Category:

Wellness

CBD Peach Smoothie with Luce Farm

When searching for supplements to aid your body and daily life, it can be so intimidating to research the myriad of products out there who all claim to be the best. When I was looking into products for my blog post about cannabidiol, aka CBD, it was clear that many brands had seen the financial opportunity behind the new wellness craze and were quick to get something on the market to meet that demand.

Out of all the CBD companies I learned about, there was one that really stood out. Luce Farm is an idyllic 200+ acre farm on the hills of Vermont, and home to farmers Rebecca and Joe Pimentel. There, the couple raise livestock, grow high-CBD hemp plants and other medicinal herbs. As predominantly hemp farmers, it’s clear that they are dedicated to the plant and its natural benefits, and that shines through in their quality products.

Rebecca was first introduced to the potential benefits of hemp plants as a teenager, when her grandfather was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Her dad had mentioned that cannabis could potentially help remove the brain plaque that is common among Alzheimer’s patients. Years later, Rebecca started growing hemp and taking CBD regularly in the hopes of seeing long-term benefits. To her surprise, she started feeling positive effects almost immediately.

Here’s more about Rebecca and Luce Farm, in her own words:

“I was taking it with the hopes of long-term benefits, but really started feeling amazing benefits instantly. I had sore fingers from working, and those ailments went away. I was generally feeling more even and stress-free. So we whipped up all these recipes and started handing them out to friends and neighbors. We started hearing all these beautiful testimonies, and we knew we had an important and powerful medicine.

C02 Extraction

We went through several channels and found C02 extraction, which is the extraction process we still use today. There’s ethanol extraction, which is something I didn’t want present in my products. C02 extraction uses a very low amount of solvent. It is a very low-temperature [process] that almost freezes the product, met with a very high pressure that extracts the cannabinoids.

For something to be a legal hemp product, it has to have less than 0.3% THC. You have to either remove the THC or dilute it down, so we use a coconut oil to dilute below the threshold while mimicking the natural plant as close as possible. It leaves trace amounts of THC and terpenes, so you get a synergistic effect. Other forms of extractions either burn off cannabinoids, or remove the THC or terpenes. Terpenes give it flavor and taste, and I think the way they blend with cannabinoids is what makes the product effective.

Benefits of CBD

Inflammation is number one. CBD has a major anti-inflammatory effect. Inflammation is the cause of almost every ailment, and I think that’s why there’s such a huge range of things that people report it’s helping with. The other thing is its anti-anxiety effect. We get testimonies all the time, ranging from chronic illness to epilepsy to digestive issues to stress and anxiety.

In my opinion, the endocannabinoid system explains how it works. Every mammal has that system in their body, and it has receptors. When you use CBD, it binds to those receptors and creates homeostasis. Whatever is out of whack – that’s what CBD is treating.”

The entire process of creating Luce Farm’s small-batch CBD products – from hemp farming to extraction and manufacturing – will be certified organic by this year’s harvest season. I personally use their full-spectrum hemp extract daily for stress management and reducing inflammation and feel like it’s one of the few CBD products I’ve tried that’s actually effective. I love to add it to hot and cold beverages. You can also take it sublingually (under the tongue) for fast absorption into your body. The amount you should take daily depends on your body and what you’re treating, but a smart approach is to start with a lower dosage taken once or twice daily and gradually increase until effective.

There are tons of other ways you can use and benefit from CBD’s properties, from tinctures and CBD-infused foods like Luce Farm’s Honey, to balms and even skin care products and makeup. You can add a teaspoon of honey to your favorite morning drink, drizzle it on a snack or even eat it off the spoon. Balms are ideal for localized relief and can be applied topically to treat ailments such as skin irritation and joint pain. Luce Farm offers a wide range of CBD products and can help you decide which products best suit your needs. Now until 11:59PM PST on Wednesday, 8/7, Luce Farm is offering 20% off all products with code WuHaus20.

While many people say they experience health benefits from using CBD in different forms, please keep in mind that its full effects have not been thoroughly researched, and you should always listen to your body when introducing something new to your routine.

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CBD Peach Smoothie
[Serves 2]

2 cups chilled oat milk
2 cups frozen peaches, cut into slices (about 2 large peaches)
.50 mg Luce Farm hemp extract
2 Tablespoons coconut butter, softened
1 medjool date
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch of salt

1.) Blend all ingredients in a high-speed blender on medium until smooth. Serve immediately.

August 6, 2019 0 comment

Drinks Lifestyle Self-Care Travel Wellness

Finding Fluidity Retreat Preview

Wow! I can’t believe tomorrow is the officially start of summer. Really looking forward to river days and camping trips, but even with so many memories yet-to-be-made, I can’t help but be most excited for our Finding Fluidity retreat in October in Todos Santos, Baja, Mexico, at the stunning Pachamama Mexico Boutique Hotel and Retreat Center! This will be the first (hopefully of many) international Wu Haus retreats, and I couldn’t be more excited to spend time with some of you in one of my favorite countries in the world. After the success of last year’s retreat, Coming Home, in LA, we decided we wanted to host a longer retreat with a beautiful natural setting. This very special retreat will be the only event I host for the remainder of 2019 and the only retreat until fall of 2020. Shannon and I are pouring so much energy into making this retreat unforgettable. Today, I wanted to give you a little sample of what you can expect.

We decided to call the retreat Finding Fluidity, as inspired by the resilient quality of water and how it’s strong yet graceful and moves with both force and ease. We live in a world that can often feel over stimulating. We have to deal with so much stress and commotion on a daily basis. This retreat is designed to help you learn to move through your life with more fluidity. To surrender more. To invite more ease into all that you do. Through the difficult periods, to learn to sit with the discomfort while still nurturing and taking care of yourself. This retreat is open to all people from all walks of life. We invite diversity in all forms and are here to support each of you on your own unique journeys.

If you’re interested in joining us in October, you can see the full retreat page here, and you can sign up here. Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions about logistics, programming, payment plans, etc..

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Sample daily itinerary:

7:15-8:30am Guided yoga/movement and meditation
9:00-10:00am Breakfast
10:00am-12:30pm Morning Session (ie: creative inspiration gathering + prompted writing, food prep + styling, adaptogenic herbs and elixirs, etc.)
12:30-3pm Lunch and free time (One-on-one sessions with Shannon + Alison, swim, beach, walk, sleep, relax, etc.)
3:00-5:30pm Afternoon Session (ie: breathwork ceremony, guided scenic hike, trip to Todos Santos, etc.)
6:00-7:00pm Dinner
7:00-bedtime Free time to relax, swim, read, write, reflect, etc.

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This retreat is:

an invitation to show up, perfect as you are, and explore healing mindfulness practices in a supportive community of like-minded humans
an opportunity to slow down, breathe deeply into the wisdom of the heart, awaken the body and nourish the spirit
an inclusive gathering where diversity in all forms is desired as a priority and honored
a time to learn and gather tools for creative inspiration
an opportunity to reflect and practice guided writing activities
a chance to experience a powerful breathwork ceremony
a time to learn about adaptogenic herbs to incorporate into your daily rituals
a chance to learn useful, everyday food preparation and styling tips
an opportunity to connect and forge lasting relationships with other creative, in-tune people
SO MUCH MORE!

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Besides being a magical food goddess, Shannon guides powerful breathwork ceremonies. You will get to experience one of these incredibly healing and expanding ceremonies at the retreat this fall. If you’ve never practiced breathwork, here’s a little bit about this practice:

“Clarity Breathwork is a powerful process of healing and transformation. It deeply supports the clearing away of old energies, patterns, conditioning, negative thoughts and emotions and opens the doors wide for new life and greater consciousness. Most of us don’t breathe fully, we hold back the breath and have been doing so most of our lives. When we start to breathe fully and consciously we are easily able to release what we have been holding and open to an incredible expansion of consciousness, including greater forgiveness and self-love. This inner change brings about shifts in our outer lives for the better. Clarity Breathwork supports people to release stress and tension, heal and resolve trauma, gain deeper insights into current life issues, and access one’s own internal healing energy, creativity and greater knowing.”

We wanted to offer you a short guided meditation video to use at home. Shannon guides us through a calming and centering meditation that can be used at anytime during your day.

A big part of this retreat will focus around nourishment. What we put in our bodies, so we can move through our lives with as much ease as possible. Since we’ll be in sunny Mexico, we’ll focus on cooling foods and hydrating beverages. We wanted to offer you a sample recipe to make at home. Perfect for summer, this Aloe-Honeydew-Mint Elixir is bright, delicious and refreshing.

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Aloe-Mint-Elixir-Wu-Haus

Aloe-Honeydew-Mint Hydrating Elixir
[Makes 6 cups]

4 cups ripe honeydew, juiced (or just blended with other ingredients if you don’t have a juicer)
1 ½ cups fresh aloe, cubed (about 1 whole fresh aloe stem)
1 cup fresh mint, loosely packed
1 cup filtered water
Juice from 1 lime

1.) Wash and dry the aloe leaf, then place it spike-side down on a cutting board. Using a sharp knife, cut along the edges of the leaf to remove the spikes, and cut off the bottom and top of the leaf. This should expose the gel on all sides.

