Optimum Connections

St. Patrick's Day Sale

Healthy water for less: Multi-Pure® Fast Track special offer

For a limited time get Multi-Pure's popular new Aqua Dome water filter for $100 off the retail price! This is a $180 value filter for only $79 + tax, shipping/handling and a $4 registration fee (to become a distributor). We took advantage of this offer recently and are passing on the word to everyone that wants to drink healthy water for less money. Multi-Pure is a leader in water filtration technology and with this promotion, we were able to afford the purchase of a filter, eliminating trips to the health food store to fill up our bottles with filtered water. See our article below on Healthy water for you and your pets to find out more about why we recommend filtering your water.

To take advantage of this special offer, Multi-Pure requires you to fill out the $100 savings certificate and order form, then mail it to them. We can either send the certificate to you or we can fill it out for you and place your order with Multi-Pure. If you want us to place the order, please call or fax us the information requested on the certificate. Please do not e-mail the information to us as e-mail is not secure and the certificate requires your social security number (so that Multi-Pure can report your distributor income to the IRS). Click here to download the certificate.

For more information, e-mail us or call 303-271-1649 or 866-305-2306 (toll-free).

Why Choose Multi-Pure®?

Optimum Choices is now offering water filters from Multi-Pure. We had been aware of Multi-Pure's filters for some time and thought highly of them but we are very particular in what we carry and limited in how many products we can support. After meeting with a colleague who has a masters in biology, has done extensive research into water quality issues, and who uses and recommends Multi-Pure, we were convinced of the superior quality of Multi-Pure. We then decided to purchase and recommend Multi-Pure filters ourselves. If you would like detailed, scientific information on water quality, see his website here: www.cyber-nook.com/water/.

The purchase of a high-end, high-quality Solid Block Activated Carbon (SBAC) filtration system is an investment in the health of you, your family and your pets. You are selecting a product that you will trust to significantly reduce harmful contaminants in the water you and your family will drink and use for cooking for many years. Purchase the best-value, most effective system available. Often what starts as a cheap $15 - $30 pitcher or faucet-mount filter with limited effectiveness will (because of the relatively high cost of replacement filters) end up costing as much or more than a high-end filtration system after a few years--so you eventually pay more for a less effective product. A high-end filtration system is much less expensive than bottled water, much less hassle, and in most cases the quality and taste of the filtered water are just as good or better than bottled water.

Benefits of Multi-Pure® SBAC filtration systems

• The best certified contaminant reduction of the filtration systems reviewed by NSF International and Underwriters Laboratories Inc.
• Among the longest warranties (25 years for the housing on the stainless steel models)
• A company that has been a leader in the manufacture of high-quality SBAC filtration systems since 1970. Multi-Pure will "be there" when you need to replace your filter cartridge over the next 40+ years.

There are hundreds of companies that sell drinking water systems for the treatment of various contaminants. Although most companies make devices that can remove chlorine from water, only thirty-two (32) of those companies offer drinking water treatment systems that are certified by NSF to reduce Trihalomethanes (a disinfection by-product known to cause cancer in humans and miscarriages) under NSF's Standard No. 53, Health Effects (July, 2005 Listings). And, only two companies have devices certified by NSF to reduce PCBs. Multi-Pure Drinking Water Systems offers products certified to reduce MTBE, a gasoline additive classified as a possible human carcinogen, which has been found in drinking water coast-to-coast.

Since 1970, Multi-Pure Corporation has been the market leader in high performance drinking water systems and water filters. Today, Multi-Pure is an industry leader and the world's largest manufacturer of compressed carbon block cartridges and drinking water filters and systems utilizing its technology advanced water filters.

Oil of the month

by Russell Louie

March's oil of the month is actually a holistic experience of the month that uses essential oils. One week ago I had a lipoma (common soft-tissue tumor found under the skin) removed because it had recently doubled in size and this concerned my doctor. Mine was the most common type, a superficial subcutaneous lipoma that was a soft, moveable lump under the skin. It was the size of half a grapefruit. I was told by the surgeon to expect minor swelling and pain around the incision for the first week. He said I would be limited in activities the first few days but would be able to resume normal activity after one week. He prescribed Vicodin, a narcotic pain killer, and ice.

