New website launching this week!

ActualOrganics.com is being revamped!

I have a new website being launched and it has my company logo, more search capability, videos embedded in stories.

There will be Newsletter sign ups and all sorts of good stuff.

I hope it will serve you better to assist you in finding fun and achievable ways to Detox your Body and our World.

With all best wishes

Joanna

Certified organic Ghee

I have a friend who is a herbalist and runs a stunning Ayurvedic retreat in the UK.  About three years ago Sarah introduced me to ghee.  I was astounded by how much my body felt better, worked better and was warm through using ghee in my diet.  I have returned to using ghee.

I was fortunate to meet a man called Sandeep Agarwal, from Pure Indian Foods at the Weston A Price conference last November.  I didn’t buy a jar as I was flying back home but we have since got in touch and I am using Pure Indian Foods’ ghee which arrived in the post last week.  I am loving using using ghee, to fry onions, spread on toast and I even tried using it under my eyes as a nourishing treatment!  Ghee is renowned for keeping the skin soft, lubricated and smooth.

Ghee when produced from organic grassland fed cows, it is rich in CLA (Conjugated Linoleic Acid).  Pasture- grazed cows have 500% more CLA in their milk than grain fed cows.  What is ironic is that CLA supplements actually have nasty side effects but when naturally occurring in butter it is hugely healing, and some even believe it has anti-carcinogenic properties.  It stands to reason that nature has given us foods that heal, if we are wise enough to use them.

What Pure Indian foods are creating is good, old fashioned traditional healing foods.  The family have been producing ghee for five generations, something which began some 120 years ago in Northern India.  I have a theory that if something that has been passed down through generations and works, then keep doing it.  It is a blessing that Sandeep is running such a wonderful company, providing the highest quality ghee that they only harvest on the waxing (“Shukla Pakchha”) or full moon (“Purnima”) days which are auspicious in the Vedic system.  Ghee is considered a very sacred food in India.

Ghee is noted for his benefits to the brain as well, it is rich in vitamin K- which Weston A Price called Activator X.  This vitamin is useful for bone health, brain health and contrary to media reports, we need fat for healthy brains & bones!  Perhaps since folks have opted for low-fat foods, that is why we are seeing so many cases of degenerative brain illnesses?  Perhaps?

To view more about Pure Indian Foods who make ghee please visit their excellent website.  Pure Indian Foods

Certified Organic Perfumes

Last week we discussed Wild, Brave and Love, the new certified organic perfumes from Miessence that were launched week.

These essential oil based perfumes are really special as they are literally essential oils, resins, absolutes, plants, barks and twigs and no synthetic chemicals.  They are a joy to use and I have been fortunate enough to use them and am really loving the relaxation that comes from using Calm, or the exotic notes in Wild.

CALM is my favourite, today at least.  Our body changes its preferences for oils dependent on the way we are feeling and what we ‘need’ the body is clever that way.

CALM has essential oils of bergamot, (good for anxiety & depression) Egyptian geranium (anxiety & emotional extremes), French lavender (headaches & insomnia) and tonka bean, Sri Lankan clove bud (
Base notes – Australian sandalwood (stress, tension, meditation & prayer), French atlas cedarwood, (emotional release, anxiety & tension)  Chinese benzoin resin (warming & soothing qualities-even on emotions) Vanuatuan vanilla bourbon (sedative, relaxant & aphrodisiac).

So you can see that the little bottle of calm bestows a multitude of healing properties from a bottle of ‘perfume’.  I love calm and find that within about five minutes of applying it to my skin, I do feel significantly more relaxed, added bonus is I smell good too!

FREE is the most citrus of the Miessence certified organic perfumes.  Free is a floral and woody scent with essential oils of Italian lemon, orange and bergamot, West Indian lime, Bulgarian damask rose, Italian orange blossom, French tonka bean, Australian sandalwood, Indonesian patchouli.

