I came across this supplement a few weeks ago. It was pretty inexpensive and I thought "what the heck" I would love to experience some extra focus. Plus mood enhancement was another one it's benefits. Who doesn't want to feel a little more elevated?  So I gave it a try. As the video stated, I am pretty surprised. I love that it doesn't make you jittery, like some other brain supplements I've tried. It just makes you feel very focused, and clear. I am still amazed at how much I get accomplished when I am taking it. The very first day I took it, I just noticed that it made you feel awesome. The next day I felt awesome and extremely focused.

But I will say, I don't take it on weekends, or days that I am traveling. Check it out, do your own research and see what you think. If you are taking a brain supplement that you like, let me know. I love learning. 

It comes in 30 and 60 count.

Until next time,

xoxo

https://tinyurl.com/y4vdcyyb

As a child, I always had a love for music and the outdoors. When I was 8 or 9 I was forced to take piano lessons from a woman that literally was in her 80's.  Needless to say after 5 years of lessons from this teacher, who kept a ruler in her hand and used it if you missed a chord or key, my love for music hung in the balance. I really didn't get to play the music I wanted. I was a big fan of James Taylor, Carole King, and Simon and Garfunkel.  I wanted to play and practice that genre of music.  My piano teacher only taught classical piano, so that is what I learned and practiced.  I couldn't convince my mom to let me switch piano teachers, but I did finally convince her to let me quit. But my love for music and musical instruments is still very alive in me today.

During this time in my life, my parents decided to buy a small pull behind camper. There were 4 of us kids and camping seemed like the perfect idea for a family of 6.  So pretty much every weekend in the spring and summer we would go camping. It actually turned out to be one of the best experiences of my childhood. We did a lot of weekends at the Land between the lakes near KY lake. There were no cell phones or computers, just the big outdoors and a chance to connect with nature. It was a chance to make new friends, get away from your parents and chores at home and just enjoy the beautiful green forests, campfires and starry nights. 

A month ago I decided I wanted to somewhat return to my musical roots.  But I wanted to learn a new instrument! My husband plays guitar, and I love to hear him play and practice. He has a great voice, so we do a lot of harmonizing together. He hadn't picked up his guitar in a while, and I really missed hearing him play. I kept telling him that he should just pick it up and practice a little every night, mainly to make me happy!! And then it dawned on me that I should take up the guitar!! Ding Ding!! I mean how hard could it be?? I know how to read music, I've had years of music lessons. I'll learn to play. I immediately picked up the phone and called my ex-husband, Bob. He has a collection of 70 guitars from all over the world. I ask him if I could borrow one for a month. I thought if my husband and I both had guitars he could help me and he would play for me too!! And I wanted to make sure that I really wanted to play guitar with my husband before I went out and purchased one. 

 Bob graciously agreed to let me borrow one of his guitars. He actually gave me a guitar chord songbook. My husband and I went to his house and picked up the guitar. As you can tell, we all get along very well. I couldn't wait to get home and try it out. Boy, was I shocked!! What my husband made look so easy, was not!! It has taken a month for my fingers to toughen up and callus over. But I just keep after it and try and practice every day. I just learned my first song, Bob Marley, three little birds. The guitar is something I see myself playing for the rest of my life. One of these days I'll play for you on a video! It's a total challenge for me, but one that I am enjoying so much.

Another thing that I have decided to rediscover is camping. I have never camped in a tent EVER!! So this is an experience that I have talked my husband into it over the last month too. At first, he thought I was a little crazy to want to do this. Honestly, I don't think he thought I was cut out for tent camping, and roughing it. But I decided to prove him wrong. I can't think of anything that I would rather do at this point in my life than to spend weekends out in nature, disconnected from the digital world that I experience Monday through Friday. I booked our first campsite yesterday.  OH YES, I DID!!  We are going to get a tent and camping equipment this weekend!! I am thankful that he knows a lot about tent camping. LOL

So, what is the moral of this blog post?? You are never too old to start something new or revisit things that brought you so much pleasure from your past. Learning is part of our life and it goes on for our lifetime. Don't be afraid to try something new and experience the challenges and joy that it brings you. If some of you have been considering doing something new, hopefully, this post will inspire you to jump in there and give it a try.

