I'm so proud of my husband Ben. He has finished his teaching degree! Maybe this is why I haven't blogged recently; I've been busy soaking up some family time and loving every minute of it under the warmth of the spring sun. Flowers are blooming, chicks are chirping and the weather is warming - what a wonderful time of year.
As for my 'sugar free life', I have certainly hit a speed bump. I celebrated my birthday in September and as part of the celebration, I enjoyed a slice of mud cake & some mini Cadbury chocolates. I had absolutely no reservations in doing this. I want to show my daughter that I do eat sugar and enjoy it on special occasions, but not every day. If only I knew the effects it would have on my mind and body.
Although it may be hard to believe, I was actually quite sick later that night. I had stomach pains, a headache and felt dizzy. The following day was absolutely TERRIBLE!!!! I craved sugar like you wouldn't believe. It was absolutely crazy and to make it even worse, it was a good 7-10 days before I could really say that I wasn't being overtaken by that 'sugar craving'. For the first time (since I began this journey), I had a strong reminder of just how addicted to sugar my body is. It has been a really tough month. I've been reaching out for more fruit than normal too, which is just giving me another sugar hit.
My husband helps to keep me focused, he appears to be more disciplined then me at the moment and brushes off any talk I have about craving sugar. Thanks babe!
I've eased off on my reading at the moment too - (something to do with having my husband home)....I'm just slowly finding my way through 'Sugar Blues', written by William Duffy. This book has blown me away. It is probably the best book I've read so far (even though I haven't finished it) and ironically, it was the cheapest ($7) and is the oldest (written in 1975). I'm finding that this book is filled with unbiased interesting facts.
For something a little different this month, I decided to have a crack at making some of my own cosmetics. I made my own toothpaste, washing powder, shampoo, conditioning treatment and anti-dandruff shampoo. Sadly, the conditioning treatment and anti-dandruff shampoo didn't turn out as good as I would have hoped, but the shampoo is AWESOME, the washing powder is GREAT and the toothpaste is the BEST!!!!! Even better is that it only took 10 ingredients to make it all!!!
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| From left to right: Body Shop Deep Sleep lavender oil (I always add this to my mop water when mopping the house!), tea tree oil (add to washing powder or homemade anti dandruff shampoo), vegetable glycerine from the healthfood store, jojoba oil, citronella oil (I plan on making my own insect repellant and Body Shop Deep Calm oil (always on my pillow!) |
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| Ruby's toothpaste on the left and Ben and
my tooothpaste on the right
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3 Tbsp coconut oil
3 Tbsp baking soda
25 drops of peppermint essential oil
Optional
stevia - liquid or powder
2 tsp vegetable glycerine
Simply mix all ingredients in a bowl!!!!
This recipe REALLY suprised me. At first, the lack of 'frothing bubbles' and the taste was a bit confronting, and for my first batch, I ended up mixing in the rest of my Colgate toothpaste with it. I'm used to it now and my second batch needed no adjusting. For my daughter Ruby, I bought some DORA toothpaste and added a bit to hers and put some cute stickers on the container. She's uses it with no complaints.
One AMAZING thing did happen with this toothpaste. After tidying up the bathroom, my husband found me and asked me where the homemade toothpaste was as he couldn't find it. I told him to look on the shelf and that there were spare tubes of other stuff if he couldn't find it. He INSISTED on wanting the homemade stuff and when I asked him why, I was stoked. Turns out that an abscess that my husband has had in his mouth for most of his life had disappeared within a week of using my homemade toothpaste!!! I knew that coconut oil was an anti bacterial and anti fungal agent, and now I was convinced. Not only is this toothpaste good for an abscess, but also great for looking after your gums, brushing your tongue and keeping your toothpaste bristles hygienic!! I am VERY impressed to see how easy, quick and cheap it is to make my own.
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| Homemade Coconut Milk Shampoo |
SHAMPOO
1/4 cup of coconut milk
1/3 cup liquid castile soap (I bought organic castile soap from my local health food store for $6)
1 tsp jojoba oil
15 drops of essential oil (I used lavender)
Simply add all ingredients together and add to a bottle. I used one of my old shampoo bottles. It is quite runny, I just squeeze it straight onto my hair and I LOVE it!
WASHING POWDER
This REALLY REALLY REALLY impressed me! So easy and so cheap!!!!!!
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| Washing soda |
1 cup baking soda
1 cup washing soda (I found this in Woolworths on the top shelf for about $4). I have read that you can make your own washing soda by putting baking soda in the oven for a long time but I didn’t do this. Simple Google it if you'd like to make your own.
1/4 cup liquid castile soap (the same stuff I used for the shampoo)
This recipe took me back to high school; I had the baking soda and washing soda in a bowl and tipped the vinegar straight in - BIG MISTAKE!!!! It was an instant volcano in my kitchen. Instead, my second batch saw me slowly adding the vinegar and then the liquid castile soap. Just keep stirring, just keep stirring, just keep stirring, it will harden up and continually stirring (or shaking.if in a sealed container) will keep it in a powder form. Add essential oil (before the vinegar) for a nice scent.
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| The final product |
I hope that you've enjoyed this weeks blog - feel free to leave a comment. See you soon!
