Just Dance

Hello May! Why aren't you beautiful?

Took this picture near my school. Isn't it the most perfect daffodil?!

I don't know about the rest of Canada, but Toronto's weather has been a beaut these last couple of days. May flowers? Check! (See above). May sunshine? Check! (Today it was 22*C). May sunburn? Check! (Doh! That was my bad. I got caught up in today's glorious weather, spending too much time outside without protection or shade. Lesson learned).

Now that the weather is nice, the side-walks and parks have been bustling with people getting in some exercise. But apparently the exercise doesn't have to shop once the sun goes down. Now, according to this article, it has become trendy in New York City to party while exercising. That's right: rather than going to a bar on a Saturday night, you go to a "workout" club, complete with a DJ and fancy disco lights. You can read the article about this cool new workout option here.

While this idea sounds super fun, and is a great alternative to spending your Saturday night binge drinking, I must chime in with some of potential health concerns that may arise when following this trendy new workout regime:

First, what about sleep? After engaging in that much physical activity and excitement late into the night, it may be hard to "wind down" and fall asleep. Don't be alarmed if you can't get those catchy club beats out of your head! Exercising at night may throw of your circadian rhythm/normal sleep cycle.

Second, what about refueling? After physical activity, it is very important to refuel your muscles with protein and carbohydrates. Oh, and lots of water to replenish the fluid you lost through sweat. But these dancers may not want to have a meal at 1 AM. My suggestion would be to have a smoothie (the liquid will be easier to digest that meal or solid snack), complete with protein powder, berries, banana, and coconut water for ultimate replenishment and hydration.

Third, what about those who are still drinking after exercising? I wonder how many of these late-night exercisers will still go out and have a "night on the town" after their workout; a night full of alcohol and late-night pub food. An intense workout (which dehydrates) plus alcohol (also dehydrates) plus salty food (resulting in more dehydration) could equal one killer hangover the next day! These dancers should be careful when combining heavy exercising with heavy partying.

Lullaby Lavender

What's your favorite flower? Tulips are mine favorite appearance-wise, though in terms of health and therapeutic benefit, lavender is my healing flower of choice. 

Tulips surrounded by blue flowers that look a lot like lavender

Lavender (Lavandula stoechas) is a versatile plant: you can eat it, smell it, and apply it topically. It is antiinflammatory (can be applied topically to acne when diluted with rosewater), a nervine (soothes the nerves; great to sniff when stressed), is anxiolytic (meaning it helps decrease anxiety), and assists with sleep (sleep with some dried lavender under your pillow (keep the buds contained in a sachet; I bought my sachet of dried lavender in the South of France, a place where lavender grows like weeds!) or spray some lavender essential oil (that has been mixed with water) into the bedroom before hitting the sack). 

Lavender infused foods (here is a raw lavender tart recipe) and drinks, like lemonade and tea are quite tasty too. When cooking with lavender, just make sure you buy food grade buds. I've got some lavender to use up, so you can expect a lavender baked good recipe on the blog soon.  

Some Handy-Dandy Online Health Resources

• Vaccine Scheduler  ...a program designed to help parents, adults, and healthcare providers on top of their vaccines/immunizations. (I actually attended a lecture by one of the lead researchers behind this tool last week!) This scheduler helps people keep track of what immunizations they've had, helps people to determine when their next dosage of a certain vaccine should be, determines a schedule of all childhood vaccines and helps parents keep track of what pathogen strain and at what age their child should be vaccinated against, helps catch children up (calculates a new vaccine schedule) if they missed or were late for an injection, and much more.

• Just Beautiful ...their mission is to "give the Canadian beauty industry a long overdue makeover". Why does make-up make us sick? Why can't it just make us beautiful? Sign the pledge featured on this website (I have!) to force cosmetic companies in Canada to fully disclose their ingredients. Another cool feature on this website is the pocket shopping guide (download it here) which features the top ten ingredients you should avoid when purchasing make-up and personal hygiene products. 

• Environmental Working Group's Skin Deep (aka the Cosmetics Database) ...a really cool database of all cosmetics, make-up, and personal hygiene products. Search the products you are using and see how they rank (every product is given a score from 1-10 with 1 being horrible and toxic, and 10 being very clean and safe).

