have trouble enough with chopsticks, so can picture the hazards involved with chopsticks plus those nine-inch nails! In fact it would have been impossible to do most of the things we take for granted…how would you brush your teeth...or blow your nose??
I wonder whether our modern misses and madams have an unconscious urge to belong to the upper classes, because I see such an assortment of long, brilliant, extravagant and sometimes weird fingernails in the course of a day’s shopping.
The nails-of-choice today seem to be the kind you stick on. While these are fun for a special occasion, it is definitely not a good idea to use them on a permanent basis. Even the newer, gel kinds contain some unpleasant chemicals and since ‘what goes on goes in’, the side effects can be bad. Look on the web and you will find some horror stories from ladies who have developed painful nails, along with dark bruises under the nail sheaths that turned into blood blisters and had to be drained. One person describes the day she was at work, typing, when suddenly blood started to drip from under one of her nails! So do be careful what you use and how long you keep it on.
Painted fingernails have been flaunted for thousands of years, but the formulas for nail polish are all basically a type of fast-drying paint, and do nothing to enhance the health of your fingers and toes. They form a seal over the nails, preventing them from breathing – and every part of your body needs to breath. You might have noticed how chalky your nails appear after you remove the polish. Of course the usual ’fix’ is to cover them up with another shiny coat of varnish before they even have time to recover from the first attack. We females are not generally kind to our nails.
However, left alone and kept clean, trimmed and moisturized, fingernails will thrive and grow. Basic care consists of pushing back cuticles until the little half-moons are showing and shaping with clippers or a file. The new glass files are nice but don’t buff too hard with them.
In general, nails and cuticles will pick up enough emollients from your hand lotion, but if they are especially dry, take a Q-tip or a small brush and paint them with liquid lecithin (the unbleached kind). Apply lightly – you can rub off excess with your finger if it is sticky. A thin coat will give you the look of clear nail polish while actually helping to restore damaged areas. It will last for only a few hours, but is easy to re-apply.
Gelatine, taken internally, is another thing that will help to strengthen brittle nails. However, nail care is one area where what you DON’T do is probably more important than what you DO do!
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GOOD POINTS
D.I.Y Discipline
We were not designed to wear shoes. In our natural state, we would have been running around bare-footed on a variety of textured surfaces, naturally exercising and stimulating those useful little acupressure points in our feet. However, a bare-foot revolution is not likely to happen in a cold country like ours, so the more we learn about manipulating the vital pressure areas, the more comfortable we will be.
Acupoints are found, not only in your feet, but scattered around your bodies as well. They are the same places that practitioners of acupuncture use to insert their tiny needles. The study of acupoints in the feet and hands is called Reflexology and it is one of the few disciplines that we are able to perform effectively on ourselves. In fact it is common practice in China for families to use known pressure points as a kind of basic first aid. This predates the discovery of acupuncture by about 2,500 years, so is an integral part of Chinese culture.
As I understand it, acupoints are the crossroads where the body’s energy flows intersect. Like all intersections, they are prone to traffic jams, so manipulation of the ‘point’ will help to release the snarl. You will definitely know when you locate a ‘point’ - it will sometimes feel like an electric shock or sometimes like a deep ache. Pressing hard or massaging with a circular motion helps it to go away.
Look in your library, or on the web, for maps of the acupoints and the parts of the body that they can benefit. Using these points is very helpful for common ailments and aches and pains, but be sure to think of it as a method for routine maintenance and always see your doctor for serious problems.
Here are a few of the acupoints in your feet:
In the hollow behind the outside ankle bone – for backache, Charlie Horse, or headache.
Close to outside, back corner of nail on toe next to big toe – sore ankles and feet, sinus and tonsil problems.
Close to outside, back corner of nail on big toe – lower abdomen, hernia, menstruation.
Acupoints are found, not only in your feet, but scattered around your bodies as well. They are the same places that practitioners of acupuncture use to insert their tiny needles. The study of acupoints in the feet and hands is called Reflexology and it is one of the few disciplines that we are able to perform effectively on ourselves. In fact it is common practice in China for families to use known pressure points as a kind of basic first aid. This predates the discovery of acupuncture by about 2,500 years, so is an integral part of Chinese culture.
As I understand it, acupoints are the crossroads where the body’s energy flows intersect. Like all intersections, they are prone to traffic jams, so manipulation of the ‘point’ will help to release the snarl. You will definitely know when you locate a ‘point’ - it will sometimes feel like an electric shock or sometimes like a deep ache. Pressing hard or massaging with a circular motion helps it to go away.
Look in your library, or on the web, for maps of the acupoints and the parts of the body that they can benefit. Using these points is very helpful for common ailments and aches and pains, but be sure to think of it as a method for routine maintenance and always see your doctor for serious problems.
Here are a few of the acupoints in your feet:
In the hollow behind the outside ankle bone – for backache, Charlie Horse, or headache.
