Some of the Most Germiest Places to Avoid

Who isn’t worried about picking up the flu or a cold these days? Without wishing to sound overly zealous (or a germaphone) about the topic, we all do try to avoid anyone that has a cold or flu because it’s just too easy to catch them. Every day we are in environments that are simply covered in the kinds of bacteria that cause illness. With the onset of some of the potential pandemic flu situations, we have been forced to be more aware of where we go and what we touch. So what are some of the germiest places that we should avoid?

To begin with, you have to be aware of the fact that bacteria and viruses flow through our bodies every day. (around 60,000 per year) The body has a natural immunity system that fights most of these disgusting critters off. In the case of a virus, if it’s been there before, your body will have created an immunity to keep it at bay. If you have kids, you know that they are simply little Petri dishes of bacteria. They are not known for their health habits and touch, wipe and sneeze on and around each other. The best places for germs to thrive in are your nose, mouth and ears. Since we all touch surfaces every day and then rub our nose, voila – instant illness.

1} The grocery store shopping cart: Specifically handles and seat bucket areas You have seen it, someone comes into the grocery store with a cold; sneezes, wipes their nose and grabs the handle of the shopping cart. Children crawl and touch the cart handles and don’t forget that wet package of meat that is sitting in the cart. The meat alone contains such deadly bacteria as E. coli, salmonella and campylobacter. These can cause illnesses such as nausea, intestinal swelling, diarrhea and vomiting. If they meat leaked onto the conveyer belt that you set your items on, you have another deadly location. Children that have been placed in the seat bucket areas may also have dirty diapers. Grocery stores try to keep their fruits and vegetables clean with little sprinklers. Well, these too can contain bacteria called Legion Ella that causes respiratory ailments. The answer is – take hand sanitizers with you and quickly run them over everything. Some stores now offer these at the front door. If you are buying poultry or beef, place them in one of those little bags from the vegetable area. Also – always wash off all vegetables and fruit before you eat them.

2} Kids playgrounds: Yeah, this is a no-brainer, but it has to be included. As mentioned above, kids are the carrier of many bacterial and they touch everything. Oddly, there is a bigger threat from bacteria in bird feces than from any of the kids that may be wearing diapers. Another add-on note to this one is that any area that has animal exhibits, such as petting zoos These can contain E. coli. The answer, again, is take portable hand sanitizers with you and wipe your hands. 3} Restrooms used by the general public: Believe it or not the germiest place in a public bathroom is the sink. Most of us have concerns about the toilet, but it’s the sink that contains the most bacteria. Most of the reason for this is – they are the first thing we touch after using the toilet. The sink and tap areas are also usually wet and bacteria just love moist environments. Soap dispensers may look harmless, but they are being touched by people with dirty hands. The worst bathrooms are on the airplanes. The reason for that is a lot of people using one restroom over a long period of time, with ‘timed’ water release that requires repetitive faucet touches. You may not believe this but the cleanest part of the bathroom is actually the toilet. That’s because 48% of women in America use toilet covers of some sort The best way to avoid germ problems here is to try to stay away from the moist surfaces, thoroughly after touching any of the above mentioned items and use paper towels to turn water on/off at the tap.

4} The Office; Your home away from home: The desk and the telephone seem to win the biggest prizes for being the most germ ridden. There was a study done covering five of the biggest U.S. cities, involving 113 surfaces within the work area. Over 25,000 bacteria were found on the telephones. Runners up are the desks and computer keyboards. Another area to be concerned about is whatever area the group might eat in. If it’s a kitchen or snack area, even a co-worker’s desk. Wherever there is food there is the potential for bacteria. The answer is easy: just wipe the work area down with anti-bacterial cleaners.

5. Your favorite restaurant: Even though that table may look clean, it isn’t tables and kid’s high chairs have high bacteria counts. It’s not because there is food present, it’s because the staff uses and reuses leaning rags to wipe everything down. This may be spreading entire films of E.coli around. While restaurant managers should be telling the staff to spray the rag with a disinfectant; they don’t. The answer is to carry sanitary wipes and just give the table or high chair an extra cleaning.

Other areas to be concerned about if you are thinking about viruses and germs? Cruise ships, libraries, malls and yes- even your doctor’s waiting area.

