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Toxin Free Skin Care and...why I care about it!
Hey hey Diva friends!!!
Over the past 7 years my health has been a series of small steps in the right direction slowly adding up over time. My first big change was my diet….after that I eventually gave up wall plug ins and most of my plastic containers. I slowly began switching my soaps and household items to become a more toxin free environment….
When I got diagnosed with Hodgkins and began reading up on it I realized that it’s particularly effected by environmental toxins (but to be honest….aren’t all cancers?? HELLO immune disruption!!)
So now more than ever it’s important to me that I make as many positive choices regarding my surroundings as possible. The way I see it, we have ultimate control over 3 things:
What comes into our homes
What goes into our mouths
What goes on on our bodies
Skin care falls within that third category and I thought today I would share with you what brand I’m loving! Skin care and makeup were frontiers I held out on for awhile because let’s face it….it’s TOUGH to find a product that claims to be toxin free that 1) actually IS, and 2) still performs at a high level!!!
Why should we care about toxins and chemicals? Doesn’t the FDA keep us safe?
We care because what goes onto your skin gets into your blood stream within less than a minute. (Think nicotine patches, essential oils, and birth control patches as examples of how potent substances can get inside our bodies this way)…
No the FDA does not keep us safe. Now just to clarifiy, I firmly believe the answer to this is education and personal responsibility, not more government involvement. But to explain the problem, there are only a few chemicals deemed toxic enough by the FDA that companies are not allowed to put them into skincare products… but there are many many more that are allowed to be included that have been shown to disrupt hormones, stress the liver and act as carcingens! This is why I love third party advocates like the environmental working group to help me stay safe, and why I think its more critical than ever to be an informed consumer!
It’s all about toxic load. No-one can ever be perfect. If you want to live your life on the grid so to speak, it will be very difficult to eliminate every toxin ever. And that’s ok. Because our skin, liver, kidneys and lymph systems are designed to process, break down and flush toxins out!!! But it’s all about toxic load. When we live in a world surrounded by smokers, prescription pills, antibiotics, glyphosate sprayed crops, fluoride and chlorine in our water supply, hormone disrupters in our perfumes, wall plug ins and well….you get the pictureControl what we can, so that our body can do its job.
So where I suggest we put our time (besides awareness and education) is in our food supply and what items we choose to bring in our homes or put on our body (skin!)
So I’m really excited to share some of my favorite products with you!!! After using these for at least a year, I can securely tell you that I LOVE Beautycounter skincare. Specifically, I love the countermatch face milk and moisturizer!
Why do I love this particular skincare? Glad you asked!
1) Truly toxin free.
Many products on the shelf have flashy marketing, catchy words like “all natural” and pretty green and white packaging to make you think that they are really toxin free, organic, and safe for you. And I’m not going to lie, I do’t have time to look up every scientific word on the back of a bottle to see if it’s actually from a natural source or if it’s man made. It gets confusing!! So I trust EWG.org to help me check the products that I use and their safety levels. Ideally you want everything to be a 1 (least toxic) but realistically, most things between 1-3 should be ok for regular use!
The Beautycounter Countermach face milk and moisturizer both come in with a stellar rating of 1!!
2) This particular face wash and lotion is very gently and adaptive for most skin types whether you have dry skin or oily. You can read more about that here. It gently removes makeup and leaves your face feeling fresh and soft! The moisturizer smells of almond extract which I absolutely love.
Two other additions I can’t live without:
Beautycounter eye makeup remover: All I have to say is: have you tried Mary Kay eye makeup remover?? I know - it’s UH MAYZING. And I never thought I could get away from it (having tried the less that awesome over the counter brands)…until Beautycounter!
Cleansing face wipes: If you travel these are a MUST!!! I’ve tried to take the eye makeup remover with me and no matter high highly I screw the cap on, it leaks in my suitcase leaving a hard to clean up oil residue (just ask my hubby!). These cleansing cloths not only travel well, but you can really cut them into quarters if you’d like because they are so big!
And there you have it’ my daily, basic, skincare routine
Countermatch adaptive moisturizer
and either: Beautycounter eye makeup remover or Cleansing wipes
You really don’t need much more than that ( in skincare) when you’re drinking lots of water, eating healthy fats, getting sunshine and living a healthy life! Have you tried countermatch? I’d love to hear your thoughts below!
p.s. no company gets everything right 100% of the time, but Beautycounter is on a mission to make their products as safe as possible. I always recommend double checking each product individually to make sure you feel comofrotable using it!
p.p.s. The links in this post are direct links to purchase through me! I use the products so much and believe in their mission, so I signed up myself! I hope you enjoy the products as much as I do.
10 ways to combat nausea during chemotherapy
Hey Hey Diva friends!!
Between chemo, antibiotics, and changes in my diet this process has been a nightmare for someone always focused on gut health and supporting my microbiome!!!
BUT I chose this path and know that it’s only temporary. I also know that I have all the tools to build my gut back up once I get through this….so meanwhile, I’m left with managing symptoms and by far, the biggest struggle for me has been nausea. Between myself, my doctor and my naturopath, I’ve discovered some tips that may help YOU or someone you love when experiencing this. Feel free to share it with a friend!
Something to understand about nausea is that everyone’s body, treatment and personal experience is different and some nausea is stronger than others. You may or may not actually feel like throwing up, you might just feel “off”. So this list ranges from homeopathic to prescription remedies, and from things to smell to things to ingest. Where I would normally advocate getting to the root cause of nausea so you don’t have to live on a prescription, when undergoing chemotherapy the treatment itself may BE the cause, and it’s certainly not something to mess around with.