2.) Run a sharp knife under the green skin on one side until you remove it completely. Be careful not to cut too much into the gel. If you notice that there’s any yellow ooze on the aloe gel from the skin, that’s aloe latex—which has laxative properties. You can wipe it off with a paper towel or rinse off with cool water.

3.) Once you’ve removed the first side of skin, score the gel into one-inch squares. Scoring the gel first will make it easier to remove in pre-portioned chunks. Edge the knife along the other side to remove the other green skin. Check for yellow aloe latex and remove or rinse it from any of your one-inch square pieces of aloe gel.

4.) If using a juicer, juice honeydew and add liquid to high-speed blender. Otherwise, add all ingredients to high-speed blender at once. Blend on medium-high until smooth. If you didn’t use a juicer, you can strain the blended beverage through a fine-mesh sieve to remove pulp. Chill in refrigerator for 30-minutes before serving. Pour over ice and enjoy!

June 20, 2019 0 comment

Lifestyle Wellness

Guide to Edible Flowers

The edible flowers are starting to pop up all over the Pacific Northwest! It’s no secret that I’m a lover of all things bright and floral, and that love naturally spills over to my work in the kitchen. Edible flowers are my absolute favorite way to transform an average-looking dish into a work of art. I created this guide as a jumping off point for anyone wanting to incorporate edible flowers into their dishes at home.

If you’ve spent any time browsing the Wu Haus recipe catalog, you know it’s not uncommon to see me use blooms and petals in salads, lattes, or as garnishes for desserts. I also love incorporating flowers in more creative ways like into handmade pasta, ice cubes, and infusions for syrups in iced drinks. The flavor variety of edible flowers is surprisingly diverse, making them a great way to add a delicate burst of flavor. The cool thing about edible flowers is that you can incorporate them into basically any dish. Some are spicy, some herbaceous, while others are floral and fragrant. You can even pickle flower buds to make faux capers or stuff heartier varieties, like squash blossoms, for a complete savory meal.

Edible flowers are also a really fun reason to spend more time outside gardening, foraging, and learning about your region’s native plants. It is possible to buy a few select varieties of edible flowers at specialty grocery stores, but I much prefer to support my local farmers or grow/forage my own. If you want to grow you own from seed, Floret has an amazing selection of edible flower seeds. Never buy flowers from a florist or from the floral department of a grocery store for consumption. Most of those flowers are sprayed with a number of pesticides.

A tip for those foraging: as lovely as eating flowers can be, it can also be a little dangerous. Not all flowers are edible, so make sure you’re absolutely sure of the flower you’ve harvested before you eat it. I love this app to help me identify unknown plants. You also want to make sure you’re harvesting flowers from a place that hasn’t been sprayed with pesticides. Once you pick the bloom, give it a shake to remove any insects and rinse briefly in cold water before using.

Dried flowers are a fun alternative if you don’t have access or are in a season where fresh flowers aren’t available. Just keep in mind that when swapping out dried flowers for fresh, the flavors become more concentrated, so you’ll probably need less.

Besides being beautiful and delicious, some flowers are also medicinal! Like their leafy-green counterparts, many contain potent antioxidants and anti-inflammatory compounds and are highly nutrient dense. For example, one of my favorites, rose, has been shown to have compounds that may play a role in reducing anxiety and promoting relaxation. Not featured in this guide, but herbs and veggies also produce beautiful and delicious flowers. I especially love flowers of cilantro, dill, fava beans and chives.

Whatever your reason is for incorporating more flowers into your food, I’m into it. Enjoy!

Borage Blossoms

Tasting notes: Sweet and refreshing, like cucumber and honey
Uses: Best in salads, cocktail garnishes or candied
Season: Mid-April to November
Growing tips: A common self seeding herb, will return year after year. Sow seeds directly into the garden after the last date of frost and plant with strawberries to attract bees and increases the yield of fruit.

Calendula

Tasting notes: Slightly spicy bitter, tangy to peppery. Tastes similar to saffron when cooked.
Uses: Calendula is anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, so great for the salves. Can be used in a tea, add zest as a garnish to dishes, or decocted in oil for cooking.
Season: April – November (although usually seeds in August in PNW)
Growing tips: Calendula can be started indoors under grow lights 6-8 weeks before the last frost or directly seeded outdoors after the last frost. They grow best in full sun to partial shade. They help repel insects so are great companion plants.

Pansy/Viola

Tasting notes: Sweet and grassy
Uses: Cup for cup violet flowers have more vitamin C than oranges do. Both flowers don’t cook well but are a beautiful garnish either whole or just petals on salads, smoothies or baked goods. Work great in ice cubes.
Season: April – November
Growing tips: Pansies/violets perform best in cooler weather, and are therefore usually planted in spring or fall. They like rich, well-drained soil high in organic matter, and full sun or partial shade. Can also be planted in pots.

Rose

Tasting notes: The petals of roses have a delicate flavor ranging from fruity to spicy over a sweet undertone. The more intense the color, the stronger the flavor, whites of petals are bitter and should be removed before using in dishes.
Uses: Dried in teas, made into jams, cooked into desserts or used in beverages. Rose water can be made to increase rose flavor in a dish.
Season: Blooms in spring and through the summer
Growing tips: Roses crave sun, at least six hours a day is ideal. Plant roses in rich, well-draining soil. Check roses frequently for insects or disease outbreaks. Regularly prune roses.

Hibiscus

Tasting notes: Tart and sweet, with a cranberry-like flavor
Uses: Citrus-like teas, in champagne or prosecco, fruit salads
Season: Mid-to-late summer and fall
Growing tips: Grows well indoors and from cuts. Rich and well-draining soil. Container-grown plants are often grown in a soilless potting medium to prevent compaction. Keep moist, but don’t let it stand in water.

Nasturtium

Tasting notes: Slightly peppery & tangy, like watercress.
Uses: Salads, carpaccio, spring rolls. Seed pods of nasturtium can be used as a “caper”.
Season: Spring – Summer
Growing tips: You can start the seeds indoors 4-6 weeks before the last spring frost. Plant nasturtium seeds in early spring in moist, well-drained soil in full sun. They can grow in partial shade, but they will not bloom as well. Do well in pots. When planted in the ground, may come back the next year.

Zucchini Blossom

Tasting notes: Delicate and slightly sweet
Uses: Fried or stuffed and baked with herbs and cheese, as an Italian appetizer, used as a pizza topping, in a frittata or a quesadilla. Best when used day of picking.
Season: June-August
Growing tips: Zucchini and squash plants grow with two kinds of flowers: the male flower is large, bright orange and wrinkly, and the female flower is smaller and yellow. Both blossoms are edible.

Lavender

Tasting notes: Sweet, floral, citrus flavor, with hints of minty and rosemary-like aromas
Uses: In the garden, lavender is often teamed up rosemary, and it can be used in cooking wherever you might use rosemary. Roast rubs, desserts, cocktails and teas, distilled into vinegars, infused into syrup or milk, etc.
Season: June – July
Growing tips: Very drought resistant. Grows as tiny purple flowers along a stiff stalk. Rub the flowers off the stalk and discard most of the stalks, which contain essential oils that can be too pungent for cooking.

Elderflower

Tasting notes: Floral, vanilla
Uses: Most commonly used to create elderflower cordial or syrups. Also makes a nice garnish for desserts or drinks. Flowers can also be dried out and steeped in hot water to make elderflower tea.
Season: May – Mid-June
Growing tips: Elder trees grow very well in the Pacific Northwest. Elderflowers turn into elderberries, which is a great immune-boosting berry. If you don’t have time or space to grow a tree, elderflowers are easy to forage. You can also find them at the farmer’s market. They’re best picked when the buds are freshly open on a warm, sunny day.

Dandelion

Tasting notes: Young dandelion have a sweet and honey-like flavour, whilst the mature ones are more bitter and earthy with a nutty flavor. Dandelion buds taste better than the actual flower.
Uses: Use the petals as a garnish in desserts, salads or savory dishes. Leaves are an excellent addition to salads or sautéed. Also used to make dandelion wine.
Season: Spring/Summer
Growing tips: You won’t see dandelion flowers at the grocery store. As with violets, it’s easy to find dandelions in a grassy field or lawn. Don’t pick any for eating unless you are sure that the ground wasn’t treated with pesticides.

Cornflower

Tasting notes: Slightly spicy, clove-like flavor with a subtle sweetness
Uses: They can add color to dishes when used as a garnish for desserts, soups, salads. Can even steep them in a glass of wine or use for mulled wine for an extra zesty taste.
Season: Spring/early Summer
Growing tips: Also called Bachelor’s Buttons, cornflowers can be found in shades of blue, pink, purple and white. In the wild, they tend to enjoy the company of poppies and will pop up to add a hint of blue or purple to fields of red flowers.

Marigold

Tasting notes: Marigolds have a similar taste to saffron, pleasantly pungent and citrus-like with a hint of umami
Uses: Marigold are one of the few savory tasting edible flowers and can be used in place of mushrooms or as a garnish for roasted dishes.
Season: Summer
Growing tips: Marigolds need an area with full sun, and make good bedding and edging plants. They’re relatively drought resistant, self seeding and require minimal care.

Forget-Me-Nots

Tasting notes: Mild, subtle
Uses: Forget-me-nots have very small flowers so they make a lovely garnish for beverages or placed in ice cubes for a playful, confetti-like touch. Great dried and used for tea.
Season: Spring
Growing tips: Forget-me-not is usually an annual or biennial herb with its success being based on its flexibility. The seeds can lay dormant in the soil until they deem it is a suitable time to sprout for up to thirty years and germinate when conditions become favorable.

