Claims in Beauty Product--Don't pay extra for buzz words!

I went to a large beauty store the other day. You know the kind, the ones with all sorts of brands of products in one place.

I was surprised and amazed to see claims like "gluten-free" and really
high-priced products that include plant stem cells. 

Gluten? 

Well, I don't know about you, but I don't expect flour to be in my beauty products. Unless you are buying an oatmeal mask, "gluten-free" labeling has no place in beauty products. 

Gluten is a protein that makes dough elastic. I never expect that any lotion I purchase would include in it's ingredients wheat flour, rye flour, or anything else that naturally has gluten in it. Would you? 
 
Gluten is only bad for your gut, and only in certain people. Since you aren't eating your beauty products, don't worry about gluten in them! 

I suppose these same products could be labelled sugar free and dairy free too, right? I doubt there are a lot of beauty products, other than sugar scrubs, that have added sugar. I also doubt they put a lot of dairy products in there that will expire. 

So please don't pay more for a product just because it has a fad label. Save your money for things that really work.

Plant Stem Cells? 

 

My second shock came when I saw really high priced products that included plant stem cells. For a stem cell to work, it has to match other cells. And no matter how hard you try, a vegetable or fruit stem cell will never match a human cell. I found additional information here, Lifeline. The most important part of the article states: 

"Apple stem cells clearly work for apples. Watermelon stem cells are perfect for watermelons. But they don’t have any benefits to humans unless, as InStyle wrote, “you want to look like a tree”.  One plant stem cell skincare brand claims to produce more collagen and elastin. There’s no scientific evidence of that, and  their ability to proliferate skin cells, repair wounds or stimulate collagen and elastin in people is limited, at best."

Products with stem cells included are expen$ive!! Don't pay for something that will never work and provide no benefit to you. 

Save your money and use clean, non-toxic products. Look at the labels and find the ones where you can read most of the ingredients. 

I hope I saved you some hard-earned money today. Feel free to comment and ask questions. 

Laureen

Chocolate Oatmeal No-Bake Cookies

When I was young we used to make a chocolate oatmeal peanut butter no-bake cookies. I loved them. Sometimes we were lucky if they made it onto the wax paper. We would all grab spoons and dig in.

But since February, I have removed all sugar, dairy, and wheat from my life, not to mention peanuts. This makes it hard to make a good cookie. 

Last night I was craving chocolatey goodness so I decided to remake the standard recipe to align with my current eating plan. Here is a link to the original recipe: Chocolate Peanut-Butter No Bake Cookies

The original recipe calls for 2 cups of sugar, cocoa powder, a stick of butter, and a cup of peanut butter. All no-nos for me at the moment. 

While mine didn't turn out as gooey as the originals, they are pretty darn tasty and satisfied my cravings. The cookies from the recipe below are for those of us that love dark, bitter chocolate. If you prefer a sweeter cookie you can add more Stevia, or if you are ingesting sugar, you can add honey, maple syrup, etc. 

Chocolate Oatmeal Almond Butter No Bake Cookies

 

5 Tablespoons block cacao (unsweetened)
1/3 cup coconut oil
2 Tablespoons Earth Balance "butter"
1 Tablespoon Stevia (more if you want a sweeter cookie)
1 cup almond butter
1 cup almond milk
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 1/2 cups oatmeal

Melt the cacao, coconut oil, butter, milk, and Stevia in a pan on the stove. Don't boil. Just melt everything well. 
 
Remove from heat and add almond butter. Mix well. If it isn't melting into the chocolate mixture, put it back on the heat for a minute. 

 
Add the vanilla and oatmeal and mix well. If the mixture is too dry add more almond milk a Tablespoon at a time until mixture is a thick dough consistency. Taste the cookies, adjust sweetness levels. 
 
Roll into balls and put on wax paper to cool. Enjoy! 





Nom, nom!
Laureen

My Story and my Path

I appreciate you all following me and reading my blog. I started it because I wanted to help people who were searching for a healthier balanced life including food, beauty products, work-life balance, and fun. I love creating party designs and have quite a few posts about how to DIY your own party. 

I also have a lot of health posts, including healthy recipes. The healthy posts are due to my need to keep myself alive. 

Yep. As hard as it is to admit, daily I work to sustain my health so I won't sneak into the cancer range. 

Eight years ago, I went to my doctor for my annual exam. I have thyroid and blood pressure issues (that is for another post) and I needed to have my blood drawn to make sure my medication levels were good. I mentioned I was tired so my doctor also ran my Sedimentation (Sed) rate. The Sed rate is an indicator of inflammation in the body. Usually your Sed rate is under 20. A reading of 100 is a sign of serious illness. Mine came back at 92. 

92

I was shocked and scared. What was going wrong in my body? 

The doctor sent me to a cardiologist and after weeks of heart monitoring and other tests we determined my heart was good. So I was sent to a Rheumatologist. Maybe it was arthritis or a joint issue. I could deal with that. Weeks of tests again showed nothing. But the Rheumatologist had one more test for me, which was a blood test. 

I don't think I will ever forget the day of my appointment with him for the results. This was an in-person kind of result, not a phone call. He told me I might have a blood/bone marrow cancer so he was sending me to a Hematology Oncologist. I think my world stood still. Blood cancer? Bone marrow cancer? If I was going to get cancer why couldn't it be something that they could remove?

I was 42 years old. I was in the prime of my life. I was just a little tired. Isn't everyone a little tired?

The Hematology Oncologist did all sorts of test. He redid the blood tests, took x-rays of every bone in my body, tested my kidneys, and sent me for a bone marrow biopsy. 

I was just under the cancer levels for multiple myeloma and was pretty much told that the disease would progress until I had cancer and then I could discuss treatments. I was sent to places that specialize in treating severe cancers and who are supposed to provide hope. I received no hope. 

Don't get me wrong, my Hematology Oncologist is wonderful but they are taught that there are no cures for certain things. 

Something about this diagnoses made me curious. Our bodies want to work correctly, and mine was not. If I gave it the right stuff, whatever that may be, why couldn't my body fix itself? 

Doctors had no cure, so what did I have to lose? At the time, I read that MM is caused by either exposure to chemicals or a virus. I couldn't do much if a virus caused this, but I could control my chemical exposure. So began our purging of our cleaning products and our food. My husband started cooking and would cook only organic food. We researched and cleared out all toxic chemical from our cleaning products (vinegar is wonderful).

I added only clean things into my body while doing all sorts of cleanses to get the toxins out (contact me if you want the details, I am happy to share).  And guess what? It worked! My numbers stabilized. I went from having blood tests every 3 weeks to now, once a year. My numbers still go up and down (up is bad) but I have remained stable. YEA ME! 

Me!

 

The path to this point is fraught with twists and turns, however. I had a bout with depression, weight gain, and slip ups. I will post more about these as time goes on. 


So please enjoy my blog, my recipes, DIY pieces, and my party designs. I will continue to give information on how I am bringing by body back to health. And finding my new normal, which continues to change. 


Yours in Life, 
Laureen