Category: Healthy Living

Burt’s Bees Beauty Challenge: Final Thoughts
Healthy Living

Burt’s Bees Beauty Challenge: Final Thoughts

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~So the Burt’s Bees Beauty Challenge has come to its end, and I have mixed feelings about the gentle foaming cleanser with royal jelly. I like it because of how gentle it is and the fact that it’s foam is pretty cool in and of itself. This was my first time using a foam cleanser so it was an interesting experience. But it was also a reason why I’m not as big a fan of this cleanser than cleansers I’ve used in the past. Every time I used it I would ask myself: ‘Is this really working?’

The acne spot treatment, however, I do enjoy. Even if the aroma of the willow bark is a bit strong for my liking. I place a drop on the stubborn spots on my face before I go to bed, and when I wake up the next morning the spots are either drastically reduced or gone! But you need to be consistent with it though, or those spots can come back, and with a vengeance (at least in my case it did).

Overall, this was an interesting and eye-opening experience. I use the term eye-opening because I was like many people and only had a one track mind when it came to Burt’s Bees: lip balm. After this challenge I’m more inclined to try more facial products from Burt’s Bees after I finish the foam cleanser.

Healthy Living

Burt’s Bees Beauty Challenge: Day 1 (complete)

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~Today was the first full day of using the Gentle Foaming Cleanser with Royal Jelly and the willow bark acne spot treatment. 

I used it this morning when I got out of the shower; I like the feeling of the foam, it’s feels softer and less abrasive. But because it’s so soft and luxurious I’m worried that it may not do as good of a job removing the dirt and oil on my face. Once my face was dry I applied a drop or two of the acne spot treatment to the affected areas (see pictures  I uploaded to the Photo Garden). It did tingle a bit when applying it, but nothing painful.  

Several hours into my work shift my face felt soft and smooth like I had just applied the cleanser, so we got that going for us. 

As I prepare for bed I cleaned my face and it felt like I was rubbing my face on a cloud ☺️

Have a lovely night my little sprouts ❤️

Healthy Living · organic

Burt’s Bees Beauty Challenge: Start!

The Garden Goddess2 Comments

~Most people know Burt’s Bees through their lip balm, but did you know that Burt’s Bees is so much more than that? They make shampoos, face creams, body lotions, and cleansing cloths galore, catering to all skin tones. I have oily skin and because of that I am more acne prone than most (whoopee…)

I’ve tried dozens of acne cleansers, and not all are created equal. In fact, I even had a reaction to one! I’m more like every one else and familiar with Burt’s lip balm (awesome!), but when I went to the store to pick up, what else, face wash, I stumbled upon the small section of Burt’s Bees products. I selected their Gentle Foaming Cleanser with Royal Jelly, boasting their 99% natural ingredients for normal to combination skin. Wait a second…
If they’re claiming to be 99% natural, what could be in the other 1% of ingredients?

However, I’m determined to see this through to the end. For one week I’ll be using the cleanser morning and night and will post pictures of my progress, which means you get to see more of my face lol

In combination with the royal jelly cleanser, I’m using their Natural Acne Solutions spot treatment to treat some stubborn spots on my face that don’t seem to want to go away.

 

What is everyone’s experience with Burt’s Bees? Comment below!

 

Water: The Most Important Nutrient 
Environment · Healthy Living · Hot Topic

Water: The Most Important Nutrient 

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~Since we were young we’ve been told how important water is to the Earth as well as the human body. The Earth is covered by 71% water. Our bodies are composed of approximately 72% water, with the brain over 75%. That’s a lot of water! Even in vet tech school, one of my instructors drilled it into my brain that water is the most important nutrient, so much so he made it a test question. I’m not kidding, he actually did…

But he was absolutely right! Water is used for everything from circulation to skin health, flushing out toxins and even breathing. And of course we’ve had this fact ingrained into our minds: we need to drink 8 glasses of water a day. But everyone’s version of a glass is totally different, so how do you know that you’re staying properly hydrated? Dr. Edward Group, founder of Global Healing Center, says that 8 glasses is an absolute minimum. He says that a better way to calculate how much you should be drinking is to take your body weight and divide it in half, which is how many ounces of water you should be drinking per day. (His example: 180# / 2 = 90 ounces of water.)

Let’s crunch some numbers: 180/2=90, there is 8oz in a cup, that’s about 11 cups of water per day. I don’t know about you, but I drink at least 1 liter of water per day, sometimes 2 when I’m at work. I have one of those Camelbak water bottles that has the measurements on the side of the bottle to keep track on how much I’m drinking. I wasn’t a big water drinker back in the day, I usually opted for soda instead. Then I started drinking 2-3 cans a day, feeling sluggish and unhealthy. It wasn’t until a year or two when I cut down on my soda consumption and switched to water. Now I only drink soda occasionally or when I go out to eat.

Water is important to all of us.

