Monday, December 31, 2007

Discover Your Fountain of Youth

Hello Everyone!

Well, it's a New Year - again! Yikes!
And we all know what that means...another year older. Earth years, anyway. What a concept to understand that we all get older and then accept that for yourself. Yuck! Not their versions, anyway!

So I'm thinking that making peace with that would be a good thing to achieve in the New Year!

So, here's a concept to work with in 2008: ageless and timeless; beautiful and radiant; love(ly) inside and out.

Ageless and timeless:
I hear people all over the place talking like this, "when you get to be a certain age," or "at our age," or "when you're young", or any other variation of this limiting theme.

It pretty much used to make me furious. Like I was doomed to their experiences (all bad) of achieving their age.

Well first of all achieving another year is a blessing, to be sure. I get to be here! I get to love! I get to create something new! I get to have adventures! I get to choose again and again! So I resolved to celebrate achieving another year, because I get to be here and be alive!

But I don't have to accept any label about the number of my years. I don't have to accept that if I'm a teenager, then I have no wisdom. Bah!

I don't have to accept that if I'm approaching middle age, I start to shrink and wrinkle like an apple. Those ideas are "their" concepts of life, not mine.

So I started constructing my working concept of achieving another year. It's WELL. It's ageless and timeless. It's gorgeous, sexy,vital and wise no matter what the year's number says.

I get to write my own book on how that looks and feels for me.

And so do you!!!

Believing in yourSelf is step one of this beauty regime. Knowing how lovely You Really Are, and subsequently adoring, loving and championing yourSelf.

So, try this on for your New Year's Resolution: Fall in Love with YourSELF. Have you ever noticed how beautiful someone is when they're in love? It's the magic potion, the fountain of youth, and the healing exlir.

Love ThySelf first.


Happy New Year!


Thanks for Reading!


Kath

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

A Tangled Web - The Trail of Wellness



Good Day Everyone:

You know, little did I know when I found myself growing my own herbs and formulating my own skin care potions that there was a "movement" going on out there. Yikes!

It is simply impossible to separate good, honest skincare from good health, which leads us to toxins, which leads us to organics, which leads us to industrial gardening, which leads us to ....good grief!

Ok. I have always thought good health or good anything was and is pretty much a matter of "common sense."
I could be the last of the breed. But I don't think so, rather I think that having common sense is a species that neared extinction and is now being resurrected.

There is a marvelous book out there (see link above) called the 100 Year Lie. But I even hate to refer you to this as your authority, when in the end, it is your own Inner Guidance and Common Sense that should be and IS your own authority.

Further, I really am not inclined to stir up your "fear" factors. Decisions and reactions made from fear are always a downward spiral into nothing good. So. I can explain to you that when I make decisions about what I consume, it is because it feels GOOD to me, as it should for you. That is a well decision.

I am surprised as heck that "Going Green" is now politic. I cannot remember a time when I was not "green" at least as much as was possible in the market place, which is why I started concocting my own herbal potions. Just because it felt better and growing things is a whole lot of fun.

So I'm not going to motivate anyone out of fear. Period. If you look around you, observe things that are displeasing or alarming to you in others or even yourself with respect to health care or potions or ointments or your food; well, then, LISTEN UP!

If you can begin to eliminate synthetic chemicals from your own consumption in anyway, shape or form: food, skin care, air, soil, clothing, medicines: well, take responsibility and go for it. I call it "picking your poison."

But the most important single thing that you can begin doing is trusting yourSelf as your own authority; not "them". Them could be anyone: parents, friends, government agencies, corporate spokespersons - you have to be the one to "feel" the correctness of whatever concerns you, for you.

How does this figure into Honest Skincare? In an early post I found myself unable to compartmentalize all the information. It's all interconnected. So I began trying to give you straight information about skincare and find that I cannot compartmentalize it from your food, your environment, politics, but you are the ultimate decision maker for you.

When I was a little girl I remember DuPont coming out with their ad campaign of "Better Living Through Chemistry." I can recall the question mark feeling inside myself even then. It wasn't fear, it was simply - "Hmm, we'll see about that...." kinda thing.

At the same time I believe and trust in the inherent wisdom of the human body and its resiliency and desire to be in its normal state of wellness. So if you are afraid of becoming sick, you will become sick; therefore I don't want to and will not motivate you from a fear basis. Fear Not. But rather, move always towards what feels better, what feels good, what feels right, what feels true. And as you do this, you will notice that the decisions keep changing and ultimately get easier. What once felt right, doesn't have the same correctness now. So, you choose again, and again, and again.

