Green Options

Summer is upon us. The plants are in full bloom, and the sun feels great on your skin. The longer days give you more energy. There are barbecues, beaches and pool parties with your name written all over them! Since you will be spending all that time soaking up the sun, there a few facts you may be happy to know about sunlight and the healing powers of Vitamin D. Vitamin D has gone on for years as the single most underrated nutrient and only recently did it begin to get it’s moment in the spotlight. Research is showing that Vitamin D is known to help prevent osteoporosis, depression, prostrate and breast cancer and even affects diabetes and obesity. If that is not enough to get you to throw your bikini on, maybe these facts from  “The Healing Power of Sunlight and Vitamin D-an exclusive interview with Dr. Michael Holick”, by Mike Adams will help persuade you.

Shown here are some fun ideas for solar light inventions that help cut indoor energy use by close to half. All of these options are designed to inspire ways to harness natural light, and creatively capture it in playful ways that illuminate our lives with healthy vitamin D (captured from the sun) and joy designed into them.

For the weekend rooftop garden parties checkout this Solar Lampion by Damion O’Sullivan~

A cardiac surgeon and Professor of Surgery at the University of Washington recommends avoiding the flu shot and taking vitamin D instead. Donald Miller, MD, says “Seventy percent of doctors do not get a flu shot.”

Health officials say that every winter 5–20 percent of the population catches the flu, 200,000 people are hospitalized, and 36,000 people will die from it. The National Vital Statistics Reports compiled by the CDC show that only 1,138 deaths a year occur due to influenza alone, and more than 34,000 of the “36,000″ flu deaths are what officials estimate are “influenza-associated” pneumonic and cardiovascular deaths.

There is also a lack of evidence that young children benefit from flu shots. A systematic review of 51 studies involving 260,000 children age 6 to 23 months found no evidence that the flu vaccine is any more effective than a placebo (Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2006;1:CD004879).

A randomized trial found that the incidence of influenza in infants whose mothers had a flu shot during their pregnancy was 4%. The incidence of flu in infants whose mothers did not have a flu shot was 10%. (NEJM 2008;359:) In the study, flu shots reduced the relative risk of influenza illness in infants by a seemingly impressive 63%, yet only 6 out of 100 infants actually benefited from the shot. The other 94 received no benefit – 4 got influenza anyway – and all are at risk from being harmed by the vaccine, particularly from the mercury, aluminum, and formaldehyde in it. - Donald Miller, MD

Flu shots contain a number of substances which may have adverse effects on health, especially for children:

This week I have been hearing lots about the increase in the daily recommended amount of vitamin D for babies, children and teens. I first wrote over at Non-Toxic Kids about a few choices of natural mutivitamins for kids, spurred by an appointment with my health care provider.

She gave me an article about how vitamin D is important for developing bodies, and that scientists have underestimated its ability to prevent cancer, diabeties, heart disease and to help children develop a strong bone structure.

I went out that day and bought vitamin D supplements myself, and some natural multi-vitamins for my girls. I breastfed both without giving them any vitamin supplements, and I wish I had known about vitamin D’s importance when my girls were infants.

Then in a matter of days, vitamin D is all over the news. The New York Times reported the doubling of the recommended intake from 200 units to 400 units, as did Time magazine and MSN. To meet this requirement, parents need to give their kids a supplement, and take note of the amount of vitamin D in it. When I was selecting a multi-vitamin for my girls, I noticed several natural versions did not have enough vitamin D to help them meet the this new daily requirement. So make sure to read the label before you decide.

For me, sunshine is so important, it makes me smile. Just think, if we could harness sunlight indoors, not only would we cut back on energy bills by twenty percent, we will also be able to nourish ourselves with indoor gardens, that heal. Here are futuristic indoor sunlight options (some visionary research projects) that may become more widely available with time (going counter-clockwise)~

1. This indoor chandelier is brilliant, I’d love to see this available in different sizes and shapes, staying with the cosmic theme.
2. “Turn off the light ~ here comes the sun” is the motto of Parans, who states that their goal is to collect natural sunlight, distributed through fiber optic cables to office work spaces.