Natural Non-Toxic Cleaners | DIY Recipes

I started making the switch to non-toxic cleaners a few years back, after learning that many household products contain harmful chemicals and hormone-mimicking compounds. As of today, I do the majority of my cleaning with a few main ingredients:

• Dr. Bronner’s Sal’s Suds

• Vinegar

• Baking soda

• Essential Oils

The majority of the recipes listed below, I learned from Ashlee Piper’s book, Give A Sh*t. It’s a book focusing on sustainability and I highly recommend reading it. I have found the cleaners in this book super simple and they work really well. A lot of the times when switching to ‘natural’ products, you think you need to compromise on quality or efficiency, but you don’t. These products work just as well as store-bought brands and they are simple, quick to make, cheap and free of chemicals.

When considering what to swap out first, I find it useful to think about what is in contact with your body the most. For instance, clothing will be in direct contact with your skin for hours each day, so laundry would be of high importance. Same goes for kitchen counters.

Multi-Purpose Spray

+ 2 tbsp vinegar
+ 2 tsp sals suds
+ 2 cups water
+ 15 drops lemon essential oil

Combine all ingredients into a glass jar with a spray top. I use this most often for counter tops, stove, sink, etc.

Laundry

Laundry was an easy swap for me, but it’s something Andy still has some trouble adjusting to. You need to rethink how your clean clothes should smell. That ‘clean clothes smell’ is really just chemicals that have leeched into your clothing and when you wear clothes all day long, they can also seep into your skin.

+ 1 tbsp Sal’s Suds

or

+ 1 cup homemade washing soda
+ 1 cup borax
+ 1 bar tea tree Castile soap
+ 20 plus drops lavender oil
+ 10 plus drops tea tree oil

Directions: For the washing soda, bake baking soda at 400F. Cut the soap into fine pieces and combine all ingredients in a high-speed blender. Pulse until a fine powder is achieved. Add 1-2 tbsp to your wash per load.

For our laundry, we usually wash with about 1 tbsp of Sal’s suds and dry without dryer sheets. I’ve been wanting to try dryer balls with essential oils but just haven’t gotten around to it or really felt the need for it. When wanting a bit more of a scent, we use the powder detergent, which is typically for our towels and our bedding.

For stain removing, I use Puracy and it’s hands down the best stain remover I have ever used.

Dish Soap

+Sal’s Suds

A little bit of Sal’s Suds goes a long way. I think my favorite thing is how versatile it is. It can be used to wash the dishes, do the laundry and make an all-purpose cleaning spray. It can be diluted 1/2 cup to a quart of water, if preferred, but I tend to just add some to my sponge before doing the dishes. It might go a longer way if pre-diluted. For hand soap, I also use Dr. Bronner’s but I prefer the scented bar soap.

Shower Cleaner

+ Baking Soda
+ Lemon Essential Oil

I usually shake some baking soda over the base of the tub and then add some drops of lemon essential oil to the baking soda. It will create a sort of paste-like cleaner. Scrub the area and it works as a good de-grimer. Use as much as necessary.

I’ve also used Branch Basics and I loved it - it made cleaning the bathroom easy. Being totally honest, the only reason I didn’t repurchase was price. I do think it’s worth the money, but using baking soda and essential oil is a pretty close second for much less money.

Windows and Mirrors

+ Vinegar

Pour some vinegar into a spray bottle (I upcycled an old hair product bottle that had a spray top). It looks a little foggy at first, but keep wiping and soon it will look crystal clear.

Essential Oils

My favorite oils are lemon, lavender, tea tree and eucalyptus. I have a few others but these are my most often used. The brand I usually purchase is Aura Cacia, but brands like Mountain Rose Herbs, Saje and Young Living are also high-quality.

I diffuse oils throughout my house instead of candles, it refreshens any space. For the bedroom, I typically diffuse lavender and eucalyptus for relaxation. For the kitchen and living room, I diffuse lemon or a lemon blend for a clean, energizing scent. I am looking into getting a second diffuser, but I currently use this diffuser and move it from room to room based on necessity.

Etc., etc.

Other brands I use or have used are Seventh Generation, Branch Basics and The Honest Company. EWG is a helpful website to determine if a brand is clean or not. Enter the brand into the search bar and a ranking between A - F will appear, A being the cleanest and F being the most harmful. This comes in handy when trying a new product or looking for a new one.

