Sleep and Weight Loss Success!

Huffington Post recently released and article Sleep Deprivation: Parents Aren't Doing Their Kids Any Favours By Letting Them Stay Up .... lots of awesome tips on the importance of protecting SLEEP not only for children but for ourselves as adults! 

In case you missed it I have already blogged about my passion for protecting sleep in children here however this following quote from the above article made me think about the importance for making sleep a priority OURSELVES as well! 

"(People) who are tired respond to that fatigue by producing more cortisol. Cortisol then stimulates a carbohydrate craving because carbs are the only food substance that the brain can use for energy. It's like the brain is saying: "I am starving here, but I have to go to work. Get me a bagel so I can function."
This type of eating can lead to obesity. The increase in childhood obesity correlates more closely to the decrease in our nation's average nightly sleep than it does to the explosion of screen access."

When I reflect back on own personal experience I can pinpoint that my struggle with my weight started at around the same time as I started struggling with chronic pain issues in my life and the resulting sleep issues that arose at that same time because the pain would make it hard to relax to sleep, I took medication to get to sleep as a result, when it wore off the pain would wake me up and the cycle continued for years that even when I weaned off the sleep medication falling asleep on my own was a challenge. I ended up so sleep deprived I had to go to sleep training clinic for a few sessions of monitoring and learn some new tips and tricks to help set an environment and routine in my life that made sleep a priority!

I hindsight learning about how sleep works in the body makes me realize that I totally make much better eating choices when I am well rested than I do when I am over tired or stressed both conditions that lead to the 'cortisol' rising in our bodies  and that bad cycle of poor eating choices.

When we understand how cortisol works in our body it cannot be a coincidence that most of the things we call comfort foods are CARBOHYDRATES!  See as carbohydrates do JUST that in our body ~ they temporarily comfort us and reduce the stress in our body from the high level of cortisol so we 'feel better' and therefore associate cravings for those food when we feel 'bad'. 

I totally know from personal reflection that when I am over tired and struggling with sleep depreviation not only do I make poor food choices but I also make poor choices in my life ~ I over spend money, I do not cope well with life's bumps in the road and will say things impulsively that I later regret. This leads to worry and stress and depressive thoughts and the cycle of high cortisol continues back to more poor eating habits cause the cravings for 'carbs' is unbearable. 

I can remember a point in my not so distant life where I would finally reach sleep only to DREAM about comfort foods and wake with such a craving I would get up in the middle of the night and EAT to curb it ... than I would feel guilty cause I know I should not be eating  it was just wicked! 

SLEEP has to be made a priority cause when I mess with my sleep everything else in my life starts to slide!

So it seems logical that answer to struggling with loosing weight has to start with breaking that PATTERN in your brain of craving carbs and derailing ones weight loss journey by fixing your SLEEP at the same time you are trying to be fixing your EATING because the TWO go hand in a hand in a balanced package.

Tips for BETTER SLEEP! 

Many of the same stratgeies for getting a better night sleep in CHILDHOOD apply to us as adults as well! 

PRIORITIZE SLEEP :Just like for children we need to make sleep a priority in our lives again ... work backward from when you need to be up in the morning on the majority of days in a given week and set your bedtime routine accordingly! Adjust ones routine and schedule around this prioritized bedtime routine CONSISTENTLY whenever possible 7 days a week and 52 weeks a year.

So I know for myself one of the hardest adjustments for me is keeping that routine consistent on the weekend as well as the work week because I do not NEED to be up at the crack of dawn on the weekend. However, just as happens in children, when I deviate and pull a late night on the weekend it 'breaks' my sleep routine. I will struggle for the upcoming week or two with sleep deprivation symptoms as I work to get back on routine and track. So when I do choose to be inconsistent with my bedtime routine and stay up late it has to be for a REALLY good reason that is worth that price to me in the coming weeks as I get back on track and I have to plan that I only do this in moderation before I end up all askew again!

So how do you choose your 'bedtime'? Well the easiest way is to work backward from your morning routine. So the experts recommend that for optimum health adults need between 7-9 hours of sleep a night . So if we go for the 'average' in the middle of that that means if our alarm goes off at 6am to get us up and ready for work we need to be ASLEEP by 10pm ... which means we should be in bed BEFORE 10pm to get the average of 8 hours needed.  Or if you have to be up at 5am than you need to be in bed before 9pm and so forth and so on.

Also when speaking of alarms when we are getting ENOUGH sleep we should not NEED an alarm to ourselves up in the morning our 'internal clock' should just go off for us and up we get.

RESPECT your INTERNAL CLOCK: Which leads me into the next key to changing my own health and wellness. Learning to respect one's internal clock Our bodies need to be able to rely on getting enough food, sleep and exercise for optimal health ... when we do not have a consistent routine that promotes this it stops 'trusting' that food, sleep or exercise will come at and it starts taking precautions ... one's metabolism slows down, the body stores calories as fat just to be safe, diverting energy from some organs for the benefit of more vital organs and so forth. All things where the long term effects start to impact our physical and mental health and well being! 

