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BRR IT’S COLD, CAN YOU SEE IT ON MY FACE?

It is getting cooler, okay it’s getting cold, and when the weather cools down there is usually some sort of change or reaction in our skin. The most common side effect of the decrease in temperature is less skin oil or sebum, which means our skin is dryer and tighter resulting potentially in sensitivity, flakiness and irritation…not fun right!

To compound this effect, when there’s a shift in the seasons, often it’s a trigger for our detoxification system to eliminate the stores of toxins, through one or more of our elimination channels:

  • Defecation (poos)
  • Urination (wees)
  • Respiration (lungs)
  • Perspiration (skin)

Elimination is one of the 7 principles of great skin begins within, and is contained in this clever little acronym:

P – Protection

E – Elimination

R – Renew cells

F – Feed your skin

E – Essential Oils

C – Change constantly

T – Toxins to avoid

Change is also a critical element of the 7 principles, particularly when supporting the element of elimination.

Our skin is made up of trillions of skin cells all moving and grooving through different layers right up to our epidermis (layer of skin you can see). As you know, we believe that Great Skin Begins Within and every condition you are experiencing on the outside relates to something happening on the inside, but we must protect and nourish our skin topically while we get to the bottom of the real issue…

Water evaporates from our skin’s surface through diffusion—when your skin is moist and the environment dry; water particles naturally move away from your skin to the dry environment i.e. your skin becomes dehydrated (technical term – trans epidermal water loss), which is triggered by chemically (internally) or environmentally (externally).

So, what’s the solution?

Change. And change constantly.

As winter brings on the need for hot drinks, layers of clothes, and creature comforts we need to recognise and respond to how our bodies deal with that changing environment: internally and externally.

Keep a tab on:

  • Dehydration is obviously worse in cool/cold weather. We tend to go for the red wine and coffee—yes, that’s in the correct order;)—caffeine actually removes fluid from the tissues. It’s also a stimulant that has a weakening effect on your capillaries so if you have red itchy skin, abstain until it’s healed.
  • Alcohol does the same thing. It literally draws water out of your body and leaves a toxic by-product in the tissues.
  • Heating/Air conditioning can encourage blood to rush to face to cool it down and dries out the skin.
  • Hot showers, while a wonderful pastime in winter, it can strip your skin of its natural oils and reduce the protection of the acid mantle, which protects us from pathogens.

Your skin can change daily, and sometimes even hourly, because your skin’s condition reflects the state of health that your skin is currently in.

But hey, it’s not all bad news! There are heaps of gifts from nature that support these pesky temperaments:

  • Essentials oils feed your body with the ability to heal and reconnect. Especially those extracts from the roots of plants to feed the sub-cutis layer of skin (root level—we just love the wisdom of nature!) Funny enough, winter is also a time to eat earthy, root vegetables in our soups and juices (think garlic, ginger, and carrots).
  • Face mists to support the skin in face of the office air conditioner or the comforting fire place. Replaces hydration externally to tell your face everything will be okay.
  • Vegetable oils like jojoba protects the skin and doesn’t block pores, actually mimicking our skin’s sebum, which supports the acid mantle being maintained.

Our Bubbles Organic team @ HQ are here to support you this winter with our natural and organic goodness to reveal the most gorgeous, healthy version of you possible…

Till next time…

MUCH love

Kate and Mel xx

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NOURISH your body on the inside to get amazing results on the OUTSIDE!

I swear to you that when I was standing in my partners new bakery yesterday I heard the warm sausage rolls calling our my name…. Sausage rolls used to be a weakness for me – I found it very difficult to NOT buy one and always had that sneaky packet in the freezer for times when only a sausage roll would hit that spot… Turns out back then I could not be trusted with them and weening myself completely was the only option – now that I am living a 90/10 lifestyle (the majority of the time) I am able to savour them when I do choose to indulge.. It all comes back to balance…

So other than whatever a sausage roll equates to for you and your sneaky winter treat – what other foods will will fill that void for a need for something super comforting, warming and of course delicious but also nourishing and healing for our bodies… Turns out there are LOADS of options!

insalata di verdure grigliate
Mmmmm roast vegetables! So good for the soul to eat this stuff in winter too… warms up all of us including our mood!

