What Your Skin Is Telling You

 

Today's skin care post is actually a post that I shared almost two years ago but decided it was a good one to bring back.  I receive more skin care question e-mails than I am able to respond to at times.  Some of you want to know why you constantly have dark circles, why you are always breaking out on your chin or what you can do about those pesky forehead lines.  I am hoping this will give you a little more insight. 

Your skin is constantly communicating with you and if you are experiencing pigmentation problems, acne, puffy eyes and other issues it is most likely the result of something deeper that is happening on the inside.

Face mapping has been used for thousands of years in traditional Chinese medicine. The Chinese believe that you can tell a lot about a person and their health just by looking at their skin. I use this technique when I am doing a skin analysis on a client and it is so interesting how accurate it really is.

Listed below are the different zones of your face and what organ they are related to. Hopefully this gives you a better understanding of what exactly may be causing your skin care concerns.

Forehead (Zone 1 & 3)- This zone is related to the bladder and digestive system. If you have deep lines this could indicate a blocked colon and or gallbladder. If you are experiencing breakouts here it could indicate that you are having a few too many cocktails and your diet may be a little too rich in dairy or processed foods. You should try drinking more water and eating more natural foods.

Between eyes (Zone 2)- This zone is related to the liver. Breaking our here may indicate you have a food allergy and are consuming too many rich or fried foods.

Ears (Zone 4 & 10)- This zone is related to the kidneys. It is pretty rare to breakout on your ears but if you do you need to give your kidneys a little more TLC. You should drink more water and cut back on alcohol.

Around your eyes (Zone 6 & 8)- This zone is also related to your kidneys. If you are experiencing dark under eye circles or puffiness this can indicate you are stressed, drinking too much caffeine and you not getting enough sleep.

Cheeks (Zones 5 & 9)- This zone is related to your heart and respiratory system. I can usually tell if a client is a smoker or used to be a smoker by the little broken capillaries that show up along the cheeks. Also if you are eating too much protein or fatty foods you may experience breakouts here.

Nose and upper lip (Zone 7)- This zone is related to the stomach and intestines. Deep lip lines may indicate that you are not properly digesting your food. If you are experiencing breakouts here you may have a food allergy. Quick little fact....I ALWAYS breakout on my nose (worse place right?) whenever I eat a large amount of peanuts or peanut butter.

Chin and jaw ares (Zone 11, 12,13 & 14)- If you are experiencing breakouts or pigmentation problems here is it most likely due to a hormonal imbalance.

If you are experiencing any of the above problems with your skin, take a look at your lifestyle and if you need to tweak a few things there is no doubt your skin will thank you for it.

Blueberry Picking + An Awesome Giveaway! (CLOSED)

Something that has been on my summer bucket list for ever is blueberry picking.  There is the cutest U-Pick farm less than 10 minutes from my house so I decided it was time to go.  My awesome sister (aka Aunt Nat) came along with us and it was such a fun time!  Max is at the perfect age to truly appreciate the  activity and Ronin was in berry heaven since his favorite snack was in arms reach all around him.  At this very moment I am restraining from typing he was "berry happy," but I just can't help it.  At a few points Ronin was so excited he could hardly contain himself and would just let out happy little squeals.  It was the cutest thing.  I am pretty sure the boys ate their weight in blueberries by the time we left.

The cutest boy's rain boots c/o of Joules.  They are perfect for gardening activities in the summer and rainy days in the fall and winter.  I love them and so do my little guys! 

Such a fun day! If you have a chance to do your own berry picking I highly recommend you go!

And now for giveaway time!  Today's giveaway is hosted by Joules, which is an adorable shop full of colorful, cheerful clothing for babies, kids and adults.  Joules is offering one lucky Delighted Momma reader any pair of boots you would like.  You can pick a pair for yourself or a pair for the little person in your life.

How you can enter:

• Visit Joules and decide which boots are your favorite.  Women's boots here.  Boys boots here. Girls boots here.  Leave a comment below letting me know which pair you would like to win. 

Extra Entries: (Please leave a separate comment)

• Share this giveaway via Twitter
• Share this giveaway via Facebook
• Pin your favorite item onto one of your Pinterest boards

Good luck the winner be selected at random and announced at the bottom of this post next Thursday.

Congrats Urban Wife!  You are the winner.  

