10 Moisturize Tips + Moist, Chocolate-Banana Cake Bread Recipe

Moisturize if your skin is dry may be what’s needed for you in these climate change times. And if you’re experiencing eczema and other dry signs.

And you’ve come to the right place for moisturize tips plus a moist healthy chocolate banana bread recipe you’ll love below!

With global warming on the rise, the outdoor dry air is becoming drier, and this plays extra havoc on our bodies. In awareness, you can proactively moisturize (more), make healthy changes (10 tips below to check off), and not be blind-sided by your body needs to naturally adjust.

…if you feel like you’re drinking water like a camel and keep moisturizing  like it’s already winter (and you’re still dry), then you’re headed on the right path.

I also have a healthier coconut oil and low-sugar chocolate cocoa-banana bread recipe below inspired by a story from my childhood sweet (as in baked-goods) memories…

One day, my mom gave me a banana bread loaf to take to my first grade class. I can’t remember what the occasion was…

I remember food sensitivities didn’t exist much back then, and a classmate once brought in baklava with nuts, and we all tried it, even though that’s an adult dessert (not so popular with first graders).

My other classmates also sometimes brought in more popular cake-type bakes and I think that’s where the recent past cupcake craze resurfaced again (as that was a thing back then for good ‘ol fashioned memories).

The banana bread I took to school was a one-time occurrence and definitely more in the adult taste category. But my teacher loved it (or maybe she just loved me 😊) …Or both as she asked me for the recipe.

So…that same day, I asked my mom to write down the recipe. English is not her first language and I’ve never seen a single written recipe she wrote (or even a  cookbook she used), despite a different home cooked dinner she prepared almost every night.

Well… the next day, apparently my schoolteacher had tried baking  the bread from the recipe I handed her because I recall she mentioned she thought there must be a missing ingredient, as hers didn’t turn out the way my mom’s had.

I never asked my mom to write another recipe as the opportunity never came up again. But I think that memory from my formative years developed my skill and gradual interest in drumming up new recipes with old inspirations and deleting/replacing ingredients with healthier ones we have available now. Thank you, mom! And for passing on the passionate cooking genes. In her golden years, she still loves cooking (bless her heart).

And for your life, if you still think you can’t cook or bake, you never know what a decade can bring in your favor as your tastes change.

My easy (no-mixer needed) chocolate banana bread recipe below is with you in mind (at whatever baking level you’re currently at). Easy never goes out of style!

And, here are a few sweet bread-cake notes to get you excited (before I jump into the head-to-toe moisturize topic that this article is mostly about).

…The recipe is inspired by layering onto the classic banana bread recipes (that my mom went off of but didn’t have some of these better and healthier ingredients).

…The bread has a darker brown color (less banana bread beige blah!) that makes you want to dig in or give as a gift, and I think that’s why fruit cakes have candied fruits in them because they give a pop of color that walnut and other beige nut colors don’t.

…It’s also filled with less sugar and more healthy fat oil that helps us moisturize in fall/autumn.

On that note, I want to give you a running head-start to transition into self-care in the cooler seasons before you even change your home thermostats from cool to heat.

One of the first places to transition is testing the shower water temperatures you’re using based on outdoor temperatures and your body (balanced or imbalanced). This will feel different despite our universal 98°F/36°C human bodies.

You can start on cool and end on warm or start on warm and end on warm. That’s how knowing what your body imbalances are helps for you to restore them with the help of the shower.

So, one takeaway (or reminder) is don’t stick with the same shower temperature year-round.

Self-care and prioritizing our prized bodies above our stuff keeps us running optimally through the seasons. And just like you change out your clothes from summer to autumn and winter, you want to change your routines and habits for your changing body.

Our skin as our largest organ, acts as a barrier to our internal body organs we can’t see. We often take for granted when all is running smooth. Your skin is constantly changing and renewing and a great place to start.

With small changes, you might find that you want to change your previous habits.

10 Moisturize Self-Care Tips:

For Skin and SPECIFIC Body Parts

At the bare minimum you want to take care of the entry points on your body.

1) Eyes: Your eyes aren’t just the window to your soul, they are the gateway to how you see the world. And if you have dry eyes, that’s one fuzzy world!

(More tips and my irresistible Chocolate Banana Bread recipe below) ⬇️

Adding drops helps (and especially if you’re on your digital devices more than ever). I also wear blue light blocking glasses and add a special coated screen to protect my eyes as you only get one pair. As a society, we can seem to care more about what fashionable pair of specs we’re wearing.

