Why is ORGANIC so important to us?

I remember the days when I didn’t live an organic lifestyle and now I look back and shudder! Yes, there are times when I get excited about seeing a new vegan food that isn’t organic and I’ll try it and yes there are some items that you cannot get organically but on the whole I eat organic foods and of course use organic products! Friends and family joke with me and often throw out the now clichéd question “but is it organic?” about something I am eating.

I was introduced to organic living by a very dear friend of mine, about 9 years ago- thanks Charlie! I can remember going shopping with her for lunch when we worked together; I wanted to purchase the non-organic houmous (hummus, however you choose to spell it!) because of the cost saving (we didn’t!).

Charlie talked me through the benefits of eating organically and I gave it a go. Once I switched, I really haven’t looked back. I started by ordering a weekly organic veg box which is great value for money and the vegetables are grown locally.

Yes, organic food can be more expensive if you buy from supermarkets but without the nasty pesticides and who knows what other chemicals – all of which have a seriously detrimental effect on our health, I know which I choose. Some argue that there is no nutritional difference between organic and non-organic foods. Supposing this is true, my counter-argument is that by eating organic foods, your body isn’t fighting to process and protect itself from all the pesticides and is therefore able to absorb and digest all the nutrients far more easily. I often wonder how many ailments today are as a result of the toxicity levels in our bodies from all the chemical covered foods we as a society now consume.

We are lucky to live near a fantastic organic fruit ‘n’ veg shop that sells mainly local foods (shout out to The Carrot Cruncher, Newcastle Emlyn!). I believe buying our food this way is just a ‘cheap’ as buying at a supermarket but of course, far better for our health and the local economy. For me, shopping this way, I can select just the amount of fruit and vegetables that I want, without being forced to buy pre-packaged veg in plastic wrapping that I may end up wasting as there’s more than I need. I also get to have a lovely chat with the shop owner. The image below says far more than words can say. If you’re not as lucky as we are to have a fantastic shop like The Carrot Cruncher near you, why not have a search online as you may have an organic veg box scheme in your area that delivers to your door. There are lots of farmers’ and local produce markets all over the place too.

So when I started Heavenly Organics Skin Care, there was no question, it had to be organic. 60% of what you put on your skin enters the blood stream and becomes part of you – just like food does. Therefore, we only put goodness in our skincare. We use as few ingredients as possible in each of our products as we firmly believe this is the best way. I’ve noticed that many other brands will use several ingredients in products and there are often only a couple of the ingredients in that long list that are the actual beneficial ones. The rest are there to bulk the product out and to preserve it longer than 3 years. Virtually all of our products have a shelf life of 2 years and we only make in small batches to keep the products as fresh as possible. These are all made with no preservatives as most of the ingredients are naturally preserving anyway (salts, tree butters, essential oils).

Our business will always continue with the same ethics and beliefs. We are also continually striving to improve things. We have changed our facial, shaving and body oils over to glass bottles. Our shampoos, hand and foot balms are in delightful aluminium tins and we intend to move our butters and scrubs over to glass tubs as soon as we can. We also offer refills where possible to further reduce packaging. We now print our labels in house using recycled labels. It is not just about organic ingredients, the packaging is important too!

Keep it organic and thank you for reading!