Banana Cream Pie Bites (Paleo)

I have no self control when it comes to certain desserts.  Take banana cream pie for example.  I could easily eat the whole pie myself without even thinking about it.  For this reason I prefer littler desserts, like mini key lime pies, single serving mug cakes, frozen yogurt grapes and today's creation... banana cream pie bites.  Now I would never peer pressure you into making anything you did not want to, but I am seriously pressuring you with these. Make them! They are freaking GOOD and much healthier than eating a whole pie.  And before I go any further I have to thank my best friend who gave me the idea for this bomb diggity recipe.

These lasted a total of maybe 2 hours tops between me and my three boys.  

What you will need:

• 2 bananas (not overly ripe)
• 4 cups of shredded unsweetened coconut (do not use flakes or reduced fat coconut.   It will not work)
• cinnamon

That's it!  Only three ingredients to make this treat. 

Directions:

1. Place your shredded coconut and about 4 dashes of cinnamon into a food processor and process until you have a nice and creamy coconut butter.  My food processor is nothing special and it only took me about 6 minutes until I had butter.  
2. Slice up your bananas into bite size pieces.  
3. Dip each slice into the coconut butter and thoroughly coat both sides.
4. Place each coated banana slice onto a piece of parchment paper.
5. When you are all done, sprinkle cinnamon onto each slice. 
6. Place in the freezer for about 30-40 minutes to initially set and then move to the fridge if you have any leftovers.  We did not :)
7. Enjoy!  

These taste just like banana cream pie!  They have a custard like crust and a gooey cold banana inside.  Make these asap to see for yourself and come back and let me know what you think if you do!

Ronin's Construction Themed First Birthday

Ronin turned one last week, which meant that it was time to have his very first birthday party over the weekend.  It was such a great day celebrating with family and friends.  First birthday parties always cracked me up pre kids.  I always wondererd why moms would go all out and spend so much time (and money) on a themed party, which the kid is not even going to remeber.  But what can I say...I am totally that mom that I used to think was ridiculous.  I mean you only turn one once, so go big (in my opinion).  I decided to do a "construction" themed birthday party and I had so much fun planning it.

Here are a few pictures from the day...

Here is the birthday backdrop.  I used contractors paper, which I purchased at Lowe's and taped it to the wall using blue painters tape.  The bilingual (ha) caution tape was purchased from Home Depot.  I made the Happy Birthday Ronin banner out of paint chips.  Ahh I felt SO guilty taking so many of those but they are free (makes me feel better to say that out loud) and I figured I am not the first mom who has had a crazy paint chip project idea.  I bought pre cut letter stencils from the dollar store, traced the letters on the back of the paint chips and cut them out.  I punched holes in each letter and strung the string though.  So simple.

The main table setup.  I used a drop cloth for the table cloth.  I put the food on our center island in the kitchen and made this more of the snack/ decorative photo op spot.

I purchased the bucket and danger sign from Home Depot each for $2.  I bought the construction hats from Oriental Trading Co.  I put the silverware in a paint container purchased from Lowe's.  As I was in Home Depot looking like a hot mess with my kids I ran into the store manager and we struck up a little convo.  I told her about my party theme and she loved it.  She was the nicest lady ever and gave me tons of tiny Home Depot "Kids Workshop" aprons and dozens of Home Depot balloons for free!  My plan was to have each child who came wear an apron and hat.  Well that plan failed.

I did get one little guy who was willing to take a picture in the outfit (thank you Max).  I may or may not have bribed him with cake.

But before I could get a picture of us three it was off in a flash.  Note to self:  No costumes at next party.  Kids are apparently too cool now-a-days.

At least my friends and sister were good sports and amused me ;)

The birthday cake.  I got the inspiration after googling "construction cakes."  Who knew how many awesome cakes would appear with that search.  I made two small vanilla cakes, iced them with chocolate frosting, woopsie forgot to frost the two together in the middle but whatever.  I crushed up Oreos for the dirt and found the construction themed toppings at the dollar store. 

 A close up.  It was not perfect by any means but I feel like a construction themed cake should be slightly imperfect so it worked.

Test driving his new ride from Grandma and Papa, with his brother all up in his grill of course.  He loves this and has not stopped climbing in it and beep beeping the horn all around the house since he got it. 

 Not too sure at first...

Total cake fan.

Such a fun day and party!  And if you are reading this and you came, thanks again! Meant so much to have you there. xo

Ronin is ONE!

Today Ronin is one years old!  I can not believe it!  I have loved watching his personality develop over this past year and I am so excited to continue to watch him grow into a little boy. 