Any questions, leave in the comments below!

Acadia National Park | Fall Camping

We spent last weekend at Acadia National Park in Maine and boy was it cold. Andy and I have never been tent camping together, but wanting to keep the costs low, we decided to give it a try. We packed as best we could and took off for a long weekend.

The drive was about 6 hours one way to Seawall Campground. Like most places you travel, we inevitably needed more time, but we did what we could. We fit in a sunrise, a hike, lunch with friends, sunsets and some down time by the fire. We even coincidently ended up eating lunch at a Sri Lankan restaurant. Sri Lanka is one of our absolute favorite places (we honeymooned there), so it was only fitting that we incorporated a bit of Sri Lankan reminiscing, and Lion lager, into our anniversary weekend.

Sunrise at Cadillac Mountain

We thought Cadillac mountain might not be that crowded, given the temperature was a staggering 34 degrees and that was not including the wind factor, but is was. From October to March, Cadillac Mountain is the first place for the sun to peek through in the United States.

We drove to the summit for about 5:45am, just as the sky was beginning to brighten. There is an option to hike, it’s a 7.5 mile loop. Although I am unsure of hiking at night personally, I’m sure it’s an experience that is well worth it, or so I’ve been told.

If you go in the Fall, bring a blanket (or five) and watch the sky illuminate with the first rays of sun. Or go super early and get a spot in the front to watch from your car ;)

Hiking the Precipice Trail

The Precipice Trail was definitely one of the more challenging hikes I have done. It got my palms a little sweaty (completely vertical climbing, meh) but the views during the entirety of the hike were well worth it.

We met up with some friends and hiked roundtrip, about 3.5 hours. The weather was perfect and the sky was clear. The foliage hadn’t changed as much as I had hoped, but it was still beautiful.

Camping Eats.

I must admit food did not exactly go our way, or at least as I had planned. We had planned to cook over the fire because we did not have a portable gas cooktop and didn’t want to buy one. The factor I did not consider was cooking on the fire meant being at the campsite. So we ate out for breakfast and lunch on Saturday and cooked over the fire Friday and Saturday night. Cooking over the fire was still just as relaxing as I had imagined though. Our menu consisted of…

• BBQ Jackfruit (Recipe from Minimalist Baker’s Everyday Cooking)

• Beyond Burgers

• Beets, sweet potatoes, zucchini, carrots, onions wrapped in foil and seasoned with spices

Vegan ‘meat’ is getting pretty popular and although we don’t often eat a ton of ‘meat-replacement’, the ease of preparation made cooking a lot easier. And Beyond Burgers are really good, in my opinion. And of course some s’mores with Justine’s PB cups as the base.

We also brought our Berkey water filter, which ended up saving us from having to buy any water at all. Less plastic and less money.

Overall, it was a weekend that went by too fast. We spent a lot of time in the car singing Jon Bellion and hours staring up at the stars. I love seeing new places and rejoicing in the ‘simple’ things. Weekends like this can feel busy and rushed at times, trying to squeeze so much in the few days before Monday hits, but memories and experience are all we will ever really own. So why not make as many as we can, while we can.

Maine, you were wonderful, but next time I see you will probably be in the summer.

Two Years

Today marks two years since Andy and I officially joined forces. In one sense, it seems like its been a lifetime, but on the other hand, time could probably slow down a bit.

Life moves fast, as anyone will tell you. There are so many highlights realms that I replay in my mind — moments of pure joy that cause me to reminisce — but in truth, those memories are just fleeting moments of a much larger reality. We travel together and we dream big. But for each milestone moment, there are many more that are simple.

A good morning kiss.
Dancing in the kitchen to Indie folk music.
Silence around a fire.
Cuddling.
A rom com on a Friday night.
New experiences.
Weirdly finishing each others sentences.

It’s so easy to get caught up in the rush of doing, that we sometimes forget to just be. At least, I know I’m guilty of this. So much of my energy and focus can be spent on the next big thing— growing our saving account, the next international trip, finishing school, etc. Those moments bring joy and a sense of satisfaction, of course, but there will always be something to accomplish next. What I know gives me the most happiness is the time in between, I just need to be present enough not to miss those moments, because they move quick.

‘Waiting’ can mean you miss out on what’s right in front of you. So it will probably be really worthwhile for me to stop waiting and start enjoying.

