My favorite fragrance

| February 5, 2016

Many artificial fragrances are not good for you. Therefore, most of the products I use don’t have any scent. So, I like to wear some kind of fragrance. After trying several brands, I found Zum mist at Publix in Florida (which I can’t believe I miss a grocery store as much as I do, but that is a whole separate blog post). This mist has become my favorite! I also like their lavender mist.  

What is your favorite non-perfume scent? I’d love to hear it in the comments below or on social media!

Happy Friday!

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*I was not compensated by Zum in any way. They don’t even know I exist! I just enjoy sharing healthier alternatives with you!

Clean Water

| January 29, 2016

get clean water

With all that is going on with water supplies these days, it makes me wonder what is really in our water. Do we have clean water? Thankfully, I found something that cleans my water from a company I know and trust.

Chemicals that can be harmful to your health can actually turn up in the water your family drinks. Heavy metals, industrial pollutants, pesticides—these harmful contaminants can enter our water supplies and have the potential to create long-term health challenges. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the water we drink is responsible for up to 20% of lead exposure in humans. And an EPA report demonstrates that at least 13% of the nation’s water treatment systems have violated the Safe Drinking Water Act in each of the past five years.

Get Clean® Water

Get Clean Water is a revolutionary new water-filtration pitcher system certified by the Water Quality Association (WQA) to reduce up to 99% of lead¹, as well as dozens of other nasty contaminants that can turn up in your water and may be harmful to your health.

Multipatented Get Clean Water uses a solid block of carbon to filter and clean your water. Each Get Clean Water filter handles 80 gallons of water, twice as much as Brita® and PUR®², and each filter is made from sustainable coconut shell carbon using a zero- emission process. Plus, it’s the first pitcher with a refillable carbon-block filter system, so there’s less waste going to the landfills.

Cleaner, healthier water and a cleaner, healthier planet? We can all drink to that!

Get Clean Water @sharingAtoZ #cleanwater

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The Smart Choice

  • Certified to reduce many harmful contaminants that can turn up in your water
  • Pitcher is made from food-safe, BPA-free plastic
  • The first pitcher with an automatic meter that shows gallons filtered, so you know exactly when to replace your filter—no more guessing!
  • Healthier, cleaner-tasting water for only pennies a gallon

  • Certified by the WQA to reduce up to 99% of lead¹; Brita and PUR water pitchers are not²

Powerful

  • Each Get Clean Water filter is certi- fied to handle 80 gallons—twice as much as leading brands³
  • Reduces contaminants that can actually turn up in your water and be harmful to your health

Green

  • First-ever pitcher with refillable car- bon-block filter system, which means there’s less plastic to throw away
  • Each filter is made with sustainable coconut shell carbon made with a zero-emissions process, which is better for the environment than traditional carbon production
  • Each filter is capable of handling the equivalent amount of water contained in 600 16.9 fl. oz. bottles of water, meaning that Get Clean Water can save you money while eliminating waste

Safe

  • Costs only pennies a gallon for cleaner, healthier water
  • First automatic filter life meter that shows how many gallons have been filtered—no more guessing!
  • Get Clean Water Refillable Filter Housing Kit fits many other pitcher systems, including the BestWater® PerfectPitcher®

Beats Leading Brands

  • Certified to reduce up to 99% of lead (Brita® and PUR® water pitchers are not³)
  • Certified to filter 80 gallons—twice as much as Brita® and PUR®²
  • First-ever pitcher with a refillable carbon-block pitcher filter system, so there’s less waste going to the landfills

“Gets the Lead Out” and More

Get Clean Water is certified by the Water Quality Association (WQA) to reduce up to 99% of lead, which Brita® and PUR® are not.³ This first-of-its-kind water-filtration pitcher system is also certified to reduce dozens of harmful contaminants, including:

