Are Synthetic Hormones (Like Those Found in Oral Contraceptive Pills) Safe?

http://www.bcpinstitute.org/steroid_brochure.htm

I happened to pick up this brochure (please check out above link) at my prenatal visit a few months ago, and have decided to blog about it. I am actually happy and a bit surprised to see this issue being advertised in my doctor's office. All other doctors that I have had in the past (family doctors and gynecologists) have all backed the idea of prescribing oral contraceptives and never questioned their safety. I even remember asking a previous gynecologist of mine if there is any risk of cancer or abnormal growths, and her answer was that after you take a pill it is out of your system within a day. This doesn't discuss or cover the long term damage that is done though. I do wish that there was a surgeon general's warning posted on advertisements and commercials of oral contraceptives that mentioned an increased risk in breast, cervical, and liver cancer. I also think it is absurd that primary care physicians prescribe oral contraceptives to teenagers with irregular periods; it is noted in this brochure that irregular menstrual cycles are normal in teenagers and actually lower their risk of developing breast cancer later in life. Anyway, I hope that you all find this information useful or interesting, and please feel free to discuss this issue with your friends and family as well. :-)

All-Natural Cake Making Fun!

This is a birthday cake that I made for my cousin's daughter, Apple. I used all-natural vegetable food colors: like turmeric, beet, and red cabbage. So much fun!!!

Here is a cake that I whipped up just before heading over to Jessica's (sister's) Jewelry Party.

Here is an all-natural ingredient Sponge Bob cake that I made, along with Jessica's help, for my nephew's birthday party.

Drink OJ with Your Carcinogenic Cured Meats

A principal concern of sodium nitrite is the formation of carcinogenic nitrosamines in meats containing sodium nitrite when exposed to high temperatures. Sodium nitrite's usage is carefully regulated in the production of cured products in the United States as the concentration in finished products is limited to 200 ppm, and is usually lower. In about 1970, it was found that ascorbic acid (vitamin C), an antioxidant, inhibits nitrosamine formation. Consequently, the addition of at least 550 ppm of ascorbic acid is required in meats manufactured in the United States.

A 2007 study by Columbia University suggests a link between eating cured meats, such as bacon, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Nitrites were posited as a possible cause.

Many foods, especially cured meats such as bacon and hot dogs, use nitrates to preserve color and maintain microbial safety. Nitrate is harmless, but it can convert to nitrite (when cooked), which can form nitrosamines, a powerful cancer-causing chemical, in your body. Whenever possible, look for nitrate-free preserved meats. When you do eat foods containing nitrates, have a glass of orange juice at the same time (for instance, orange juice with your morning bacon). Vitamin C is known to inhibit the conversion to nitrosamines in your stomach.

People who eat cured meats are more likely to develop certain diseases such as lung cancer.

One serving a week, max. Bacon is too unhealthy to be consumed on a regular basis (numerous times in a short amount of time).

Stress Easy Birthing Method

HypnoBirthing^® - The Mongan Method is as much a philosophy as it is a technique. The concept of HypnoBirthing^® is not new, but rather a "rebirth" of the philosophy of birthing as it existed thousands of years ago and as it was recaptured in the work of Dr. Grantly Dick-Read, an English obstetrician, who, in the 1920s, was one of the first to forward the concept of natural birthing. The method teaches you that, in the absence of fear and tension, or special medical circumstances, severe pain does not have to be an accompaniment of labor.

You will gain an understanding of how the birthing muscles work in perfect harmony--as they were designed to--when your body is sufficiently relaxed and you trust birth. You will learn how to achieve this kind of relaxation, free of the resistance that fear creates, and you will learn to use your natural birthing instincts for a calm, serene and comfortable birth.

http://www.hypnobirthing.com/howitworks.htm

"I am very excited about this method of birthing, and feel very comfortable with this being my choice on a birthing practice: the right way for me."

_Andrea