Sad Skin

I have decided that natural skincare doesn't work.  This revelation is sad but what is worse is the way my chin looks right now.  The natural stuff is does nothing for me during a stressful time which is very natural and common.  I know these breakouts are from stress and when I stress I pick at my face, and when I pick, I just make a huge mess. So now I am a mess, I don't think it has been this bad since freshman year of college.., so I guess every time I start a new thing in my life, my face will just look like a mess.  unacceptable.  There has to be a solution that doesn't include a ton of chemicals.

So, the Evan Healey natural stuff isn't working.  It did wonders for my skin in Australia, where I was just having a great time - so I guess it just works for everyday stuff.  And maybe my body is less toxic because I am eliminating toxins form my skincare.  So, how do I do that and achieve perfect skin?  Maybe, you do need some chemicals?  I am worried to believe that because what if I choose the wrong chemicals..
There was a site I used to visit that would tell me how toxic my products are, can't remember now though.  I will have to do some research, or just keep buying new stuff.

So bad, can't wait to be good

Ok, so living in a hotel room is really difficult!  I can't keep good food in my tiny little fridge and I eat out a lot!  Ugh!  Besides gaining weight, I just feel gross!!  I an feel that this stuff is bogging me down and not making me happy.  So I came across a small farmer's market on Sunday, all excited about fresh organic produce - none!!  I did get some fruit, but it wasn't organic, but I didn't even have the option of organic!  So  disappointed.  There was another, much larger one, near my hotel - but I didn't have time to properly check it out.  I thought moving to SF would make this organic mission so much easier!  They don't even have many Whole Foods here, at least not convenient to me - I have only seen one.  OK fine, no WF - but what about an adequate substitute?  It's not like I have to go to WF, but I just know they have a great organic selection.
So I have also fallen back into my old ways of depending on my microwave.  I really don't think nuking an organic lasagna is healthy, but I guess it's better than grabbing tacos from the corner store.  So this just depresses me, I thought I was going to be healthier and happier in SF, but without a proper kitchen and knowing where I am, I am definitely not healthier!  And this makes me unhappy!  :(

Last week I ate a pre packaged salad from the grocery store - I felt so sick afterwards.  I need fresh whole foods, when "chicken" has more ingredients in it than just chicken - there's an issue.  Preservatives preserve food - I get it, but my body doesn't.

I am so excited for 10/2 when I have a great beautiful kitchen in which I will stock all the finest organic produce and get back to my salad eating ways!  I will be able to explore markets and enjoy buying foods again.

So, until then, I will eat from my microwave, but make sure the dinners are organic based, read the labels (found some delicious all natural granola bars and they are 70% organic! not bad from the limited walgreens selection!), plenty of fruit, and try to keep take out to a minimum (my wallet will thank me!)

Sorry and Cherry Picking

I assume most of you weren't expecting any new blogs from me while I was in Australia, but definitely wanted some when I returned to the states.  Well, it didn't happen then either. Sorry!! Here we are already half way into September and I am finally blogging again!  All of my 11 followers will be very excited.

beautiful cherries!

So I have so much to talk about, but first, let's talk about organic cherry picking and how AWESOME it was! (Back in July..I know, I know...bad blogger) Anna, her girlfriend Shana and I drove up to Leona Valley to pick organic cherries!  Such a blast.  We passed by a dozen other places, but we were on an organic mission!  We wanted to know that when we picked that cherry straight from the tree and popped it in our mouth, the only thing we were eating was the cherry, oh and lots of dust!  But at least no chemicals!
So enjoy some pics from the picking!

bucket full of cherries!

the girls!

In Australia!