One thing I will say is that American is waking up from a long slumber of giving away personal power to "other" authorities. When you find yourself stepping into the world of alternative medicines, supplements, cleansing programs, organic foods, you will find the old habit still operating - trusting someone else's authority on a subject rather than your own. The Lemming Response, I call it. But don't give up on yourself. The correctness of a pill, a powder, a potion or a lotion for you, lies within You. You can feel it. And it may only be correct for awhile, and then you move on, change and choose again.

Exercise because the activity feels wonderful. I personally hate the formal "gym" and all the machines involved. I would rather swim, haul firewood, garden or build a rock wall. Dancing! Now there's my kind of exercise, where I don't even notice that I'm exercising. It's painless, it's fun and, by the way, I moved my body.

Eat what FEELS lovely to you. Be involved with the process of growing, cooking and really tasting your food. Does it taste divine? Do you even remember what you ate? Did you listen to your body and what it was asking for? Are you consuming via rote, habit and no-thought?

Take your "treatments" where they feel correct and good. Does your mind tell you that massage is for sissy's or a complete indulgence or certainly not for real men? A waste of money? Challenge your thoughts. To feel good is our right. To feel stressed is what we have come to accept, and it is making us sick.

Sniff out your trail of wellness for yourself. YourSelf will guide you, if you but listen to It.

Meanwhile here's a site to get unbiased "news" for your mind to chew on.
http://www.newstarget.com/015020.html
Your intuition doesn't need the news, but alas, your head loves this stuff.

Thanks for reading!

Kath

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Intuition and Skincare

Hello Everyone,

I keep thinking with my human mind that you can compartmentalize the areas of your life, but find constantly that you cannot.

I was just looking at the polling results for "how do you choose your skincare" and find that someone checked that they use their intuition. Brilliant!

There is no escaping it, if you're tuned into that channel. And it would be my hope that you are always, always tuned into your Inner Channel.

There are several methods for physically testing what your Intuition would have to say about a product or a food or whatever thing in the physical world you are contemplating. One method of course if muscle testing, which is really (I think) hard to do on yourself. When I go to the chiropractor, she has me hold a product then checks my up lifted arm for strength or weakness. If it's strong and firm, it's good for me. If it falls down weakly, it's not for me.

The method one can use on your own is to simply hold the product in both hands, close your eyes and see if your body leans forward, backward or sided to side. Forward leaning indicates your body wants it; backward is a no; and side to side results indicate that something in it is desired and something in it is not.

Of course these are methods used if you don't trust your Intuition, your knowing, yet. But keep practicing and cultivating it until you do.

You simply can't separate out good skincare from your Self. It's an integrated system. And always your Intuition or Self is whispering to you what you need and guiding your always towards your GOOD.

Ever stood at the refrigerator door looking for "something". You go through the frig: hamburger, no; apple, no; eggs, that sounds good. Well, that's it. That's your Inner Self telling you what it needs and wants. Oddly, sometimes it's the potato chip or milk shake.

Your Inner Self is not in sync with the mental labels we're conditioned to think about things. Eggs for example. The "world" would have you limit your consumption of eggs for cholesterol reasons, fear. But you Body, your Knowing, has no idea of that human construct and guides you to use, consume what it Knows to be good for it. It does not fail; it cannot lie. But usually what happens if we consume that egg is the internal conflict, thus pretty much negating the benefits of that egg.

Once you learn to trust your Knowing, the inner conflict goes away. That is to say, once you shift your "authority" from "out there" to "in here", you are at peace with your Self and usually quite healthy and happy.

In all this discussion about honest skincare, of course, the "honest" part is with you ultimately.
I can only speak for me. My body likes pure. My body thrives on pure. My body delights in pure. So that's what I use, that's what I enjoy, that's where I thrive.

But I also believe that most bodies do. Why? Because they are alive and organic organisms. And like loves like. And more, in the "aliveness" is Quality. Quality, to my mind, being a noun, here.
The more Quality in a substance, the more our bodies and beingness respond with joy because that's who we really are: Quality.

Thanks for reading!


Kath

Thursday, December 6, 2007

Potent Herbs, Health and You

Good Day Everyone,

I'm on a kick....just finished reading my favorite author, Barbara Kingsolver's newest book, Animal, Vegetable and Miracle.

