Archive for the ‘eco living’ Category

“Ha” was what I’d be thinking when my mother would ask me if I was continuing to give oil baths to my kids.  When they were babies I’d do it once in awhile – I thought it a nice  way to massage and moisturize before their baths.  But as they got older – when I could declare victory just for getting them in the tub, and when the flossing, brushing, tongue-cleaning, mouthwashing and toilet training got added to our nightly routine, the oil bath was the first to go.

Until last winter.  Their skin was getting dry and my son even had patches of sandpaper-like skin.  So I brought out the oil again and took the extra few minutes to use it on their skin and hair before their baths.  And really, it worked better than any moisturizer I tried.  Then as summer rolled around, with all the time spent in the ocean and the pool, I continued it.

In reading about the traditional Indian oil bath, it seems to be an Ayurvedic tradtion – with the purpose of relieving the body of excess internal heat.  It’s recommended that you use castor oil or almond oil and take this oil bath at least once a week.  I use the Burt’s Bees Body Oil pictured above – it has almond and lemon oils.  (Read more about Ayurvedic oil baths and process here).

Maybe I should start taking them?

A note of caution about using oils on babies/kids – a few years ago Maharashtra’s FDA commenced an investigation into baby oils – including the popular Dabur Baby Olive Oil that is sold in Indian grocery stores in the United States.  It is unclear what the outcome of this investigation was. 

Posted in eco living, enlightenment | | 2 Comments »

I saw this last year on Modernica‘s website:  the Superstar Holiday Tree.  It’s been called a “Christmukkah Tree” – supposedly suitable for families who celebrate both Christmas and Hanukkah (note the Star of David shapes).

Would you use this as a Diwali Tree?  A place to hang ornaments – and a place to gather Diwali gifts?  Would we be copycats or just assimilating a new tradition?

Made of natural baltic birch wood, the tree is designed to be reused year after year.  It comes in 2 sizes – large ($240) and small ($125).  But hold your horses – the tree is not available for another few weeks (yes, after Diwali).

Too bad Modernica didn’t think to market it as a Diwali Tree too.

Posted in celebrations, eco living | | 5 Comments »

Blackberry Mascara?  Shimmery White Peach Lip Gloss?  Sound yummy?  What if these cosmetics are made with fruit pigments from actual blackberries and organic peaches?  Even better – ya?  Oh, AND what if you knew these items are made with 100% all natural ingredients – as in NO synthetic chemicals, preservatives or fragrances – only food grade ingredients teeming with antioxidants?

Today we introduce to you the second of our Navratri Giveaway Sponsors:  100% Pure – developers of 100% natural, 100% vegetarian skin care, hair care and cosmetics.  Developed based on research that up to 60% of topical skincare products are absorbed through the skin and into the bloodstream, their aim was to eliminate the toxic chemicals in mainstream cosmetic products – that have been proven to cause cancer, tumors, irritation and skin disorders.  They carry the first and only cosmetics colored with antioxidant-rich fruit and vegetable pigments (patent pending).

After sifting through the products on their website – and reading the list of ingredients for each product – you will most likely want to trash your current skincare inventory.  In case you do, we list below 9 of our favorite 100% Pure picks. 

100% Pure is giving away a package of 2 products from their Fruit Pigmented Line:  Blackberry Mascara and Tahiti Satin Eye Shadow.  So ENTER for your chance to win.

1. Fruit Pigmented Blackberry Mascara (WIN this product: ENTER our Navratri Giveaway)!

How often do you get excited about what’s in a mascara tube?  This one contains Organic Green Tea, Honey Beeswax, Wheat Protein, Seaweed Powder, Rice Powdr and of course pigments of Blackberry.  Water and smudge resistant.

2. Fruit Pigmented Tahiti Satin Eye Shadow (WIN this product: ENTER our Navratri Giveaway)!

An island-inspired creamy shadow to make your eyes sparkle – leaves your eyelids soft, moistured and nourished with vitamins and antioxidants.  Made with Avocado Butter, Pigments of Peach, Apricot, and extracts of Goji Berry, Acai Berry, Rosemary, Oregano, Thyme, Lavender, Tahitian Noni,  and Japanese Honeysuckle.

3. Kids Yummy Ice Cream Strawberry Gift Set

Bath-Time combined with Dessert-Time!  Certified organic 2-in-1 Body Wash and Shampoo, Bubble Bath and Body Cream.  100% yummy!

4. Honey Almond Milk Shower Gel

More than a pretty bottle – packed with skin nourishing honey, vitamins, antioxidants and skin brightening fruits.  Contains Organic Almond Milk, and Organic White Tea, Calendula and Jasmine.

