Tag / health

Welcome, sunshine! It’s spring and I’ve got all the windows wide open in my Hollywood apartment. The wind blows in, sometimes even birds fly in—and the tomato seeds in a pot in my dining room burst up through the soil as the room itself warms like a greenhouse. Sunshine lifts our spirits, gives light allowing vision and aids our bodies in producing necessary vitamins. In fact, I am convinced that I am half plant/half animal like the recently discovered green sea slug, and that maybe I am photosynthetic by nature, too. Maybe not. But no matter how one looks at it, sunshine is a giver of life and deserving of all the gratitude and respect we humans can give. So with all these life-sustaining accolades, why does sunshine elicit such a bad health rap?

According to the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (NCCDPH):

“Skin cancer is the most common type of cancer in the United States. Since 1973, new cases of the most serious form of skin cancer, melanoma, have increased approximately 150%. During the same period, deaths from melanoma have increased approximately 44%. Approximately 65%-90% of melanomas are caused by ultraviolet (UV) radiation.”

The sun is the source of two types of UV radiation: UVB and UVA rays. It turns out that UVB rays, because they are the rays that cause tanning, were also thought to cause skin cancer. So previous incarnations of sunscreen were developed to block UVB rays. Yet skin cancer rates skyrocketed (dark-skinned readers please pay attention, too!), so scientists were forced to consider that the cause of a tan may not be the cause of melanoma skin cancer—which is, of course, what we are all trying to avoid when running to the market with greasy SPF30 goo in our crosshairs.

The Skin Cancer Foundation recommends only five ingredients known to successfully block UVA rays: avobenzone, mexoryl, octocrylene, titanium dioxide and zinc oxide. So check your goo selection for one of these before purchase. Unfortunately, although these chemicals are proven to block cancer-causing UVA rays, they themselves may cause toxicity that is more harmful than the radiation they are blocking.

Octocrylene, for example, is a powerful free-radical generator that, get this, initiates a reaction that can lead to melanoma when activated by ultraviolet light, like that from the sun. Titanium dioxide is known to cause DNA damage to human cells and is a suspected carcinogen. Zinc oxide is generally recognized as safe by the FDA as a food additive; however, inhaling zinc oxide fumes can result in a nervous disorder known as metal fume fever, which brings up the social responsibility of our purchases. Someone’s mother is working in the factory that mixes our sunscreen concoctions. If manufactured in China, someone’s 12-year-old son might be working in that facility. By protecting ourselves, we may be harming another.

Since, according to the NCCDPH, “More than one half of a person’s lifetime UV exposure occurs during childhood and adolescence because of more opportunities and time for exposure,” it is vital that parents assist their children in regulating their sun exposure. Zinc oxide is the only sunblock approved for use with children under six months of age. However, zinc oxide leaves a greasy white residue on the wearer’s skin.

Worse, the Green Guide product report tells us that:

“In order to render transparent sunblocks containing titanium dioxide and zinc oxide, many manufacturers are using ‘micronized’ ingredients or ‘nanoparticles,’ that is titanium dioxide and zinc oxide particles that have been fragmented to sizes below 100 nanometers (a nanometer is one-billionth of a meter long). Some research indicates that titanium dioxide, particularly if it enters the body through cuts or inhalation, can cause more damage to DNA than larger particles of titanium dioxide, as noted in the November 1996 Toxicology Letters.”

Even after learning about the potential dangers of some of the active ingredients in sunscreen, you may have settled on one you feel comfortable putting on your and your child’s skin this summer. But before you rush out to the drugstore, you should also consider the safety of the inactive ingredients in sunscreen, which I will discuss next week.

Everybody wants to know what I eat. It’s a common question from friends and I personally think it’s a super compliment. I’m not out there telling anyone what to eat. But I will always get hyped up about what’s working for me. It’s such a miracle MIRACLE – I said it – for me to not be on meds and have this clean relationship with my body – know I’ve got my back no matter what. I’ve got my own back. It’s hard to not get amped and hope that everyone I love can feel the good stuff I’m feeling, too.

