Breaking the Myth: Natural Deodorants that Work

This is bar none the number one question I get from working at a health food store.

“I want a natural deodorant but I can’t find one that works!” I get it, It took me a long time and a lot of testing to find what works and what doesn’t. Now I love sharing my findings because you don’t need to give up hope! They exist!

Why Should I use a Natural Deodorant?

Well my love, the deodorants that are available in drugstores, specifically anti perspirants- block and clog up our lymph ducts in our underarms. Our underarms were meant to sweat to release toxins, and when we stop them from doing that they build up. On top of that, the chemicals that are used to prevent us from sweating are things like Aluminum, which builds up in our tissues.

It takes our body a long time to get heavy metals out of the system, especially when we are applying this stuff every day.

In terms of preventing breast cancer, it is HUGE to switch to a natural deodorant.

Natural Deodorants that Work!

DOM’S DEODORANT

This one is totes one of my favs. It smells like lemon meringue pie (no lie), and goes on all smooth-like. It is in a cream form, which freaks some people out, but it truly is effective at keepin’ the stink at bay all day.

Comes in 3 other scents: Lavender Rosemary, Unscented, Lemongrass and Cedar.

SCHMIDT’S DEODORANT

Like DOM’s, Schmidt’s deodorant is a cream based formula, that uses naturally antibacterial essential oils to keep the schtinkiness at bay. Another great one, and a little less expensive than DOMS. This one is Alicia Silverstones favourite I think.

For those that are totally freaked out by the creams, all hail a roll on! I’ve used Lafes for a while, and its liquid based. Its quite refreshing to put on, but I will be honest with you- this is better than a lot of the natural sticks out there, but not as good as the cream based ones above.

I’d give er’ 3.5/5 stars.

Make Your Own

I am all about the DIY’s, and I regularly make my own deodorant to save some cashola.

A recipe is from This Original Organic Life which you can make into stick form if you so desire.

Also this brand is super adorbs and quite similar to the top two creams.

Hope You Enjoyed this Post!

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Quaint, Quirky Quotes

I really need some inspiration and a reminder that I really can achieve my goals and dreams today. I’ve been feeling a little down lately, and a pick-me up before work is always a good idea.

My go-to is quotes. I mean, I love walks by the ocean, but I can’t really share that with you, so it’s gonna have to be quotes, k?

“Problems are not stop signs, they are guidelines”

Whatever you’re going through, you can make it. It is possible. Keep on reachin’

What Are You Really Hungry For?

Remember when you were a kid and you only stopped to eat when you were starving, because you were always too busy playing?

You ate to refuel, and stopped when you were full.

This is the natural way of being. Of being connected to our bodies, and listening to their signals. When food was just something you ate for energy again, for nourishment- so that you could get back to the important things.

As we grow up, our relationship to food changes. It becomes conditioned, habitual, disconnected.

Rather than something to be enjoyed, savoured, appreciated, and energy-giving, Food can become a way to unwind, relax, numb.

We over eat because we are scared, lonely, anxious, ____________. We over eat because we are trying to fill a void.

We are so disconnected from our food that we only worry about if it tastes good. Not if your body actually needs that, wants that, will digest/assimilate/eliminate that well, if it will re-fuel you and energize you.

So the question is, what are you hungry for?

and no, this isn’t about food 😉

what can you do to give yourself what you need?

Be it some creative time, alone time, a walk without distractions, a good cry, talk with a dear friend, whatever you need to do that you are trying to stuff away with food- and pay attention to your body’s signals.

Reconnect.

5 Books That Have Changed My Life

I was recently asked by a friend which books I would recommend for learning about themselves, in the forms of anxiety and depression. I believe self help books are powerful healing tools because its just you- one on one with words, and you have the opportunity to be completely honest with yourself, and unlock some juicy details about why you act the way you do.

Because when you think about it, a lot of us really do just operate on autopilot, bouncing from habit to habit, and never thinking about why we do what we do. It’s my personal mission to find out.

I’ve compiled 5 books that have been really influential in my life, and I encourage jumping into the unknown when it comes to getting to know yourself.

You won’t regret it.

