Tag Archives: organic

Chemical free living, Essential oils, Natural Personal Care, Non-foodie reads

Love thy skin

Let’s have a quickie.

Calm your farm, not that sort of quickie – I meant a quick blog post.

A short and sweet (like me) post about skincare. Heck Yes!

The skin is our largest organ. That’s right – an organ. It absorbs topical applications quicker than the digestive tract absorbs ingested substances. It pays to invest in chemical-free skincare products and show the skin some R-E-S-P-E-C-T.

This is not an affiliated post. I do namedrop Twenty8 and KORA organics but only because I’ve been using them for yonks. KORA since I was 15 and Twenty8 since 18. Both are organic, Australian companies that combine the magic of aromatherapy with plant medicine to create ethically natural personal care products. I may also have a girl crush on Miranda Kerr (who doesn’t?) and Kim Morrison (Twenty8 founder) is a friend and mentor of mine and I enjoy helping an amigo out with a candid plug. Anyhow.

I find it frightening that between artificial fragrances and the plethora of chemicals in hair products and cosmetics, the lay person is exposing themselves to thousands of artificial ingredients daily – before they even step out of the bathroom in the morning.

What pacifies this chilling reality is that it’s stupendously easy to make a few simple swaps and displace these thousands of chemicals. Organic products are potent and end up lasting you twice as long as the regular stuff. While it may seem like an investment initially, you aren’t spending extra money overall. Winning!

Below is my regular skincare regimen + some tips on how to save dollars and still have glowing skin. I know I’m only 22 – but I still manage to look like a sweet 16 year old – minus the ‘problem skin’ -so I must be doing a few things right skincare-wise.

From back left; soothing facial moisturiser, toner, cleanser, crystals (for a face massage) and eye cream. All organic, local brands (except crystals – they’re probably from overseas).

My Morning ‘quickie’

First thing every morning – no matter how much my dear sweet Carly Cat is screaming at me for her brekkie – I take a few minutes to cleanse and moisturise. I cleanse with my Twenty8 cleanser, pat my face dry and then spritz my face and neck with Twenty8 toner. I have had the same toner concentrate for 4 years and I’ve still got plenty! How? It’s a concentrated solution that you dilute in water, a wee bit goes an extraordinarily long way. I then moisturise my damp face and neck with KORA organics soothing moisturiser. I only use the tiniest little pump and which is all I need. This cream lasts me at least 4 months. I then finish with the tiniest smear of Twenty8 firming eye cream. I use this morning and night – right before bed. This tiny jar lasts me about 6 months – sometimes longer. Ok Carly Cat, time for brekkie – thanks for waiting. Meow. Scratch, scratch. Meow.

Why not give yourself a tarot reading with one hand and a crystal massage with the other? Snaps to multi-tasking. I know what you’re thinking. Rach is a fucking hippy cliche. Ain’t nothing wrong with that dear ones. At least I’m a happy hippy cliche – with happy skin to match. Boom shakalaka.

Crystal Facial

A few times a week I’ll grab one of my smooth finished crystals and massage my face and neck with it in circular motions. Not only does it feel relaxing, I dig the ritual of taking the time to give myself a crystal facial. This is a great one to do on a short stroll in the morning (two birds, one stone) or even when having a conversation with someone. It can be pretty mindless. A simple act of self-care. Plus, once you’ve invested in the crystal, it’s free. Every time.

Twenty8 clay mask featuring my snazzy unicorn shower cap. Me sexy.

A Mask

I try to do a mask once or twice a week. At the moment I have the twenty8 clay mask but if I’m opting for the DIY option, I’ll simply combine some tahini (ground sesame paste) and raw cacao. I buy both in bulk from The Source Bulk Foods – so it’s a dirt cheap option. It is a bit messy, so I’ll apply it starkers (yes, naked) and just pace back and forth on my back lawn (or lie down and listen to some tunes) while my skin soaks up the oils and antioxidants. Then I hope in the shower and wash it off. My skin feels like a baby’s bottom afterwards – minus the poop smears. Glorious.

Additional Budget Friendly Tips

  • An easy body scrub (apply naked on back lawn or on an old towel in the bathroom if you have snoopy neighbours or don’t have a back lawn) is a few spoons of rapadura (or coconut) sugar mixed with extra virgin olive oil and a drop of your fave essential oil. Use as an exfoliant from neck to toe. Give yourself a good massage with it and then rinse off in the shower. Your skin will feel amazing and smell effing divine. Sexy feels get around you!
  • Extra virgin olive oil and organic coconut oils make the cheapest and easiest body moisturisers. Spike with a tiny drop of essential oil and you displace the need for perfume.
  • Olive oil is a great eye treatment overnight. I got this tip from one of my heroes; Lola Berry (thanks Lols). Apply a drop around the eye area and massage in before hitting the sack. It soaks in overnight. Antioxidants in the olives rejuvenate skin cells.
  • Wear a cap. Seriously, Vitamin D is bloody important, but having a cap will shield the face and neck – arguably the most sensitive areas that receive sun exposure – from too many sunny vibes.
  • Eat antioxidants. Veg the fuck up dear ones. Bright coloured fruits and veggies, as well as nuts, seeds, legumes, herbs, spices and organic wholegrains such as oats and brown rice are your skin’s best mates. Antioxidants slow the ageing process, whilst the natural plant oils feed the skin. A list of heroes to get you started; avocados, walnuts, berries, greens, sweet spuds, apples turmeric, ginger, cinnamon, paprika, pumpkin, figs and prunes.
Real Food, Vegan

