What are some of the major indoor air contaminants, where do they come from and what are the health risks?

To make sure you and your family are breathing clean air at home, it is essential to have an environmentally friendly Air Purifier.

View Vitality4Life's collection of Zalmandn Air Purifiers

Our Juicers will make it an easy and fun process!

PESTO

1 ½ cups of basil
finger thick bunch of parsley
1 clove garlic
1 cup pine nuts (or pistachio)
Juice of ½ lemon
2 tsp olive oil
Braggs Amino Acids

Feed the basil, parsley, garlic and pine nuts through the Oscar using the mincing function. Mix the oil and lemon juice into the paste until smooth. Spice with Braggs.

SPROUTED CHICKPEA HUMMUS

1 ½ cups soaked , sprouted and drained chick peas
½ cup chopped spring onion
½ cup chopped parsley
¼ cup lemon juice
Big squeeze of orange or lemon juice
2 tbls hulled tahini
1 tbls honey or maple syrup
2 tbls Bragss liquid aminos
Pinch cayenne pepper (optional)
Ginger (optional)

Feed chickpeas, parsley, spring onion into Oscar using the mincing screen and drum cap. Thoroughly mix all other ingredients together and serve.

MAX SALSA

4 ripe tomatoes
½ red or green capsicum
½ stick celery
1 small onion
1 clove garlic
1-2 tbsp fresh coriander
1/3 tsp cumin
Braggs liquid aminos
Cayenne pepper or fresh chilli

Cut and feed all ingredients into chute alternatively. Mix well and serve vegetable sticks or rice crackers made with the Oscar Vital Max.

JUICED TOMATOES AND HERB SOUP

8 tomatoes
2 carrots
Pinch of sea salt
Pinch of black pepper
1 tsp. fresh dill
2-3 basil leaves
1 tsp olive oil

SWEET GRASS

2 carrots
1 orange
30mls wheatgrass
Ginger to taste

WHEATGRASS WHIP

30mls wheatgrass
1 green apple
½ lime

WHEATGRASS, BARLEY GRASS OR ALFALFA JUICE

Place a bunch of wheatgrass (about ¾ inch diameter) tip down into the feeding Chute. Feed carrots and other desired fruits or vegetables into the chute for a milder tasting combination for those who haven’t tried pure wheatgrass juice before.

APPLE AND CELERY JUICE

5-6 apples
3-4 celery stalks
Juice alternatively.

Apples build resistance to infection, have anti- cancer benefits and are great for healthy hair, skin and fingernails. Celery assists in the elimination of carcinogens and has a calming effect on the nervous system.

GRAPE  & WATERMELON JUICE

Watermelon
Bunch of grapes without the stems
Juice alternatively.

Watermelon assists in flushing the kidneys and bladder, assists in digestions and the eliminations of uric acid that may cause gout.

CARROT JUICE

4 medium carrots
4 tomatoes
2 stalks celery
1 clove garlic
small bunch of parsley or some fresh basil leaves

Carrots have carotene, which is a natural protection against sunburns. Celery is rich in vitamin C. Garlic defeats high blood pressure and cholesterol, to name but a few of its many benefits. Basil is rich in calcium and has a delicious flavour. Parsley is packed with iron. A healthy juicing recipe!

Discover all the health benefits of Living Juice with the Vitality 4 Life range of healthy juicers

Strawberry & Yoghurt Roll-Up is a yummy treat for both the kids & for a quick "breakfast on-the-go"!

And so quick & easy to create...

Simply just blend in the Power Mill Blender:

1 Punnet of Organic Strawberries

2 Bananas

3 dollops of good-quality yoghurt

Then Pour onto Teflex Sheet.

Tip: Pour in a large circle, and smooth inwards to centre - this will ensure the edges are slightly thicker than middle for more even drying.

Place into Excalibur Food Dehydrator and dehydrate for approx 10 Hours at 45°C.

Simple & Healthy Snack for You and the Kids!

Eat more greens! Juicing your greens is a great way to consume a large amount of nutrious green vegies in one day! Maximise your vegetable intake with this wonderful Green Juice recipe

Green Juice is high in Chlorophyll! Chlorophyll is medicine for our bodies. By increasing the flow of oxygen we are able to release toxins and stress from every part of the body. The more oxygen in our bodies the harder it is for disease to live!

This is the perfect recipe for Green Juice - providing you with the nutrients & minerals you need to revitalise & kick-start your day!

Simply Juice:

4 Stalks of Celery

1/2 Whole Cucumber

1 Cup of Sunflower Sprouts

5 Leaves/Stalks Kale or Spinach

3 Leaves/Stalks of Swiss Chard

This is an unsweetened recipe, although you can add a little apple or carrot if you find it to strong.

