Gorgeously Green Salt Rub

Transcription

1 6 0 Gorgeously Green Gorgeously Green Oil for Oily/Acne-Prone Skin jojoba oil (for the base) Essential oils: Saint-John s-wort oil black cumin seed oil lavender and geranium As before, fill the bottles almost up to the top with the base oil, then add 1 teaspoon of Saint-John s-wort oil and 1 teaspoon of black cumin seed oil. Finally, add drops of lavender and geranium. Gorgeously Green Salt Rub 2 cups fine sea salt 4 cups apricot or almond oil 20 drops of your favorite essential oil (I always like to mix lavender, geranium, and orange.) Simply combine all of the ingredients in a glass jar and stir or shake to blend. Get in the shower, wet your skin, and then scoop out a handful of the scrub. Apply to your skin, and rub and scrub from your neck to your toes. GorgGreen_ _R1.indd 60 4/1/08 3:01:01 PM

2 Green Goddess 6 1 Gorgeously Green Alpha-Hydroxy Acid Mask Alpha-hydroxy acids (AHAs) are derived from fruit sugars, such as glycolic acid, which comes from sugar cane. The glycolic acid sloughs off the upper layers of the skin, making way for beautiful new cell growth. You can buy commercial creams containing AHA, but be wary of the dangerous chemicals that may also be packed into the potion. Commercial brands may be way too strong and may cause your skin to become very sun sensitive, so tread lightly when going down this road, or stay on the safe side and make your own. 1 4 cup lemon juice 1 4 cup apple juice 1 4 cup grape juice 1 4 cup cane sugar Blend all of the ingredients in a glass jar. Apply to your face with an organic cotton ball. Leave on for 10 minutes and rinse off. The mixture will keep for up to 4 days in the refrigerator. Task You can either visit a large health food store or one of the suggested Web sites and buy at least one new product from each of these categories: face, body, hair, makeup, and nails. Depending on what you are used to, these safe alternatives may cost a little more or a little less than you thought. Once you try them, you will never go back. GorgGreen_ _R1.indd 61 4/1/08 3:01:01 PM

3 4. Buy a bottle of nontoxic nail polish. 3. Check the ingredients in your hair dye. 2. Throw away all bottles containing ingredients from the Red Alert list. 5. Buy some organic tampons. 1. Order one new personal care product. GorgGreen_ _R1.indd 62 4/1/08 3:01:02 PM

4 Tip If you haven t already, create your own nail care bag to take to your next mani/pedi. Fill it with an assortment of wonderful colors from the lines in this chapter. Also pack a small bottle of tea tree oil and put five drops into the water in which your feet or hands will soak. Tea tree oil is antibacterial and smells really fresh. Don t forget the No Miss or Honey Bee Gardens nail polish remover. Your manicurist won t like it at first because it doesn t take off the polish as quickly as the usual stuff, but it doesn t fell like acid being poured on your skin, either. Green Goddess 6 3 Pick One Take a look at the Gorgeously Green hand on page 62. You will notice that there are five different changes that you can pick from for step 2. Check off just one of them and know that one change makes a difference. Passing It On Inspire a few other women by either buying them a nontoxic gift or telling them about your new discoveries. Word spreads fast, and it is so important to get your mother, your aunt, your sister, and your best buddy on board. I love to buy my girlfriends a bottle of nontoxic nail polish. It gets them asking questions, and one thing leads to another! Savasana We are going to do the corpse pose during every step of the program, as it will help you to develop mindfulness and give you a good rest. It is the pose that is typically practiced at the end of every yoga class. Wait until the house is quiet and you can carve out ten minutes of time. Make sure that there are no phones that will disturb you. Grab a face cloth or hand towel and rub a couple of drops of your favorite essential oil into it. Lie down on the floor with a pillow under your knees, close your eyes, and place the towel/face cloth over your eyes. Take five really slow breaths. On each inhale, breathe in peace; on each exhale, breathe out a smile. GorgGreen_ _R1.indd 63 4/1/08 3:01:03 PM

5 1 2 2 Gorgeously Green Shopping Changes You Can Make Right Now! j Shop online. But avoid next-day air, because it uses five times the fuel of things sent by ground. j Purchase in huge amounts. It s all about saving on the packaging. Buy a large gallon size of olive oil and the biggest bags of granola you can find. You can always decant them into smaller jars when you get home. j Bulk food bins are the way to go. Most major health food stores have these bins, and they are fabulous because they are way cheaper and greener. If you want to be supergreen, reuse plastic bags from home to fill. A tip is to make sure you have plenty of glass jars and containers at home. Personally, I don t like having unruly bags hanging around in my cupboards. I prefer to store in glass, rather than plastic. You can purchase a great set of pyrex storage containers at www. shopworldkitchen.com. j Choose organic. Buying products made from organic ingredients is not only healthier and safer for you and your family, but it also helps to protect the groundwater, farmers, and wildlife. j Share. Before making a trip to the grocery store, call a couple of neighbors or friends to see if you can shop for them. They can you a list and it ll save them a trip. It ll be their turn next time! Alternatively, carpool with a couple of girlfriends and enjoy a good gossip on the way. j Always bring reusable totes to the store. A great tip is to bring along two or three reusable plastic containers, too. That way, I can save on time, money, and extra packaging at the deli/bakery country. Just have them weigh your salami or cheese and get them to put it straight into your container. They ll put the price sticker on the outside of your container; when you get home, you put it straight in your fridge. Do the same thing when buying a sandwich. GorgGreen_ _R1.indd 122 4/1/08 3:01:28 PM