I am a writer, as well, but Barbara Kingsolver is the master. She has such a way with her words.
In this book you can learn a bunch, laugh out loud and be inspired to change your life. The journey is about how they moved to Appalachia to the family farm to eat locally for one year.

In the book Kingsolver describes how and why organically grown food is up to 60% more nutritious than commercially and industrially grown food. It's because the plant has to build up it's resistance and fight off bugs and infections. In the course of this "struggling" it builds up character in the form of high nutrition and antioxidants.

Kingsolver is a biologist, yet tells her story in lyrical ways and you hardly know you're learning something profound. No you don't have to smear blueberries on your face, but definitely eat them in season and freeze some or can some for eating later in the year.

Honest Skincare is about the honest naked truth. And the Truth is that the food we eat from the grocery story is largely produced by genetically modified seed and in worn out ground and replete with synthetic pesticides and fertilizers, non of which is good for the plant or the human.

Recently (within the last year) I have been conducting my own personal research on the subject of compromised immune systems. Why? Because people all around me, including myself, have been dealing with compromised immune systems. This startles me because most of the folks I know still really "cook" dinner, don't eat fast foods or junk foods, and pay attention. So I started my sleuthing and it seems (although the final results are still not in) that it all points to our food.

If you want a healthy body, lovely skin, you must start with the nutrition that used to come potently and naturally in the foods we eat. In like if you are using "organic" skin care, then you MUST be certain that it is CERTIFIED ORGANIC. Certified Organic will insure that the plants or herbs are NOT genetically modified and that they are potent and the life force in them viable and available to feed your skin, your body, your hair, your teeth.

Buy now, the Quality you deserve. If not, buy later - the medical bills to fix it.
Quality is a noun...it says Life. You get to choose.

Thanks for reading,

Kath

Sunday, November 4, 2007

Probiotics - What is THAT?

hello Everyone!

More and more we are seeing the "probiotics" entering the market place. I think probably that most of us are familiar with them in conjunction with yogurt or kefir. I am supplying a link (www.usprobiotics.org/basics) so that you can read as much data as you heart desires first hand.

At the start here, let me lay the ground for this discussion. We're talking about skin care and health care; we are talking about the skin as an integral part of your overall health. You might like to treat the symptom, wrinkles, acne, sagging, whatever) but this blog is about treating the source of the problem, which is ill-health.

Aging is about years, not about health and beauty. So when I talk about your health, you can substitute beauty, skin, well being. Because you are a complete organism and you cannot separate one part from the other.

Having said that, we'll get on to the discussion of probiotics.

Basically in layman's terms, probiotics (for-life) vs. anti-biotics (against life) are a natural method of staying healthy. In other words, it is a built in system supplied to everyone at birth and is with you your entire life. Natural self-defense, and it works great.

The human body, much as we might not like to think of it in such a way, is a living breathing organism with bugs - good bugs!!! And it is these good bugs that help us digest food, eliminate waste, fend off "bad" bugs, and they are absolutely and utterly essential to a healthy organism - your body. Of course, your skin is another one of those organs that helps you eliminate wastes and toxins, as well. In fact, your skin is your largest organ. It lives and it breathes. It's your natural cooling system, it absorbs and protects. It's ingenious.

And you thought this blog was going to be fluff....well, it's not for the superficial. In order to have beautiful and healthy skin, your body has to eliminate the wastes and the toxins. These "pro-biotics" or good intestinal bugs are the lifeline to that.

There are many things in our modern culture that cause us to become imbalanced and therefore the good bugs get out numbered. The first thing that comes to mind is stress, and certainly none of us has any of that, right? Another huge offender to the good intestinal flora and fauna are antibiotics. While they might kill the infection in your foot or your bladder, they are also killing the intestinal flora and fauna that help you stay well. A common symptom among women is a vaginal yeast infection, telling you your bugs are out of balance.

Antibiotics, which are normally prescribed for acne and roseacea, actually run counter to your own body trying to regain balance by destroying the natural flora and fauna that would be assisting in eliminating toxins and waste products. What doesn't get eliminated, backs up not just in your colon, but in your skin and elsewhere.