In Chinese medicine they talk about yin and yang, hot and cold and that’s another great way of thinking about this as well. Some days you may have excess heat and so a “cold” remedy like peppermint may help but other days you may have excess cold and a “hot” remedy like ginger may sound better to you.
Listen to your body and when reading this list, some things may sound more appealing than others. Go with your gut!
Ginger Zevia. This is basically chemical and sugar free ginger ale! When you’re drinking something to combat nausea you want to make sure you’re not also drinking a bajillion calories, or other harmful chemicals that stress your body. This is a great option for mild to medium level nausea, but I would be careful if you have a lot of digestive complaints, acid reflux, or stomach pains as well because carbonation can be irritating in those cases. You can usually find this at your local grocery store and if they don’t carry it your local heath foods store.
Ginger Tea. This would be a warm, non-carbonated way to get some tummy settling ginger and an easy way to get some beneficial honey in as well! To me, warm drinks did NOT sound appealing, but if it sounds good to you this is a great option.
Peppermint Tea. Peppermint, along with ginger, has been used for centuries to combat nausea! Lesser known than ginger it can be just as effective.
Peppermint essential oil. I personally really liked this option. You can take a whiff of the bottle and keep it with you, use a diffuser in your room, or carry a hand diffuser with you like this one.
Peppermint gum or hard candies.
Preggie Pops. I haven’t personally tried these, but I heard that they are really helpful. My naturopath explained that nausea induced by chemotherapy hits the same parts of our brain as pregnancy nausea. These pops include helpful essential oils and if you are also experiencing funny tastes in your mouth from the treatment this may be a helpful option to distract your brain.
Gluten Free toast. I can never recommend regular bread ( do you even know me?!) but sometimes toast really does seem to help. I personally like the brand Eban’s Bakehouse and would add some grass-fed butter and honey on top! I liked using this honey for the added benefits of the bee pollen, propolis, and royal jelly!
Prescription nausea meds. To me, these are something to use as needed. By that I mean, I am more likely to use these the first 48 hours after chemo and when nausea is persistent or stronger. These come with their own side effects like constipation, headaches or fatigue, so I like to minimize my usage and incorporate as many other options as I can when they work.
Medical cannabis. No, I am not advocating that you go buy a joint off the street. It's critical to do this legally and keep your doctor informed! Some people find that this is by far the most effective nausea remedy they can use. I did find that it helps, but I also don’t love it. There are ways to vape it or get a tincture and since vaping really feels like smoking and well…YUCK, I prefer to use the tincture. Vaping can hit your system a bit faster, but the tincture works pretty quickly as well and has the added benefit of being able to titrate up 1 drop at a time until you find what dose works well for you.
Increase your protein. I know it can be hard the days immediately surrounding treatment because if you’re anything like me, my diet is anything but normal during that time (hello homemade jello, dairy free ice cream pops and gluten free toast 10x a day!). But as soon as you are able to get back to “regular” foods and meals, try to increase your protein. If eating a steak doesn’t sound good to you, simply adding a scoop of protein to your daily protein shake can be helpful too.
Overall, listen to your body!! It knows what it needs and does a pretty good job of communicating. So if you are craving a certain kind of food, go with it! At least during the really tough days. You can use the rest of the days to fill your meals up with nourishing fruits, veggies and gut healing foods!
I hope this was helpful - do you know someone struggling with their chemo treatment?
Feel free to share this post! Know of additional remedies? Please drop them below!
22 ways you can support a cancer patient today
Hey hey Diva friends!!
Today I’m sharing 20 ways you can support a cancer patient today! I have been SOOOOOOO surrounded by love and support and kindness the past few months and some of the things people have done have really surprised me and been totally awesome! I wanted to share in case you know of anyone that could benefit too!
Send a cancer empathy card. For the friend who enjoys laughter, sarcasm, and reality
Set up a meal train. Be sure to ask them what dates would be most helpful and what foods they don’t like or have sensitivities to. You can use a service like takethemameal.com to make it easy to share it with friends, family and church groups that might be willing to fill it up!
Pray for them
Send them a Whole Foods gift card!
Send them an encouraging note. I just received a package from my sister and brother in law’s church with 10 cards - 1 to open for 10 days - each with encouraging notes!
Gift them a hand held oil diffuser for hospital visits or at home nausea
Mix an anti-nausea oils or an oil blend to sniff at the hospital or use at home
Send a project chemo blanket from www.projectchemocrochet.com
Send some fresh flowers or succulents to brighten their home
Text them ,“How are you feeling today?”
Gift them a notebook with encouraging comments and verses like this one to write down their experiences and keep track of doctors, visits and symptoms.
Mail them a book you think they may enjoy
Recommend some great Netflix shows/movies
Let them know you’re there if they need anything
Leave an encouraging voicemail or text
Send them a Visa or grocery gift card
Ask if they would like to go on walks with you
Ask about their treatment schedule and be proactive about scheduling activities or get togethers on days they think they will feel their best so they have things to look forward to
Sit with them during their chemo infusions
Pre-pay for a massage or meal delivery (if they would like that).
Send them an encouraging bookmark
Create a gift basket of fun things appropriate to their experience, likes, and needs!
And there you have it! 22 ways you can support a cancer patient today. Every single one of these (except for Netflix - I was all over that myself haha) were kind things that people did for me! I was blown away how much people cared, and how every single thing on this list meant a great deal whether it was a free gift or a costly one, and whether it was from someone I knew or a total stranger.
Have you been through chemotherapy or know someone who has? What other ideas could you add to this list? I’d love to hear your ideas in the comments below!
