Natural Health and Beauty

My last post was quite food/health related, so this week I’ve picked a more beauty-related topic: skin. For a lot of people, skin appearance is a sensitive subject, and for good reason. Skin patterns tend to be unpredictable, completely random and at times feel very out of control. This can lead to a lot of self-esteem and self-doubt issues in people of all ages.

Plus if you turn to my favorite resource in times of self-doubt, the world-wide web, you’ll end up with a slew of suggestions about things to put on our skin that are all synthetic, odd-looking substances with weird textures and smells. Basically: things you know simply CANNOT be that good for you. So without further adieu, here are some ways to keep your skin radiant without all the man-made chemicals!

The Fun Stuff: Hempseed Oil

Hempseed oil, or sometimes just called hemp oil, is really wonderful for you when applied directly to your skin. This awesome oil helps moderate the amount of oil your skin produces, which can be great to keep you from looking Barbie-doll shiny throughout the day. Less oil also reduces pore clogging, which can lead to fewer breakouts.

On the other hand, if you completely dry your skin out, it will naturally try to remedy this by producing way too much oil. Yikes! Hempseed oil also takes care of this problem by acting as a moisturizer, but unlike the kind that comes out of a titanium-white tube and smells vaguely like plastic, it will not clog your pores.

It can also help with skin-regeneration due to the vital omega-6-fatty acids it contains, which can aid in fixing skin discoloration. This along with the linoleic acid (which your body cannot produce on its own) it provides your skin with can help reduce wrinkles and it even said to have anti-aging properties!

Terry Naturally is a great brand to check out when you’re looking for hempseed oil, along with Mountain Rose Herbs and many more!

The Science-y Stuff: Drenamin

Drenamin is a type of supplement that encourages adrenal gland health. Now, I know what you’re thinking: my adrenal gland doesn’t sporadically break out, so who cares?

Your adrenal glands are part of your endocrine system, and specifically, they produce a variety of hormones that are essential to life. Hormones and the variety that are released by your adrenal glands and the rest of the endocrine system can make a huge impact on the way that your body works, including the emotions you experience and the appearance of your skin!

So, drenamin (which comes in an easy-to-take form by Standard Process, I’m just sayin’!) helps to keep the levels of hormones that get released by your body reasonably stable. In doing this, it helps keep mood swings and stress levels to a minimum. By decreasing the hormonal spikes your body experiences, suddenly a lot of the uncertainty that used to come with stress-breakouts is gone!

The Plant-Based Stuff: Aloe Vera Gel

Finally, my favorite: plant-based solutions! All good things in the world come from plants, in my opinion, and aloe vera gel has a special place in my heart since it also comes from a cactus!

Aloe vera gel is fantastic to put into face masks because it has a variety of tricks up its sleeve! It’s been used for thousands of years to heal wounds and burns, and its through the same principles that make it great for hydrating skin, fixing discoloration, toning, and remedying acne scarring.

Depending on what you mix it with, aloe vera gel can be great for any of the things I already listed and more. It can be mixed with honey, rosewater, tomato juice, and even eggs and work miracles for your skin (all of which are in a neat little list for you, with a couple of additional recipes too!).

The leaves are FINALLY changing colors and I am so excited to get into fall. My entire house currently smells like leaves, cinnamon, and those woodwick candles that are the closest thing a college student gets to a fireplace. And, with fall comes the temperature drop, the change in scenery, and the food!! So, here are some fantastic fall treats that are extra good for you.

Nutty for Nuts (And Seeds!)

Theres no debate that fruits and vegetables are insanely good for you, but their predecessors like seeds and nuts are good for you too! Sunflower seeds, apricot seeds, and pumpkin seeds are some of my fall favorites to spice up my diet. And, as a student, one of my favorite on-the-go snacks thats packed with nutrients and vitamins to keep me going on a busy fall day includes Apricot Power‘s apricot seed-infused chocolate covering raisins, mixed with Craisins, cashews, salted sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds. For a little extra salt, I’ll throw in some peanut butter filled pretzels, and for a little extra sweet, I’ll toss in some semi-sweet chocolate chips!

