Toxic Facts about Microblading

Shu Uemura Hard 9 pencil for my brows

Microblading seems to be the buzzword of the day.

More commonly known as embroidery or feathering or microstroking, they’re by and large fanciful variations of the same thing – tattooing – the “ancient art” of cutting the skin and inking it afterwards.

Now, just to be clear. I have close friends and family who have tattoos. This article is by no means a condemnation or judgment of their choices.  

However, I did come across a series of recent articles on the dangers and risks associated with inking your body. Many of these risks are long-term.

And I thought to share them with you.

French and German scientists have recently found residual deposits of toxic micro-particles in the bodies of four deceased, tattooed individuals.

More specifically, they found trace elements of titanium dioxide (TiO2), a common additive in white and colored tattoo inks, deeply embedded in their lymph nodes – the body’s natural toxic-filters.

The fact that dangerous TiO2 dust were found lodged in the swollen lymph nodes of the four deceased individuals showed that their bodies were intuitively attempting to trap these harmful substances that found their way into the blood stream through the skin.

While scientific research hasn’t been able to determine if there is a direct, causal relationship between the presence of these elements and cancer, it has hinted at TiO2 having similar properties to formaldehyde, a Category 2 carcinogen.  

In other words, inking may cause cancer.

This is made worse by the fact that there just isn’t much governance when it comes to tattoo inks. And because it is injected directly under the skin, it’s way more dangerous than topical sunscreens and cosmetics, which too have been found to contain TiO2.

That’s why no one has ever claimed that tattoo inks are perfectly safe.

On a more practical note, trends come and go. If you have had your brows tattooed, you can’t change them, ever!

Worse still, what if the aesthetician makes a mistake?

Besides, microblading is in reality a semi-permanent procedure. You’ll have to go back again and again for remedial touch ups.

So why go to all that trouble?

There are better, more natural ways to enhance your eyebrows and I’ll be happy to share them with you in my future posts.

But, if you do have a genuine problem with severe, permanent hair loss around the brow-area (e.g. a condition called alopecia), and would like to consider microblading, do bear in mind the potential risks. Bottom-line is this – tattoo inks are toxic!

Love,

Lynette Tan 

Reference links:-

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/microblading-eyebrow-warning-dermatologist-tattoo-woman-dermatologist-swell-scab-a8006936.html

http://amp.health.com/skin-conditions/tattoo-nanoparticles-lymph-nodes

https://www.polymersolutions.com/blog/titanium-dioxide-dangerous/

Looking Good, Naturally!

I had an interesting conversation with a girlfriend last Friday. And the only reason why I feel led to share this juicy bit is because I have an inkling that what she hinted at, in all probability, echoes your innermost thoughts too.

I was telling her that I was gonna be the brand ambassador for a certain French cosmetic company that takes an avant-garde approach towards the use of natural ingredients in all of their products. Their sense was that I too, enjoyed wholesome, natural beauty so logically I’d be the best person to speak for them.

Assuming that it was obvious to her that I was an advocate of natural beauty, I went on to elaborate on how they liked what I represented – how I enjoyed all of what nature had to offer, the sun, the sand, the sea…

And it was then that she expressed her utter disbelief that I haven’t done anything to my face – no cosmetic surgical enhancements, no botox treatments nor cell replacement therapies!

Now, I’m not gonna lie.

Apart from losing a massive amount of weight, I have done things to my face, I have!

You must be like – Ah ha! I knew it! She couldn’t possibly look like this and not have done anything to her face!

But believe you me, what I’d done so far is 100% au naturel, and I hope to share my bag of beauty secrets with you over the course of the next few weeks and months.

Point is, you don’t have to break the bank or artificially alter your God-given cell structure just to look good.

With minimal time and effort, you can also be drop dead gorgeous, naturally!

Of course, I’m no beauty expert. I’ve just read tons of books and spoken to lots of people on these topics. Of course, I’ve also tried out most, if not all of what was suggested in those books.

In fact, I have creatively combined these diverse approaches and techniques in a way that works for me. And who knows? These tricks might work for you too! 

So please let me know if you have any burning questions about how I achieve certain looks, do leave me comments and suggestions below if there’s a particular topic you’d like me to yak about and we’ll chat soon!