5. Organic Pomegranate Nourishing Body Cream

Something you leave on your skin all day SHOULD be 100% natural.  Contains Organic Aloe Juice, Organic Avocado Butter, Organic Shea Butter, Organic White Tea and Organic Lavender, Pomegranate Seed Oil and Japanese Honeysuckle Extract.

6. Skin Brightening Facial Cleanser

This 100% Pure formula gets its brightening effect from all natural, gentle ingredients like Bearberry, Kojic Acid, Sake, Fruit Acids, Licorice, Vitamin C, Lemon Juice and Strawberries.  Washes away makeup, hydrates and soothes.

7. Super Fruits Reparative Cream

Think about all those vitamins for your skin!  This is a highly nourishing facial cream with high doses of vitamins,  antioxidants and skin beneficial nutrients that reduce fine lines and wrinkles and increase skin firmness and glow.

8. Shimmery White Peach Lip Gloss

Lip gloss you can actually eat!  100% natural, vegetarian and gluten-free – this gloss is made with 83% Vitamin E from organic rice bran and fruit pigments that moisten and deeply soften.

9. Tinted Moisturizer

Who couldn’t use a good tinted moisturizer?  This one is made with pigments of Peach, Apricot, Cocoa Bean and Goji Berry and also contains Oregano, Thyme and Japanese Honeysuckle.  Comes in 7 shades and the SPF 20 protects your skin against UVA and UVB rays.

ENTER HERE
AND make sure to join their Facebook Page.
(or if you don’t have a Facebook account, Email us at blog{at}gnaana{dot}com and tell us: Who is your female role model?)

WINNER for this prize will be announced at midnight EST on Wednesday, September 28th – so make sure to enter before then!

Posted in eco living, from Gnaana | | 2 Comments »

I hope these fun and beautiful leaf dishes will be available for our next July 4th cookout.  I would love to have guests use them as plates.  Reminds me of the huge banquets in my grandmother’s village – where diners would eat in “batches” on fresh banana leaves. 

Designed by Nao Tamura, these organic form flexible plates are made of silica sand and are microwave and oven safe.  And, might I add, look very kid-safe as well.

Posted in eco living | | 6 Comments »

There’s been a lot of press lately about Forks Over Knives – the new food movie claiming that a vegetarian/vegan diet is the answer to better health.  As expected, it’s being lauded by vegan camps and dismissed by others as propoganda.

I’m happy that there is more education and awareness about vegetarianism these days – although I still meet plenty of people my age who hold their nose at the mention of veggie burgers.  Really, there’s no need to attack the food I eat.

I’m old enough now to defend myself – but what about my kids?  Although my son has company in a handful of other vegetarians in his preschool class, I’m sure he will encounter veg-ignorance at some point (if he hasn’t already).  To arm him with defenses, I naturally turned to books.  It was actually very difficult to find a quality book on the topic – most were either too gruesome or too preachy, with a message that killing animals is wrong and no one should eat them – NOT what I teach my kids.  I want them to know that different people believe different things, just like religions, and that people who eat meat are not “wrong.”

The best I found was Benny Brontosaurus Goes to a Party! – a story about Benny (an herbivore dino) who gets invited to a T-Rex birthday party.  The text is very simple, but the message really hits home:  there are all kinds of dinosaurs (herbivores, carnivores and omnivores) and all of their food is delicious just the same.  Ty the T-Rex even joins Benny in eating a nut burger.

Slightly utopian, yes, but a good starting point.

Tags: vegetarian
Posted in eco living, from Gnaana | | No Comments »

It’s called the Khamba - stackable terracota compost bins marketed by Hyderabad Goes Green – a group of “Hardcore Hyderabadis” with a mission to educate about eco living and encourage green entrepreneurs.

Their sister site Daily Dump gives a great tutorial on how to compost (which, if you’ve ever tried, is a science unto itself).

At 1,600 Rupees, they’re not cheap – but I’d have these front and center in my garden.

Posted in eco living | | 1 Comment »

Of course this month is all about The Earth – bhoomi as said in Telugu.  It’s nice that schools and communities are focusing on Maata Bhoomi – though it would be even better if such environmental education were made a part of the core curriculum.

My son’s school celebrated Earth Day with some special events, in which I participated by presenting Earth Cake Pops to his classmates.  Their excitement over the small treat indeed warmed my heart, but what I’ll remember most from the day is how well they treated their little Cake Pop – as though it were a fragile and oh-so-precious gift of rarity.  They coddled and kissed their pops, and duly named their continents (thanks to CakePopShop for the wonderful detailing on the design) before safely tucking them away in their lunchpails to take home.

