Clever Crafts to Combat Crazy Consumerism at Christmas!

While I’m all for the glitz and glitter of Christmas, there’s something about the season that I have found rather overwhelming in the past. It’s the feeling of obligatory gift-giving, excessive spending and the fact that kids are too often left out of the “giving” part of Christmas and get all out of whack when they get presents dumped on them in mass quantities just because they’re cute!

Being single makes things easier, but as a divorced mother with divorced parents and having had a boyfriend with divorced parents meant an obscene quantity of gifts coming in and going out. At one point the grandparent count was 10! UGH!

Christmas can be a very unsettling time for children, too. Unless they are actively involved in the creation and preparation of gifts themselves, Christmas puts them WAY out of exchange with others. I am really careful to stretch the gifts out over several weeks and make sure they have to time and space to honor and appreciate each gift. I also get them actively involved in making gifts to give to others as much as possible, though it’s admittedly hard to keep up with.

Unless given opportunities to reciprocate the exchange, whether consciously or not, it can be extrememly overwhelming to receive, receive, receive. I mean, most of us know that feeling intimately. It doesn’t feel good to only be on the receiving end of things. It’s not any more comfortable for children, though their discomfort may manifest itself in different ways.

Watching relatives race to shopping malls to get last minute, obligatory tokens of exchange sorta put me off of the whole thing, too. I’ve not officially boycotted Christmas, yet, but I’ve definitely voiced my choice to participate according to my interest and capacity.

So, I actually don’t go out and buy Christmas presents. I mean, I just don’t do it anymore.

I have been known to indulge in some moderate spending at a local craft store, however, and put together some gorgeous gifts that come from the heart. Here are some of my favorites that have been tried in the past and for the most part, were received exceptionally well.

Homemade Christmas Ornaments
(About a $20 investment for an endless supply of decorations.)

One of the things we love to do as a team (the kids and I) is make holiday Christmas ornaments. These are a great gift to give annually if you have children, because you can date the decorations and observe the evolution of their creative contributions over the years. People love looking back over the box of decorations and talking about the history of each one.

You can find just about everything you need for this at your local dollar store. I recommend, craft paint (red, green, blue, gold/yellow, silver and white). At this time of year, you can usually find sparkles in these colors, too, and all kinds of bells and whistles you can add to your decorations.

You’ll need some Christmas-shaped cookie cutters. We used a Christmas tree, gingerbread man, a star and then made lots of little balls, like standard Christmas decorations.

All you do is whip together a batch of standard salt dough (salt, flour and water) recipe, stamp out cookies and bake them in a 250 degree oven for 2-3 hours. You can also use air-hardening clay found in most craft stores.

Make sure you leave a hole in them for the string before baking. (A small drinking straw makes the perfect sized hole!) For the balls, you want to put in a hook before you bake them. We found official Christmas ornament hooks at the dollar store! Loads of them for $1. But if you don’t have any, unfolding a decent sized paper clip should do the trick.

Once baked, paint and decorate your ornaments with sparkles and whatever else your creativity inspires you to do. You can get a coat of craft varnish to layer over at the end for a gorgeous finish! Wrap them in stlye and they’re a gorgeous treat to give and receive!

Luxurious Bath Salts

You can pick up a big jug of epsom salts or dead sea salt at most drug stores or health food stores. If you want to shop around for a bulk brice, you can do that, too. If you’ve got some essential oils kicking around, then mix them in. Salt is a perfect mediums for absorbing essential oils, and when placed in a bath, it diffuses them into the water evenly!

Plan on a maximum of 8 drops per bath. Put in the desired about of oils and salts and write up some instructions so the receiver knows how much to put in. Mix up your salts and oils, and pour them into a gorgeous bottle, or jar. You can find little treasures like these in second hand stores pretty easily. Get creative and be willing to try stuff.

It’s best if the container is glass, as essential oils will dissipate if left in breathable containers.

You can play the part of a professional perfumer as you blend a soothing or stimulating combination of essential oils together. If you’d like more tips, contact us. I have a very extendsive background in aromatherapy and loads of tricks tips and even blending supplies to pass on if you’re interested!

Homemade ToothPowder

If you haven’t read my blog entry on toothpowder, check it out here. Anyway, it would make for a cute little stocking stuffer, if covered in a pretty ribbon!