Love,

Lynette Tan

That Old Groat!

Motivational speaker Joel Osteen would sometimes joke about the “old goat” referring to a long time spouse walking out on a marriage, leaving for someone younger. Without trivalising the pain of abandonment, the old goat – the one leaving – doesn’t deserve your love and affection, at all!

But jokes aside, it’s easy to take the other person for granted especially when you’ve been married for decades. To criticise and point out all of their obvious shortcomings and overlook our own. Perhaps, if they were perfect, they probally wouldn’t have picked us, in the first place?

Point is, nobody’s perfect.

My topic of choice for today is the old groat. The old oat groat to be precise, which is to me, a step up from steel cut oats.

Still on the topic of eating wholesome foods, as is, in their original state, we cannot ignore the fact that steel cut oats come from oat groats – the wholegrain. And what better way to consume it except in its entirety. Usually, only the husks are removed leaving all of its natural nutrients intact.

Now you must be thinking, if steel cut oats take 20 minutes to cook then the oat groat must take forever! Haha! You’re not wrong BUT there is a way out!

This method of enjoying the oat groat porridge that I’m about to share with you is so simple, I wonder why I never thought of it before.

Best part is, you can also use this same method to cook steel cut oats and just about anything because it really saves you time!

Some would call it the thermal magic pot, while others call it the wonder pot.  Regardless, it does magically cook your food to a wonderful perfection without gas or electricity. So you don’t have to worry about it overcooking and destroying all the healthful nutrients.

Again, this recipe Serves 1:-

Remove inner pot from insulation

Bring 1 cup of distilled water to a rapid boil

Add ¼ C of oat groat

Add any other ingredients

Let it simmer for 5 minutes

Turn off the flame.

Stir in seasoning/maple syrup/honey to taste

Remove the inner pot from stove and straight into the insulated outer container and leave it to cook overnight.

It’s that simple!

Come next morning, your pot of oat groat porridge will be slightly warm but light and fluffy and ready to eat!

I’m so gonna try cooking other dishes in like manner and if you have healthful oat groat recipes, pray share!

Love,

Lynette Tan

I Steel Love U!

I must admit. 

It took us a long time to accept that we were different - he had a sweet tooth and I didn't. 

Like how most couples begin, we were just so nice, so lovely, so sweet to each other. We would do anything and ate everything we could to please the other person. 

Most of our dates ended on a sweet note, literally. Sometimes it was a moist red velvet or carrot cake. Other times, it was tiramisu, oreos or New York cheese cake. To top it all, these were almost always "lethally combined" with either a hot chocolate, some ice-blend or thick milkshake.

I thought that was love. Saying 'yes' to his every suggestion as a sign of us "going the same way". 

Slowly but surely, I was piling on the pounds. But still, I couldn't say, no. And it wasn't until I started looking ridiculous in my usual outfits - I was bursting at the seams - that raised a red flag for me.

Again, I couldn't bring myself to tell him the truth so I came up with excuse after excuse why I couldn't have those cakes. After a while, he got the idea. 

Where am I going with this?

It's okay to be different. You don't have to like the same things to stay in a relationship. You just have to be united. And in the famous words of Pope Francis, "Unity doesn't mean uniformity."

I was reminded of this season in my life only because out of the kindness of his heart, my husband has been offering me his sweet steel cut oats porridge in the mornings. By now of course, he knows that I prefer savoury to sweet stuff so for a balance of tastes, I came up with a savoury version of the steel cut oats porridge. 

The following recipe is for you if you don't have a sweet tooth, like me!

Serves 1

Ingredients:-

1/4 C pre-soaked steel cut oats

1 C distilled water or chicken/fish broth

1 large red onion

2 cloves of garlic

1 large egg (optional)

1 medium carrot, diced

Vegetable salt and pepper to taste

Method:-

On low heat, stir fry the garlic and onion in a generous amount of olive oil till fragrant

Add diced carrots

Add the distilled water/broth, bring it to a boil

Add pre-soaked steel cut oats 

Let it simmer for 10 minutes

Turn off the flame and while stirring the porridge, add the egg

Add vegetable salt and pepper to taste

Try and see if you like it! But if you don't, that's okay too!

I'll steel love Ü!

