The best natural deodorant!

Have you heard about how toxic most store-bought deodorants are? Aluminum is found in most off the shelf deodorants. It actually blocks your pores to prevent sweat and keep you "dry" all day.  Click here to read up on the hazards associated with conventional deodorant and the benefits of using this brand.

You may feel “dry” all day, but are actually not allowing your body to release the toxins by sweating.

There are many other chemicals in typical deodorant that are linked to a whole host of health problems.

Parabens are preservatives that allow the product to last longer by preventing mold or bacteria growth, BUT have been very closely linked to endocrine disruption + breast cancer.

• Fragrance masks body odor + makes you smell slightly floral or shower fresh, BUT is a mixture of 3,000+ chemical ingredients and the cause of countless serious health issues.

• Aluminum blocks your pores to prevent sweat and keep you dry all day long, BUT studies have revealed its connection to detrimental diseases like Alzheimer’s and even death.

I finally made the switch to a natural deodorant and am so glad! I waited until I ran out of my typical stuff, and will never go back. Primally Pure charcoal deodorant is awesome!  I've been using "Degree"  deodorant for years, and felt like I needed to re-apply throughout the day and it didn't work very well! I used another popular “natural” deodorant, but even after letting it warm up a bit on my skin, it was still abrassive on my skin and difficult to apply. The charcoal deodorant has a nice clean aroma to it, and I’m going to get some for my husband too!

Here's what I've noticed since switching:

• no need to re-apply throughout the day

• less product used: 1-2 swipes per arm is all you need

• glides on smoothly (I had issues with Schmidt's being too hard + abrasive when applying)

• no underarm odor

• no endocrine disrupting ingredients

Ingredients in the Charcoal Deodorant:

• Arrowroot Powder

• Organic Extra Virgin Coconut Oil*

• Tallow from Grass-Fed Cows

• Organic Beeswax

• Baking Soda

• Non-nano Zinc Oxide

• White Kaolin Clay

• Activated Coconut Charcoal

• Organic Essential Oils of Eucalyptus and Peppermint

*FAIR TRADE

Use code ‘STUMPTOWNCHIRO’ for 10% off your order!

My First Paleo Thanksgiving

After being diagnosed with an autoimmune condition last year, this was my first gluten/dairy/soy/corn/peanut free Thanksgiving!  What that means? No boxed stuffing, canned cranberry, etc.  Everything will be made from scratch, and I think it will be even better tasting!

I got the smallest organic turkey I could find and planned ahead and found recipes beforehand.  My biggest fear was all of the extra time it would take to prepare freshly made fixings, but isn't that what the holidays are about? Taking the extra time to make a good tasting, healthy meal?  Things made from scratch always taste better, don't they? And they didn't take that long to prepare either!

The biggest changes were dairy free green bean casserole with freshly fried onions, homemade stuffing with gluten free bread, dairy/gluten/soy free pumpkin and apple pies, yams/mashed potatoes with ghee and coconut milk.  We'll see if my guests can taste the difference! 

Here's what I made! (Everything was so delicious, I forgot to take a picture of the fresh green bean casserole!).  Making the fresh mushroom soup with coconut milk was actually super quick and easy!

Freshly fried onions in coconut oil, homemade mushroom soup, gluten free homemade stuffing, organic turkey!

This is the one item that I purchased! A vegan apple pie from New Cascadia gluten free bakery in Portland!

*Main image source: http://i.huffpost.com/gen/2303832/images/o-PALEO-THANKSGIVING-facebook.jpg

Fresh onions fried in coconut oil!

Crispy and delicious!

Why I'm Still Eating Meat

The latest hot topic in the news is about meat consumption being linked to an increase risk of developing colorectal cancer.  If you would've asked me a few years ago, I probably would have agreed with that.  I became a pescatarian a few years ago, and eliminated all meat from my diet.  I thought I was doing the right thing for my health.  I was consuming large amounts of lentils, legumes and soy products to try to get enough protein in my diet.  But, after being diagnosed with an autoimmune condition, my diet had to change.  The amount of soy I was eating was actually making my condition worse, and the lentils/legumes were making my already weakened and inflammed digestive system work even harder.  There is a huge difference in meat products out there.  "Eating clean" has become a popular phrase in the nutrition world.  Eating meat, and eating clean meat, are 2 different things.  Where your food comes from matters; buy cheap, get cheap.

• The study wasn't performed specifically on humans, nor did it look at the consumption of vegetables with the protein.  It did not look at what people eat with their meat (is it french fries and soda, is it cheap bacon on an Egg McMuffin? Or vegetables and healthy carbs and fats?)
• "the association of CRC risk with processed red meat may be stronger than that with fresh red meat" (Santarelli, et al., 2008)
• The WHO (World Health Organization), released in a statement the other day that, "Processed meat refers to meat that has been transformed through salting, curing, fermentation, smoking, or other processes to enhance flavour or improve preservation" (AKA: adding unhealthy, unnatural flavors and chemicals to give "meat" a certain flavor.  This can mean adding gluten, loads of salt, sugar, high fructose corn syrup, nitrates, nitrites etc.)