This oil is perfect for a bright day when you wish to feel uplifted and sharp.  Scientific tests in the US and Japan have proven beyond doubt that lemon increases concentration and helps prevent errors made by office workers. With concentration improved by lemon aromas relaxing brain waves, people under test conditions have repeatedly delivered higher-standard work with up to 50% fewer errors.

This oil is therefore ideal for wearing in the office on a Monday!

To read more about the perfumes or buy online, click on the bottles: 

Certified Organic Perfumes from Miessence!

After much anticipation the Miessence Certified Organic Botanical perfumes are here.

This is the result of years of research and careful sourcing of ingredients and then combining essential oils, resins, twigs and plants to create the equisite Miessence range of Botanical perfumes.  Unlike many other conventional perfumes, these are essential oils not synthetic chemicals- how refreshing.

Certified organic botanical perfumes from Miessence

There are six different perfumes.   Something to suit everyone, whether you are feeling, Wild, Calm, Free, Brave, Delicious or in Love.

WILD: For when you are feeling: alluring, captivating, divine, ravishing, erotic, sensual, daring, rhythmic, intense, confident, intimate, risky, adventurous, fascinating, mesmeric, enrapturing, hypnotising, riveting, mysterious, extravagant, ecstatic.

Wild Botanical perfume ingredients are a certified organic blend of essential oils, including: French fennel and Sri Lankan cinnamon, French orris root, Egyptian geranium, Bulgarian damask rose, Chinese benzoin resin, Indonesian patchouli, Somalian myrrh, Vanuatuan vanilla bourbon

BRAVE for when you are feeling:  daring, strong, reassured, primordial, creative, courageous, stable, exuberant, charming, sensual, intriguing, impressive, quiet, persuasive, alluring, energetic, enticing, charismatic, magnetic, calm

Brave is a alluring, chypre  blend of certified organic Italian lemon, orange and bergamot, Italian orange blossom, Madagascan ylang ylang, Madagascan vetiver, Australian sandalwood and Macedonian oakmos.  (My husband’s favourite!).

LOVE for when you want to feel: blossoming, romantic, love, sweetness, beauty, adoration, harmony, heart, charming, enchanting, flirtatious, passionate, glamorous.

Love certified organic perfume

Love is a floral blend of Indian frangipani and Italian mandarin, Egyptian jasmine, Italian orange blossom, Bulgarian damask rose, Madgascan ylang ylang, with Vanuatuan vanilla bourbon and Indian Ambrette seed.

Tomorrow I discuss the other three perfumes, Calm, Wild & Delicious, the true gourmand perfume.

If you can’t wait then there are sample sizes which are enough for about 12 applications, depending on how wild you go!

Which one will you choose?

The scent of perfumery

Real perfume is a luxury and I have been fortunate enough for the last couple of months to be wearing some of the Miessence Certified Organic Botanical Perfumes. They are hand blended essential oils, resins, plants, twigs and absolutes. The botanical perfumes  are incredible and take one on a journey through far Eastern lands, spice souks, forests, fields of lavender and gardens of roses.  Each of the six scents will smell different depending on your own pheromones.

Miessence certified organic botanical perfume

Perfume evokes a journey, perhaps following the ancient spice routes, or walking through luscious forests, not a laboratory which is where most synthetic chemical perfumes usually originate!

Using certified organic essential oils, these perfumes are also going to have many therapeutic properties, such as being calming, uplifting, inviting, enticing, invigorating or creating peace.

I have noticed that I like certain aromatherapy oils at different times of the week, year and seasons.  It is therefore great to be able to enjoy having more than one perfume to choose the one that resonates with you on a particular day.
Today I am enjoying wearing CALM, a blend of top notes Italian bergamot, Egyptian geranium.  Heart Notes French lavender and tonka bean, Sri Lankan clove bud and the base notes of Australian sandalwood, French atlas cedarwood, Chinese benzoin resin, Vanuatuan vanilla bourbon.

Which of these exquisite perfumes will you choose?