Until next time, xoxo

There are so many reasons why our skin ages. You have free radicals, genetics, toxins, stress. Honestly, it's more than likely a combination of all of the above. No scientist has discovered a way to stop the aging process, but they have determined ways to make it slow down. If we can learn to control the aging process, you can actually see the reversal. So here is where the discussion on Glycation comes in.

Glycation happens when the body's proteins react with sugar forming a substance in the body called Advanced Glycation End or AGE's. Glycation is a normal process of everyday metabolism, the rate of glycation and thus aging is significantly increased by the American Standard Diet which includes lots of carbohydrates and sugars.

It is a well known scientific fact that excess sugar can cause a variety of health issues. But did you realize that too much sugar can negatively effect your skin? Actually cause it to prematurely age?  Sugar comes in many forms, refined sugar, fruit sugar, fructose, agave, date sugar, corn syrup. maltodextrin, d-ribose, starches to name a few.  If there is too much sugar in the body, protein molecules can cross link with the sugar molecules. Once this happens, the new sugar proteins are called AGE's. The human body sees them as foreign and will produce antibodies that cause inflammation in the skin and effect the collagen and elastin production.

So what does all this mean for your skin? Simply, the more sugar you eat, the faster your skin ages. Of course there is no way to 100 percent escape from eating some form of sugar, but you can start being aware of how much sugar you are taking in your body. Regardless of the type of sugar, refined or "natural".

Fruit contains a lot of sugar, so look for the berries. Blackberries, blueberries or raspberries contain the least amount of fruit sugars. According to the American Heart Association women should not take in more than 25 grams of sugar a day. That equates to 100 calories a day of sugar. I put a half a cup of blueberries in my morning smoothie, 10 grams of sugar. Apples are 19 grams of sugar, which I usually put one in my cold pressed juice. So without any other form of sugar, I have exceeded the recommended limit. Who knew it was that easy to do?? 

So, I recommend, just start noticing. You don't have to go crazy on yourself about it , but just start reading the labels for gram amounts, or google grams of sugar in certain fruits. Because sugar is not only bad for the skin but basically the health of your body.  But the damage shows up on your skin.

The more sugar you eat, whether processed or natural, the more the AGE's are produced. When the body is overwhelmed with AGE's, collagen production becomes compromised.  The effects of the Glycation process on a cellular level of the skin's structure could result in loss of elasticity, wrinkling, accelerated aging, and a slow cell turn over.

The Glycation process has become a media buzz word lately, so considered yourself buzzed!! I honestly have learned a lot about my intake of sugar from studying about it for this blog post. As I always say, do your own research and make your own conclusions. Do your homework and make healthy choices!

Until next time, xoxo 

Thank goodness this story has a happy ending. If you have not read the previous blog, you might want to read it before this one. It is a post on some health issues that took quite a toll on my life.  Part 2 is how I took control of my health. So many questions, needing so many answers.

I  pretty much demanded that my doctor at least try out my theory for my thyroid medicine and the bio identical hormones recommendations. Reluctantly, he did. That is why I made the comment in the prior blog about who you choose as your physician. If you are getting results that you are happy with and they move you down the path of being the best version of yourself, then stay with that doctor and continue to do your own self study. If not, find a new doctor. 

As I mentioned in the last blog, I had hypothyroidism, no progesterone or testosterone, and I was critically low in Vitamin D.

Some of the classic symptoms of a low thyroid-Hypothyroidism are, dry skin, brittle hair and nails, fatigue, low libido, partial loss of eyebrows, and weight gain. I had them all. In fact in the middle of trying to determine the problem and the solution, I actually lost half of my left eyebrow. Vanished, gone.

And then throw in low progesterone. This results in headaches, hot flashes, night sweats, weight gain, low libido, thyroid dysfunction,(low progesterone impacts your thyroid and vice versa),  mood swings, and loss of sleep.

Now top it off with low testosterone and the fact I was critically low in vitamin D,  mental fatigue, weight gain, reduced libido, sluggishness, loss of muscle tissue, and for some women, painful sex, osteoporosis, and sluggishness. Basically with all the things I had going on it was like living with triple the symptoms. Because it's all connected!

