Women’s Health · Eco-Chick

Browsing all posts tagged with women’s health

Eco Chick Giveaway: CV Skinlabs’ Non-Toxic Skincare Products by Britta Aragon

My skin is super sensitive, but it kind of seems as though everyone’s is these days. According to The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, 80 percent of skin reactions are caused by direct contact with an irritating, harsh or dangerous chemical. And we all know that there’s no shortage of beauty and skincare products filled with those. Then, when we experience skin conditions, we often try to combat the irritation with products that are just making everything worse. It’s a vicious cycle.

Meet CV skinlabs, a brand new, non-toxic range of products for face and body designed to soothe and repair sensitive and fragile skin without harmful chemicals. The collection was created by cancer survivor, safe cosmetics expert, Cinco Vidas founder, and all-around wellness warrior, Britta Aragon, who composed a dedicated team of doctors and organic chemists to help her formulate the collection.

Designed for women and men, each and every CV skinlabs product contains only bio-compatible, natural and/or organic ingredients, plus Tri-Rescue Complex — a proprietary blend of tumeric, bisabotol and reishi mushroom. This exclusive cocktail formulated by Britta and her team, provides anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antihistamine, and calming benefits to skin. Each products is 100 percent free of synthetic fragrance, dyes, parabens, formaldehyde, phthalates, silicones and all of the other icky stuff found in most beauty products. CV skinlabs’ products were toxicologist-screened for carcinogens, xenoestrogens and other potentially harmful ingredients so you can apply with peace of mind.

These products are A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. Trust me. I’ve been using CV skinlabs daily for nearly two months now, and my skin has never felt better.

After I shower, I apply the Calming Moisture lotion to my face.

The Body Repair Lotion glides onto the rest of my body and feels so soothing.

I spritz my face with the incredibly refreshing Rescue + Relief Spray when I feel my skin is irritated or needs a pick-me-up. Britta suggested that I keep it in the fridge.

I dab a tiny amount of the Restorative Skin Balm around my eyes at night, or I’ll put it on my lips if they’re feeling chapped.

Want to win one of two CV skinlab sets? (Each set contains all four of the above products from the collection.) Simply sign up for Eco Chick’s newsletter here. We’ll randomly select two winners from our newsletter subscriber base. Giveaway is open until noon on Wednesday, March 21, 2012. Good luck to you and your skin!

all natural, Beauty, Eco Beauty, health, holistic skincare, non toxic, skincare, women's health

Reduce PMS Bloating Naturally with Herbs

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by Stephanie Rogers · 07/28/08

PMS sucks – there’s no way around it. I’d like to be one of those nature chicks who gush about their sacred moon and honoring the body’s cycle and appreciating every aspect of it and all that stuff. But, it’s hard to be so optimistic when you’re cranky, tired, crampy and bloating up like a balloon. For those days when even your fat pants don’t fit, there are a few herbal allies that will quickly become your best friends. Beat PMS bloating with these natural remedies.

Dandelion – That’s right, the weed that grows in your yard. We’ve been brought up to think of this plant as a nuisance, but it’s actually got some wonderful medicinal and nutritional properties. It’s high in iron and many vitamins, and acts as a strong diuretic. For that reason, it’s often used to cleanse the liver and kidneys. You can get the dried leaves in capsule form or as a tincture at the health food store, or make a tonic yourself with a handful of freshly picked leaves steeped in a pint of hot water for 20 minutes. Drink a cup twice daily. The yellow flowers and leaves are both edible, but be sure to only pick the tender young leaves before the flowers appear, or they’ll be tough and bitter. The root is also edible, and is often used as treatment for digestive disorders.

Fennel seed – The stalks of this licorice-flavored plant are often used in cooking, but the seeds are what pack the PMS-fighting punch. It, too, has diuretic properties that will help relieve the dreaded bloating. It also has properties that ease bloating caused by gas. A great way to use fennel is to take it as tea – it tastes great, and it will soon help you to start feeling more like yourself again.

Peppermint – This delicious herb has so many uses, from relieving headaches to soothing the gastrointestinal tract. It relaxes smooth muscle and eases inflammation, can help stabilize mood swings and eliminates gas, which can contribute to bloating. Like fennel seed, the best way to use peppermint to relieve bloating is to drink it as tea. Peppermint tea is commonly found in most grocery stores.

You can purchase all three of these herbs in various forms online from Mountain Rose Herbs. Hampstead also has a delicious organic fair trade peppermint tea!

herbs/homeopathics, Tea, women's health

Got Allergies? Blame Global Warming

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by Starre Vartan · 04/22/08

The latest Vogue (May, with the ever-princessey- in a good way- Gwyneth Paltrow on the cover) has a great piece entitled, “Spring Awakening” wherein writer Ginny Graves does some great round-up reporting regarding the causes of allergies and what the heck to do about them. It’s not online yet, but I excerpted below.

While I’ve never had a tiny waist (I was born with a belly, and have held onto it ever since) or good eyesight, I have one awesome physical trait- I’m not allergic to anything- not even poison ivy! BUT I have many friends who suffer from seasonal (and even year-round) allergies, and watching them suffer is no fun. So I was interested to read this with all my ever-so-sniffly amies in mind:

The latest suspect behind seasonal sneezing is rising levels of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that is affecting plants and trees in ways no one predicted. When researchers at Harvard University grew allergy-causing ragweed under two conditions–current levels of carbon dioxide and double that (the amount that could be in the air mid-century)–they found that the plants exposed to more CO2 grew 10 percent bigger but produced 60 percent more pollen, a finding that would account for the fact that real-world pollen levels are soaring.
“Health officials typically issue warnings when the count is about 150 grams per cubic meter, but we’re seeing levels in the thousands, especially in cities, which have higher levels of CO2,” says Paul R. Epstein, M.D., associate director of the Center for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard Medical School. “The more pollen, the more allergies. It’s pretty simple.”

Writer Graves goes on to bring up that because Spring comes earlier than ever (thanks again, global warming!), pollen is floating around for ever-longer periods of time, aggravating sinuses everywhere. AND we may be more susceptible to pollen as an irritant because we disinfect so much, which means we’re exposed to fewer germs, which some scientists think actually causes allergies to be more severe (since our bodies don’t have to fight real pathogens, it turns upon benign substances–this idea is called the hygiene hypothesis). Take-home message? Our modern lives and unsustainable choices are to blame for our wheeziness.

I think I need to make a t-shirt. “Problems? Blame Global Warming?”

allergies, health, hygiene hypothesis, women's health