Skin Health

Hey, did you know that the skin is the LARGEST organ in our body?? Yep, it is and it serves a lot of functions. One major function is keeping us healthy. Also, our internal body health will help our skin health and condition. When the body is unhealthy, the skin cellular turnover takes a dive so the body can focus on other things. Keep the whole body healthy to keep the skin healthy. There is tip number one. But now, let's take a look at some info about your skin.

These are my exfoliating skin gloves that I love so much. Easier than a skin brush.

Major Facts/functions of your skin:
* Your skin is the largest organ in your body


* 70% of your lymph is in your skin


* Your skin protects your whole body


* Excretion (getting rid of)- it excretes toxins and waste from your body


* Secretion - Secretes oil, the skin self lubricates and also secretes acid which is healthy because your skin has a 5.5 acidic balance which is healthy


* Absorption - it absorbs what is on it so we have to remember to put only healthy things that we would want in our bodies on our skin. (remember that when you are cleaning) Put essential oils and herbs on your skin instead of chemicals. Absorb good stuff. Stay away from Parabens.

* Heat Regulation - You blood vessels can contract and keep heat in your body, or they open and your skin sweats to cool you body temperature off.


* Good looks - Yeah, if you take care of your skin it will take care of you by blessing you with great looks. You will have that natural glow. Win/win


* Detoxing - You skin is one avenue for toxins to remove themselves from your body. Thanks skin!




Here is my FAVORITE lotion of all time. Pure coconut oil. The kind you cook with. It's solid at room temperature but put it on your hand and watch it melt. I have a jar in the kitchen and a jar up in the bathroom for after my shower. The Whole Foods brand is organic and a good price (I think $5 to $6. Some are expensive so you have to check out all the prices) Get organic though.

Ways you can care for your skin better:
* Only use natural and organic products on your skin. I know, I repeat myself, but one of the tops ways people are exposed to toxins is through household products. It's not the factories around us, it is the items we pay for, bring into our homes, and then willingly let touch our skin and then be absorbed into our bodies.

* Read labels. Go back to Health Lesson 1 about products and give yourself an extra boost.

* Dry skin brush - Yeah!! My number 1 favorite part of skin care. There are tough brushes you can get, but if you want to speed up the process get exfoliating gloves. I have a pair and I rub my whole body down like crazy right before I shower. I don't think you are supposed to exfoliate as much as I do, but I think it is so cool to feel how incredibly soft I can make my skin in a matter of minutes. There is supposed to be a method. Skin brushing not only makes you skin nice and soft, it also is health promoting by moving your lymph. Your lymph needs help moving by skin brushing and exercise, but your lymph cleans up your body and removes toxins. You are supposed to direct all your skin brush strokes towards your heart. It you want an extra bonus of really moving your lymph, put a little extra focus on the front of your armpit and right around your bikini line where a good amount of your lymph nodes are.


* Sweat the bad stuff out - exercise until you sweat (hot yoga, running, eliptical, or you can sauna). Are you exercising until you see and feel sweat?? I used to hate the fact that I was a really sweaty person. I almost felt abnormal for a girl. Well, now, whenever I sweat a lot I just tell myself that I am detoxing and I am thankful that I am sweating. Sweating is great for your skin.


* Shower after sweating (or towel off) - the whole purpose of sweating is to remove toxins. So all those toxins are in your sweat, so shower and rinse them off. Not all would go back in your body, but better to wash them off or wipe them off.


* Soak to remove toxins - Epsom salt, baking soda and maybe essential oils will draw out toxins and make you relaxed and happy. This will soften your skin too. Maybe do a major skin brush and then a soak??? Nice : )

* Don't go fake baking - yes, you need natural sun (15 minutes a day to get your fare share of vitamin D), but don't go to the takking booth.

* Use only natural sunblock


* Drink lots of water - I should have put this one at the top. Nourish from the inside out. I rarely use any lotion or oil on my skin and Kevin is always telling me how soft my skin is. I do drink gallons of water every day. Moisturize your skin from the inside out. Every time Kevin says something about his knuckles being dry my first question is are you drinking enough water?? His answer is always no. Drinking water tremendously improves the moisture in your skin.


