Quick tip, did you know that the top of strawberries are total edible and packed pull of nutrients? Next time you are cutting the tops off save them in a freezer bag and freeze them. These are a great add on into your smoothie ;).
Happy Friday!
Steph
http://www.primalcotton.com
Holistic Life Coaching Services are now available via Skype,FaceTime,Phone, and in Person, to book your appointment head over to the website or email me at primal cotton@gmail.com
One of the most commen complaints I from people about eating healthy,is that they can’t afford it. The other comment I hear is that I can’t afford to shop at whole foods or other stores like that. I agree that shopping at Whole Foods and Co-ops can get expensive, but that doesn’t mean that is the only place you can find healthy food. I personally love to shop at Costco. A lot people are surprised when I tell them I do most of my shopping there. Here are a few of my favorite items I get from Costco
Coconut Sugar- at 8.99 for a big bag. You can’t beat that
Organic Salad Mix 3.69
Organic Raw Spinach 3.69
Organic Carrots 3.99
Organic Celery 3.19
Apple Smoked Bacon (vegetarian fed pigs) 13.99
Organic dried granny smith apples 6.79
24 pack Organic Eggs 6.49O
Organic Apple Sauce 8.99
Happy Tot fruit and veggie squeezables 12.89
These are just a few of the regular items that I buy, but there is tons more organic items and healthy food options there and as you can see it’s not super expensive. I also love it because I have a family of 5 so buying in bulk is always good for us. Anyways, here is a pic of my yummy finds on my last shopping trip.
I can’t believe it is already February 1st! The last month has really flown by. The last month has been a little rough for me personally, but, now it is February 1st and the beginning of a new year in my life (yesterday was my birthday :)) and things are starting to look much brighter.
I have been working my booty off on some new business ventures and ideas, and It looks like all of the hard work is going to start paying off in the weeks to come. I am excited to announce that starting next week I will be recording my first pod cast with a good friend of mine, who has agreed to come on board with me as a client and we are going to be transforming her life over the next year, all on the pod cast. We are going to be revamping her diet, fitness, and lifestyle. It should make for a fun and informative pod cast, with lots of tips on nutrition, holistic health, and easy ways to make life changes.
I am also in the processes of having my webpage completely redone and I can’t wait for everyone to see it. I got a sneak peek last night and it is AMAZING! I have a few other things on the horizon but I will hold off on sharing until they are ready to launch.
Here is a peak at my new business card I just got in the mail today. My good friend does graphic design and she created my cards and is working on my page. She is so talented! If you need someone to do graphic design let me know because she is amazing.
I hope everyone is having a great weekend!
I hope everyone had a great weekend. Today is my Sunday and so far, I have had a great weekend, despite my football team losing to the 49ers yesterday. Sigh:( In the midst of all of the football drama, I did manage to make a new multipurpose cleaner and it came out amazing. I have been making my own cleaner for years. I am always playing around with different recipes to try and mix things up a bit. It might sound silly but having a nice smelling cleaner makes it more enjoyable to clean. For the past few months I have been using the orange infused vinegar and that has been nice but I decided to try and mix it up a bit. A few weeks ago I infused some vinegar with thyme and decided to make a new cleaner out of the infusion.
Why Do I Make My Own Cleaner?
I make my cleaner for a few reasons. If you are thinking I must be one of those chicks who stays at home and makes everything from scratch you are defiantly mistaken. I work full-time and I am a mommy to a 20 month old, 3 year old, 9 year old, and a fur baby. To say I am busy is an understatement. I started making my own cleaners a few years back because I was tired of spending money on “green” cleaners that still had crap in them or where just a few ingredients but cost a crap ton of money. I have always played around with essential oils so I figured I might as well start making it myself. I do still buy bleach for my clothes and occasionally bleach my bathtub and toilet but other then that I stay away from store bought cleaners. One of the other reasons I don’t use traditional cleaners is because they have so many harmful chemicals in them. Did you know that most house hold cleaners have chemicals in them that can cause cancer and hormone imbalances? That is just crazy to me! Hormone imbalances can cause you to have problems losing weight and migraines. So if you are having trouble losing weight or suffering from migraines you might want to ditch the chemical cleaners.It drives me crazy how they post all these ads about killing germs but never mention they are giving you cancer or f#$%king up your thyroid while you use these cleaners. I became even more concerned with this after I had kids. Kids put everything in their mouth and I didn’t want to risk poising my kids because I cleaned the counters and they put something on the counter and then in their mouth. It just wasn’t worth it to me.
What About Germs?