Each of those core ingredients are so important, especially those apricot-chocolate covered raisins. Surprisingly, dark chocolate can be very good for you in moderate amounts. It helps reduce your risk of heart disease and lower blood pressure through natural cocoa flavanols, which  both increase your insulin sensitivity and help relax your veins to encourage blood flow! These chemical reactions are so legit, Harvard students have done studies about dark chocolate heath benefits! And this combined with the awesome antioxidant powers of apricot seeds and a little sweetness from the raisins make this a key component to this rockin’ fall trail mix.

Fun Fruits (And Oats!)

So, this post is a lot about food, and I’m no food blogger. I just admire them from afar, and I’m going to talk about one of my favorite food bloggers now because, seriously, she’s the QUEEN of healthy and all-natural eating. And I’ve been thriving getting to watch all her fall recipes roll in on my Instagram.

If anything I’ve just said got you excited, you have to go check out @thenakdkitchen on Instagram. She posts lots of awesome vegan recipes that are great for getting all the nutrients your body needs in a wonderfully sustainable way. One of her most recent creations was this oatmeal (I will do an entire post about oatmeal one day, it is seriously the best food) made with chai, almond milk, spiced apples and cacao powder.

This entire meal is packed with goodness. Not only will it keep you full for the entire morning, but incorporating chai into oatmeal is genius. It adds an entire new dimension of flavor, and chai is good for improving the way you feel and look. For one thing, it helps get rid of free radicals in your body, which can lead to things such as signs of premature aging. It also helps keep hormones in check, which can help keep your mood and skin-state steady. Not to mention, it strengthens your immune system AND helps with digestion. Truly good for you inside and out.

Also, stay tuned for more fun things you can do with oatmeal in the future. No joke, it’s so good for you, and there are so many options. I won’t ramble here, but know that it’s coming!

Veggie Roasts (And Bread!)

We’ve gone through some neat snacking and breakfast options, so now for the rest of your fall meals: lunch and dinner options that are full of veggies! For one, I love this recipe for oven-roasted fall vegetables, mostly because you can easily pair it with soup, bread, or chicken for a super-hearty meal. I also love it because it includes rosemary in a super seamless way, which is an awesome herb for improving your memory and digestive health!

One of the best types of bread, I’ve found, to pair with this wonderful veggie roast is apple-cheddar bread. Weird-sounding, I know. But it really is quite good, and it goes well with butternut squash soup too, which is another fall delicacy that no autumn is really complete without. Plus, cheese-bread fulfills carb-cravings that tend to creep up on all of us as the weather starts to get a little chilly while still being packed with protein! What’s not to love about curbing cravings and doing something good for your body?

To sum up: Fall is fabulous and food is even more fabulous. Enjoy both AND make your body as happy as the leaves changing color makes me!!

Everyone always seems to have SOMETHING to say about your hair. Whether you’ve got long hair, short hair, straight hair, curly hair, or anything in between, there are always ways to improve on the way you take care of your hair. And, as a girl with long, thick, curly hair, I love trying different tactics to make my mane feel and look better.

While experimenting with different shampoos and conditioners can be fun, I’ve found it less and less thrilling over the years as I’ve started to find my favorites (and least favorites too!). There are only so many different types of shampoo and conditioner out there, and finding a shampoo or conditioner that you really dislike is disappointing and expensive! So, to avoid costly experimentation, here are a couple of bizarre things that you can put in your hair to change up your routine and keep looking flawless!

It’s Fall: Apple Cider {vinegar}

Apple cider vinegar is pretty much a miracle substance in the health and beauty worlds. It’s good to eat and good to apply almost anywhere, and this includes your hair. It’s particularly good to mix into shampoos, since it can help with scalp itchiness or dryness. Apple cider vinegar is also a powerful anti-bacterial agent, so it helps keep you scalp clear of infections.

It also helps regulate the pH level of your scalp. I didn’t even know scalps had their own pH’s! But, it makes sense that if this pH is regulated, your hair texture changes to be smoother and softer, which is another benefit to apple cider vinegar shampoos.