So, it is imperative to keep that intestinal track in a probiotic favored state. There are many, many products on the market for this, and there is eating yogurt and drinking kefir. One of the ideas I would like to suggest here, is that you start to have a "feel" for how you're insides are doing. Pay attention. Your diet has everything to do with this balance and imbalance. I know that my body will tolerate about one glass of wine. Give it two and it is not happy. That's me. Check yourself and start noticing what you "feel" like.

If your probiotics are in balance and flourishing, you probably can drink milk, eat wheat, etc. The body is a miraculous device that adapts well, but when overloaded, struggles to compensate.

Now here's the really big news about probiotics. Probiotics are actually now being used as methods for treating acne and roseacea. After cleansing the skin, a probiotic is sprayed onto the face and afflicted areas restoring the good bugs, which eat the bad bugs. Now how cool is that?

Now wait, there's more....probiotics are now being used instead of disinfectants as cleaning products. Imagine this: you spray a probiotic on the toilet seat, on the kitchen counter, on the surfaces in the baby's room....live, good bugs destroy the bad ones. That's the new method. The old one is to kill every bug in town, Hiroshima for bugs. How insane is that?

Let's get rid of these hand sanitizers, and disinfectants that actually diminish out body's ability to respond to bugs, and replace our cleaning supplies with probiotics.

If you want to be Pro-Life---here's the place to cast your vote.

I'm sure in the near future we are going to see many more applications for probiotics - perhaps in water sanitization? Where else? The sky is the limit.

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Parabens: Cumulative Drip, Drip, Drip

Good Day Everyone,

In keeping with the purpose of this blog, to give you the facts and let YOU decide, I've been digging on the subject of parabens, which is being much debated in the skin care and cosmetic corners.

I am including the link to the USDA and it's official statement on parabens. see link (http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/cos-para.html). To sum up what they say: parabens are readily identifiable on any label and usually used in multiples. They are legal, and as far as the FDA says, they do not pose any health risk.

However, having said that, they do allow that parabens have been found in tumor tissue. YIKES!

Parabens are of the "ester" complex, as in estrogen. They are a xenohormone. English please, a phony hormone. The body does not know how to process them. To my mind, they're sort of like that phony fat, olestra, the body passes it on out the system - or so they say. At any rate, the body does not pass parabens out, but rather stuffs them aside in reproductive tissues. Kind of like when you and I are sorting papers on our desk and come across something we'll deal with later....Well, I don't know about you, but that "I'll - deal-with-it-later" pile of mind get huge. Because I never seem to deal with it, because I don't know what to do with it. If I did, I would have right then and there.

So imagine your body piling up xenohormones, which by the way, come in many, many products. For example, xenohormones lie dormant in your plastic water bottles. When the bottles heat up, like sitting in your car, they are passed into the water and you consume them. It is xenohormones that are passed into your food when you microwave in plastic. They are in countless products that we come in contact with daily.

So, the FDA says that in small amounts, as they are used in the cosmetics industry, that they are not harmful. But consider this, the drip, drip, drip and cumulative effect that all these different sources have to a body on a daily basis. You see if it were just the cosmetics, well perhaps. But also consider this. It is in your body lotion, it is in your eye cream, it is in your shave cream, it is in your shampoo, drip, drip, drip....

I'm coming to think in this way about the synthetic chemicals in our lives. They are in just about everything, our food, our drinks, our water, our lotions and potions, out soda pop, our clothes....drip, drip, drip. So my thinking is, if you can eliminate any of these synthetics from any place in your experience and either maintain the same standard of performance or improve, why wouldn't you?

For example, I love, truly love, lovely wine. I know I am getting chemicals when I enjoy a lovely bottle of wine. I choose to accept that, for now. There are few really good red wines out there that are organic and nitrate free. Perhaps that's coming, to be sure. But in that arena I choose ok. But I don't have to accept it where something better performing is being offered.

For example, this morning I ordered Swiss water processed organic decaf coffee. It's available, it's great coffee, why wouldn't I? Especially since it's something I consume DAILY.

So, think about all the places you are consuming in one form or another, the synthetics. How are you washing your clothes? What's in that dryer sachet? [ I think the smell alone would put everyone off, it did me.] What are you washing your dishes in? What's your food been grown in? What was fed to the cows, pigs, chicken or fish that you're consuming? Drip, drip, drip.

Be mindful. Pay attention. I think when you begin to notice, you'll begin to see how much one person gets in a day. And when you see that, you'll want to take the steps to eliminate synthetic chemicals whenever and wherever you can. The body is a wonderfully resilient machine. But I feel sure that there is no coincidence in the number of "immune" dis-eases and the huge amounts of synthetic chemicals we are exposed to and ingest by the drip, drip, drip system.

