Please keep in mind we are not nutritionist or doctors. We recommend checking in with your doctor before making any changes to your diet and exercise routine. Most of our information is based upon our own experiences and research, although we do hope you keep an open mind.
Glad to see everyone has been getting inspiration from our recipes ; ) And thanks to everyone who gave us some ideas for our Saturday breakfast We appreciate the great ideas.
The nice people over CSN kids furniture is offering a giveaway on the Swaddle Designs Organic Ultimate Receiving Blanket, just like the one we received. Here is a little more info about the blanket: It is Certified Organic Cotton and was designed by a registered nurse and mother of two young children. Beautifully soft, the GOTS certified organic cotton is processed and preshrunk in earth friendly ways. No unnatural chemicals, pesticides or insecticides are used.
A great gift to giveaway to someone who is expecting or has little ones already. We love how it is made out of organic material ; ) And it is so soft!!
The giveaway will go onto till this Saturday. We will announce the winner on Sunday.
Rules:
Leave a comment below
Bonus – link our giveaway to your blog.
Well now onto our eats. As you all know we have been trying to keep things simple and clean over here. We were doing good up till yesterday. sigh
Lori and I were in the kitchen practicing new recipes, so we had to sample them ; ) But other than that we stuck to our greens and fruit based food plan, but did add in hemp seeds the other day. Boy have I missed those!! Hemp seeds is the first thing we have really added back into our diet to see how we do. So far so good!
First up was a raspberry blueberry smoothie for our post workout drink with hemp seeds and kale.
Simple and delicious! Though we have come to realize we really do not like berries in our green smoothies we prefer apples or grapefruit!How about you? Do you like berries in your green smoothies or do you prefer other fruits? What is your favorite fruit for your green smoothies?
Second smoothie for the day was a simple basil parsley apple smoothie
Perfect with a little lemon and stevia!
Our dinner a few nights ago was a glorious salad with sauerkraut on top. Another thing we decided to add back into our food plan to see how we do! And our tummies have been very happy with this addition!!!
Topped the salad with red onions and dulse flakes and lemon juice.
Our eats for yesterday were pretty similar with a few changes
A beautiful ‘green’ green smoothie just the way we like it This one was filled with grapefruit, swiss chard, stevia and fresh ginger!
And we had a red beauty juice for lunch
Juice was beets, carrots, celery, beet tops, romaine, and green onion. Lovely! Later made another green smoothie and a large salad for dinner.
I was doing some more research on hormones and acne lately trying to figure things out. Lori and I have been talking it over and we still feel majority of our breakouts are still hormonal and stress related and not so much the food we are eating because we are eating a very CLEAN diet. But we do believe some of our breakouts are related to our eats especially when we eat a little too much sugar, not enough water, etc than that causes some flare-ups.
We are both learning each day though still a struggle. Both of us are just trying now to take one day at a time and really just enjoy life now no matter what. It is hard but we feel having a positive attitude will only benefit us more
Well, that is the quick update on how we are doing. I hope everyone is having a glorious day!
We wanted to give you an update on the kraut we made with you all last week.
Check out this quick video:
Raw sauerkraut is easy to, just make sure to keep the liquid above the kraut. When done just transfer kraut to smaller containers and enjoy at your leisurely. Store in fridge.
Update on how we are doing:
Lori had another breakout last week, got a little depressed again, but things are turning up again. We are starting to keep a food journal, finally! We have been doing it for a week, so we will keep you updated on that as once we start to see patterns. Mainly we have been keeping track of our fat and fiber and our water intake. Also when we eat things and when we workout. You may be thinking, I did not think raw foodist cared about calories and stuff. Well this is true but for us to really understand what is going on with each of our own bodies, we want to see what works and what does not. Food journal is the best way to find results for us.
Although our schedule varies everyday so it is hard to keep a routine, but we are trying to find our routine that works for us. Hormones seem to be better for both of us, as least emotional wise, but Lori still has not gotten her period. Michelle will know if she gets her period again next week, so we will let you all know.
Hope everyone is doing good with your hormones and such.
We have to remind ourselves everyday that this is a journey and our body takes time to heal. Stay positive! ; )
But to end on a positive note as we mentioned yesterday we are running a St. Patty’s Day special starting today till Wednesday, so get your orders in!! Our online store has been updated with our specials (our green line is on sale plus some new items for a limited time) and new t-shirts are available, $5 off!!!! The shirts are very high quality, custom designed, some our organic cotton and some our made out of bamboo!!! One of a kind ; ) And you do not have to a raw foodie or vegan to wear these shirts. The shirts are made for anyone looking for a high quality shirts that do good for the planet!! Also the shirts can be translated into your own personal meaning, for instance the Raw t-shirt could mean you enjoy things in the raw, pure state, no bulls**t, so to speak. It does not necessarily only mean raw foods, but it can if that is what you want it to mean. So have fun shopping!!!
