Aluminum, Cellular Damage and Alzheimer's Disease Aluminum (the British spelling is "aluminium") damages all types of tissue, and has been recognized as a culprit in the development of Alzheimer's Disease. Aluminum is a protoplasmic poison and a neurotoxin.It has no function in the human body. It has a tendency to accumulate in the brain and to a lesser extent, bones. It is less toxic than mercury, arsenic, lead or cadmium, but it is more persistent in the bloodstream. The damage is cumulative; gradually building up over time.Though you experience no symptoms at present of aluminum-poisoning, it is wise to avoid ingestion of it. The principal symptom of aluminum- poisoning is the loss of intellectual function; forgetfulness, inability to concentrate, and in extreme cases, full blown dementia. Other anomalies caused by the ingestion of aluminum are bone softening, bone mass loss, kidney and other soft tissue damage. In large doses, it can cause heart attacks.
Aluminum-contaminated food-products and toiletries are increasingly common.
Many people on low-aluminum diets have reported a reduction in irritability and headaches,as well as improvements in memory and the ability to concentrate. Parents reported improvements in children with behavioral problems. One series of tests found that the majority of children suffering from an attention deficit disorder had much higher-than-average levels of aluminum in their hair. Many Alzheimer's Disease patients given treatment to remove aluminum from their system had an immediate reduction in the rate of mental deterioration. Feeding even small amounts of aluminum salts to lab animals results in brain tissue damage identical to that found in Alzheimer's victims (neuro-fibrillary tangles). Research using lab-rats has identified aluminum fluoride as a poisonous substance which readily penetrates the blood-brain barrier. Brain-damage resulted when they were given drinking water with only 0.5 parts-per-million in concentration. The following additives contain aluminium compounds: E173, E520, E521, E523 E541, E545, E554, E555 E556, E559. Antacids quite often contain aluminum trisilicate as does buffered aspirin. Baking soda versus baking powder, which contains aluminum Foods containing aluminum-based additives include some dry cake mixes, pastries and croissants made from frozen dough, processed cheeses, some donuts and waffles. Some brands of muffins are riddled with aluminum E541. Powdered, non-dairy coffee-creamers are suspect as well; older brands, such as American Coffee-Mate, still contain aluminum as a flow-agent (Canadian Coffee-Mate formula contains none). A brand that I use has no aluminum: Sam's Club's own non-dairy creamer (also powdered)in large jugs. Instead of using deodorants that contain aluminum, I just use some oils of lavender from France. The list of products, edible and non-edible which have as an ingredient aluminum salts is quite long. Toothpaste is one of them. I use crystal salt instead: see top of page. Also containing aluminum are some tooth-whitening products. A worrisome factor in avoidance of aluminum is the sneaky component thereof in food-coloring. Some natural oil-paint pigments used by artists, such as cochineal red, can be augmented with aluminum. An easily-avoided source of aluminum exists in cooking pots and pans. I have recently thrown away two large baking sheets, because I noticed the bottoms of cookies and bread baked upon them had metal leached onto them. I did some research on the internet, and found that Polar Ware's baking sheets are aluminum. Use stainless steel and cast iron pots. Cooking in non-lead coated earthenware, and Corning glass, is also safe. When iron, calcium, magnesium, silicon and zinc levels in one's bloodstream are low, the absorption of aluminium increases. Older people are at particularly at risk because the kidneys and blood-brain barrier lose their effectiveness as we age. Mineral supplementation is a good idea.
A well-preserved blood-brain barrier is required to protect brain cells from being damaged by neurotoxins, which accumulate and poison brain cells. Factors which reduce the effectiveness of the blood-brain mechanism will cause a build -up there of mercury and aluminium. The increased use of mobile phones is believed to reduce the effectiveness of the blood-brain barrier; consequently, we ought to expect an increase in Alzheimer's Disease.
