Ivy Charlaine Whipped Body Butter

This is the perfect follow up to the post I did last week, regarding my obsession with the health benefits of natural & raw products. I was sooooo excited to get this gift from Nicole (Ivy Charlaine). She was experimenting with blending different oils to make body butter and here’s what she used:

• Lavendar oil
• Raw shea butter
• Coconut oil
• Olive oil

It smells SO GOOD. It’s also unbelievably light. You can use it anywhere from your skin to your hair, and a little bit goes such a long way. I hope you keep making more of these, Nicole, because mine is almost gone! lol

For those of you who aren’t already familiar with Ivy Charlaine, check out her youtube channel here: IVY CHARLAINE YOUTUBE CHANNEL

Be sure to also follow her too: @IvyCharlaine ß twitter & instagram

Oh, and just in case you’re interested, I’ve listed some of the benefits for the ingredients that she used in the mixture:

LAVENDAR OIL:

A remedy for aching muscles, acne, bugs & bacteria, burns, cuts & wounds, earache, eczema, fatigue, fevers, giddy spells, palpitations, headache, insomnia, long haul travel, menstrual cramps, moth & mosquito bites, scabies, shingles, sinusitis, stress & anxiety, and sunburn.

COCONUT OIL:

Health benefits include hair care, skin care, stress relief, maintaining cholesterol levels, wight loss, increased immunity, proper digestion and metabolism, relief from kidney problems, heard diseases, high blood pressure, diabetes, HIV and cancer, dental care, and bone strength.

RAW SHEA BUTTER:

Good for dry skin, skin rashes, skin peeling after tanning, sunburn, blemishes, cracked heels and skin, itchy skin, frost bite, stretch marks, scars, chapped lips, eczema, small wounds or scrapes, diaper rash, hair moisturizer, burns, athlete's foot, insect bites, and stings, arthritis, muscle fatigue, pets' (dogs and horses) dry skin, sunburn, scrapes, and as a natural mechanics lubricant.

OLIVE OIL:
Filled with antioxidants, such as Vitamins E and A, the benefits are skin care - repairing sun-damaged skin, protects against free radicals and renews skin. Penetrates to make skin suppler and mixed with sea salt, it helps exfoliate dead skin. Also acts as an antioxidant and deep conditioner for your hair and prevents dandruff and flaking.

Related Posts:

My Obsession...

The Benefits of Ginger Root Tea

My Obession...

Those of you that know me, know that I LOVE to drink tea and love to use natural herbs to come up with some healing concoction for myself and others. Well, recently I realized that I have an obession with researching the health benefits of natural ingredients that I have. It all started a few summers ago when I was drinking so much coconut water that some of my friends would take pictures of coconut water cans in stores, and send them to me. They would always say that it reminded them of me lol. By the third photo I received, I started to wonder if drinking that much coconut water was causing my body any harm or benefit, so I decided to do some research, and this is what I found:

The Benefits of Coconut Water

I was pretty amazed at the results I found and as I started raving about how good coconut juice was for you, I couldn't help but wonder what else...

I eventually added a few more  "Random Useful Knowledge" posts to my blog. You can click the tab above to see others. 

Well, like I said before, I recently realized I had an obsession and it happened when Jarid got me some loose leaf tea from Teavana and I researched the health benefits for every single ingredient...

crazy, I know...smh

I found this quote by Hippocrates, not too long after. I think it ties everything together lol.

This all just intrigues me, and what's even crazier, is that I have soooo much fun doing it! I have a whole "medicine cabinet" full of herbs that I've collected in the past year and a half or so, and its growing fast. I just love it. I eventually want to channel my passion for this somewhere... perhaps an informative website, or maybe even a store (God Willing, we'll see what happens).

 Here's a pic of most of the herbs and teas that I've collected during my travels.

   Here's some herbs I got as a gift from my friend in China. I was telling her that I wanted to make special blends that specific blends like "women's health" and "relaxation". This blend smells wild though. I almost felt rude for not warning my roommate that I was going to make it before I did. 