There are also lots of ways to get apple cider vinegar incorporated into your hair-care routine. I know I like to mix it with my normal shampoo, just to give it a little extra kick! But there are also lots of options to buy apple cider vinegar based shampoos and lots of fantastic recipes that will allow you to make your own!

Honey Honey, How It Thrills Me

I know it sounds crazy, because honey is mad sticky and WHY would anyone want sticky hair?! Hear me out. Honey is fantastic for your hair, especially if you’re looking to grow some seriously luscious locks. For starters, honey is an emollient, which means it seals moisture into your hair and keeps breakages from happening. These hair breakages tend to be a main component in slowed hair growth, and are especially prominent in individuals who chemically treat or dye their hair often!

Honey also keeps your hair from falling out by strengthening your hair follicles (cough cough, gentlemen). It cleans out your hair follicles by removing impurities, allowing for unhindered hair growth and a lowered risk for infections. And – get this – honey can even re-stimulate hair follicles that are dormant, and encourage new growth (cough cough, GENTLEMEN!).

Again, there are lots of ways to use honey in your routine without ending up with a head full of sticky hair! Honey and sage makes for a great combination in deep conditioners, and honey can be combined with lots of other hair-helpers in ways that let you personalize hair masks just for you!

Oil-It-Up!

There are approximately a million different types of oils that are great to supplement the natural oils your hair produces, but I’ve chosen a few to talk about here. For starters, did anyone know that you can get essential oils from tress? I definitely didn’t until I started reading about cypress essential oil, and how crazy good it is for hair growth. So good, it got it’s own whole paper on NCBI, and that’s really how you know that’s what you want if you’re trying to grow some crazy long hair!

Cedarwood oil is another tree-based essential oil that will help soothe your scalp and get your hair growing. It also helps if you’re anything like I was when I was a kid: long tangled hair and a super sensitive scalp. Cedarwood oil has been used for a long time as a pain-reliever, and this applied to sensitive-scalped-people too!

This is also a great essential oil to use during the summer since its strong woodsy scent is a natural insect repellent. Gorgeous hair and no mosquito bites? Sign me up!

Finally, we’ve been talking a lot about the tops of our heads as if thats the only important part of having gorgeous hair. The ends of hair can be so easily damaged, yet our hair-ends make a huge difference in the look and structural integrity of our hair! Sandalwood oil has been found to help remedy dead ends, and has been the buzz of natural beauty circles lately to be a possible “cure for baldness”? Sounds a little crazy to me, but I’ll support gorgeous hair no matter where it comes from! Check out some of the articles about it, and you can decide what you think.

While I wouldn’t go so far to call it a “cure for baldness”, I would say its a fabulous little extra to work into a weekly or monthly hair routine for everyone, bald or otherwise!

Coo-Coo for Coconuts

Coconuts are currently my favorite food for a variety of reasons. They taste good, they smell good, AND it turns out you can put pretty much any type of coconut-liquid you want into your hair!

To start, coconut oil is great for your hair, skin and body. In your hair particularly, is can function great as a deep conditioner, detangler, or a dandruff-defeater! Whether you mix it into a shampoo, conditioner, or just apply it to your hair after a good washing, it’ll undoubtably leave your hair soft, shiny, and looking like new.

Next, you can use coconut water in your hair as a method of detangling and minimizing frizz. This can be especially useful for people with wild curly hair, or anyone that lives somewhere constantly humid. Plus, coconut water is a lighter alternative to coconut oil. The oil can feel a little heavy, especially on thinner or more fragile hair. Coconut water is a lighter version with all the same benefits and then some! Just make sure the coconut water you choose to put in your hair is free of flavoring or sugars that sometimes get added to coconut drinking water.

Finally, you can use coconut milk as a pre-hair-washing scalp massager. Coconut milk has the power to replenish your hairs’ nutrients that might have been lost throughout the day, and all it takes is a little scalp massage and a 20 minute rest with it in your hair before a shower to get your hair back to looking flouncy and flirty again!

