Question from yg

A while ago I purchased Lady J Fruit sweetend cookies. They were excellent. Now I can not find them . Are they under another label ? Is there a place that I could order them through the mail?

Debra’s Answer

I don’t know these cookies and couldn’t find them online. Readers?

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Question from Cary Goulston

If you are looking for a holistic dentist, you can contact the following associations to find a holistic/biological dentist in your area:

www.toxicteeth.org/

www.talkinternational.com

www.mercuryfreenow.com/freeservices/find_dentists.html

www.iaomt.org//findmember.cfm

www.holisticdental.org

Debra’s Answer

Thanks, Cary. Readers, this is from the office of my holistic dentist, Dr. Ray Behm, who I know personally and trust. I would follow this advice when choosing a holistic dentist.

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Question from jeanne

Can you suggest a safe-for-the-environment product or method to remove moss from a rooftop? Thanks.

Debra’s Answer

I’ve effectively removed the green stuff that grows on outside walls with my steam cleaner, but have no experience removing moss from roofs. Readers?

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Question from Denise Arias

Does anyone have a trick for getting a porcelain sink white?

Denise

Debra’s Answer

Try Bon Ami, powdered oxygen bleach (i.e. OxyClean) or hydrogen peroxide.

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Question from Francesca

I was inspired by your recent question regarding waffle irons. What about cookie sheets. All the ones that I can find are always non-stick. Is that what you should be avoiding? Where can you find a safe kind?

Debra’s Answer

Yes, you should be avoiding nonstick finish on cookie sheets.

I personally don’t use cookie sheets to bake cookies. I use what are called “sheet pans.” They are made from an aluminum-steel blend and have no non-stick finish. Where a cookie sheet has no sides, these pans have sides about one inch high, so they can do double duty and be used to bake cakes (they actually are cake pans, used by professional bakers), roast vegetables, and many other things. I put a silicone mat on the sheet pan to make it nonstick (nothing sticks to silicone). You can see a picture of my sheet pans at At Home With Debra: My New Cookware.

I have two 13×18-inch “half-sheet” pans and two 13X9-inch “quarter-sheet” pans. These are so-called because the sizes are fractions of the “full sheet” pan used in restaurants and bakeries (which are too large to fit in a home oven).

Read more on bakware and silcone baking mats at Q&A: Which Bakeware is Safe?.

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Question from Linda Terzich

I want a sauna. Those poplar and glass far infrared units are ideal but at $2,800—yikes. So how to sweat and get far infrared?

Mercola has a do it yourself sauna post at http://www.mercola.com/2002/aug/14/sauna.htm. You can buy the lamps from the hardware store and affixing it (not to plywood) but maybe to pressboard right? And can use in a small bathroom or closet or he suggests two refrigerator boxes stapled together. I LOVE this idea! How inert would the boxes be? Again I’d have an oven thermometer in and make sure I don’t go above 110 degrees. And here again, boxes can have flaps cut in to regulate air flow/temperature.

You know how POOR most of us with MCS are ( I also have CFS). Make it yourself isn’t ideal but would be acheivable by everyone that isn’t on welfare.

If this is doable then everyone can have their own healing sauna.

Thank you,

Linda in Sarasota

Debra’s Answer

This sounds like a good idea to me. You could use whatever material you best tolerate to make the box.

Some cardboard boxes may contain formaldehyde, so find ones you tolerate. Sitting them out in the sun for a few days can help “detox” them.

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Question from martina

Hello,

I would greatly appreciate if someone could answer my question on how to get borax and water to blend together as well as oil and water.

I make all my own all natural cleaning products for my home cleaning business which have been very successful. I would like to sell them now to my clients, but would like to make them look more eye appealling and that they do not have to shake the bottle all the time when using them.

I have tried soya lecithan but the granulars never breakup. Could you suggest some things to mix them together?

Thanks so kindly for your help.

Martina

Debra’s Answer

I don’t know the answer to this. Readers?

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Question from Drey

Hi, I just found your site and I hope you can answer my question. I’m looking for a place to live and just found a place I love, but after about 10 minutes started to get a horrible headache that lasted the rest of the evening. The owner of the house said she’d painted the inside back in October ’06. Can it be possible that I’m reacting to paint outgassing after 3 months?

Thanks!

Drey

Debra’s Answer

It depends on the type of paint used. If it was an oil-based paint, it’s quite likely, particularly since the three months have been in a cool season.

If it was a water-based paint, as most are nowadays, it is probably dry by now and you are reacting to something else.

If you really want this house, ask if you can leave the heat on for several days (with doors and windows closed). Then air the house out for several hours. If after this you are still reacting, then I’d pass.

It may be something other than the paint.

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Question from Linda Terzich

Can you tell me of a good company for a hammock for a bed?

I’ve been reading up on these and the Mayan style (without the wood to make it flat on the ends) is what 10 million (to 100 million says another site) people sleep on in South America, Asia, Yukatan–said that many in Venezuela.

Anyways—I’ve got latex I can’t use, and the platform solid wood untreated maple with upgraded poplar slats (I reacted horribly to the poplar, put acrylic on it and still can’t get near it) …HEAVY SIGH.

What about a hammock? I see it can be hung from walls of cielings, and even can wash the cotton rope hammock.

Please could you do your detective work and help? I know I’m not the only one failing with a bed.

Debra’s Answer

I had no trouble finding cotton (and even hemp) hammocks without the wooden bars. Here are three websites to start with:

Search on “Mayan hammock,” “Brazilian hammock,” “Nicaraguan hammock,” and “hemp hammock” and you’ll find many more sites.

My only caution about this is that I have purchased foreign items in the past which sometimes have their own odors. And the cotton may be less processed than we are accustomed to. But you should go ahead and order and see how it is.

These are also washable. Just throw them in the washing machine and dryer.

Let us know if you order one and how you like it.

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I know I’ve mentioned buying organic food at Costco in the past, but after an experience I had over the weekend, I just have to mention it again.

We’ve been having a cold snap here in Florida (I know you Northerners are going to laugh when I tell you it’s been getting down to 48 degrees!) and even though I usually make chicken stock from scratch, I decided to purchase some. Pacific Natural Foods Organic Free-Range Chicken Broth, is $4.46 for a one quart carton at my local Albertson’s supermarket. At my local independently owned natural food store it is $3.69. And at Costco I bought a box of 6-1 quart boxes for 9.95–that’s $1.66 a carton!

I bought 3 boxes of six cartons for $29.98. That’s 18 cartons. It would have cost me $66.42 at the natural food store and $80.28 at the supermarket! I saved $50.30! That, to me, is a HUGE difference!

Readers, I’d like to know your tips on how you save money buying organic food.