We are not powerless in the prevention of Alzheimer's Disease! Copyright Countess Jeanne, 2007 Aluminum-Free Baking Powder
SKIN PRESERVATION AND REJUVENATION To keep your skin soft, or to acquire renewed softness, please drink as much water as you can. I think that the optimum intake is twelve eight-ounce glasses per day; more if you live in a dry climate like I do. Skin cells take-in moisture from the inside of you through drinking water, and it is as effective as applying moisturizers from the outside. As for skin creams, I have been very pleased with L'Oreal Nutrissime. My husband says that it's the best facial cream he has ever used. We don't spend money on bottled water beyond storing some in our car for emergencies. "Evian" backwards is "naive". We use a Brita water filtering pitcher, and keep extra jugs of the filtered water in the refrigerator. That's much less expensive than buying "designer water". Hey, I'm old-fashioned, and something about buying water seems wrong to me! You will be surprised at the attendant health-benefits that drinking copious amounts of water will bring. NEWSFLASH: DRINK WATER! Water is the key to life. Without it, we look wizened, feel fatigued, and are apt to dry up and blow away like old sagebrush! Here is a list of reasons to drink as much water as possible: 75% of Americans are chronically dehydrated. In 37% of Americans the thirst mechanism is so weak that it is often mistaken for hunger. Even mild dehydration will slow down one's metabolism as much as 3%. One glass of water shut down midnight hunger pangs for almost 100% of the dieters surveyed in a University of Washington study. Lack of water is the leading trigger of daytime fatigue. Preliminary research indicates that 8-10 glasses of water a day could significantly ease back and joint pain for up to 80% of sufferers. A mere 2% drop in body water can trigger fuzzy short-term memory, cause trouble with basic math, and lead to difficulty focusing on a computer screen or printed page. Drinking 5 glasses of water daily decreases the risk of colon cancer by 45%, reduces the risk of breast cancer by 79%, and can make you 50% less likely to develop bladder cancer. Copyright 2006 Countess Jeanne 76 Ways that Sugar Can Harm Your Health  Photo copyright Countess Jeanne 2007Ginger is now believed to help prevent cancer, because it stifles the growth of new capillaries which feed tumours. See my blog for the article.
|
 You may not live forever, but you can look and feel good trying!Skin-Care, Exercise, and Beauty Skin-Care Tip for Summer and Hotter Climates: When the weather is hot and humid, acne can plague even the most mature and clean faces. The scientifically-advanced product advertised heavily on TV and internet by a starlet and other gals costs about 70 dollars US before shipping charges. Meanwhile, at Sam's Club, an analogous acne-treatment regimen-in-a-box costs about 30 dollars US. It contains a big bottle of facial scrubbing lotion, a large bottle of toner, a cream, and a tube of acne-zapping ointment. I estimate that the bottles and tube in the Acne-Free set will last approximately six months. It works! Skin-Care for Winter, 2008: Drink plenty of water and use a moisturizing cream, preferably an oil-free one. You don’t have to hurry to the cosmetics counter at a mall-based department store (where it's easy to be taked into buying one cosmetic line's whole set of offerings)-- just go to the supermarket and look for Olay’s affordable products. They are on the cutting edge, or the vanguard of skin-care research and development--they have to be. L'Oreal has some high-quality, low-priced skin-creams as well. In our house, my husband and I use both brands. Exercise: Low-Cost, Low-Tech and Low-Stress I am currently using three exercise implements or machines that use no electricity and occupy little space. Each of them is easy to use, and I have seen clear results from their use lately. 1) The Gazelle by Tony Little: available at Wal-Mart for around a hundred dollars. This low-impact machine is great for those with knee and joint pain, because you can do fast-walking without touching the ground. Assembly required (men seem to be able to do this without using the instruction manual; beware of four-letter words).2) The Ab Lounge by Fitness Quest: Available at Wal-Mart for about a hundred dollars. It's so easy to flop onto it once a day and do ab-crunches. I find it so much more conducive to ab-work than getting down on the floor--and more fun than sit-ups, which are a colossal bore. 3) The Thigh-Master, by Suzanne Somers. I have been using it for at least ten years! It's fun to pick it up and do chest exercises and a few thigh-squeezes just before bed. Here's an oldie-but-goodie for high-impact cardiovascular exercise: jumping rope! And now, I would like to introduce Joyce Vedral. She is not only extremely competent in body-shaping instruction, but a natural comedienne. Instead of going to an unsanitary and exceedingly loud health-club (more on my experience with those later), why not stay in your own controlled environment and work out with Joyce? A video or DVD of your choice ordered from her website will keep you toned and happy. ~~Copyright Countess Jeanne 2007 Makeup: The Less You Use, the Less You Need Two lovely, elderly ladies in my life told me years ago to never use foundation makeup, and I have never forgotten their advice, nor used the wretched stuff. One of them was my Swedish grandmother, who, at the age of eighty, had baby-soft skin on her face. We usually do remember what our elders tell us, even though when they are doing it we couldn't care less. I'm so grateful to her, and to Loulla, the other elder bearing great advice about keeping a bare face. Come to think of it, I have never seen a liquid makeup that looked natural in daylight, where all facial embellishments become apparent. The best thing to do is to scrub your face well with a microfiber cloth and Cetaphil, a wonderful liquid cleanser made in Fort Worth. It is so mild that soldiers