What do you think about taking multivitamins?

The first thing I thought in reading the Naturally Yours blog post about some study finding no benefits from multivitamins was "I bet the study only looked at synthetic vitamins." Well, not even that close...so this is just a friendly reminder not to take any study about health at face value until you know who funded it, what their agenda was and what the detailed specifics were. It saddens me that the general public doesn't even realize they should be questioning these health tidbits they get on the news.

But back to multivitamins, I'd like to share a few things I've heard in recent years and encourage others to comment and add wisdom to this post.

1. The problem with synthetic vitamins (like you'd get at Target) is that they are made from petroleum for starters, but more importantly, according to the Chinese Doctor I went to in Chicago, that your body doesn't react to them the same way it does vitamins from natural sources, like food. Your body knows that the vitamin was made from a chemical and tries to deal with it, but wasn't designed to deal with it and has to spend more time and resources figuring out how to get rid of the non-natural/foreign substance instead of helping repair and heal the body. So basically, any money spent on syntethic vitamins (including the ones fortified into so many products like cereal and soy milk) are wasted money at best, and probably causing harm to your body. Or so I've decided...

2. A contradicting point: it's best to get all the vitamins and minerals your body needs from the food you eat. But I've also heard that due to common farming practices and travel time to get food from across the world to your grocery store that most foods you buy at the grocery store don't have enough nutrients left in them to meet our daily needs. On the flip side, I would assume that locally grown food bought directly from a farmer who practices sustainable farming practices would supply the nutrients we need, but in Central Illinois, we're severely limited in the scope of foods that can be grown here and the growing season. Most CSAs are only 26 or 27 weeks and the farmers markets are even shorter. So at the very least, I think vitamins in the winter are important, but only if made from natural sources and not petro-chemicals. Yuck!

Healthy Air freshener

I've read numerous articles about the health hazards of commercial air fresheners. I like the essential oil diffusers, but haven't seen one in a store that had an ingredient list I felt comfortable with, so I haven't bought any of those either. Then I came across the Seeds Of Change Web site and clicked on their recycling page. They have a list of ways you can reuse some of their product packaging. This one caught my eye and is exactly what I've been looking for. Reusing packaging, and I get to guarantee the ingredients meet my standards b/c I'm mixing them. Here's their "recipe" to try it yourself and breathe more healthy air.

REED OIL DIFFUSER

Materials:

• Salad Dressing Jar
• Bamboo Skewers or Willow Reeds (available from your local craft store)
• Essential Oils
  
• Organic vegetable oil (safflower or sunflower work best)

Reed oil diffusers can scent your home without the dangers of lit candles. Plus, you get the benefit of aromatherapy. Fill the cleaned salad dressing bottle about halfway with the vegetable oil and add your favorite essential oil (approximately 15-20 drops or to your liking). Gently mix the oils, then stand bamboo skewers or willow reeds in the bottle.