That’s the journey of discovering. The freedom to choose. To establish your own boundaries within your relationship. To find what’s important, what you value most and how you want to live your life with intention.

We have no idea where we will be in a few months, never mind years. But I know whether I am on a beach or in the middle of another New England winter, choosing a life filled with love is the greatest gift I have been given.

Taking a trip down memory lane…

(so many individual photos, because we aren’t good at using tripods)

This weekend we are off to do what we do best and explore Acadia National Park in Maine where the reception is weak and the stars are strong. Cheers to new experiences, all of em’.

It’s a wonderful life with you by my side
All of our friends, feet in the sand
Beneath the stars it never ends
And we got no explanation cause there's no expectations
Just beautiful faces and nowhere to go

Good things come in threes, right? I’m sure this year will be the best one yet. XO

P.S. Wedding photos captured by the lovely Root and Bud.

Asthma + Life Lately

The third week in September is notoriously considered peak week here in Massachusetts, a term I had never heard before this year. It’s the week that asthma and allergies require the most hospitalization. And to my surprise, I became one of those statistics, landing myself in the hospital right during the middle of peak week.

After about 4 weeks of dealing with a chronic cough, post-nasal drip and fatigue, my cough progressed into recurrent asthma attacks resulting in a hospitalization with a heavy (and continued) dose of steroids. I’m finally on the mend, have most of my energy back and am feeling grateful that I have access to medicine yielding this experience an inconvenience rather than a death sentence. 

I haven’t suffered from allergies in about 12 years, but things change. It is most likely why I didn’t suspect allergies to be the culprit until it was a little too late. I pushed a little too far for a little too long. It scared me, to say the least. I usually take pride in my health and this experience definitely brought me to a point of surrender and vulnerability that I haven’t quite experienced before. My lungs felt like they were failing me and until you can’t breathe, it’s hard to understand how much of a blessing sufficient airflow is. I was left feeling grateful, more than anything.

From what I understand, there is a threshold to asthma. Our lungs can only tolerate and filter so much until our body goes into overdrive. During peak week allergies are at a season high, putting those with asthma at an increased risk. I don’t know fully what triggered my attacks yet, but I suspect the main culprit will be ragweed. As to the whole threshold theory, I am curious what other environmental irritants I could potentially be breathing in on a day to day basis. Dust, air quality concerns, fragrances, etc.? Pollen and air pollution are not things I can control, but it has definitely left me thinking of the things I maybe could.

I originally went down the natural home path to avoid unnecessary exposure to chemicals (don’t we get enough as is?) and to lighten the toxic load of my surroundings— but intuitively I feel like it makes sense that chemicals we breathe would cause our lungs to become irritated and inflamed over time, making it more likely that seasonal allergies would be the tipping point. Since the hospital stay, I have done a bit of minimizing (bye-bye dust) and removed the final remaining store-bought cleaners from my cabinets. It leaves me feeling like I am doing what I can in a highly uncontrollable world. Here’s a few final thoughts…

+ Introduce plants to filter air quality 

Plants filter the air, removing toxins that typically get released from wall paint, plastics, furniture, etc.

+ Use non-toxic cleaners

Consider swapping out store-bought cleaners for homemade ones with non-toxic ingredients.

+ Less things = less dust

Simply put.

I am clearly not a pulmonologist or an allergist, but I think removing as many environmental irritants as possible (aka what we breathe in) just makes sense to me. I obviously have more to discover in relation to my breathing, but feel like I am at least on the right path towards discovery now.

Acai Smoothie Bowl 101

Ohhhh, smoothies <3 How I adore you.

If you take a peek at my Instagram @mich_baptista, you’ll see just how obsessed I am. Mango smoothies, blueberry smoothies, green smoothies! I’ll take them all, please.

But what’s even better is when your smoothie is in a bowl. It’s basically soft-serve ice cream for breakfast. And who would say no to that?

Not I.

Acai is a power fruit. Originally from Brazil, this berry is now able to be enjoyed all over the world.  It’s most often sold in tropical beach locations, like Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Mexico… but acai bowls can be made just as easily at home! If you can’t go to the tropics, bring a part of the tropics home with you… am I right?!

This is my favorite way to start a weekend morning. With a big, cold, refreshing bowl of acai, pilled high with fresh fruit and granola.

