When I find something I love, I'm not afraid to scream it from the rooftops! Well, today my mom and I had a little spa afternoon together at Oasis Spa in Woodinville (above Gold's Gym, near Target). Oh my gosh, I was blown away! I loved the setting, the energy, and the decor was magnificent. It was simple and elegant and I instantly felt transported. To start things off, I had the most amazing massage. She focused exactly on the areas I wanted her to AND got a bonus foot massage...ahhhhh......then I had a Detox Facial, not the most relaxing (ick extractions!) but she was incredibly knowledgeable and helpful with my skin challenges. Although I have to give this spa an * because the company does not use or have available products that I would even consider using on my skin/hair on a regular basis. But I'm not so much against chemicals that I won't enjoy a spa day! Additionally, the ladies I worked with today were not familiar with my current products, being that they are organic and chemical free. To top off the afternoon, I got a last minute hair wash and blow dry. It was such luxury! My poor hair is getting so long and is so thick (growing it out two more inches for Locks for Love) that I really don't feel like I can ever get it washed well (and forget about getting it dried!).
If you decide to check out Oasis, and I strongly recommend you do, let them know I referred you (I get a little bonus for doing so). And go! You deserve it! I felt, compare to other big salons like Gene Juarez, they were much more reasonably priced and the services were the best I've had in a long time.
Go, Enjoy!!
Monday, June 27, 2011
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Sunscreen
Okay, so I did a post awhile ago about this, but since summer has finally made it to the Pacific Northwest, I was planning on doing another quick note on it, but I'm going to cheat today. I was reading an article online from one of my favorite natural medicine proponents and he summed up everything I believe so concisely, I figured I'd be mostly plagiarizing his work if I blogged on it, so I'm just linking his article. It's fantastic from start to finish. Don't be scared of not wearing sunscreen, we aren't in this home! (And I use to be a HUGE sunscreen supporter). The only time I'll actually put the stuff on my skin is if we are going to be in the sun for a prolonged period of time, especially if we're at any type of altitude.
Here's the article, enjoy! (It takes less than 5 minutes to read for all you busy people out there) :)
Enjoy the sun!!
http://www.naturalnews.com/032815_sunscreen_chemicals.html
Here's the article, enjoy! (It takes less than 5 minutes to read for all you busy people out there) :)
Enjoy the sun!!
http://www.naturalnews.com/032815_sunscreen_chemicals.html
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Coconut oil
Just a quick blog tonight...if you saw my blog on gluten free foods you know that my latest favorite cooking oil is coconut oil. Not only is it super food, but using other oils during the cooking process can actually create trans fats....gross! I'm not going to go into too much detail because I'm still trying to get paperwork done for my real job (I've already been at it two hours) and I just needed a quick way to procrastinate :) The last article is very science-y but good for those of you who want to understand why coconut oil, and especially virgin coconut oil, is one of the best things for you to use. It comes with a hefty price tag, but does last a while and a little goes a long way. I encourage you to try it...the Spunky Coconut website has a lot of uses for it! (www.thespunkycoconut.com)
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/06/22/magical-fat-that-increases-good-cholesterol-and-lowers-abdominal-obesity-in-women.aspx
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2003/09/13/coconut-oil-part-three.aspx
http://www.coconutresearchcenter.org/article10612.htm
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/06/22/magical-fat-that-increases-good-cholesterol-and-lowers-abdominal-obesity-in-women.aspx
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2003/09/13/coconut-oil-part-three.aspx
http://www.coconutresearchcenter.org/article10612.htm
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Sorry It's Been So Long...
So my parents are in town, mainly to see my son, I'm just an added bonus. After dinner tonight we were chatting over a wonderful dessert (see more on this later) and my mother just happened to mention that she knew I was busy because I hadn't blogged in a while :) I apologize for my absence, but aside from work and being a mom, I've been very busy many nights (mostly in procrastination of doing paperwork), trying and creating gluten free, sugar free recipes. A very dear friend of mine (Kat, you know who you are!) is on a very strict diet that has her exclude both of these things plus eggs and yeast, so to be a good friend (and because I love to bake) I took her new restrictions as a learning opportunity for myself (see my previous post on going gluten free). Having a ever-present, although diminished, sweet-tooth, I've been wanting for a while to eliminate processed sugar from my life. So the stars seemed to have aligned. I checked out a bunch of books from the library and started doing some research on the internet. There is whole world out there devoted to healthy, sugar free baking in addition to the recipes I had already found for gluten free cooking.
Many of the recipes I tried use brown rice sugar, agave, or honey as a sugar substitute, but I've also started using Stevia, they have different flavors that are fun to try. My favorite new recipes have been for ice cream. Yes, ice cream without sugar!! My favorite recipes mix coconut milk with almond milk and dark cocoa powder. I've also used hemp milk with almond milk; it was good, but not my favorite (hemp milk also has more calories). I've been playing with a variety of different gluten free flours mixed with stevia to create cookies. The texture is a bit cakey, but they are still pretty good (and passed the husband taste test, same goes for the ice creams).
