Shampoo? No poo? What to do?!?

Shampoo

Lots going on here to bear with me.

Have you ever just looked around at the shampoo isle at a large store and really considered how big a market it is? It's no surprise it's a billion dollar industry. They make everything you can think of and they do that because we buy (into) it. Shampoo for dry hair, oily hair, frizzy hair, itchy scalp, gray hair, thinning hair, colored hair....and tons of others.  This is just shampoo we are talking about. They have a matching bottle of conditioner with each and every bottle of shampoo.

The main goal of all these shampoos is to strip your hair of everything natural then adding a bunch of junk. They do so in a fashion that will hopefully leave your hair looking healthy. Healthy hair is advertizing term. What they mean by healthy is avoiding things like split ends, dead ends and breakage. We also want to maintain it's look from when it first became hair. i.e. shine and condition. 

How do shampoos make hair look healthy? As we went over before, shampoo strips all natural oils (sebum) away from the hair and scalp then slick it down in chemicals and wax like materials. Your natural oils are good for your hair, like mothers milk for the hair! Why are we striping away our hairs natural defenses and paying to do so? And why are we doing it so many times a week? Why is our hair needing to be washed more?

You've probably seen the explanations on t.v. commercials. You know, the ones when they show you a small clip of a computer generated, 300x magnified hair with all these 'scale' looking parts sticking up... then magically, as the product runs over the 'scales' of the hair they lay down, stay down, disappear and the hair becomes shiny and sleek. You know the ones I am talking about. Well its true... that is exactly what happens. The part they are hiding from you is the reason the scales are standing up in the first place. That is because that same product or some other shampoo... you know the one they are trying to get you to switch over from... stripped your hair of its sebum/natural oils while it was getting rid of the dirt. We are talking about the oils that naturally keep your hair in good shape. To top that off when all the oils are being striped away our bodies are trying to compensate buy producing MORE OIL! In turn our hair gets, what we perceive, as dirty much faster. D'oh! This is just fine and dandy to the places that make shampoos because we are then likley to use more and more product. We use more, so we buy more.

Unlike this lady. Can you imagine trying to wash that head of hair every day??? She did not use chemical loaded shampoos on her hair... she may have used arsenic on her face but that's another story.

Shampoo is for washing your hair. Getting ride of dirt and extra oil. That is all it is meant to do.  The natural oils do all the other healthy stuff. Years and years ago (around the time of the lady in the picture above) people used a bar of soap to wash all of their body, including hair... if they were lucky enough to be able to afford soap. They did this only a few times a month. Some lucky rich people used liquid soap with essential oil and plant extract scents in them, maybe washing 1-2 times a week. These were the really rich. Most of the population would just brush their hair a lot, sometimes brushing it with baking soda or cornstarch like products. This is also why so many fashions had up-do hair styles. It was simpler to keep your hair clean if it was mostly locked away in a bun or under a hat.

Skipping back to present time. Most of the population washes much more than 1-2 times a week (remember we are all shampoo consuming zombies) so why are we so split on what products to use when most of the rich in Victorian era used basically the same recipe, washed less & for the most part, had better results than we do today?

Its because we over do it. Like with most things we buy into the brightly colored bottles and advertizements. We trust the FDA and don't read or fully understand the list of ingredients.
While for the most part shampoo is not hurting your health when just used on the hair. Problem is it can't just be used on the hair. It's also used on your scalp, and unless you wash your hair in a sink, it runs down your body in the shower. The human skin is absorbs 60% of the things that touch it....so not only are chemicals and strange materials in your hair they are being absorbed in a lot of other places too. Some of them sensitive, unmentionable places.

On a side note, do you remember this? This is what I think of when I see most cosmetic/soap advertizements today...

I understand that was a lot of info. I kinda went on for a bit... I do that, but I wanted to explain the reasons I made a switch to homemade shampoo.

Now on for the recipes. They are simple and easy. I will start with the things I started with and end with what I use now.

No Poo
Started with the 'No Poo' treatment. If you have not heard of the no poo movement let me explain. Its basically the most simple and basic idea of how to wash your hair. Very little involved. Ideally it makes it so you only need to wash your hair once a week. Cool correct? Just watch out, in the long run it can damage some peoples hair because of the ph of the baking soda. I started with this because I wanted to get rid of all the residue left by shampoo in my hair. I knew from lots of reading that this was not going to be an ideal long term thing for me. I have sensitive skin and it did make my dandruff worse. Yes, I have/had minor dandruff.  For long term use this is not recommended for people with chemically treated hair. Especially people who use red or dark hair color (it will strip and lighten).

You will need -
*Baking Soda
*Apple Cyder Vinegar (don't worry your hair wont smell like vinegar once it dry, if you rinse well)
*Water about 3 cups worth. You should be using about 1.5 cups per bottle.
* 2 cups or squeeze bottles and a tablespoon for measurements.

Dissolve/stir/shake 1-2 tablespoons (depending on length and thickness of your hair) of baking soda in water 1.5-2 cups water in one of the of the cups/squeeze bottles.
Put 1-2 tablespoons (depending on length and thickness of your hair) of Apple Cider Vinegar in the 2ed cup and top off with room temp. to cool water.

Wash hair with the baking soda bottle. Avoid getting in the eyes! This will not make a lather so it will feel strange. Rinse really well. Do the same with the Apple Cider Vinegar mix but let this sit in your hair for 5 mins and if you can, comb your hair while it is in it. Rinse with cool water. Dry.