I hope they’ll treat the real Earth with such care and reverence!

For more Earth education throughout the year:
Below, Bamboo Sunshine Dollhouse – sustainable pretend-play with fully operational solar panels, 5 LED lights and an add-on greenhouse!

On of our all-time favourites – Hugg-A-Planet Earth

Whole World Gift Set from Barefoot Books

Terrific books: Aani and the Tree Huggers (recommended by one of our readers – based on true events in northern India) and The Earth and I (a simple and special read).

Games: What’s Rubbish? and Farming Game (Kids)

EPA also has a whole section on interactive kids’ games – mostly for older kids, but here’s a simple one.

Happy Earth Day!

Tags: kids games
Posted in eco living, language | | No Comments »

image via lierne, Bhudevi at the Norton Simon Museum

Mother Earth, or Mother Nature, seems to be a universal metaphorical figure.  The Greeks called her Gaia and the Romans called her Terra Mater.  In Hinduism, we call her Maata Bhoomi, or Bhudevi.

The Puranas describe her as the divine consort of Varaha – Lord Vishnu’s 3rd Avatar – and she is also believed to be one of the two forms of Goddess Lakshmi (the other is Sridevi).  In fact, in many South Indian Vishnu temples, Lord Vishnu’s statue is flanked by both Bhudevi and Sridevi.  Bhudevi is also considered the mother of Sita.  She is often pictured with dark (and sometimes green) skin, and with either 2 or 4 arms.

Bhudevi’s Vedic precursor – Prithvi Mata (Sanskrit for Earth Mother) – seems to have been one of the oldest Aryan deities.  Vedic texts cited Prithvi Mata as a symbol of fertility, and considered her the source of all vegetation and other bounties of the Earth.

It’s no wonder then that Hindus begin each day with a prayer to Mother Earth – a Morning Shloka that is to be recited before you put your feet on the ground (audio here):

                    Samudra Vasane Devi,
                    Parvatah Stana Mandale.
                    Vishnupatni Namastubhyam,
                    Paada-Sparsham Kshamasva Me.

O! Mother Earth, who has the ocean as clothes and mountains and forests on her body, who is the wife of Lord Vishnu, I bow to you. Please forgive me for touching you with my feet.

Beautiful, no?  Perhaps you can start a new ritual this Earth Day and have the kids recite this shloka – an homage to Bhudevi – because, really, every day is Earth Day!

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I remember at my grandmother’s house in Andhra Pradesh – a small village with just a handful of modest homes – there was a single bulb affixed to the wall of the main room.  It couldn’t have been more than 15 watts – but it provided just enough light for you to see where you were going (if the village had power at all that evening, of course).  We turned it on only when necessary and it was a big event when it needed replacement.  I loved that little bulb.

Perhaps that’s why I’m drawn to exposed bulb pendants.  Some may call the look “industrial” or “vintage modern,” but I just like them because they remind me of the comfort of my grandmother’s house – and an in-your-face-reminder that energy was not something that was to be wasted.

And so in my search for lighting for the green home we are building, I was more than excited to find these amazing compact fluorescent bulbs by Plumen.  With many countries around the world (not the U.S., of course, never the U.S. on something like this…) phasing-out incandescents and mandating more energy-efficient lighting alternatives, Plumen has turned less-than-attatractive fluorescent tubing into art. 

They recently received the overall Design of the Year award by the Design Museum, London.  Priced at a (sort of) affordable £19.95, the bulbs aren’t available in the U.S. yet – but I’ll wait…anything to avoid those incandescents.

Posted in eco living, style | | No Comments »

In planning treats for the upcoming Holi, I thought it only befitting (and fun) to use food dyes in the recipes (rainbow muffins and halwa are on the agenda).  I haven’t bought food colouring in quite some time and personally don’t find coloured foods very appetizing.  But the kids lust after green cookies and blue frosting – even though my 4-year-old declares them to be “extra junky.”

Of course you can always make your own colours (see last year’s post on Natural Eco Friendly Holi Colors), but I fear they may taint the food with unwanted flavours.  Not to mention that by the time I’m done making the colours, I won’t have any energy left to make what I had planned.

There seem to be 2 options for natural food colouring:  India Trees’s Natural Decorating Colours ($18 for red-blue-yellow) and Chefmaster ($6 per colour).  Both are pricey and have mixed reviews, but better than having the kids eat chemicals, no?

Tags: Holi
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