If you’re reading this blog, chances are you already know the importance of using natural products on your skin. Whatever goes on your body goes into your body, so it makes sense that if you’re eating naturally you’ll want to eliminate as many chemicals as possible from the outside in, as well as the inside out. This is a quick guide to some of the natural alternatives I’ve found.
Around the Home
Bicarbonate of Soda
Laundry
Soap Nuts
Personal Hygiene
ToothSoap ToothShreds
Skincare
Raw Gaia
Cosmetics
Can natural cosmetics do this?
Further Reading
Summary: This is a great use for the pulp left over from juicing carrots. The original recipe can be found in Jeremy Safron’s book ‘The Raw Truth’; I’ve adapted it here. Makes a large cake – pictured is an individual portion, not the whole thing! Really tasty and filling, and not excessively sweet.
Preparation time: 20 mins
Number of servings: 12 (makes a big cake!)
Meal type: dessert
Lily Mouse
Okay, so animals can’t eat chocolate, even if it is raw. But they can definitely eat raw food. And given that raw food is a wonderful health insurer in this world where pets are now as cancer and disease-ridden as people, the Rawr mice have been going raw!
Houdini, Lily and Daisy made their way to the Rawr fold from Wood Green Animal Shelters back at Easter. For the first couple of months, they ate the traditional mouse diet: pre-packed, additive-filled, heat-treated hamster or gerbil mix, from which they’d pick the tastiest bits (generally the seeds and anything that looked alive). But then I thought – why am I, knowing all about raw food, feeding my cancer-prone mice this most unnatural, dead diet?
Having done my research, the mouse trio now eat nothing but natural food, and nothing but raw. They love it. On a daily basis they get raw oats, buckwheat, quinoa, alfalfa seeds (they like them sprouted too!), rye, pot barley, millet seed, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, flax seeds and green lentils. For an occasional treat they also get hemp seeds, a whole almond, or to lick raw coconut butter from my fingers! And every other day they get a selection of the organic veggies we have in the fridge – the clever things know to eat their dark greens and especially love spinach, kale and calvolo nero, while not being too bothered by anything sweet like fruit. When it’s not too wet out I’ll pick them a box of fresh grass and dandelions – they love the dandelion flowers.
My trio are flourishing on this diet, and it’s proven to me just how great natural eating is. The mice seem to instinctively know what’s good for them, and I think people would too if their bodies weren’t so thrown out of balance by refined sugar, over-processed foods, and all the rest. Eating this way and living in a chemical-free environment, hopefully Houdini, Lily and Daisy will live their mouse lives free of the diseases which catch so many of their pet friends.
p.s. Note to Environmental Health and landlords! Much as I loved ‘Ratatouille’, mice and chocolates are kept in quite different houses, so there is no danger of a reenactment.
Raw Chocolate Crispy Cake
Summary: Raw chocolate crispy cakes, with not a cornflake in sight! Truly delicious.
Preparation time: 25 minutes
Number of servings: 9
Carob Coconut Balls
Summary: A yummy, sweet and salty dessert. This recipe makes 4 balls, which is enough for 2 people at one sitting, but you’ll probably want to make at least double as it won’t be long before you’ll be wanting more!
Ingredients
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Number of servings: 2