Chamomile

Tasting notes: Slightly sweet apple-like flavor
Uses: Chamomile is an age-old herbal remedy for many human ailments. It is used as a mild sedative to reduce stress. Use it in calming teas, honey infusions, bitters and as a garnish.
Season: Plant March – May and harvest June – November
Growing Tips: Chamomile is a great companion plant for leafy greens as it deters many pests.Young seedlings easily tolerate spring frosts, and may survive winters in mild climates. The easiest chamomile to grow is a cool-season annual.

Dianthus (Carnations)

Tasting notes: A pleasant spicy, floral flavor, and a light clove and nutmeg-like taste. Remember to cut away the bitter white base of the flowers before eating.
Uses: Dianthus is a powerful healing plant in Chinese medicine and can be made into teas, essential oils or tinctures. They come in a variety of bright colors, making them wonderful as large garnishes on dishes.
Season: Sow in early spring and harvest in the fall.
Growing Tips: Dianthus love full sun and need a nutrient rich soil to flower. Encourage fast growth by mixing an organic fertilizer into the soil before planting. When wild harvesting, it can be found at the hillside, meadow, forest edge, woodland or sub-alpine meadows.

May 23, 2019 1 comment

Beauty Self-Care Wellness

Holistic Skincare Update and a GIVEAWAY!

GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED! THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO ENTERED!

Finally a holistic skincare update! I’ve been promising you guys this one for a while. Before I dive into all the skincare details, I want to announce the AMAZING GIVEAWAY I’m hosting on this post. I’ve teamed up with some of my favorite brands to give away the ultimate self-care skincare package (a $635 value!) to ONE LUCKY WINNER. Included are literally all my favorite products. Best of luck to everyone who enters! Here are the dets…

GRAND PRIZE INCLUDES:

January Labs Daily Brightening Tonic, Restorative Tonic Mist, Revitalizing Day Cream and Retexturizing Night Cream – What I love about January’s line is that it’s pared down perfection. The line focuses on less products that do more, so you don’t need 5 serums AND 2 creams. (And in case you can’t wait to see if you win, use promo code WUHAUS for 15% off anything on site from now until 3/20)
ACTIVIST Raw Mānuka Honey +100, +300, +850 – I use this amazing Manuka honey both internally and externally. I use the +100 and +300 in teas and tonics, and I use the +850 on it’s own as a face mask. It’s so healing for my skin. I absolutely love it. (And in case you can’t wait to see if you win, use promo code ACTIVATE10 for 10% off one order)
Sun Potion Yin Power and Solar Rose Water Mist – The Yin Power includes a variety of herbs and adaptogens that support the skin from the inside. I mist the Solar Rose Water over my face a few times a day.
MIRTH Caftans Laos Robe – This lightweight robe is my favorite. Not only is it super cute, it’s comfy, lightweight and breathable.

CONTEST RULES AND HOW TO ENTER:

Leave a comment ON THIS BLOG POST telling me why you want/need/deserve this bag of goodies in your life.
For an extra entry, follow @alison__wu @januarylabs @activistmanuka @sunpotion @mirthcaftans on Instagram then leave ANOTHER comment ON THIS BLOG POST telling me you’re following everyone.
For one more entry, tag a friend (or several) in the comments section of THIS INSTAGRAM POST to let them know about the giveaway.
Contest open to residents of the US and Canada only. Must be 18-years-of-age or older.
Contest closes at midnight PST on Wednesday, March 20, 2019.
Winner will be notified on Wednesday, March 20, 2019 by email.

Before I dive into how I take care of my skin, I want to talk about modern beauty culture for a sec. I am absolutely all for taking care of yourself (duh, self-care). But I also absolutely acknowledge how privileged I am, and one must be, to have the time and energy to care, let alone afford all these nice products and facial treatments. These things are a nice-to-have, but absolutely not a necessity. I’m sharing my routine and the products I use with you, but please remember, you absolutely do NOT need these things. You are perfect and beautiful just as you are in your natural state.

I think it’s also important to note, we live in times where the predominant beauty standard has reached unachievable heights. We have young girls who are looking up to the Kim Kardashians of the world and think that they should look like that too. And don’t get me wrong, I support every person’s right to choose, and this includes their choice to change their appearance. I just also think it’s important to acknowledge how dangerous it can be. Our desire to constantly change or “fix” our appearance is a very slippery slope. No amount of surgery, procedures or expensive products will help us find the self-love and acceptance we really seek. That takes hard work and looking at ourselves very honestly, not through a FaceTune filter. It’s learning to love our strengths, what we perceive as beautiful, AND our weaknesses, what we perceive as flaws. There is SO MUCH beauty in the diversity of our appearances. Let’s embrace them all. Let’s expand what society has deemed as the standard by accepting and loving people of all shapes, sizes, ages, colors and skin types and demanding that there is equal representation of ALL people in the mainstream culture.

Everyday Essentials
Honestly, I’d say some of the most important things I do for my skin are relatively easy and FREE. Drink plenty of water everyday (I aim for 3-4 liters). Get enough sleep (I aim for 8-hours a night). And be conscious and cautious about what you put on and in your body. This last one is a bit more tricky, but it just takes mindfulness. Start to notice which foods effect your skin in good ways and which foods effect your skin in bad ways. If you have super sensitive or reactive skin like me, limit the amount of products you use and never start using more than one new product at a time. You don’t need 100 products. Simplify. Find what works for you.

(Mostly) Everyday Routine
Over the years, I’ve come to understand my sensitive skin on a deeper level. It changes from day to day, so I’ve really had to tune into it and try to figure out what it’s asking for. I adapt my skincare routine to the state of my skin and its needs. It’s another lesson in listening to your intuition. If you get a feeling about something that’s going on with your skin, chances are you’re more than likely right. This is the routine I generally follow and the products I use most days unless my skin is being overly reactive (which actually happens more than you might think):

- Upon rising: wash my face with alternating warm and cold water for about a minute. Dab January Labs Daily Brightening Tonic over my face using a soaked cotton pad in an upward motion from the center of my face outward. Smooth January Labs Revitalizing Day Cream over my face avoiding my eye area. Somedays, I dab January Labs Eye Cream around my eyes, but I’m not religious about using it. Use my jade roller (tutorial on my IG Stories highlights) for 3-5 minutes. I currently use this Suntegrity board-spectrum sunscreen, but I would love to find something that’s a bit more lightweight (any suggestions?!). Finish with a spritz of January Labs Restorative Tonic Mist or Sun Potion Solar Rose Water.
- I focus on hydrating from the inside. Constantly sipping water throughout the day. 3-4 liters if possible!
- I focus on eating lots of vegetables and healthy fats throughout my day. I often add in some adaptogens (like the Yin Power) to my morning matcha to support balance within my body.
- In the evenings, I wash my face with the Osmia Black Clay Facial Bar. Dab my face with the Daily Brightening Tonic again. Several nights a week, I use the ACTIVIST 850+ Manuka Honey as a face mask (spread evenly over entire face and leave on for 20-60 minutes). I finish with the January Labs Retexturizing Night Cream.
- I try to get 8-hours of sleep every night. I recently switched to using Upstate Silk Pillow Cases, and I’ve noticed a major difference in the amount of sleep lines on my face when I wake up. Silk pillow cases are also great for hair health.

Perioral Dermatitis (PD) Routine
As some of you may know, I was diagnosed with perioral dermatitis (PD) about 5 years ago. I’m not going to go into major detail here, as I have an entire blog post talking about my experience with it. The main takeaways are that PD hates relatively all products and makeup, so as best you can avoid putting anything on your face. I will say though that if there was one product that may help, it would be the Avene Cicalfate Cream. I got an Instagram DM from a reader who recommended using this cream and absolutely nothing else on my skin for 2 weeks, and my 6-month-long outbreak of PD pretty much disappeared by the end of the 2 weeks. I’ve heard from many of you that it’s been helpful in getting rid, or at least calming, your PD as well. Might be worth a try if you haven’t already. Once you have PD, it’s likely to come back, so it’s great if you can identify your triggers. I haven’t had a major outbreak in over a year, but little bumps come up now and again. PD is also aggravated by stress. It feels counterintuitive, but I’ve found that when my skin is overreacting, it’s usually best if I just leave it alone all together and avoid looking in the mirror as much as possible.

Skin Fasting
I learned about skin fasting last month through an article I read on Man Repeller (explains the theory behind why it works). It really resonated with me. While I’d never done a full 7-day skin fast, there were many days (sometimes 2-3 in a row) that I would refrain from using any products because of the overly reactive nature of my skin. So I decided to embark on a 7-day skin fast. For the entirety of the fast, I didn’t use a single product on my face including my lips. I washed with alternating warm and cold water in the mornings and used a warm washcloth laid over my face in the evenings. I was really surprised by how my skin responded. Besides my lips feeling extremely dry and burning for the first 4 days, my skin reacted great to the fast. My face never really got dry and any blemish or inflammation I had seemed pretty calm the whole week. I didn’t get any new breakouts or irritations during the fast either. Overall, it was a great opportunity to step back from my regularly routine and really look at all the products I’m using. While, yes, I enjoy using my day and night creams, maybe I don’t absolutely need them all the time. It felt good to take a break and give my skin a chance to breathe. Since the fast, I’ve been doing 1-2 days a week product free. I especially recommend this practice to people with very sensitive or overly reactive skin like me.

