I remember the first time I got asked that question… Other than feeling better health, more empowerment and more joy, I didn’t have a clear-cut answer. Of course, you will find out through your health care practitioner and annual medical check-ups.

But now, with the Creating Balanced Health full scan, I found an ongoing way to monitor my health on various levels against the lifestyle choices I make. In this video, I walk you through the process of submitting for a full scan.

Of course, the full scan test results are not meant to replace conventional treatment and testing. They provide you with additional information about your health status in a holistic way. Let me explain…

First, it’s important to note that I am not in any way qualified to interpret these results so I’m just going to show you and share some thoughts but don’t interpret it as any kind of medical advice. Once you receive your Creating Balanced Health test results you want to book a consultation with a qualified health practitioner to delve deeper into what this all means.

(You can also watch my video explaining the results of my Creating Balanced Health full scan.)

Energetic system performance

In this section, you see what systems of your body are stressed. Ideally, you want all of these at 100%.

I’m doing pretty good with most of my systems but, not surprisingly, where I have work to do is my endocrine, lymph and immune system.

I suspected my lymph and immune systems were weak and it’s so validating to see these results. We are more in tune with our bodies than we think. I hope this encourages you to listen to your body because your body leaves clues.

What’s neat about this is you can click on the system and it will give you an explanation. So if you’re not sure what your endocrine system is comprised of, a definition will appear:

“The endocrine system is made up of glands that secrete hormones. Hormones are released into the bloodstream where they travel to tissue and generate a response. Hormones regulate metabolism, development, function, sleep, and mood. The glands that make up the endocrine system include the pineal, thyroid, adrenals, pituitary, parathyroid, pancreas, ovaries, and testes. These glands produce hormones such as cortisol, DHEA, estrogen, insulin, progesterone, testosterone, and adrenalin.”

Then in the notes at the bottom, it gives you a more detailed summary of the most significantly stressed systems. For me it’s:

• thyroid and thymus
• pituitary and pineal glands
• teeth and jaw drainage

Some of the points of the body driving this down are:

• hypothalamus
• sinuses
• ear drainage
• spleen

Energetic sensitivities to food

Things gets really interesting in this section.

Ok, that’s fine. I have energetic sensitivities to alcohol, flours and sugars. Those are things I try to avoid regardless (except for the red wine).

I was disappointed to see soy, tofu and peanuts – even though they are common allergens. Since transitioning to a vegan-style way of eating, they’ve made up a larger part of my diet. Time to re-evaluate…

The good news is, as you strengthen your body’s systems and go further on your non-toxic lifestyle journey, these sensitivities can go away. So it’s not just about avoidance, it’s about supporting your body in getting healthier and stronger.

Sensitivities came up to mold and pollen, which weren’t surprising to me. I’ve been dealing with seasonal allergies for about 20 years now and one of my big goals with the non-toxic lifestyle and detoxifying through food is to eliminate my seasonal allergies altogether.

Energetic nutritional imbalances

Here, you find out what your nutritional imbalances are. It even lists food sources for all of your nutritional imbalances so you can make sure to start including more of these in your diet.

Seeing the enzyme section has motivated me to be more diligent about taking my enzyme supplement consistently. This can also be addressed through food choices but, since there’s a notable weakness, I’m going to do both food and supplementation.

I’ve been a huge advocate for magnesium. It helped me address a number of things so I found it interesting to see it appear in my results.

And not surprising to see B12 here given I’ve removed all animal products…

Energetic toxins

I was really looking forward to the information in this section but I only got very high-level results that don’t say much. So that was definitely disappointing.

This is where the consultation comes into play and where the detailed results are given to a qualified health care practitioner to avoid any misinterpretation. So once I get around to that, I’ll know more.

Energetic Hormonal Imbalances

This section here provides more insights into my thyroid weakness. You can see most of my hormone imbalances are thyroid-related.

At the end of the Creating Balanced Health full scan results, supplements are listed for your consideration based on your particular weaknesses and imbalances.

To learn more about my health approach and how to master your mindset for better health, check out Lead Your Health or MEI4H.

Your turn to get a Creating Balanced Health full scan

Curious to know your imbalances and weaknesses? You can use my coupon codes to save on Creating Balanced Health scans.

When ordering a full scan, use coupon code “rustikhealth” to get $20 off.

When ordering a subscription package, use coupon code “rustikhealthsub” to get $5 off each monthly payment.