A lot of people get really worried about germs and I get it. We have advertisements and doctors constantly telling us we need to kill germs. Don’t get me wrong I am not a fan of germs but I do think we have gone a bit overboard in our society about killing all of the germs. Some germs are actually good for us and they help boost our immune systems. There is even research showing that we are now damaging our bodies from all of the antibacterial soap we are using. I prefer to use vinegar as my main cleaning agent because it kills germs but doesn’t have all of the nasty side effects. I also use essential oils that are known for their antifungal, antibacterial, and antimicrobial effects. You can use vinegar all on it’s own but I really like having the pleasant smell of essential oils.
Making a Infused Vinegar
I have really gotten into making my own infused vinegar lately. I make a lot of tea blends so I have a lot of dried herbs on hand and I am always playing around with different infusions. You can always make this recipe with thyme essential oils instead if you wanted though. The cool thing about the vinegar infusion is you can also cook with it. The thyme infused vinegar that I made would also be tasty in a salad dressing. I chose to use thyme because it has been used for centuries as an antiseptic,antibiotic, and antimicrobial. It not only smells good but it kills all of the bad stuff too :).
To make an infusion I take a jar and fill it with the dried herbs. I did 1 cup of dried organic thyme and covered it with white vinegar. I covered it with a top and let it sit for 14 days. It is that simple! After 14 days you just run it through a strainer. You can see in my pictures below what it looks like in the jar and after I strained it.
How To Make The Cleaner
Once you have your infused vinegar put it in a spray bottle with 1 part vinegar to water. Take your spray bottle and fill it 1/4 of the way with the infusion and fill the rest with water. Shake the bottle up and you are ready to clean. This also works great as a room spray :). I even spray the down down with it when she is smelly and then just whip her off.
I hope you enjoy this recipe. Happy Cleaning!
I am enjoying some much needed cuddle time with my girls this morning. This is the best way to start my weekend! Happy Sunday!
Today is the first day in 7 days that I haven’t felt like my muscles are on fire. I would do a little happy dance by I would probably pull something..lol.. The reason for this is that I got a massage today! Actually I got 2 massages :), perks of the job. Over the past week, I have shared lots of tips to help beat muscle soreness and I hope you have tried some of these and they are working for you. I know that they have been working for me and that is the only reason (besides my stubborn ass spirit lol) that I have been able to WOD every day this week. Today I wanted to share with how massage helped me feel so much better and why I think all crossfitter’s should be getting massaged monthly if not weekly.
One of my biggest concerns about starting crossfit was damaging my muscles. I have seen and heard horror stories of people over training and hurting themselves. When I first walked into my box I was very honest with my coach that this was one of my concerns. Luckily, I have found an amazing coach who is big on technique and self-care. He always makes sure we are in good form and that we are doing stretches. This makes me a really happy girl because I know that I am less likely to hurt myself, but, that is only a small part of it. It is my job to make sure that I am doing everything I can to take care of my body outside of the gym. As a massage therapist I use my body every single day, so I have to be even more diligent about taking care of my body. One of the best ways I know how to do this is by getting massage regularly. After spending the last week doing a WOD every day I now think that everyone who does crossfit should be getting massaged monthly if not weekly.
Why get massaged?
As any crossfiiter will tell you, crossfit is a fullbody workout. If you are WODing 5-6 days a week that means your body is under a high amount of stress for a sustainable amount of time. I don’t say that in a bad way but it’s just a fact. Unlike most sports crossfit is working every major muscle group on a daily basis. This means you have lots of lactic acid and toxin build up. When you get massaged, it flushes all of this crap out of your muscles. It also lengthens your muscles and lubricates your joints giving you more range of motion and mobility. Crossfit also has the tendency to cause adhesions in muscle because of the repetitive motions done with high weights. Once again not bad things as long as you are addressing the adhesions right away. Once you start to get adhesions in your muscles you end up with limited mobility in that muscle group, and we all know that if you don’t have mobility in crossfit you are pretty much Fu#%ed!
But I Foam Roll
Now you might be thinking well I foam roll. That is awesome! I highly encourage people to foam roll and do other self-massage techniques, but you can’t get into every muscle with a foam roller. Also you are not trained how to break up adhesions or how to get muscles to release. Massage therapist learn techniques that help release trigger points and break up adhesion’s.
How Do You Chose a Massage Therapist
I think this is one of the most overwhelming parts of getting a massage. You don’t want to spend $65+ dollars and have it suck. I am with you on that. Not all massage therapists are created equal. Massage is also very subjective, what I love, you may hate. How do you chose a therapist? Here are a few of my tips for finding a therapist.
