Why Safe Beauty & Self-Care Matters

These are some of my favorite brands that have cleaner beauty.

Our skin is the largest organ in our body (12) AND it’s a part of our microbiome AKA closely tied to our gut. Skin health, gut health, and emotional/brain health all go hand in hand believe it or not. I know most of my followers and readers of this page are healthy eaters and conscious of the food they put IN their microbiome, but what about what goes ON it?

That’s where clean beauty and skincare come in. Most over the counter makeup and skincare contain tons of toxins. If you want to check your products, you can measure them on the Environmental Working Group “skin deep” database. The FDA requires no premarket review of the safety of cosmetics. Instead, the cosmetics industry is supposed to “self police” through its Cosmetics Ingredients Review Panel. Over the 36 years that this has been in place, the panel has rejected only 11 ingredients (1). In contrast, the European Union has banned hundreds of chemicals in cosmetics (2). Most of my makeup comes from Beauty Counter, which takes the utmost care in its ingredients (not sponsored), and I have an instagram post outlining some of my other favorite brands. Feel free to email me with any questions about Beauty Counter products, I’m happy to answer!

Remember, the containers we use to store food and water can contain these harmful compounds too, and they can leech into our food. This is why I recommend stainless steel and glass.

Personal care products are manufactured with over 10,500 unique ingredients, many of which are known carcinogens, endocrine disruptors (hormone disruptors), known toxins and more (3). For instance, a common ingredient “phthalates”, has been shown to interfere with proper reproductive function in babies whose mothers were exposed to it during pregnancy (4, 5). Phthalates can be found in personal care products (READ YOUR LABELS), they can leech into food when microwaving food in plastic containers, they are found in soft plastic and vinyl products as well. You can read how the National Institute of Health warns about phthalates (6), and other endocrine disruptors in our environment (7).

Even fragrances, which can seem innocent, and are added to SO many products, can contain numerous hidden chemicals. Because of the labeling laws for fragrances in the United States, companies do not have to list individual ingredients of their “fragrance blend”. Therefore, companies will just lump any harmful ingredient in the category of “fragrance” so that they do not have to disclose it. A 2010 Environmental Working Group study found an average of 14 chemicals not listed on the label in the top products containing any kind of “fragrance” (10). What makes this all worse is that skincare products are not made to stay onto the surface of the skin, they seep into our skin and can even enter the bloodstream (3).

Hopefully the above information will make you think twice about what you put on your skin daily. However, it’s not just our skin and beauty care that bad chemicals can sneak into. It can also be what we brush our teeth into, some of which, is ingested every day. Two ingredients to look out for in toothpaste are SLS (sodium lauryl sulphate), which has been shown to irritate skin and even cause cancer in multiple studies (8, 9) and fluoride, which, is also often added to water. Fluoride has been linked to everything from thyroid issues, bone and joint disorders, neurological issues such as ADHD, reproductive issues and more (11). It’s scary to think that most conventional drugstore products can actually be dangerous for us. But considering we use these products daily, it is worth another look. I use this Dr. Bronner fluoride and SLS-free toothpaste (it’s made of all ingredients you recognize) and this Hello charcoal activated mouthwash.

What now?

The point of this blog post is not to scare you or send you into a frenzy. It’s merely to educate you so that the next time you are buying a personal care item, you can make a more informed purchasing decision. You also don’t need to feel like you need to throw out 100% of your products and buy new ones overnight. This is daunting, expensive and time consuming. However, if you want to do it, be my guest. A more approachable way to conquer this task is every time you have a product you used up, replace it with a cleaner alternative. You can use the EWG “skin deep” site or app to help you. I think this is especially important if you have children or are ever planning to have children. We can give the next generation a better chance than we had because now we have more knowledge.

references:

1. http://www.fda.gov/Cosmetics/ResourcesForYou/Consumers/CosmeticsQA/ucm167234.htm

2. http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/sectors/cosmetics/documents/directive/#h2-consolidated-version-of-cosmetics-directive-76/768/eec

3. https://www.ewg.org/skindeep/2011/04/12/why-this-matters/

4. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16079079

5. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19919614

6. https://www.niehs.nih.gov/research/supported/assets/docs/j_q/phthalates_the_everywhere_chemical_handout_508.pdf

7. https://www.niehs.nih.gov/health/materials/endocrine_disruptors_508.pdf

8. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30784350

9. https://www.nicnas.gov.au/chemical-information/imap-assessments/imap-group-assessment-report?assessment_id=184

