organic – Muffins and Mozart

Availability…Albertson’s
Focus…famous for their Mint Julep Masque
Founded…in 1930
Ingredients… ingredients like cocoa butter which is rich with vitamins and natural emollient properties, pomegranate oil for its antioxidant protection against the skin-aging effects of environment, and essential oils to help relax tired muscles and ease tension
Mission…to provide a full line of affordable and effective body care products that are passed on from generation to generation
Philosophy…
Price Range…$7 for body lotion

2. Renee Rouleau

Availability…spas in Dallas and Plano, Texas
Focus…effectively correcting every skin type’s concerns
Founded…established in 1996 by celebrity esthetician, Renée Rouleau
Mission…to help people maximize their skin’s potential with a propietary line of natural, high-performance products based on nine unique skin types
Philosophy…that the skin care industry’s one-size-fits-all approach was not in-sync with what the modern client wants, or needs, in their pursuit of balanced, healthy skin
Price Range…$46.50 for body serum

3. Rodial

Availability…Nordstrom
Focus…famous for products like “Bee Venom” and “Dragon’s Blood”
Price Range…$78 for body serum

4. Radical Skincare

Availability…Sephora
Founded…by Liz and Rachel, the daughters of Dr. Richard F. Edlich MD.PHD, world renowned Professor of Plastic Surgery
Ingredients…extract of paracress, seaweed extracts, macadamia and desert date palm oils, glycerine
Mission…to provide solutions that are as effective as possible for all skin types.
Price Range…$78 for body serum

5. S.W. Basics

Availability…Target
Focus…using as few ingredients as possible, usually 5 or less per products
Price Range…$20 for body oil

6. Suntegrity

Focus…offers sun care and nothing but sun care
Founded…in memory of all of those who lost their lives to skin cancer
Ingredients…only the best known physical block ingredient (non-nano size zinc oxide)
Mission… to provide broad spectrum UVA/UVB protection and super anti-oxidants and amino acids to enhance that protection and help with skin repair
Philosophy… It doesn’t make sense to use these types of sunscreens to prevent skin cancer only to get another kind of cancer.
Price Range…$24 for sunscreen

7. Sukin

Focus…Australia’s Number One Natural Skincare Brand
Founded…in Melbourne, Australia in 2007
Ingredients…the highest grade essential oils, antioxidants, and botanicals
and 100% natural botanical extracts…naturally derived, cruelty free and vegan
Mission…to provide high efficacy, environmentally sustainable and affordable natural skincare products that restore the natural vitality and radiance of your skin and hair
Philosophy…producing the highest standards of natural skin, hair and body care products begins with sourcing quality ingredients
Price Range…$14 for body lotion

8. The Wonder Seed

Focus…hempseed oil
Founded…by Theresa Ruiz-Hellings and her daughters Elena and Juliet and formerly known as The Healing Seed
Ingredients…100% natural, vegan, with no parabens, and no artificial colors or perfumes
Mission…to nurture, heal and protect skin and hair with a complete line of products rich in virgin organic hempseed oil, the most nutritious oil on Earth
Philosophy…From our families to yours, we wish you vibrant health for your most wonderful life!
Price Range…$17 for body lotion

9. Tatcha

Availability…Sephora
Focus…based on the rituals of the Japanese geisha
Founded…in Japan by Victoria Tsai
Ingredients…complete list here
Philosophy…less is more
Price Range…$48 for body butter

10. Yes To

Availability…Ulta, drugstores all over the world
Focus…products in their carrot, blueberry, tomato, cucumber, and grapefruit ranges
Ingredients..95% NATURAL INGREDIENTS…no parabens…packaged in recyclable packaging whenever possible.
Mission…to make skin feel good while bringing a smile to your face
Price Range..$13 for body lotion.

Cruelty-Free Body and Skin Care Brands…#1

April 15, 2020/Christy/Leave a comment

Not only are there more and more cruelty-free natural and organic cosmetic companies being started these days…but also a slew of cruelty-free natural and organic body and skin care companies popping up.