We should do everything in our power to protect it and make it easier for everyone to access. I’m talking to you government people, the people of Flint, Michigan have been fighting for clean drinking water for 3 years too long. Water is a basic human right and necessary for life.

 

Environment · healthy eating · Healthy Living · organic · vegan · veggies

Return to VeggieFest: 2017 edition

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~Last year I discovered VeggieFest, a unique lifestyle festival honoring those who have the courage to refrain from meat. This time around I wanted to take my boyfriend with me to share in the experience. Truth be told, it didn’t go as well as I had imagined.

The ran fell on our proverbial  parade (it was a really nice day, not a cloud in the sky) in the form of parking. It was absolutely horrendous. When we had approached the venue, cars snaked around the lots back and forth desperate to find a spot. Unfortunately we got stuck in one of the coils and by the time we made it to the parking garage and found a spot, almost an hour had passed. Nevertheless, I was still trying to make this a positive experience for the both of us.

Once we got to the grounds where the festival was held, it was nothing but tents and a massive crowed of people sprawled before us. I immediately bee-lined for the international food court, which is what I was most looking forward to. You pay for food at the food court in the form of food tickets, where the exchange was $1= 1 ticket. I bought $20 worth of tickets, hoping to try a few different things, especially stuff I didn’t try or get the chance to try last year.

The first thing I tried as soy beef & broccoli with noodles and veggies for 6 tickets from a Chinese stand. It must have been popular because there was a long line. And for good reason because it was delicious! Even though I knew it wasn’t beef, it tasted just like beef! My boyfriend thought it was pretty tasty too, mentioning that he liked the beef alternative BETTER! But I still think he’ll stay a carnivore ;P

Next was a selection of his choosing: veggie burgers. I’ve had a few veggie burgers in the past (mostly at the cafeteria in college) and they weren’t that great, so I was a little on the fence about it. But that too turned out to be delicious!

After we ate our way around the food court we wandered around the rest of the festival peering at the different vendor’s tents while live music played in the background. One thing I noticed was really popular among festival goers was boxed water. Essentially it was purified water in a carton rather than a plastic bottle to be more environmentally conscious. I liked the idea of it, and it was refreshing. I wondered where i could find it?

Unlike last year, I only purchased a bottle of peppermint oil from the doTERRA vendor. I was also disappointed to find that the people selling the mango nectar and Doug & Katia from Waterfall Glen weren’t at the festival.

While this year may not have been as fun as last year, VeggieFest is still something I would definitely check out and recommend to anyone who is either vegetarian, vegan or wants to do something fun and free (free admission and parking!)

 

Pitch the Plastic
Environment · Healthy Living · Hot Topic

Pitch the Plastic

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** Some of the images in this post may be disturbing to some readers. Viewer discretion is advised**

~I was originally planning to post this on Earth Day, but something of this magnitude shouldn’t be reserved for just one day. It’s astonishing how reliant we’ve become on plastic, so much so that Americans throw out 185 pounds of plastic a year. And it isn’t just in America: there is an average of 35 BILLION plastic water bottles thrown away a year, but only 25% of those actually get recycled…

If you were brave enough to do the math, it ends up being 8,750,000,000 bottles that actually get recycled. But what about the other 26,250,000,000?? They either end up sitting in landfills for the rest of eternity or…

plastic-bird

 inside the stomachs of birds, seals, turtles or other marine life. As intelligent as these creatures are, a turtle can’t always decipher between a jellyfish and a plastic bag. And the result is saddening

plastic turtle

There are many steps we can take to turn this horrible phenomenon into a preventable measure. France and Germany are already a step ahead of us where they’ve banned plastic plates and cutlery.

But a small group of women from Union City, Tennessee are taking things to a new level of sustainability. Affectionately referred to as “The Bag Ladies”, these women take plastic bags and turn them into sleeping mats for the homeless and victims of natural disasters.

It takes about 600-700 bags to make 1 mat, in September 2016 they’ve made 88 mats, that’s 52,000 plastic bags they’re recycled!! Way to go ladies!

Since I can’t knit, I’m saving plastic in my own ways.

*Using a reusable water bottle instead of plastic ones
*Recycling
*Taking a reusable canvas bag to farmer’s markets and grocery stores
*If I forget to bring a canvas bag, I ask the bagger at the grocery store to give me paper bags.
*Using paper plates and bringing my own utensils to work for lunch
*Signing CARE’s petition to ban plastic bags in my town and neighboring towns

If you care about animals and the environment as much as I do, take these steps (if you aren’t already) to make the Earth a better place to live for animals and humans alike and PITCH THE PLASTIC!

*Bag Ladies (source):  http://www.wpsdlocal6.com/story/33059644/i-am-local-6-bag-ladies-make-plastic-bags-into-beds-for-homeless

*For more information about CARE, find them on Facebook: Citizen Against Ruining the Environment -CARE
or e-mail them at carelockport@yahoo.com*