July Eco-Friendly Product Update

So, as promised, I would like to keep informing readers about some of the products made by the environmentally-friendly health and wellness company that I work for.  If, at any time, you see a product that you may be interested in, please email me at queenogreenhealth@gmail.com.  Here are the products that I tried out this month:

• Herbal Tea Variety Pack: this pack comes with about 5 or 6 different tea flavors.  I have only tried out one of them so far.  Since it's summer and it's sooo ridiculously hot, I made some iced tea with it by putting some ice and water in a waterbottle and hanging the teabag off to the side for about 5 minutes.  It was delicious and REFRESHING!

• Shaving Cream: I don't think I'll go back to buying shaving cream from the store again!  This stuff was just awesome.  It was thicker and creamier than the typical shaving cream that I would normally buy at the grocery store or at Wal-Mart.  It also makes my skin feel softer afterwards and smells great! 

• Ant-acid: I can't even begin to say how impressed I am with this.  I never had any issues with heartburn before I got pregnant.  Now, I have heartburn almost every day :(.  So I've been taking Tums to relieve my heartburn.  But I've noticed that I have to take at least 3 in order for it to go away.  For those of you who have taken Tums before, they are pretty chalky and honestly, just not that tasty.  With the eco-friendly antacid that I use, I only have to take one, tiny pill and my heartburn is resolved.  I actually looked into the ingredient differences between Tums and my brand, and the Tums brand has aluminum hydroxide in it, which can cause constipation.  The other brand does not.  It has all-natural tummy-soothing ingredients like chammomile, fennel, and ginger.

• Cream-to-Powder Foundation: I really did not like this foundation.  I am used to using Revlon's liquid foundation.  The cream-to-powder foundation just had a different look to it than liquid foundation does after being applied.  A friend of mine really likes this kind of foundation though, so she recommended it to me.  If you already use a cream-to-powder foundation, you might like it as well.  But I did not, so I exchanged it for some liquid foundation.

• Liquid Foundation: I like this foundation 10x better than the cream-to-powder foundation!  I only have to use one pump and it covers my whole face.  My Mom also commented that it looked more natural than the other foundation I had been using for years.  She said that she could actually see the freckles on my face better!  Some people might like to cover theirs up, but I've always thought that freckles were cute, so I am glad that I can show them off more wiht this make-up.

• Facial Cleanser + Toner: I have never really used a 2-in-one cleanser and toner.  I've used the Clean and Clear Cleanser made by Johnson and Johnson before, but I didn't feel like it did a very good job.  It smelled really good, but other than that, I wasn't too impressed.  This facial cleanser and toner is great!  I have noticed that my face feels sooo much softer and cleaner than it did before.

• Bath Oil: As many of you may already know from reading my previous blog post, I am trying this one out for my stretch marks.  It has tea tree oil in it, which is great for it's healing properties.  You're supposed to add a little bit to your bath water, but since I'm so tall, I don't take baths too often.  So I've just been trying it out with my normal showering routine in the mornings.  If you don't mind the smell of tea tree oil, I think that it is great.  My skin feels softer after using it.  As far as the stretch marks go, time will tell :).

• Mint Breath Spray: I actually bought this for my Mom because she wanted to try it out, so I've only used it once.  But it was really nice tasting and made my mouth fresher!  It was also fairly inexpensive.  I don't normally carry around breath spray in my purse or anything, but it might be a good idea to have on hand before an interview or a date or something like that.

• Ibuprofen: I had some free money that the company gives me every month for this product.  I actually haven't used it yet though because I have not looked into whether or not it is okay to take during pregnancy.  I know that I am not supposed to take Tylenol, but I would be willing to bet that this product is safe just because this company is really good at making products that are pretty safe and natural no matter what.  I also don't normally take pain relievers in general anyways unless I have a headache or something (I hardly ever get headaches though anyways, so I literally never use them).  So when I do actually try it out, I will let you know!