10. https://www.ewg.org/research/not-so-sexy

11. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/154164.php

12. https://www.webmd.com/skin-problems-and-treatments/picture-of-the-skin#1

Balanced Breakfast Tips

One of the most common things I see on food diaries is missing breakfast or a nutrient deficient breakfast. For reference, I have all my incoming clients do a food diary before we begin working together. They don’t record calories or exact measurements, it’s just to see their general eating habits. This trend is not unique for my clients, only 47% of US adults eat breakfast daily (1) so that means more than half skip breakfast pretty regularly. I am not saying you have to eat the second you wake up. However, there is considerable research that shows starting your day with a balanced breakfast (see my take on this below) can jumpstart your metabolism, help muscle building over time, balance your blood sugar, fight nagging cravings later in the day, help with natural satiation and portion control and give your body the dose of nutrients it needs to start the day (2,3,4). The clinical research points positively towards breakfast as well as my own anecdotal experiences (from myself and my clients). Even if you practice intermittent fasting, which is a longer topic for another day, the first meal of the day should be balanced. So here are my tips on how to do so:

Tip #1 PFFP:

Breakfast should include as many of the PFFP components as possible. If you can’t include all four, that’s fine, 3/4 is still great and even 2/4 is doing pretty darn good. PFFP stands for Protein, Fat, Fiber, and Phytonutrients. This combination will keep you full, satiated, energized and with your metabolism on fire. Here are some ideas of foods that contain each component:

• Protein: comes from meat, seafood, eggs, greek yogurt/cottage cheese, and there is some in nuts and seeds and their derivatives (butters, flours), legumes, and some supplements (my favorites are Nuzest pea protein “PRESS15” saves you $$ and Further Food collagen “START10” saves you $$)

• Fat: comes from whatever oil you cook with, ghee, butter, dairy, avocado, coconut/oil, nuts and seeds and their derivatives (butters, flours), and from meat and seafood (will depend on what meat you buy but there will usually be at least a little fat)

• Fiber: comes from fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds and their derivatives (butters, flours), legumes and whole grains

• Phytonutrients: comes from fruits and vegetables, specifically, these are the compounds that give fruits and vegetables their colors, so eat the rainbow!

As I said, you don’t need all four PFFP components at every meal, but the more the better. The thing you want to avoid is having a meal or a snack comprised of “naked carbs”. Some examples of naked carbs would be (a piece of fruit, a bagel, some juice, cereal). Ways to “dress up” those carbs so they have more PFFP components and are not naked would be a piece of fruit with some nut butter or greek yogurt, a bagel with smoked salmon or an egg, a smoothie that includes protein and healthy fats (instead of a juice), and greek yogurt or cottage cheese with a granola that includes lots of nuts and seeds instead of cereal.

Some more EASY no fuss PFFP breakfast ideas:

• Eggs of any kind and avocado (I love having this on sweet potato toast) you can even add bacon if you like

• Full fat greek yogurt with some fruit and nuts

• Chia pudding & berries

• Smoothie with protein & healthy fats

Tip #2 You don’t have to be traditional:

The above examples all include traditional “breakfast fare”. However, breakfast does not have to include “traditional breakfast food”. It is more important to eat foods you like and will crave, are realistic and accessible to you at breakfast time. And of course, strive for as many components of PFFP as you can.

I often eat regular “meals” for breakfast if that’s what I wake up craving and I have leftovers in the fridge anyways. For instance, I love a good “breakfast salad” like the one pictured to the right. Nothing like starting your day with greens. Or sometimes I’ll have something from dinner the night before such as salmon and roasted veggies (hello PFFP).

Breakfast foods can feel constraining to people when they don’t know what’s healthy and convenient in the breakfast category, the default can be to just grab coffee and skip breakfast, or grab a packaged protein bar and be on your way. But when we think about breakfast in narrow terms we can get pigeon-holed into the naked carb items above (cereal, bagel etc.) By expanding our definition of what’s “allowed” at breakfast, the possibilities are endless!

Tip #3 Make it easy on yourself:

For most people, mornings can be the busiest time of day. Hence the tendency to skip breakfast. Plan ahead and plan realistically. If you love a cozy bowl of oats, make a batch of overnight oats on the weekend that’ll be read for the week. If you love omelettes and bacon, make egg muffins with your favorite bacon chunks in it ahead of time. If you love pancakes or waffles, make and freeze a big batch so they can easily be reheated during the week. If you’re a smoothie and go type, put your smoothie ingredients in individual bags so all you have to do is dump them in the blender when morning arrives. You can check out more of my “meal-preppable” breakfast recipe ideas here.

tip # 4 look forward to your breakfast!:

Waking up is hard enough, no matter how much sleep you got the night before. So why not have something to look forward to in the morning. You should always start your day with something delicious you want to eat. Not only will this set the tone for the day in a positive way, but it will make you more likely to eat breakfast. Instead of preparing foods you feel like you should eat for breakfast, start your day with foods you get to eat for breakfast!

References:

1) https://www.thedailymeal.com/news/healthy-eating/more-half-americans-skip-breakfast-least-once-week-study-says/081815

2) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30373105

3) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30527257

4) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28701389