Lots of raw fooders wanna tell you what to eat because you’ll pay them to. That’s cool. Commerce is a great language. But I’m not selling my diet, because the tree didn’t charge me to pick the apple from it – she just said, I have more than enough – please, eat until you’re full. To me, raw foods IS freedom.

So I think it’s ultra cool when people wanna know what I eat anyway. I know I don’t ask someone this info unless I see something is working for them and I’m like “I’ll have what she’s having”. So people I bet wanna know what I eat because they are inspired to see something working so well for someone. I hope.

I know it’s working for me and I’m open to always changing. I’m always changing and fine tuning and listening. I promise you and mySelf, if ever my ideals stop working, I will try something new. Alas, I’ve been 10 years raw vegan and … ladies and gentlemen, the WAY I raw vegan has continued to morph and grow, but raw foods remains the through line. I haven’t chosen another lifestyle yet so it’s still working.

Do I do low-fat raw food, am I a fruititarian, do I mineralize, do I systematic underfeed, do I superfood, do I liquify? Oh, my. Uh … YES. I have done and do them all when they are needed. I owe no allegiance to anything that isn’t working and my body continues to change and grow so do my plant foods. One very specific question I get asked a lot, though, is do I do “30 Bananas A Day”. Raw fooders are going to know what I’m talking about and if you’re raw-curious, Google that shit, cause the internet is our source of non-local/non-proprietary information. This is your mind you can stretch here. Choose which directions.

Well, my answer is: I’m not into low-fat raw food and I definitely don’t eat 30 bananas a day. That’s me and you asked! I’m a high-fat, long-term raw vegan athlete. You know I love my avocados! I’m one that actually practices the belief that the being’s ability to digest and assimilate their foods has much to do with it’s locality. So if it’s hot in July and dates are dropping from the desert palms like candy, a person living under that date tree will have need of hot July sugars and have the amped up digestive strength to go for it. If it’s December in Michigan, the local there would get a candida outbreak by eating dates in winter and would be most suited to digesting and assimilating root vegetables and tubers, for example, lots of cold box, mineral-dense greens and easily stored nuts.

The land which produces the plants, also produces the people. The land, plants and people work perfectly together when respected that way. Only if I were in Costa Rica would I personally eat 30 bananas a day. One, because as a Southern Californian today in May, my system is just not able to take those sugars and doesn’t need extreme amounts of water-soluble vitamins I’ve already eaten my fill of in much lower quantities. But also to me, it’s just disrespectful to the environment to ship all your raw food in from foreign lands, polluting everyone else’s back yard on it’s way to you. That’s not what I’m up to through raw foods at all. The land, the plants and the animals – work together perfectly, as nature intended. I trust nature and I name her health.

I therefore end up focusing on LOCAL, IN-SEASON and ORGANIC produce as the bulk of my diet. Nature knows what I need, I’m giving jobs to actual people in my community, I’m keeping jet fuel out of your kids backyard, it’s freshest and retains the most life-force when I eat it and bygolly, when i heed nature, my body has got my back. Every motion I make, action I take and thought I think reflects this faith. That’s what’s workin’ for me. Thanks for asking!

The greener, the better.  For a wildly creative woman who experiences powerful emotions, let me assure you, the greener the better.

There are lots of reasons to eat, but one of my favorite is karma.  Without going into it all, I think the important part of this sandwich to get is that it’s green.  And green things grow close to the ground or near the water’s surface.  Green things continue to grow after you cut the edible part off.  Green things have a neutralizing effect on karma.  Kind of balances all the other extremes out.  So this sandwich is kind of the epitome of sustainable karmic health for a person like me.  Packed with minerals, nice food combining and balancing energy this recipe.  Plus I actually put together a bunch of other recipes I wrote up, so it’s like I’m a chef now officially doing fancy things.

