Clean Beauty

I’m in my 50’s. For as long as I can remember I am complimented on and asked about my skin and/or skin care. With everything in life (except artistic expression) I am very basic. I like simple food, simple, effective routines, uncomplicated life because life alone is challenging enough.

In 2021 I had fractioned laser on my face and chest. It took my already good skin to the next level. After going through the pain and expense of the laser treatment, I was determined to nurture my skin even more than I did before. I switched what I was using for some very expensive, very effective clean botanical skincare. It was indeed working then a friend told me about Herbal Face Food. This product/company is an ENTIRELY different level.

I started with the repair and HFF1 along with the soap. Now when you look at the cost of the soap you will undoubtedly wonder am I crazy. I did too. Until I started using it. I’ve had that one soap well over a year now. I use it almost daily (sometimes I’m lazy and do nothing). It still has probably another 6 months left as I use it but am also aware to not waste it. The soap is $65 and well worth the price!

I started to notice a difference in my skin within days. When you first put the serum on you tingle (burn) as it stimulates blood flow. These products are magic in a bottle! So for everyone who ask what I use here is the first part of the answer, Herbal Face Food.

use code DONNAB20 for 20% off your first order.

Skincare is so much more than just a good product or two. What we eat, drink, consume shows up in our skin. The collagen you take to repair your bowel also nourishes hair, skin, nails. It’s important that whatever you use it is clean. When I was younger I used mostly products from Farmaesthetics. I used their oils, exfoliators and cleansers. Now I use argan oil after visiting Morocco. My skin loves it. I use the Herbal Face Food serum, argan oil and then a day cream because I am older. Before that combo would have been too heavy. Plus I am frequently in the water and sun and it’s my happy place so I am super careful about nourishing my skin.

I do use sunscreen. 100% clean of course. My favorite is from Grown Alchemist. It is like no sunscreen I’ve ever used. It is rich, creamy, delicious, goes on so smooth and blends in easily. It does not leave a heavy white residue making you look like a ghost instead of a bronzed goddess! It works, feels great and nourishes my skin. What’s not to like? They have a nice selection of other products too but I have no direct experience of those. If they are anything like the sunscreen they are wonderful!

There is also another line that I watched one of my clients transform her skin with. She uses the products from Body Deli. Her skin went from good to out of this world! Again, I have no personal experience of them but what a transformation for my friend!

I’m sorry I don’t mean to sound like an ad. This is the easiest way for me to answer questions about my skin. How rude if I didn’t include links.

In my book I talk about Credo. Credo is a clean cosmetics store. I’ve been a fan since visiting their store in San Francisco. They have clean EVERYTHING-skincare, makeup, perfume, lotions, potions, all high quality and effective. Of course, like everything I’m a fan of some products more than others. What works on my skin might not work on yours (except herbal face food, as far as I can tell it’s magic for everyone who uses it). Credo is a great place to really get a feel of what is available in the marketplace. Their makeup colors are simply amazing!

Aside from the products you use, the nutrients in your food certainly affect your skin, both in integrity and appearance. Amino acids are the building blocks for your body. They help maintain skin hydration, resilience and appearance. Eating a diet rich in amino acid containing foods can do wonders for your skin.

Mushrooms contain 17 amino acids. Fish and quinoa are also high in amino acids. However most seeds have amino acids and good fats along with fiber to assist bowel movements. Turkey and beans are high in amino acids too. Eating a diet high in vegetables and high quality proteins (vegan or not) will provide a good cross section of amino acids to help nourish your skin, hair, nails helping you glow from the inside out!

It’s also important to look at what you consume that causes dehydration. Our bodies are 90% WATER!!! If you are dehydrated then how can your skin glow? Get the hydrating liquids in and avoid the dehydrators like too much coffee or caffeine containing teas. Instead opt for nourishing healing teas like licorice (which also nourishes your adrenals as well as helps repair ulceration), ashwagandha which nourishes those adrenals too and provides hormone support. Ginger tea for stimulating digestion and peppermint for soothing. Tumeric based teas to lessen inflammation and aid weight loss. Use herbal supplements to make non alcoholic drinks. Be sure to watch out for an upcoming guest blog on mocktails and a different blog on ways to up your hydration.

FAST FOOD

LIVE YOUR BEST LIFE!

Octopus Salad

Canelli Bean Salad

You’re working to change your diet but you’re not sure what to eat when. You need something flexible and fast for your life on the move. HELP!  Managing your food can be one of the biggest hurdles to getting your health and life back on track so that one can lead a full and active life. 

 Below I’m going to give you some examples of items you can make and take with you or create in a pinch.  Try them and see what works for you.

 I love canelli beans. The flavor and texture work for me.  They are the easiest bean for me to digest. You can of course buy them and cook them in a crockpot if you have time. However, in this post we are operating on no time. There are canned canelli beans but those are usually in aluminum cans so not ideal. You could cook and can in jars if you have time. In wholefoods I found canelli beans packed in brine. I can’t tell you how happy this made me.  I make a canelli bean “salad”.  I take a package of canelli beans, extra virgin olive oil, chunky French sea salt, a diced tomato, handful of basil and air fried zucchini and mix it together.  The meal gives you fiber, fat and protein.  It is blood sugar stable and taste DELICIOUS!!! Let’s not forget that the bean family is full of resistant starch which promotes good digestive health and feeds your micorbiome! Resistant starches increase butyrate in your bowel.

