Guest Post: Allison @ Food For Healing

Today’s post comes from one of my besties, Allison. I am so happy that she will be taking over the blog for the day with yummy recipes and ideas for good snacking on the go!

Hey! It’s Allison from Food for Healing. I write about a few things on my blog; food, some fitness and whatever life throws at me.

Whitney was looking for some guest posts to fill in some time while she was away camping, and of course since we are biggest loser besties, I had to write a guest post!

Since she is going on a camping trip, I figured what better post to do other than camping/backpacking/hiking snacks. I plan on doing some backpacking and some camping this summer myself.

These snacks are easy to make, stow away nicely in your bag and are delicious!

First up is Trail mix. Trail mix is one of the easiest things you can create yourself at home, you don’t need any special kitchen tools or gadgets.

Here’s the mix I made up:

-Almonds

-Dried Cranberries

-Raisins

-Sunflower Seeds

-Pepitas (pumpkin seeds)

-Chocolate covered sunflower seeds

Next up is another simple snack, but you do need a food processor.

Date Brownie Bar

-1 cup almonds

-10 pitted dates

-approximately 1 tbsp cocoa powder (or to taste)

-1/3 cup mini chocolate chips

Process almonds until finely chopped, don’t process too long or it will start turning into butter.

Add your pitted dates and cocoa and process until well combined.

Roll out and mix in chocolate chips.

Make any shape or size you wish!

Other great dehydrated snacks are dried apple rings

fruit leather, which can be made in soo many different flavours!

mango slices

And another great little treat, dark chocolate covered coffee beans (bought in bulk)

What type of snacks do you like to bring when you go camping or backpacking?

Thank you so much for reading, and thank you Whitney for having me be a guest poster on your amazing blog!

xoxo

Allison

Guest Post: Jessica @ In My Healthy Opinion

Hi bloggings!

Today’s post is from my friend Jess over at In my Healthy Opinion. I was so excited when we picked this topic for her to discuss on my blog! Natural products are so important for our bodies. But, I’ll leave that up to Jess to explain:

Hello, Vegansunshine readers!  My name is Jess, and I blog over at In My Healthy Opinion.  I’m a vegan, lover of exercise, and my blog focuses on living a healthy life with people I love the most.

 

I’m so happy to be writing on Whitney’s blog today!  Vegansunshine is such a great blog; it’s full of great vegan recipe ideas and interesting tidbits about Whitney’s life (I especially love the Farmer’s Market recaps!).

Shortly after becoming vegan, I looked more into the products (beauty, household cleaning, etc.) I was using.  A lot of the information about eating for our planet/environment also discusses the importance of using natural products.  In using the natural stuff, you help the planet while avoiding toxic and harmful ingredients.  This is a hot topic lately, and one that’s still being heavily researched.

Since I’ve been learning a lot about natural products lately, I would like to share some tips/reasons why they’re important to use in our daily life.

• You Are What You Wear:  I recently read Kris Carr’s Crazy Sexy Diet, and she says that if you wouldn’t eat or drink your lotion/oil you put on your skin, why would you slather it all over yourself?  Chemicals travel through your blood, and what’s put ON your body is absorbed into the body’s largest organ – the skin.  Make sure it’s as free from chemicals as possible.

 

[source]

Lately I’ve been using coconut oil on my face and body for moisture and skin care.  It’s supposedly really good for that; I’m still trying it out!

 

• Diet:  We take so much time to eat right and exercise, but it’s almost cancelled out if we’re using harsh, chemical-filled beauty products.  When we don’t know the ingredients in food, it’s mostly best to avoid it.  Treat your skin like you would your diet – be selective and only use what’s natural!

• Go To the Source: The Skin Deep Cosmetic Database is a great source to find out if your current products are okay.  The site gives each product a ranking, and then lists the not-so-good ingredients, as well as the ones that are pretty harmless.

 

These are just a few of the beauty products I’ve been using – Gabriel powder, Alba chapstick, Physician’s Formula mascara.

 

• Just a Few:  Non-natural products can be anything from simple irritants to possibly being carcinogenic.  Here are just a few of the main ingredients to avoid in products: Sodium Lauryl/Laureth Sulfate (often used in shampoos), Petrolatum, Methyl, Propyl, Butyl and Ethyl Parabens, Synthetic Colors and Fragrances, Propylene Glycol, among many more.  Visit this link of the 10 Toxic Cosmetic Ingredients to Avoid for more.

It’s really important to just be aware – not only what you eat/do/think, but also what you use on your skin and in your house.  The average person uses over 20+ products on a daily basis, and it does add up and make an impact on our health.  All of this isn’t’ meant to scare you, but just inform you of another positive thing you can do for your well-being.  Obsessing over every single ingredient isn’t necessary – just try to make some better choices here and there to create a more natural lifestyle!

 

Some of our natural cleaning products from Seventh Generation.

Thank you for reading!  If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at Jessica@inmyhealthyopinion.com.  Thanks so much for having me, Whitney! J

 

WIAW week {26}

Hi guys! Happy Wednesday. Hope everyone is having a great week! Mine is pretty busy, as usual. Just catching up on some sleep, baking, school stuff, and experiencing a massive heat wave! I love the sun but when I don’t have time to go swimming or lay out by a pool, a heat wave is slightly annoying! But I’m not complaining, I’d pick a heat wave over a snow storm any day.

So here we are, another weekly WIAW, my favorite time of the week for blogging! Jenn does such a great job hosting the link parties each week, I love the post WIAW blog stalking, so start your own WIAW post today and be sure to link up to the party!

Breakfast

Tofu scramb, whole wheat chocolate chunk scone, a 3 pound bag of the ‘stashies.

Just joking, but seriously, look at how many I ate in the last 4 days! At least half the bag.

Lunch

Bean burrito, nothing too fancy.

Snackage

Peach donut? Enough said.

I’ve never seen these before but they were pretty good. The inside is white and hard like a peach, but I like my peaches mushy! I’ve also squeezed in a green smoothie for a snack too, perfect for this heat wave.

Dinner

Yellow zucchini (not yellow squash!) mixed with artichokes and a few seasoning made my the chef boyfriend. He also made me a kick butt tempeh BBQ sammich that was sooo yummy!

Favor

Scott and I are taking our yearly camping vacation out in the middle of no where with no phone, internet, or cable action. I am really looking forward to being “unplugged” for a week, however, I will still keep up on posting with scheduled posts. I know it is still a little over a week away, but I would really like some guest postage while I’m gone! If you are interested in doing a guest post for me (not until July 30th) please please please contact me at whitney10@comcast.net or just comment below and we can discuss topics. 🙂

Thank you! ♥

Following your Dreams

Hey hey!

Just to let you know, today I will be over at jess’s blog writing a guest post on how to follow your dreams! Be sure to check it out!

& Have a great day!