Friday, May 23, 2014

Ariel's Toothpaste Recipe

We use it every day, hopefully at least twice a day. Do we know what's actually in it? Toothpaste is the easiest thing to just make yourself. It takes about 5 minutes, which is pretty much the time it would take you inside the store to find a good one, let alone the drive there. I started making it myself 3 or so moths ago.

What I love about this recipe is, if you're reading this from your home right now, you have all the ingredients right there(Besides maybe the oils.) Keep in mind, these are salty ingredients. Yes, the toothpaste is salty.

Ingredients

3 tsp- baking soda
1 1/2 tsp- sea salt, finely ground
2 tsp- coconut oil (You can do it without this, but it's better with)
2 splashes- hydrogen peroxide
3-5 drops- On Guard (Prevents AND heals cavities)
3-5 drops- Peppermint (Freshens breath)
(read about peppermint&on guard here)

Directions

1. Add all the ingredients together in a glass container (unless you don't plan on using any Essential Oils. Then whatever container you want is fine)

2. Mix altogether

3. Test it out

4. Adjust your oils accordingly

5. Enjoy!

I like this toothpaste, not only because it's better for you than store bought, but because it leaves my teeth feeling really CLEAN and WHITE. If I feel like it hasn't freshened my breath enough, I will take a drop of peppermint on my finger and run it around inside my mouth or ONE drop to a glass full of water. I made the mistake of doing more than one drop one time. I haven't done that again. (SPICY!) If you just don't want to buy essential oils for whatever reason, you can use this tooth paste without, then use mouthwash, careful to not swallow. Natural/Organic mouthwash is better obviously. Like this one. If you look at the ingredients though, you'll see they're just using essential oils. Probably not very good ones either. It's better just to bite the bullet, cut out the middle man, and buy you some essential oils. 

That's my toothpaste recipe! I use it every day! You can just double the recipe to make a double batch. I imagine it does have a "best by" date, however, so be careful. If you want to try a different recipe, this blog has some great ones http://modernsurvivalblog.com/health/13-homemade-toothpaste-recipes/.

Happy brushing! ;)

~Ariel


Tuesday, May 20, 2014

I only cook with oils, right?

I'm going to use this post early on to introduce you to Essential Oils, if you haven't been already. The reason is because I use Essential Oils in some of my recipes. So, rather than explain what they are and how you get them on every post with a recipe that calls for them, I'm going to do so in one big post.

My sister, Jessica, introduced me to Essential Oils a few months ago. There are many companies out there that you can buy them from, even Whole Foods carries them. However, I was blessed enough to start off learning about Essential Oils from the company called Doterra. The difference between Doterra and the other companies you can buy from is that, when you buy a bottle of their Essential Oils, that's all you're getting. You're not getting a million other synthetics that are added or other cheap oils to fill up the bottle that has one drop of severely processed leaf oil in it. If you're thinking, "Well that's all well and great, Ariel, but what the FLIP are Essential Oils?  Do I cook with them? Massage with them?" Well, yes, but it's much more. The following is a post from the Doterra website it's explaining just what Essential Oils are:

dōTERRA CPTG Certified Pure Therapeutic Grade* essential oils are pure, natural aromatic compounds carefully extracted from plants. They do not contain fillers or artificial ingredients that would dilute their active qualities. Proper extraction and quality control methods also ensure that dōTERRA essential oils are free of any contaminants such as pesticides or other chemical residues.
In addition to being pure and natural, dōTERRA essential oils are subjected to additional quality testing that ensures the correct composition of the active natural compounds found in each oil. Even though an essential oil may be pure, if the right species or part of a plant has not been used, or if the plant has not been grown in the right environment or harvested at the right time, or if it has not been distilled under the right conditions, the natural chemical makeup of the extraction will not provide as predictable and powerful a benefit. In some cases, the wrong plant harvested at the wrong time may result in an extract that contains harmful levels of some constituents.
dōTERRA® essential oils are guaranteed to be pure, natural and free of synthetic compounds or contaminates. They are subjected to rigorous Mass Spectrometry and Gas Chromatography testing to ensure extract composition and activity. dōTERRA pure essential oils represent the safest and most beneficial essential oils available today.
Equally stringent standards of safety and efficacy are applied to all of the dōTERRA Essential Wellness products. Guided by our Scientific Advisory Board and Health-Care Professional Committee, dōTERRA uses only top development and manufacturing partners who maintain GMP certification and enjoy industry reputation for superior innovation and quality work product. Each dōTERRA product is guaranteed to exceed customer satisfaction for quality and efficacy. (http://www.doterra.com/us/companyCPTGEssentialOils.php)