The company I order canelli beans in brine from is auga organics. They are organic, sustainable, chemical free and eco-friendly! They have an entire selection of clean foods that could easily be your fast food, especially if you don’t cook. Here is the canelli bean salad photo. You can find the recipe by clicking this link or going to the recipe section of this website.

 Of course there is the smoothie option for on the go. One of my favorites is a raspberry and pineapple green smoothie.

What about those pre grated organic carrots you see in the grocery?  I make a carrot salad with pumpkin seeds, cilantro and honey mustard dressing.  Blood sugar stable, fiber, fat, filling.  You could easily add sardines or mackerel or a piece of steamed or grilled salmon to make it more filling.

 Working on gut healing? Put that hot bone broth in a thermos with some miracle noodles and bok choy, grated carrots and cilantro and you have a healing, nurturing meal. You can find any excuse you like not to find new ways so you can be successful in changing your diet or you can find any way you need to adapt to feel better.  The choice is up to you.

 I’ve learned over the years that so many people don’t have basic cooking skills. There are a few kitchen items that will really enhance your life. Those are a blender which doesn’t need to be fancy, it just needs to work properly. A food processor because it makes life easier. An air fryer because oh my god how did I ever live without it?  Honestly the best thing for quick vegetables. Mine is 100% not fancy. I bought it in Marshalls for $40. It’s slow but it works.  I’m sure I will upgrade soon. I also have an electric skillet from saladmaster (all my cookware is Saladmaster as it is toxin free and 100% the cleanest cookware one can purchase).  When I need to cook and work I throw things in the skillet and work as it cooks. Today I boiled an octopus and then potatoes in the electric skillet. Normally I would grill the octopus after boiling but I was hungry so ate it boiled in a salad (see photo). 

There’s the one pot wonder of crock pots or fermenting foods if that feels good in your body. There is something delicious about fermented vegetables in a salad. Those are a sometimes for me and rarely do I ferment my own vegetables because too much of it just doesn’t feel good.

 All I’m trying to tell you here is that there are foods you can make quick and with ease that are actually good for you and assist your bowel movements.  I’ve never eaten octopus that doesn’t’ produce extra bowel movements the next day.  By nature, it has a gelatinous texture and if you leave it in the fridge with some water then it gels. That will 100% help move your bowel!

 Increasing your vegetables and making sure you eat plenty of nurturing foods will really change how you feel!

 If you’re looking for meal inspiration for a particular food item then message me and tell me the types of flavors you prefer and I will post on social media an idea for you in the following days.  If you include your Instagram page I will tag you to make sure you see it. Follow the RELEASE Instagram page and the xsmena one too (although the xsmena page has all kinds of everything on it-fyi).

 If you’re interested in a 1/1 retreat reach out.  I’m offering these and would love to hear from you. Tell me what you are looking for and I will see if we are a fit. I do not have set agendas. It is purely based on you and if I’m able to offer what you need. You will be fed healthy meals prepared by me that you can also learn to cook yourself, exercise in nature, mediation, healing exercises based on you, reiki, tarot, personal time to digest it all, quiet time. It will flow instead of being stressed out by a schedule.  These are things that will be discussed in advance.  I’m not interested in offering you something that does not support you in ways you need. It could be that I am not your person right now. That’s why I say reach out. I refer you elsewhere if we are not really a fit. The number of days is flexible but honestly around 3 is ideal so it’s not overwhelming. Send me a message through the contact page or email me at xsmena@gmail.com and be sure to say RETREAT in the subject so I don’t miss it!  In the future I may offer group retreats too if there is enough interest.  If you have a small group you would like to organize a retreat for then that can be arranged.

How life goes...

All too often I hear my clients say to me how disappointed they are with how life has turned out for them.  I always am careful to remind them that fairy tales exist only in books!  While from the outside it may look as though many have charmed lives and do indeed live an outwardly facing fairytale life I'm here to tell you this EVERYONE IN LIFE HAS SOMETHING!  NO ONE ESCAPES WITHOUT CHALLENGES (which we frequently refer to as the "bad", which is merely a challenge, some more challenging than others)!  If you are going to live a full life then you are going to need to grow and if you don't have challenges then how can you grow???  If every relationship worked then we would have very few and then miss out on the fullness of experiences of different people-be they friends, lovers, co-workers.  Through all the challenges life has presented me I've learned to embrace them.  Don't believe this was always easy and I can assure you it's an ongoing practice that ultimately is one of the most fulfilling journeys one can experience!  Everyday I have the priviledge of helping my family, clients, friends and myself look at life in new ways.  One of the best quotes ever that I reminded myself of everyday (I even had it taped to my wall so I had a constant reminder is from the late Dr. Wayne Dyer) for an entire year is this:  WHEN WE CHANGE THE WAY WE LOOK AT THINGS THE THINGS WE LOOK AT CHANGE!  Perhaps the truest words ever spoken. It doesn't matter what it is, we have a choice and I attest that in my own life this has been true.  I had to work on forgiveness yet what I discovered is that in the end it was how I viewed any incidence that made the biggest difference, more than forgiveness.

