Tag: Moisturize

Moisturize if your skin is dry may be what’s needed for you in these climate changing times. And if you’re experiencing eczema skin or other dryness signs, you’ll want to drench yourself and let these tips soak in like I did when I first discovered an eczema flair-up due to global warming…

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

With global warming on the reality fast rise, the outdoor dry air is becoming drier, and this plays extra havoc on our affected bodies and down to the hypodermis and skin cells level.

In awareness, you can proactively moisturize (more), make healthy changes (10 tips below to check off), and not be blind-sided by your body’s need to adjust naturally.

You may find yourself needing more products as I did…

Cerave became my favorite daily moisturizer needed for the outside and water for the inside. But I found I needed more than moisturizers, products with hyaluronic acid for skin care, and soothing parched skin that became eczema developments from heat rashes. It was like a sun burn.

Drinking water and eating 90% water fruits like melons wasn’t enough, but it was a start.

If you feel like you’re drinking water like a camel and keep moisturizing like it’s already winter (and you’re still dry), there’s nothing wrong with you.

Climate change can affect sensitive skin with symptoms you may never have had before.

Like, I had good skin and no need to moisturize certain body parts until up to a few years ago.

One good check is your home thermostat.

Another is your body thermostat. This will feel different despite our 98°F/36°C human bodies. If you’re Pitta imbalanced, your natural heat will be increased.

One of the first places to transition is testing the shower water temperatures you’re using based on outdoor temperatures and your body (balanced and imbalanced).

Shatavari is asparagus root, an Ayurvedic solution I use in summer, that helps to adjust internal thermostats and can help with flushed skin.

You can start on cool and end on cool if you’re high in Pitta or it’s summer. For Vata and Kaphas, you may already be on the cool side, so a little warmer to start and end is good. You can use Ayurvedic small changes to help change your previous habits.

That’s how knowing what your Ayurvedic body imbalances are can currently help to restore them. And adjusting your shower temperatures can too.

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

Self-care and prioritizing our prized bodies above our stuff keep 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 smoothly. Your skin is constantly changing and renewing and a great place to start.

And retinol that I learned as the stronger Retin-A in our youth can help that process along if it doesn’t irritate your skin.

10 Moisturize Self-Care Tips:

FOR SKIN AND SPECIFIC BODY PARTS

At the bare minimum, 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!

Adding eye drops helps (and especially if you’re on your digital devices more than ever). Blue light blocking UVB glasses are necessary as you never know when you’ll be walking in the strong sun and don’t want to end up with cataracts or eye diseases that’s a reality for aging people. I learned that from my mom.

As a society, we can seem to care more about what fashionable pair of specs we’re wearing and forget about our precious eyes.

Needing to moisturize our eyes when we wake up lets us know we’ve slept that swimming fish don’t need (not even the smart Dr. Seuss Goldfish ones). That could be a habit stack for nasal saline drops (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 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 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 as a honey celebrity that he is. Instead, spend a little more on a lesser-known high-quality local honey.

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

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 on certain dry parts with a product like Vaseline lotion that has petrolatum (it’s like adding a protective wax or protective coat to your nails). Rose Vaseline is good for heated Pitta moments.

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 to eliminate harmful phthalates.

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 bathing 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 usually have them polished or wear artificial nails). 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 nail maintenance… That’s a breath of fresh air!

1) Moist salve (good for dry cuticles) and dry lips, 2) essential oil spray for pillow or yoga mats, and 3) moist lip balm almost as good as honey… PLUS a nice quote!

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 lotion potions to choose from for dry emergencies and convenience.

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… it’s like drinking water, and 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 like Voss and Fiji water are treats but skipping the cases of grocery plastic bottle filtered waters (stripped of minerals) are good ideas.

A replaceable Brita pitcher and filter or home water filter system from your fridge can work better and is a better reusable water system.

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, hydrogenated oils… and the stuff I grew up with… you too?).

9) Seasonal foods: Lean into what’s seasonally “in” by shopping at the local farmers markets or in the abundant bins in grocery stores. You can often tell when there’s an abundance because the organic choice is also abundant.

You can see abundance from a distance.

When I did party planning in 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: are a great way to balance food seasonality and keep your food and dishes interesting year-round with reliable seasonings.

Isn’t spice the variety of life!? …in my world, anyway, it is (and hopefully in yours!). Oregano was one of my first favorites which 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 and astringent texture to your tongue 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).

Chocolate Banana Recipe

The healthier coconut oil and low-sugar chocolate cocoa-banana bread recipe below is 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 if there was one…

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 more of 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 I hope) …Or both, as she asked me for the recipe. 😊

So…that same day, I asked my mom to write down the recipe. English isn’t her first language and I’ve never seen a single written recipe she wrote as I don’t think that was popular back in her day,

All that despite a different home-cooked dinner she prepared like a cook pro 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. That’s the story I remember anyway.

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 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 loved 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!

The bread has a darker brown color (less banana bread beige blah!).

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 makes you want to dig in or give as a gift (I also think).

On the healthy side of things, it’s also filled with less sugar and more healthy fat oil that helps us moisturize our bodies.

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 isn’t your native cooking tongue 😜)…

Final tips: if you want a baking 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.

Also, decorate with poppy seeds to really make it pop out like in artisanal bread. You can also add a little shredded coconut snow effect (like you see in a snow globe if you really want to 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.