Did you know: The human body breathes out 2-3 cups of water a day and sweats out 2-3 cups of water a day?? Yep. So, now do you feel like you might benefit from drinking more water??


This has nothing to do with skin, but we found Chlow taking a nap in the guest bathroom sink.

Tips I use to love my skin....

* When I dry brush I dry brush like crazy. By the time I am done I can literally feel my skin being baby soft. I also have an exfoliating loofa I use in the shower. It's scratchy though.


* I use coconut oil for my skin lotion. I LOVE it. You buy it in the grocery store by the other cooking oils. It's solid at room temperature but in seconds on your hand it melts. It is COMPLETELY natural and gives your skin back the oils it needs not all the other crap they put in lotions. And it smells so good, but doesn't make you smell like coconut all day.

* Exercise to the point of sweating. When I do yoga, I close the door to the yoga room so it gets really hot in there. I try to sweat as much as possible.

* I eat really healthy. I honestly have a lot less skin issues than I used to have once I changed my diet. You are what you eat.

* Water water water. I drink tons of water for my health and as an added bonus my skin is super soft. Nice. Even through the brutal Michigan winter it was really soft.


* I made a natural salt scrub, because I looked at the ones I still had and they had Parabens. Those things are everywhere. So, I took some the the epsom salt I had and added some essential oil to it and threw it in a cup and brought it into the shower. It worked fine and it was much cheaper than the ones you buy in the store with Parabens. Next time I am mixing the salt with the coconut oil. Crazy!!


* I remember that my skin is an ORGAN. When I think of it as am organ I tend to want to treat it better. Give your skin the credit of being a major part of your body



I think that is all I know about skin health, so I will stop there. I haven't talked about sports on the blog in quite some time, but I am still living the life of a sports fanatic. Kevin and I have watched every MSU basketball game. We are so excited to say that we will be at the Final 4 game here in Detroit!! Yeah!!!! Thank you to Kevin Schnieders, who else. He seems to always come through with tickets when it really matters. We'll take pictures.



Okay, I am signing off. Take care

Goooo Green!!!!

Goooo White!!!!

Go Sate Go!!!

MSUUUUUUUU!!!!

Shannon (your proud spartan)

Bras For a Cause Art Bra Show hosted by the Rack Pack benefiting Gilda's Club Metro Detroit.

Saturday, September 12th, 2009 at Royal Oak Music Theatre, in Royal Oak Michigan Art Bra Show Time!!! Mark your calendar now and read on please. It is time that I write about something else that has been keeping me busy. Besides doing my affirmations, making lemonade and juice, my cottage cheese/flax oil concoction, swallowing a million supplements a day, making coffee for reasons mentioned in previous blogs, doing yoga, working out, sitting in the sauna, meditating, getting colonics, going to the chiropractor, going to my doctor, and everything else I do, I am also planning a HUGE fundraiser for Gilda's Club with some incrdible people. It will be similar to the art bra shows I have been a part of in Austin. I have some pics of art bras from the Austin shows we have done with the Pink Ribbon Cowgirls

Here is a cute one Barb got to wear. The oinwheels actually spun around.

Here is one made out of metal. They was also one made out of glass that was awesome, but I cannot find the picture.

This one of a dragonfly is all tiny seed beads. Must have taken forever.

Mardi Gras time!!

Butterfly wings.

For those of you who have been following my story for a while you will remember me doing the art bra show with the Pink Ribbon Cowgirls in Texas benefiting the Breast Cancer Resource Center of Austin. That one still goes on and I will be there again this year (April 18th Austin people. Hope to see you then.) Well, I am also bringing the Art Bra show back to Michigan with me and we are calling it Bras for a Cause. The event will be held by the Rack Pack (the young women with breast cancer group I formed with friends) and it will benefit Gilda's Club Metro Detroit.