If you are reading this blog and are experiencing some of these symptoms or all of them, there is help and solutions. Seriously, science has come so far in the last 50 years and women in 2019 can claim their lives back.

My doctor let me have my way and increased my thyroid medicine, he tripled the dosage and increased the progesterone and testosterone the following month. I started on my new prescriptions and within a week I thought to myself, now we are getting somewhere. after a year and a half of struggling to regain my health and basically my sanity, the round peg finally fit the round hole!!

When I went back the following month for another round of blood work, I had lost 18 pounds without changing a thing. My body was finally working again. My cells were talking to each other, and my metabolism had finally kicked back in.  Along with the weight drop, I felt normal, my old self, but a better version. The hot flashes and night sweats began to subside. My hair texture changed, my eyebrow grew back in and I wasn't tired anymore and the low libido ended.  I was happy. And I didn't have to talk myself into being happy and find all the reasons in life I should be happy, I was just Happy.

So you would think that with all this going on I would just continue to take my medication and bio idenitcals and carry on with my life. But I took it a step further. The doctor that I went to in Destin did not specialize in women's health issues or hormone replacement. I wanted to seek out a doctor, a female, that specialized in this area and get a second opinion. So I did. I am the only one in charge of my health and body, so I wanted to know that everything that I was doing was on point. I found a doctor 8 hours away from where I lived and scheduled an appointment. 

I drove there and went in for a consult. Of course we did new blood work and I got her up to date on what I had gone through. After my blood work came back, her recommendation was to stay on the thyroid medicine that I was taking. She actually did extra panels of thyroid tests that most doctors don't do. She had me  switch to bio identical creams instead of a sublinguals. I had my creams mailed to me in FL from the compounding pharmacy there because she wasn't licensed in the state of Florida. For me there was a big difference in the creams and the sublinguals. I felt the effects of creams much more than I did the sublinguals. I loved them. Life got even better, I didn't even think that was possible. Now I was in the zone.

All aspects of my life improved! My relationships, business, creativity and just over all sense of well being. 

I have no idea what is right for anyone else. I would love to think that I could do all of this without the aide of this medication and hormone replacements. But I haven't been able to do it yet. And I have finally come to a place of peace with myself about it and the cost of it. Hormone replacement is not cheap. But I am okay with it because it's one of the main things I spend my money on that gives me my life back. And you can't put a price on that.

I will continue to research and look for alternatives to replace all of this. But until then this is how my life looks and I am beyond grateful that it all got resolved. 

I do feel like my lifestyle and food choices only contribute to the success of it all, and I am always happy to share anything that I am doing with anyone. 

 Thank you for taking the time to read, and if anyone has any questions, I am more than happy to answer. Feel free to reach out. 

until next time, xoxo

I am writing this blog post today because I feel like it would be great for me to share some parts of my life that have nothing to do with skin care or products or supplements. Even though those things are a big part of my life, it's only a part. My life is really no different than anyone else's. My day to day life, personal, family, business are all a work, or journey in progress. 

Four years ago I lived in Destin Florida, right on the beach. (that is a view from my condo) All I had to do was open my sliding doors and walk out onto my deck, which was on the 16th floor and see the ocean and smell the salty air. Life was so good. I had friends, a great husband, fabulous children and an incredible job. But in the midst of all of that, something was off. 

For those of you that don't know me personally,  just through social media, you may not know that I have been a work out aholic since I was in my 20's. Clearly, what my physical body looked like was very important to me. I set goals, I met my goals. I pushed myself at times to points that I didn't even recognize myself. I did every kind of workout just to prove I could. I ate the cleanest diet anyone could imagine. I juiced almost daily. I was so strict on myself to the point of rigidity. (And I am not suggesting anyone do that at all.  Now days I lean in the direction  of balance, self care and self love!!) 

But in 2015, living in Florida, in the midst of beauty, workouts and clean eating. I was gaining weight, and not just a little weight, I absolutely could not figure it out. I didn't change anything that I had been doing for 15 years and the weight started to pile on. And not only was I gaining weight but I just didn't have the energy I was used to. I found that it was harder for me to stay positive and up beat, and a my libido had almost diminished. After gaining 35-40 lbs, which to put it in size perspective, I went from a 4- 6 to a 12 .I had to buy oversize tops that didn't tuck in, and a lot of draw string pants. In my mind it didn't seem like I was that big, but in pictures I was.

