SEPTEMBER 2019 INSTAGRAM ROUNDUP
I talk about oils all the time on here but I’ve never shared how to clean your diffuser!
It’s really important to make sure you clean your diffuser regularly so it runs properly. You should wipe down your diffuser after each use and make sure it gets nice and dry. If essential oils start to build up on the plate, wipe it down with a cotton ball and some rubbing alcohol. If essential oils build up on the outer lid, wash with a mild soap and water only.
Easy as that!
I’ve posted about Valor before and how I use it as a non-toxic perfume. I have a roller in my bathroom at home and in my gym bag. I wanted to get another one to throw in my purse so I’d always have a little refresher with me so I snagged this pre-made roller.
For me, the easiest way to use my oils is by having a roller! I love being able to just quickly roll on an oil and go!
This blend smells SO good! It’s one of my favorite oils. I love knowing that I don’t have to give up “perfume” just because I don’t use traditional perfume anymore that is FULL of toxic chemicals.
Typically when I do a book review I write out a summary of the whole book. I’m going to do this one in several parts and just hit you with random facts I found interesting from the book. These are in no particular order. None of this is my own work- this is all straight from the book.
Food can be the most powerful medicine or the slowest form of poison, depending on what, how and why we eat.
Sugar is sugar no matter how its ingested or what form it comes in. When you force your body to secrete an excess of insulin to manager a high-sugar or refined-carbohydrate diet, your cells become more and more resistant to insulin, which leads to weight gain and hormonal issues.
When we eat foods high in sugar that provide a quick fix, not only does it kill the good bacteria in our gut, preventing it from manufacturing essential B vitamins and vitamin K on its own, but it also leaches key minerals like magnesium and B vitamins from the body. This weakens our immune system and drains the gas out of our tank, so to speak, leading to depleted and impaired adrenal gland output and further hormonal imbalances that impair our ability to conceive naturally.
It’s important to reset your system in between children because the adrenal glands need a full two years to recover from the enormous energy it takes to create a human life.
The gut microbiome is the foundation of all human health.
If your body temperate goes down after a meal, that’s a sign that the meal was not helpful to your metabolism or supportive for your thyroid. When your body temperate goes up significantly after a meal that signifies an immune response and it is typically a sign that you have a food sensitivity or reaction to something you ate.
Symptoms (of food sensitivities) include feeling bloated, gassy, or suddenly irritable or tired after eating a certain food or a particular ingredient in a food. Another very common symptom is dark circles underneath the eyes, which indicate a negative liver response to a food. Headaches can also indicate a food sensitivity. (Continued in next 2 pictures)
I heard once that Jennifer Aniston said in an interview that one of her secrets for looking so fab is that she has always used an eye cream- even at like age 18. Whether that’s true or not- I don’t know, but I’ll try anything to help make myself look like her as I age! 😉 (well, maybe not anything 😂 but eye cream for sure) Prevention is key I suppose. My mom looks extra fabulous for her age. At my wedding someone thought she was my sister so fingers crossed I get her good genes too!
Wolfberry has anti-aging and skin conditioning properties. Perfect for your sensitive eye area! A little goes a longggg way so this stuff will last you a while even when used daily. You want to gently put this around your eyes being careful not to tug at that sensitive skin. I guess we’ll have to wait another 20 years for me to report back on how great this works.
My search for the perfect coffee for me is over! 🙌🏻 Y’all know I drink decaf coffee and it has taken me a while to find one that I really liked. Here’s the deal with coffee, it has a lot of amazing benefits! It is anti-inflammatory, antifungal, antioxidative, anticancer and delicious just to name a few.
BUT coffee also has two pitfalls in my case.
1. It contains myotoxins which are toxic chemicals that mold produces that commonly grow in crops that have a long storage process like coffee beans. Per JillCarnahan.com Mycotoxins can have a serious impact on our health. Mycotoxins are microscopicfungal poisons that can sneak into our bodies through the digestive and respiratory systems. They are literal poisons that have the potential to make us very sick.
One study showed 45% of coffees sampled had myotoxins.
2. Since I drink decaf coffee I have to be more aware because most of the time coffee is decaffeinated by using toxic chemicals to remove the caffeine. I don’t want to drink random toxins every day. Purity coffee uses the Swiss- water decaffeination process so no toxic chemicals are used and it is 99.9% caffeine free.
Purity coffee is USDA certified organic and they take pride in making sure their coffee is fresh, traceable and of the highest quality.
I signed up for their subscription plan so I can automatically get this coffee delivered to my house every month. ☕️☕️
I talked your ears off in stories today so tonight’s post is sweet and simple!
One of my favorite diffuser blends is a citrus oil with a minty oil. I don’t know why but the mix of these two is a great blend. Try lemon and wintergreen in your diffuser! It smells dreamy. 😍 You can also use oils like orange, grapefruit, lime, tangerine, peppermint and spearmint. Mix and match your favorites!
