Health · Eco-Chick

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Bummer! Soda Causes Cancer (Ready to Finally Give Up the Cola Now?)

Drinking soda is often sexualized and sexified, like in this image. But it’s one of the worst substances you can consume on a regular basis. Image via Mark Sebastian on Flickr.

Most of us know that soda is a not-great treat, one that most nutritionists advise us against. But how many women do you know with an admitted “Diet Coke addiction”? Well, it may be way worse than just an attachment to a bubbly beverage.

According to the trustworthy Rodale.com, it looks like unbeknownst to most of us (soda company honchos insist that it’s totally fine to consume it, of course), soda – especially colas like Coke and Pepsi – contain a cancer causing element.

High levels of a carcinogen known as 4-methylimidazole, or 4-MI, are created when certain forms of ammonia are used to create the caramel food dye used in some of the most popular soda brands on the planet. Although CSPI is lobbying the Food and Drug Administration to change label requirements, for now, it’s perfectly legal for soda to harbor hidden carcinogens without any disclosure on the label.
The Food and Drug Administration says the chemical is still safe despite the fact that CSPI projects common levels of 4-MI found in Coke and Pepsi cause 15,000 cancers a year. Part of the problem? Chemicals are introduced into the food system before being adequately tested for long-term effects in humans. “It’s hard to know how serious a problem food dyes might pose to health because the science is so difficult to do,” says Marion Nestle, PhD, professor of nutrition, food studies, and public health at New York University.

Want more reasons to stay away from the carbonated stuff? It has negative health effects whether you’re over- or underweight, or whether you drink diet soda or the sugary stuff. According to The Stir’s piece entitled “Drinking Soda is Now Just as Bad for You as Smoking” (haha!), “Researchers at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center have found that drinking two or more sugary drinks a day dramatically raises women’s risk for diabetes and high cholesterol. And while women who regularly quaff sugary beverages, like soda, are also much more likely to become obese, even skinny female soda drinkers had a higher risk for heart disease and diabetes.”

Diet soda is just as bad for your health, just in different ways. While it too has been linked to an “…increased risk for stroke and heart disease,” even more disturbing is how artificial sweeteners in soda affect the body in strange ways. According to Rodale’s excellent piece, “9 Disturbing Side Effects of Soda”:

“Researchers from the University of Texas Health Science Center monitored 475 adults for 10 years, and found that those who drank diet soda had a 70 percent increase in waist circumference over the 10-year study, compared with those who didn’t drink any soda. Those who drank more than two diet sodas per day saw a 500 percent waist expansion! A separate study the same researchers conducted on mice suggested that it was the aspartame, which raised blood glucose levels, that caused the weight gain; when your liver encounters too much glucose, the excess is converted to body fat.”

I enjoy a good root beer – with vanilla ice cream – about once year, and in the summer I love a gin and tonic, but that’s about it for my soda consumption. I usually opt for tapwater with lemon or herbal tea at restaurants. At home I drink Emergen-C in my water, make tea (cold chamomile and green teas) and fresh-squeezed juice.

What do you drink instead of soda?

aspartame, cola, diabetes, health, heart disease, mountain dew, Rodale, soda, sugar, The Stir, women

Chloe Coscarelli’s Top Ten Vegan Alternatives From Her New Cookbook

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by Lindsay E. Brown · 03/06/12

The last time I chatted with Chloe Coscarelli, her just-published cookbook was in the works, but she couldn’t divulge any of the delicious vegan recipes she was working on.

But now that Chloe’s Kitchen – a must-have cookbook filled with simple and flavorful vegan recipes – is out, she can! Even if you don’t have a copy perched on your cookbook stand yet, the award-winning vegan chef shared her favorite vegan ingredients with Eco Chick to get you in a meat, eggs, butter and cream-free state of mind. Try incorporating a few of these ingredients into your cooking or baking routine if you’re an omnivore, and let us know how it turns out.

chloe coscarelli, chloe's kitchen, cookbook, food network, health, plant-based diet, vegan, vegan chef, vegetarian

Why We Love NYC’s Think Coffee

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by Starre Vartan · 03/05/12

Recently, I conducted an intern search, and since Eco Chick is one of the many companies that works virtually, that means I had to find a place to meet with all the fantastic applicants. As I spend quite a bit of time in the Union Square area of NYC, I have long been stopping by the Think Coffee near the park, but this past autumn, on a run back from the gorgeous-in-every-season Hudson River Park, I noticed a new Think was setting up shop at 8th avenue between 13th and 14th streets.

