Written by contributor Stacy Karen of A Delightful Home.

Along with frigid temperatures, the winter months bring a variety of skin care challenges. For many of us this means dry, thirsty skin that needs some extra attention.

Today we will discuss five natural ways to take care of our skin this winter.

Stay Hydrated

Drinking enough water helps your skin stay in good shape no matter the season.

During the colder months we spend a lot of time inside, with heaters blowing or fires crackling; our bodies are losing moisture and it needs to be replenished.

Keep the kettle going and sip herbal tea throughout the day or fill a jug or bottle with water in the morning with the goal of finishing it by dinner time.

Apparently drinking with a straw helps you suck down more water.  I’m not sure if that’s true, but if you’re struggling to drink enough, it might be worth a try.

Exfoliate

Dry skin means dead skin cells. Dead skin cells mean dull skin. Take care of both by exfoliating weekly.

Inexpensive, homemade sugar or salt scrubs are excellent exfoliators for the body.

To make a basic body scrub: add a cup of sugar or salt (or a mixture of both) to a bowl and stir in a little oil until the desired consistency is reached. I usually use around 1/3 – 1/2 cup of oil and 1 cup of sugar).

For further details, see my ebook, Simple Scrubs to Make and Give or try one of my favorite recipes: Lemon-Lime Sugar Scrub.

To make a facial scrub, mix ground oatmeal, cornmeal or oats with a little water or milk until a paste forms. Apply in circular motions, staying clear of the eyes. Leave to sit for a minute of two and rinse off with warm water.

Scrubs usually work best when applied to damp skin.

Never use scrubs on broken skin or skin that is wind-burned or sun-burned.

Moisturize

Many commercial moisturizers don’t hydrate skin effectively and often contain chemicals and fragrances that can be drying.

Oils such as coconut, olive, safflower and jojoba are perfectly natural and actually nourish skin as well as moisturize.

The best time to apply oil is right after drying off from a bath or shower. It’s not necessary to be completely dry, a little dampness is a good thing.

This has a different feel to regular lotion, but doesn’t take long to get used to.

Oil can be used straight from the bottle, however it’s also easy to make scented body oil, if you’re so inclined; simply add 20 to 30 drops of essential oil to 1 cup of oil, or try these lovely combinations from Crunchy Betty.

Keep Shower and Bath Temperatures Low

Hot water dries out your skin. It’s a sad fact, I know. I love my hot showers, too.

If you’re serious about taking care of your skin, then you need to turn the temps down in the tub or at least shorten the duration of your soak. We’re not talking cold here, just warm instead of sizzling hot! (You shouldn’t look like a lobster when you exit the bathroom. Not that I’ve ever been accused of that. Ahem.)

It’s also worth getting a shower filter since the chlorine in most city water is not beneficial to your health in any way (including the condition of your skin).

Protect Yourself from the Elements

This is probably a no-brainer, but I’ll say it anyway: wear hats, gloves and coats when outside.

Winter wind and cold can be very harsh. In fact, a strong, icy wind has the potential to cause burns.

It’s sometimes hard to remember that the sun can also burn when it’s cold, but it can. On the days when you’re out for extended periods of time, be sure to cover up.

Do you have any tips for taking care of your skin in winter months?

{Top image credit}

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Written by editor Nicole Bennett.

Even if you aren’t a football fan, the big game this weekend is a great opportunity for hanging out with family and friends. (If you do like football, even better!) I see events like this as the perfect opportunity to casually model a little of my natural living passions with friends and family members who are coming over.

If you’re hosting a party, here are a few reminders for how to make your day a little less commercial and store-bought. If you’re not taking part in any football-watching festivities this weekend, you just might save/modify these ideas for making your next get-together a little more green and homemade!

Use Real, Not Disposable

I know it’s tempting to just go for the paper (even football-themed) alternatives on a day when people are coming over, but disposable eating accessories are super wasteful. In fact, Americans toss out enough paper and plastic cups, forks and spoons every year to circle the equator 300 times (source). Yikes!

I find that throwing a bunch of plates and silverware in the dishwasher and napkins in the laundry doesn’t cost me much in the way of time or water. For outside parties, you sometimes might worry about using breakables, but most likely this party will be indoors which means it’s less risky. Plus, using the real stuff sort of takes your entertaining up a notch in class if you ask me.

If you really want to get cutesy, you could easily find some football fabric to cut with pinking shears into some quick no-sew napkins… hmm, I might have to do that myself!