Something that is really important right now is to eat lots of root vegetables because its these times of the year when it is colder that we need to eat vege’s that ground and warm us up on the inside…  The trick is that good nourishing food not only nourishes us from a nutrition perspective – it nourishes our soul too – a mood warmer if you will…

My all time favourite is a tray of LOADS of different root vege’s including pumpkin, sweet potato white and yellow, parsnip, beetroot, onions, celeriac, zucchini, carrots etc all chopped up into chunky pieces. Roll them in coconut oil and lay them on the tray – sprinkle on your favourite herbs and spices – I LOVE changing this part up to keep it interesting – pop into the oven for about 40 mins and then serve. You can use them as a side or as a meal on their own depending on your protein needs… We often serve this as a side with a piece of grilled salmon… DELISH!

I love Sarah Wilson’s book ‘I quit Sugar for Life’ as it has some amazing comfort food recipes but without all the rubbish – for information purposes I personally haven’t chosen to quit sugar but if I can use recipes that don’t include it then I am totally up for that! I also love all of Jamie Oliver’s books too especially his 15 minute meals as sometimes that is about all the time I have to cook!

If you have a recipe that you would like to share – please copy and paste the link in the comments fields below – variety is the spice of life right so lets help eachother out! We also have HEAPS of recipes on our FUEL your BODY Pinterest page HERE so check that out too!

And because we are all about the skin – remember to always nourish your skin on the outside too.. Our AMAZING Be Nourished Body Butters are the perfect all over therapy for Winter – it is especially good as a hand cream so we will add a little pot with your order so you can decant some and take it everywhere with you… YAY! You can buy a tub here…https://www.bubblesorganic.com.au/product/nourished-body-butter/

I don’t know about you but I am sure I can hear that sausage roll again or am I officially crazy…….??

Until next time

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Is your water ‘positively charged’??? Our’s is!

I just love how the universe always steps in and helps me when I am struggling to make a BIG decision… One of the biggest decisions I ever had to make with Bubbles was when I was reformulating our products to make them even more close to nature and organic than they first were… I was stuck on whether to leave purified water in the mix OR to make the change to the more expensive option of an liquid organic extract – something that would have meant increasing the prices of the products quite significantly…

This time they  (aka the universe) introduced me to a dog trainer (stick with me here….) who through her training of my two gorgeous lab’s taught me a lesson about water. She told me that a Japanese scientist by the name of Masuro Emoto had proven that water could be positively or negatively charged – that it actually took on the environment it was kept in. His research showed that when frozen – water particles that have been in a positive environment including music, people, light etc were photographed under a microscope they all looked really pretty and symmetrical – like the pictures of snowflakes we all know. The ones who had been exposed to a negative environment were all scratchy and well scary looking like little monsters!

A positive water crystal looks just like a perfect snowflake...
A positive water crystal looks just like a perfect snowflake…

I got so ridiculously interested in this that I ended up reading about the entire study – only to decide that water – POSITIVELY charged water – just had to stay in our products. I was convinced that it was the reason we were having so much success – I am often described as having an infectious excitable and positive personality and I decided that it would be wrong of me to take that away… Positive water just had to stay! And no… I totally didn’t plan for that to rhyme!

So we were leaving the water in but we still wanted to offer a range of products that were as natural as possible with as many organic components as we could while maintaining the great prices we had so it was time to reformulate with a new emulsifier that was used in true organic ranges. This meant changing most of the things we knew and it was both exciting and scary but I knew it was the right thing. This was where the range needed to go to be where we wanted to be in the market. So we worked – hard – and we ended up with new beautiful products that can now spread the Bubbles love all over for us carrying our positivity with us everywhere they go.

So it was an EASY decision to then add Positive Energy as an ingredient to our new products when we made the decision to intentionally positively charge our water based on the above research.

You can literally FEEL the energy when you walk into Bubbles HQ and I would bet my bottom dollar on the fact that it is that energy that makes our products SO amazing!

Is the water in your life positively charged…..???

Till next time…

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GREAT skin begins and ends with TEWL…

TEWL or Transepidermal Water Loss by definition is;
the measurement of the quantity of water that passes from inside a body (animal or plant) through the epidermal layer (skin) to the surrounding atmosphere via diffusion and evaporation processes.

