I recently launched a new website EcoBeautyEditor.com — a resource of natural, organic beauty and health information, research, interviews, reviews, vegan recipes, expert recommendations and holistic treatments.
For the site’s launch, I interviewed Mimi Kirk, the inspiring 72-year-old woman who just a couple of years ago was named PETA’s Sexiest Vegetarian Over 50. Mimi is about to launch her new book Live Raw: The Natural Way to Good Health and Timeless Beauty, so to celebrate, I wanted to share an excerpt from my interview with Mimi, in which she shares not only an insight into her life, but some great tips on how to embrace life, no matter your age. To read the complete article and see more photos, please click here.
Mimi is offering a special gift for those who buy an autographed copy directly from her site. Visit youngonrawfood.com/live-raw to find out more information and to order your copy.
You’re 72 and yet you look like you’re in your 40s. What’s your secret?
I would place what I eat at the top of my list, a raw vegan diet. Second I think exercise is important. I know that now more than ever before, so I’ve included strength training to my walking, yoga and qigong routine. I think moderate exercise is enough. I would also include to my list of “secrets” a positive attitude, compassion and passion, and of course having a boyfriend 19 years my junior doesn’t hurt.
Do you know any other 72-year-olds who share your youthful vibrancy?
Yes, I think there are many youthful seniors today. The face of aging is changing and those of us who eat healthy can attest to that, but still, I think there is a common agreement amongst advertisers and drug companies pandering to the senior set, that we have to look our chronological age and take a fist full of drugs to combat aging and diseases.
It’s obvious you’ve not had any plastic surgery. What do you tell people who question you about that?
I’m not much concerned with the lines on my face. I’m more concerned with how I feel. I think plastic surgery is a mistake. I’ve seen some really bad surgery, loss of character on the face and even tragedy associated with plastic surgery. I think people can tell I’ve not had surgery when they meet me in person. I have laugh lines and look natural, well my blonde hair is not natural, but I find it fun at my age.
What gets you up in the morning? What are your greatest passions?
I love life, I’m a happy person and certainly passionate about my family. I have a book coming out in May, and I’m thrilled about it. To pass along what I’ve learned about being healthy over the years certainly keeps me passionate. I accept a few coaching clients each month and I’m passionate about seeing their results.
Vegan life is a compassionate one, for the animals, the planet and our own wellbeing. There was a spiritual awakening when I realized I did not have to take part in killing to eat. I love looking at my plate and seeing live food and not a deceased animal.
Did you always know you’d become a vegan? How did your life path lead to it?
I became a vegetarian over 40 years ago. I had an epiphany while eating a slice of roast beef. I realized I was eating flesh. That was it for me. I soon learned of the inhumane treatment of farm animals and although I would occasionally go off course, I would immediately get back on just thinking about where meat comes from. Vegan life is a compassionate one, for the animals, the planet and our own wellbeing. There was a spiritual awakening when I realized I did not have to take part in killing to eat. I love looking at my plate and seeing live food and not a deceased animal. Sorry to be so graphic, but I really do believe this is the humane way to live.
What is it about being vegan that has changed your life?
All the above and more! My health is fantastic. I look at things differently in many ways. Buying organic produce at farmers markets and from farm stands makes me feel I’m eating clean food, and helping farmer who are making a difference by keeping chemicals out of our food chain. One day I realize that wearing leather felt disturbing to me. People say “well, the animal is dead anyway, so why not use the hide.” Well, that is not always true. Some animals are killed for their hides. It took time to realize the connection but now I couldn’t buy leather or even wear any of my old leather goods. I personally prefer finding faux leather, shoes and bags. I think it amusing when I’m stopped so many times with people asking where I bought my leather boots or bag. Of course they are surprised when I tell them they are not leather, and maybe sometimes I can’t help myself and I give them a little education on why I wear faux leather. I try not to be preachy, as I believe people are ready when they’re ready to make a change and not a moment before. I know this from my own experience.
You’re an author, can you tell me about your book and why you wrote it?