Serve Homemade

It’s super easy to pick up ready-made platters or packaged snacks for a football party, but those platters are probably filled with nitrate-filled lunchmeat and both options offer more packaging to be thrown away.

Instead, take a few extra minutes to make some homemade guacamole, 7-layer bean dip, hummus, or maybe the grasshopper cake with candy footballs that I made a few years ago. Or, try one of the options I’m making this weekend:

• homemade vanilla bean ice cream
• homemade hot chicken dip (I’ll be using my amazing homemade ranch in a dip like this)

Katie must have been reading my mind, because she posted this delicious chicken dip yesterday which also sounds amazing! All the homemade options might not be healthy per se, but they’re likely to have less of the processed filler ingredients.

Photo by Hangar 24 Brewery

Buy Local

If you don’t have time to whip up your own, or if you’re looking for something unique for the party, try a local specialty.

We’ll be serving up chips and salsa from our favorite local taco shop on Sunday.

Find local beer to bring, shop the farmer’s market (if you have year-round) for some fruits or veggies to chop up, or visit your local natural food store, as many of them often showcase local growers and producers.

Are you celebrating the Big Game this weekend? How will you put a green or homemade spin on the festivities?

CURRENT SPONSORS:

• Little House in the Suburbs - Back to basics living in the "burbs".
• Healthy Snacks to Go - 30+ recipes for real food snacks, fast.
• MadeOn Lotion - Dry skin relief.
• Simple Scrubs to Make and Give - A comprehensive guide to homemade body scrubs.

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Written by contributor Stephanie Langford of Keeper of the Home.

A friend of mine is doing a lot of research on how to strengthen teeth, and both reverse and prevent cavities, naturally. Since I’m so busy these days, I’m happy to let her do the research and then I can follow her lead.

One of the things that she is trying is oil pulling, and when she mentioned it I was reminded that I had read good things about this bizarre health therapy before. It prompted me to start reading about it again, and to even give it a try for a couple of weeks to see what the hype is all about.

What is oil pulling?

Oil pulling is an ancient Ayurvedic practice, dating back thousands of year. It consists of using some form of a vegetable oil (coconut, olive, sunflower, sesame, etc.) and swishing it around in your mouth for a period of 15-20 minutes.

How do you do it?

Basically, you take your choice of oil and put about 1 tablespoon in your mouth.

(If you like, you can also add a few drops of an antibacterial essential oil like oregano, spearmint, Thieves blend, etc. although it is totally not necessary)

Swish it around and around your mouth (you can take short breaks- you don’t have to swish constantly or tire your muscles out) until your 15-20 minutes are up. I’ve read descriptions like “pushing, pulling, drawing it through the teeth” and “working it through the mouth” (source).

Spit it out (this is important, because the oil is now full of toxins), rinse out your mouth with water and brush with a natural toothpaste or tooth soap.

It is traditionally done first thing in the morning, on an empty stomach, and this is supposed to give the best results.

Photo by wrestlinggentropy

What kind of results can you expect?

These are from some of the posts/sites that I have read on this topic:

• decrease in headaches
• improves eczema
• helps with ulcers and diseases of stomach, intestines, heart, blood, kidney, liver, lungs
• reduce or slow growth of malignant tumors
• better sleep
• whiter, straighter teeth
• healthy, pink gums
• increased energy
• clear sinuses
• less severe asthma
• decreased allergies
• improved PMS symptoms
• regulated menstrual cycles
• clear skin

Source 1 and 2.

I was completely intrigued when I began reading about it, but quite skeptical. I decided to give it a try and journal some thoughts.

Note that I haven’t been as consistent with it as I would like, simply because if I don’t get to it before my children or husband are awake, it’s really hard to stay quiet for 20 minutes while they try to talk to me, and if I open my mouth to respond, well, there goes my oil!

I have also only been doing it for a couple of weeks, and although some people report excellent results within days, some have felt that it took a month or more to notice anything significant. A truer test for me would be to keep going and get a dental checkup in a month or two and see if my gums have improved, if I have less plaque buildup, or whether I have new cavities.

My reasons for trying oil pulling were primarily to white my teeth, strengthen them (to prevent new cavities, since I have fairly weak teeth), and to improve my gum health (which isn’t bad, but could be better).

Photo by walknboston

Journal of My Oil Pulling Experiment:

Day 1- Very gross the first minute or two, then I got used to it. Think I did a full 20 minutes. Didn’t really notice any difference.

Day 2- Did it again, hated the first few moments, but then it was fine. It’s working well for me to do it while I get ready in the mornings before the kids are up and before I eat. Did another 20 minutes. Not sure if I see a difference yet.

