Organic Ingredients: Oatmeal, Buttermilk, Lavender, Calendula Petals, & Essential Oils of Orange, Geranium & Rose

It’s always best to use organic ingredients if you can.

1 Cup Quick Oats or Instant Oatmeal
1/4 Cup Buttermilk Powder (or Powdered Cow’s Milk or Goat’s Milk)
1-3 tsp Dried lavender, rose, camomile, and/or calendula flowers
2-4 drops rose essential oil
2-4 drops orange essential oil
2-4 drops geranium essential oil

Add 1/2 cup to bath & enjoy!

Makes one 4oz Mason Jar, that will contain 2 bath servings

Also great made into a paste and used as a facial scrub, or mixed with a little water and applied as a mask for 10-15 minutes.

If you don’t like having all the oatmeal and flower petals lose in your bath you can buy small muslin bags at most grocery or health food stores.

This recipe also makes an awesome homemade gift.  I love filling Mason jars with fun recipes like this and decorating them for the holidays or birthday gifts.

Enjoy!

Chlorine is a toxic chemical present in both our drinking and bath water. It’s harmful to our health and dehydrates our skin. Plus, when we run water at a high temperature, the chlorine is transformed into a breathable gas which infiltrates our lungs … not to mention the damage it does to color treated hair. (Gasp!)

My suggestion for combating the chlorine in your bath is to purchase a filter for your showerhead. Simple to attach, it’s a device that removes a great deal of the chlorine, and softens the water.

The one I have is by Nature’s Shower and I got it for less than $40 at www.thegreenlifeco.com. Using calcium sulfite and carbon, it removes 90% of chlorine, heavy metals, and hydrogen sulfide, and it’s bacteriostatic (inhibits bacterial growth).

I love how my showers aren’t stinky with chlorine and now when I take a bath, I run the showerhead to fill the tub. It may take a little longer, but knowing that I’m not going to be soaking in toxins makes it worth the wait.

As you probably know, part of living holistically is removing as many toxic chemicals from our food, cleaning products, and body care products, but the chlorine in our showers and baths are often overlooked.

Help spread the word… pass it on!

To find out more about how to live holistically, avoid toxic chemicals, and get healthy, check out my 10 Week Transformation program or 7 weeks To Super Skin Program.

My fiancé Nat and I made 39 sugar scrubs last night and decorated them in about 3 hours.  They’re super cute, and who doesn’t appreciate homemade gifts? And all the materials for these delectable little gifts only cost about $120!  Where on earth could you buy 39 gifts for that? And yes, Nat deserves the “Fiancé Of The Year Award” for helping!

Sugar Scrub Base:

1 Cup Sugar (white table sugar or the brown course sugar will work)
¼-2/3 cup Grape seed oil (coconut oil works well too)

Just mix together with your favorite essential oils or flavoring, add to a Mason or Ball canning glass jar, and decorate. That’s it!

Here are some of my favorite flavors and add ins to add to the base:

Chocolate Brownie Sugar Scrub:
3 tsp raw Cacoa powder
10 drops Cocoa bean extract
1/2 tsp Vanilla extract
4-5 dashes Cinnamon

Tropical Sugar Scrub:
20 drops Ylang-ylang essential oil
20 drops Patchouli essential oil
20 drops sandalwood essential oil
5 drops lemon grass essential oil

Sleepy Time Sugar Scrub:
10 drops Lavender essential oils
1-3 crumbled Lavender flowers

We also played around with adding in fresh ground vanilla bean to make a Tahitian vanilla ice-cream body scrub too, which was awesome! This is you chance to play and be creative, so have fun!

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Idea For What to Write on The Gift Tag (I printed them on pretty paper and tied them on with ribbon):

This yummy sugar scrub is all natural and replenishes your skin with vitamins, minerals and loads of antioxidants. It’s great for smooth, healthy skin and also for a little sexy fun in the tub with a partner… it’s entirely edible!!

Stand in the shower or tub while still dry. Wet your hands well and apply the scrub all over your body and face… it’s good for those sensitive, hard to reach places too

It’s best to let the vitamins, minerals and antioxidants soak in for 5 minutes before jumping in the bath or rinsing off in the shower. You’ll be shocked how soft and smooth your skin feels afterwards!