Heavy Metals
Lead
Mercury
Cadmium

  • 1 Substances reduced may not be in all users’ water.
    2 Compared to Brita® and PUR® pitcher filters at 40 gallons. “Leading brands” is defined as Brita and PUR. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
    3 This comparison of current WQA and NSF certified reduction claims was conducted on June 16, 2010, on the Brita® OB-36 and the PUR® CR-6000C pitchers and is valid only for the named products marketed at that time. Models compared also are certified to reduce chlorine (taste and odor), nominal particulates, plus the following: Brita OB-36: zinc; PUR CR-6000C: cysts, MTBE, toxaphene, and zinc. Product claims obtained from the respective manufacturers’ Web sites. “Leading brands” is defined as Brita and PUR.Did you know?
  • ✔  An Environmental Working Group (EWG) study found a total of 316 contaminants, including 97 agricultural and 204 industrial contaminants, in the tap water of 45 states. More than half of the contaminants de- tected have no drinking-water safety standards.*
  • ✔  According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, public water utilities have violated the Safe Drinking Water Act more than 700,000 times in the past seven years.**
  • ✔  Unlike public water utilities, the bottled water industry is not required to publicly disclose the results of any contaminant
    testing it conducts.
  • ✔  Bottled water may not be contaminant free. The EWG found a total of 38 contaminants in the water of 10 popular brands.***
  • ✔  In 2007, 8.8 billion gallons of bottled water were consumed in the US.****
  • ✔  In 2007, 1.64 million tons of bottled water packaging materials were produced in the U.S.; only 34% of those materials were recycled.****
  • ✔  According to the U.S. Conference of Mayors’ resolution, it takes 1.5 mil- lion barrels of oil every year to facilitate the production of water bottles made for use in the U.S. That’s enough oil to power 50,000 cars for a year.
    *Source: ewg.org/Tap-Water/sourcesoftapwaterpollution
    **FACTOIDS: Drinking Water and Ground Water Statistics for 2009 (EPA 2009)
    ***EWG bottled water quality investigation (2008)
    ****International Bottled Water Association 2007
    3This comparison of current WQA and NSF certified reduction claims was conducted on June 16, 2010, on the Brita® OB-36 and the PUR® CR-6000C pitchers and is valid only for the named products marketed at that time. Models compared also are certified to reduce chlorine (taste and odor), nominal particulates, plus the following: Brita OB-36: zinc; PUR CR-6000C: cysts, MTBE, toxaphene, and zinc. Product claims obtained from the respective manufacturers’ Web sites. “Leading brands” is defined as Brita and PUR.
    †Annual usage defined as 320 gallons.

    Get Clean Water Starter Pack

    All you need to get started on healthier, great-tasting water

    To order the Get clean starter kit, please click here.

 Cheers,
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Shaklee links
Shaklee product links
Why Shaklee?
My why
Shaklee’s environmental heritage
A Shaklee Member
Shaklee

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This post contains affiliate links, which means I receive compensation if you make a purchase through my link. Thank you for supporting my blog and small business! (Please review the disclosure tab at the top for the full disclosure.)
Additionally, I am Shaklee Independent Distributor. The information provided on this website is not intended to diagnose or treat any medical or mental health condition. Please consult your healthcare provider. I share personal uses. Please check the Shaklee labels.

Green products

| January 28, 2016

Are you looking for green products? Finding green or natural products can be difficult. I know, I searched for years until I found Shaklee. Shaklee Products are Always Green. They lead the environmental movement by example.

Dr. Forrest C. Shaklee founded Shaklee on the principle of Living in Harmony with Nature®. That was over half a century ago, and we continue to lead by example. We were the first company in the world to be Climate Neutral™ certified to totally offset our carbon emissions resulting in a net-zero impact on the environment. Our corporate world headquarters is award-winning for its environmental design.

Basic H

Through the sale of Shaklee Get Clean® Basic H2® in the last year alone, Shaklee has eliminated 2.7 billion bottles of conventional, ready-to-use 26-ounce window cleaner — if placed end-to-end, these bottles would wrap around the earth more than 18 times!

Shaklee also joins forces with others who care enough to create movements of change, like Jacques Cousteau, and 2004 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Dr. Wangari Maathai, the founder of The Green Belt Movement and the first person to win a Nobel Peace Prize for the environment.

And now that almost everyone sees that there’s a need to treat our environment better, Shaklee’s over 50 years of environmental leadership is being recognized with many prestigious awards.