My book contains my thoughts and experiences on health and wellbeing. Over 120 raw food recipes will help those who think that going raw means carrots and celery sticks. When people begin a raw food diet, they are in need of delicious gourmet food. I am a foodie at heart, I love to grow food, shop for food, prepare it, serve it, and needless to say, I love to eat it. I’ve traveled around the world and love international foods; I’ve included some of my favorite dishes in my book LIVE RAW. I have so many recipes I’ve experimented with over the last three years; there was not enough room to include them all. My boyfriend Mike’s beautiful photographs grace the book and everything really looks mouth watering. I wrote the book at the requests of so many of my Facebook friends. I always post recipes on my pages, and then people started saying “why don’t you write a book”. I was inspired to share my recipes, so hence a book was a good idea. I feel lucky to get published, as it’s not easy these days. I feel if my book helps one person create a healthier life, I’m happy.
Visit Mimi’s website at YoungonRawFood.com.
When celebrities look to a nutritionist for ultimate health advice that will not only give them a toned, slim physique but also radiant, glowing skin, they look to Kimberly Snyder (pictured below). The yoga instructor and clinical nutritionist spends her time between her homes in New York and LA — when she’s not working on set, whipping up organic green smoothies for the likes of Drew Barrymore and Owen Wilson.
I met Kimberly a couple of years ago and was amazed at how present, vibrant and happy she was — a portrait of perfect health thanks to her raw vegan diet, yoga and spiritual practice. Since then, the sought-after wellness expert has been busy working with her high profile clients to help them achieve great health. She has also been working on her book, The Beauty Detox Solution, which is due to hit the shelves this Wednesday (March 30) — it’s an invaluable resource, packed with the very knowledge she passes onto her celebrity clients.
Kimberly is a joy to know and is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to achieving true health and beauty. I asked if she could have a quick chat with me in the lead up to her star-studded book launch…
It has been a few years since we met in LA. What have you been up to since then?
I’ve been pretty busy! For the past few years, my focus has shifted to all things related to my nutritional philosophy and work. I’ve been working and traveling with celebrity actors worldwide, creating customized dietary programs for them, and making specialized meals for quite a few of them on a regular basis. I now have an apartment in LA as well as New York, and well, it’s been an exciting ride!
I know you’ve been working tirelessly on your new book, among your many projects. What’s it all about and why did you decide to write it?
My first book, The Beauty Detox Solution, is launching on March 29th! There’s so much confusing information out there, and being beautiful and reaching your perfect weight isn’t about micromanaging, or complex and confusing calculations that revolve around carbs and calories. My plan is simple, proven, and allows inner beauty to radiate from the inside out. My motivation in writing my plan out was to share the information with women and people everywhere that had helped me and my clients so much.
You’re a nutritionist to the stars now. Can you chat a little bit about how you got started?
Word of my program spread through LA and New York, and I was put in touch with a celebrity to work with. Then it grew to a few and then more and more… the inner circle of Hollywood is extremely tight and small. I didn’t plan to work for the “stars”, but I guess it’s my karma!
Are there any star secrets you’re allowed to reveal?
I respect all my clients’ confidentiality. But I will say that the principals that I explain in my program are the same ones I explain to everyone, celebrity or busy mom alike.
What is your definition of beauty?
My philosophy is that beauty and health are synonymous. Healthy skin is beautiful skin. A healthy body is a beautiful body. And no matter how many products we slather on, or diets we follow, true beauty must begin from within.
What pitfalls do you think some people fall into when it comes to trying to maintain and preserve the idealized Western idea of beauty?
There’s so many myths out there and confusing information. The most alarming and common thing I see is that people don’t even realize that the foods they think are healthy are actually aging them at an accelerated rate. I bet if I looked in someone’s fridge, and they had foods like organic yogurt and free range chicken, they would think they were doing pretty good. But when you see their skin, you can see those acidic foods show up on their faces in the form of wrinkles, lines, and dull and sagging skin. It is a vicious cycle. What good is it to be a size 4 or a size 2 if you look 10 years older than you really are?
How can a healthy diet, spiritual practice and positive thoughts help to achieve natural beauty?