Find excellent Green Juice Recipes in the wonderful book: Living Foods for Optimum Health By Theresa Foy and Brian R.Clement.

Enjoy!

Walking is low impact and benefits include improved cardiovascular fitness, stronger bones and reduced body fat, plus it’s suitable for almost everyone.

Seven Top Walking Tips…

1. Look for walking opportunities; park your car a little further away from your destination
2. Get off public transport or the elevator one stop earlier and walk!
3. Walk for 30 minutes per day or set a distance each day and stick to it
4. Become a tourist in your own town and take the nature or scenic walks on occasion
5. Regular leisurely walks around your neighbourhood may lead to new friends!
6. Make walking a pleasure by having the correct footwear and clothing to suit conditions
7. Before walking, remind yourself how much better you will feel afterwards!

Building physical activity into your life

Physical activity built into a daily lifestyle plan is also one of the most effective ways to keep healthy and assist with weight loss and keep the weight off.

Start with regular small bouts of 10 minutes three times per day and gradually build up to longer sessions. If your goal is to lose weight, you will need to do physical activity for longer than 30 minutes each day and you can achieve this by starting with smaller bouts of activity throughout the day and increasing these to sessions of more than 30 minutes as your fitness improves.

Drink plenty of pure water and/or a freshly made living juice before and after your walk. If you are taking a long walk, take a water bottle with you.

Wear a pedometer

A pedometer measures the number of steps you take. You can use it to measure your movement throughout the day and compare it to other days or to recommended amounts. This is a great motivator! The recommended number of steps accumulated per day to achieve health benefits is 10,000 steps or more.

Footwear is important

Walking is a low cost and effective form of exercise. However, the wrong type of shoe or walking action can cause foot or shin pain, blisters and injuries to soft tissue. Make sure your shoes are comfortable, with appropriate heel and arch supports. Take light, easy steps and make sure your heel touches down before your toes. Whenever possible, walk on grass rather than concrete to help absorb the impact.

* Moderate activities such as walking pose little health risk but, if you have a medical condition, check with your doctor before starting any new exercise program of physical activity.

Vitality4Life has an extensive range of home gym equipment to help you on your way to fitness, including vibration machines, yoga props, spin bikes, vibrational training bars and much more.

Chlorine and lead is in everybody’s water, but there are also traces of pesticides, herbicides, industrial solvents and bacteria. Almost every chemical we use in our society works its way into our water supplies.

What people are not aware of is that municipal water treatment does not take those contaminants out. The treatment only kills certain bacteria and removes the visible particles, it does not take out synthetic organic chemicals, this needs to be done in our own homes.

What can these chemicals do to our bodies?

Synthetic organic chemicals increase the risk of degenerative disease and cancer. Almost all types of cancer are linked to increased exposure to synthetic organic chemicals such as pesticides, herbicides, chlorine and trihalomethanes, which are added when chlorine is put in to our water. Colon cancer, bladder cancer and breast cancer have all been directly linked to an increased consumption of synthetic chemicals.

What to do…

Bottled water?

Bottled water does not necessarily mean that you are getting chemical free water and the common misconception is that bottled water is purer than tap water. There are fewer regulations governing bottled water than tap water and most studies show that bottled water contains most of the chemicals that tap water does. Furthermore, any liquid that is stored in a plastic bottle is going to contain some of the chemicals from the plastic that leach into the water, which some studies have shown contain carcinogenic properties.

The environmental consequences of bottled water are tragic and statistics show that 60 million plastic bottle are thrown into landfills every day in America alone, where it takes thousands of years for the plastic to decompose.  Filtering your water in your own home and decanting it into environmentally friendly glass or stainless steel reusable bottles can not only save you money, but will go a long way to reducing the devastating impact that plastic is having on our environment.

The only way to get chemical free water is to filter it in your own home…

The benefits:

•    Less expensive
•    More convenient
•    Better quality
•    Environmentally friendly

You can fill your own reusable bottles right at your kitchen sink with a good quality home water filter, giving you pure, healthy filtered water at a tenth of the price.

What about the water we bathe and shower in?

Recent studies published in the American Journal of Public Health and reports published by the World Health Organization show that we take in three times more chemicals when we shower than we do from drinking water.

The steam from the shower opens the pores of the skin, making it extremely porous and prone to absorbing all the chemicals that exists in the water. Futhermore we inhale these chemicals into our lungs, so at the very least it is important to make sure that the water we are bathing and showing in is filtered and chemical free.

A standard water testing kit available from any pool supply shop will allow you to test the chlorine levels in your water at home. When we conducted our own tests on tap water, the results showed the water to be on the borderline of what is considered safe to swim in, so anyone can see the potential harm of drinking and bathing in unfiltered tap water.