If you're wondering where I get the green bags from, go to PennHerb.com. They're located in Philly and they deliver very quickly. The price of herbs is very good too. Most of the herbs I buy are around 1.95 per ounce.

I'm already branching out from the herbs and experimenting with topical uses of raw foods like ginger. Stay tuned for what I have planned next :)

Related Posts:

The Benefits of Flax Seeds

Baking Soda for Burns

The healing effects of garlic

I was sick with a fever last week, and was inspired to write this post after I ingested about 12 cloves of garlic in one night and miraculously felt better the next day. I felt terrible that night with the works... body aches, fever, headache, sore throat, and mucus galore. It was disgusting. Anyway, I remember my step mom giving me a recipe for some soup that was guaranteed to make me feel better (and it did). The main ingredients were garlic, cilantro, and cayenne pepper... among other ingredients that made it soup, of course. Well I was too weak to chop up potatoes and carrots to make this soup from scratch so I decided to save some time and throw 12 cloves of garlic in some oriental flavored Ramen noodle soup, spiced with cayenne pepper to promote sweating. Needless to say, it still did its job. The fever and body aches were gone and I was ready for work the next day.

I spent the next day telling my colleagues about the healing power of garlic and instead of calling all of my friends individually, and explaining, I thought I'd just post something. The benefits are pretty amazing and I found that you can get tremendous healing by consuming 3 cloves of garlic per day. Now, some people think about that and say, "Yuck, a whole clove of garlic? Do you have to eat it raw?" Well, you'll definitely get the most health benefits out of eating foods in their raw state, but I don't think I could handle eating raw garlic everyday... and I'm sure the people I come in contact with on a daily basis wouldn't appreciate that either lol.

Here are the benefits that I found:

• Excellent for creating and maintaining overall health
• Promotes the well being of the heart and immune system with antioxidant properties
• Helps maintain healthy blood circulation
• Enhances the body's immune cell activity (one of garlic's most powerful benefits)
• A powerful antibiotic, garlic inhibits the ability of germs to grow and reproduce
• FACT: it's said that 1mg of allicin (an active component found in garlic when its chopped) has a potency equivalent to 15 standard units of penicillin (source).
• Naturally powerful antibiotic effective against toxic bacteria, viruses, and fungus. 

• Reduces cholesterol
• One of the components of garlic is geranium, which is an anti- cancer agent
• Blood thinner, similar to the effects of aspirin
• Helps strengthen your body's defenses against allergies
• Helps loosen plaque from artery walls
• Helps regulate blood sugar levels
• The best for expelling parasites such as pin worms from the human body
• Lowers high blood pressure
• Reduces the amount of free radicals in the blood stream
• A cure for impotence
• Anti-inflammatory
• Helps regulate the amount of fats cells formed in the body when taken at early stages
• Prevents heart disease
• Classified as an "anti-cancer" food.

Interesting facts:
Many home chefs mistakenly cook garlic immediately after crushing or chopping it, added Dr. Kraus. To maximize the health benefits, you should crush the garlic at room temperature and allow it to sit for about 15 minutes. That triggers an enzyme reaction that boosts the healthy compounds in garlic (source).

Garlic is toxic to cats and dogs.

Drinking lemon juice or eating a few slices of lemon will stop bad garlic breath.

source

Related Posts: 

Parfait recipe - these are BANGIN' 

The Benefits of Ginger Root Tea

 

Parfait recipe - these are BANGIN'

First, I'd like to give a special thank you to Pinterest for inspiring me and showing me how to make such a delicious treat. So, the first time I made this recipe, it was for dessert and I ended up making it for breakfast the next morning too. I was hooked. Here's what you need:

1 carton of blueberries
1 carton of strawberries
whipped cream
blueberry yogurt
a couple slices of pound cake

The directions are very simple..

