I Love To Lather My Hair Up With Dioxane And Sodium Laureth Sulfate!

So I think we all know that the products we use on our body to stay clean and look good have an ingredients list full of words most can't even pronounce. That is mostly because they are crazy chemicals and neurotoxins eating away at our brains! Fun! So I have a really good online site that I use when on the hunt for a product that is virtually toxin free. It lists most commonly used shampoos/conditioners, makeup, deoderants, ect. and will rate them on their toxicity. It's a very thorough and useful site. Go ahead! Look up your most loved products and see how toxic they are. Some of them are sort of surprising.

Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto

I have a million recipes that I would love to share on here and am always on the hunt for good ones. Here is a family favorite. I'm not sure why it's called a pesto because it's not technically pesto, but whatever. This is great for an appetizer or I make some hummus too and then eat the two with vegetables, lebanese flatbread and crispy italian breadsticks as a meal. My 20 month old eats it by the spoonfuls which is hilarious because it has a strong taste. Anyways, it's SO wonderful.

-1 cup (250 ml) sun-dried tomatos in olive oil (make sure you get a tasty one because there are some that aren't that great and can make the whole thing taste bad. Or if you prefer, buy sun-dried tomatos that aren't packed in oil and then add olive oil to the desired texture when blending.)
-3 cloves fresh garlic
-a little fresh lemon juice
-1/2 cup fresh basil
-1/4 cup fresh parsley
-half or a whole fresh tomato (this depends on what type of texture you want)

*Combine everything in a food processor and blend until you reach the desired texture. We usually blend until it is all finely chopped and has a little bit of a chunky texture. Easy peasy!

It's a little different everytime we make it...but always good. Also, try and buy organic ingredients, if you can afford it, when making food. This is a super healthy snack if there are no pesitcides in it! I try and make a larger batch of this and eat it as a snack instead of something like chips and salsa. Seriously, it's a keeper!

Children and Adult Health books

After I gave birth to my oldest daughter, a Swiss friend of mine told me about these great health books that she had so I checked them out. I bought them right away! They are wonderful! the children's health book is called "Smart Medicine For A Healthier Child" and the adult health book is called "Smart Medicine For Healthier Living".
One reason these books are so great is because of how they have a full spectrum of responses to common health problems. Let's take the common cold for example. If you look in the common cold section of the book it will give you a run down of what a cold looks like, feels like and any symptoms you might experience. Then after that it will have about 6 different sections on different ways to treat your cold. The sections include:

-Conventional Treatments (using medicine to treat a cold)
-Dietary Guidelines
-Nutritional Supplements
-Herbal Treatments
-Homeopathy
-Accupressure

So for someone like me that doesn't like to use medicine to treat our colds and likes to use herbal, homeopathic and essential oil treatments instead this tells you exactly which are appropriate to use for each section and what quantities to use depending on the age (hence the two different books, one for children and one for adults). I definitely believe there is a place for medicine but I also definitely believe that we abuse it and use it WAY too often. So these books are such a great balance between the medical world and the natural healing world. Love them and totally recommend them!