The battle and controversy over Gardasil still not over

While the original concept of producing a vaccine to protect young girls from getting the HPV virus that causes cervical , there remains a lot of questions as to exactly what is in the Gardasil vaccine itself. When many young girls began reporting major problems after receiving the vaccine, the general public began to ask why.
Approaching the often shaded and guarded world of the is like wandering through a maze. NaturalNews decided to take it upon themselves to have private laboratories test Gardasil. The results of the tests were shocking. They collected Gardasil from Spain, New Zealand, Australia, France, Poland and The United States. Each test result showed that Gardasil contained the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) – but an rDNA strain. This is not a natural product, but a genetically engineered product. The testing also found that this rDNA is connected to an adjuvant of aluminum; and aluminum is a toxin when ingested.
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Is Your Doctor Giving You the Meds He has to? Medical Officials Tied to Big Pharmaceutical Companies

Pharmaceutical Industry

The pharmaceutical drug company industry is big business. While on the front side they will tout the benefits of keeping you on massive amounts of meds with an incredible array of side effects, they are also working with doctors and physicians in the country to make sure their particular drug is top of the mind for popularity.
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Hay Declared as Pollutant by Federal Government Agency

Hay is a Pollutant

While the United States government may do a lot to their credit, there are some things that they do that not only leave you scratching your head and saying “really?” but also may smack of a hidden agenda. One of the more recent blunders of the Environmental Protection Agency is to declare that common is a pollutant.
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Some good and tasty foods that help to lower your cholesterol

Lower Your Cholesterol

It isn’t surprising that we are a nation of high cholesterol statistics. If you turn on any of the media, all you see and hear are food advertisements. Marketing moguls have specialized in presenting some of the worst for you food in a way that makes your mouth water. Hard to resist, we often succumb to these tasty morsels and the results are showing in our waists and . Fear not, there are some rather good things you can add to your diet that will help fight the cholesterol battle.
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Melatonin: Not just for sleep, but good for the whole body

Melatonin

We have all heard about the benefits of a balanced sleep system through the use of our natural levels of the hormone . Many sleep products try to emulate the body’s levels, and most of these cause problems, if not actual dependencies. New studies are showing that is more than just for our sleep, it actually may affect our digestive system as well.
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Walnuts may help ward off breast cancer

Walnuts

National Breast Awareness Month has brought the topic even more to the front and center. Everywhere we look there are companies, organizations and people are donning their pink ribbons and helping to fight against such a horrible disease. We are in continual search for anything and everything that we can do to keep ourselves and our loved ones from getting breast , but one way to help might be found in the little walnut.
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Phthalates are everywhere and are linked to prenatal brain damage

Phtalates

Look around, your world is filled with plasticized products. We have not only adapted in acceptance of these products, but trust that they are safe for ourselves and our children. This may not be so. There is a group of these products that are called phthalates and are in perfumes, toys, wall coverings and IV tubes. Recent research is now relating prenatal exposure to the phthalates with brain damage in our babies. The worst part? Girls seem to have the most devastating problems.
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Which Patients Can Be Treated with HIFU Therapy?

HIFU Therapy

HIFU is a revolutionary technology that utilizes concentrated sound waves to eliminate prostate . The question often arises – which patients can be treated with it? The ideal patient will have had no prior treatments of any kind and will be adamant about maintaining his or her quality of life after treatment.
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Gout: No easy answer, but some remedies can help

Gout: No easy answer, but some remedies can help

When someone says the word ‘’, you envision a fat old Englishman from days gone by with his leg propped up on a satin pillow. While the word hasn’t exactly been common place, the disorder has always been around. Whether people have been embarrassed to mention it or just didn’t know they have it, can cause excruciating pain. There are some remedies that can help you if you are suffering from this disorder.

Gout is actually a build up of uric acid in the body. Uric acid is the waste or byproduct of dead cells that should be eliminated by the body. It is the final crystallization process that produces needle or sliver like projections that attack the joints. This leads to intense pain and swelling. In times gone by it was thought to be caused by fatty foods and therefore attributed to a disorder for the wealthy. It is classified as a type of arthritis and is alive and well in this century. The tendency towards gout is thought to be hereditary but there are certain foods that can enhance a uric acid build up. These are typically beer and the organ meat types and contain purines which are then converted to the uric acid.
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Stress is messin’ with your mind

Stress is messin’ with your mind

Stress has become one of the major killers of the Western and Japanese culture. Recently dubbed the ‘black death of the 21st century’ there are more people dying from the various spin off results of stress than any other disorder or disease. What people may not realize is that there is also a direct correlation between your stress level and mental recall.