Note: the shirts are women sizes again, run a little big.
We have had a busy day…farmers market then had a meeting all afternoon.
Hope everyone has a great Saturday everyone!!
And good luck to our sister tomorrow in her race!! She is running in the Disney Princess Half Marathon. She begged us to do it, but we just could not leave work! ; (
Lori and I are so happy to hear that everyone has been enjoying our last two post on hormones. If you missed them, please check them out and let us know your thoughts.
Today we are showing you all a video of what products we currently use to wash and take care of our face. I say currently, well because we are always trying new things, plus as we grow are skin changes too, so are products might change.
As you all know Lori and I have troubled skin, and lately Lori has been dealing with acne due to going off birth control. As for me, I have dealt with it for many many years, and remember we are not experts, this is just what we do and it works for us from our personal trial and error : )
Extra Virgin Coconut oil – we love it to wash our faces at night. Does a great job on getting makeup and eye makeup off! And it taste good too : ) Add we add MSM powder and sometimes B-5 powder.
Live Live Bee Yummy Skin Food – is raw and organic. I apologize for my mistake in the video (i was a little nervous), but I was trying to say it is not vegan because it contains honey, but we still love it. It contains honey, honey cappings, bee pollen, propolis, st john’s wort oil, royal jelly, pure water balsam fir needles.
Raw gaia – raw chocolate face pack – we love it because it contains turmeric, plus cocoa powder, sun-dried red clay, and amia fruit.
The Solution – great face lotion and serum all in one. It contains DMAE, Vit A and E, ALA, plus more great ingredients that are wonderful for the face.
Avocate Skincare – love it because it contains just sea salt, avocado, and honey (again not vegan, but a great natural product). We heard about this product through the lovely and beautiful Jenna.
I rather have my skin care product be non-vegan than contain chemicals I cannot pronounce! I like to know that it is safe, natural, and if some happens to run into my mouth it is okay : )
Now we know there are other natural skin care products, but these are what we use and love.
What do you use? What is your must have natural skin care product?
Thank you all for the awesome comments. Sorry for the late post. We know this is a very personal topic, but one we feel needs to be addressed over and over again. A few months ago we briefly mentioned our issues with hormones here.
We hope to address some of the questions we have received, so here is goes.
First, if we were to go back 10 years, we probably would not have taken the pill by knowing what we know now. At that time in our life, we felt we needed it to help control on our flow, PMS, and cramping, but we have learned there are other health issues that can lead to more problems by taking the pill for long periods of time. And for us that is not worth it!
Would you still take the pill knowing about the side effects?
And as some of you pointed out, doctors do not discuss the aftermath of going of the pill. Our oldest sister had problems coming off it and our second older sister has a “thing” in her arm (a new device for birth control) that is supposed to monitor her hormones, but ever since she has had it in her, it has only caused her more health problems. Not to blame anyone, I just wanted to throw that our there. We just want everyone to be on the same page so you can make better decisions.
Anyways we have noticed some improvements in our overall health in regards to hormones. As many of you know, we also suffer from severe stomach issues, but as we are realizing it is all related….hormone imbalance, thyroid issues, yeast overgrowth, tiredness, cramping, mental fog, depression, and yes constipation. All our problems are related but can be cured!!!
Now we know everyone is not going to want to change their diet or anything, but we do feel by us eating a more clean diet has helped our body cope better with the changes going on inside us. Remember we were on the pill for many years, so our bodies have to relearn how to regulate everything again. It is not easy!!! But we make little steps each day to help our bodies out.
Are we healed? No! But improving each day!
What do we do??
All of this goes along with the food regimen we mentioned yesterday!
We take Pan d’arco supplment. It is a great supplement to fight of yeast and help balance hormones. We have taken it both in a powder form from Mountain Rose Herbs and liquid form, which is available at any local natural food store. We have felt some benefits of taking this, although we have not been consistent with it, so maybe our results would be better.
We take a daily dosage of maca, coconut oil, pumpkin seeds, and hemp seeds*
*Remember these our best consumed in their RAW natural state.
Now we have just started playing around with some of this, but we will keep you updated.
WHY?
As you all know we love our maca, please check out here for why. Basically it helps balance hormones. Twins intake – 1 tbsp daily, normally in our smoothies.
Coconut oil helps stimulate thyroid (which has been linked to hormones). It helps balance hormones due to increased pregnenolone levels. Pregnenolone is an essential hormone (derived from cholesterol) that is a precursor to progesterone. (Source). Twins intake – 3-4 tbsp daily, we eat in our smoothies, chia puddings, raw desserts, and with our roasted veggies.