You will need to do this for up to a month (sometimes less) before your hair will balance to the new treatment. I did it for two weeks. My hair is darkened with natural color and it did strip it a bit but nothing major.

Honey-Poo
After that I went to what I wanted to do. Raw Honey Shampoo. I took raw honey and did the same exact thing I did with the baking soda. Just added it to warm water and let it dissolve. This is meant to be a more ph neutral version of the no poo. Less irritating to my scalp. Also rinsed with the apple cider vinegar its got a great ph for the hair and does condition very well. I did this for about a month. I really liked it at first but I did get some oily patches at times (my scalp working overtime) so I started taking a little of the baby version of Dr. Bonner's castle soap and washing my hair before I washed my hair with the honey. My dandruff was doing better but it was not gone so I added a few drops of tea tree oil into the honey mix too.

After a while that got to be a pain. All the mixing and such was not saving me any time when I needed a shower but I did get it down to only having to wash my hair one or two times a week. That part was/is nice.

The solution was simple. Go in a quasi-opposite direction of the no poo idea. :p
This is what I use now.
  
Coco-Poo

The great thing about this is you can mix a month worth at a time! No more mixing a bunch of things every time I want to wash my hair. Oh & I'm washing my hair about two times a week and this recipe, it lathers! I can not tell you how much I missed that. :D

You will need.
*An old shampoo bottle or bottle/jar of any kind.
*1/2 cup Coconut milk (organic) I get mine in the organic aisle in a can.
*3/4 cup Dr. Bronners Castile Soap. Any of the scents are fine or you can use the sensitive baby kind
*Extra Virgin Olive Oil. ONLY USE EXTRA VIRGIN (will explain the measurements below)
1/2 cup water - if your hair ends up being oily just add some more water to dilute it down.
5-20 drops of Essential oils. I use Tea Tree & Rosemary (do not use any citrus oils in this recipe)

Mix all the ingredients in except the oil/s in the bottle.

Oils... This part can be a little tricky. Here are my suggestions. When in doubt use the least amount you think. You can always add more.
For the e.v. olive oil and essential oils you need to consider your type of hair. If you have thin very oily hair you may not even want to add the olive oil and only a small amount of essential oil. If you have thin normal hair try a teaspoon and go light on the essential oils. If you have dry thin hair maybe try 2 teaspoons. All around normal hair (lucky you) 2 teaspoons and 10-15 drops essential oil. Me, I use a tablespoon of the olive oil and 15 drops of the essential oil because I have very thick dry-ish hair. Remember, you can always up the amount of olive oil and the essential oils, so go light and if you need to add a little after a test or two, go for it.

Essential oil Suggestions. Feel free to mix and match.
*Lavender - Good for all hair types + treatment of dandruff & itchy scalp (also could use w/ Lavender Castile soap)
*Rosemary - Good for all hair types + treatment of dandruff & itchy scalp
*Tea Tree - Good for all hair types + treatment of dandruff & itchy scalp
*Sandalwood - Good for dry hair
*Geranium - Good for dry hair
*Peppermint - Good for oily hair (also could use w/ Peppermint Castile soap)
*Cypress - Good for oily hair

Shake the bottle well before each use and just use enough to get a good lather on your hair. You'll most like use a little more than you expect. I use about 1.5 tablespoons per wash.  Make sure and scrub the scalp. You can do the wash and repeat with this recipe but it is not required.

Keep this mix for a month. I've heard of people mixing up something very much like this two months at a time.. I've not tested that. If you do, let me know how it goes.

I still rinse with the apple cider vinegar. I love the way it makes my hair feel.

Hope you found all (or some) of this useful.  :)

~ Me

Weight Loss (post 1)

This is going to be a few parts long. This is meant to give people a general idea of things they could try. Everyone is different and nothing will work the same for all. Also please be kind. I'm sharing personal things that most people are not brave enough to share honestly on their drivers licenses. ;)

I have always had issues with weight. Personal and mental issues. My family has a lot of diabetics in it on my fathers side and they are all tall big-boned Swedes. My mother who is much smaller-framed and French/English was ALWAYS so worried about me getting big when I got older. She was correct. When I was in her house she did her best to lock away sweets and tell me that if I did not watch it I would become diabetic and large like my grandmother. She meant well, but constantly being told from the age of 8-21 "Don't eat that you will get fat." Or "Your arms are like your grandmothers", who had old-lady fat chicken wings in my mind. My favorite is "your chin is so narrow it won't/doesn't carry weight well" because it's true. She also has a look. You know that look that some well-meaning mothers have... I don't even think she knows she has that look... but its the "you don't look good in that tank top" kind of look. Don't start thinking I blame my mom for my issues, I don't. She meant well and was correct, I just took it all very poorly.

This may seem strange to some people but I thought this was the way to do it for me. My goal was to loose weight but also get healthier at the same time. No crash diets or cleanses and just cutting out bad things for me. From the start I knew it was not going to be fast. I needed to be healthy not just look better. This included quitting smoking, drinking, fake sweeteners, avoiding chemically altered meat/dairy, and some artificial flavors/colors.

I divided my weight loss into 3 sections/goals. This is better to do than looking at a LARGE numbers and thinking oh I have 40 or 80 pounds to loose. Me, I want to go from 225 down to 180. Better to think I have 10 or 15 to pounds to go and not 45. The larger the number the simpler it is to get frustrated and just give up, as I have in the past.