• Toxic Nation ...awesome guides (all PDFs that you can download) to help you detoxify your life! Handouts with solutions and tips for avoiding toxic art supplies, cleaning products, plastics, children's school supplies, insect repellents, and more. 

You're Beautiful!

Have you heard of Operation Beautiful? 

It is a powerful movement of sticking post-it notes with positive messages in random spots in order to surprise and inspire strangers to think more positively about their body. I encourage you to check out the compilation of post-its on the website above and to one day post a note yourself! 

Found this stretch mark caption on Pinterest, source unknown. 

Did you know that there are organs on your face?

In Chinese Medicine, the face can be mapped by organ systems. This is may be useful for understanding the cause of acne, moles, wrinkles, sun spots, etc. First, a naturopathic doctor or doctor of traditional Chinese medicine determine will determine where is the acne/mole/wrinkle/spot is located on the "TCM Face". Second, the doctor will ask questions to see if the corresponding TCM organ is dysfunctioning. For instance,   for chin acne, they may ask about urination frequency, urine color, urine smell, the amount of water you drink, etc. 

Obviously this is one theory behind face "imperfections". At CCNM, we actually aren't trained in face reading; the image below is just something I came across online that falls in-line with Chinese Medicine principles and I personally like the theory. So please don't go thinking that all NDs are hokey-pokey, fortune-telling, face-readers because they most definitely are not trained to act this way!

I have heard from a Western perspective, however, that jaw line acne is a result of hormonal imbalance. Evidence comes from research on polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS); a disease in which androgen hormones are in excess and jaw and chin acne can be symptoms (note that there are other defining PCOS symptoms; please talk to you doctor/health care provider if you are curious about the diagnosis of PCOS). 

Image source here. 

Tea Tricks

Tea: not just for drinking!

Three tea tricks:

1) Soothe a teething baby by dipping a wash/face cloth in cooled chamomile tea. Ring out, and let the baby suck on the cloth. Alternatively, dip in tea, ring out, place in freezer for a bit to chill, then give to baby. Chamomile is a very soothing herb. 

2) Got bleeding gums, bit your tongue, or suddenly lost a tooth? Stop oral bleeds by sucking on a black tea bag. The tannins in black tea are astringent and stop bleeding. 

3) Use green tea as a facial toner. Check out the recipe here! Green tea is also astringent, causes pores to close and the face to look more even toned.  

My Natural Beauty Stash

My bathroom cabinet is pictured above. I took this picture because I wanted to talk about "natural beauty" today and by peeking into my cabinet, you can clearly see what kind of beauty regime I follow. My bathroom cabinet could very well be mistaken for a kitchen cabinet because the majority of the products I put on my face can also be safely consumed. I apply to my body three types of products: those that are certified organic, are generally all-natural and contain clean ingredients, or are made-in-my-own-kitchen-using-regular-ingredients-and-stored-in-recycled-containers.

Here is a breakdown of my "natural beauty" stash 

(moving right to left, top to bottom; starting in the far left, upper corner): 

Little jar of oil with red/white lid - moisturizing face oil (jojoba oil, vitamin E, lavender essential oil)
Little jar of brown powder - dry shampoo (equal parts cocoa powder and cornstarch, recipe courtesy of Talia!)
Small mason jar of brown substance - facial scrub made with cherries and espresso powder (a gift from Elle!)
Orange lidded jar - batch of my homemade deodorant 

Yellow honey pot - homemade body butter (another Talia recipe!)
Little black tub - Lush brand neutral concealer make-up
Organic dusting powder - Physician's Formula organic facial dusting powder
Thorne lipgloss - got this lipbalm as a freebie at the Naturopathic Doctors Ontario convention I went to in November. It's not bad. The flavor is weird and sometimes it leaves a bad taste in my mouth, but because it's only made of nourishing oils and was free, so I'll continue to use it :)

Summer Scenes 6.

