Awesome Skincare Products

Because the things that I put on my skin are going to end up in my bloodstream, I try to be aware of the ingredients in my skincare routine. One item that I always have on hand is Luxe Lotion by Ladybug Jane. It is a great facial moisturizer and is also available in larger quantities to use as an all over body lotion as well. It makes my skin feel super soft and it always absorbs quickly.

Ingredients: 
Purified water, organic avocado oil, hyaluronic acid, raspberry seed oil, coenzyme Q10, sea buckhorn extract, vitamin B3, bearberry extract, non-GMO papaya extract, organic aloe, non-GMO sunflower seed lecithin, allantoin, grapefruit seed extract, olive leaf extract, cocoa butter, non-soy vitamin E, and Rosemary extract.

What makes it awesome: 
- no glycerin
- no extra inactive ingredients
- vegan
- cruelty free
- chemical free
- fragrance free - it does have a natural scent to it that is a little sweet, but there isn't added fragrence or synthic fragrence added
- nut free
- petroleum free
- anti-inflammatory
- increases collagen production
- evens out skin tone
- stimulates cell renewal
- helps retain moisture
- natural SPF 20

Another thing that I try to always have is NOW Foods Organic Tea Tree Oil. Whenever I feel acne starting to flare up, I dab a bit of this on the spot in the morning before my moisturizer. It dries it right up. It is just important to remember that getting it too close to more sensitive skin around your eyes, corners of your nose, and mouth will result in too much drying. 

I recently became obsessed with raw manuka honey. This one is non-GMO, which is always a plus. I have been trying different brands, but I always have it around. I dab a bit onto acne, bug bites, or really anything undesirable on my skin before bed. Of course, it is important not to overdo it or else your pillow gets gross. This always makes a considerable difference by the next morning. It is also great to add to tea or recipes that might normally call for sugar. 

Stay tuned for more products! 

Vegan Update

After I wrote my post about possibly going back to be a vegan, I put a lot of thought into it and I am now eleven days in! I think that this time has been a lot easier because I know a lot about it and and tons of cookbooks and ideas of quick, easy meals that I enjoyed in the past.

I wish that this was one of those things that you could do and there would be an immediate result. I do know that it takes a while for animal products to leave your system and your cells to turnover, so I am looking forward to future benefits. I will post about how it goes.

Some of my favorite meals right now:
- Vegetable soups: pho, lentil, and mushroom
- Tacos with soy chorizo instead of meat
- Salads with tabouli added for extra flavor
- Rice and beans with pico de gallo salsa
- Mashed chickpeas with a little vegan mayo and cut up pickles (like tuna salad) either on a rice cake or in an avocado

Eco Friendly Money Saving

Today I am not feeling 100% so, instead of focusing on the negative, I am going to write about ways that I have made eco friendly choices that have saved me money. I also will write about choices I made for health reasons around the house.

Glass Tupperware and Water Bottles

I love having glass tupperware and think that it is really important. People say that BPA free plastic is fine, as long as you aren't heating anything up. One thing we don't always take into account is that we may not be microwaving plastic tupperware, but putting hot food into it is just as bad. I use glass and let things cool before I put the plastic lid on top OR I use a special fabric cover that I will write about next. There are so many options on amazon. Glass doesn't leach, so it is an easy fix!

Fabric Bowl Covers

I got this one on Etsy.com and love it. It is perfect for storing things in the fridge or for transporting a potluck dish to someone's home. It also serves as a great conversation starter about what one can do to make little changes in their home to reduce waste and stop using as much plastic. I don't even know the last time I got cling wrap or anything like that. 

Fabric Napkins, Dish Towels, and Cotton Swabs

This is a money saver, its super cute, and I am not super into all of the bleach and chemicals used to make cotton swabs. I got both of these items from a seller called GreenLittleNest on Etsy.com. The napkins run around $1 a piece and the cotton rounds run about 50 cents a piece. Those are both pretty low prices considering you never need to buy either of the disposable ones again AND it is an eco friendly choice. To wash them, I just put them in either my delicates bag or a little mesh bag and throw it in with my regular wash. I also make sure to have lots of small dish towels laying around because I have not bought paper towels in years. Even the ones made from recycled paper use a lot of energy to make. With all of these paper products, less demand means less resources used and less trucks traveling and polluting the air to bring us things.