Visit the Creating Balanced Health website.

To your health,

M.

PS – Come get to know me by joining my free Facebook community The Health + Mindset Collective.

The post Creating Balanced Health full scan results appeared first on Rustik Health.

You don’t necessarily have all of your non-toxic living products or tools with you while travelling because you’re limited in how much stuff you can bring. Plus, you don’t always have access to what you need where you’re travelling to.

Watch the video or read on below…

Essential oils for emotional and physical support during non-toxic travel

I always bring a good collection of essential oils with me during my travels. Essential oils can help reduce anxious feelings while travelling, support your immune system by helping fight germs in public areas and transportation, as well as help you get through jet lag.

Some of my favourites include Peace roller blend, OnGuard immunity blend, Peppermint and Lavender. Get these oils at 25% off here.

Non-toxic travel personal care products

Two non-toxic lifestyle tools I never travel without are:

• Tongue scraper: to remove the white film on your tongue that can contain bacteria and metabolic toxins. Get one here.
• Gua sha tool: to enhance circulation, smooth out fine lines and wrinkles, and give you glowing skin.

One of the many benefits of living more naturally is how little products you really need for personal care. You’ll notice many of the ingredients are multi-purpose. For example, I bring Jojoba oil as my face and body moisturizer. I also bring baking soda as my deodorant, shampoo and toothpaste (use sparingly).

Supplements to strengthen immunity and digestion on your journey

During my travels, I am extra diligent about taking supplements. I’m never quite sure what kind of food I’ll have access to so I bring my multivitamins, digestive enzymes and probiotics. This helps my body ensure it still get everything it needs and supports my digestive system which may have to work overdrive.

Staying hydrating and eating well abroad

One of the most important things to do while travelling, especially when a flight is involved, is to stay hydrated. I like to bring an empty stainless steel bottle with me so I can fill it at the airport and ensure I always have water to drink.

Also, bringing snacks will help you avoid succumbing to the processed airport and flight food options. Since we’ll be travelling domestically, I’ll be bringing fresh apples, grapes and oranges for hydration and energy. I’ll also bring dry fruit and nuts for extra sustenance.

I hope this gives you some good ideas on how to travel while still living the non-toxic lifestyle. If you have any questions or have your own tips to share, drop them in the comments below.

M.

Get my top 5 non-toxic living tips.

Join the conversation in the Non-Toxic Living Collective group.

The post Non-toxic travel tips: our family ski trip to Banff appeared first on Rustik Health.

I feel you… this was actually me for a long time! Every now and then, I’d find DIY containers at a natural health store but they were often expensive or it wasn’t exactly what I needed. It seemed way too daunting to start making my own products.

There are many reasons why you might want to consider making your own DIY products. As we all know, you can simply buy pre-made “eco-friendly” products.

But keep in mind:

• There’s still a lot of greenwashing out there. Companies make themselves look more non-toxic and environmentally-friendly than they really are…
• Many natural product companies have been bought out by large corporations (think Burt’s Bees and Tom’s of Maine). Do you really trust these big conglomerates who make tons of toxic, synthetic-chemical filled products?

Over time, I discovered that finding containers for storing DIY products can be easy! Here are a few of my favourite hacks.

Watch the video or read on below.

Tip #1: reuse existing containers for storing DIY products

The easiest DIY container hack is to use what you already have around the house. For example, “empties” of the following products:

• Glass food jars
• Lip balm containers
• Glass sparkling water bottles
• Mason jars
• Essential oil roller bottles
• Glass or stainless steel tupperware

Re-using existing containers is also a great way to lower your environmental impact.

Tip #2: store-bought containers for DIY products

If you don’t have any empties ready to use or you need more, you can find many suitable containers at every day stores you might shop at or have nearby.

I’ve found great soap dispensers at a reasonable price at stores like Walmart and Ikea. I’ve also found the perfect dishwasher powder and bath salt containers at the Dollar Store.

If you have something very specific in mind, you might still have to scour the natural products stores in your area.

Tip #3: order low impact storage containers online for DIY products

Nowadays, you can order almost anything online. If you need something specific and don’t want to hunt down natural products stores, it’s likely available on Amazon.

If you just don’t want to leave the house, you can also find a variety of DIY product suppliers online.

Tip #4: reduce your need for DIY storage containers

As you progress along your non-toxic lifestyle journey, you might finding yourself needing to make less and less DIY products. One-ingredient products can be very effective for your skin, as a deodorant and more!