Ingredients:

-  Sugar (exfoliate)
-  Grape Seed Oil (moisturizer that won’t clog pours; loaded with antioxidants)
-  Raw Cacao Powder (vitamins, minerals and antioxidants)
-  Cocoa Bean Extract: (vitamins, minerals and antioxidants)
-  Vanilla, Cinnamon and Cassia Oil (yummy tastes & scents)

Love, (add your name here)

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Enjoy making youir gifts!

Breakouts are a generally stemming from blood sugar problems and accompanied by chronic inflammation. These trigger hormonal reactions that lead to excess sebum production, blocked pores and creating an overgrowth of nasty bacteria.

Gluten contributes to this in a couple of ways. First, it can cause issues in the small intestine, which could lead to your body not digesting properly – causing your body to not get the nutrients it needs.

The second link between gluten and acne is inflammation. People with gluten sensitivity cannot digest gluten effectively. As a result their bodies improperly absorb undigested pieces of gluten. The body treats these as invaders, and goes on the attack.  The white cells in the body release histamine, which increases inflammation. Inflammation increases insulin resistance in the nearby cells.

Insulin resistance leads to, which cause breakouts. Don’t forget to check my gluten-free recipe book below!

When this happens once in a great while, the body can deal with it. But most people are exposed to gluten 3 or more times a day. This, coupled with other inflammatory agents, spreads inflammation all over the body, and inflammation causes the aging in our skin to speed up and creates breakouts.

AND, an overabundance of sugar and carbs in turn increases your insulin levels and next thing you know, you’ve got too much testosterone in your system. And there is nothing that causes your skin to secrete excess oils like testosterone.

So, what can you do to stop this horrific cycle?

Reduce, or altogether eliminate gluten from your diet.  That may sound harsh, because gluten is literally everywhere.  The good news is, the number of products on the market that don’t contain gluten increase every single day.  You can find gluten-free wheat, tortillas, pita bread, juice and a million other things – you just have to know where to find them.

Just to back up what I’m saying, studies comparing teens in the US to teens in non-gluten cultures show that acne is virtually unknown in countries that don’t consume high amounts of gluten.

Get off the gluten-train and get your skin looking clearer and younger!

For more on how to get clearer, younger, more radiant skin all-naturally with what you eat, check out my “7 Weeks To Super Skin” Program at http://www.rosecole.com/programs/7weekstosuperskin

Most people are only absorbing a fraction of their nutrients because of poor digestion, and they don’t even know it.

When you’re only absorbing a tiny fraction of the nutrients from your vitamins and supplements and your perfectly healthy organic meal, the rest is going down the toilet… literally.

That’s what most people are doing unfortunately, and they’re totally unaware. There was a study done where they drained port-a-potties and found tons of undigested tablets and pills at the bottom that people never absorbed.

AND, about 80% of the health problems and skin issues that people come to me for are stemming from the root cause of poor digestion.

Why is this so dangerous for your skin and whole body…

1.  You can eat a perfect meal with all organic healthy food – but if your body doesn’t absorb it properly, it can’t feed your skin. This is the #1 reason why people have dull skin, prematurely aging skin, and breakouts.

2.  When you have undigested food in your body, it can rot and putrefy, and the toxin overload can come out of your skin.

3.  Undigested food in the body reeks havoc on your intestines and entire digestive system, causing “Leaky Gut Syndrome”. Leaky Gut Syndrome damages your body’s ability to absorb nutrients and allows undigested food particles to slip into the blood stream, taxing the body and lowering your immune system so you’re unable to fight off breakouts.

4.  Waste of time and money! Nutrients that pass through your body without any benefit are wasted.

5.  This is especially bad for losing iron, which is why it’s really common for women to be low in iron and not even know it because women lose blood every month.

6.  Undigested food feeds bad bacteria and candida yeast in your body, thus lowering your immune system.

7.  When you digest food, 1/3 of your blood goes to your stomach… longer digestion means less blood for your brain and muscles, so you end up feeling fuzzy, less focused, or like you want to take a nap on your desk. Not good when you want to look and feel younger!

Improving your digestion is easy to do, and it’s the most important thing you can do for your skin and overall health. It’s like converting your body from a gas-guzzling SUV to a hybrid Prius – lighter, more buoyant, feeling and looking younger, and more fuel efficient.

