let's talk about sweat, baby...

Hi friends,

Summer's in full swing here in Vancouver, and we are all sweating more.  For those of you who know me well, you know I am a HUGE sweat-er.  I'm the gal in HIIT class dripping on the floor, the gal on the dance floor shaking my tail with my friends whose bangs are stuck to her forehead 10 minutes in, and the gal who is begging for someone to turn down the heat.  What can I say, I'm a pitta dosha through and through ;) And truthfully, it's been a source of embarrassment for me, almost my whole life.  Let's face it, sweating and body odor have become issues in our society to be ashamed of and we go to great lengths to cover it up.  We are quick to label people who sweat more than others as somehow unhealthy or out of shape, and many of us are not comfortable around the slightest scent of body odor.  Indeed there are medical conditions out there that might be causing excessive sweat and odor, but for the majority of us, it's just our amazing bodies doing its job to cool us down!  Sweat itself is virtually odorless to us. However, the bacteria in our skin (which we ALL have!) is particularly attracted to the proteins in our sweat and rapidly multiplies in sweat's presence, and breaks down (eat, digest, expel) these proteins into, shall we say, 'aromatic' acids.  So if you need someone to blame, blame your skin bacteria's fatal attraction to your sweat!

For many of us, (ahem, me), the summer months can mean using deodorant a few times a day.  If you read either of my previous posts on chemicals in personal hygiene products, you know that commercial deodorant is a frequent offender.  It's a great idea to read labels and consider choosing a more natural brand of deodorant, and getting a bit more comfortable with your own natural odors.  I've tried a couple of more natural brands out there, starting with the deodorant crystal which works really well.  It does need to be wet though, so it can be a difficult option for when you're on the fly.  I've also used Kiss My Face's brand (Natural Active Life deodorant stick), which the Environmental Working Group rates as a 3. I like it...but I don't love it and find I have to reapply it a lot. So, I decided to make my own.  The following is the recipe I used, which one of our instructor's shared with us.  It only takes 10 minutes!  Here's what you'll need:

 2 tbsp of organic coconut oil (coconut oil has lots of wonderful antimicrobial properties)
* 3-5 tbsp of arrowroot powder** (this measurement is personal preference, I like my deodorant to be less oily, so I recommend starting with 4 and you may wish to add a bit more.  If you would prefer it to be a bit oilier, start with 3 tbsp)
* 4 tbsp of baking soda (make sure it's aluminium free!)
* 6 drops of tea tree oil (this is a must! we need its antibacterial and antifungal properties - by the way, it works great on pimples, too!)
* 6-12 drops of your favourite essential oil (this is optional! Some of the essential oils have antibacterial properties as well, such as Lavender)
* a fork for mashing
* a small glass jar or an empty deodorant container (including the little tray that sits in the bottom of the container)

**I got my arrowroot powder from The Soap Dispensary on Main Street.  Apparently you can get it in the bulk section at Whole Foods as well, but I love to support local businesses!

Fill a pot with about an inch of water and place on medium heat.  Scoop your coconut oil into a glass bowl and set the glass bowl into the pot of hot water.  Let the coconut oil melt.  Once it's melted, carefully lift the glass bowl out of the pot (it's hot!) and dump your powder in.  Add your tea tree oil (and essential oils) and make sure you mix it really well!

From here, it's your choice whether you want to scoop it into a glass jar or reuse an old deodorant container. I understand from other friends who have made this recipe and used a glass jar to store it in, they have to scrape it with their nails or a spoon but then once it's applied to your armpit it melts quickly and easily.  If you're using an old deodorant container, make sure the little tray is pushed all the way to the bottom and just pack the mixture in to the top and let it cool.  You'll know when it's ready cause it'll be really hard.

So far, it works amazingly well and I'm liking it the most out of any commercial brand I've tried!  My only complaint is that it is tending to melt in the warmer temperatures.  I have been keeping it in the fridge to help with this, but that's obviously not super convenient.  I read on another blog that beeswax is a good ingredient to substitute some of the coconut oil with during the summer months as it will keep the deodorant from melting - so I'll give this a go next time!  In the meantime, I can deal with a little inconvenience in exchange for knowing exactly what ingredients my body is absorbing : )



put your best smell forward,
xo

sco(o)by dooby doo: the benefits of kombucha

You keep hearing about this weird drink, right?  You've probably overheard conversations like "Where'd you get your mother from?" and "I have a scoby hotel right now!" You've probably also heard that fermented foods such as kefir and kimchi are excellent for your digestive health.  So, what the heck is all the fuss about, and why should we care?

