Homemade Holiday Gifts

This year the girls made beauty baskets for their friends. Homemade lavender-orange hand cream made from almond and coconut oil; body mists in a variety of flavors like tangerine-clove, rosemary-lemon, geranium-orange (just water and essential oils which they call "perfume"; and wintergreen lip balm. Very fun gifts that are fairly easy to make. They decorated lunch bags to put their beauty products in.

We also made a bunch of Millet-Crunch Granola using the recipe from The Vegetarian Mother's Cookbook. I made 4 batches (2 at a time) to make 10 gift bags.

Here's the recipe:

Millet Crunch Granola
This healthy granola makes a great topping for fruit or yogurt. You can even eat it alone for a crunchy snack.

2 1/4 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup uncooked millet
1/3 cup honey, brown rice syrup, agave nectar, or maple syrup
1/4 cup tahini
2 tablespoons water
1/3 cup pumpkin seeds
1/3 cup sunflower seeds
1 tablespoon flaxseeds
1 tablespoon sesame seeds

Preheat oven to 250ºF. Place rolled oats and millet on baking sheet. Roast for 1 hour. In small pan, melt sweetener, tahini, and water together over low heat. In large bowl, toss oats, millet, and seeds with tahini mixture until completely coated. Spread on unoiled baking sheet, and bake for 30 minutes. Stir once or twice during baking. Cool completely. Store in airtight container.

Makes 8 servings

Variation: Add 1/2 to 1 cup dried fruit to cooked granola and store as directed. Do not bake fruit.

More body care safety news

I posted a while back about the deception of so-called organic body care products that were using non-organic and even in some cases toxic ingredients. Well, I hope you haven't been using Herbal Essences shampoos because this Friday, details of an agreement from Procter and Gamble to reformulate 18 products from its top-selling Herbal Essences brand to reduce levels of the carcinogenic petrochemical 1,4-Dioxane will be announced by the Organic Consumer's Association and other groups. In addition, OCA and allies will announce new results from a continuing study that has tested over 150 consumer products for the toxic chemical. This year, 20 laundry detergents were tested, including major "natural" and conventional brands. The seven laundry detergent brands from Procter and Gamble had by far the highest levels of 1,4-dioxane overall.

Check out this link for a list of safe body and personal care products.

This is scary . . . cancer causing ingredients in organic products

A newly released study commissioned by the Organic Consumers Association (OCA), a watchdog group overseen by environmental health consumer advocate David Steinman (author of The Safe Shopper's Bible), analyzed leading "natural" and "organic" brand shampoos, body washes, lotions and other personal care products for the presence of the undisclosed carcinogenic contaminant 1,4-Dioxane.

Ethoxylation, a cheap short-cut companies use to provide mildness to harsh ingredients, requires the use of the cancer-causing petrochemical Ethylene Oxide, which generates 1,4-Dioxane as a by-product. 1,4-Dioxane is considered a chemical "known to the State of California to cause cancer" under proposition 65, and has no place in "natural" or "organic" branded personal care products. 1,4-dioxane is also suspected as a kidney toxicant, neurotoxicant and respiratory toxicant, among others, according to the California EPA, and is a leading groundwater contaminant.

Previous studies have revealed 1,4-Dioxane is often present in conventional personal care products, but this new study indicates the toxin is also present in leading "natural" and "organic" branded products, none of which are certified under the USDA National Organic Program. The products/brands tested are listed on the attached page with the level of 1,4-Dioxane detected, if any, along with ethoxylated ingredients listed on the label.
Some of the Leading Brands Found to Contain 1,4-Dioxane:

JASON Pure Natural & Organic
Giovanni Organic Cosmetics
Kiss My Face - YIKES, that's what I use!
Nature's Gate Organics.

For full listing, go to this page: http://www.organicconsumers.org/bodycare/DioxaneResults08.cfm

Brands Found not to Contain 1,4-Dioxane:

All USDA Certified brands tested in this study were 1,4-Dioxane-free, including:
- Dr. Bronner's
- Sensibility Soaps (Nourish)
- Terressentials
All German Natural "BDIH" Certified brands tested were found to be 1,4-Dioxane-free, including:
- Aubrey Organics
- Dr. Hauschka

To avoid 1,4-Dioxane, check ingredient lists for indications of ethoxylation like: "myreth," "oleth," "laureth," "ceteareth," any other "eth," "PEG," "polyethylene," "polyethylene glycol," "polyoxyethylene," or "oxynol," in ingredient names. In general, avoid products with unpronounceable ingredients.