ACAI BOWL FOR TWO

INGREDIENTS

• 2 packets of frozen acai puree

• 2 frozen bananas, sliced

• 1 cup frozen wild blueberries

• I cup frozen strawberries

• <1 cup almond milk (just enough to get it blending)

• Optional toppings: banana, granola, coconut, berries, papaya, kiwi, mango

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Run acai packet under hot water for ~10 seconds to lightly defrost.

2. Add all the ingredients into a high-speed blender, with 1/2 cup of almond milk. Any blender will work, but the amount of liquid you need to use will vary based on blender type. For blenders like a Nutribullet, you will need a lot more liquid.

3. Blend, and add more almond milk as needed. Scrape down the sides and mash with a tamper or similar tool. Be careful not to over blend or add too much liquid or you will end up with a smoothie instead of a bowl (not a horrible situation). I have found that I really need to mash the ingredients in order to avoid adding too much liquid.

4. Decorate your bowl by adding fresh fruit, like bananas, papaya, mango or strawberries on top. Sprinkle some of your favorite granola (mine is coconut granola from Trader Joe’s) and finish with some coconut flakes!

5. EAT & ENJOY!

Tip: Invest in a good blender, it’s worth it! Especially if you will be using it a lot. I currently have a Blendtec and use it at least once a day. The only downfall is there is no tamper, compared to Vitamix, so frozen treats with little liquid are much harder to attain.

What I Ate Today | Rainy Day Comfort Food

It’s always the hardest to get out of bed when it’s pouring out… but those days when you don’t, that’s heaven.

It’s finally spring here in New England, but with spring comes a lot of rain. And rainy days =  comfort food cravings, for me at least.

MORNING ROUTINE + SUPPLEMENTS.

I always start my mornings with a big glass of water. I usually fill up a 32 oz. mason jar and try to drink as much of that as possible before I leave for work. If it’s not a work day, like today, then I just continue to drink and fill up throughout the day. Today I had plain water, but sometimes I will squeeze in a lime or lemon for added flavor and benefit.

Next, I usually make myself a tea. I’ve been really into the Green Tea Matcha by Traditional Medicinals lately.

In the same cabinet that I keep my tea and mugs, I keep my daily supplements and powders. This seems to be easier for me, that way I see the supplements each morning as I make my tea and I am less likely to forget. Andy and I take a daily B12 supplement and are trying to get better with Vitamin D supplementation too. It’s recommended to take Vitamin D after a meal, which hinders my morning routine since I don’t eat breakfast right away.

Vitamin D is recommended to all people that are not getting at least 20 minutes of sun exposure a day. And it is believed that the majority of people are actually deficient in Vitamin B12, regardless of their current diet. Vitamin B12 assists in protecting the nervous system, DNA synthesis, promotion of normal growth in infants and children, and more. Supplementation of both are recommended (links to the brands I use above).

In addition to the vitamins, we try to consume barley grass juice powder (BGJP) and spirulina regularly. It’s extremely easy to add these powders to our smoothies daily, but when the weather is cold and we aren’t having smoothies regularly, we definitely don’t consume these greens as often as I’d like.

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

BREAKFAST.

For breakfast I had a smoothie and 2 pieces of avocado toast. I tend to sip my smoothies over a long period of time, so the 32 ounces lasted me through lunchtime.

Smoothie (yields ~ 2x 32 oz. servings) 
2-3 bananas
1 cup frozen mango
1 cup frozen strawberries
1/2 cup wild blueberries
~1 tbsp of both BGJP and 1/2 tbsp Spirulina
Blend with water

Similar smoothie just minus the strawberries and blueberries. I didn’t take picture of the one I drank this morning…

These measurements are all guesstimates, so I may be off here! Just add whatever fruit you want into the blender and you can’t really go wrong  Just add enough water so that the fruit blends, some blenders are more powerful than others and require more liquid to properly blend. The smoothie was made by Andy the night before- we prep ours at night so they are ready to go in the morning.

Avocado Toast 
2 pieces of toast, my current favorite is When Pigs Fly Sourdough
1 Avocado
A dash of Himalayan pink salt
Sprinkle of Cashew parmesan cheese

Avocado toast was something I was drifting away from a bit, because I didn’t like the way I felt after having bread. I am so so satisfied with When Pigs Fly Sourdough though. My digestion feels much better consuming a freshly baked bread with minimal ingredients, and it really makes this meal so much more delicious and satisfying. There is a bakery near my work, but if I don’t get it there it is sold locally at Hannafords and Market Basket. I grab a few loafs at a time and put it in the freezer.