Love,

Lynette Tan

Man of Steel Too

If you've been reading my blog, you'll realise that I've cut out carbs from my diet a long time ago. And I'm not about to reintroduce it back in any way, form or fashion.

I'm again suggesting that if you find it challenging to give up carbs, there are more nutritious, healthful alternatives that you could consider switching to, on your way to giving up processed carbs like I have.

I'm saying this only because I know how difficult it is to make the switch. And that can't happen overnight. In fact, my own husband, Jedidiah, still craves the occasional prata, mee soto, bread and curry chook... you get the picture!

But he has also cut down carbs very significantly over the years. He's a lot more conscious about what he eats, and paces out his meals of carbs and non-carbs just so that he still gets to indulge, but not excessively. And over time, he's also acquired a taste for salads, proteins, nuts and seeds - without having a hangover for carbs! 

Loss of more than 10kg over a decade

One healthy alternative that I've introduced him to is the steel cut oats (SCO). Since then, he's become a fan of this hot cereal as his first meal of the day. This breakfast recipe I'm about to share with you is something simple he cooked up. 

As mentioned in my previous post, SCO is the least processed of all manner of oats so naturally it requires a slightly longer time to cook, about 20 minutes. But when you soak it overnight, you cut the cooking time down to just ten minutes.

The following recipe serves 1:-

Pre-soaking SCO in filtered water

Preparation:-

So what you do the night before is scoop seven heaped tablespoons of SCO into a mason jar and fill it with filtered water till it more that covers the oats and then cap it and leave it in the fridge overnight, then drain it the next morning.

Ingredients:-

7 T pre-soaked SCO 

1 C or 250ml distilled water

1 t of raw honey or 100% pure maple syrup

A dash of cinnamon

A handful of raisins, diced bananas, dates, or figs

Cook pre-soaked SCO on low heat for ten minutes 

Method:-

Bring 1 C or 250ml distilled water to a boil

Add the pre-soaked SCO 

Set the kitchen timer for ten minutes, stirring occasionally 

When ten minutes is up, turn off the flame and stir in some or all of the ingredients as suggested above

Cooked SCO with raisins and banana chunks

According to Dr Norman Walker, author of The Vegetarian Guide to Diet & Salad, breakfast food recipes like the one above contain mostly sugar and starch and go best with fruits such as bananas, dates, figs and raisins only. And for that reason alone, I do not recommend adding acid, semi-acid or proteins for fear that that may interfere with optimum digestion. 

In my next post, I'll share a somewhat similar but different SCO recipe so stay tuned if you prefer a more savoury concoction that's suitable for a light lunch or dinner.

Love,

Lynette Tan

Woman of Steel

I first came across the term "steel cut oats" in the book Smart Fat by Steven Masley and Johnny Bowden and that really got me wondering about oats in general.

To my mind, there was only Quaker Oats - the instant one and the not-so-instant one. Mostly flat.

It didn't occur to me that oats were grains, whole grains in fact that come to us dehusked, steamed and rolled and toasted. I can only imagine that after all that processing, most of its healthful, natural goodness would have been literally "rolled away"! And that disturbed me very much indeed.

According to Dr Rex Russell, author of What the Bible Says about Healthy Living. One of the principles he espouses is to eat foods "as is" - in their original forms. And that's exactly how I have been making my food choices.

So in that regard, steel cut oats is a clear winner!

See, all manner of oats are first lightly roasted at very low temperatures to preserve and extend their shelf life. But for steel cut oats, that's it! No further processing is required or done except to chop them into pieces.

The other reason why I'm raving about steel cut oats is because if you're still struggling with cutting out carbs from your diet, it's a way more nutritious alternative to white rice! Not only is it high in fiber, so you feel full for longer, but it also has a lower glycemic load so it helps keep your blood sugar level consistent. No sudden peaks nor crashes so no candy bar effect! 

While it closely resembles broken rice, it has a slightly nuttier flavour with a firm chewy consistency - great for making both sweet and savoury porridge/congee, if you ask me.

In my next post, I'll share a couple of recipes that I've experimented with so far but in the meantime, you might wanna keep an eye out for steel cut oats usually housed under the organic section of your regular supermarket.

Till then, have an awesome weekend!

Love,

Lynette Tan