Sorry I havne't posted much, I haven't had much time!!  I have been in Australia, staying with a friend and she has kept me very busy!!  I have seen some organic restaurants, lots of juice bars and even a few "natural" and organic grocery stores, but unfortunately, haven't been able to go in any of them!  I did get a smoothie from a juice bar yesterday it was delicious.  SO their juice options are more fruits than veggies.  At WF back home you have lots of different veggie options which include fruits like lemon and apple, but rarely berries.  Those are saved for smoothies.  But here, they only have one veggie juice on the menu and heaps of berries and fruits.  Oh yes the australians say heaps instead of "a lot."  So the options are like fresh watermelon with berries, or berries and mango mushed together with ice, so basically a smoothie but still fresh and no dairy or juice! 
So that's what i've learned, and hopefully, i'll be able to check these organic places out more in detail later, but for now, i am just enjoying my vacation!! 

talk soon!

Not much to say

Hey guys so sorry I haven't been updating.  I have a great reason though: I am going to Australia!!  I will still definitely seek out organic foods and I definitely want to find out the difference between organic USA style and Organic Aussie style.  So look for some new, but not as often, posts.

I did go organic cherry picking this past weekend, so once I get some pics, i'll definitely post - it was a blast!  A healthy, delicious blast!

Oh and i'll be starting an Australian blog too.  so check for that!

that's it!  Thanks!!

Shopping adventure

So last night I went to 2 different grocery stores.  One which is smaller and seems to be trying to be a bit like whole foods, but not really.  The other is a big major chain.

Right when I walked up to the market, there's a sign that says "why choose organic?'  Great, I thought, this will be a good shopping experience.  Of course all of the produce that was outside next to said sign were not organic.  hmmm..what?  So then I go around looking at the food.  The frozen food selection is similar but smaller than WF.  Which is fine, it's a smaller store.  The bulk items were a HUGE disappointment, NOTHING organic, even though they had 3 rows of bulk!!  I love bulk, and their selection was huge, but NOTHING said organic on it.  Moving on to fruits and veggies.  They had a fruits and veggies sections.  The veggie section was actually surprisingly good, two types of organic kale, a few organic chards and then the run of the mill veggies in the organic variety.  The fruits were not so great...umm people...it's summer!!  Why are we so limited??
So since I was in the area, I decided to try the major chain store.  They seem like a higher end chain store, but it's all in the marketing.  In every other aisle, there was a vertical sign half way down the row coming out for the shelves that said "natural."   hmmm..so I went to go look at this "natural" section in the chips aisle.  it included all natural tortilla chips, all natural potato chips and even a few small bags of organic!  wow.  does anybody else get bothered by the fact that their eating "unnatural" foods?  It's food, your body is supposed to know what it is!!  They had more variety of organics in salad dressing, but still confined to one little shelving area.  And the organic produce section was dismal.

My cart was empty, although Wedding Crashers was on sale for 10 dollars, so I picked it up.

So now I know what they have and what they don't have.  I don't think the major chain store really cares though, otherwise they would promote organics more.  The smaller one though, they seem to want to be known for carrying organic stuff - but if that's the case they'll have to actually have the product!!

organic farmers forced to spray

It appears that an epidemic has hit the fruit growers of California! read here. The new pest called SWD is native to Japan and Asia but has spread out to the states.  These bugs are dangerous because they attack fruit on the trees and then lay eggs.  The pests don't make it to the top of the trees, but that means 1/2 the crop is dead. So what's a farmer to do?  Well how do they keep other pests away?  I guess whatever organic methods the farmers use don't work on these new pests.  So the article says "wash more thoroughly than ever before."  As we've discussed previously, if washing was really going to get off the pesticides then the farmers would have to re-spray after every rain.  We know that isn't happening.  Unfortunately,  the fruits that are most susceptible are thin-skinned fruits, which are also usually the ones on the dirty dozen, or have the highest pesticide content and require the most pesticides.  So what should we do?  Honestly, I'm sorry, a pesticide is a pesticide.  I know you, the organic farmer, hates to resort to them and wouldn't if you didn't, but that doesn't mean I have to resort to them.
The good news is that they are going to research these pests and see what can be done about them.  In about 10 years the SWD will be immune to the pesticide anyway so organic and conventional farmers will all be in the same boat.