Our minds and bodies are intrinsically connected, and therefore loving and peaceful vibrations emanate out of someone’s being in an inexplicable radiance. Mediation is in my opinion, the highest form of union with the infinite, which creates an inner and outer beauty in a way nothing else can.
Who are, in your opinion, some of the most beautiful people and why?
People that have the following characteristics: kindness, cleanliness — externally, in their diet and in their speech and thoughts, compassionate and thoughtful eyes, a genuine smile, a natural, not-overdone style and confidence.
What’s next for you?
Over the next few weeks I’m focusing on all things book launch-related, including a huge launch party hosted by some of my celebrity clients. At the end of this month I head to New Orleans for a few months to work as the nutritionist on a major film. And there are many other exciting projects in the works!
To get your own copy of The Beauty Detox Solution, click here.
For the complete interview with Kimberly, and some of her beauty-fying recipes, sign up for updates at the soon-to-launch EcoBeautyEditor.com
Making the decision to go vegan is a different path for everyone. The reasons behind the choice may range from healthy living to animal rights. Whatever they are, making the decision to be vegan is one of the biggest gifts you can give yourself, animals and the planet.
I was chatting with Be Genki‘s Sam Sample last week and she mentioned she’d recently made the transition to veganism, after years of flirting with it. I asked if she would be happy to share her journey in the hope of inspiring others who are thinking about becoming cruelty-free. Here is her story…
There’s a high chance that you may be toying with the idea of choosing to be vegan. The reason for writing this particular article is that you may find that it touches a part of you, just as living it has touched all parts of me, and that it may help inspire you to take the final step. ~ Sam Sample
Last month I finally chose to walk the vegan road. I use the word ‘finally’ because I feel it has been a slow and gradual progression over the last 15 years.
In 1995 I read the book Fit for Life
Over the next five years my taste for meat declined. Correction, not so much the taste of it, but more so the flesh component. Have you ever bitten in to a piece of meat and visualized biting in to the arm, leg or torso of an animal, and that the chewy bits of meat is too closely associated with chewing your way through the flesh of that animal? Those type of visualizations also grossed me out and ended my meat eating days, with exception to mince meat in lasagna, spaghetti bolognese and carpaccio (the paper thin raw beef), as these styles of meat required no tough chewing and melted in my mouth.
My fascination for food, health and wellbeing led me to study a 3 year Diploma of Nutrition and it was during those classes that I was exposed to the horrifying documentaries about chickens in battery farms, their ghastly diet, abnormally unhealthy living conditions and outrageous cruelty and suffering. Add to that, the accounts of negative health effects that the consumption of these chickens and eggs were having on the human population. I was so appalled by this information that I have never eaten a piece of chicken since, but somehow I remained an egg eater, as long as they were the biodynamic organic free-range variety.
As time went by and my love of food and good nutrition grew, so did my love and respect for mother earth. Each day I was inspired to learn a little more about the “truth” of the type of world we live in, how my choices can have an effect on the future of the world based on the simple fact that every time I buy a product I am saying to that company, ‘keep on doing what you are doing.’ I am supporting everything that company does: every source of raw material, every packaging solution, every environmental standard that they are undertaking, every form of employee relations and every marketing choice.
When creating Be Genki, the range of bath, body and home care products, I was adamant that the brand had to be certifiably “animal cruelty free”, not containing any animal derived ingredients and certainly not allowing any of the products or ingredients to be tested on animals. Yet, I still was consuming eggs, cheese and a portion of meat once every few months. Hmmm… I wasn’t wanting to use animal products in my skincare products but was happy to eat them. Interesting inconsistency don’t you think?!
Being an advocate for holistic health and wellbeing, and possessing the inclination to think about what consequence my choices are having on my life, my loved ones’ lives, the community, the planet, and future beliefs, standards and ideals, choosing vegan seemed like the natural thing to do that would honor everything that I believe in, (that is, to help improve my awareness, consciousness and communion with mother earth.)