He is now full on walking and climbing/jumping on top of everything he can.  He loves, blueberries, bananas, strawberries, spinach, avocados and turkey.  He loves to wrestle with his little brother and dad but is the best cuddler with me at the same time.  He is independent and likes to play by himself, but when he cries you better not take your sweet ole time.  He tends to look serious most of the time and is not the overly laugh-y type baby but his brother can get him to crack up and belly laugh like nobody's business.  He loves when I read him stories and his favorite book is, "Bubbles Bubbles," (a Sesame Street book).   He knows how to gives kisses and it's the best thing ever.  His favorite word at the moment is "DA-DA" and basically calls everything that. He loves to clap when he is excited.  He is sensitive and sweet and puts his head on my shoulder and pats my back when he is tired.  Ronin has truly completed our family and has brought so much joy into our lives. Happy Birthday Ronin!

We will be celebrating this weekend with family and friends and I will post pictures of the fun festivities next week. 

Low Carb Rosemary Flax Bread

Sometimes a good ole fashioned turkey or peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch sounds like heaven.  Since going Paleo and cutting out wheat, I usually substitute bread on sandwiches and burgers for lettuce.  I mean... lettuce wraps are amazing but lets be real sometimes you just need a real sandwich, bread included.  This bread recipe is not only super low carb it tastes beyond delicious.

I made sandwiches of this last week for my sister and her husband who came over for lunch.  My sister's husband took a bite and said, "This is better than regular bread!"  And this is coming from a guy who I am pretty sure considers wheat bread a necessary food group.  

What you will need:

• 1 1/3 cup of  whole ground flax seed meal 
• 1 1/3 cup of blanched almond meal
• 2 tsp of baking soda
• 6 tbs of olive oil
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 cup of water
• 1 tsp of garlic salt (I used garlic salt with a blend of sea salt, roasted garlic, onion and parsley)
• 2 tbs of chopped rosemary (I used fresh) 
• 1/4 cup of nutritional yeast (optional) 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degree. 
2. In a large bowl combine all the dry ingredients.  
3. In a small bowl combine all the wet ingredients. 
4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients until they are fully blended together.
5. Pour batter into greased loaf pan and make sure it is evenly distributed. 
6. Bake for 50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Edges should be nice and brown when done.

Tips- seasoning this bread recipe is key to it tasting great.  Do not skimp on this part.  You can be creative with what you put it in.  Also, if you notice your batter is a little runny, add more almond flour.  It is seems too dry or sticky add a tiny bit more water.

Wait until it cools and when it does, you can slice it just like you would a normal loaf of bread. Enjoy!

Makes 13-14 slices of bread and each slice has approximately 3 grams of effective carbohydrate.  Boom! (I felt like typing that)

My Latest Fab Favorites

Today I partnering up with Fab to share some of my latest finds that I have been obsessing over.  Have you heard of Fab before?  It is full of unique, quirky and fun products that are guaranteed to make you do a little happy dance.  Online shopping has become a serious life saver as of lately since  running around town searching for the perfect whatever with two kids who basically hate shopping can be quite daunting.  Recently I have been dreaming about the new home that we will soon need to decorate, summertime and a bunch of randomness since I tend to be a little ADD.  So here are my must haves at the moment.

1. Little One's Easel in Orange- With chalkboard on one side and white board on the other this easy clean up item is the perfect addition to any child's room.

2. Paper Airplane Kite-  The best laid back summer time activity just got a little bit cooler with this awesome kite design.

3. Wavy Stripes Pillow- An essential for my couch.

4. Eco Marine Triangles Throw- A beautiful blanket that can stay out all year round.

5. Triple Blade Herb Scissors- This neat little gadget allows you to cut, chop or mince herbs directly onto the pan or plate. 

6.  Driftwood iPhone Dock- I mean it does not get any cooler looking than this.

7. Diana Edelweiss Camera- a new twist on a classic 60's camera. Some of my favorite features of this camera include endless panorama formats, a removable lens for taking super-wide-angle pinhole shots and the lo-fi, soft focused vignette images it produces.  As a camera lover I think I need this.

8. I Will Survive Plant Pot- The perfect funny reminder to water my indoor plants. 

9. 8 Piece Knife Set- I am all about fun colorful kitchen gadgets and these make prepping dinner just a bit more exciting.

10. Home Brew Kombucha Kit- I love kombutcha and I am so excited about an already made kit that makes DIY-ing this yourself so easy!

Is there anything on Fab that you are currently coveting over?  I would love to hear!