in the desert use it to cleanse their faces when there's no water available. This cloth/cleanser combination will exfoliate your skin, which is key to keeping the new, fresh skin-cells at the fore. After washing and drying my face, I like to use just a little pink blush on my cheeks. Try to find one that is non-comedogenic (doesn't clog the pores). What is it about liquid foundation that is deleterious to the skin? It usually contains oil, which doesn't mix with water, and can dry the skin. I once tossed out a bottle of Clinique face-lotion because I discovered that it had linseed oil in it. Also, liquid makeup, whether or not it contains oil, can clog the pores. Less is more, and of course, choose a sunscreen that won't clog pores or irritate your skin. I use Baby Magic sunscreen when going out for tennis. Makeup: the less you use, the less you need--because it can damage your skin, thus making you want to cover it up, which is what's known as a "vicious cycle". Keeping one's skin in good condition is not expensive! Copyright 2006 Countess Jeanne Enhancing the Face that Nature Gave You, and Creating a Beautiful Visage
Eyebrows Eyebrows ought to help create an expressive face. Pluck them from underneath only, not above them, and aim at getting the stray hairs out of the design. Tweezerman makes the most reliable, accurate tweezers that I've ever used. Eyebrows, eyes, undereyes, cheeks, jowls, lips: I believe that any woman can look lovely if these areas are treated properly. After you have achieved a satisfactory brow-line, you can fill-in spots where the shape is weak--I prefer an ashy, light blonde eyebrow pencil (I use Maybelline, under two dollars US), which doesn't show. Darker pencils can look orange on your skin in the daylight. A well-shaped brow, either thin or strong, if that is your natural growth pattern, can be a great facial asset. Eyes Eyes ought to be the focus of your face. Skip the lipstick and wear a gloss or moisturizing balm. That way, the rest of your face is softened by the beauty of your eyes. Mascara can look hard and harsh in the daytime; it can flake, crumble and smear. I need to accentuate my eyes, so rather than mascara, I use a thin, brown-black eyeliner pencil with built-in sharpener by Revlon. To reduce the stark line that it creates, I soften with just a bit of eyeshadow over it. Restrict use of eyeliner to the upper lid, because any eyeliner at the bottom of your eyes brings down your face and can make you look old. After lining the upper eyelid, I add a little light brown eyeshadow in the most concave area above the eye, tipping it upward towards the outer edges. A little dab of lighter color in the center of the eyelid can have a nice finishing effect. Undereyes Never put liquid foundation or powder under your eyes, unless you want to look like you have two crinkle-cut potatoes resting there! It dries the most delicate skin on your face so badly that it may never recover. And speaking of cover, if you really have a dark circle under your eye, don't touch any baggage with concealer; put it only in the very darkest area. Less is more, especially in this area of the face. Cheeks
Sometimes in the evening, I put the lightest, most skin-friendly pink blush on each cheek, applied very delicately. It brings the focus up from the jowls, and makes you look a bit cheerier. Darker skins can use peach or bronze, but very lightly. Any color added to the skin during the daytime can make one look older. Even translucent powder is drying and can make skin look heavy, so I restrict the use of it to hot summer nights when I am sure that I'm going to have hot flashes and I need something to absorb the excess moisture I exude. I avoid getting any powder or blush on the jowl area, since that can really accentuate the negative! Lips My husband always tells me not to wear lipstick, since he thinks it makes women look silly, cheap, and old. And if I must wear it, he says to wear a very light pink frost. All right, I cooperate because the fellow has great taste! According to him, his ol' pal, Arnold Schwarzenegger, with whom he body-built at Venice Beach back in the 1970s, won't let "his woman" wear either lipstick or trousers. My husband has the same demands. Well, I only wear pants when riding my bike or a horse, so no problem there, but wearing lipstick is a tough habit to break! Jawline and Neck For glamorous evening occasions, here is a device that can give you the illusion of a slim neck and tighter jawline. Under the jawline there is an area which can be brushed lightly with a shading tone of blush. Make sure you don't touch the jawbone with it, but go just underneath it. This is best done at night, since, again, daytime exposes a multitude of sins. This shading technique is especially helpful if one has a bit more "flesh" under the jaw than they desire. Again, this must be done very delicately and with a rather fluffy brush to avoid creating stripes. To avoid an orange-ish effect, I find that a very light pink blush mixed with a very pale frosted brown works well. I will even mix in a little translucent loose powder to facilitate the flow, and then lightly blend downward around the neck. This prevents a line of demarcation. This stuff is awful to remove from one's clothing, so it is best used when wearing a low-necked evening gown. This is advice that you can take or leave, and perhaps some of it will be useful. I learned these techniques and more in Manhattan, New York, when I spent six years working with a fashion and head-shot photographer. We worked with opera singers, Elite models and Broadway stars. Each subject had to visit a particular professional makeup artist before his or her photo-shoot. I was in charge of retouching, with an etching knife, the final product on black and white 8X10" photographs--that's what we did in the old days. It wasn't easy, but I found it much easier and produced more realistic, natural-looking results than the modern method (digital may as well be painting). Copyright 2006 Countess Jeanne
|
