I have a non-food related post for you today. The last thing I want to do is make you feel like I’m here to sell you something and I hope you know that by now. What I do want you to know is that my goal is to tell you all the things no one ever told me – or at least not for the first 35 years of my life. This lack of information left me very, very sick. I have a disease which doctors told me would leave me in and out of hospitals, enduring multiple surgeries and relying on extremely dangerous drugs for the rest of my life. Instead, I found the paleo diet, which is really more a lifestyle than a diet, and am now living a healthy and vibrant life. That’s the message I want to share.

When I first met my functional medicine doctor, I thought I would know most of what he was going to tell me because I was already following the paleo diet. However, much to my surprise, we spent a lot of time NOT talking about diet. He taught me how to choose safer kitchen equipment, how to filter my water, improve my sleep, change my shampoo, toothpaste, soap, etc. My head was spinning for a good long while. But three years later, I’ve made all of the changes he suggested. One of those changes was to all of my beauty products. To be honest, it takes a pretty big financial investment to make these switches, especially for a coupon clipper who was used to getting most beauty products for FREE! I had enough free Colgate to last a lifetime!

Through this process of overhauling every product that went on or in my body, I learned about BeautyCounter. This is a company whose mission is to use safer ingredients that do not compromise performance. BeautyCounter has a presence in Washington, fighting for legislation that will bring stronger regulation to an industry where currently there is very little. BeautyCounter currently bans over 1,500 ingredients from their products. Our government bans 30!  BUT – if the products didn’t perform, I would not be interested. I don’t need anything making my wrinkles more pronounced!

As I debated becoming a consultant for BeautyCounter, one of the things that pushed me over the edge was thinking about my kids and their future. They already have such a head start based on how I feed them. What they do with their diet when they leave my house is entirely up to them, but already they recognize how well they feel when they eat at home compared with the stomach upset and sluggishness that invariably follows a restaurant meal. So I’m pretty proud of how I’m teaching them to make better food decisions. BeautyCounter is working on a teen line of products and that has me super excited (they already have a baby care and kids line). I want my children to have a head start in this area of personal care products as well. If they grow up using these safer products, I think they are much more likely to continue using them the rest of their lives. BeautyCounter does have a mens line as well, but my husband has zero interest in using any “products.” Ha! I’m working on him. Some people are just a tough sell.

Being a salesperson of any kind was never something I would seek out, but I feel so strongly about the integrity of this company and the quality of their products that I made the decision to sign on as a consultant. If you’ve never heard of BeautyCounter, or safer beauty products in general, I’d love to chat sometime or meet one-on-one and let you try out the products for yourself. I’ll be hosting a couple launch parties for my business in January and I’ll post those dates when I have them. If you’ve been thinking about overhauling your makeup drawer, January is a great time. Of course, there’s no time like the present! So if you want to jump in and learn about BeautyCounter right now, let me know and we’ll find a time to talk!

Never fear, I will continue to create and post paleo recipes on the blog and instructional videos on YouTube. Bottom line, my goal is to help you in your quest for a healthier, more vibrant life. In fact, I’m just about to begin my training with the Functional Medicine Coaching Academy so that I can work as a functional medicine health coach. My hope and prayer is that, as a health coach, I can help more people make a lasting change to their health and well-being. Clearly, I am crazy to take on so much at one time! I hope that shows you how passionate I am about this message.

Regarding BeautyCounter, if you want to make your skin care/beauty routine a part of your healthier life, I’d love to help. You can find my BeautyCounter website here.  Or you can always send me a message through the blog or any of my social media channels, linked at the top of this page.

Never fear, I will be back to the regularly scheduled programming of Christmas cookies very soon!