These products-which are good replacements for brands that test on animals…including Aveeno, Garnier, Olay, Neutrogena, and St. Ives…can more easily be found and are being formulated to address various skin type needs and concerns.

The next few posts will be a guide to cruelty-free skincare brands and the locations where they can be found.

1. Alba Botanical

Availability…available in many drugstores, Amazon, iHerb.
Focus…acne-prone skin
Ingredients…high quality, 100% vegetarian products that overflow with botanical ingredients such as aloe vera, green tea and chamomile extracts
Mission…to Do Beautiful…to help fellow women look beautiful on the outside while feeling beautiful on the inside
Price Range… $10 for body lotion

2. Athar’a Pure

Focus…ancient Ayurvedic skin care treatments and dosha types
Ingredients…the best natural and organic pure, plant-based ingredients found on earth…without the use of toxins, chemicals, parabens, dyes, phthalates, sulfates, artificial fragrances.synthetics, alcohol or any other harmful ingredient or preservatives
Mission…providing you with high quality, luxurious, vegan beauty products that are cruelty free and never tested on animals
Price Range…$22 for body lotion

3. Avalon Organics

Availability…Walmart, Kroger, Sprouts, Amazon, iHerb
Focus…anti-aging
Ingredients…plant-based organic ingredients from only trusted sources
Mission…founded on the deep-rooted belief that all beauty comes from the Earth…deep reverence for the Earth and a respect for all living creatures.
Price Range… $9

4. Andalou Naturals

Availability…Amazon, iHerb
Founded…by Stacey Kelly and Mark Egide in 1999 as the very first certified organic personal care line
Ingredients…fruit and plant stem cells
Philosophy…Beauty is YOU – a simple and bold empowerment message to consumers and the industry at large. Beauty happens in the moments of the everyday (for individuals and organizations) – the little choices that we make along the way that all add up to monumental change: Commit to defining beauty one action at a time and be Empowered, Radiant and True. Beauty is YOU.
Price Range…$15 for body lotion

5. Blissoma

Focus…demanding skin types, such as extremely sensitive skin and allergies
Ingredients…100% natural, Certified Vegan…a much stricter ingredient palette than even most “natural” brands…packed with certified organic botanicals, bioavailable vitamins, essential fatty acids, and skin-soothing seed oils
Mission…to provide true solutions to uncomfortable skin conditions…to help people develop a healthy, happy relationship with their skin… to bring forth a positive, loving vision of what beauty can be, embody inclusion, and enhance the dignity of all people
Price Range…$36 for body lotion

6. COOLA

Availability…Sephora, Ulta
Focus…sunscreen
Ingredients…natural, organic, sustainable and locally sourced…vitamins and age-defying antioxidants…without parabens, paba and phthalates
Mission…Better for your skin, better for the environment.
Price Range…$32

7. Derma E

Availability…Whole Foods, Sprouts, Ulta, CVS, Walgreen’s
Focus…the belief that skin health can be visibly improved through the right combination of potent vitamins, wholesome nutrients and exceptional ingredients.
Ingredients
Mission…to honor our customers with products that promote healthier-looking skin and business ethics that promote a healthier world.
Price Range…$13

8. Dermadoctor

Availability…Sephora
Focus…problem-solving solutions for skin concerns ranging from anti-aging challenges to blemishes, chicken skin bumps and perspiration dilemmas
Founded…by Dr. Audrey Kunin
Ingredients…include Artichoke Bud Extract and Bayberry Fruit Extract
Mission… to provide effective solutions to skincare problems without the need of a prescription
Philosophy…DERMAdoctor is truly just what the skin doctor ordered.®
Price Range…$58 for body lotion

If All Else Fails

March 1, 2020March 1, 2020/Christy/Leave a comment

grocery delivery

So what to do if your attempts at container gardening are an epic fail…or while you wait to see if the plants that you do plant actually turn out successful…or if you simply don’t want to go to the trouble of planting your own….or if you don’t have the space to even attempt to grow your own fruits and vegetables….or if you can’t make it to your farmer’s market’s Saturday-morning-only hours…or if you are looking for more variety than what you yourself would even attempt to grow.