Foodie Staples for Happy Days

Holy Effing Heckballs do I love to cook?!?

And eat – especially the eating part.

That said, I like to whip things up in a jiffy, especially if I get home-mid-arvo and haven’t eaten lunch, or get home from work after 8 and want dinner pronto.

Last year I was doing 18 hours of placement a week in a nutrition clinic, teaching yoges 7 days a week – sometimes multiple classes daily – and editing my book ready for publishing.

A sneak peak at the glorious cover art for my book baby – set for release Mid March 2019

If I desired regular fuel, I needed to embrace super-human organisation. Not once did I succumb to takeaway – I must be the only spud muffin on the planet who is yet to use Uber Eats. Nor purchase pre-prepared meals from the supermarket – too much plastic packaging and usually cooked in canola oil. How could I even entertain skipping a meal – did I mention how much I like eating?

I may have eaten homemade cupcakes, self-saucing chocolate pudding and chocolate-chip cookie dough for dinner a few times, but that was for ‘work’. I was recipe testing.

These days I work from home or at least close to home and have more leeway when it comes to foodie organisation. That said, I still love meal prepping on Weekends so that I have easy options at the ready for the first half of the week.

Below are some of my fridge and pantry staples and how I use them.

Happy Pantry Perving – may you find inspiration amongst my cluttered shelves and random culinary pairings.

My pantry; a sea of seasonings, raw cacao, carob, matcha, maple syrup, green stevia, oats, banana flour and other bits and bobs. Organically sourced where possible.

My Pantry

Smoothie Staples

I love to have a range of powders and spices on hand for my smoothies. Think cinnamon, vanilla bean, raw cacao (raw chocolate powder is stupendously high in magnesium – very important for a yoga teacher), matcha (green tea) powder, green stevia (a sugar-free, ridiculously sweet-tasting herb), cardamom pods, Spirulina (pictured below) and novel items here and there to change things up. At the moment I’m loving red velvet latte powder (beetroot-based), maca powder, carob and blue Butterly pea powder. Then all I have to do is add filtered water ice cubes, coconut water, frozen organic spinach, fresh zucchini and sliced ginger and whizz – smoothie magic a-go-go.

I love organic spirulina for it’s earthy taste and rich vitamin and protein content. I find Green Nutritionals is the best tasting brand (not sponsored by the way). I also use Changing Habits greens powder (unpictured) as an alternative and like to mix and match the two. I’ll also add Changing Habits probiotics (unpictured) to my smoothies for a gut-loving act of self-care.

Oats and Banana Flour

Man I love working with organic oats and green banana flour. I use them to make these bread roll muffins, and pretty much all other baked goods, including the chocolate cupcakes and self-saucing pudding in my upcoming book baby ‘Periods, Poo & A Glorious You’.

I also use oats to make savoury risottos, chickpea-based cookie dough (also in my book baby) and stirred through coconut yoghurt that had been blended with banana and vanilla and layered with crunchy ground flax seed. Yummers. Me gut says Hells to the Yeah!

Aussie Olive Oil and Organic Coconut oil. I use them both internally (in recipes) and topically as moisturisers or in homemade body scrubs alongside rapadura sugar and essential oils.

Aussie Olive and Organic Coconut Oil

My fam and I can’t do without these two beauties. I love olive oil for dressing veggies and risottos and coconut oil in my nut butters. I also love the flavour of coconut oil with roasted veggies.

Homemade Nut and Seed Butters in recycled jars to skip wastage. Clearly I’m also a fan of Kehoe’s Kitchen Ferments (not sponsored).

Homemade Nut and Seed Butters

Nut and seed butters changed my life. I’m not being dramatic spud muffins. I mean it. You can add them to just about everything and they’ll provide protein (see-ya animal flesh), creaminess (so-long moo-juice), vitamins and minerals (move over chicken embryos) and fibre (your welcome bowels). Here’s how I nut (and seed) butter;

  • Inca inchi seed butter mixed with turmeric, pepper and salt for a creamy dressing for steamed greens
  • Macadamia Hemp Butter with these muffins
  • Peanut butter with organic sprouted gluten free bread (or organic sourdough oat bread – wheat free)
  • Pecan Cashew butter with baked sweet spuds (all three colours; red (white flesh), orange (amber flesh) and white (purple flesh)
  • Hazelnut butter with roasted pumpkin
  • Tahini – black tahini is my fave – in this recipe. I buy this one from The Source Bulk Foods (not sponsored).