I started off at 225lbs. Some days I measure 6 foot and some 5'11. At that weight, my height and age I was over the line for obese according to BMI on this page here. This page is a guide for BMI and IBW (Ideal Body Weight). Each of these will not get me to my goal because I have a large frame and people with my frame plus being tall as me are far and few between. It's hard to get an accurate idea of what the average is. I'm not giving excuses for being fat. I was fat and obese in my own eyes but but because of my build people around me just considered me over weight. I wore size 16 or 14 (depending on the brand) jeans and thats not big. I would give a dress size but it's been so long since I've worn a dress... I have no idea what it is, or was. BUT being 6 foot, of a large frame and fat, I was so big compared to others that I intimidate small children. :(

First goal was to get below 215. This was tricky for me because around the time I decided I needed to loose weight I realized that I was sensitive to aspartame. You know the stuff that is in ALL diet foods.*sigh*

This meant cutting out soda. Diet Dr. Pepper to be exact. It was my go to soda, I was drinking a 24 pack in about 2-3 days. After doing a lot of reading on diet foods, apparently, while aspartame has no calories it makes it hard for people to loose weight. Something to do with the chemicals in it. Don't ask me I'm no scientist. *durrr*

So I needed a new drink... yes, I could drink coffee all day but that maybe counter active to the heath aspect of this plan. No I'm not giving up my 4-6 cup a day habit but I did alter it.

So water it is. I don't like flat water much so I got a soda stream. You know the make your own soda machine every kid on the block wants. It's basically a CO2 tank with an injector.  Like this one....

I started drinking carbonated lemon water. Not bad but sometimes I wanted something with more to it so I looked into the labels on the diet soda stream flavors. Most of them use Splenda. Splenda is not as bad as aspartame but its not great. I only drink this on occasion.

Other things I did was started eating breakfast, started using Stevia in the Raw as a sweetener, switched from 1/2 and 1/2 in my coffee to almond milk (see my Milk Alternative 101 post for more info), started buying 'natural' meats/dairy and got a fitbit zip.

My fitbit zip is a pedometer. This way I really know when I'm being lazy. The thing makes a :p face at me when I'm not doing much. The fitbit program has a goal of 10,000 steps a day and that equals 5 miles for me. Kinda nuts so my own goal at this point was 5,000 steps a day. I did not hit my goal much when I first started.  The zip has a phone app and it tracks everything, you can even log your food and cal intake on this thing. It's pretty spiffy. At this point I'm considering upgrading to a fitbit force because it has a sleep tracker as well and that just makes it even more spiffy. ;)

It took a few months to really get the hang of all the changes I was doing. It's important that if you start to feel overwhelmed take a step back and reassess what you are doing and consider the reasons you decided you are doing it. I had to do this a few times. I don't think I could have given up soda if it was not for the aspartame reactions I was having.

After a little acclimation to all the new things I was doing I was still smoking and drinking. I was eating the things I liked but just ore aware of what was in them. I was actuly eating MORE food and loosing weight. Kinda nuts but I lost 10 pounds really fast. Almost too fast. Most people don't know this but loosing more than one - two pounds a week is not healthy no-matter what most diets say.

Once all that was done the next 'health thing' to do was quitting smoking. *sigh* I've tried this so many times and failed just as many times. I was really worried I would gain back the weight I had lost. I tried something not all of you will agree with. It's kinda controversial but it worked. Electronic cigarettes. I'll be making a future blog post about e-cigs. As of today I (and my husband) have not had a cigarette in 108 days and have 1/2ed our nicotine intake. I did gain 2 pounds back in Jan., when I first quit, but got them off fairly quickly.

Once I hit 215 my 2ed goal was to get to 200. I just got my second weight goal down this week. :) Now the last 20 pounds and I will be at MY ideal weight. Did I mention BMI is bullshit yet? If not.... BMI IS BULLSHIT. Just being perfectly clear. :)

Next is quitting drinking. I like vodka. I'm not an alcoholic or anything but I do drink almost every weekend so my weight loss is kinda put off on the weekends when I take in all the extra empty calories. It will be nice not to have any vices... ok, you got me. No vices that are regulated but the government. Caffeine does not count! :p

Being down 25 pounds may be a lot to a shorter person. For me its not much. I just have so much more mass to spread the weight around in. I'm still in size 14 jeans but not some much in the 16's anymore. I may adjust my weight goal down even more once I get to 180 but that will depend on my personal idea of what I should be. Not some antiquated or stylish notion of what is healthy.

I don't know if this helps anyone but it helps me. I still battle everyday when I look in the mirror. I lift my arms and see the fat chicken wings and I hear my mothers voice. I see pictures of me smiling and I don't want to show them to others because I see chins.  It's hard but I honestly think that with a bit of work it will get better. Gradually.

Green Goo-Be-Gone!

Ever pulled off a label on something and have a bunch of nasty residue left behind? Or put some tape on something temporarily and you can't get the sticky residue off? When this happens most people go for a bottle of Goo Gone or some other brand. This is the stuff I'm talking about...

These are the newer bottles you will find on shelves now. It has a little orange muscle guy on the bottle and a  logo of "citrus power". From what I remember, the old bottle had the cartoon orange much larger. I was told that lots of kids thought it was candy because of the cartoon orange and the orange smell. A few kids became very sick and I have heard reports that some died from drinking Goo Gone. I don't know if this is true or not but I do know that poison control does have Goo Gone listed as a known toxic chemical.

Yes, it has citrus in it...or some form of it. The bottle does not list the ingredients. Pair that with the illness and possible deaths, and I find what could be in it suspicious. I don't know about you but considering all that, I feel I need to make my own.

Again this is simple and cheaper than buying the store items. 