Thankfully there are large-scale online organic grocery delivery services and subscription boxes that you can join that will deliver an assortment of organic fruits and veggies to your door to fill in these gaps by sending organic, all-natural produce and products right to your door.

What a convenience, right?!

The only problem perhaps with joining one of these subscriptions if that unfortunately you won’t be able to choose which fruits and vegetables you end up getting…(it’s their choice, not yours…so you can’t be picky)…

But here is a list of a few to consider…

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Boxed Greens

boxed greens Goal…to provide fresh fruits and vegetables from farms local to Phoenix, AZ

Optio ns include…

The Essential Family…basic produce for four people
The Family Gourmand…same as The Essential Family, but comes with a few more unusual fruits or vegetables
The Juicemaker
The Breakfast Box…seasonal fruits and fresh granola

Reach…offers weekly delivery to Phoenix, Tempe, Scottsdale, Mesa, and other areas in Arizona…as well overnight delivery both to other areas in Arizone and nationwide

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Door to Door Organics

Goal…to stock their boxes with pesticide-free produce primarily from local sources…even though they resort to getting produce from warmer climates and international organic farms during the winter months

Reach…several locations across the country, including Colorado, Kansas City, Chicago, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware

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Green Polka Dot Box

green polka dot

What…an online grocery store and buying collective that offers lower prices on brands such as Newman’s Own, Annie’s, Sprout, Tom’s of Maine, and more

Goal…to bring not only organic fruits and vegetables…but also other organic and natural products—including snacks, condiments, baking supplies, and more

How…either a $50-annual Club Membership or a $125-annual Rewards Membership

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SPUD-–Sustainable Produce Urban Delivery

Reach…the northern West Coast: Seattle, San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles and Orange County, Vancouver, Van Island, and Calgary

How…you design your own Harvest Box by choosing…

how frequently you want to get groceries delivered
how much you want to spend
whether you want to buy local goods only…local goods over a variety of items…or variety over source

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Urban Organic

Reach…New York Tri-State area…imncluding New Jersey, Long Island, and Connecticut

Options…offers four box sizes, ranging from The Little Box to the Extra-Value Box

Contents…changes every week…but includes produce such as carrots, greens, broccoli, apples, tomatoes, grapefruit, and tangerines

Juicing Box…also offers a Juicing Box designed for DIY juice and smoothies…which comes with carrots, beets, parsely, celery, ginger, apples, pears, dark greens, and cucumbers

Groceries…also sells canned goods, baby food, sustainably-raised meat and household supplies such as organic cat food and cleaning spray

Making a List…Checking It Twice

February 24, 2020/Christy/2 Comments

The D. Landreth Seed Company catalog — I hate shopping….and I hate spending alot of money not sure that it will be worth it or not.

And at this point in my gardening dreams, I want to be able to get as many creative ideas and as much inspiration as possible without spending a single penny that I don’t have to.

Plants can be expensive at your local nursery or greenhouse…

So I’m glad to learn that ordering seeds can make it cheaper to start your garden off with than plants I would be spending at least $10 per plant for if I were to buy them already sprouted.

Hopefully to get me inspired to seriously pursue this gardening thing that I’ve said that I would start now for how many decades of married life, I have just ordered seed catalogs from the following seed companies or bookmarked their websites for future reference…

Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds…rareseeds.com.

Burpee & Co…burpee.com

John Scheepers Kitchen Garden Seeds…kitchengardenseeds.com.

Johnny’s Selected Seeds…johnnyseeds.com

Kitazawa Seed Company…kitazawaseed.com

Park’s Seeds…parkseed.com

Seeds from Italy,..growitalian.com.