Day 4 and 5- Getting more used to it. Learned that if I just quickly chew it until it liquifies (I’m using coconut oil which gets solid because it’s winter), I get over the grossness factor faster. I know, that doesn’t sound any less gross at all, it just gets the worst over with more quickly. Is it just me or are my teeth slightly whiter? They do feel a little bit cleaner.

Day 8- I do think my teeth are a little whiter, but it’s not as noticeable as I hoped it would be. I haven’t noticed plaque disappearing as much as many people have, to my disappointment. Maybe it will take longer for me?

Day 9- I feel like my teeth were really sensitive after I did it (they bled while flossing afterwards). Granted, I’m a lazy flosser which accounts for it somewhat, but they were definitely more sensitive than usual. Wonder what this means? Will they get worse before they get better?

Day 11- Less sensitivity this time. Perhaps last time was just a fluke? It’s getting easier to do this.

Day 14- I’m not sure that 2 weeks has been long enough to see a real difference. They seem whiter than at first, but not significantly so. Haven’t noticed anything else.

Conclusions? I didn’t really notice a short term difference. It did become something that was easier to do, though, and  I felt that it may be worth doing (at least semi-regularly) in hopes of long-term difference at my next dental checkup.

One thing that came up in some of my reading was the safety of oil pulling while pregnant, because it can supposedly cause you to detoxify. Since I’m pregnant, this slightly concerned me.

However, I don’t feel like I’ve noticed any detoxing, at least not in any of the ways that I have felt the effects of detoxing before- no headaches, no body odor or bad breath, no fatigue or achiness, etc. Personally, it doesn’t make any sense to me how this can detoxify anything beyond my mouth.

Since I’m spitting it out, not swallowing, I don’t feel concerned about toxins making their way to my baby. That’s just me, although I know that Katie has talked about it as well, but I personally feel safe doing it while pregnant or nursing. If anyone knows more about this aspect of it, I would be interested in any further information.

Photo by rightee

Does it really work?

I’ll admit that so far, I’m not convinced. I was really hoping to have a glowing review of these amazing results, but to be honest, I just haven’t seen anything that has blown me away.

I haven’t thrown in the towel yet. I am still hopeful that this will be an excellent long-term method of preventing cavities or other tooth/gum problems. My understanding is that one of the major ways that we develop dental problems (including cavities) is because of bacteria in the mouth, and I can absolutely see how oil pulling, especially with an oil like virgin coconut oil, would greatly reduce the bacteria load in the mouth, thus preventing cavities.

Just for fun, I decided to poll some of my Facebook “likers” as well, to hear about their experience/successes with oil pulling and here’s what they had to say:

• Jill said ” I’ve only done it a couple times. One of the first times I tried it, I had a horrible cold sore inside my lip that had lasted for several weeks. After oil pulling, it disappeared the next day…”
• Cynthia said “My teeth are whiter.My husband and I do it at the same time.We have alot of fun for 20 mins-trying to communicate. He once laughed so hard, he spit the oil every where, lol. (My) mouth just feels better.”
• Tori said “I oil pull! I’ve had great results in my opinion. It helped my arthritis for one. The pain in my knees almost went away and the major swelling as well. I slept better, my teeth and gums feel great, and ridges I had in my nails from my psoriatic arthritis went away. My 9 yr old son and I oil pull everyday (started April 2011). We use coconut oil.” Then she added, “Oh!! And I haven’t had to take a single allergy pill and I have severe pollen allergies. I’ve been on allergy meds since I was 7 years old.”
• Katie said “My husband oil pulls and has great results. He uses Sesame Oil mostly. He started doing it to help with candida and it has made a big difference with both that and with his osteoarthritis. It did take him several weeks before he really noticed the difference. I occasionally do with coconut oil but I have a very sensitive stomach when it comes to any oil. Wish I could do it more though!”
• Tonya said “…I must say that it worked well for me. We have a lot of gum problems in my family and I can brush or floss without a lot of pain and bleeding and after a week I noticed that all showed improvement… I floss first to open up everything and then put the oil in and swish for 20 mins.”
• Tesser said “I’ve doing OP for about 6-8 months. My teeth are whiter. Don’t know of other differences per se, but when you don’t have dental or health insurance, I feel like this is a major dose of prevention!!”
• Kimberly said “I oil pull with virgin coconut oil and have noticed a huge improvement in my gums, whiter and smoother teeth, improved sinuses–less congestion in the morning, and I notice a pick me up in my energy level on days that I oil pull. I noticed this improvement immediately. Now that I am eating a fully nourishing diet (was kind of trying to straddle both worlds of eating–a more nourishing SAD diet–doesn’t work by the way;), I have noticed that I feel even better with the combination of oil pulling and a nourishing diet.”
• Nobel Women 4 Christ said “I have tried it and I noticed a difference in dental hygiene (ie cleaner teeth and fresher breath); I haven’t experienced any bodily detoxing however. I think that it is definitely something to do in addition to brushing your teeth at least.”