AFTERNOON

I had another tea around noon time, less because I needed the caffeine but more because I just wanted something warm to drink. I’ve made so much progress reducing caffeine in my routine that I’m not super focused at ridding of it completely. I think where I am at currently is perfect for my body and my health.

I finished my smoothie around 1-2ish I believe, so I really wasn’t very hungry for lunch. As a snack I cut up an entire cucumber over lettuce with hummus as a dip/dressing. I usually always feel better when I have a good amount of raw food and greens in my diet, so I try to prioritize it as best I can. Not all days look like this though, trust me.

DINNER

Both Andy and I have been getting a little tired of our dinner rotation lately, so it was time to mix it up.

For dinner I made a vegan Potato and Corn Chowder (recipe is in the One Part Plant Cookbook or can be found here). I opted for onions instead of leeks and omitted the oil. This soup is the perfect comfort food for those rainy, windy nights. It’s creamy, delicious and healthy.

My intent in sharing ‘What I Eat’ posts is to show the variety that can be experienced in a whole foods, plant-based diet. Most weeks I eat predominantly whole foods, but there will be days or weeks that I eat more processed foods or vegan junk foods than I know I should. I try to listen to my body and remember how much my health has improved during this journey. Aka, a lot.

Coffee: How and Why I Detoxed

I stopped drinking coffee due to a combination of breaking my coffee pot and having an inner hunch that it was impacting my health negatively. Coffee has been my morning staple for the last few years, where I became deeply dependent on it after college when I entered the phase of life coined ‘adulting’. That morning grogginess (crankiness) didn’t go away without it.

It wasn’t always bad, don’t get me wrong. I loved my warm coffee on a cool fall morning, it was soothing to my soul. But the reality was it became a crutch I depended on to clear the morning fog and give me the energy to get the day started... and finished. It wasn’t out of the ordinary for me to have 3-5 cups of coffee a day, because lets be honest… my first “cup” was my entire coffee pot.

Doing away with coffee has been on the to-do list for a while now, but I honestly just haven’t wanted to rip the band-aid off. As of right now, I don’t know if I will give up coffee forever or if I’ll jump back on the Four Sigmatic bandwagon. Maybe I’ll stick to my one chai tea a day. Who knows. Life changes and that’s okay.

So besides from breaking my coffee pot for the second time (a sign from the universe?), it was learning about the biochemical effects of caffeine that finally pushed me to commit. (Can you tell I was a bio major in college, #ScienceNerd?)

In short, coffee (caffeine) triggers the production of stress hormones. And too many stress hormones for an extended period of time can impact the production of sex hormones, like estrogen and progesterone. Aka, the female body can go a bit bananas if hyped up on excess amounts of caffeine.

I write more about my journey with hormonal health in the post, My Experience with Birth Control and Life-Post Pill, but hormonal health is something that has always been a bit of a challenge for me. So learning that caffeine can lower progesterone, an anti-anxiety hormone responsible for period health and fertility, among other things, was eye-opening. Low progesterone can present itself in a number of ways like anxiety, fluid retention, low mood, unexplained weight gain and challenges conceiving.

For me, coffee is just another piece of the puzzle towards better hormonal and overall health. I am, by no means, saying this will be the magic piece that puts it all together, I’ve just realized that trying life without coffee is worth the effort.

A SYSTEM IN OVER-DRIVE.

We live in a society that is always turned on, but I’m sure this is not news to you. Very rarely can we disconnect from our work or our responsibilities, but instead we shoulder the effects of our ever growing to-do lists and diminishing hours of sleep.

As our body cannot differentiate between actual danger or lifestyle stress, our nervous system usually works overtime producing and then filtering stress hormones to “protect” us.

Adrenaline and cortisol, our stress hormones, are necessary and life-saving. They help us survive in both short-term and long-term stress, but when stress never goes away, their effects are no longer beneficial.

Take for example, adrenaline. It allows us to access fight-or-flight and gives us the energy to escape harmful and dangerous situations. But more often than not, too many commitments, financial stress, or caffeine can be the “impending danger” that increases our adrenaline production and forces our bodies into a state of long-term, chronic stress.