For example, my skin lotion has simply become fractionated coconut oil – no mixing required! I’ll sometime add a drop of essential oil to it straight into my hand.

My face lotion has simply become jojoba oil. I have a pre-made roller bottle of essential oil mixture I’ll often dab in a few key spots on top of the jojoba oil on my face.

For nearly 10 years now, straight baking soda has been my non-toxic deodorant and I haven’t looked back!

Tip #4 is the ultimate in reducing your environmentally impact. If you can find a bulk store to refill your one-ingredient products, even better!

I hope this was super helpful. If you weren’t exploring non-toxic DIY recipes because you didn’t feel set up for it, maybe now you’ll at least think about it.

Because, honestly, one of the best ways to ensure you are using TRULY non-toxic products is to make them yourself.

If you have any other DIY container hacks, please share them with us in the comments below!

M.

Get my top 5 non-toxic living tips.

Join the conversation in the Non-Toxic Living Collective group.

The post Storing DIY products | Preserve your non-toxic recipes appeared first on Rustik Health.

These 7 habits will help you do just that. But I don’t want you to feel overwhelmed… Do as many of these habits as you have time for and stick to what resonates with you the most.

Build up to it. As you begin to implement certain habits, they will become second nature and you will find space and flow to implement more of them.

Always remember that the non-toxic lifestyle is not only about reducing your toxic load and swapping out toxic products that you currently use. It’s also about supporting your body in detoxifying itself and helping it remove any toxins you may be holding on to.

These 7 tips are going to address both of these facets. Watch the video or read on below.

(Note: affiliate links appear below)

Peppermint essential oil in your healthy morning routine

A lot of women and mamas out there complain about a lack of energy and general fatigue. Many of us need a big cup of coffee in the morning to get us going.

Although I believe this is part of a much bigger issue, one way to counteract this lack of energy is by taking a deep breath of peppermint essential oil when you wake up in the morning. This is not addressing the root cause but is a natural way to address the symptom.

If you feel like trying to skip the caffeine altogether, you can add in some coconut oil and apply to your temples and the back of your neck to deal with withdrawal symptoms. Just be careful around the eye area!

Tongue scraping when you first wake up

Tongue scraping is an ancient Ayurvedic practice that dates back thousands of years. It involves scraping the white film off your tongue to remove bacteria and metabolic toxins that accumulate while you sleep.

To do this, you can use a tongue scraper tool. If you don’t have one, you can simply use a spoon. Place the edge of the tongue scraper or spoon at the back of the tongue and then scrape forward.

Rinse the tongue scraper or spoon and repeat up to 3 times. Make sure to do this first thing in the morning before you drink or brush your teeth as part of your healthy morning routine.

Dry skin brushing before you shower

I admit, this is a tougher non-toxic lifestyle habit for me to do consistently and regularly.

Dry skin brushing is another great natural way to kick start your morning because it’s invigorating and energizing. It also stimulates the lymphatic system, which is essentially your body’s sewer system. So as you dry skin brush, you help eliminate toxins and detoxify your body.

You’ll want to dry skin brush while your skin is still dry and before hopping into the shower. Always brush from your extremities towards the heart. On the stomach, you can do a circular clock-wise motion.

Hot / Cold shower to move your lymph

This is a relatively new habit for me that I plan on solidifying in 2020. I love that it provides immediate results.

Once you’ve skin brushed, you can hop in the shower and alternate between hot and cold water. I generally start with hot water, wash my hair and body then alternate hot / cold water 1 – 3 times before stepping out of the shower.

This is another great way to boost your energy levels and also stimulate the lymphatic system. It’s also said to strengthen resilience and grit.

Linen spray as part of your healthy morning ritual

One of my favourite things about the non-toxic lifestyle is how it can bring more joy into your life, help reduce stress and make boring mundane chores a lot more enjoyable.

For example, I am obsessed with making the bed in the morning and that’s simply because I’ve started making my own DIY essential oils linen spray and I spray the sheets every day when I make the bed.

I’m sure this is partly due to the essential oils working their magic on the limbic area of my brain but regardless, I just love it.

Also, this habit helps makes up for the lack of strong, lingering scent from switching over to a natural laundry routine. It will help bring back that freshly-washed scent that is so satisfying from taking the sheets out of the dryer!

