Clean Eating on Vacation: Camping

Hey guys! Hope everyone enjoyed their Memorial Day. I went camping for the first time and it was not that bad. I had a blast aside from freaking out in the tent at night and in the morning. And as always, I HATE BUGS!. But I love the outdoors. We took a crazy long hike up to North Point. It was beautiful up there but damn rocks, rocks and more rocks. I climbed up rocks, walked/balanced on rocks in the water and on the ground, saw LOTS of rock waterfalls. The pictures to do not do the place justice, it is such a beautiful woodland fairyland. You feel like you are some place else, until other hikers come around the bend.

After that hell of a hike we came back to our site, tired, sweaty, dirty, beat up and then it started to rain, hard. We took showers and when we were done the rain had stopped and we had some pita pizzas for dinner.

12 pita bread, (I made clean pita)
28oz can of plum tomato (I should have packed the crushed but this worked fine)
one onion, sliced
a bunch of baby bella mushrooms, sliced
5 big cloves garlic, unpeeled and whole
green pepper, sliced thin
parm cheese
dry oregano and basil
olive oil
aluminum foil
sea salt and black pepper


Set up your charcoal grill with coals in a pyramid shape and light them up. Wait 20-30min until the coals are gray. During this time cut up your veggies if you have not already. Then, rip pieces of foil. Place the garlic in one (this is for the sauce), peppers in one, etc Drizzle with olive oil in each foil packet. Fold the foil with the veggies in them. When coals are ready, scatter the coals and put the grate on. Place foil packets on the grill. Grill the veggies until nicely roasted. While you wait, open the tomatoes, and pour into your pot. I had to crush the whole tomatoes with a fork in the pot but that was fine because when it heated up it all blended well. If the garlic is ready at this time, put into the sauce and put on the grill with foil over the top. When all the veggies are ready pull them off the grill and start heating the pits on a iron pan over the grill. Assemble and enjoy!

Going Curly

It has been a month since to starting using chemical fire beauty products and I do have to admit I was skeptical but very much surprised at the results. My complexion has gotten better and my skin has never felt so soft and smooth for a while. Two weeks ago I dumped out my liquid makeup for a DIY recipe I found on Scratch Mommy that I tweaked to fit my skin tone. I also found an awesome powder foundation recipe by Live Simply, also tweaked to my liking. My skin feels like it could breathe and my breakouts have been minimal. I make the video below so that you guys can see. I do use a few store bought products like mascara, brow powder, VS face flash (LOVEEE this product) and this lip gloss I really love. There are recipes online for making this items but I did not venture down that path yet. Soap Delicatessen has great beauty DIYs and also sells her products if you do not have time to make your our stuff.

HAIR: I have written a draft about my hair issues. 20+ years of hair dying, flat irons, curling irons, blow drying, many many products with lots and lots of chemicals etc., started to take its toll on my hair. It was lifeless, dry, broken, damaged. Fearing that I would wake up one day and have no hair I had to make a stand and save this hair of mine. The hair I got loads of complaints for during my teens and 20s. I had thick curly hair that I straightened both chemically and with heat tools. Noticing that my thick beautiful hair was becoming thin and dead I had to bring it back to life. My husband LOVES my curls and had been telling me to embrance them but then I listened to others that were like your hair looks bad curly make it straight. But I was going against the...curl. It was more work to keep my curly hair straight so I decided to put my old products and tools to rest and start reviving this hair.

HAIR JOURNEY: I starting research online mostly on YouTube looking for demos on how to care for curls. Yep that's right, this curly girl had no idea how to care for her locks. I found that all these girls had one thing in common, they all raved about The Curly Girl Handbook, a bible for curly girls. The last time this hair felt a flat iron was in November 2013 and my hair has been getting more healthy. It took some self control not to reach for the flat iron a few times in the beginning but my hair has gotten used to it and it is growing!! But it still has a long way to go. What I did was I changed my normal hair gel that was drying my hair to a cream curl enhancer and purchase a more conditioning conditioner and used coconut oil in my hair before shampooing.

