How To: Make Your Dog Home Made Food

I've had problems with commercial dog food ever since I found out my 9 year old dog Mon Ami was allergic to chicken. For years I kept her on store bought high quality salmon dog food. I'd use half wet food and half dry food. I hate to admit it, but as she gets up in age, I've noticed she's been constipated quit often and she lost all of her front teeth on the bottom which I'd imagine makes it harder for her to chew kibble. My friend has an older dog as well and she told me she has seen drastic improvements in her health since she's started making home made dog food. I researched many recipes online and this is the best one I've found for my dogs needs. I also have a 10 week old puppy that is already on the food, as his teeth aren't ready for dry food, and he LOVES it! My favorite ingredient is the pumpkin because it cures both diarrhea and constipation, plus the dogs seem to enjoy the taste. 

My Recipe For Home Made Dog Food:

• Two pounds lean ground turkey
• Sweet potatoes
• Broccoli, Cauliflower and Carrots (not frozen)
• Large can of Organic Pumpkin (NOT the pumpkin pie mix with the spices!)

Directions:

• Cook the ground turkey 
• In another pan with a bit of olive oil on the bottom, cook the sweet potatoes 
• While those are cooking, use your cuisinart to puree all the vegetables with the pumpkin and a few table spoons of water
• Once pureed, put in the tupperware as you will not be cooking this, we want these ingredients raw
• When everything is finished cooking, let cool then add it to your tupperwares and mix
• I try to make enough to freeze some so I have food for a few weeks

Articles on the Benefits of Home Made Dog Food:

Healthy Pet Blog

Cesar Millans Blog Post on Nutrition

PetMD

Modern Dog Magazine "10 People Foods for Dogs"

{ Mon Ami at 9 years young! }

{ Ralph Lauren at 9 weeks! }

Repunzel, Let Down Your Hair!

 I've been getting tons of views per day on my post on how to care for YOUR hair, plus a few e-mails asking for more tips and one girl asked "you really aren't wearing extensions?" The answer, my dear, is no I'm not. This is au natural! I'm not above extensions, the clips ins are fun for a night on the town, but the sewn in weaves and the ones where they bond separate pieces of hair to your roots are harmful to your hair and will damage it...leaving you with less hair, when taken out, then you started with. The questions I've been getting are how do I grow my hair so long...most girls say their hair grows to a certain length, then stops. I'm not sure if your hair KNOWS how long it is...do the ends talk to the roots and one day say "ok it's time to stop producing more hair!". Nope. I reckon girls that think that probably just get frustrated at some point and eventually chop it. The key to long luxurious hair is one word: consistency. I take my Hair, Skin and Nails multi vitamin every night (the magic ingredient in those for hair growth is biotin, so find one with the most mg of biotin and you are set). I've also mentioned I have not used sulfates on my hair in years, I prefer Wen, a cleansing conditioner, but their are others out there as well as sulfate free shampoos that you can choose from. Something else I do is brush Moroccan oil or coconut oil into my hair at bedtime, which means I wash my pillows more frequently, but it keeps the ends strong and split end free. Also, I don't ever sleep with my hair in a bun or ponytail because that causes breakage where the rubber band meets the hair. I may braid my hair, then loosely fasten it with a soft ribbon hair tie because that's less stress on your hair. Castor oil, as I've also mentioned before for oil cleansing face washes, is known to increase hair growth. I put that on my eyebrows and eyelashes every night and once or twice a week, I'll rub some into my scalp at bedtime then wash it out in the morning. Don't be scared this will make your hair look greasy, oils don't cause build up like conditioners do. The most expensive thing I own for my hair is my hair brush. I use a Mason Pearson brush, which costs a whopping $200 but it's lasted me for years. Why is it so important thus expensive? It uses all natural bore bristles for one, which are thin and don't pull on hair too much to detangle. Secondly, it's rubbery base that holds the bristles is cushiony, which is meant to message your scalp AND spreads natural sebum produced by your scalp all the way down the shaft of your hair, which strengthens it. Sold? Thought so. 

{Selfie!}

Bon Soir

In the last year, I've developed problems sleeping. As an anxious person, if I have ANY additional stress, it keeps me awake at night. Or if I do fall asleep, I often have nightmares about whatever is troubling me and I wake up sometimes up to ten times a night, then having to try to fall back asleep is frustrating. I feel like I cant get into that deep sleep that lets your body heal and your emotions and thoughts you've had throughout the day disperse. I had recently had a rough couple of weeks, so I turned to a psychiatrist who prescribed me RX sleeping pills. They did not work. I started taking them earlier in the evening, thinking that maybe my metabolism was slow and I should give them time to kick in. That did not help. I'm just one of those people that doesn't respond to sleeping pills. I tried binaural beats with a sleep app on my iPad, but falling asleep with headphones on is uncomfortable to say the least. I still fall asleep to guided relaxation meditations I find on youtube, but I've FINALLY found something else that helps me sleep throughout the night naturally. Transdermal, or topical, magnesium has benefits such as relaxation, help sleeping, stress reduction and improved moods. Research shows that the American diet is very deficient in magnesium, but taking it orally can upset your stomach as it acts as a laxative. Applying it therapeutically as an oil on the skin helps it absorb into the cells more efficiently. Magnesium allows muscles to relax and decreases the discomforts of muscle cramping. It is known as the anti stress mineral. It is a natural tranquilizer, even used by some as a deodorant because it relaxes your arm pit glands that produce sweat. For sleep, I put it on my feet, then I add a few drops of jojoba oil and put socks on. I've had the best sleep in my life and it's much needed for me because if I don't get enough sleep I look horrible and my lupus symptoms increase. Hope this helps you, sleeping beauty!

xo, L