Close to outside, back corner of nail on toe next to big toe – sore ankles and feet, sinus and tonsil problems.
Close to outside, back corner of nail on big toe – lower abdomen, hernia, menstruation.
Bottom of foot, in middle of sole, right next to ball – colds and flu, anxiety, hypertension.
Top of foot, at junction of second and third toes – nosebleed, toothache.
Outside of foot, just behind last knucklebone of big toe – burns, lumbago, temporary urinary control.
Upper surface of foot, two thumb widths behind junction of big and second toes – eyes, urinary tract, liver.
Top of foot, at separation of big toe and second toe – muscle cramps, insomnia, neck pain.
Behind inside ankle bone – throat, kidneys, cough.
Now take off your shoes and socks and experiment! Keep in mind that a special foot massage makes a great gift for a family member who needs a little extra TLC.
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POINTS OF INTEREST
Your Own Clever Fingers
After the wear and tear of everyday life, some days our bodies can be left feeling less than perfect. Time for maintenance. Follow the example of our neighbours in China and find those helpful acupressure points. Using your own clever fingers, try releasing some of the accumulated tensions and soothing away the pain that is telling you, “Hey! You have a problem here!”
If you read about the helpful points in your feet, you will know what a comfort a careful foot massage can be. Here are some more acupressure points that can bring relief to a busy body. Once you find each point, massage firmly with a circular motion, both clockwise and counter-clockwise, and follow with several deep presses. Remember to repeat the treatment on both sides of your body.
For Headaches: Find a point on your left hand, about 4 centimeters from the edge of the webbing between thumb and fingers. Squeeze the thumb and first finger of your right hand together around this point. Press and massage. Repeat with opposite hand.
For Neck Problems: Find the two bones that stick out at the top of the spine. The point is between them. Massage it.
For Backache: Measure the width of your palm below the bottom of your kneecap. Move outwards to find the point in a depression between the shin bone and the muscle. This point is for lower back problems.
Feel the top of your shoulder, for a point halfway between neck and shoulder. For upper back problems.
For Insomnia: Two points on the largest crease of the inner wrist, one in line with the thumb, the other in line with the little finger.
There are many more acupoints than the ones I have described. If you are interested, try to find a book on acupressure or reflexology, or do some research on the web. You will be surprised at the effectiveness of such a simple technique. The points are not difficult to locate, and you will soon learn to recognize them by the vivid, almost shocking feeling released by the pressure of your fingers.
I have chronic neck pain (after a lifetime of falling on my head off various horses) and a good acu-rub will invariably soothe the aches away and allow me to turn my head more easily. If you are suffering in some way, find the points for your special problem and try some self-healing. These techniques have been used in China for thousands of years.
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THE PITS
Ladies Only Glow…
I was the youngest of seven children and an afterthought by seven years. Consequently, the entire family felt it their duty to educate me. Since six of us were girls, I was on the receiving end of all kinds of advice on manners, morals, make-up, deportment and personal hygiene (as well as all those hand-me-down dresses).
How well I remember being told that: “HORSES SWEAT, MEN PERSPIRE, BUT LADIES ONLY GLOW!). Unfortunately we were farm girls and it was pretty hard to ‘only glow’ while helping the haying crew or trying to catch a naughty horse. We did keep it as a goal for our finer moments though.
Since ‘only glowing’ is not a practical state in our busy world today, we are offered all kinds of commercial solutions to the problem of perspiration and its offensive after-effects. The truth is, perspiration is a clear liquid that has no odour of its own. The problem starts when bacteria feeds off the perspiration and excretes the waste. That offensive smell is bacteria poo! And we spend a collective fortune trying to get rid of it.
According to the reasoning of cosmetic chemists, there are only two possible solutions, first to mask the odour, or second to block the perspiration ducts. The first is achieved by finding something that smells stronger than the bacteria, which is fairly easy but not effective for very long unless a way to kill those bacteria is included. Formaldehyde is a killer of bacteria, and, along with other antibacterial chemicals, is included in many deodorants.
The second involves clogging up the perspiration ducts so that sweat cannot escape. This is done with the help of a chemical called aluminum chlorohydrate which alters the pH of the skin and causes the ducts to pucker up and squeeze shut, stopping the flow of perspiration and the passage of sebum. It works, but I can’t help wondering about the long-term effects of choking off a patch of your skin, particularly with aluminum salts.
A much simpler, safer and cheaper solution is to wash those offending bacteria away as frequently as possible. Instead of carrying a deodorant stick in your handbag, put a small cotton washcloth in a plastic bag and use it whenever you are able. Washing is an effective way to eliminate bacteria and a simple ‘pit’ cream made with your choice of lavender, lemon, tea-tree, orange or litsea cubeba essential oils in a base containing emu oil (antibacterial) will help to keep the wee beasties under control. Make sure that you wash with cloth rather than tissues or paper towels. Any product made from paper contains wood fibres, tiny but scratchy, and will have been intensively processed with chemicals.