Pretty positive, I’d say!

Two people said they had tried and couldn’t handle it, because of their gag reflex. Several said they were interested, but were still waiting to learn more about it from other people’s experiences. And a whole bunch of people said, “What on earth is oil pulling?”

Want to learn more about oil pulling?

Seeing as I am far from being an expert on this topic, here is some reading material for those who want to learn more:

• Oil Pulling for a Brighter Smile and Better Health by Bruce Fife (he actually has an entire book on the topic- Oil Pulling Therapy)
• Oil Pulling: My One Month Experience and Coconut Oil for Oil Pulling, both by Renee @ MadeOn Skin Care
• Will Oil Pulling Fix my Sensitive Teeth… or is it Just a Hoax? by fellow Simple Organic contributor Katie of Kitchen Stewardship
• OilPulling.com 
• Got Plaque? Want to Detox?  Try Oil Pulling! (It’s Not as Crazy as it Sounds) by Elizabeth of The Nourished Life

Have you tried oil pulling? What was your experience? If you haven’t tried it yet, are you grossed out or do you think it’s something that you would be willing to try?

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• Little House in the Suburbs - Back to basics living in the "burbs".
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It’s a beautiful January day… here’s what’s going on around these parts of late…

Currently…

listening… Henri Salvador, a few good playlists on Spotify

eating… a pear

drinking… elderberry tea with raw honey

wearing… my pajamas

feeling… a bit under the weather

wanting… to organize my craft area

needing… a good night’s sleep

thinking… about the fun beach day we had yesterday

enjoying… lots of time with friends and family this weekend

weather… amazing, sunny, warm days

thankful for… the fact that we were healthy for over three months before finally getting colds again!

And now for your reading enjoyment, here are a few links.

• 10 DIY Valentine’s Gifts for Him :: Crafting a Green World
• Reduce, Reuse & Repurpose! :: Healthy Child Healthy World
• Top 10 Urban Farming Books :: Crunchy Chicken
• Old Wisdom for Modern Green & Frugal Living :: Green Your Way
• Using Pinterest to Find & Organize Ideas for Your Family :: Simple Kids
• 20 Green Things I Don’t Do :: Simply Rebekah {I wrote about this here last year; it was refreshing and encouraging to read Rebekah’s list– we’re all on our own journeys, baby stepping our way toward being green!}

If you feel so inspired, leave a comment telling us what’s currently going on in your neck of the woods!

Photo by my friend Rob.

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• Little House in the Suburbs - Back to basics living in the "burbs".
• Healthy Snacks to Go - 30+ recipes for real food snacks, fast.
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It’s that time again… the last Friday of the month means our fun linky where you can showcase some of the fun things that you’ve taken from your pinboards to reality!

I’m not sure if it’s due to a post-holiday detox or the fact that my craft area is currently still “under construction” after I started (but have yet to finish) my new year organization overhaul, but this month I didn’t do much crafting. So for January, the pins that saw the light of real life are mostly on the tasty side…

This smoothie was delicious! We’ve taken an idea from my friend Kara of Simple Kids to add a afternoon smoothie to our family’s daily rhythm and this one was a fun detour from our usual blend (which actually is very similar to Kara’s Purple Flurple).

This tasty salad was kid- and husband-approved in my house. David is still getting used to quinoa but he really liked it mixed up with all these goodies.

A delicious way to enjoy make-ahead oatmeal. All five of us loved this breakfast.

Well, it’s been three glorious, healthy months since our last sickness around here but we’re starting to feel a cold creep in, so I finally made a batch of this elderberry syrup. It tastes delicious so it’s easy to get everyone to take their doses. I’ll keep you posted on whether it helps us fight it off!

Currently…

I loved this idea and thought I might have to start incorporating this idea into a blog post every so often. I’m think once a month or so I might include some of these current musings into a Weekend Links post… look for the first edition this Sunday!