As for dessert tonight...it passed the husband test AND the parent test. I made a gluten free sugar free (with the exception of the sugar in the chocolate chips, but you can use carob chips). It was a variation on Mud Pie. The recipe called for using graham crackers to make a crust, but I used gluten free ginger snaps because I couldn't find gluten free graham crackers. For the ice cream and chocolate syrup, I used dark cocoa powder to replace the instant espresso because I can't do caffeine at night. I used almond milk when the recipe called for non-dairy milk. http://www.chefchloe.com/blog/2-blog/38-mahalo-mud-pie.html
I'm very hopeful that the reduction in sugar in my life will help with my skin because I'm growing wearing....look for a future blog on how I'm going to cut way back on my coffee intake, which is also supposed to help with acne.
Let me know if you have any questions about gluten-free, sugar-free baking and cooking.
Happy Baking!
Many of the recipes I tried use brown rice sugar, agave, or honey as a sugar substitute, but I've also started using Stevia, they have different flavors that are fun to try. My favorite new recipes have been for ice cream. Yes, ice cream without sugar!! My favorite recipes mix coconut milk with almond milk and dark cocoa powder. I've also used hemp milk with almond milk; it was good, but not my favorite (hemp milk also has more calories). I've been playing with a variety of different gluten free flours mixed with stevia to create cookies. The texture is a bit cakey, but they are still pretty good (and passed the husband taste test, same goes for the ice creams).
As for dessert tonight...it passed the husband test AND the parent test. I made a gluten free sugar free (with the exception of the sugar in the chocolate chips, but you can use carob chips). It was a variation on Mud Pie. The recipe called for using graham crackers to make a crust, but I used gluten free ginger snaps because I couldn't find gluten free graham crackers. For the ice cream and chocolate syrup, I used dark cocoa powder to replace the instant espresso because I can't do caffeine at night. I used almond milk when the recipe called for non-dairy milk. http://www.chefchloe.com/blog/2-blog/38-mahalo-mud-pie.html
I'm very hopeful that the reduction in sugar in my life will help with my skin because I'm growing wearing....look for a future blog on how I'm going to cut way back on my coffee intake, which is also supposed to help with acne.
Let me know if you have any questions about gluten-free, sugar-free baking and cooking.
Happy Baking!
Friday, June 3, 2011
Fighting Acne and Going Gluten Free (or at least trying)
I am so exhausted tonight...it's been a really long week but it's too early to hit the hay, so I decided to share with you an amazing experience I had this week. If you read this blog, you know that I've struggled with food and weight for years. I finally feel like I have a handle on that, but continue to struggle with my face, specifically acne. Many people probably wouldn't call it that, but I have no better word for it. I have lots of splotchy patches with constant breakouts along my jawline and cheek. I have completely switched over to all natural, chemical free product and have even been making my own lately. I gave up sugar briefly, but more or less was really unsuccessful at completely giving it up.
Then on Tuesday night, I headed to PCC with my dearest friend and old college roommate for a class on Gluten Free Italian cooking (I know, seems like an oxymoron). She tries to go gluten free when she can and I was along for support and to learn a few new recipes. Let me tell you, this class rocked my world.
The instructor is a local Chinese Medicine practitioner who shared her story of how she became interested in the power of foods. Her brother had an episode of joint inflammation when he was four and was diagnosed with Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis and was prescribed antibiotics by the doctor. His mother was not convinced that this was the best course of action, so she took him an early day naturopath who told her he was having a reaction to the foods he was eating. They took him off all dairy, eggs, and gluten and his JRA cleared up within weeks and he has never had a recurrence AND the best part is that he was able to add these allergens back into his diet in moderation.
How does this affect my acne? Well, our instructor spoke on the many things that gluten can cause. One of them is acne because gluten causes inflammation in the body. It has also been tied to thyroid cancer/disease and it is the number one cause of autoimmune disorders. This was enough to keep me listening. Here are some other really interesting facts on gluten and healthy eating in general:
--gluten foods have not been in our diets that long; most people of European, Alaskan, or Irish descent are gluten intolerant (70%).
--wheat has been hybridized over the years to have a high level of gluten (which is unnatural) which is why we are seeing more sensitivities to it. It has 8x more gluten than it did only 20 years ago. Plus we overeat wheat, especially the processed kind.
--wheat is stored in steel drums and a specific kind of mold forms on it and people have a reaction to this mold (apparently the same goes for peanuts: a certain mold forms in the storage containers and so people are more likely having reactions to the mold than the peanuts).
--she recommended using sea salt for seasoning over other salts because of the mineral content
--Italy is 1/3rd gluten intolerant! Who knew! Apparently you can ask for a gluten free menu in any restaurant and the noodles are amazing!
--New Zealand is 100% gluten free (according to a few recent travelers in the class).
--Olive oil helps to decongest the gall bladder; gall bladder removal is the #1 performed surgery
--processed (non virginized oils) have been chemically altered so that the ingredient that makes the smell bad when they go rancid is gone. This means most cooking oils (unless you use them often) will go bad and you'll never know. Look for "virgin" and "unrefined" oils. Olive oil is apparently best in your body when it is eaten raw, without heating.