The reason it is important to understand a wee bit about it is that excessive TEWL results in all of those irritating and difficult to manage dehydrated skin conditions – think itchy, flakey, rough and tight!

So how does TEWL occur and how can you ensure you skin is dewy and gorgeous instead??

Gorgeous glowing skin all year round...
Gorgeous glowing skin all year round…

TEWL is effected by two main factors;

1 – PHYSICAL causes…the environment YOUR skin ‘lives’ in ie, the humidity, air conditioning, and the external temperature…
2 – CHEMICAL causes… YOUR diet choices like caffeine and alchol consumption PLUS the products you are using on your skin to clean and protect it.

The Physical Causes are a lot of the time outside your control however you are still being exposed to them so you need to protect your skin accordingly… If you are living somewhere where your skin is exposed to the Dry Cold, oiling your body every day with Jojoba will help protect from dryness and dehydration while if you are being exposed to Dry Heat you need to ADD water so DRINKING lots of water is step one and also using the face mists, serums and lotions in our Be Hydrated range will help too.

The Chemical causes are COMPLETLEY within your control so this is where you can make some small tweaks that will result in much happier skin! The two primary contributors of TEWL internally are Caffeine and Alcohol.
Caffeine actually removes fluid from your tissues – no word of a lie so consuming high amounts will severely dehydrate your skin (On top of that it is a stimulant which means it has a weakening effect on your capillaries’ so if you have red itchy skin – stay away until this has completely healed!)
Alcohol does the same thing. It literally draws water out of your body and leaves a toxic by product in the tissues. These are the facts and we must first understand them and then respect them. We only get one body – it needs us to treat it like the temple that it is!

Our followers know that we are all about 90/10 here at Bubbles which means our philosophy is 90% of the time do what you KNOW is right for your body and skin and then 10% of the time you can treat yourself without needing to feel guilty about it. (see blog)

When it comes to Caffiene and Alcohol this absolutely applies… I am a BIG supporter of a goooood coffee and also of a hazelnut Caprioska (if you haven’t tried one of these you MUST! Delish!) however I can do this repercussion free because I am protecting and treating my body the way it deserves MOST of the time.

Balance the alcohol with hydrating water this silly season x
Balance the alcohol with hydrating water this silly season x

 

Our 2 TOP TIPS for preventing too much TEWL over the coming silly season are;

1 – Drink a water with every alcoholic drink and coffee you have.
2 – Drink 750mls of water BEFORE anything else in the morning.

If we FUEL our body the right way most of the time – we earn the right to PLAY!
Drinking LOTS of water in these warmer months will – PROTECT your skin!

Till next time…

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WHY do Healthy Fats = HEALTHY SKIN

Who would have thought that it would ever be considered healthy or even more so important to ingest fats?!?! There is a part of me that wishes I was about to tell you that it is ok to eat crunchy hot chips buddies for lunch every single day but alas this is not the case!

There is however some really GOOD fats that you need in your diet on a daily basis and if you have been on the anti-fat mission then it is time to rethink. Eliminating all fat actually makes your body HOLD fat. Not all fats are bad some are even ESSENTIAL.

Essential Fatty Acids are ‘essential’ because they are the raw ingredients that your body needs to make other ‘special fats’ necessary for bodily functions like hormonal production and brain development. In fact. Essential Fatty Acids (EFA’s) play a role in the formation of the membranes that surround and protect every cell in your body, and the formation of the membranes around your skin cells, so lacking in EFA’s will have a major effect on your skin health and how it looks… this is why we LOVE them!

EFA’s cannot be manufactured by your body so it is vital that they are a part of your daily dietry intake. Two of the especially important EFA’s are linoleic acid or Omega 6 & alpa-linoleic acid or Omega 3. The problem is that they are very scarce in today’s food.

Of the two, Omega 3 is the one we easily become deficient in. It is found in most fish and is especially abundant in dark oily fish like salmon and mackeral. However the very best food source by far is Flaxseed oil.

