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How to Balance Your Armpit Bacteria : Ditch the Stench For Good!

by April 23, 2016

The truth is, nobody wants to be known as that smelly person. In an effort to avoid smelliness, over 90% of kids and adults in the US use some type of deodorant or antiperspirant; get rid of it and balance your bacteria!

Sweat itself does not smell. You might think that it does, because when you sweat is when you will notice body odor the most. But in reality, the bacteria in your armpit is what makes you smell. The bacteria break down the lipids and amino acids found in your sweat and turn it into substances that have that distinct smell that we call body odor.

Two popular BO-fighting methods reign supreme in the market: kill bacteria via a standard deodorant, or block our sweat glands AND kill bacteria using an antiperspirant containing ingredients such as aluminum.

But antiperspirants and deodorants are awful for our bodies! They have many frightening side effects such as breast cancer!

Just like our gut, our armpit also naturally has a lot of bacteria. It is one of the most heavily populated areas on the surface of the body. Over ¾ of the bacteria fall into one of two bacterial groups. One is associated with odor, the other not so much. Just like the gut, which can be destabilized from certain foods or antibiotics that kill off the beneficial bacteria, and allows potentially problematic microbes to take over. The same thing happens in the armpit.

Like with any such ecosystem the goal would be to balance in order to be healthy. Abstaining from these ecosystem-damaging products might be problematic at first, but will stabilize with time. This will naturally dwindle the smellier bacteria into nonexistence with time.

So, why don’t we work with our microbiome, rather than against it? Here are a few ways to get started…

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  1. Make your own deodorant! It is so simple to do:
  • 5 Tbsp solid coconut oil
  • 1/4 cup baking soda
  • 2 Tbsp cornstarch or arrowroot powder

Directions:

Combine the equal parts powder and baking soda. Slowly add coconut oil and work it in with a spoon or hand blender until it maintains a firm texture. If this is to wet for your preference add more cornstarch or arrowroot powder. You can use your old deodorant container, or put in a container with a lid and apply with your fingers.

  1. Switch to a milder soap: Soaps that contain strong surfactants, remove the protective sebum that is full of the good fats that your body uses to protect your skin. A milder soap will make a better environment for your good microbes to thrive.
  2. Aluminum Free: Aluminum is typically the active ingredient that inhibits sweating. Recently It has been linked to a variety of long-term health issues and several “natural” brands are marketing their formulas as “aluminum free”.
  3. Steer clear of Crystal Deodorants: These are the ones that most often claim to be “aluminum free” but check the label, always! Many of them still contain an ingredient known as “alum”, which is typically potassium aluminum sulfate. While it is still a better alternative than most antiperspirants, it still doesn’t make it completely aluminum free.
  4. Steer clear of antibacterial: Strong antibacterials are what have the most destabilizing effect on your armpit, which makes it difficult for good bacteria to thrive. So ditch the parabens they do absolutely nothing good for your body.

 

 

The Dorito Effect : Artificial Flavors are Rewiring Your Palate and Making You Hate Healthy Food

by April 20, 2016

Food is one of the most amazing things in the universe, but what is on the shelves today is not food, not anywhere close to food. What is it is a toxic pit of chemicals that is affecting the way that you crave food; the food industry has it all figured out and the sooner you learn the better.

If I were to tell you right now to close your eyes and picture nacho cheese from Taco Bell, you will probably get a picture of the color bright orange, a color that has been manufactured in a lab. That picture you have in your mind has altered the idea that you have about food, real food that is.

If you went out right now and looked around you would see children chewing watermelon flavored gum and eating fruit-flavored candy. When you go to the movies you see people eating popcorn flavored with artificial butter. Not to mention the fact that if you go to a supermarket you can find so many flavored items that it looks almost impossible to find any plain variety: flavored soups, ice cream, juices and even water.

strawberries

If you are like me, cooking at home, odds are you have a spice cabinet or rack with 10-20 herbs and spices. I use them to improve the taste of my meals and I am sure if you cook then you do the same thing. But, processed food does not rely only on these simple ingredients, as a matter of fact, “Natural flavor” is the fourth most common ingredient listed in food sources, which rates more than 80,000 foods on the market.

“Natural flavors” is the term used by food companies and scientist that means the substance originated in nature. Food companies can then add other ingredients, yet still declare “natural flavors” on the food label.

By FDA definition: “Natural flavor is the essential oil, oleoresin, essence or extractive, protein hydrolysate, distillate, or any product of roasting, heating or enzymolysis, which contains the flavoring constituents derived from a spice, fruit or fruit juice, vegetable or vegetable juice, edible yeast, herb, bark, bud, root, leaf or similar plant material, meat, seafood, poultry, eggs, dairy products, or fermentation products thereof, whose significant function in food is flavoring rather than nutritional.”

Author, Mark Schatzker, has put together a timeline of the artificial food industry and its most powerful ingredient: flavor, in his new book, The Dorito Effect.

“Evolution did not program us to get fat — we’ve simply tricked ourselves into craving the wrong foods,” Schatzker says on his website.

“Synthetic flavors in foods have heightened their desirability at the very same time that whole foods are losing flavor,” he says, believing that engineering food to have a longer shelf life or for prettier colors has diminished the taste.  “Now that we’ve broken that connection between flavor and nutrition by creating synthetic flavors, we have created foods that tell a thrilling but deceptive nutritional lie.”

