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

Eating out doesn't have to be a splurge

I enjoy eating out but recently have stopped because of the eating plan I am on. I have cut out all sugar, wheat, dairy, rice, beans, corn, soy, and more. I feel so much better and my brain works now! But I missed meeting up with friends, girls nights out, and having dinner out with my husband. 

This week I threw all caution to the wind and agreed to meet a friend at, of all places, the Cheesecake Factory. Nothing tempting there, right? 

I did what all good people on eating plans do before they go to a restaurant and looked online at their menu. I found a roasted chicken dish that I could have but it was similar to what I had been eating at home. 

Then I saw Cashew Chicken. Oh man did that sound good. I looked over the whole menu and there were salads that would be okay (as long as the dressing was vinaigrette) and there was a turkey sandwich if I didn't eat the bread. So okay I had options. 

When we met at the restaurant the Cashew Chicken still called out to me. I love stir fries and I wanted it. It came over a bed of steamed rice. No can do. I have never seen a restaurant that would serve stir fries without the rice. 

I summoned my courage and asked the waiter if it could be done. He said yes and asked if I wanted an extra vegetable instead? That sounded weird to me, but I asked for my options. 

Asparagus?  Eh. Sounded like an odd combination. 
Carrots? Nope, too sugary. 
Spinach? Hmmm. Cashew chicken and spinach. That sounded okay so I agreed to that. 

Oh my gosh! What came out was way better than I expected. 

I received a huge bowl with sauteed chicken and cashews on a huge bed of lightly steamed spinach. It was incredible! Such a great combination! I was in heaven. 

Everything in my bowl was okay to eat and in scarfing down my bowl full of yumminess, I forgot to take a picture. Which means I will just have to go back and order it again so you can see how fabulous the whole plate was! (heh heh)


Thank you Cheesecake Factory for helping me stick to my eating plan! Who would have thought? 


This experience taught me that I can go out to eat if I work with the wait staff and ask them for options. 

Since I didn't have pics of my own fabulous dinner, I grabbed a few shots from the Cheesecake Factory website so you can see some other options. Lettuce wraps are usually good (watch for the rice noodles and too many starchy veggies on the side, as well as sweetened dipping sauces), or the herbed chicken I mentioned earlier (above).

So the next time you are in a place that serves something on rice, try a vegetable instead. It was so darn good! 

Tonight is a friend's birthday and we are heading to a local Mexican food place. Stay tuned to see how well I stick to plan. 

Wish me luck!
Laureen

Traveling Healthy: Cooking in my Hotel Room without Setting off the Fire Alarm

I love science. Science experiments are fun to me. Any experiment is fun for the most part. I am on business travel for a few weeks and I really want to stick to this eating plan. It's been more difficult than I thought because I am having trouble finding cooked organic food in the area. I have this lovely little family owned organic grocery near my home. 

Here they have gargantuan stores with restaurants inside the grocery. Seriously. It is the oddest thing. I have been taking pictures and sending them home to my husband. 

But most of the food isn't organic. My solution? Purchase a Rival Electric Skillet from Amazon and have it shipped to the hotel. I am an Amazon Prime member, so it arrived in 2 days. 

When it arrived I looked at it and realized it would cause steam, smoke, and heat. Will it set off the smoke alarms? 

I get evacuated from hotels enough. For a while the alarms would go off in my hotel about every other trip (I did not cause the evacuations). On a side note, it's really funny to see what people sleep in. As such I always pack sweats and tennis shoes and keep them near the bed. 

So this morning I made breakfast. In the skillet. In the room. And to be extra daring, I cooked bacon. Smoky--needs decent heat to cook--bacon. I also made scrambled eggs and for the first time noticed how much steam comes off of the darn things. But it worked! NO ALARMS! SUCCESS! 

Breakfast is served. 

I use Applegate Farms Bacon because it is nitrate free and organic. It has the best taste. I brought salt, pepper, and oregano with me, since I like to season my eggs with them. Organic eggs were pretty easy to find.

Now to clean up the mess and air out the bacon smell in the room before they come in to clean. 

Bacon grease disposal

I used a combination of a hotel glass and extra baggies I had brought with me to dispose of the bacon grease. Line the cup with plastic and the baggie. Wrap the top of the baggie over the edge of the glass. Wait for the grease to cool a bit, then pour it into the baggie-lined glass. Set it near the air unit in the room to congeal. Once solid, remove the baggie from the glass, seal it, and dispose. Viola!  

Here is to staying healthy, one small step at a time. 


Happy, healthy, travels!  
Laureen

Healthy Traveling

I am on a business trip for 13 days. When I travel it is more stressful than being at home and I used to soothe that stress by treating myself to things I usually wouldn't eat: pancakes, cookies, catered food for lunch, pasta at business dinners, desserts, an extra glass of wine... You get the picture. 

Well now I am working to stick to my healthy eating and eliminate all sugar, artificial sweeteners, wheat, gluten, rice, beans, dairy, and caffeine. So much for pancakes and pasta dinners.

As I eat healthier and more pure foods (no processing at all), I am finding joys in the simple things. And I am thrilled to have found a way to satisfy my sweet tooth. 

After leaving the airport, I made a bee line for the organic grocery store that is closest to my hotel. I had created a shopping list before my trip and wanted to have as much food on hand as I could so I wouldn't be tempted to grab something. Being hungry, tired, and stressed is a sure fire way for me to eat pizza and cake (not "or", "and"). Not exactly wheat, gluten, sugar, or dairy-free. 

I have found that one of my most favorite and crave reducing items is a granny smith apple with almond butter. Make sure the almond butter is freshly ground and has no added sugar. 

If I want a little sweetness, I sprinkle Stevia on of the almond butter. It is so darn good! I cut up the apple into slices so it provides that comfort food feel and spread the almond butter on thick. 

The best part about this eating plan is that I don't have to limit the quantity of the food I eat. So I can apply the almond butter liberally to each apple slice. 

Try my latest treat. I am sure you will like it as much as I do. It is filling, has great fiber, protein, and healthy fats. And it tastes so darn good! 

Here's to your health! 
Laureen

It's the little things that make life grand

Sunday mornings are my favorite time of the week. Friday evenings come in a close second. Sunday morning means I can sleep in until my body tells me it's time to wake up. I can leisurely drink my tea. Make a hearty breakfast. And relax and enjoy myself.

This morning I woke up before my husband. We are both on a detox diet so we drink red clover tea throughout the day. I took our vintage carafe and made a large pot, suitable for the whole day. 

I love our vintage carafe. I gave it to my husband for Christmas this year. It was a great eBay find. I love mid century modern design and this one is perfect. 

I poured my cup of tea and set his favorite mug beside the carafe. 

Through this detox process, while I am cleaning out my body and allowing it to be healthier, I am starting to really enjoy the little things. My favorite mug, the great designs in my home, making good food, listening to good music. 

These little things help me not miss the junk food so much. I still crave breads and cakes but making sure the things I am eating are beautifully served makes me happy. And makes that road to health not so steep.

The red clover tea we drink is just a simple loose tea. But you have to admit that pouring it from that gorgeous carafe into a fun mug makes all the difference. 

It's a beautiful rainy day here. Great day to spend appreciating the warmth of my house, hot tea, and watching Peter Gabriel in concert (the one in Athens--highly recommend). 

Soon it will be time to make that breakfast. Ahhhhh Sundays. 

Hope you are enjoying your day. You don't have to spend a lot to make your days special. 

Time to relax,
Laureen