Holistic Facials
I started getting monthly facials about a year ago. I’m almost 33, and I noticed my skin start to change a few years ago after I turned 30. My regularly facialist here in Portland, Oriana (she’s amazing!!!), uses a combination of LED, microcurrent and Reiki during our treatments. Besides the positive effect they have on my skin, I’ve actually found that I really love the relaxation and stress relief aspect of facials. Facials have fast become my favorite form of body care. I don’t really get massages anymore (maybe 1 or 2 a year) since I’ve started getting regular facials. Not that they need to be mutually exclusive, but I personally don’t have the budget to afford both. I will say that I think it’s worth finding a facialist that uses LED, microcurrent, microdermabrasion, oxygenation or other techniques that you wouldn’t be able to do at home. In NYC, my favorite facial that I’ve had is at Joanna Vargas. If you have any other NYC facial recommendations, I would love to know!

Microneedling
Skin needling, also called microneedling therapy, collagen induction therapy (CIT), and percutaneous collagen induction (PCI), is a minimally invasive skin-rejuvenation procedure that involves the use of a pen that contains fine needles. The needles are used to puncture the skin to create a controlled skin injury. Each puncture creates a channel that triggers the body to fill these microscopic wounds by producing new collagen and elastin. Through the process of neovascularization and neocollagenesis, there is improvement in skin texture and firmness, as well as reduction in scars, pore size, and stretch marks. I did 4 initial treatments with Kimmer (highly recommend!) at Echo Natural Beauty one-month after another last winter, which is recommended to begin. It is considered a minimally invasive treatment, but it’s still pretty intense. You need a couple days of recovery afterward. No touching your face, no sun exposure whatsoever, no physical activity, no alcohol. Essentially your whole face is an open wound, so you have to be very careful about aftercare. That being said, I did notice a big difference in the overall texture of my skin after the 4 treatments. My pores were visibly smaller from the microneedling. It’s recommended to go back 1-2 times a year after the initial 4 treatments.

LED Light Therapy
LED Light Therapy is a non-invasive and soothing way to expedite the skin’s healing process. LED works by sending light waves into deep layers of the skin, stimulating natural intercellular response. LED can reduce wrinkles, improves skin tone and texture, stimulate collagen production and kill acne bacteria. LED is beneficial for all skin types and overall a soothing treatment (read: I usually fall asleep under the lights). I’ve found it to be especially helpful for any sort of breakout, even PD. I always notice a difference in my skin a day or so after a treatment.

Microcurrent
Microcurrent uses a mild electrical current to stimulate the skin and facial muscles, promoting collagen and elastin production. This treatment lifts and contours the face, softens wrinkles and improves overall complexion. It’s pretty incredible how you can visibly see your face more lifted after a treatment. I purchased an at-home microcurrent device through Oriana, and I usually use it once a week. The currents are not as strong as the professional machines that estheticians use, but it’s great for maintenance and relatively easy to use at home. See Oriana giving me a microcurrent treatment in the video below.

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March 13, 2019 581 comments

Self-Care Wellness

Vaginal Health and Sustainable Period Products

Vaginas are beautiful, sensuous, vulnerable, mysterious and sensitive. For so long, talking about sex, our periods, our anatomy, our intimate desires was stigmatized. It’s conversation that was better kept between your most trusted confidents. It’s been so refreshing to see sex, vaginal health, periods, women’s pleasure come into mainstream conversation. In these modern times, we need to equip ourselves with as much information as we can so that we can better care for our minds and our bodies. This happens through having conversations, reading, listening, experiencing and any other ways we can learn to take knowledge and use it to empower us to make better decisions, to stand up for our needs and desires and ultimately care for ourselves more deeply. In the spirit of open communication, I want to share my own experience with taking care of my vagina and with making the switch to sustainable period products.

I’ve partnered with Sustain on this blog post. Sustain makes everything from condoms and lube to organic cotton tampons and washable period underwear to their newly launched period cup. They’ve developed all of their products to be vagina AND earth friendly. They also donate 10% of profits to women’s healthcare organizations. Sustain is offering you 20% off your first order with code: WU20

Over the years, I’ve suffered from countless UTIs, bacterial vaginosis, painful sex and periods. Most of the time quietly. Consulting the help of my regularly changing healthcare provider. Taking antibiotics at first and then as I got into herbal medicine, learning to help myself with natural remedies. Of course, there’s tons you can do to take care of your vagina. Eat well. Exercise. Use natural soaps and beauty products. Take herbs and vaginal probiotics. Pee after sex. Tell your partner to stop when sex is painful (which unsurprisingly is very hard for many women – listen to this podcast episode). Sleep underwear-less. But unfortunately sometimes doing all of those things isn’t enough.

There are many factors that effect the bacteria and pH levels down there. I have a hunch that the way our body chemistry reacts to our partners can also play a part. Since I’ve been with my husband, stopped taking hormonal birth control and took antibiotics for the last time (hopefully ever), which were ALL right around the same time in my life, I haven’t had any cases of BV or UTI, and I can count on one hand how many times I’ve had any odor/itchiness down there, which were all minor and went away in a day. Painful sex still happens sometimes, but I feel confident and comfortable enough to speak up and say “stop” when it does.

I finally made the switch from organic tampons to the Sustain period cup and underwear. I don’t know why I waited so long to make the switch. I honestly was just telling myself a story that I made up in my head about how it wouldn’t work for me and how I thought it would be difficult and messy. After going through a few successful periods using both the period cup and underwear, I can now say, that while there is a bit of a learning curve, they both are relatively easy to use, and I really don’t see myself switching back to tampons ever again.

Learning to use the period cup has brought me closer to my body. I’ve learned more about my cervix and how its position changes through my cycle than I ever knew in my life. I’ve become more intimate with my blood and how much blood I’m producing on different days through my cycle. At first it felt intense, but after a couple days I felt empowered and more curious about my female anatomy than ever before.

Inserting the period cup can be tricky at first, but with practice you’ll be a pro. Sustain has lots of info to get you started, but leave it to me to not read any info before I tried mine for the first time. I simply looked at the drawings in the pamphlet included in the box and went for it. TBH, I didn’t realize how far it was supposed to go up. Unlike a tampon, there’s no string that hangs down. The cup actually sits all the way up inside your vagina. Anyways for the first day, I wasn’t inserting it all the way (which would normally cause leakage), but I was working from home, so I just kept incessantly checking it and didn’t have any leaks.

The third day of my period I had to head out to an appointment and then to film a video with my friend Kait. I brought a tampon to use for the video shoot, just to be 100% sure I wouldn’t leak on set since I wasn’t that comfortable using the cup yet. I wore the period cup to my prior appointment though. When I got to the house where we were shooting the video, I went to the bathroom to change my clothes and switch from the cup to the tampon. I reached down to pull on the little silicon piece that hangs down from the cup, and it wasn’t there. I started panicking right away. I was in the honest-to-God smallest bathroom ever, and now my period cup was stuck up inside my vagina, AND everyone was waiting for me to come upstairs so we could start filming. Luckily, I did remember reading that if you can’t get it out, don’t panic. Remember to breathe. So there were several moments of vacillating between panic and “you got this!” Relaxing and getting my hands on some part of the cup, but then it would slip away, and I would be sent into a fit of panic again. Finally I sat down on the toilet, and released the grip of my vaginal muscles (akin to what it feels like to pee, you gotta push!) and slowly felt the cup drop to where I could actually grab onto it. PHEW! I wasn’t going to have to cancel the photoshoot and go to the emergency room.

After that experience, I had all these realizations about the cup and how you were actually supposed to use it. I came home and of course did all sorts of Googling and reading. I honestly haven’t had any issues removing it since. Like I said, it just takes practice and getting used to your own body.

A couple general tips that have helped me:

+ Shorter finger nails are better with the period cup. Honestly I had a couple moments where it felt like I gouged my vagina with my nails. Not a good feeling.

+ Use a wet wipe or wet paper towel for public bathroom use. Before going into the stall, I always wash my hands (which you should do anytime you insert or remove your cup) and grab a wetted paper towel just in case anything gets messy when I’m removing or reinserting. Just pour the blood from your cup into the toilet and use the wet paper towel if you need to clean your vagina, hands and/or the cup.

I’ve been using the period underwear on days when my flow is super light or super heavy. On heavy days, I sometimes use both the cup and the underwear. Sometimes it’s nice to have the reassurance of the underwear when my flow is super heavy on days 2 and 3. The cup is super reliant and won’t leak once you get the hang of it, but the underwear’s got your back if not. And on the first or last day, when I’m barely bleeding, I’ll just wear the underwear on its own. Feels great to not have to wear a tampon when you’re barely bleeding. Caring for the underwear is super easy. I usually just rinse it in the sink with cold water before I pop it in the washing machine with my other laundry. I have 2 pairs of the underwear, so I don’t have to be constantly washing one pair.

There’s tons of great info over on the Sustain blog. And as always, I’m happy to answer any questions you might have or share my experience with something if I forgot to include it here. Please don’t hesitate to reach out.

