Sunday, October 16, 2016

Coconut Oil for Dental Health: Oil Pulling + Natural Toothpaste

Happy Sunday, nature and beauty lovers!

Sunday is the perfect day to pamper yourself, but also to organize the upcoming week and set new goals. My main goal is to provide you with natural health tips each week so we can enjoy the benefits of natural beauty together.

Coconut oil is one of the most magical and effective natural ingredients I have ever used. I cook with it, I eat it raw and moisturize my skin with it before any other pharmaceutical lotion. However, its benefits do not end there. I swear coconut-oil makes me smile while it whiteness my teeth!

People have constantly asked me how I keep my teeth so white-looking and my answer is always the same. Now, since I know I am not the only one who lives for coco-nut oil, I have gather the best posts explaining my natural dental health method for a happy, beautiful smile.

1. Oil Pulling, by @Rawvana:

Oil Pulling is an ancient technique for dental health that I have being practicing from about 3-4 years. It basically consists on pouring a spoon of raw, coconut oil (or any vegetable, organic oil but I TRULY recommend using coconut) and rinsing it inside the mouth for up to 20 minutes. You should do it first thing in the morning, before eating or drinking water. You should also spit the oil in the trash can, not in the sink because the oil will clogged it.


Yovana Mendonza, known as Rawvana, is an Mexican-American Youtuber who shares vegan receipts and natural beauty secrets in her channel. She promotes the benefits of vegan, raw eating and constantly remind her followers of the power of raw fruits and veggies into the human's health. Next, she shares a dental-health technique we both use to whiten our teeth and of course it involves coconut-oil.


I recommend you to use those 20 minutes of silence to meditate, reconnect with yourself and send positive vibes for the day awaiting.

2. Improve your general health through coconut-oil pulling, by Dr. Axe:

Before, I said you can do oil pulling using any type of organic, raw vegetable oil. True. Actually, the first practitioners started using sesame oil. Different oils will produce the same toxin-absorbent effect we are looking for. However, coconut-oil has so much other benefits for our health compared to conventional oils, so it only seems appropriate to use it. Also, it has the best taste from all.

Source: https://draxe.com/oil-pulling-coconut-oil/

If you want to understand better how gargling coconut oil will greatly improve your health and of course whiten your smile, I will recommend Dr. Axe's article about oil-pulling benefits and his 'how-to' guide.

Believe me, you want something pleasant if you will taste it every morning during 20 minutes.

3. Brush the oil-excess on your teeth with more coconut oil

After oil-pulling in the morning, you will feel your breath refreshed but you will probably still will like to brush your teeth. You are ought to do it, though, as soon as you finish to remove the oil-excess from before. You have to make sure to spit and NEVER SWALLOW the oil because it has the toxins and bacteria added to it. So, after oil-pulling you should spit it in the trash and brush your teeth, gums and tongue widely. 

Yes, I brush the oil, dirty coconut oil off my mouth with more coconut oil. Since it is not toxic and actually really good for you to consume daily, I started using my own coconut-oil-based toothpaste which other ingredients usually vary from organic turmeric, baking soda or Himalayan pink salt. 

Here, the people from Simple Green Smoothies created a very similar recipe to mine, which is really easy to make and you will only need 4 ingredients: coconut-oil, baking soda, essential oils and Stevia (if you have a sweet-tooth). Check out the recipe and read the full story here.

LAST TIP: 

I have to add that twice per week I brush my teeth with just mixing a baking soda + water paste, especially to remove plaque. I only do it once or twice per week because pure baking soda it can debilitate teeth enamel if used in excess. 

4 ways to use Coconut oil to naturally improve your skin

Welcome to another beauty-Sunday!

This Sunday we have a special, one dedicated to honor one of the most magical natural products have ever existed. I cook with it, clean with it and use it daily on my skin. I am talking about Coconut-oil!

In this post, I am going to teach you 4 clever ways to use coconut oil to improve your skin and detox yourself from the chemicals in traditional skin care pharmacy products.

For this beauty project you will need your own organic coconut oil, which will be our ally when achieving natural beauty and you will keep on your bathroom from now on, and it will cost around $7-$9.

First, before buying ANY coconut-oil out there, make sure its labelled as Organic, Unfiltered & Cold pressed. This is important because it will affect the quality of the product, thus the effect on the skin. You found it? Let's do it!


1. REMOVE YOUR MAKE-UP BEFORE BED EVERY NIGHT

2. MOISTURIZES & MASSAGE WHOLE BODY

3. NATURAL SPF SUNSCREEN

4. HEAL CRACKED TALONS & SOFTEN FEET. 

Sunday, October 2, 2016

Morning Routine for a productive, beautiful day

Welcome again to another beautiful Sunday!

I am a morning person. I truly enjoy going to bed early and waking up refreshed, ready to have a morning blast. However, it wasn't easy at first. It takes a lot of organization to turn this practice into a habit. Enough quality sleep is one of my secrets to wake up more beautiful than when I went to sleep.


Something that helped me become an early riser was developing a morning routine. I mean a fun list of  to do right after you open your eyes. Meditation, a green juice and a good breakfast are big part of my mornings, and they have had a direct impact on my health, beauty and self-esteem.


Today, I'll share with you my daily morning routine. It consists on 3 easy steps (water-green juice-food), that way I can inspire you to create one that fits your needs perfectly!

1. I keep around 1 Lt (you can start with 500 ml) of natural temperature water on my night stand. I drink it as soon as I wake up. Something I do is drinking half of the bottle right away, and then drink the rest slowly after adding a few drops of lime/lemon:


2. Next, I like to drink a green juice. A green juice is basically a smoothie made out of veggies and fruits. It is recommended to do it 2/3 greens or veggies and 1/3 fruits. 

One of my favorite combinations is one cup of kale dinosaur, one cup of baby kale, one cup of pineapple pieces and one cup of orange juice. All my ingredients are ORGANIC = Pesticides free.


3. After finishing my juice, I start preparing my breakfast. My 2 current favorite options are arepas, eggs and avocado or yogurt with fruits.

Arepas is a traditional Venezuelan dish that we eat at breakfast and it's made out of corn flour. I mix it with cereals such as oats, chia seeds and linseed for fiber. I usually accompany them with half avocado and 2 eggs. 

For the eggs I make sure they are PASTURE RAISED & ORGANIC, "cage-free" does not guarantee quality or cruelty-free treatment.


If I decided I want the yogurt, I make sure is ORGANIC and the milk comes from cows PASTURE RAISED and fed with grass. I like to create a base of yogurt and add ORGANIC banana, blackberries and strawberries pieces on top. Then, I sprinkle it with ORGANIC sliced almonds, chia seeds, cinnamon, coconut and dark chocolate chips.


After a morning like this, any day can be amazing, I promise you! <3

If you would like me to explain further how I cook my 2 favorite breakfast, comment bellow and I'll do it for the next post!

See you next Sunday,

@ayMarielisa