I don't advocate becoming paranoid and angry about it. I simply want you to become aware, and make the Pure, Safe, and Beneficial choices whenever you can. Common Sense. We all have it, let's use it.

Thanks for reading!

Kath

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

Greenwashing and Spin

Good Day Everyone!

It's a glorious one up here in the Cuyamaca Mountains. Fall is upon us, at last.

Today I want to talk about the spin doctors of health and wellness. Yep. Sad to say, but everyone wants on the bandwagon of "green" but few, very few are willing to put their dollars into quality to deserve the credit.

We have to start with definitions, because the definitions are what have been muddied. Sigh.
So. Let's start with the word "natural". Natural by definition means that which exists in nature in its pure state. Man has nothing to do with how it got there. It is created and evolved in nature. Natural plants are the ones that have acclimatized to a region or area. They sprout up. OK. We're clear about natural. It is of , in and pertaining to nature without man's interference.

Now let's tackle "organic". First of all there is a course of study called "organic chemistry." I know because I suffered through one of those courses at Ohio State when I was a premed student. It followed human anatomy (real cadavers) and preceded microbiology. Now organic chemistry is pretty much the study of carbon-containing compounds, humans included. For the purposes of heath and wellness, though, this is not the definition of organic that applies. For in this definition, petroleum is an "organic" compound because it is the result of organic (carbon-containing matter) that has evolved over time from heat and pressure into oil.

Gosh, we're gonna get so smart, it's scary.

For the purposes of health and wellness products or all types and for food, the definition of "organic" is something that has been grown, propagated, raised, harvested and processed for market without any synthetic chemicals at any stage of the cycle. This includes the soils that the plants or animals are "grown" in. No steroids, no pesticides, no artificial fertilizers. I can tell you raising anything organically is bloody hard work, for most of the remedies are mechanical which pretty much translates into labor. So we're clear about the true definition of "organic". Now lots of folks grow organically and are not certified. I pretty much find that these people are true to their word, because growing organically is a life style choice and accompanies true hearts with the full intention of bringing only goodness to you.

Now, let's tackle "certified organic". Certified Organic means that an independent third party certifies that the produce, cow, product, formulation is exactly that. They have stringent guidelines that must be adhered to. They inspect and they promise you, sort of like Verisign, that "this is truly safe."

When something is certified organic, such as a skin care cream, shampoo, etc. It also means it meets other standards. Significantly that 95% of the composition of that product must be "organic matter" excluding the water and salt. Yep. Let me repeat that.....95% of the composition of that product is organic matter, which is alive, potent, nourishing and vital. This translates to good for you, all of it.

Now, what does it mean when you read a label in the health food store on a shampoo that says, "73% organic". This is a greenwashing technique. Here's what they do. They boil a vat of water. they throw in organic tea bags to impart the herbs into the water. Now they consider that the water is included in the organic composition, when really what is true is that it's about 3% organic. Then read the rest of the label to see what "fillers" and other synthetics have been added.

You can get perfectly wonderful organic items without it saying "certified organic", but you'd better be darn good at reading the labels and interpreting them. We'll cover this in my next blog.
For now, just know, that there's a brand new standard out there being set by some wonderfully visionary folks - and it's called "Certified Organic". It's a term that absolutely cannot be messed with, because it's absolute.

Won't it be fun to see how these few visionary people change entire industries? Lives?

I can't wait.

Thanks for reading!

Kath

Friday, September 28, 2007

Rosacea

hello Everyone!

Lately I am encountering people with rosacea. I had no idea it was something more than a red face or a tendency to blush or flush. I found a website (see link) http://www.internationalrosaceafoundation.org which is full of information. What I will try to do here is summarize what I learned for you.

Rosacea is first and foremost a systemic problem that manifests in the symptoms of rosacea.
Oddly, this is coming up more and more. The links to too much sugar, phony sugars, acidic foods, poor digestion and elimination. The body is attempting to cope with an overload of the wrong acidic factors from too many of these foods: breads, starches, alcohol and phony sugars.