 

GET ACTIVE and BE OUTSIDE : Getting our body moving has so many benefits. Not only does it burn more calories than when we are sedentary but it also helps to balance our hormones including cortisol levels and ensures a better deeper sleep! I have been playing with my own research and my Fitbit tracking. I can tell by my sleep patterns which days I actually worked out hard verses which days I did not based on how often I wake up throughout the night ... being able to use tips and tricks to reflect on how what I do effects other things really helps to motivate me to GET ACTIVE! This article has some interesting info on the effects of cortisol and being active! 

In addition to get active we need to work at spending at least 30 minutes OUTSIDE daily as the sun has huge benefits not only when we are active while doing it but the natural sunlight has huge health benefits from Vitamin D, Serotonin and Melatonin production to just overall immune support!

EVALUATE the ENVIRONMENT: Just like children we need to set up our sleep environment to be conducive to getting good sleep! Create a routine before bed that supports you being 'relaxed' when your head hits the pillow and ready to move into sleep! Going like the energizer bunny right up until lights out is NOT going to result in having an effective nights sleep. Our brains need to time to 'unwind' from the day ~ figure out what helps you unwind and dedicate a period before bedtime to doing just that

Part of the decline of sleep for adults is the amount of LIGHT we are exposing our self too affecting our bodies ability to naturally create melatonin which regulates our sleep! So if you are having sleep issues experts recommend you avoid SCREENS for an hour or so before you want to be able to actually sleep ... this includes not only the normal television and computer but using an 'e-reader' before bed can also impede your sleep. I know for myself I actually have to cover the 'digital clock' light in our room because even just THAT amount of light affects my sleep. 

Another important sleep tip ~ make sure you have the right mattress for your needs and that you are engaging in healthy mattress care ... I have seen a great improvement since getting a 'dust mite cover'  and being able to have better breathing during sleep and less snoring from my man. Another tip to mattress care ... make sure you ROTATE it monthly so that you are not getting a Homer Simpson style worn groove in it! Not only will extend the life of your mattress but you get a better night sleep when it is properly supporting you!  

So hopefully for those out there who are battling weight issues like myself try having a look at your sleep patterns as it really might help shed some light on new strategies to try to help you find your path to success! 

Have an amazing day!

Margaret

Live Well, Laugh Often, Love Much

Be Totallyawake4-life

Eyes are the Window to the Soul

Image Source

Ever since I was wee the importance of the EYES has been drilled into me through challenging life lessons. I have had eye sight issues since birth and have used corrective lenses and had surgery to try to fix my issues. Regardless of the efforts was proclaimed legally blind in my right eye and my poor left eye is left doing all the work. In my 20's I was accidentally poked in the left eye by a child at work and my cornea was scratched leaving me temporarily blinded because they had to patch my only working eye. It reminded me how blessed I am to at least have eye sight in one out of two of my eyes!

As a result I am slightly passionate about protecting my eyes and what goes in or around them ... I want to make sure that I do not inadvertently do something that causes me to loose the sight in my one remaining good eye!  

Which is why when I saw all the pins on Pinterest declaring that 'lavender oil' or the 'oola lash' blend is amazing for helping with lash growth and eye lash mite control and so forth I went to 'google' to find out if this were actually BACKED by science and research to be proven as safe.

The results of which served a an epic reminder that it is a VERY bad habit to form when one just blindly trusts what one reads in the Internet as gospel truth because there is so much inaccurate information out there specially when it comes  to advice that gives health and wellness advice and I totally do not want to contribute to that misinformation! For everyone one 'expert' that tells you to do something cause it is good for you will will find three experts who are telling you NO do not do that do this! It is a mind field trying to decide what is the 'best choice' but ultimately that is the choice that you feel comfortable in confident in making based on your own research and judgement. I always tell my peers just because it is good for ME it might not be good for YOU I am just sharing my experience and why I love doing what I do! 

 

As much I love my essential oils and their potential health benefits I like to remind myself that they are natures MEDICINE and must be treated with RESPECT and CARE and used SAFELY! I have made my own share of mistakes as I have begun using essential oils in my journey to be healthier including putting my precious Nevada at risk  unintentionally using essential oil blends in my diffuser that are toxic to animals so now I want to be doing even more research before sharing. So this is my advice based on what I have been able to read .... just say NO to adding essential oils to your mascara!

So while there are lots of 'advice' out there from wellness advocates in various essential oil industries advising the use of essential oils in and around the eyes with DIY recipes and so forth my advice is THIS ... please do your own research before deciding if this is a risk you want to take with your own eyes! Lots of ladies might be loving it in their mascara, they might be seeing huge benefits in the length and luster and they might just be LUCKY that they still have their eye sight while doing so!