Not only is Flaxseed extremely high in Omega 3’s, it also contains beta-carotene, Vitamin E, magnesium, potassium, B vitamins, protein and zinc! All of which are FABULOUS for the skin. If you want to make just one positive lifestyle change that will benefit your skin, then choose Flaxseed oil. Simply take 1 tablespoon each morning and start reaping the rewards immediately. Another way is to add it to your green smoothie so that you can avoid the taste which is how I do it – swallowing oil is not something I am a fan of so hiding it in something yummy is my preference!

EFA’s also maintain the ‘water barrier’ that sits in the upper layer of the skin. The ‘water barrier’ prevents moisture from evaporating. Diets lacking in EFA’s will have a depleted ‘water barrier’ resulting in fine lines and wrinkles and dry flaky skin… If that is something you suffer from – it could be as simple as adding EFA’s to you diet.

EFA’s are also found in carrier oils like Rose hip oil, Evening Primrose oil & Borage oil. Used topically they will also help nourish, soothe & hydrate your skin. It is important to remember though that what you do topically is only a small part of what creates and maintains great skin – we need to work from the inside out!

So bottom line – not all fats are bad! Make sure that there are good fats in your diet on a daily basis so that you are giving your skin the best quality building blocks for creating and sustaining healthy more glowing skin!

Until next time…

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5 quick tips for staying HEALTHY in a toxic world…

RENEW – our word of the month…  When I really started to think about all of the topics that need to fall under this I realised very quickly that we will need to repeat this word again!  SO much of what we need to do to become the BEST versions of ourselves possible begins with this word – RENEW!   Change and adaptability are two unavoidable experiences we face in life and instead of embracing them we cloud them with fear when we really should see these two little words as exciting and NEW!

Another thing we all need to be conscious of every single day is that a lot of what goes on around us in our lives is not necessarily the best option or in our guest blogger’s Tony Daniel’s opinion its about Staying Healthy in a Toxic World.  I prefer not to see the world as toxic from a viewpoint that I believe the world is a mirror or how we feel and think HOWEVER Tony is 100% correct from a viewpoint that we are faced with the choice between healthy and toxic every single day of our lives and by making some simple changes and some BETTER choices we can help our bodies be the BEST they can be.


Staying Healthy In a Toxic World

In our busy modern world, toxins are very common. Environmental toxins include things like heavy metals, pesticides, chemicals, food additives, drugs and pollutants, which are present in the air, water and food that we consume. Toxins do not only come from our external environment; toxins can also be generated internally by ‘bad’ bacteria, yeasts and parasites in your digestive system. These internally generated toxins are then absorbed into your bloodstream, affecting your health and vitality.

Spring and summer are the perfect time to embark on a detoxification program, as this is the time that your body is naturally looking to detoxify. Using a natural detoxification program can be one of the most effective strategies for rapidly improving the state of your health as it may help clear toxins out of your body and leave you feeling healthy and energetic.

There are many health benefits associated with detoxification, and in today’s world detoxing is important. Unfortunately toxins are very common in our everyday environment. Some examples of these toxins include heavy metals, pesticides, chemicals, food additives, and pollutants that are present in the air, water and food that we consume. As well as being exposed to these environmental pollutants, toxins may also be generated internally by bacteria, yeasts and parasites in your digestive system. These internally-generated toxins are then absorbed into your bloodstream, ultimately affecting your health. Rather than allowing these toxins to continue to build up in your body, you can use a detoxification program to remove these toxins safely.

What are some of the signs and symptoms of toxicity?

Recurrent headaches

Muscle aching and weakness

Nerve pain or numbness

Recurrent infections

Poor short-term memory and concentration

Sensitivity to environmental chemicals, odours and/or nutritional supplements

Chronic fatigue and lethargy

Anxiety and/or mood swings.


As with any detox program it is also essential that we consider some dietary changes as well.  

Here are 5 quick tips for staying HEALTHY in a toxic world…

1 – Always choose fresh seasonal fruit and vegetables. It is always preferable to buy

organic produce when possible.

2 – Avoid packaged and processed foods as much as possible.

3 – Remove foods containing artificial colours, flavours, additives, stabilisers and flavour

enhancers as well as foods containing hydrogenated fats.

4 – Read ingredient lists on products to ensure that the food does not contain high amounts

of saturated fat, gluten or sugar.

5 – Add fresh vegetable juice to your diet if possible.

