Read: Body Care Gets Personal

Adria Vasil
Ecoholic Body
2012
$29.95 (CAN)

Is it just me, or is body care a hot topic right now? I know I may be tuned in a little more than the average consumer to what's on the green scene, but the fact that ENGOs from the David Suzuki Foundation to Environmental Defence are campaigning about the toxins in our personal care products is no coincidence.

Great timing for a new book all about products we're putting on our bodies then, no? Released this past April, Adria Vasil's book Ecoholic Body is an ultimate resource for learning all about the items we're slathering on our skin, wearing on our backs, and putting in our bodies.

While I happily read this book from front to back, I imagine some people might balk at the more than 450 pages of carefully researched details on sunscreen and supplements. Adria even confessed during one of her book launch parties that this one was actually much longer before being edited down. I would recommend (as she has) that this ambitious read be treated more like a resource to pick up when you want to dig deeper into personal care topics like body care for kids and babies or hair dye.

Best bits: what I like most about this latest edition in the Ecoholic book series are the product suggestions and rankings provided. It's hard to know which brands are really the greenest and also perform the way you want them to, so having Adria package all this up for us is awesome. The range of products covered is also impressive so you'll most likely find answers to your body care questions. I also appreciate the great breakdowns at the front end of each section in every chapter of the specific health issues associated with the product in question.

I'm also a sucker for lists, and Adria has created a memorable name for top chemicals to avoid: the Mean 15 (adding to Environmental Defence's Toxic Ten and David Suzuki Foundation-backed Dirty Dozen... see these lists are kinda catchy!!). Mean 15 ingredients to avoid can also be downloaded off Adria's Ecoholic website and folded to fit in your wallet.

I've bought sunscreen, chosen a hair salon and am eyeing a pair of jeans thanks to this book, so it definitely has my thumbs up. You'll definitely see me referencing this bad boy in upcoming personal care posts, so get ready!!

About the author: A Toronto gal, Adria Vasil has become an acclaimed and bestselling author for her past two Ecoholic books. She's also demoed her expertise weekly in her NOW magazine Ecoholic column since 2004. You may have even seen her on TV or heard her on the radio giving the skinny (no holds barred) on the latest greenwashers.

Related posts:

• Read the review on Adria Vasil's Ecoholic Home.
• Personal Care Product Guide from Environmental Defence.

UPDATE

Thanks to my sister and her good suggestions, here are some online shops where you can find healthier/greener personal care products (I can't guarantee all products on these sites get the thumbs up, so make sure to either cross-reference with Ecoholic Body or look the product up):

• grassrootsstore.com 
• notjustpretty.ca
• babyonthehip.ca

There are plenty more where this came from, so watch my blog for more on where you can find the best personal care for you and your family.

Pocket Personal Care Shopping Guide

Ever wonder what's inside that shampoo, soap and lotion we slather over ourselves daily? Word on the street (or from credible orgs., actually) is that there may be some pretty nasty chemicals and ingredients in these bottles and jars we use to "get clean" and look "beautiful". Know what I think? This product issue just got more than a little bit "personal".

To keep us all calm, the good news is that some really great and credible organizations from David Suzuki Foundation to Environmental Defence are doing some great work at tackling the personal care product issue. One of the great fruits of this labour is the easily digestable tools they are coming out with so the rest of us can become more knowledgeable about what to avoid in what we are buying.

Environmental Defence recently put together a great list called the Just Beautiful Personal Care Products Pocket Shopping Guide. The guide lists what they see as the top 10 ingredients to avoid when shopping. Here they are:

The Toxic Ten

• Triclosan - Found in "antibacterial" products, it accumulates in fatty tissues and when exposed to sunlight, it creates a mild form of dioxin. 
• Fragrance or Parfum - Fragarances can cause headaches, nausea, shortness of breath and more... and the chemical cocktails used to make "parfum" have also been found to bioaccumulate in animals. 
• Dibutyl Phthalate - Used to soften plastic (and found in most nail polishes), it can also be found in human blood and body tissues and is known to cause birth defects in animals. 
• Petrolatum - This stuff comes from non-renewable resources like crude oil and is associated with all of the nasty pollution and ecological damage from the extraction and refining process. 
• Formaldehyde Releasing Agents - Formaldehyde may cause cancer and or lesser problems like rashes, fatigue or even eye, nose and throat irritations. 
• Parabens - These are "estrogenic" - they mimic female hormones and, though not 100% proven to cause cancer, have been found in breast cancer tumour samples. 
• Sodium Laureth Sulfate & Sodium Lauryl Sulfate - This stuff helps your shampoo and toothpaste suds up and is also known to cause eye and skin irritations.
• Cyclomethicone, Cyclotetrasiloxane, Cyclopentasiloxane, or Cyclohexasiloxane - Found in many moisturizers, hair products and cosmetics, these chemicals can irritate skin, eyes and lungs and also has been found to bioaccumulate. 
• Coal tar-derived colours - A known human carcinogen and found in common hair dye and cosmetics. 
• BHA & BHT - Preservatives, they are possible human carcinogens and a known human immune system toxicants (the EU banned it, so why haven't we?!).