What should we do in our homes?

Filter your water…

There’s many ways to filter your water at home:

Point of use water filtration - a water filter can be installed in the kitchen, either on the kitchen bench attached to your existing tap, or under the benchtop with a separate tap, providing you with fresh, pure water for drinking and cooking.

Shower filtration - a shower filter can be easily installed in your bathroom to ensure you are bathing in clean, chemical free water, reducing the amount of toxins absorbed through the skin. These filters can also reduce the flow of water, saving you money on your water bills.

Central filtration - a whole house water filter can be installed very easily and economically, ensuring that all the water entering your entire household, which is used in the bathroom, kitchen and laundry, is clean and chemical free.

Aquasana has a superb range of extremely effective and affordable water filtration products, available here at Vitality 4 Life.

Aquasana Countertop Water Filter
Aquasana Shower Water Filter
Aquasana Whole House Water Filter
Aquasana Glass Water Bottles

Firstly, you will need to detirmine what you want to juice, how often & for how many people. Depending on individual needs, we can assist you to choose the perfect juicer for you and your family.

There are 3 main types of Juicers:

Twin Gear Juice Extractor. Twin Gears contain magnetic and bio-ceramic technologies which work together to generate an overflow of positive ions, increasing the life and vitality of the juice (stays alive for up to 72 hours). The extraction rate has improved by 5-10%, as the stainless steel twin gears mesh closer together than ever before, opening the cellulose wall and allowing the enzymes and nutrients to be suspended in colloidal form, making them more accessible to the body.

Perfect for Raw Food Enthusiast or someone who wants highest quantity of living nutrients & enzymes.

Single Gear Juicer. Using a 3-step ager crushing system, with mortar & pestle action to keep nutrients & enzymes alive for 48 Hours. A gentle and slow-turning action is capable of not only juicing but creating an array of dips, frozen desserts, pasta, noodles & much more. Our single gear Juicers are quiet, and extremley easy to clean.

Perfect for the family and house-hold domestic use.

Masticating Juicer. This process chews the fibres and breaks up the cellulose fibre of fruits and vegetables. Using a slow turning cutter that prevents friction heat, masticating juicers are designed to avoid destruction of essential vitamins, proteins and enzymes. Masticating Juicers are High Volume Juicers.

Perfect for users who want a high volume of juice whilst still retaining nutrients & enzymes.

Depending on which type of Cold-Press Juicer you are looking for, we have a range of Juicers which will suit individual needs.

Greenpower Hippocrates Twin Gear Juicer

The Greenpower Hippocrates twin gear juicer is an excellent living juicer which extracts the highest yield from the largest variety of fruits and vegetables including wheatgrass and leafy greens. Doubling as a (living) food processor, you can make nut butters, frozen fruit ice creams, puree and much more.

RRP NZ$849.00

Oscar Neo DA 1000
The Oscar Neo Living Juicer is our newest & most advanced Single Gear Juicer with a pulp adjusting knob, previously only available on far more expensive twin gear machines! Also, easily doubles as a living food processor - easily creating nut butters, pasta, noodles & much more - whilst still being so easy to clean!

RRP NZ$695.00

Champion 2000+

The Champion 2000+ adds a new dimension to the concept of versatility. World renowned for the ice-cream it produces, it can then reinvent itself and make flour! Invented in 1954, the Champion has a reputation of being the best Masticating Juicer in the world!

RRP NZ$659.00

We are here to help! If you require additional information on any of our Juicers, please call us on +64800882924

Add sawdust or wood pellets to the waste to absorb moisture. The ratio should be around 1:10 (wood/sawdust : waste).

Rotate the unit – this is one of the most remarkable advantages of these composters as new surface planes emerge for the micro-organisms to digest. Rotating draws air in through the air vents, preventing bad smells from occurring and also mixes wet and dry matter. After the heat has initially built up, the air vents should be open at all times. One turn of the unit with each new quantity of waste is sufficient to aerate the contents.

Rotate the unit more often if the contents are wet to ensure even distribution of the sawdust or wood pellets.

What is the best material to use when beginning with the Big or Little Pig composter?

Place a couple of shovels loads of active compost, horse or chicken manure into the new side to begin the process.

What CAN I put in my composter?

Food scraps – raw, cooked, fried and smoked
Meat – and bone
Fish – and bone
Shellfish
Vegetables
Eggs – and shell
Potatoes
Bread and Biscuits
Fruit – every kind
Coffee drains and filters
Teabags and tea leaves
Household paper, paper bags – non coloured
Serviettes – non  coloured
Egg cartons – non coloured without price tag
Sawdust from hamster/guinea pig cages
Flower waste from vases, pots and terraces
Dog waste

What should I NOT put in my composter?

