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Winterizing Your Home

Winterizing your home can be one of the best ways to cut down on your power consumption and save a little money in the process. Since the winter months are here, there are a few ways that you can easily winterize your home. Saving money is great, but spending money to save money is counter-intuitive. If you’re looking for some very simple ways to winterize your home, there are a few things that you can do for very little money. Here are some suggestions to get you started.

Weather Stripping

Weather Stripping is a great way to keep the warm air inside your home. Over time your doors and windows can warp slightly. This allows the warm air inside your home to escape. Installing weather stripping to your home will trap the air inside and not allow it through the warps in your windows and doors. Rolls of weather stripping can be found at your local hardware shops for just a couple of dollars.

Clean Your Gutters

When your gutters are packed with leaves, snow and rain can easily form ice. Heavy amounts of ice can damage the gutters and even tear them off of your home. Get a ladder and clean your gutters completely. When the leaves fall during the autumn months the gutters can suffer. Remove the leaves to let the rain and the snow drain through the gutters with no resistance.

Have Your Heater Serviced

It’s always a rule of thumb to have your heater serviced prior to the winter months. October is the best time to have your heater serviced, but doing in around the holidays can also be good. The coldest months tend to be December-February so you still have time. When the winter hits, the heater will be working constantly to keep your home warm. If the heater is not serviced properly, it could break down. Keep your heater in good working order to get the winter months without an incident.

Reverse Your Ceiling Fan

Your ceiling fan is used in the summer to pull the hot air up to the ceiling. When you reverse it, the hot air in your room will be pushed down to you. This can keep your very warm on those chilly nights. Get up on a chair or your bed and look for the switch on the top of the ceiling fan. Push the switch to reverse the fan and start pushing your hot air downward.

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Green Your Room to Help You Sleep Better

Greening your room is a proven way to help you sleep better. When your room is filled with junk it can create anxiety and keep you up at night. If you’re having trouble falling asleep at night, you should green out your room. The environment that you sleep in has a lot to do with how you sleep. Here are a few things that you can do to green your room and help you sleep better.

Air Quality

The air quality in your home can have a lot to do with why you’re not sleeping very well. When the air quality is poor you will be breathing in dust and hair. To improve the air quality in your home, you can change out the air filters with green filters. These are made out of recycled materials. You can also dust the surfaces in your room weekly. This will cut down on the amount of dust and hair in your room. Vacuum the carpets in your room twice a week to remove the hair and dust. Wash your sheets weekly to cut down on ingesting dirt and make sure that you’re changing your pillowcases frequently.

Lighting

The lights in your bedroom can easily inhibit your sleeping. Lighting from your alarm clocks, computer monitors and other electronic devices can disrupt your sleep cycle. Turn off computer monitors and power down any electrical devices that you don’t need. Alarm clocks can show the time, but also provide a lot of light. Remove alarm clocks and use the alarm on your phone to cut down on the lighting in your room. If you can’t remove the alarm clock, use the dimmer feature to lower the lighting. Excessive lighting in your room can easily draw more power and waste electricity. Green your room by dimming or eliminating lighting all together and you should get to sleep much faster.

Remove The Clutter

The clutter in your room can affect your sleep patterns subconsciously. One of the best ways to green out your room is donate all of the junk that you’re not using. Clutter can also lead to dust and this affects the air quality. Go through all of your stuff and make a pile of everything that you don’t need. Donate the items to local shelters or you local community thrift store. This will give back to the community while helping you sleep a lot better.

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Health Gifts & Kabbalistic Healing: Taking a Holistic Approach

Holistic Healing and taking a holistic approach when seeking treatment for imbalances and deciding to live a more balanced lifestyle is a big step.

The difference between holistic healing and alternative medicine, complementary medicine, and integrative medicine lays in the fact physical health is not necessarily the main focus. Still, often the experience of physical discomfort prompts a person’s pursuit of holistic healing.

Holistic or “wholistic” healing addresses all parts of an individual, not just the physical aspect of a person where manifested illnesses are most apparent. It is an ongoing quest for the discovery of answers better living.

Holistic healing, you see, is really a lifestyle approach. The holistic approach goes far beyond the Mind-Body connection of discovering and maintaining wellness.

Turquoise Tree of Life Kabbalah NecklaceOne who really embraces the desire to find wholeness within his own being learns the importance of tending to relationships, caring for the planet and having compassion for mankind.

Types of holistic healing include aromatherapy, ayurveda medicine, natural diet, Chinese medicine, energy-based therapies, naturopathic medicine, acupuncture, homeopathy, herbal remedies, exercise and more.

I would also like to add a word about Kabbalistic healing – as it has long been something special to me. Kabbalistic Healing is a Jewish Mystical tradition, a therapeutic system of healing and living which relates the human body to a universal or spiritual road map. In Kabbalah, God is linked to the mind, body and spirit.

Using something known as “hand mudras,” (or hand signs) a patient may be observed for specific responses of the muscle being tested. Kabbalistic healing is a portal for transferring energy to the body through hand mudras. Because “hand mudras” focus on the nervous system and on various energy levels of awareness, they might cause the body or nervous system to resonate to that particular level.