Only 2 things needed.
A citrus essential oil (I used lemon) Try not to get any on you.
A paper towel, washcloth or rag.

oh and  you will need some sticky residue...

 This is from tape I used to keep the drawer closed when I was moving some things around in my house. Gross and hideous looking.


Now just put a few drops of the oil on your paper towel or rag and rub the sticky area. Circular motions works the best.

You may have to add a few more drops of oil depending on the size of the area you are cleaning.

After you are done wiping it away the residue should have transferred over to the towel.

Eww!

Now just fold your cloth so you have a clean side down on the surface and buff the rest of the oil off. This may get a little more residue as well.

Look all nice and new looking!

Oh and it smells really good.  Sorry, no smell-o-vision app on my camera phone.

:)

A Week of Green Spring Cleaning (chopping blocks)

Some of you know I was delayed in getting yesterdays post up because my refrigerator and freezer died on me. Luckily we have a deep freezer in the garage so we did not loose a lot. Anyways, you don't care about that... you want the recipe. So here goes...

Really cleaning a chopping block can be a pain! Years ago I used a 50% water and a 50% bleach mix to clean them. Yes, bleach. Again this was before I knew how bad this stuff was and I thought the FDA was my friend. I still  use only two ingredients to sanitize them and normally use my 3 ingredient surface cleaner for daily cleaning.

This is so simple you may laugh.

Yes, that's salt and lemon. I cut the lemons at an angle and not strait up and down. This gives more surface on the 1/2 of the lemon that you will be using.

You will also need a pastry scraper or if you don't have one of them, an old credit card or any plastic- like card will work. No, I'm not going to tell you to buy an new cutting board at this end of this. Pinky-swear-promise.

Now heavily dust your cutting board with the salt and turn the lemon face down on the board. Squeeze and scrub the board with the lemon. The lemon should start to look very abused and the salt will become kind of pasty.

 And scrub some more.

Now let it sit for 5-10 minuets.

Next you are going to scrape the pile of salt, lemon juice, and lemon seeds into a pile with your pastry scraper or credit card thing. See I told you I was not going to make you buy a new one! :)

Scrape off all the salt and lemon juice into a bowl or if you can move your block, scrape it off into the sink.





At this point I normally wipe it down with a dish cloth and a little of the 3 ingredient surface cleaner and let it dry.



Done.

A Week of Green Spring Cleaning (microwave)

Kids are playing video games and enjoying spring break. For once we are out of leftovers because everyone is eating at home all day and the microwave is getting a workout.

Many years ago 'they' came out with these handy dandy little microwave pouches. You put a pouch in the microwave for a few and it would steam and break open a bag that had a little cloth in it.  Nuke and wipes were used here all the time. Then I got wise to the chemicals... and the FDA not giving a crap about me or my family. So how do I get the nice steam cleaned microwave with out all the chemicals??? Simple and we can do it for much cheaper than the advrage $1 a pouch... and sanitize your sponge while at it!

All you need is a sponge. I use my kitchen sponge...a small microwave plate and the 3 ingredient surface cleaner or some white distilled vinegar. I like using the 3 ingredient surface cleaner because I like the smell better that just the vinegar but we use what we got. :)

Now place the sponge on the plate.

Pour your vinegar or surface cleaner over the sponge surface.

Stop when you see the sponge is full. You want a little on the plate but not going over. If you can lift the sponge and it looks a bit like this.... perfect!

Now you are going to put the plate in the center of your nasty microwave....see, I said it had been getting a lot of use recently. I'm going to make the photo bigger to you can really see the nastiness. Ewww!

Turn on the microwave (on high) for 30 seconds. Now flip the sponge over and nuke it for another 30 seconds. Be Careful, the sponge is HOT!!!

Now, the sponge has been in the microwave for a total of 1 minute of nuke time. Keep the door closed and let it sit for 5 minutes (you may want to set a timer). This is to break up the gunk on the walls and to let the sponge cool down. It's really hot at this point.

Once the timer goes off, go in and check the temp of the sponge.  If its not too hot ring it out and wipe down the walls. Start with the inside of the door first because that will cool the fastest.

Don't forget the roof and the outside as well. Just dip your sponge in the plate when it needs a rinse.

That is so much better!

If you have a tray you may want to take it out and give it a rinse in the sink. Don't forget to wipe under the tray as well.

All done and it only took a total of about 10 minutes. :)

A week of Green Spring Cleaning (carpet sprinkle)

It's spring break this week, the weather is nice. I hope it stays that way, last year we had snow and hail during spring break. Gotta love Oregon!  With the kiddo home all this week and he and his friends expected in and out a lot, I figured I should get some spring cleaning and projects done. I'm endeavoring to get a post up each day this week with some of my recipes and how I do things here.

No need to copy how I do things exactly. Everyone has their own way of going about things but I always do better when I see how something is done, then I make my own version of it. If you find something that works better for you, please share in the comments.

Today I'm getting a good vacuuming done as well as cleaning the blinds...we will get into the blinds later and focus on the carpet. I want the house to smell good because I'm going to be stuck indoors most of the week. I opened the windows because its a beautiful 50f out. I know some of you in southern states must think I'm crazy but that's positivity warm for us after a cold winter!

Get out an old jar with a lid that fits... this happens to be an old pickle jar. I have a lot of pickle jars. Don't judge me.

Last time I did this I noticed my jar was not working as well as I wanted it to so I'm going to fix it. I'll show you how to make one while I'm at it.

Don't forget to label it.

