Beauty Smarts

For a while now, there's been a lot of research done on parabens (a preservative) and other seemingly cancer causing agents in our beauty products. Since then, there has been a big push for all things healthy and natural. This is important for all areas of our life as who knows what is going into our food and products today.

Um, regarding the food, has anyone read Skinny Bitch?! If not, it's definitely a great eye-opener about the foods we eat and what the FDA approves.



But i digress, focusing on what we eat effects our inward beauty and health, but let's not forget about the products we use for outward beauty (hair, make-up, skin care, etc.). I recently ran across a site called Best in Beauty...



...which has a ton of information on our beauty products, what's in them and what we should be looking to avoid when we go to purchase them. What we put on our body, may make us pretty on the outside, but may eventually make our health ugly on the inside.

Anywho, as we go about planning our weddings, gearing up for the sexiest of photoshoots or just plain ol' living our lives, it might not hurt to take a gander at this list first and do a little research.

Click here for more production information.

From Best in Beauty...

Best in Beauty has created a ... phrase to help you remember which chemicals to avoid when purchasing your much-needed personal care products. [The first letter in each word matches with the first letter of the related product listed below.]

Repeat after us:

“Pretty Products For Healthy People Minus Many Lousy Chemical Substances.”

Phthalates

Propylene Glycol

Formaldehyde

Hydroquinone

Petroleum

Mercury

Mineral Oil

Lead

Colorants

Sodium Laurel Sulfate

So if you've made it through all of this, the most important take away is to prepare for your beauty product shopping adventure before heading out to purchase. Learn what's in the products you use and which ones to avoid. It may take a little of your time now, but it's only to ensure that you have a lot more healthy time in the future. Happy hunting!



Chocolate Rose does not endorse the Best in Beauty site, simply sharing found information.

Health and Wellness Soapbox

We've all been there. Whether it's a wedding dress, bridesmaid dress or some other special occasion, we've all at some point tried to lose weight to "look better" in some attire where we're pretty much paraded in front of a crowd. This is, of course, unless you're one of those fast metabolism kind of people--so jealous! lol

No matter the reason, once the decision is made to lose the weight, the first real goal is to make it happen QUICKLY. The problem with this idea is then we jump into fad DIEts and fasts (meant for cleansing, not losing weight). We tend to forget the need to stay healthy in the process and we put our bodies through more work than necessary just to keep us out of starvation mode (which, if you didn't know keeps the weight ON). I'm not making this stuff up, people! Check out this piece pulled from a Newsweek article called "The Incredible Shrinking Bride."

...[R]esearchers were distressed that more than 20 percent of the women they studied used methods they characterized as "extreme," including skipping meals, going on liquid diets, fasting, or taking laxatives or unprescribed diet pills and supplements. A small percentage even started smoking as a weight-loss strategy, while others began vomiting after meals.

Eating right and moderate exercise will get the job done while maintaining your health, which is what's most important. Because if you don't have your health, what do you really have?

Anyway, in light of this, I realized that exercise is one thing, but the bigger issue, I believe people have is then figuring out, what to eat? So, I wanted to share this fun site I ran across the other day called Hungry Girl. It gives you great tips and healthier recipes with side to side comparisons to your everyday foods. Check it out!