Thursday, April 21, 2011

Herbal Sleep Aids



Do you have problems sleeping?

I know lots of people do, that's why I thought this would be such a great blog post today. Every morning I wake up and check out what's going on in the world of news, weather, and facebook. There are lots of facebook posts that go like this: "WHYYYYYY am I still awake???", "I am soooooo tired but I can't sleep!", "I'm awake and I'm bored!".

Not me, though. I sleep like a baby....usually. Lately I haven't been sleeping so great. But, that's because I have an 18 year old son that thinks he's a man. "I am a MAN!!! I don't need a curfew anymore!".... *sigh* you can imagine......

Sleep aids won't help THAT!!

But, if YOU have a sleep issue that doesn't involve a teenager, I think I have some help for you!

I blogged awhile back about honey and how it can help you fall asleep. You can read about that here, Insomnia Help

But, I've been reading herb journals and here's something I came across. Its about valerian. I've used valerian in the past and it really works!! I didn't use it for a sleep aid initially. I used because I had strained my neck really badly lifting weights and my chiropractor gave me some. That's when I noticed its sleep inducing benefits along with its relaxing properties.

The thing about valerian and most other herbs is that they don't have any side effects! In studies, valerian worked just as well as valium without the grogginess. However, if you take more that 600mg in a capsule form you might be groggy when you wake up. The best way to take it is in a tea form. In a tea form, you don't have ANY grogginess. It's especially good if you take the valerian tea with chamomile. The chamomile helps you fall asleep while the valerian helps you stay asleep. A lot of people like to add hops to it as well.

I do, on occasion, have some chamomile tea. I don't particularly like the flavor. I like Bigelow's Chamomile Mango tea, but oddly, I can hardly ever find it anymore. Sad........

It really does work, I must say. Sometimes, when I've been working really hard I find it hard to relax and that just hits the spot! I've not tried the valerian for a sleep aid, though. I'm going to give it a whirl when I get my hands on some tea.
So, if you fall into the can't sleep or can't STAY asleep camp, try making a tea of chamomile, valerian, (hops if you want an extra boost!), and a touch of honey. See what it does for you. I have a feeling you'll be sleeping like a baby!

Not a baby with a poopy diaper!! (hopefully! Yikes! If that's your problem then the valerian wouldn't really be a good idea!! :)


Friday, April 15, 2011

Appetite Suppressant




Thursday is Herbs Day!!!!! Except its not....its Friday......Yesterday was Thursday and I blogged about something other than herbs. I don't even know what it was about. Oh yeah, skin care. We've been super busy at the pool store. Remember...Pearson Pools, your one stop pool shop? :)

I know, I know...I tried to stop the shameless plugs, but I can't.

You should know that about me by now.

I thought yesterday was Wednesday. It obviously wasn't. I NEEDED yesterday to be Wednesday so I could finish up some work that needs to be done. I know everyone gets all excited about Friday. Not me. I need ONE extra day so I don't have to work on Saturday. Every week, I plan and plan so that my weekend is free. And yet, here I am again, looking at a Saturday in which I'm working. *sigh* Oh well, its always good to earn a living right? In fact, I keep telling my husband, now I'm telling you. I'm not working for money. I'm working for home improvements!!!!!

Okay, Back to Thursday Is Herbs Day!! ....except its not. You get it.


Look at what a funky looking flower this is!!!

Its like "hauntingly beautiful". I've never said that about a plant before. Or anything else for that matter. But, it really kinda is. Its so ugly its pretty.

Anyway, the reason its REALLY interesting is this little plant is a really good appetite suppressant. Guess what its called.

Go on, guess....

No, I said GUESS...


Okay, Okay!! I'll just tell you. Its called caralluma fimbriata.
This is a super cool herb!! Its clinically proven to remove hunger pangs. Its 100% all natural with no side effects, caffeine, or other stimulants.

It really works too! I've tried it. I buy it as the NOW Herbs brand. The NOW product is called Slimaluma Plus.

If you're trying to lose weight this can be a very valuable tool in your box to keep you from feeling hungry.

Here's an excerpt of one study from http://www.carallumaactivesweightloss.com/


Of the remaining 22 participants, the summary of the trial found that over 80% of subjects lost weight with Caralluma, with 11 of them losing more than 6 inches total. Of the others, most lost around 1 to 2 pounds or maintained their original weight. The highest weight losses recorded were by one woman who lost 9 pounds, and a second woman who lost 8 pounds. Meanwhile, there was one subject who deviated from instructions and increased her calorie intake, resulting in a gain of 17 pounds.

Now, its not like a fat burner or anything. It just reduces your hunger. You take it 45 minutes before each meal. It helps to comfortably keep portion size way down.



You're welcome!!! :)

And since its really Friday, this post is part of Food Renegade's Fight Back Friday, go check out more healthy living tips and recipes here http://www.foodrenegade.com/fight-back-friday-april-15th/#more-2780

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Skin Care Product Review

For my entire life from adolescence on, I have had problems with my skin. Its always been dry and flaky and prone to breakouts at the same time. As you can imagine, that can be very frustrating for a teenaged girl!!!

