Mirea Ellis, Founder of Rejuva Organics
Have you ever felt frustrated looking at the ingredients list on body care or cosmetics products? Here are two great tools that will decipher the secret code and empower you to choose products that are safe for you and the planet.
Go to www.cosmeticsdatabase.com and you can look up either a specific product (like Elizabeth Arden Extreme Conditioning), or any ingredient, and find a toxic rating for it as well as health problems associated with it.
The small but incredibly useful book “Dying to Look Good” by Christine Hoza Farlow is an ingredients dictionary, so you can bring it along to the stores and see if an ingredient is toxic or safe.
To truly transform your health and appearance, you need to have ingredients that are safe and beneficial. You won’t find a regular commercial product that’s as powerfully rejuvenating as real food and herbs, when applied to your skin. The drawbacks for manufacturers? No shelf life, very expensive compared with chemicals, and consumers have been taught to buy white or clear products (”pure”) that have only certain types of smells.
Did you ever drink an herbal tea that was white or clear? Didn’t it smell like the herb? Many of the most powerful plant nutrients are in the pigments, so how much of the plants’ benefits are you getting with a white or clear product?
The only moisturizer I use is cold pressed, unrefined, USDA certified organic Wild Rosehip Seed Oil. Why? Because its unique abundance of nutrients is more skin healing and rejuvenating than anything else I’ve found. It’s also the reason most people are surprised when they find out I’m 57 years old yet my skin has less wrinkles than many people in their 30’s. The rich depth of the oil’s orange color, thick consistency and the natural smell, are all indications of its potency.
This is the way we need to start thinking, to look at the “food” value of our body care products.
Along with eliminating toxic ingredients, here’s some shocking but true tips that will work wonders for your looks and help the environment:
- Stop using detergents and soap on your body. They are harmful for the skin’s protective oils and acid mantel, and are drying and aging. Warm water and a cotton wash cloth are all most people need for basic cleaning. You’ll find shampoos at www.morroccomethod.com that have no soap, detergent or any synthetic ingredients.
- Healthy skin cells are beautiful skin cells, so change from refined and processed foods to whole foods (organic whenever possible). You’ll see a bigger change in your looks than any product can provide.
- Simplify your beauty routine. Using fewer products is better for your body and you’ll put less garbage into the environment.
- Move your body. It moves the lymph system around, which you need to do to get rid of toxins. Every day do some exercise or dance freely. I sit on an exercise ball at my desk, and I feel and look better than when I used chairs.
- Lighten up! Stress is not good for your health and looks. Smiling and laughing are.
- Change your perspective on beauty. What does this quote from John Lennon mean to you? “You’ve got to be good looking cause you’re so hard to see.” Junk food and beauty products that instantly cover up rather than change our looks are temporarily comforting. Wouldn’t it be better to love yourself and your life? If you don’t, you’ll keep going back to old buying habits and lifestyle patterns. Spend some time finding out what’s really important to you and go after it! Learn to be comfortable expressing yourself, and then you’ll be able to stick to, and reap the benefits of, healthy choices.
If you’re ready to make a lifestyle change and create new habits, join me at The Power of Natural Healing Conference on July 28, 2008 in Wellesley, Massachusetts for a week of ‘how to’ live a healthy life.
Mirea Ellis is a health advocate, researcher, teacher, and founder of Rejuva Organics, an educational and herbal bodycare company whose products are available at www.kushistore.com. Mirea is available for public talks on avoiding toxins in body care products with medical doctor George W. Yu. She is also one of 45 speakers and experts you’ll hear at the exciting upcoming event: The Power of Natural Healing 2008 at Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts. Running from July 28 to August 3, you can learn more information on the event by visiting www.thepowerofnaturalhealing.org or calling 1-800-975-8744.
