FitSugar

Five Germ-Friendly Areas That Need a Spring Clean

Leta Shy — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 10:00:53 PST

There's no time like Spring to start getting cleanliness on the brain. A clean space makes us happier and more productive, but staying healthy and combating sickness is another reason to dust, scrub, and disinfect your home. Here are five important germ-infested areas that you shouldn't overlook when you dive into your duties!

Healthy Home: Why You Need to Zap Mold

Leta Shy — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 00:45:49 PST

Mold gets a bad rap, and for good reason. That black infestation creeping around your bathroom, basement, or other humid room is not only unsightly but also can be hazardous to your health. If it spreads too much, the spores circulate around your home (including dry areas) and get into your airways. If you have sensitivities or allergies to the stuff, breathing in too much mold can mean stuffy noses, irritated eyes and skin, or wheezing - or, more seriously, fever and shortness of breath. It can also trigger asthma attacks.

Even if you are healthy, however, mold is a problem. A recent study found that healthy people experienced coughing and wheezing when exposed to mold, and it can also cause lung infections or other chronic problems. And while there are several different types of common household molds, there's no need to try to figure out which one you have - if you see mold, you've got a mold problem! So what can you do to make sure your house is healthy and mold-free? Read on for tips on dealing with mold.

Replace These 5 Germ-Friendly Items Regularly For a Healthy Home

Leta Shy — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 07:00:43 PST

Sometimes, even when we do our best to destroy germs in our home, they know the right places to hide and fester. Damp environments like bathrooms and kitchens are the perfect places for bacteria to thrive. In order to keep our homes healthy and happy, there are a few common items that should be replaced regularly. Check out the list below to see if it's time for any of your items to get dumped.

Bath sponges: These have the great honor of potentially spreading mold and bacteria all over your body, so you should wring them out and dry them after each use. Loofahs should be replaced every month because the bacteria can grow in their nooks and crannies easily, but synthetic sponges are more resistant and can last up to eight weeks.
Kitchen sponges: Cleaning, nuking, and drying out your kitchen sponges between washes will help keep them bacteria-free, but you should throw out heavily used sponges every two weeks, or up to eight weeks for those used less vigorously.
Toothbrushes: It's always a good idea to toss your toothbrush after you get over a sickness, and in general, replace yours every three months.
Mattresses: These should be replaced every seven years since any uneven sagging can cause you to have trouble sleeping, not to mention their permanent collection of dust, dirt, and allergens.
Cutting boards. While there's no set time limit for when to replace your cutting boards, you should toss them if you notice discolored grooves, deep clean them regularly, and don't forget to use a separate one for raw meat!

Source: Flickr User Minimalist Photography

Burning Question: When Is It OK to Eat Moldy Food?

YumSugar — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 05:50:51 PDT

The other day, a co-worker asked me whether it was OK to eat a piece of cheese that had grown slightly moldy. That question sparked a discussion on how to handle moldy foods. Can you ever simply cut off the bad parts and proceed to eat the rest? Find out the answer when you read more

How-To: Eliminate Mold in Your Home

CasaSugar — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 11:00:41 PDT

Mold is not your friend. Being exposed to mold in your home can cause allergic reactions and respiratory problems, and is very hazardous to your health. So, if you see it, or smell a musty odor in your digs, you need to remove it. Mold grows in moist areas, so anywhere you've had water leaks, flooding, or high humidity, especially bathrooms and kitchens, you're likely to have a problem. To learn how to eliminate mold in your home,

Casa Quickie: Natural Mold Defeaters

CasaSugar — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 06:15:00 PST

Grapefruit seed extract, along with essential oils such as clove, lavender, and tea tree oil, have antiseptic properties and operate as natural fungicides. If you're dealing with mold when cleaning a bathroom or kitchen, try adding one to two teaspoons of essential oil to two cups of water in a spray bottle. You can also mix 20 drops of grapefruit seed extract with one quart of water. Not sure where to buy essential oils or grapefruit seed extract? Check here for a variety of oils, or here for grapefruit seed extract.

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Minutes to a Healthier You . . .

FitSugar — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 16:00:00 PDT

Sometimes it's the little things we do to keep on track for optimal health that make a difference. Thinking about the quality of air you breathe in your own home takes but a minute or two, but can have a profound effect on your daily life.

Poor indoor air quality can affect your general health, causing allergies and respiratory problems. Houses are much more energy efficient and airtight these days - meaning less outside air makes its way inside to freshen up your home. Constant air-conditioning use in the Summer months just makes the situation worse. Taking five minutes to walk around your home checking for mold, a common indoor air pollutant, is a simple way to take care of your lungs. Mold lurks, unsurprisingly, in bathrooms, so check the walls and shower curtain, but you should also wash your bathmats and towels once a week. Don't forget to check under the sink in your kitchen and the drip tray in your fridge. If your house has central air, you will also want to check the air filter to see if it needs to be replaced.

If you do find mold, clean it up with detergent and let the area dry completely. For more tips on dealing with mold check out the EPA Mold Cleanup Guidelines.