The tipping point for making the choice, however, was watching the short clip VEGAN For the People. For the Planet. For the Animals. (see below). Quite simply, the short film clip makes sense. Choosing to be vegan not only nurtures myself, but my loved ones, future generations and the world in which we share. Oh… and I look and feel so much healthier since making the change. Love those extra perks!
Photo courtesy JelleS
Guest post by celebrity nutritionist Kimberly Snyder
Low-level radiation is a silent killer, because we can’t see it, feel I, hear it, taste it, or smell it. I am not talking about just nuclear weapons, but rather the low levels of exposure we are continuously exposed to on an every day basis. This post is dedicated to a friend of mine, and was born out of my concern for her, as she flies often.
Firstly, what is radiation? In the broadest definition, it is the process in which the energy in the form of, for instance, light or heat, is sent out through space. The different types of radiation are classified according to the electromagnetic spectrum by their wavelength and frequency. One end of the spectrum is the “low energy” forms of radiation, which include radio and television waves. These forms have long wavelengths and low frequencies. As we go up the spectrum and the wavelengths become shorter and the frequencies higher, the spectrum expands to include microwaves, infrared, visible light, ultra-violet light, x-rays, and gamma rays. When me move towards this high end of the spectrum, the radiation energies have a special power known as ionization. X-rays and gamma rays, when they pass through a cell, can separate electrons from their atoms and endow these runaway electrons with higher amounts of energy. The result may be tissue damage in many different forms—from cancer to genetic and birth defects.
What are sources of radiation in our lives? Nuclear weapons and nuclear waste is one obvious source. Radon is another. But what I want to really talk about today is everyday, low-level forms of radiation, which emanate from such devices as microwaves, high-voltage power lines, radio transmitters, and cell phones. For years, our society has maintained that exposure to low levels of electromagnetic waves are harmless, but evidence is mounting that all this exposure to low-level radiation is indeed much more harmful that previously thought.
There is no safe level of exposure and there is no dose of radiation so low that the risk of malignancy is zero… the genetic risks, and especially those associated with recessive mutations, may be as harmful and debilitating to the human race as the increases of cancer.
What is also a major source of radiation exposure? Flying in an airplane. The higher up the plane goes in the atmosphere the more radiation we are exposed to. In a flight from (only!) Los Angeles to San Fancisco there is said to be a tenfold increase in radiation (as measured by a mini-Geiger counter) that jumps from 12 to 125 radiations per minute when the plan is leveled off at the maximum flight pattern.
What does this really mean? An airplane flying coast to coast will expose the flyer to several hundred milliards (1/1000 of a rad). The average dose for medical X-rays is 300-500 millirads for pelvic X-rays, 100-1000 millirads for a full facial dental X-ray, and 10-500 millirads for chest X-rays. That means that one single flight may expose us to the same or possibly more radiation than a full chest X-ray(!).
This is a big problem because as we know, continual exposure to low-level radiation produces free radicals, a major cause of premature aging and health problems. Free radicals can cause cross-linking among tissue proteins (wrinkles!), inflammation, disrupt and/or deplete the immune system, and can produce mutations. Many researchers in the field of aging agree that free-radical destruction is the basis of aging, or at least always goes along with the aging process.
Dr. Abram Petkau stated (reported from the Radiological Physics Dept. at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine) that the free-radical effect from chronic low radiation exposure to be 1,000 times greater than a single large exposure (!). John Gofman, Ph.D., M.D writes in Radiation and Human Health, “Harm in the form of excess human cancer occurs at all doses of ionizing radiation, down to the lowest conceivable dose and dose rate.” Perhaps the most succinct summary is given by Dr. Karl Z. Morgan, who was the director of the Health Physics Division a the Oak Ridge National Laboratory for 30 years:
“There is no safe level of exposure and there is no dose of radiation so low that the risk of malignancy is zero… the genetic risks, and especially those associated with recessive mutations, may be as harmful and debilitating to the human race as the increases of cancer.”
THERE IS SOMETHING WE CAN DO
Okay, sorry for all the doom and gloom! But I say these things as we should at least be aware of radiation exposure.
