Oil Cleansing Method and Etsy Update

So, I promised I'd talk a little bit more about the oil cleansing method in my last post which was about a million years ago. Sorry! Just kidding, I'm not, I've been busy. Anywho, I've been using the OCM to cleanse my face on and off for about three years now. Every time I do it, I love it, and my skin always looks lovely after I finish. However, it does take awhile to do - about fifteen minutes if you do a good job. The time constraint is the number-one reason I don't do it every day (that, and a lack of face washcloths).

Basically, the OCM is the method of using oil (not soap, harsh astringents, acids, or anything like that) to cleanse your face. You might think, "Ew Alex, that's gross. You are a dirty bird for doing this". But I'm not and it's not! The science behind this method is that while yes, acids and harsh soapy cleansers CAN dissolve the dirt and oil that's all stuck up in your pores giving you acne, it's not necessarily the BEST way to do that. Because guess what? Just like in high school chemistry, like really does dissolve like! Henceforth and so, oil will dissolve other oils. What does this mean for your face, you might ask? This means that when you rub oil on your face for fifteen minutes (the right kinds of oil), it sinks into your pores and dissolves the sebum and dirt that is stuck in there, and then pushes it to the surface. You wind up with your pores full of good, clean oil instead of nasty, dirty oil from touching your face and wearing makeup and whatnot.

Obviously, some oils work better for the OCM than others. The best oil for this is probably castor oil, which does a fantastic job of sinking into your pores, but also of pushing what's in there out towards the surface. However, this oil can be slightly drying for some skin types, and the feeling of this oil on your skin is slightly unpleasant - it's a little viscous. So, generally it's best to mix castor oil with one or more other types of oils, chosen for their desired effect on your skin. I use this brand of castor oil, FYI:

But you can use any brand. Just make sure it is natural and of a high quality! DON'T buy and use the stuff from the pharmacy that people take for their bowels. Not the same quality as the stuff you'll want on your face!

For my own personal use, I generally do the following makeup for a 4 ounce jar:

- 50% castor oil

- 50% argan oil (if I'm feeling fancy), or sweet almond oil (both excellent moisturizers)

- 10 drops of tea tree oil (I have skin issues)

- 2 tsp of rose hip seed oil (Works well for scarring and uneven skin tone)

- 1 tsp tamanu oil (A-Mazing for healing blemishes, getting rid of scars, etc).

This works well on anyone with easily irritated or problematic skin. I have hormonal-related skin problems, and this works well for diminishing that type of acne as well as those cute little blackheads that so many people are prone to.

Now, you know what you're putting on your face. How do you actually use it? Well, first off I normally do this in the bath. That way, my face is already nice and clean and it's a little steamy so my pores are open. Next, pour about 1 or 2 teaspoons of your oil mixture into the palm of your hand. Quickly rub it between your hands and immediately apply it all over your face (but not your eyes). Rub this into your skin like you're trying to apply lotion, focusing on the most problematic areas. Keep doing this for the next fifteen minutes, or as long as you can stand it - add more oil if your face no longer feels slick. It's going to feel strange the first time you try it, so don't freak out! Eventually, you will start to feel little grainy bits on your skin under your fingers - STAY CALM. This is the point! Those are the little plugs of oil that are actually coming out of your pores! Mission accomplished! 

When you're finished rubbing oil all over your face, you'll clean off all the oil. Get a clean washcloth and get it soaked with HOT water (really hot!), and wring it out so it is not dripping. Lay it over your face and wait until it gets cool. Then, gently scrub it over your face to remove the oil. Rinse with more hot water and repeat until your face feels refreshed and clean, not oily. You'll be glowing and fresh-faced with lovely clean pores! The best part of all is that you aren't stripping your pores completely clean with anything harsh. This way, your skin doesn't overreact and produce even MORE oil to keep your skin supple and soft - eventually, your skin will normalize its oil production and you'll be soft and lovely all the time. Try it out for yourself!

And now, for a plug: You don't have to make this at home if you don't want to! I sell it in my shop! And guess what else? I just redesigned my shop and it looks a lot prettier! I even added some items! So many exclamation points! I have new photos coming soon, too - then it won't look so amateur.