That was so hard for me to wrap my brain around. It's so amazing how I turned on myself, and had such negative things to tell myself. I was really struggling to want to get up and face the sunshine and beach. I won't even talk about the bathing suit part for me at this stage. I am saying all of this and painting this picture to let you know, there really was something wrong. 

Because I never got sick, not even a sniffle. I had not been to a doctor in 15 years. I didn't see the need.(And I am not suggesting anyone do that) But when I hit this time in my life at age 59, and I didn't have any answers, I decided to go.  All of my vitals checked out perfect, so we waited for the blood work to come back. I say, the truth is in the blood!! I scheduled another appointment and set down with the doctor and found out that my thyroid didn't work, I was critically low in Vitamin D, even though I lived in the sunshine state, I had no progesterone or testosterone. And I had a pinch of estrogen. So the combination of these facts explained, the mood, weight gain and low libido. I honestly thought that I would never experience any ot this because of my healthy lifestyle. But I was so wrong. 

As you age, your body begins to stop producing a lot of things that it used to produce in your 20's, and 30.'s.  Hormones are one of those things. For a woman, after you no longer have periods, your body is not producing progesterone,  testosterone, or estrogen. What my body needed was progesterone and testosterone, in order for me to function normally. I was prescribed a sublingual testosterone and progesterone and a prescription of Vitamin D. But the other piece of the puzzle was my thyroid. If your thyroid is not functioning right, your body is not functioning right. The thyroid regulates the body's metabolic rate. So I started on thyroid medicine.

This was all so new to me, because I had never been on medication in my life. I didn't even have drugs when I went through labor and childbirth with 4 children. 

The doctor that I went to in Destin was a general practitioner,  I didn't really even know about Endocrinologist at that time, or Functional medicine doctors.  But because i'ts in my DNA to research everything, I did my homework, and I felt like I had a pretty good idea on what my dosage I should be on, based on all that I had read. And my daughter was on thyroid medicine, and our lives pretty much mirrored each other. 

I was prescribed the lowest dosage you can take of the thyroid medication to start off with. I personally knew it wasn't enough to make a difference. But I couldn't change the doctor's mind and get him to agree to a higher dosage. I actually told him what dosage I thought I should be on and he said, come back in 30 days and if nothing has changed I'll give your theory a go. He also said he was not used to treating people that understood the mind body connection and chose to live so health conscious. So he was very open to my suggestions. 

Well, absolutely nothing changed in the first month on the thyroid medicine, and bioidentical hormones No weight loss, no change in mood or libido. So I scheduled another appointment and went back. I was hopeful that he would up the dosage on all of it. The doctor was so surprised that nothing had changed based on his recommendations. So I reminded him that he had agreed to up the dosage to what I had suggested. He really had to give it a lot of thought, but let me have my way. He upped the dosage considerably.

He also listened to me about the bio-identicals, too, and  he changed those. 

So the journey back to my idea of a normal life began. Saying that 2015 was a hard year, was an understatement. But I figured I had one of two choices, take control or be controlled by my circumstances. I took control and changed my direction in life.

So this blog has gotten really long,  and there is so much more to tell. I am going to save the rest of the story for part 2-How it all turned out!! 

But what I can say to finish up this part, if you are experiencing any of these things, there is a solution. First, you need to find the right doctor. It's not as hard as you would imagine. And if you are seeing a doctor for these symptoms and you are not experiencing change, find another doctor. Talk to women that have gone through all of this. In this day and time, no woman has to live like we are in the 1950"s, where doctors thought horse urine was the answer to hormone replacement. It takes a lot of self awareness, the right physician, communication, and a determination to want to live your best life! And you can!!

In part 2 you will see after a lot of work with several doctors I got my life back and an even better version!!

Until next time xoxo

If you are an American, it is pretty well ingrained in you that you eat 3 meals a day and your last meal is somewhere around 6-7 o'clock at night. New research is showing that when you eat your meals is just as important as what you eat. 