And I am happy to say that there are things we can do in our diet to help minimize the effect of radiation. How can food help? Firstly, if we have enough minerals in our system, the cells become saturated with minerals and there may be less opportunity for the radioactive minerals to be absorbed into our systems. Second, there are certain specific foods which can actively help draw the radioactive materials to them and pull them out of the body (chelation). Thirdly, if we eat foods very high in antioxidant nutrients and enzymes, it will help squash out the free radicals created by radiation exposure.
Anti-Radiation Foods that Fit into Our Above Criteria
• Swiss chard
• Turnip greens
• Watercress
• Mustard greens
• Kale
• Spinach (no surprise here, all greens!)
• Kelp
• Dulse
• Chlorella
• Nori
• Beets
• Bee pollen (note: non-vegan)
• Garlic
• Apples
• Chaparral
• Siberian ginseng
What else can we do besides loading up on these foods? Don’t smoke! Don’t live near nuclear plants, avoid unnecessary diagnostic X-rays, and use infrared saunas whenever possible. Check out my post on cell phones, and wear that wired (not Bluetooth) headset.
It is critical if you fly often that you eat only the best food while flying on the day. You want to give your body the best to help combat the radiation as much as possible.
Diet Tips to Help Minimize Radiation Effects by Kimberley Snyder. Photo courtesy of Stewart.
Kimberly Snyder’s work as a clinical nutritionist is rooted in a holistic approach that works to heal the body from the cellular level up, increase energy, and achieve overall balance naturally. Her main protocols include increasing the body’s alkalinity, consuming an individualized diet largely consisting of natural foods, increasing efficient digestion, and intelligent, guided and ongoing cleansing. Snyder’s philosophy is that Outer Beauty is a Reflection of Inner Health.
I’m extremely picky when it comes to what I put on my skin, and even more picky when it comes to suggesting brands to use, whether they’re vegan or not. Just because a product is vegan doesn’t mean it’s good idea to put it on your skin. Enter beauty buff and holistic entrepreneur Sam Sample and her 100% vegan and natural skincare line Be Genki. This is one range I’m happy to give some blog love to.
Sam follows a simple philosophy when it comes to beauty and believes you can ‘be’ it, rather than ‘achieve’ it.
“Beauty comes from within,” she says. “Being happy and healthy on the physical, emotional and spiritual level is what I believe makes a woman truly beautiful.”
With her natural approach and holistic know-how, Sydney-based Sam (pictured left) developed her beauty range, Be Genki. The collection brings together her deep interest in aromatherapy, well-being, meditation, and beauty care into a holistic synthesis to “promote optimum inner health and harmony amidst the fast pace of contemporary life”.
Each element of Be Genki, she says, has been carefully and thoughtfully selected for its excellence in design, quality, healing benefits, and ability to capture the senses.
“Be Genki is the only bath and body care brand to offer a complete 360 degree approach to holistic well-being, identifying four key areas that contribute to an individual’s well-being and providing products that help create balance with a lifestyle approach,” Sam says.
The product line includes bath and shower oils, body oils, body creams, hand creams, face mists, oil blends, herbal teas and candles.
Sam studied make-up artistry and image training, nutrition, physical education, access energy transformation, aromatherapy, and skin care, and is also an avid proponent of Vipassana meditation. She says the peace and tranquility she found in meditation greatly influenced her products and their simplicity of use in daily life.
I caught up with Sam to get an overview of the ranges — Vitality, Tranquility, Serenity and Sensuality — each attracting a huge following in Australia and abroad.
SHANNON: What’s the Be Genki story?
SAM SAMPLE: For the past 10 years I have been studying various disciplines of health and wellbeing – make-up artistry and image training, nutrition, fitness, meditation, access energy transformation, skin care, and aromatherapy.
Whilst I was finishing up my Diploma of Nutrition and experimenting with aromatherapy one of my girlfriends was suffering from anxiety and depression and was taking anti-depressants. It upset me that a young woman in her mid-20s could be prescribed pharmaceutical drugs without her lifestyle being taken in to consideration first. No-one sat down with her to address what she was doing on a daily basis.