Shaklee product lines
Here’s what we’ve achieved recently:

  • 88 million – Number of pounds of greenhouse gas emissions eliminated with the Get Clean Starter Kit*
  • 10.2 million– Number of pounds of packaging waste kept out of landfills with the Get Clean Starter Kit*
  • 1 million – Number of trees planted through our Million Trees. Million Dreams.™ Campaign with 2004 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Dr. Wangari Maathai
  • Top 20 – Designated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as one of the Top 20 Green Companies in the US.
  • Awards –
    ◊ 2010 Shaklee is honored as an Industry Innovator by Climate Counts for the company’s leadership in taking voluntary action to address climate change.
    ◊ The Clean Air Award for Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reductions from Breathe California
    ◊ The Stevie Award for Best Corporate Environmental Responsibility Program

How would you like to partner with a company that’s been leading the way in environmental sustainability for over 50 years? Be part of a movement to make people and the planet healthier? And ride the wave of one of the fastest growing consumer market trends in the country – green products? If so, please let me know. I am happy to answer any questions. Some of the links below may also be helpful.

* Compared with ready to use products

Shaklee links
Shaklee product links
Why Shaklee?
My why
Shaklee’s environmental heritage
A Shaklee Member
Shaklee

To stay connected with Sharing A to Z, please see Facebook or Pinterest. You can also subscribe (on the middle right sidebar) to get our SATZ newsletters.

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Planting trees

| January 23, 2016

Did you know that when you purchase a Get Clean kit from Shaklee, they plant a tree? By this one simple act, Shaklee has planted over one million trees.

Dr. Wangari Maathai


2004 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Founder of the Green Belt Movement and Global Ambassador for Shaklee’s “A Million Trees. A Million Dreams™” campaign

Global Ambassador of A Million Trees. A Million Dreams™ Campaign

Until her death in 2011, Shaklee was honored to partner with Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr. Wangari Maathai. Dr. Maathai’s innovative work and commitment to future generations inspired us to develop Shaklee’s “A Million Trees. A Million Dreams™” Campaign.

Dr. Maathai taught us “When we plant trees, we plant the seeds of peace and the seeds of hope. And we secure our children’s future.”

quote

As our Global Ambassador, Dr. Maathai joined us, along with Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger for Earth Day, 2009. On this special day, Dr. Maathai and Governor Schwarzenegger helped us celebrate the planting of Shaklee’s millionth tree to commemorate the culmination of Shaklee’s “A Million Trees. A Million Dreams™” Campaign.

We continue to be inspired by Dr. Maathai’s efforts and the Green Belt Movement as we work to realize a better tomorrow.

About Dr. Wangari Maathai

In 2004, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Wangari Muta Maathai for her contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace. She was the first woman from Africa to be so honored.

Maathai founded the Green Belt Movement where, for nearly thirty years, she has mobilized poor women to plant 30 million trees. Her methods have been adopted by other countries as well.

According to the Norwegian Nobel Committee, “We are all witness to how deforestation and forest loss have led to desertification in Africa and threatened many other regions of the world — in Europe too. Protecting forests against desertification is a vital factor in the struggle to strengthen the living environment of our common Earth.”

Maathai died in 2011. She was born in Nyeri, Kenya in 1940. She held a degree in Biological Sciences, a Masters degree in Science, and a Ph.D. from the University of Nairobi, where she also taught veterinary anatomy. She was chairman of the National Council of Women of Kenya 1981—87. Maathai was internationally recognized for her persistent struggle for democracy, human rights and environmental conservation. She has addressed the UN on several occasions. She and the Green Belt Movement received numerous awards in addition to her Nobel Peace Prize.

Valentine popcorn

| January 22, 2016

We try to eat healthy and sometimes finding healthy snacks (that everyone agrees on) can be challenging. Popcorn is my go-to snack when I get in one of those I-need-to-really-snack moods. I wanted something that was salty, crunchy an sweet. With it being close to Valentine’s day, I thought using something red would be fun….and Valentine popcorn was created. To my delight, everyone enjoyed this snack. I hope you do, too!

Valentine popcorn recipe

Valentine Popcorn
2 TBSP of coconut oil
1/2 cup popcorn (Please try to use organic popcorn as most corn is GMO)
Sea Salt (Celtic or Himalayan) is better for you than regular table salt
Optional Add-ins (below)

On high heat, add oil to the pan and throw in three kernels. When they pop add the rest of the popcorn. Turn the heat down slightly. Once the popping slows down, shake it and take it off the heat. Add salt to taste.

