Vitamins

I have never really taken vitamins...terrible, I know.  I didn't even take prenatals cause of how they made me feel.  Being a mom of three little ones, most days I am functioning on little sleep and I am required to be patient, hardworking and energized.  I started thinking about maybe taking some vitamins to supplement what I wasn't getting from food.  I went to the local health food store, spent about $50 and went on my way.  A few weeks into it and I was happy to be taking the vitamins but I honestly didn't feel any different.  I thought that was normal, that you weren't supposed to *feel* the vitamins.  When I started distributing for Shaklee I was really excited to start taking their vitamins.  It's been about 3 weeks and I can truly say that I am seeing a difference in how I feel.  I haven't changed anything else and since the past few weeks have been especially low in the sleep department (umm like 4-5 hours a night-ick!!!) I can only assume it's the vitamins that are helping!!!
 Shaklee vitamins are made from whole foods.  This is an important concept to understand.  Synthetic vitamins are TOXIC to our bodies! They are made through chemical processes, rather than derived directly from plants. If your vitamins don't say "made from whole foods" they are no good for you! You are better off not taking any. 
I found this great article that really helped me to understand the importance of taking a "good" vitamin:

3 Types of Vitamin Supplements

Posted on 04 August 2010 by admin

Aren’t All Vitamins the Same?

Why can’t I just get the cheap ones?

Don’t they all do the same thing?

There is such a huge difference between buying a synthetic vitamin and a whole-food vitamin. The biggest difference is the way you feel. So many times I hear people say that they don’t feel different on the vitamins they are taking. There IS a reason. This is because usually the vitamin they are taking is synthetic and potentially toxic to the body. The live enzyme in the synthetic vitamin never existed, therefore your body does not benefit from the vitamin.

I truly believe that you “get what you pay for.” I also believe that what you put into your body needs to be the highest quality that is available. So many times, we miss the mark of where to spend our money. We will pay $5.00 for a cup of Starbucks coffee, but will complain about spending an extra $1.00 on organic food.  It is the same for vitamins. If you truly want to feel different and put a supplement that is going to feed and improve your cell’s health, it needs to be an organic, whole food vitamin.

Below is a list of the 3 types of vitamins and where you would find them:

1. Test Tube or Synthetic (Usual drug storeor discount store vitamins)–made in a test tube in a lab, to resemble the real thing. This is toxic to the body and does more harm than good.

**Imagine a Plastic Lemon from the store with juice in it. This type is the Plastic lemon with NO juice. That is basically what you are eating if you take this type of vitamin.

• No enzymes
• Man-made
• Inorganic substances
• Stimulant
• Side effects
• Can actually be more harmful to your health to take!

2. Crystalline or Extracted (**Usually a  health food store variety)–These start out natural, but are heated through the processing, so all live enzymes are killed. You end up with a partially live vitamin, if live at all. Most of these have harsh binders and fillers, plastic coatings, and some contain tar.

**This is the Plastic Lemon with juice. IF you can get past the plastic coating, there is a little bit of real stuff in there. However, the juice has been heated so it’s not really like drinking it fresh squeezed.

• Weak enzymes
• Uses chemical and heat extraction
• Organic substances (low quality raw materials)
• Stimulant
• Imbalanced
• Harsh binder and fillers

3. Natural / Unaltered (**Shaklee food supplementsand other whole food supplements)–Cold pressed to extract the vitamins, all enzymes remain alive so you get something as close to nature as possible

**This is the REAL lemon…unaltered and fresh. What’s inside is alive and natural.

• Strong enzymatic action
• Low heat, low pressure process
• Organic substances
• Feeds and improves cell’s health
• Balanced
• Contains essential unknown nutrients

**X brands need only 10% natural ingredients to legally be classified as “All-Natural.”  Shaklee food supplements are 100% natural!

So I am not a vitamin expert, I can only tell you how I feel...

For information on the vitamins that I take, click here!