I’ve not tried this yet, myself, but if you wrapped it with a handsome toothbrush and some dental floss, I think it would be a fantastic stocking stuffer!

Homemade Candles

This is a bit more complicated, maybe, but not impossible. Home-dipped, beeswax candles are a gorgeous gift to give and a really fun activity to do with kids!

Home-decorated Plates, Napkins, Glasses and T-shirts!

One year for Christmas we went to an old restaurant wholesaler and bought loads of beautiful white plates and bowl for a great price. Then we went to our local craft store and bought ceramic paint. It’s super cheap and so much fun. The come in little plastic bottles in every color imaginable. We printed with the paint onto dishes and then gave sets of dishes to people for Christmas that the kids had decorated!

You can also buy paints for fabric and decorate napkins, table cloths, or T-shirts! There are great tubes of paint for glass that you can use on mirrors, mugs and wine glasses!

Just spending about $20 on a few colors of any of these paints, and hitting your local second hand store for some handsome bits and pieces of dishes, glasses, etc. and you’re in for an endless string of personalized, creative Christmas gifts that will be a sure hit with just about anyone.

A Heart-felt, Hand-written Letter

Some of the best gifts I’ve given have been letters. Just taking the time to thoughtfully or creatively express your thoughts and feelings for a person is a tremendously valuable gift. Especially these days when everything is electronic, getting a beautiful, hand-written letter is a real treat! Taking the time to recall fond moments spent together, and to really validate someone who has contributed to your life, is an extremely valuable thing to do. For both you and the recipient of your letter.

Reconnecting with someone you’ve not written to in years is also a marvelous gift to give!

Apple Butter!

I know, I know! This isn’t a raw food recipe, but it’s so easy to do and a much healthier alternative to what most people put on their plates, that you can’t go wrong. Here in Quebec we have LOADS of apples at this time of year. You just put them in a pot and cook them until they make a thick, caramelly butter! Pop them in some jars while they’re warm, let them seal by putting them in the fridge, then decorate with a cute little, appley label, Christmas ribbon and give with love! It’s just apples and it’s totally yummy!

Okay, here are a few others…

A Raw Food Recipe book, filled with stickers, pictures and hand-written notes!

A fruit basket with recipes inside!

All the ingredients a person needs to make a particular raw food recipe, with ingredients and maybe a little kitchen tool (vegetable peeler) included!

Cooked Food Compromises: When Ultimatums Don’t Cut It

This time of year more than any other is just downright tough for most Raw Foodists. Even  long time Raw Food enthusiasts get a bit chilly around this time of year.

For those of you who have no problems with fruit and greens 4 seasons of the year, then more power to you!

For the rest of you, however, we thought it might be helpful to let you know where we stand on the subject of cooked food compromises.

After 3 years of working personally with clients, I am convinced that ultimatums are a dead end road. As soon as we put a big “Forbidden Foods” list in front of our faces, we end up with bingeing, guilt trips and food obsessions!

It is more harmful to continually put your body through a raw food roller coaster, cold foodthan to find a happy medium and stick to it. I’ve said in the past, I would prefer that 80% of the population be 60% raw than 4% of the population be 100%.

The goal, remember, is not putting a “Raw Foodist” stamp on your forehead at the end of the day. We’re engaged in the pursuit of health, high energy living and ideally we’re doing this in a way that takes environmental impact of our choices into consideration as well.

So, if you’re not willing to have a hard-core Christmas, then here’s what I recommend you take into consideration. When restrictions are removed the urgency to indulge, or overeat on “forbidden foods” vanishes.

One of the ways I like to approach nutrition and eating is sensibly. I don’t believe that it requires an ability to decipher enzymatic, anti-oxidant and amino acid vocabulary to be able to thrive. If that was the case, we’d all be in trouble.

Whatever you’re considering eating, just look at your body, look at the food on your plate and ask yourself:

“Does this make sense?”

Is the food something you could find easily in nature?

You may be able to find wheat, for example, in nature, but in its natural state it is very indigestible to humans.

Would it taste good if you just added heat?

If you are going to eat cooked foods, then I highly recommend sticking to the foods that make sense. A slice of grilled fish, a baked potato and steamed broccoli makes a lot of sense to me. More sense than a “raw pie” loaded with dates, avocado and almonds.