Being holistically-minded, I decided to build my body up before the surgery. I increased my dosage of BioSuperfood(www.optimumchoices.com/spirulina.htm)  and NingXia^TM Red (www.optimumchoices.com/Wolfberry.htm) juice by 50% one week before the surgery. My experience has been absolutely amazing.

My surgery was at 9:30 AM on a Friday. I was given only intravenous sedation and then a Vicodin after surgery and sent home at 11:30 AM. I did not feel much pain until around 5:00 PM that day so I took another Vicodin (prescribed once every three hours for pain). There was absolutely no swelling surrounding the 4 inch incision and no need for ice every hour as prescribed. The day after the surgery, I applied lavender essential oil directly on the 4 inch incision and smeared Young Living's Animal Scents Ointment over the stitches and redressed the wound. Why Animal Scents Ointment? Animal Scents Ointment was designed to cover and seal infected wounds with essential oils. It contains mink oil, beeswax, lanolin, sesame seed oil, wheat germ oil, carrot seed oil and rose hip seed oil together with the following essential oils: geranium, Idaho balsam fir, myrrh, palmarosa, patchouli, rosewood and tea tree oil. I figured if it helps animals heal, it's good enough for me. For the first two days after surgery I did not do anything strenuous but went for short walks to keep the circulation flowing to the wound area. By the third day, Monday, I was back at work resuming all my normal activities, including an hour-long dog walk with Mikki. I still had minor pain but not enough to justify Vicodin or even ibuprofen. Instead, I am using a homeopathic remedy called Arnica Montana, used to reduce pain, swelling, and discoloration from bruises. I still dress the wound every day with lavender essential oil and Young Living's Animal Scents Ointment.

Based on my first surgical experience I would say my holistic methods were just as effective as what was prescribed by the medical doctor. I took one Vicodin in the evening for the first three days and then resorted to all the holistic remedies of essential oils and homeopaths. I know everyone reacts differently but I am very happy with my body's response after building it up using whole food nutrition and applying essential oils topically after surgery.

Click here to order on our Young Living Essential Oils website. Go to Product Catalog and do a Product Search on "Lavender" or "Animal Scents Ointment".

Healthy water for you and your pets

by Margaret Auld-Louie

Many people are aware now of the health risks of drinking tap water so they drink bottled or filtered water. But what about our pets? How many of us feed our pets a super premium pet food or natural raw diet, yet fill their water bowl with tap water? Even holistically-oriented people often provide tap water for their pets, either not realizing the health impact or figuring that bottled water would be too expensive. Yet we have heard of cases from holistic vets where pets got better when switched from tap to bottled or filtered water, particularly with conditions affecting the urinary tract system. So there are very real health benefits to providing healthier water for our pets. Healthy water for our pets is not just a fad, despite the companies producing flavored bottled waters for dogs.

The health benefits of drinking bottled or filtered water are very real, for both people and pets. Tap water is generally disinfected using chlorine, which not only tastes unpleasant but leads to the production of trihalomethanes (THMs), a class of organic compounds formed when chlorine interacts with organic substances in the water. THMs can have bad health effects such as increasing the risk of certain cancers and possibly causing adverse reproductive outcomes. There are also thousands of synthetic organic chemicals that can contaminate water, yet water treatment facilities typically only test for about 150 or so. Some of these chemicals may cause hormonal disruptions. Most laboratory tests of the effects of these chemicals are done using a single chemical, but there may be several organic contaminants together in a water source. Scientists are just beginning to realize that exposure to multiple organic chemicals seems to increase the risk of health problems much more than any of the chemicals would separately. For more details, see this page on the Environmental Working Group (EWG) website. The EWG reports that of the 260 contaminants found in the nation's tap water, more than half have no safety standards. For more information, see the EWG's: National Assessment of Tap Water Quality. Pathogens such as Cryptosporidia and Giardia sometimes get through water treatment facilities, since they can be hard to kill. Once the water reaches our house, lead can leach into the water from lead pipes or copper pipes with lead solder. Even small amounts of lead can cause neurological problems. Our pets and children are at more risk of lead poisoning because of their smaller size as well as the fact that they have more exposure to environmental lead from contaminated floors and ground. If you want to find out specifically what is in your water, contact your water company for an analysis or you can look online at the Environmental Working Group website: EWG Tap Water Quality.