December 6, 2018 9 comments

Drinks Wellness

Adaptogenic Dream Tonic and Tips for Restful Sleep

This evening I’m sharing a brand new adaptogenic dream tonic recipe and my favorite tips for promoting restful sleep. Though the winter months are more conducive for sleep because it’s colder and darker, I find my sleep is often times more disrupted during the holiday season. Whether it’s the stress or indulgent eating and drinking, sleep often suffers this time of year. We may wake up feeling unrested and may have a harder time falling asleep.

Incorporating herbs and adaptogens into my daily routine over the past several years has improved the quality of my sleep tremendously. Adaptogens work to help the body better react to stress by balancing cortisol levels in the body. Because adaptogens work bi-directionally, they not only help promote relaxation and restful sleep, but also give us more energy and stamina overall. Adaptogens work to bring the body into better balance, giving our bodies the power to better respond to various external stimuli.

I’ve been drinking Mountain Rose Herbs Dream Tea for years now, and I love it. When they asked me to make a dream tonic, I thought it would be lovely to use their tea mixed with a couple of my favorite adaptogens for sleep. This creamy tea latte is one of my favorites to drink an hour or two after dinner time. As always, Mountain Rose Herbs is one of my favorite places to source organic and sustainably harvested herbs. They offer a large variety of bulk herbs and spices, as well as some of my favorite tea blends out there (try the spicy, caffeine-free turmeric chai if you haven’t already).

Create a nighttime ritual
Creating a nighttime ritual that I look forward to is one of my favorite ways to get me excited about going to bed each night. I usually make a tea tonic (like the recipe below!), turn down all the lights in my house, spend 30 minutes or so in the living room lounging, sometimes reading, other times talking with my husband. Then I dedicate about 15-30 minutes to my evening self-care routine. In the colder months, I might take a bath a few nights a week. Otherwise, I spend time taking care of my skin and teeth before getting into bed. By this time, I’m usually pretty wound down, but I usually like to read for about 15 minutes at least and/or take time to practice deep breathing.

Shut off screens at least 1 hour before bed.
And if possible, dim the lights throughout your living space. Soft, dim light signals the body to relax and that it’s time to wind down. Blue light, which electronic devices like our smartphones and computers emit in large amounts, does the exact opposite. It tries to trick the body into thinking it’s daylight.

Include herbs that promote sleep and relaxation
My favorite herbs that help promote rest, relaxation and overall calm are: peppermint leaf, chamomile, skullcap, mugwort and oatstraw. Adaptogens for sleep: ashwagandha, tulsi, eleuthero and schisandra. Try incorporating some of these powerful herbs by drinking the Dream Tonic recipe below, or you can take them in whatever form calls to you (capsules, tincture, infusion, etc.)

Stick to a sleep schedule
Waking up and going to bed at the same time everyday allows your body to get into a rhythm. As we create habits, our bodies respond either positively or negatively based on what these habits are. Our bodies love routine. Sticking to a regular sleep schedule will improve the quality of your sleep. If you want to start waking up earlier in the morning, at first it’s always challenging, but if you stick with the same sleeping schedule, over the course of a few months, your body should slowly adapt to your new bedtime and morning wake up time.

Limit caffeine after noon.
This rule doesn’t apply to everyone, but if you are having trouble falling asleep or staying asleep, I definitely recommend limiting caffeine intake, especially after noon.

Remove the clock from your bedside table.
I can’t stress this one enough. There’s nothing worse than waking up in the middle of the night, turning over and seeing your clock staring back at you with the numbers 3:15AM in red. I never check my clock (on my phone, as I don’t have an alarm clock) if I wake up in the middle of the night or if I’m having trouble falling asleep. I know from experience that this gives me anxiety and then I usually have a very difficult time falling asleep. Instead lying there thinking about how soon in the morning I have to wake up.

Set up your sleeping space for success.
Lots of cozy blankets. Supportive pillows. Mood lighting. Plants. Crystals on your bedside. Whatever it is that makes you feel safe, calm and protected in your space.

For enhanced dreaming, sleep with a piece of labradorite or spectralite by your bedside.
I’m always impressed that this works. Crystals are magic! Whenever I sleep with a piece of labradorite or spectralite next to my bed or under my pillow, my dreams are much more vivid, and I usually have an easier time remembering them.

Adaptogenic Dream Tonic
[Serves 2]

2 Tablespoons Mountain Rose Herbs Dream Tea
3 1/2 cups boiling water

1.) Steep loose leaf tea in boiling water for 10 minutes. Strain through a fine mesh sieve and/or cheesecloth.

_________________________________

1 oz (2 Tablespoons) coconut butter
1/2 teaspoon ground ashwagandha
1/2 teaspoon ground schisandra
1-2 teaspoons raw honey or 1 medjool date (optional)

1.) Blend all ingredients with steeped Dream tea in a high-speed blender for 1-2 minutes. Serve, sip slowly and enjoy!

December 4, 2018 1 comment

Beauty Self-Care Wellness

Immune Support Bath and Tips to Stay Well this Winter

Okay friends, unfortunately, cold season is upon us. Now is a great time to adapt immune-boosting practices into your daily routine. Besides getting plenty of sleep and staying hydrated, one of my favorite ways to support my immune system is with a relaxing bath using Epsom salts and essential oils. Mountain Rose Herbs is my favorite one-stop-shop for herbs, spices, essential oils, salts, teas, etc.. All of their essential oils are 100% pure, certified organic and high-quality from farm to bottle. I’ve long been inspired by MRH’s commitment to sustainability. You can read all about what they do as a business, here. Also in this post, I’m also sharing some of my favorite tips for staying well this winter. Take care of yourselves, bbs.

Essential Oils for Immunity:

Eucalyptus – Known for its ability to support upper respiratory health and break up congestion. Eucalyptus is also an anti-inflammatory for the lungs. Great to use in a the bath, hot shower, sauna and/or a facial steam especially during a cold or the flu. Eucalyptus also help fight infection by stimulating antibodies.

Lemon – A powerful detoxifier. Used as a lymph tonic to help move cellular waste out of the body during a cold or the flu.

Rosemary – Provides a great boost to the immune system and can be helpful in loosening mucus clogging nasal passages. Can also help relieve a sinus headache.

Oregano – One of the best all natural antibiotics because of its high carvacrol and thymol content. Oregano essential oil can be used both help strengthen the immune system and prevent cold and flu, or to shorten the timespan of an illness once you get sick.

Cinnamon Bark – One of the most powerful antibacterial/antivirals among all essential oils. You can add a drop or two to your bath. I also love add to a spray bottle with water and use to clean surfaces in my house. Just be sure to let the cinnamon-water spray sit for 2-5 minutes on a surface before wiping dry.

Clove Bud – Has antibacterial, antifungal, antiparasitic, antiseptic and antiviral properties. One of my favorite essential oils for stimulating the immune system.

Frankincense – Strengthens the immune system by increasing production of white blood cells. Also acts as a powerful anti-inflammatory.

Immune Support Bath
2-3 cups Epsom salt
4 drops clove bud essential oil
3 drops lemon essential oil
2 drops cinnamon bark essential oil
2 drops eucalyptus essential oil
1 drop rosemary essential oil

Optional after bath care:
In 2 teaspoon of jojoba oil (or any other carrier oil of choice), add 3 drops of oregano essential oil and 2 drops of frankincense essential oil. Massage into the soles of your feet then cover them with cotton socks to allow the oils to absorb.

Tips for Staying Well:

Plenty of sleep – This is KEY. Any time we’re worn down, overworked or stressed, our bodies become way more susceptible to illness. I always advocate for getting plenty of rest, but I find especially in the colder months good sleep is essential to staying healthy. For me that means at least 8-hours a night. Sometimes more if my body is craving it. Winter is a good time to slow down, get more rest, stay closer to home and really nurture your body and your mind.

Plenty of water – Hydration is so important for every aspect of health. In the cooler months, it can be harder to get your daily water quota, so you may want to sip warm water with lemon instead of room temp or cold water. I aim for 3 liters of filtered water a day. Sometimes more when I feel like I need an extra boost.

Dry brushing – Dry brushing (I do it before bathing or showering) stimulates the lymphatic system, which is part of the immune system. This helps clean the body’s tissues and maintain its balance of fluids. Our lymph nodes filter out waste, toxins and pathogens like bacteria and viruses. Dry brushing also improves skin health and appearance by increasing blood flow and exfoliating dead skin.

Apple cider vinegar – One of my favorite things to soothe, and usually get rid of, a sore throat. In a mug, mix 1-2 Tablespoons of ACV with warm (not hot!) water, lemon juice and a little bit of raw honey. Sip morning and night until sore throat goes away.

Vitamin C – A real powerhouse. I bolster my immune system with Vitamin C anytime I feel the slightest bit run down. There are plenty of food sources of Vitamin C: Papaya, bell peppers, broccoli, Brussel sprouts, strawberries, pineapple, oranges, kiwi, cantaloupe, cauliflower, kale, cabbage, bok choy, grapefruit, etc. I also take this supplement when I feel like I need a little extra.

