Healthy Beauty

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I started learning about "the nasties" that are in many beauty products when I worked at Crabtree & Evelyn. We had to re-formulate some of our most famous fragrances and lotions because of a nasty ingredient called "Cocamide".  Cocamide is a by-product of coconut oil, however, it is chemically modified into an unnatural, toxic form. Under Prop 65 in the state of California - Cocamide is banned from all products such as lotions, shampoo, conditioners, etc. because it has been known to cause cancer. This lead me to thinking... well if it's banned in Cali, why isn't it banned everywhere else??

Pretty quickly after that, my mom saw a few news stories regarding the use of chemicals that cause cancer that are in MANY, MANY of our beauty products.  She called me, all riled up. "Here we are eating as healthy as possible - organic veggies, fruits, everything and then we slather chemicals all over our skin in the morning". She's right. WTH!

So, of course, we got to work. Luckily, the Crabtree products that I was 'selling' had removed cocamide and many of the other 'nasties". In addition to that, some of my favorite lotions were ok. But, I still had to make some major changes. 

To help you better navigate the beauty department: Here's the list that is included in Prop 65.

Here's a short list of the more common offenders:
Cocamide DEA or Cocamide Diethanolamine
DEA Lauryl Sulfate or Diethanolamine Lauryl Sulfate
Lauramide DEA or Lauramide Diethanolamine
Linoleamide DEA or Linoleamide Diethanolamine
Oleamide DEA or Oleamide Diethanolamine
Any product containing TEA or Triethanolamine

Here are some of my favorite beauty products that I've made the switch to:

I have combination skin. I already knew that Vitamin C is great for skin so this face wash ($10-$15) caught my eye in the beauty department at Shaw's. I started using it and love it! I can now found it at Whole Foods, as well. I put it right on my Clarisonic or just as is.

You've heard a lot about coconut oil - eating it, "oil pulling", etc. Have you heard about it for a night cream? I've been using this as my "night face lotion" for months now and it's just lovely. And yes, I have combination skin so I was nervous about it being overly-greasy - it's not! I also use it as eye makeup remover. $6.99 for a bottle of refined, organic, coconut oil and I've had it for MONTHS! Cost-effective and one of the best things to put on your skin. (be warned: be careful using it to remove eye makeup - it's so greasy that sometimes it gets in my eyes - a little goes a long way)

Every single time I shower, I put lotion all over my body as soon as I get out. This is a nice, very light, non-greasy formula that I found at Whole Foods. It comes in around $10 for 32 fl oz. I've been dabbling in a bunch of different coconut oil-based lotions and my favorite so far is the coconut butter from Trader Joe's - it is so creamy and smells amazing.

I used to be pretty addicted to Visine eye drops. The easiest way to 'refresh' after a long day at work is eye drops and a little blush. I was also using Visine every morning. I knew it was bad, but, I couldn't stop. My mom talked to her doctor about eye drops and she recommended Thera-Tears... they are a little pricey... $11.99 for a bottle, but, they are preservative free and MUCH safer to use than Visine. At first, it took my eyes a while to adjust... now I use eye drops much less because my eyes are naturally whiter and moisturized so I use them much less.

I don't use Toner because I've always used Witch Hazel in place of it, but, if you do.... try Witch Hazel instead. I LOVE LOVE Witch Hazel. There is seriously no need to spend money on a Toner when you have a cheap big old bottle of Witch Hazel in the cabinet. Works great as a daily toner, for cuts, inflammation caused by bites, etc. 

I've been meaning to write this blog post for a while so I hope you find it useful. I'm happy that most of the above listed products are all much less expensive than most beauty brand counterparts. I'll keep you updated with more of my favorite beauty items in future posts. Have a wonderful day! xo

Bits and Bites_6.23.14

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Monday already, huh? Yikes. I swear I blink and another month is almost over. I wish I could press pause. But alas! Summer is here and the weather has been perrrrfect. I'm trying to soak up every moment! This past weekend, I worked both days, but, was able to squeeze is some fun out in Seaport on Friday night. On Saturday after work, Rob and I walked down to Castle Island to dive into the best it has to offer... ie) the best comfort/fried food in Southie. Gotta indulge, my friends. (I quickly passed out on the couch less than 3 hours later)

Anyway, as promised here's a few more articles that I thought you might enjoy for this week's "BITS":

This article does a nice job of explaining what "cage free" "natural" "gmo free" and other labels mean.

This is one of the best articles I've found on eating healthy/organic/gmo free on a tight budget. Great tips!

This article provides you the 8 foods that the experts will NOT eat. I agree.

And here are my weekly "BITES":

Breakfast with a buckwheat berry waffle from whole foods, smoothie (frozen organic berries, ground flax, chia seeds, 1.5 tbs raw almond butter, cinnamon, and water to blend), and strawberries.