Here are the very important specifics:
* The date is Saturday, September 12th 2009 (Mark your calendars NOW)
* It will be held at the beautiful Royal Oak Music Theatre
* We will have artists selling local art, tons of silent and live auction items, tons of fabulous art bras created by survivors, celeberties, and whoever else can make them. A select group will be silent auctioned and then some will be modeled in a show by survivors and live auctioned.

* There will also be food and drink.

* My uncle, Dave Coulier, will be hosting the live auction and bra fashion show. I do want all my family to be at the event, but since he is famous, I am putting my uncle to work a little too ; )
* I am also planning on speaking at the event. I'm practicing my public speaking skills already. (Gulp!)

* It will be fun, hip, uplifting and all for a great cause. (please read the older post on what Gilda's Club means to me and other survivors if you would like to know more)
* I am determined that this event will be huge the first year I do it.

We could use all of your help though. Start thinking about all of your contacts and who you know......are you thinking?????
Okay now, here is what we need from you:
* Items/gift cards donated for the silent and live auction
* Local artists to sell their art or donate art for the auctions (booth cost $100)
* Corporate sponsors (opportunities from $250 to $5,000)
* Fabulous art bras made by artists, celebrities, or anyone who wants to really
* Vendors to donate some food (heavy apetisers and deserts)
* Vendors to donate for liquor and beverages
* Someone to donate long tables X10 or more (all together, not one per person or anything)

Don't worry, we're on top of this, but everyone who reads my blog is so supportive. Why not use your contacts too???

There are many other factors that go into planning a huge event like this. I am learning as I go. I'm sure I will think of other stuff I need, but I'm starting to plan way ahead.
So far we already have some very promising things for the auction. Big ticket items. I am so happy that we have such a successful start.

Oh yeah, another thing I need is ALL OF YOU TO BE THERE. Make sure to get your butts there. When ticket sale time is around, I need all of you to buy a ticket (Tickets will be from $30 to $40. We're still deciding) This event is going to be my pride and joy. While I do not have a career as a project manager or a planner, I have now created this as the new project I can manage and plan. Planning this event makes me really feel like I am contributing to the world. I know I contribute with my writing too, but I need something I tangible.

Once again, I feel very strong about donating to Gilda's Club. It is a completely free place anyone can turn who has been impacted by cancer. There is a growing number of young adults with cancer who are looking for support and companionship at places like Gilda's Club. We hope that this event will get the word out that there is a place for young survivors and survivors of ANY age as well as their friends and family to go and find support. I honestly feel better every time I walk out the big red door of Gilda's Club.

Please contact me if you want to get involved by donating anything or if you have a contact that would like to donate. You can also let me know if you are interested in going to the event and I will keep your contact info so I can sell you a ticket. Ticket sales will be much further down the road. My email is iezzzi@hotmail and my cell number is 248-343-4884. You can also leave a message on the blog or send me a Facebook message. See how flexible I am being? So many options for contacting me.

Okay, keep thinking on how you can contribute to the first annual Rack Pack's Bras for a Cause Show!!!! It's going to be so awesome and fun. Yeah!!

Next blog I have a health lesson and a few REALLY GOO and EASY healthy recipes. YUM!!!

Take care everyone and Bras for a Cause

Shannon : )

Our Trip to Arizona was Awesome!!!!

I loved Arizona. Kevin and I had such a great time. No true blog entry this time. Just pictures with descriptions about our whole trip and a few final thoughts about the trip. It was a true vacation and a vacation from the whole health regimen to be a cancer free health nut.

Here I am happy as ever in Sedona.