1. Cut the pound cake into half inch cubes and cut the strawberries into quarter inch cubes. This is for preparation so that you're not cutting while you're layering the parfaits (like I do).

2. Then its time to start layering. Start off with about 4-5 cubes of pound cake, a couple spoonfuls of yogurt, blueberries, strawberries, and then repeat until the glass is filled.

3. After that, generously squirt some whipped cream at the top and then sprinkle some more blueberries and strawberries at the top (mostly to make it look pretty)

4. Enjoy ... Its going to taste like there's a fruit fight in your mouth. You won't be disappointed :)

Related Posts:

The Benefits of Ginger Root Tea

[Random Useful Knowledge] "The most wasted of all days..."

The Benefits of Ginger Root Tea

I've been wanting to write this post for a long time now. I was inspired by my brother, who recently injured his knee, and has been taking herbal supplements to relieve the inflammation. I did some research and most people don't start benefiting from herbs until around 2 months after continued dosage. I can testify to this because I was taking an herb, called feverfew, a while back. I was having these crazy migraines and it seemed that Excedrin migraine was the only thing I tried that actually worked. If you know me, you know that I don't really like to take over-the-counter medicine, unless I'm desperate. I drink a lot of tea anyway, so I decided to look for an herb I can steep. The quickest thing I could find was an herb called Feverfew in capsule form. I took it until it ran out, and sure enough my headaches went away and didn't come back for a long time; even after I was finished taking the capsules. I don't think I've taken that herb in a few years and I still don't have very many migraines.

That's great incentive to try and stay healthy by incorporating herbal tea dosages into my diet. I wanted to provide the benefits of ginger root tea to encourage my brother, Lamar, and anyone else who may be interested drinking it.

The benefits of ginger root:

• pain reliever
• relieves symptoms of nausea/ stops vomiting
• relieves menstrual cramps /anti spasmodic pro
• relieves cold and flu - having a hot cup makes the body sweat, which breaks the fever and dispels pathogens.
• relieves gas and digestive problems/ relaxes the intestinal muscles
• aids in secretion of digestive fluids
• relieves headaches and migraines
• provides relief from rheumatoid arthritis 
• known to have anti- cancerous properties, which prevents cancer by destroying cancerous cells
• induces cell death in ovarian cancer
• prevents colon cancer
• reduces the incidence of diabetic nephropathy (kidney damage)
• considered the best home remedy for asthma
• removes bad cholesterol from the body
• reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease
• aids in weight loss
• helps carry waste out of the body (detox)
• relieves depression, anxiety, and stress
• freshens breath

Here's some bonus facts I found from topical use of ginger on your skin:

• Improves skin tone
• fights skin-damaging free radicals
• promotes smoothness and evenness of skin tone
• Lightens age spots
• Energizing when used as aromatherapy
• Reduces cellulite
• Acne & blemish fighting
• Anti-septic (kills bacteria)
• Anti- inflammatory

Here's a pic of my dried ginger root stash, although the best way to have it is in the fresh root form. I usually just get that from the grocery store. I use this for convenience and if I want to mix different herbal blends together.

If you're wondering where I order my herbs, go here: PennHerb.com

source , source , source, source

Related Posts:

[Random Useful Knowledge] Health benefits of chrysanthemum tea

Making herbal tea with the girlies

[Random Useful Knowledge] Health benefits of chrysanthemum tea

I've been watching a lot of documentaries on Netflix about food and its got be looking at things a little differently. I've been wanting to take things to a more organic level because a lot of the "food" we're consuming these days is slowly killing us. I have a lot of herbs in my kitchen because I'm very interested in making beneficial teas that can cure me if I eve have an ailment. Last Thursday, Jess was over and we came up with a tea for general well being. We blended just the right amount and sweetened it with honey.... it was bangin. I made it again the next night. Anyway, up until that evening, I thought a particular herb that I had was chamomile, when it was really chrysanthemum. I got it in China, so the translation must have been off.

