Health and beauty | Hear Mum Roar

Category Archives: Health and beauty

See Mum Shine Challenge

Written on October 31st, 2010 by Hear Mum Roar in Challenges, Health and beauty, October 2010, Parenting, Soap box

I’ve been thinking about this for a long time, and out of my thoughts a challenge has been created.

Did you know that the picture on my about page is two years old? Why do I still use it? It’s not what I look like now.

The answer is simple: it’s the most recent photo of me that I feel is ‘good enough’. I hate getting my photo taken, and I’m forever putting it off. My hair isn’t done, I want to lose weight first, and so on. Meanwhile, life is passing, whether I get my photo taken or not.

Have you ever lost a loved one and felt sad because there weren’t many photos left to remember them by? It’s been nagging at me that I want my children to have something to remember me by. I honestly don’t mean for this to take a morbid tone. I just want to do something about it now, whilst I still can.

As mums, we put our children on a pedestal. We wouldn’t dream of not taking hundreds of photos of them. So, the challenge I’ve created is this: for 365 days, everyday, I will be taking a photo of myself. At first, I thought, ‘really? That’s too many photos! Who’s going to want to see that many photos of me?’ The answer is, my children will.

We have to stop hiding ourselves away! Our lives deserve celebrating, illustrating too. Every mother is amazing, and I’m really hoping that lots of you will take on this challenge as well. For your families. For yourselves. For the world to see us shine as mothers.

And honestly? If I can do this, anyone can, trust me! So who’s with me?

Here’s my first photo from tonight:

If you’d like to join in, click on this cute little sun below for all the details.

Special thanks to Violet Le Beaux for designing this button for the challenge.

Edited to add the link widget on this page too, just to avoid confusion.

Skincare – are your money and time an indulgence or investment?

Written on July 9th, 2010 by Hear Mum Roar in Health and beauty, July 2010

Today we have a guest post from the lovely Juli from Musq cosmetics! She has written for me before, and it’s always a pleasure. I am a regular user of her cosmetics, since I’ve had a need to find petrochemical free makeup so that my fiance won’t be harmed, due to his severe petrol allergy.

If skin was paid a salary to do all that it does in just one year, we probably couldn’t afford to employ it! The very least we can do is allow it to work in the best possible condition so that it can do all the important jobs it’s required to perform. You wouldn’t expect your car to drive efficiently, comfortably and remain roadworthy without proper maintenance.

Skin’s work load is enormous: to protect, breathe, absorb, excrete, provide sensory information to the brain about temperature or texture, house a variety of body components from hair to capillaries, to stretch and contract (sometimes enormously) remain water resistant and completely renew itself on a monthly basis. It suffers bumps, rashes, burns, tears and a variety of other accidental and self imposed traumas and is able to heal itself, albeit sometimes with scarring. It is our largest organ and can tolerate being be grafted, tattooed and pierced. All this to do and yet skin is incredibly thin, averaging just 1.3 millimetres in thickness and works in a relatively hostile environment. So strong and yet so fragile, skin can be cut by the edge of a piece of paper!

Your skin needs to last a lifetime. Why wouldn’t we want to look after it? It is a complicated structure that needs maintenance for more than aesthetic reasons, and simply showering daily is just not sufficient! Obviously a healthy diet feeds skin from within, clothing gives protection from the elements and scrapes, and removing dirt, splinters, grease, food or other debris gives a degree of cleanliness and minimises risk of infection.

Rather than a large expenditure, one needs only common sense and a change of shopping habits for a better expenditure – products that will properly and safely care for your skin type. “Safely” means safe for your skin, health (as the ingredients are absorbed by skin) and the environment as they will all go down the plughole into the waterways.

Recall what you learned back in primary school about skin and basic nutrition. Skin is a tight barrier closing out tiny germs but also open enough to breathe, excrete and absorb. If its tiny openings are blocked by plastic films these functions are impaired; like not putting a plastic bag over our head we should not be blocking our pores on mass with face and body potions. Logically if what is blocking the pores is also irritating or even slightly toxic, we are compounding the problem. Secondly, we eat real food for nutrition and energy, not lab made ingredients; even though they may create a temporary sense of fullness they impart no nutritional value and are toxic.