Add-ins
Nuts (raw almonds and cashews are delicious)
Dried cranberries or rasins*
Healthier red chocolate

milk chocolate healthier

*Please try to buy cranberries that don’t have a lot of other ingredients added. I used the cranberries below. You can also use raisins. They are just a little darker.

cranberries

#Valentine #popcorn #sharingAtoZ

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You can also cheek out this homemade popcorn  recipe for a different popcorn variation.

What is your favorite Valentine’s Day treat? I’d love to hear about it in the comments below or on social media.

Happy snacking,
Stephanie

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Declutter the pantry

| January 17, 2016

When you declutter the pantry, there are many benefits achieved. The first and most obvious is the aesthetic appeal. The second, is that items are grouped in a way where you know what you have. This can save money on buying multiples of items. Third, it can make cooking more enjoyable.

declutter the pantry

So, when Mary Organizes started their annual decluttering challenge, I was ready to jump in. In August, we moved from sunny Florida to the windy Chicago area. So, I got rid of some items before the move. However, I rushed to unpack, so rooms aren’t set up as I would like them to be.

pantry before

So, I pulled items out of their storage bins and cleaned the bins. When I put the items back, I grouped them accordingly. I have a small bin set up for everyday vitamins. I have a larger bin set up for other vitamins. (Yes, we love our vitamins!) I also have bins for snacks, dry goods and the dinners I will be preparing for the week. Having a bin that holds all of the meals for the week, really has made cooking and meal prep easier! Almost everything is in one place!

Additionally, I made sure to use up some of the multiple items and organized the rest. Here is the after picture. It isn’t Martha Stewart worthy yet, but I believe it is a big improvement.

pantry after

How do you like to organize your pantry? I’m always up for ways to improve and sharing ideas to help others!

Declutter your pantry with @sharingAtoZ

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Happy organizing,
Stephanie

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Apple Pie Overnight Oats

| January 16, 2016

You know the old saying, “breakfast is the most import meal of the day”? Well, I find that when I eat a healthy breakfast, I make healthier eating choices throughout the day. Do you feel the same? oats Welcome back to the last day of our 12 Days of Healthy Living ideas. Today, my blogger pal Cyn from Creative Cynchronicity is sharing one of her favorite ways to start off her day in a healthy, delicious way.

#12daysof health ideas @sharingAtoZ

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Since heart disease runs in her family, Cyn is always trying to find ways to keep her cholesterol under control and that means eating oatmeal for breakfast. Usually, when she says that, people say “ugh, oatmeal is bland and boring” but it sure isn’t boring the way she prepares it. With her Apple Pie Overnight Oats in a Jar with Streusel Topping, you can have a nearly “grab and go” meal that tastes more like dessert than breakfast. Don’t particularly care for apple pie? No worries. Cyn has plenty of variations for you to try too! You can also check out this way to use oats! And be sure to check out all the other great ideas in our healthy living series by clicking on them in the linky below.

<<<<<>>>>>

Chunky Chicken Vegetable Soup

| January 14, 2016

Welcome to day 10 of 12 Days of Favorite Healthy Living Ideas!

Are you enjoying the 12 days of healthy living ideas? I sure hope so. Please share the post you enjoy most! Today we have a yummy soup recipe!

There is nothing better than homemade soup, especially when the weather is cold outside or if I am feeling sick. Better yet, there is nothing better than Chunky Chicken Noodle Vegetable soup! They say homemade Chicken Noodle soup can cure anything. Whether it can, or can’t, there is nothing more delightful than a warm bowl of soup. Even the aroma can set things right with world again! Check out Southern Krazed’s delicious homemade recipe for Chunky Chicken Noodle Vegetable Soup!

chunky chicken vegetable soiup

Chunky Chicken Noodle Vegetable Soup

Be sure and check out the other Healthy Living Ideas and Recipes that are part of our ‪#‎12Daysof‬ Healthy Living Ideas series on the linky below! We’ll be linking up all of the posts, so keep an eye out in case you missed one!



Veggie Pizza

| January 13, 2016

Almost everyone likes pizza (except for my daughter and me). However, I think I will like this healthy, yummy veggie pizza!

Welcome back to Day 9 of 12 Days of Healthy Living Ideas! Today’s recipe for those of you that love pizza but prefer not take in the extra calories.

veggie pizza

On the Scene with Mrs. Kathy King made yummy veggie pizza that even the kids will love. Please click here to grab the recipe. HERE. Then come back and see all that 12 Days of Healthy Living Ideas has to offer below.