We all have moments when we are feeling overwhelmed with what needs to be done, a place we have to be or just work overload. Suddenly, you stop in your tracks and forget that important thing you were just going to do. You have gone blank or just forgot something that is totally part of your regiment. It’s the stress.
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Our country cousins may not be healthier than we city dwellers

Our country cousins may not be healthier than we city dwellers

If you ever lived in the country you have an innate feeling of just being healthier. Fresh air, good healthy food from the farm or garden, hard work and easy sleeping nights all seemed to combine to making you generally feel better. Living in a more urban environment has always been linked to pollution, fast paced lives and less healthy lifestyles. These assumptions, however, may not be totally true.

A study was done at the involved a comparison of health and lifestyles between those that live in rural, cities and suburbs. The 2010 study involved many areas in the state of Wisconsin and the findings were a bit different than you and I might expect. The purpose of the study was to elevate the states awareness of overall health. While the general environment might be healthier in the rural areas, there are a lot that are impoverished, depressed and have very low economic and social factors. It seems that some of the areas with the least health tended to be in the smaller towns. Forty eight percent of the healthiest areas were ranked in the suburban and urban areas while the unhealthiest areas were rural, ranking at eighty four percent.
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Skin Care Products: Should we be concerned about their contents?

The media seems to be plastering more and more commercials on a variety of skin care products. Part of this is due to our society’s constant search for eternal youth, but another factor is that there is a huge volume of baby boomers that are aging and simply want to retain their youth. As we cruise through the skin care aisles, both in the store and online, one has to wonder what exactly is in these miracle creams? Looking on the label of some of the containers might bring a bit of a shock. Since absorption through the skin is one of the quickest entrances into the body, exactly what are the contents that we should be fearful of?

Almost every skin care product contains parabens. Parabens are a preservative that assists in keeping mold and from growing in the product. The word paraben is actually short for the various types: ethylparaben, propylparaben and methylparaben. The problem with parabens is that studies in mammal cells have shown that they can create mutations. The Journal of Applied Toxicology study in 2004 resulted in parabens appeared in breast tumors. It is important to note that they were not shown to cause ; just their appearance is enough to cause questions. The general public has become more aware of these problems and there are now skin care products that do not contain parabens.
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Asthma may be due to mutant genes

Asthma may be due to mutant genes

According to the World Health Organization, there are approximately 235 million of us that suffer from asthma. It is also considered to be the highest chronic condition that is found in children. This staggering number of afflicted patients has led to a discovery from a rather surprising study. The propensity towards the asthmatic condition may be due to a mutant gene.

Asthma is a disease that causes inflammation and swelling of the airways and lungs creating a condition where it is difficult to breathe. Triggers for an asthmatic attack can include a number of factors such as pollution, smoke, irritations due to chemicals and general environment or air problems. Treatment for a severe asthmatic attack must be swift before it degenerates into a lethal situation which can cause death. A number of medicines have been developed and these are typically taken through inhalers. Anyone that suffers from asthma must carry these inhalers. Smaller children must often be taken to a hospital or clinic where they will receive an aspirator treatment. This is delivered through a breathing area with a small mask placed over the child’s nose and mouth. For the most severe cases, at-home aspirator treatments must be set up and available for immediate use. Keeping the individual calm and relaxed during and after the asthma attack is a major issue.
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Diabetic risk: beans good, white rice bad

Diabetic risk: beans good, white rice bad

and are a favorite combination in a number of countries and areas. In New Orleans, Louisiana, a good and rice recipe is considered a family tradition. It is a staple food that is good for you. But recent research indicates that if you are at diabetic risk, it’s the you should be focusing on and reducing the white rice from your diet.

A Costa Rican study of nearly two thousand men and women included one key note factor. None of the individuals that participated in the study had diabetes when the research began. Spanning from 1994 to 2004, the study was to collect research on heart disease risk factors. As the Costa Rican culture has flourished the consumption of a mainstay of beans has declined while there has been a dramatic increase in white rice consumption. This led to a question as to if there was also a link with the drastic increase in diabetics. There were other alarming medical factors that were to be noted: an increase in elevated sugar levels, higher levels of the bad body fats in the blood and elevated blood pressure.
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How to really keep from getting sick

How to really keep from getting sick

Cold and season is here again. Every time you get even close to an area that has a pharmacy your senses are barraged with large reminder signs to remember to get your shot. Shelves are lined with every cold medication possible, all touting that they guarantee your symptoms will be gone within a few days. We are a nation of people that simply don’t have time to get sick and are eternally searching for the miracle method to avoid the dreaded cold and . So what are the best ways to keep from catching that seasonal cold?

