Shampooing your hair? You're doing it wrong!

So by now, you've probably heard about "no-poo."  Or perhaps you haven't.  No, "no-poo" isn't about abstaining from taking a crap.  "No-poo"is a collective term for methods of washing hair with no commercial shampoo, according to Wikipedia.  I guess I'm kind of on a track to being a "crunchy granola" hippy, although I'm sure there are many that would disagree with my definition of hippy.  


In college, I had an amazing Women's Studies professor who told us all about how every time you shampoo your hair, or put on deodorant, or lather up shave gel, you are putting chemicals in contact with your skin.  Your skin is the largest organ you have and will transfer chemicals into your body.  


Then I went to a "Arbonne Party," A.K.A. a gathering where someone tries to sell you a bunch of natural makeup and skin care products, and they were talking about the ingredients in skin care products and how most are petroleum based or have other chemicals in them.  Then I read the following paragraphs from in "What's in this stuff?" :


Many of us rely on the fact that the chemicals we use every day have been fully tested and found to be safe for humans.  But the reality is that there are about 70,000 chemicals currently in use, with 1,000 new chemicals coming on the market each year.  There are no basic safety data for over 43% of all chemicals in use today, and full safety information is available for only 7%.  Among the compounds commonly used in household products [shampoo, cleaning supplies, laundry detergent, etc.], there are full safety data for only a quarter of them.
...
Nowadays, we ingest dozens of harmful and largely unevaluated chemicals when we eat conventionally grown produce; fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides, and fungicides all combine to make so-called fresh food a significant source of poisons.  When we eat conventionally reared meats, we are ingesting growth hormones and a myriad of just-in-case medications given to conventionally farmed animals -- not to mention the pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers and fungicides contained in their feed.  
... 
In addition, when manufacturers try to reassure us that potentially harmful chemicals are used only in small amounts in their products, they are glossing over some relevant facts.  Each day, we are exposed to many different chemicals.  For example, we don't just use a shampoo once in our lives; we use it regularly  sometimes daily, and we use it in hot showers and baths, so that the chemicals become vaporized and are absorbed in greater quantities into our bloodstream.


Then I spoke with a couple people at an "Eco-Judaism" retreat about no-poo.  They said it was really easy.  You just don't use shampoo.  You can use apple cider vinegar to condition your hair.  You can use  a mix of water and baking soda, if your hair becomes greasy.  Everyone has their own way of doing it.  So I figured I'd give it a whirl.


I have greasy hair, but I also have TERRIBLE psoriasis on my scalp.  So I started out by using a mix of water and baking soda to wash my hair and then conditioning it with apple cider vinegar -- every day.  Through the last few years I've been on again, off again of the no-poo thing, but recently, I've been on it.  Instead of washing it every day like before, I'll shower but just rinse my hair with only water.  Then a few days a week I'll drizzle my wet hair with apple cider vinegar, then rinse it out with water.  


I love the way my hair feels.  I love that I'm not adding additional chemicals to my body.  I love that it is very inexpensive.  I love that my psoriasis is much less prevalent.  


If you're interested, here are some more websites with info on "no-poo."


"No-Poo" Livejournal Board
Green Upgrader
MSNBC
Naturally Curly: The Curly Girl Method

"Shovel your Shitspot" and starting positive habits

It's easy to imagine how a house can collect things.  Like a giant magnet, snapping up passing objects and hurtling them up the front steps into the hallway or the kitchen or the basement.

Or perhaps it isn't the house.  Maybe it's the inhabitants of the house, instead... like a row of tiny ants picking up a large bean or a small seed and moving it into the room and then going back out for another and another and another.

I have ineffective habits.  I don't like to use the word "bad" because that is so ethically and morally charged word.  I don't think habits in themselves have a negative or positive moral feeling but a feeling that they either make your life more happy, effective, healthy, fulfilled... or they don't.

