{"id":135,"date":"2009-04-03T08:42:41","date_gmt":"2009-04-03T13:42:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/arielservadio.com\/blog\/?p=135"},"modified":"2009-05-05T00:33:52","modified_gmt":"2009-05-05T05:33:52","slug":"may-your-cup-never-runneth-over-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arielservadio.com\/blog\/2009\/04\/may-your-cup-never-runneth-over-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"May Your Cup Never Runneth Over (Part 2)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_136\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-136\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-136\" title=\"Tampon Mountain\" src=\"https:\/\/arielservadio.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/04\/10_years-300x239.jpg\" alt=\"Photo Courtesy of Keeper-Menstrual-Cup.com\" width=\"300\" height=\"239\" srcset=\"https:\/\/arielservadio.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/04\/10_years-300x239.jpg 300w, https:\/\/arielservadio.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/04\/10_years.jpg 818w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-136\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo Courtesy of Keeper-Menstrual-Cup.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Yesterday, I talked about some great eco-conscious reasons to make the switch from disposable menstrual products to <a href=\"https:\/\/arielservadio.com\/blog\/?p=116\" target=\"_blank\">menstrual cups<\/a>. Today, I&#8217;ve got plenty of other reasons why switching to a cup is a great idea, even if you don&#8217;t give a fig about the enivornment.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>1) We&#8217;re in a recession! Why flush your hard-earned cash (or dwindling savings) down the toilet &#8211; literally? Buying a menstrual cup may cost more than buying a box of tampons, but think of how many more times you&#8217;ll have to buy that box of tampons in the next ten years. If you&#8217;re internet-savvy, you can find different brands of menstrual cups for <a href=\"http:\/\/www.google.com\/products?q=divacup&amp;hl=en\" target=\"_blank\">as little as $20<\/a>. That&#8217;s like four boxes of tampons &#8211; that will last you a decade.<\/p>\n<p><!--more-->2) Awesome health benefits!<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 First, cups eliminate the risk of the ever-looming danger of TSS (<a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Toxic_shock_syndrome\" target=\"_blank\">Toxic Shock Syndrome<\/a>) when you&#8217;re a tampon user. Since cups are made of solid silicone or rubber and are not absorbent, they don&#8217;t create the conditions that allow the bacteria that causes TSS to grow.<br \/>\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 Because you&#8217;re not creating a warm, damp environment for bacteria to thrive in (and potentially altering the natural pH balance of your vagina) by using pads or tampons, you have a lower risk of bacterial and yeast infections. Additionally, cups that are made out of medical grade silicone (like the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.divacup.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Divacup<\/a> and the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mooncup.co.uk\/\" target=\"_blank\">Mooncup<\/a>) can be boiled to sterilize after your cycle each month &#8211; cutting your risk of bacterial infection down even further.<br \/>\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 Also, because there are no harsh chemicals in menstrual cups &#8211; like bleach, and dioxins, which are known carcinogens &#8211; your period can not only be a more comfortable experience, but a healthier one overall.<\/p>\n<p>3) Convenience!<br \/>\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 You have no idea how much easier &#8220;that time of the month&#8221; can be when you use a menstrual cup. Wearing a cup, you will have the enjoyable freedom of only having to empty it twice a day &#8211; once every 12 hours (or even less, at your own discretion, although it is not recommended by any menstrual cup manufacturer). If you&#8217;re one of those lucky girls whose only period symptom is bleeding through your underwear &#8211; that means you only have to remember that you&#8217;re on your period twice a day (you&#8217;ll be surprised how easy it can be to forget after you start using a cup). Rather than having to angrily remember every four hours when you have to change your pad or tampon, or after you&#8217;ve ruined another pair of pants or sheets.<br \/>\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 Also, you will never have to remember to bring an arsenal of protection with you wherever you go &#8211; when you&#8217;re using a cup, you never run out!<br \/>\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 Finally, once you get the hang of using a cup, you will be leak-free forever. I know it&#8217;s a hard claim to believe, but  I can attest to it, because I&#8217;ve lived it since probably the second month I&#8217;ve had mine. It&#8217;s awesome &#8211; and it&#8217;s saved me money on stain removal products.<\/p>\n<p>As I mentioned in <a href=\"https:\/\/arielservadio.com\/portfolio\/greenperiod.pdf\">my last article on the subject<\/a> &#8211; there are also other great eco-friendly alternatives if you&#8217;re just not into the cup idea, like buying washable <a href=\"http:\/\/www.lunapads.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Lunapads<\/a> (or making your own cloth pads) and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.seapearls.co.uk\/\" target=\"_blank\">sea sponge tampons<\/a>. The great thing about these products is that they also pack similar health and financial benefits.<\/p>\n<p>If you just can&#8217;t kick your pad or tampon habit, at the very least, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bewellstaywell.com\/Feminine_Hygiene.htm\" target=\"_blank\">consider buying organic<\/a>. You can find pads and tampons that have been made from organic, unbleached cotton and manufactured in a sustainable manner on the internet and in stores like <a href=\"http:\/\/www.wholefoodsmarket.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Whole Foods<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.traderjoes.com\" target=\"_blank\">Trader Joe&#8217;s<\/a>. Using these kinds of disposable products will at least give your lady business a break from an onslaught of discomfort-inducing chemicals.<\/p>\n<p>For more on the history and logistics of menstrual cups, click <a href=\"https:\/\/arielservadio.com\/portfolio\/greenperiod.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a> or <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Menstrual_cup\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00c2\u00a0 Yesterday, I talked about some great eco-conscious reasons to make the switch from disposable menstrual products to menstrual cups. Today, I&#8217;ve got plenty of other reasons why switching to a cup is a great idea, even if you don&#8217;t give a fig about the enivornment.\u00c2\u00a0 1) We&#8217;re in a recession! Why flush your hard-earned &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/arielservadio.com\/blog\/2009\/04\/may-your-cup-never-runneth-over-part-2\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;May Your Cup Never Runneth Over (Part 2)&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-eco-conscience","category-womens-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arielservadio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arielservadio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arielservadio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arielservadio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arielservadio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/arielservadio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":186,"href":"https:\/\/arielservadio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135\/revisions\/186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arielservadio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arielservadio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arielservadio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}