I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know yet another fabulous blogger, MissLycia and her fabulous healthy blog alldaynatural.com Her motto is “Body.Mind.Spirit…Redefined”. Her blog is all about being healthy and nurturing to ourselves and has some great tips, tricks and recipes to help you get there. She was nice enough to answer a few questions and give us some advice for us in this timely guest post…

1. What inspired you to start All Day Natural?

In the last few years, I developed a reputation among friends and family as the resident advisor for all things natural—from hair to diet to an overall wholistic lifestyle. They would often ask me for advice and tips on improving their health. I felt overjoyed when I was able to witness the positive changes in my loved ones’ lives, but mentally and physically. It inspired me to share my natural nuggets of advice with the virtual world.

2. . What inspired your natural lifestyle?

Ironically, I would say that the catalyst was my hair. When I started to grow my hair naturally, I began to reflect on not only what I put on my hair, but also on my skin and in my body. I started doing research on whole foods and alternative health, as well as attending classes and workshops. As I gradually progressed towards a healthier lifestyle, adopting a vegetarian diet and using all natural products, I began to notice dramatic changes in my hair, body, even in my mental state of being. To this day, my interest in natural living has continued to evolve. I am fortunate to learn a lot from my readers and other naturalistas in the blogosphere.

3. What are some budget-friendly ways for us to make healthy diet changes?

A lot of people think that you have to spend a fortune to eat healthy, but it is easier than you think! The first thing I would suggest is to learn to cook, or alternatively, find a friend that knows his or her way around the kitchen. J It is much less expensive to prepare your own meals than to spend twenty dollars a day (or more) eating out. You can find an array of healthy recipes on the web—including Savvy Brown’s tasty creations! I share recipes on my blog and make sure they are appetizing, yet easy to make. I would also recommend shopping at farmer’s markets to find, economical, local foods, and even growing your own food in a backyard or terrace garden. Finally, for those who think that healthy food is not worth the cost…think about how much you’ll save in medical bills in the long term!

This is the first of a series of posts about cotton, how it’s cultivated, how it’s harmful to the environment and to us, and some options on what we can do about it in our everyday lives.

How cotton is harvested..

50 years ago cotton-growing involved sustainable techniques, was not harmful to the environment and the surrounding wildlife, and did not deplete resources or create a health hazard.  There’s a big difference between the way cotton used to be cultivated, and the way it is harvested now. Cotton is now considered one of the dirtiest crops to produce. It uses large amounts of insecticides and synthetic pesticides. Some of which were developed as toxic nerve agents during WWII! An example of this is the insecticide Parathion which is 60 times more toxic than DDT. (Check the links below for more info on those two chemicals).

Crop Duster

Conventionally-grown cotton occupies only 3% of the world’s farmland, but uses 25% of the world’s chemical pesticides. These pesticides are routinely sprayed from the air from “crop-dusters”. These highly toxic chemicals can then drift into surrounding neighborhoods, poison farm workers, contaminate air, ground and surface water and cause major eco-system imbalances. The crazy part is, insects always grow resistant to insecticides, so the formulations have to get stronger every year.

During processing, cotton is doused in large amounts of chlorine bleach to make it white. (Oh yeah, cotton is NOT naturally bright white it’s more light beige in color). One of the reasons white cotton starts to get “dull” looking is because the bleach is coming out. (Then we turn right around and add MORE bleach to it!) Even colored cotton fabrics use heavy metal dyes and formaldehyde resins (that’s the “special” ingredient in most “easy care” cotton fabric). It’s no wonder we have such high rates of excema, allergies and respiratory problems!

In my post “My Health Turning Point” I linked to a video regarding the dangers of Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS). I also went into more detail about SLS in “Why I Don’t Shampoo My Hair: Pt.1″.

So I was really surprised when I was brushing my teeth one day and I flipped over my Tom’s of Maine peppermint toothpaste and read that Sodium Lauryl Sulfate is one of the ingredients!

I spit it out and ran to my laptop.

Apparently, SLS is used in toothpaste for the same reasons it’s in soap, shampoo, and car de-greasers.

Suds.

We are used to the sudsing action of toothpaste to get our teeth clean, and the ability of those suds to carry food and debris out of our mouth when we brush. SLS is used in toothpaste to emulsify (mix) oil and water based ingredients together.

If putting SLS on your skin is bad, putting it in your mouth is even worse. Apparently, the leading cause of canker sores is SLS in toothpaste. The same way SLS removes grease from car engines and oils from your hair and scalp, it also causes the membranes of the mouth to dry out by removing the oils from the inside of the cheeks, lips and corners of your mouth. (Causing cracked, chapped lips as well).  As a xenoestrogen SLS can also be absorbed into the skin inside your mouth and mimic estrogen in your body as well.

This Meatless Monday contribution comes from subscriber Amanda. It’s a yummy soup that I think I will make tonight! (This should last most of the week!)