Despite it's recent resurgence in the west, kombucha originated in China and has actually been around for thousands of years. Brewed from sweetened tea fermented by a colony of bacteria and yeast (known as the 'scoby', or 'mother'), it boasts many health benefits.  This is because the fermenting process builds friendly bacteria in the gut, which helps to fight off the growth of harmful yeasts and bacteria.  A healthy gut hosts over 100 trillion friendly bacteria which aid in the digestion and absorption of food and maintains a healthy immune system.  An unhealthy gut is overrun with the bad guys and is likely to present with digestive issues such as constipation or IBS, skin problems such as psoriasis or eczema, as well as joint problems.  Altered behaviour patterns and brain function are also signs of an unhealthy gut.  Plenty of factors contribute to unhealthy gut bacteria, such as: antibiotics, over the counter medications such as ibuprofen, chlorine in our tap water, alcohol, cigarettes, junk food and stress.  (to read more about this, see my previous post on brain and gut health.)

I know it seems counter-intuitive: it's been drilled into us that yeast and bacteria are bad for us.  However, yeast and bacteria are only harmful to us when they are imbalanced.  There is such a thing as 'commensal' (or friendly) yeast, an example off which is candida.  Candida is friendly in the sense that it lives in all of us in small amounts and aids with digestion; however, when it is overproduced, it can cause major problems. Consuming combative yeasts, such as nutritional yeast, is a great way to prevent an overgrowth of candida. So, given that kombucha is fermented with a bacteria and yeast colony, we want to be sure that we are consuming kombucha that has been brewed from a culture that is candida free, to ensure that we are benefiting from the combative qualities, rather than contributing to an overproduction of the less friendly yeasts and bacteria.  There are some brands that will explicitly say on their labels "candida free", so these are the brands to look for. Of course, the safest way is to brew your own. And, here's how you do it!

You'll need:

1. a litre of filtered water
2. four organic black (or green) tea bags (any black or green tea is fine to use, just be careful not to use tea that has any spices in it, as the oils will cause the kombucha to go rancid)
3. a cup of sugar (I use coconut sugar)
4. a scoby (see notes below!)
5. 1/2 a cup of kombucha from a previous batch (don't worry it's your first batch, the scoby will come in a bit of liquid and you can use that)
6. 1L mason jar for the fermenting process
7. a dishcloth and a rubber band
8. 1L airtight glass vessel to store your brewed kombucha in.

A couple of notes about the scoby.  I was lucky enough to get one from a friend. You can purchase a scoby from O5Tea on West 4th in Vancouver, an

d they're also a great resource if you have questions about brewing your kombucha.  The scoby is probably the grossest ugliest thing you'll ever lay your eyes on - it kind of looks like a giant mushroom/jellyfish.  It's the culture that makes all the magic though, so you'll get over it in no time : )

* Boil the litre of water in a large pot.  Once boiling, dissolve your cup of sugar.
* Turn the heat off, and put in your tea bags.  Brew the tea until it's cool and remove the tea bags.
* Put your scoby in your 1L mason jar adding the 1/2 cup of liquid from a previous batch, and then pour the brewed tea in.
* Cover it with a dish cloth and secure with a rubber band.  Place on counter in a cool dry place and try not to move it around.  Let it sit for 7-10 days.  You'll know it's ready by the slightly sour taste and small amount of fizz.  You'll also see that your scoby has started to grow a little mini scoby on top of it.  Congratulations, you now have your first resident of your scoby hotel!  You can either save it and use it to make subsequent batches, or spread the friendly bacteria love and give it to a friend.
* Carefully pour the liquid into your 1L airtight glass vessel, making sure you reserve a 1/2 a cup of the liquid for your next batch.  Take your scoby out and put it in a glass vessel with a bit of liquid in it as well and put it back in the fridge.  If you want to infuse your kombucha with any flavours (elderberry, ginger, rosemary), now is the time to do it.
* At this point you can either put the kombucha in the fridge and start consuming it, or keep the kombucha out of the fridge in the airtight vessel and let it sit another 7 days or so which will create more carbonation.

So, drink up and reap the benefits of better digestive health and a stronger immune system!  Suddenly that ugly scoby isn't looking so bad, is it?  If you've never drank komucha before, I recommend starting off with small amounts and working your way up.

never judge a drink by its scoby,
xo

follow up: I-yer-vay-duh

As promised, a follow up to my post on Ayurveda, here are some dietary recommendations for each of the doshas. I've also included a fun "how to imbalance your constitution" for each of the doshas.  This was written by one of the instructors at IHN, so I cannot take credit for it!  Please also see my kitchari recipe; this dish is excellent for balancing all of the doshas. Let me know if you have any questions or if you're interested in learning more about the doshas and/or Ayurveda in general.

