make your own

Natural DIY Self Care Product Recipes

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natural

There is an incredible amount of toxic chemicals lurking in your cosmetics that significantly affect your health. Although you can find many organic, toxin-free options at your local health food store, why not try making your own natural, inexpensive versions at home.

Here are some of my favourite ‘recipes’ I like to use and share with my friends and family.

Natural Body Butter

In a double boiler on your stove, add:

  • 1/4 cup natural beeswax (let this melt completely before adding the rest of the ingredients)
  • 1/2 cup extra virgin, organic, raw coconut oil
  • 1/2 cup sweet almond oil (Use avocado oil if you are allergic to nuts)
  • 20 drops of your favourite essential oils (mine are grapefruit and vanilla!)
  1. In a double boiler, allow the natural beeswax to become liquified.
  2. Add the coconut oil and almond oil, until it is all liquified. Then remove from heat.
  3. Next add your essential oils.
  4. Once it has cooled slightly pour into small containers and place in the fridge to harden and use liberally!

It can be stored for several months in the fridge.

Caution – if you are allergic to bees, or sensitive to bee pollen, etc, do not use the beeswax in your recipe. The cream might become liquified on hot days, but it will re-solidify when the temperature returns to normal. The beeswax helps to keep the cream solid in the heat and hold the moisture on your skin. Also, if you are allergic to nuts – swap out the almond oil for avocado oil (everything can be found at the health food store).
natural deodorant

Natural Deodorant

This recipe for natural deodorant is to replace the aluminum and preservative nastiness that is found in conventional deodorants. It doesn’t work quite as well as regular deodorant for many people, so test this out at home before arriving to work! Paired with a clean diet and drinking lots of water, your body will begin to naturally detoxify and not have underarms that produce as much smell.

  • 6 tbsp Coconut oil
  • 1/4 cup Baking soda
  • 1/4 cup Arrowroot powder
  • Essential oils of your choice
  1. Mix baking soda and arrowroot together in a medium sized bowl.
  2. Mash in coconut oil with a fork until well mixed.
  3. Add your favourite essential oils.
  4. Store in small glass jar or old deodorant container for easy use.
natural toothpaste

Natural Toothpaste

Toothpaste can be filled with all sort of toxins, from sodium lauryl sulfate to fluoride, and
artificial sweeteners to triclosan. It is very easy to make your own toothpaste, and you
may even find that it helps to whiten your teeth and leave your mouth feeling fresher
than ever before!

Click here to read, “Are you still using Crest toothpaste?”

  • 1/2 cup coconut oil
  • 3 tbsp Baking soda
  • 15 Drops peppermint essential oil
  1. Mix all of the ingredients together. If the coconut is really hard, you may have to warm it slightly to let it soften.
  2. Keep mixture in a small jar in your bathroom. To keep germs out of it, use a spoon to put the paste onto your toothbrush.

For more information about common chemicals you should try and avoid, click here to read, “What Chemicals Are You Putting On Your Face?”

How To Throw A Sugar Free Kids Birthday Party

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Sugar Free Kids Birthday Party

What do you get when you mix a group of children with too much cake, junk food, candy and party games? A recipe for overtired, cranky, and overstimulated children.

The excitement of a birthday party can be enough to trigger emotional behaviour in children. The tradition of eating pizza and cake, followed by presents and games just doesn’t make sense anymore.

Children are sensitive to what they eat, and because they don’t have the same emotion regulation that adults have developed, hosting a birthday party for your child could be more than you had bargained for.

Below are some tips to host a kid-friendly party, that considers their health. Trust me, other parents are going to thank you!

The Cake

Food colouring and dyes that are used in cake icing have been linked to hyperactivity and allergic reactions. Ultimately, cake icing is a mixture of sugar, unhealthy fats, and chemicals. The cake itself is not much healthier being high in sugar, gluten and is likely high in fat as well. Opt for a homemade cake that is lower in sugar and fat and free of harmful food dyes. To avoid the traditional cake altogether, there are plenty of ideas on the internet to make a beautiful cake out of fruit. The base is a large watermelon and other fruits are used to decorate the “cake.” 

