Ask Diva: Featured on The Green Girls!

In addition to finding Ask Diva right here at PND, we’ll also be featured on www.TheGreenGirls.com!

Here is a teaser of our first Green Girls Ask Diva!

Dear Diva,
Do you have any info on Origins line of products? I see some of their items say no animal ingredients. Have you tried any? Thanks!

Hi Mary,
Origins is an Estee Lauder company founded in 1990. They have a long-standing commitment to being green. They purchase wind power to offset electricity used in stand alone retail stores and have been recognized as one of the top 30 companies by the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s Green Power Partnership as a result their green efforts.

Working with Global ReLeaf they have planted the equivalent of 1.25 million trees. In 2009 Origins launched a program to accept empty cosmetic primary packaging from any brand of product for recycling, which is fantastic as most curbside recycling will not accept this type of packaging – you’ll even be given a sample of their products as a reward for your recycling efforts. Origins has also recently launched a USDA certified organic line of products, another great step.

The growing size of the natural skin care market has not gone without note by Estee Lauder executives.

The not so good news… CLICK HERE to read the whole response on The Green Girls!

Do you have a question you’d like to Ask Diva? We’d love to hear from you.

Santa Cruz Organics Iced Tea: Fair Trade Focuse

By Tania Reuben

Santa Cruz Organics, known for their wonderful juices has created a line of yummy organic, fair trade brewed teas.  The teas are flavored with real fruit.  I enjoyed it in mango, raspberry, and lemon flavor. It also comes in peppermint, which was decidedly not my favorite. Odd, because peppermint tea is delightful to me hot.  Organic Juices are a natural flavor source and sweetening component. I say component because like most ready to drink teas, they do have added sugar, which I’d love to see eliminated all together or replaced with agave.

Have you ever read the ingredients in Lipton Ice Tea (Lemon for this analysis); water, high fructose corn syrup, citric acid, sodium hexamet(something), ascorbic acid, honey, natural flavors, phosphoric acid, sodium benzocte, potassium sorbate, calcium disodium edta, carmel color, yellow 5, blue 1.

Compare that to Santa Cruz Brewed Mango Tea (water, green, black and white tea, organic evaporated cane juice, organic white grape juice concentrate, organic mango puree, organic pineapple juice concentrate, organic natural peach flavor and citric acid.

These teas are a much better choice for Snapple and Lipton Ice Tea fans from the perspective of ingredient analysis.

I love that the teas are fair trade certified.  Additionally they contain green tea, which is renowned for it’s health benefits.  If you are going to enjoy a glass of ice tea, why not get a few health benefits too. Green Tea has been studied to be effective as an anti-carcinogen, lowering stress levels and boosting immune function, to mention a few.

If you don’t have time to brew your own ice tea, this is marked improvement over conventional selections.

A 32 oz bottle retails around $3.

In celebration of fair trade month Santa Cruz Organics is giving 3 lucky readers a prize pack of Tea. Each winner will receive two bottles of each of Tea Flavor (lemon, peppermint, raspberry and mango).

THE WINNERS – Dymphna, Tamara & Vicki – Congratulations!!!

Santa Cruz Organic Tea

HOW TO ENTER:

There are a few ways you can enter, leave separate comments for each entry.

Mandatory:

Become a Confirmed Email Subscriber to PND using the form in the sidebar.
- New Subscribers will receive an email that you must confirm for your subscription for your entry to be valid.
- Already a confirmed Subscriber. Complete any one of the additional entries options – Leave a comment letting Diva know you’re subscriber name and the entry option you selected.

Additional Entries

1. Go to the Santa Cruz Organics – CLICK HERE website and share something you learn.

2. Stumble this post. Leave a comment with your name and the link to the stumble.

3. Follow @purenaturaldiva on twitter (use link on the sidebar). Leave your twittername in a separate comment.

4. Become a Fan of Pure Natural Diva on Facebook and post this giveaway as an update, leave your FB Name or Name with a copy of your update in a separate comment. One entry for each.

5. Tweet this giveaway. Copy and paste “@PureNaturalDiva Fair Trade Giveaway from Santa Cruz Organics http://bit.ly/3mPJAt”. Then come back and leave the direct link to your tweet (go to your twitter account, click on the words when your tweet was sent (ie. 5 seconds ago) and copy and paste that link in comments.

6. Write a post on your blog linking to my blog. Good for two entries. Leave this comment twice so you get both entries!

This giveaway will run through midnight on October 27, 2009 PDT, with winner being announced by the morning of Oct 29, 2009. Winner will be chosen using Random.org from all valid entries and notified via email. Winner will have 48 hours to contact me before another winner is chosen.

Giveaway is open to residents of the U.S.