Orange + Red = Fire Flower

I've really been enjoy the abundance of color everywhere this Summer! I've taken lots of pictures of plants. My walking scenery has been bright and colorful thanks to the flowers lining my path.  I've seen some really unique varieties lately too, like the funky, fiery, trumpet-like ones above.

I'm not a flower gardener myself, but major props to those who are (Hi, Gram and Gramp!). Gardening is wonderful for overall health because it...

1) Gets you outdoors, into the fresh air and sunshine (which boosts Vitamin D levels)
2) Is a form of physical activity, building muscle, moving lymphatics, and boosting metabolism
3) Is a stress-reducing activity, helping the mind to unwind and reconnect with the simpler joys in life, such as flowers

Natural Beauty.

Today I'm talk about natural beauty, as a tribute to the true beauty in my life, my Mother!  Happy Birthday, Mom <3

I've been making all kinds of homemade and natural beauty products.  Yes, I'm one of those crazy ladies who walks around with food purposely on her face. :P  Read on for three natural beauty products that I've recently concocted in my kitchen...

Homemade Moisturizer

No, that's not honey, that's body butter!

Combine equal parts shea butter, coconut oil, and olive oil in a saucepan.  Heat on low to melt all the oils/butters. Add 10-20 drops of essential oil to the mix if you want the moisturizer to have a scent (I used citronella most recently. Yep, I smell like camping!). Pour into a glass jar and let cool completely.  The shea butter will begin to re-solidify, as will the coconut oil, but the olive oil will remain liquid... these properties combined results in a luscious cream that easily spreads onto the body.

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Homemade Face Mask

Leftover facemask.

I've already talked about this recipe on the blog, but here is the recipe again: mash together an avocado, plain yogurt, ground oats, cucumber, and lemon or lime juice. Spread onto the face and let sit for 15 minutes.  Remove the mask with a cloth (it will be chunky, best to not do over a drain as you might clog it), then wash face as normal.

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Homemade Sugar Scrub

Not my picture. Image source here.

Add three parts sugar to one part oil (I used organic cane sugar and coconut oil) in a saucepan. Heat on low until combined. Add essential oils or vanilla to the mix if you want scent. Pour into a jar. Store the scrub in the shower, use it to exfoliate the skin in the shower (just "scrub" it on) then rinse off.  The sugar removes the dead skin, while the oil moisturizers. As a result, you are left feeling silky-smooth.  For ultimate softness, follow-up a sugar scrub with the homemade moisturizer recipe written above.

Intro to Cosmetic Acupuncture.

Acupuncture needles. Image source here.

Yesterday, I saw a Naturopathic Doctor give a patient a cosmetic acupuncture treatment.  Cosmetic/facial acupuncture is a less-invasive way of reducing wrinkles, improving skin tone, and lifting the skin, for a more youthful-looking complexion.  It is the more natural option to Botox injections. Here in Toronto, cosmetic acupuncture is very popular amongst aging ladies (maybe amongst men too? Not too sure).

The treatment involves about fifty to one-hundred needles being inserted into the face (they are inserted mostly along wrinkle lines). Then, the patient is left to relax for 15 to 30 minutes while the needles 'do their work'. The needles are thought to stimulate blood flow to the face (rejuvenating it) and improve collagen synthesis (more collagen = fewer wrinkles). I'm sure the needles do more, I just haven't learned facial/cosmetic acupuncture yet, so I don't know the theory. I hope to learn this technique in my fourth year at CCNM by taking a continuing education course. Note: this technique/therapy is not a part of my program. CCNM teaches primary health care management, diagnosis, and treatments; beauty procedures do not fall under the umbrella of primary health care :P.  Nevertheless, CCNM facilitates the course on a weekend for an additional fee (i.e. it is not covered in the regular curriculum, nor is it covered by regular tuition).

If you are scared of needles, or worried about needles entering your face, never fear!  The needles used for facial acupuncture are even smaller than standard needles (they are circled in purple in the image above; note how they are the smallest needles shown).  They are so small, you probably won't even feel them, and you won't be covered with 'puncture holes' after the treatment.

If you are interested in cosmetic/facial acupuncture, talk to your Naturopathic Doctor, or seek out an Acupuncturist or Doctor of Traditional Chinese Medicine.