That advice is based on reading experiences and shared research from those more knowledgeable than myself including the  National Association for Holistic Aromatherapy which says the following about essential oils and eye safety: 

"placing any essential oil “in the eye” is extremely dangerous advice. Almost any undiluted essential oil coming into contact with the ocular membranes will be corrosive, possibly causing scarring of the cornea, and certainly causing significant pain.

Conclusions

* There is currently no evidence that applying dilutions of essential oil to the eyes will be beneficial in any condition."

So with adding it to your mascara or anything that is going to be that close to the eye you need to be able to be confident that it is not going to 'migrate' INTO your eye in a strength that could be corrosive and cause scarring over time! 

To be SAFE other essential oil users like the Hippie Punk Mom advice to never use your essential oils IN the ear canal, eyes or nose areas and to avoid mucus membranes! 

The other challenge that I hypothesis with 'adding' things' to store bought products like mascaras and skincare and so forth is that their chemists have carefully designed their products and ingredients to work together and in the quantities that are meant to compliment each other ... when WE add additional ingredients, even natural ones like essential oils, we risk creating an unknown chemical reaction with the other ingredients! 

Remember how the Joker used the various cosmetics people regularly 'mixed' to create a toxic storm that killed people? Kinda that same concern with 'mixing' products from different companies ~ might be GREAT on their own but when mixed with the competitions line result in an unwanted reaction or outcome!

This is something I have experienced personally when just 'mixing' brands in my youth and using one companies cleanser and another companies toner or moisturizer depending on what was 'on sale' and ended up dealing with adverse reactions on my skin all throughout my youth to the point I just stopped using ANY products to care for my skin. I was not making the connection that my reactions were because the products ingredients were not meant  to be used together ... when I found a skincare LINE and used began using the entire system together as it is meant to be I have seen amazing results in my skin. No more painful cystic acne breakouts and the psoriasis on my face cleared up and my skin has a nice healthy glow.  

So if you are looking for an eye lash product to help give you longer lustre to your eye lashes I will share MY two favorite products for my eyes that have worked for ME and that I feel confident using as they do not make my eyes itch and get debris into them plus they both remove with gentle ease using my Enjo eye pad and water or if I have done a 'dramatic eye' look adding a little of the Aloette Essential Cleansing Oil before using the Enjo eye pad to help loosen the mascara. 

 A-List Lash is infused with argan oil and argan stem cells to condition lashes for a long-lasting, healthy looking sheen.  The unique and clump proof wand evenly coats and curls each lash for fast, flawless application every time 

I use this as my daily mascara for the benefits of the argan oil ... it gives a nice light coat to the lashes and is great for daily use!

When I want a little more DRAMA for my eyes after applying the first coat of the A List Lash I than use the buildable formula of the Aloette Intensity mascara which lets you control the intensity - from a hint of definition to bold, full volume - without smudging or clumping. And with lash-loving vitamins and conditioners, Aloette’s long-wear eye miracle nourishes as it separates, lengthens and thickens for a captivating look that lasts all day and well into the night.

It can seriously give dramatic look to the eyes without the 'fibers' or 'extensions' or other add ons that might end up getting IN to the actual eye and causing issues! Just look at the POP in this side by side using the Intensity mascara!

Image Source

Have an amazing day!

Margaret

Live Well, Laugh Often, Love Much

Be Totallyawake4-life

 

Stinky Feet Solutions

Man oh man I am not sure if it is in my head or what but this year seems to be an extremely BAD for stinky feet syndrome in the house! 

I normally only notice this as a problem in the summer months when it is hot but this year MAN my front hall closet is needing to be consistently sprayed between the teenagers shoes and my spouses shoes plus 5 active boys in the daycare ... man oh man! Thank heavens for doTERRA®

Understanding what 'causes' stinky feet can help to create an action plan to have ones home smelling peachy keen verses the gagging like you've never seen! 

So What Causes Stinky Feet?

The function of sweat glands is to keep the skin  moist and therefore supple, and to regulate temperature when the weather is hot or while you are exercising. There are more sweat glands in our feet than anywhere else in the body. However, unlike sweat glands elsewhere in the body, the sweat glands in the feet secrete ALL the time, not just in response to heat or exercise.

Feet smell when bacteria on the skin break down sweat as it comes from the pores. A cheesy smell is released as the sweat decomposes.

The main causes of sweaty and smelly feet are:

• Wearing the same shoes every day. Feet become smelly if sweat soaks into the shoes and you wear them again before they are dry.
• Poor personal hygiene.
• Hormonal changes can cause feet to sweat more, so teenagers and pregnant women are especially prone.
• If you are stressed.
• A condition called hyperhidrosis, which causes you to sweat more than usual.

So what's the Solution? 