I also got some more protein bars (which I did a product review of in a previous post) with my free money because they just taste so good! :)



Again, if you or anyone you know might be interested in improving their overall health and wellness by turning your home over to safe and non-toxic products, please feel free to email me, Hollie, at queenogreenhealth@gmail.com

Stretch Mark Experiment

So, with being prego and all, I have been very concerned about stretch marks.  And no, I am not a superfluous and stuck-up individual who has to have a perfect body.  I just like the idea of being able to wear a bikini without people staring at my stomach.  Everyone says that it's just something that comes with being pregnant and/or something that is genetic.  I am willing to accept that.   However, I have already acquired quite a few from puberty (no thanks to you body and/or genetics) and I didn't want any more.  I am almost 35 weeks along now, and they just continue to pop up.  I saw the ugly, purple indications of my first one when I was about 30 weeks along.  It was strange because it extended like a snake's head from a previous stretch mark, and more have followed suit since.  I now have about 6 small ones or so (each about a centimeter in length), and I don't want them to get any bigger.

Unfortunately, you can't always avoid what your genetics dish out to you, so what do you do?  Right now, I have declared war on my stretch marks.  That's right.  I am conducting my own little stretch mark experiment.  I'm trying out the popular word-of-mouth oils and creams to see what works for my body and what doesn't.  I do not plan on spending money on any laser therapies and/or microderm abrasion stuff, because I can't afford to.  But we'll see what happens with what I do try.

Product Number 1: Environmentally-friendly Tea Tree Bath Oil (my email is listed at the end of this blog if you are interested in knowing more information about this product)

• Tea tree oil is very healing and beneficial to the body for multiple purposes, so I purchased this item about 2 weeks ago and have been rubbing it on my body in the shower every day.  It isn't supposed to be specifically used for stretch marks as far as I know, and I have not seen any improvements yet, but I figured it was worth a shot.  So we'll see.

Product Number 2: Vitamin E oil mixed with my environmentally-friendly lotion





This is my left side/hip, day one of vitamin E oil and
environmentally-friendly lotion treatment...the two dots are freckles and
 the gray splotches are just shadows.

• I just barely tried this out for the first time this morning.  I bought the oil from my local grocery store for about $6, and the lotion is from a private, environmentally friendly online shopping network that I use.  It is very moisturizing and is pretty much known to work on hard-core psoriasis, eczema, and super dry skin.  It is scent-free, and I have really liked using it for body lotion (even more than the brand that I previously used before, Curel).  It is $9.99 for a large bottle or $1.79 for a trial-size bottle (again, email me for more details if interested in knowing more about this product).  I tried just rubbing the oil directly onto my skin, and it was really awkward because the oil was just too thick, so that's why I decided to mix it in with some of the lotion.
• A friend of mine also sent me this link about vitamin E oil: The Amazing Health Benefits of Using Vitamin E Oil Topically

Product Number 3: Mederma Stretch Mark Therapy Lotion

• I have not purchased this yet, but I have heard that it works really well.  It's kind of spendy though (about $24, according to amazon.com).  Luckily, I found a $5 coupon in a Parent's magazine for it, so hopefully I will be able to get that soon and try it out.  This is Mederma's website: http://www.mederma.com/products/stretch_marks/.  My sister, who has been pregnant previously, really says that it works, especially when used in combination with the vitamin E oil, so I will keep you updated when I see how that goes.

Product Number 4: Bio-Oil

• Again, I haven't purchased this yet or tried it out, but I've heard that it works well too.  This page explains the details about the ingredients found in Bio-Oil: http://bio-oilusa.com/en-us/product/ingredients.  Bio-Oil seems to cost around $15 (again, according to amazon.com).

Product Number 5: Coconut Oil

• I may or may not try this out, depending on how much it costs.  But a friend of mine recently posted this on my Facebook page: 122 Uses for Coconut Oil.  Hopefully it will help!  I have never heard of anyone using coconut oil for stretch marks before though. 

