Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Questions on Palm Oil and Simple Green answered

Taryn asks: "I truly appreciate all the research that you do. My question is about the Skippy brand natural peanut butter. It contains palm oil and I wanted to find out if that is considered a "good" oil and how I can find out information like that in the future. Also, what are your thoughts/research about the Simple Green brand cleaner. It claims to be non-toxic and biodegradeable. thanks, Taryn"

Hi Taryn! Thanks for your comment. Here's what I found on Palm Oil http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/id/QAA118473. I don't know much about it, I stick to Sprout's brand (or similar) peanut butter with just peanuts and maybe some salt, that's it. Nuts have their own oil content so I don't usual buy peanut butter with any other oil in it. But, I loved the link above, it gave good info on the different types of Palm oil. I just googled "PALM OIL HEALTHY" and looked at sources I felt to be reputable. I love Dr. Weil and feel he is impartial. If it is sponsored by the industry from which it comes, I consider that questionable.

I don't like Simple Green. This comes from years ago buying those little "shells" that are really densly packed fish food. You put it in your aquarium and can go on vacation and it slowly dissolves and releases food. Well, we bought a bad batch and came home to belly up fish. I cleaned the tank with Simple Green and then went to buy more fish. The fish person went through the whole deal of telling me to clean the tank really well, etc. I told him what I had done and he actually gasped. He said now my tank was contaminated and I would have to wait a while and continue to rinse/wash. The fact that Simple Green residue would kill my new fish turned me off. Things that kill other things certainly can't be that good for me. Here are a few links with more info:

http://www.uml.edu/Media/News%20Articles/2006%20UML%20in%20the%20News/'Natural'_doesn't_al.html
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0209-03.htm

I do most of my cleaning with vinegar and baking soda. I do use Murphy's Oil Soap on occasion too. Hopefully that doesn't jinx me and someone doesn't post some awful comment about just how toxic it is. I couldn't find anything really bad, it is vegetable based but does have a preservative and fragrance but nothing else of material concern.

Sorry to be such a negative nelly about the two things you asked about. But, when in doubt I just google the item and either add in other keywords like "safe" "healthy" "health" "toxin", etc. I just weed through and look for fair sources who have some interest in health and safety, not selling their products. I hope that helps!!

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