The flavor of food has long been a way for people to indicate its health value. In the past, when all we did was seek out real food, craving certain flavors meant our bodies needed that certain ingredient. For instance, if you desired citrus fruit, it could indicate that your body needs vitamin C. When you ingest an orange soda or a lime flavored water, it can trick your body into thinking that it is getting the vitamin and the craving continues because you still need it.

“I stopped putting sugar in my coffee, not because I was trying to cut back on sugar but because I felt like it was getting in the way of tasting the coffee. It’s like I’ve rewired my palate,” he says.

freshveggies

The word natural is thrown around so loosely, that most of the time food manufacturers can put whatever they want into your food and still label it natural. It is best to avoid anything labeled “natural” or “synthetic” or as many processed foods as possible and but real fresh ingredients so many things that you overpay for in the supermarket and at fast food restaurants when you could just make the same thing at home for a quarter of the cost and not much more of your precious time. Cherish what you put into your body, it is a temple and you are what you eat after all!

30 Second Almond Milk

by April 16, 2016

I love budget friendly items, but that is not always so easy when you are trying to be healthy. So when I come across a handy trick like this I just have to share it; you can have your own almond milk in literally 30 seconds no soaking needed and only 2 ingredients!

Yes, it really is that simple! This almond milk tastes exactly like what you buy at the store, but for a fraction of the cost and the recipe is very giving you can make it whatever you want. Use different nut butters, add honey, cocoa powder, coconut sugar etc. to really make this something delicious.

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Almond Milk

  • 2 Tbsp Almond Butter
  • 2 Cups Boiled Water

Method:

Simply add the hot water and the almond butter to a blender, and blend on high for 30-45 seconds. It is really that Simple! Enjoy!

Worms Invade Human Brain Eating This Common Food

by April 15, 2016

Pork is one the most consumed foods in the United States; Bacon, sausage, and pork chops. But, what you didn’t know while you were consuming your daily ration of bacon is that one of the most common form of brain tapeworm is pork tapeworm, Taenia solium.

Once consumed they can move throughout your entire body; your eyes, tissue and most commonly the brain. You can get the parasite by eating undercooked meat from infected pigs. The second, the larval form is contracted through contact with the feces of an infected pig or human, which can go on to infect many tissues.

If you have seen videos of the awful standards of factory pig farms then this news should come as no surprise to you.

In one recent case, an Arizona woman named Dawn Becerra and her doctors believe she contracted a parasite, when she ate a pork taco on a recent visit to Mexico. This resulted in a 6 hour surgery to remove the worm from her brain. She said she was feeling ill for three weeks after eating that one taco, soon after she began to suffer from violent seizures. Later, doctors determined she had a parasitic worm worm in her brain and it had caused neurocysticercosis, a lesion in her brain.

Poor sanitation allows the worm to spread. It can be transmitted by infected food prepared by someone who has not followed proper sanitation procedures after coming in contact with the creatures eggs, which can be present in human feces.

Scary thought, that you could be eating pork that actually has worms in it that can invade your brain. I personally will stay away from Pork. What about you?

Chicken-less Eggs to Become Reality!

by April 14, 2016

That age old question comes to show its ugly head; which came first: the chicken or the egg? Fortunately, for plant based eaters the chicken has been taken out of the equation; amazing!

Clara Foods, a San Francisco based sustainable foods company, wants to cut back on the disease-spreading potential and harmful environmental impact of egg producing chickens all while harvesting the health benefits of eggs.

“Ultimately, protein is the most important macromolecule, one that provides a lot of nutrition and also less calories, and egg whites, in particular, are entirely protein-based. But [making them] is also the most resource intensive,” Arturo Elizondo, Clara Foods’ CEO

Yeast is used to create proteins similar to those found in chicken-produced egg whites:

“We asked ourselves, ‘Which are the ones for baking? Which foam the best? Which make the lightest meringues and angel food cakes? Which proteins are the best binders out there so you can make really sturdy gluten-free products,” Elizondo told Inverse.

The company is hoping to replace traditional eggs in pasta, baked goods, and protein supplements.

It is estimated that a single egg can take up to 53 gallons of water to produce, and according to the United Nations estimates, global demand for eggs is expected to swell to 38 million tons by 2030 more than double what it was in 2000. And, of course, the disgusting reputation for animal abuse in industrial egg farming operations.

But, all things considered, the lab-grown egg future is looking bright! Hopefully, soon we will not have to worry whether the chicken or the egg came first.

Vegan Chocolate Mug Cake

by April 11, 2016

As a vegan, it is not always easy to find a good cake recipe, but this one really takes the cake! It is so simple and fast that you will not even realize it isn’t a convenience food; you will have a personal sized delicious cake in under 5 minutes.

Yes, you read that right! You can have a delicious cake in five minutes or less, it is a perfect midnight snack and I bet you already have these ingredients on hand. Now, what are you waiting for!? Stop reading and start cooking.

Ingredients:

  • 1/3 Cup flour
  • 1/3 cup+ 1 tbsp maple syrup
  • 1 tbsp cacao
  • ¼ tsp baking soda(aluminum free)
  • Pinch of salt
  • ½ tsp vinegar
  • ¼ tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 tsp coconut oil
  • 2-3 tbsp water

Method:

Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl, and whisk until well combined. Add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and whisk together until smooth.

Pour the batter into a ceramic jug or mason jar. Microwave on high for 1 ½-2 minutes. Remove from the microwave and allow to cook.

I like to top mine with whipped cream, chocolate sauce, and chocolate chips! What will you top yours with!?

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