Based on the “Tree of Life,” or “Etz HaChaim,” Kabbalistic healing is known as the “Sign Language of the Soul.” Ten energy centers of the Tree of Life depict openings in the human body and all together there are 32 pathways on the Tree of Life.

Via Kabbalistic healing, chakras are balanced in direct relation to the Tree of Life. Kabbalistic healing also employs the 4-letter Name ascribed to God: YHVH. Remarkably, these letters are in perfect unison with the 4 nucleotides of DNA and the four states of yang and yin as well.

Sometimes Kabbalists wear special amulets to remind them of the things they learn during their therapy and spiritual practices. These amulets can be found combined in health bracelets, Kabbalah necklaces and various Gifts for Health in growing popularity worldwide.

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Miraculin – The Secret Natural Sweetener

Synsepalum Dolcificum, Miracle Fruit, Magic Berry, Flavor Berry — all these names refer to the same olive-sized fruit, indigenous to West Africa. This tiny fruit contains a unique chemical substance, known as Miraculin, which interacts with the taste buds on our tongue, and temporarily deactivates our sour and bitter tastebuds! In other words, after chewing this fruit, one could drink beer and experience a taste that resembles ice coffee much more than it resembles… well, beer.

Natural SweetenerIt was already known in the 70’s, but rumors have it that the FDA refused to approve it back then due to the Sugar Industry exerting considerable pressure to prevent the fruit from entering the market and damaging their profits.

Nevertheless, the fruit has gained growing popularity in Europe recently, and is used by some to avoid the harsh taste of many kinds of medicines.

In San Fransisco and New York some folks even arrange “flavor tripping” parties, in which the participants lick magic berries and go around tasting all kinds of everyday food in order to attain a mind-boggling experience.

When science finally succeeds at mass-producing Miraculin, it should radically change our culinary lifestyle.

Picture by The Banana Tree

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Environmental Promises – Kiki’s Turn

We at Natural Buy have decided to sponsor our very own candidate for presidency. His name is Kiki, and he’s very environmentally-aware. The picture below was taken during a photo op, in which Kiki restated his commitment to reduce carbon emissions by 60% before 2015!

Kiki 2008

Another major theme in Kiki’s political platform is his firm stance on the promotion of organic lifestyle throughout America. Kiki makes sure to set a personal example, consuming only naturally-grown Bananas, and using no plastic bags at all. He is an avid user of perishable clothes, and aims to legalize the consumption of hemp — believing it would foster World Peace.

I urge you to vote Kiki this November. Together we can make a change. Yes, we can change!

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The Zodiac and Its Astrological Signs

For thousands of years, from distant antiquity to the present day, people on earth are fascinated by the enormity and endless space above them, as they look wondrously up into the sky and observe the constellations of stars in the night sky, admire the creation of the universe and search for a meaning to their lives.

Zodiac Shield AmuletPicture: Zodiac Jewelry AmuletGifts.com
The Zodiac, an annual cycle of twelve stations along the ecliptic, the apparent annual path of the sun across the heavens through the constellations, is in fact the first known celestial coordinate system, which also bears symbolism which pertains to the lives of men. In ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, the seasons were marked by the constellations of the stars, thus dating back to perhaps 5000 BCE. The Babylonian calendar assigned each month a constellation, and these were adopted by Western culture as well. Because of their location, the stars along the path of the ecliptic would have been given particular attention, and the constellations there ascribed to especially significant mythical beings or symbols. As the zodiac developed, these constellations gave their names to the celestial zones they inhabited, and so by extension to the zodiac signs.

The precise origins of the twelve constellations of the zodiac and their signs are unknown. The shape of the constellations themselves as observed from earth, were probably no the main factor, since most of them bear little or no resemblance to the mythical characters after which they were named. Their origins probably are in the belief of early people, that events on earth were mirrored in the heavens above them. Over time, a process probably developed whereby various important archetypal characters in ancient myth were linked to the sky by association to the patterns of stars. These constellations were given names and signs as well as personality attributes to those born in any specific zone of the zodiac. The astrological signs each correspond to the twelve equal zones of the zodiac. Most of the signs depict animals, all except Libra, Virgo and Gemini.

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Organic Consumers Association – Promoting Organic Lifestyles

Organic Consumers AssociationThe Organic Consumers Association (OCA) was formed as a ‘grass roots’ association of concerned people who believe in promoting, and protecting, the interests and welfare of organic products consumers all over the world. Headquartered in Finland, Minnesota , OCA affiliate branches are found in Canada, Japan, India, to name a few.

With an estimated 50 million people in the U.S. alone who purchase organic products, the association claims a membership of more than 850,000 nationwide, including thousands of business offering organic foods and products, including cosmetics.

Formed in 1998, as a result of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s attempt to “nationalize” organic products standards, OCA member business and interest groups maintain a constant effort to prevent the “Wall -Martization” of America’s economy, including the marketing of organic products.

OCA members deal with a number of important topics connected with organic products including genetic engineering, corporate accountability (in regards to organic issues), and the environment’s ability to sustain itself, despite the damage done to it by Mankind.

