You're An Animal.

Author: Andrew Stakem

  • Nourish Organic (Deodorant Replacement)

    Nourish Organic (Deodorant Replacement)

    Deodorant Replacement: Nourish Organic

    Deodorant is one of those things that we get in the habit of putting on everyday and don’t think twice about. What is its purpose? Well, to prevent your own body odor from smelling so obnoxiously to the person standing next to you that it makes them walk away. I always wore it until one day I just couldn’t deal with the suffering it brought me. I’m sure I speak for thousands of people out there, but I would break out in some type of rash and I wasn’t going to put up with that. I would have rather not worn anything and run the risk of smelling offensively than to wear deodorant and deal with a chronic rash. So for quite some time, I went to numerous stores and read up on deodorants and was determined to find one that worked that didn’t cause a rash. Finally, I came across one made by the company Nourish Organic at a Whole Foods Market and proceeded to view the ingredient list. By this point, I knew what I was looking for and was well into a natural lifestyle and enjoyed the study of biochemistry of the human body. The front was rather simple, but it fit my style. The best part was that it even fell under my rule of 7. Nothing more than 7 ingredients was coming home with me. After trying it for 1 day, it worked beautifully! No rash, no smell, no problem. It is free of all the terrible toxins such as parabens, phthalates, petrochemicals, artificial fragrances, silicones, propylene glycol, sulfates, triclosan, EDTA, aluminum, and other synthetically made chemicals or dyes. The ingredient list is as follows: Organic Coconut Oil, Organic Beeswax, Organic Corn Starch, Organic Cacao Seed Butter, Organic Shea Butter, Organic Saccharomyces Ferment. The last ingredient Saccharomyces Ferment is a fermented plant that comes from the fungi world. Nothing to fear, just looks difficult to pronounce. Basically, some plants had allowed me to be rash free and confident that nothing toxic was going to leak through the skin of my armpits. Clearly I had to look long and hard to find a deodorant that would pass my extremely difficult test. The point of all this is that almost every other brand of deodorants out there has at least some, if not many, harsh toxins that are going to ultimately destroy you. They will, without a doubt, contain one or more of the toxic ingredients I previously mentioned and slowly but surely make you sick and you won’t even realize the cause until long after potentially irreversible damage can occur to you, whether it be to your skin, liver, heart, or brain. Do yourself a favor and immediately switch your deodorant. It may be slightly more expensive at roughly $9 to $10, depending on where you purchase it, but you will be investing wisely in your health.

    As a testimonial, here is a note I received from a woman I met at my workplace, who as a cancer survivor, needed to revamp her product choices:

    Hi Andrew,

    Wanted to let you know how much I like Nourish Organic deodorant and Thank You for recommending it.  What you don’t know is that in June of 2015, I was diagnosed with Breast Cancer and had a mastectomy on June 18th, 2013.  Upon a visit to my oncologist, he told me to stay away from any products with Parabens or Bovine Growth Hormones in them.  After hearing this, it got me to wondering about what else I was using that was not good for me and upon further research, BOY WAS I SURPRISED! I had to change everything I was using and that’s when I turned to Organic Products for everything from soap to make-up to laundry detergent.  I had searched for a deodorant that would work well particularly after a hard workout at the gym and that’s where you and I started talking.  You recommended the Nourish Organic Deodorant and I tried it and now I love it.  I controls odor as well as any other deodorant on the market and the fact that it was totally organic makes me a user for life.  I have also tried other products from Nourish Organics and they are great too.

    Thanks Andrew!

    Cheryl B.

    Please note that some of the links in the above post are affiliate links that will take you to an Amazon.com page. If you choose to purchase a product featured in this post using an affiliate link, you will be directly supporting You’re An Animal. Thanks!

