Blog Posts by Healthy B Daily

Boy, would you just l-o-v-e to rock that miniskirt tonight. But unfortunately your legs have something else in mind. Like pants. The veins popping up in your thighs have got you looking like a kid took a blue ballpoint pen to your stems and went to town.

Don't feel bad, honey. You are not alone. Research suggests that 20 to 25-percent of women suffer from varicose and spider veins, and they can appear at any time in a woman's life. Lucky us, huh?

Varicose What?! Varicose veins occur when a high amount of blood is stressing the veins, failing to circulate the blood properly. These visible, bulging and dilated veins are most common in the legs and thighs. Similarly, spider veins appear like fine, "starbursts" or web-like clusters on the skin's surface like the thighs, ankles or feet.

Why Me?! Infamous for showing up during times like pregnancy, experts claim the antagonistic veins are also a hereditary battle. Other risk factors include a lazy-ass lifestyle, weight gain,

You've had it up to here (insert shoulders here). You're stressed over money, pressed the Snooze button way too many times this a.m. and your hair is so fried that even a dozen oil treatments couldn't bring it back to life. Sometimes, life is a b---- .

With distractions in abundance, it's never been easier to lose yourself in the percolation of work, friends, family, and just life in general. There's this thing to do and this person to talk to and that place to be at this exact time and blah, blah, blah.

What's not easy, it seems, is securing that much-needed alone time to calm your mind, relax your body, and generate a sense of renewal. But, rest assured, (no, literally sit down for once and rest!), there are quick and very accessible ways of re-synchronizing that frazzled body and mind connection.

To ease your mind, HBD has put together a few mini-meditations for the girl on-the-go who needs peace and needs it quick. Besides, yoga can get pricey.

The Art of

For many of us, our pets are our pride and joy. Our little mini-me's. We read them bedtime stories, braid their tails, brag to the neighbors about the cute lil' face they make when they're tired, and engrave our last names on their dog tags like we bore them in the womb for nine months.

But, how much thought do we really put into what we feed our little four-legged friends?

The pet lovin' family behind The Honest Kitchen have given it some real thought. A small company with a big heart, The Honest Kitchen has a strong opinion on pet holistic health, with the belief that pets deserve the same attention to health that people do. The only pet food manufacturer in the US that operates in an FDA-approved human-grade facility, the San Diego-based company sources all-natural, certified organic, fair trade ingredients like ground flaxseed, cranberries, quinoa, apples, grains, and sea kelp to prepare their dehydrated pet foods and products.

They even keep in mind that our furry

There he is. The guy you've scheduled your workout times around for the past year. All sweaty and working that elliptical like nobody's business. Man, you'd swim in that sweat if it meant a moment alone in the gym showers. But just as soon as it starts, the fantasy is over. Finito. Did he really just walk away from that piece of community machinery and forget to wipe off his sweat? Who does he think he is, Prefontaine? Ummm, no.

Unfortunately, the gym is like a Petri dish for germs and super bugs. Since gym equipment gets fondled more than you did at senior prom, your exposure levels are already flying high. But you don't know how high. An ABC News investigative report performed by Dr. Philip Tierno, a microbiologist at New York University Hospital, found the germs staph aureus, klebsiella, enterobacter, bacillus, sarcinia, candida specie, and E. coli on gym machinery. Just to name a few. Though they look foreign to you, all of these bad boys are capable of causing some serious

You can't help yourself. First it started happening at the drugstore, and now you're sneaking away to friend's bathrooms. Picking up beauty products like you have a PhD in chemical engineering, all in hopes of busting a loved one for paraben abuse. Well, if you weren't already annoying, we have another bone for you to pick: phenoxyethanol.

Before you start overhauling your medicine cabinet for the eighth time, educate yourself on what phenoxyethanol is and why it deserves your undivided attention.

Define It. Phenoxyethanol is a preservative that is commonly taking the place of the beauty world's antagonist, parabens. Phenoxyethanol is an aromatic ether alcohol. This ingredient starts out as phenol, a toxic white crystalline powder that is created from benzene (a known carcinogen), and is then treated with ethylene oxide (another known carcinogen) and an alkalai. Sounds dreamy, right?

Phenoxyethanol Nicknames

• Dowanol
• Arosol
• Emery 6705
• Phenoxetol
• Rose

The symptoms begin subtly. First, you snap. The salad you ordered came pre-dressed when you clearly asked for dressing on the side. You suddenly have the itch to pull every strand of blonde hair out of your waitress' pretty little head. Then comes the groan. The groan of your belly saying, Man, is it that time of the month again already?

Nobody likes a visit from Auntie Flow. All you can think about is popping some Midol, throwing on your 'painting' sweatpants and concentrating on getting through your week without slapping your boyfriend for saying your best friend has beautiful eyes.

But before you jam just any applicator up your va-jay-jay, consider this:

What's In Your Tampons? To our utter dismay, there are no federal regulations concerning listing ingredients in tampons. So, for those approximately 11,000 tampons you'll use in your lifetime, you are actually slipping chlorine-bleached rayon or rayon-cotton blends into your body. And rayon, sweetheart, produces

For a few days each month, our moods swing faster than Pink at the Grammy's. Either you're bashing yourself for buying those hideous bath towels or yelling at your man for not calling you on his lunch break. Honey, he doesn't take lunch. But before you lock yourself in a room with a cheap bottle of Chard and reruns of Full House, please know there are natural ways to ease the suffering.

But first, here's some big No No's:

Don't Consume…

Salty foods. Sodium can drastically increase bloating before or during your period. Nothing less fun than having someone ask you when you are due…when you're not.

Sugar and Dairy. The most notable symptom sugar causes is mood swings. Dairy products and refined sugar can increase magnesium excretion, which can lead to cramping, nervousness and backaches. Oh, and ice cream can pack on the calories. Is that a better reason?

Caffeine and Alcohol. Both can cause dehydration, which can lead to a myriad of issues. Caffeine can increase

It's not your fault. The deodorant you bought bragged about its all-natural ingredients. You read the label expecting your aloe-filled pit pores to smell like a lavender field in Provence. So, how come you smell like a plumber in 90-degree heat?

Deodorants and anti-perspirants are very different. Anti-perspirants actually stop the body's natural process of sweating and prevent your pores from releasing toxins.
 Your underarms are the gateway to your lymphatic system and their job is to fight infections. So taking small steps, such as using a deodorant, can help protect you from any potential health risks. But, most deodorants on the market (even natural touting products we all love) have looming chemicals that are not really talked about.

The two biggest culprits are:

Aluminum. Some studies have found a link between Alzheimer's disease and aluminum. A 1993 World Health Organization "Public Health Report" cited autopsies that found high concentrations of aluminum in the