Today I was curious about the health benefits of chrysanthemum so that I can incorporate it into my future blends. I was amazed at what I found. Chrysanthemum is not among the popular herbs because not very many people know about it.  The flower is caffeine free so its free from side effects like anxiety, tension, irritation, nervousness, and confusion.

Here are the health benefits. I found about 23 so far:

• detoxifies the blood
• helps with sinus congestion
• regulates high blood pressure
• helps calm the nerves
• restrains the growth of bacteria in the body
• relief from influenza
• treats heart stroke, due to its cooling effect
• facilitates digestion when drunk with meals
• strengthens lungs
• relieves head congestion
• improves vision
• improves hearing
• cools your body temperature
• anti-viral 
• helps treat pimples and acne
• can treat discomfort of high temperature like headache, slight toothache, and throbbing nerves and gums 
• detoxes the liver
• lowers cholesterol
• helps treatment of coronary artery disease, blocked arteries, and even varicose veins
• helps alert the senses and rejuvenates the brain
• calms the nerves; helps ease giddiness
• sore throat relief
• relief from eye redness, itchiness, dryness, and dark spots

Here's my chrysanthemum stash lol --

Related Posts:

[Amazing documentary]: "Fat, Sick, & Nearly Dead"

Making herbal tea with the girlies

[Amazing documentary]: "Fat, Sick, & Nearly Dead"

I heard about this documentary a while back from Jessica, but Brienne got me to finally sit down and take a look. I watched it last night and it has definitely motivated me in more ways than just wanting to try this fast. His whole story can inspire you to do so much. The movie is available on Netflix or you can watch the whole thing on YouTube. Here's the trailer:

Related Posts:

Ming Liang Lu Paper Cutting

[Random Useful Knowledge] "The most wasted of all days..."

[Random Useful Knowledge] "The most wasted of all days..."

 

Laughter is said to be the best medicine. I know I'm in a great mood, this morning, because of it. I blogged about how laughter in the past... maybe a few years ago, but I never really went in depth about the benefits. Here they are, to list a few: 

1. As a person laughs, a number of changes occur in the body. The muscles in the face and body stretch and the rate of heart beat rises. Laughter also causes a person to breathe faster, which in turn brings more oxygen to the tissues. Helping the body fight certain diseases, laughter reduces health problems connected with strokes, high blood pressure, ulcer, and arthritis. 

2.  15 minutes of laughter equals the benefit of 2 hours sleep.

3.  Laughter is good exercise. you can get the same benefits from laughing 100 times a day, as you can from 10 minutes of rowing.

4.  Laughter releases endorphins into the body with the same exhilarating effect as doing strenuous exercise.

5.  Stressed individuals have higher levels of a hormone called cortical. Studies show that laughter lowers cortical levels in the body, which makes laughter a natural stress buster. Much of the stress we experience is related to how we think. Laughing after an embarrassing mistake you made, for example, is far less stressful than losing sleep or remaining stressed over it.

6.  Laughter increases energy levels. Feeling tired or run down? Have a good laugh. Laughter is a natural pick-me-up, which may provide the energy and time needed to do things that might otherwise be avoided. 

If anyone has any funny videos they want to share, I'm down to watch... this is the funniest one I've seen in a minute so I thought I'd share (even though I saw it a while ago... thanks Blogzworth) lol

Related Posts:

"Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us" 

Making herbal tea with the girlies

Source 1

Source 2

Making herbal tea with the girlies

On Saturday, Lamar, Ashley (my youngest sister), and Yanna (my neice aka my Mini-Me) came to spend the day in NYC with me. We ended up going to the Central Park Zoo and Boathouse later on in the day. We had a little bit of time to burn before we left so I decided to make some tea. The girls helped me. 

The ingredients were: licorice root, black cohosh, saw palmetto berries, chaste tree berries, spearmint, green tea leaves, and honey for taste.