I’ve felt much, much worse eaing complicated raw food recipes than I have eating healthy, simple cooked food like steamed greens or a sweet potato.

If you need to add a bunch of spices and sauces for your food to be attractive and digestible, then I would say leave it aside. Also, the extra sauces and spices are in large part responsible for the desire to overeat. These are the mechanisms of stimulation-addiction and the kinds of things that send the floodgates open. There’s only so much baked sweet potato and steamed broccoli a person can eat. But start smothering them in butter and cheese sauces and you have yourself a whole other story.

Keep your cooked foods simple and sauce free. This will help you hold in line your own limits and leave you feeling relatively well, even if it is a meal of cooked food.

Avoiding the sauces and spices will also help you to choose better foods. Beans, legumes, pasta and most grains taste rather boring without salt and sauces, so best avoid them.

Chances are you’ll aslo find that it’s much easier to control your cooked food consumption when you’ve removed your restrictions about it. When the food is no longer “forbidden” obsession moves aside. You don’t have that lingering ultimatum telling you that “THIS, will be the LAST time you EVER eat cooked food!”

So, summing up, then stick to these:

Vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, green beans and peas taste perfectly scrumptious without doctoring them up with spices and sauces. In fact, I find most vegetables tast quite nice steamed lightly. Sweet potatoes, pumpkins and squashes of all kinds are super tasty, too! Also, a simple piece of grilled fish or meat usually doesn’t require anything for it to be appetizing to most people. Just think of the foods you could find in nature. Then, if you can add fire and keep the flavor without having to add a bunch of sauces, I think you’ve hit a winner.

So, there it is.

If ultimatums are not on your plate, then these are my top recommendations for what to put there instead. Remember that the joys of being with good people, celebrating life and all her sparkly pleasures is REALLY good for your health. Make that your priority and the rest will fall in place I’m sure of it.

Perfectly Unproductive Pajama Day

I spent the ENTIRE day in my pajamas with this little face at my side!

I had a big week, studied like crazy and just needed to spend an ENTIRE day in pajamas. Doesn’t happen very often. In fact, pajamas are a new thing for me, having made some recent commitments to get a LOT more sleep.

I’ve fallen asleep one too many times with the lights on, next to my computer. Of course, if you’ve read previous blog entries, you know my office is my bed anyway, so not such a bad thing.

Anyway, today I had to resist considering myself unproductive. I mean, I didn’t even brush my hair!

Looking back it was pure production of the highest caliber.

I felt totally available to my son in a way that I don’t often permit myself to do for more than a few minutes at a time!

Today, he was the King of his own Universe, and I his faithful assistant–making sure things didn’t burn or bleed, but otherwise giving him tremendous liberty to explore, create and BE!

Sebastian made raspberry banana ice cream, cookies and some weird soup concoction using every bottle of liquid “stuff” he could find in the house.

We were careful not to waste enough to upset the roommates, but found some bottles of dressings that expired in 2002! which made for great volumes of pleasure dumping into the bowl. I highly recommend roommates just for the sheer randomity of kitchen treasures!

So, while some might consider a day like this rather unproductive… I had a most marvelous time!

May you find in your moments of unproductivity, the space to create, to dream, to play and BE like you were when you were a kid. I mean, if you’re a Mom, then obviously, lose yourself in the games of your loved ones. But if you’ve not got kids around, pull out the kid you were from your closet and let her sparkle.

Just be. Make a mess. Break the rules. Lose yourself in the busy production of dreaming, creating, loving and celebrating life and getting absolutely “nothing” done. Nothing that the rest of the world deems of value, but what in truth is likely the most valuable thing you have.

Organic Really is Better!

Not like we really needed a study to convince us, but for the naysayers out there… now there’s “proof”.  Like clear eyes, glowing skin, and super-hero energy wasn’t proof enough!

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/health/article2753446.ece

To those who will say, “well, what about those studies saying there’s no difference”.  To them, I suggest checking out some kirlian photography, or just taste the difference between an organic and conventional banana or apple.  I’ve tried it with many a skeptic to find them amazed that they really cool taste a difference – and organic tastes better!

On top of all of this evidence… would you rather eat a local family-farmed organic apple, or a industrialized farm’s apple sprayed with pesticides, picked early, waxed and stored for months before hitting your supermarket shelves and your home?