 


CHEM FREE HAIR: For the past 2 weeks I held an experiment with my hair, I wanted to see how it would be if I only used natural shampoo, conditioner, and gel. I have an herbal shampoo for dry scalp and a apple cider vinegar rinse as the conditioner (it goes hand in hand with the shampoo because the vinegar rinses out the shampoo and anything else but keeps your natural oils). Dr. Bronner's liquid soap is great for making natural shampoos and facial cleansers. Before I shampoo, I detangle my hair with coconut oil and my fingers. Then I shampoo and rinse with the ACV conditioner and then I use Mane & Tail and comb out my hair in the shower with the conditioner in my hair and then rinse out. Wrap my hair in a cotton t-shirt. I did more YouTube research to find a natural hair gel. Now if you do not have the time or the items to make these products you can purchase them at whole food stores, but really it only take some time and then you can store in your frig for 3-4 weeks keeping only a week's worth in the bathroom and it really saves money. So I found a really cool video on how to make hair gel using flax seeds. OMG!!!!! so easy and it works!!!! I was also very, very skeptical. I watched so many videos about this gel and everyone seemed pleased with the results so I figured what the hell. Boil some water and add flax seeds, how easy. Check out Natural85 and search for more videos about this gel while your there. Yes, it was and the gel works so nice. It enhances your curl and feels natural. I don't feel like my hair is weighed down with product. And you can customize to your liking. This is my recipe and it lasts for 3 weeks in the frig. Using the gel right out of the frig works great to seal my cuticle and the curl - frizz free curls. Apply the gel and DO NOT touch your hair until it dries and then flip your head upside down, shake curls and you are done. I also made a lavender spray for next day curls. I put in a little honey for hold and it's also good for your hair, a tablespoon of coconut oil and a few drops of lavender essential oil. I try to keep a black tea rinse in my frig (it lasts for two weeks in the frig) to keep those grays at bay. Check out the video below.

July 2013 Curls

May 2014 Curls

This is my first real video hope you like it and sorry about the audio being so low. Still trying to get the hang of this. And don't forget to subscribe!

Beauty Product Series: Intro

Out with the old and in with the new. I never thought that I would be tossing out my makeup and to go chemical free, but that day has come. For the past two weeks I have search the internet high and low reading about the chemicals we use and looking for the best natural recipes. I did loads of internet research for you guys also with the help of a book a good friend lent us called, Organic Body Care Recipes by Stephanie Tourles. This book is great because it covers a lot. For 2 days I had my head stuck in this book soaking up lots of info to share with you guys.

There are a lot of scary chemicals in many of the products we woman use. And women use a lot more product then men so we really need to be careful. Just like the prepackaged food sitting on the shelves of the supermarket so does our beauty products, sit on the shelves with preservatives and things that were made in a lab and now we put them on our bodies and face. We get sick, have no idea what happened, go to the doctor and get more chemicals. Now we are eating chemicals, taking chemicals and putting chemicals on the body. Chemical overload. My mom has allergic reactions to many of these products and I never bothered to do any research because my reactions to these chemicals were not too bad. Recently, I started using liquid makeup mixed with lotion to reduce the amount of foundation on the face. I will address this more in the second part of this series. You choose what you buy and use and eat. Do you care about what you put on yourself? Yes? We need to be more wise and look at those ingredients because no one cares about you only your dollars. Don't believe me? Here are few sites to check out on the leisure:

List of harmful chemicals found in cosmetics
Treehugger
Cleaning With Ammonia
Clinique Makeup Ingredients
Breast Cancer and Cosmetics
Chemicals in Cosmetics to Avoid
Baby oil is Mineral Oil and Fragrance

And it all started trying to find a body scrub recipe online. Searching for one thing led me to fall down the rabbit hole into a whole plethora of new information that I was absorbing like a small child. For the past two weeks, I tested out a bunch of recipes. Some were good, some not, and some I had to do over. But through it all, you can see a difference in my face (skin is so clear), hair and nails alone within days of changing products. I have broken this up in a series because I have so much to tell and show. All the store brought deodorants, lip balms, hair dyes, cleaning products are not welcomed here anymore. We have more products to get rid of still to be totally chem free in this home. First in the series is Pre/Post Beauty: cleansers, lotions and toners. Second is Makeup Madness: liquid, powder, blush cream, lip balm, with links to DIY mascara, shadows and liner. Third is Get Clean: toothpaste, shower soap, shampoo and conditioner. Fourth is Men: shaving cream, aftershave and more. Fifth is Get That Place Clean: detergent, scouring scrub, and various cleaners.

Yesterday, I finally purchased my first essential oils; lavender and tea tree at Nature's Pantry. Some tea tree EO in toothpaste because it is a very safe essential oil that has antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral properties. Some drops of lavender EO in a jar half filled with Epsom salts makes a great room deodorizer. Be creative.

Enjoy the series!