• If you are a loved one are prone to stinky feet it helps to wash your feet DAILY to reduce the bacteria on the surface for the sweat to activate ~ even if you do not want to have to have a full shower engaging in a nice foot soak can help. Adding some Epsom salts and lavender and tea tree essential oil to a pan of water and soaking for 10-15 minutes offers nice relief of not only order but muscle tiredness as well.
• Choose your socks wisely ... certain fabrics can work to trap sweat an increase bacteria growth and therefore smell ... cotton, hemp and other breathable fabrics work better than nylon and synthetic fibers for breathing! 
• Rotate your footwear ... shoes not having time to dry out can be a major cause of stinky feet syndrome a the constantly wet/damp insoles are a breeding ground for bacteria. If you cannot rotate footwear than helping to ensure they have time to DRY can by making use of a boot/shoe dryer!
• In a pinch and do not have time to let them dry or use a boot dryer ~ cornstarch will absorb moisture you can sprinkle some in and away you go!
• Use a 'deodorizing spray' in your shoes ... if you want a clean and natural do it yourself option try a few drops of tea tree oil with 1/4 cup of witch hazel in a spray bottle! It provides a nice deodorizing as well as anti fungal  spray!  
• Make sure it is not something MORE than just stinky feet! Sometimes fungus and other issues can be going on with your feet ~ if you are seeing changes to the actual 'skin' on your loved ones feet consult a DR to determine what you are dealing with and advice on treatment! Athlete's Foot is the most common foot concern. This is one of our favorite go to supports for that
  

Do have trusted natural stinky feet solutions that I missed? Please feel free to add them in the comment section.

 Have an amazing day!

Margaret
Live Well, Laugh Often, Love Much
Be Totallyawake4-life

What Are the Causes of Stinky Feet? The problem isn't your feet – it’s what your feet are wearing. Smelly feet is primarily caused from of a lack of ventilation for your feet. Each foot has more than 250,000 sweat glands, producing more than a pint of sweat in one day. That's a lot of moisture to keep pressed against your feet! People get smelly feet when the perspiration has no where to evaporate – but it is not the sweat that causes the foot odor. Bacteria that lives on the skin eats the feet’s sweat, producing isovaleric acid, causing the odor. Athlete's Foot, which is a skin infection caused by a fungus, can also cause smelly feet. Other factors that can cause smelly feet include certain medications, some diseases, poor hygiene, harsh environments, wearing poor-quality shoes and over-wearing shoes.
How To Prevent Smelly Feet You can prevent smelly feet by reducing the amount of sweat captured in your shoes. Wear well-made shoes with breathable features, such as leather uppers or athletic shoes with mesh uppers. The socks you wear are also important – wear socks made with copper, wool, cool max or other moisture-wicking fibers to ensure ventilation. Some arch support insoles maybe have anti-bacterial or other odor-eating top covers that can help prevent smelly feet. Wash your body every day, and if you have a history of foot odor, clean your feet with an anti-bacterial soap. Wear shoes for the occasion and place. Excessive amounts of sweat will increase your chances for getting smelly feet, so do not wear thick socks, boots and pants if you know it will be hot outside. Do not wear the same shoes every day. Buy a variety of high-quality shoes so you can give each pair of shoes about 24 hours before you wear them again. Don't be embarrassed by your feet – be sure to keep your feet dry, clean and cool to prevent smelly feet.
Treatment for Stinky Feet You can find stinky feet treatment products on our Smelly Feet and Foot Odor Remedies page. We highly suggest you wear moisture wicking socks to get rid smelly feet, as well as shoes made of high-quality, breathable materials, such as leather or mesh. Shop our healthy socks made of CoolMax, wool anti-bacterial and copper materials that will reduce foot odor. There are many different remedies for treating stinky feet, and if none of the following work for you, you should consult a doctor. Wash your feet with antifungal foot soap and wash your body every day to reduce bacteria and odor. You can also use antibacterial foot powder on your feet, Athlete's Foot cream or spray antifungal shoe spray inside your shoes. An easy and clean way to keep your shoes dry and odor-free is to put shoe inserts inside your shoes after you wear them. Some insoles have anti-odor or anti-microbial top covers, and those can help eliminate smelly feet. A great treatment for stinky feet that many people turn to are perspiration absorbent footbed liners – we sell Summer Soles shoe liners for men and women.
- See more at: http://www.healthyfeetstore.com/smelly-feet-information.html#sthash.3K4dfM0a.dpuf

