Thursday, April 24, 2008

London’s First Vegan Footwear and Accessory Shop Opens

It's a pity I live down in Penzance, otherwise I'd be at this new shop as soon as it opens. I love the stylish shoes this company sells online, but being able to try them on in the shop would be just heaven.

Bourgeois Boheme, one of the UK’s most well-known online and animal-friendly fashion companies is opening London’s very first animal-friendly footwear and accessories retail outlet.

On May 17th 2008, just a couple of days ahead of UK National Vegetarian Week, Bourgeois Boheme will celebrate the official opening with an open day at the shop in Richmond, London.

Known for its quality and stylish vegan footwear and accessories, Bourgeois Boheme is responding to customer requests for a physical retail location. Bourgeois Boheme founder and Director, Alicia Lai and has found that 90% of returns from online sales relate to shoe-fitting issues.

Alicia says, “Unless you shop online, vegetarian footwear is difficult to find: it’s a dismal choice of either low-quality, cheap and environmentally-challenging shoes or Stella McCartney – gorgeous fashion no doubt, but very much beyond the pocket of many a style-conscious vegetarian/vegan.”

Its an environment that has served online sales well and, having already built up a dedicated and growing following of online and mail order customers, Bourgeois Boheme is giving shoppers what New York and other fashion capitals around the world gave their consumers years ago – a stylish home for animal-friendly fashion.

Bruce Friedrich, Vice President at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) says, “All of us at PETA welcome the news of a Bourgeois Boheme storefront. We enjoy ordering from BoBo online, but we’ll be even more delighted to have a place where we can try on the shoes, examine the bags, and have a compassionate shopping experience.”

Visitors will be able to buy Bourgeois-Boheme’s exclusive labelled styles as well as ethically sourced products from other companies; not only footwear, but also bags, wallets and belts for women and men, and cosmetics.

Alicia says, “Our shop is an extension within our office premises, it’s a humble start but it’s a first step towards our greater dream of having lush and exclusive Bourgeois Boheme boutiques in the world’s fashion capitals”

Now customers can find a perfect fit in every sense- true to their size, philosophy, style and ethics.

Address: Hydrex House, Garden Road, Richmond TW9 4NR
Shop hours: Mon-Fri 9am - 5pm; Sat 10am - 2pm; by appointment.

Bourgeois Boheme’s range is available to buy online at http://www.bboheme.com/.

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Takeaway Coffee cups

I'm Not a Paper Cup
Just over a third of what we chuck away every year is paper and cardboard – needing a forest the size of Wales to sustain. So if you are addicted to takeaway coffee, which you get in a paper cup, break the habit by taking your very own 'I am Not a Paper Cup' thermal mug (with re-sealable lid) to your favourite coffee shop. Your coffee will taste as great but without wasting all that paper.

The Natural and Organic Awards 2008

I really like the skin care range from Beyond Organics, so it was great to see the quality of their products recognised in the Awards this year.

They are runner up in the Best Organic Facial Skincare Product category for The Natural and Organic Awards 2008. The award was for their Detoxifying Cleanser & Regenerating Night Cream.
Check out their products on their web site.

Monday, April 21, 2008

Australian Bush Essence Workshops In London

If you're into flower essences and remedies, then this could be of real interest to you:

“Empower Yourself” Saturday 24th and Sunday 25th May in Regent’s College, London
A weekend seminar by Australian Ian White, will be held by Universal Essences on Saturday 24th and Sunday 25th May in Regent’s College, London.

This inspiring seminar offers new insights into nature, the plant kingdom and oneself. Participants will discover tools to meet life’s challenges, learning how to powerfully, yet gently change negative patterns and improve the quality of life.

Ian will also be holding 2 one-day workshops on the following themes:

Women’s Wellbeing: 3rd May, Kew Gardens, London
In this seminar Ian will discuss the spiritual and metaphysical aspects of femininity and the female energy system, which gives a clear recognition of the profound interconnection between the physical, emotional and spiritual bodies. This perspective grants a knowledge-based sense of self-empowerment in dealing with women's business, including: Menstruation, Menopause and related problems, Enhancing relationships, Sexuality, Infertility and conception, Pregnancy, Healthful birthing, Nurturing the spirit in the child.