Adrenaline and cortisol are part of the sympathetic nervous system (SNS), the branch of our nervous system that is under subconscious control and is activated by stress. Coffee, which stimulates the production of adrenaline, can impair the balance between fight-or-flight and rest-and-digest, tipping the scales in favor of always being on ‘high alert’. This means that our body, whether real or not, sees itself in almost constant danger.

A DELICATE DANCE.

Estrogen and progesterone, our two main sex hormones, play a big role in our menstrual cycle, ranging from fertility to the degree in which we suffer from PMS, cramps, headaches, etc. If out of balance, we can experience heavy, clotty or painful periods, anxiety, sore/swollen breasts, to name just a few symptoms.

Progesterone, a hormone responsible for keeping our uterine lining intact, decreases if our bodies believe we are in stress and in a non-optimal state for conceiving. Cortisol, the long-term stress hormone that presents after extended periods of high adrenaline, decreases the production of progesterone.

The take-away message is that stress hormones are a very necessary part of our biology and our survival, but long-term artificial triggers, like caffeine, could contribute to or exacerbate an already existing hormonal imbalance, if not corrected.

DETOX COMMENCE.

During a habit shift, one behavior usually gets replaced with another, more favorable, behavior. In my case, I replaced my morning coffee with tea as a way to avoid caffeine headaches and gradually wean myself off.

To give some perspective, one 8oz. cup of coffee has about 95 mg caffeine. Green tea, as an alternative, has about 30mg of caffeine per cup. I was typically drinking 2-3 cups of coffee a day, so that’s almost 300 mg of caffeine daily. Switching to ~30-60 mg daily consumption from green tea, it is understandable why on day 2, even with 2 cups of green tea, I had a headache. But thankfully, that would be the one and only headache.

The intention of this post is not to tell you to give up coffee. It’s to continue to share my journey with you and see what works and what doesn’t. Stress is hard to avoid and it’s something I personally find challenging to manage. But in terms of perceived stress, or situations that elicit physical stress responses to emotional situations (embracing conflict, having difficult conversations, budgeting finances), saying no to caffeine seems like an easier and less invasive first step to reducing stress.

I’m hoping that reducing caffeine will allow me to respond better in stressful situations, improve my monthly cycle (in terms of PMS symptoms), and impact my energy levels and mood in a positive manner.

WHAT’S CHANGED?

So far, so good. Outside the normal rush of life, I don’t feel any more tired than I did on coffee. I no longer have my mid-afternoon slumps, but those definitely didn’t disappear right away.

It’s been about 6 months since my last cup and I really don’t miss it much. In the beginning, I missed the smell and the comfort of a slow Sunday morning coupled with my morning coffee. But at the moment, I alternate between green tea or chai as substitutes, and those work plenty fine.

I honestly kind of expected this transition to be harder. But the headache only lasted for a day and I experienced no noticeable symptoms otherwise. Mentally it hasn’t been that difficult either. This may be because my morning routine hasn’t changed: my AM beverage still exists, it’s just been replaced with tea.

I’m currently consuming about 10mg of caffeine daily, which is a pretty sizable reduction compared to upwards of ~180 mg that was my norm.

Sleep

This improvement felt almost immediate. I’ve never had any issues falling asleep, but would typically wake at least once or twice throughout the night tossing and turning. Less caffeine yielded restful nights without any waking. Most mornings I wake with my alarm feeling well rested, given I went to bed at a decent hour the night before.

Energy

I get a sense of clarity and energy from drinking tea, but it seems to be longer-lasting and without the inevitable crash that comes with coffee. I am semi-convinced that sipping any beverage would benefit my alertness though, as the act of making and consuming a drink prompts movement.

Throughout the afternoon or evenings I usually just have water. I rarely have mid-afternoon slumps anymore, but if I do, I try to counteract them with a quick walk or step outside.

Hormones

This is the most exciting improvement, in my opinion.

As I mentioned, one of the primary reasons for this detox was coffees potential impact on progesterone levels. By both personal observation and tracking my cycles via temp charting, I had an inkling that my progesterone levels were low. One of the indicators was pre- and post-spotting. A second indicator was swollen and sore breasts during the two weeks leading up to menstruation.

I have had many cycles since going coffee-free, many of which I experienced no spotting or sore or swollen breasts. It’s too early to say whether or not this trend will continue, but this cycle’s improvements were impossible to ignore.

