West Paw Twiz

Do you feed your pet table scraps or treats? Do you walk and play with them regularly? A new study by the Association for Pet Obesity Prevention found that 55 percent of dogs and 54 percent of cats are overweight, or 30 percent above their normal weight. Just like humans, pets can suffer serious health problems associated with obesity, like diabetes, kidney failure and cancer.

So what does a pet owner do to help their furry friend lose weight? First, the animal’s diet must be adjusted. The most obvious adjustment you can make to help your pet lose weight is cutting the amount of food served. But it is also critical to give your pets the proper amount of exercise. According to the article, vets recommend these daily levels: 30-45 minutes of active play or a 2-3 mile walk for large breeds, 15-30 minutes of play for small dogs and 5-15 minutes of playful “bursts of activity like chasing toys.”

We carry a variety of eco-friendly pet toys for both cats and dogs that can help your get your pet back to their recommended weight, such as:

• West Paw Twiz ($16): The newest addition to the West Paw collection, this toy floats and has a spot to hide treats inside.
• West Paw Tux Toy ($14.95): This 100% recycleable toy is soft, pliable, bouncy, nontoxic and buoyant, and comes in a three colors. It is also free of lead, cadmium, mercury, latex, natural rubber, phthalates, hormones, Bisphenol A and asbestos.
• West Paw Eco Bones ($10): Made from recycled plastic bottles, the squeeker inside will keep your dog playing for hours!
• West Paw Barn Mouse Cat Toy ($11): This cat toy contains a bell and USDA certified catnip to keep kitty entertained.

Click here to view our full line of pet toys.

West Pay Barn Mouse

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Well, it happened. And we are here today to tell you that it is completely true… along with a lot of other Pevonia products.

If you already own the concentrate, consider using this Pevonia RS2 Gentle Cleanser beforehand. This cleanser has green tea essential oil and french rose oil and will help soothe your redness and even skin tone.

One of my favorite items on sale is the Dr. Hauschka Regenerating Neck & Decollete Cream. It’s perfect to moisturize and firm that part of the body that can show the first signs of aging. It has all the luxurious feel that you would expect from this organic skin care brand but also the added bonus of being 25% off! Regularly priced at $57.95, this cream is now on sale for just $43.46!

Today, we are running a special promotion featuring Suki skin care items. When you buy any of the items listed, you get a free Suki-To-Go cleansing bar. This smaller version of the Suki cleansing bar allows you to have great skin care wherever you are.

My favorite item on the list is the Suki Facial Lift Ultimate Firming Cream. It’s perfect to use after the cleansing bar and its natural moisturizers will firm and regenerate skin.

We’re here to help!

Here are some unconventional gifts that are sure to wow your valentine:

Encourage her to relax and rejuvenate with Olivina Napa Valley Bubble Bath, $22.

The Dr. Hauschka Aromatherapy Bath Kit will awaken her senses and make her feel luxurious, $19.95.

If she’s a traveler, how about one of these adorable La Jolla cosmetic bags by Lapin Vilardi?

Get her back to her roots with Potting Shed Scatter Gardens or Rice Hull Gardens, $11-12.75.

If all else fails, you can always fill these awesome single bud vases from Chive Nature with flowers:

Eucalyptus, flickr: jar ()

Egyptians and Chinese have used aromatherapy for centuries to aide everything from acne to anxiety. This alternative health treatment can have positive effects on pain, mood and an individual’s cognitive function.

If you’re looking for a natural way to kick the sniffles and other common cold symptoms this winter, try products containing the essential oil eucalyptus. Eucalyptus is used to treat respiratory congestion, bronchitis, breathing problems or asthma, sinusitis and more.

Here are several products we carry that contain eucalyptus:

• Erbaviva Breathe Body Wash ($16)- This body wash gets you clean while easing respiratory issues with a blend of eucalyptus and organic eucalyptus leaf oil, plus cedar, spruce, organic hyssop flower oil, organic tea tree oil, organic thyme oil and organic lemon peel oil.
• Erbaviva Breathe Body Lotion ($18) – Hydrate your skin using the same ingredients as the above body wash, plus sweet almond oil, avocado oil, glycerin, shea butter and jojoba oil.
• Erbaviva Breathe Body Oil ($16) – This body oil can be added to a bath or used during a massage to ease the sniffles.
• Erbaviva Breathe Bath Salt ($26) – Add this blend of sea and epsom salt and essential oils to your bath to purify and detoxify skin while easing respiratory problems.
• Erbaviva Sniffles Organic Baby Chest Balm ($14)- There’s even aromatherapy for babies! Calm and soothe their little bodies with ingredients such as eucalyptus, tea tree, myrrh and cypress essential oil.

Bath oil

Transcript:

Sharon: Hi, Welcome to Charleston Naturally.

Carly: Hi, everyone. We’re here at Charleston Naturally with the owner Sharon Harvey and today we’re going to ask her a few questions. Hey Sharon, how are you doing?

Sharon: Hey, I’m doing great, Carly.

Carly: Good. So just to begin, why did you start Charleston Naturally?

Sharon: Well, I have to tell you, it really began out of my love for natural and organic things. I was adapting myself, personally, to an eco-friendly, sustainable lifestyle and I was looking for a way to marry that passion with business. We’ve chosen eco-friendly, sustainable, organic, natural products as a way to build Charleston Naturally.

Carly: That’s great. Why did you choose to start in Charleston? Are you from here?

Sharon: I am originally from Charleston and spent my corporate career elsewhere. So when I left there, I came back to Charleston.Carly: Come back to the Holy City.

Sharon: That’s right.

Carly: What are some of your customer’s favorite skin care lines that you sell?

Sharon: We have so many great lines, but I will have to say that Dr. Hauschka is a fabulous line. Pevonia is another one. And I’d say in terms of skin care, Suki Skin Care is a great one. So those three are our top lines. Customers keep coming back to, they swear by them, and they’re so tickled with the results, so they love them.

Carly: Why do you think it’s more important to use organic or natural skin care products as opposed to the generic drugstore brand?

Sharon: I think the most important thing is to be moving away from any kind of petroleum products, any kind of preservatives, anything that is non-natural that can harm your skin over time. So many of the wonderful skin care products, the natural and organic, you read about them and you read the ingredients, and you see blackthorn and all this wonderful stuff. But if you’re in the drugstore, department store, or beauty counter, you’ll see a whole list of very chemical names. And in our society today there are so many other pollutants all coming out and we need to do the best we can with prevention and the best place to start is with skin care.

Flickr: barbourians

• Avoid refined sugar and simple carbohydrates because they deplete the structure of the skin and speed up the aging process (e.g. soda, syrups, candy, etc.).
• Don’t sleep on your side because extended pressure on the face adds creases and wrinkles.
• Exfoliate, exfoliate, exfoliate! Exfoliating gets rid of dead skin cells, bring new cells to the surface and prompt collagen production.
• Choose your sunscreen wisely. Avoid products with retinol, retinal palmitate, PABA, parabens, oxybenzone, avobenzone, octisalate and triethanolamine, which have been linked to hormonal problems and cellular irregularities.
• Get deep, restful sleep because sleep produces human growth hormones (HGH), which are responsible for keeping up youthful traits. HGH is produced predominately during deep stages of sleep, so getting plenty of deep sleep is critical.

We carry several products that can improve the health of your skin, like John Masters SPF 30 Natural Mineral Sunscreen ($32), Erbaviva Children’s & Adult’s Sunscreen ($22) and a line by COOLA ($12-34). Plus, we have various exfoliating products from suki, John Masters Organics and other companies.