This is the way mine was. The holes needed to be bigger so I'm showing you how I mad them and just making them bigger while I'm at it. No need to waist a jar.... even if I do have a bunch of them.

I just used a hex screwdriver (don't use a flat head screwdriver the holes wont work) and a hammer. Put the lid on the jar and make holes by holding the screwdriver on the lid and tapping the end of it with the hammer. 5-6 light-ish taps and you made a hole. Don't over do it and make sure the jar is stable. You don't want to break the jar. Do this a few times on one side of the lid. On my jar the holes were too small so it got clogged a bit. Made the job a lot slower.

This should work a lot better.

OK.... now onto making the sprinkle. All you will need is in this picture....

That's...
Jar (the one you just made)
Baking soda
Essential oil/s - I'm using lemon, lemongrass and sweet orange
and a fork. Yes, a fork.

*The frog salt and pepper shakers are not required but they do make me smile.

 Now fill your jar about 3/4 of the way full with baking soda. No reason to be exact here but a cup of baking soda will do about 1 large room. This is about 1 and 1/2 cups of baking soda. I'm doing my hallway and my living room.

Here is the fun mad scientist part. Add your oils. Some of the normal readers here know I have a thing for citrus scents but you can do any mix you like. I did about 10 drops of lemon, 10 drops of lemongrass and 5 drops of sweet orange in about 1 and 1/2 cups of baking soda. It will look something like this....

Now here is the reason for the fork. Mix it all up! The fork makes it mix faster and better. You could use a whisk but it will not get down into the corners of most jars. This works much better.

Put the lid on and sprinkle it all over the carpet. Heavily! It should look like something out of the movie Scarface. ;) No, not really that bad but you want to be able to see it sitting on the carpet!

Now sit back and have a cup of tea. Let it sit on your carpet for 10+ minutes. I let it sit for at-least a half hour because it makes everything smell so good, but if your in a rush 10 mins will do. Don't worry about walking on it. It actual helps if you do.

When you get around to it. Vacuum it all up. Done. 

How To Choose a Healthy Pet Food

Keep reading to get to the good part written by an experienced vet who knows what she is talking about. Some of this is my normal babbling explaining things in my goofy way.... Sorry, I can't help myself.

As some of you know I keep reptiles. I understand reptiles. Most of the food is fairly straight forward and we only have a few kinds to choose from. When it comes to cat and dog foods, I tend to be at a loss. I don't know what I should get for my two cats. The variety is boggling to the mind and the bright colorful packages are distracting.

 

 

Previously I worked for a pet store with a big variety of dog and cat foods. At that time I did not have any animals except for a few dwarf puffer fish, love birds, and geckos. I worked on the other side of the store from the pet food and spent most of my days scooping reptile and small animal poop. I sometimes would help people with dog and cat food but that was mostly carting it out to their car for them. I learned that some foods were much better than others and that even the really expensive ones were not necessarily the best. Other than that I would send people with questions over to the dog breeders we had working in the store because they knew what was what and I just knew which ones had big price tags and pretty labels. Moral of this... when you are asking the nice person at the pet store what kinds of food they suggest be sure to also ask them if they actually know anything about what they are talking about. *snort*

Our cats, Gibbs and Nyx are typical pet shelter house cats and we adore them. We would love to spoil them with top quality boutique pet foods but most of the time we can't afford it. Knowing that its best to keep cats and dogs on one type of food as the base diet and offer a little variety here and there for treats, I had a hard time picking a food that was good for them.

 

Nyx a.k.a. Budda-belly (self explanatory)

 Gibbs a.k.a Skunkbutt-kun (don't ask)

The shelter was feeding them whatever kitten food was donated to them. At the time (almost 5 years ago now) that was a basic kitten chow. The adoption clerk told us that was a decent food and to keep them on it for a few weeks while they settled into their new home. We did so. At the pet store we sold mostly boutique type food and I remembered how people would talk bad about the 'grocery store' foods. So I wondered if we should switch. The vet we took our kitties to told us to get Purina One Kitten and then switch over to adult in a year.  She also told us to grind up some L-lysine vits and sprinkle it over their food because they each came to us with kitty herpes. Nyx gets runny eyes and Gibbs sneezes a lot. Apperently the L-lysine helps with this but I suggest you ask your vet about it if you have kitties with the same issues.We did what the vet told us to do. 

Recently we switched to Purina One Beyond for our kitties. I can't give any reports on it yet but the switch over has gone smoothy. I've added a few pictures of that bag into this post.

 

I have a good friend who is a retired small animal and exotic vet. She was kind enough to write the below up for me to post in case any of you wonder the same things I did. Thank you Jodi for doing this!!! Jodi also believes in the importance of natural and organic life when possible so I was thrilled when she offer to write a few posts for That Green Witch. Again, thank you! 

Now onto the interesting part...

How To Choose a Healthy Pet Food

Jodi Kettering, DVM

March 2014

The pet food industry is currently a $19.85 billion business. Cat and dog foods account for over 90 percent of the U.S pet food market. Some estimates put the U.S. pet food production at $26.6 billion by 2015. And the overwhelming majority of pet foods are produced by only 5 big corporations: Mars Inc, Nestle, Colgate-Palmolive, Procter & Gamble, and Del Monte. It is important to know that, since big corporations are more concerned with the bottom line, which is usually profits. And shareholder dividends can come at the cost of high quality ingredients in your pet’s food.

It should be no surprise to find that 9 out of 10 pet owners consider their cat or dog to be a part of the family. Half of pet owners allow their pet to sleep in the bed with them. A third will buy holiday gifts for their pet. With pets being such a central part of our lives, why would we choose to feed them a substandard commercial diet?

