Today's Ramblings--a wide variety

While I know that we can never remove ALL the toxins around us we can definitely take steps to REDUCE those toxins & thereby improve our health.  One of the greatest books I've read: Not Just a Pretty Face really impacted me in this regard.  It made me stop & think about what I was putting ON my body as well as what I was putting IN my body.  I recommend the book highly.  And since reading that book I've been using natural products--soap, shampoo, makeup, etc.  I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to READ LABELS--your food, your cosmetics, toiletries, etc--READ THE LABELS & do some research on those ingredients & decide for yourself if you really want to continue to use that product. 

But I have to admit that buying those products (at Henry's, Whole Foods, & Mother's Market) can get expensive.  Enter vitacost.  I love this online company.  They offer a wide range of products.  In addition to toiletry items they also offer supplements.  They offer most of the brands that are available in the health food stores.  And they offer all of these things for less money than the health food stores.  As if that's not enough incentive, we don't pay sales tax when we buy from them & we do pay it in the health food stores.  And shipping is a flat rate of $4.99.  They do offer more rapid shipping for more money, but don't waste your money, they ship FAST, as long as the item is in stock.  I recently ordered on a Sunday night & my shipment arrived Tuesday morning.  This company is phenomenal.

I also wanted to ramble regarding a new product I am buying from Vitacost.  It's from a company called "amazing grass".  My diet always falls short on fruits before anything else.  And I do often fall short on veggies as well.  So I decided to look for one of those green powder drinks to try out.  After doing a lot of comparing I decided on one from the amazing grass company.  They do have several to choose from, but this is the one I chose: Amazing Grass Berry & Greens.  I also liked that they offer 2 for kids, a chocolate variety & a berry variety.  Now I know my son well enough to know that he'll choose berry over chocolate 10 times out of 10 on any given day.  So I ordered him this: Lil J's Berry Drink. 

I hadn't planned on getting him one, I was really just looking for one for ME, but when I saw that they had them for kids too I suddenly realized what a great idea that is for him, nutrition-wise I mean.  It's funny because when I was pregnant I kept imagining myself (later on of course, not while he was still a baby) creating all sorts of healthy drinks for my child.  And it's amazing to me, because my son definitely prefers to DRINK his calories rather than EAT them any given day.  And so I have tried my hardest to make sure he's getting good nutrition in his drinks, especially since he's such a picky eater.  I have found that I need to be careful though, at least until he's potty trained.  Some drinks are acidic & will give him a rash.  He has VERY sensitive skin, just like me.  :(   And so I've added this drink daily for him (just as I've done with mine) & he LOVES it (& it's not acidic for him at all).  So he gets that one & his kefir--which are both calorie & nutrition rich.  And then he gets a couple of sippys of diluted juice along with some foods, whatever he is willing to eat at the time.  He's still super picky about what he's willing to eat & it varies on a daily basis.  Hubby has finally seen the full extint of this now that he's been here all week.  I know he thought I was exaggerating before now. 

I do know that they make pediasure, but all those drinks like that, geared for a variety of age groups & health situations, I refuse to buy.  I, personally, do not think they are healthy.  I truly believe you can make  far healthier drinks on your own.  It makes me sad to see people turn to those drinks.  And I know they have their reasons, but I promise you "I" will never buy those for myself or my loved ones.  They are so processed & synthetic it's ridiculous.  They are made by the people who believe nutrition is simply science & they know everything about that science.  I sooooo dislike that mindset.  If you have a loved one that is using those types of drinks PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE consider making them some really healthy nutrition & calorie rich drinks yourself & take them to them.  At least try.  It could make all the difference in the world for them.

I guess that's all I have to ramble about today--touched a little on the importance of what we put ON our bodies & praised vitacost.com & Lil J's nutrition, a well rounded blog me thinks.