Since tap water can contain substances that are known to cause hormonal disruption and cancer, could giving our dogs tap water be one factor in the high incidence of cancer and hypothyroidism seen? There will probably never be a study funded to prove this (who would pay for it?) but it makes sense to provide our pets with not only healthy food but healthy water as well.

Bottled water is by far the most expensive way to buy water, as well as not always guaranteeing the quality of it, so we don't suggest giving bottled water to your pets. In numerous cases, bottled water is simply repackaged tap water. And then there is the problem of the bottle itself. The bottles are usually plastic and some of that plastic leaches into the water. Most people prefer the hard, clear polycarbonate plastic bottles, since they don't leach plastic taste into the water. These are the plastic 5-gallon water bottles in common use in office water coolers and at health food stores, as well as the hard, clear 1 quart Nalgene water bottles used by outdoor enthusiasts. You will find a number 7 recycling code on the bottom of these bottles. Unfortunately, this plastic is now known to be the most dangerous plastic healthwise for storing water. In 1998 it was discovered that polycarbonate bottles leach the chemical bisphenol-A, an estrogen-like hormone disruptor into the water.

Some recent studies of bisphenol-A (BPA) have found:

• BPA can cause insulin resistance in mice. Insulin resistance in people leads to Type II diabetes and congestive heart failure. The exposure levels used were within the range that people experience regularly.
• Levels are higher in women with a history of repeated spontaneous miscarriages
• BPA alters development of the reproductive tract, the immune system, increases prostate tumor proliferation, changes brain chemistry and structure and affects an array of behaviors, including hyperactivity.
• BPA causes changes in brain structure and behavior in rats.
• Exposures to 1/5th the level considered safe are sufficient to alter maternal behavior in mice, including reductions in time spent nursing, increases in time resting away from offspring, and increases in time spent out of the nest.
• BPA induces changes in mouse mammary tissue that resemble early stages mouse and human of breast cancer
• BPA lowers sperm count in adult rats even at extremely low levels
• Metabolic differences between rats and humans probably mean that humans are more sensitive to BPA than are rats
• BPA speeds the pace of sexual development in mice, and causes mice to be obese

For more study details, see: www.ourstolenfuture.org/NewScience/oncompounds/bisphenola/bpauses.htm

Consumer Reports, who is quite conservative in their health pronouncements, is now recommending that people avoid using polycarbonate bottles for water or baby formula. A safer plastic for storing water is the #1 plastic used in the small bottled waters sold everywhere--supermarkets, health food stores, restaurants, convenience stores, vending machines, etc. However, this plastic quickly breaks down so it is not recommended to reuse these bottles, as some people do. And if you were to buy all your water in these little bottles, the cost per gallon would be extremely high. So people often go to the health food store to fill up their 5 gallon polycarbonate bottle. This can cost as little as 25 cents per gallon, however you have the time and hassle of going to the store to get water and lugging around heavy bottles, plus you are exposed to the toxic bisphenol-A chemical that leaches from polycarbonate. The only other alternative for a 5 gallon bottle is glass, but those are extremely heavy when filled. I once dropped a glass bottle on our pottery water dispenser when trying to replace a bottle, breaking the dispenser.