Over the years I kept thinking I was getting a "handle" on it. (farm girl term) But never really did. I tried all sorts of torturous things in the name of beautiful skin, facials (By the way, if you live in or near the Gainesville, TX area, you HAVE to at some point in your life go see Nancy Dresser!!! She is the BEST!), acid peels (those caused a raging case of fever blisters and about 3 days of seeping, blistery skin!! I don't recommend them), multiple products, and I even went to a dermatologist and he prescribed regularly taking antibiotics!!!!!!!! Craziness!!!

Then, as I got a little older even, I still had the same problems only old lady hormonal issues kicked in causing my skin to look all dried out and my hair to start falling out even!! I was becoming one of those bitter old ladies!

Then........

I read Dr Perricone's book

Can you hear the angels singing right now?

Oh, they are. Believe me!!!!!!!

The first thing I did was change my diet. If you read in a woman's magazine from a nutritionist that diet doesn't affect your skin, don't believe her. She's full of hooey! On another side note, you can read opinions about everything from 5 different nutritionists and get 5 fully different opinions! My advice is to research on your own and eat whole foods that God intended for you to put in your body. We weren't wonderfully made to chow down on pesticides, chemicals, and pharmaceuticals!

Dr Perricone has this plan he calls the 3 Day Facelift and then another one he calls the 28 Day Facelift. You should check them out. It really made a HUGE difference in my skin and hair!

As I was reading his book and started to really feel good (By the way, my body feels wonderful, too!!!!) I started thinking about his skin care line. I haven't tried it, but let me just warn you that its WAY expensive!

Bummer?

NO!!!!
I'll tell you why...

Derma E makes a cream of DMAE, Alpha Lipoic Acid, and Vitamin C Ester for a heckuva lot less. That's the same stuff Dr Perricone recommends! At the health food store, I've gotten it for about $25. From my health food co-op in town, I get it for around $11.  Dr Perricone sells it for HUNDREDS!

Hmmmmm...*weighing.....$11.....$hundreds.....hmmmmm*  $11 for me thanks!!!! :)

I also found another company called DHC. You can  go to their website here http://www.dhccare.com/. Its a company from Japan.

Man, Japan..... Can you believe the trouble they're having in Japan? Awful, with all the earthquakes and now all the radiation. MMMMM. Horrible.

I hope buying these Japanese products are helpful to the people of Japan.

Anyway, skin care.

They have this mild soap that I use. Oh!! And they have a deep cleaning oil. Its weird, I know, to think about putting oil on your face when you're trying to clean it but it really works great! You put this oil on to help remove the makeup and debris and then use this soap. Some skin care distributors will try to tell you not to use soap. That its drying. Don't believe them! That may be true of some soaps but not this one. The name of the soap is Mild Soap. And don't forget the Deep Cleaning Oil. Then, as the final step in my skin care regime is the Derma E. My skin has never looked so good!! Its soft, glowing, and younger looking.

I just read in my latest DHC catalog that we're supposed to be toning as well. I never do that, but I'm thinking of starting. They say it reduces wrinkles......Okay, you had me at wrinkles! I'm in... :)

They also have a peptide night cream that looks very similar to what Dr Perricone is peddling. I'm dying to try that as well!! I'll be ordering some in the next day or so. I'll let you know.

Also, as another side benefit, anti-oxidants in your diet are a natural sunscreen!! I work outside and never get burned. I am developing a really nice tan though. But. No burning.

Give it a try and report back!!

By the way, if you decide to try the DHC products tell them that I sent you! When you refer your friends they send you gift certificates for free products. OH!!! One other thing I forgot to tell you about this company that I love so much is with every order you get to pick out 4 free samples! Also, every month they send you a catalog with even more free samples!

Here's what the Derma E looks like:

Saturday, April 9, 2011

Crappy Crafters

Okay, its Crappy Crafter time!!!

It's Crappy Crafter time!!!!

We started a club about a year and a half ago. We had 2 meetings. Count em 2!!! The first one involved wine and Sue stating that she knew how to make hen aprons. Not cute little aprons with hens on them mind you, but aprons for actual hens to wear...........

She's our president. 

Hey! Don't judge! I told you wine was involved.

mmmmmmmm.......wine........

Anyway. Back my original thought. See the picture above? Isn't it hilarious??? That's where our name idea originally came from.
We laughed and laughed about that for hours. That was another time when more wine was involved. The Crappy Crafters like our wine!

Anyway. Back to my original thought. The Crappy Crafters are coming back to town! Yay!! And we have more wine   fun than ever planned. Our first venture back into the fun is a plant exchange. We're thinking the first SOMETHING of every month will be our meeting day, possibly Friday evenings. Friday evenings seem to be  good times to share bottles of wine!! Yeah, yeah, and do crafts...whatever......

So, if you want to join the wine   fun, ahem, then be thinking about the plant exchange! Look around your yard and pull up whatever weed you think somebody else will want, pot it up and bring it with you! Its gonna be fun!

Crappy Crafting!!!!

Friday, April 1, 2011

EFAs and Skin Moisture

Wow!! 2 entries in one day!!!! Can you believe it?

