Honey On My Lips

“If we understood that food was memory, we would stop our miserable eating habits.”

“Instead of eating the natural foods Earth has created over eons of subtle experimentation, we stuff ourselves with fake junk put out by multinationals with less knowledge of the Earth than could be stuffed into an empty peanut shell, resulting in cancer, heart disease, and all the needless suffering associated with folly. We need to realize that, from a biological point of view, eating is remembering. Why?
Because food is rich in the information our bodies need. Through hundreds of millions of years, life forms learned to feed on each other. This means more than supplying fuel. It means supplying the informed sequences of molecules and amino acids required for our epigenetic unfolding. Our bodies wait for, expect a particular spectrum of foods. Not just anything will do. Particular molecular compounds are required, those that were fashioned by the millions of years of creative experimentation.”

“Many of our physiological patterns of activity depend on certain complex chemicals provided by natural foods. The physiological processes are the way the body remembers its ancestral heritage, and this heritage insists on particular natural foods for its remembering. When you eat grains, legumes, and good, fresh meat and vegetables, you enable your body to remember its powers… The foods enable patterns of activity to start up.”

Excerpts from The Universe Is A Green Dragon by Brian Swimme
A book that Lola Chit lent me.

I credit these words with singlehandedly pushing me into the journey I’m on now.
I’ve read about “going green” before… I’ve been hearing about this sort of lifestyle change from many of my friends and family. Although my conscience and spirit instinctively knew it to be the right thing, I was partly skeptical, partly jaded, and partly too lazy to really believe it and act on it.

But reading these lines really, really pushed it into me, the realization that my body responds to everything I give it. Garbage in, garbage out! And the planet is the same way… and we are all connected. ♥

Thank you, Brian Swimme. Thank you, Lola Chit. Thank you, Mother Nature.

Love,
Feanne

Unplanned, but natural, turn of events: Realized today that this isn’t just going to be a skin diary.

What began with my chapped lips turned into a careful scrutiny of the ingredients labels of everything I use and ingest. Obviously a major life change, but I will do it in baby steps. One thing at a time. Yesterday I switched to herbal toothpaste; today I’m switching to brown rice. I expect that I’ll be encountering increasingly difficult and complicated decisions, so I’ll start with the smaller, easier ones for now.

Grateful for the affordable organic products currently on the market, easily within my reach. I’d be doing myself, my future descendants, and the whole planet a great disservice if I do not make at least these easy choices.

Today I will check out the Human Nature store nearby— organic, natural products created by Gandang Kalikasan in close affiliation with Gawad Kalinga, a progressive social renewal institution that I trust.

Love,
Feanne

In December 2009, I began an informal quest to chronicle the various states of my skin, and hopefully work out improvements on my skincare regimen.

Why? Medical science today is certainly much better than several centuries ago, but we would be foolish to believe that we have already figured most of it out. In truth, the universe is exponentially larger and so much more mysterious than we might possibly be able to imagine, and the knowledge we possess now— though marvelous in itself— is still just the teeny-tiny tip of the iceberg.

So then, what do we really know about our skin? If it were true that medical science had already “figured most of it out”, then most people would have perfect flawless healthy skin thanks to quick, easy, affordable, high-tech products or processes with 99% success rate, hardly any bad side effects, and long-lasting effects. In truth, most people spend a lifetime and a fortune on a whole slew of creams, balms, ointments, treatments, and other cosmetic devices that have unverifiable success rates (I personally believe it’s just 50%, or no better than plain luck!), ambiguous results, and generally unknown long-term side effects. Right now, I am inclined to believe that healthy habits and simple, natural products are the way to go.

The products and treatments to which we subject our skin are not the only variables, of course. Genetics plays a major part; so do diet, lifestyle, and environment. The combination of all these various influences reflect on the uniqueness and dynamic state of our skin: what works for me may or may not work for you, and what works today may or may not fail tomorrow, or next year, or next decade.

I started this skin diary because I believe that trial-and-error— backed by research before trying anything out— would be the best way for me to figure out what really works for my skin, at least for this period in my life.

Given the complexity and vast scope of this “experiment”, I write this skin diary without making any guarantees or promises, to myself or to anyone.

But I do hope that this chronicle will:
♥ help me discover cause-and-effect relationships between products and my skin
♥ help me simplify and improve my skincare regimen
♥ encourage me to take better care of my whole body— every part is connected

My grandmother always says:
“Take good care of your body— you’ve only got one!”

Love,
Feanne