Adaptogens – As we start to move into the cooler months, now is a great time to start bolstering your immune system for cold and flu season. One way I love to do this is with adaptogenic herbs. Adaptogens have been used for thousands of years in Ayurvedic and Traditional Chinese Medicine lineages. If you want to start incorporating some adaptogens for immunity this season, these are five I recommend:

Astragalus – my top choice for immunity. However discontinue use if you do actually get sick and reincorporate after getting well again.
Ashwagandha – immune boosting as well as helps the body combat stress and anxiety
Reishi – the queen healer mushroom – strengthens immune system, antimicrobial
Chaga – the king healer mushroom – antiviral and immune-boosting properties
Rhodiola – best taken in the morning as it’s energizing and helps with focus.

Start slowly, incorporating 1-2 into your daily routine and see how your body responds. You can always add more after a month or so if you feel called to. I recommend starting with 1/2 teaspoon of each adaptogen per day. Autumn is also a great season to incorporate warming herbs and spices. Try adding powdered adaptogens into your favorite chai recipe or into a warming bone or mushroom broth.

Cut out dairy, sugar and alcohol – I don’t eat dairy or sugar normally, and I cut out alcohol completely from January – March every year. It might be worthwhile to cut one or all of these things out of your diet during cold and flu season, or at the very least, at the first signs of cold or flu. All three of these things act as immune system suppressants. Dairy also increases mucus production, which can make you feel worse if you’re fighting a cold.

[This post is sponsored by Mountain Rose Herbs. All thoughts and opinions are my own.]

October 23, 2018 2 comments

Lifestyle Wellness

My Experience with Contraceptives, and How I Found the Fertility Awareness Method

I want to start this post by saying everyone’s body is different. What may work well for one of us might be the wrong choice for another. That goes for so many aspects of our health and our lives, and it continues to be true about birth control methods. It’s important to educate yourself and/or talk with a trained professional to help figure out which contraceptive method is right for you. And if you’re like me, the right method for you today might not be the right method for you 2 weeks, 1 month, 3 or 10 years from now. We’re ever changing, both physically and in how we want to live our lives, so its important to remember that we often need to adjust how we care for ourselves. Today I’m sharing my experience using contraceptives throughout my life from the time I lost my virginity up until present day. Please keep in mind that this is a personal narrative. Having safe sex and protecting against pregnancy sometimes means taking hormonal birth control and wearing condoms. Sometimes it means abstaining from sex all together. THERE IS NO SHAME IN YOUR CHOICE. I stand by all people and their right to choose what is right for them.

I lost my virginity when I was 15. To my boyfriend at the time. We were together for a year or so. Immediately following the first time, I told my mom I wanted to go on birth control pills. I didn’t tell her I had become sexually active, and though I’ve always felt loved completely and never judged by my mom, we never really openly talked about sex and different contraceptive methods. I assume she knew I had become sexually active, and she made an appointment for me with the nurse midwives where she went and the same group of midwives who delivered both my brother and me. Talk about full circle.

At the young age of 15, I started taking Ortho Tri-cyclen. What would be the start of about 10 years of daily hormonal birth control. I bounced around to different pills and back to the same ones again over the years. Some pills caused me to not get my period for months at a time, which when you’re a sexually active college student is absolutely frightening. As some of you may know, I’ve struggled with digestive issues for most of my life. Starting at a young age when my parents figured out I was lactose intolerant. It will probably always be somewhat of a mystery, but my guess is that many of my digestive issues come from a combination of chronic antibiotic use from age 2 all the way up into my twenties (I was born with 60% hearing loss and had surgery on my ears 3 times before the age of 6 then I suffered about 15 UTIs and a kidney infection starting at the time of becoming sexually active into my mid-twenties) and then long-term hormonal birth control use from age 15 to 24. Hormonal birth control pills essentially act like antibiotics in your gut, destroying the essential microbiome balance, depleting all the good bacteria needed for proper digestion. Some other negative side effects from hormonal birth control include mood swings, headaches, acne, bloating and weight gain, irregular spotting and low libido.

The number one reason I decided at 24 that I was going to finally go off the pill was because I strongly believed it was giving me anxiety, mood swings and depressive thoughts. I finally woke up to the fact that I was putting hormones in my body that were negatively effecting my life. I wanted to take a clean break from all hormonal forms of birth control, so I did. It took my body a little while to adjust back, but after about a year, I felt way better overall. Less anxious feelings and depressive thoughts, higher libido and a greater connection to my body and my natural cycle.

Though in many ways I was feeling better health wise being off the pill, it still left the question of what birth control method I should use now. The first year I relied mostly on using condoms. I always used condoms with any new partner before both being tested for STDs. However, condoms really bother my vagina and make sex burn and hurt for me. I found myself uninterested in sex and disappointed that there weren’t better options for people like me.

So after about a year of using condoms, a friend mentioned an IUD, and I was intrigued. I honestly don’t remember hearing much about the IUD before that time. That’s likely because “comparing 2006–2010 with 2011–2013, IUD use increased 83% (from 3.5% to 6.4%)…” It seemed like every woman I knew was getting an IUD around that time. Sticking with my plan of not using hormonal birth control, I decided to get the copper Paraguard IUD in December of 2011. I never really had heavy periods or bad cramping, so I wasn’t so concern about the side effects associated with the Paraguard IUD, which include heavier and more painful periods and cramping/back pain associated with menstruation.

I’m not going to lie the first 2-3 years of having the Paraguard IUD were rough. My periods were next level. I would soak through a super tampon every 3 hours during the first 3-4 days of my period. Looking back now, I’m honestly shocked I stuck with it. I remember telling myself that it would get better. That it wasn’t THAT bad. I’ve always had a high threshold for pain and always seem to forget it once it pasts, so each month once my period was over, I’d just keep going along until another insanely painful period hit me the next month. A few years in, I started to notice my PMS symptoms were the worse they’ve ever been. Luckily I was introduced to evening primrose oil and that definitely was a game charger for the intense feelings of loneliness that would always strike a week before I started menstruating. Overall, I think I put up with the negative side effects of the IUD because I didn’t want to use the hormonal IUD or go back on the pill, and I really trusted the effectiveness of the IUD (99.2% to 99.4%). I had settled down and gotten married, and the IUD seemed like the best method for me at the time.

A couple years ago, I started to grow wary of the IUD. Mainly because of the insane amount of inflammation it caused in my body. My womb space literally felt swollen, not just when I was having my period, but at various other times throughout my cycle. I started to consider getting it taken out. I began looking into different options, and this time the one that came up and stuck with me was the fertility awareness method. Essentially this is when you track your cycle (using various methods) so you know when you are ovulating (fertile). Then you either abstain from sex or use a barrier method on the days of your cycle that you’re at risk for pregnancy. About a year ago I got my IUD removed. I’ve been using the fertility awareness method ever since.

I started using Daysy in June to help me track my cycle with better accuracy. Daysy is a basal body temperature thermometer fertility tracker that works using the fertility awareness method by learning and tracking your cycle over time. Each morning right when I wake up, before getting out of bed, I pop Daysy under my tongue to get my temperature reading. The easy-to-read color coded system on Daysy will illuminate either red (fertile), green (not fertile) or yellow (not enough information to determine status – the “learning” phase when you first start using Daysy). When I’m in the red (fertile) or the yellow, we use condoms when having sex. With over 30 years of data collection, Daysy predicts your cycle with 99.4% accuracy. Every few days, I sync Daysy to the DaysyView app where I can view findings and see my cycle at a glance. I’m not planning a pregnancy in the foreseeable future, but if/when I do someday, I love that Daysy is also a reliable method for women trying to get pregnant. It’s important to note that Daysy does not protect against STDs. And its only recommended for women with cycles 19-40 days in length. For where I’m at in my life right now, using Daysy to help me track my cycle works really well for me. It’s empowering to feel connected to my body and its natural rhythms in a way I’ve never felt before.

When I first became sexually active, I never really considered any other form of birth control besides the pill because the options seemed so limited to me at the time. Nowadays, it seems like the sex conversation is way more mainstream. It’s less taboo to talk about because, duh, safe sex education is SO important. There’s even great resources like Bedsider that educate you on all birth control methods and help you find which method is right for you. As always, I’m here to support you on your journey. I’m happy to answer any questions as they pertain to my personal experience with contraceptives.

[This post is sponsored by Daysy, however, all thoughts and opinions are my own.]

September 19, 2018 32 comments

Wellness

WALTER + Berkey Water Filter System

I want to start this post by saying how grateful I am that I live in a place that has access to clean, running water. The fact that I’m able to use a water filter in my home is a privilege. There are so many people on this planet that do not have access to safe, clean water. If you have the means, please consider donating to charity : water, a non-profit that works to bring clean water to developing countries.

Water is an essential component of human, plant and animal life, as well as the planet as a whole. Our bodies are composed of 70% water, and the earth is composed of 71% water. Water is a part of almost every function of the body, including those on the cellular, tissue and organ levels, as well as circulation, digestion and elimination. Water also carries important minerals throughout our bodies. To maintain optimal health, we should be drinking 8 glasses of water per day. I personally drink at least 3 liters of filtered water a day. Staying very well hydrated gives me energy and vastly improves the quality of my skin and digestion. Being someone who is conscious of what I put in and on my body and how that effects how I feel on a daily basis, I’m also passionate about the quality of water I’m drinking.

