Month: March 2014

Triple “Free” Cosmetics

It’s not just food that needs to be gluten-free, folks! You have to make sure your cosmetics and personal care items are free from allergens too.

However, it doesn’t just stop with being gluten-free. Let’s make sure our makeup and creams and shampoos are really safe.

Cruelty Free.

Toxic Free.

Gluten Free.

Free three times over.

Now this approach is a lot more time-consuming and research-heavy than just walking into a store and picking something pretty or nice-smelling. But you’ll live with peace of mind and heart, so it’s totally worth it. How do you do this? Here’s my three-step process:

 

Step 1: GLUTEN-FREE – Check the “Gluten-Free Make Up Gal” List

Here’s the link to the website, which has the latest list. This lady’s great–she updates the list every year. However, most of these product are not available in Malaysia. So you’ll need to order online or get a friend to buy and bring. Good news is that most of these brands satisfy criteria in Steps 2 and 3 (still good idea to check, though!). Say you can’t get what you need in Malaysia. You’ll have to do Steps 2 and 3, and then Google whether it’s gluten-free.

 

Step 2: CRUELTY-FREE – Check the “Beauty without Bunnies” Site

Here’s the link to probably the most comprehensive and reliable cruelty-free database around. Brands available in Malaysia can be found here.

 

Step 3: TOXIC-FREE – Cross check against Skin Deep Database

Here’s the link to that database. Cross check the items you want to purchase with the list generated in Step 2 above.

Good luck!

Peace,

Daisy

Grain Quiz!

Hi folks!

While I am trying to reduce the amount of grains I eat at home, it certainly is hard to fill up on just veggies, fruits, nuts, and eggs! Therefore, I thought I’d share my home stash of grains in the form of a quiz: can you identify these grains?

What are these GF-permissible grains?
What are these GF-permissible grains?

A. Sarawak red rice

B. Red quinoa

C. Mixed quinoa

D. Millet

E. Buckwheat

The best kind of rice to get is organic wild rice. Sadly, I have not seen this available here in Malaysia. Also on a sad note, while quinoa is an excellent staple, it is no longer an ethical grain thanks to irresponsible global trading. If you want to buy quinoa, please get the “fair trade” kind as we don’t want to deprive poor South Americans of their nutritious staple.

BONUS QUESTION: Which grains are not gluten free but often seen in the gluten-free aisles because they are marketed as “health foods”?

Cous cous

Kamut

Spelt

Semolina

Atta

Bulgur

 

All the above are not okay!

Peace,

Daisy