When you are up and running, you will then enjoy the experience and the renewed vitality and reduction in pain that it will bring.

Quote:

“Detoxification is the quickest and easiest way to make significant positive changes to your health. Many symptoms drop away after a detoxification. With complicated cases, I often detox clients and many of their signs and symptoms disappear leaving just the more stubborn ones that need to be specifically address.”

Tony Daniel

Founder / Naturopath

Capalaba Natural Health

07 3823 3103

www.CapalabaNaturalHealth.com.au

www.facebook.com/capalabanaturalhealth

THANK YOU Tony for your professional insight and contribution to the month of RENEW!  We look forward to more blogs from you as the year goes on…

It really all comes back to 90/10 – if we focus on doing the right thing for our body, minds, soul & skin 90% of the time – we can take 5 and relax for 10… Remember – being hard on yourself is even worse for you energetically than actually eating that extra piece of chocolate cake… if you are going to do it – enJOY it and then get back on the wagon!

Till next time…

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What’s all the fuss about water??

What’s all the fuss about Water??

WaterFACTS

• Our bodies are 70% water

• Our skin is made up of 70% water, 25% protein and 3% fatty acids & minerals.  But do we really need to keep up our water levels to have great skin?  Hell yes we do!

Our skin is our largest organ and as our largest organ it is the first one to lose its water stores meaning it ‘dehydrates’ very easily especially here in Australia.

By the time you feel thirsty you have already lost over one per cent of your total bodies water meaning you are ALREADY dehydrated.

We need to listen to our body, as every working part is dependant on good water supply.  Our brain is over 90% water which is why when you don’t drink enough – you quite literally can’t think properly as brain function has slowed.  Headaches are one of the first signs you need a glass of water – skip the panadol and have two glasses of water instead for a better result chemical free!

So what does lack of water mean for our Skin?

•  a build up of dead skin cells due to lower metabolisM

•  pimples and clogging due to slow elimination

 •  dryness which is a pre-cursor to lines and wrinkles

•  puffy tired looking eyes – we need water to stay alert

In a nutshell – there are NO benefits at all for choosing NOT to drink water.

Water benefitsHere are some tips for helping your remember to drink it!

• Drink herbal tea instead of water

• Drink your water warm in Winter.
Stop making that face – it helps! (yes I am the BIG brother for your skin!)

• Drink 500 – 1000mls of water before you do anything else in the morning.  I personally have just started doing this and ok there are more trips to the toilet but I can feel and SEE the    benefits in my skin already.

• Leave a full glass of water on your table or kitchen bench all day – as soon as you drink it – fill it back up.

 • If you still cant remember – set a hourly reminder in your phone.

Try these tips for 2 weeks and FEEL the difference –
you will be thanking me!

Until next time…

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90-10

Balance – this is such an important little word.  For one, without it we can’t walk without falling over – that alone should prove it’s importance.

balanceWe live in a society where people are becoming more aware that maintaining a healthy lifestyle that includes fresh foods, exercise and some well earned time out is our ticket to living happily and dis-ease free for longer.

Sometimes it is easy to get caught up in all the fuss around clean eating and cross fit and marathons and avoiding sugar FULL STOP!  I don’t know about you but even when I know its ok to have a day off exercising or to indulge in a sugary treat – I rarely used to enjoy it because I was feeling guilty about my lack of commitment regardless of the fact that I had run 5kms the day before.

This is no way to live and I learned that FAST!

Let me tell you a bit about the evil emotion we call guilt.  Did you know that when you allow yourself to feel it – you are actually changing your body chemistry from an alkaline to acidic state automatically?  When your body is in an acidic state it has several adverse effects like reduced energy, increase in free radical production (more on these nasties later!) and leaves us prone to all kinds of diseases and virus’s.  So basically feeling guilty it turns out is even worse for us than the apple turnover was ever going to be!

Our golden rule is that 90% of the time we are doing all the things we know are GOOD for our body, mind and spirit.  10% of the time we are FREE to choose some less appropriate things like a Mocha Cold Fusion with extra whipped cream mmmmmmm…..  and so we have introduced you to 90/10!  We use the word FREE because we have earned this treat.