Organics

My family switched over to organic products about 3 years ago.  We took it slow at first but now almost all of our produce and all of our dairy and meat (grass fed) is organic.  I found myself shopping at two different stores every week.  The produce at my "everything" store isn't that great so I was trekking over to Whole Foods, which is obviously amazing.  But taking two grocery trips with 3 kids is not amazing.  So I found a co op called Suburban Organics.  It is AWESOME!  Fresh, organic and sometimes local produce for a reasonable price.  I love it!
Here is how it works: you choose the size and type box that you want.  For example, you can get all fruit boxes, all veggie boxes or mixed.  I get a medium sized fruit box and that is perfect for my family of 5.  Keep in mind, we do eat a lot of fruit and use greens for our smoothies almost everyday.  Anyway, on Fridays, I get an email detailing the contents of the box.  I have an opportunity to sub out certain items and choose different things.  This week I decided to sub out some of the oranges for kale, the bananas for spinach and the lemon for extra apples.  That's where my work ends!
Then on Wednesdays the box gets delivered to the head of the co op (who conviently lives 3 minutes from me) and I go pick it up.
I love it for so many reasons.  First, it's organic, local and super fresh.  Second, it's much more convient for me than going to two different stores.  Third, I get a variety of produce and sometimes things that I wouldn't think to buy on my own.  And finally, I feel good about what I am doing for my family.

So good! If you are interested, I can give you the name of my co-op so you can receive the co-op discounted rate:)

Scour Off

Cleaning the oven can be as simple as turning on the self clean button and walking away.  But when it's finished you are usually left with the ashes on the bottom on the oven and the glass door that is still pretty gross.  Oven cleaners are among the toxic cleaning products that people use.  The contain lye and ammonia, which is corosive to eyes, skin and organs when inhaled.  Think about that!!!! Wow!!! Not only do I not want to breathe that in but my kids and their little lungs....no way!  But a clean oven is a must.  I found out about Shaklee's Scour Off.  It's chemical free, made from real cherry pits so the smell is amazing.  I take my fingers and stick them right in the jar, scoop some out and start scrubbing!

Here are some before and after shots of my oven door --warning, it was gross!!!

BEFORE 

(this was after I ran the self clean cycle)

AFTER

(my daughter "helped" me and I didn't have to worry about the fumes)

Scour Off is one of my favorite Shaklee products.  You can use it on tile, grout, sinks, copper, cement and more!  I love using it on my stainless steel sink, too.  I used to use SoftScrub but that's out!  I keep a jar in my bathroom upstairs and one under my kitchen sink.  Any takers?
Happy Cleaning!

The Kid's Drawer

This project literally took ten minutes and it created lots of extra room for me.  This is a drawer in my kitchen that I use to keep the kids lunch boxes, utensils, plates and some other random kid stuff.  I have another spot for cups and bowls but that's for a different day.  When I opened the drawer yesterday it really started bothering me.  So today I made a simple change...

Before

The how to~

1. Empty everything onto a space big enough to spread out if needed

2. Sort through any random things and decide if things can get tossed or put in a more appropriate spot.

(after I sorted through this bin I was able to either move or throw out everything in it!!!)

3.  Move things to their new home.

 this pile got moved upstairs with tolietries and hair accessories

I put some of the things in my first aid bin

4.  Start to put things back

 utensils

 lunch boxes now fit into the old basket of random things

plates

5. Enjoy your new space:)

So one more time all together~

BEFORE

AFTER

Oh what to do with all this new space?!

Sunday Night Satisfaction

The weekends are huge in our house for family time.  We spend a lot of time together doing a lot of just being together:)  I also take full advantage of having my husband home.  Sunday nights are usually really quiet for us.  Monday mornings start the chaos of breakfast, lunch for hubby and just getting the week underway.  Most weekday mornings start at 6 am for me and by 8:30 I am already worn out!!! So all of that being said, I love to take about a half an hour on Sunday night to totally clean the kitchen.  I use Scour Off to do my stove top and sink and Basic H for the granite, Keurig, floors, cabinets and appliances.  It's so great that I can use two products to do my whole kitchen!  I put on my little radio and actually enjoy the time.  But the best is the reward of a good feeling when I get into bed and starting Monday off with one less thing to do!