The Drinks

Avoid high-sugar drinks like pop and juice that can cause children to be on a sugar-high. Create a buffet of chopped strawberries, raspberries, orange slices, lemon slices, and cucumber slices to add to water. Children will be excited to make their own flavoured drinks and they can experiment with different combinations.

The Food

Serving a group of children a meal that they all like can be the largest obstacle of any birthday party. It’s pretty safe to say that most children like pizza and chicken nuggets and French fries. So, rather than buying these highly processed options at the grocery store, make your own at home so you have control of the ingredients. Make individual pizzas on pita bread so each child can select the ingredients they want on their pizza. Homemade chicken fingers and baked French fries are also a fast and convenient solution.

The Goodie Bag

Most parents can agree that the junk that comes home in a goodie bag from a child’s birthday party is ready for the garbage. Candy, chocolates, and little plastic toys do not offer any health benefit for the child. Instead, opt for activities like painting a picture or a craft that children can take home with them in place of a goodie bag. Alternatively, have children decorate a picture frame and take a group photo and print a copy for each child to put in their picture frame.

The Activities

The key to a fun birthday party is to be prepared with more activities than you think you might need to fill the time of the birthday party. Create a dance party and have kids be creative in making a music video. Have a scavenger hunt where children have to work together to find clues and a prize.

What’s in your chicken sandwich? DNA test shows Subway sandwiches contain just 50% chicken

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What's in your chicken sandwich? DNA test shows Subway sandwiches contain just 50% chicken

What are you eating? Do you really have any idea what you are buying when you whip into a fast food restaurant?

CBC’s Marketplace recently had chicken from 5 fast food restaurants DNA tested to see what is actually in their chicken.

If you can believe it, DNA tests on Subway’s Oven Roasted Chicken show that just 53.6 per cent was chicken! The majority of the remaining DNA was soy.

Two major red flags are waving here.

1. What else is the company hiding in their products?
2. What if someone was allergic to soy and unknowingly eating it in a piece of chicken?! Additionally, regular consumption of soy can wreak havoc on the hormonal system.

Subway states that “Our recipe calls for one per cent or less of soy protein in our chicken products.” This is still quite concerning for those of us who like to know what we are actually consuming.

• A&W Chicken Grill Deluxe averaged 89.4 per cent chicken DNA
• McDonald’s Country Chicken – Grilled averaged 84.9 per cent chicken DNA
• Tim Hortons Chipotle Chicken Grilled Wrap averaged 86.5 per cent chicken DNA
Wendy’s Grilled Chicken Sandwich averaged 88.5 per cent chicken DNA

Each restaurant’s chicken actually averaged approximately 15 ingredients per piece of chicken.

How is this even possible? Isn’t chicken supposed to be just chicken?

These restaurant chains are actually serving meat that has been “restructured”.

Restructured products are smaller pieces of meat or ground meat that are bound together with other ingredients to make them last longer, taste better and ‘add value’ – i.e. – to make them cheaper.

The ingredients can include simple items like salt, honey or onion powder, as well as shocking industrial ingredients. They most likely also contain transglutaminase, which is meat glue. Yes – glue to hold together scraps of meat to bind them into a new form for consumption.

What is the Solution?

Plan ahead and bring your own food when you’re on the road, or when you go to work. It’s much cheaper to eat food that you prepare yourself, and you will also have a better idea as to what you are eating! Here is a quick recipe to make your own delicious chicken wrap that is actually 100% chicken, instead of just half!!

RECIPE: Savoury 100% Chicken Wrap – Great for Lunches

Slice 3 organic chicken breasts into strips and bake or fry ahead of time. (this will make several lunches for a few days for yourself or a day of lunches for your family)

Grab a whole wheat wrap and spread hummus onto it.
Place a large lettuce leaf in the middle.
Add sliced tomato, cucumber and onions.
Add your chicken slices.
Sprinkle with pepper and wrap it up!
Hold it together with a tooth pick and you’re out the door!

Whenever possible, avoid fast food by planning ahead and bringing your own food. Take control of your health and empower yourself by being proactive about your meal choices!

With Sources from:

http://www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/meat-glue-an-ingredient-to-fear-or-cheer-1.855985

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/marketplace-chicken-fast-food-1.3993967