One of my inefficient, negative leaning habits is the accumulation of stuff.  Being an "Anne-of-all-trades" I have so many hobbies.  I love to cook.  I love gardens.  I love taking photographs.  I love crafts of all sorts.  I love games.  I love books.  I love music.  And with each of these hobbies, I add another pile of stuff.  Lenses, paint, fabric, zippers, lemon-zesters, cookbooks, drawing books, plant books, paper, board games, dice, I could go on and on.  It is a lot of stuff.  It is overwhelming.

And it is a mess.  Ever heard: "A place for everything, and everything in it's place?"  Well, that's not how it is at my house.  There only a few places for a few things and everything else on the counter.  Or the dresser.  Or the table.  Or the floor in the corner.

My hubby and I also collect art.  I would say he is a curator, but he doesn't agree.  One thing we do agree on: the walls are for art.   The bummer of that is that if the walls are for art, then the walls are not for book shelves, or cabinets, or other places for "stuff" to call home.

So I'm disorganized.  I've always struggled with it.  I can remember being a little girl and going through drawers of toys and organizing them... then 3 days later it was like all that organization never even happened.  But the struggle is there.  I won't give up.  I've read Covey, Morgenstern, and tons of other authors on how to organize your life.

I have breakthroughs every so often.  I've been using google calendar to organize my time and it is working like a charm.  I'm still busy as ever, but I can look at my my calendar on my phone and quickly tell people if I can attend their event and I can even write it down right then, so I know I can't overbook it.

I've also been much better at grocery shopping and healthy eating.  Granted, I haven't mastered this, but each weekend on Saturday morning, I'll breeze through my vegan/vegetarian cookbooks and find 3 or 4 quick recipes I think my hubby and I'll like and then write up the name of the recipe, the book/page it's on, and then I'll make up my grocery list.  I'll go to the market or the whole foods and get everything on my list (plus a bit more).  This organized food shopping is much more effective than my old style: "I'm hungry.  Whats for dinner?  I don't know.  Let's go out and get something."

So in my battle with ineffective habits, I have found: Habithacker.

So far it has helped me to:

- clean up before going to bed.
- leave an area as clean (or cleaner) than when I got there.
- "Shovel my Shitspot":  This means to find a single place that tends to gather junk and make a regular - everyday - effort to clean it off/out.  For me:  that is my kitchen sink.

I'll let you know how this goes.  Wish me luck!

If it's free, it's not for me

Recently I've been attempting to be more intentional about what I consume.  I've tried to cut back on the meat, processed foods, and sweets I eat.  I'm not really eliminating these things from my diet, just eating less of them or better quality (grass-fed, wild, or pastured meat; lower-processed foods; not having dessert at EVERY meal).  It does take some will-power, but the key is knowing -- believing -- that those things really aren't good for your and that we, as a society, have been tricked (marketing much?)  into wanting, must-having, and consuming these easy, fast and convenient food-stuffs.  I'm sure that marketing brain-washing is not news to you.

The other, more difficult task I attempt is to limit my consumables beyond food.  Clothes, books, junk: I've got lots; so much stuff that doesn't have a home in my house and just collects dust.  I have more moments of weakness than I'd like to admit, but I try not to buy things that I really really don't need.  I'll take a day or two and think it over.  If I STILL want the "thing" I'll buy it.

In today's "throw-away" culture, there is so much stuff that we don't use.  Perhaps it worked 2 times and then it breaks, so we toss it and get a new one.  Perhaps we buy things thinking "I'll need this some day," and then it sits in our parents attic for decades (sorry mom and dad!).  We have a lot of things that feel important when we are at the cash register.  They feel like a good deed for your life.  They give you a great feeling of opportunity or inspiration.

