Why I am putting Ghee on my face... or rather, why my skin is itchy and dry and I'll try anything...

I have a dear friend from college (we have been friends for 10 years! whew time flies) who lives in Seattle, and is a fellow clean living/clean beauty person, and we frequently exchange long facebook messages about things were are doing/want to try/ have had success or failure with, etc etc, in the beauty and lifestyle arena. Mostly we talk about skin stuff, sometimes in conjunction with diet stuff, and basically lament that we don't live in the same town anymore because we could create an awesome business out of what we make for our personal body care products. ANYWAY, she mentioned that her skin, in particular her face, was feeling really dry lately and the oils she had been using have just not been cutting it. She described it like "I put a good amount of oil on in the am, and it seems to be just sitting on the skin, rather then absorbing like normal, and my skin still feels dry and uncomfortable". Well, wouldn't you know, I was having the EXACT same problem. I noticed a few days ago that I was having the same problem- lots of soothing oil that I normally love on my face was just not cutting it. It also happens to be freakin' freezing in Santa Cruz right now (literally), as it is across most of the US (and the entire Northern Hemisphere, really), so I am sure that A. my skin is reacting to the very cold and very dry air, and B. I am probably not alone here. She and I chatted about the various options to treat this, and I told her I have been putting on oil, then a thick face cream, and then sunscreen. It has been helping, but my skin is very sensitive, and if I put too much on it, it tends to get reactive- which it has been starting to do, as I glop on all this stuff to keep my face from being super parched. I suggested Tallow, (rendered fat- I know it sounds gross but it supposed to be a miracle on dry skin), since she and I are both on board with humanely raised meat consumption and other uses. I have heard that Tallow can be amazing for dry, chapped skin, and have been thinking of trying it. And then, while I was mulling over buying some Tallow, I thought "hey, what about Ghee instead?" I had a pot of fresh Ghee popping away on the stove already, so I sat down to do some research and see if slathering Ghee on your face was a legit thing or I was just the crazy lady thinking of putting butter on her face. After a little internet sleuthing, I found out I am not crazy! (well, at least not for wanting to put Ghee on my face). Ghee has been used for thousands of years as food and medicine, and is apparently amazing for skin issues. Ghee made from pastured cow milk is high in vitamin A (the main ingredient in all those retinol products people use for anti aging) and vitamin D (which is having a huge moment in skincare right now), and is very high in fatty acids to moisturize, nourish and soothe the skin. So, I decided to do a little experiment. As you may already know, I eat a lot of Ghee- in my tea, in my food, a big tablespoon first thing in the morning (in Ayurveda, it is thought that a spoonful of Ghee in the morning followed by warm water gets rid of toxins, stokes the digestive fire and gets things *moving*, if you will)... so putting it on my skin wasn't huge jump for me- I make a big batch about every week, and always have it on hand. I decided I am going to try a week long Ghee experiment, where in the morning and evening, I put Ghee on my face (and nothing else). I washed my face last night and slathered it on (and went a little overboard and had to wipe some off), and then waited to see if any red bumps or flushing would occur (my sensitive skin reactions)- and neither of those happened, and in fact my skin felt amazing- cool and soft and yummy. I let it soak in for about an hour before bed, and I didn't notice any coming off on the pillow when I finally laid down. This morning, for the first time in awhile, I didn't wake up with dry, itchy skin- woo hoo! So I am going to give it 7 days of twice a day application and see how my skin likes it. I'll update you when the experiment is over. Let me know if you try it!

Enjoy this cold winter weather, stay warm, and eat (or wear) some Ghee!

the wonders of Ghee

Yesterday, I made Ghee for the first time. Many people have never heard of Ghee, or if they have it is in relation to yummy Indian food- Ghee is a traditional food of India, used for cooking just about everything. It is essentially clarified butter, and it has a lovely caramelized, rich, buttery taste that I have grown to love so much I put it in my tea instead of cream. It has a very high smoke point (about 485 degrees) which makes it excellent for cooking at high heat (cooking vegetable/seed/nut oils at high heat is very bad for you and causes the oils to be converted into toxic substances- more on that in another post). We have been buying it from the store for a few months now and cooking with it and eating it, but it is quite expensive to buy and I figured that it couldn't be too hard to make at home- so I decided to give it a try. In India, cows are sacred, and very well taken care of- people drink their raw milk and make butter and Ghee and some other things from the milk, and the cows are raised in such a healthy environment that the foods made from the milk have high levels of vitamins and minerals in them- much different from our cows here in the states, for the most part. The Ghee I was buying was wonderful, and organic, but not made from butter from pastured cows. Pastured butter is a huge "health" food at the moment, especially in Paleo circles. The butter from cows who have been 100% grass fed (i.e. "pastured", meaning a life ranging and feeding on grass only- no grains, even organic ones) has the most vitamins and nutrients of any butter, specifically vitamin A and D and especially K. These are of course, vital nutrients, especially for pregnant women and small children. The draw back to butter is that many people are dairy and casein intolerant, and therefore can't eat that yummy pasture butter... here is where Ghee swoops in to the rescue- Ghee is created by cooking the butter at a low temperature and separating the lactose and the casein from the pure golden clarified butter, therefore eliminating the lactose and casein and making it safe for those with allergies, while still retaining all the nutrients. Woo hoo Ghee!

I have been increasing the amounts of healthy fats in my diet- using pasture butter, coconut oil, olive oil (only cold, never cooked), Ghee, and eating more avocado. The eczema that I have battled all my life, which got a bit better when I stopped eating gluten, is responding very well to this- I have noticed a huge decrease in symptoms since I started eating more good fats. Ghee is also reported to be helpful for your digestion, helping to lubricate and soothe the stomach and intestines, which I have also noticed. And, it tastes amazing. I really do make a cup of tea every morning with a spoonful of Ghee in it- organic black tea, a spoonful of ghee, and a tiny bit of raw honey. It's divine.

So onto the Ghee creation process:
You will need:
1lb of unsalted pasture butter (Organic Valley, Kerry Gold, etc) (or the best butter you can find)
small pan to cook the butter
cheesecloth or fine mesh sieve of some sort
funnel
mason jar for Ghee storage

Put the butter into your pot/pan, simmer on low as it melts. It will begin to sputter and pop, which is what it should do.  It will then begin to separate, with a white floaty layer on top, clear bright yellow butter in the middle, and a layer of white stuff at the bottom. These are the milk solids, the casein and the lactose that you are getting rid of. The sputtering and popping will start to stop, and you can skim of the top layer of solids, to reveal the lovely rich bright yellow Ghee in the middle. It should smell sort of like popcorn, a sweetish caramelized smell- if it still smells like butter, let it cook a little longer. Be careful not to let the milk solids on the bottom burn, that will ruin the Ghee. Once it has that beautiful sweet smell, that is when it is ready. Pour the Ghee through a sieve or cheesecloth into the jar, making sure no solids get into the jar and you just have the liquid Ghee. You can also sieve it and then put it back on the low flame and keep cooking the Ghee, if you are afraid you are going to burn the milk solids but haven't gotten that smell yet. That is what I did this first time, 'cause when I poured it off to separate it from the bottom milk solids it still smelled like rich butter, not like Ghee, but after another 10 minutes on the stove it got that lovely Ghee smell and I knew it was done. That's all there is to it! It took me about an hour total, but now that I know how to do it it will probably take less then that- and I got the beautiful jar of Ghee pictured above, for much less then a jar of it in the store.

Let me know if you try making Ghee, if you cook with Ghee, or if you give cooking with it a try- I promise it lends a very amazing flavor to foods, and is oh so good for you.