Numerology : 4th May , Kew Gardens, London
Numerology is a very old system of analysis which provides a simple method for quickly and accurately gaining an understanding of an individual's personality and abilities. It reveals a person's strengths as well as identifying areas of potential difficulties. Numerology is a very useful tool for helping to select the appropriate Australian Bush Flower Essences, even indicating some that might not have been obvious.

Ian White grew up in the Australian bush with his grandmother (a herbalist whose mother had also been a herbalist). Ian White has been practising naturopathy and homeopathy for over twenty years. Using the healing properties of flowers essences is an ancient art, spanning many cultures. Ian White has taken this age-old study and applied it to the flowering plants of the Australian Bush.

Today Australian Bush Flower Essence remedies are used and prescribed by healers, families, naturopaths and medical doctors. They are sold in pharmacies and health-food shops all over Australia and increasingly throughout the world.

Ian White is an absolute inspiration. Flower Remedies have helped transform my life. Thank You!” - Caroline Driscoll, UK.

Intensive, Enthralling, Brilliant!” - Carole Gimson, UK

Ian has mastered all the secrets of great teaching, with his use of humour, storytelling, magic energy clearing, meditation and song! Just fantastic!” - Christine Cooper, Helensburgh

For more info: Contact Belinda at Universal Essences on 0870 0620 206 or see http://www.universalessences.com/

The Australian Aboriginals have always used flowers to heal the emotions, as did the Ancient Egyptians. This healing method was rediscovered by Dr. Edward Bach in the 1920s through the use of English flowering plants. More recently Ian White has developed the Australian Bush Flower Essences. Australia has the world's oldest and highest number of flowering plants exhibiting tremendous beauty and strength. Australia is relatively unpolluted and metaphysically has a very wise, old energy.

Ian grew up in the Australian bush. As a young boy his grandmother, like her mother before her, specialised in using Australian plants and would often take him bush walking. From her deep understanding she would point out the many healing plants and flowers. He learned a profound respect for nature through her and went on to become a practitioner and a pioneer working with and researching the rare remedial qualities of Australian native plants.

The Bush Remedies not only help to give clarity to one's life but also the courage, strength and commitment to follow and pursue one's goals and dreams. They help to develop a higher level of intuition, self esteem, spirituality, creativity and fun.

Probiotic Acidophilus

I'm really excited about a range of probiotic acidophilus I've added to our online health shop. What is particularly good about them is that there are different formulas for different problems. There's one for stomach bloating, another one for diarrhoea, and another one to take before you go on an exotic holiday.

There's also one for babies and children. Reserahc has shown that many small children don't have the right gut flora, particularly children with eczema. This vanilla flavoured sachet is easy for them to take and is very effective. Check out the full range of probiotic acidophilus here.

Friday, April 18, 2008

Downshifting

Tomorrow is the start of international downshifting week. Check out their top ten suggestions: http://www.downshiftingweek.com/top10tipsforsuccess.html

Thursday, April 17, 2008

I CAn Only Handle One Diet Change Right Now - What Should I do?

Here's some great advice from Helen Tite:

I Can Only Handle One Diet Change Right Now. What Should I Do?

1. Add just one fruit or veggie serving daily. Get comfortable with that, then add an extra serving until you reach 8 to 10 a day.

2. Eat at least two servings of a fruit or veggie at every meal.

3. Resolve never to supersize your food portions- unless you want to supersize your clothes.

4. Make eating purposeful, not mindless. Whenever you put food in your mouth, peel it, unwrap it, plate it, and sit. Engage all of the senses in the pleasure of nourishing your body.

5. Start eating a big breakfast. It helps you eat fewer total calories throughout the day.

6. Make sure your plate is half veggies and/or fruit at both lunch and dinner.

Copyright 2008 Helen Tite ww.thecore.uk.net

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Hay Fever Treatment

that miserable hay fever feeling may be strating for some of you. I used to feel like I was getting flu - all summer long - holidays ruined, couldn't enjoy sunshine, sat in darkened room, but a homeopathic natural hay fever treatment relieved all the symptoms, and I don't have hay fever - now 15 or more years later I don't worry about feeling ill in summer.