Print out your own copy of the pocket guide here.

More resources: 

http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/

Credit must be given to ECOHOLIC  author Adria Vasil, as her books were used as references for some of the detail provided in the Toxic Ten (she is coming out with a book on all things body care, ECOHOLIC Body, soon, too) list.

Fishing for Sustainability

Image Credit: NOW Magazine

This past week's NOW Magazine was an issue many of us have on our plates. I actually saw the cover while standing in line at a chippy downtown. Talk about ironic.

It seems we can't escape the reality of the shrinking seafood supply and it really is time for all of us to wake up and smell the stink of our bad fishing practices.

Read Adria Vasil's article "Good Fish, Bad Fish" and learn about the various fish eco-labels out there and how they really stack up.

You might also be interested in learning where to get more ethical fish and where you can find it on the menu in Toronto like the Foggy Dew at King and Niagara.

Next time I go to eat fish, I am going to be extra sure it meets at least some kind of sustainable standard. Hope we can all do the same!

Flicking Off

Image credit: Wikimedia.org

A question was posed to me not too long ago about whether it was better to leave compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFL) on or turn them off when leaving a room. I knew I had come across that information in the several books I have on "greening your home", and wouldn't you know, I found it.

When it comes to leaving regular light bulbs (incandescent bulbs) on, columnist and author Adria Vasil writes in her book Ecoholic Home that these bulbs should always be turned off as soon as they're not needed. The story is different when it comes to CFLs, though. CFLs take more energy to start up, so it's only worth turning them off if you're leaving the room for more than five minutes. This means they may not be as ideal for bathrooms and closets, but that is truly up to you and your light switching habits.

Regardless, CFLs always win out, being 75% more efficient and lasting 10 times longer than incandescents. Saving you $$ on your electricity bills every year is just one more reason to make the switch.

I hope this tip was helpful and post a comment if you have a "green" question that I can try to help you answer.

Healthier Homes... yes please!

Adria Vasil's
Ecoholic Home
2009
$24.95 (CAN)

They say home is where the heart is. It's also where we spend the majority of our time, outside of the office, that is. Makes sense then, that we want to pay more attention to what we're stuffing our "houses" full of, breathing in, slathering all over ourselves, laying all over ... you get the idea.

Ecoholic Home is a book for all homeowners, condo and apartment dwellers and, heck, even cottagers who are open to making their indoor space healthier and greener. Similar to its predecessor, Ecoholic, you'll get all kinds of background information and issues to be aware of on items like cookware and appliances. In this book, you'll also find renovation advice and tips on what types of energy is available for individuals. True to author Adria Vasil's style, she also goes further to give you her picks from endless research she and her team has conducted, which in my opinion, scores some major points.

Tasty tidbits: Don't want to waste your money on "green" cleaners that don't work? You don't have to - Vasil's done the work for you! She and others took on the task of dirtying up their abodes to share with us the best grime fighters on the Canadian market. Her "green thumb" index tells you which dish washing liquid won the sludge war and which "greener" laundry detergents perhaps aren't worth it. The eco-labels section and plastics guide are also great resources added to the back of the book, making this read one to reference for all things "green" and home related.

About this author: Adria Vasil is a well-known environmental journalist in Toronto, writing the "Ecoholic" column for NOW Magazine for more than five years. She is also the author of bestselling book Ecoholic: Your Guide to the Most Environmentally Friendly Information, Products and Services in Canada. She has a degree in political science and cultural anthropology from the University of Toronto and a degree in magazine journalism from Ryerson and has made it her mission to help green this planet.

Help bring "green" solutions to your block and check this book out!