My friend had a severe case of skin cancer. She went to a holistic MD who immediately put her on a diet to change the PH of her system. She followed it religiously for approximately 8 months. At the end of that time her skin cancers were gone. So there definitely is something to this. Add in the element of not enough pure water intake and simply moving about, exercising, walking. The body is a finely tuned system that certainly can take quite a bit of abuse, but there is the point where it cannot keep up with the constant drip, drip, drip of toxins we consume. I am convinced that a wholesome diet of organic foods is essential, as well as using only organic products eliminates much of the overload that the body tries to endure.

My grandmother lived to be 90 years old. Here death certificate said "natural causes". True enough. She was of solid peasant stock from Serbia. She worked hard, physically all her life. She dug in the garden, cleaned the house every Friday like the priest was coming for an inspection. She threw herself mightily into all her projects, especially cooking. She made strudel from scratch, as well as raised donuts and stuffed peppers. The difference in her day? The foods were not toxic. Her doctor constantly chastised her to lose 25-30 pounds. He died at 65. In her day people were not so sedentary, the foods were whole and pure. They enjoyed their food and their work.

My point? Joy (the absolute lack of stress) is an element critical to physical well being as well as and obviously emotional well being. I used to work with my Gram in the garden, and she loved the small things, enjoying the whole of just being there. The smell of the earth, the green of the plants, the beauty of the flowers. She was always wholly engaged in the activity and not worrying about something future or past. She lived right now. No stress. No anxiety. Couple this internal state with wholesome foods, nothing every packaged or fast food...you have the recipe for a healthy body and a good life.

Back to rosacea. Start with a good digestive system, which starts with wholesome, whole foods in balance. Leave off the white breads and go easy on the starches, alcohol and absolutely eliminate anything chemical (sugars and oils) from your diet. Enjoy the goodness of pure foods.
Walk about. Stretch and exercise your body and feel how good it feels to be in that body. Taste the goodness of pure water. What you're aiming for here is to get your body system back to alkaline rather than acid. Eat fresh vegetables, yogurt with live cultures, give thanks for such abundance and goodness.

My thinking is that roacea is a first road sign that your system if out of balance and in need of attention. Attention now avoids more serious dis-ease later.

One Group makes several products that can help internally and externally. Internally is In Liven a probiotic (good bacteria) food supplement that is 100% certified organic; and when taken daily restores the natural flora and fauna within the digestive track that can help process sugars and carbohydrates and proteins and move them on out of the system easily and elegantly. In conjunction is Berry Radical Antioxidant, a superfood that is also 100% certified organic. When taken daily gives you the necessary dietary requirements to combat free radicals that cause havoc in the body. And topically, together with their 100% certified organic skin care system is their Miessence Couperose Serum which works topically together with the internal treatments. The System taken as a system works beautifully.

I told you this would be a place for honest information about good skin care. It includes the whole package of you: mentally, emotionally, spiritually and physically. The "symptoms" of anything are the symptoms of dis-ease that is to say, unease and imbalance. I'm devoted to your becoming beautifully in balance from the inside out.

Thanks for reading!

Kath

Monday, September 24, 2007

The Whole View of Skin Care

Hello Everyone,

Since we're just getting started in this blog, I feel it's important to discuss our internal state of affairs and its importance to beautiful, healthy skin.

You can't consume things of little quality and expect to produce quality. It just doesn't work that way. There are laws that operate in Nature; the principle Law being that of Attraction. Like attracts like. So when you understand this in one area, you can apply to all arenas. Beauty attracts beauty, love attracts love, goodness attracts goodness, health attracts health.....so where to begin?

The fundamental step in any beauty regimen is to see and feel yourself as beautiful, lovely, unique and valuable. No matter what your eyes are seeing. So the foundation is to begin valuing yourself just as you are. I have lovely eyes. I love the tilt of my chin. I think my dimples are cute. I love the freckles on my nose. I love the color of my skin. If you don't, you have to start changing the way you see yourself from critical and wanting, to appreciative and having. So I want you to start today to appreciate that skin, those eyes, that nose, that whole body. Love it, adore it, cherish it. And if you can't get to that place, begin where you are and grow that love and adoration of yourself daily.

Stop criticizing yourself. If you notice something you want to improve, then you have to immediately find something you love. Tit for Tat. And then as the days go by, grow the appreciation list and diminish the critical list. This you must do, for the vibration of who you are emanates from within outward. You've all seen the pretty girl with the cruel look. You've all seen the old woman with the twinkle in her eye. You are the one who determines by your internal state how you appear in the physical. I cannot be any other way.