Tomato Grower’s Supply Co…tomatogrowers.com

Vermont Bean Seed Co…vermontbean.com

Wood Prairie Farm Maine Potato Catalog,..woodprairie.com.

If nothing else, I can simply spend quality couch time poring over these pages and websites…dreaming and debating over which vegetable and flower seeds to order

And if all else fails, I can resort to cutting out the pictures in the catalogs and laminating them and sticking the pictures in my garden with stakes…pretending that my garden was actually a success…and hoping for better luck next year.

Just like generations and generations of gardeners and garden wannabes have been doing for hundreds of years.

Finding the Perfect Pot to Pea In

February 18, 2020February 18, 2020/Christy/Leave a comment

Container Gardening…The What

February 17, 2020/Christy/Leave a comment

Growing Pains

February 14, 2020/Christy/1 Comment

- I definitely wasn’t born with a green thumb, but I have taken it on myself to learn how to grow some of your family’s favorites—such as tomatoes, potatoes, onions, carrots, peas, cucumbers, pumpkins or watermelon.
- Kinda ambitious considering that every houseplant that I’ve ever bought has died within a month, right?!
- These are my three goals…
- —Patio garden
- —Square foot gardening
- —Windowsill herb garden
- I so look forward to eating homegrown veggies that I can be proud of and showing off my hopefully-new harvesting skills….so in the next three posts, I wll be “doing my homework” so that I can get started on this new adventure…Come grow with me!!!
(Yes…I know that this post looks wierd with all the stupid dots, but I can’t figure out how to get rid of them)…

Cream of the Crop…Veggies

February 10, 2020/Christy/Leave a comment

Now that we’ve taken a look at which fruits you should be buying in organic form, let’s consider veggies.

The following veggies are ones that you really should be buying in organic form…

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Celery

More than 95% percent of the celery sampled by the EWG contained up to 13 chemicals….so this is another vegetable that you should buy as organic.

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Corn

Even though the EWG considers to be a low-pesticide crop and tests have shown that less than 2% of sweet corn has any pesticide residue, you really should consider buying organic corn.

Why?

Because much of the corn grown here in the United States is produced from seeds that have been genetically modified….and many of us are trying to avoid foods that contain GMOs…and even the USDA doesn’t consider foods that are grown from GMO seeds to be classified as organic.

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Collard Greens

Collard greens, even though considered on the hardier vegetables, contain high levels of pesticides.

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Cucumbers

Cucumbers rank among the list of the top ten vegetables that are grown with the highest amount of pesticides.

Not only that, most cucumbers sold in grocery stores have had synthetic waxes applies on their skins—kinda like apples—and this wax, even though it is applied to preserve moisture, often contains a large number of pesticides.

So always buy organic cucumbers…or at least take the time to peel them before using.

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Hot Peppers

Hot peppers, or simply peppers in general, are always best to buy in organic form because they all have been shown to have high levels of pesticides.

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Kale

Over 92% of conventional kale samples tested positive for two or more pesticide residues…some containing over eighteen different pesticide residues.

A major pesticide to be concerned about when considering whether or not to buy organic kale is the fact that it has been shown to contain DCPA (Dacthal), a substance that has been banned in Europe for at least ten years and is classified as a potential human carcinogen by the EPA.

Sixty percent of these samples tested had traces of this particular pesticide.

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Potatoes

You would think that potatoes would be hardy enough not to have to buy in organic form, but nothing could be further from the truth.

In fact, conventional potatoes have been shown to have more pesticides than any other crop. since they require nutrient-rich soil and are often grown with artificial fertilizers.

Cream of the Crop…Fruit

February 8, 2020/Christy/1 Comment

Cherries

Even though organic cherries can be quite expensive, it’s important to that you buy organic cherries because cherries maintain an average of five pesticides, including iprodione, a chemical that may cause cancer.