 I'm glad they were into it because I like people to know that these herbs have a lot of potent nutrients that can help keep good health. I try to drink at least 4 cups of herbal tea per day.

 They wanted to taste every herb by itself lol. I think they were trying saw palmetto berries here. I refused to try it alone cuz the smell of them was like old cheese. Ashley jumped right in and tried it first; but she said it tastes how it smells.... grossss. I told you she was brave lol.

 I made sure I taught them some of the specifics about what some of the herbs do for your body. For example, the licorice root alone supports respiratory function, promotes energy & hormonal balance, soothes acid indigestion, maintains gastrointestinal health and much more. Ashley looked intrigued lol.

 We used my handy natural tea maker. I got it during my most recent trip to China. This is one of my most prized possessions lol. I use it just about every day.

Side note: Look at my mini me and her hair. Love it! lol

 Ashley pouring in the green tea leaves

Yanna pouring in the honey. When it was cool enough to drink they both said they liked the taste :) 

If anyone else is interested in ordering natural herbs online, I found this site, PennHerb.com . They have a huge variety and they deliver pretty fast. Also, if you click on the names, they'll give you a list of the herbs they have available, along with the health benefits, and common uses. Enjoy!

P.S. The posts from the Central Park Zoo and Boathouse are coming soon

Related Posts:

NATURALLY CLEAR YOUR STUFFED NOSE

The Benefits of Goji Berries

"Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us"

I got this off of a fb group I'm a part of and thought it was interesting. (Its also a good follow up to the last video I posted like this on "Where good ideas come from"). I need every boss to watch this to understand how to keep creative employees happy and motivated.... and also, I need everyone else to watch this to wake up and understand that your true potential lies within. What will make you successful is just a matter of doing more of the things you already love to do. I know it takes time to build. Everyone who's already realized this knows that it can be a journey getting to where you really want to be, but having the desire and belief that you can make it by actually working with what you already have is a great start.

Related Posts:

"Where good ideas come from" by Steven Johnson

Get Inspired! - Change the world [Repost]

"Where good ideas come from" by Steven Johnson

This is so cool... visually and mentally stimulating. I'm ALWAYS thinking about something and coming up with creative ideas, but a lot of times (and I know u can relate), I don't feel like I have enough of an idea to actually put it into action so I get stuck.  Thanks for sending me this Craig :) ... perfect timing too lol. Check it out guys..

Related Posts:

"The Power of Words"

Recommended book: "Shift" by Peter Arnell

"The 7 Golden Rules"

"The test of a first-rate intelligence..."

I posted this because I randomly came across this quote for the second time today. I was listening to a podcast when I was getting ready for work this morning, and the dude referenced this quote. The second time, I saw it on the side panel of someone's site. Seeing as tho I'm not one to just disregard things like this, I decided to post it up. 

During the podcast, the speaker was talking about his way of taking from different belief systems to shape his morals. He mentioned that there's valuable info and common ground in certain principles that seem to conflict, but if you can find a way to connect the two in harmony, it's a sure sign of higher thinking/ intelligence.  It eliminates the urge to generalize and state that one's belief is wrong over another. 

That in itself can cause a huge conflict among people.... and it does.

Related Links:

TashLeake: Build your vocabulary:

TashLeake: Release More Endorphins! -The "Happy" Hormone

NATURALLY CLEAR YOUR STUFFED NOSE

NATURALLY CLEAR YOUR STUFFED NOSE

Forget Sudafed. An easier, quicker, and cheaper way to relieve sinus pressure is by alternately thrusting your tongue against the roof of your mouth, then pressing between your eyebrows with one finger. This causes the vomer bone, which runs through the nasal passages to the mouth, to rock back and forth, says Lisa DeStefano, D.O., an assistant professor at the Michigan State University college of osteopathic medicine. The motion loosens congestion; after 20 seconds, you'll feel your sinuses start to drain.

