Getting Healthy – Page 4

Greener Beauty Products

June 19, 2014

Over a year ago, Laura and I recorded an episode of the podcast about green beauty and skincare products. At the time I was doing pretty good in the shower department, using Live Clean shampoo and conditioner and Dr. Bronner’s as body wash. I still love both products but just haven’t been able to find them in Korea.

Unfortunately back then I wasn’t doing so great in the makeup and skincare department, and I still wasn’t until a couple months ago. I found it harder to make switches with my makeup, mostly because I buy new makeup so rarely and because I didn’t know where to start. It seemed like all drugstore makeup was icky and full of chemicals and that all potentially eco- and body-friendly makeup was expensive and hard to find. Poor excuses, I know, but they still managed to hold me back.

When I moved to Korea and started using iHerb, I realized that in addition to great pantry staples, I could also use the website to buy healthy beauty products at drugstore prices. It had always bugged me that I wasn’t avoiding putting certain toxins onto my face and body, but I just hadn’t made the jump. Happily, I now have and I don’t see any reason why I’d go back.

Resources

If you’re considering transitioning to a greener skincare or beauty routine, make it just that: a transition. You don’t have to overhaul your entire collection of products overnight – you can start small. The next time you run out of something, try replacing it with something greener! In our blog post, we linked to the above graphic as seen on Elise’s blog. It’s such a great resource for these kinds of changes because it makes it simple to check labels for the worst toxins when you’re looking for new products. If it doesn’t have one of those bad guys listed on the package, you’re probably safe.

We also linked to EWG’s Skin Deep cosmetics database, which rates products based on their safety in a number of categories. I’ve since learned that the database uses an imperfect rating system with many inconsistencies (read more here and here) but nonetheless I think it can be worth a check as well before you make a new purchase, as long as you take the information with a grain of salt.

And of course you needn’t go to iHerb to get these products. A lot of companies are aware that customers are starting to want products free from parabens and SLS, so more than ever you will probably be able to find great options at the drugstore!

Beauty

I’m happy to say that I’ve switched out lots of my beauty products and now most of the things I use on a daily basis are free from the most harmful toxins, but they still work wonderfully! I’m still currently in the market for a greener concealer and liquid eyeliner.

Physician’s Formula Super BB Cream: I’d fallen for BB creams last year because I loved the all-in-one nature of them, but had been using a not-so-green one. I recently switched to this one and I’m pretty satisfied overall! It’s not a very heavy coverage but it does what it’s supposed to and it’s a good green option.

Honeybee Gardens Pressed Mineral Powder: I’d never really used powder before, but I’m liking this one. For days that I don’t feel like using the BB cream, this gives me a (very) light coverage option. I’ve never been one for foundations, but I like that this makes me look just a little more polished.

E.L.F. Cosmetics Mellow Mauve Blush: This blush does unfortunately contain one toxin, talc, but it’s very cheap and works pretty well. I would probably choose another colour next time because this one doesn’t show up very well on my face.

Physician’s Formula Organic Wear Mascara: I love this stuff. It works exactly like a mascara should, but it’s free of all those yucky chemicals. This is a really great product.

Sierra Bees Organic Mint Burst Lip Balm, Alba Botanical Terra Tints, LUSH Santa Baby Lip Tint: I don’t often use lip balm, but I keep the first two in my bag and I’ll use those if my lips are feeling chapped. The LUSH tint I got as a Christmas gift -it’s very pigmented and good to use as a lipstick.

Skincare

As it stands now my shower products aren’t overly green, but my next purchases will be. I’m using Tresemmé shampoo and conditioner and a Korean brand of lavender body wash. I use Johnson’s Baby Bedtime lotion and my own homemade, completely natural deodorant. Depending on the day I wash my face either just with water or with a Korean brand face wash. I’m planning to start washing my face with oil (learn more about that here) soon.

Thayer’s Rose Petal Witch Hazel toner: I just started using toner for the first time about a month ago and haven’t noticed any real changes in my skin. But it helps me get off all my makeup and the smell is nice, and it makes me feel like my face is very clean after I use it. I’ve been using it with these organic cotton rounds.

Queen Helene Mint Julep mask: I didn’t realize this had methylparaben in it, so I probably won’t be buying it again. I’ve also never used a mask in my life, but this product had gotten such good reviews and is very cheap so I gave it a try. Overall I don’t think it did much for me, but I’ll keep doing the treatment every once in a while.

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I’m planning to keep exploring greener options and incorporating the good ones into my daily routines. It’s fun, and it’s good for me and my body!

Do you make an effort to use greener beauty and skincare products? Do you have any tips for choosing them or specific products to recommend? I’d love to hear which ones you like in the comments.

Note: while this post contains a couple of affiliate links, mostly I linked to the iHerb product listings (which I am not currently an affiliate for) so that you can find out more information about the products.

Vegan Cashew Cheese

June 17, 2014

Holy yummy, batman! Even though it’s true that I can eat the same thing over and over, lately I’ve been getting bored with what I’ve been eating. That’s part of why I love that I made this resolution to try new recipes: it breaks me out of food ruts and keeps my mind open to different meal ideas. The other part of why I love it, of course, is because the results so far have been very tasty. There’s also a third reason, and that is that I really love cooking and puttering around in the kitchen. It makes me feel industrious and healthier. I love that sentiment from Michael Pollan: “Eat anything you want, just cook it yourself.” I’ve been trying to embrace that more lately.