We sell the treatment I used on our secure online shop - do give it a go - it comes with a 60-day money-back guarantee (except for carriage) even if you've taken the whole course. We ship quickly too, usualyy within 24 hours.

Be like me - enjoy summer without needing medication for hay fever - a lot of which often didn't work.

Dietary Supplements And Medical Journals

Here's an abstract of an interesting article in BMC Complementary And Alternative Medicine on the incidence of phramaceutical advertsing and articles about nutritional supplements.

Background
Advertising affects consumer and prescriber behaviors. The relationship between pharmaceutical advertising and journals' publication of articles regarding dietary supplements (DS) is unknown.

Methods
We reviewed one year of the issues of 11 major medical journals for advertising and content about DS. Advertising was categorized as pharmaceutical versus other. Articles about DS were included if they discussed vitamins, minerals, herbs or similar products. Articles were classified as major (e.g., clinical trials, cohort studies, editorials and reviews) or other (e.g., case reports, letters, news, and others). Articlesa conclusions regarding safety and effectiveness were coded as negative (unsafe or ineffective) or other (safe, effective, unstated, unclear or mixed).
Results
Journals total pages per issue ranged from 56 to 217 while advertising pages ranged from 4 to 88; pharmaceutical advertisements (pharmads) accounted for 1.5% to 76% of ad pages. Journals with the most pharmads published significantly fewer major articles about DS per issue than journals with the fewest pharmads (P<0.01). Journals with the most pharmads published no clinical trials or cohort studies about DS. The percentage of major articles concluding that DS were unsafe was 4% in journals with fewest and 67% among those with the most pharmads (P=0.02). The percentage of articles concluding that DS were ineffective was 50% higher among journals with more than among those with fewer pharmads (p=0.4).

Conclusions
These data are consistent with the hypothesis that increased pharmaceutical advertising is associated with publishing fewer articles about DS and publishing more articles with conclusions that DS are unsafe. Additional research is needed to test alternative hypotheses for these findings in a larger sample of more diverse journals.

Read the full article.

Friday, April 11, 2008

Free Range Chicken Petition

If you'r ein the UK, please sign the free range chicken petition at http://www.chickenout.tv/

92% of the chickens bought in the UK are intensively farmed. Sign the petition and help change that.

Thursday, April 03, 2008

Homeopathy Under Attack

I had some email correspondence with a homeopathic doctor in India about the current situation with homeopathy in the UK and this is what he emailed me back:

one good thing was that Mr.Richard Branson of Virgin group has supported Homeopathy and according to the news he is opening 6 centers in UK. But this anti Homeopathy is due to the strong lobbying by the Pharma world thats what we were told from our sources. In India also they tried but it totally back fired as lot of patients came out in support of Homeopathy. But one thing is there Homeopathy is here to stay no matter what. It's a wonderful system of medicine.

Great to hear that the attack on homeopathy in India has been repulsed.

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

Homeopathy: Medicine Of The Future

Here's an interesting article on homeopathy by Jim Pretin:


You may have heard of "homeopathy" but you are not sure what it is. Simply put, it is a system of medicine that treats a condition with highly diluted natural substances that mimic the symptoms of the condition being treated. This concept seems paradoxical to most.

Homeopathy is a difficult concept to grasp. How do you cure someone of an illness by giving them a tiny concentration of something that can actually cause the disease? One would think that this would simply make the person even more sick.

But, according to proponents of the science, homeopathy not only works, but is much more effective than conventional medicine.
They claim that conventional medicine only suppresses the immune system and prolongs the illness.

There are actually quite a few homeopathic products in your local pharmacy. The FDA requires that homeopathic products indicate what kind of product it is somewhere on the packaging. The easiest way to tell what kind of product you are buying is by examining the list of ingredients on the back or the on the side of the packaging.

With homeopathy, all of the ingredients are diluted, so each ingredient in such a product has the letter "X" after it. So, if one of the ingredients is "Zinc 20X", that means the product contains Zinc that has been diluted 20 times. One of the most popular cold medicines on the market, "Zicam," is actually a homeopathic remedy that consists of diluted zinc in the form of a nasal gel.