While I’m at it, I usually also spray the inside of our closets, the laundry I haven’t put away and just anything really… Feel free to go a bit nuts with it.

Diffuse essential oils in your non-toxic ritual

If you have time in the morning before heading off to work, you’ll want to diffuse some essential oils in your home. Again, this will help with energy levels and enhance the general mood in the house.

It’s also a great non-toxic, natural way to bring more joy into your life and help reduce stress.

Get yourself some high-quality essential oils and put 5 – 6 drops in your diffuser. My favourite energizing and mood-boosting scents are combinations of mint and citrus essential oils.

Drink water with citrus to help detoxify your body

Sleep is an important part of your body’s natural detoxification process. It’s a time of deep rest when it can focus on eliminating wastes and toxins from your system.

Keep this momentum going by starting your day with a big glass of pure, natural water and ideally some citrus to pack extra punch. If you want to kick-start your metabolism, add a pinch of cayenne pepper. If you want an extra energy boost, add one TBSP of chia seeds.

When I have more time and a lot of citrus in the fridge, I will stick to a glass of straight water. Then, make myself freshly squeezed citrus juice for its powerful hydrating, astringent and detoxifying properties.

I hope this gave you some useful ideas and tips for starting your days naturally with a more non-toxic lifestyle ritual.

Do you have any healthy morning routine rituals?

M.

Get my top 5 non-toxic living tips.

Join the conversation in the Non-Toxic Living Collective group.

The post Healthy morning routine 2020 appeared first on Rustik Health.

You’ll find out what is the average DIY product shelf life. I’ll also give you some tips to make your DIY products for home cleaning and personal care last longer.

Watch the video or read on below…

The problem with DIY natural products

The issue with making our own house cleaning and personal care products is we don’t include preservatives. In fact, avoiding preservatives is usually one of the reasons we start making our own products!

By not having any preservatives in our DIY natural products, they become susceptible to mold and bacteria growth. Some ingredients in the recipe may also eventually become rancid, break down and lose their effectiveness.

What goes bad and what can help

Certain ingredients tend to go bad more quickly or frequently than others. These include:

• Fruit (e.g. lemon), yogurt and eggs.
• Water – remember, water breeds life and that includes bacteria and mold!
• Preparations with hydrogen peroxide.

Although not preservatives, certain natural ingredients can help extend the shelf life of your DIY products. There are typically anti-microbial agents and antioxidants, such as:

• Borax
• Vitamin E oil
• Alcohol
• Essential oils
• Grapefruit seed extract
• Citric or ascorbic acid
• Salt or sugar
• Vinegar

So how long do your DIY natural products really last

My rule of thumb, which I determined based on my research and own personal experience, is 2 – 4 weeks for recipes that include water and up to 3 – 6 months for other recipes.

DIY product shelf life will also depend on how big of a batch you make, how often you use it and how much you use each time.

Tips for extending the life of your DIY natural products

This is a list of my favourite tips for making your DIY natural products last as long as possible.

• Make small batches so your products don’t sit on a shelf too long and have time to go bad before you run out. The best way to extend the shelf life of your products is by making shelf life a non-issue to begin with!
• Clean and sterilize the containers you will be using very well so you don’t find yourself with bacteria right from the start.
• Use distilled or boiled water.
• Keep products refrigerated as heat can affect shelf life.
• Store your DIY natural products in dark, amber bottles as sunlight can create oxidation.
• Wash hands to avoid contaminating your products, especially when it comes to face and body creams or scrubs.
• Use oils that have a longer shelf life, such as jojoba and fractionated coconut oil.

And finally, my FAVOURITE tip of all… Pick recipes that call for minimal preparation and ingredients so you can whip them up at a moment’s notice.

I hope this was helpful Feel free to ask any questions you might have in the comments below.

M.

Get my top 5 non-toxic living tips.

Join the conversation in The Health + Mindset Collective group.

The post DIY product shelf life | How long do non-toxic products last? appeared first on Rustik Health.

Thinking back, these are the top 3 lessons I learned from my natural lifestyle and by reducing my family’s toxic exposure. I’m also giving you my top 5 natural ingredients to have in your home at all time! So read on…

1. A natural lifestyle can reduce stress and increase joy

We often get caught up in our day-to-day routines because they are comfortable and familiar. Even though you feel stressed out most of the time, the idea of changing up your routine with healthy living tips might cause you EVEN MORE stress.

