Entries from July 2007 ↓

I made a really great discovery in Newtown, Sydney today. For those of you who haven’t been to Newtown, it’s definitely worth a visit. It was my first trip there and I loved it, definitely the place for a shopper who likes something a little different.

My favourite shop in Newtown is ‘Pure botanicals’ which is a holistic health care store. Pure botanicals is split into two with the front of the shop housing a range of natural skin care products. The back of the shop is a natural medicine clinic with a range of services including naturopathy, psychic readings, acupuncture, nutrition etc.

The great thing about the Pure Botanicals skin care range is they’re designed and manufactured by naturopaths. They’re also hand-made in the shop so if you have any sort of skin sensitivity or allergy, the recipes can be altered to accommodate you. Of course all products are also:

• made with all natural ingredients
• do not use any animals products or animal testing
• have no synthetic chemicals, preservatives, stabilisers, colourants or additives
• contain medicinal extracts, nutrients, vitamins and essential oils

I bought two products today, a ’sensitive skin exfoliating cleanser’ for my face which contains tiny little jojoba wax beads to remove dead skin cells and a ‘pimple soothe’ lotion which is used as a spot treatment. I also wanted to buy a cream which helps soothe sore muscles but it was a little expensive and I sometimes feel sore muscles are a reminder that I should be stretching and perhaps taking it a little easier when I exercise!

I tried the exfoliant when I got home and it was fantastic. It felt thick and velvety on my skin which is perfect for me because I have quite dry skin. The beads were really good too, it felt like I was giving my face a really good scrub.

The only critique I have about the Pure botanicals skin care range is a lack of instructions on their products. The store had great information next to each product about how to use it but I’ve forgotten that information already. I’m not entirely sure how often it’s recommended that I use my exfoliant and my pimple soothe gel. I noticed while I was there some of the products, such as the lip balm, also didn’t have the ingredients listed on the packaging. I like the ingredients listed because I’m often recommending natural and organic products to friends and it’s good to show them the list of natural ingredients, otherwise they have to take my word for it!

The staff were really friendly and when they found out I was from Brisbane they gave me details on how I can order their products by phone or mail order. Apparently they’ve been shipping their skin-care range throughout Australia and overseas. Their website will be up and running soon, so I’ll keep checking and post when it’s up.

Frances Kerr

Would you believe it, I’m sitting in the Lindt chocolate cafe in Sydney eating a chocolate brownie. I’m one very lucky girl. I’m on holidays for a few days in Sydney. Actually it’s my first trip here so it’s been great so far, so much to see.

I made a conscious decision before I arrived in Sydney to allow myself a few more food treats while I was here on holidays than I normally would. It would be silly of me, for example, to not go to the Lindt chocolate cafe just because I’ve already had my sugar quota for the day. There’s no Lindt cafe in Brisbane so it may be a long time before I get this opportunity again!

If you’ve been reading my blog then you know that I like to live by a 90/10 rule, which means 90% of the food I eat is healthy food for my body, and 10% is for the soul. Food for the soul includes junk and comfort foods. My 10% foods are chocolate, cake and greasy takeaway.

The guilt game

The hardest part of eating healthy is to know when to treat yourself. Before I discovered the 90/10 rule I used to feel really guilty whenever I ate sugar or drank too much alcohol or didn’t eat my quota of fruit and veges for the day. For example, it may have started by eating a little bit of chocolate because I hadn’t had any in a few days, then thinking I might as well eat the whole block of chocolate because then it was all gone and it would no longer be around for me to eat it. Then the guilt would start and I would feel terrible for having binged on all that junk food.

This action and thought pattern which I term ‘the guilt game’ can be the beginning of an eating disorder. The guilt game is very unhealthy for both the body and the mind. Please make sure if you do binge on junk food, that you feel okay with it afterwards. Become aware that you’ve just treated yourself and that’s is okay every now and again. I can’t stress enough how important it is to not feel any sense of negative thoughts or feelings about what you put into your body.

Learn that it’s okay

The guilt game is exactly why I love the 90/10 rule so much. It allows me to feel okay about treating myself. It’s really important to occasionally have foods that make you happy. One of my favourite things to do is to share a giant piece of chocolate mud cake in a cafe with a friend. How great is it also to share a jug of beer and chips with your mates after work or a class at Uni. It’s important to ‘eat to live’ not ‘live to eat’, but it’s also important to enjoy and to feel great about one of the greatest gifts we have, yummy food!

Frances Kerr

I woke up at 6:30am this morning to do yoga and I now feel fantastic. I’ve been meaning to get into the habit of daily yoga for a long time now so hopefully this is the start of a healthy habit. The way I feel now makes getting up that extra hour early so worth it. It’s not a fitness thing either. It’s an overall feeling of wellbeing. I feel quite calm now and relaxed and ready for the day.

I did find I was quite stiff and my stomach was rumbling a bit because I was hungry but everything else went really well. I was able to take my time and really enjoy it. Maybe the mornings are better for me because I’m more dopey and relaxed. In the afternoons or evenings I’m processing the day and thinking about all the other things I want to get done so I get impatient and rush through it.

I’m looking forward to getting up early all this week and doing yoga!

Frances Kerr

I’m starting to think I need to change this blog from ‘alternative health’ to ‘complaints about my skin’ because I keep going on about it. I admit, I’m completely obsessed with it at the moment which is quite pathetic. I’m a single girl so looking good is really important. How am I going to get a boyfriend when I’ve got spots!?

I’m quite sure it’s all emotional. That’s what my Chinese Herbalist has told me and mum has a friend who broke out over her entire face, neck and shoulders when she went through her divorce. I kind of went through a divorce type situation myself so there we go.

There’s also the question whether or not I have Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) because my sister has it and apparently it runs in the family. One of the symptoms is acne ..but admittedly I only have a couple of the symptoms overall so it’s not that likely, although something easy to blame it on.

What I do know is that my skin was fantastic when I was on the pill, err, seven or eight years ago. So I’m having a real struggle NOT to go back on it. It sounds like such an easy solution. Although I don’t like putting chemicals into my body and I had a problem with chronic thrush last time I took it so it’s probably not the best idea. Grr.

The weird thing is, my skin is really clear at the moment except for two large patches on either side of my face at the jaw line. I’m sure these spots relate to some organ or some specific emotion so I’d love to know what that is. I did hear from my beauty therapist friend that the jaw line meant hormonal. That doesn’t surprise me. I picked up a free magazine from the health food store yesterday and there was an article on ‘Dieting against acne’. They listed a heap of causes of spots. I think mine is due to sex hormones - high androgen production. Although I can’t really remember why I came to this conclusion.

The article also had a great reference to a shop in Brisbane that sells natural beauty products. They have a Mineral Make Up that covers the redness and irritation of acne without making it worse because it doesn’t sink into your pores. It’s really expensive but I’m definitely getting some. Advertising works well doesn’t it.

It’s a real struggle and I’m sure all you other grown ups out there with my problem know exactly how I feel. I’ll let you know how the Mineral Make Up goes.

Frances Kerr

One of my beautiful sisters (I have three), Gill, has started a blog about changing the world! I just had a read and it’s awesome. Gill has a really big heart and is very passionate about the welfare of us humans, animals and of course the environment. Check it out!

One Step Today
http://onesteptoday.blogspot.com/

Frances Kerr