Pumpkin seeds is a great source of zinc and b-vitamins, and contain hormone building elements. Many people that have PMS show low levels of zinc and magnesium. Pumpkin seeds also have tryptophan which is an amino acid that helps improves ones mood. Twins intake – normally in the form of pumpkin seed milk or in our Pure2Raw Pumpkin seed crackers.
Hemp Seeds contain GLA (Gamma linolenic acid) which is a type of super omega-6 fatty acid that has powerful anti-inflammatory properties, as well as helps maintain hormone balance. Twins intake – a combination of hemp oil, hemp protein powder, and hemp seeds, about 1-2 tbsp daily.
Sunshine and water are two other natural things that help regulate hormones!! But more importantly you need drink out of glass because plastic can be harmful to you because it can mimic hormones in your body causing glandular imbalance. Just another reason to go green by getting rid of plastic!!
Exercise is another natural way to handle PMS and other hormonal issues. Daily exercise helps regulate hormones, strengthens organs, removes toxins, and lessens PMS symptoms.
Now before trying anything please consult with your doctor because everyone is different, and needs different things.
Some of other natural things to consider is your B-vitamin levels, Vitamin-A, and Vitamin E. All of these vitamins are important to help regulate hormones! Other natural supplements that have been show to help with hormones are:
Agnus castus (vitex) (helps produce more progesterone)
DHEA (helps increase estrogen levels)
Donq quai (helps with cramps)
Milk thistle (helps normalize estrogen levels)
And as we all know controlling your stress is a huge factor to keeping everything balance!!!
Best of luck to you all and together we will get our healthy bodies back!!
We have received a lot of emails and comments in regards to hormones and we wanted to go ahead and address this issue on our blog. We wanted to give you all an update on how our hormones are doing since being off birth control.
Twins Hormonal Story:
We both had been taking birth control pills for 10 tens when we decided to call it quits! It was each of our own personal decision to do it. **Remember it is your own individual choice to take the pill or not because everyone has their own reasons.
Michelle has been off birth control for about 1 year. As she learned more about the ‘natural world of eating’ she decided she wanted all of her life to be more natural and went off the pill. She got off it for her own reasons, she did not want to have to take a pill anymore. She just got tired of putting foreign/fake hormones into her body. Her body was also showing her signs that it was time to re-think the pill. She started to see some of her old symptoms coming back which made her realize that the pill and her body were not getting along any more.
I have been off the pill for about 7 months. I definitely have seen pros and cons from going off the pill. I saw Michelle do it first (she is the guinea pig in our family) and saw how mentally she was loving not being on the pill. Though I did see her downsides like breakouts, emotional ups and downs, etc. Even after seeing her struggles I still wanted to GO OFF THE PILL! And I did!
**Side note – plus both of us still have not had our periods since going off the pill. Michelle has had test done, both nothing showed up. We thought maybe it had to deal with thyroid, but test result came back fine. Both of us were at first alarmed but now have realized it will take time for our body to come back into balance. I mean for 10 years it was on auto-pilot, so to speak!
Now I have been sharing some of my struggles of me ‘going off the pill’ here on the blog. Some symptoms I have been experiencing are emotional ups and downs, acne (this has been the hardest to deal with), change in my energy levels, and depression (another big issue). Remember each person will experience different symptoms. Some people may not experience any of these but yet some people will experience all of them. It just all depends on each person individually. Sorry that we can not be like “yeah you will do fine off the pill, you will see no side effects” because that is just not true. Though, we do feel going off the pill has been a great decision no matter the side effects we are going through because we know our body will eventually get back to normal! Remember healing is a journey!!!!!!!
Ok enough of the side effects let’s get into how we are naturally healing our hormonal imbalance!
Twins Healing Hormonal Imbalance FOOD Plan:
Things that we have been doing to help ‘heal’ our bodies after going off birth control are
eating a high raw diet
drinking green smoothies everyday
incorporate at least 2 fermented foods a day
eat more zinc, vitamin A and E containing foods
make sure we are getting are essential fatty acids
increase our coconut oil intake
drinking clean water (natural spring water and/or reverse osmosis)
have MSM powder
incorporate pumpkin seeds and hemp seeds more into our diet
We have been reading and learning more and more about how to ‘eat’ the right things to help with hormones. Our part 2 post will be more about this and our face care routine. We will provide more natural remedies in our next post too.
And we got an email from a reader,Jessica, who told us about a great online community for hormonal and birth control help and advice that she started up. Please check it out, goingoffbirthcontrolpills.com. Also our friend and counselor, Gena, discussed her thoughts on birth control you can read here.
It is great to see others sharing their experiences because it really helps mentally knowing that you are not the only one with issues!
Please stay tuned for Part 2 of Hormones! We have so much great insight to share with you all.