Oh Dear Drea is a blog that makes vegan living look easy. I was opening browser tabs like crazy yesterday, getting so much inspiration for delicious, easy vegan food. I had a huge bag of cashews in my kitchen, so I decided that this cashew cheese recipe would be the first one I’d try. Despite making a few changes to her original recipe, it still turned out great.

Cashew Cheese

Adapted from Oh Dear Drea

Ingredients:

1 cup of raw cashews, soaked in a bowl of water for 1+ hours
1-2 cloves garlic
1-2 tbsp apple cider vinegar (or lemon juice)
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp salt (to taste)
Herbs

Soak the cashews for an hour or more. Drain them but save the water. Blend together all your ingredients, adding spoonfuls of cashew water until you reach your desired consistency (like a queso sauce). I forgot to pick up lemons so I substituted apple cider vinegar for the lemon juice the original recipe called for. Next time I’ll try with lemons and nutritional yeast because I know that would make it that much more delicious.

I’d treated myself to a garlic baguette (my first baguette since arriving in Korea!) after my run this morning, and loved eating some pieces of it with this yummy sauce. I think this would be great on a vegan pizza, like it was suggested in the original post. I’m excited to use it in veggie wraps and tacos too! Really it seems like you could just throw it on just about anything. The recipe makes a lot, almost a cup full, so I’m looking forward to discovering all the possibilities.

Yum! Dig in, friends.

Chocolate Chia Pudding

June 12, 2014

“I love that after a day when nothing is sure, and when I say “nothing”, I mean nothing, you can come home and absolutely know that if you add egg yolks to chocolate and sugar and milk, it will get thick. It’s such a comfort.” – Julie & Julia

Just replace “day” with “week”, “egg yolks” with “chia seeds”, “sugar” with “maple syrup” and add a “soy” to “milk” and voila: you have a quote that represents exactly how I feel right now. Walking home on Monday after getting the news about my school, I actually heard this quote in my head and was struck with the urge to watch the movie for the hundredth time.

And this morning, after I woke up feeling kind of small and defeated and not at all abundant, I made this pudding. I let it set up in the fridge while I went to the park – intending to do yoga but, after realizing that the platforms I usually use for my practice had been taken over by dozens of small Korean children playing, I just sat on a bench thinking instead – and tried it when I got home.

The taste is amazing, just like chocolate pudding but actually healthy, so no guilt required. The texture however needs a little work, my first few bites were too slimy for my liking. Blending in some steel cut oats really helped to give it a more palatable texture, but it could have still been smoother. It probably doesn’t help that my blender isn’t very high-powered so the seeds weren’t broken down much.

Of course, none of that is stopping me from spooning it into my mouth non-stop as I write this. It really is tasty.

Chocolate Chia Pudding

Adapted from Oh She Glows

Ingredients:

1/4 cup chia seeds
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 cup soy or nut milk
2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
4 tbsp steel cut oats
pinch of salt

Blend all your ingredients together until smooth. Let the pudding set in the fridge for about an hour or until it’s the consistency you like. Having a high-powered blender will help make this pudding smoother so that you don’t taste the chia seeds.

And with that, I’m off to (probably) watch Julie and Julia clips until it’s time for me to go to work. If I’m not doing that, you’ll find me at the Korean diner, eating kimchi fried rice and trying my hardest not to worry/cry.

Happy Thursday, friends!

Chocolate Nut Granola

June 3, 2014

I’m the kind of person who can eat the same thing every single day for as long as it takes for me to get sick of it. When I find something that works, I tend to call it a day and will find myself making it over and over until something else grabs my attention. I just like the simplicity of having a routine and not having to spend too much time thinking about what I’ll make.

For a while, every day my breakfasts were green smoothies with a piece of peanut butter toast and my lunches were BBQ tofu tacos – dinners are usually where I get some variety. Since I’ve been in Korea, my breakfasts most days are granola with soy milk and my lunches are usually eggs on toast. Boring but happy, that’s me!

I had been buying a Quaker’s granola at Costco, but it’s a bit too sweet and since I haven’t been going to Costco that often, I needed another option. Back in April 2013 when Elise posted that she’d been eating nut granola for breakfast every morning, I was intrigued and made a mental note to make it myself. Finally this morning I did, and already I’m a total goner.

This stuff isn’t overly sweet and has a nice hint of salt, which I love. I made it according to this recipe from Delighted Momma but with only 1/2 cup of coconut oil as opposed to the full cup that she calls for. Even then, I could probably cut down the amount a little more. I didn’t roast my nuts or bake my granola because I don’t have an oven, but even so I’m really happy with how it turned out. It’s filling and absolutely delicious. I ate it with some plain yogurt and am going to try it with soy milk tomorrow for breakfast. I have a feeling I will definitely be making this again. And again, and again, knowing me.

Speaking of delighted mamas, I am especially happy for my own today. She has worked so hard for the last few months getting my childhood home ready to sell, and happily it sold almost instantly, for more than expected, to a lovely young family who cried when they heard it was theirs. We are all really happy. My younger sister laughed and called me a hippie yogi when I said that it felt like there was a lot of good energy involved: that maybe the buyers could sense the love and laughter of our house, and that it’s so nice that we are passing it off to a young family the way ours was when we moved in. But that’s how it seems. It’s a good thing. (Anyways, I think she secretly loves that I’m a hippie yogi and I love that she’s practical and down-to-earth.) I wish I could have been there celebrating with them in the kitchen I grew up in, but since I couldn’t be, I’m thankful for the magic of FaceTime. Happy days!

Once again, the recipe for this delicous granola is here.