Cigarette butts, ash, snuff and tobacco
Chewing gum
Tinfoil and other metals
Rubber items
Cat sand
Vacuum cleaner bags
Envelopes, newspapers or other heavily printed matter
Any plastic, plastic bags
Milk or juice cartons – they are waxed
Cling film
Pieces of coloured or impregnated wood – a pollutant to the compost
Sacking
Fire ashes, chalk, earth
Liquids – milk, soup etc

Why can I put meat into this composter? I thought meat was no good.

One of the main reasons that meat has traditionally been excluded from compost is that is attracts vermin. With the Joraform composters, they are completely sealed units which are also elevated therefore this is no longer a problem.

How important is adding newspaper, lawn and garden clippings to making good compost?

They key to making a compost work is aeration and the correct mix of carbon and nitrogen. Tear up all household paper and newspapers; add garden clippings and also wood shavings or pellets to remove the moisture. The design of the Big and Little Pig composters is that it’s easy to rotate and introduce air and turn over the planes so that the micro organisms can do their work.

What role do the sawdust/wood shavings play?

The use of sawdust / wood shavings absorbs the moisture and gives structure to the compost, keeping it well aerated. The addition of sawdust has 3 important functions. Micro-organisms need both carbon and nitrogen.

For each part nitrogen (N) there needs to be 30 parts carbon (C). Green waste and food waste are very high in nitrogen. Therefore, carbon is needed to balance the waste. When you add dry sawdust, it…

1. absorbs moisture
2. adds structure to the finished compost
3. provides a carbon source on which the micro-organisms feed

What makes the Joraform Composter so unique?

Composting works best when it’s left to do its own thing! The twin compartments of the Joraform composters allows for one side to be completely closed off when full. The heat generated in this highly insulated unit reaches up to 75° centigrade.

This Swedish designed quality home composting unit is manufactured to impeccably high standards. Available in 2 sizes, both units feature 2 insulated compartments and are self standing or can be mounted to the wall (brackets included).

What can I use the compost for?

You can use your homemade compost for fertilizing lawns, pot plants, vegetable gardens and flower beds.

How long will it take for my compost to be ready?

Your organic, nutrient rich compost will be ready for use in around 6 weeks!

Why is it important for my composter to be fully insulated and aerated?

The most suitable organisms for decomposition are oxygen breathers or “aerobes” and there must be an adequate movement of air through the decomposing matter to supply their needs.

The Jora composter has been cleverly constructed to allow aeration while simultaneously, the insulation accelerates the decomposing process as the temperature is maintained at the correct level for decomposing to occur.

Why is it important for my composter to rotate?

Rotating the unit draws air in through the air vents, preventing odours and mixing wet and dry matter. By rotating the unit, aeration occurs and the moisture is evenly distributed so new surface planes emerge for the micro-organisms to digest.

Modern buildings are designed to be energy efficient so as to maintain temperature, but as a consequence they do not breathe. This allows air pollutants to accumulate inside the building, as they cannot escape. Modern buildings and old buildings alike often leach toxic particles and fumes, from building materials, glues, cements, paints & finishes used in construction.

Sources of indoor air contamination include cigarette smoking indoors, gasses given off from poorly ventilated cooking appliances and heaters, and other materials within the home that emit unhealthy chemicals. These chemicals, some of which are called volatile organic compounds (VOC’s), can cause ill health and they are found in carpets, chipboard, furnishing fabrics, clothing pesticides, cleaning products, toiletries, cosmetics and hobby products.

Levels of indoor air pollution will increase with recently dry cleaned clothing, perfumes & sprays. Perfumes can contain as many as 100 ingredients and are very potent additions to indoor air pollution.

What to look for when purchasing an Air Purifier

One point to consider when choosing an air purifier is how efficient the unit is capable of circulating and purifying the air. If the holes in the filter are too small, it will filter well at first, but at the same time it has a high resistance to rapid airflow. As a result, its purification ability is significantly lower as time goes by and the life span of the filter is shortened.The Zalmandn Air Purifiers have remarkable deodorisation power, high air circulation and collection ability with lower resistance to air, so the high purification can last as long as the filters.

The Zalmandn Air Purifiers have several advantages over competitors

1. Environmentally friendly components
2. Hypo-allergenic filtration media
3. Some of the filters are washable & re-usable,
   saving you money on replacement cartridges
4. Excellent clean air delivery rate (CADR)
5. Multi-media filtration removes a wider range of contaminants
6. Easy to operate and replace cartridges
7. World 1st patented inbuilt sensor for filter replacement
8. Optional sterilization filter reducing bacteria >99%
9. AHAM certified
10. 3 year warranty

Click here to see the full range of Zalmandn Air Purifiers