It’s just a sandwich, people.  A raw vegan sandwich.  And by default, it’s also a bunch of other complicated concepts like gluten-free, lactose-free, low-glycemic, organic, slow food, local food, super easy to make, dishwasher-free and waste-free – yes, not a single piece of plastic, glass or metal was purchased to hold any of the ingredients that made this sandwich.  There is absolutely no garbage karma in this food.

To your soul’s health, the Green Karma Sandwich.

GREEN KARMA SANDWICH

• 1 slice of soft, raw olive bread (made thinly)
• 1/2 Haas avocado
• 1/2 early girl tomato
• 4 slices of (soy-free) raw vegan tofu
• soaked arame
• two leafs romaine lettuce

* all ingredients raw, organic and sources locally

Make soft onion bread as a thin semi-soft slice of bread.  With a fork, squish the most perfect avocado you can get your hands on right onto the bread.  Sprinkle with pink Himalayan rock salt.  Place two ripe red tomato slices side by side on squished avo.  Slice raw vegan tofu into strips about 3″ long by 1″ wide.  Cover with arame seaweed.  Place a thin stripe of Sea Clear across the top like a far superior mustard.  The top of the sandwich is two fine crunchy pieces of romaine lettuce.   Here’s to your Green Karma.

My travel partner and I do partner yoga standing bow posture on the Winter Solstice Sun rise at the Elephant Nature Park, Thailand.

City standing bow here.

I was asked recently if I’m concerned about the cosmetics and hair products used on set as a professional actress/model/dancer whom also happens to be a health advocate, vegan and environmentalist.  My answer is simply:  of course!  I spend a lot of time and energy researching the highest quality natural and cruelty-free  products in my personal life, so you know that sort of care oozes out into my professional life, too.

In case you don’t know, when a performer gets hired, their job is to know their material and have their personal shit together so they can deliver AND be a pleasure to work with (that’s how I see it, at least).  We arrive on set and are whisked off to the Make Up, Hair and Wardrobe departments so those artists can do their magic, too.  The first important thing for a concerned performer to remember is that the make up, hair and wardrobe crew are, like you, hired because they are good at their jobs.  They have their reasons for using the products and fabrics they use and you should remember that they deserve the utmost respect at all times.

That being said, you, as the performer, deserve the same respect and it is absolutely okay to ask what is in the products that will be placed against your skin or in your hair.  It is your body after all – you are not a dress up doll or a talking head robot, but a real human being who has to live with your skin and hair and ethical choices after this gig is wrapped.  It’s absolutely okay to ask questions.  Esspecially when it comes from that place of mutual respect for the others’ professionalism in the craft.

If you are a series regular or film lead, you are going to be on set a longer period of time and have the opportunity to get to know your Make Up/Hair/Wardrobe departments personally.  In my experience, when you all know each other, everyone takes your concerns into consideration.  Most higher budget make up artists will have OODLES of products to choose from, so look through!  Mineral make ups are surely a part of their kit at this point and maybe some other surprising stuff.  If it’s a lower budget production, then bring your own kit.  In either case, they are cool people who want you to feel happy, healthy and beautiful on camera – that’s what they do!  So treat people with respect, respect yourself, get to know each other and be patient and flexible.  I’m personally always impressed.

(Except for that one time with the high budget fashion modeling gig where the make up artist seemed like too many photographers had insulted her work during her long career and she was stuck in her ways, refused to use any brushes I brought and threw a snobby fit.  That’s not normal, performers.  She had a horrible attitude.  The more professional make up/hair artists are generally genuinely grateful to do what they do for a living and have enthusiasm to continue learning about the next newest product, cruelty-free alternative or natural option.  You can really tell the difference in artistry through their open mindedness to their own craft.  It’s like offering a sculptor a brand new clay – a true artist will want to work with it and see what they can do.  The jaded artist will say, “I can’t possibly use that clay,” before they even try it and never grow as an artist again.  I feel sorry for bad attitudes – fortunately, it’s not common.)