Our skin needs real ingredients for nutrition and energy. Like food, skincare should provide a broad spectrum of goodies and in a concentrated form. With the right ingredients our skin can be able flush itself of impurities and inflammation, rebalance oil levels, firm, tighten, stay hydrated, heal and given the ‘kick’ needed to behave like younger skin in increasing collagen.
Cosmetics with plastics may give a temporary smooth veneer or plumping but while only masking symptoms rather than treating problems and feeding, they also have a dark side. These products, no matter how high calibre some of the ingredients may sound, are neither an investment nor an indulgence. Their preservatives are either hormone disrupting parabens or formaldehyde donors such as imid urea. Frequently containing artificial fragrance and colours, propylene glycol, SLS and other petrochemicals you are applying ingredients that are both counter-productive to your objectives and linked to a variety of health concerns including cancer and birth deformities. Autopsies prove with the skin acting as a sponge, the user’s organs collect a diverse range of manmade chemicals.
A perfume alone may contain 300 or more different synthetic ingredients, and the cumulative effect this multitude of synthetics applied daily may not cause your skin to show trauma immediately. Seemingly perfect skins coated in regular cosmetics typically develop sensitivities later on – adult acne, rosacea, dermatitis and premature aging. We see this every day with sufferers coming to our salon, and as soon as they swing over to 100% natural and potent skincare their complexions quickly repair!

Synthetic preservatives, surfactants, emulsifiers, perfumes etc may all work very effectively in assisting the product smell seductive, last years longer or creating masses of fun bubbles but either essential or fun when they impair skin function, irritate it and even injure it to the point of blistering. Cosmetics made from synthetics clearly are not a good investment in skincare!
100% natural and safe cosmetics eliminate the absorption of 1000’s of synthetics over just the course of a year. That makes it an investment in itself! Invest in your skin, it absolutely deserves it, but ensure that what you purchase is going to BE what you expect – just constructive and safe ingredients.

This article is the intellectual property of Musq Pty Ltd. It is available for publication on the internet website Hear Mum Roar. No part of this article may be reproduced or copied in any form by any other party without written permission of Musq Pty Ltd. 18.06.10

Pin It

6 Comments -

Benefits of fish oils for kids.

Written on November 7th, 2009 by Hear Mum Roar in Behaviour, Care, Challenges, Constructive, Emotional, Health and beauty, November 2009, Parenting, Preschool aged, School aged

Fish oil is creating quite a buzz among parents everywhere. We’ve been giving our nine year old daughter and three year old son fish oil for seven months.

I’ve been involved in discussions about this on parenting forums during this time, and the consensus is that it’s a fabulous supplement to be giving children. It’s certainly got my vote!

Why do some parents resort to trying fish oil on their children, you may wonder? Well, some parents try it to help with behaviour problems, from mild, to full-blown ADHD. Some parents want their children to have more focus, or better sleep. I’ve even come across parents who use it for children with bowel problems, to soften their stools.

I personally wanted to try it, because my son, who was two years old at the time, was showing some challenging behaviour. We discipline him, provide interesting things for him to do, and mostly give him healthy foods to eat. The trouble was, his focus and attention span was poor. He would hit, kick, bite, push his sisters. When we tried to talk to him about his behaviour, he would hit us, or kick and pull our hair.

He had a lot of trouble sitting still at any time, and even settling down to sleep proved difficult. The kid was just wired! My fiance and I started to get concerned, and considered getting him diagnosed for ADD or ADHD. Then I remembered vaguely hearing something about fish oil.

It was when my darling partner had his first hospital visit from his paint poisoning that I became desperate. The added stress to my son, and complete change in our routine made his behaviour quite unbearable. One night, I stopped off at a supermarket on the way home from hospital, and by this point, my son was in a particularly vile mood.

