Growing up, I used to love the smell of freshly washed towels. Whenever the breeze would blow as they hung on the line to dry, I’d get a waft of fragrance that somehow made me think of all things lovely: a warm bath on a cold winter night or coming home after being away on vacation.
What I didn’t know back then was that comforting, fresh smell was actually nasty, toxic chemicals… chloroform, ethyl acetate and limonene (among many others)… dressed up as flowers, luring me in, to believe that I was as close to a lavender field as I could get without actually being in one.
You just have to browse the web or your nearest book store to see the world is obsessed with dieting. Yet if statistics are accurate, we’re not just tipping the scales, we’re on our way to breaking them. It has taken many of us years of restrictions and meal replacements to figure it out: diets don’t work.
From calorie counting to cutting out carbs, a Pandora’s Box awaits those who still dare to follow the latest diet craze. Yet achieving and maintaining your ideal figure is actually more simple than what we’ve been lead to believe—and it comes with a bonus: vibrant health.
A few years ago, I was completely addicted to coffee. A soy latté here, a mocha chino there. But from the moment I stopped eating meat and dairy, I also gave up my love affair with caffeine and switched to health-boosting herbal teas. Now, I drink just about every herbal tea around, from dandelion leaf to sage. There are loose leaf teas in my kitchen I’d never dreamed existed.
Even though I eat a mostly plant-based and raw diet, I still enjoy cooking up a warm meal every now and again. Sautéing a little tempeh, onion, garlic and miso is always a delicious addition to a kale salad.
But what happens if the pan you’re using to make your healthy masterpiece is doing you more harm than good? Case in point: Non-stick fry pans and the solid research that shows they’re detrimental to human health.
Shannon Dunn is a writer and Reiki Master. Her passion for living simply and naturally is reflected in her creative and healing work. Her philosophy of adopting healthful habits, through the food we eat to the thoughts we think, strikes a chord with those who are seeking a natural way to optimal health and well-being. 
