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Safer beauty is a huge topic of conversation these days and we’re finding more and more clean products hit the shelves to support great skin health. While we’re huge advocates of safe beauty and safe beauty practices, we’re still no stranger to experimenting with our own homemade remedies to create the most perfect lotions and potions to support our skin’s radiant glow.  

There isn’t a day that goes by in my home when I am not wiping the kitchen countertops of bright orange powder, or some diluted yellowish substance made up of that bright orange powder mixed with something else. Coconut oil, almond milk, ghee—it all goes well with turmeric! I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with this flavorful, healing spice: turmeric stains everything and can be a mess to deal with, but its benefits far outweigh any trouble it causes. Because of that it is a staple in my household, and after this article it will probably become one in yours too! 

This summertime has been a hot one, filled with some of the highest temperatures and UV indexes we’ve seen in decades. For many, that doesn’t qualm the internal desire to pack up the car and jet off to enjoy an outdoor adventure---hiking with a buddy, boating on the lake, volleyball at the beach or even lounging in the backyard with a summertime drink.

While many of these ‘adventures’ include fun gear like a glass water bottle, a hat, or perhaps a newly crafted Spotify playlist, the most important items you can’t leave the house without are a natural and good-for-you sunscreen and skin-loving foods. Sun exposure is no joke and we’ve got a whole routine to keep our largest organ happy and healthy throughout the summer months.

Doesn’t summer just scream smoothies?! I don’t know about you, but I love smoothies. And during this season, with the hot weather and ocean breeze, they taste all the better. Smoothies offer an icy, simply, and irresistible way to quench your thirst and nourish your body, all at the same time. Is anybody else’s mouth-watering? On some days, particularly when the weather is intensely hot, a real meal doesn’t always seem appetizing. This is when a mason jar of blended goodness seems like the perfect match. However, there is no reason why a smoothie should be any less nutrient dense than a fully cooked meal. And that will be the focus of my post today! How can we combine amazing nutrients and flavors into one perfectly poured, convenient cup?

Organ meats. Have you tried them? Maybe just reading the title makes you squirm. Does anybody eat organ meats anymore? Who would like that?! Yuck! Those were some of my first expressions when I first began learning why organ meats are so incredibly beneficial to the diet. Growing up, my grandma used to always share stories of how her favorite dishes to cook for her and my grandpa were liver, tongue, and other various organs of an animal. My younger sister and I would squirm and stick out our tongues with how gross that sounded, but little did we know just how nutritious grandma’s meals were! To this day, my grandma still loves to “snack” on chicken livers, and gets excited about organ meat stew. However, you hear people eating organ meats less and less. What was once considered a traditional sacred food is now hardly spoken of. Well, my goal today is to turn that boat back around and get you excited about why organ meats are such a necessary component to your diet, and specifically the impact and benefit they have on mental health.

Last week marked one year since I adopted my sweet, brown, curly-haired Chesapeake Bay Retriever into our home and family. We have always enjoyed the breed and their fun-loving demeanor, as well as their fervent passion for the water, even in the frigid cold! Our last Chessie, Rocky, just passed away, after living 13 wonderful years experiencing outdoor adventures such as hiking, camping, kayaking, and even surfing. Yes, we taught our dog to surf the waves to shore! This time around, with busy lives and hectic schedules, I decided to try something new – doggie adoption, in hopes of bypassing that time-consuming puppy stage. I looked into Chesapeake Bay Retriever rescues and breeders all around, when finally I found my Taylor! She came to me as a four-year-old mama of two litters, and I thought life would be smooth sailing from there. Boy, was I wrong! Due to the facts that Taylor was locked up in her crate (barely big enough to fit her body) for nearly all hours of the day and night, had to compete with nearly two dozen other dogs for attention, and never really got outdoors for anything other than to get a drink of water and to relieve herself, she was anything but the Chessie breed I had known with Rocky.

Probiotics – they are everywhere! In fact, they are so well known that I would hardly call them "special” to the natural health world. You can find them at just about any grocery store, and there are always a million and one brands to choose from. Ok, not literally, but you get what I mean! So just what are probiotics, why are they so important for our health, and how do we know which brands to buy?? That is what we are going to dive into today!

Happy New Year! 2018 is upon us with new ambitions, opportunities, and goals. Perhaps you are amongst the vast majority of people who have set some sort of “New Year’s Resolution”, or accomplishment you desire to achieve in this year ahead. A new year is exciting, and offers a fresh start to get back on track with those things you have fallen away from in the previous year. For many people, the desire to get back in shape, lose weight, and eat healthier is high on the priority list. Wonderful goals, might I add!

If caring for your body, and keeping healthy and well are goals on your list, today’s post may very well be of benefit to you. That is because we are going to dive into the “hot topic” of inflammation, and how supplementing with turmeric can help.

As the holidays draw near, you may be on the lookout for some universal gifts that anybody can enjoy. There are so many ideas out there, it can be overwhelming. I personally love to browse the Radiant Life website in search of some fun favorites that I can gift to my family and friends. For this post, I have sifted through the website and its many different categories and pulled five items that I think could be enjoyed by any person, from your neighbor or teacher, co-worker or coach, and of course the many other friends and family you hold dear.

Have you ever looked at the back of one of your hand lotions? Were you aware that there is an ingredients list, just like there is an ingredients list for food? The skin is the largest organ of the body, and just like you have to watch what you put in your body, it is just as important to watch what you put on your body. It can even be argued that it is more important to watch what you put on your skin than in your body! That is because anything put on the skin bypasses the digestive system and goes directly into your bloodstream. (1), (2)