Hopefully that clears up what exactly Essential Oils means. (There's even more, better info here.)They are oils extracted from plants. The oils are so important to the plants that they even have these little protective spikes on them guarding their oils, which you can see when looking under a microscope (see here). Oils have amazing healing properties to, not only these plants, but our bodies. Because they are completely natural, found in nature, our body doesn't raise any blocks or guards when we put them on our skin or in our body. They have been used for years upon years. If you've read the Bible, you'll remember reading about such oils as Frankincense and Myrr. Unfortunately, as years passed and we started being able to mass produce, people wanted things quicker, cheaper, for less work. (Like it's easy to strip down plants and get bottles full of oil.sarcasm.) Thus, we have our booming pharmaceutical industry, leaving people sicker than when they first were sick.

Again, "Fine and good, Ariel, but what the hay do I do with them?" 
Ev. Re. Thing.
Everything.
You know that saying, "There's an app for that?" Well, "There's an oil for that."

From 
..bruises, boils, acne, dandruff, cysts, cancer, endometriosis, ticks/fleas/spiders, bites, bumps, fat/cellulite, razor burn, toenail fungus, strep throat..
To
..toilet cleaner, laundry detergent, pet ailments, cooking spice, vitamins, shampoo, toothpaste..

Anything I have a problem with, I google "doterra oils *insert problem here*" and there's different oils and recipes I can try. Not to mention the wonderful, devoted oil community that there is who know leaps and bounds more than I do, always ready to share their experience, that I go to for help.

The oils have helped me with scar tissue/scar, head aches, sleep, pain when I nearly threw my back out and could barely walk, preventing sickness, and loads more I'm sure I don't even notice. They've done wonders for my sister, her family of 6, and hundreds of thousands of others.

I haven't been into the selling side of the Essential Oil business at all. I started for my own personal health with a membership so I could buy everything cheaper wholesale, the Physicians Kit, and the Lifelong Vitality Pack (vitamins). I haven't sold or tried selling oils. I'm not a salesman. I worked door to door for a roofing company not even selling anything and quit in a month realizing I was not born a salesman. I'm an introverted, don't leave my room, do everything in power not to make eye contact while walking, freak. I actually just started trying to sell this healthy mascara that I love, and it's driving me up the wall with stress because I despise the fake sounding nature of selling things. With that being said, if you do want to buy oils or become a "product consultant" (which if you're going to be buying oils I recommend because you get them cheaper and are apart of the rewards program getting free oils every month, even if you never sell one thing from Doterra) then you can follow this link. I really don't care if I even make a cent off of these oils. I have other ways of making my money without stressing myself out over becoming a salesman. I say everything that I've said because I believe that everyone should at least try oils before going straight for the doctor or urgent care next time they have a sniffle. Natural is better. Every time.

So, when you see a recipe on here that says "on guard, lemon, peppermint, lavender, etc" I'm talking about Essential Oils from Doterra, and you can get them from that website link that I posted.  

I think the next recipe I'm going to share is the toothpaste that I use! It has essential oils in it, so I figured I'd let you in on the loop first. Be on the lookout for my next recipe post! 

~Ariel

Monday, May 19, 2014

Ariel's Favorite Protein Shake (Choco-Peanut Protein Power)

I'm going to share my first recipe with you! I even came up with it on my own after testing out some other recipes!