We went to a spring training game (Rangers beat up on the Mariners). The next day we went to the desert botanical gardens where they had a Dale Chihuli exhibit there temporarily. (the same glass blower who made the famous Bellagio hotel ceiling in Vegas) This piece was absolutely amazing. This piece is way bigger than us. (love our new camera)
We took about 700 pictures this vacation. Insane right??? Well, we were learning how to use the camera and there was so much to take pictures of. 
It was in the 70s, 80s, and 90s in Pheonix and Sun City. Sunny every day. Beautiful. Here is Kevin looking cute by the blue swirly glass sculpture.
After the botanical gardens we went to Sedona. This was such a beautiful and peaceful place. 
We stayed the night and went on an early Pink Jeep Tour (the famous tours in Sedona) for two hours to go inside all of the beautiful red rock mountains. It was so much fun.
From Sedona we drove up to the Grand Canyon. Yeah!!! We stopped at just about every viewing point along the entrance. Neither of us are scared of heights, so we got really close to all the edges. There is this quiet mild wind sound there that is so calming.
I was so excited to finally be at the Grand Canyon on a beautiful day. It was amazing. Pictures do not do it justice. You really have to stop, breathe, and take it all in. 
Then, we hiked down the canyon. We went to about the mile and a half mark, but had to hike back up because the sun was setting and we wanted to take more pictures (of course). The trail was really cool and I would have loved to hike there all day (but we only had so much time)
EARLY the next morning, at 6:45, we got up to take sunrise pictures. It might be warm in Phoenix, but it is COLD in the morning at the Canyon (in the 20s) I was freezing while we were outside the hotel trying to get the pictures.
We did get some beautiful shots so it paid off. I could have gone hiking that day too, but we wanted to get back to the warm weather in the valley of the sun (Phoenix area).
So, that same day in Sun City we made it out on a sunset golf cart ride at the golf course across the street from my Grandma Arlen and Tom's house (this was our home base for the trip). It was 80 degrees back there. Ahhh warm. I can't believe this was the same day we were freezing at the top of the Canyon.
Kevin had to fly back Monday and I stayed a few extra days. My grandma and I went hiking at the White Tank Mountains. She did the shorter route and I went further up. It was beautiful and hot. We had lots of fun. She is one active grandparent. 
Tom had a birthday while I was out there and we had a nice dinner for my last night. 
They were very hospitable to us. My favorite part was going in the back yard, picking lemons, oranges and grapefruit from their trees and making fresh squeezed juice to drink. Yummy and so healthy when it is that fresh.

People in Arizona seem very nice. Everyone we encountered was so friendly.

I also got to go to a couple parties with their friends in Sun City. They had very nice friends who love to party.

I also went to my grandma's tap class with her and danced. They are good. It was actually enough to push me over the edge to get really serious about finding dance classes in the area.

To finish, 10 things I love about Arizona

1. My grandma and Tom

2. The funny quail that are constantly running across the street really fast

3. The sound of the air at the Grand Canyon

4. The sunset and sunrise in Sedona (incredible and colorful and also warmer than the Canyon). I still love the sunrise and set at the Canyon.

5. Riding around all of Sun City with the golf cart

6. The lemon, orange and grapefruit trees (I would love to have those in the back yard)

7. Cottontail rabbits all over the place (at any time you look you will see at least two)

8. My grandma's citrus juicer (I have been squeezing my lemons by hand every day. I am totally getting a citrus juicer)

9. The warm weather in the spring (and the complete lack of clouds)

10. Hiking everywhere (Sedona, Grand Canyon and the mountains around Phoenix)

There are many more things, but I'll leave it at that. Chloe is on my lap and it is hard to type. She has been attached to me since I got home. You can tell she is so happy I am back home.

Okay, I'll be blogging very soon. 

Lots of love and warm rays to everyone

Shannon

My New Language

Kevin and I got a new Cannon Rebel DSLR camera. I'm still just getting used to it with the automatic settings, but I had fun getting some cute shots with my nephew Miles while I was babysitting him. He grabs his feel all the time.

This past morning I felt inspired to take a pic of part of the morning routine as the sun was shining in. Lemonade, coffee, fish oil, my many many supplements, liquid chlorophyll (yummy). Oh, and some Truvia (which is the sweetener made from Stevia which I told you all about. I don't use it, because I just use liquid Stevia. I got it to show all of you so.) Ahhh, good morning.
Miles is probably getting teeth soon because he puts everything in his mouth.

Miles has some incredibly big blue eyes. He's such a happy baby.

Quick update stuff first before I blog:

Hormone therapy is going fine. I have no side effects yet.

I now see a chiropractor that I really like and I already feel more flexible. Yeah!