Unfortunately, when you are a day player or shooting shorter duration gigs, you don’t have the chance to get to know your Make Up/Hair departments and I suggest a fine combination of two things: again, brining your own kit and also a healthy amount of flexibility.  Sometimes, you might bring your own foundation and hair gel and make up remover, but socially, for what ever reason, you had to use products you know had formaldehyde (like mascara) in them.  Try to remain a pleasure to work with (that’s your job) by remembering that your body is so healthy that it will detox 2 days of exposure to this chemical amazingly quickly.  Also remember that consciousness-wise, sometimes just having the conversation and speaking the words does important work and might inspire new perspectives after your work there is done.  Keep your attitude high.  I know it can be trying to care, but it really is worth it and people respect you for it.

Respect yourself.  I say ‘know what is essential’ and bring it with you.  For me, the brush cleaners that make up artists use makes my eyes instantly blood shot and watery.  No one wants me to look like I have hay fever on camera!  So I bring a very nice, clean set of my own, cruelty-free brushes.

Since my eyes are so sensitive, I actually find it essential to request using my own mascara, eyeliner and unless it’s mineral make up, my own shadow.  There are a few brands of make up I can not have anywhere near my skin, for some reason and one is Mac and the other is Smash Box.  I don’t know what they both use in their cream eye shadows, but it’s like hot asphalt fumes to my eyes and sensitive membranes.  Mac is no good for any bit of my skin, actually.  Instant break outs means low-quality chemical-based ingredients.  I know Mac is supposed to be good, but my skin and eyes can’t be fooled with marketing.

I used to start the conversation with “I’m really sensitive (or I’m “allergic”).  Can we use some of my products?”  And again, no one wants your eyes all red and skin all blotchy, so that goes over well.  But the catch is, you MUST have excellent alternatives.  I have a high quality make up kit with more stuff than I ever personally use.  I want my make up artist to feel inspired to see new products and have great stuff to choose from, so I bring options.

Now that I’ve worked with many make up/hair artists multiple times, am doing longer duration gigs and am well-known as the healthy, raw chick on set, I don’t really lie and say “allergic”, I just respectfully say, “I like to use cruelty-free, organic products and yes, I am very sensitive, would you consider using my brushes and some essentials from my kit?”  People are cool!  And there’s always some meaningful conversation that goes down when I’m in the chair.  I really appreciate people sharing that space with me.

Like I said, I bring my personal essentials: brushes, eye liners, mascaras and black shadow.  Next tier is 100% silica high definition powder, vegan lip-glosses and quickly becoming vital is this new brand of organic, raw vegan food-based foundation – it’s like wearing high-quality moisturizer more than a cosmetic.

I use macadamia nut oil to remove my eye liner, gentle oils to ease away my foundation, a clay-based exfoliant twice/week, rose water spritz after a bath to tighten things and pomegranate/rose-hip oil for moisturizer.  I cut my dreadlocks so recently, I don’t really know what products I would need or can support in terms of hair.  I’m still learning about shampoo and stuff myself here.

And finally, I’ve known of several actors whom won’t wear fur or leather as part of their costumes.  Fortunatley, there are great looking replacements for those things.  Eating is usually a case-by-case situation, but I’ve felt super supported by the craft service and catering departments and have learned that if you are to be a long duration regular hire on set, the earlier you can let people know you are a raw vegan, the easier it is for them to help you out.  If you are a short duration hire, then bring your positive attitude and your alternatives.

Remember that nothing is worth being a jerk about – that’s not part of anybody’s job description, so no matter who you are on set, if you are being a jerk, I think you’re doing a bad job.  The more you respect others’ ways of living, the more respect for your lifestyle is reciprocated.