The OCA Organic Agenda Program for the years 2000 – 2015 include the following:

1. Conversion of American agriculture to be at least 30% organic by the year 2015
2. Fair trade and economic justice for smaller organic enterprises
3. A Global moratorium on genetically engineered crops and livestock
4. Phasing out of industrial or “factory farming” agriculture
5. A universal health care program with emphasis on nutrition and prevention
6. Less dependence on energy based on fossil fuels, with more emphasis on
environmentally friendly sources of energy, such as solar and hydro-electric
power

The OCA is non-profit, with the interests of its members clearly in mind. Its main interest it to help enable a healthy, fair, and supportable network of production for organic food products. The association puts out a weekly e-publication, Organic Bytes, and a semi-annual ‘hard copy’ newsletter, Organic View. Association members can find out all happenings concerning the association’s activities by reading these very informative publications. Sponsors include a wide variety of organic foods and products manufacturers, including Eden Organic Foods (a Coop or more than 300 family owned farms) and Earth Creations, a “made in USA” organic clothing company.

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Herbicides and Pesticides in Intensive Farming

Herbicides and Pesticides in Intensive FarmingEnvironmental dangers from over use of herbicides and pesticides in commercial, intensive farming has been known for years. One of the first warnings of damages from the use of pesticides in modern agriculture came from American novelist Rachel Carson in 1962 with her book The Silent Spring. Ms. Carson’s thought provoking book portrayed a bleak future in regards to birds and other wildlife that were being killed or mutated due to the over use of both pesticides and herbicides by farmers. Though written more than 40 years ago, she predicted that the ongoing effects of these chemical agents would be so far reaching that people might one day experience ‘silent springs’ devoid of song and migratory birds that herald the changing of the seasons.

Though Ms. Carson’s warnings have not completely come to pass, the use of carious chemical agents, not only by agriculture but also by many people on their own lawns and garden plants, eventually find their way into the water that we drink, resulting in health hazards ranging from birth defects to cancer. Many studies have been made relating to environmental damage caused by these chemicals, some of the more common ones being sulfonylurea (SU) and atrizine types of herbicides which are used by farmers as ‘weed killers’ for crops such as corn and soybeans – both important food crops. These herbicides eventually find their way into ground water aquifers, and have been shown to cause a number of health problems in humans ranging from learning disorders to over aggressive behavior patterns. A well known pesticide, DBCP, was once wide used in American states such as California and Iowa. This pesticide, though now banned in most places still causes a number of diseases and health disorders, including male infertility (the main effect it was supposed to have on insects, rodents, and other pests).

In Iowa, for example, a study made in 1966, only four years after the publication of Ms. Carson’s book, it was found that more than half of that state’s ground water was already contaminated by weed killers. The situation in many other states in America is as bad or worse as intensive commercial farming methods still use many of these chemical agents in order to increase crop yields.

Organic farming methods, though still on a much smaller scale than that of commercial agriculture, is showing a better way to grow crops without causing harm to the environment. By changing to an organic lifestyle, including the care and maintenance of one’s own lawn and garden, people can help contribute to preserving our environment and improving our health as well. It’s a small start, but by eliminating insect sprays and weed killers on our own properties we can contribute to improving our planet’s eco-system.

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Watching Your Yin and Yang – Natural Healing Through Macrobiotic Diets

Watching Your Yin and YangNatural healing, or letting one’s own body heal itself through harmony in lifestyles, diet, and other factors, is becoming more and more practiced these days. One of the world’s most authoritative persons on the subject of natural healing, Micho Kushi, wrote a very informative book on natural healing through macrobiotic diets.

Professor Kushi, of Japanese origin, and connected with the Abraham Lincoln School of Medicine at the University of Illinois, became interested in macrobiotic eating and its connection with fighting diseases. Kushi theorized that a person’s health and ability to fight disease coincides with a ‘balance’ in the Yin and Yang (or right and left) hemispheres of his physical harmony. All different kinds of medical dysfunctions, including various types of cancer, were noted by Professor Kushi; as well as his macrobiotic way to treat them.

Most people have diets which have an imbalance of Yin and Yang hemispheres. Foods compatible to each hemisphere, Yin or Yang, and how they should be prepared, and even consumed, have been subjects of intense research of macro biologists like Kushi.

For example, he noted that meats and dairy products, both Yang category foods, should be avoided by persons suffering from most forms of cancer. He also noted that foods which are allowed to be eaten should be cooked rather than eaten raw; and that one should chew each mouthful between 30 and 50 times before swallowing. The reasoning for this is not only does the thorough chewing make the food more digestible but the additional saliva and other body fluids are actually beneficial to ridding the body of the malignancy; a very important part of the body’s natural healing.

In other words, as per the time-worn expression goes, “you are what you eat”; and the diet consumed is very important in regards to the macrobiotic way of life. For this reason, it’s easy to see why people living in eastern Asian countries, including men, live long lives; with average life spans into the mid 80’s being considered normal. In countries like Japan, it’s quite common to see people still alive there up to age 100!

Source: Natural Healing by Michio Kushi, pub. 1978 by East West Publications, Boston Mass.

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