     

  • Vitamin C (More Than Just An Immune System Boost)

    Vitamin C

    If I say Vitamin C, what is the first thing that comes to mind? Fruit? Antioxidant? If you ask a nutritionist, dietitian, or biochemist the answer might be Ascorbic Acid, the science name of Vitamin C, or possibly Scurvy. OK what the heck is Scurvy? I will get to that in a bit. Regardless of your answer, there are many benefits from this wonderful vitamin. First, let's go through the long list of sources where this vitamin can be obtained. Most fruits you will find at any grocery store contain at least a small amount, but the citrus fruits will contain large amounts such as pineapple, lime, lemon, orange and grapefruit. Many vegetables also contain significant amounts like watercress, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts and peppers just to name a few. A few of the berries have a decent amount as well. Berries are my favorite! Some of the benefits from C are aiding in the absorption of iron. Once again, you cannot single out any one mineral or vitamin - they all work as a team. One weak link throws off the sensitive balance of the whole system. In reviewing that chain, if you don't have enough vitamin C you won't have enough iron. Without enough iron, oxygen won't get utilized properly which ultimately means your oxidation of nutrients won't work thoroughly and then you'll end up sick. Vitamin C is considered an antioxidant however, so it does help protect the body from too much oxidation on the other hand. Kind of like a checks and balance system. A third major benefit and a crucial one at a minimum is Vitamin C's role in the production of collagen, proteins that help keep bones from breaking, keep muscles looking tone, and keep strength in the ligaments and tendons. Clearly Vitamin C is important. A few hundred years ago the British Navy learned this lesson the hard way. Being on a ship for long periods of time limited what the sailors could eat. In turn, many developed a deficiency and ended up with Scurvy. One of the men had a few limes with him and after eating one, he realized Scurvy quickly vanished. From then on, the development of this disease has generally been a funny story to tell with an all too important lesson. In order to get the most Vitamin C it is best to consume foods in their whole state rather than slicing vegetables or fruits and storing them in the refrigerator uncovered. C itself will oxidize too, so your best bet is just to eat the grapefruit as soon as you cut into it. Plus it will taste fresher! Because it is a water soluble vitamin, you need to make sure you're not dehydrated (another reason to drink lots of water) and to obtain enough of it every day. A quick mind altering statistic for you to wrap this one up - something close to 90% of all humans in today's world live in a chronically dehydrated state ranging from mild to severe. That's scary! That should partially explain why we need roughly 64 ounces of water (dependent on body size) on a daily basis. It comes in, you utilize it, and it goes out. Very simple process that is way too often neglected. Lesson learned? Drink water and get your Vitamin C.    

  • Kiss My Face Olive Oil Soap (Soap Replacement)

    Kiss My Face Olive Oil Soap (Soap Replacement)


    Kiss My Face Naked Pure Olive Oil Bar Soap

    Kiss My Face: Minimally Processed Body Soap Replacement

    We all want to be and feel clean and it has been this way for thousands of years dating back to pre historic man. It is in our nature to live near water. Not only do we need water to stay properly hydrated on the inside but we need it on the outside as well. Our skin, known as the largest organ of the body, looks refreshed after a shower or bath. The reason is that the skin, just like a plant, will perk up and appear refreshed after being under water. It triggers the release of certain neurotransmitters in the brain that makes us feel happy, one of which is dopamine. Somewhere along the way we noticed the cleansing effects of soap and added to the water in our bathing routines to help clean the skin. However, due to the Industrial Revolution, we took the soap making process too far and utilized our chemistry labs too much. Chemicals that can range from being harsh and abrasive to drying agents to potentially cancerous were added to soaps to make a person think he/she was truly getting a squeaky clean body post bathing. This is a classic example of business marketing at its finest getting you to buy their product regardless of the detrimental effects it can have on the human body. This is what made me change my bathing routines and stopped using shaving cream to shave and soaps to wash the dirt off. Water worked beautifully just to wash off the skin. However, every once in a while you get super dirty or muddy. Maybe you just finished a tough obstacle race and this is when soap comes in play. The saponification process is why soaps work. It is the primary reason why sticky foods are hard to release from your dinner plate. When soap suds and warm to hot water mix it loosens up oily or sugary food particles so that they can more easily get washed away. Same concept goes for our skin, but I needed to find a way to do this without adding toxic chemicals to my skin, which not only moves toxins out but can also soak toxins in causing potentially dangerous side effects. This is when I found an Olive Oil bar of soap made by the company, Kiss My Face. It has only 3 ingredients! It clearly stood up to my rule of 7 ingredients or less. It contains Sodium Olivate (saponified olive oil), Water, Sodium Chloride. The benefits of Olive oil are amazing, providing a base that yields protection to the skin from outside invaders as well as providing a cleansing effect to remove dirt and mud. Sounds like a win win situation. Plus there are no toxic chemicals so you can be sure your skin will not be soaking in anything harmful. In the end, if you can’t pronounce the ingredient or it sounds like something that could be toxic, it probably is. My recommendation is to switch to a brand like Kiss My Face or start learning what ingredients are actually in your bar of soap so you are ultimately fully aware of what’s going on inside and outside of your body. Protect yourself as much as possible because the environment of planet Earth has rapidly deteriorated over the last roughly 10,000 years and even more rapidly in the last 100 years due to our own reckless behaviors that seem to take most things in life for granted.

