coconut water benefits - Stuff Parents Need

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I’ve been talking on the blog lately about some healthy habits I’m working on (specifically, getting my allergies in check and dropping some weight). But as someone who is turning 34 at the end of this summer (gulp), I’m also realizing that NOW is the time for me to get really serious about my skin health (ok, 10 years ago was the time to get serious, but better late than never!).

On a recent trip to the corner of happy and healthy (you know the place! Walgreens!) I picked up 3 things on my list that will help me get my skin into shape from the inside out. I love Walgreens because even though they aren’t huge in size, they pack A LOT of stuff inside, and so much of it is so good for you! As a woman who is not exactly a spring chicken anymore, I have quite a few particular things I’m looking for help me keep my skin looking youthful. But I’m not fooled by advertisements telling that everything I need by this point in my life has to be expensive! It doesn’t have to be found at health food or high-end specialty stores, either. I can find SO many awesome things at my favorite drugstore!

For example, just this week I went to get some vitamins that could help with skin health, and I stumbled on a total goldmine! These sleep & beauty (cute, no?) pills were on clearance (how I love thee, orange tags!) AND that particular line of products was on sale that day for buy 1 get 1 free. I scored a two month supply for under $9, without any coupons!

These pills have melatonin in them to help me drift off to sleep, and while I’m resting, the keratin goes to work to help improve elasticity and keep my skin in great shape. Remember, your skin is an organ, and it needs nourishment and proper care just like any other part of your body.

I also picked up some sunscreen for me to use during afternoon play time outside with the kids. I think most of us by now have gotten the memo that sunscreen is really important, but are you like me and skip applying it when you know you’ll just be outside for half an hour or so? I am guilty of this so often. So guess what? I’m making it as easy as possible. I picked up a twin pack of spray on sunscreen and am keeping it by the back door. Applying it takes 10 seconds. No more excuses! No more sunburn, either!

Finally, I cruised by the refrigerated section at Walgreens (do you do this? You should start…they always have great prices on milk, just FYI!). And lo and behold, I saw something fancy that has been on my wish list to try: coconut water!

Coconut water is the latest health food craze, and I’m not so sure that I buy into the hype that it is the beverage that will solve any health-related problem that ever existed. I think that’s just a wee bit of a stretch! However, I have personally experienced the benefits of using coconut oil (internally and externally) and so I believe that coconut water is a good option to use. One of its benefits is that it helps your body really get hydrated, and when your body is hydrated, so is your skin. Hydrated skin = beautiful skin, plain and simple. So this week I started making coconut water ice cubes (I threw a little fresh mint from our herb garden in there for extra flavor). You guys….this is SOOOOOO yummy! Coconut water is on the high end for calories, and I prefer not to drink my calories throughout the day, but to save those for bites of gelato in the evening, so the coconut ice cubes give me that nice flavor without a ton of calories being added to my water. It’s totally going to be a summer staple for me!

Walgreens is promoting #HerHealth by helping me take great care of my skin these days, and its convenient location and variety of products help me wrap up my shopping list all in one shot. That gives me more time to hang back with the family, kick off my shoes, and play some hide-and-seek. My skin is all taken care of, but I’ve still got to work on my poker face.

Do you have any beloved products or helpful tips for others when it comes to skin health? I’d love to hear about it! And I’m super curious to hear if you’ve tried coconut water yet! 🙂

Tropical Traditions has a very cool product on the market that I want to highly recommend you add to your pantry. It’s called Organic Coconut Water Vinegar, and I think it makes an excellent alternative to distilled vinegar for your recipes. It’s got a great flavor and it is PACKED with nutrients. If left on its own to ferment and turn into vinegar, those nutrients are retained in the vinegar. Most vinegars, coconut or otherwise, are pasteurized using a heat process which does kill off most of those great vitamins and minerals that it normally possesses. Tropical Traditions has worked closely with scientists for use to produce an incubation system that is truly safe and that retains all the goodness that coconut water has to offer.

Additionally, Tropical Traditions is dedicated to making sure their harvesting practices are sustainable. Most other coconut vinegar products are made by harvesting a coconut flower bud, which if left alone would produce coconuts. Trees dedicated to this process will never produce coconuts, as a result. Tropical Traditions uses the coconut, itself for a more natural and healthy final product.
So what do you do with coconut water vinegar? I took the same approach to using this product as I did to using coconut oil, which was a new product to me when I first started using it. I simply started reaching for my coconut water vinegar when I would have normally reached for traditional vinegar. The results have been absolutely delicious! I personally find the flavor to be brighter, though not at all overpowering. And I love knowing that I’m using something that is so very good for my family and the environment.

Buy it!: A 16 oz bottle of Tropical Traditions Organic Coconut Water Vinegar retails for $10 and a 32 ounce jar retails for $18.50. I know our 32 ounce jar is going to last a really long time since recipes that call for vinegar usually don’t call for more than a tablespoon.

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader will win a bottle of Organic Coconut Water Vinegar!
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