• Here's a link to a full text study that was used in the recent published statement from the WHO: Processed meat and colorectal cancer: a review of epidemiologic and experimental evidence

Previous news also stated: (which have been proven false):

• to reduce your cholesterol intake and take a statin
• choose low fat products (remember Snack Wells!?) (Low fat and low carb diets have been proven not to be effective long term)
• don't eat egg yolks; reduce cholesterol
• eat more whole grains; 6-11 servings per day of bread, cereal, pasta, rice (this is what the current food pyramid suggests!)

What's wrong with processed meats:

• nitrates
• curing
• added sugar
• smoked flavor
• high temperature smoking techniques
• nitrates/nitrites
• soy/gluten/corn are often added to processed meats (those are bad!)
• when you eat meat, you're more likely to eat cheese, french fries, drink beer/soda, and have no veggies included with your meal, and no, ketchup doesn't count as a vegetable

What I eat for protein:

• Clean Meat!
• uncured, no sugar added organic bacon
• no nitrates or nitrites
• organic hormone free chicken
• organic grass fed beef
• nothing with gluten/dairy/corn/soy
• organic, cage free brown eggs
• wild caught salmon/shrimp
• a wide variety of vegetables, fruit, lactose free ghee, and healthy fats

I'm finally getting enough protein into my diet, I feel better, and my autoimmune condition is under control, with the food I eat.

What you choose to put into your body can have countless effects.  If you prefer to eat junk food and low nutritional value foods, you can expect some risks to come along with that type of lifestyle.  I choose to eat a relatively clean diet, as mentioned above.  My autoimmune condition is under control, I have tons of energy and am not on any medications.  Food can be used as medicine!  Always check the ingredients and make smart choices as much as possible.  Do your research and question where your food is coming from.

*Main image source: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/files/2015/01/shutterstock_151420331.jpg

Big Box Vitamins

Do you buy your vitamins in bulk to try to save money?  Bulk grocery stores like Costco and Sam's Club offer you huge bottles of vitamins at a great price, right!? Take a better look at the ingredients and you'll see why you could be wasting your hard earned cash!

If your goal of taking a daily vitamin is for improved health, choosing a pharmaceutical grade supplement is necessary.  If you're unknowingly ingesting food dyes, modified food starch, soy and more on a daily basis to improve your health, you must research the products that you are purchasing. Is it really worth the savings? You get what you pay for!  Maybe you're continuing to have gastrointestinal issues, breakouts, headaches, etc., and they may be from your vitamins ingredients.  If you check the labels on your food, also check the ones on your vitamins.

I'll compare popular vitamins I found at Costco this past weekend, show you the harmful ingredients, and a superior alternative that your body can actually use!  Synthetic vitamins often contain harmful chemicals and essential nutrients in inabsorbable forms.

While you can essentially get more "vitamins" for your dollar with the big box brands, that is because they are of lower quality, and use cheap preservatives, chemicals, dyes, etc., to bring the cost down.  For example, this is the same reason why real peanut/almond butters cost more than their cheaper alternatives, that have added sugars and hydrogenated oils.  Corn syrup is cheap, genetically modified, and easily added to foods, beverages and vitamins as a filler!

Kirkland Signature Wild Alaskan Fish Oil:

• ~$.10 cents per capsule
• Contains SOY (GMO)

• Better option is Integrative Therapeutics Pure Omega HP; ~$.37 per capsule

• Does not contain any of the following!

  • artificial coloring

  • artificial flavoring

  • corn

  • dairy products

  • gluten

  • preservatives

  • salt

  • soy

  • sugar

  • wheat

  • yeast

Nature Made Coenyzme Q 10:

• ~$.25 cents per capsule
• Contains artificial coloring, soy
• Synthetic, chemically made.  Contains a different chemical other than the natural form

• Better option is Integrative Therapeutics Vitaline CoQ10; ~$2.00 per capsule

• Contains only the NATURAL form of CoEnzyme Q10 and is identical to the form produced by the human body

• The natural form can cross the cell membrane and does increase serum CoQ10 levels

• Does not contain any of the following!

  • artificial coloring

  • artificial flavoring

  • corn

  • dairy products

  • gluten

  • ingredients of animal origin

  • preservatives

  • salt

  • soy

  • wheat

  • yeast

Centrum Silver Women's 50+

• ~$.08 cents per capsule
• Contains modified corn starch, Red 40 Lake, hydrogenated palm oil, maltodextrin

• Better option is Integrative Therapeutics Clinical Nutrients 45 Plus Women; ~$.19 per capsule

• Does not contain any of the following!

  • artificial coloring

  • artificial flavoring

  • dairy products

  • gluten

  • preservatives

  • soy

  • sugar

  • wheat

  • yeast

*Main image source: http://sincitycrossfitsouth.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Health-Benefits-of-Fish-Oil-For-Kids.jpg