1. You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay

This is my go to book to recommend if you are just getting into reading about your own psychology. Bar none, this book is incredible. Summed up, Louise Hay helps you love yourself again, learn how to forgive yourself and others, and above all- that nothing anyone ever says or does to you is personal. We all react or respond a certain way because of past experiences, emotional or childhood trauma that remains unhealed and is triggered by others.

2. Women, Food and Desire by Alexandra Jamieson

Oh. My. Gawrsh. I literally just finished reading this on the plane home to Ontario (which was like 4 days ago), and its jumped its way to number 2. This book is incredible! It’s all about a nutritionists journey with helping women get to the core of her clients emotional eating. Asking why, getting to the bottom of it, and why we numb our feelings with the temporary relief of food.
I love her relatable and easy-read approach to food and psychology. Beautiful read.

3. Guilt is the Teacher, Love is the Lesson

I know this book looks like its from the 80s, and thats because it is 😉 I’m not gonna lie, this is a heavy one. But it is perhaps the best book that I have ever read in terms of truly understanding myself and others and being able to apply it over and over. It’s both a healing and an educational book. It is very childhood based, in that you are encouraged to look into your childhood, but wow. What an influential book. If you were raised with a guilt- based upbringing and discipline such as myself, this is for you.

4. Add More ing To Your Life by Gabrielle Bernstein

This was actually one of the first books I felt called to read when starting my self awareness journey. Add more Ing to your life is about recognizing your ego, or that nasty voice that sometimes comes into your mind, criticizing. She helps you separate that from your sense of self, so that you don’t identify as closely with everything your mind says.

5. The Gifts of Imperfection by Brene Brown

If you have been reading my blog for a while now, you know that I love Brene Brown, whom I found through her TedTalk, in a previous post here.
This book is another fantastic easy read about perfectionism and shame. It’s about taking off the mask that we wear every day and embracing vulnerability. Think about some of the people that you admire most and aspire to be like, are they vulnerable?

Well my loves, I hope you enjoyed this post, and these books if you choose to dive in, which i highly recommend.

I am thinking about adding an ‘On My Bookshelf’ button on the site here, would you like that?

Lettuce eat,

Amanda.

Why You’re Not Losing Weight: Part 3

Hi there, beautiful being! Thank you for joining me, I’m so happy to have you.

Get comfy, We’ve come to Part 3 of Why You’re Not Losing Weight!

For Part 1, click here

For Part 2, click here

Reason #3: You’re Drinking Too Much Caffeine

I love a good cup of java, it really is one of my favorite things in the morning. Something in the ritual of having one is just comforting.

As unfortunate as it is, when you are trying to lose weight, caffeine is involved with (yep, you guessed it, our good friend blood sugar)

When we drink a coffee or black tea, our blood sugar spikes, increasing our stress hormones and thus our energy. We become reliant on caffeine’s ability to give us that morning boost.

Addiction to caffeine can lead to insulin resistance, a condition where your cells are no longer responsive to insulin. Not only that, it increases fat storage, low energy, kills beneficial gut flora, lowers stomach acid, reduces iron and mineral absorption, and can even interfere with drug metabolism.

Having one cup a day isn’t the worst thing you can do, its having multiple cups throughout the day, and even worse, just relying on coffee for your source of fluids.

So if you’re trying to lose weight, try to reduce your caffeine intake to one cup a day, or if you can, kick the habit to the curb.

As you can see, throughout this series, blood sugar regulation has been the underlying theme. It is absolutely crucial to losing weight and sustaining a healthy body and mind.

Thank you so much for being on this journey with me! I have had a great time having you along, and I hope you took something away from these posts.

I love your feedback, let me know what you want to see from me next!

All my best on your health journey,

Amanda

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Resources:

10 Reasons To Quit Coffee 

6 Ways My Life Improved After Ditching Caffeine

10 Reasons To Quit, How To Make Withdrawl Easier, and Alternatives

These are my Fav Alternatives to Coffee

Why You’re Not Losing Weight: Part 2

You’ve been eating healthily and the weight just isn’t coming off. What gives?