Here’s the thing: self-love is unfairly underrated. In fact, not only is it underrated, it’s given a bad rep. Somehow, being good to your body and soul has often been termed lazy, selfish, or even a waste of time. Think about it: when was the last time you got a chance to paint your nails, take a really long shower, or enjoy a scoop of your favorite ice cream without feeling a little guilty for one reason or another?

First of all, know that you have nothing to feel guilty about.

Secondly, being good to you does not mean you’re hurting anyone else, even if other people make you feel that way. You prioritizing the way you feel about your body and your mindset doesn’t inhibit other people from doing the same thing, nor does it mean you’re not working as hard as other people. Plus, its actually scientifically proven that doing things for YOU will help make you happier and healthier!

That being said, it can be hard to make yourself a priority, especially if you have a lot going on. There’s always that little voice: I could be doing something for someone else right now. I could be making dinner for someone. I could be doing more work for someone. I could be supporting someone.

To make things easier, here are some little ways to love yourself throughout the week. And they all avoid straining your wallet, your heart, and your mind.

Fancy Drinks

I don’t know about everyone else, but there’s something about fancy beverages that just brighten up my day. No matter what time of year it is, an icy beverage to take with me to class or a warm mug to sip on in the mornings always makes my day just a little bit better. It’s about having something that is just for you (hard to share a drink you got specifically fo yourself where the serving size is one!) that you get to enjoy in the middle of events that may otherwise be very familiar, and therefore feel mundane. Not to say there isn’t lots of joy to be found in day-to-day activities, believe me, there’s lots of lovely details in daily events. But, for days that they might be harder to see, fancy drinks have always been one of my favorite solutions.

Some suggestions I would have to carry this out would be stopping by Starbucks to grab a warm coffee in the morning, bring yourself an aloe vera water to drink at lunch, or treat yourself to a homemade smoothie when you get off work!

Miniature Makeover

Never forget that how you feel about the way you look tends to make a difference in how you feel about your daily experiences. The better you feel you look, the better you do the things you need to do, and the better you feel when you reflect on your day. It sets you up for success, and the devil is in the details. So it’s important to take time during the week to do little things that will make you feel beautiful every day!

I know for me, washing my hair and doing my nails are little things I do to make myself feel good, and they are just for me. I know other people may not notice if I put my hair up because it’s dirty, or if my nails are bare, but I notice it! And that’s a perfectly good reason to make time to take care it. Plus, doing little things to pamper yourself is a good reminder that you are worth the time and effort you are putting into your body. It’s also important to pick things to do here that make YOU feel good about being YOU. You’re not trying to satisfy anyone else with what you choose to pamper yourself with, you just want to feel good in your own skin.

I would recommend taking the time to do your nails (OPI nail polish will stay on without chipping FOREVER!), take 20 minutes to do a face or hair or even beard mask from LUSH, or take a bath with some epsom salts to calm any tension in your muscles that may have built up throughout the week!

Sweet Lil’ Treats

It’s been studied that humans love to eat, and I know I am no exception to this rule. Food has this crazy way of tasting great and making you feel like you’re doing something good for your body. If you’re anything like me, I tend to forget to eat if I get really absorbed in my work, so when I do eat, I become really proud of myself (Lol- as if taking care of myself is a massive accomplishment. Small victories!).

So food can be great, it makes you feel good and it tastes good. But, especially for women, its also the source of a lot of anxiety. We always feel like we’re not eating the right foods, we feel like we’re eating too much, and then there’s always that nasty little voice in the back of your mind who’s nagging you about your body while you’re trying to enjoy your food.

To put that little voice to rest, I think it’s very important to purposefully treat yourself with food, however you like to do that. I know the things I tend to crave that are not conventionally good for me are flavors like really sweet, super salty, or creamy. And there are ways to satisfy all of these without letting that little voice in the back of your head get to you! Whatsmore, when it’s a purposeful treat, it’s a lot easier to shut that voice off and take the time to enjoy and acknowledge the love that you’re providing yourself through what you’re eating.