It becomes clear as to why we must pay attention to pet food ingredient labels. A basic knowledge of what to look for and what to avoid will help you choose the right pet food for your dog or cat. It isn’t difficult or a time consuming process. Please keep in mind, not every food is right for every pet. Your pet’s age, breed, potential underlying disease, and even gender may influence the type of food you will choose. Protein, fat, and carbohydrate percentages are also important factors to consider when choosing a quality pet food. I will cover these points in a future installment.

My first recommendation is to bring your reading glasses to the store. Pet food labels are notorious for being in small print! Once you’ve got your “eyes” on, forgo spending time on how fancy or colorful the packing looks. While the outside of the pet food bag may have pictures of fresh meats, fresh veggies and whole grains floating about, the inside product may contain ingredients that are far, far from that.

On to the ingredients list. There are 5 simple things to remember and look for when evaluating a pet food ingredients list.

1. Animal protein should be number one on the list. It should also be a “named” animal protein source. Avoid meat by-products or poultry by-products. With by-products, there is no way to know if these items were kept fresh, chilled, and properly stored, or if they were swept off of the processing floor and stored unrefrigerated for hours, or even days.
2. A named animal protein is one that is specific, such as chicken, beef, lamb, etc. Something labeled as just “meat” is an example of a low-quality, questionable-origin food stuff. A named animal protein meal is also fine (example: chicken meal is good, while a “meat” meal is unacceptable).
3. If a named whole meat is first on the ingredient list, it should be supported by a named meat meal as the second or third item on the list. Fresh meat is very heavy (with water), and as such cannot contain enough protein to be used as the sole animal protein. A good animal protein meal will add the necessary protein.
4. Whole vegetables, fruits, and grains are good. These fresh foods contain beneficial nutrients. That says it all. There should be no added sweeteners or colors
5. An expiration date should be at least 6 months away. 10 or 11 months is good. It means the food was made more recently. Natural preservatives, such as tocopherols (forms of vitamin E), vitamin C, and rosemary extract, can be used. Pet foods that have a 2 or 3 year expiration date usually contain synthetic preservatives (BHA, BHT, ethoxyquin).

Dr. Kettering has over 25 years experience in the veterinary profession. She is a retired small animal/exotics veterinarian in Bend, Oregon.

EWWW Ants!

As a reptile keeper not much scares me but ants are one of them. They are creepy but it's not the looks that scares me. It's because they will go after my sweet little fruit eating geckos! Many years ago I had a friend whose home was invaded but a HORDE of ants when the old gas station a half a block away from her home was being demolished. The damned ants killed almost 10 of her geckos while she was at work. That was a very bad day.

I hate pesticides but what do I do? This took a while (read as years) to find something that works. I've tested everything. Borax, Damascus earth, so called 'clean' pesticides and herbs. Some worked some didn't. The ones that have done well are listed here for anyone else to try.

Ant Repellent

With a damp sponge or cloth add 8-10 drops of peppermint essential oil or citronella essential oil and wipe on windowsills, door jams, cabinets, and any areas you think they may come in.

***The same trick will work with earwigs, centipedes, and silverfish. For them you can use peppermint essential oil, citronella e. oil, wintergreen e. oil, and eucalyptus e oil.

*** You can also add some of the above essential oils into mop water, floor cleaners, carpet dust, and counter top wipes.

*** add a satchel of basil with a few drops of the essential oils from above in cabinets or shelves to keep ants and other bugs away.

Safe Ant-be-gone

You will need

¼ flax seed oil

8 cloves garlic (pressed with skins still on)

2 cups warm water

1tsp liquid Castile soap

Spray bottle

In a jar or bowl place garlic and oil. Let sit for at least 12 hours covered. Shake or stir occasionally.

Remove/strain garlic from oil. Poor oil into spray bottle. Add water and castile soap. Shake and spray areas and ant trail.

Bye-Bye Ant Carpet Sprinkle

You will need

1 cup baking soda

¼ cinnamon

20 drops cinnamon bark essential oil

Jar with a lid (holes poked in lid helps)

Mix ALL ingredients well and place in the jar, cap jar. Sprinkle on carpet and let sit for 1-2 hours. Your house will smell like Christmas but its worth it. Vacuum it all up.

Hope this helps keep the creepy crawly ants away! If you have a safe recipe for keeping ants away please share in the comments. :) 

3 Ingredient Body Spray

Body spray is wonderful. You can find it in just about any scent and it does tend to be fairly cheap. Ranging from a few dollars to twenty on the high end. 

The question is what are you getting when you get the nicer ones? Usually a nicer scent and better ingredients. I've seen some of the cheaper ones using food flavorings and food colors as well as some nasty ingredients. The better ones normally have better ingredients but not always. Here is one of my old bottles of Victoria Secret brand body spray I found under my sink. Its one of the better ones around and it still has a lot of ingredients I'm not too happy about spraying on my skin including the food color? WHY DO THEY HAVE FOOD COLOR IN A CLEAR BODY SPRAY???

Remember your skin will absorb about 60% of what is put on it.

So now you have seen what is in one of the "better" brand body sprays and what you would spend $12-$20 on (I got mine on sale btw). How can you make your own for much cheaper and better ingredients? You maybe surprised at how simple it is and how fast you can make it.

