5 New Things I Love
Maybe you'll find something you love, too!
#1 Iced Dandyblend Latte
Every night after dinner, my husband and I go through the same ritual. We finish eating and one of us asks, “Should I heat some water for a Dandyblend?” The answer is always YES! And we laugh, wondering why we even have this conversation.
Well, the other night after a hot summer day, I broke our routine: instead of heating water, I made an iced Dandyblend latte. Here’s what you need:
1 pint glass jar
1 heaping Tablespoon Dandyblend
½ pint water
Ice
Grab your glass jar. Put the Dandyblend in. Fill it halfway with room temperature water. Add vanilla. Stir. Fill it with ice, leaving a generous amount of room for the creamer which you shall now pour. After you admire the swirls of cream, stir again. Sit back and savor the moment.
For those of you not familiar with Dandyblend, this is sold as an herbal coffee substitute. Now, does anything besides coffee taste like coffee? NO! But you can come close with a dark, brown, bitter combination of herbs. Dandyblend uses water soluble extracts of roasted barley, rye, chicory root, dandelion root, and beetroot (yes, it is gluten free). And while I enjoy both the energy boost and calming effect of Reishi Roastand Rasa Koffee, those require more preparation in terms of using a French Press or decocting (plus, I drink one of those in the morning so I need something different at night – ha). Dandyblend immediately dissolves into water and while you won’t get any mood altering effects or stress support like you do with the previously mentioned mushroom beverages, your liver and digestion loves the dark, bitter beverage that Dandyblend offers.
*A note about the nut milk creamer: now, that my sensitivity to coconut has returned, I’ve replaced it with macadamia nuts. It’s an expensive shift in my creamer, but damn, it’s good! Obviously, you can buy a nut milk creamer at the store, I just haven’t found one worth the container it comes in. And if you can consume dairy, then just use regular cream (try to find raw cream directly from the farmer, if you can.)
#2 The Great Hack
Ok, so now you have a wonderful beverage to make while you watch this new documentary on Netflix: The Great Hack. I’m not gonna tell you what it’s about; Netflix can do that. What I’m going to say is this: everything that we create in this world exists because we allow it. Money and attention make the world go fucking round and round. Therefore, where you spend your money and your time illustrates what you support.
Up until this point, I had mostly been focused on the food supply…
I don’t eat at fast food, drink sodas with high fructose corn syrup, or eat Ding Dongs and Twinkies because I wish this shit didn’t exist! It hurts people. And if I buy these items, then I am effectively saying, “That’s cool. No problem here!”
Folks, we have lots of problems, and one of them is called Facebook. I’m not saying that social media doesn’t have benefits, what I’m saying is that it’s not fucking worth our humanity.
Your individual decisions are bigger than you. Just like the trillions of cells in your body create you, each one of us contributes to our culture. At any given time we have LOTS of blind spots, but every single morning we can open our eyes a bit wider and we can do better, right? We don’t have to ask Facebook to change. All you need to do is delete your account and stop participating in this absolute disaster.
Don’t want to watch a movie? That’s fine. Check out this Ted Talk from one of the journalists featured in the movie. She is a rockstar.
Speaking of making change, I read this book in a matter of days. I simply couldn’t put it down. First, it’s written by a woman – yay for that, especially considering the topic. And she’s a woman I love. I heard her speak about fertility many years ago at a conference, and it appears that her career took a sharp turn when she began suffering from flicker sensitivity. Second, she states at the beginning of the book that she’s going to make mistakes and that this is an on-going conversation. Reading this book, gives you a seat at the roundtable.
I really appreciate that she addresses the impact of electrosmog not only from a health perspective, but also from an environmental one. Without bees we are nothing! Many animals (including us) use the magnetic field of the earth to navigate; these technologies are disrupting that. Monsanto’s Round Up Ready isn’t the only assault to bees.
And the stories that she includes written directly from the people affected by this issue are incredibly compelling. Just don’t expect the book to read like a story; it is chunks of information and with each page I turned, I wondered, “What will she say next?” Bravo.
Shifting gears to one of my favorite things on this earth, SLEEP! I bought this a while back, not knowing if I would use it. Cuz you know how it goes? Many of these health gadgets can end up in a closet or the garage, wasting away. This, however, isn’t one of them. The sleep crown has become a sacred object in my bed. It is so so so so soft. Our home in Colorado has a ton of windows which is fantastic until morning comes or you want to take a nap. I simply tuck this around my eyes and ears and drift off into the cozy land of rest. If light and sound are an issue for you, definitely check this out.
So here I am last night tossing and turning in bed. I’m still experiencing jet lag, along with a return to the stress of my life after such a nice vacation and an air conditioner that’s not working (right now Colorado is HOT), and the most annoying thing ever: restless legs. Have I been formally diagnosed with such a condition? No. It’s how I would describe what I feel. My legs ache, I can’t get comfortable and I squirm. It sucks.
[For those of you who are health professionals reading this. I am not anemic. I could investigate a bit more into my mineral balance but I do take magnesium. I have found that Vascular Care Complex from MediHerb is extremely helpful for addressing venous stagnation, which I think set in after pregnancy. Those herbs have been my best bet yet…as well as the weighted blanket.]
I digress...
Back to last night, I eventually got up, grabbed my weighted blanket, put my fluffy sleep crown on and drifted off.
Bottom line: I would recommend a weighted blanket for anyone who suffers from anxiety, restlessness, and could use a boost in serotonin. If you like massage and the feeling of weight on your body, I’d consider it. This is the one I purchased.
That’s all for now. Thanks for being here and “see” ya next week.
Shop in peace, my friends!
Love,
Charlotte