Lifestyle Tip for Stretch Marks

• I already eat pretty well, but a friend of mine posted this on my Facebook page.  It definitely makes sense that it could be applicable to stretch marks (as well as a nutritionally-beneficial aspect that should be considered during pregnancy in general).  Here is the link to the article: Foods to Eat While Pregnant to Avoid Stretch Marks

And those are all of my options that I've heard of/researched so far!  If anyone has any other suggestions, I would love to hear them (especially if they are home-made or inexpensive).  Also, if interested in learning more about the environmentally-friendly online shopping network that I like to use, please email me at queenogreenhealth@gmail.com.


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UPDATE:

I just bought the Bio-Oil and the Mederma.  My routine for the past 2 days has been to apply my eco-friendly bath oil in the morning while I'm in the shower.  So far, it seems like this product has been helping to prevent more stretch marks from occuring, but it doesn't seem to help them go away.  Then, before I get dressed, I apply the Mederma.  In the afternoon, I mix my eco-friendly lotion with both the Bio-Oil and the Vitamin E Oil.  Then, before I got to bed, I apply the Mederma again.  With just adding the Mederma to my routine in the past few days, I have noticed that my stretch marks aren't as purple as they were before.  It's only been a couple of days though.  I also wanted to mention that I had been using Palmer's cocoa butter since the beginning of my pregnancy to help to prevent stretch marks.  It was inexpensive, but I didn't notice that it prevented them.  Once I started accumulating more, I also noticed that it has not helped to reduce them.  The smell of cocoa butter isn't that great to me either, so I wouldn't recommend that product.

Here are a few more pictures that I took yesterday so that we can see some better "before and after" effects of the lotions:

Left Side 7/26/2012

Right Side and Stomach 7/26/2012

Stomach 7/26/2012

Paul's Perfect Pad Thai (aka TRIPLE PT) - Gluten-Free

This isn't a real pic of this pad thai, but this is what it looks like when it's done

I've been wanting to share this recipe for a while, but I just had to ask my friend Paul about it first.  Paul is currently dating a very good friend of mine named Cassidy, and during this past year, we would hang out a lot and bbq/make dinner together with their little girl, Natalia.  Before I ended up moving back to Idaho Falls, Paul experimented with some random ingredients he had on hand and came up with this AMAZING pad thai!  Seriously, it's so good...my Mom tried to follow a pad thai recipe from an authentic Thai cookbook, and it still wasn't as good as this.  So, if you like Thai food, you will LOVE this!:

**Gluten-Free Recipe!

Portions: 5

Ingredients:

2 tbsp sesame oil

2 tbsp olive oil

1 lb shrimp
2 cups button mushrooms
3 cups bite-size broccoli pieces

handful of bean sprouts

1/2 tbsp garlic
1/2 tbsp ginger

1/2 bottle tiger sauce (can get at Safeway)
 2 tbsp soy sauce
 1 cup chopped dry roasted peanuts

1 pint heavy whipping cream

 2 diced tomatoes
 1/2 cup cilantro (leaves only)

 3 chopped basil leaves

salt and pepper to taste
 3/4 package rice noodles

handful of green onions to garnish

Directions:

Add the sesame and olive oil to the pan until hot.  Sautee the shrimp, mushrooms, broccoli, bean sprouts, garlic, and ginger over medium heat until the broccoli is soft.  Add the soy sauce and tiger sauce to the pan and turn up the heat to medium-high.  Add the peanuts.  Wait until the sauce reduces.  Add the whipping cream and reduce again until thick.  Add the tomatoes, cilantro, basil and salt and pepper to taste.

While the whipping cream is reducing, boil some water and cook the rice noodles in a separate pot. Toss the cooked rice noodles in the sauce until soft. Dish it out into a nice serving dish and add chopped green onions for garnish. Enjoy!