Lots of soap and water is the best way to banish the bacteria beasts, and the removal of hair from armpits leaves them with no place to lurk. Everything that comes into contact with the bacteria must be washed, including your clothing, towels and washcloths - fresh daily, please. A few drops of lavender in the rinse water helps to sweeten them.
There is also an elegant solution, one that has been used in Thailand for centuries. For the past couple of years, people have been telling me about deodorant stones, but I had not come across any. So recently I was delighted to find a display of these mysterious crystals. I bought one, of course.
It was reasonably priced (under $5.00) and looked like a golf ball made of rock crystals. I just had to find out if it really worked! Since it did not come with instructions, I went on the web to find out more about it, and discovered that these things had been used in Thailand for hundreds of years. Obviously, the Thai ladies thought that it worked.
I found out that application of the crystal is simple. After you have showered, while your skin is still damp, just wet the stone and rub it on your underarm area – pretend it is roll-on deodorant. Let it dry naturally. For normal levels of activity or stress, one application should do you for the whole day, but, if you are anticipating sweat, this is an easy item to carry in your handbag. Pop it into a plastic bag or roll it in a leaf if you are so inclined. You will be surprised at its effectiveness.
Of course my main mission was to find out what the stone was made from and whether it was safe. I learned that they are made of potassium alum, a derivative of bauxite, and that scared me! I wanted no part of a cosmetic that was connected to the notorious aluminum family. However, I researched further and was reassured by the fact that two different types of extraction are used when processing bauxite. Alum crystals are leached from the ore, using a simple water process. They are the ‘salt’ form of the element. On the other hand, bauxite is smelted to produce the ‘aluminum’ form. The individual molecules of the salt form are very large and are not capable of being absorbed through the skin (it would be like trying to get a baseball through a keyhole) but the aluminum form has tiny molecules that are easily absorbed into the system. Alum is the third most abundant element in nature (after oxygen and silicon) and is part of our diet – between 20-60 milligrams a day.
Essentially, it is safe to rub alum crystals on your skin because they cannot penetrate it. It is risky to do the same thing with an aluminum compound such as aluminum chlorohydrate (a common ingredient in antiperspirants) as this can be absorbed, leading to possible concentrations of aluminum in your system.
So how does a lump of rock (which tastes salty and has no odour at all) stop smelly perspiration? It doesn’t seem possible…but it works. To understand it, you have to go back to the real source of body odour – truly, you are not smelly! Perspiration is not offensive by itself, but the stuff is immediately pounced on by millions of bacteria who consider it a gourmet meal.
After gorging themselves, they excrete (guess what?) bacteria poo. That is what smells bad. The solution is to make your underarm environment unfriendly to bacteria, and this is exactly what the rock does. It lowers the pH of the area and scares off the bacteria. Simple and safe.
Having played with making alum crystals when I was a kid, I think that it would be fairly easy to make a rock of my own. We used to make strings of Xmas decorations by heating alum powder in water until it dissolved, adding food coloring and placing lengths of string in the solution for a few days. Lovely coloured crystals would gradually grow on the strings, ready to hang on the Xmas tree – we hadn’t thought of using them cosmetically though. A deodorant ball would probably be fairly simple to make, but I suspect that it is just as cheap, and a lot less messy, to buy one.
One rock is supposed to last as long as about ten commercial deodorant containers, so it certainly will save you money. It’s easy to care for. Simply allow to dry after using as it will eventually dissolve if left in a pool of water. Keeping it in a wee basket works well – no muss, fuss or containers. I give it a gold star for effectiveness, safety, economy and simplicity.
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READ THE LABELS!
What Say You?
Canadian law now requires that ingredients be listed on the labels of all cosmetic products. This is a big step forward, one that brings Canada into line with European manufacturers. It has taken many years to get our regulations to this point, and it has only happened because of pressure from consumers like you and me.
For the manufacturers, there are advantages and disadvantages to full-disclosure labelling. The main advantage is that it makes their products reputable on the world market. The main disadvantage is that labelling changes involve lots of money. All in all, I can imagine that there was a lot of kicking and screaming from those manufacturers when this ruling became law.
Now since we, the consumers, can find out what we are exposing ourselves to, we are able to compare products and to complain if we feel that ingredients are harmful. We should be able to tell at a glance what is in our cosmetics. However, this being said, how many of us understand what we are reading?
In order to get the required amount of information on a small container, the printing has to be tiny. Sometimes it is so tiny that a magnifying glass is needed to read it - and even on larger containers, the ‘mini-print’ is widely used. Ingredient listing is done by volume, starting from the greatest amount and ending with the least. Of course a big percentage of the ingredients are going to be chemicals with incomprehensible names, so the next step is to find out what they are and what they might do to you. The internet will give you answers, but it is time consuming. Judi Vance’s book, ‘Beauty to Die For,’ has a comprehensive list of cosmetic ingredients and their ratings, along with a lot of other valuable information, so find a copy of it if you can.