What Are the Causes of Stinky Feet? The problem isn't your feet – it’s what your feet are wearing. Smelly feet is primarily caused from of a lack of ventilation for your feet. Each foot has more than 250,000 sweat glands, producing more than a pint of sweat in one day. That's a lot of moisture to keep pressed against your feet! People get smelly feet when the perspiration has no where to evaporate – but it is not the sweat that causes the foot odor. Bacteria that lives on the skin eats the feet’s sweat, producing isovaleric acid, causing the odor. Athlete's Foot, which is a skin infection caused by a fungus, can also cause smelly feet. Other factors that can cause smelly feet include certain medications, some diseases, poor hygiene, harsh environments, wearing poor-quality shoes and over-wearing shoes.
How To Prevent Smelly Feet You can prevent smelly feet by reducing the amount of sweat captured in your shoes. Wear well-made shoes with breathable features, such as leather uppers or athletic shoes with mesh uppers. The socks you wear are also important – wear socks made with copper, wool, cool max or other moisture-wicking fibers to ensure ventilation. Some arch support insoles maybe have anti-bacterial or other odor-eating top covers that can help prevent smelly feet. Wash your body every day, and if you have a history of foot odor, clean your feet with an anti-bacterial soap. Wear shoes for the occasion and place. Excessive amounts of sweat will increase your chances for getting smelly feet, so do not wear thick socks, boots and pants if you know it will be hot outside. Do not wear the same shoes every day. Buy a variety of high-quality shoes so you can give each pair of shoes about 24 hours before you wear them again. Don't be embarrassed by your feet – be sure to keep your feet dry, clean and cool to prevent smelly feet.
Treatment for Stinky Feet You can find stinky feet treatment products on our Smelly Feet and Foot Odor Remedies page. We highly suggest you wear moisture wicking socks to get rid smelly feet, as well as shoes made of high-quality, breathable materials, such as leather or mesh. Shop our healthy socks made of CoolMax, wool anti-bacterial and copper materials that will reduce foot odor. There are many different remedies for treating stinky feet, and if none of the following work for you, you should consult a doctor. Wash your feet with antifungal foot soap and wash your body every day to reduce bacteria and odor. You can also use antibacterial foot powder on your feet, Athlete's Foot cream or spray antifungal shoe spray inside your shoes. An easy and clean way to keep your shoes dry and odor-free is to put shoe inserts inside your shoes after you wear them. Some insoles have anti-odor or anti-microbial top covers, and those can help eliminate smelly feet. A great treatment for stinky feet that many people turn to are perspiration absorbent footbed liners – we sell Summer Soles shoe liners for men and women.
- See more at: http://www.healthyfeetstore.com/smelly-feet-information.html#sthash.3K4dfM0a.dpuf

Valentines is coming

 There are no more kids in school in the house to make 'teacher appreciation' Valentines for so will have to rely vicariously through custom orders from clients! 

If I had a video recorder and stand I would totally make my own video on how I made mine to share but I don't so thank you google for finding me this awesome paper crafter who shared her's for anyone who'd like to case the idea themselves!

If you are not a papercrafter and love these hope on over to Totallyawake4-stampin and make a custom order for the teachers in your life! . 

 

Have an amazing day!


Margaret
Live Well, Laugh Often, Love Much
Be Totallyawake4-life

Another not GLUTEN FREE enough for me tale ...

So it has been another frustrating week for me on navigating the ability to manage my dietary restrictions while striving for 'better health and wellness' and still getting gluten into my diet! 

So Health Canada came along in 2014 with their new 'food labeling laws' that are suppose to PROTECT those of us with food allergies from being exposed by hidden ingredients in processed foods and so forth. They have increased their rules to require any 'hidden' ingredients as part of a processing to not be any of the 'allergen concerning' ones so if something says 'spices' and it has a nut/wheat/egg/dairy/etc in the spice mix they now have to disclose that. These new standards should make Canadians feel safer about managing their food allergies - right?  Things should be getting better for eating out and making safe choices in products sold to me in the stores?

HOWEVER, at least in my own experience, I am finding this to be anything but true! It feels harder TODAY than it did 10 years ago when I was first diagnosed!

Everywhere I look more and more foods are being labelled and marketed to us as 'gluten free' and stupidly I trust this term cause the government has 'laws' to protect the consumer!  However the more I investigate these laws as well as the companies ingredients and manufacturing practices the more I realize that while they might pass FDA and Health Canada requirements they are still NOT gluten free ENOUGH for me, who as a Celiac is one of those few who by experience has to have NO gluten in my diet, not just 'limited to less than 20 parts gluten', in order to experience what it is like to have any semblance of HEALTH in my life!  

So I cannot trust the government but surely I can trust the Celiac community to provide me with SAFE labeling and information?

Well turns out the Celiac community has 3 different organizations that will offer companies 'certified gluten free' status but when you look into what that MEANS you find out that ALL of them still allow SOME gluten to be in the product and still get this 'certified gluten free label' so depending on your own sensitivity we cannot even trust this 'certified gluten free' labels!

For those with actual 'gluten allergies / sensitivities' the challenge lies in the way 'gluten free' is DEFINED in Canada, United States and many other countries. Because unlike the 'nut free' claims where a product cannot have even come in contact or been grown NEAR nuts or looked like a nut and so forth to be 'banned' anywhere a person with a nut allergy might come in contact with it the definition of 'gluten free' in many countries actually allows for foods that contain gluten, are grown and processed with gluten and so forth to stil BE labelled gluten free as long as random testing shows it is 'less than 20 parts per million! This just boggles my mind how this is being promoted by government officials to be SAFE! But than again these are the same government officials who allow drugs to be approved to give your a longer erection or more energy and what that have serious side effects listed including 'death' as a warning with them but lord forbid someone claims that soaking their foot in 'lemon oil' helped to cure their athletes foot because that is not an approved claim!