Or you might think that living a natural lifestyle is more stressful because you have to:

• intentionally look for or make non-toxic products…
• spend more money on non-toxic products…
• discover if these non-toxic products are actuallly going to work…

One of the lessons I learned this year is that non-toxic living does not have to be a stressful experience – in fact, it has been the opposite for me. Continuing my family’s natural living journey has reduced stress and even increased joy. Mundane chores, like making the bed, have actually become fun and empowering.

Maybe it’s because of the:

• aromatic compounds from the essential oils and their effect on the limbic area of my brain…
• empowerment that comes from knowing you can easily reduce your family toxic’s exposure by mixing 2 or 3 ingredients together…
• ease that comes from always having everything on-hand to refill your natural cleaning or personal care products…

Whatever reason it may be, going deeper into the natural lifestyle has definitely reduced my stress levels, given me peace of mind and increased the joy I feel each and every day.

2. Nature and humanity are undeniably interconnected

Inevitably, as I’ve progressed on this journey, my connection to nature has strengthened and the environmentalist within me has be reborn. I was hyper earth-aware but, as I grew up, became more disconnected with Mother Nature around me.

I got caught up in the rat race, conveniences of the modern world and my focus was elsewhere for a long time. Even when my focus was on my family’s health and nutrition, I wasn’t really considering my impact on the earth.

Sound familiar?

But 2019 is the year I reconnected and my motivation to help save our planet was further solidified by our non-toxic lifestyle. At first, this journey was all about me and my family but now it’s part of a larger mission – including helping the planet.

Some accomplishments I’m particularly proud of:

• Finally finding a super natural DIY dishwashing liquid and powder that works well and that I get excited about.
• Turning our large garbage into our compost bin and our small compost bin into our garbage can.
• Putting a deposit on an electronic car to trade in our current gas guzzling SUV next fall.

There are small steps you can take and also big steps. They are all equally valuable!

3. The simplest and cheapest products are the best

I used to roll my eyes at DIY products, especially when the recipes were too complex. Actually, I still roll my eyes at complex recipes! That’s because living naturally is NOT complex so why make it so?

In fact, the vast majority of the natural products I use in my home – whether to clean the house or for personal care – are simply a mixture of 2 or 3 ingredients. Some are even just 1 ingredient! These ingredients are also super easy to find (you likely already have some in your pantry) and not expensive at all.

The more I researched and experimented with recipes (don’t worry, I’ve done all that work for you), the more obvious this became.

The 5 natural ingredients to always have in the home:

1. Baking soda: deodorizing, exfoliating, scrubbing and alkalizing.
2. Vinegar: streak-free cleaning, unclogging, restoring PH balance.
3. Soap nuts: washing, washing, washing!
4. Castile soap: all-purpose cleaning, hair care and body wash.
5. Essential oils: detoxifying, natural fragrance, physical and emotional support.

Keep these on-hand at all times so that when you run out of something, you can quickly whip up a new batch within a matter of minutes.

Watch me talk about what I’ve learned from my natural lifestyle journey in 2019.

I hope these healthy living tips were useful

M.

Get my top 5 non-toxic living tips.

Join the conversation in the Non-Toxic Living Collective group.

The post Healthy living tips I learned from 2019 appeared first on Rustik Health.

As a teenager and even into my early twenties, I had very oily skin. I would wear tons of foundation and powder my face multiple times to give a semblance of perfect skin. As you can imagine, my pores were also quite clogged and I was prone to breakouts.

I tried multiple different face washes, creams and masks but nothing make huge improvements. To be honest, massive shifts only began happening once I became much more conscious of my diet and transitioned to non-toxic face products.

To celebrate, I haven’t used face powder or foundations in YEARS. I can remember the last time I put anything on my face except for blush. I’m actually terrified to put anything more on my face than that given all of the progress!

For a while, my favourite non-toxic DIY face mask was simply egg white. I liked the tightening effect and may go back to it someday but lately this has been my go-to…

DIY face mask recipe

• 1.5 tsp green clay
• 1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 drop essential oil

This makes a one-time use portion, which I love because I don’t have to worry about it going back or adding preservatives to it. I leave it on for about 5 – 10 minutes, or dry, and then wash with water. I’ll then go over oil-prone areas with witch hazel and apply face oil to moisturize.

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I set an alarm on my phone to remind me to do this mask every week. I will sometimes change it up and only use green clay and water. I’ll also switch up the essential oils I use. My favourite include geranium, frankincense, black spruce and tea tree.