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Grapes

Since grapes contain such high levels of pesticides, you should also assume that non-organic wine will expose you to these high levels of pesticides also…and not only that,organic wines contain fewer sulfites, chemical preservatives that can trigger asthma-like symptoms.

Because grapes tend to mold, attract insects and ripen too quickly,, farmers typically use pesticides on their grapes.

And because grapes are so simple to grab right out of the bag and munch on without taking the time to wash them, not only are you munching down on the grape, but also an average of five pesticides per grape.

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Nectarines

Nectarines are another fruit that you should always buy organic.

Nectarines, especially imported nectarines, contain a high level of contaminants. In fact, studies havce shown that about 94% of the nectarines in a given sample contained anywhere from two to fifteen different pesticides.

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Peaches

Peaches are known to contain high levels of pesticides….in fact more than 99% of non-organic peaches have been shown to contain detectable pesticide residues, typically of four different pesticides.

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Strawberries

Of all the fruits found in your local grocery store or farmers market, strawberrie are the most important fruit to buy in organic form…in fact, if you can’t find organic strawberries, don’t buy any at all.

This is because strawberries are probably the most pesticide-contaminated food out there.

The Environmental Working Group has found that over 99% of strawberries contain at least two or more pesticides…many of them containing up to forty different pesticides.

Meet the Meat

February 6, 2020/Christy/Leave a comment

First on our scope of what groceries you should start buying organic…and which ones you can save money on and buy the “normal stuff,” let’s take a look at meat…(I know, any vegetarian or vegan readers are gonna cringe when I finish this post)

But at least buying organic meat will be better for the environment, health, and animal welfare.

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What does “organic” mean as far as meat?

In order for meat to be considered organic, at least the following three requirements must be met…

1. animals must be raised without antibiotics and hormones
2. animals must be given proper veterinary treatment whenever necessary
3. animals must have access to the outdoors, sunlight, and clean water

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Beef

Organic beef not only helps you avoid the extra additives and chemicals especially the growth hormones given to livestock to make them grow larger faster—found in non-organic beef, the beef actually is a better quality.

Buying organic beef also is leaner and has higher concentrations of omega-3 fatty acids.

In order for beef to be considered organic, the cows must graze in open pastures for at least 120 days per year…instead of being cooped up indoors without any grazing time in pastures at all, which is typically the case.

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Chicken

There is much debate as to whether or not organic poultry is better than “conventional” poultry as far as nutrition, but regardless there are plenty enough reasons to buy organic, including…

is better for the animals because in order for chickens to be classified as organic, they must be allowed access outdoors
is also better for the animal because they cannot be injected with the antibiotics given to “typical” chickens to to help boost flavor and add moisture
is better for the environment because antibiotic-laden run-off is poisonous to wildlife
prevents antibiotic-lader run-off from making its way into your water supply
the meat typically contains less salt, preservatives and other additives

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Pork

Pigs are conventionally injected with vaccinations, hormones and pharmaceuticals in order for themX to get fatter in a shorter period of time.,,,(by the way, please make sure that I don’t get any of these myself)…which means that you could possibly be affected by these hormones and pharmaceuticals yourself.

Not only can eating organic pork—including bacon, sausage, and deli meats—help you avoid these hormones and pharmaceuticals, is can also keep you from being exposed to chemical preservatives—such as nitrate and nitrite—which have been linked to gastric cancer and birth defects.

Muffins and Mozart

Tag: organic

Cruelty-Free Body and Skin Care Brands…#4

Cruelty-Free Body and Skin Care Brands…#1

If All Else Fails

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Boxed Greens

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Door to Door Organics

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Green Polka Dot Box

Making a List…Checking It Twice

Finding the Perfect Pot to Pea In

Container Gardening…The What

Growing Pains

Cream of the Crop…Veggies

Cream of the Crop…Fruit

Cherries

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Grapes

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Strawberries

Meet the Meat

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Beef

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Chicken

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