Purely Nourished

You Are What You Absorb

We tend to over­look the fact, that the food we put in our mouth, is equally impor­tant to the “food” we apply to our skin. Soaps and sham­poos are filled with heavy met­als, sta­bi­liz­ers and other harsh chem­i­cals that don’t exist nat­u­rally in nature. Labels that warn against acci­den­tal inges­tion make you won­der how these prod­ucts affect your over­all health. If you wouldn’t con­sume it, why force it into the blood stream through your skin’s pores?  It is no sur­prise we are fight­ing uniden­ti­fi­able aller­gies and irri­ta­tions. Your skin is an amaz­ing bar­rier for harm­ful sub­stances but it’s defense­less to the mois­tur­iz­ers and soaps you rub all over it. Why do you think doc­tors use creams and oint­ments as an alter­na­tive way to deliver pre­scrip­tions into the bloodstream?

The endocrine sys­tem facil­i­tates the release and reg­u­la­tion of hor­mones in the blood­stream, cru­cial to the proper func­tion of metab­o­lism, growth, devel­op­ment, mood, and tis­sue func­tion. When these hor­mones are blocked or destroyed by harm­ful chem­i­cals, the body can­not prop­erly respond to stim­uli. These for­eign invaders silently build up in your sys­tem even­tu­ally wreak­ing havoc. As an exam­ple, many deodor­ants con­tain alu­minum to pre­vent sweat­ing. The alu­minum shuts down the pores, the bod­ies nat­ural detox sys­tem, inhibit­ing the elim­i­na­tion of harm­ful tox­ins and heavy met­als. Research has shown that parabens, a group of chem­i­cals found in numer­ous prod­ucts, are also linked to dis­rup­tions in the endocrine system.

 

Start read­ing ingre­di­ent lists. Chances are, a prod­uct with a long list of  ingre­di­ents and a warn­ing label is prob­a­bly not the best option for you and your fam­ily. For­eign ingre­di­ents are not only harm­ful for you but your envi­ron­ment as well. Sham­poos and soaps enter the water sys­tem, dis­rupt­ing the growth of  bac­te­ria and organ­isms in our ecosystem.

Pur­chas­ing all nat­ural prod­ucts and/or mak­ing your own from nat­ural house­hold items will help decrease your expo­sure to these harm­ful tox­ins. Here’s a list of com­mon pantry essen­tials that can dou­ble as soap, lotion, and deodorant:

Honey, Bak­ing Soda, Corn Starch, Olive Oil, Apple Cidar Vinegar

Visit One Green Gen­er­a­tion to find a recipes for nat­ural deodor­ant and sham­poo made out of these items.

Your com­plex­ion will thank you!

Twitt
Posted by admin On May - 3 - 2011 carousel Uncategorized You Are What You Absorb

The Benefits of Fermentation

Fer­men­ta­tion is the uti­liza­tion of nat­u­rally occur­ring micro­scopic bac­te­ria and fungi in foods to trans­form pro­teins and starches into acetic and lac­tic acid as well as alco­hol. This process is nec­es­sary for numer­ous ben­e­fits including:

  • Improved nutri­tional con­tent of the food
  • Improved digestibil­ity of foods
  • Removal of tox­ins and anti-nutrients
  • preser­va­tion and cre­ation of impor­tant enzymes

Com­mon fer­mented food:

  1. kim­chi
  2. sauer­kraut
  3. yogurt
  4. kefir
  5. kom­bucha
  6. wine
  7. sour­dough bread
  8. cheese
Out of all the preser­va­tion and prepa­ra­tion tech­niques, fer­men­ta­tion is the only type that does not destroy some nutri­ents, can cre­ate more, and enhance oth­ers. Omega 3 fatty acids, detox­i­fy­ing agents and many B vit­a­mins includ­ing folic acid, riboflavin, niacin, thi­amin, and biotin are pre­served through fermentation.

The improved digestibil­ity of foods caused by fer­men­ta­tion allows for proper nutri­ent absorp­tion. For exam­ple, the process trans­forms the sugar in dairy into lac­tic acid, a more tol­er­a­ble form of lac­tose, allow­ing per­sons with an intol­er­ance to stand fer­mented forms of dairy.

Fer­men­ta­tion Removes tox­ins and harm­ful bac­te­ria found in many foods to resist poten­tial infec­tion and illness.

The most widely rec­og­nized ben­e­fits of fer­men­ta­tion are in the preser­va­tion and cre­ation of enzymes,  impor­tant for all chem­i­cal reac­tions in the body, and the preser­va­tion and pro­lif­er­a­tion of Pro­bi­otic organ­isms, known to pro­tect the body against intesti­nal infec­tion and diges­tive disorders.

  • Diges­tive dis­or­ders can be the cause for poor nutri­ent absorp­tion inevitably lead­ing to issues in other areas of the body such as rashes, brain fog, and chronic fatigue. These prob­lems are the bod­ies way of telling the brain that some­thing is not work­ing correctly.
  • Ben­e­fi­cial Pro­bi­otics crowd out harm­ful bac­te­ria pro­tect­ing the intesti­nal lin­ing from infec­tion and inflammation

Incor­po­rat­ing fer­mented foods into your diet is a great way to keep your diges­tive tract and immune sys­tem in tip top shape. Start slowly and notice the role that each fer­mented food plays in your body. You may feel the ben­e­fits of some and not of oth­ers. To learn more about fer­men­ta­tion and its ben­e­fits, check out the Jour­nal of Ben­e­fi­cial Microbes or one of the many cook­books (Wild Fer­men­ta­tion by San­dor Katz) that also teach you how to home-ferment. Happy Fermenting!

Twitt
Posted by admin On April - 15 - 2010 carousel The Benefits of Fermentation Uncategorized