And your non-toxic facial routine can be as simple as that!

What’s your favourite DIY face mask recipe?

M.

Get my top 5 non-toxic living tips.

Join the conversation in the Non-Toxic Living Collective group.

The post DIY face mask | Clay, essential oils and apple cider vinegar appeared first on Rustik Health.

That’s because I had a hard time finding a DIY non-toxic dishwashing liquid that I like and worked for me. This is going to be an honest review of the different ingredients and recipes I’ve tried and used to clean our dishes.

I have to say dishwashing soap, whether in liquid form for handwashing or as tabs for the dishwasher, has been one of the MOST difficult products to replace on this non-toxic lifestyle journey.

You’ll notice these are all DIY or single-ingredient options. I could have explored store-bought products but, in all honesty, a lot of them have ingredients I don’t recognize, are expensive and just bring unnecessary extra packaging into our home.

More and more, I am seeing that my non-toxic journey is not only about reducing toxic exposure but also about lowering our environmental impact, living a minimalist lifestyle and keeping things all-around simple.

Our current dishwashing products

• Homemade, DIY dishtabs for the dishwasher
• Vinegar for the dishwasher rinse cycle
• Castile soap with essential oils for dishwashing liquid

I’m happy for the most part with these products. Except, I was finding the Castile soap to be a more expensive option and it runs out quickly so I was finding myself buying bottles often. (Hello, plastic waste!) Plus, it’s not super effective at cutting grease.

I had to keep looking for a better non-toxic dishwashing liquid solution…

Some of the challenges

• Getting lip balm stains off glasses
• Cleaning bowls that have dried oatmeal in them
• Ridding dried up smoothie from our cups

So this past weekend, in an effort to address these challenges, and to step it up by reducing the ingredients I use and plastic bottles making their way into our cupboards, I started experimenting with washing soda and soap nuts (AKA soap berries).

Almost right away, I regretted making the washing soda. Turns out, it is super caustic and can irritate your lungs and skin. If using, you need to wear gloves to avoid making contact with it. No thanks.

The washing soda won’t go to waste, however. I do plan on testing it out to whiten laundry and in certain bathroom cleaning products.

Was there any hope in finding an effective non-toxic dishwashing soap?

What has been working

But I’ve been super impressed with soap nuts. I already loved them for doing laundry but hadn’t thought about trying them as dishwashing liquid. I ended up making the more complex recipe for using soap nuts, which involved boiling 10-12 nuts for an hour and making liquid. Next time, I plan on simply leaving the nuts in a mason jar filled with water and infusing overnight. Even less work!

So far, I tried the soap nuts liquid in the dishwasher and it worked as well as the dishtabs I was making. Unfortunately, it did not conquer the three challenges…

I also tried it to hand wash dishes with some added grapefruit essential oil to it. It worked well and was WAY more effective at cutting grease than the Castile soap. So I think I found my cheaper, more environmental option to Castile soap for liquid dishwashing.

(Oh, and I used some of the soap nuts liquid with extra water and essential oils to wash our floors. It made an amazing lather and worked great!)

So no need to say it but… I’m going nuts for soap nuts. Literally, folks.

I will keep trying to find the solution to the famous three challenges but, in the meantime, I will keep rinsing or soaking grimy dishes before putting them in the dishwasher. I will also keep rewashing those 2-3 items that aren’t as clean as I like them. All in all, it’s still an extremely SMALL PRICE to pay for the health of my family and of the environment.

What are your favourite non-toxic dishwashing products and ingredients?

M.

Get my top 5 non-toxic living tips.

Join the conversation in the Non-Toxic Living Collective group.

The post Non-toxic dishwashing liquid appeared first on Rustik Health.

But the last thing I want to be doing is soaking in a bunch of synthetic chemicals that have carcinogenic, neurotoxic or hormorne-disrupting properties. Especially when my pores are wide open from the heat so ensuring I’m taking a non-toxic bath.

Sometimes, I’ll simply take a bath in water (seriously!). Other times, I’ll whip up one of the following recipes.