1. Price doesn’t always matter. Don’t assume a person is good just because they cost a lot.
2. If you are crossfitting I would ask them these questions;
a. What techniques do you use to help open up the hips
b. What kind of stretches do you incorporated into you massages
c. What is your normal client base ( if they are not working on athletes they probably have no idea how to work on your issues. Crossfitters are unique in their issues and need someone with a solid knowledge base of muscles. Not to say they have to work on crossfitters alone but if they don’t work on any kind of athletes or do some kind of rehab work they may not have a strong knowledge of what you are needing)
d. How many hours of training did you have? ( Stay away from anyone that went to school less than 500 hours. Massage programs that are less than 500 hours generally don’t have a lot of time to spend on learning muscles and proper advanced techniques)
3. Look for therapist that specialized in at least one of these modalities; sports massage, trigger point therapy, deep tissue, myofascial release, neuromuscular release, positional release.
Once you find a therapist try and keep a regular appointment, and if they give you homework, do it! I think you will find that if you get massaged on a regular basis, use some of my previous suggestions about beating muscle soreness, drink plenty of water, and eat properly, you will find that you will have better performance and will be less sore. Let me know how this works for you!
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This blog is for entertainment purposes only and should not be considered medical advice
All information on this blog is property of Primal Cotton
I was running crazy late this morning so I didn’t have time to make my usual eggs for breakfast. I ended up just throwing a sweet potato in the oven while I got dressed and took it with me to work. I love sweet potatoes so much because they are so simple. I can just throw it in the oven get dressed and then top it with whatever I want. Here is what I made today super simple and good for you!
Directions
1 baked sweet potato
1 tablespoon of grass fed better
½ teaspoon of sea salt
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
2 tablespoons of coconut milk
1. Bake your sweet potato in the oven at 425 for 30-45 minutes or until it is done
2. Scoop out the potato from the skin
3. Top with butter, salt, cinnamon, and coconut milk
4. Enjoy!
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http://www.primalcotton.com
Nothing drives me crazier then a dry and itchy scalp! My first winter in California was the worst. Moving from North Carolina with 100% humidity to California with 0 % humidity did a real number on my scalp and skin. Here is a remedy that I use and have great results with for my dry scalp. Are you ready for it? You won’t believe how simple it is. I use a solution of water and vinegar. What is great about this recipe is that it works on dry or oily scalps. The reason it works on both is because it balanced the PH levels of your scalp and this is what causes a dry or oily scalp. I know most people won’t want to use this remedy because they are afraid it will make their hair smell like vinegar, but trust me the smell washes out. There are a few other benefits to using this remedy ;
Here is the recipe
Ingredients
Apple Cider or Regular Vinegar
2 oz Bottle
Water
That’s it! It is so simple. I use this mixture every time I wash my hair but play around with it and see what works for you. Let me know how you like it.
As anyone with multiple children will tell you, each child brings their own unique set of challengers. With my youngest daughter Emma her challenge has been diaper rashes. This kid gets a diaper rash at the drop of a hat. The second she starts to teeth you better believe a diaper rash if following shortly behind it. Today as I was sitting here writing my book I started to write down all of the remedies and cures I have tried over the past 18 months and I figures why not share them with the rest of the world. I wish someone would have written the book I am working on because I damn sure would have bought it. I have spent so much time and energy having to research everything I do for my kids and it would have been nice to have it all in one place. Oh well, at least I have something to contribute to all of the mommies out there. Today I am going to give you a sneak peak into the remedies I have used that work for diaper rashes.
Baking Soda Bath
I know it sounds way too easy to work but trust me on this. Baking soda is a staple for a lot of reasons in my house this is definitely one reason why.
½ cup of baking soda
Fill the bath with warm water and let the baking soda dissolve. Let your little one play for at least 20minutes. This will also leave their skin really soft
Corn Starch Baby Powered
Apply liberal amounts of cornstarch after applying your diaper cream. This will help keep the area dry
Lard as a Diaper Cream
I know this one sounds cookoo bananas but trust me it works! Apply lard instead of diaper cream and follow it with the corn starch. I used this method on Emma who had the worst diaper rash I had ever seen on her and it was 75% gone the next day. </p
Happy Tuesday Everyone!
After much contemplation I decided to start a parasite cleans this week. I know everyone is super jealous. I will spare everyone the details about how most our bodies are crawling with parasites.(lol) After talking to a friend about this subject, I decided it might be a good idea to just go ahead and do a cleanse. I was referred to Dr. Hulda Clark website. Dr. Clark has been researching the effects of parasites on people for years and has developed several protocols to help with it. She also believes that parasites could be the cause of many types of cancer. If you get a second check out her site she was pretty brilliant. At any rate, her protocol is pretty simple so I have decided to give it a go. It may be surprising to most people that things such as fatigue, dark eye circles, teeth grinding ect, are all signs of parasites. I will give you a list of symptoms at the end and refer you to Dr. Clark’s protocol page. I will let you know how I feel when it’s all done.