So it is no surprise that the many in the Celiac community who actually SUFFER with Celiac verses just being 'researchers' of the disease are not impressed with this 'definition' because it actual contradicts other actual  research on the effects of 'any gluten' on a Celiac including the FDA's OWN risk assessment research paper? From what I have read it appears they've basically chosen a HIGHER amount of gluten being allowed to be present during manufacturing because it is the threshold that they can easily test for in a quick manner verses the amount that is SAFE for a Celiac, depending on the severity of their disease, to consume without adverse health reactions and therefore is not considered a 'risk'???

Which brings me to my most recent frustration is with the claims on that Wheat, Barley and Oat grasses are 'gluten free' and therefore safe for consumption in a gluten free Celiac diet ... and HIDING in many of our vitamins and other supplements because they are considered 'gluten free' and therefore do not need to be disclosed in their proprietary blend but still marketed as gluten free???? 

I have recently signed up to do a 30 Day Detox and one of the items required to help with the Detox were 'greens' that needed to be purchased 'online' so because reading labels on tiny little images online can be a challenge and I could not find the PDF with the ingredients (should have been my first clue) I called the manufacturer and asked 'Was trying to read the label online and having a hard time and just wanted to check are your Greens fully Gluten Free' and was told OF YES mame ALL of our health care products are gluten free. So I placed the order and waited for my item to arrive! Typical of our shipping here it takes a while and I have already started the rest of the detox protocol without the 'greens' so when it finally comes I am so excited to get going on this Detox I stupidly just toss it into my smoothie and go on about my morning. About an hour later I feel like CRAP ~ sorry for the TMI but literally I am feeling like CRAP! Having a total auto immune response including my skin is on fire and I want to crawl out of it!

So as always when that happens I look at 'what did I eat or touch today' so I can journal and compare to help me figure just what I am not coping with or combos of foods I am not coping with ... so first place I go is to have a look a closer look at my new 'gluten free greens' I had last and flip back the ingredient list and low and behold it says 'WHEAT / BARLEY / OAT GRASS" and I am sitting here having spent a lot of money on what I was promised on the phone, after having said I was a Celiac, was a gluten free item and thinking what the hell how can something with WHEAT, OAT AND BARELY in the name be marketed as 'gluten free'?

OK so for those who do not understand ~ the FDA and other governing bodies liken wheat grass to a vegetable instead of a grain because the plant has yet to produce a seed, which would then allow the plant to be considered a grain. Findings from USDA research notes, “Gluten is found only in the seed kernel (endosperm) and not in the stem and grass leaves.” Which is why it can contain the 'gluten free' label under USDA and Health Canada standards because it is the 'grass' being processed.

Sorry I am not a scientist or a researcher or even a really great 'gardener'. However I come from over 25 years of 'growing children' and I have a garden I do my best to tend and in my experience whether being a plant or a child they all MATURE differently even though they may be been planted all at the same time .... so how can you be 100% SURE that the some of the 'grass' in your product did not 'seed' before being plucked???

Answer from manufacturers "Oh well we cannot ~ but even if we missed some it would have less than the allowable amount so it is still safe' .... oh gee thanks for that diddy makes me feel REAL safe!

So my advice to those who SELL these types of products ~ be HONEST with your customers! Labeling or marketing your wares as 'gluten free' when they are NOT might get the 'non Celiac' who has been led to believe gluten is evil to buy your product but for those of us who ARE Celiac and our health relies on sourcing actual gluten free products all you are succeeding in doing is making us leave your market place entirely ... we are giving up gluten free as a trusted source of healing or treatment of our disease and opting for no grains at all, no processed foods at all, growing and making our own food, beauty and cleaning supplies ... and if the statistics are to be believed we represent ONE in THREE people so over a 30% of the market share!

My advice for those who are looking to avoid gluten because of a true allergen or intolerance that negatively affects your health .... get your VITAMINS and GREENS from clean natural sources! FRESH fruits and vegetables have just as many and in some cases MORE nutrients than these so called 'power greens' being marketed to us to give us better health and wellness! 

If you need help ensuring you are getting enough 'vitamins' in your diet journal your food with an app that actually tracks that! I am a lover of My Fitness Pal but there are lots of options on the market research which one will work for your lifestyle!

Have an amazing day!

Margaret

Live Well, Laugh Often, Love Much

Be Totallyawake4-life

 

Beauty of Brows

They say that your eyebrows are the picture frame of your face ... if you google eyebrows you will find  articles about what is 'wrong' about your eyebrows and how to fix them and so forth so you do not end up being the focal point of memes like these where instead of using make up to accentuate their natural beauty what they are doing with their brows is instead distracting from their natural beauty. 