Overall health 

Giving up coffee has forced me to take better care of my body on a basic level. I no longer have the crutch of reaching for heavy doses of caffeine when I stay up too late watching TV or eat too much junk and enter a food coma. By eating my best, sleeping well and reducing stress as much as possible, I find it is easier not to rely on the caffeine.

The plan for now is to just stay in-tune with my body. If I feel driven to give up caffeine completely, I’ll try it. If I am happy with the improvements and feel good with tea, then I’ll stick to it. I find it liberating to try things as I see fit and truthful.

ACTION STEPS: 

• Get the coffee out of the house. If I hadn’t (accidentally) broken my coffee pot, I would always gravitate towards coffee over tea in the morning.

• Switch to a beverage with less caffeine to prevent headaches (which will cause you to reach for the coffee). My choice was green tea.

• Know why you want to reduce your coffee/caffeine consumption in the first place!

What I Ate Today | Vegan + GF

This is a first for me! I’m sharing all the deets about what I ate this particularly snowy Monday.

When I first started transitioning to a whole foods, plant-based diet, I had no idea how many options there were or how delicious plant foods could be (really delicious!). All I saw was restriction. But that couldn’t have been further from the truth. Sure, I had to learn to cook more and I had to spend a bit more time chopping veggies, but my relationship with food started changing. 

I was able to eat all of the foods I loved in abundance… aka carbs <3

But it really wasn’t until my honeymoon in Sri Lanka that I realized a plant-centered diet might actually be sustainable and beneficial.

Sri Lanka was the second time that I ate vegetarian for an extended period of time. By the end of the week my stomach was 100x better than upon arrival and the following week, my period arrived without a peep. At this point in time, my period was barely even showing up, so this was a huge win.

So I decided to give a plant-based diet a much deserved try.

But with most big changes, it was a slow transition. And the more predominantly plant-based I became, the less I wanted to go back to any other way of living.

So here I am  I hope that sharing what I ate today gives you an idea of how simple and effortless eating more plants can be. 

A.M. ROUTINE.

I started my morning with a cup of green tea and lemon. I have recently started weaning myself off of caffeine, and coffee in particular, and wrote a blog post detailing why and how here. 

I also take a B12 supplement daily. These are the two brands that I use: VeganSafe and Vimergy. 

.

BREAKFAST.

For breakfast I had oatmeal made with

gluten free rolled oats
almond milk
wild blueberries
banana
raisins
drizzle of maple syrup
dash of cinnamon

This is a super filling meal for me. In the winter I tend to gravitate towards more warming breakfasts like oatmeal, as opposed to smoothies. I cooked a 1/2 cup of rolled oats, which fills my 18 oz. hydroflask for breakfast on-the-go.

LUNCH.

For lunch I had a big salad. 

Salads are my typical go-to for weekday meals. This particular occasion was a clean-out-the-fridge meal slash “I need to go grocery shopping”, so I must admit that there is usually more substance to my salads. Todays salad included, 

Romaine lettuce
Red pepper
Red onion
Carrot 
Sea veggie dulse
Avocado
Hemp seeds

*Usually there are also tomatoes, cucumbers and pumpkin seeds.

The salad dressing was made with maple syrup, dijon mustard and apple cider vinegar.

Salads don’t have to be boring or skimpy. With an abundance of veggies, salads can be filling and provide a wide variety of nutrients. I aim to eat a large, popcorn bowl salad for lunch each day, as I tend to feel my best when I have some raw foods incorporated into my daily diet. Since raw foods are typically lower in calories than cooked, in order to be calorically satisfied, I eat larger portion sizes. 

.

DINNER.

For dinner we had rice and bean tacos with and a side of baked gold + sweet potatoes. The taco recipe was from Ellen Fishers e-book, my absolute favorite. 

For the oil-free potatoes:

– Chop the gold potatoes like fries and sprinkle with garlic powder and pepper. 
– For the sweet potatoes, sprinkle with a pinch of salt, pepper and smoked paprika.
– Cook at 375F until golden.

NIGHTTIME ROUTINE.

Lately I have been ending the rush of the day with herbal tea and lemon. Raspberry leaf + nettle leaf is my drink of choice. Both of these herbal teas work wonders for the hormonal and endocrine system.

They support reproductive health, provide relief to menstrual cramps and heavy bleeding, and also work in preventing chronic headaches.