I was introduced to the Berkey Water Filtration System a couple years ago. At the time I was using your standard Brita filter, cycling through filters every 2-3 months. Of course, this was a step up from the days of drinking out of plastic water bottles. When I think of the years back in the late 90s and early 2000s when it was “cool” to drink out of plastic water bottles, I literally feel sick to my stomach. Ugh. And unfortunately, after spending some time in Houston recently, I realized that drinking out of plastic water bottles is still the reality for the majority of people. Buying a water filter and using a reusable water bottle is such an easy way we can help cut down on plastic use, and also save our own money. The Berkey Black Filter is relatively affordable for how powerful it is and how much water each filter can purify before needing to be replaced. (See more about cleaning and replacing filters below.)

Berkey Water Filters can remove:

Lead – Removed to greater than 99.9%.
Iron – Removed to greater than 99.9%.
Mercury – Removed to greater than 99.9%.
Chlorine – Removed to greater than 99.9%.
Bisphenol-A – Removed to greater than 99.9%.
Chloramines – Removed to greater than 99.9%.
Pharmaceuticals – Removed to greater than 99.5%.
Petroleum Contaminants – Removed to greater than 99.9%.
Methylcycohexane-methane – Removed to greater than 99.9%.
Pesticides – Removed to greater than 99.9%.
Heavy Metals – Removed to greater than 99.1%.
Coliform and e-Coli – Removed to greater than 99.9%.

There’s also a Fluoride Removal Filter that can be added to remove [PLEASE NOTE: The regular-size WALTER only fits the Berkey Black Filter, not the fluoride filter.]:

Fluoride: Sodium Fluoride, Sodium Fluorosilicate, Fluorosilicic Acid (aka Hydrofluorosilicic Acid)
Arsenic: V and pre-oxidized Arsenic III
Other residual heavy metal ions

The Berkey Black Filters can purify about 3,000 gallons of water before needing replacement. When the flow of water starts to slow, you can also clean your black filter. The black filters can be cleaned up to 100 times before needing to be replaced. Cleaning the Black Filter is super simple. Just dissemble your filtration system. Clean the Black Filter under running water using a designated scrub sponge or small brush (a new toothbrush works). Rotate the filter with one hand while using the other hand to light scrape clean, or exfoliate as you will, the Black Filter. Reassemble your filtration system, and be amazed at how fast your purified water is flowing again.

WALTER! We got our WALTER about a year ago, and we could not be happier. WALTER is an amazing ceramic filtration set up that was made to house the Berkey Black Filter. The best of both worlds: a stunning handmade ceramic vessel and an amazing water purification system. The Berkey Black Filter easily screws into the top chamber of WALTER, and the purified water collects in the bottom chamber, ready for you to drink! Cassie, the woman behind WALTER, is offering all Wu Haus readers $20 off their purchase of WALTER (includes everything on site except the all black WALTER) for the next 2 weeks (after that $10 off) with promo code: WUWALTER . [PLEASE NOTE: The regular WALTER only fits the Berkey Black Filter, not the Fluroide filter.] Here’s a little insight into Cassie’s inspiration behind creating WALTER:

Q: What inspired you to create WALTER?

A: My best friend came home from Brazil with the most beautiful terra cotta water dispenser and I was obsessed with it as an object. I wanted to remake in my own way and but include the most effective filtration available. After a bit of research I found Berkey and designed WALTER to fit their Black Filter. I knew that there wasn’t anything on the market that was aesthetically pleasing AND had the best purification and filtration, so I set out to change that.

Q: Why is drinking filtered water important to you?

A: Well, I try to be as thoughtful as I can with what I choose to put in my body, so it only makes sense to be intentional with our base element, water. What I have really become interested in is the accidental ritual that happens when you use WALTER to purify. It really becomes a mindful measuring of intake and outtake, in this very calming way. It slows everything down and makes you more conscious….and has actually helped everyone in my house drink more water! If you are putting effort into your water quality you inherently think about it more. You value it more and you want it more.

Q: What’s next for WALTER? Any new products/styles on the horizon?

A: We recently launched the BIG WALTER, which houses two filtration elements and can accommodate a fluoride filtration attachment in the lower chamber. Dual filters means it can purify more water, faster than the original WALTER, so it’s perfect for larger families and offices. I envision it taking the place of the conventional water cooler (no more water deliveries and plastic jugs). It makes way more sense financially, has zero carbon footprint and it’s gorgeous!

August 30, 2018 6 comments

Self-Care Wellness

Natural Deodorant + Tips for Healthy (Arm)Pits

Surprisingly enough, I talk about my (arm)pits quite a lot. I’ve always been a heavy sweater, so managing my underarm area feels like a part-time job. I feel like my friends and I are always talking about how to maintain healthy armpits and which deodorant we’re using to help the fight. I made the switch from antiperspirant to natural deodorant about 3 years ago. Sweating is the natural process of cooling and detoxifying your body. In short, it’s really good for you! By using antiperspirant regularly, you distrupt you body’s natural attempts to remove toxins, which can ultimately lead to adverse long-term health effects. It can also change the bacterial microbiome in your pits, causing an overproduction of bad bacteria. Translation: your sweat is smellier. By eliminating antiperspirants from daily use, you allow your armpits to recalibrate to their neutral state.

I’ve tried pretty much every single natural deodorant under the sun. After a year-long search, I landed on a brand that I liked only to find out late last year they were bought out by a large multi-national corporation with a history of testing on animals and with ties to rainforest degradation. For me, this was enough to say farewell. I have to admit, I was bummed that I had to start the search for a new natural deodorant. But luckily this time it didn’t take long! I stumbled upon milk + honey randomly, and after my first day of using their Baking Soda-Free Deodorant, I was hooked. No sweat, no smell, and I didn’t have to reapply throughout the day. I’m sensitive to baking soda (more on that below), but if you’re able to tolerate it, milk + honey also makes a Regular Strength and even an Extra Strength Deodorant. The Austin-based company is offering you guys 25% off any purchase on their site with code WU25.

So let’s talk healthy pits! Here are my tips and insights for maintaining a favorable underarm situation:

1.) Wear natural fibers. There’s nothing that will make you sweat (and smell) more than unbreathable, synthetic fibers. Linen, cotton, wool and silk are all top choices. I’m also very conscious of how small the armholes are on the tops I buy. I hate feeling constricted in that area, so I almost always shop for tops that have a low-cut armhole.

2.) Drink plenty of water, and limit caffeine (especially coffee). When I was a coffee drinker, I noticed my underarm stench was wayyyyyy stronger than when I got off coffee. Something to think about. Maintaining healthy hydration has positive effects on all aspects of your skin, even your pits.

3.) Exfoliate. I do it every other day. My bath bar has built in exfoliation, but you could use a dry brush, a loofa or this luxurious body polish. Exfoliating your pits will leave them feeling soft, smooth and clean.

4.) Apply a small amount of apple cider vinegar, lemon juice or witch hazel to your armpits in order to neutralize bad bacteria. Let air dry. These are all natural antiseptics and sterilizers, so can be very helpful in combating underarm bacteria.

5.) Let them breath and dry out post shower. Before running to apply your deodorant, make sure your pits are completely dry. Bacteria loooooves moisture, so ensuring your underarms are dry before applying deod will keep them fresher for longer.

6.) Less is more. I know the tendency is to slather on the deodorant (or at least that’s my tendency…), but one good swipe of the deodorant bar up or down will do the trick.

7.) Try a clay mask for your pits. Doing this once a week or once every couple of weeks can help draw out impurities and detox your underarm skin. You can use the same clay mask you’d use on your face. Leave on for 10ish minutes and rinse off in the shower.

8.) Food affects all. A diet rich in alkalizing foods will help keep underarm stench away. Incorporate leafy greens and try supplementing with wheatgrass, or my personal fave, chlorella. Some foods that can contribute to a stronger underarm smell: animal proteins, garlic, onions, fermented foods and curries. Not that you should change up your diet at all, but on days you notice your underarm stench a bit stronger than normal, it could have to do with what you ate for dinner the night before.

9.) If you’re skin gets irritated from natural deodorant, give a baking soda-free deod a try. My underarms cannot tolerate baking soda. After about a month or two of use, I would get a red, itchy and painful rash under my pits. Since switching to baking soda-free deodorant, I’ve never had a rash.

10.) Remember: it’s good to sweat! The idea isn’t to stop sweating all together. We just want to cut down on the smell associated with sweating by detoxing our pits. Give your pits a break from deodorant once and while. Let them breathe and do their thing.

[This post is sponsored by milk + honey. All thoughts and opinions are my own.]

July 25, 2018 9 comments

Wellness

My Experience with SIBO and How I Found Balance with Digestive Health

My struggle with digestive issues has been life long. It’s debatable whether there was something specific that caused this or if I was just predisposed to it. I feel like it’s probably some combination of both. Repeated antibiotic use as a child, but also being born lactose intolerant. Either way, it’s been a journey, at times very complicated, to get where I am now. And my digestion is by no means perfect, but I’ve learned to manage symptoms, and though it’s something I still deal with, it’s not debilitating or incapacitating. My naturopath believes that people with digestive issues will often deal with them their entire lives. That there’s no magic cure. It’s just about finding a balance and figuring out different healing modalities that help.

