megan

Ladies!  Do not feel overwhelmed when it comes to ‘greening’ your beauty routine.  Start with these 10 actions, and you will be off to a good start.

 1.     Reduce Your ‘Chemical Body Burden’ and Take Control Your ‘chemical body burden’ is a term referring to the build up of chemicals in your body.   The chemicals come from different sources.  Many of which you have little power of controlling such as chemicals in the air you breath or the water you drink.  You do, however, have control over what you put onto your body.  We know that a certain percentage of what goes onto our body, goes into our body, so take control, and start reducing the amount of harmful chemicals in your body care or makeup.

2.     Don’t Get Duped by ‘Greenwashing’   It is what is on the back of the product that counts – not the front.  Products with natural or organic plastered on the front of their labels, may not actually be all that natural, not to mention organic. Just because a product contains certified organic plant ingredients, doesn’t mean that it doesn’t contain synthetic chemicals as well. Read the ingredients.  Use common sense.  Start by reducing the synthetic chemicals in your products.  Then start to find products that contain certified organic ingredients, or better yet, products that are certified USDA organic.

3. Learn What ‘Pinkwashing’ means, and Take a Stand.   Pinkwasher: (pink’-wah-sher) noun. A company or organization that claims to care about breast cancer by promoting a pink ribbon product, but at the same time produces, manufactures and/or sells products that are linked to the disease (source: www.thinkbeforeyoupink.org).  So….common sense right?  Companies selling makeup for example, in a cute pink compact, donating a portion to breast cancer research, shouldn’t be using ingredients linked to breast cancer.  However, it is very, very, common.  Check out the website www.thinkbeforeyoupink.org to find out more

4.      When Switching Over to Natural Products , Start With The Basics  This is just common sense.  Assess what products you use every day.  Next time you buy them, switch them out for something with less synthetic chemicals (preferably no synthetic chemicals).  For most women, this means shampoo, conditioner, skin care products, deodorant, mascara and foundation.

5.      Learn the Difference Between Soap and Detergent Soap: Soap is made by combining fatty acids (natural oils like olive oil, coconut oil, or cocoa butter) and an alkali ingredient (lye or sodium hydroxide).  The combo creates soap.   Detergent:  Detergent bars of ‘soap’ are not really ‘soap’ at all.  Detergent bars of ‘soap’ are often referred to as ‘body bars’ or ‘beauty bars’, and are typically sold at grocery or drug stores.  Detergent bars are made from petroleum products. They typically contain many artificial preservatives and antibacterial agents, which do not have an agreeable smell. Because of this, detergents often contain fragrance to counteract the odor.

6.     Fragrance: The Mystery Ingredient That You Should Avoid   Fragrance. You may have friends who get headaches from it, but you may not know about the other health risks associated with your favourite perfume…  While companies are legally required to list what goes into their products, they are not legally required to list what goes into their fragrance.  Fragrance is therefore considered to be a ‘mystery ingredient’ because you never know what is in it.   More often then not, fragrance will include a class of ingredients called Pthalates.  They are added to extend to the life of the scent, to make it linger on the skin longer.  However, phthalates are linked to a whole slew of health issues including hormone disruption and cancer.  See what The David Suzuki Foundation has to say about them here: http://www.davidsuzuki.org/issues/health/science/toxics/chemicals-in-your-cosmetics—dibutyl-phthalate/

7.     Avoid Product With Parabens  Ingredients in the paraben class of ingredients are linked to hormone disruption, reproductive issues, skin irritation and dermatitis.  They are also linked to breast cancer.  A study in 2004 found that parabens were in the tumors of 19 out of 20 women with breast cancer.  To learn more, check out this link from The David Suzuki Foundation: http://www.davidsuzuki.org/issues/health/science/toxics/chemicals-in-your-cosmetics—parabens/

8.     Avoid Products With Sodium Lauryl or Laureth Sulfates A few reasons here.  This is the same ingredient in your dish soap, or garage floor cleaner.  So, should it really be going onto your head?  It is what makes shampoo and body wash lather. It gives you that squeaky clean feeling.  But it also strips your hair of all of its natural oils – drying out your gorgeous locks.  For information on health concerns related to this ingredient, read more here: http://www.davidsuzuki.org/issues/health/science/toxics/chemicals-in-your-cosmetics—sodium-laureth-sulfate/

9. Beware of Bandwagons.  The more you start researching the overall topic of toxins in body care, the more bandwagons you will come across.  I have been duped by them myself.  So be aware.  An example would be the issue of Lead in Lipstick.  To cut a long story short, I, like many of us involved in the natural product industry, was appalled when the FDA recently found lead in hundreds of lipsticks.  However, I then realized that a natural lipstick brand had been tested, and shockingly contained lead.  I quickly went to the brand’s website to find their ingredient list.  I found it to be shockingly similar as one of the lines that I carry at The Green Kiss.  How could this be?    After much more research, I found that lead is a contaminant in the natural pigments used in pretty much all lipsticks (unless synthetic colourants are used).   I then found that lead is also a contaminant in drinking water, and in vegetables even.  Bottom line, from my research, is that anything that comes from the earth – may have trace elements of lead.   While I don’t think this is fabulous news, it is seemingly unavoidable at this point in time.  So, energy is better spent trying to avoid synthetic and/or harmful chemicals, than it is lead.   Point being:  Continue your research, ask questions, and be careful of bandwagons sweeping the internet.