Ingredients you will need

Distilled water

Witch Hazel

Essential Oil/s

Supplies

Spray Bottle

Optional – Syringe & Funnel

All and this will cost you about $1 to make. Sure, if you don't have all of the ingredients on hand you may have to buy some. Essential oils are not cheap. Even more so when you look at the size of the bottle and the $5-$20 price tag for 0.5oz bottle can be daunting. Just remember you will only be using a few drops at a time and they never expire. Citrus will loose some of the strength after a year or two but nothing really noticeable.

Directions

(this is the part that the funnel may come in handy if you are a klutz like me)

Fill your bottle ¾ full with the distilled water.

Then top off with the witch hazel. Remember to leave room for the cap/spray tube and a few drops of oil at the top.

Now here is the fun part. Making your own scent. I used...

(this is the part the needless syringe is useful)

8 drops of lemon grass

6 drops of lemon

6 drops of grapefruit

Mix your scents how ever you like. As everyone who knows me can tell you I like citrus everything. You can make a vanilla lavender or maybe a sandalwood sage? 

Next cap and shake the bottle. Do a few test sprays to see if its as strong as you want it. Remember you can always add more if it you would like a stronger scent. A total of 15-20 drops in my 6oz bottle tends to be plenty strong for me.

Don't forget to label your bottle. I use painters tape and a sharpie marker for almost all of my labels. The painter tape is simple to remove and does not leave any residue when its time to remove it.

So what one are you wanting to spray on your skin?

Milk Alternative 101

This has been giving me trouble for a few weeks now. Let me explain why. For years I have been drinking ½ & ½ in my coffee and drinking the occasional glass of cow milk or having it in my cereal. Recently I started seeing a naturalistic doctor and she told me I need to cut out most dairy because of the estrogen they pump into cows to get them to keep giving milk as well of a lot of other nasty stuff. My response "HA! That means no cheese... um, no. Not going to happen.” I have a bit of a fondness for cheese. She just smiled and shook her head in the, I know best, but I can't make you, kind of way and told me to at least drop liquid dairy products because they are the real trouble and just stick with natural cheeses. Okay, I can do that.

Directly after that appointment I made a trip to Freddie's AKA Fred Myers. It's like a nice, more grocery orientated Target for people not in the Pacific North West and they have a decent organic section. It was for wholly that reason and not because it's located one parking lot over from my doctors office. Really.

I looked around and choose some organic vanilla soy milk. Good protein levels and its soy so duh, no cow hormones to worry about. Low on sugars. No additives and I can read all the ingredients without having to sound them out first. Check, check, and check. The next day I made my coffee and I liked it. It was not as thick as with my ½ & ½ and I did have to use more but that's fine. That means more protein.

About a month goes by and I have some tests she requested done. Mammogram and ultrasound and I go back into the office for an appointment to talk about all the results as well as a well woman check. After much talk about other things I bring up that I am liking my soy milk. “Oh” at that point her head popped up from behind my cloth covered knees, “You should be drinking almond milk. I'm sorry we talked about so many things last time. I thought I covered that.” and back down goes the head. “I guess you could have, maybe I missed it because of my worrying about giving up my cheese fetish?” Chuckling from behind my cloth covered knees. “You'll want to avoid soy milk because soy has estrogen in it.” I was confused by this so I decided to wait until she was done so I didn't feel as awkward about the conversation. “So... umm, why would people pump estrogen into soy like cows? Does it make them simpler to milk?" I was only ½ kidding about this. She (again) laughed at me but at least this time it was not while she had the modern version of a popes pear in use so I felt a bit better about it. “No, soy naturally produces estrogen and it's very helpful for older women to drink but you'll want to wait a while before you start drinking it every day.”

So again, I made my way over to Freddie's and got some organic almond milk. About half as much protean as the soy but besides that the containers look about the same. When I got home I looked up a more detailed listing while trying it out with some coffee. If you're interested it's got the same kind of consistency and flavor as the soy... a bit more nutty (it's a nut milk, go figure) and I like it. 

 As you will see below, I decided to approach the Soy and Almond like an ex-boyfriend. No, not with a drink in the face! With a pros and cons list... and maybe some chocolates nearby.

 

SOY & ALMOND – Pro: Each are Vegan and Gluten free.  Not a big deal to me but it is nice to know and maybe helpful to others.

SOY & ALMOND - Pro: Heart Healthy Has been proven to help lower cholesterol & promote cardiovascular health.

Soy Pro & Con: Contains a High Level of Phytoestrogen (that mimics estrogen in humans)  This means it's good for postmenopausal women but not so great for younger women because estrogen increase breast cancer risk.

SOY – Pro: Believed to Help Prevent Male Prostate Cancer

SOY - Con (pro?): May Lower Male Sperm Count. This one could be good or bad depending on the way you look at it. ;)

ALMOND – Pro: High in Natural Antioxidants

ALMOND – Pro: High in Vitamins and Minerals more so than Soy milk.

ALMOND & SOY – Con: Each are considered 'not safe' for infants to drink.

ALMOND & SOY – Con: Each can have severe allergic reactions.

So it depends on how you look at it and your personal health needs. Me, I'm going to stick with the almond and most like still get the soy for the hubby as he liked it. I'm not the kind of health nut that I say avoid everything that's bad for you because eating nothing but Elven Lembas Bread would get really old, really fast. 

Hope this helps you and yours a bit. We will get back to the cleaning and beauty product recipes next time.

The 3 Ingredent Surface Cleaner

If you look around on the internet you will find a TON of recipes for house hold cleaners. Some require hard to find ingredients or supplies you may not want to buy just for cleaners. I don't know about you but I'm not buying a pressure cooker or a second food processor just to make a household cleaner.  I feel that homemade cleaners should be safer, work better, and less costly than buying them.