Zia Men ActiClean Face Scrub: Review

By Tania Reuben

Zia Men ActiClean Face Scrub

With a Diva Total of 10.9 out of 15 points this product is: Diva Worthy

ZiaNatural has been making skin care products for the last 20 years. This line is formulated just for men, made without parabens and using many natural ingredients. Zia Men is an approachable line for the man who is just getting started in natural skincare. Dude was all clinique before Zia Men.

The ActiClean Face Scrub is a finely textured exfoliant that is suitable for daily use for men that are prone to ingrown facial hair and breakouts. This Scrub is the winner of the Men’s Health grooming award for the best face scrub.

Click here for review criteria.

6 Points Skin Deep Low Hazard Rating ~ 3
0 Points for being Organic

2 Points for effectiveness – It left my skin feeling soft and smooth when I tried it out.  Don’t tell dude! He liked it too.

1 Point for Texture – Regardless of gender, when choosing a face scrub you want to be sure the grain that is being used as the exfoiliant is fine and won’t damage the skin. The Zia Men’s Scrub texture meets that criteria.  I also appreciated that there were plenty of grains in the scrub.

1 Point for Fragrance – The Scrub has a slightly minty smell – the Zia Men line has done an excellent job with the scent of this line.  Subtly masculine.  I really like it.

.5 Points for Packaging Appearance – The scrub is packaged in a flip top tube with the zia men burnt sienna & black.

.4 Points for Packaging Sustainability – The packaging is made with 50% post consumer waste and are printed with soy ink using windmill power.

Overall:

This is a a great product line for the man who has been using conventional brands and wants to start making more natural product choices. This is a great smelling, very fine facial scrub. I might just have to steal it from time to time.

ActiClean Face Scrub retails for $9.

Ready to Get Some ActiClean Face Scrub…

Zia Men is giving one lucky reader their own bottle of ActiClean.

HOW TO ENTER:

There are a few ways you can enter, leave separate comments for each entry.

Mandatory:

Become an Email Subscriber to PND using the form in the sidebar.
– Already a confirmed Subscriber. Complete any one of the additional entries options – Leave a comment letting Diva know you’re subscriber name and the entry option you selected.

Additional Entries

1. Go to www.zianatural.com – Share your favorite Zia product.

2. Stumble this post. Leave a comment with your name and the link to the stumble.

3. Follow @purenaturaldiva on twitter (use link on the sidebar). Leave your twittername in a separate comment.

4. Become a Fan of Pure Natural Diva on Facebook and post this giveaway as an update, leave your FB Name or Name with a copy of your update in a separate comment. One entry for each.

5. Tweet this giveaway. Copy and paste “@PureNaturalDiva, Diva Giveaway, ActiClean Face Scrub from ZIA MEN http://bit.ly/1j5mf8″. Then come back and leave the direct link to your tweet (go to your twitter account, click on the words when your tweet was sent (ie. 5 seconds ago) and copy and paste that link in comments.

6. Write a post on your blog linking to my blog and to the Zia Natural website – Good for two entries. Leave this comment twice so you get both entries!

This giveaway will run through midnight on October 23, 2009 PDT, with winner being announced by the morning of Oct 25, 2009. Winner will be chosen using Random.org from all valid entries and notified via email. Winner will have 48 hours to contact me before another winner is chosen.

Giveaway is open to residents of the U.S.

alt=”MckLinky Blog Hop” longdesc=”http://www.mcklinky.com” />

target=”_blank”>Click here to see the entire Blog Hop List….

Ground Beef: Do you know how it’s made?

You may not want to read this.  I almost wish I hadn’t.

The article from the NY times shares the story of Stephanie Smith a dance instructor left paralyzed from the waste down after E-Coli from a hamburger made her sick in 2007.

It was eye opening to learn more about how ground beef is often made and what increases our risk for exposure to E-Coli.  I might have to watch my beef be ground after reading this story!

A few excerpts…

“Ground beef is usually not simply a chunk of meat run through a grinder. Instead, records and interviews show, a single portion of hamburger meat is often an amalgam of various grades of meat from different parts of cows and even from different slaughterhouses. These cuts of meat are particularly vulnerable to E. coli contamination, food experts and officials say.”

Further… in regard to the E-Coli incident in Stephanie’s story…

“The ingredients came from slaughterhouses in Nebraska, Texas and Uruguay, and from a South Dakota company that processes fatty trimmings and treats them with ammonia to kill bacteria.

Using a combination of sources — a practice followed by most large producers of fresh and packaged hamburger — allowed Cargill to spend about 25 percent less than it would have for cuts of whole meat.

Those low-grade ingredients are cut from areas of the cow that are more likely to have had contact with feces, which carries E. coli, industry research shows.”

