Our Wellness Wednesday theme for November is safe skincare. Last week's post: Is Your Skincare Safe Enough to Eat? Have you seen the labels in the skincare aisles?Lotion "With moisturizing shea!"Sunburn cream "With soothing aloe!"Skincare products like these contain nourishing, healing elements, sure. But unfortunately, they're also chock-full of ingredients that you don't want on your skin.Your skin is your body's largest organ, and makes up an area of about 20 square feet! It's worth taking care of.Here are 5 ingredients commonly found in skincare products that you may want to rethink. (Note: these are my top 5, ... Continue Reading
Is Your Skincare Safe Enough to Eat?
When you ditch processed foods you start scanning ingredient lists on food packages. Chances are, this new ingredient awareness will spill over into other areas, like your skincare products. The trouble is, it's hard to distinguish which ingredients on skincare products are okay, and which are toxic.On a food label, it's easier, right? When you read down to the weird numbers and the things you can't pronounce, the item goes back on the shelf.Skincare ingredients aren't edible, so they all kind of sound the same.Unless they are edible. What if everything you absorbed through your skin was something you could eat? How's that for ... Continue Reading
Boost Your Immunity with Apple Cider Vinegar
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.The Wellness Wednesday theme for October is immunity! So far, we've covered elderberry syrup, garlic and cod liver oil. Today I’m talking about apple cider vinegar. Apple cider vinegar is an old, old brew. I don't think anyone knows who used it first. Remains of it have been found it ancient pottery, and we have stories of everyone from Babylonians to Samurais enjoying its health benefits.I have a little book in my possession called Folk Medicine by D. C. Jarvis, M.D., published in 1957. It's full of fascinating anecdotes and studies made of small Vermont communities that used apple ... Continue Reading
Boost Your Immunity with Cod Liver Oil
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.The Wellness Wednesday theme for October is immunity! So far, we've covered elderberry syrup and garlic. Today I’m talking about cod liver oil! We started taking cod liver oil a little over a year ago, and currently it's the only supplement we take regularly. I'm not necessarily against supplements, but my goal this year was to get the vitamins and minerals we need primarily through our food.I've had bad experiences in the past with multi-vitamins making me nauseous. I suspect that part of the reason was that the vitamins weren't in the proper proportions to be best assimilated by ... Continue Reading
Boost Your Immunity with Garlic
Steel yourself to cold and flu season this year with garlic! There are many purported health benefits of garlic (such as reducing cancer, lowering bad cholesterol, and warding off ticks), some of which are better researched than others. Garlic's ability to fight infections and bacteria is well-known, however.Garlic contains a sulfur compound called allicin, which gives garlic its distinctive smell and makes it anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, anti-viral. World's Healthiest Foods recommends crushing or pressing garlic to activate the enzyme processes that produce allicin, and then waiting 5 minutes before heating or mixing with anything ... Continue Reading
Boost Your Immunity with Elderberry Syrup
Are you braced for the 2013 edition of cold and flu season? The Wellness Wednesday theme for October is immunity!One of my favourite immune boosters is elderberry syrup. It's effective and it tastes delicious. Elderberry syrup contains lots of flavonoids and antioxidants, and addresses all flu symptoms (fever, head/body aches, cough, etc).I make mine by simmering 1/2 cup dried elderberries, 1 Tbsp. chopped, fresh ginger, and 2 cups water for about 20 minutes. After removing from heat, I strain out the solids and stir in 1 cup raw honey. I pour the mixture into a glass jar or bottle and store it in the fridge.We take about 1 Tbsp ... Continue Reading
Simplify Skincare with the Oil Cleansing Method
photo sourceTwo years ago I ditched all storebought facial cleansers and lotions. Now I cleanse and moisturize my face exclusively with oil. I know, if you haven't heard of the Oil Cleansing Method before it sounds crazy. Wash your oily face with oil?? Huh?But it works. I can't ever foresee going back to spending money on cleansers that are jacked up with chemicals and irritate my skin. And I'm certainly not going to swing for expensive night creams when my face does beautifully with a drop of jojoba oil.If you're curious about the oil cleansing method and how to do it, come read my explanation over at The Humbled Homemaker. ... Continue Reading
Smithsonian Food Exhibit Inspires Questions
Eric and I spent last week in Washington D.C. My brother, formerly a guard at the Tomb of the Unknowns, was doing his last walk before transferring jobs. Neither Eric nor I have been to D.C. for years, so we took the opportunity of the visit to do some sightseeing. On Saturday morning, after watching the Cherry Blossom Festival parade for a few minutes, we slipped inside the Museum of American History to beat the crowds. The exhibit that especially caught my interest was Food: Transforming the American Table, 1950-2000.The Smithsonian food exhibit, opened in 2012, is designed to start conversations over food--its history, cultural ... Continue Reading
Raw Milk Rules: How To Drink Responsibly
Last week I shared why Eric and I choose raw milk over pasteurized. It's a decision we were careful about making, but one that we're incredibly blessed by. However, I don't want to make a sweeping statement and say that everyone should drink raw milk no matter the circumstances! In fact, when I was researching the health benefits of raw milk, I also came across a lot of people cautioning against it. Did you know that for the popular pro-raw milk site Raw Milk Facts there's an opposing site, Real Raw Milk Facts? Reading sites like that might make you think twice before drinking raw milk.And really, that's okay. You should be careful when ... Continue Reading
Why We Drink Raw Milk
I drank raw goat's milk when I was little without even realizing it. Well, I knew it was goat's milk, that's for sure, I just didn't know it was raw. Some friends of ours used to drive out to a farm to pick up milk and eggs, and they always let me have a glass of the good stuff when I came over.Fifteen years later, there's nothing I like better for a snack than a glass of creamy, raw cow's milk. Early in our marriage when Eric and I started developing our approach to eating, we decided that raw milk from grass-fed cows was one of the first and most important things we'd add to our diets. Three main reasons drove our decision: 1. Health ... Continue Reading