I’ve added a couple of new boards and reorganized a bit, as you can see if you’d like to visit my profile on Pinterest. I can’t wait to see and hear what you’ve been up to… Here’s to more pinning and more doing!

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• Little House in the Suburbs - Back to basics living in the "burbs".
• Healthy Snacks to Go - 30+ recipes for real food snacks, fast.
• MadeOn Lotion - Dry skin relief.
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Written by editor Nicole Bennett.

I can barely believe my littlest treasure is old enough to be eating any food other than mama’s milk, but time sure does fly, especially with baby number three. Right before Christmas, when we found ourselves at the six-month milestone I decided it was time to start introducing solids.

This time around, I wanted to try something new in terms of baby food. I mainly fed my first baby, Gigi, homemade baby food. I was an avid student of the Super Baby Food book and thoroughly enjoyed it. When Brody came along, a generous friend brought us jars of organic baby food by the bagful, which was such a blessing. I continued to supplement that stash with homemade purées.

A friend had mentioned the term baby-led weaning to me a couple of years ago and after recently coming across the idea again, I decided that with baby number three, this method just might work out best for me. I’ve been gradually taking our family down the real food road so it just makes sense to me to dive right into real food with the baby.

Not to mention… what mom of a four-year old and a one-and-a-half-year old has time to sit down and feed the baby a whole jar of food anyways (let alone batch cook and puree?!)?

Today I’m here to tell you a bit about the philosophy and what the first couple of months of eating have been like for baby Hallee.

What is Baby-Led Weaning?

In its simplest terms, BLW is the process of beginning to feed baby solid (table) foods, as they are interested and able.

The philosophy and term come from the UK, and often in America the term baby-led solids is also used to mean the same thing. I note this because when I first mentioned it to my pediatrician he was concerned (I think by the term weaning) until I explained that I just meant table food instead of purees (of which he was quite supportive), rather than weaning her off mother’s milk which I think is what the term often refers to.

I know people that have stumbled into BLW simply because their babies didn’t like purées, along with those like me, who purposely took this route. Basically, it’s a laid-back approach that is said to likely produce less picky toddlers, save you time and money, and is seemingly the most natural way to feed a baby.

I like that with BLW I am teaching my baby to put food in her mouth and chew it (or suck/gum it to start), rather than teaching her to swallow first, which is actually a little backwards if you think about it.

Rather than invent the wheel, I will simply share our experiences, and point you to some awesome resources down below.

Our Experience So Far

BLW has been super fun. I’ve been amazed at the dexterity Hallee has acquired in less than two months. While she started by simply grabbing a strip of food and sucking it out of her hand, she is already starting to be able to pick up small pieces with her fingers as she develops her pincer grasp.

Favorite Foods

Hallee’s first food was a scrambled egg yolk. It took her a few days to figure out what she was supposed to do with it, but then she starting catching on like wildfire. Early on her favorite foods have been chicken, turkey and pears although she also really likes tomato, orange, carrots, peas, beans, olives, cheese, sweet/russet/red potatoes, and well, pretty much anything we give her. Another favorite “meal,” which probably wins for biggest mess, too, is a rice cake (brown rice) with plain greek yogurt spread on it.

We won’t be giving her honey until one year, but other than that, we are open to letting her try basically any simple, real foods (nothing processed or with refined sugars).

Messy Fun

It’s true that BLW is a bit messier. But honestly, my kitchen floor is a disaster after every meal thanks to my other kids so what’s a few dirty bibs and onesies?

We do occasionally spoon-feed Hallee if it’s something like mashed potatoes or applesauce. I just make sure to give her a second spoon so she can get used to handling one. I’ll even put food on it and then give it to her and watch her try (and often succeed, but often times fling) to get something in her mouth.

I love watching her concentration and excitement– from serious, focused eyes, to hands banging on the tray in anticipation for more!

Resources:

• BabyLedWeaning.com~ a great source of information, and most importantly, forums! The forums are full of BLW moms you can chat with. Each month they open a new thread so you can specifically chat with other “starters” who are introducing food to their babies that month. Unfortunately, the site seems to be down right now, but I’m leaving it listed here in the hopes that it comes back online soon. The forum was a great encouragement when I started feeding Hallee in December.
• The book: Baby-Led Weaning: The Essential Guide to Introducing Solid Foods – and Helping Your Baby to Grow Up a Happy and Confident Eater
• The authors of the book have also prepared a very concise, helpful pamphlet that you can read/download here. It addresses some safety suggestions/concerns such as the difference between gagging (okay) and choking (not okay, and not necessarily more likely with BLW).
• I also found a BLW Facebook group that might be a useful place for support/encouragement.
• Another great book that I highly recommend: Real Food for Mother and Baby: The Fertility Diet, Eating for Two, and Baby’s First Foods by Nina Planck

As with many parenting philosophies/options, I really feel this is a personal choice issue. Please keep this in mind as you comment. Have you tried BLW with your babies? I’d love to hear your experiences with it or if you plan to try it in the future, chime in and let us know.