There are several easy, at-home tests that are very inexpensive to do that can tell you if your digestion is not at the optimum levels for absorption. To learn how to do these at-home tests, or for more information about how to optimize your digestion, check out my “7 Weeks to Super Skin” Program www.RoseCole.com/programs/7weekstosuperskin .

Chocolate (yeah!)

Women in a German study who downed a cocoa-rich drink daily – the equivalent of 3.5 ounces of dark chocolate – for 12 weeks experienced less dryness. Their skin also had better blood flow, which pinks your cheeks, and was more resistant to sun damage, thanks to all the antioxidants.

Juicing

It gets a bad rap for the sugar, but the fresh squeezed vegetable juices are antioxidant-packed kind, like fresh squeezed celery, spinach, kale, and chard, are filled with alkalizing minerals and vitamins that feed skin.

Oil-Rich Facial Cleansers

They can help oily skin. Cleansers that contain emulsifying oils, such as vitamin E, grape seed oil, or castor oil, breakdown and dissolve dirt and oil without over-drying it, like harsh cleansers can.

Sweat

I’ve seen women who try not to work up a sweat when they exercise because they think it will cause breakouts, which is a myth. Perspiration is great for skin: It opens up pores, releases dirt and helps your lymphatic system in your skin to remove toxic sludge from your body that could be coming out your pores… so bring it on!

French fries

OK, OK, they’re NOT exactly good for your skin – sorry – but contrary to popular belief, they (and other greasy foods) don’t cause pimples. Nice to know!

Fifty years ago, the incidence of Polycystic Ovarian syndrome was very low. It was quite rare for a woman to have it. Today, it’s thought that about 10-20 percent of young women suffer from it. But what is it, and how can you deal with it?

Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) is basically a condition that results from multiple cysts on a woman’s ovaries. These cysts cause multiple issues including:

• Acne, oily skin
• Fatigue
• Increase in weight gain even with low-calorie diet
• Morning headaches that wear off as the day progresses
• Depression
• Constipation
• Overly sensitive to cold weather
• Poor circulation
• Hair falling out, male pattern baldness
• Trunkal obesity
• Infertility

If you take a blood test, or saliva test for your hormones and your testosterone is high, it’s a safe assumption that you have PCOS. The weird thing is that most Western Doctors aren’t trained to spot it, and they pretty much act like it doesn’t exist. If you think you have it, you need to locate a doctor that specializes in Integrated Medicine.

One of the key things to be checked for is blood sugar issues. If your blood sugar is out of whack, then you are more prone to getting PCOS. And if you have PCOS, it’s a sure thing your blood sugar is out of whack. And by blood sugar issues, I mean hypoglycemia, hyperglycemia and even diabetes. PCOS and blood sugar imbalances cause each other, thus creating a vicious cycle. In fact, western or integrative doctors that work with PCOS will prescribe Glucophage, which is a medication for diabetes, to try to break the cycle.

I know several women who suffer from PCOS, and the sad thing is, when a woman has PCOS her skin is usually a mess. Because when you have PCOS, you inevitably have acne. And I don’t just mean acne on your face. It is often on their chests and backs as well. In fact, one woman I know has had it for so long, and had it so badly that her chest looks like one big scar, almost like a burn victim.

Acne from PCOS can be a devastating issue to deal with, but I’m here to tell you that it isn’t something you are cursed to deal with forever. You can banish the PCOS and the acne that goes along with it!

There is an all-natural way to balance your body and break this vicious cycle. It’s tough to get rid of, but it is possible. The protocol I teach came from a woman who is the leading expert in PCOS in the nation, and it can change your life if you suffer from this condition.

The keys to breaking the cycle are:

1) Balance your blood sugar
2) Balance your hormones
3) Heal Adrenal Exhaustion or Adrenal Fatigue

In my “7 weeks to Super Skin” program I cover this protocol, and many other skin issues. Having been a long-time sufferer of Psoriasis, I understand the pain of having a skin condition that is highly visible. I developed my “7 Weeks to Super Skin” program out of my own pain, and the goal in creating it was to help other women who suffer from skin issues.

Please pass this onto anyone you know who suffers from PSOC or acne. There is no reason for them to suffer.