My suggestions here would be, if you’re feeling creamy, go for Metagenics chocolate milk mix and throw it in a milkshake! Or, if you love salty things, try homemade chocolate peanut butter bars and add some pretzels or sea salt on top. Finally, to satisfy that sweet tooth, there are tons of flavors of Halotop ice cream that are packed with protein and that sugary goodness you’re craving.

 

 

 

 

 

In order to be the best human being physically possible, I think taking care of your body should be top on everyone’s priority lists. If you feel good, you look good, and you do good! Super simple and straightforward.

That being said, it’s important to take care of your body the best way that you can, and sometimes this means using a little extra help from vitamins and supplements to keep our bodies going in the most effective ways we can.

Pill Perplexity: Why There’s No Reason to Worry

I know, pills can feel totally unnatural and ever seen scary, but believe me: there’s nothing to fear, AND you’re doing yourself a favor when you provide your body with all the nutrients it needs. There’s no reason to be worried just because vitamins and supplements come in pill-form, since they’re there to help your body where regular foods fail.

To break it down further: too much of anything is no good, even if its a food that is rich in a nutrient your body is lacking. For instance, I tend to have low iron in my blood. It’s been like that since I was little, and something I’ve learned to deal with in a variety of ways. One type of food that tastes great and is super high in iron is eggs! Eggs also happen to be super high in cholesterol though. So while they’re awesome for incorporating into my breakfasts a few times a week, eating them anymore than that would be more detrimental to my cholesterol levels than helpful for my iron levels.

This is where supplements come into play. Since they are usually pills, they’re a more concentrated way to get your body exactly what its lacking: no more, and no less. For instance, one of the best supplements you can take to help up the levels of iron in your blood is folate, and Pure Encapsulations makes a super easy-to-take pill that contains just that, as well as some B-12 vitamin to help keep your skin and hair soft and healthy. A little extra glowing, healthy blood and no cholesterol spikes? Sign me up!!

Supplemental: It Means What it Sounds Like

I also like to make an active effort to be award of and care for my microbiome. Microbiomes are the good bacteria that live inside each and everyone of us (and if you want to learn about the uniqueness of each of our microbiomes, click over to my science writing blog and read all about it here!).

Our bodies are actually pretty good at regulating these little personal ecosystems, but sometimes a crazy amount of bad bacteria can just show up for what seems like no reason. This spike in bad bacteria can lead to all sorts of weird digestion issues and general abdominal discomfort, and so far some of the only causes scientists can tie these spikes to are things like stress, lack of sleep, or over exercising.

Basically, all things that aren’t very good for our bodies anyway, but that sometimes just happen! One great food for this type of problem is Greek yogurt, which is one of my favorite foods anyway. But, it helps to supplement this with… you guessed it, a SUPPLEMENT! Bad bacterial spikes are an issue where things like probiotics are absolute life-savers to get your body back to a balanced state when the Greek yogurt just isn’t doing enough.  Garden of Life has lots of probiotic options that are super easy to take and help combat overgrowth of bad bacteria in your microbiome.

Of Course, Lets Not Forget About Our Mental Health

Wow, this post is getting way more into my personal life than I anticipated. It’s good stuff though, I’m excited to share.

Okay anyway! Finally, I want to talk about vitamins for mental health. And, my particular area of expertise when it comes to mental health is anxiety, since I was diagnosed with panic disorder about two years ago. I’ve got a tight grip on things now, but believe me, it did not start that way. And actually, interestingly enough, that diagnosis is what got me started on natural remedies in the first place.

Anyway, people who knew my whole anxiety story have heard this before. But, when I was first diagnosed, I was living alone and starting a new job that I hadn’t realized yet that I didn’t particularly like. So, I started having panic attacks. I went to the doctor, got diagnosed, and the first thing the doctor I saw did was prescribe me a variety of pills, mostly Xanax-related drugs. I started trying to take them, and things got about a hundred times worse.