In my youth I was oblivious of the 'eye brow' challenges that others faced as I personally never really paid attention to my eyebrows ~ they were just sort of there framing my face naturally! Whenever I went for a facial at the dermatologist to deal with my acne struggles the esthetician would ask 'who does your brows they are perfect' and I would be like 'um Mother Nature? Unfortunately she did not pay so close attention to my skin complexion so I totally need some help with that please!" 

But when I hit my late 20's things changed not only with my skin struggles but oh my the hair ~ it started growing in all sorts of places it had never before ~ so suddenly trying to control not only a challenging skin complexion of psoriasis and cystic acne but dealing with a bushy uni-brow, a mustache and chin whiskers deciding to set in  ... GAH  talk about feeling like my Great Grandma these were things that were totally not welcome specially before my 30th birthday! 

Sadly they were a side effect of Poly-cystic Ovarian Syndrome that had decided to run full force on me ~ a nasty disease that can totally wreck havoc on ones self esteem as their hormones are out of whack and their body seems to be at war with itself!

During this time with everything going on with my body I will admit I stopped being so concerned about my 'appearance' and was sinking into battling that depressive state of mind of 'whats the point' 'life is too hard' ... I honestly did not love my self so much so how could I expect anyone else too so whats the point of worrying when there is so much more going on and so forth. It was one of those 'dark times' in ones life where if I had a time machine I would go back and tell myself that this too shall pass and it will pass QUICKER if you push yourself to get up every morning and continue to engage in self care! To love yourself enough to have a shower, put on clean clothes, brush your hair and put a pretty hair accessory in that makes you smile or a splash of some color on your eyes or whatever gives you that extra umph of confidence in your step to deal with everything ELSE going on maintain your routine of self care for for OTHERS but for YOURSELF!  Do not give up on yourself because it takes twice as long to recover once you've done that! Fortunately I did recover with help of friends and a great therapist ~ I found strategies to deal with the PCOS and other challenges that were sucking me into a dark place of depression and focus on the great things I had in my life amiss those challenges!  

While I made great progress in those areas ALAS I will admit I never did master my own eyebrow shaping! So mostly I just wore my bangs long enough you could not SEE my merging uni-brow and if a special occasion was coming than I would go to the esthetician for a brow fix so I could wear my hair up cause the dermatologist did not cover 'waxing'  during my regular sessions there! 

Now along came this cool little product from Aloette to the rescue so I can now practice mastering my brows at home!  

For those who might also struggle with 'what shape is the right shape' I found this handy cheat sheet on google search for helping to determine what shape helps to frame a face not sure the original origin to give credit to as it was not attached to a website just the image showed up when I clicked it. 

Have an amazing day!


Margaret
Live Well, Laugh Often, Love Much
Be Totallyawake4-life
 

A Cautionary Tale every Essential Oil lover needs to read

For those who have not yet met her ~ this is my treasured Nevada. A gorgeous Manx breed kitty that spent her early days in life roaming the busy streets of Las Vegas as either a feral cat born on the streets or one who was abandoned there by someone. 

They call pets that you adopt from shelters or the streets 'rescue cats' but I think she rescued me. She came into my life at a time where I was in a dark place struggling with depression and battling what point was there to life. I was in need of some serious light and she brought me that! IME it really is true that pets can relieve depression symptoms and help get the mind and body back on track!

She came into my life back Christmas 2002 when I'd taken a trip to Las Vegas with my ex who was trying to help cheer me up in face of struggling with a life altering disease and impending surgery in the New Year which would seal my fate of never having any natural born children of my own. The trip was to help me visualize that without children we would be free to have a different kind of life with more freedom for travel and seeing the world but the Universe had something different in store for me. 

We were touring the strip enjoying the architecture of the many amazing hotels and were at the Monte Carlo main entrance about enter. However they were painting the front entrance  and being a bit superstitious I did not want to walk under ladders ~ so we were rerouted to one of the side entrances. This is where we found this little treasure curled up under a  napkin on a pot light meowing at passersby ... she tugged at my heart so I stopped to pick her up and she just snuggled into me chest with those big eyes. I just HAD to help her! 

It was already late at night so no one to call for help so I tucked her inside my jacket where she snuggled right in and quieted down. We stopped at a convenience store and paid a small fortune for some kitty food and a couple bowls and litter and a box and we  took her back to the hotel.

Nevada enjoying a real meal at the Tropicana Hotel

Next morning we started calling around for their SPCA to find her help only to find out that their feral cat population is so high that they no longer help they just euthanize ~ which broke my heart. And while I could not save them all I could certainly save THIS cat who'd tugged my heart! So next we called the airport and found out what we needed in place to bring a cat back home with us to Canada! Actually pretty easy ... a certificate of health from a Veterinarian and an $80 plane ticket for an additional carry on. The certificate of health proved to be a bit more costly with it being a holiday and having to pay emergency vet fees they kept her for two days to re-hydrate her and do their tests but she got an amazing clean bill of health for a feral cat. So we altered some of our concert and attraction plans for that vacation to stay within our budget. So at the end of our vacation we brought her home where the Canadian winter was a wee bit of a shock to her ~ even after a decade she can still be found seeking out heat sources in the house! Other than seeking extra heat either in the form of a human body heat, laptop vent or heater she has made an amazing assimilation to being a landed immigrant here!