There are homeopathic remedies available for almost every condition. Cold, flu, allergy, even bedwetting; there is a homeopathic remedy available for almost every condition.

Homeopathy is universally recognized as being safe, as the ingredients used are natural substances diluted many times over.
Because there is such a small concentration of the ingredients, many opponents of the science, including the drug companies that make conventional medicines and are afraid of the growing popularity of natural medicine, claim that any relief an ill person receives after using a natural product is the result of the placebo effect.

Since the FDA does not require most natural products to undergo clinical testing before being sold to the public, the detractors feel that it does not actually work. So, who is telling the truth? Does homeopathy really work or is it a bunch of nonsense?

In my opinion, it works. There have been several clinical trials done over the years to test the efficacy of homeopathic products. Liddell Laboratories makes a product called Vital HGH.
Vital HGH is designed to treat the symptoms of aging and/or a rundown condition.

In a small clinical trial performed years ago, a group of test subjects who were deficient in human growth hormone, ranging in age from 45 years and up, were given the Vital HGH formulation.
The results speak for themselves. During the five month clinical trial, the levels of HGH in the blood increased in every test subject, and more than doubled the average level of HGH.

Homeopathy does work. I speak from personal experience. I used such a remedy to deal with the allergy attacks I was having, and the medicine not only stopped the attacks faster than the Claritin I had been taking previously, but it also prevented subsequent allergy attacks.

So, why is there a controversy? Well, there is a public perception that homeopathy is the same thing as holistic healing or faith-based medicine. This is simply not accurate.

Homepathy and natural medicine in general make big drug manufacturers worry that such products might be more effective for treating common illnesses as opposed to the more expensive prescription versions that make the pharmaceutical companies rich. Most natural products are incredibly cheap. A prescribed conventional medicine costs a lot more.

If the public began demanding natural remedies to treat their ailments, drug companies would have to make these kinds of products to stay in business, and then their profits would shrink. Imagine if Pfizer had to stop manufacturing Viagra, which they sell at $20-$30 per pill, and instead make a homeopathic product that would retail for only $20 for a one month supply.

This is why drug companies often spend significant amounts of money to debunk claims that homeopathy works, using a wide variety of misinformation tactics to instill a belief in the public that natural medicine is is not effective for treating common ailments.

I am not saying that you should discontinue the use of conventional medicines. But, next time you go to the pharmacy, take a look at some of the natural brands on the shelf and give them a try. For common ailments that are not life threatening, a homeopathic product is probably a cheaper and more effective alternative.

About the author: Jim Pretin is the owner of http://www.forms4free.com,
a service that helps programmers make an HTML form.

Dowsing And Earth Energies

I received this email from colleague Guilia Boden and I thought I'd pass it on:

I have introduced a NEW one day course - Dowsing and earth Energies.

This will be great fun, considerable outdoor fieldwork and a more experiential course for people wanting the practice. It is also an opportunity for practitioners to get together, get a taster for something new, and really PLAY! Serious play of course, but when do we get that opportunity?

2nd - 4th May Three day Geopathic Stress Course (CPD) - Southampton

5th May One day course - Dowsing and Earth Energies - Southampton

21st-23rd June Three Day Geopathic Stress (CPD) - Solihull, Midlands EARLY BIRD 12TH MAY

5th - 7th July Three day Geopathic Stress Course (CPD) - Weatherby EARLY BIRD 4TH APRIL

12th -14th Sept Three Day Geopathic Stress Course (CPD)- Jersey, Channel Islands EARLY BIRD 1ST AUGUST

Have you ever wanted to
  • Dowse with rods and a pendulum?
  • Activate your curiosity about the landscape?
  • Use fieldwork to unblock or enhance aspects you find in the environment?

“ …intriguing, interactive and informative, coupled with Giulia’s enthusiasm for the subject, makes for a wonderful opportunity”

Contact Guilia for more information.

Tuesday, April 01, 2008

Choosing The Right Type Of exercise

The BBC web site has some good stuff on choosing the right type of exercise for you.

The information covers different types of exercise - walking, cycling, football, dance, etc. and looks at who they suit best and gives contact info to find out more.

Check out the web site - may be it will inspire you.