I aim to also be more intentional about what I take for free.  I read somewhere (Flexitarian Diet, perhaps?) that a key to keeping to a healthy lifestyle it to say "NO" to free food.  There is free food all around us.  Samples at the grocery store, bagels and donuts at the office, candies in a bowl at a local retailer, cookies at social gatherings; everyone loves to give you free food.  In reality, these foods (in portions other than a nibble, and really, who can take just a bite?) aren't really the greatest things for you.  Usually they are highly processed, cheap, and high in sugar/fat/chemicals.  It's hard to turn away free food, but if you can do it, it may make you a healthier and more aware consumer.

Bites of Yum - Original photography from Baconfest

Terzo Piano - Empanadas with Dreymiller and Kray cinnamon bacon, dried Seedling strawberry, toasted almond, salsa verde

one sixtyblue - Pastrami cured pork belly Reubens with one sixtyblue sauerkraut

Small Bar - Braised bacon brioche with salted maple butter and crispy egg yoke

Veerasway - Chocolate Crispy Pork Turtles: Rich Chocolate over crispy cardamom pork with cashews and rain chutney 

Black Dog Gelato - Banana and Bacon's Foster

Chizakaya Japanese Pub - Grilled bacon nigiri with house made kimchi sushi rice and smokey bacon ikura

Sable Kitchen & Bar - Applewood smoked Bourbon bacon jam, crispy polenta cake, St. Andre cheese fondue

Blue 13 - Honeydew Melon Salad: honeydew melon, honeydew gelee, frisee, candied walnut dust, bacon vinaigrette

The Bristol - Bacon Banh Mi

Boka - Braised bacon with bacon spatzel

Gemini Bistro - The Elvis: Home-made crunchy peanut butter, fried banana, honey peppered bacon, griddled banana bread

Forest Grill - Roasted bacon bratwurst sausage on caramelized onions

La Madia - Spinach and bacon ravioli with brown butter sauce and parmesan

The Red Canary - Bacon cured Steelhead trout on top of Nueske's Cherrywood-Smoked Bacon and a bacon mushroom salad

Miramar Bistro - Caramelized pork belly with wilted escarole and maple pineapple chutney

Magnolia Cafe - Pork'n'Beans: Sourdough bread with white bean spread topped with thick cut bacon and greens

The Black Sheep - Banana panna cotta, cherry wood smoked bacon brittle, and peanut butter froth with a lady finger spoon

Atwood Cafe - Cherrywood smoked bacon and black current friut roll-ups; bacon "cannoli" filled with maple and bacon marscapone

Nothing Sweeter than Simple Unsweetened Applesauce

I know it is NOT apple season.

I really do try - a recent aversion - to eat as much produce as possible, within the season, and locally if at all possible.  Apples are totally a fall fruit and the ones I get are shipped in from Washington state.  I'm sure they've been sitting in cold storage somewhere for quite a few months, and so, to me, they aren't the tastiest of the year - nothing close to the fresh ones.  But in these lingering chilly spring months, I really love homemade applesauce.  It is so ridiculously easy to make, that it's almost well... ridiculous.  I like to make it when I'm just sitting around the house on the weekend.

I usually use 5 or 6 green/red apples (by this I mean apples that are both green and red - Braeburn, Fiji, Gala, etc.).  I wash them, then core them and cut them up.  I find it easiest to just slice off the first side, then the next, etc. (see image).

Then you throw them in a pot, cover them with water, and throw in a pinch of salt.  Set them on the stove over medium-high heat until they start to boil, then turn them down to a simmer.    It usually takes about 1-2 hours of simmering for the apples to just fall apart into applesauce.  If you can squish an apple piece with the back of your spoon, they are ready to squish (you can just continue to squish with the back of your spoon or use a potato masher if you want) and add cinnamon to taste.  I like a lot of cinnamon flavor, so I add a bunch.

I like to let it cool with a lid on it and once it's cooled off, I put it in mason jars of different sizes so they are ready for bringing along to work for a snack or storing in the fridge.  They should be OK in the fridge for about a week and a half.

Enjoy!