Skin care treatments are topical. They address the physical only. We use them to support the physicality whilst we put into place the mindset that maintains a healthy, vibrant, vital and youthful countenance. Skin care is also fun and nurturing. I find the daily ablutions that I perform are times I cherish. I am with Me. I am loving this face, this body and spending time appreciating it. The whole process nourishes me body, mind and spirit. I feel well about me. I love performing it for me. It gives me the time to focus on how much I appreciate this body and how I love it.

Your spirit flows through you from within to without. The degree that it flows unrestricted by stress, negative thoughts, doubt, worry, hate, etc....is the degree that your Spirit will nourish and feed each and every cell of your body. And health is your natural state of beingness.

In Western Culture we are returning to these Truths, slowly but surely. If you want to look 30 but you're 60, is that about regret for a life yet unlived? If so, change that and start living the life you want to live. Can you see how gorgeous someone is at 50-60-79? Cultivate that...seeing the beauty everywhere and in everyone. When you can do this, you are seeing the divinity in all things and all people. Living in that internal state will transform your external countenance.

Appreciate this life and every single minute of it. No moment wasted. You're exactly where you are supposed to be, and headed where you want to go - in joy and adventure. It ain't over, and it's never over. There's always time and it's right now. The best potion for beauty is to love, so go out there and love!

Skin care begins within. Check out my website www.appliedspirituality.com and my blog www.appliedspirituality.blogspot.com.

Believe as a child, it is so. You already are beautiful.

Thanks for reading!

Kath

Friday, September 21, 2007

Xenohormones - Get The Facts

Hi Everyone,

Today we're going to learn about xenohormones. I first learned about this in 2004 when a very dear friend of mind was diagnosed with multiple large fibroid tumors within her uterus. She was past menopause. I can tell you now that she did successfully shrink all the tumors and a hysterectomy was avoided. She did it by transforming her diet, what she used on her skin, and by eliminating her exposure to xenohormones. Like you, she had no idea until this situation occurred.
So, the good news is, it is reversible and it's avoidable. So let's get started.

Let's start at the beginning. This is taken directly from http://www.womenlivingnaturally.com/articlepage.php?id=73. I quote. I put the take notice areas in pink.

"Xenohormones are man-made substances that are foreign to the body and have a hormone-like effect. Most xenohormones have an estrogen-like effect and so are sometimes called xenoestrogens.

Common sources of Xenohormones
  • Synthetic estrogens and progestins, as are found in oral contraceptives and conventional hormone replacement therapies.

  • All American-grown, non-organic livestock, which are fed estrogenic drugs to fatten them.

  • Petrochemically-derived pesticides, herbicides and fungicides.

  • Solvents and adhesives (as in fingernail polish and polish remover, glue, cleaning supplies).

  • Car exhaust.

  • Emulsifiers found in soaps and cosmetics.

  • Almost all plastics, given off especially when plastics become hot or are heated.

  • Industrial wastes such as polychlorinated biphenyls(PCBs) and dioxins.
Disorders related to Xenohormone exposure
  • Increase in reproductive-site cancers (breast, uterine, & ovarian).

  • Decreased fertility.

  • Increased PMS problems.

  • Estrogen dominance epidemic.
NOTE: You can absorb xenohormones by ingestion, inhalation and direct skin contact.

What You can do to minimize Xenohormone exposure
  • Avoid all synthetic and horse hormones (oral contraceptives and conventional HRT).

  • Eat Certified organic meat and dairy, and/or avoid the fat of non-organic meat and dairy (this is where the xenohormones will concentrate).

  • Decrease or stop all conventional pesticides, lawn and garden chemicals, etc. (use natural instead). Don't contract with conventional lawn services that use these sprays (most do); they are extremely toxic, and full of xenohormones.

  • Wear protective gloves and clothing when in contact with any glues, solvents, cleaning solutions, etc., that contain xenohormones.

  • Buy cosmetics and skin care and personal care products without xenohormones.

  • Avoid particle-board, synthetic-fiber carpets and fake woods as much as possible. (Those chemicals you smell are toxins and xenohormones.)