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• Little House in the Suburbs - Back to basics living in the "burbs".
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Written by contributor Donielle Baker of Naturally Knocked Up.

When most people start thinking about healthier eating and cleaning up their diet, they easily get overwhelmed. And how can you not with all of the information out there? All of a sudden everything in your kitchen looks toxic and you have no idea where to start. Or the idea of buying expensive organic and grass-fed products seem out of reach. These simple changes will get you headed in the right direction.

Simple Ways to Clean Up Your Diet

1. Make Your Own Seasonings

All to often those convenient little seasoning packets you find in the supermarket have added fillers, sugars, and flavor enhancers. Making your own at home can help you avoid unnecessary and unwanted ingredients while also saving you money and allowing you to personalize the seasonings to your own taste. I have found most seasoning recipes are easily found online and most can be made with spices and herbs you already have at home.

Making it even easier, you can mix your seasonings in bulk which saves you time in the kitchen. The three I always have ready to go are:

• Homemade Taco Seasoning
• Homemade Pizza/Spaghetti Seasoning (I use the same ingredients for both, mixing dry ingredients only)
• Homemade Italian Dressing (great for dressing and for seasoning marinades and crockpot chicken)

2. Make Homemade Broth

Not only is homemade broth a much tastier option than store-bought, it’s also provides many more nutrients while also lacking in any added flavor enhancers. You can easily make broth out of leftover chicken or beef bones, meaning it will only cost you pennies when you factor in the few vegetables you’ll also use.

3. Skip the Cereal

More often than not, cereal is one of the worst ways to start your day. It’s full of sugar and refined flours, no matter what brand you buy, and even if it’s gluten free or organic. Eggs, oatmeal, homemade granola and yogurt, or baked oatmeal are better choices in the long run and provide your body the fuel it needs.

4. Use Healthy Fats

Ditch the margarine and vegetable oils for real butter (preferably organic if you can afford it) extra virgin olive oil, coconut oil, and even lard. These unprocessed fats are easily used by the body, help your foods taste better, and promote better cooking.

5. Ditch the Cans

In order to reduce your exposure to chemicals like BPA (in the can lining) and increase nutrient quality always buy fresh or frozen vegetables instead of canned. When making tomato sauces, many times it’s cheaper (and much tastier) to buy whole tomatoes and make your own at home. And buying dry beans and cooking them yourself is much cheaper than buying canned. You can also try making your own cream-of soup to substitute in your favorite recipes.

6. Avoid the Dirty Dozen

Most families I know can not afford, or find, all organic produce all year round. The Environmental Working Group’s “Dirty Dozen” list is a big help, informing you of the most chemical-laden produce so that you can either search out organic options or buy the cleaner conventional items.

Photo by bcmom

7. Shop the Perimeter

If you haven’t noticed yet, the outside aisles of the supermarket are where the fresh foods are! The inside aisles and end-caps are most often processed and packaged foods. So start your shopping by walking the perimeter and going down only the aisles you need to for certain pantry staples.

8. Check the Labels

When you do buy boxed, bagged, or canned foods, turn them around and check out the labels first. If you find words you can’t read on the ingredient list, put it back. If you also find ingredients like MSG, corn syrup, or a type of artificial sweetener, it should also stay out of your cart.

9. Eat Something Raw Everyday

Much of our foods now-a-days are preserved for long term storage and we forget to include raw foods in our daily meals. When cooked, we start to lose beneficial enzymes and many times it even lowers the vitamin and mineral content of the food as well. So choose to eat fresh fruits and vegetables each day; preferably at each meal.

10. Lower Your Sugar Intake

One of the absolute best ways to clean up your diet is to cut out all refined sugars from your diet! Sugar contributes to a variety of health problems including; infertility, lowered immune function, weight gain, insulin resistance, and adrenal fatigue. (If you’re dealing with sugar cravings and can’t get a handle on your sugar consumption, try something like “The Sugar Detox Challenge”.) Even if you only use natural sweeteners, you need to aware of your intake and not over do it.

In no time at all, you’ll have made big changes in your health just by making these simple changes. And the best part is, most of these will save you money!