    Please note that some of the links in the above post are affiliate links that will take you to an Amazon.com page. If you choose to purchase a product featured in this post using an affiliate link, you will be directly supporting You’re An Animal. Thanks!

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  • Magnesium (Mg) (Keep It Movin’)

    Magnesium

    I really like this element partly because it's fun to say, but primarily because it keeps the poops coming out rather than storing them and creating a state of constipation. OK, yes I said it, get out your laughs... now back to seriousness. On the other hand that word constipation, makes me cringe, literally. How many of you have ever labored over the toilet trying to squeeze one out? It's not fun is it? In fact, it creates significant amounts of stress both physically and mentally and really throws you out of whack. So let's get back to the fun part of this by first just saying the word. Magnesium. This element, known as Nature's laxative, helps us to relax our nerves and digestive system so that we can think clearly and perform at our best. It makes sense that it's Nature's laxative too because it's at the center of every chlorophyll molecule in every plant around the world. Plants take in the sun's light and energy and produce a beautiful set of flower petals and green leaves due to the process of photosynthesis, which creates the green pigment you see. When humans consume green leaves or foliage, like in a salad, we are hence obtaining some magnesium and we all know that leaves, sometimes called "roughage", contain lots of fiber therefore allowing for an easy bowel movement. Green leaves help with peristalsis, the contracting of the intestines to keep food particles moving through the system in a timely fashion. Without going too much on a tangent though, let's return to the discussion of magnesium, yet another Earth metal. This element is involved with hundreds of chemical reactions within the human body. One of which is in the promotion of new cells. Without it or with a deficiency of magnesium, new cells at some point in your lifespan will more than likely turn out slightly mutated, which can cause cancerous cells to develop. Eating dark green leaves in salads or meals also yields the vitamin B9, Folate. A few lines up I mentioned leaves being considered foliage. You can now probably draw the connection and realize there is no coincidence of why vitamin B9 is called Folate. Aside from green leaves being a good source, magnesium is also found in most tree nuts and seeds such as almonds, Brazil nuts, cashews, pistachios, sunflower seeds, and hemp seeds just to name a few. You can find magnesium in plenty of other sources too, but the ones just mentioned are generally pretty high in magnesium as well as many other much needed nutrients. After all, if there is one thing you get from this, please get lots of magnesium in your system so you can relax, sleep better, and live a happier life.  

  • Earthpaste (Toothpaste Replacement)

    Earthpaste (Toothpaste Replacement)