This past fall I saw a naturopathic dermatologist after dealing with a 6-month-long flare of perioral dermatitis (read my post about PD here). She immediately brought up SIBO (Small Intestine Bacterial Overgrowth). She said based on my symptoms (skin and digestive) and what she saw work with her other patients that adapting the SIBO Specific Food Guide Protocol and doing rounds of herbal antibiotics may help me. I decided that I would give her recommendations a try because I was literally desperate to clear my skin at that point.

I went back to my regular naturopath before starting the protocol to tell her what had happened and that I was going to try the diet and herbal antibiotics. She wasn’t surprised, as she had already been treating me with a variety of the herbal antibiotics over the past several months without ever bringing up the word SIBO to me (which in hindsight I appreciate). She said she wasn’t a fan of the diet, that she felt it was too restrictive and by starving bacteria in the small intestine, you also run the risk of eradicating any good bacteria as well. She also said she never officially tested me for SIBO because she believes the test is flawed. She very rarely sees someone test negative, which indicates that either everyone has SIBO or that the test is not accurate. For this reason, I never did the SIBO breath test. But nonetheless, I embarked on doing the 8-week SIBO Specific Food Guide Protocol while adding some 17 supplements to my regimen.

Honestly, most of the time I was stressed about what I could or couldn’t eat. I felt like I was failing most of the 2 months. Worrying that maybe I ate 4 pieces too many of butternut squash than I was supposed to. Taking 17 supplements at a time twice a day literally made me feel sick. Unfortunately, the protocol and all the different herbal antibiotics really did not work for me. In fact, in many ways I think they made my digestive symptoms worse. The stress and anxiety I felt caused way more dis-ease in my stomach and gave me more frequent diarrhea. And my skin did not clear up (it eventually did about 2 months after I ended the SIBO protocol through different treatment methods). I would say the only positive thing about doing the diet was that I discovered sensitivities to eggs and almonds, but I could have likely figured that out doing a more straightforward elimination diet.

After coming out of a 2-month period of very, very restrictive eating and a diet that felt like the farthest thing from intuitive that I’ve ever done in my life, I personally do not buy the SIBO hype. I think it’s a trendy diagnosis, and I believe the strict protocol/diet can create deep food fear and disordered eating. I know many people believe that the protocol and antibiotics do really solve their digestive issues. I believe this is only short term. Most people who see results end up with digestive symptoms down the line, whether that’s 6 months later or 2 years later, it depends.

Coming out on the other side of this experience, I’m back to where I started: I believe in a balanced approach to dealing with digestive issues. The following things are what I’ve found to be the most helpful on my journey. These are by no means the only things that help with digestive issues. I recognize that every body is so different, so what may work for me, may not work for you. I think the bottom line is that it takes time, patience, compassion and deep exploration to figure out what will work for you. Overall, remember it’s important to be easy with yourself. Stressing and obsessing over digestion really only makes it worse. Try to find the ease within the effort. Be gentle. Nurture yourself. Eat slowly, chew your food more than feels normal and enjoy the process of slow eating.

[Disclaimer: I am not a doctor. I’m simply sharing what has helped me on my journey. Consulting with a doctor is always the best approach when diving into any of this work for the first time.]

Probiotics:
A high-quality probiotic is key to a healthy gut. I’ve been taking Silver Fern Ultimate Probiotic for the past several months, and I love them. These shelf-stable spore form probiotics are formulated to survive through the acidic environment of your stomach, where most refrigerated probiotics are too fragile to survive. When looking to buy a probiotic, it’s very important to make sure that it has been tested for survivability (so that you’re not just throwing your money away) and one that has been DNA verified (so that you can rest assured that the capsules match the label), like Silver Fern. Regularly introducing good bacteria, like the kinds in the Ultimate Probiotic, will not only help with overall digestive health, but it will also help curb sugar cravings and promote healthy immune function. There is also strong evidence to suggest there is a connection between our guts and our brains. Supplementing with a high-quality probiotic can also help reduce depression and anxiety symptoms. After taking the Silver Fern Ultimate Probiotic everyday, I noticed curbed sugar cravings after about a week and after a month more consistency in my bowel movements. I’ve also noticed the positive effects on my immune system (little to no sickness in the winter months) with taking probiotics consistently over the past several years. Silver Fern is offering you all 15% OFF ANY ORDER with code Wuhaus

Intermittent Fasting:
I’ve been practicing intermittent fasting pretty consistently for several years. Essentially intermittent fasting gives the digestive system a break by fasting for 12-16 hours. I typically eat my last meal of the day around 7/7:30 and then I fast until about 11:30/12 the next day. I eat a breakfast-like meal around 11:30/12 and then I eat a more typical lunch around 3/3:30. I do still drink my morning matcha potion around 8 or 9am and that includes collagen and healthy fats. Intermittent fasting is definitely not for everyone, but I’ve found that intermittent fasting has helped tremendously with bloat and digestive upset when I do eat my meals. If you’ve never tried intermittent fasting, start with a smaller fast of 10-12 hours. If your body reacts positively, you can slowly increase the length of time. It’s important to note that intermittent fasting does not mean you skip meals. It just means that the window of time when you eat your meals is smaller. If you don’t think intermittent fasting is right for you, you could try eating smaller meals/portions throughout the day instead of 3 main meals. I know this method of eating works really well for some people.

Food Combining:
This is something I’ve been really into since this past fall. I’ve found it to be extremely helpful in mitigating bloat and indigestion after meals. I definitely don’t practice this all the time because it can be limiting/restrictive, but I try to be mindful about what foods I’m combining when I’m in my regular routine. The theory behind food combining is that each macronutrient (proteins, carbohydrates and fats) digests at a different rate and requires different digestive enzymes to be broken down. So we create improper food combinations when we eat foods that have opposite digestive requirements at the same time. Improper food combinations can result in symptoms like gas, bloating, belching and abdominal cramps. There are a few ground rules for the food combining model, but I also think it is something to explore on your own since our bodies are all so different. Personally, I find that I can eat fruit with nuts/seeds or with other foods when processed into a smoothie without any problem. Becoming aware of food combining may help you begin to take notice of certain food combinations that don’t sit well with you. If you’re interested in learning more about food combing, I like this chart.

Mayan Abdominal Massage:
We get other forms of massage all the time, but abdominal massage is often overlooked or many people don’t even know about it. We hold so much of our stress and tension in our bellies. We’re taught, especially as women, that everything below the waist should be tight and firm. This leads to so much holding and unnecessary clenching that we aren’t even aware of on a daily basis. Abdominal massage is an amazing way to release tension and give your belly some extra love. It’s really amazing how after a 60-90 minute massage, my abdomen feels way more relaxed and at ease. Maya abdominal massage techniques slowly break down fascia adhesions, scar tissue and remove any ‘kinks’ in the digestive tract. You can also practice abdominal self-massage at home. I’m planning a full blog post with how-to video on abdominal massage coming in the next month or so. Stay tuned!

Castor Oil Pack:
Since I was a little girl, I’ve always love using a hot water bottle at night time on my abdomen. It’s very soothing and has helped me with countless stomach aches over the years. One of my new favorite tummy-care practices is using a castor oil pack with my hot water bottle (or heating pad). There’s a multitude of ways to do this, but the way I learned is to lie down in your bed, apply a thin layer of castor oil onto your abdomen (I use this refillable roll on) – you can focus on specific areas/organs or just apply all over – then place an old towel or cloth you don’t mind getting oil on over the treated area with the hot water bottle or heating pad on top of that. Relax with the castor oil pack for 20-40 minutes. For maximum effectiveness, do this nightly or at least 4 nights a week. Castor oil packs improve circulation and promote lymphatic drainage, which can help the small intestine become more efficient at fat absorption and removing bad bacteria or toxins. This is also a wonderful form of self-care. A time to relax and send healing energy to your belly and digestive track.

Identifying Trigger Foods:
This can be very beneficial. It requires doing some sort of elimination diet and slowly reincorporating foods to see which ones may cause you digestive issues. It can definitely be a frustrating process and requires a level of patience. Take notice of not only foods that trigger symptoms, but quantities. For instance, I’m sensitive to almonds, but only if I eat a lot of them at one time. I can tolerate a small amount each day, but just need to be careful not to overdo it. I did do the US BioTek IgE and IgA tests through my naturopath. I don’t recommend using a food allergy/intolerance test as the only way to discover food sensitivities, as they aren’t 100% accurate, and your experience is always the best teacher. I think using a food intolerance test in combination with an elimination diet would be a smarter approach. Once identified, I recommend eliminating trigger foods for at least 6 months before trying to reintroduce.

Acupuncture + Chinese Herbs:
Acupuncture promotes healing by helping to move stagnant energy in the body. For digestion, an acupuncturist can work with points on the body that speed up metabolism, increase gastrointestinal muscle contraction and relaxation, reduce gastric acid secretion, regulate small and large intestine function and restore stomach acidity to normal levels. Acupuncture is incredibly relaxing for the nervous system. Much like abdominal massage, acupuncture helps to ease tension and stress in our abdomens. Practitioners often prescribe Chinese herbs in conjunction with regular acupuncture treatments to help address whatever imbalances in the body that may be causing your symptoms.

[This post is sponsored by Silver Fern, however, all thoughts and opinions are my own.]

April 11, 2018 14 comments

Wellness

****GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED! THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO ENTERED!****

GRAND PRIZE INCLUDES:

CONTEST RULES AND HOW TO ENTER:

GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED! THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO ENTERED!