So I made her a blend of essential oils (the Serenity blend) and we chatted about taking time out at the end of each day to have a bath with the essential oil blend, shutting the bathroom door, turning the mobile phone off and creating a spa like experience in the comfort of her own home. We also spoke about nutrition, exercise and lifestyle choices.
Two months passed and she came to me one day to tell me how much better she was feeling within herself and that she was thinking of going off her medication. Whether it was the act of running a bath and watching the water flow, having that half-hour by herself to relax and inhale the oil blend, or exercising, or eliminating processed foods from her diet it didn’t matter to me. What mattered was that she was feeling more confident and happy. I believe it was a combination of all the new wellbeing rituals that she had started to implement in to her daily life. You can only imagine how happy this made me feel. Whatever it was that gave her the confidence to take control of her anxiety and depression and ultimately her life, was enough to inspire me to think of other areas of our lives that we need help with improving in today’s fast paced world.
Whether it’s reaching for that third cup of coffee during the day to get a burst of energy, tossing and turning in bed at night or relying on sleeping tablets to get to sleep, suffering from anxiety and depression, freaking out at the “little things” or losing your temper at those that you love most because you haven’t dealt with the issue appropriately, or simply “beating yourself up” and criticising yourself over something that really isn’t that big a deal in the scheme of things; that is not what life is all about! So, I developed Be Genki – to help inspire and bring about holistic happiness by focusing on four key areas of wellbeing:
- Vitality to help improve our energy levels.
- Tranquility to help prepare for a peaceful night’s sleep.
- Serenity to help us cope with everyday stress (the blend that I gave to my girlfriend).
- Sensuality to help nurture the loving relationships that we have with our partner, and more importantly our Self.
In my opinion, these are the four key areas that bring about holistic happiness.
The Japanese word “genki” means to be happy, healthy, and in harmony with oneself. It suggests wellbeing is achieved by balancing physical, emotional and spiritual elements equally to create an integrated and tranquil Self.
SD: What are the core ingredients?
SS: There are four Be Genki ranges – Vitality, Tranquility, Serenity and Sensuality – each contain a blend of 100% pure essential oils to specifically target four key areas that contribute to your well-being.
Vitality: Lemon, Peppermint, Eucalyptus and Rosemary, renowned for their uplifting properties.
Tranquility: Lavender, Roman Chamomile, Sweet Orange and Sandalwood, renowned for their sleep-inducing properties.
Serenity: Neroli, Rose Otto, Rosewood, Palmarosa and Bergamot, renowned for their calming properties.
Sensuality: Rose Otto, Ylang Ylang, Jasmine, Lavender, Bergamot and Melissa, renowned for their nurturing properties.
Obtaining optimal health, eating living foods and detoxifying isn’t as difficult as it may seem, says New York-based clinical nutritionist and yoga instructor to the stars, Kimberly Snyder. It’s all about knowing how and having fun with it. The result—radiant beauty that glows from within—is well worth the effort.
I was fortunate to meet with Kimberly while she was in LA last year. During our chat (and snack of delish homemade raw cacao balls she brought with her) Kimberly shared all sorts of great tips about veganism and the raw food lifestyle.
Below are some of her top tips for staying young and healthy. For more fabulous vegan and living food insights head to Kimberly’s blog at www.kimberlysnyder.net. Enjoy!
1. Max out on raw greens. Uncooked greens and vegetables are a powerful beauty secret. The living enzymes in uncooked greens and vegetables contribute to skin health by acting as catalysts that assist body processes like digestion, detoxification, and rebuilding. For example, by assisting the body’s energy-intensive digestive process, enzymes free up energy for other tasks, like repairing and rebuilding the skin- the largest organ of all. Unfortunately, the valuable enzymes, proteins and vitamins found in plants are heat sensitive and can be damaged or destroyed by normal cooking temperatures. In fact, cooking can easily destroy a food’s entire enzyme reserve. So pack as many completely raw greens, salads, veggies, sprouts and fresh herbs into your diet as you can! An easy way to get a large amount of easily digestible greens is from a green smoothie. The simple recipe is available online at www.kimberlysnyder.net.