Source

Build your vocabulary:

And easy way to remember this word: the meaning of the word NEXUS is "a connection". The English spell this word: conNEXion.

I started reading this book "How To Build A Better Vocabulary" by Maxwell Nurnberg and Morrix Rosenblum. I was thinking about it, and there are a lot of things I used to do on my blog that a lot I enjoyed and haven't done in a longed time i.e. new words and random useful knowledge. I'm gonna keep it interesting and start doing that again. Hope you enjoy it.

Foreal?? lol

I dont know why but I think this is cool lol.... Jay, you're allowed to call me "Doris" for this post. (Doris is his "old lady" name for me) lol

(You can use a walnut to clean up scratches and dings on wood... check it out)

Release More Endorphins! -The "Happy" Hormone

Check it out... Here's the link to the article I posted on the ALLSMiLES blog: BLOG.ALLSMiLES.TV

The Benefits of Goji Berries

THE BENEFITS OF GOJI BERRIES

I've known about goji berries for a while now. They have so many benefits, I can't even begin to explain. I would recommend researching the benefits of these berries just so you can get  full overview of the benefits. I've provided a few here, as well as a source.

Goji berries are incredibly nutritious. For their weight -- a daily serving is only 10 to 30 grams -- goji berries have more vitamin C than oranges, more beta carotene than carrots and more iron than steak. Beta carotene is believed to help fight heart disease and also protects the skin from sun damage. Goji berries are also a good source of B vitamins and antioxidants, which protect against harmful free radicals that damage cells in your body. They’re also rich in polysaccharides, which aid the immune system, have 18 kinds of amino acids, and are a rich source of potassium. And, as if protecting your heart, skin and immune system weren’t enough, beta carotene and antioxidants are thought to help fight cancer.

source

Related Posts:

The Benefits of Coconut Water

The Benefits of Flax Seeds

I just got into eating these. I heard that eating a few spoonfuls of flax seeds in your meals everyday will change your life. I don't know if that person was exaggerating, or if this food can really make an impact on your health like that. We'll see. Oh... and the taste isn't strong at all so you can top a lot of dishes off with these.  Check out some of the benefits:

• Lowered blood cholesterol levels
• Lowered high blood pressure
• Increased energy, vitality, and stamina
• Increased sense of calmness under stress
• Reduced threat of blood clots
• Protection against cancers, particularly hormone sensitive cancers such as breast and prostate
• Better regulation of blood sugar levels
• Eases inflammatory tissue conditions, including arthritis
• Alleviation of dry skin, eczema and psoriasis
• Enhanced immune system
• Increased metabolic rate with a positive impact on weight management
• Helps with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD)
• Natural laxative
• And the list goes on

Related Posts:
The Healing Effects of Garlic
The Benefits of Ginger Root Tea

Baking Soda for Burns

 (Photo from http://theurbanclassboutique.com )

Erica was telling us how she burned her finger on an iron this weekend. Her friend told her to quickly grab some baking soda and water to soak it in. She said it worked like a charm because about 20 min later, she forgot she even got burned. I did some more research for ya'll and found out more about the benefits of baking soda:

1.Treat minor burns
2.Cool off sunburn and other skin irritations
3.Soothe poison ivy rashes
4.Make a salve for bee stings
5.Fight diaper rash
6. Combat cradle cap
7.Control your dandruff
8.Clean combs and brushes
9.Use as gargle or mouthwash
10.Scrub teeth and clean dentures
11.Clean and sweeten toothbrushes
12.Remove built-up gel, hair spray, or conditioner from hair
13.Use as antiperspirant
14.Relieve itching inside a cast
15.Alleviate athlete's foot
16.Soothe tired, stinky feet
17.Deodorize shoes and sneakers

Go to ReadersDigest.com to see other benefits for:

In the kitchen
Around the house
In the laundry
For do-it- yourselfers
In the great outdoors
For your pet

Related Posts:

 The Benefits of Flax Seeds

The Benefits of Coconut Water