Long story short, too many drugs leads to too many problems. I’m off all the crazy medications now, and much happier. But, I think for what I was going through at the time, I wanted something that felt like a quick fix. That was why I was so open to taking a bunch of insane pills that were supposed to make all the anxiety just disappear. While it’s never that simple, sometimes things like natural vitamins and supplements can have a similar, almost placebo effect: I took a pill, so the problem should go away.

For instance,  Nature’s Bounty makes a valerian root vitamin that is supposed to work miracles for anxiety, especially if your anxiety leads to bouts of insomnia. And while the effects of this pill are not as strong as the mass-produced chemical pills you might get prescribed in a medical office, they work just as well for calming your mental state in more ways than one. Plus, valerian root is actually a root, that grows attached to a plant, from the ground. It just happens to be easier to stomach in pill form.

There you have it everyone! Now you guys know all my deepest darkest natural-pills secrets, and hopefully they help you out with any pill perplexity you might have had going into this post!

I don’t know about everyone else, but I love eating. It’s by far one of my favorite past times, and in order to sustain this past time, I like to keep track of what I’m eating and make sure its as healthy for me as it possibly can be. Hence, superfoods are very important to me. Not only are they usually absolutely delicious, they’re also good for you in a wide variety of ways. From keeping your skin clear, to helping you get a better nights’ sleep, to keeping you peppy through an 8-hour work day, here are some superfoods that are dietary must-haves (along with some of my favorite recipes that include them!).

Superfoods for Skinny Snackers

While I love eating, I’m still trying to convince myself that I love cooking. I think I do, but as a college student, I just don’t have the time (or funds) right now to do a lot of fun, experimental cooking. So I stick to simple things that I know I like, and that I know are good for me. For example, blueberries are a fantastic snack. They are full of antioxidants, super juicy, and can actually help aid in weight loss. They’re easy to throw into a baggy for an on-the-go snack, or to put on top of some ice cream for a sweet treat, or my all-time favorite, into a protein-packed smoothie that will keep you full and satisfied throughout the day!

Blueberries can also go great in a parfait with some almonds, another great weight loss food. Almonds are full of heart-healthy fats that your body can’t make on its own, and add a satisfying crunch to parfaits or midday snack sessions! Another fantastic fat-burning aid is green tea, which is particularly good when it’s mixed with cinnamon, honey, and a little lemon. Green tea is also super for replacing morning coffee with every once in a while, since it has the caffeine that coffee does but with the added benefit of being beyond healthy for you!

Bites for Busy-Bees

I also tend to do a lot of running around throughout my day, between classes, working, and social events, there’s lots of things I need to get done and most of them require me to be high-energy and engaged with the people around me. So, I’ve tried to find snacks and easy meals that keep me bubbly and full of energy all day! Lucky for me, one of my favorite foods of all time provides our bodies with lots of energy (and it tastes good on pretty much everything): avocados! Not only that, but you can eat an avocado simply by spreading it on some toast with salt and pepper, or dressing it all the way up to a decked-out avocado hamburger.

Another great food to keep you on your feet all day is salmon, which happens to go great with avocado! A little seasoning and this food can really help you kick it into high-gear when you need to be, and on top of that you get all the health benefits fish oil can provide you with. Bananas are also great for keeping up your energy throughout the day, and they can just be thrown in a bag or turned into a potassium-protein duo snack with just a little peanut butter and protein powder!

Great Grub that will Leave You Glowing

Lastly, did you know that what you eat can help you keep your skin clear, or even encourage lash-growth?? I had no idea until I really started doing some deep searching, but I’ve been completely convinced! For starters, soy protein actually encourages eye lash growth, so soy milk can be a great way to get some protein, calcium, and hopefully save money on future mascara purchases!

As far as foods that keep your skin looking fresh and clear, lemons are number one on the list! But who would want to eat a lemon, just straight-up? If you’re sensitive to bitter, like me, I would squeeze some lemon juice into your tea and maybe accompany it with some honey! Spices can be great for having happy, healthy skin as well, such as turmeric! Which is wonderful, since turmeric is in lots of recipes that are tasty and even a little spicy! My personal favorite is turmeric roasted with chickpeas. It’s super easy to make, and you can keep it in the fridge to reheat for easy dinners throughout the week!