We need to eliminate everything negative so saying its our ‘naughty day’ OR ‘junk day’ is just as bad as feeling guilty so when you are doing your 10 – don’t just enJOY it  REVEL in it!

Until next time…

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Papaya Extract

Many people say they don’t understand how a natural ingredient can effectively protect, heal and replenish the skin in the same way a chemical or manmade product or ingredient can.  A very simple way to look at it is that the natural ingredients we use were here, in most cases, before man. Modern scientists are simply ‘copying’ the properties of these naturally occurring plants and fruits using manmade chemicals to create a synthetic product.

There absolutely is a time and a place for this type of research and I would never suggest that you put Lavender on a broken arm – I would tell you to visit the Emergency Room STAT!  However, when we are talking about putting something on your skin daily and in some cases more than once a day, we should really be looking for the most natural way to do this to ensure we don’t overload our bodies with chemicals that, quite frankly, aren’t necessary.

We have decided to dedicate one blog per month to one of our extraordinary raw ingredients so you can see for yourself the ‘science’ behind all of these natural wonders.

As we chatted about exfoliation last week – let’s chat a bit more about a fruit that excels in helping our bodies to renew naturally.

Paw Paw OR Papaya

We mentioned paw paw a little last week and I wanted to chat a bit more about it as it really is full to the brim with amazing skin properties and can help you from the inside out in so many ways. We use the certified organic extract of pawpaw or papaya in our Be Smooth Face Polish and here are just some of the reasons we choose this extraordinary ingredient:

  • Many chefs and recipe books suggest eating paw paw with meat to aid digestion – the reason for this is that paw paw contains a digestive enzyme called papain that breaks down the protein.  If you know a little about the skin, you will have already worked out why this is great news. If not, let me tell you that our skin is made up of 25 per cent protein in the form of keratin.  The word keratin might be familiar, especially regarding our hair and hair products. Paw paw, which is becoming more popular and is readily available in local markets, can be used by just about everybody as a natural exfoliant.
  • The papain enzyme helps to dissolve dead skin cells on the surface of the skin without destroying the living ones. This means that the risk of over-exfoliating and taking the cells to the Hayflick limit is removed. The Hayflick limit is where a cell has divided to its maximum capacity and is no longer capable of renewing, making it lifeless and dull.
  • We mentioned last week that AHAs work on dissolving the ‘cement’ that holds the cells together whereas paw paw seems to work on the actual dead cells as well. This is so much safer and user friendly especially for sensitive skin or skin that becomes flaky easily. It is much less likely to sting or burn like most AHAs can – I could almost say WON’T sting or burn as it is that rare when it does, but, being someone with sensitive skin I personally understand what it is like and would prefer that you always use anything new cautiously and sparingly until you gauge your skin’s reaction.
  • We told you last week about using paw paw peel on your face as a way of naturally exfoliating – the reason for this is that the papain enzyme is at its most potent closest to the peel so you will get the best results using that part of the fruit.
  • Like all fruits, eating pawpaw provides antioxidants to protect you from free radical damage.  Paw paw especially has superior antioxidant qualities because it is so rich in beta-carotene.  This is what gives it that gorgeous yellow-orange colour.  Beta carotene is a well researched, free radical scavenger and also the precursor to Vitamin A which is essential for great skin.  More on Vitamin A later.
  • Paw paw also contains lycopene. Lycopene is found in all red, orange and yellow fruits. There are about 600 members in the carotenoid group and all have high antioxidative properties.  They are required by our bodies for normal growth and the development of cells. When we have them in our diet, they are basically preventing the signs of ageing from the inside out!  Lycopene can also change the colour of your skin giving it the appearance of a tan safely.  That alone is a great reason to start eating this delicious fruit as far as I am concerned.
  • With three times the Vitamin C of an apple, twice as much as a banana and one third as much as an orange we could probably stop there but let me also tell you that paw paw also contains magnesium, iron, copper and manganese along with potassium and significant amounts of riboflavin, niacin, calcium, phosphorous and zinc.  The protein of paw paw contains all of the essential amino acids required in a balanced diet.
  • Tasty tip… paw paw also tastes really great with shredded coconut that is another of nature’s super foods, so mix the two and toss on some toasted almonds for an even better magnesium boost and enjoy a delicious vitamin-rich snack!

Until next time…