Common sense is the name of the game. Keep your resistance up so that a cold or flu doesn’t have the momentum to catch you. This means lots of rest, lots of fluids, eating a well balanced diet, exercise. So, you say to yourself I do have that lifestyle and still I get a cold. One of the most under rated and easiest things that is overlooked is simply washing your hands! Many of our colds and flu are transmitted through touching a surface and then our faces. A good hand washing can eliminate this method of catching a cold.
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Methol Iodide: Poison in our strawberries

Methol Iodide: Poison in our strawberries

It may seem like a no-brainer to all of us that, in this day and age, pesticides are to be considered as bad and wrong. But, the war is still being waged between the farmers that want to get that produce to us in a fresh and appealing way and the actual pesticides that they are using to promote our fruit and vegetables. It seems that our strawberries are the next fodder for the battle. The State of California, working with the Environmental Protection Agency has approved methol iodide as a pesticide. There are questions arising as to whether the data supplied for the approval was falsely represented and we are now eating strawberries with a toxic chemical.

There is a plethora of scientific data on methol iodide, including a 2007 letter to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from a scientific group making the request that methol iodide not be considered for approval. The letter specifically states that methol iodide is very toxic and would have a negative effect on public health. Apparently Arysta LifeScience, the company that produces methol iodide didn’t read the many reports. Instead, their own study dictates that methol iodide is mostly safe with only transient neurotoxin damage. It may be noted that methol iodide is the chemical that is used in experiments to actually create cells.
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What you really need in your medicine cabinet

What you really need in your medicine cabinet

I was partially raised by my grandmother and the town that she lived in didn’t have a full time doctor most of the time. They were pretty much on their own and when you have a farm, there are a lot of accidents and medical problems that can happen that you have to be prepared for. In today’s world most of us have easy access to hospitals but, we should all be prepared for some of the more common medical situations. Medicine cabinets should have more than toothpaste, mouthwash and .

My husband and son are what I like to call ‘accidents waiting to happen’. They are both outdoors people and, growing up, my son was always falling over something, off a bike or out of a tree. My house was the one home that all of the kids could come to and be assured that I would help fix their cuts and scrapes. We have a medical kit in both bathrooms and travel size in the cars.

One of the first things you should have in your home is just plain soap. Doctors all agree that other types of cleansers like witch hazel, hydrogen peroxide or rubbing alcohol don’t clean a wound any better than soap, but they can damage the skin. Here’s something I bet you didn’t know: antibiotic soap doesn’t work any better than plain soap.
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Are you part of the 50% of Americans hooked on beverages filled with sugar?

We are surrounded by and seem to have a love-hate relationship with them. The CDC (Center for Disease Control) has reported that Americans, from two years and older, have a fifty percentile figure when it comes to the consumption of these drinks. With the increase of childhood obesity, could there also be other factors involved in our daily glass of cola?

As a parent, we have the message pounded into us that natural fruit juice and water is better for our children than sugary drinks. When raising our son I made sure that we had very little sodas in the house and only 100% pure fruit juice. The problem? My son would come home and ask why we weren’t ‘normal’. Other parents had lots of sugary drinks in their house and we only had fruit juice.

According to the studies, many parents seem to view these drinks outside of what is considered part of food. Tolerance levels are loosened due to the fact that kids will buy these drinks whether at home, school or out and about. When you combine the more recent effects of lowered physical activity with the higher level of sugar intake, it becomes a recipe for diabetic disaster. Research results are being released that are showing that some of the children and young adults are exhibiting the same comparable artery wall thickness as those of a forty five year old man.
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Lemon grass: good for muscle cramps to aromatherapy

Lemon grass: good for muscle cramps to aromatherapy

may be somewhat new to the Western world, but it has been used for centuries in other cultures. Long touted as multi-functional, shamans have used it to ease , it is a fragrant additive for soaps, creams and lotions and it is even used as a natural degreaser. This little herb has an incredible array of benefits that we are just discovering.

Lemon grass is grown in the warm tropic climates and is known by a few names: citronella grass, scurvy grass and fever grass. With over fifty five varieties, lemon grass is well used in Asia and South Africa has a medicinal herb, but they also make use of its leaf strength for roof thatching in some of the traditional cottages. It is available in an array of colors, from yellow to an autumn brown-tone. If you have some freshly picked lemon grass you will immediately notice the incredible aroma. The fresh clean smell is often used as potpourri and in oil form it is added as a natural scent for many topical shampoos and lotions. It has been known to fight against fatigue as well as depression.
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