Today I would like to talk about a SIMPLE easy make your own household cleaner. I use it daily. You'll just need a few ingredients.  If you are just getting into making your own safe cleaners. Let me explain a few things. Vinegar is one of the main ingredients you will need to make your home safer for family and pets. It can be used in a lot of recipes, also if you say vinegar like its spelled, you will have a lot more fun with it. It sounds like a name of a tough and sexy viking from a fun romance novel. Vine-gar! The kitchen warrier! The best friend of a green kitchen. :)

You maybe wondering how our sexy viking friend can help in the kitchen. Well, to be honest, the question really is how can he/it not help, but lets start with another question. What is vinegar?

Vinegar is a liquid consisting mainly of acetic acid (CH₃COOH) and water. The acetic acid is produced by the fermentation of ethanol by acetic acid bacteria.^[1] Vinegar is now mainly used as a cooking ingredient, but historically, as the most easily available mild acid, it had a great variety of industrial, medical, and domestic uses, some of which (such as a general household cleanser) are still promoted today.
Commercial vinegar is produced either by fast or slow fermentation processes. In general, slow methods are used with traditional vinegars, and fermentation proceeds slowly over the course of months or a year. The longer fermentation period allows for the accumulation of a nontoxic slime composed of acetic acid bacteria. Fast methods add mother of vinegar (i.e., bacterial culture) to the source liquid before adding air using a venturi pump system or a turbine to promote oxygenation to obtain the fastest fermentation. In fast production processes, vinegar may be produced in a period ranging from 20 hours to three days.

Well that answered that.Thank you Wikipedia. Vinegar can be used in almost every cleaning product. From cleaning disposals/sinks, shining chrome, deodorizing trashcans and pet areas. The list honestly goes on and on. Today we will start with the basic all in one.

The main thing you want to know is the kinds of vinegar you want to use for cleaning. Lots of types are on the market and some are all wrong for cleaning. Step away from the balsamic! I tend to stick with simple distilled white vinegar for my cleaners and occasionally I also use apple cider vinegar for personal use. Today we will stick with the distilled white.

What you will need.
* An empty (clean) spray bottle. This can be new or used just make sure its been well rinsed.
* A funnel or a lot of towels if you are a klutz like me.
* Marker (very important to label your bottles)
* Water H2O. Distilled, filtered, spring or tap water is fine but if you have heavy water you may want to avoid the tap.
* White Distilled Vine-gar! ...eh hem, sorry. vinegar.
* Optional essential oil. This part is optional but useful. I suggest Lemon because 1) I like the smell 2) lemon is antibiotic, anti fungal, antiviral and antibacterial. You can also use eucalyptus, lavender, tea tree and many others and they work just as well but in my opinion they don't smell half as nice.
;)

Mix
1 part distilled white vinegar
1 part water in a spray bottle
*If using essential oil mix in 5-10 drops in a 16oz spray bottle. I use 5 drops Lemon and 5 drops Lemongrass.
Shake to mix and done. Use immediately or store for later use.

*NOTE
I have used this recipe on all my counter tops and cabinets with fantastic results. I do not have marble surfaces in my home. I have been told that vinegar can stain/etch some marble so be careful.

An introduction

Just a little background for you. No, I am not a witch. Not that I see anything wrong with being a witch or Wiccan. I just didn't think that making 'That Green Bitch' the title of my blog was the best idea so I substituted the B for a W.... I thought it was clever at the time.

I'm a Green Bitch. Green as in, I attempt to live 'green', as in I recycle and try to use homemade recipes for cleaners and beauty products. Bitch/Witch as in I am crafty and I tend to not apologize for the way I am. I am me.

Over the last few years I have been switching over to homemade recipes and I'm picky about them. I can't stand the idea of something costing more when I am taking the time to also make it. So you could call me That Cheap Green B/Witch, if you like. I won't be offended.

I first started to switch to green MYO (make your own) products because my son has/had bad eczema. He actually inherited it from me, but me being me, I dealt with it. I would wear socks on my hands so I would not scratch in my sleep and deal. I could not deal with seeing my 2 year old son constantly scratching and scabbing up his legs and feet. It made him and me cry. We tried 4 doctors and tons of creams and medications trying to get ride of it. It made me wonder what these medications where doing to him... at the same time as NOT working on the eczema.

At one point a friend told me about chemicals in detergent sometimes being the cause of skin problems. My first response was, “why would a company make something that could hurt kids even when used properly?” Yes, I was blind. I had no idea about GMO's, problems with food colors and preservatives or any of that other stuff. I was in the “the FDA is wonderful and they keep us safe” mind frame. So I did some research. Funny thing research. You learn things when you read! Wish I had known that back in high school!

To make a long story short I switched from using Tide brand to Free and Clear brand for about a year and it helped but the eczema was still popping up and rearing its ugly scabby head. Then I took the jump and made my own laundry detergent and with in a month it was gone. Even the little red areas that don't itch but look nasty and never go away... faded. In 6 months the red areas were gone.

All of this got me thinking... what other things do I deal with (like the eczema) that I just accept as apart of life? Dandruff? Dry and oily skin? Heartburn? Headaches and migraines?

I plan to make this Blog all about the things I do here to help me and my family live a better life and not break the bank while I'm at it. Not all of it will be MYO and DIY recipes. Some of it will just be me being a crazy lady. 

I should note that if you are still in the “the FDA is our friend” mind frame, I warn you that this blog may not be the one for you.