    Redmond Earthpaste, Spearmint

    Earthpaste: Minimally Processed Toothpaste Replacement

    Graduating from college was a wonderful time, but for my health, not so much. It appeared that just about anything I ate irritated my tongue. Unaware of the cause, my first thought was “maybe it’s my toothpaste.” Long story short, it turns out it was not the toothpaste, but it did give me a lot of insight on what ingredients are actually in many toothpaste brands today. Really, it was a blessing in disguise. Having changed lifestyles for the better, I realized that everything you consume comes into contact first with the mouth. So I had to start there, literally. Shopping one day at a health food store I came across Earthpaste, a completely natural toothpaste made out of clay. Clay has been used around the world for many different cleansing routines for thousands of years. It has numerous minerals that will help to replenish what has been depleted from our systems while simultaneously giving you clean teeth. Sounds like a win win situation to me. My one rule of thumb is almost never to buy products with more than 7 ingredients AND you should be able to read the list without hesitating or having to ask “what is this?” Earthpaste passed the test with flying colors. With only 6 ingredients, occasionally 7 depending on the flavor, the Spearmint one has the following ingredients: Purified water, Food Grade Redmond Clay, Redmond Real Salt, Spearmint Essential Oil, Menthol, Tea Tree Oil. Redmond, a company based out of Utah, produces this awesome toothpaste that makes me confident in knowing nothing toxic is going into my mouth. On the other hand, just about every other brand out there has toxic chemicals in their toothpastes and their all too savvy marketing teams know exactly how to get you to bypass the toxic chemicals and buy their products. EVIL! One example is Crest. Most people have heard of them. One of there toothpastes that claims is Anticavity contains a few ingredients that I can guarantee you don’t have a clue what they are or what they do. The active ingredient of Sodium Fluoride might be OK but it isn’t naturally from the Earth. It’s naturally from a chemistry lab. Of the inactive ingredients, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, Flavor, Cellulose Gum, Titanium Dioxide, and Blue Lake 1 are all begging you to ask “what is that?” Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (often listed as SLS) is a drying agent. Why would you want to dry out your mouth? That will only allow harmful bacteria to thrive and create problems. Anything that simply says Flavor is not good for you. My first question is “What flavor?” and then I’ll bet it came straight from a tube in a chemistry lab making it not from the Earth. Cellulose Gum is up next on the chopping block. Very quickly, cellulose comes from wood in trees which cannot be completely broken down by the human body. Titanium Dioxide is nothing more than oxidized or “rusted” titanium, a metal. Anything that gets oxidized, should be a whole food that gets oxidized in your body, not outside and then put in. That’s backwards to me. Even though I left out some ingredients because there’s no point in beating a dead horse, the last one is Blue 1 Lake. That sounds like they decided to numerically order every blue colored lake in this world. How is that an ingredient? OK, it’s not, but it is a food color. Yet again something made in a lab and has been known to have potentially cancerous properties. In the end, well, start in this case, put something safe in your mouth to help clean your teeth from the healthy foods you had previously eaten.

    Please note that some of the links in the above post are affiliate links that will take you to an Amazon.com page. If you choose to purchase a product featured in this post using an affiliate link, you will be directly supporting You’re An Animal. Thanks!

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  • Sodium (Na) (Let’s Not Be Salty)

    Sodium

    The all too famous Sodium - not to be mistaken for salt, which is sodium and chloride mixed together to form the compound of NaCl or Sodium Chloride. Sodium is actually a metal, an alkali metal to be exact. The 11th element of our periodic table, devised by Dmitri Mendeleev in 1869, is denoted by the letters Na for the Latin word Natrium. Sodium, back in the days of Ancient Egypt, was used to dry out and preserve mummies, hence why in today's world it is used to preserve foods as well as to melt ice on our highway systems during the Winter months. Regarding the biological uses within the human body, Sodium is known as a blood purifier. When we have enough sodium, not table salt, in the blood we move around as if we are still very young, flexible, and probably stupid thinking we are invincible. Gotta give that credit to sodium! It helps to keep our blood stream alkaline by ridding it of all the acids and toxins that we come across in our daily lives. One of the most common problems many Americans battle today is arthritis, or joint inflammation. You may even be able to relate to this as you're reading. Sodium helps to keep calcium in the blood stream doing what it does best rather than building up, or calcifying, in the joints causing immense pain and depression because you can't move how you want to and you most definitely can't keep up with your kids anymore either. Sodium works with many elements, but it really works well with its life partner Potassium, as I previously mentioned. Sodium and Potassium ions travel through a pump system of channels which allows the muscles to contract and extend without building up too much acid. Basically, they help flush out acid from oxidized calcium and carbon stored in the muscles. The main hurdle is that with every move you make you use up a little or a lot, depending on what you're doing, of sodium so it constantly gets excreted via sweat, feces, and urine. If you don't replace it, you are digging yourself an early grave. I would suggest you immediately change your lifestyle habits, get more organic sodium in you, and regain your youth. "Well how do I do that you might ask?" My answer: eat plentiful amounts of celery, carrots, okra, cucumbers, asparagus, root vegetables and unpasteurized goat cheese/milk on a daily basis. These are some common foods, however there are quite a few more containing varying amounts of sodium. To end this with a bold statement that you should always remember - You cannot neglect this element unless of course you want to age quickly!  