Check out some related links:

Cosmetic Safety Database

Live Studio Audience

True Hollywood Make Up: How To Moisten Mineral Foundation

Most Dangerous Woman In Hollywood Wears Cruelty-Free Cosmetics

RMS Beauty (organic, raw make up)

Alima Pure Cosmetics (clean, loose mineral make ups)

Aveda (killer company on all levels – right down to the packaging)

Rawnessa (really raw skin care out of Los Angeles)

Sometimes people ask me if it can be done. If one can actually be a professional athlete on a plant based diet.  The truth is, I can’t imagine how one could on any other diet.  I imagine bogging my system down with slow digesting animal products or lifeless over cooked foods and I think to myself how much my performance would suffer.  In fact, if I eat a cooked vegan meal or two on a weekend, my balance is off in my yoga class on Monday and I’m just kinda tired in general until my body finishes digesting the heavy meal.  I THRIVE as a vegetarian (vegan/raw food) professional dancer and danger artist and consider it the OPTIMAL lifestyle because I am serious about my physicality and physique.

I get asked that question all the time.  But rarely do I get asked the question this tv segment asked me.  Supreme Master TV‘s “Vegetarian Elite” series profiled me as, well, an elite vegetarian (wow!) and asked me some pretty thought provoking questions on spirituality and art.  And my favorite was a question I’ve never been asked before:  does the raw vegan diet make me a better actor?  Watch our segment to see my surprised, impromptu answer:

The Eco Tourist, episode 3 is LIVE! In this episode, I lose my Steripen virginity. UV water sterilization made this trip the FIRST ever wherein I did NOT suffer the digestive repercussions of traveling a developing country. Thank you, Steripen!

Read about other ways I approach being a vaccine-free traveler in my award-winning column in EcoHearth online magazine.

And some other thoughts on clean water.

Recently I went to Thailand (again!) to volunteer with the endangered Asian elephant at The Elephant Nature Park. I shot some home video and even talk-kinda-hosted while holding the camera. I’m just a one woman show here, editing this stuff for fun in my spare time, hoping you’ll get a kick out of an experience that changed my life as a traveler, culturist and conservationist forever. Nothing would make me happier than if you enjoyed my little series enough that you share it with your health, travel and adventure communities, too. Grass roots media is worth it. Please enjoy:

Episode 1 of The Eco Tourist, my very home-shot/edited series documenting a 3 week volunteer conservation trip to Thailand where my travel partner and I will work with the endangered Asian elephant.

Told from the perspective of two Hollywood-based high raw vegans working in the film/television industry, in this first episode, we jet set to Bangkok, Thailand. While on this 24 hour flight I decide to write an article about How To Avoid Jet Lag Naturally, which you can actually read in my award-winning column in EcoHearth online magazine.

How To Avoid Jet Lag Naturally part 1, part 2

Growing up, every year for Mother’s Day my father would take our whole family to the local greenhouse, where my mom would pick out an array of vegetables, flowers and ornamentals to decorate our home garden that summer. No matter when the spring equinox fell, Michiganders knew—considering their state’s sneak-attack frosts and late-season freezes—that Mother’s Day marks the official “safe zone” for outdoor planting. Mother’s Day is, in that region, recognized as the onset of spring.

These days, I live in Hollywood while my parents hold down the familial fort in the Midwest. Since I couldn’t make it back to the greenhouse to help mom pick out her garden this year, for Mother’s Day I instead planted four trees in her name via the Tree People Organization—imagining someday an entire forest dedicated to my mother, four trees at a time. Read more…

I don’t burn petroleum in my car for fuel, so why would I burn it in my home for light?

After extensive research into the benefits and environmental impact of my non-petroleum candle enthusiasm, and after some actual natural-wax burn comparisons, I personally switched to a combination of local farmers market beeswax candles and palm-wax candles from Strega Moon, who actually upped their company’s integrity with me tenfold by enthusiastically agreeing to ship my palm candles in all-paper/non-petro packaging (sometimes you just have to ask and hope that when enough people do, your special request will become the standard).Read more…