After digging in the flower beds, cleaning the gutters, and mowing the lawn, I began to meditate on the power of SOAP... It wasn't 12 hours before I received an e-newsletter from Pangea Organics about the punk rock band fiasco. Seems that the band managed to get their van and themselves searched by police, who ended up busting them because a "smelling" device called NarcoPouch 928 gave a positive read for GHB (the date rape drug) in the Dr. Bronner's soap the band was carrying. Gives a whole new meaning to "cleaning up this town."

Anyway, apparently the device will always give a positive read for GHB on any truly natural soap. And as the case unfolded, the band showed the Dr. Bronner's Company a whole lot more about their competition. Don Bolles, drummer for the punk rock band, The Germs, ended up having to hire a lawyer to help him and his bandmates out of the legal mess they were in. In attempting to make their case, they tested several natural soaps to show that the NarcoPouch 928 would test incorrectly for GHB. Well, it turns out that the purported "natural" soaps, were not soaps at all--some were detergents, some were out and out chemical solvents, and so, tested negative.

"Our testing shows that real soaps which are made using the ecological time-honored process of saponification of vegetable oil will always test positive for GHB, while complicated synthetic detergent-based so-called 'liquid soaps' test negative," said David Bronner. "The NarcoPouch® 928 is a great test for determining if a product labeled 'Soap' actually contains real soap or not. It's ironic that the flawed GHB field test used by cops shows in a graphic, immediate way, true versus fake soaps. Fortunately for Don Bolles, the much more accurate confirmation drug-testing by the Orange County crime lab proved our soap did not contain the drug GHB."

Detergents in fake soap products are usually made in part or even entirely from petroleum along with vegetable feedstocks. For instance, Olefin Sulfonate, the main ingredient in both Nature's Gate ORGANICS "Soap" and Kiss My Face Obsessively Organic "Soap," is made entirely from petroleum.

Bronner laments: "Companies mislead consumers in conflating their detergent-based products with ecological biodegradable soaps, even calling these synthetic detergent products 'organic.'"

You can read the entire article here, which includes a fascinating video featuring the band.

Meanwhile, we're sticking with our favorites, Venables Valley Soaps--handmade from a family in Canada, who uses essential oils and vegetable fats to create these wonderfully aromatic soaps.

Also, we recommend, Sunfood's Tea Tree Soap, and of course, Dr. Bronner's Liquid Soap Almond Castile

So, stay clean until next week...

In vibrant health,

Shay Arave
President
Pure Energy Rx

Wacky Workouts: Summer's Hottest Ways to Get Fit
Since the transformation of strip aerobics from a bicoastal anomaly to a workout staple, themed workout classes have expanded beyond pole dancing into even more outlandish themes of aspiration. Forget strippers; be an action hero.

"The reason you're seeing those out-of-the-box classes, I think people are always looking for a way to make the activity more engaging and stimulating," said Cedric Bryant, the chief science officer for the American Council on Exercise. "One of the challenges that you face is that if the activity becomes somewhat boring," people stop exercising.

The trend in fitness these days is fantasy, according to Crunch spokeswoman Amy Strathern. "By day you're an investment banker, and at night you're an action movie hero."

On the West Coast, Achinta McDaniel has latched on to the recent stateside popularity of India's Bollywood movies to launch her Bollywood bhangra Beats class at Swerve, which pioneered its own fitness trend a few years ago--Yoga Booty Ballet. >>> MORE

Herbal Accelerator...Rev up your metabolism...2-4-1 SALE!

Speed up that spring weight loss with Herbal Accelerator. And to help you do that, we're offering a 2-4-1 SALE. Buy one Herbal Accelerator ($28), and get TWO! We recommend using this formula alongside our recommended Body Type formulas determined from our Body Type Survey.

To lose those extra pounds:

• Find out your BODY TYPE
• Get the body type FORMULA
• Use HERBAL ACCELERATOR
• Use RELEASEZYME to help regulate the bowels.
• Drink plenty of WATER (1 oz. for every 2 lbs. of body weight)
• Eat HIGH FIBER foods such as fruits and vegetables
• Get 30 min. of EXERCISE a day
• Watch those pounds FALL AWAY!

The Art of Letting Go While Maximizing Productivity
Our resident Life Coach and Synergy Specialist, Charly Emery, dives into the question of how to let go while taking the actions necessary to achieve our goals. "After the goal is identified, it's time to consider what actions will yield the desired results and go for it, right? Sure. But, letting go is the invaluable part of this course of action, which fits smack dab in the middle of the process between your visualization and your action," writes Charly. She compares molding our lives to the pottery maker molding clay on a pottery wheel--too much force and all is lost, too little, and nothing happens... >>>> MORE

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