Signs and Symptoms of Parasites 
1) Constipation
Some parasitic worms are actually large enough to physically block the passage of nutrients and waste at certain points in the digestive system. Severe parasitic infections in the bile duct or the intestines can make bowel movements difficult, leading to worsened symptoms of constipation.
2) Diarrhea
Another common symptom of parasites, is the development of diarrhea, or frequent, loose, watery stools. Many parasites produce a prostaglandin that leads to a sodium and chloride loss in the body. This in turn can causes diarrhea. This process is especially true in the case of protozoan infection.
3) Gas and Bloating
Parasites that live in the upper small intestines can cause intestinal symptoms such as inflammation that leads to gas and bloating. Frequent occurrences of gas and bloating are classic signs of a parasite infection. The discomfort is aggravated by the consumption of hard to digest foods such as beans and non-organic meats.
4) Irritable Bowel Syndrome
One of the more common symptoms of parasites, is irritable bowel syndrome. It is not uncommon for IBS to be caused by an intestinal parasite, because they can dig in and attach themselves to the intestinal wall. This often causes irritation and inflammation that can in turn lead to muscle spasms, intestinal blockage, and a malabsorption of nutrients. Fatty substances in particular can be difficult to digest.
5) Joint and Muscle Aches
Intestinal parasites can also move and migrate throughout the body. It is not uncommon for them to become encysted in joint fluids or even in the muscles themselves. This causes pain, aching and irritation that are often mistaken for arthritis. Joint and muscle pain can also be caused by the body’s own immune system response to the parasite infection.
6) Anemia
There are several types of parasites that attach themselves to the lining of the intestines and divert nutrients away from the human body. In severe infections, these parasites can lead to blood loss sufficient enough tocause anemia.
7) Allergies
Intestinal parasites cause irritation and inflammation. This in turn can make it difficult to digest certain types of foods. The body’s response to these undigested food particles may be to produce increased levels of eosinophils, which are one of the body’s immune system defenders. These eosinophils then inflame the body’s tissue and cause an allergic reaction.
8) Skin Conditions
Intestinal parasites can cause the release of hormones and immune system defenders that can in turn irritate the skin. Hives, rashes, weeping eczema, and other allergic reactions are common with intestinal parasites. Protozoan infections can also cause ulcers, swelling, sores, lesions, and dermatitis.
9) Tumors
The body may develop a tumor like mass in response to the parasitic infection that is also known as agranuloma. The tumor is developed to encase parasitic larvae or eggs. Granulomas most often develop in the colon or on the rectal wall, but they are also found in the lungs, liver, peritoneum, and the uterus.
10) Nervousness
Intestinal parasites release waste products and other toxic substances into the body’s system. In chronic or severe parasitic infections, these toxins may irritate the central nervous system resulting in restlessness, nervousness, and anxiety. These are all common symptoms of parasites in your body.
11) Sleep Disorders
Intestinal parasites can cause irritation that can disturb sleep patterns making it difficult to fall asleep and to stay asleep. In the night, the body works to eliminate toxins via the liver. Parasitic infections can interrupt this process and upset the rhythms of the body. In fact, some parasites may try to migrate out of the anus at night causing itching, discomfort, and irritation.
12) Teeth Grinding
This symptom of parasite infection can also cause a condition known as bruxism, or the abnormal grinding, clenching, and gnashing of the teeth. This condition occurs most often at night, and it may be linked to the restlessness and anxiety caused in the body by the parasite’s release of waste and other toxins.
13) Chronic Fatigue
Parasites can exhaust and deplete the body, on physical, mental, and emotional levels. It can lead to the mal-absorption of protein, carbohydrates, fats, and vitamins, draining the body of both nutrients and energy. As a result, another common symptoms is the development of chronic fatigue, with symptoms such as exhaustion, aches, apathy, depression, difficulty concentrating, and impaired cognitive ability.
14) Immune Dysfunction
Oftentimes, when you have a parasite living inside of you, it will leech vital nutrients from the body, forcing the immune system to operate with a poor supply of vitamins, minerals, and energy sources. Parasites also stimulate the production of immunoglobulin A, which is a defender against foreign substances. Over time, this over stimulation can exhaust the body’s supply of immunoglobulin A, leaving the body susceptible to attacks from bacteria, yeast, fungus, virus, and other foreign invaders.
(http://www.parasite-cleanse.com/intestinal-parasite-symptoms.html)
Dr. Hulda Clark Parasite Cleanse Protocal
http://www.drclark.net/cleanses/beginners/herbal-parasite-cleanse/parasite-chart-for-adults
PrimalCotton 