Check it out! Lookin' all professional and shoot. Keeping my language kid-friendly, folks!

Next: Probably another recipe but who knows. I'm lazy and I only like talking about things that are interesting to me at one particular moment in time so we'll see.

Alkalizing Challenge - Days ??? - Also needing advice for Etsy!

So! My goal of updating nearly every day has really gone down the pooper, I've been so busy lately. I can pretty much sum up what I've been eating though, because every day is mostly the same:

Breakfast: Greek yogurt with fruit OR steel cut oatmeal with honey

Snack: Package of Nori and an apple or banana

Lunch: Two slices of sprouted Ezekiel bread with half an avocado on each, with salt

Second Lunch (I get hungry fast): Mixed green salad with olive oil and fresh lemon juice

By the time I finish work I've normally finished 1.5-2 nalgene bottles full of water with minty chlorophyll (very alkalizing).

Dinner: Literally whatever I can get, minus most of the meat.

This means that I've been mostly meat-free for the past few weeks, which I think is good. The thing I've been not so good at lately is the sugar eating. I think I got pretty cocky after my 21 days without sugar, and then when I tried it again, I was like "... the s**t is this?"

Anywho I've eaten tons of sugar pretty much every day. The funny thing is, my skin is no where NEAR as awful as I thought it would be. I've been using the oil cleansing method to clean my face every night, so that might have something to do with it (I'll do a longer post on the OCM in a couple days, it is so amazing that it deserves its own post. I've been doing it on and off for a couple years now). The flip side of all this sugar eating means that I'm constantly wondering how much my energy, skin, and mood would have improved by now if I was eating alkaline AND successfully cutting out sugar... I'm only human though so cry me a river.

My weight loss stabilized (luckily) after about six or seven pounds. This could have something to do with all the fat I've been eating lately (avocados and coconut oil mostly), so I'm definitely going to keep up with that part of the diet.

Things that I'm going to try and do better with:

- Giving up more sugar
- Drinking / eating more things with lemon, which is highly alkalizing. I'm thinking hot water with lemon in the mornings and evenings, which I love anyways.
- Incorporating more green smoothies into my diet. So delicious. Much easy. Many nutrients. Very pain in the ass to make in morning-times.
- Exercising! I'm thinking about getting a gym membership, but I don't know. It is clear to me that I'll only exercise if I'm going somewhere that isn't horribly depressing, like the Burke gym. My dream gym would be Mint, but it is of course very expensive. There also isn't much point in getting a membership until June when I stop working 8-7 every day, so I'll have to find a way to get up off my ass and exercise at home.


ANYWAYS! I am needing Etsy-related advice. I really want new, professionally-printed labels. The problems I'm experiencing are this:

1. Will I get tired of my labels quickly like I have been so far?

2. Are the labels I have in mind ugly?

Here is one of the labels that represents the general style that I may switch over to. Ignore the ingredients portion though, I'll be switching over to a new formula for my serum soon so it isn't relevant right now!

3. Would it be better to narrow down my product line? Fewer different label types to print, less of a chance that the cost of labels will go down the drain. The nice thing about printing my own is that I can make them as I need them, so I'm not stuck with extra labels.

Thoughts????

Alkalizing challenge - Day 5

I'm just going to pretend that the weekend never happened and get right back on track today. I've already resisted a Cadbury Creme Egg (my favorite!), so I think I'm doing pretty good. Today I've eaten:

- Breakfast: 1 banana, small coffee
- Snack: Amy's vegetarian samosa wrap (little bit cheating but still pretty alkaline)
- Lunch: Two pieces of sprouted toast, with half an avocado on each, plus a green salad with lemon and olive oil
- Snack: Package of nori and a pear
- Dinner: 1 large green smoothie and a salmon filet
- Dessert: all-natural sugar-free/vegan/raw chocolate

It was a pretty good day! (I also had precisely five sour cherry balls, so sue me)

Some body stats from the weekend:

Weight: 134 pounds (lost six pounds so far - mostly water weight)
Skin over the weekend: Pretty terrific!
Skin today after eating horribly this weekend: Pretty horrific!
Mood: Mostly feeling bad about everything I ate that was decidedly NOT alkaline this weekend, but still surprisingly upbeat about the diet. Avocados help.


