Clean your skincare routine, check labels for these

Every day this week we've sent our Squeeze participants a morning email and daily tip. Here was today’s tip (others are top secret).

Today's Tip #6: Clean Your Skin Routine

What you put on your body is as important as what you put in it. You may have heard that there are potentially harmful ingredients in personal care products. And you also may have ignored it (so much to think about). Or, maybe you didn’t know which changes to make or why you should make them. So, we’ll break it down and keep it simple:

Why you should care: these ingredients are endocrine (hormone) disruptors, carcinogens and their toxicity can tip off a whole cascade of bad stuff.

Which products to look at: we’re asking you to look at items that touch a large amount of your skin. Specifically, grab your deodorant,  body lotion, body wash and face cream/moisturizer(s)

What to look for: read ingredients and look for 3 things: Parabens, SLS (sodium lauryl sulfate), and fragrance (fragrance is a sneaky way of masking nasty stuff like phthalates which are linked to breast cancer)

For a great intro to skincare ingredients, check this out from Cocokind. Cocokind’s founder is Squeezing with us this week.

GOAL: check your deodorant, body wash, lotion, etc. for the terrible trio of ingredients and toss if the ingredients aren’t up to par.

We told our Squeezers we’d post our faves in these categories:

Carolyn covets:

For body

Karmameju dry brush, one love body oils and Dr Bronner wash 

For face:

Cocokind cleansing oil

"I am not great on a natural deodorant yet, that is what I’ll be working on today!"

Lauren loves:

For body:

Native Deo

Babe Scrub body wash (and don’t miss their scrubs)

Jiva Apoha oils-Happy, Freedom and Joints are my faves

For face: 

May Lindstrom everything  (I love this line, do not miss honey mud, youth dew or blue cocoon, I mix this with foundation, use it as lip balm etc).

Neither of us can live with out RMS uncover up and when in doubt buy large jar organic coconut oil and slather it everywhere.

Check out our picks and let us know your favorite, clean skincare products as well in comments below.

The Secret to our Squeeze Programs

Squeezers Insta story

Carolyn and I are both R.Ds, we seek out and sample fab food products (many are not fab)  and have years of nutrition counseling under our belts (I hate belts btw, where did that expression come from). I’ve noticed that the extraordinary success participants, in our Squeeze weeks, have doesn’t entirely depend on these things. It sounds so simple, and not groundbreaking, but one reason these programs are successful is because participants are focused on their food. I’ll explain..

We all talk about the juggle. My juggle is parenting and working and working out and cooking and walking the dog. I’m getting anxious just listing these items, so I’ll stop there. But we all have various things demanding our focus. Inevitably, some ball, or more than one, gets dropped during any period of time. If we have an important project at work, that gets moved to the top of the list. Our kids are going back to school (ahem), there goes a couple of workouts that week. You can relate, right?

During our week-long programs, our Squeezers move wellness to the top of the list. There’s also the financial commitment and daily accountability but I’d say the overall focus is paramount. Some Squeezers leave work earlier in order to have dinner at a normal hour (we suggest an early bird dinner on the Squeeze). Or maybe, on a typical week the wine, yogurt and old olives in your fridge are sufficient but this week, you’re going to get to that long, lost grocery store (see photo above)

Once you’ve signed on for a healthier week, the added structure isn’t overwhelming. You’ve carved out time and cleared, or somewhat cleared, your calendar. Even clients forced to travel during these programs find they have resolve they previously didn’t. So try it, you may have to plan it a few weeks out. Carve out 5-7 days to do all those healthy things that’ve been marginalized.

And if you aren’t satisfied with my “secret” I teased in the title, check out our September Newsletter, “Two, new must-have items for a September reset.”

I teamed up with MBG & Siggi's to talk sugar

I have to say, more times than not I don't love stories or campaigns I contribute to. Sometimes it's the subject matter, other times it's editing. It's a great feeling when you like a project from start to finish. That's exactly what happened with a collaboration with Mind Body Green and Siggi's. I had a lot of fun answering sugar-related questions from readers all over the world. Yes, sad to say as far away as Australia we're obsessing over the amount of dark chocolate to eat. You can find my answers here. Whether you want to know which sugars are best or whether you should feel guilt over banana eating, it's all covered.
And if you have other, pressing sugar queries? Leave them in a comment below.

Before the long weekend, some non-food advice

I am not overly horoscopy. I do, however, identify with being a Virgo. If you’re less horoscopy than I am, Virgo is the sign that runs (do signs “run”) or spans August 23^rd (yup my bday kicks it off) to September 22^nd. Those in the know say I’m “on the cusp” of Leo and Virgo but since I’m a VIRGO, that doesn’t’ work for me, too wishy washy.

An email I received, from ABC Home of all places, gave this Virgo rundown:

Strengths: loyal, analytical, kind, hardworking

Weaknesses: worry, overly critical of self and others, all work and no play.

I don’t entirely agree with that last, harsh descriptor. However, even when I “play” it’s planned and organized, so there you go.

Now, the advice part. This week, I had a thought provoking, informative and overall amazing conversation with an integrative MD. I am sure I will, with her permission, write more about her at a later date. By most doctor’s standards, I’m in great health. But I do have migraines, some GI stuff and the “worry” mentioned above in the horoscope. I was telling the doctor that I’ve been dabbling in meditation, biking on my new Peloton, going to my IR sauna place, the list continued. The doctor looked at me and said, “maybe your self-care shouldn’t involve so much doing.”  OMG. It was, what Oprah would call, an aha moment. I physically felt it. It was completely true. It may not sound like a big deal but it resonated with me.

I know there are people who should do more. If you’re stagnating some more exercise or meditation or a sauna are good options. For me, and perhaps my Virgo cohort, I need to do less. I’ve been aware of this socially. I actually prefer having fewer social plans. But not being social doesn’t mean I’m relaxing, right?

Give yourself what you need this weekend. If you’re been a little bit of a hermit, get out and maybe try something new or see someone you haven’t. I will be, with my kids, at my mom’s house. My husband, who doesn’t sit and relax often either, will be golfing. I’ll skip my golf-related comment and let you know I’ll be reading, hanging out with my easy going mother and consciously doing less.