Needing to moisturize our eyes when we wake up lets us know we’ve slept, that swimming fish don’t think about (not even the smart Dr. Seuss Goldfish ones). You can also use nasal saline drops for your nose (another main entrance into the body).

2) Lips: Daily real self-care things can seem small (and sometimes inconvenient or annoying) but you’re naturally given your refined parts like tender lips so you can chew with your mouth closed (unlike an ape that happily spits out food in company).

At home, I like to bring in outdoor local wonderment by using organic honey, a household-must in more ways than one.

One way you may not have thought about is using honey to moisturize  dry lips. Glossy raw honey works better than a honey lip balm, especially if you’re about to eat or drink.

…Plus you get a ‘lil sweet taste in 😉

Honey lips stay supple because the natural humectant locks in the moisture. And even helps for little salty cuts on the sides of your lips in between the top and bottom lip, if that happens to you.

It’s also antibacterial. The B.C. Egyptians are credited for discovering honey as a secret medicinal ingredient. They lived like the Kardashians and like Queen Bees.

Honey meant luxury. I wonder if the honey Queen Bee would’ve adapted to today’s changing climate. We still know that nature provides the best sources and that natural solutions can be the the best answers to our problems.

…And this is why our natural bodies intuitively know what we need (and that I’m super passionate about). Our bodies are connection points to our mind and spirit that make us above other mammals.

For honey, depending on your need, you find a local raw honey source in your area or you use a good standby like Manuka honey (native to Australia/New Zealand) that has become the gold standard.

If you buy processed honey fillers, those aren’t the same. The sugar honey bear shows his age as he crystallizes. and is not one you want to add to your medicinal cabinet, as cute and wallet-friendly of a honey celebrity as he is. Instead, spend a little more on a lesser-known high-quality type.

3) Whole-body moisturize (before and) especially after showering.

If your skin feels raisin dry, steaming in the warm shower helps. If right after exiting the shower, you moisturize right away, you can seal in the moisture with a product like Vaseline lotion that has petrolatum (it’s like adding a protective wax or protective coat to your nails). And then add your favorite lotion if you’re still feeling dry skin. That’s a good habit to get into. We all have different skin so I mention a few good ingredients here…

And then in the evening, you can mix it up with shea butter, coconut or avocado oil, or Ceramide 3 lotions. You may even want to moisturize mid-day if you are super dry. I use different unscented or fragrance-free moisturizers. And I keep natural, great citrusy scented hand creams close by. Mixing it up (biodiversity) helps your body to adapt better.

Don’t let all the hoopla of different ingredients overwhelm you, just focus on 3 things… moisturize, moisturize, and moisturize!

But if more severe and you need to soothe itchy inflammations, look for ingredients like aloe, colloidal oatmeal, vitamins C and E, and healthy oils (coconut, carrot seed, olive oils… if you can eat it, then you know it’s skin-safe and good food moisturizing ideas). Don’t forget honey… it’s sticky good!

For dryness around your scalp, try an oil like coconut oil and moisturizers. Try to leave in after your shower (or let soak in before you shower). We’re so quick to get cleaned off from the greasiness, but that’s sheer luxury for your skin.

4) Salve and sesame oil: For dryness on and around nails and cuticles. You want to let your nails breathe (if you have them polished). Cooler weather is a good time to let your nails go au naturel. That also gives you a break from year-round time consuming and costly maintenance!

5) Shea Butter: For rough sandpaper hands or feet, an emollient-softening lotion with shea butter can feel rich and good. Hands and feet tend to be the first places that can get very dry so take extra mani-pedi self-care measures. Keep lotion by your computer, desk, and body so you can use throughout the day as needed or when you remember. If you have dry skin, you can never moisturize enough!

(The worst that will happen if you over-moisturize is you get butter fingers and something slips from your hand, but you’ll never get called into the principal’s office for moisturizing too much! I have Vata lotion in every room… basically that’s a variety of lotions to choose from for dry emergencies and convenience. But, that’s more than you needed to know 😊).

6) Aloe: Is another great skin quencher and is not fussy or sticky. It’s clear color (not the Kermit frog green color you may have seen with dyes, that sells better). Aloe is water to your skin. I never used to use aloe regularly. I only used it to quickly heal skin burns from the kitchen. But now it’s a great non-greasy moistener for in-between moisturizing with lotions. It’s like a sip of water to your skin, that is better than nothing when your skin is parched… and like drinking water, it can tie-you over until you get a full drink.

