A Hectic Summer?

Summertime can be a hectic time. With kids out of school and vacations planned, it might be hard to relax!  Summer has been very busy for me, but it wasn't a vacation or end of the school year that made it busy. It was the opposite -- I went back to school! Actually I'm still trying to finish up a couple of online Master's classes. Literally, with each "free" moment I have, I'm online looking for research (which I've once again realized I do not enjoy), reading my textbook, reading the research I finally found which was useful, trying to decipher scholarly language, posting in my group's online forum, rereading the article I previously read because scholarly language has got me once again.  Whew, makes me feel like I have an old brain!

I know my postings have been erratic, I will be returning to a better schedule once my classes finish up. Please bear with me as I use my limited energies to finish classes well and take a few weeks with family! Be sure to follow on Facebook to make sure you're still in the loop of what's going on!

Best to you, my friends!


Photo Credit: Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Ecover Review

I'm always trying to learn more about enjoying and maintaining good, healthy living, and Naturallysavvy.com helps me in my growth in knowledge. I was sent a bottle of Ecover's Dishwashing Liquid with Pomegranate and Lime, and I was so excited to try it. At the end of the day, I'm usually hand-washing my preschooler's plastic sippy cup, and I was thrilled to try a natural cleaner on my child's cup. Without excessive bubbles, Ecover's dishwashing liquid is made of plant-based and mineral ingredients, biodegradable, and safe for septic tanks.

I appreciate how Ecover's mission is to provide effective cleaners (from "clean-running factories") without the chemicals. They've also created a "green plastic," made from sugarcane. This "green plastic" used for their packaging is renewable, reusable, and recyclable!

While I have used one other Ecover cleaning product with great success, I was wanting this dishwashing liquid to do just as well. It does the job of cleaning dishes well, however, the plastic sippy cup that held raw milk was quite the challenge to degrease. Ecover's Dishwashing Liquid with Pomegranate and Lime, would clean and degrease the cup when I added more dishwashing liquid than I originally anticipated needing. While I'm still happy with the product, I'm not as ecstatic about it simply because it took a bigger squirt of dishwashing liquid to clean. But with other dishes that needed cleaning, it did well.

I received Ecover's Dishingwashing Liquid courtesy of Naturallysavvy.com for this review. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

When I'm Hungry . . .

I'm a bear to be around. It's true. And when I'm hungry, I only have one thing on my mind -- food.

With my digestive issues and with diabetics in my gene pool, I probably do need think more about the foods I eat. And I've been thinking a lot about food and about how I eat my food recently! Having a well-balanced diet with proper snacks and lots of water should keep me from being hungry. With the resources that I have available to me, there's no reason to feel hungry, and it doesn't mean that I have to always stuff myself. The reverse is probably more true; eating smaller, whole foods, balanced with fiber and protein.

Since I've "self-anti-medicated" myself, I have been feeling a little more like I used to. The energy level is much better, and the digestive enzymes I'm taking at meal times really does make my stomach more efficient. And I am eating much like we did on the Daniel Fast, going back to whole foods. After reading some books about reflux, I'm also (no I'm not OCD, really) counting how many bites I take before swallowing -- chewing at least 20 times starts the digestion without putting all that pressure on your stomach to break it down; when I started counting, I realized I could swallow at around 7! I'm trying not to play hunger games with myself but to look after myself, from the inside out.

What about you?!?