Welcome to part 2 of Why You’re Not Losing Weight. If you’re like “what is happening, where is part one?!” you’ll find that here

Reason #2: You’re Stressed

Now you may be thinking, what does that have to do with weight? You may be also thinking: dammit, I am always stressed and I have such a hard time not being stressed all the time.

I feel ya.

Here’s whats going on:

Your body can’t distinguish between stressors. As far as its concerned, you’re ALWAYS running from a saber tooth tiger. No matter what you’re stressed about, your body always has the same fight-or-flight response. This response is totally normal for short periods of stress.

Prolonged, chronic stress leaves the body in that fight or flight state constantly. In this state, cortisol is constantly being pumped out by your adrenal glands. This high cortisol sets off an increase in blood sugar so that you have the energy to bolt or kick some serious A.

When your blood sugar is chronically high, your body is storing fat constantly, Especially in the midsection. Stress affects all of your hormonal connections. So its super important to try to de-stress on a constant basis.

How I De-Stress:

Meditation:

Aaaah, and exhale. There’s a lot of misconception out there about what meditation actually is, and especially how you do it.

You don’t need to clear your mind, your mind doesn’t need to be a sheet of paper to begin, and it doesn’t need to be once you’re done meditating.

Meditation is the practice of letting your thoughts filter through without attachment to them, or rather being non judgemental. Not labelling thoughts as good or bad, but just letting them float by like a cloud.

Focusing on the breath is a great way to focus the mind. All you need to do is sit cross legged, upright in a chair, or however you feel, and close your eyes and breathe.

Thats it!

Spoonking:

Sp–awhaa?

Spoonking! It’s lying down on an acupressure mat for a matter of time to relax your muscles. An acupressure mat is basically a mat with hundreds of little plastic spikes on it, which you lay over top of.

Acupressure means that rather than acupuncture, the pressure of the tiny spikes on a spoonk mat stimulate certain points on your body. It’s super relaxing, and I have almost fallen asleep on it many times.

Yoga

Oh ya, lovin the ol’ yoges. That’s Amanda speak for yoga is great!

Even just 10 minutes of yoga after work, or even in the mornings is a great way to unwind. You don’t have to be an expert to reap the wonders of yoga.

Deep Breathing

Taking deep breaths stimulates your parasympathetic nervous system, calming you down. This is a great practice to do throughout the day, just remember the breath.

Resources:

A to the point article about fat storage and stress

Spoonk Mat

Favorite of the Moment Yoga Vids:

Are You Low In Iron?

Thought I would share this little nut with you guys today, because a few of my friends have asked me about iron and what foods they can eat, especially if they are vegetarian. It is not uncommon for women to be low in iron because of menstruation.

I hope this helps you for planning your next meal to boost that iron!

Why You’re Not Losing Weight: Part 1

This is one of the biggest health goals that people are always striving for: losing weight. So many people are constantly trying to lose weight, restrict and count calories, force themselves to go to the gym, even portion control *cringe*. (the term portion control sounds so ridiculous, like we are caged animals that cannot help ourselves when it comes to our food) i want to clear up a few things here. What if I told you that you didn’t have to do any of that to lose weight? For those of you that eat relatively healthily already and aren’t seeing results, this post is for you.

Reason #1 You’re Not Losing Weight: There’s Hidden Sugar in Your Food Sugar is a massive reason we put on weight, even if majority of the time we eat healthily, that one packaged or processed food a day can totally wreak havoc on your system. If you’ve been following my blog for a bit, you’ll know I love to talk about the importance of balanced blood sugar for weight loss. When you eat something high in sugar, your blood sugar spikes, and your body has to get the excess glucose out of the bloodstream, so insulin helps shove the excess glucose into your cells, as energy storage. The rest that the liver can’t keep up with storing is made into fat. Now, this is definitely true with refined sugars, they are your worst culprits.