Here's to getting back on track!

Mostly Raw Challenge (Alkalizing Diet): Days 2 + 3 (also a soup)

You guys this is hard. Like REALLY hard. I thought giving up sugar was bad... this is so much worse!

Day one was fine (as you know), day two was fine also... On day two I had:

- Breakfast: Half cup of Greek yogurt with pineapple, strawberries, and walnuts (all alkalizing foods)
- Lunch: Large green salad with avocado, olive oil, and lemon juice (lemon juice and greens are especially alkalizing, and the fat from the avocado helps with nutrient absorption).
- Second Lunch: More summer rolls! Delish.
- Dinner: This AMAZING vegan cauliflower soup. I'll put the recipe down at the bottom. So good!
- Dessert: More vegan/raw chocolate (can't. get. enough).

So that was all the good news about day two. It was great! Day three started out just swell:

- Breakfast: Half cup of Greek yogurt with walnuts, ground flax seeds, and honey
- Lunch: Leftover cauliflower soup and a large green apple
- Dinner: Green smoothie (super simple - just spinach, banana, orange juice, and spirulina powder)

It started to get dicey after work. Making cookies with the girls I nanny proved problematic... I scarfed down FIVE (!) tiny balls of cookie dough within like twenty seconds. Not great.  Then, I went home and promptly ate two slices of my Mom's homemade bread. How could I not?! To err is human. I'll do better today, I swear! On the upside, my stats:

- Weight: 137 pounds (lost three pounds, but could easily be water weight - like I said before, weight loss is not my goal. I have been drinking a ton of water with chlorophyll though)
- Mood: It's been pretty meh. This has been a rough week (car accident on Monday), dealing with my insurance has been awful. My poor mood could easily be attributed to that, with nothing to do with my diet. I've still been pretty tired so we'll see how the whole energy-business goes.
- Skin: It's looking great! Almost completely smooth and much more even-toned. I don't know if it is because of all the chlorophyll water, lack of sugar and processed foods, or the coconut oil... probably a combination of the three.

Now, more about this whole "alkalizing diet" business. No, it isn't just an excuse to eat cooked foods and yogurt (although I'm definitely glad that I can). There are lot's of books on the matter, but they pretty much all just say that the body works best at a slightly alkaline level. When we digest foods, they will either make our body more acidic or more alkaline - so obviously, foods that make our body more acidic are bad (and they allow opportunistic fungi and bacteria to flourish, while also breaking down important body systems so that your body has to spend more time fixing itself). Foods that make our body more alkaline are great - they keep you in working order while allowing GOOD bacteria to flourish and bad bacteria to die off. Some say that it is impossible for diseases to survive in an alkaline body, but I don't know how true that is... We'll have to see. Here is a quick and dirty list of acid-forming vs. alkaline-forming foods:

Acid-Forming (Bad!):
- All meats
- All dairy (except for fermented dairy like kefir or yogurt)
- Processed foods and simple carbs like sugar
- Most grains
- Most oils (especially processed oils)
- Alcohol :( No wine!

Alkalizing (Good!):
- Most vegetables (fresh is best!)
- Most fruits (Fresh - not dried. The sugar content is too high in dried fruits)
- Fermented dairy
- Tofu, Tempeh, etc. (Fermented foods are generally great)
- Things like seaweed and chlorophyll water (derived from green foods - green foods are super alkalizing normally)
- Apple cider vinegar


And here is a detailed list of alkaline vs. acid-forming foods. It is a bit extreme, but super helpful.

More about the science behind this way of eating in my next post. For now, cauliflower soup. I'm sure I'll be eating this a lot in the coming weeks!