Espom + baking soda soak

Ingredients

• 1 cup Epsom salt
• 1/4 cup baking soda

Instructions

Mix both ingredients in bath until dissolved

Fizzing bath bombs

Ingredients

• 1 cup citric acid
• 1 cup baking soda
• ½ cup cornstarch
• ½ cup fractionated coconut oil
• 8–10 drops of your favourite essential oil(s)

Instructions

1. Place citric acid, baking soda, cornstarch and oil in a bowl.
2. Add 8–10 drops of the essential oil or blend of choice.
3. Mix well with spoon until soft dough is formed. It should have the consistency of damp sand. Note: If the mixture is too wet, try adding a little more baking soda and cornstarch until consistency is correct. 
4. At this point, you may add food coloring, dried herbs, or flower petals to mixture. 
5. Place mixture in silicone molds. Let sit 24 hours before removing from mold.
6. To use, drop in tub or shower and allow to dissolve.

(Source)

Colourful bath bombs

Ingredients

• 2 cups baking soda
• 1 cup citric acid
• 10–20 drops essential oil of choice
• 100% pure witch hazel in spray bottle
• Mold (Silicone or metal)
• Natural coloring such as Mica

Instructions

1. In a large bowl, combine baking soda and citric acid. 
2. Add ½ teaspoon natural coloring and mix well. 
3. Stir in essential oils. 
4. Spray the entire surface of the mix with witch hazel and mix with hands. Continue to spray and mix rapidly until the mixture holds together. 
5. Quickly press the mixture into desired mold, making sure it is firmly packed. Let mixture set in mold for 20–30 seconds. Gently tap the mold to release bath bombs. 
6. Let dry for 30 minutes or until they are firm and do not fall apart.

(Source)

Essential oil bubble bath

Ingredients

• 1 cup unscented castile soap
• ½ cup vegetable glycerin
• 2 tablespoons water
• 15 drops essential oil(s) 

Instructions

1. Combine castile soap, glycerin, and water into glass bowl.
2. Add essential oils.
3. Stir until well combined.
4. Pour into glass container.
5. To use, add ¼–½ cup of the essential oil bubble bath mixture to warm, running bath water.

(Source)

Soap satchels

Ingredients

• 4 small burlap bags
• 1 natural soap bar of choice, grated
• ¾ cup old-fashioned oats

Instructions

1. Place grated soap and old-fashioned oats into a small bowl and mix until combined.
2. Divide mixture equally into burlap bags.
3. When showering or washing hands, wet the burlap satchel and use as a loofah or hand exfoliator. Add a drop of grapefruit or wild orange for uplifting properties. 

(Source)

Epsom salt bath

Ingredients

• 1 cup Epsom salt
• 1/4 cup fractionated coconut oil
• 10 drops essential oil(s)

Instructions

1. Add essential oils to Epsom salt and fractionated coconut oil and stir together.
2. Draw a warm bath and add ¼–½ cup of the mixture to the tub.

(Source)

For tips on storing your non-toxic bath recipes and other homemade natural DIY products, read this post.

What is your favourite non-toxic bath recipe?

M.

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Join the conversation in the Non-Toxic Living Collective group.

The post The Non-Toxic Bath | 6 homemade DIY recipes appeared first on Rustik Health.

During a conference break, she had sneaked over to the The Detox Market in Yorkville and showed me her purchases. I gawked at her beauty finds. So, of course, I made my way over there too…

One of my most exciting purchases at The Detox Market was a gua sha contour tool. I already had a jade roller but had heard amazing things about the gua sha and some people even prefer it. I figured I must give it a try.

If I were asked to compare the two, I would say they’re both like a massage but the jade roller is a relaxation massage whereas the gua sha is a deep tissue massage. According to the company insert (Odacité Skincare), the gua sha tool can improve the appearance of:

• Fine lines and wrinkles
• Dark circles
• Puffiness around the eye
• Sagging skin
• Breakouts
• Skin’s radiance and glow

So the roller and gua sha have very similar benefits. I do see how some people prefer the gua sha because it does seems to be more impactful on circulation and massaging skin tissue. I’m currently focused on the gua sha to test it out but see myself alternating between the two.

I love how effective and easy-to-use-and-maintain these beauty tools are. Clean your skin, apply a natural face oil with essential oils and use upward strokes. Don’t forget your neck! Simply wash the tools with a mild soap after each use and dry off. I like to keep my jade roller in the freezer for a fresh, cooling sensation.

Every now and then, expose them to moonlight to recharge them… although I honestly have been forgetting to do this!

My verdict? Get both

M.

Get my top 5 non-toxic living tips.

Join the conversation in the Non-Toxic Living Collective group.

The post How to use a gua sha and jade roller appeared first on Rustik Health.