You are supposed to start taking a prenatal before you try to get pregnant. By the time you actually get pregnant you will want to already have these extra nutrients in your body.
As I am with everything else, I am picky with what prenatal I take. I did a lot of research and this is the one I found works for me best. The Thorne Basic Prenatal is free from artificial preservatives, stearates, hidden lactose, gluten, GMO’s and sugar.
I truly don’t understand why a prenatal supplement needs to have sugar…. Like come on.. for real?
Here are a few reasons I choose Thorne.
Thorne contains Folate and not Folic Acid. Folate helps prevent neural tube defects and the Folate in Thorne is the active form. Folic Acid is the synthetic form of Folate and isn’t good for people with the MTHFR mutation. 3 out of 5 Americans have the inability to convert folic acid so we need readily available Folate.
Thorne uses Iron that is easy on the stomach. A lot of prenatals use ferrous sulfate, which is poorly absorbed and irritating to the GI tract.
Thorne uses active B12 that is more readily used by the body which helps maintain nervous system health and protects brain cells.
Thorne uses active B6 which is important because it is ready to be used by the body and doesn’t have to go through the conversion process in the liver. Research suggests that extra Vitamin B6 can help alleviate morning sickness.
Thorne uses active B2 (riboflavin). Riboflavin must be first converted to its active form to be utilized but a damaged digestive system can affect this transformation.
Some prenatals have sugar as I said but also natural flavors and artificial coloring… no thanks!
I’ve read before that if your prenatal is only one tiny pill then it’s not as effective because in order to get all the nutrients your body needs, it’s impossible to pack it into one tiny pill.
3 Thorne pills a day is what the serving size is. I have used another pill and it left a gross taste in my mouth. These don’t!
I have gotten these stuck in my throat before.. and that does stink pretty bad!
What’s in my gym bag? My gym bag stays stocked with all my favorite things.
1. Genesis lotion. I might be obsessed with this lotion. I don’t always put it on at the gym but on days when my skin is really dry I am SO glad I have it!
2. Native deodorant. This one is obvious. You gotta have deodorant for the gym!
3. Young Living grapefruit chapstick. I absolutely cannot workout without first putting chapstick on. There have been times when I have forgotten to put it on and I have anxiety my whole workout! I don’t know when I started needing to put it on before but now it’s a habit and I can’t go without it.
4. Valor- I have my Valor oil in my rainbow roller and I roll it on as perfume after I shower.
5. Beauty Counter body wash. My gym provides soap but I don’t trust it. I workout 5 days a week and take a shower every time obviously so I’m not okay with using a random soap that often. I bring a little travel-sized bottle of my own body wash to use.
I make sure to always have my favorite non-toxic products for the gym! 💪🏼💪🏼
Yesterday I got this pretty book in the mail and I’m all 😍😍😍. I am so old school and LOVE tangible things I can actually hold.
I refuse to read a book from a screen. I hand write thank-you notes for everything. When Corey and I got married we put our engagement announcement in actual newspapers and I absolutely must have a paper calendar. I’m not like most millennials!
That’s why I’m so excited about this book! This book contains a HUGE amount of information on what oils are, blends to use, how to use certain oils, non-toxic cleaning, tips for kids and pregnancy and more...and it is just so pretty. The clean lines and minimalist look of it make my Type A heart 💗 so happy.
I bought these to give out to share my love for Young Living. I intend on passing them out like candy. 😂 I don’t know about you but my phone is filled with thousands of screen shots, with a lot of them being about all things oily.
I love having these at my fingertips but it never fails that I’m trying to find something and can’t find it in the mass of photos. I think this book is a great resource to have on hand that I can easily skim through. If you’re new to oils this will be such a good thing to have on hand.
Bonus- I’ll be sending these out to those who join my team so if you want one jump on that oily train with me. 😜
I have talked about oats on here before and how I bake oatmeal at the beginning of every week to eat throughout the week. My last post was about Bob’s Red Mill oats. I do still love those! However, I found these at Whole Foods and I’ve been buying them for months now instead because they are sprouted unlike the BRM ones.
Soaking and sprouting is beneficial with all grains, nuts and beans. Benefits of sprouting: easier digestion and increased nutritional content. Sprouting is the process of soaking the grain, nut or bean and bringing it to the beginning stages of germination. During this time all the nutrients are stored densely in this little sprout. Soaking them activates the enzymes, which then start to use nutrients inside the grain or bean as fuel to begin the germination process.
Grains, beans and seeds all contain phytic acid, which has two downsides. 1. It’s not easily absorbed and it binds easily to other nutrients like calcium and makes them unavailable for absorption. 2. It acts as an enzyme inhibitor, which makes breaking down food in the stomach for absorption more difficult. Soaking and sprouting removes phytic acid. (Source: How to Conceive Naturally and have a Healthy Pregnancy, Christa Orecchio and Willow Buckley)
I like using these oats because they are sprouted but they are also still organic and gluten free. I especially love how the label specifically states “glysophate free”! 🙌🏻🙌🏻