Vita-Mix

A few years ago, when I was just starting my health journey, I was over at a friend's house soaking up as much of her wisdom as possible. She whips out this blender, fills it up with all kinds of healthy stuff, turns it on and walks away! What is this?! A blender that doesn't get all clogged up? A blender you don't have to babysit, and make sure it doesn't fall off the stand? This blender, a Vita-Mix, instantly made my wish list. I knew it was costly, but really how much could a blender be? Uff da. Quite a bit more than my hubby was willing to part with! So, I learned to be content with my garage sale blenders. The old seventies blenders sell for about $5, and last longer than those I purchased new. I like my smoothies thick!
Fast forward to Fall 2010. I figure out that if I want to feed my family according to Nourishing Traditions, I need to be making things from scratch. It's much cheaper (more on that in a later post)and healthier. So I begin to research grain mills and stumble upon one little sentence on www.thenourishinggourmet.com which basically said a Vita-Mix works great for grinding grain. Hooray! Here's my in! Long story short: everything worked out and I got a Vita-Mix for Christmas!
Smoothies have never been better! They sell a wet container and a dry container. The blades are different. I can grind 4 cups of flour in 1 minute. This machine really is incredible. I debated between trying to grind the wheat in the wet container, but really felt at peace when I got the dry container. It works great, and costs less when you purchase them together. Another bonus: clean-up is a breeze.
Final thoughts: the Vita-Mix rocks. If you can save your money to purchase one, I highly suggest it! If you can get it as a combined gift from everyone you know, even better. :) Go for it! It really makes life a little easier and healthier. :)

Daytime Face Lotion

I ordered a new bottle of face lotion last month. I've been using the same lotion for a while, so I forgot that I could have just ordered the nighttime lotion. I wish I had. Nothing is really wrong with the daytime lotion, it just has sunscreen in it, and I am not a big fan of wearing sunscreen everyday. I know, all dermatologists are going to hunt me down and tell me differently! But, here's how I see it...I have looked up what chemicals are used in sunscreen on the Skin Deep database, and the only good thing they do is block the sun. They do plenty of bad things...depending on the amount that is put into the lotion. Just ask my friend, Bree, what her son's skin thinks of sunscreen. Plus, God made the sun to give us vitamin D. He gave us trees for shade, and clothes to protect our bodies. I would rather wear a hat, clothes and not be in the sun for more than 15 minutes at a time than slather up with sunscreen everyday. Especially in the winter.
So, if you're looking for a good lotion without sunscreen, go with a nighttime lotion. It's more moisturizing which is good news for those of us living in this Arizona dryness.

Laundry Detergent and Softener

I love it! I used to buy all natural detergent and softener from Sun and Earth online, but the cost, combined with new, higher shipping costs, was just too much. Lately, I have just been buying the Walmart brand and Bounce unscented fabric sheets. I was excited to get back to the natural, and I have not been disappointed! Our clothes are clean and SOFT. I only dry our jeans partially in the dryer and then hang them up--they are still soft. And my corduroys...hello! They feel incredible. These are two products I will definitely be reordering on a regular basis.

Product Review: Dry Skin Lotion

One product I couldn't wait to try out was the lotion for dry skin. For those of you who know the Hubbards well, you know that we suffer from severely dry skin. Will has eczema that wakes him up in the middle of the night itching even if I lotioned him before bed! Poor guy winds up in our bed just scratching, and I have to lotion him again in the middle of the night.
This has not happened since I started using this lotion!! Woo-hoo! I feel the skin behind Will's knees, and it is SO soft. Last night we didn't even lotion and he slept all night long. Now, this lotion is not totally natural. I've been doing some research, and unless you go fully organic you probably won't find a lotion that is totally natural. There is a website called Skin Deep that provides safety ratings for cosmetics, lotions, etc. I have provided a link on this blog if you'd like to check it out. Jason Naturals, which is sold in health food stores, had a product which rated a 9 (10 is the worst) and so did Huggies, which we use on babies! While my new lotion was not in their data base, I did look up the individual ingredients and concluded that it should fall into the low to low-moderate hazard rating. Jordan Rubin says you shouldn't put anything on your skin that you wouldn't eat because everything is absorbed into your body, but I have checked out, and even tried some organic lotions,...they are expensive and didn't work as well as this one! So, until I'm rolling in the money, I will gladly use this lotion and enjoy my sleep-filled nights.