My Fridge

My crisper looking a little bare. It did contain lots of pumpkin, ripe avocado, fresh herbs and extra apples but I ate them. I have fresh blueberries and spinach frozen in the freezer alongside a loaf of organic sourdough oat flour bread. I source all fresh produce organically where possible.

Fresh Fruits, Veggies and Ginger

With help from your pals nut (or seed) butter, seasonings, olive oil, ferments (see below) and either a muffin (see below) or serve of resistant starch rice (cooked and cooled rice – for a specific recipe check out the Poop-promoting Resistant Starch Rice in my upcoming book baby) you can easily make a meal of veggies.

On nights that I teach a yoga class from 7-8pm, I like to enjoy a muffin (below) with 3-4 Brazil nuts plus a generous tablespoon (HEAPED) of nut or seed butter with a simple serving or fresh fruit such as an apple or berries. This makes a light yet satisfying dinner if you eat later than usual – like I do several evenings a week.

Fresh ginger, zucchini and spinach are a dream base for an easy smoothie. Just add ice cubes, coconut water and all of your favourite shelf-stable powers i.e. raw cacao, carob, Spirulina, cinnamon etc. and you have yourself a meal. This works well as a standalone brekkie or as a ‘starter’ before a ‘second course’ of apple or banana with homemade nut or seed butter. I’ve been know to have a snacky smoothie dinner like this when I arrive home late feeling thirsty, hungry and in need of both hydration and easily-digestible energy.

Not sponsored I swear. I just really love Kehoe’s kitchen because the sauerkraut flavours are the bomb diggity bomb bomb! These two are my special faves; fennel & garlic and spiced carrots.

Ferments

These take any savoury meal to the next level and deliver digestive-aiding enzymes to boot. They also offer a whopper dose of friendly probiotics to supplement the ‘forest in our gut’. A little goes a long way. I stir a dollop though veggie and salad creations or eat with ripe avocado and turmeric resistant starch rice for a colourful meal.

Coconut oil roasted pumpkin. It gets even sweeter when refrigerated. All the drools!

Roasted Veggies

Another bomb diggity bomb bomb. Add roast veggies – think pumpkin or sweet spud, regular spud, capsicum, red onion, eggplant, zucchini, beets … WHATEVER FLOATS YOUR GROOVY BOAT – to salads or steamed veggies with freshly cooked chickpeas (see below). It’s also no secret that I love pumpkin and sweet spud with nut/seed butters. You can even snack on roasted veggies. Add homemade guacamole and ferments to make a light meal. Drooling!

Local organic chickpeas striking a pose. Aren’t they little beauties? Proud chickpea mamma!

Slow Cooker Chickpeas

I buy chickpeas dirt cheap at the local bulk store and soak them overnight in salted water. Then I drain, rinse and pop in the slow cooker covered with more water. They cook on high for 4 hours. Then I drain and rinse again. Once cooled, they keep for 5 days in the fridge in an airtight container. I use them in salads, veggie creations, this bowl and Orgasmic Cookie Dough (recipe in my book baby).

When I die this recipe will appear on my tombstone. I’m kidding of course, but Holy Heck!. My bowel flora (yes, my dear, sweet colon bugs) love these bubsy boos so effing muchies!

Profound Plantain Muffins

Forget the infamous Fat Bomb Muffins of best-selling cookbooks gone by, these muffins are their plant-based, fibre-bomb cousins. They add satisfaction and loads of gut-soothing fibre (nothing harsh about these intestinal brooms) to any meal and because they are the best-ever vehicle for homemade nut butter, they make upping proteins and fats in the diet a cinch. In my nut butter-obsessed opinion it would be a crime to eat these babies without nut or seed butter. Or at the very least creamy coconut butter if nuts and seeds send your immune system haywire. To be truthful, I often make these delights with green bananas, as I don’t always get to the markets to snag a bunch of plantains. They still work out swell.

This is how my glorious gut bugs respond to my happy lifestyle of muffins and yoges.

There you have it kiddlets. This is why I’m such a happy banana. Look at all the delicious and soooooo freakin easy peasy lemon squeezy foods I get to enjoy. I hope you’ve found inspiration in all, some or a humble few of my everyday suggestions.

If you’re wanting even more foodie inspiration, kitchen clarity or nutritional coaching, check out my list of services to see if working together sounds like something that would make you happier than a bright little Vegemite. I am a qualified nutritionist who acts more like a foodie fairy godmother than a white coat health professional.