Aloe Vera has powerful properties and is often overlooked - so, we’re going to give it a well earned spot light here.

Aloe Vera has a calming effect on irritations, sunburn, bites and stings and it’s anti-oxident properties make it a great anti-ageing ingredient.  It’s a plant which is versatile in both its health giving benefits as well as in the way it can be used.

When used externally for skin and hair care, it replenishes moisture levels and sends nutrients to sub-dermal levels and is absorbed into the hair shaft. It has superb anti-inflammatory properties so is great as a weekly face mask especially on spotty, irritated skin.  It’s antiseptic and calming effects also make it a perfect toner.

It’s lesser known use in shaving preparations give wonderful results for those prone to razor rash. Use during the shaving process with a light shaving oil and then again - neat - after shaving. Once thoroughly absorbed into the skin, follow with a moisturiser.

Nature’s Parlour has a selection of products available for sale which canbe obtained from the Aloe Vera section of the Parlour

Pampering is a necessary way to add balance to your busy life. For user friendly tips and suggestions read on…

In part one of this post, we looked at some of the reasons I didn’t find snacking on fruit quite as convenient as I would have liked. In part two we’re going to look at some ways to make snacking on fruit a simple and regular feature in our daily diet. I’m going to take you through a typical fruit infused day…

• Add chopped fruit to cereal
• Have a morning smoothie with your breakfast or as a breakfast alternative
• If you’re a sedentary worker, have your fruit snack mid-morning just before your rest-room break so that you can wash your hands and reapply make-up (if necessary)
• Have some fruit as your lunch time starter - it should wet your appetite and get you ready for the main lunchtime meal
• Have some fruit when you arrive home from work. I wash some fruit and hand it to my son when he comes from school, so he eats it now without thinking about it
• Have a smoothie after you’ve come home from work
• Have some fruit as a dinner time starter/appetiser
• Have some fruit for dessert

A very fruity apple!

A fantastic fruit dessert we love here consists of a bowl each of chopped fruit (about half and apple and half a pear in each bowl) with 2 tablespoons of yoghurt mixed with 1 tablespoon of honey to each bowl - yum!!!

Fresh fruits are fantastic for skin and hair care. They are packed full of nutrients and vitamins and are rich in anti-oxidants which helps combat free radicals - great for anti-ageing.

Happy snacking!!!

Buying natural & organic products needn’t cost the earth. Here at Nature’s Parlour it’s easy to save money and still buy your favourite personal care products. Follow these simple tips and make great savings.

Save on products

• Sign up to the newsletter on the Nature’s Parlour homepage. - The newsletter is published periodically and has details of sales and special offers
• Check and take part in the blog - The blog has regular updates and links to other blogs where their readers are able to benefit from discounts for example Natural Mom’s Talk Radio where their readers (including you!) are being offered a discount. Click here for more details.
• Check the sales & specials tab - Sometimes there’ll be sales on there that aren’t available through discount codes. Bookmark the site and check back regularly

Save on shipping

This is a simple tip that’s often overlooked. Your friends, colleagues, and everyone in your family needs soap, deodorant, shampoo, moisturiser, etc. Why not make all of your purchases in one go and then divide the cost of shipping? When shipping is shared like this, it becomes negligible and you still get your goodies for less than the cost of jumping on public transport. Simple!

Yours naturally

Xina

It’s common knowledge that fruit is the original fast food. It’s nutritious, flavoursome and easy to eat. Increasing your consumption of fruit does wonders for your skin and eating it should be part of your holistic skincare routine. So how can we make better use of it’s potential as the convenient food of choice?

In my quest to enjoy a more natural lifestyle with my family I actively look for ways to eat more fresh produce (preferably organic) and make natural living the norm for all of us.

However, I realised that I don’t often snack on fruit and decided to question why. Here’s what I came up with:

• I get lipgloss all over most apple/pear sized fruit when I eat it
• my fingers get sticky and wet when eating most fruit - not good when working on a keyboard
• fruits aren’t a convenient shape for my handbag
• I sometimes feel more hungry after I’ve eaten the fruit than before

I know some of these reasons may seem superficial, but there you have it! OK so what was I going to do about this? There’s no way I was going to be beaten by a bunch of fruit!!

The first thing I did was check out the daily recommended amount of fruit (and vegetables) to eat. According to the Food Standards Agency, a combination of 5 portions of fruit or vegetables a day would do the trick. In my home we eat at least one portion of vegetables and/or salad with each meal, which is fine, but I still wanted to incorporate more fruit easily and seamlessly into our daily diet.

How often do you eat fruit? Do you have some recommendations on how to incorporate fruity snacks? Are you able to eat a daily amount you’re happy with? Do you consider it an issue at all? Perhaps you don’t even like fruit? Whatever your take on this issue, we’d love to hear from you! Simply add your comment in the box below or click on the comments link.

Part 2 of this article will give some ideas on how you might incorporate more fruit into your diet as part of your holistic skincare routine. Be sure not to miss it - book mark this page using the icon below or subscribe by clicking the icon in the column to the right of this article.

Yours naturally

Xina

Nature’s Parlour

PS I found the wonderful photo of the fruit basket at Great Hampers.