Kevin and I have an every Monday night Yoga date now. Also helping with flexibility.

We are going to Arizona next Wednesday March 11th and I will be there until the 19th (Kevin flys back the 15th I think) We're staying at my grandmother's in Sun City and we will be taking a short trip to the Grand Canyon. I'm sure we'll have some good pictures to go up on the blog.

Okay, last picture. Chloe getting some water tonight. She's my new glamour shots kitty now that I have the new camera.

This post is about my new take on language and what changes I am making to mine:

First word I am eliminating from my language is should. Should is a bad word that people use all the time. What is wrong with should??? Well, when you say you should do something you are implying that you are automatically wrong if you don't do it. For example: "I should write a new blog post before I leave for Arizona" If I don't, what is implied here with the word should is that it would be bad. Okay, now insert the word could. "I could write a new blog post before I leave for Arizona." Now this sounds like great opportunity I could have instead of being bad for not doing something I SHOULD do. I got this from the book You Can Heal Your Life, and I agree with it. I do everything I can to replace the word should with could. I do 10 pushups if Kevin can catch me saying it. Honestly, try it out. Try a couple sentences. It almost feels like a weight off your shoulders when you use the word could instead.

Another word I am trying to eliminate from my language is fight. YES FIGHT. I will no longer FIGHT cancer. No more winning the fight, battle, or whatever else people say I am doing to cancer. When people tell me I will win this fight or how good I am fighting, I kind of ignore the comment and say to myself that this person is wishing me health. That way they are still helping me which is what they are trying to do. Here is the reasoning for eliminating the word fight. We attract into our lives what we focus on and give our attention to weather it is negative or positive attention. So if I constantly focus on FIGHTING cancer than I will most likely attract cancer into my life. I know if sounds weird that this can happen but I believe in it. It's really tough because fighting stuff we don't want has become so popular and commonplace in our society. It's our usual language. So instead of fighting cancer I will be focusing on health. So, if you start talking to me about fighting cancer and I look like I am zoning out, well, just know that I am translating that into a positive message about health in my head. 

To take this to another level it is wise to eliminate all negative language from your vocabulary. I'm going to stop focusing on what I don't want and start focusing (and talking) about what I do want. I am trying not to focus on not wanting MY CANCER to come back, and focus on being healthy in the future.

Another phrase I am eliminating is "my cancer" "my tumors" or I HAVE cancer. All together I will be trying to say the word cancer as least a possible (after this blog where I feel like I am saying this word a million times). The reason for not saying my cancer was given to me by a hypnotherapist I saw. He says that it is human nature to want to hold on to the things we own. If we have things,we tend to want to keep our things. He says the same thing goes for cancer and any other health condition. My cancer will make me in a subconscious way, hold on to my cancer. I don't want to do that. It's hard to re-word everything I say, but I believe it is worth it. I know it makes people sometimes get suspicious that I have issues, but so what. So, rather than say I HAVE cancer I say I was diagnosed with cancer. Other words I can use are dealing with, facing, challenged with etc..

Here are some other language changes I am making: If someone finds out I was diagnosed with the "c" word they always ask and assume "so you are in remission right?" or "you beat it right". The last thing I want to do is confirm to them and myself that no, I still have my cancer. Instead I will say something like "my treatment is going very well, or everything is going great." I'm not trying to be secretive about anything, but I don't want to cost myself any health by trying to explain to people what is going on inside my body. My hypnotherapist told me that at a subconscious level, our language impacts our health. The things we say can shape our lives. 

Anyway, just thought I would write about the language changes to explain to you all why I might seem secretive when I am trying to answer a question. I now it seems a little crazy to be so aware of the exact wording you use when you talk, but I'm trying to do EVERYTHING I can to give myself a longer happier and more fulfilling life.

Well, we're super excited to leave for Arizona so soon. I think we'll go to the Canyon, Sedona and at least one spring training game while we are out there. I might go bead shopping with my grandma so I can bring home some original beads for making jewelry. Anyway, we'll see where the trip takes us. It will be great for Kevin to be on vacation.

Peace love and lots of cool pics coming

Shannon