  • Phosphorus (P) (Food for Thought… Literally)

    Phosphorus

    Phosphorus, while in some forms is used to ignite matches, is also a much needed nutrient in the human body, but most of us don't ever get enough. OK so that's only partially true. We often get our daily dose, but too often it is in the wrong form. This nutrient comes from both egg yolks and animal meats as well as plant sources. And that is the major difference - which kingdom contains the source. Humans need both, however our storage of this quickly used up nutrient is mostly in our bones. When you eat vegetables, whether it be leafy sources, root sources, or tree stalk sources, your body stores phosphorus in its skeletal structure. Rarely do we get enough from animal sources and this type of phosphorus is what helps keep our brain and nerves from becoming overheated and inflamed from too much usage. Every thought we have uses up this type of phosphorus! And you wonder (or can you?) why too many people have nerve problems or nerve degeneration. When we have enough or even a surplus of both storage types, it makes the human body appear as if it has a slight glow to it. Lightning bugs or fireflies glow in the dark and this is why. Damn, wish I had known that in high school. Probably would have made that A. Oh well, let's get back to the spotlight. Phosphorus is one of the building blocks to our very protective myelin sheaths that allow for nerve impulses to be properly transmitted from nerve cell to nerve cell via the synaptic gap. I previously mentioned we store the majority of this nutrient in our bones and when it binds to the calcium within the bones it forms calcium phosphate and gives us those strong bones we need to survive. And this is why Nature provides an ideal amount of both calcium and phosphorus together in the numerous species of plants around the world. One without the other doesn't work, therefore all the dairy products you like won't really give you the "strong bones" you think your getting due to the lack of phosphorus. Far too often we combine cow's milk with cereal grains in the morning and we get hit doubly as hard. Many plants contain phosphorus in the form of phytates, which when consumed by humans causes malabsorption in the intestinal tract of many other nutrients including the way too important one, Zinc. This ultimately creates a vicious chain reaction so do yourself a favor and start eating your egg yolks in a runny state (poached) as well as eating grass fed meats - they contain some healthy fats that contain this much needed nutrient. In the end, your brain and nervous system will be very appreciative!  

  • Iron (Fe) (Get Your Blood Pumpin’)

    Iron

    Ever since humans have discovered the properties of this chemical element, iron has been incorporated into many different things on this Earth. I know you've heard of numerous buildings made from iron, but what about its use in building cells in the human body? How much do you know about it now? Once again we need to go to a microscopic scale to see its truth in your body. To be plain and simple, without iron you don't exist. How's that for making a bold statement? Iron has a strong attraction to Oxygen. When we reach optimal absorption of iron, we feel very energized because there is plenty of Oxygen to keep your cells operating at a high level and in turn YOU operate at a high level. Way too many humans are deficient in iron (anemia) and due to its use in the production of Hemoglobin, there is no wonder why most of us walk around in a chronic state of depression, fatigue, and lack of desire. Let's fix that! Iron can be obtained through both plant and animal life, but animal meat, especially red meat, provides a more bioavailable form than does its counterpart from the plant kingdom. Pretty much anything considered to be a plant or part of a plant and is dark green or black in color will contain iron, such as kale, chard, spinach and blackberries just to name a few. There's one major hurdle to absorbing iron though, humans can only absorb approximately 10-40%. If you truly eat cleanly then you're going to be closer to that 40% number as opposed to most humans hovering around a rate of 10-20%. And I must add that without enough Vitamin C, you won't ever absorb enough Iron and will constantly stay fatigued and stressed both physically and mentally because the body has to work too hard to absorb what little it can. At this point, you only have two options: clean up your eating habits tremendously or eat a lot of iron rich foods. If you choose option two, you will eat too much, your bowel movements will be very strenuous, and you will eventually develop iron toxicity. Ultimately your best bet is to go with option one and clean up your eating habits so you can live a better more fulfilling life.