Vegan Cauliflower Soup

Serves 2

- 1 head of garlic, unpeeled

- 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped fine

- 1 head of cauliflower

- 1 small onion, peeled and diced

- Chili powder (Depends on how spicy you like it - I like 1 tsp)

- Garlic powder

- Mustard powder (1 tsp)

- salt

- olive oil 

- First, remove the outer leaves and stalk of the cauliflower. Slice two thick steaks from the center of the head, taking care to make sure the florets don't all fall apart (should look something like the steak in the photo above)
- Reserve the two steaks. Roughly chop the rest of the florets and save them in a bowl or something.
- In a soup-sized pan, add the olive oil and onion. Cook over medium heat until mostly caramelized, and then add the chopped garlic and cook till it is soft. Keep a close eye on it - garlic likes to burn.
- While the onions and garlic are caramelizing, coat both sides of the steaks with olive oil and a little salt and garlic powder. Place on a metal baking sheet.
- Cut the top off of the head of garlic. Place the head (lots of heads in this recipe) upside down on a cookie sheet that is covered in olive oil, so that the garlic is directly touching the oil.
- Put the steaks and garlic into a 400 degree oven and cook the steaks for about 15 minutes on each side - it will be ready to take out when you can cut through the steak with a fork, and when both sides have developed a beautiful caramelization.
- The garlic will be finished roasting when the bulb feels slightly squishy to the tough - it will be done before the cauliflower steaks are. Take it out and let it cool.
- While the steaks are roasting, and after your onions and garlic are caramelized, add the rest of the cauliflower to the soup pan and cover with water (eyeball it - it should look like a soup amount). Add the mustard and chili powders. Also add about a teaspoon of salt, but it depends on your tastes.
- Simmer the soup for about a half an hour, or until the florets are soft. Add the roasted garlic (you can squeeze it directly out of the bulb) and boil for another 10 minutes or so.
- Pour the soup into a blender and blend until it looks totally smooth and creamy. Pour it back in the soup pan afterwords. Now is the time to adjust seasonings, until it tastes right.
- When you're ready to eat, serve this soup with a cauliflower steak placed on top - so good! Doesn't even taste vegan. Thanks, garlic!

Mostly Raw Challenge - Day 1. Also, Summer rolls!

I just wanted to quickly note how this diet has been going so far.

Yesterday (Day 1), I ate:

Breakfast:
- 1 fresh orange
- 1 cup of coffee (acidifying, so sue me)
- Half a nalgene of chlorophyll water (an extremely alkalizing drink... maybe that cancels out the coffee?)

Lunch:
- Large green salad
- Packet of dried and salted Nori

Dinner:
- Fresh vegan-raw summer rolls with an oil-based dipping sauce

Dessert:
- Tofu-Banana Chocolate Pudding
- Coconut Oil-based Chocolate




It was all pretty delicious and definitely in accordance with the alkalizing diet. The summer rolls were FANTASTIC - I've made summer rolls before, and it was simple to update them for the vegan/mostly raw/alkalizing diet (all you have to do is not include meat!)

They were also pretty beautiful, thanks to the fresh and vibrant veggies and not to my awful wrapping ability:

I have to say, I feel really good after yesterday! Looking forward to lunch. I'll post today's meals tonight when I can, as well as more specific stats and more about the alkaline diet.

I'll do better next time, I swear! Recipe is below.


Vegan Summer Rolls (makes two):

- 2 baby cucumbers, sliced into matchsticks
- 2 large carrots, peeled
- 1 avocado, sliced
- 2-3 radishes, sliced or matchsticked
- 6 large basil leaves (fresh)
- 8-10 large mint leaves (fresh)
- Two sheets of rice paper

Sauce:

- 1.5 tbs soy sauce
- 1-2 tsp sriracha sauce (depending on how spicy you want it!)
- 2 tsp fresh grated ginger
- 1.5 tsp sesame oil
- 1 tbs apple cider vinegar

For the sauce, combine all ingredients (feel free to tweak to your taste) and mix well to combine. Reserve in a small bowl for dipping the summer rolls.