In July of 2017, the American Heart Association put out of report of scientific evidence showing that the time of day you eat your meals is just as important as what you eat. So because I know that what I eat has such an impact on my all overall health and skin, I decided to look into this research about when is the best time of day to eat. Basically, it all has to do with the rising and the setting of the sun. You eat your first meal at sunrise and have your last meal at sunset. This is called, eating in accordance to your circadian rhythm.

Your circadian rhythm is basically a 24 hour internal clock that is running in the background of your brain and cycles between sleepiness and alertness at regular intervals. It's known as your sleep/wake cycle.

This is a very easy schedule for me to follow. If I had children around, I would have to work a little harder to make it happen, but I think it can be done. I have been hearing about this method for a while. Some call it intermittent fasting too.

My husband and I have been following this way of eating for a while. And I will say that we feel better, and have lost weight along and enjoy better sleep. 

I came across this video the other day of Dr Oz explaining how this works, so I have linked the short video below. 

Until next time, xoxo

https://www.today.com/video/best-times-of-day-to-eat-dr-oz-breaks-down-circadian-rhythms-1445376067930

I am a little late to the dry shampoo party. It is quite the rage in 2019!

And if you haven't notice there are as many dry shampoos to pick from as there are regular shampoos. After watching countless Instagramers talk about their different ideal brand,  I decided to go with one that caught my attention. Of course you know me I have to google it and see if there are any parabens or sulphates in the product before I proceed. Well, to my suprise, there were none. And you couldn't beat the price, $4.97 on Amazon. Actually knowing what I know about healthy clean food and products, that should have been a red flag. Most products that are good for you come with a price. But I bought it anyway. And I didn't just buy one....... I bought two. When I am waiting on personal care products it makes me so happy to have Amazon Prime. In two days I will have my dry shampoo!! 

So it arrived. I honestly didn't even read the ingredient list and went straight to spraying my hair. After I got it on, I thought, hummmmm, this has a really strong fragrance fruity smell .(fragrances are for another post) So I turned the can around and read the ingredients. Yep, no sulphates or parabens, just a nasty little ingredient called aluminum starch octenylsuccinate. For one, I knew aluminum is not something you want in your blood stream, but I wasn't familiar with this particular chemical.  But it is definitely one you want to familiarize yourself with. 

It is an ingredient found in foundations, skin moisturizers, lipsticks, eye shadows, concealers, sunscreens, and face powders. It is a chemical that is toxic to the human nervous system and is a suspected developmental neurotoxin, which causes cell damage. Also suspected to have respiratory hazards. Seriously????

As of now, there are no laws to prevent companies from using these hazardous chemicals in your cosmetics or skincare. 

What is this dry shampoo.....Plump for Joy, by Not Your Mother's

But I am not going to leave you without a possible solution to this problem. After some research I have come across some brands that are clean and have really good reviews. The first one is Lulu Organics.

On Amazon they have a 5 star rating and describe themselves as a holistic beauty company dedicated to the health and wellbeing of their customers. It is talc and parben free and has never been tested on animals. For blondes and dark hair.  Cost $28.00-4 oz

This one has a 4 star rating and claims to be all natural, vegan, and cruelty free. Made with absolutely no parabens or talc, preservatives or synthetic chemicals. Best for brunettes and dark hair. Cost $12.90-2.4 oz

 Captain Blankenship is an organic beauty company based in NY committed to creating luxurious products with lush natural scents. The products are infused with organic and wild harvested ingredients. This scored the least stars. 3.5  But the ingredients are clean. Price $29.00-4 oz

So there you go! You have to read all the ingredients in these personal care products!! Your health and well being depend on it!!

I am going to try the Captain Blankenship first and work my way through all of them. I will report back as to which one I liked the best. If you have a clean dry shampoo that you have been using, or if you use one of the ones I listed, please chime in and let us know in the comments. 

Just remember....clean beauty matters, because women's health matters! Read your ingredient labels on all your personal care products. 

Until next time, xoxo

Our HA Serum Hyaluronic Acid Serum is now made with two forms of hyaluronic acid. The additional hyaluronic acid forms a protective layer on the surface of the skin, further increasing the skin's ability to hold on to water. This formula of hyaluronic acid helps to replace what is lost as a result of the natural skin aging process and sun exposure. It is a safe and effective serum and has the ability to bind and hold onto significant amounts of water. It mimics hyaluronic acid produced naturally.......

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