What about fruit? This is a common misconception, that fruit will make you fat. Yes fruit has natural sugars. But fruit also has fibre which slows the absorption and rise of glucose. The fibre is the key. So there is nothing wrong with having fruit, in fact, its encouraged 😉 But this is a reason why some people that juice only fruit actually gain weight. Because of the fruit juice (concentrated in sugars) without the fibre. Time for a few food examples here. Peanut Butter is eaten a lot, especially by vegetarians because it is thought to be a good source of protein. I mean, its also delicious, I get it. But I’ve read labels where there is icing sugar as an ingredient in peanut butter. ICING SUGAR! So you’re thinking its fine cause its nuts but then you’re eating close to the equivalent of nutella, like holy balls. No wonder some people eat it with a spoon 😉 Also, refrain from choosing the “low fat” kinds, they replace the extra fat with artificial sugar, which also spike your blood sugar and increase fat production in the liver! A lot of them ALSO have added hydrogenated oils, which I talked about here. Oh man, its hard not to get discouraged. So I linked a few brands of pb at the bottom of the page that are much healthier.

Even foods that I would assume are healthy like packaged energy balls made from nuts and seeds have agave or cane sugar in them, which is just as bad as white sugar. I repeat, agave is no better!

You could also be drinking your sugar: juices, syrups in lattes and fancy coffee drinks (starbucks), pop, alcohol, energy drinks, even “natural” drinks sold at your health food store often do also have added sugar.

Another common “health” food with lots of hidden sugar: granola bars! I don’t eat prepackaged bars because of all the added sugar, they are like candy nowadays. You can get some really natural ones with no added sugar, but they’re pretty pricey. It’s best to just make them at home.

Bottom Line: Watch out for sugar intake for weight loss and overall health. Read those ingredient labels folks, and eat as whole foods, plant based as possible.

Resources:  Find the Many Different Names for Sugar here

A real yum refined-sugar free granola bar recipe: http://ohsheglows.com/2014/05/20/feel-good-hearty-granola-bars/

Great Nut Butter Brands that don’t have excess stuff in them: http://www.amazon.ca/Nuts-You-Nut-Butter-Organic/dp/B00DTGAGQA http://www.maranathafoods.com/product/organic-raw-almond-butter-no-salt-creamy

Yummy bevvies to have instead are:

Kombucha (also has good bacteria in it for your gut, a great drink to replace pop because its fizzy due to the fermentation)

Chia seeds into your favorite smoothie (they gelatinize and are super cool suspended in your drink, makes for a neat texture)

Juicing green veggies! Yum. My favorite recipe thus far has got to be: carrot beet cilantro apple

Recipe for (one of my personal faves) a matcha latte: http://www.justonecookbook.com/recipes/green-tea-latte/

What Is It All For?

We don’t question things enough. Challenge their origins. Ask why and dare to do differently.

For me these questions revolve around working in a job that doesn’t challenge or excite you- that you do to survive. I’ve now done this for two years, and though some would say I’m an amateur or that its just the beginning, I’ve already had enough.
I was talking about this with my mum not too long ago:

“All I do is go to work, come home, get up and do it again”

“Well, welcome to life.”

“This sucks, this is not how its supposed to be. This is not how I want to live”.

and enter my favorite…. “that’s just the way it is”

I’m talking about spending your life just getting by. 

Trading in the most valuable currency you have: your time.

When I’m at work, I am an actor that plays a role. I am squished into a mould, with my creativity stripped, my emotions left at the door, and a fake smile slapped on because how great is it to be surrounded by beautiful clothes all day?!
I’m not me, not celebrated for being me, and was not chosen for my strengths or my creativity.

What i’m getting to here folks, is that this is not the only way. You don’t have to just get by. You can thrive doing what you love. It’s all in how you look at it. What you see as impossible is likely possible. It’s figuring out the steps to get there, and just starting.

Remember that Passion Finding exercise from a while back? If so, pull out those answers. If not, get started, there is no time like the present.

What can you do today that will help you get closer to your goal?

What can you do tomorrow?

This week?

I am a total list maker. You can’t find me without a notebook. if you can’t answer these questions, its okay. Bring a notebook with you in your bag whereever you go for the next few days, while thinking about what you love, and how you can incorporate that into your every day life.

Freedom. Get off the hamster wheel. Your potential is calling.

2 Minute Meditation

I have recorded a 2 minute meditation for you. Take a seat and a moment- its time to relax.

Grab a seat and press play.