Since there is no lightweight, safe large plastic bottle on the market, how can you get healthy water for a reasonable cost? Some people buy water distillers so they can distill their own water and avoid having to buy bottled water. We did this years ago ourselves but have since learned that distilling does not remove all the contaminants in the water, while it does remove the beneficial minerals such as calcium, magnesium and iron. It is also quite an expensive method of purifying water when you factor in the cost of electricity to run the distiller, and it creates a lot of waste water as a byproduct. Finally, distilling water creates a lot of steam in your home, which then encourages mold to grow (and mold can be toxic). We periodically had to scrub mold off the walls and door of the room our distiller was in. Since we live in a dry climate (Colorado), the mold did not come back when we stopped using the distiller. But in a damp climate, this could have led to a permanent population of toxic mold in our house. And who knows what volatile chemicals could be in that steam that you are breathing in from the distiller?

We suggest purchasing a good quality solid block activated carbon (SBAC) filter and filtering your water, instead of distilling or buying bottled water. Not only does this eliminate the use of polycarbonate bottles but you can be assured of good water quality if you buy a high quality filtering system. Also, the cost per gallon (typically under 10 cents per gallon) is lower than buying bottled water or distilling your own water, so the filter pays for itself over time. It is important to select a solid block carbon system, not granulated. While granulated may cost less, problems with this technology include periodic dumping of contaminants, bacteria breeding in the filter (and not being filtered out because of the large pore size) and water creating channels around the carbon granules and failing to be filtered. These problems do not occur with SBAC filters. Some people buy the cheap pitcher or faucet mount filters that have a low initial cost, however the cost of the replacement filters over time will make the long-term cost higher than if you purchased a larger, high-quality SBAC filter. It's the same concept as buying a cheap inkjet printer and then paying a lot of money for the refill cartridges (on a cost per page basis) versus buying a more expensive laser printer and having a lower cost per page. Also, the cheaper filters are usually granulated carbon and therefore remove far fewer contaminants than a high-quality SBAC filter. If there are some contaminants in your water that are not removed by carbon filters, then you can add a reverse osmosis filter to the system which will remove all minerals and metals. Another advantage of filtering your water is that the purified water is conveniently available at the sink for washing vegetables and cooking, as well as drinking. One of the best SBAC brands available is Multi-Pure and they are currently offering special pricing on their plastic countertop unit. See our St. Patrick's Day Sale above for more details.

When you need to transport your filtered water, what should you put it in, since polycarbonate is bad? According to an article by Seventh Generation, "better options include polypropylene (#5 PP), high density polyethylene (#2 HDPE), and low density polyethylene (#4 LDPE). No evidence has been found to suggest that these plastics leach toxic materials. Scientists advise against the repeated use of plastic water bottles made from plastic type #1 PETE as there is evidence to suggest that such bottles leach a compound known as DEHA, which is classified by the EPA as a possible human carcinogen, as well as acetaldehyde, which has received the same designation from the International Agency for Research on Cancer." Or if weight is not a consideration, you can use small glass or stainless steel bottles.

Once you switch to filtered water, it becomes affordable to provide healthy water for your pet. Just fill their water dish at the sink with the same fresh, filtered water you drink. We suggest using glass or stainless steel water dishes, rather than plastic, to reduce bacterial contamination and leaching of plastic into water. Glass water dishes are ideal, since they are energy-neutral, but there is the risk of breakage, in which case you may prefer stainless steel. Now you and your pets will reap the benefits of drinking healthy water without breaking your budget!

Book of the month

The Beast in the Garden: The True Story of a Predator's Deadly Return to Suburban America
by David Baron

ISBN 0393326349

review by Margaret Auld-Louie

Your first thought might be to wonder why we are featuring a book about cougar attacks rather than a book pertaining to holistic health. We feel the information in this book is very important to the health and safety of you, your children and your pets. If you live in Colorado and walk your dog (or children) in open space, including open space within cities, you need to read this book. If you live elsewhere, this information may still be important, depending on your location. It applies to anyone who lives where cougars are common, including the western U.S. and Vancouver Island. The book is also engrossing and well-written--it reads like a novel and is hard to put down once you start it.