Another typical lunch: organic hard boiled eggs, these snap pea crisps I found at whole foods (gmo free!), real sugar snap peas, organic raspberries, organic cheese stick.

Easy, delish salad I made last week for dinner: local lettuce, grilled chicken that I tossed in my fav buffalo sauce, organic tomatoes, feta, castelvetrano olives (legit best olives ever - I've made non-olive-lovers starting liking olives after feeding them these), and yogurt blue cheese dressing.

I've been making this little guy to satisfy my sweet cravings: two little pieces of 80% cocoa dark chocolate with raw pb in the middle.

Just one look at the ingredient list on Ezekiel raisin English muffins and you'll know why I've been eating them for years. First of all they are so healthy, secondly - so filling, third - so tasty! Here I put almond butter on one half and organic grass-fed butter on the other.

Another self-explanatory lunch. Organic eggs, kiwi, cheese, snap pea crisps.

A Whole Foods salad bar lunch: curry chicken salad, spinach and a few wheat noodles.

My delish Saturday evening dinner with Rob. (like I said, gotta indulge). I had the lobster roll and some of the fried clams. Rob had the double cheeseburger (I had a bite -OMG) and the hot dog.

Anddd, this morning's strawberry-mango smoothie: Almost two cups of frozen mangos and strawberries, 1.5 tbs almond butter, tsp ground flax, tsp coconut flake, water, and cinnamon.

Hope you are all enjoying this weather as much as I am - have a great week! xo

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Bits of Bites

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So many of you have been kindly asking how Stacy is doing since her surgery on Friday so I will provide you with a brief update. Her surgery was 6 hours long and everything went very well and according to the doctors' plans. She was in severe pain on Saturday, but, by the afternoon was feeling a little better. Stacy came home yesterday and is happy to be out of the hospital. I want to thank everyone who has reached out since reading the blog post last week. I have no doubt in my mind that the positive thoughts, vibes, and prayers that you sent through helped her get through this very difficult procedure. It is greatly appreciated by our entire family.

This blog post is going to be a bit disjointed, but, I have a lot to talk about!

The other big, big thing that happened this weekend was Jenn & Brett's wedding! It was absolutely BEAUTIFUL and could not have gone more perfectly. It was truly incredible and I could not be more excited for Jenn & Brett! They are an amazing couple. I'll post a "life lately" post soon and update more photos, etc.

So, I'm starting a new series tonight "Bits of Bites". I've been asked so many times (especially since the Sugar-Free Challenge) to post meal ideas besides just dinner. Most health/fitness bloggers do post "weekly eats" or something similar, but, I didn't think you'd all want to look at my ugly food pictures. Well, I'm caving. The pictures won't be as attractive as my perfectly lit dinner posts, but, hopefully it will provide you all with some food ideas for breakfast, lunch, snacks, and super-fast dinners that can be made on the fly. Oh, and I won't show every meal, don't worry.

Locally grown strawberries I ate in about two sittings. (I eat a lot of fruit, especially berries)

This "smoothie bowl" consisted of raw peanut butter (about 2 tbs), frozen organic berries (cup or so), ground flax (tbs or so), chia seeds (tsp or so), shakes of cinnamon, and water (enough to blend). This was a breakfast last week. 

This was a Saturday morning breakfast consisting of organic buckwheat berry waffles from Whole Foods topped with a little bit of organic butter (no syrup even though I love syrup). Sliced kiwi and mango-ginger juice -- I just blended frozen mango with ginger and cinnamon with a lot of water. I don't own a juicer.

Lunch: Organic egg, organic raspberries, sugar snap peas, avocado, and goji berry nut mixture from Whole Foods.

Dinner: lettuce from my garden, sliced radishes, organic grape tomatoes, feta, sunflower seeds, grilled organic chicken, grilled peaches, avocado, topped with extra virgin o/o and lime juice.

Another typical lunch: half an avocado, 2 organic eggs, organic raspberries, sugar snap peas, pecans/cashews, and I think I ate that entire bag of GMO free popcorn by the time work was over, whoops!

Dinner: Chicken, Broccoli, artichokes, and Quinoa gluten-free pasta, meh.... I'll go back to Barilla Protein Plus. The pasta wasn't terrible, but, it wasn't great either. Oh and a glass or two of vino.

Lunch: I got creative at work and mashed together a half an avocado and leftover grilled organic chicken and put it on a toasted gluten-free english muffin with some salt and grapes. Pretty good!

Ok I think that about does it for tonight. My shopping list always has avocados, organic eggs, fresh and frozen organic fruit, and organic chicken. Right now, I'm loving my garden veggies!

Hope you all have a great week! xo