A Better Fragrance

There are so many times that I debated giving up on fragrances. I know that seems silly, but knowing that your skin absorbs so much of what you put onto it, made me look into what was in my perfumes. Unfortunately the lists of ingredients were mostly unrecognizable to me and after just a little bit of googling what they were, I couldn't be sure that everything was completely safe for me. 

But, I love smelling nice. And unfortunately I did not want to just throw out all of the years of fragrance bottles I had accumulated. So what to do? Well a gift from a friend last year changed it all. She bought me a small glass roller ball vile of a blend of essential oils that gave off a scent just as beautiful as the perfumes filling my cabinets in my bathroom. 

So I left it in my purse for a couple of weeks. If I didn't use it I figured I would just be more careful to spray only my clothes with perfume and move on. If I did end up using it, I would look further into essential oils. 

Well I used it. I used every last drop of it. And, I love it. I ended up going back to where she purchased it and buying another fragrance as well. The company was using therapeutic grade oils and only oil in the mix so I didn't have to worry about any mystery ingredients. 

But that wasn't the last of my research. I first stumbled across oils after a doctor, who writes about nutrition and everyday health, wrote a well researching article on the benefits of essential oils and his own experience with them. I was about to brush over the article with out reading, partly because he doesn't usually write about this and also because I was only concerned about oils from a fragrance perspective, but something drew me back. His entire article was scientifically backed so I decided to bite. 

I'm so happy I did. I learned all about essential oils and what other health benefits they had. I was directed to the oils he used but first did a little more research on the brands. An article written by a wellness mama guru, 7 blogs long, really dived into the companies and their quality. The last article pointed me to Rocky Mountain Oils, and through her research and some more of my own, I decided to go with them for all of my essential oils. They had the best quality, a lot of organic oils and the best price as well.

I am quickly running through my first big box I ordered. Having a diffuser has made my house small amazing as well as made some of the oils quicker to use at night instead of mixing them with other carrier oils and applying them right to my body. 

I am also looking for good book on essential oils. If anyone knows one, then please share. I would like to start mixing the different oils in the diffuser. 

So try them for yourself! I'm sure after reading the article you might be intrigued as well. It's been worth the research and using them has been such a pleasant experience. And of course, the whole reason this started, I'm loving the fragrance aspect of it. So much nicer than even most of my perfume! But I didn't waste any of the old perfumes I had. I just spray them on the outside of my jackets. These never rub against my skin and still let me us the fragrances I bought as not to waste them. 

Here's to helping you, Live Life Lean. 

The Dirty Dozen: Why Bother?

I always heard about going organic and the lists of ways to shop for this type of produce, but never really cared much to spend that much money on it. However, after doing some research I realized there are so many reasons to go organic. Investing a little more money into my diet was worth it because for so long I was saying "why bother?" and now I can't imagine ignoring the facts.

Each year there are so many lists that inform consumers of the "clean 15" and the "dirty dozen."So lets take a look at the dirty dozen, because when we go grocery shopping, these are the most important ones when putting produce into your cart. 

This list contains the heaviest sprayed crops and the produce where the most residue from pesticides were found. Samples of produce on this list contained up to 15 different pesticides per piece of produce. This is a startling amount seeing that you will be ingesting all of these when you eat them later. 

Of course we don't have to list the innumerable amount of reasons you do not want to ingest pesticides. In short these are unnatural chemicals and that equals your body, especially your liver, working overtime to rid your body of these toxins. Pesticides are poison and just because you only ingest a small amount per piece of produce, doesn't mean that over time these don't get backed up into your body. 

So by Live Lean standards, it's best to cut out the pesticides. Live chemical free and buy these top fruits and vegetables organic. 

1. Apples

2. Peaches 

3. Nectarines 

4. Strawberries

5. Grapes

6. Celery 

7. Spinach

8. Sweet Bell Peppers

9. Cucumbers

10. Cherry Tomatoes

11. Snap Peas - Imported

12. Potatoes (All Varieties)

+ Hot Peppers

+ Kale/Collard Greens

The + is the two added pieces of produce that the EWG found to have to frequently have tested positive for insecticides that are toxic to our nervous systems.

I love easy lists like this. These are something you can write down on the back of your grocery pad and bring to the store or just leave saved in a list on your phone. The clean 15 list can be found here. 

One other creative idea is taking a permanent marker and writing them into the inside of your reusable grocery bag. We get ours for around 99 cents a bag at Trader Joe's, and for less than ten dollars we have super sturdy, environmentally friendly, bags to shop with. They are pretty roomy and can handle a lot of weight. We don't splurge on the insulated bags because we don't live super far from our grocery stores. 

On a side note, anything that is coming out of a can, like tomatoes and beans if you need these for convenience because I know not everyone has time to soak beans or make tomato sauce from scratch every time, then always buy organic. Many stores have their own brand that is cheaper than more advertised brands and they come in organic versions too. 

Let me know below if you find it easy to shop for these organic versions at your grocery stores. 

References:

http://www.ewg.org/foodnews/summary.php

For more information please visit their website.