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Recipe For Clean: Make a Mold Defeater

CasaSugar — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 08:15:15 PDT

Of all the ick-worthy parts of cleaning my house, nothing makes me wrinkle my nose and say "ew" like mold does. Not only is mold gross-looking, it's also bad for your health, especially if you have asthma or respiratory issues. If you've assembled your home cleaning kit, you have all the natural ingredients needed to banish mold from your home. I have a great Recipe For Clean for getting your surfaces mold-free. Use it on tile, in the fridge, or on any other mold-ridden surface to get your house so fresh and so clean.

Supplies

2 teaspoons tea tree oil
2 cups water
Spray bottle

To find out the steps for this DIY, just

How To: Kill Shower Curtain Mold

CasaSugar — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 10:30:00 PST

FitSugar recently came to me with an icky shower curtain mold dilemma. The base of her shower curtain has been taken over by a gross pink mold. Despite efforts to tell it what time it is, putting it in the washing machine with a stain-killer, and letting it sit for hours, no dice. Unfortunately, mold thrives in the warm, damp environment of bathrooms, and the shower curtain is no exception. With a quick Google, I found that most of the advice recommended is just what Fit had tried, the washing machine. Then, I came across an archive of a Wall Street Journal article by Sam Schechner called "Testing Ways to Kill Shower-Curtain Mold." Success! To hear a summary of Schechner's techniques for battling that repulsive pink mold,

read more. He tested five methods, slicing up the same nasty shower curtain into fifths. He sprayed one slice with bleach (Tilex Mold and Mildew Remover), one bleach free of chlorine (Seventh Generation Shower Cleaner), "soaked another slice in a bathtub with a bottle of distilled vinegar," dumped another "in a washing machine along with bleach and white towels (for friction)," and "scrubbed one slice with a mixture of water, dish soap, and tea tree oil." A pretty thorough experiment, huh? Here are the results:

The spray with Tilex Mold and Mildew Remover trial, which cost $3.29 for a 32 fl. oz. spray bottle, was easy, requiring no scrubbing. The result? The curtain smelled "like a noxious swimming pool," but "came out practically bone-white."
The spray with Seventh Generation Shower Cleaner, which cost $4.99 for a 32 fl. oz. spray bottle, required 14 minutes of scrubbing on just the one section of curtain. The result? The curtain smelled like "sweet lemon soda," but a "grayish pattern remained where the black mold had been," although not so noticeable from across the room.
Soaking the curtain in distilled vinegar and water, which cost $1.29 for a 16 fl. oz. bottle of Heinz distilled white vinegar, required "slightly less elbow grease than some methods," but still took an hour to soak. The result? It smelled "like someone had made a salad in our bathroom," and still left visible gray stains.
Washing the curtain with NOW tea tree oil and dishsoap, which cost $5.95 for a 1 fl. oz. bottle of oil and $1.99 for Palmolive, required what felt like nearly "a full upper-body workout at the gym." The result? The curtain smelled like "a massage parlor" but resulted in "minimal payback for all that effort."
Bleaching the curtain in washing machine on a hot-water cycle, which cost $1.29 for a 24 fl. oz. bottle of Clorox Ultra Regular Bleach, didn't require any work aside from letting the washing machine do its thing. The result? It was left with a "light bleach odor," but "big rust-colored stains remained," even after a second washing.

So, I guess the Tilex did the trick in the stain department, but is still toxic. Letting it air dry might get rid of the chemical smell, but still, who wants to inhale the smell of a "noxious swimming pool?" That can't be good for you or the environment. In terms of results, The Seventh Generation Shower Cleaner sounds like the second best option, but is 70 minutes of scrubbing time (14 mins. x 5) really worth it? It might be better to find a way to recycle, reuse, or repurpose your moldy nylon shower curtain, and buy a new one. Ahh it's hard to be So Fresh and Clean sometimes. Source

How to Deal With Seasonal Allergies, Asthma and Exercise

FitSugar — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 11:45:00 PDT

Tis the season for seasonal allergies – ragweed, mold (from soggy leaves) and dust mites galore! When you suffer from itchy eyes and throat, sneezing, runny nose, or allergy induced-asthma, exercising your body is far from top on your list. Here are some tips to help allergy sufferers still get in a workout.

As beautiful as it is outside, you're better off exercising inside. When you huff and puff while doing cardio outside, you're only inhaling the allergens that are bothering you. Join a gym or use your home treadmill or elliptical to keep up with your cardio.
Take your allergy medicine as directed. Even if you're not having symptoms, when taken daily, many of those prescriptions help to prevent attacks if and when your body does come in contact with enemy allergens. Those meds can control your symptoms before they start.

Want to hear the other tips? Then

I got this great tip from my allergist: If you have asthma, and you use a rescue inhaler like Albuterol, take a puff or two before you do any cardio. It'll allow you to take deeper breaths, and may prevent an asthma attack.
If you are prone to asthma attacks, keep your inhaler close by while you workout, just in case you need it.
Try to breath through your nose while exercising, since the nose hairs act as a natural filter. Is your nose is stuffed, take a steamy shower before working out, or try using a neti pot to clear out any mucus.
If your symptoms are really bad, do some light exercise inside like a fitness DVD, yoga, weight lifting, or walking on a treadmill.

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