Overhaul Your Kitchen for Longevity on Yahoo! Health

One of the most important rooms in your house is the kitchen. That is where you make the meals that bring you nutrition, which in turn, bring you years of quality health. Take these tips to make your kitchen the most nourishing space it can be!

Freshen up your kitchen with Feng Shui
The ancient Chinese art of feng shui uses the science of energy alignment in one's living spaces to help optimize health, wealth, and happiness in one's life. I've had the good fortune to study with my father, a feng shui master who passed down to me thousands of years of wisdom about how to change people's lives through environmental alignment with positive, constructive energy. Here are some tips for your kitchen.

Decorate your kitchen in one or two cheerful colors. Yellow, for instance is an instant energy-booster. Use colors and lights to create balance and harmony in your kitchen. To keep the good energy flowing, cut back on clutter on surfaces and keep your kitchen clean from stains, mold, and dirt. Repair or discard any broken, chipped, and cracked items—these reflect aspects of your life that are broken and can trap energy.

Healthy growing things are a wonderful presence in the kitchen. Why not fill your kitchen with potted aromatic herbs for easy access while you cook?

If your kitchen is long with a window at the end, energy is moving out of the room instead of accumulating to nourish the occupants. Try putting a blossoming flowerpot in front of the window to slow down the energy as it exits. Buffer the sharp edges of cabinets by hanging plants there. Be sure your kitchen has a good working vent to the outside. Regularly air it out by opening the windows. If you are cooking with your back toward the kitchen door, it's important to have a mirror or something reflective in front of you, so you can see people entering. A harmonious kitchen will bring positive energy to all the meals made in it!

Take the toxins out of the kitchen
Now that your kitchen has smooth flowing energy, let's address some potential dangers in the kitchen. Mainly, I recommend moderation: control what you can within your kitchen and be relaxed when you are out eating in restaurants.

Cookware:
Copper or aluminum cookware should be banned from the kitchen. These metals interact with heat and food and leach into your diet; gradually these will accumulate in your body, sometimes reaching the point of toxicity. Toxic levels of aluminum have been linked to memory loss, headaches, indigestion, and brain disorders, including Alzheimer's disease. High levels of copper can debilitate the immune system and enable cancer cells to proliferate. Nonstick pans—although handy in the kitchen—contain Teflon, a plastic that has recently been linked to immune disorders and possible cancer conditions. My recommendation is to use cookware with a porcelain enamel coating or made of glass, cast iron, or lead-free, terra-cotta clay.

Microwave:
Though convenient for our busy schedules, you might want to reconsider the microwave in your kitchen. Microwave ovens work by using a form of radiation—waves of electrical and magnetic energy—to make molecules in the food rotate and move, producing heat. (It uses a non-ionizing electromagnetic radiation and not particle radiation, like ultraviolet or x-rays.) Not only has microwave use been linked to causing infertility in men, but one study found that microwave cooking destroys some important nutrients in foods. Microwaved broccoli lost over 75 percent of three cancer-protecting antioxidants compared to steamed broccoli, which lost just over 10 percent, of these compounds, respectively.

If you must, use the low setting to heat food, and only place in glassware, Corningware, ceramic or lead-free terra cotta bowls. But, your best option is to use a small toaster oven or steam oven to warm your foods. Take the time to warm up your food in a safe and healthy way.

Cooking utensils and tools:
That plastic spatula may be leaching polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) into your food. Avoid plastic and rubber utensils and opt instead for stainless steel or better yet, wooden spatula and spoons. If you eat meat, make sure you reserve one chopping board for meat only so that you are not contaminating produce with bacteria. Instead of baking sheets and aluminum foil, use oven-safe Corningware or enamel ware.

Storage solutions:
Replace all plastic containers with glass containers. Instead of plastic wrap or baggies, use butcher paper wrap.

Cleaning Products:
Bag the toxic cleaning products and go back to basics. Diluted vinegar is one natural effective kitchen cleanser. Just mix 1 cup of distilled white vinegar with 1 cup of water and use as you would any cleaning product. Vinegar inhibits bacteria and mildew, too, which is another plus. Baking soda can be sprinkled on your stovetop, left for five minutes and then scoured with a scrubber. For the stubborn spots that refuse to be removed, try spraying this mixture on: mix dishwashing liquid, borax, and warm water together; let it sit for twenty minutes, and then scour it.

These days, there is an abundance of natural cleaning products on the market, which are safe and will bring cleanliness to your kitchen without putting toxins in the environment.

If you want to cleanse your body of toxins while you cleanse your kitchen, try Internal Cleanse, a powerful formula that increases your liver's ability to cleanse the body of internal and environmental pollutants and toxins.

I hope you receive the longevity rewards that come from making over your kitchen! I invite you to visit often and share your own personal health and longevity tips with me.

May you live long, live strong, and live happy!

-Dr. Mao

- - - - - - - - - -

Transform your health and bring quality to your years with Dr. Mao's natural health products from the Tao of Wellness.

Discover a high-quality water filtration system that will provide you with pure, healthy water.

Order Dr. Mao's new book Second Spring: Hundreds of Natural Secrets for Women to Revitalize and Regenerate at Any Age.

Learn hundreds of ways for living a long and happy life with Dr. Mao's book Secrets of Longevity.

Find out amazing ways you can naturally increase your energy and heal common ailments in Secrets of Self-Healing, Dr. Mao's landmark book on natural healing.