2. Add açai to your diet. Açai is loaded with beneficial nutrients and antioxidants, including Omega 3 fatty acids, amino acids, minerals, key vitamins and fiber. The Omega 3 fatty acids found in Açai maintain the structure and fluidity of cell membranes, facilitating the inflow of nutrients and the outflow of waste products, promoting youthful, smooth and radiant skin by keeping skin cells hydrated and strong. Acai is a key component of The Solution, as it is also extremely beneficial when applied topically.
4. Drink detox tea. Our bodies are constantly exposed to toxins from the environment, our diet and chemicals from products we put on ourselves. Over time, these toxins promote illness and can accelerate skin aging. The liver is the blood’s filtering system, and when it becomes overloaded, the liver stops effectively filtering and neutralizing the toxins that enter the body. These excess toxins continue circulating and are deposited in fatty tissue, building up over time. The long-term effects of toxic overload are manifested externally in the form of wrinkles and spotted, leathery skin. One of the easiest and tastiest ways to promote healthy liver function is to drink detox tea 2-3 times per week. The recipe is available online.
3. Switch to Celtic sea salt. Celtic sea salt is unique among salts because it is a sun-dried – a process that allows 70 minerals and trace elements, enzymes and even marine microorganisms to remain intact. Other sea salts are kiln-dried, which causes valuable magnesium and most other minerals to evaporate. Normal table salt is the worst of all, being irradiated and denatured sodium chloride. It not only has no nutritional benefit, it depletes the skin’s natural hydration. So make the switch to Celtic sea salt!
5. Eat more onions. This everyday food has a considerable amount of sulfur, which helps cleanse the skin and liver and rebuild connective tissues like collagen. Onions are also an exceptional source of usable quercetin, which works to eliminate free radicals, protects and regenerates crucial Vitamin E and decreases capillary fragility.
6. Add sea vegetables to your diet. Sea vegetables are about 12 times richer in minerals than average vegetables. They are an especially good source of iodine, which regulates the metabolism by feeding the thyroid, iron, B6, B12, and magnesium, which opens over 300 different detoxification pathways in the body. You can throw sea vegetables such as dulse, hijiki and arame in salads or make nori wraps stuffed with salad. All are available at any health store.
7. Sprout your seeds and nuts. A raw, dry nut is dense in calories and encased in inhibitor enzymes, which keep it from sprouting before it is in a safe environment. The sprouting process changes the constitution of the nut, making it more like a plant. The nutritional benefit is that the proteins in sprouted nuts are more easily assimilated by the body. Here is a simple method for spouting almonds: Cover almonds in filtered water in a bowl and place in your refrigerator for 24 hours. Rinse well several times. You should peel off the outer coating of the almond before eating. A handful is a wonderfully nutritional, filling snack. Throw a few in a bag and take them to work!
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A handy little book I recently added to my shelf is Michael DeJong’s Clean Body: The Humble Art of Zen-Cleansing Yourself
Why it’s great: Rather than harping on about how our toxic household cleaning and beauty products are slowly killing us, Michael DeJong offers solutions that are right there in your kitchen. Using just five pure, natural ingredients—baking soda, lemon, olive oil, salt and white vinegar—he shows you how to wash, scrub and rinse with complete peace of mind, all while saving dollars and the environment. Not a bad deal, eh?
Who’s reading it: Those who are discovering their allergies are directly caused by harsh chemicals that lurk in most mainstream cleaning and beauty products. It’s also a favourite of parents who want to give their littlies the most pure start to life, and of those who understand that what goes onto the skin gets absorbed into the body.
What you’ll learn: How to mix baking soda in varying amounts to use as a shampoo, facial scrub and foot scrub; why olive oil is a superb make-up remover and moisturiser; how lemon will get you salon-perfect streaks and why salt is great for scrubbing away dead skin on elbows and knees.
Want to know more? Head to www.zencleansing.com but not before disposing thoughtfully of all those hazardous products in your cupboards.
Also check out Michael Dejong’s Clean: The Humble Art of Zen-Cleansing
Main photo courtesy: AMagill