I'm here at our store, Pearson Pools, your one stop pool shop! *I know, I know...I'll stop.* I'm here after cleaning pools all day because today is opening day of baseball and Robbie the guy who is regularly in this seat has gone home early to watch the Rangers beat the Red Sox. As an aside, I don't really know if the Rangers are beating the Red Sox nor do I honestly care. Don't get me wrong, I want the Rangers to win, but not so much that I feel a need to go HOME to watch them!!!

We have a little tv here and we've offered to mount it and hook it up to cable but he thinks its too much money....Really? Do you know how much money cable costs? No? Then how do you know???

.....what? the fish? Oh....riiiiightttttt... again, I digress. See? I need you to keep me in check otherwise my fishy blog entry turns into a baseball entry. Or was it an entry about the cost of cable? I can't keep up.
So, back to the fish!

I follow Suzanne Sommers blog. She's really smart about nutritional stuff! Who knew, right? I used to think 'She's an actress! What does she know about nutrition??' I thought the same thing about Marilu Henner. As it turns out, they know quite a lot. I was waiting for my son at Boy Scouts one night in the church library. I picked up one of Suzanne's books and was really blown away. So, I'm going to share something she was talking about in her blog. Its about moisturizers.

Apparently, she has a skin care line. Some women were complaining that their aging skin wasn't holding moisture. As it turns out, they were deficient in their omega 3s!!

The point is, if you consume enough of those essential fats your skin will glow. I will tell you that we've noticed that drinking Monavie. Its perfectly balanced omegas 3, 6, and 9. You can also get your omega 3s from fish and fish oil. I recommend the fish as the oil goes rancid really quickly.

Because its your lucky day, I'm going to tell you my favorite way to prepare fish. Its tilapia. I don't know how you feel about tilapia being from China and all. Oh sure, I bet you could find some around here but EVERYTHING comes from China anymore. I kid you not, that I even sprung for a case of expensive, health food store tilapia to get away from those pesky Chinese and would you believe that those came from China as well. So, I'll let you be the judge on that. I just love it! Its very mild and light on the calories.

Here's what ya need:

tilapia fillets
salt
pepper
garlic powder
chile pepper powder seasoning (I use Rudy's Rub, but Emerils is good too)
lemon
olive oil

Turn on the broiler. I cover my broiler  pan with foil so the clean up is a super breeze! place the fillets on the pan and brush each one with olive oil. Sprinkle spices on each fillet to taste and then squeeze lemon all over them. Turn the fillets over and do the same thing to that side. If you don't like spicy leave out the chile powder seasoning. Its super delicious without it too! Put that in the broiler for about 3-4 minutes (till they're not pink) flip them over and cook another 3-4 minutes until they flake with a fork. Boooyah!!All done! How easy is that????

Now, you have a delicious meal for your family that's low in calories and youthful skin all the same time! Now that's some multitasking!

This post is part of Food Renegade's Fight Back Fridays. To check out even more healthy suggestions shoot on over there at this website http://www.foodrenegade.com/fight-back-friday-april-1st/ 

Ghee Giveaway!!!

Pure Indian Foods is giving away jars of ghee!!! If you've never had it, you should definitely try it....definitely!

Ghee is a clarified butter. I think it tastes extra buttery if that makes any sense. Its buttery than butter!!!

Its light and lacks all the dairy and milk solids found in butter. Some benefits to using ghee is that it requires no refrigeration as it doesn't spoil, its a healthy fat (btw, your body needs fat to be healthy!! Studies have shown that fat free diets actually speed up the aging process! Yikes!! A nutritionist friend of mine actually told me when I was eating low fat and working out like a mad woman that I could be really thin with an old, haggard face....or be beautiful with a little extra fat under my skin.....Oh My!! What's a girl to do????)

These are some other benefits I got from another blog. Its http://path2healthyliving.blogspot.com/2009/03/health-benefits-of-ghee.html

Health Benefits of Ghee




Ayurveda maintains that Ghee is a vital food for healthy skin, mental clarity and good digestion. It also helps the body assimilate nutrients.

Ghee is salt and lactose free so it is beneficial for those who can't drink milk or eat cheese.

Ghee is said to have anti-cancer and anti-viral properties.

Contains CLA or conjugated linolenic acid which aids weightloss, especially stubborn belly fat and has been shown to slow the progress of some types of cancer and heart disease.

We all need healthy fats in our diet and Ghee is an easily digestible source of saturated fat that contains no trans fats or hydrogenated fats. Ghee, however, is low in the essential omega 3 fatty acids you need for good brain health so supplementation with omega 3's is a needed for a healthy diet.

Other Benefits of Ghee



Making Ghee is a great way to preserve butter, which turns rancid or loses flavor quickly. Ghee won't turn rancid at room temperature like butter and retains it's original flavor and freshness for up to a year without refrigeration.

Withstands high heat in baking at temperatures above 240 degrees Farenheit and is one of the few unrefined oils that does so.

So go on over to Food Renegade's blog http://www.foodrenegade.com/giveaway-ghee-ghee-ghee-and-more-ghee/ and follow the directions to get your chance to win some free ghee!!!!!