- For the rolls, soak the rice paper (one at a time as you make the rolls) in some room-temperature water for about a minute. When it's ready, it will be soft like cooked pasta. Lay it gently on a clean plate.
- Start by laying down the basil leaves in a line, leaving about an inch of extra wrapper on either end. Add the mint leaves over the basil.
- Add your avocado next and then the rest of your veggies - take care to keep everything in a neat line so that you can roll up your summer roll!
- After you've piled on all your fillings, begin by folding one side over the veggies and then the other. Finish by folding as much of the shorter ends over the roll as you can - but be careful not to rip your wrapper, they're delicate!
- Enjoy as soon as you can - although these do keep pretty well. If you store them, make sure the wrappers aren't touching one another, or they'll stick together.

Raw food challenge in 3, 2, 1 ...

Before I slip off into my salsa con queso/chocolate chip cookie/Baggage Claim induced coma, let me just start off my saying that I have a HUGE problem with sugar. As in, I would live off of it if I could. It tastes like heaven mixed with sunshine mixed with more sugar, because sugar is the ultimate tasty tasty goodness. I'm not messing around, I love it. Unfortunately, it's also terrible for you (obviously) and has HUGE detrimental effects on one's health.

On Thursday, I just finished giving up processed sugar for 21 days - that meant no sugar, no "evaporated cane juice", no high fructose corn syrup, none of that. I also cut out agave nectar (almost as bad as regular sugar) and mostly cut out honey (I would have eaten it by the jar if I had allowed myself during the no-sugar challenge). I was allowed fruit, and occasionally splurged on sugar-free tasty treats (turns out, not so tasty - but who cares in a pinch?).

The results of that challenge, I have to say, were less than stellar. I thought I would come out of those three weeks from hell a glowing goddess of health and vitality... instead I ended up kind of a bitch (sugar withdrawal) who mostly just wanted more sugar.

So, I figure I'll have to do something drastic if I really want to kick my addiction to sugar, improve my mood, fix my skin issues, and all that jazz. I'll be starting a mostly-raw diet tomorrow, and I'll be documenting my meals, daily health, progress, etc. every day. I think that if I DON'T update someone somewhere on my progress, I'll just stop doing it.

Let me also just say that I LOVE food. This is not some wacko diet that I'm going on to lose weight or anything like that - I just want to change my relationship with food. Right now, food is my ultimate source of comfort (along with online shopping). It shouldn't be that way, especially if my comfort foods end up being cheese dip and cookie-based items of deliciousness. Hopefully, at the end of this diet/cleanse, I can look at food as a source of nourishment and supreme enjoyment, while still being comforted - I just want my comfort food choices to be healthier.

I'll also be following the principles of the Alkaline diet, which I'll write more about in my next post. In a nutshell, the body is healthiest in a slightly alkaline state. Unfortunately, the diet of the average American is very high in "acid-causing" foods, foods that make the body more acidic. These include meats, dairy products, refined sugars, unhealthy fats.... you get the drift. Alkalizing foods, on the other hand, include things like fruits, vegetables, and the like. There are many health problems associated with an "acidic body", which I'll also write more about next time. For now, I'll just outline the diet that I'll be starting tomorrow and will HOPEFULLY be continuing for the next month or so.

Cutting out:

- All processed sugars (again) - this includes hidden sugars in things like salad dressing!
- All processed carbs (bread, pasta, SUGAR-FREE COOKIES, etc.)
- Meat
- Dairy (*sob*)
- Anything else that looks like it might be crap for my body.

Cutting back on:

- Cooked vegetables that are more healthful in their raw state
- Legumes, etc. (I'll include them in my diet because I need the protein, but I'm cutting back because they're difficult to digest - more on that later)
- Fruits. I ate WAY too much fruit during my no-sugar diet and I've read that that behavior will hinder the sugar-addiction-recovery process.

Go nuts on:

- Raw vegetables
- Water
- Liquid chlorophyll (extremely alkalizing)
- Nori sheets (if I don't have something salty-snacky I'll go insane. Also extremely alkalizing)

Now for some mortifying personal body stats (for the sake of science!):

Height: 5'8"
Weight: 140 lbs (glubbity glub glub. Love my body but wish it was more compact!)
General feeling: Fatigued, very difficult to wake up in the morning, constantly craving sugar.
Skin: Sort of dull. Tired looking. Irritated flare-ups on my cheeks and forehead. In total: not great!