So the point of my little back story is to share how very important she is to me! She is a member of the family. And as such we would never knowingly do anything to her that put her at risk ... she eats a specialty grain free diet because we learned early on she could not tolerate certain foods, we keep her active with playful times and we take her regularly to the vet for check ups to take care of her dental and physical health.  

So when over the past holiday period she started sneezing/wheezing, throwing up more than the occasional hairball and getting 'hot spots' from licking herself bald we were naturally concerned about WHY. 

We brainstormed what had changed in her diet or environment that could equate for the change in behavior. We were having a really hard time figuring it out. Wondered if she was getting into the artificial Christmas tree and eating the plastic or what not!

While she was symptomatic we took her with us to the in laws for a few days over the holidays because we were afraid to leave her home alone with the teenager in charge and noticed that the symptoms totally disappeared. No weasing, not vomitting and she stopped picking at her hot spot. Leaving us to assume it was something in OUR home and not her diet that was causing the symptoms!

The only thing I was doing differently at home is I had invested in diffuser this past Fall and had gotten some new oils for the holiday season ~ and with it being cold and flu season I was diffusing more often and using my new essential oils in both our bedroom and the main floor where she spends a lot of time. Alternating between having the Holiday Joy which is a blend of Siberian Fir, Wild Orange, Clove Bud, Cinnamon Bark, Cassia, Douglas Fir, Nutmeg essential oils and Vanilla Absolute, a personal combo of Frankincense, Wintergreen and Peppermint, or my On guard which is a blend of Wild Orange, Clove Bud, Cinnamon, Eucalyptus, and Rosemary essential oils and than mixing it up with the Purify made up of a blend of Lemon Peel, Lime Peel, Siberian Fir Needle, Austrian Fir Needle, Pine Needle, Citronella Grass, Melaleuca Leaf, Cilantro Herb essential oils.

Perfect oils for the holiday season!  They were from nature, designed to help pump up immunity and ward off germs during the silly flu season and they were being used in a diluted manner which was safe it never occurred to me that they could put my poor kitty at risk!  

Until I went to google and did some research on essential oils and pets! 

I found a few resources including the Dog Oiler which seems to have some awesome information about the beneficial and holistic use of oils with animals as well as what to be careful of including the following list.  

"NOT RECOMMENDED FOR CATS

• Melaleuca (Tea Tree)
• All Citrus oils (e.g. orange, lemon, lime, grapefruit, bergamot as well as any blends containing these oils)

Also not recommended:

• Clove Bud
• Cypress
• Oregano
• Peppermint
• Roman Chamomile
• Rosemary
• Thyme
• White Fir
• Wintergreen
• Vetiver

Cats lack a liver enzyme (glucuronyl transferase) that humans and dogs have. This enzyme is necessary to metabolize and eliminate some essential oil constituents. Therefore, Melaleuca (Tea Tree) and all Citrus oils are toxic to cats.

Cats are also sensitive to high levels of phenols (which are found in Clove Bud, Oregano Peppermint and Thyme) and ketones (found in White Fir, Wintergreen, Rosemary, and Vetiver). Oils with high levels of these constituents may overwhelm the ability of the cat’s liver to properly metabolize and effectively eliminate them, which can result in toxic overload.

Cypress and Roman Chamomile also can be problematic for cats.

Do not use Blends with these oils (except in the few instances recommended in the next section).

If you decide to use any of the above-mentioned oils, dilute heavily. I recommend only using these oils for short periods of time when other oils are not giving needed support."

There seems to be some controversy in the industry with some oil users saying they use oils with their pets with no issue and others where they have shared stories of pets falling ill with them. I am always one to air on side of caution specially when I am seeing first hand a correlation between what I was practicing in my home, my poor kitties sudden on set of symptoms and than how they stopped when we changed to an environment where the oils here not being diffused daily.

For myself this has been a stark reminder that just because something is NATURAL does not mean that it is SAFE to use in abundance! Something I already KNEW but had still missed in the case of my poor kitty ~ I thought I was being SAFE in my use of them but not safe enough for her poor size and structure! 

Essential oils are holistic MEDICINE and just like ANY medicine they have amounts of use that are safe but amounts that are TOXIC and others that are safe for adults but not for children or in our case PETS! 

So while I will continue to use essential oils because I love the way they are helping with my own health and wellness I will do a much better job to heed the list of pet sensitive cautionary ones being put in my diffuser where she will inhale them.

Have an amazing day!

Margaret
Live Well, Laugh Often, Love Much
Be Totallyawake4-life