  • Calcium (Ca) (Put That Cow’s Milk Down)

    Calcium

    So I have to ask, how many times do we hear about the element Calcium these days? Pretty much on a daily basis. Currently, I hear it being tossed around like a ball almost every day in the health industry. What's the big talk all about. You hear about it in all of the Got Milk? commercials. Where do you get Calcium?... Why is your first thought dairy? Instinctively, because it's a white colored element. Socially, it is in cow's milk. Now if I kept going on about it, you'd continue to assume cow's milk. Stop! Let's go with goat's milk instead. A baby calf consumes cow's milk so it can grow big bones quickly. Ever wondered why a baby calf struggles to stand on all 4 limbs in early stages of life? Riddle solved. Humans do not assimilate cow's milk very well due to its high lactose sugar content as well as its high calcium content. We need foods that contain much more friendly levels of the necessary nutrients and goat's milk and cheese (raw or unpasteurized) is much more user friendly to humans. But back to Calcium, we also associate this element with bone too. Rightfully so. Calcium, along with Phosphorous, is what our bones are mostly made from with the exception of a tiny percentage of Copper. It also aids in a muscle tissue's ability to contract. Microscopically, without enough Calcium ions the nerve cannot release acetylcholine, therefore the muscle will not contract how it should. Acetylcholine is needed in the energy producing and fat burning process. Let's zoom back out to a bigger scale, you have to naturally want to know what else contains Calcium. Many dark green leaves like kale, chard and spinach, tiny bony fish like sardines and herring, oysters, clams and many seeds as well as a few fruits. We can only absorb Calcium if we have enough Vitamin D and most humans are to some degree deficient in Vitamin D so no wonder we are Calcium deficient as well. Weak bones is what comes to my mind, what the medical world calls osteoporosis. Weak infrastructure is probably a better way to word that cause we would have weak muscles too. I think you're starting to get the picture - it requires a lifestyle change to make the body's complex system work optimally. Supplements don't work as effectively, if at all, so don't be lazy. Reach instead for the healthy, natural, whole food source to utilize the high bioavailability of it's organic Calcium nutrient.

  • Cholesterol (I’ve Been Framed!)

    Cholesterol

    Ah, cholesterol. Poor guy has taken a ruthless beating over the past couple of decades on his role in human health. If I ask "Why is cholesterol so bad for you?" I know I'll get a wide variety of answers and that's exactly the problem. Too many conflicting answers and information out there. OK so do me a favor and forget every one of those answers. There's a reason why it's involved in our lives so let's read on to find out. This guy is really one of your best friends so quit hatin'. Without cholesterol you'd be dead, literally. It is the synthesizing agent of the famous Vitamin D and if you read the section on the benefits of Vitamin D you'd realize the utter importance of cholesterol. The human body makes cholesterol from many types of fat especially saturated fat. Wait a minute... Yes you read that right. I'm giving some credit to saturated fat. Cholesterol, in addition to synthesizing Vitamin D, has a main role in the body and that is to help clean up other fats floating around the blood stream. So many people, including nutritionists, get cholesterol confused with LDL and HDL so let's get it right. HDL and LDL are not cholesterol; rather, they are proteins--lipoproteins to be exact. Why do you think protein is part of its name? They're not trying to fool you. They are the carrier proteins of cholesterol so that cholesterol can do its job. It helps clean up toxins and with the help of its carriers it delivers it to the liver for further processing elimination. All in all, cholesterol truly is a necessity of life unless you want to walk around in an inflamed state. Oh wait, you probably already are in that state cause the media makes it out to be a bad guy. Your next question is probably along the lines of "So where can I obtain this wonderful nutrient?" Many things have it, but they also contain many other bad things. When it comes to eating whole foods from the Earth, cholesterol can be found or created in the body from animal fats from pasture raised and free to roam animals. Of course one of the best sources is the yolk from eggs that came from pasture raised chickens. When cooking eggs, try to poach them or fry them in a healthy oil such as avocado or hemp seed oil so that the yolk is still runny and not fully hardened. Runny yolks yield so many nutritious nutrients it's unreal, such as choline, and other phospholipids that create a much needed protective sheath surrounding every nerve you have. Without them you will never operate how you want to in life and in fact will be in misery because of over heated nerve endings. Another result will be a misfiring of an electrical signal from nerve to nerve and that will ultimately lead to a myriad of nervous system problems and an untimely death. If I were you, I'd stop listening to what the government and media say about health. It's all about politics and money to them, not your health.