A jar of fish oil caught my eye, and as my son announced to the entire supermarket that I hit him all the time (I have never hit any of my children, so you can imagine how mortified I was!), I grabbed that jar in desperation and raced to the counter.

My nine year old daughter is a really well behaved, calm, polite child. She is above average at school, and it’s rare for her to have any sort of behaviour problems, apart from normal child development, testing boundaries, etc. But, I decided to give them to her also, as I’d heard it suggested that even if a child doesn’t have any problems or issues, it’s great for the healthy development and growth of their brains. Plus, I was curious to see if it would have any impact on her as well.

And so I began my oldest two children on fish oil. After one dose, my then two year old son began to hug me more often, and constantly started to tell me he loved me. I could’ve cried with joy! Within a week, his sleep habits at night drastically improved, and he was playing more nicely and calmly.

By this stage, he was still misbehaving now and then (what two year old doesn’t?). But, the great thing was, when we tried to talk to him and explain how we wanted him to behave, he didn’t hit, kick or pull our hair. He sat still, quietly listening to what we had to say. At the end of our talks, he would say ok, instead of screaming ‘NO!’ at us. He began to show genuine remorse afterwards, too.

We quickly realised how much the fish oil was helping our son. Our then eight year old daughter was experiencing less mood swings, and said she just felt better. We also realised that with two kids on these capsules, it didn’t take long for the jar to run out. This was getting expensive! And oohh boy, when we ran out of capsules, our house became like a zoo! Our kids became irritable, and suffered terrible mood swings.

Thankfully, some forum friends recommended a cheaper, yet high quality version of omega 3 fish oil that comes in bulk. Healthy Care Kids Omega – 3. It has 125 lemon-lime flavoured capsules for $14.99. This company tests their fish oil for mercury and pesticide levels to ensure they are safe. Our son eats two a day like lollies, and my daughter bites the ‘fish tail’ off, sucks the oil out, and throws the capsule shells into the bin. I know that some parents squeeze the oil onto cereal, or into a chocolate milk. Whatever works, huh?

We buy these at our local Chemist Warehouse, but there is also an online store here, too.

After a few more weeks of taking these capsules, my son really started to act even more differently. He started hugging me more, telling me he loved me and saying over and over again that he was sorry he’d hit me. Then it dawned on me – I couldn’t remember the last time he had hit me! Or kicked, bitten, pulled hair, or generally hurt anyone in this family.

My son around this time, was also starting to really accelerate his speech development. Prior to this, he was talking just fine, but he really started firing along in his vocabulary.

Other unexpected things that happened for him included: beginning to sort the alphabet in order (not planned, this came from him), he began staying at the same activity for much longer periods, and began to show an interest in learning to read.

Now he is three, he is the little boy we always knew was there inside. He still likes to muck up and be a cheeky little three year old, and we wouldn’t have it any other way, LOL.

Our daughter is now nine, and has topped the nation in her NAPLAN scores, getting band six results in each area (highest for her age is six), and in some areas, her little ‘dot’ indicating her mark, went up and outside of band six! She has always been extremely clever, but I’ve not had her teacher tell me she sometimes daydreams or loses focus this year. This was what other teachers had told me in first and second grade.

She went on to get credits in her uni exams for math, computer skills and science. Plus, she got a high distinction for her uni exam in English. Let’s just say, we knew she had it in her!

My fiance and I sincerely believe that the fish oil is helping our kids become the happiest ‘them’ they can be. Now they really can unlock the true person inside.

I’d like to add, that whilst I have no problem with paid advertorials, this isn’t one. This is my personal recommendation to anyone who is interested. I am so thrilled with the results, and am so keen to share it with other parents, that I tell every parent I know about it, in case it can be of help to them. Unfortunately, in my excitement, I think some parents may have thought I was insinuating their children had ADHD or were badly behaved, LOL. I firmly believe though, that for anyone open to it or able to, these little capsules are worth a try, and I highly recommend them.

Have you tried fish oil for your children? If so, how has it affected your children?