Food	Vata (sweet, sour, salty)	Pitta (bitter, sweet, astringent)	Kapha (bitter, astringent, pungent)
What	Warm, moist, nourishing, grounding, rich	Cool, dry, not very spicy, not oily, some raw, some sweet	Dry, low GI foods, warm, light
How	Eat when free from anxiety, with attention, eat with others	Don’t eat when angry, irritated or rushing, cultivate gratitude for food, don’t skip meals and eat when it’s too late at night or when you’re too hungry	Be extra careful about emotional eating, are you really physically hungry?  Good to occasionally skip a meal and don’t nap after eating
When	Smaller meals, snack throughout the day	Classic schedule: Breakfast, lunch, dinner	Don’t snack, wait to eat until you are physically hungry.  Main meal at noon, light breakfast and dinner.  Exercise before eating, avoid sleeping after eating
Grains	Encouraged to eat pasta, rice, potatos, bread.  Basmati and jasmine rice (be careful with brown, wild and black), quinoa, wheat (unless celiac) grain porridges are good but soak grains overnight and cooked well with digestive spices such as ginger, cinnamon), oats, millet (but not all the time)	Can handle most grains, drying grains are particularly good i.e. millet and rye.  Pittas should have a good amount of whole grains in their diet	Millet, basmati, quinoa, rye, barley, buckwheat are all okay but are also dry and heavy.  Porridge is not a good idea but millet is okay in small quantities, soaked overnight and served with digestive spices
Veg	90-100% of veg should be cooked and seasoned with oil and spice, only 10% raw, unless juicing.  Avoid cruciferous veg, careful with artichokes and asparagus	All vegetables are good, up to 50% can be raw	All vegetables are good as long as they are cooked.  Not a lot of raw (25%)
Fruit	Avocado is excellent, other fruit is okay in medium quantities, juicing is good, apples should be cooked, avoid dried fruit unless they are stewed	Fruit is good but careful with acidic fruits i.e. lemon, lime, orange, grapefruit.  Pittas should eat lots of fruit	Eat low GI index fruits, low quantities, avoid dried fruit
Animal	Need to eat meat and fish, eggs, chicken, turkey, fresh fish.  Small amount of raw fish is okay	Fish is better for pitta.  Should not eat large amounts of meat but can eat all meats.  Be careful with pork and lamb	Medium amount of raw fish okay.  Kapha needs meat the least because kapha retains nourishment best.  Small quantities, but all types are fine.  Careful with seafood.  Eggs are good for kapha
Dairy	All dairy good, raw organic milk is best, served warm with spices.  Fermented dairy is particularly good i.e. kefir, aged cheeses	All dairy is good, but minimize fermented dairy and strong cheese	Avoid dairy.  If having dairy, most strongly fermented is best, and also light cheeses (cream cheese) in small quantities
Legumes	Mung, lentil, are best, cooked with digestive spices, tofu	All beans, but cook with digestive spices	Mung, lentil and other light beans (black beans)
Nuts and seeds (all doshas should have more seesd than nuts)	Small quantities, must be prepared i.e. sprouted or roasted, avoid raw.  Nut milks are fine, nut and seed butters are fine in small quantities	Good with nuts in terms of digestion, but need to be careful with quantity because oil tends to show up as some sort of inflamed condition in the body i.e. skin.  Raw nuts and seeds are fine for pitta	Avoid raw nuts and seeds but roasted and sprouted are okay in small quantities.  Kapha can handle more nuts than vata but must be careful due to heavy/oily nature.
Oils	Sesame, ghee, coconut, but mostly all oils are good	Small quantities.  Olive, grapeseed, coconut, almond, ghee	Olive and grapeseed in moderation, hemp and flax, almond, sunflower
Sweeteners	All in small quantities: fruit, fruit juices, molasses, jaggery maple syrup	Stay away from refined sugars, have whole sweeteners (raw honey, maple syrup, jaggery)	Minimize sugars, small amounts of raw honey, maple syrup

Remember, below are suggested ways to imbalance your doshas!  

How to imbalance Vata: worry, fast, don't get enough sleep, eat on the run, keep no routine whatsoever, eat dry, frozen, leftover foods, run around a lot, never moisturize your skin, work the graveyard shift, avoid tranquil, warm, moist places, use drugs, indulge all of your feelings and thoughts.

How to imbalance Pitta: drink plenty of alcohol, eat spicy food, engage in highly competitive activities, eat lots of tomatos, chilis, raw onions, sour foods and yogurt, exercise at the hottest time of the day, wear tight, hot clothes, avoid cool, fresh, peaceful places, snack on salty foods, eat as much deep fried foods as possible.

How to imbalance Kapha: take nice long naps after meals, eat lots of fatty foods and sweets, overeat as often and as much as possible, refuse to take any risks, be a couch potato, assume someone else will do it, avoid invigorating, warm, dry areas, don't exercise, dwell on dead romances, unrequited love, old grudges, and thinks you can't leave behind, make sure you get at least one dessert every day, preferably cheesecake or ice cream.

Did any of these make you giggle?  

Awareness is key,

xo