--research shows that if you follow a gluten heavy diet during your life, by the time you are 45 the odds are against you that you will have a sensitivity (even if you don't know it)
--gluten is toxic to everyone's small intestine.
--Alcoholics and those that crave sugar are often sensitive to gluten and by going gluten free, will eliminate those cravings (an aha! moment for me!)
--if you tend to cook with extra virgin olive oil, you should never use it when cooking higher than "medium" on your cooktop or when the oven is hotter than 375 because the high heat turns the olive oil into a trans fat.
--she recommended taking a break from sugar in the spring and often it will lead to less allergies.
--there is a 40% false negative when testing for Celiac Disease
So, this was enough for me to reassess how much wheat we eat in my family. Our instructor's recommendation was to give up gluten for six months and then be able to add in just a little bit when necessary. If you have the gene for Celiac Disease, she stated that you should never consume gluten. And since I'm not going to pay $200 to have my poop tested, we are going to try to significantly cut down on our gluten consumption. I spent a little too much money yesterday on gluten free baking flours, pastas, and grains, but when it comes to healthy eating, a dear friend always says, "pay now or pay later." So here's to paying now. I'll let you know how the journey goes.
Here's our instructor's website: community.eatingforevolution.com
another resource that oddly enough was sent to my inbox on the night I was in the cooking class...I think someone is trying to tell me something :)
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/05/31/simple-secrets-to-eliminating-acne-for-good.aspx
Then on Tuesday night, I headed to PCC with my dearest friend and old college roommate for a class on Gluten Free Italian cooking (I know, seems like an oxymoron). She tries to go gluten free when she can and I was along for support and to learn a few new recipes. Let me tell you, this class rocked my world.
The instructor is a local Chinese Medicine practitioner who shared her story of how she became interested in the power of foods. Her brother had an episode of joint inflammation when he was four and was diagnosed with Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis and was prescribed antibiotics by the doctor. His mother was not convinced that this was the best course of action, so she took him an early day naturopath who told her he was having a reaction to the foods he was eating. They took him off all dairy, eggs, and gluten and his JRA cleared up within weeks and he has never had a recurrence AND the best part is that he was able to add these allergens back into his diet in moderation.
How does this affect my acne? Well, our instructor spoke on the many things that gluten can cause. One of them is acne because gluten causes inflammation in the body. It has also been tied to thyroid cancer/disease and it is the number one cause of autoimmune disorders. This was enough to keep me listening. Here are some other really interesting facts on gluten and healthy eating in general:
--gluten foods have not been in our diets that long; most people of European, Alaskan, or Irish descent are gluten intolerant (70%).
--wheat has been hybridized over the years to have a high level of gluten (which is unnatural) which is why we are seeing more sensitivities to it. It has 8x more gluten than it did only 20 years ago. Plus we overeat wheat, especially the processed kind.
--wheat is stored in steel drums and a specific kind of mold forms on it and people have a reaction to this mold (apparently the same goes for peanuts: a certain mold forms in the storage containers and so people are more likely having reactions to the mold than the peanuts).
--she recommended using sea salt for seasoning over other salts because of the mineral content
--Italy is 1/3rd gluten intolerant! Who knew! Apparently you can ask for a gluten free menu in any restaurant and the noodles are amazing!
--New Zealand is 100% gluten free (according to a few recent travelers in the class).
--Olive oil helps to decongest the gall bladder; gall bladder removal is the #1 performed surgery
--processed (non virginized oils) have been chemically altered so that the ingredient that makes the smell bad when they go rancid is gone. This means most cooking oils (unless you use them often) will go bad and you'll never know. Look for "virgin" and "unrefined" oils. Olive oil is apparently best in your body when it is eaten raw, without heating.
--research shows that if you follow a gluten heavy diet during your life, by the time you are 45 the odds are against you that you will have a sensitivity (even if you don't know it)
--gluten is toxic to everyone's small intestine.
--Alcoholics and those that crave sugar are often sensitive to gluten and by going gluten free, will eliminate those cravings (an aha! moment for me!)
--if you tend to cook with extra virgin olive oil, you should never use it when cooking higher than "medium" on your cooktop or when the oven is hotter than 375 because the high heat turns the olive oil into a trans fat.
--she recommended taking a break from sugar in the spring and often it will lead to less allergies.
--there is a 40% false negative when testing for Celiac Disease
So, this was enough for me to reassess how much wheat we eat in my family. Our instructor's recommendation was to give up gluten for six months and then be able to add in just a little bit when necessary. If you have the gene for Celiac Disease, she stated that you should never consume gluten. And since I'm not going to pay $200 to have my poop tested, we are going to try to significantly cut down on our gluten consumption. I spent a little too much money yesterday on gluten free baking flours, pastas, and grains, but when it comes to healthy eating, a dear friend always says, "pay now or pay later." So here's to paying now. I'll let you know how the journey goes.
Here's our instructor's website: community.eatingforevolution.com
another resource that oddly enough was sent to my inbox on the night I was in the cooking class...I think someone is trying to tell me something :)
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/05/31/simple-secrets-to-eliminating-acne-for-good.aspx
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