Tin Foil Replacement

Replacing tin foil, wax paper, muffin tins/liners, and other items around the house with silicone has been very easy. This baking sheet liner comes in a standard size and then a toaster oven size at Sur La Table or on Amazon.com. While silicone still leaches a little bit, it definitely is not as much as plastic and these products were a one time cost instead of constantly buying things that I wind up throwing away after use. 

Microwave

There are so many opposing views and studies on microwaves. I don't have one. There is nothing an oven cant do that I microwave can. Instead of worrying about whether or not a microwave is going to make a difference in my health and the nutrients in my food, I just don't bother with one. 

I'm sure I will come up with more tips and tricks as I go and I am sure that I am forgetting a few things. I'll share more as I go! 

Vegan?

After thinking a lot about the questions I brought up in my last post, I ate totally vegan today. Two things happened: I was in less pain in terms of my stomach after meals and I didn't second guess anything I was eating. That being said, I am taking this decision day by day, meal by meal. So far, the benefits outweigh the annoyances. 

More to come...

A Moral Dilemma

This was my breakfast and lunch today. Photos like this one used to intimidate me before I realized that it really only takes 10 minutes to throw meals like this together. Pre-baking the egg whites and having a bunch of pre-made chicken in the fridge to throw on top of salads makes packing lunches really easy. 

I did have an aha moment today when I arrived home from work: I am eating things I don't want to touch...I bought chicken that was already cooked to put on my salads this week, I picked up turkey meatballs for dinner, and the egg whites that I used were in a container without yolks so that I did not have to separate the parts of the egg myself. For a while, I wrote this off a convenience or maybe even a little bit of laziness. Now that I actually take a second to think about it, the idea of actually touching the eggs to separate them or the raw meat to prep it to cook really is nauseating to me. Since the first time I was a vegan, touching any of these things has really bothered me. 

I did not originally become a vegan for animal rights reasons. As stated in previous posts, it was truly to help improve my health. Maybe it made me a little bit more aware of what I was eating. After picking up the turkey meatballs today, I thought it would be so easy to make them next time. Reading the recipes and looking at the step by step instructions made me think things like: 'that was alive once and it died' or 'that is the inside of an animal that I would be touching'. The whole thing was too much and I stopped reading. Now I am sitting here thinking: if I wouldn't touch it or kill it myself, why would I eat it? After all, my entire graduate school thesis was about helping children understand where their food comes from. If I understand where my food is coming from and I am not feeling good about it, maybe it's time to reconsider my choices. I am not sure how this is going to play out, but I definitely have a lot to think about. 

Meal Prep and Matcha

Today is my last Sunday off for a while, so I decided to make the most of it. My first task was to clean out the fridge and fill it with delicious foods. I worked up an appetite while walking around the market, so I had some salad and a portobello mushroom pizza with vegan cheese. It was SO delicious. Here is what I did:

Recipe

Preheat oven (I prefer to use my toaster oven when cooking for 1-2 people) to 375. Wash and prep a portobello mushroom cap. Put 1/4 cup of sauce in the mushroom. Top with 1/4 cup of vegan cheese. I used vegan mozzarella from Trader Joes. Throw some fresh basil on top. Cook for 20 minutes. 

Make it Green

Rather than using disposable items, I use my little toaster oven tray and a silicone mat. It is super easy to clean and better for the environment. Not to mention, this is a one time cost and tin foil/parchment paper have to be tossed and replaced. No more forgetting foil at the market! 