I was recently at the Chopra Center in Carlsbad for a retreat/workshop and Deepak stated that forgiveness is unnecessary as ultimately there is nothing to forgive.  A few years ago I would've taken offense to this statement but now I understand it.  However, arriving at this place of understanding did not happen overnight nor was it easy.  We all start from different places, circumstances and understandings.  What is important is to start where you are-meet yourself in a place that works for you!  If that begins with forgiveness then that is where one begins.  What I did discover along my journey is that more than anyone else I needed to forgive myself.  No matter what I needed to forgive then it had to start with me-forgive myself for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, for not seeing a bigger picture, for not being a better person and also understanding that I was doing the best I could, whatever that was.  When we forgive ourselves then it frees up that energy inside us to offer that same forgiveness up to others.  This may seem like the long road to arrive at the short cut but the truth is we are where we are and if forgiveness feels like the path to freedom then that is the path one takes.  The understanding that ultimately there is nothing to forgive is sometimes beyond our comprehension!  What one seeks is freedom inside and the ability to love oneself completely with all our pecularities-whatever those may be and we all have them!

What does it mean to love oneself?  Interesting question/contemplation isn't it?  To some the idea that one could love themself first and above all others seems like some kind of self-absorbed sickness whereas in reality the opposite is true.  For some, loving another takes the attention away from self but tell me HOW CAN ONE REALLY LOVE ANOTHER UNCONDITIONALLY IF THEY CAN NOT EMBRACE THE SAME IN THEMSELF???  I was once told I was selfish for wanting to be happy!  Really?  Tell me, should I farm my responsibility for my own happiness out to someone else or to the ideas of the greater world at large?  Then do I have a right to go around wondering why I am miserable and can't find happiness in "stuff"?  Yet so many people do this.  I can assure you happiness does not come from "stuff"!  There is nothing wrong with enjoying "stuff" but deep all encompassing happiness and joy only has one source and that is the Self, arrived at via the deeper journey into Self.  I see people post on FB about doctors this and doctors that but no one can "fix" or cure a polluted body or mind.  You can farm that responsibility out but you will never truly be free of what ails you until you personally begin to clear out your mental, emotional, physical and spiritual bodies.  As you do so you will slowly begin to discover that so much of what wasn't working was inside of you and of your creation!  A hard pill to swallow that one and I know because I had to take a few myself!  It's still a journey I'm on!  Emotions stuck inside us become toxic, the same as physical toxins!  I had one client in 11 years who wrote or called (actually had someone else call) to say that colonics were not working for them and request a refund.  I was shocked because the last conversation I had with this person was that they were starting to feel a little better and overall I was encouraged that they might actually come out the other side of hiding.  Then the next day I get this request.  I was floored, flabbergasted and confused until I realized that this particular person was not ready to let go of whatever dynamic they were holding onto and it was a complex, entangled situation! Ultimately they "blamed" everything on everyone else yet the true issue was inside of them.   I and any other person one may ever seek help from is exactly that, HELP!  We are all helpers, quides and ultimately whatever we do in life it is up to us and us alone-no one else can take responsibility for our lives, no one else can forgive or even realize there is nothing to forgive.  It is ultimately a solo journey back to self where we enjoy the priviledge of helpers.

Back to the fairy tale.  The fairy tale is inside you!  We can not change the past, those are moments in time, yet we can release ourselves from whatever those moments delivered!  We are not defined by our experiences (hard to understand when physical life is made of experiences and in day to day life we are often valued for our experiences or devalued by others for a lack of them but those are issues belonging to the valuer and not anything we need to be defined by).  What really matters is our relationship to ourself and what we can offer up to/for/in the world! My work over the last 11 years has not brought me financial fortune yet it has given me a purpose and a joy that I have never felt in any other way.  The joy of helping others via the journey of helping myself has been one of the most rewarding experiences of life!  It's my intention now, after years of hiding my voice, to reach out and be able to touch hundreds of millions of people on an ongoing basis instead of one at a time, to help elevate as many people as I can.  I do not have all the answers and ultimately our individual answers come from inside anyway but if I can help open a door that allows a deeper access to what's inside then I am all yours.  Please email any specific questions you may have or would like to address and I will do my best to help you or direct you to places or teachers/guides who are better suited to where you currently are.  We all come from different places but what is important is that you start somewhere and the only choice one has is to start wherever we are to release the idea of a fairytale and begin to find joy and happiness in our life everyday!  With my transformation coaching clients I give them homework, actually with all my clients I give them homework.  What homework are you going to take on today?  When we free ourselves then we are truly free in the deepest way and then we discover life is a fairytale of our making, no matter what happens we have a choice in how we look at it-just like Wayne Dyer said.

With much love