Green Lentil Soup Recipe

Ingredients
2 c Green lentils ( I buy in bulk from Whole Foods)
1 large bag spinach – try not to buy baby spinach, larger tougher leaves hold up better in the soup
8 oz sliced mushrooms – optional. I love mushrooms so I put them in EVERYTHING!!
32oz Vegetable Stock – I like Kitchen Basics, also available at WF
2C water
1 large finely chopped onion
4-5 stalks finely chopped celery
1 chopped carrot
2 bay leaves
1 lemon and/or 2-4Twhite wine or champagne vinegar
salt and pepper
olive oil

Directions

Vida Starr, a fellow blogger from Life Star Beauty contacted me recently about a Health/Hair challenge that she’s having on her blog starting May 1st! Here’s the scoop…

Many of you know the relationship between a healthy lifestyle and healthy hair. We know the importance of drinking more water, eating healthy veggies and proteins, and definitely getting more exercise. Well www.lifestarbeauty.com has a hair challenge that incorporates them all! This hair challenge will take place in stages because for many of us it is difficult to abruptly start a new routine. Stages help to make sure we slowly incorporate each of these things into our routines!

May 1^st (Stage 1): Drink at least 5 bottles of water (that’s 10 glasses of water at 8 oz) a day. It is recommended you drink 2 bottles before lunch. Also, eat one serving of green veggies per meal. If you don’t want any veggies at breakfast you can swap it for one serving of fruit. Remember to snack on fruits/veggies between meals.

June 1^st (Stage 2): Eat salmon AT LEAST once a week. Salmon is a food that is loaded with omega 3’s, protein, and Vitamin B-12 which contributes to scalp health. A healthy scalp leads to healthy hair. If you don’t like/don’t prefer/can’t afford salmon you can replace it with other fish/foods high in protein. Two tablespoons of ground flaxseed included in your daily diet will also contribute to scalp health.

Whoops! I was supposed to post-this yesterday for “Meatless Monday” but I guess I’ll share it with you for “Meatless Tuesday” LOL. This is a great low-calorie, filling snack that you can make quickly. It  has “good” fats in it like olive oil and avocado and since there’s no cooking involved, you can do it at the office or where ever. The best part? The ingredients are CHEAP!

Quick Tomato-Avocado Snack

Ingredients:
2 slices organic beefsteak tomato (those are the big ones!)
1/2 hass avocado (those are the small bumpy ones, sometimes called “california” avocados)
A few leaves of fresh basil (optional)
2 organic brown rice cakes or toasted whole grain bread
cracked pepper
sea salt
1 tsp olive oil

Any oil in it’s naturally occurring state is a liquid. That’s common knowledge. However, when you hydrogenate an oil, you turn it into a solid. That’s why margarine can be made from sunflower oil and corn oil. Hydrogenated vegetable oil is made by removing all nutrients, smell, taste and impurities from vegetable seeds and bleaching them. Then the seeds are pressed into oil which is heated at a high temperature. Nickel (yes, the same metal that’s hidden between the cushions of your couch right now) is then added as a catalyst. (A catalyst is a substance that instigates a chemical reaction in another substance). If nickel isn’t used, many times platinum or palladium is used. The metal is then filtered out leaving hydrogenated vegetable oil, which is now a thick viscous substance. Water, whey, food coloring, emulsifiers and other items are then added to make margarine. Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil is also called Trans Fat.

Why would someone want to go through all of this to make a product?

Manufacturers like this process because it creates a substance that will stay solid at room temperature and has a long shelf life. It means they can sell products and not have to worry about their freshness! (There’s a reason why that Hostess cupcake can stay in the cupboard forever).

Why is it Hydrogenation Bad for us?

The process of hydrogenation changes the molecular structure of a natural substance into an unnatural one. Our bodies have never had to deal with anything like it in it’s evolution, and we can’t fully process it. EVER. Traces of those heavy metals used in the processing,  (nickel, palladium, and platinum) are filtered out, but NOT removed, so they end up in our bodies as well. Trans fats are similar in structure to the thickening agents used in making soaps and candles. In our bodies, they thicken and harden, and as a result lower HDL (good cholesterol), raise LDL (bad cholesterol) and harden arteries over time because they cannot be fully digested.

Trans Fats are also linked to the onset of insulin-resistant Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, cancer, obesity and even cellulite. Think about it. Food that your body cannot properly

I don’t know about you, but here in New York, we’ve gone through about 3 seasons this week, and now it seems to be fall here again for some reason?! I thought it would be a perfect day to share this recipe straight from the mailbag! (Note: If you’re vegetarian just leave the chicken out of this one..)

This one comes from Andrea, who sent me this recipe for chicken soup with a twist. If you can’t find yucca where you live you can always substitute potatoes in this recipe.

Parabens are widely used as preservatives in the cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries. They are used to prolong the shelf life of cosmetics and as a base for many medications. The most widely used parabens are methylparaben, ethylparaben, propylparaben, butylparaben, isobutylparaben, isopropylparaben and benzylparaben. There is also a group of paraben “sodium salts” (Sodium Methylparaben, Sodium Ethylparaben, Sodium Propylparaben, etc.) that are used for the same purpose.

Pick up almost any shampoo, conditioner, deep conditioner, lotion, moisturizer, shaving gel, personal lubricant, spray tanner, toothpaste, hand sanitizer, fabric softeners and even children’s skin products and you’ll find some sort of paraben in it. They’re even used as an additive to some packaged foods. They’re efficacy as preservatives, in combination with their low cost, explains why parabens are so commonplace.

BUT….