When we're looking at our skin, when we're applying our products, it's really important that we do so with love. –Rachael Pontillo

On this episode of the Plan Simple Meals Podcast, I’m really excited to talk with Rachel Pontillo, who among other things is a certified international health coach, licensed aesthetician and natural skin care formulator and educator. We talking about skin care and how food and what we put on and in our bodies matters.

Rachael has a lot to share on reading labels and on making your own skin products. For starters, she recommends products with short ingredients lists. And while you may have heard the advice not to use products with names you can’t pronounce, she points out that many of us have trouble with Latin names, though these are often used with natural ingredients. She reminds us that all products contain chemicals, we’re choosing between toxicants and safer ingredients or non-toxic ingredients.

Rachael recommend making your own products—and teaches people how to do it. And she is proof that even a busy mom running a business with kids involved in activities can find the time.

We talk about:

• How to assess skincare products and what ingredients you want to avoid
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• The ways homeschooling opens up different time and what it can teach us and our kids
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• What oils to keep in your skin care pantry and how to use essential oils safely
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• How to use clay and what’s in your kitchen to make a simple skin clarifying mask
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• Getting kids involved in decision-making and skin care products
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• Why taking care of your skin at night matters
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• The “Skin Trigger Trifecta”: gluten, sugar and dairy and why changing how you eat really affects your skin
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Rachael Pontillo is the best-selling author of Love Your Skin, Love Yourself and co-author of The Sauce Code. She’s an AADP and IAAHC board certified international health coach, a licensed aesthetician and natural skin care formulator and educator. She’s the president and co-founder of the Nutritional Aesthetics Alliance and creator of the popular skin care and healthy lifestyle blog “Holistically Hot” and the 6-week online course “Create Your Skin Care.” She’s also an avid herbalist, self-professed skin care ingredient junkie and lifelong learner. And, of course, she’s also a mama.

LINKS

rachaelpontillo.com

createyourskincare.com

http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/

https://www.thinkdirtyapp.com/

MadeSafe.org

Soup Making Guide

Doable Changes from this episode:

• START THE DAY WITH A GREEN SMOOTHIE. Racheal and I both do this. Rachel loves green smoothies because they add both fiber and hydration, which helps with elimination. There are a lot of good reasons to love green smoothies. Try it for one week and see if it changes your skin (or anything else for you!)
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• BUY OR MAKE ONE PRODUCT. Don’t feel like you have to toss everything you use. Choose one you are running out of or one that you think is particularly problematic. Make or buy something better and try