As I learned from this book, some cougars have lost their fear of humans and begun to view them and their pets as potential prey. The conventional wisdom that cougars are afraid of humans and will run from them no longer holds true for all cougars. Cougar attacks on humans and pets have greatly increased in the past 15 years (see: http://users.frii.com/mytymyk/lions/intro.htm for a catalog of cougar attacks). David Baron details how and why this began happening in Boulder County, Colorado in the early 1990's, leading to the killing of an adult jogger in Idaho Springs. He puts part of the blame for this on the deer management policies of Boulder, which led to huge populations of deer in the city (which attracts cougars, their main prey). He explains that cougars began losing their fear of humans after we stopped hunting them. He details how cougars that learn to prey on humans and pets will pass this knowledge on to their offspring (becoming part of their culture). The encroachment of humans into the cougar's habitat (the foothills) also leads to more encounters. He recounts the saga of a cougar preying on pets and livestock in Coal Creek Canyon south of Boulder, culminating in the livestock owner hiring a professional lion hunter to kill the cat.

If you are environmentally-minded (as I am), you may be offended by some material in the book that questions how we manage wilderness and have prohibited or limited hunting of some animals. However, I would urge you to consider the information with an open mind. I am as much a cougar lover as anyone--I have a cougar calendar on the wall of my office and my dream in college (where I majored in biology) was to study cougars in the field. I thought I knew quite a bit about the danger of cougars, particularly to pets left outside in yards in the foothills. However, I didn't realize that cougars are habituating to (becoming used to) humans. Or that their killing of pets could lead to killing of humans as well. This book opened my mind to some of the dangers created by our environmental policies and mismanagement as well as the danger of wilderness in general (such as being killed by predators).

If you live in the Denver/Boulder area of Colorado, this book will really hit home as you read about cougar attacks and activities in places you recognize, including Lakewood, Colorado (a suburb of Denver). The day I finished this book at the end of December 2005, I found the following sign posted in Tucker Gulch, located just ten minutes by foot from our house in Golden, where I commonly walk our little 9 pound Chihuahua-mix dog (a cougar "hors d'ouevre"):

Tucker Gulch is not in the wilderness or even a county open space park in the foothills. It is a small strip of open space within the city limits of Golden, a suburb of Denver, with a cement path running through it, surrounded on either side by houses. Golden is at the edge of the foothills, yet I was surprised to see this sign in Tucker Gulch rather than the wilder edges of Golden. I knew there were cougars in the area, having found a deer bone, most likely from a cougar kill, in the cultivated, grassy park (a park with playground equipment) just north of Tucker Gulch a year or two ago. Still, I was shocked by the strong wording of the sign, cautioning against jogging or bringing pets into the area (cautions that people are ignoring, since the sign is positioned perpendicular to the trail and not easily noticed). This was not the usual "Living with Wildlife in Lion Country" educational sign that is posted in many open space parks in the area. It prompted me to quit worrying about the cost and go buy a good walking stick at REI. Though a walking stick may be insufficient protection from cougars, it's better than nothing. (David Barron recounts the case of a cougar attacking a little dog in the dog's backyard and refusing to drop it even when the owner beat the cougar on the head with a broom. However, people have successfully fought off cougars with rocks, sticks and even their bare hands.)

Though the chances of being attacked by a cougar are slim (statistically you are more likely to be hit by lightning), your odds obviously increase when you hike or live in cougar country. Just as you would take precautions not to be hit by lightning (like not climbing mountains after noon in Colorado), we think it makes sense to take precautions when you're in cougar habitat. To learn more about cougars, read the book (which is now out in paperback) and see the author's website here: www.beastinthegarden.com.

Contact us

Click here to give your pet the fountain of youth today!

E-mail

General Information: Russell@OptimumChoices.com
Webmaster: Webmaster@OptimumChoices.com
Newsletter Editor, Margaret Auld-Louie: Editor@OptimumChoices.com

Telephone

303-271-1649
866-305-2306 (toll-free)
Normal office hours are 11:00 AM – 7:00 PM Mountain Time (U.S.). If you would like a return call outside those hours, please specify what days and times are best.

Location (call first for appointment)

416 Plateau Pky
Golden, CO 80403-1533
U.S.A.

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