The Pantry

My pantry is really a hot mess! I am taking steps to organize it but it's a slow process! Here is the before:

It's a small pantry but I grocery shop every week so this should be big enough! I also have another pantry in my laundry room. When I started thinking about organizing this space I stood back and just looked at the pantry. That's when it hit me that I inherited my mom's "sickness" of hoarding food! How did that happen? I had what seemed like 15 cans of diced tomatoes and soups and beans and yet every week I was buying more-just in case! Just in case of what?! So I really started this organizing process weeks ago and the first step was to be more mindful about what I was buying at the grocery store. I wanted to convert my laundry room pantry to a storage only closet (no food) and fit all of my food in this pantry.

So my progress has been pretty slow. I purchased these containers from oxo cause I love them and they are bpa free but they are expensive. It was $49 for these containers.

I am still looking for something for my cereal and I am also on the hunt for some IDEAS!

So these before pics are pretty embarrassing but I am just trying to keep it real...let me know what you think and stay tuned for the after!

The Devastating Effects of Toxic Home Cleaning Supplies

Many of you have probably seen this video before but it was a huge eye opener for me! Definitely worth the ten minutes of your time. After I saw this I switched all of my cleaners over to Shaklee. I bought the Get Clean starter kit.
I think one of the best things about it (besides the health benefits) is that it is so cost effective. Here is a cost comparison chart.
Just something to think about on a Monday morning:)

The Medicine Cabinet

I wish I had some before pictures but really, it's probably best that I don't!  I have a cabinet in my kitchen that I put our vitamins, band aids (we have millions!!!), other first aid items and any kind of medicine.  I tried using wire baskets, I tried lining everything up, I tried to keep the kids stuff separate from the adults and it was always a mess no matter what.  My husband would ask where something was and begin rooting around and that would create a bigger mess.  It was the cabinet that I was embarrassed to open if people came over.  I think I probably got real weird when someone would ask for a band-aid:)  So when I saw these at Bed Bath and Beyond I knew they would be perfect.

  Don't you love how streamlined they are!  The products can just get thrown in and the cabinet still looks great.  

 I made a first aid bin, a kid's vitamin bin, an adult vitamin bin and a medicine bin.  It makes finding things really easy.

 I just grab down the entire bin and then put it back when I found what I need.

  How do you organize your medicine cabinet?  Does it need help?  I would love to see them...

The Soda

Ry is really into taking things out of the trash can and dragging them around the house.  Fun, right?!  This morning he took a half empty soda can out of the recycle bin and dumped (dropped) it on the floor!  Ahh!  Sticky, sticky everywhere.   I just sprayed some on my floor and with a few wipes, the floor was shiny and not sticky.  This time I used the Shaklee degreaser (made from Basic H) and it took less than a minute.  Ah, love that I can clean quickly in a way that won't harm my children or the environment:)

 It never ceases to amaze me how well the Shaklee Basic H cleans.  I grabbed the bottle and off I went.  I really do love to clean so if you are picturing me skipping to do my floor, I kinda was;)

 I took several pictures of the floor but it was hard to see the sticky.  You can kind of see it on the bottom picture.  Trust me, it was the kind of sticky that you feel like you are going to be finding for months!

Can you tell the difference?  The floors really do shine and there is not streaking or residue!  I was feeling great, so great that I sat down to enjoy my coffee.  A few hours later when I noticed that the soda had gotten all over the bottom of the refridgerator, too!  It was literally crusted on and so sticky.   Seriously, look at it!  Ewww!  Can you see it on the baseboard, too?

 This time I grabbed the degreaser cause I knew it was going to be little harder to get this off.  Two sprays and few wipes and voila!  Clean! (Those marks dents on the bottom are the result of three kids who love to "crash" into the fridge!)

****Click on any of the cleaning products to see more details****