Green Smoothie Love

These smoothies have really become a big part of my life. I didn't have time to make them the past two months because of my work schedule so I was over the moon to get back to it.  This particular batch contains spinach, cucumber, pineapple, apple and banana.

If you are a smoothie lover, green or not, here are two things I have learned from my concoctions.

1. If you want something fresh and frothy, cucumber is your friend.  Cucumber has the ability to take a sweet drink and make it almost ice cream like. It's amazing.

2. If you want something creamy, banana is the ingredient you need to add. When I first started making green smoothies, I hesitated adding banana to spinach. I don't know why considering I was loving the spinach/pineapple combination. When I finally did it, I was blown away.

As I learn tips, I will share them here.  In the meantime, if you have any tips, please comment below.

I Am The Girl

I am the girl that gave up canned and boxed foods years ago because of the salts and sugars used as preservatives.

I am the girl that struggled to give up the dairy products that I love so much because they cause me migraines.

I am the girl that has tripled her water intake in the last year.

I am the girl that added green juices to her diet, drastically increasing the number of fruits and vegetables I consume.

I am the girl that walks around the building or the floor at work because I understand that my job has us at a desk for too long during the day.

I am the girl that hasn’t bought table sugar in over 6 months.

I am the girl who was losing weight leading up to her wedding and almost had to get more alterations to account for the extra losses.

But I am also the girl that had a serious health scare this week. I caught a bug at work this week and by the time I made it to the walk in clinic, my blood pressure was so high I had to immediately go to the ER.

I’d be foolish to think that over the years I’d done enough. I know I could have done more. I know I have more to do. The hard part is not letting this make me feel like all I have done has been for nothing.

It has not. This will not defeat me.

 Take care of yourselves.

And when you think you’ve done enough, do more!

Winter Prep-The Skin

The weather is starting to show signs of wanting to change. This is a welcome change for me as I thrive in Fall/Spring climates. Summer and Winter are not my friends and both wreak havoc on my skin. Over the past two years, I’ve noticed my skin getting more sensitive and I’ve really had to step up my game in terms of moisturizing and caring for my skin. I have never been a fan of lotion. It never seems to really soak in and it leeches back out at the slightest sign of sweat.

I still haven’t perfected what works for me, but I’m a lot closer. Here is a breakdown of the things that are working for me right now.

Of course, a good skin regimen is going to include actions that help boost health from the inside and from the outside.

The easiest thing we can do internally is to drink more water. Whether it’s bottled water or

my chia water

, I have kicked me intake up drastically over the past few months. I have noticed several benefits to the increase, the most important of which is the glow my skin has taken on and the decrease of dry patches. My lips and hands have become the spots that flare first so when I noticed problems with either, I immediately drink a glass or two of water before I do anything else. Even before I reach for topical solutions, I drink water.

Vitamins have also become vital to me over the last few years. I am well over due in thanking

Centrum

for stocking me up on multi-vitamins at

Blissdom 2012

.

In addition to a general multi-vitamin, I have incorporated a Skin, Nails and Hair Vitamin into my regimen. Because I started taking this at the same time I ramped up my water intake, it’s hard to say how much value it is adding, but I have seen enough improvement to keep it up. I picked this up at my local health food store. It is pricey but worth it when you have skin issues like I do.

Because I am not a fan of lotion, I have had to re-think my topical solution for skin care. I tried shea butter for awhile and my skin loves that stuff. The problem I have with that though is the time it takes to apply. Apply shea butter is not quick and I need something quick if I’m going to stick with it. Oil to the rescue! I’ve seen quite a few YouTubers make oil mixes for their hair and skin and I finally decided to give it a try myself.

I made a mix of avocado, coconut, castor and olive oils. The applicator bottle that use has measurement marks on it so I put in two ounces of the olive and avocado oil, one ounce of the castor oil and one ounce of the coconut oil. I go with less castor oil because it promotes hair growth and I would like the little body hair I have to stay that way. I does soften things up though. I take it easy on the coconut oil because it tends to over power the smell of the mix. I do love the smell of toasted coconut but I don’t want to smell like it all day. I keep this applicator bottle in the shower to apply while my skin is still wet. Talk about big improvement. With the exception of my hands which get washed several times a day, my skin doesn’t need anything else applied through the day. We’ll see how things hold up through the winter months.

Because I wash my hands so often, I do need to have something on hand to deal with that. I used to keep shea butter on my desk at work, but since shea butter takes a few minutes to soak in, I run the risk of getting things greasy as I work. Right now, I keep a bottle of cornhuskers lotion on standby but I am trying out a new body cream by

ILY

. More on that product line later.

I will be ecstatic if I can make it through the winter without those painful dry patches on my hands and legs. I would love to know what you all are doing to keep your skin healthy.