Food and Drinks

7) Water and Coconut water: Is super hydrating from the natural Super Fruit. VitaCoco water is hydrolyzing, and can help if you’re not sugar-sensitive.

If you are, there’s nothing purer than plain water.

Natural water that is. Voss and Fiji water are treats but I skip the cases of grocery plastic bottle filtered waters (stripped of minerals) that need recycling.

A replaceable Brita pitcher and filter, or home water filter system from your fridge can work better (and is what I use).

8) Substituting ingredients: Preventing inflammation caused by dryness helps to maintain a healthy balance in your body.

You can subtly do this with small replacements like fruit sugar over refined sugar, and healthier oils like EVOO, avocado, or coconut oil over bad fats (e.g. margarine, butter, vegetable oil… and the stuff I grew up with).

9) Seasonal foods: Leaning into what’s seasonally “in” by shopping at the local farmer’s markets or in the abundant and natural food sources areas. You can see abundance from a distance.

You won’t find juicy pomegranates roaming around in the summer. inexpensive rhubarbs in the fall, or the freshest berries in winter.

When I worked for restaurants, the menus were always seasonal, based on the available foods priced reasonably. So you wouldn’t see watermelon recipes in the winter or pumpkin dishes in the spring.

10) Spices: Is how you can  balance food seasonality and keep your food and dishes interesting year-round with reliable spices.

Isn’t spice the variety of life!? …in my world anyway, it is (and hopefully in yours!). Oregano was one of my first favorites that goes well with red sauces and Italian dishes.

Then as spices evolved in the western world, turmeric became a star. Plus, it’s anti-inflammatory and good to eat for dry, irritated skin (could be Vata and Pitta imbalance at the same time in changing weather).

Don’t let the turmeric drying/astringent to your tongue feeling and taste fool you into believing it’s drying you out. It’s body healing (and where you can get a glimpse of balancing-wholeness through food).

And that’s where I leave it this week… OH, and the chocolate banana recipe 😊

I almost forgot the recipe (…that’s the Vata in me), but I have a photo that reminded me…

I think of as chocolate banana bread-cake. It’s versatile as it can pass as healthy chocolate cake, and a breakfast (or anytime of the day) bread, at the end of the day.

And at night, that’s when I like to bake because then there’s a sweet breakfast bite the next day. I did say bite. There’s no rush as this bread will stay fresh for several days. If you like to refrigerate before you bring out, be sure to cover it so it stays moist.

Btw, I tried to add/incorporate grams below for my metric-using friends, and I would love if anyone would correct me if something looks off. As you can probably tell, I grew up with cups, tablespoons, teaspoons, and ounces. 🇺🇸

No-Mixer Needed Recipe:

Print Recipe

EASY, Healthier Chocolate-Banana Bread

1 cup mashed bananas (225 grams)

1/3 cup coconut oil (73 grams)

1/3 cup maple syrup  (the less the better)

2 eggs (room temperature)

¼ cup almond milk (59 mL)

1 tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

½ tsp ground cinnamon

1-1/3 cups flour (168 grams)

1/3 cup cocoa powder (40 grams)

½ to 1 cup bananas. (up to 225 grams)

Combine wet ingredients with dry ones.

(As my television baking teacher, Martha Stewart would say, it doesn’t matter which you to add first to the other (wet to dry or dry to wet). And in lingo I picked up from hotel catering days, we would say, “it’s 6 of 1 or half-dozen the other.”

Mix well and bake in 325 F˚/ 170 C˚oven for 65-80 minutes.

You gotta love the lower temperature bakes (they’re so few and far between… and that makes this a good year-round bake). With this recipe, you also get to see the magic of the oven as the forming bread looks like it’s bathing in healthy coconut oil where you wonder if it will soak in or evaporate. And then when the bread is done, Voila! (or Wah-lah! if French is your native cooking tongue)… the therapeutic bread pool goes away!

If you want a masterpiece (or the first piece) that’s outta this world and to give it some contrasting color… then, embellish with crystalized ginger (sweet spicy taste) and calming orange zest flavors, and then decorate with poppy seeds to really make it pop out. You can also add a little shredded coconut snow effect (like you see in a snow globe if you want to really have some fun). ❄️

Until next time, take good (self) care! …And if you want to learn how to restore annoying imbalances (dry-related or something else), you can take my body balance quiz.