These perfumes are all hand blended and when ready will be launching… soon.

If you wish to be the one of the first few to know about the launch, why not join our Twitter feed?  Join Actual Organics on Twitter HERE or you can join the Actual Organics  Facebook page HERE

Tomato sauce

Taking full advantage of the fabulous tomatoes that I bought at the Farmer’s Market over the weekend, I am now making tomato sauce with fresh basil to can for winter.  Not one to waste the bounty that we are blessed with, our house is a full on tomato processing factory today.

The tomato sauce is ideal for spaghetti or adding to ground beef in winter instead of shop bought tinned tomatoes.

The tomato sauce recipe:

Quantities vary on how many people you wish to cook for.  Basically if you have ten medium sized tomatoes, which will be enough for two family sized tomato sauces with pasta or four couples for spaghetti bolognese.  Use two medium onions and three cloves of garlic and two handfuls of fresh basil.

Fry two or three onions in some coconut oil,

Add washed freshly chopped tomatoes, I don’t peel my tomatoes.

Finely chop two or three cloves garlic,

Add celtic sea salt and pepper,

you can add chilli if you like or just add to the batch later in winter when you cook with it.

Add hand chopped basil once it has all been cooking for a while and allow to simmer for about one hour, over a low heat making sure that it does not stick to the bottom of the pan.

Whilst still warm add to jars and seal, or once cooled store in the fridge to use immediately.

Didn't vegetables always used to be funny & sometimes rude?!

Addicted to plastics?

As I write this, I am writing on a computer with plastic keys.  I am sitting on a chair that I think has polyethylene in the fabric-we got that from the dump, someone was throwing it out, but we reused it, it was free!!  I cleaned my teeth this morning with a toothbrush, which was plastic.  We rely on it, not only for convenience but survival, many medical tubes and equipment are also plastic.

We can reduce the hugely unnecessary consumption of plastic.  How?

Take away coffee cup- buy a reusable coffee cup, there are some stainless steel ones out there, and re use it.  Set an alarm on your phone or just remember, to take it with you.

Take a reusable bag to the store, or five, depending on how large your family is and re-use the bags, every time you go shopping.

Refuse to buy into unnecessary packaging, if we stop buying needlessly wrapped goods, the companies, using plastic where alternatives are available, will change.  They will, honestly.  I actually feel we have no choice but to change.

India recycles 60% of its plastics compared to the US figure of 5% according to the film “Addicted to Plastic”.  It is staggering.  Consumption and Recycling is not the answer, as sadly much plastic is not even recycled.  The answer to really curb this horrifying problem is to stop buying products in plastic.  Do you really need a take away cup?  A straw?

Maybe you already use reusable shopping bags? Thank you if you do.  If not perhaps consider making a change, please for all future generations.  To see more about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch please see link under Watch & Listen.

Today’s Challenge: avoiding carcinogens in your shampoo

Health Canada it is suggested, in an article on Canada.com, says that a known carcinogen 1,4-dioxane is at way below safe levels in baby shampoos and other personal care products.  Manufacturers in Canada are not permitted to add 1,4-dioxane as an ingredient in cosmetics and personal-care products, but the chemical is found in trace amounts in many items as a byproduct of the manufacturing process.  That manufacturing process is called ethoxylation, in the making of ethoxylated surfactants.  Hence seeing ETH in an ingredient (anywhere in the ingredient) is an indicator that there will be traces of 1,4-Dioxane in the product.

That is not a good thing, 1,4-dioxane is a hot issue.  For a while now, the state of California has deemed this 1,4-dioxane compound as a synthetic chemical ‘known to cause cancer.”  Yet Health Canada say “All data indicated the trace amounts Canadians may be exposed to through inhalation and skin absorption are several thousand times lower than levels at which health effects occur in laboratory animals”  Surely that is rather like saying well it is only a little bit or arsenic or mercury!