Superfoods help make us totally unstoppable. And knowing that the food you’re putting into your body is full of goodness will make your meals that much better. So keep your body happy with lots of nutrient packed goodies!

 

 

Why Essential Oils? 

Essential oils were an enigma to me until I started university. My mom thought they were great, and I had read about all their abilities, but honestly, I just didn’t buy it. It wasn’t until my sophomore year that I started having panic attacks, and I had no idea what to do. Desperately, I started using peony essential oil I was given as a gift, just to see if it made a difference…and then I was hooked. It was amazing how a scent could impact my mental, emotional, and even physical state. I have more essential oils in my room that I know what to do with now, but I used every single one of them. I realized that originally I was skeptical only because I wasn’t giving essential oils a chance to prove to me that they are what they’re named: essential!

Why “Essential” Oils?

The number of mental and physical health problems that can be just about solved with essential oils is astounding. From soothing anxiety, to helping with depression, to aiding in allergy relief, essential oils have a variety of functions. And different types of oils have different personalities and fantastic healing abilities that go along with them. There are lots of super comprehensive overviews of everything you’ve ever wanted to learn about essential oils (from uses to history to the science behind aromatherapy) online, and they’re totally worth checking out if you want to learn more about this in-depth and in a super scientific way!

And, if you’re thinking about starting to use any essential oils for the first time in your aromatherapy practice, make sure you do your research first. People have different reactions to different types of oils, and whether you diffuse them or apply them directly to your skin can lead to alterations in the amount you should use and how frequently.

Essential Oils for Being Healthy

Essential oils can be used for maintaining health in a whole variety of ways. For starters, like I already mentioned, they can be life-savers for people who suffer from seasonal allergies. You know, those allergies that creep up on you in the morning and then suddenly keep you sneezing, sniffling, and blowing your nose for the ENTIRE day? And really, who has time for all that. So when the nasal sprays and decongestants just aren’t doing the trick: lemon, eucalyptus, and lavender essential oils have got your back. I apply any mixture of these three to my wrists as well as the back of my neck on days my allergies are giving me a hard time and almost immediately notice a difference. But, of course, if you’re allergic to eucalyptus or lavender, this particular mixture might not be the one for you. Thankfully, there are lots of lists of different essential oils for soothing allergies all over the internet!

Essential oils are also wonderful for relaxing after a long day. I know I have the hardest time falling asleep after really busy days, it’s like my body knows how late it is but my mind still thinks it’s noon! Rather than taking sleeping medicine, I find a combination of lavender and peony essential oils really helps me unwind. Upon doing a little more research on this subject, I also discovered that the science behind aromatherapy helping with relaxation is crazy! So much so that there have actually been studies that have found it helps with things like panic disorder and dementia. If you’re curious about some of this insane science going on behind-the-scenes of essential oils, there are lots of great scientific journal articles about aromatherapy for sleep, relaxation, and pain relief.

Essential Oils for Being Simply Gorgeous

Being healthy is by far the best thing you can do for your body, but what about looking as fabulous as you look? Again, essential oils are there to help you maintain silky hair and soft skin in a totally natural way. Tea tree oil is commonly used in shampoos, conditioners, and face cleansers, and that’s because its wonderful at simultaneously cleaning and moisturizing your face and hair.

You can also make yourself personalized conditioner super easily with essential oils. All this takes is water, apple cider vinegar, and a couple drops of your favorite essential oils. If you have a dry scalp, like me, geranium essential oil is one of the best options for leaving your hair follicles fabulously moisturized and your whole head smelling like a garden. And of course, there are tons of ways to customize your conditioner depending on what type of hair you have and what you want your conditioner to target.

Well there you have it folks! Essential oils are mother nature’s little gift to us to keep us feeling, looking, and smelling out best. Whether you use them to stay beautiful, happy, healthy, or (hopefully) all three, in their own way each oil has absolutely proven itself to be essential!!