The Dental Drama Continues…

I’ve been getting some emails this morning from people who would like more information about our dental teleseminar with Karen Adler because they’ve got QUESTIONS! It seems a new dental product is out on the market and it’s loaded with xylitol, which comes from the birch tree, and is noted for it’s apparent antibacterial properties.

First of all, it’s not hard to find anti-bacterial ingredients, including peppermint essential oils that are in most toothpastes anyway. When looking a bit more thoroughly into the dangers of xylitol, I was actually most surprised with what I found here. I mean, if it gives dogs seizures, as far as I’m concerned, keep it away from the pets AND the kids!

So, take out the only potentially toxic ingredients and you’re left with:

Baking soda, salt and essential oil.

Hmmm… doesn’t sound too complicated to me. You can pick up your own organic peppermint essential oil at just about ANY health food store these days. Grab a jar, mix it up and have your own little dental experiments going on. You could even go to the local dollar store, get some cute little jars and make some cool labels, some fancy ribbon and give it out for Christmas gifts! “Recommended by the Tooth Fairy” toothpowder!

Karen Adler is still planning to do an interview with us, but has been waiting for her new website to come up. (You know, we divas… aesthetics are important.) Anyway, you can read why Karen wouldn’t even let her employees open the xylitol they bought for product testing here.

We’ll announce the new date for our teleseminar with her soon! Won’t be long! I just know you’re going to LOVE hearing what she has to say!

Karen, by the way, puts Organic Raw Honey in her Liquid Toothsoap to sweeten it, which is still the best product as far as I’m concerned. I know that when I was young and had eye infections, I used to put unpasteurized honey in my eye and sure enough, it would get better.

Anyway, be savvy… do your research and gather your questions for our upcoming teleseminar with Karen. She’s done loads of research and we’re really looking forward to blasting her with all our questions on diet, toxic ingredients, and healthy solutions for your teeth!

Our Anti-Cancer, Wealth-Attracting, Health-Building GREEN JUGS!

Humpf!

I’ve been receiving a bit of concern from a couple clients about our new green jugs. And, darned fiery redhead that I am, had to take advantage of the blog to put out my 2 cents on this issue once and for all. So, here’s the deal, as I see it:

If you’ve not yet investigated the written works and materials of Dr. Masaru Emoto on the subject of the power of how thought can change physical structure, the entire principle behind which these bottles were built, you can read more about his stuff HERE!

His research is a brilliant and legitimate example of thought changing matter in the physical universe. His tests CONFIRM that WRITTEN and SPOKEN words can profoundly change the structure of water.

Now, that having been discovered, we decided to put all of the following words on our new smoothie jug–these are words associated with the color “GREEN”:

Refreshment, Strength, Vital, Health, Flexibility, Balance, Renewal, Peace, Vibrant, Power, Nurturing, Innovative, Stability, Vivacious, LOVE, Harmony, Wealth, Longevity, Resilience, Growth

Dr. Emoto put one word on a jar: “Thank you” and got incredible results. Can you IMAGINE what our 20 words can do??

So, despite the fact that some 60% of the surface of our super sexy Green Jugs are covered in personal empowerment GUARANTEED to physically alter the state of WHATEVER you put in it, some people are concerned by the fact that if you flip the thing over, underneath there is a tiny number 7.

And apparently, that number 7 is associated with a kind of plastic called polycarbonate something-or-other that “has been linked to” cancer. If you want to read all about that stuff, you can do that HERE.

While I mean no disrespect, and I understand that for some people these threats are very real, I can’t help feeling surprised at what this situation reflects back to me.

It is apparently much easier for people to believe in fear than in fortune. This is undoubtedly the result of what has been called the “merchant of fear” hard at work. It’s no secret that there are people who have an enormous vested interest in keeping society unempowered and ill. I’m not going to point fingers, but the fact that psychiatry pulls in $40 billion a year on “mental illness” for which they still have not determined a “cause” is a point worth looking into.

If you open the newspaper, listen to the radio, or watch TV, you will be undoubtedly convinced that the world is a very dangerous place to be. Hope is gone and humanity is stuck in a downward spiral leading to inevitable doom. Solutions comes in the form of a pill or a potion, if they come at all.

