Dara Torres pulls it off. An Olympic swimming silver at age 41 amidst rumors of faked asthma and doping…

We’re not going to comment on doping because who’s to say. We would like to think everything is on the clean.

So we though we would weigh in how Dara might be doing it on her own, from the organic, eco, healthy point of view.

It’s no secret that a lot of swimmers develop asthma over time. And there is a growing body of study evidence pointing to chlorinated water exposure as contributing to that trend. So, we don’t think it’s surprising, giving the amount of time the average top level swimmers spend in the water that Dara might have developed asthma over time. She’s got a lot of company.

It’s one of the reasons we are keen on pools that don’t use chlorine. It doesn’t seem fair to blame swimmers for asthma that they could very well have gotten from simply practicing their sport for hours on end, year after year.

There has been a lot of emphasis on the inhalers and medications that swimmers with asthma use, but in fact, if you don’t have asthma, those medicines don’t help you swim faster. And if you do have asthma, at best, they just bring your lung function up to the same as competitors that don’t have asthma.

On a different note, it’s no secret that nutrition is different than it used to be. We have a much better understanding of how the biochemistry of energy production and muscle strength in the body works. How individuals are slightly different, with slightly different nutritional needs. And there are all sorts of nutritional supplements to optimize performance.

And then there is good old food. There is the idea of nutritional value of food and how the right food can maximize the health and performance of anyone, including athletes. The concept of “food as medicine” exemplifies this perfectly.

Then there is the idea that organic food grown in nutrient rich soil and without toxins, antibiotics and hormones is different and worth it. It is so worth it that the US is said to be importing some of it’s food for the athletes. And China has made extra efforts to produce organic foods and institute strict monitoring of produce and meats. In great part, due to pollution and hormone contamination concerns.

We don’t think Dara’s been eating mostly McDonald’s like Ryan Lochte. And we don’t think, if Lochte decided to compete at age 41 he’d be eating McDonald’s then either. But anyone that can pull off a world record backstroke IM double header, more power to him.

So if Dara’s doing it on her own, which we hope she is, we hope she’s doing everything green, eco and healthy that she can to do it.

Does she or doesn’t she? Do non-toxic color, that is….
Well, actually, safer hair coloring is a relative thing. But there are a whole bevy of products that are an improvement over the last generation of hair coloring.
From brands like EcoColors, Aveda and Shades Natural Color to salons like John Masters Organics, the options [...]

We couldn’t forget the Irish green and organic movement on this lucky day of the Irish.
We ran across Nadur Organics while looking for some green and organic pampering products. And we approve.
They have some great oils and pampering products. And they also have some nice links to organic green oriented resources and breast [...]

I’m going to start this post with some solutions to the “pharmaceuticals in the water” news…

Use reverse osmosis home water filters.
Eat organic meat, poultry and dairy products that have not been exposed to antibiotics or hormones.
Take unused medication to a local drug disposal program.
Use health and wellness solutions that get to the root [...]

Thallium.
Arsenic.
PCB’s.
Cadmium.
Molybdenum.
Chlordane.
Were these toxin’s found in a toxic dump somewhere?
No!
They were found in waste sludge used to fertilize land, and milk from the cows that grazed that land. This AP story lays out the whole scoop. Read it. Please. You will be shocked and awed. And sickened. These toxins were [...]

We wish the weather would hurry up and get a little warmer. Here in California we just got a nice taste of some spring like weather and then - wham - right back into winter.
It just makes us want to crawl in under the sheets.
And, we really like the fact that there are more [...]

We like flowers. Yes we do.
It would be especially cool (hint, hint) to get some nice organic flowers that are pesticide free. Since pesticides can bother that little thyroid of ours. And, nervous system too…
Check out Organic Bouquet or California Organic Flowers. Or, if you don’t mind doing a little leg [...]

I remember when I was a little kid growing up, it was a treat to go out to the drive up broasted chicken place on Saturday night. We used to sit there in our car seats, where it smelled vaguely of gasoline and interior vinyl treatment. I can still remember the taste of [...]