If you’ve been a viewer of my Instagram stories lately, you may have noticed my recent active push toward a healthier body. Think green smoothies, barre classes, less gummy worms (I know, I know, sooooo LA).  As a Pure Barre teacher myself, health and fitness are of course a part of my daily life, but I knew I needed to make some more changes for two reasons:

1.  I am tired all the time. And I shouldn’t be. Blogging and teaching give me a schedule that most would consider “leisurely.” The absence of a fixed 9-5 gives me plenty of sleep every night. I often look at Mommy-blogger friends who do everything that I do, PLUS raise children and I am literally AMAZED. This amazement got me thinking a lot about my energy levels and how they just aren’t where I think they should be.

2. My skin is a mess. It’s kind of awkward to talk about flaws but, hi my name is Brittney and my skin is always breaking out and never seems to be “clear” and I hate it soooooo  much… I mean, girls, you know that feeling when you look in the mirror and you have a break out and it just lowers your self confidence wayyyyyy down. Right?

So that’s how I got here. I returned home from my most recent trip to Tulum (where I hadn’t done a workout in ten days) and was feeling perpetually tired. My skin had taken a turn for the worse, and on top of that, not protecting my skin from the sun in Mexico caused a lot of damage to my face and intensified my malasma (the birth mark looking thing on my face). It was the perfect time to start implementing some changes.  I’m no doctor, but here is my prescription for a healthier me.

Put Good Energy In, Get Good Energy Out:

The first thing I did was set out to find ways to get some energy into my life.  One of my favorite bloggers ever, The Bainbridge Boheme, (one of those super moms I mentioned above) inspired me to try out a green smoothie recipe. After experimenting with a few options and getting some recommendations from Instagram friends, here is the recipe I landed on:

I have all of these ingredients delivered to my door step from Milk and Eggs dot com (I’ve linked many of the ingredients if you’re curious), they are organic and farmers market quality! So far I’m feeling more energized and vibrant, but still have a long way to go! At the very least I feel mentally really good about what I am doing for my body. I’m looking forward to updating you all on how it’s going!

 

In addition to making sure that I am using my green smoothie to give myself some of the nutrients that my body craves, I have been doing some other, easy things to help in the energy department.

  • Drink more water (duh): Carrying a cute water bottle and adding fruit made it feel like less of a chore.
  • Make workouts a priority: Often times I would get so busy “teaching” barre classes, that I forgot to TAKE barre classes. I’m half way through the June challenge of 20 classes in 30 days and I am already feeling back into a routine where I crave my daily workout.
  • Eat less sugar: “NO DIETING, NO FOOD RESTRICTING” this is something I have adhered too since my time competing in pageants. Unfortunately, this is also the excuse I use to justify eating an excessive amount of candy. So, I’m trying to cut my candy and sweets consumption by about 50%
  • Add natural vitamins into diet: I don’t do vitamins and supplements well, so for me this has taken the form of adding things like spinach, kale, or avocado (all packed with vitamins) into my recipes.  If you don’t like the taste, you can mask it with other antioxidant-rich foods like blueberries.

Just like a car, our bodies burn the fuel that we put in it to help us move and think and live our lives.  I am refocusing on making sure that I am giving my body clean fuel so that my body can run like a sports car (and not like an old diesel truck that’s broken down on the side of the road, which is how I’d been feeling, lol).

Love the Skin You’re In:

Up until a month ago, I have been a Neutrogena kind of girl. Pretty basic: wash face in the morning, wash face at night, light moisturizer. done. I’ve tried my fair share of products, but nothing that stuck around longer than whatever was on sale at target. In my, “I’ll try any home remedy to clear up this breakout before tomorrow morning” quest, I read an article about the antibacterial and antioxidant rich properties of honey, which ended up leading me to the the new skin care line I’ve been using for this healthier skin journey, called Farmacy.  Farmacy Beauty is a “farm to face” beauty line which is environmentally conscious, all natural, and uses honey in their products.  

“The honey in our honey collection is cultivated by our happy, healthy VIBs (very important bees) that pollinate the Echinacea GreenEnvy™ flowers, which infuses the honey with powerful antioxidants.” 

I can literally feel the difference in these products. They feel fresh and light, not heavy or soapy, but clean and refreshing. They are paraben free, formaldehyde free, synthetic fragrance free, pthalate free, mineral oil free, and cruelty free.  (Oh and for the record this is NOT a paid post, I am not making any money off of this or your potential purchase of these products) so if I sound sales-y it’s just because I get really excited about things that love and want to share them with you guys!

I’ve been using four of their products for the past four weeks and have been very happy with the improvements I’ve seen in my skin! Most importantly, I have been using their “Green Screen” daily sunscreen to protect my skin from the environment, not just on pool days, but every single day.  (In my head I am high-fiving everyone around me at how adult it is that I am wearing sunscreen everyday!).

Here’s my current routine (with links):

  1. CleanBee facial cleanser
  2. Honey Drop moisturizer
  3. Green Screen environmental protector
  4. Honey Butter Beeswax Lip Balm

I would recommend all of these, but if you’re going to just try one thing I would highly recommend the Green Screen. I can’t even stress enough how good it feels knowing that I am protecting my skin. I started with this basic regimen to see how it goes, but I’ve been so thrilled I think i’ll try out some additional products like honey potion mask (the internet world seems to love this one a bunch), or the eye cream! (I’ll update or write a new blog with those results)!

 

The way that I look at it, we only have one life, one body, and one way that we can choose to spend every moment.  I am writing this blog as a way to share with you all ways that I have found to help myself feel better, physically and mentally, and hopefully you can use some of these tips in your own lives.  If you have any suggestions on things that have worked for you, or things that I should try, comment below!  Or you can always reach me by DM on Instagram!