There are a lot of protein shakes out there, but this is the best one I've made and tried, myself. Who out there loves Smoothie King? https://www.facebook.com/SmoothieKingCreveCoeur (What! What!) When I'm having a cheat day, I LOVE their Peanut Power Plus Chocolate. (I worked there for about 2 years, so I've had it plenty.) Well, I finally found a shake that tastes, to me, exactly like it, without all the not-so-great stuff in it! I despise the taste of chalky or thick gross protein powders, therefore what helps make this shake taste so good is the delicious protein powder that I buy. (Also, I have a really great blender.)

Choco-Peanut Protein Power

This recipe makes a full glass worth plus a little extra

(You can click on the ingredients to see which brands I used)

Ingredients-
1 cup- almond milk 
1/2- frozen banana (Peel before freezing. I keep frozen banana's at all times)
1 1/2 T- Peanut Butter (You could swap this for almond butter if you're paleo)
1/2 T- Raw Honey
1/2 T- Cocoa Powder
10- Ice Cubes

Directions

1: Place all ingredients in the blender + 5 ice cubes (I use the spear cubes, not crushed)
(I use this Ninja Blender)

2: Blend until you don't hear the chunks of ice cubes (About 30 seconds on my blender)

3: Add in the 5 remaining ice cubes

4: Blend until you don't hear the chunks of ice cubes (About 30 seconds on my blender)

5: Enjoy!

That's pretty much it! I find the ice cube and blending really important. If you want to skip those steps, I'm sure you can, but I like mine without a ton of ice chunks.

As you can see, I also added the exact brand of the ingredients that I use. I love this shake so much that I wouldn't switch out any of the brands I use. 

Now that I'm sufficiently hungry for this, I'm going to go make one. If you have any questions, comments, or compliments leave a comment below. See ya!

~Ariel

Be My Guest (Welcome)

Welcome to my first blog post!

My name is Ariel. I'm 22 years old. I'm not a health mom. I'm not even necessarily a health nut. I don't have a debilitating disease (that I know of.) I'm just a young Christian women who grew up slamming quarter pounders from McDonalds and triple steakburgers from Steak N Shake, sleeping with make up on, staying out in the sun too long, downing 2-3 Dr. Peppers a day, and living a pretty normal childhood.

BUT.

For about 4 years now I've been on a journey to health. I've tried a lot of things along the way and, I'm sure, I will continue to. I've gone from eating everything, to eating Vegan (not the people, the diet), to Paleo, to gluten free, to sugar free. I've tried skincare ranging from Pro-active, to Repechage, to Dermalogica, to Doterra Oils.

NOW.

 I'm finding my own happy medium. It started with what I ate, then slowly started pouring into every part of my life. My next step will be cleaning products, and I'm still on a search for the best healthy shampoo/conditioner. This blog is for everyone and every aspect of life. If you don't eat meat, don't worry, you'll find something here. If you can't eat gluten, don't worry, you'll definitely find something here. If this is your cheat day (come on, we know it's a cheat WEEK anyway), I've got something for you too. If you're struggling to find the best make up, I'll share exactly what I've found. If you're looking for the best skin care line, I'll tell you what hasn't worked! If you need a great toilet cleaner that your kid isn't going to guzzle and end up in the ER over, I've researched that too.

Long story short, I've tried a lot. So, I figured, why not share what I myself have searched many blogs for, wasted many expensive ingredients on, and spent my bank account testing out?

On this blog, you'll find literally a little bit of everything healthy. Cleaning supplies, skin, teeth, nails, food, make up, oils, etc! Not all recipes will be ones that I've come up with myself, but they will be ones I faithfully use and, of course, give credit where credit is due.

If you're looking for a definition of my lifestyle, it's just simply healthy. Personally, I do my best to stay away from refined sugars (I use honey), gluten, parabens, parfumes, dyes, and restaurant meat (my hormones don't need any extra help). But, like I said, you'll find even a cheat day or 2 on here. I've found things that work, and A LOT that don't. I don't claim to know everything or own the book on health. I've never had a college edumacation for health/body. Plus, There are still things coming to light about what some things actually do to the body, so it will be an ever-changing journey.

This blog is just me doing life, and inviting you in to join along. Stick around and follow for the recipes I've found/find, tried/try, hated/hate, loved/love, and use.

~Ariel