 

 

Seriously, what even is “preventative care”???

To start things off on this blog, I want to talk about preventative care.

You’ve probably heard the phrase “preventative medicine” before, but the definition of that is pretty ambiguous based just on those two words. What this actually refers to is doing things that keep you from getting sick, like eating healthy food, drinking lots of water, and getting lots of sleep. You’re preventing your body from getting sick, even though you’re not sick yet! This is usually a more effective way of staying healthy, as opposed to waiting until you’re already sick and trying to get better by taking medicine, sleeping for 18 hours straight, or converting to a diet of only tea and soup.

Preventative care can be a lot more well defined from a medical standpoint, and there’s lots of great literature out there about that branch specifically.

Aside from sickness, lets talk about BEAUTY!

You can be preventative in a lot of different ways, not just when it comes to getting a cold or a flu. This concept can be applied to something like skincare as well. Rather than waiting for a breakout and having to use crazy harsh chemicals and lots of makeup to try to stop it or cover it up, why not use a gentle cleanser everyday? There’s tons of them out there, for all skin types too. One of my personal favorites is a honey-based facial cleanser, since it leaves your skin feeling clean and smooth every day you use it! A little effort every day for glowing skin is totally worth it rather than having to suddenly scramble for a solution to a nasty breakout!

Aside from beauty, lets talk about HEALTH!

Similar things can be said about aging. A lot of people are really afraid of getting older, which is understandable. Our bodies are constantly changing, but since we see ourselves everyday, we barely notice it. So “getting old” seems like this drastic change, as if one day we’ll have changed so much that we’ll barely recognize ourselves. It’s an odd concept, and it’s so odd that most people reject it, and end up spending lots of time and money trying to “look young” again.

However, there’s actually a lot of preventative care we can take advantage of to make aging less daunting. This can be lots of things like wearing sunscreen (like this fabulous mineral-based sunscreen) or exercising regularly, or even taking supplements or vitamins to help tackle medical problems we’re already facing so they don’t get worse as our bodies get older. All these tiny steps are a little extra work we can put in now to see a huge difference in the future, and a significant decrease in the amount of time any of us might otherwise spend on trying to “look young”.

Firsthand: Preventative care is awesome.

Let me tell you: it is absolutely, always worth it to take the preventative measures. I used to be terrible at making sure I didn’t over work my knees, for example. I have very poor knees, but I love running and lifting weights. For years, I would work out without using any kind of brace or taking vitamins to try and help ease the pain and swelling I would experience in my knees. I would try to stretch more after my workout, or drink a little more water as I was walking home. Nothing seemed to help me though, because after every workout, my knees still hurt.

None of the things I tried would classify as preventative care though. I was trying to solve a problem after it was already negatively impacting my health! Upon realizing this, I got serious about doing things like stretching before my workout, or making sure that I was eating foods that were better for joint health, and trying out supplements like Curamed and other natural-based vitamins. I even started running on an elliptical, to avoid any further impact-related pain. The results were insane, and it’s gotten to a point that my knees rarely cause me problems at the gym anymore.

Basically, take care of yourself. That would be suggestion #1 I have for all my readers, but it’s pretty on the nose. So instead I’ll say: take care of yourself now, so that later you don’t have to think so hard about taking care of yourself. Get into the good habits, be preventative, be proactive! You’ll thank yourself later.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to my blog! My name is Serina Taluja, I’m a senior in Molecular and Cellular Biology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. I started this blog because, frankly, bodies are weird. I’m not even joking, trying to be healthy and take care of yourself in college and just in general is a real challenge when you actually think about it.

It becomes an even bigger challenge once you start realizing all the things that are in the products you use. Whether it’s something you put on your face or into your mouth, its important to understand what you’re exposing your body to. Its through only a lot of trial and error that I figured any of this out, but now that I realized it, I figured it was time to try to share some of my knowledge with the world.

And having a love for writing and a background in science helps 😉

So here’s my place! A place where a vaguely-educated, flower child writes about health and beauty and how to maintain both naturally (and make it look easy!).