Paleo Update: My Quest for a nutritious, delicious, easy breakfast before work

UPDATE 8/19:  so I've been thinking about this for a week or so, and here's my conundrum... I now follow a paleo/primal lifestyle and I am very tempted to pull this post off of my site, as I no longer agree that Oatmeal is exactly as nutritious as conventional wisdom tells us.  But alas, I will NOT pull this off the site, because for people who are trying to focus first and foremost on pulling processed foods and transfats and sugars (the first step on the paleo path) out of their diet, this, in my opinion, is at least a first step on a winding path, but, I hope, will lead them eventually in the right direction.  For more info on why oats aren't so great for you, check out this link on Mark's Daily Apple. 


I'm totally a breakfast person.  I wake up early and rush to get ready for work and then I try to throw my lunch together and then I rush out the door and then I realize... crap, I forgot to eat breakfast.  I hate it.  It throws off my whole day.  I'm pining for snacks.  I scour the office for free donuts or try in a futile attempt to find a minimally-processed snack in the vending machines (fyi, the best option is usually salted nuts or trail mix).   With my mind completely focused on counting down the minutes until I can devour my lunch, it becomes quite difficult to concentrate.

Solution:  Oatmeal

I know what you're thinking -- Oatmeal?!  Everyone knows all you have to do is open up one of those little brown individually packaged oatmeal envelopes and pour it into a bowl and add hot water.  Old Hat, right?  Yeah, but once you start eating your reconstituted breakfast you decide that perhaps the maple flavor and brown sugar sweetness they added was actually to cover up the bland, pasty gruel they have tried to pass off as a healthy breakfast.   I mean, sure, it isn't the worst thing you could have for breakfast, but does it really make you feel like you're enjoying eating something that is good for you?

So here's what I do:  Steel-Cut Oatmeal.  The rumor is that steel-cut oatmeal takes too long to prepare.  Yes, but it tastes amazing.  If you've never had it before and you're a fan of oatmeal, you will LOVE it.  It has a really nice bite to it.  Instead of being a mushy bowl of slop from the afore mentioned instant packet, you can actually, sort of, CHEW your oatmeal.  You can even add your own toppings and mix and match your flavors.  I've done peanut butter, dried cranberries, raisins, fresh fruit cut up, jam/jelly, honey, cinnamon, almonds, sliced banana, pumpkin pie filling, or even just some butter.  It is completely customizable.

Also, totally cheap!  You can find it at most grocery stores near the other oatmeals, but for an even better deal, look in the bulk section (I know whole foods sells it in bulk).

Now, about the preparation.  DO IT AHEAD OF TIME.  Every other weekend, I make oatmeal.  For every cup of steel-cut oats you need 3 cups of water.  I like to do a 1.5x batch.

1.5 c. Steel Cut Oats
4.5 c. Water
Pinch of Kosher Salt

Throw it in a big pot on medium-high heat and wait for the boil.  Once it starts boiling bring it down to a simmer and set the timer for 30 minutes.  (I've also heard you can cut the cooking time down to only 10 minutes if you combine the ingredients the night before and let them soak.)  Stir occasionally, and when the timer goes off, turn off the heat.  Eat up!

Now, If you cook it ahead of time, here's the secret: freeze it for easy reheating.  Let it cool a little bit with the lid on.  Once it's not too hot to touch the pot, take out your silicone muffin pan and make some room in your freezer.  Ladle the delicious oatmeal into each little cup of your muffin pan, then throw it in the freezer.  In a few hours you can come back, pop out your frozen oatmeal cups and toss them into a freezer bag.

Then when you're ready to run out the door for work, grab 2 out of the freezer and throw 'em in a baggy to bring with you to work.  At work you can heat these up in the microwave: toss them in a bowl, microwave on high for 2 minutes, stir, 1 more minute, stir in your topping, and eat up.  Now that is a morning meal that will keep you focused and you won't be hungry again until lunch time roles around!