What simple changes have you made to your diet?

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No snow where we live, just a bit of rain… but every now and then I can’t help but imagine a winter wonderland outside when I’m curled up by my fireplace. Wherever you find yourself, I hope you get a cozy moment to check out these great reads.

• 10 Ways to Upcycle a Green Calendar :: Crafting a Green World
• She Said, He Said– Green Goals for the New Year :: Live Renewed
• Organic Milk- The Most Important Product a Family Can Buy :: Living Maxwell
• Giving Diapers, Giving Hope :: KellyWels.com
• How to Make Water Kefir Update {Video} :: Kitchen Stewardship

CURRENT SPONSORS:

• Little House in the Suburbs - Back to basics living in the "burbs".
• Healthy Snacks to Go - 30+ recipes for real food snacks, fast.
• MadeOn Lotion - Dry skin relief.
• Simple Scrubs to Make and Give - A comprehensive guide to homemade body scrubs.

© 2010-2012 Simple Living Media, LLC | All rights reserved - This feed is provided for the convenience of Simple Organic subscribers. Any reproduction of the content within this feed is strictly prohibited. If you are reading this content elsewhere, please contact hello@simplelivingmedia.com to let us know. Thanks.

Written by contributor Emily McClements of Live Renewed.

As many of us are probably diving into our goals and resolutions for the new year, we may have realized that it’s not just as easy as writing a goal down on a list and then making it a part of our everyday lives.  Achieving our goals may require changes and planning and routines that we need to begin to implement into our life.

Or, maybe you got a little (or a lot) off your routines over the holidays and are left overwhelmed and trying to get your life back into a more regular routine.

I personally find myself in both of these places right now, and so I’m writing this post just as much for myself.  I need to get back to my routines, and get motivated for reaching my goals this year, so I thought about what habits I needed to restablish to help myself do those things.

If either, or both, of these situations applies to you, I want to encourage you that there are 5 simple and easy habits that you can implement that can help you get back into a routine and work toward accomplishing your goals this new year.

5 Habits to Establish for the New Year

1. Waking Up Early

I am really not a morning person, but I have found that things in my life tend to run much more smoothly when I can get up before the rest of my family and get started on my day, whether that’s taking time to write and work, or to have some quiet time for prayer, exercise and planning for my day.  Whatever your productivity goals may be for the new year, waking up early is sure to help you achieve them.

Read More:

• Free Maximize Your Mornings ebook by Kat at Inspired to Action

2. Meal Planning

I have fallen way off the meal planning bandwagon lately, and I am feeling the effects on my time, our grocery budget, and the healthiness of our food.  If your goals for the new year include eating more healthy, losing weight, or saving more money on food, meal planning can help you with all of those things.  Even just planning out five dinners for the weeknights is a good place to start and can make a huge difference.

Read More:

• Resources and Recipes to Make Your Meal Planning Successful at Keeper of the Home

Photo by Speculum Mundi

3. Making Lists

I am a list kinda girl. I love lists of all kinds. But, for some reason, I haven’t made many lists lately, and my life is feeling the lack of structure and intentionality that lists provide for me. Lists are helpful for everything from to-do lists for the day, to master lists of goals broken down into smaller, more achievable steps, and everything in between.

Getting your thoughts, ideas, and plans out of your head and into a list will help you to see them in a tangible and organized way, which can help you to actually tackle and accomplish them.

Read More:

• Ways a To-Do List Will Help You Do More at Productivity… Your Way

4. Cleaning Routines

Maybe one of your goals for this year is to get organized, declutter, keep a cleaner home, or host guests in your home more often. Establishing cleaning routines provides a structure that will help you to achieve those goals. I have a list of daily chores that I make a priority to complete every day to try to keep my home in enough order that I have time to tackle other home projects on my list of goals.

This year I’m also trying to establish a weekly cleaning routine, doing one bigger chore each day, in order to keep my home more “deep cleaned” on a regular basis.

Read More: 

• How to Keep a Clean Home — Daily Chores at Live Renewed

5. Daily Planning

Planning out your days, or at least your to-do list for the day, can really help you to accomplish the things that you want to do that day. I find when I don’t plan my days that I am much more likely to waste time and end up being much less productive then when I make a plan for what I want to do and when I’m going to do it.

Daily planning helps you to be thoughtful and intentional about the way you spend your time each day, allowing you to make time for the goals you are trying to achieve. There are lots of great free printable daily planners out there, including the Daily Docket from Tsh at Simple Mom.