Read the whole story:

Woman’s Shattered Life Shows Ground Beef Inspection Flaws – NYTimes.com

Healthy Food For Children: Sell It in Your Home!

The major food manufacturer’s have been marketing food to kids forever.

It may take a little extra effort, but the fact is we can have greater success if we steal a few techniques from the marketing pros. Studies have shown that children will choose a “branded” banana over a plain one.  It’s all in how you sell it!

Serving sizes

Children don’t have a great sense proportion and portion sizes. As parents we can use this to our advantage.

When serving treats, placing them on a small plate, will make the treat seem bigger and they will think they have a bigger piece.

When serving healthier choices giving them a larger serving may work in your favor. Serving a sizable stack of green beans and having them eat four or five might get them to eat more than if you only give them only four or five beans to start out with.

These same principles work with beverages.

Typically you will want your children to drink a good amount of water – serving it in a large glass – say 12oz. They won’t finish it all, but if they drink half of it it’s still a nice quantity. My two each have a stainless steel water bottle they drink from throughout the day and I refill it as needed.

Juice is a special treat in our home, but if you are a juice family serving the juice in a smaller tall glass they will feel like they’ve had more than a shorter fat glass, when in fact the actual oz will be fewer.

Serving veggies you can get payoff for being creative. In our home I’ve found that food often goes over better if I give it a fun name:

Sweet Potato Circles
Cucumber Spears or Cucumber Squares
Dragon Tails – Asparagus
Frog Feet – Broccoli Stems
Broccoli – Magic Forest

Almond Butter

Almond Butter has more nutrients and healthier oils than peanut butter. It’s also allowed in many schools that don’t allow peanuts. My children like both and it’s nice to have the options for variety. In our home the children can choose between the two, but if they choose almond butter then they can have it with fruit juice sweetened raspberry preserves. So almond butter is often the winner. Getting your child to eat alternatives like this is usually a matter of introducing it to them early.

Inspiration!

In searching for fun ways to entice children to eat more fruits and vegetables and to fuel my creative juices (it’s hard not to get stuck in a rut!) I found Sheri, a mom from New York who does amazing things with her lunchboxes.  She sends  her 3 children to lunch with stunning Bento Boxes.

Little Diva drooled over Sheri’s amazing pictures, she wanted to try everything!

Bento Boxes are s a single-portion takeout or home-packed meal common in Japanese cuisine.

Sheri has agreed to share her ideas here at PND and I hope that our readers are inspired her work. Let her ideas inspire you and reach  out of your own comfort zone to create better health for your family.

Sweeping Reforms for Toxic Chemicals in the Works

Historic plans are in place to reform the federal toxic chemical controls.

The principles of the reform has initial support from environmentalists, federal and state lawmakers.  Additionally -  The America Chemistry Council (ACC), The Grocery Manufacturers Associations and the Consumer Specialty Products Association are also supporting the new measures.

The key areas being addressed:

• Reviews of chemicals in light of safety standards, without cost-benefit analyses that have opened loopholes for dangerous chemicals;
• Consideration for vulnerable populations, especially children;
• New EPA authority to require chemical manufacturers to provide hazard, use and exposure data on new and existing chemicals and to act quickly when threats develop;
• Adequate funding for EPA safety assessments and regulatory programs;
• Priority for chemicals that pose higher risks to people and the environment, with clear deadlines and industry accountability;
• Incentives for innovation in green chemistry.

To Read the details: Read more

October is Fair Trade Month

By Tania Reuben

This is the month to take a few moments to think about the people that are making & growing much of the “stuff” we consume in our daily lives.  The scope is quite remarkable, think; coffee, tea, rice, cocoa, cotton, sugar, honey, bananas, fruit juices, nuts, fresh fruit, herbs and spices, wine, magoes, quinoa footballs, etc.

In general Fair Trade seeks to ensure better wages for workers, it seeks to educate workers with the knowledge, skills and resources to improve their lives. Additionally it is intended to guarantee that no child labor has been employed in the productions of goods.

CLICK HERE to read more about The Fair Trade Certified™ label guarantee.

Over the past years more attention has been given to this issue. As a result the market share of fair trade products is growing. They generally account for 1-20% of all sales in their product categories.

Throughout the month PND will be featuring a few fair trade products and hosting a few fair trade giveaways.  We hope you participate.

We hope by featuring these companies, products we can help generate further awareness about the fair trade options available to consumers.  At the same time it’s a chance to pause,  thinking about the working conditions that are a reality to workers around the world and how choosing fair trade can make a difference to them.

Learn more about the impact of choosing fair trade CLICK HERE.

Throughout the month as you shop for your family look for fair trade certification and when you can buy fair trade.

Fair Trade Organizations:

Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International
TransFair – United States USA

Click Here to learn more about the history of fair trade.

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