My "Plastic Surgery" Story | SunKissAlba

Dirty Beauty Gone Clean: Clean Deodorant

Why natural deodorant? Here's the story. Deodorant has always irritated my skin, always, but I don't wanna stink right, so I continued to wear it. Who hasn't heard people say the same, in fact my husband does not like wearing it and does not because of the aluminum in the stuff. Ah yes, added chemicals, how can I forget it is in everything we buy. So since I cleaning up my food, why not try to clean up my beauty products as well.

I did a little research on deodorants and the ingredients that make it up. I found this:

"Many popular store bought deodorants have some of the following ingredients that are harmful for our health, increasing our chances of breast cancer, possible Alzheimer’s and other diseases and illnesses:
Aluminum - linked to Alzheimer’s and breast cancer; the risks increase when added to the skin AFTER shaving! Propylene glycol - shown to cause dermatitis, liver and kidney problems in animal studies. May inhibit skin cell growth and cause skin irritation Butane - ingredient in aerosol deodorants, is listed as a skin irritantPropane - ummm, what? Enough said. Talc - Acute to chronic lung disease (talcosis), contributes to ovarian cancers

 Why are these ingredients so dangerous? They are applied to shaven skin (hair acts as a protective barrier), and to the underarm which is a location where a group of lymph nodes are gathered to help fight infection. We apply these toxins directly to an area of our body that has already been compromised because of shaving and to an area where these toxins are easily absorbed into breast tissue, into our lymph nodes and into our blood stream helping us to compromise our systems in life-threatening ways.

 What's the alternative? NATURAL DEODORANT using common products..."


We women use so much product, WAY more than men and we do not stop and read what is in these products we use everyday. Makeup, lotions for everything, DO, nail polish, all sorts of hair products etc have harmful chemicals and these products are not regulated by FDA so you have to take a stand and be more wise. It was hard to read about the ingredients in deodorant having links to breast cancer. These chemicals soak into the breast tissue which extends up into the armpit area. Scary because we use DO everyday for years. Do not trust what the ad or packing on the box tells you, research. I did a few more reviews and experiments of those expensive eye creams you get at swanky shops and beauty boutiques you can make your own at home. Stay tuned for that post.

So back to this DIY deodorant. It was super easy to make and this will last me 2 months. The hardest part was cleaning out the old DO container. Did you know that soap did not even help cleaning the gross DO? Goes to show all the garbage it was made from. So I searched high and low for the perfect natural DO to try for you guys. One that will not make me smell, one that will not melt or separate, one that would smell nice without using essential oil (I am wanting to buy some soon, I am just beginning here). The base of natural DO, I found, is always cold pressed virgin coconut oil, organic baking soda (no aluminum), organic cornstarch or arrowroot powder. Why organic? Because we want to make sure there are no GMOs defeating the purpose of natural. Kathleen's blog Becoming Peculiar, has a great post with pictures on how to make you own DO that won't melt in the summertime. I tried this recipe and tested it last night at the gym and it happened to be a warm day here in NY, it worked great and smelled delicious. I tweaked the recipe a bit because I did not have any essential oils on hand. I was very pleased with the results because I sweat crazy and if I did not wear DO I'd be stinking. This does not stop the sweat but controls the odor. I really love it. If you are wearing black or sleeveless anything, wait until it dries and maybe wipe off excess.

LEMONY FRESH NATURAL DEODORANT
1/4 C arrowroot (or organic cornstarch)
1/4 C organic baking soda
3 T coconut oil
1 T grated beeswax
zest of one lemon
cleaned out deodorant container

Double boiler: Use a medium pot and a recycled glass jar. Fill pot half way and bring water to a boil. While waiting for water to boil put coconut oil in the jar and zest the lemon if you have not done so (only the yellow part no white). When the water is at a boil turn down to low. Take a few minutes to put oil in the jar and place the jar in this water bath. Use a chopstick to stir the coconut oil until it melts fully. Now put in the zest and let it sit in this bath for 15 mins. Use a cheesecloth or coffee filter and strain the zest and oil. Squeeze the oil out of the zest and discard. Put oil back in the jar and add the beeswax and place this jar back into the bath and stir until the wax is fully melted. Combine cornstarch and baking soda together in a bowl. Pour this mix into the jar in the water bath and stir until fully combined. Working quickly pour this mix into the DO container and place in the frig to harden. Smells deliciously lemony fresh!

PERKS
arrowroot (for sensitive skin)/cornstarch - absorbs moisture
baking soda -  eliminates odor
cold pressed virgin coconut oil - has antibacterial, anti-fungal and antiviral properties
lemon - smells nice, eliminates odor, has antiseptic properties

Hope you guys try this and let me know what you think.