Chipped Roasted Beets & Being a Flexitarian

A few weeks ago, I was with some friends and one asked, "How would you categorize your eating habits?"  I hadn't thought of it too much before that time.  I think I eat a pretty healthy diet.  I shop at whole foods.  I go to restaurants with my hubby.  I bring my lunch to work a couple days a week.  I eat a lot of vegetables, fruit, meat, cheese; you know, all the food groups.  I try to purchase mostly organic, low processed, or grass fed/pastured.  I love good food.

My other friend said she thinks of herself as a Flexitarian.  Huh?  What the heck is Flexitarian - you may be asking (I sure did).  Flexitarians have also been referred to as "less-meat-aterians," "part-time vegetarians," "semi-vegetarians," or even "meat-eating vegetarians."  I know this seems a bit crazy.  Perhaps some believe you either ARE or ARE NOT a vegetarian.  I mean, you can't be kind-of pregnant, right?

Wikipedia uses this definition for Semi-Vegetarian: "diets that are not vegetarian but include less meat than typical diets. The term has no precise or widely accepted definition, but it usually denotes the following of a mainly vegetarian diet whilst eating meat occasionally."  


I thought that could be something fun and healthy to try.  I then read "The Flexitarian Diet."  You don't have to give up your favorite meat cravings.  You don't have to drastically change what you currently eat (at least for my eating habits).  The author, Dawn Jackson Blatner, a registered dietician, says all you have to do is change a little at a time.  Instead of having meat as a main ingredient in your dinner, make it a condiment.  Add more grains, beans and soy (organic only - non-organic soy is said to have one of the highest concentrations of pesticides) products in to your meals.  Eat a wider variety of fruits and vegetables.


I've been a Flexitarian for about 2 weeks now.  It really only takes a little more work than before.  My hubby LOVEs his meat meals, but when I cook a vegetarian meal for dinner he tries it, then if he's into it, he'll eat it and get seconds.  He's even been seen heating up the leftovers in the convection-toaster oven in the morning for breakfast!  Can you believe it?!


In these 2 weeks I've lost weight.  I feel healthier.  Sure I've still gone out to dinner with my hubby a few times, and I even had meat during some of those meals!  But the majority of the time, I'm thinkin' like a vegetarian.  I'm even searching out vegetarian options when I first look at a menu when we are out to eat.  I've been cooking quick meals for dinner.  I've made a big vegetarian feast.  Sure I've made a terribly bland mushroom barley soup along the way, but the next day I was able to reclaim the dish into a deliciously creamy gruyere-parm mushroom risotto!  I also splurged and bought a few new cookbooks so that it would be easier to plan, shop, prep and cook for my new eating habits.  I got The Flexitarian Table, How to Cook Everything Vegetarian, and A Year in a Vegetarian Kitchen.


Although I'm not specifically changing my "diet" to lose weight, it is having that affect.  I feel better. I look better.  It's all good.  I've never been able to find a "diet" that was easy to do, but not only is this easy, but it makes me feel great.  I'm not hungry.  I eat less food.  I don't crave sweets as much.  Seriously, you could try it for two weeks and see results.  


This morning I went to Whole Paychecks and bought a whole cart full of groceries.  When I got home I started in on a recipe from How to Cook Everything Vegetarian.  Super easy, super yummy and totally satisfying.  They call them Beet Chips - page 267, but I call them Chipped Roasted Beets.  Their version has the beets more browned and crispy while my version had more of a wholesome roasted beet flavor.  If you like beets, you can't go wrong with this simple recipe.  

I used 3 medium red beets.  I set the oven to 400 degrees to preheat, then washed and peeled (I used vinyl gloves so I didn't get the red dye on my hands) the beets and used a Mandoline to slice the beets into thin rounds.  I threw the rounds in a bowl, tossed 'em with some kosher salt and olive oil, then spread them out on a cookie sheet in a single layer on top of parchment paper.  

 I stuck them in the oven for 10 minutes,  took them out, fliped them over, another 10 minutes and they are done!  Enjoy!