The interior of the 14th&8th Think Coffee store – with plenty of room in the back room for relaxing and enjoying your java.

This store is much more chill than the always-busy Broadway location, and soon after they opened, I became a regular. Not just because I have a bit of a coffee addiction, but because the space is open and new (but with a bit of an old-school coffeehouse vibe), and Think is serious about its ethical bona fides, which include the following:

-Sourcing direct from farmers. No middleman means no greenwashing, as coffee farms are visited by (the lucky!) Think employees during travels to Brazil, Columbia and Costa Rica. Why all this trouble?

Coffee is grown across the globe, and, in our opinion, no single coffee purchasing or certification system can be expected to work equally well everywhere. Whether it is a small family farm in Nicaragua or a Brazilian plantation or a cooperative in southern Ethiopia, each has its own economic, social and political climate. That’s why we go to origin, to see first hand where our coffee comes from, to bring you as much transparency as we can. No other coffee retailer we know of checks up on the claims of its roasters, importers or certifying authorities the way we do.

To read more, check out the rest of the post on our sister site, Eco Chick Escapes, all about travel and style.

Fair Trade, farmers, health, java, New York City, NYC, think coffee, travel

Eco Chick Giveaway: Goodebox Personalized Healthy Beauty for You!

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by Starre Vartan · 03/02/12

If you read Eco-Chick regularly, you know there are a growing number of amazing, clean, eco-friendly beauty brands making products that are not only healthier to slather on, but that actually perform just as well, if not better, then their toxin laden counterparts.

If you’re anything like us, we love trying new products, always searching for that great new eye cream that addresses our latest issue, or the perfect lip color for that special night out but sometimes it’s tough to know what to buy. What’s actually clean? Does it really work? Enter Goodebox, a new service providing trial sized, healthy & sustainable beauty and personal care products.

Goodebox allows you to take the goodes for a test drive before forking out for the full size. For only $16 a month, members get six trial size products, the selection of which is customized according to skin type, hair type, skin tone and other preferences. The piece that really sets Goodebox apart from other beauty sample services is their commitment to working with only thoroughly evaluated brands committed to using effective, non-toxic ingredients that respect people, animals and planet.

It’s a fun way to try new products that have been tested and approved by people with the experience to know when something performs, like Kristen Arnett, for example, the celebrity green make-up artist who’s curating the first Goodebox. What’s more, members get a discount on everything included in each month’s Goodebox, making it pretty easy to recover the membership fee PDQ if you have even a modest addition to beauty & wellness products.

If you want to sign-up, you can just squeak in to receive the March box as long as you join by March 3^rd. Interested in trying it for free? We have 10 March Goodeboxes to give away. Simply like the Goodebox Facebook page (and the Eco Chick page if you haven’t yet!) and drop a comment below letting us know you have done so. We have ten to give away, so that’s great odds! Giveaway is open from noon on Friday, March 2, 2012 until noon on Thursday, March 8th, 2012.

Beauty, cosmetics, giveaway, goodebox, health, personal care, samples

My Visit To a NYC Holistic Dentist

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by Lindsay E. Brown · 02/21/12

Dentists visits were easy, breezy for me as a child, but on into my adult years and a few bad experiences in the chair later — which I’d rather not relive — I found myself filled with anxiety about going to the dentist.

My fears were exacerbated by the media coverage paid to the harmful effects of amalgam or ‘silver’ fillings (which leach mercury into the body) that are commonly used in many practices. Mercury is the most poisonous naturally occurring, non-radioactive, substance on our planet. Mercury accumulates within the body over time and concentrates in fatty tissues, especially in the brain, which is made mostly of fat. Although the controversial ADA still considers amalgam fillings safe, many health professionals disagree, and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) even considers old mercury fillings that have been removed from the body toxic waste that has to be disposed as such.

And so I avoided the dentist right up until I simply couldn’t anymore. When your tooth starts aching, no amount of brushing will come to the rescue. I resolved that I’d face my fears and go to the dentist. But this time, I wanted a very different experience. I set out to find a holistic dentist who not only didn’t use mercury, but someone who actually cared about my health.

After doing some serious research, I discovered one of the best holistic dentists out there, Doctor Reid L. Winick, D.D.S. of Dentistry for Health NY. Not only did he surpass all of my criteria, (and hates mercury even more than I do), but his practice is deeply committed to patients’ overall wellness and to the health of the environment. Dr. Winick’s practice even has a cable show “A Better Way. A Sustainable Approach to Dentistry.” I called and made an appointment the next morning.