This seems like squirming to avoid the real issue which could be that to remove this by product, of the making of skin care and personal care products using synthetic chemicals, would be just too jolly difficult and therefore we’ll say things are o.k. and hope no one does anything or notices.

Thus we, the consumers- who incidentally votes each time we buy something- have to become “Ingredient Detectives”.  Avoid ingredients with ETH in the name, look out for (and avoid) PEG-100 stearate, sodium laureth sulfate, polyethylene and ceteareth-20.  On the label, they are identified by the prefix “PEG”, “polyethylene”, “polyethylene glycol”, “polyoxyethylene”, “-eth-”, or “-oxynol-”.  Bear in mind 1,4-dioxane is not just a nice to try and avoid it is a must avoid.  Why?

According to the MSDS- material safety data sheets, 1,4-dioxane may exert its effects through inhalation, skin absorbtion, and ingestion- children do swallow shampoo from time to time.  1,4-DIOXANE IS LISTED AS A CARCINOGEN!

Effects of overexposure: 1,4-dioxane is an eye and muscous membrane irritant, primary skin irritant, central nervous system depressant, nepthrotoxin ( and hepatoxin (toxic to the blood).  Do you still want this in your shampoo? Body wash?

Are we going to wait until it is banned for us? or take responsibility and be ahead of the game, by choosing genuinely certified organic skincare which is made without synthetic chemicals, in order to protect our health?  I know what I choose, what do you choose?

To view the article on Canada.com click here

Decluttering creates clarity

William Morris said “Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.”

How right he was, and how good do I feel having filed all the utility bills into a folder.  I now have a clear InTray and space on my desk for…nothing!  Magazines that I wish to keep, to refer to articles, are neatly stacked in order.  Books are now in the bookshelf and I even have a calming geranium growing on my desk.  I vow to not sink under the mound that was paper pollution.  My clarity of mind has returned, thankfully.

Much of the things we have in our house we do not need, and I am sure that William Morris would not consider them useful or beautiful.  I have moved house a great deal in the last few years, I am somewhat of a nomadic type, part necessity and part choice.  I have had to clear out and as a result have done the seasonal turn of seasons, de-clutter.  It genuinely makes a difference and clears the space for good things to come into our life.

After reading this short post, why not look around you and clear out some things that are not useful or beautiful.  Please do let me know how you got on.

Here’s to creating clarity this September.

Fresh, the film

Fresh the film highlights where, in our corporate greed, we have ended up today in terms of food and nourishing ourselves. It highlighted farmers beholden to vast multinational companies who supply the seeds and fertlisers and buy the end product for the vast majority of agricultural operations in the USA.

The film had a positive note as well, it focused on farming that is ‘old fashioned’, more stewards of the land, using mixed farming with a variety of areas on the farm for some cows, some chickens, some vegetables and therefore all aspects can be used and compliment each other. Versus monoculture where just one product is produced and then a pollution problem rises from 24,000 pigs creating indescribable pollution, as well as a health danger through antibiotic resistant bacteria, from blanket antibiotic injections given to the pigs.

The biggest issue that I saw from this film was that consumers have become used to buying tomatoes all year round. Many see food as a commodity that is just always there. The opening line was a quote saying Americans fear only one thing, inconvenience. Food never was quick and easy, other perhaps than a boiled egg. Good food takes time to prepare and eat. Food is a blessing. Food is vulnerable to weather, pests, soil acidity and all manner of factors. Food is what keeps us healthy not a pill with .25ug of magnesium & calcium that we swallow quickly on our way to work with our soy, chai latte.

In 1950 food had 40% more nutrients than it does today, according to Michael Pollan. The nutrients are diminished and we are using up top soil thirteen times faster than we can replace it. We are loosing our diversity and the plants and herbs that cattle traditionally ate is no longer, we eat meat too much and the meat is less nutritious.

It seems so simple looking at it from a distance, we need to change.

How can we change this status quo?  Maybe by buying ‘real food’, that is food without the buy one get one free, complete with bar code.

How do we encourage the return to Eat Real Food?