Read More:

• When You Really Want to Wear New Habits… Free Daily Planner at A Holy Experience

By working to establish, or reestablish, these habits in our lives this year, we can set ourselves up for success in achieving our goals and resolutions for the new year!

Which of these habits would you like to work on this year? What regular habits do you use to help you achieve your goals?

CURRENT SPONSORS:

• Little House in the Suburbs - Back to basics living in the "burbs".
• Healthy Snacks to Go - 30+ recipes for real food snacks, fast.
• MadeOn Lotion - Dry skin relief.
• Simple Scrubs to Make and Give - A comprehensive guide to homemade body scrubs.

© 2010-2012 Simple Living Media, LLC | All rights reserved - This feed is provided for the convenience of Simple Organic subscribers. Any reproduction of the content within this feed is strictly prohibited. If you are reading this content elsewhere, please contact hello@simplelivingmedia.com to let us know. Thanks.

In December, I told you about one of the handmade gifts I made at Christmastime– a piece of hoop art– that was inspired by a simple graphic print I found on Pinterest.

Today I wanted to tell you a little bit about how I went from idea to a beautiful piece of self-framed wall art, and how this fun little project can be quite the eco-friendly craft.

Supplies for a Hoop Art Project

• embroidery hoop (preferably thrifted, found or otherwise acquired free!)
• 1 piece of fabric/felt large enough to fill hoop and hang over edges about an inch or so around
• embroidery floss and needle
• sewing machine and thread (optional)
• scraps of fabric/felt/lace/ric-rac/yo-yos/etc. for embellishing

If you want to do something hand-drawn or just with fabric and/or embellishments, the above supplies are all you really need. If you’re looking to design something on the computer and then transfer it to your fabric, read on.

You might use a hot glue gun to glue the excess fabric to the inner side of the embroidery hoop when you’re done, or you can just trim the fabric close to the hoop, preferably with pinking shears to avoid fraying.

Transferring Designs to Fabric

To create more elaborate designs, such as the family tree I made for my mom, I simply created my design on the computer. For the tree, I found a stock vector image and then tweaked it in Adobe Illustrator.

For simple text, just find a font you like and type your words in any text or word processing program. Look for simple fonts without serifs that will be easy to embroider.

Print out the design the size you want it to be. Then, you’ll need to transfer the design. My secret weapons are this heavy tracing paper, and this iron-on transfer pen.

You can follow these instructions to use the paper and pen (basically, you just want to make sure you reverse the printed design and trace the back of it, so that when you iron it on to your fabric the letters read the right way).

Then you can go ahead and embroider your design onto the fabric!

Embellish to Your Heart’s Content

After you design your piece of artwork, embellishing is the real fun part. I have a collection of lace that was handed down to me from my husband’s late grandmother, in addition to a container full of fabric scraps, both of which are perfect for pretty-ing up a piece of hoop art.

Take advantage of this opportunity to use what you have and repurpose or upcycle some otherwise unusable fabric or embellishments. The possibilities are endless!

I love that one of the tools, the hoop that holds the fabric while you create the artwork, becomes the frame itself! These little beauties look lovely grouped together on the wall or individually.

If you’re not a sewista (I just made that word up to describe someone who sews) , you could always embellish with hot glue, or even just put some pretty fabric in a hoop and hang it up like that! In my living room, I have a two simple hoops of fabric along with a piece of art that I received in a hoop art swap last year.

Hoop Art Resources:

• Sublime Stitching is the best resource for modern embroidery (and also Jenny Hart’s book Sublime Stitching is a great starting point)
• Etsy is a great place for supplies or to buy hoop art
• Find some inspiration in the Flickr group pool from the swap I took part in last year, put on by Life Made Lovely.
• Follow my Hoop Art board on Pinterest to see the inspiring finds I come across

Are you inspired to make some hoop art? What are some other creative uses you’ve seen or thought of for using old embroidery hoops?

CURRENT SPONSORS:

• Little House in the Suburbs - Back to basics living in the "burbs".
• Healthy Snacks to Go - 30+ recipes for real food snacks, fast.
• MadeOn Lotion - Dry skin relief.
• Simple Scrubs to Make and Give - A comprehensive guide to homemade body scrubs.

© 2010-2012 Simple Living Media, LLC | All rights reserved - This feed is provided for the convenience of Simple Organic subscribers. Any reproduction of the content within this feed is strictly prohibited. If you are reading this content elsewhere, please contact hello@simplelivingmedia.com to let us know. Thanks.