Sound Consumer

A clean home contributes to good health provided the cleaning products aren’t loaded with hazardous chemicals. Walk down the cleaning product aisles of a typical supermarket and you’ll find products that can hurt you. Drain cleaner, oven cleaner, toilet-bowl cleaner, rust remover, spot remover. Many of these products can cause permanent eye damage, skin burns, or if mixed with other products, dangerous chemical reactions. These products can even be fatal if ingested by a child.

The urge to clean and organize awakens after the dark days of winter. It’s a common pattern not only in our homes, but throughout nature as the cold and darkness give way to the brilliant brisk days of spring. It seems that “civilized” humans have lost sight of our natural instinct to work with our environment in the renewal and cleansing process. While “elbow grease” is an environmentally friendly, petroleum-free product, most of the household cleaners and cleansing processes we employ are not. Most of the ingredients used in commercial cleaning products are tested on animals — not humans — and testing isn’t as comprehensive as it could be.

Research shows that massage is a good part of a personal spring cleaning. Massage increases circulation and lymph flow, removing bacteria from body tissues and helping the body clean itself out. Massage also reduces the rate at which the heart beats and lowers blood pressure, relaxes muscles, improves range of motion and increases the release of endorphins. Hot stone massage is a technique that’s getting a lot of attention at spas and retreats worldwide and is growing in popularity.

If you want to find the best way to get a mustard stain out of your upholstery, ask Heloise. But when it’s time to clean the vehicle that houses your soul — your body — ask a PCC health and bodycare specialist. Our staff can help you find what you want to spring clean your body from head to toe, from the inside out. Shed your winter skin with an exfoliator. Rid your hair of product build-up with a super-cleansing shampoo. Detoxify your colon, liver, lymph system and skin with our cleansing programs.

The Great Irish Famine of the 1840s wasn’t caused by monocropping and blight. The villain was colonialism. A million people died and two million fled — over a third of the population — because they had no control over their food supply. The British conquerors claimed the land; indigenous people grew export crops for those in power. In exchange for labor, these native people were allowed to grow food for themselves on marginal land — with no security of tenure.