I also decided to prep for the week. My big thing is that I forget to make breakfast and wind up either having a matcha latte with coconut almond milk or one of those spinach and egg white wraps from Starbucks. Those wraps do have gluten and dairy in them, so they aren't the easiest on one's tummy in the morning. Today I pre-made egg white "muffins". I also find that egg yolks are really hard on my stomach, especially on days that I am already feeling a little yucky, so I try to steer clear of them all together.

Recipe

All you have to do is put spinach and mushrooms (or whatever omelet fixings you usually like) into a muffin tin, fill it with egg whites, sprinkle some salt and pepper, and bake for 30 minutes at 350. 

Make it Green

My muffin (not) tin is also silicone. Anything I make it it just pops right out, so I don't have to use those little paper liners that just get tossed in the trash. 

More About Matcha... 

As I mentioned before, I really do like having matcha in the morning. What is matcha? It is basically really fancy green tea! Rather than steeping the green tea leaves in water to make your average cup of tea, matcha is powdered green tea leaves. This means you are drinking the whole leaf, not just the essence of it. 

It is a great replacement for coffee because it has lots of caffeine, but I don't find myself crashing in the same way I did with coffee. I also feel like drinking coffee is pouring an awful lot of very acidic liquid into my system first thing in the morning! I have started making the matcha with water instead of the aforementioned coconut almond milk because it is lighter that way and involves less preservatives. When I make my own preservative-free almond milk, I will use that. Here are some awesome benefits of matcha that made me convert and stop drinking my coffee: 

- Tons of antioxidants

- Metabolism booster 

- Helps detox the body

- Has chlorophyll in it

- Lots of fiber 

- Helps enhance concentration and improve mood

- Filled with vitamins 

- Helps to lower cholesterol and blood sugar  

The process of making matcha traditionally involved meditation and I actually think that creating this drink is quite meditative and a nice way to take a moment in the morning to slow down without completely throwing off your routine. For a step-by-step slideshow with instructions about how to make this delicious drink, click here. 

I am back to blogging and really excited about it.

Since my last update...

I fell off the vegan bandwagon and, although it has been a delicious choice, I have some regrets. I have noticed more fatigue, weight gain, temptation to make less healthy food choices, headaches, and stomach pain. Will I become a vegan again? We will see over time. Right now I am eating fish, poultry, and dabbling in goats milk cheeses (lower in lactose).

One big struggle has been figuring out forms of exercise that don't leave me feeling nauseous. Right now I am doing rowing on a small rowing machine on days that I don't feel 100% because it is great exercise, but I am sitting. It avoids jostling movements to my core and is a fantastic way to get out frustrations. On days I am feeling good, I am walking as much as I can.

I have added small things into my daily routine that make a big difference. I make sure to drink enough water. There is a place in my planner to check off every time I have a glass of water - 8 cups - and I use that as my minimum. I stop tracking after that, but often end up drinking a lot more. A big thing that has helped is adding fruit and creating spa waters. I also drink organic lavender camomile tea before bed. The smell of lavender is very calming and so is drinking the camomile. Today I added a little Manuka honey even though I don't normally sweeten drinks because I was reading about how it helps with acid reflux, ulcers, and various other tummy troubles.



Why did I happen to have Manuka honey laying around? My skincare routine has changed a lot since getting excited about working on my health. The things we put on our skin end up in our bloodstreams, so I have been careful about the kinds of things I am willing to put on my skin - within reason. Manuka honey also helps with inflammation and acne, so I had the honey around the house to dab on the occasional spot on my face. While I know my skincare routine could be even more natural, there are some things that I tried and gave up on. Natural deodorant was one of them after many issues of sensitivity. Two years and 10 different deodorants later, I went back to a not so natural approach. I may go back and experiment again at some point.

I have also started taking care of the environment a little bit more. I have been using alternative products that are not wasteful instead of buying and throwing away the following things: cotton swabs, paper towels, napkins, tin foil, parchment paper, cling wrap, plastic ziplock bags, paper lunch bags, grocery bags, water bottles, plastic tupperware, and much more!

Stay tuned for more updates and fun as I strive to live a more natural, healthy life! I also will be sure to share brands and items that have helped me out.