WE SHALL SEE HOW FAR I MAKE IT ON THE MORROW. FOR NOW, I DISAPPEAR INTO THE ETHER.

Blogging? Also, kimchi with kale.

So - this is my first blog post! I never really thought that I'd ever start a blog, but here we are. My intention is for this blog to be a compilation of whole-food recipes, natural beauty DIY's, and news about natural skin and body care.

There will also probably be a fair amount of questions to anybody reading this about what's best for my Etsy store - I'm sure I'll be needing a great deal of advice there!

I'm gonna jump right in on this snowy day with a recipe that's a favorite of mine: Kimchi with Kale! Some people are put off by the smell of kimchi, but I really wish they'd give it a chance. I was first made a kimchi convert when I tried kimchi fried-rice with a fried egg at an H-Mart (a Korean grocery that can be found around the DC area). It was so, sososo good - salty, spicy, warm, and roundly savory, with a slightly sour, deliciously "fermenty" taste. When they sautéed the kimchi, it took on an almost meaty savoriness that was VERY delicious. I've loved it ever since and I actually dream about the fried rice occasionally (maybe more than occasionally).

Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ae/SuperHMartHoustonTX.JPG

Kimchi is a traditional Korean side dish of different varieties of cabbage, along with carrots, radishes,
green onions, and more - depending on the chef that's making it. The vegetables are soaked in a salt-water bath to be wilted before being thoroughly rinsed and jarred with seafood stock, garlic, ginger, salt, fish sauce, and sugar, before being left out at room temperature for 1-5 days. During this time, the natural (beneficial!) bacteria in the jar feed off of the sugar that you've added as well as some natural sugars in the vegetables, multiplying their bacteria goodness, while the salt brine keeps the unwanted bacteria at bay.

What you're left with is a jar of gut goodness in the form of tasty-spicy-briny-umami deliciousness that has the added benefit of being packed full of lactobacillus, which is a species of bacteria that is terrific for your insides. The average American diet today is sadly lacking in fermented foods, while many of the foods that we DO eat and the medicines that we take (like antibiotics) destroy the delicate balance of our digestive system. The result of this is that we then react negatively to a whole host of foods that we would ordinarily be able to digest no problem, becoming bloated and gross (among other effects that are less than ideal).

When we destroy the good bacteria in our intestines, it also allows undesirables to flourish, like the fungus Candida Albicans. Candida will overgrow to the point that it can cover the insides of your intestines, decreasing nutrient absorption and affecting your digestion. It can even lead to symptoms like acne, which nobody likes.

All this is to say that when I eat kimchi with kale I feel like I'm doing something good for my body. Even though I play hard (i.e. I eat a buttload of sugar), I play hard too (I eat a buttload of healthy foods). That evens it out, right?


Kimchi with Kale

This recipe is so simple it really shouldn't even be called a recipe, more of a series of steps. It makes enough for two people (if you're sharing), or one person (if you're really hungry, like me).

- 1 large pan with a tight-fitting lid
- 1 cup of kimchi (can be made at home or purchased at most Asian grocers, or online)
- 5-7 cups of fresh raw kale, cut into relatively large pieces (will cook down)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- Salt to taste
- 1-2 eggs (optional)


1. In the LARGE pan, add the olive oil and heat to medium-high. When the pan is heated through, add in the kimchi.
2. Cook kimchi until browned on the bottom and it smells like delicious crazy good (you'll know). This should take about 10 minutes, but keep an eye on the pan.
3. Add the kale and toss to coat with oil and kimchi bits. Cover with the lid, reduce heat to medium, and cook about 5 minutes, until the kale is steamed through.
4. Remove the lid, increase the heat to medium high or high, and allow the kale to brown slightly on the bottom, about 5 minutes.
5. You can eat it now, or you can fry up a couple of eggs to go on top - keep the yolks a little runny, so when you eat it, it can all mix together and get tasty and delicious!