  • Ventilate properly when in contact with any of these materials. (Think ahead; for example, if you do install synthetic-fiber carpets, do so when the windows can be opened-it takes months to out-gas the chemical.)
Estrogen dominance is when your body has excess estrogen in relation to the amount of progesterone.This almost always occurs when women have used birth control and are exposed to exogenous sources of "estrogen like" chemicals/xenohormones. Estrogen dominance can be reduced by supplementing with Bioidentical progesterone cream and by reducing your exposure to environmental toxins or xenohormones. "

So what does this have to do with you? Everything. When you consume foods that have pesticides, you are consuming xenohormones. When you apply cosmetics that use synthetic preservatives, you are consuming xenohormones. You body does not know what to do with these "false" estrogens. So they are "stored" in areas like your breast, your uterus, your ovaries. This is also true for children and young adults, boys and girls alike. When you consider how many ways in a day that you are "consuming" xenohormones, it becomes problematic by its frequency and intensity. Every time you microwave in plastic. The plastic water bottle that you leave in the car. Your skin lotion, the SPF, the shave cream, the pesticides in the water supply, prescribed medicines.

Better living through chemistry is not necessarily so.

Here's what can you do?

  • Use glass or ceramics whenever possible to store food and water
  • Heat food up in the microwave in glass or ceramic covered dish
  • Use a simple detergent with less chemicals. This includes laundry detergents and household cleaners
  • Use certified organic soaps, shampoo and personal care products.
  • Use natural pest control not pesticides
  • Don't use herbicides instead use a cup of salt in 4ltr of vinegar
  • Wear natural fibres
  • Buy hormone free certified organic meats
  • Buy organic produce, vegetables and fruits grown without pesticides, herbicides or synthetic fertilizes or hormones
  • Use anti-oxidant supplementation of Vit A,C,E to combat Xeno-Estrogen effects
  • Eat Broccoli Cabbage etc.
  • Use condoms without spermicides instead of birth control
  • Avoid parabens used in skin lotions.Check the ingredients
  • Balance your system with natural progesterone creams (yam, cohash, thistle) that have no parabens.
Now you're informed. Take it one step at a time. It took me over a year to transform my cosmetics and medicine chest. I bought a stainless steel to go mug. I use a recycled iced tea bottle for water. I use glass for heating up foods in the microwave. But do begin. You're worth it and so are all the members of your family.

Thanks for reading!


Kath

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Honest to Goodness

Hello Everyone,

This is the first post to a new blog for me, Honest Skincare. And I want to welcome you to this blog and tell you what you can expect in future.

This will be the place where you can come to find out the unadulterated truth about quality skincare for the whole family. I will be addressing the hidden ingredients in over the counter products - yes, even the expensive ones. I will expose to you the consequences of using some of the ingredients that are formulated into these skin care products and cosmetics.

My thought is that you as the fully informed consumer can make the best judgments for yourself. You can decided what risks you want to take; but you can only do that if you have the straight scoop.

This blog is all about empowering you, as the consumer, to feel the correctness of what you choose to use and how you spend your dollars on skin care and health products.

So let me tell you a little bit about myself. I have always grown something, and I have to always be growing something. I started out watching my Dad in our 1/4 acre garden in Ohio - yep, only yesterday. Hmmm

By the time I was in my teens, my Dad had stopped gardening, but I didn't. I kept growing things in the lush soils of Ohio and Pennsylvania. I never saw my Dad use a pesticide, so I never had the consciousness to even consider using them. And that became my way; the organic way. I have never used anything synthetic in my gardens, ever. I've seen my gardens eaten by almost every pest you can name. I've considered dynamite for gophers and moles. I've sat on my porch and tried to shoot squirrels, but only succeeded in shooting my picnic table. And finally I came to a peaceful truce with the critters. They get their portion and I get mine. There's enough for all of us.

I came to care about skin care products and what was in them when a good friend of mine developed a serious case of endometriosis from too much estrogen. Investigating we found that there were "phony" estrogens in the chemicals of almost all the skin care, hair care, lotions, potions, salves etc. That the body doesn't know what to do with them, and packs them into growths and tumors. This was confirmed by her doctors. So in coming blogs I'm going to inform you about these items and how to be sure you're not adding even more to your system.

It's not my intention to scare or frighten you, but it is my fullest intention that we become the smart, savvy and self-responsible consumers that we are. We know what's best for us, and despite what zillion dollar advertising campaigns say, we DO KNOW what's in our best interest and we can choose for ourselves. Here. Here.

So Welcome to the Honest Skincare Blog. You'll be shocked. You'll laugh. You'll weep. And you'll be a lot smarter for staying tuned.

Thanks for reading!

Kath