6 j Save your produce bags. Save those flimsy produce bags to bring along to your next shop. That way, you ll save time and fossil fuel. It s a pet peeve of mine to have to locate the roll then fiddle around trying to find which end actually opens! Soulful Shopping Plastic Containers I use plastic sparingly nowadays because recent studies have shown that many plastics contain a dangerous toxin called Bisphenol A. (BPA) is a hormone-disrupting chemical that can mimic hormones in your body and has been linked to obesity, prostate cancer, and breast cancer. BPA can be found in the following: j Beverge cans j Canned food containers j Plastic bottles and containers j Dental fillings and sealants BPA can leach out of containers when you do one of the following: j Heat containers or bottles j Fill containers with hot liquids j Put acidic foods in containers It s hard to avoid BPA, but we can minimize our exposure by avoiding the above three actions. Poop Yes, Poop Buy recycled goods whenever you can. It is one of the most important things we can do because we will create more demand for these kinds of products, so recycling will become more efficient and a bigger industry. GorgGreen_ _R1.indd 123 4/1/08 3:01:29 PM

7 1 4 2 Gorgeously Green The Absolute Worst of the Lot Get rid of air fresheners immediately. Fresh air hello! They cause the dirtiest, most dangerous air you could breathe. Many of them contain formaldehyde, a carcinogen; phenol, which could cause major skin problems; and petroleum distillate, p-dichlorobenzene aerosol propellants, which could cause nausea, diarrhea, and liver and kidney damage if ingested. Not to mention the fragrance that produces the sickly faux flower smell of these ghastly sprays yuck. The best way to deal with unwanted bathroom smells is to light a stick of incense. Also, Citrus Magic ( air freshener is really effective. Lola and a friend sprayed an entire can over themselves a week ago because they wanted to smell fabulous for a party! Thank goodness it wasn t the toxic stuff! You could also simmer some cinnamon and cloves or a few sprigs of fresh rosemary in a saucepan for ten minutes. When you are done, let the water cool and throw it on your plants. Eight Must-Have Products for the Gorgeously Green Girl If you have time, you may want to save lots of money and make your own cleaning products. It s actually incredibly easy and fun, and it will not make your home look or smell like a dingy hippie commune. I use a mixture of the store-bought eco-cleaners and my own. Most importantly, you can save a lot of money. Stock your cupboards with the following eight products and you can clean just about anything: 1. White vinegar see the section on vinegar. 2. Baking soda eliminates odors and is a good scrubbing powder. 3. Borax removes dirt; is antifungal and a possible disinfectant. 4. Hydrogen peroxide (3 percent concentration) nontoxic bleach, antibacterial agent, and stain remover. 5. Lemon juice grease cutter and stain remover. 6. Liquid castile soap all-purpose cleaner, grease-cutter, and disinfectant. Castile means that the soap is vegetable-based and not animal fat based. GorgGreen_ _R1.indd 142 4/1/08 3:03:46 PM

8 Your Palace Olive oil makes great furniture polish. 8. Essential oils of lavender, geranium, and tea tree antibacterial and add a great smell to your home. Tea Tree Oil I have a passion for this strong-smelling essential oil from Australia. It is a natural solvent and is brilliant for cutting grease while killing germs and bacteria. They actually swab down hospitals with it in Australia. It also has a variety of health benefits: I put it on sores and cuts; in shampoo for dandruff; on bleeding gums; and dilute it with water for a mouthwash. Be careful that you re getting the real thing it comes from the Melaleuca alternifolia plant. There are at least one hundred fifty species of the Melaleuca plant, but only the alternifolia one has the healing properties that you need. So check the label. Also, take a whiff before buying, as it should have a very strong smell. You want to make sure it hasn t been diluted. Buy organic if possible. Most large health food stores and many drugstores now stock it. You can also buy it from Vinegar Vinegar deserves a paragraph of its own because it is one of the best cleaners. It can sometimes bring to mind the gloomy eco-house, but it is so effective that I have gotten over it. I chuck a cup in the main body of the dishwasher for every other cycle and use it as a drain cleaner with boiling water. Drain cleaners are the same as oven cleaners avoid them. I also clean out my washing machine with vinegar (run it through a cycle once a month). Vinegar is the best window cleaner I have ever found. I have tried every tip and method for my windows. I have a large picture window in my living room that birds like to use as a bathroom. Everything leaves a smeared effect except a water/vinegar (half and half ) solution. I use old rags from torn-up T-shirts. You can also clean your microwave, kettle, eyeglasses, and lunch boxes with this wonder substance. GorgGreen_ _R1.indd 143 4/1/08 3:03:46 PM