10.Stop thinking natural products are not as effective.   It is very common, for people to think that natural products are not as effective, when in reality, they often work better for people than their non natural counterparts.  Natural products are healthy for your skin, and for your body. Many have great staying power, many are long lasting, many have a 2 year shelf life even. Like with anything, you just have to find the ones that work the best for you.

Where to buy in Victoria:

Body Care

The Good Planet Co. – http://www.goodplanet.com

Rocky Mountain Soap Company – http://www.rockymountainsoap.com/

Free Spirit Botanicals – http://www.freespiritbotanicals.com/

Nezza Naturals – http://nezzanaturals.com/

Makeup, Skincare & Body Care

The Green Kiss – http://www.thegreenkiss.com/

 

Megan Johns was a speaker at the May 2012 yoUnlimited luncheon, and is the owner/operator of the Green Kiss, a retailer of safe, smart and sexy cosmetics from North America’s most effective safe cosmetic brands.  Your style and your health are our priority!

She is based out of Victoria, BC Canada.  The beauty bar is located at 764 Fort St. in the heart of downtown Victoria. She has started as a innovative ‘store within a store’ model and is located within The Good Planet Company.

 
lemons

We love lemons, lemonade, lemoncello on a patio in Italy, mom’s lemon pudding … oh the list goes on!

Today’s recipe comes from a member of our yoUnlimited community, Susan Pearse, founder of The Green Diet and Because We Can.

Lemons are citric acid but in our body, they become a potent alkalinizer for good health. They are also a low glycemic index fruit and a mild, natural diuretic.

If you roll a lemon on the counter, with fairly firm pressure down on it, as you roll it will yield more juice? Try it!

Lemonade

  • 1 cup of juice from fresh organic lemons
  • 1/4 cup white sugar
  • 4 cups water

Boil 1 cup of water with sugar until the sugar dissolves – cool.

Mix sugar water with remaining water and lemon juice and store in a glass juice container.

Pour over ice and enjoy.

* Note, you could substitute agave for the sugar if you like.

 

This fabulous verse was shared to me by my colleague at BC HRMA, Erin Engstrom – thanks for sharing so that I could share it further!

There comes a time when you must stand alone.

You must feel confident enough within yourself to

follow your own dreams.

You must be willing to make sacrifices.

You must be capable of changing and rearranging

 your priorities so that your final goal can be achieved.

Sometimes, familiarity and comfort need to

 be challenged.

There are times when you must take a few extra chances and create your own realities.

Be strong enough to at least try to make your life better.

Be confident enough that you won’t settle for a compromise just to get by.

Appreciate yourself by allowing yourself the

opportunities to grow, develop, and find your true

sense of purpose in this life.

Don’t stand in someone else’s shadow when it’s

your sunlight that should lead the way.

Work hard at what you like to do and try to overcome

all obstacles

Laugh at your mistakes and praise yourself for

learning from them

Pick some flowers and appreciate the beauty of nature

Say hello to strangers and enjoy the people you know

Don’t be afraid to show your emotions laughing and

crying make you feel better

Love your friends and family with your entire being

they are the most important part of your life

Feel the calmness on a quiet sunny day

Find a rainbow and live your world of dreams always remember life is better than it seems.

Author Unknown

 

Part of taking care of our bodies is getting enough fruits and vegetables.  This delicious smoothie is one way that the yoUnlimited team likes to start their day (and finish it too).  It’s definitely worth it to get up a little earlier and get this whirling in your blender or juicer.  This is such a great time of year for oranges and grapefruits and use organic produce whenever possible!

Ingredients:

  • 2 grapefruits
  • 3 large kale leaves (stems removed) or a big handful of spinach
  • 3 stalks celery
  • 1/2 english cucumber
  • 2 apples (cored and cut into pieces)
  • 1/2 lemon
  • 1 cup water

Juice

Method 1: BEST METHOD:  Cut the peel off the grapefruit and lemon.  Process all, except the water through your juicer.  Our favourite reasonably priced home juicer is the Breville Juice Fountain Plus.   Add the water to the juice.

Method 2: Juice the grapefruit and lemon on a citrus juicer and process the juice and remainder of ingredients (including water) in your blender.

 

Smoothie

In your blender container, put one cup of the juice above (put the rest into a canning jar with a tight fitting lid and put in the fridge to enjoy later in the day).

Add:

  • 2 scoops of your favourite vanilla protein powder (we use Arbonne‘s – it is delicious and vegan too!)
  • 1 cup of frozen pineapple
  • 1 banana
  • 1 tbsp chia seeds (or 1 tbsp chia oil)

and blend til mixed and so yummy!   Enjoy!

 

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