I’m shocked, honestly, that the fear-factor behind that tiny, transparent 7 with its “links” to cancer could be enough to cause a person to totally overlook the 20 words of empowerment plastered all over that gorgeous green jug and the primary purpose behind creating them in the first place!

I mean, can someone PLEASE tell me how it’s even possible to isolate a “cause” of cancer without eliminating all the other variables including, and primarily, thought itself?

To put this into perspective, here are just some of the things that you’ll find in “The Complete List of Things That Cause Cancer:”

air pollution, baby food, bread, breasts, bus stations, careers for women, casual sex, car fumes, celery, charred foods, chewing gum, Chinese food, Chinese herbal supplements, chips, coffee, crackers, deodorants, depression, ethnic beliefs, Ex-Lax, fat, fluoridation, flying, french fries, fruit, gasoline, genes, gingerbread, global warming, granite, grilled meat, Gulf war, hair dyes, hamburgers, high bone mass, incense, infertility, jewellery, kissing, lack of exercise, laxatives, lead, left handedness, low fibre diet, magnetic fields, mammograms, manganese, marijuana, menopause, microwave ovens, milk hormones, mixed spices, mobile phones, nickel, night lighting, night shifts, nitrates, not breast feeding, not having a twin, obesity, oestrogen, olive oil, orange juice, oyster sauce, ozone, ozone depletion, passive smoking, peanuts, pesticides, pet birds, plastic IV bags, polio vaccine, potato crisps (chips), power lines, proteins, railway sleepers, red meat, salt, selenium, shellfish, sick buildings, soy sauce, stress, sun beds, sunlight, sunscreen, talc, testosterone, tight bras, toast, toasters, tobacco, tooth fillings, toothpaste (with fluoride or bleach), train stations, under-arm shaving, unvented stoves, uranium, UV radiation, vegetables, vinyl toys, vitamins, wallpaper, welding fumes, well water, weight gain, winter, wood dust, work, x-rays.

Of course, we can add to that list, thinking, worrying about and fearing cancer!

You can listen to the news, read the papers and the latest reports on polycarbonate-whatchama-call-its, and if you heed the authorities then chances are if you eat fruits, vegetables, kiss and shave your armpits,  it’s time to start writing your eulogy.

Personally, I think the world would be a much nicer place to be if each of us became empowered vessels for the water within us! Let’s start plastering love, hope, confidence, truth, integrity, responsibility and HAPPINESS all over our foreheads. Let’s stop accepting the invalidation fear merchants and put $40 billion into the hands of Greenpeace!

So, you sexy, brave and empowered DIVA, just get out there and LIVE your gorgeous, sparkle-filled life with as much joy, freedom and courage as you possibly can! That’s how you used to do it before someone told you that the world was a dangerous place to be.

Maybe love really does conquer all…

Here’s to hoping ‘cuz I’m sending loads of it on its way to find you wherever you are.

Tera

p.s.

Oh, and if you don’t have one of our anti-cancer, wealth-attracting, health-building Green Power Jugs yet, you can do that here!

My Raspberry Tuque

Ooooh! I’m bursting with raspberry glee!

My roommate just went through her old box of tuques and hats and mittens and I squealed with delight when I found THIS raspberry tuque! I’ve been getting a few emails from clients lately complaining that we don’t put up any pictures of us, so..

Given the fact that raspberries are not only THE theme fruit for our website and my absolute favorite fruit, I’m soooo happy!

And to top it all off, today I went to my favorite market and bought an entire CASE of organic fresh raspberries for an amazing price!! In fact, all I ate for supper was RASPBERRIES!!!

Ooooh!! Days like these make life even juicier!

In other news… I’ve committed recently to a new bedtime! That’s right, for the first time EVER, I’m makine 10:30pm my absolute latest bedtime, and I can’t believe how good it feels. In fact, I attribute it to being just one of the reasons that today was an extra spectacular day! Mmhmm… They don’t call it beauty sleep for nothing.

Also, in this picture, you get a peek at my home office! That’s right… all the diva work I do, I do it nestled in pillows on my bed!

Yum! Anyway, I promise to take more pictures and keep you all posted on the juicy stuff, but for now, I’m off to bed!

Raspberry kisses and sweet dreams to you all!

xo

Tera