Well as we mentioned yesterday we have some exciting news! We are doing our first GIVEAWAY!! Yep, you heard us right! Our own giveaway
But first our day started with a lovely gigantic green smoothie ‘un-pictured’ (purple kale, ginger, and bananas). This smoothie we sipped on throughout the morning, so good it really hit the spot for the both of us!
Lunch was cooked amaranth with some warming spices
Warm and delicious! It has been a very long time since we had amaranth it was a nice change.
We tried a few more of these…. before tossing the rest of them
Just wasn’t feeling those.
So we treated ourselves to some hot cocoa which we have made before. Always a crowd pleaser
Dinner was a simple avocado with some red onion and lime juice along side some of this
Twins Workout:
50 minutes of an uphill climb on the treadmill
Walked at 4.0 mph at incline which we started at 10% and ended at 13%
We love this workout because it really works the legs!
Overall our day yesterday was a good day. We even managed to un-pack everything and put everything away!
Now you will be seeing some changes in our food choices over these next few weeks. After talking to a good friend and nutritionist, Gena, she helped me pin point what I need to try next to help with my hormones. Michelle and I have stopped taking birth control about 5 months ago and ever since than we have felt ‘great’ mentally by not taking the pill but our bodies are still adjusting to it.
As many of you know I am going through a real hard time with my skin especially on my face. And Michelle and I have looked over so much information and tried just about everything we thought would help control our hormones and acne. Like reducing our nut intake, increasing our fat (through oils) intake, tried different face products, and even did more yoga. Now, I did see some improvements in my skin and me emotionally though still not close to where I would like to be.
That is when I turned to the lovely Gena to help me! I had so many questions and it was so nice to have someone actually answer my questions! And I had a lot Gena answered every single one with such grace and knowledge. After we discussed a few different things we concluded that I might have some Candida issues.
Therefore, my food options will be different due to following a Candida diet. I will explain it more as we go through it over these next 3 weeks. If anyone is looking for more guidance, want their questions answered, or are just ‘stuck’ with their dietary choices and are not happy than I highly recommend Gena’s services. My favorite thing that Gena said the other day to me was that the body wants to heal itself! That gave me the motivation and confidence that I can heal myself!!! Thanks Gena for your kind words and advice on what I should do next.
I am a big believer of fate and that sometimes certain people come into your life that teach you different things. By being in the blog world I have gotten to meet some amazing people and who all have touched my life in some way. And Gena is definitely one of those extraordinary people.
Ok now for the Twins First Giveaway!
In honor of the Holidays and Twin Cakes Bakery is coming to it’s 2nd year anniversary we are offering a variety pack of some of our top sellers. Everything is gluten free, vegan, soy free, corn free, peanut free, and a few items will be raw.
So what is in the variety pack? One lucky person will be getting a sample of the following items
Raw brownie bites
Raw rosemary cracker
Raw pumpkin kale cracker
Raw collard green fiesta flatbread
Raw spinach flatbread
Chocolate chips cookies
Cranberry orange scone
Lemon blueberry scone
Pumpkin chocolate chip muffin
And our holiday raw gingerbread macaroon
Rules:
1) If you have a blog please link this giveaway to your blog
2) As well as please leave a comment below and why you would like to win this giveaway
3) if you have a twitter account please tweet this post
4) If you do not have a blog, than please let us know if you want to be entered
5) And leave a comment and tell us what you favorite post of ours is
This giveaway will go till December 15th!!!!
If you have any questions please email us at twins at pure2raw.com
Passionate about fitness, nutrition, health, un-baking, high-intensity workouts, yoga, wine, traveling, certified chefs and making delicious food! We hope to inspire others to appreciate food as nourishment to the body.
Our blog shows our journey of finding balance between food, fitness, and life!
We appreciate the great ideas.
Simple and delicious! Though we have come to realize we really do not like berries in our green smoothies we prefer apples or grapefruit! How about you? Do you like berries in your green smoothies or do you prefer other fruits? What is your favorite fruit for your green smoothies?
Perfect with a little lemon and stevia!
A beautiful ‘green’ green smoothie just the way we like it 
Juice was beets, carrots, celery, beet tops, romaine, and green onion. Lovely! Later made another green smoothie and a large salad for dinner.
Coconut oil helps stimulate thyroid (which has been linked to hormones). It helps balance hormones due to increased pregnenolone levels. Pregnenolone is an essential hormone (derived from cholesterol) that is a precursor to progesterone. (
Pumpkin seeds is a great source of zinc and b-vitamins, and contain hormone building elements. Many people that have PMS show low levels of zinc and magnesium. Pumpkin seeds also have tryptophan which is an amino acid that helps improves ones mood. Twins intake – normally in the form of pumpkin seed milk or in our
Warm and delicious! It has been a very long time since we had amaranth it was a nice change.
