Review: Eucerin Everyday Protection Body & Face Lotions = Fab After 50!

Eucerin Everyday Protection

Face Lotion *SPF 30*

Body Lotion *SPF 15*

Talk about your Law of Attraction and something unexpected arriving just when you need it - - look what I received from Eucerin!


The very first week of June I headed oh-solo-mio to Hampton Beach, NH (actually I ended up there, I didn't really head there...) and had the beach nearly to myself so lounged and read and snoozed and walked and spent hours and hours there. In the sun. Without adequate sunscreen. Can we say "ouch!" from sunburn?!

Aloe helped and I slathered on skin moisturizing lotion twice a day, but - sadly - I have found that 50 year old skin does not "bounce back" with the elasticity of 20 year old or even 30 year old skin, so I was still peeling a little bit and kind of scaly... AND I had my 35th high school reunion approaching. I really didn't want to go looking "leathery".
Enter the Boston Health & Fitness Expo. At the Expo I had visited the Eucerin exhibit and tried samples of their new Everyday Protection line and was startled then by how quickly it absorbed into my skin and didn't feel greasy. I've been a Eucerin fan since I began using it maybe 10 years ago to solve my rough elbows and heels problem, so knew their products were good.


Within 36 hours of the Expo and less than 72 hours of leaving on vacation for my informal class reunion, I received an email asking me if I'd like to receive and review Eucerin Everyday Protection lotions for the blog. YES! The products arrived two days later in a cute little gift bag and, to my delight, I began to use both the 30 SPF Everyday Protection Face Lotion and the 15 SPF Everyday Protection Body Lotion.


Here's my review:
I *LOVE* the Eucerin Everyday Protection Body Lotion! I have used one body moisturizer for years and keep going back to it (St. Ives' Oatmeal) because it is so light and absorbs quickly but it wasn't helping out my skin with the damage I did from the sunburn. The Eucerin Everyday Protection Body Lotion showed visible change right away. Additionally - and this is huge for someone like me because I am not good about putting both moisturizer and sun block on before I head out the door to walk or ride bike - now there is one step and I know I'm protected and don't have to 'seek the shade' worried about my shoulders and arms getting burned.  What is more, the damage I did to my skin was dramatically improved by this product!

I used Eucerin Everyday Protection Face Lotion the entire week of vacation when I was very active and did the bare minimum makeup of mascara and lip balm. I have very fair skin and usually have to apply and reapply sun block. Not so with the Eucerin Face Lotion! Busy days in the sun and I was protected throughout. In fact, this may be the first summer in years when my face hasn't burned. I like, too, that this product is very light and I've since learned from experience that it goes on well beneath bronzer or foundation. Oh, it is fragrance free... all good. And it is affordable, too! :)

I'm thankful to Eucerin for reaching out to ask me to review their product but I'm grateful for the excellent product that will continue as part of my daily skincare regimen. Your products are helping me be "Fab After Fifty"! Life is good!

Dream. Believe. Achieve!
Jan / HealthyLoserGal

Buy Local at Farmers Market = Supporting Small Farms & Eating Healthy!



Busa Farms beautiful array
of fresh, local produce

I stole away from the office for 45 minutes this afternoon to visit the Lexington Farmers' Market which was an absolute delight!  Not only is this weekly farmers' market in my backyard, I am happy to see it was named Boston Magazine's Best Farmers Market of 2010.  I've gone occasionally over the past three years after embarking on this healthy journey and have come away at different times with bags full of wonderful fresh produce, fresh herbs and flowers, home baked breads, and many other goodies from the 30+ vendors. 

Today was my first visit of the 2011 season and I purchased delicious local raspberries, romaine lettuce, and fresh sweet corn from Busa Farms (Lexington Rd., Concord, MA), picked-this-morning bouquet of thee most fragrant lavender from The Herb Farmacy in Salisbury, and cukes from Rad Urban Farmers (who brought his produce to market on a bike and grows it in his own backyard! Pretty darn cool!).  Oh, and tomatoes - gorgeous ones - from Charlton Orchard (Charlton, MA).

Beautiful flower and lavender bouquets
from The HERB FARMacy

If you're anywhere near the Lexington area, I urge you to check out this wonderful local farmers' market where you're inspired to buy healthy, wholesome foods and at reasonable farm-to-table pricing!  I am a huge proponent of buying local to support farmers having grown up in a very rural, agricultural county in upstate New York.  I know how hard it is to eek a living from the land while being a farmer and feel it is so important to support local farmers whenever I can.  The Lexington Farmers' Market gives me the opportunity to show that support weekly! 

Additionally, I noticed today the Farmers' Market is sponsored in part by Joyce Murphy, a local Lexington Realtor at William Raveis Realty, who is absolutely the ideal real estate agent! I first met Joyce when I moved to Lexington 20 years ago this week! She knows more about the Lexington area than anyone I have since met and I couldn't possibly recommend her more highly! : )


 

Enticing herbs from the HERB FARMacy

The Lexington Farmers' Market is open Tuesdays from May through October from 2-6:30pm and is located on the corner of Massachusetts Avenue (Mass Ave to locals *grin*) and Woburn Streets in Lexington Center.

Rad Urban Farmers' stand of backyard grown veggies :)

"The first farmer was the first man. All historic nobility rests on the possession and use of land." Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Let us not forget that the cultivation of the earth is the most important labor of man. When tillage begins, other arts will follow. The farmers, therefore, are the founders of civilization." Daniel Webster





Fresh, local corn from 'up the road a piece'
at Busa Farms in Concord, Mass.

Lexington Farmers' Market, Tuesdays thru October

Dream. Believe. Achieve!

Jan / HealthyLoserGal 

Healthy Habits Challenge: Self-Discipline & No Excuses!

I can't believe that in six weeks we'll be at the end of August - - summer's end!  Only SIX WEEKS!!

Well, I don't know about you - but I plan to make the most of these next six weeks!  Did you know that behaviorists have learned that it takes somewhere between 30 to 66 days to form a habit - - a GOOD one or a BAD one?!

Usually I start a Healthy Loser Gal challenge at the beginning of the month but this challenge is going to be six weeks long and is all about self-discipline and creating great habits that will carry us into a fantastic, fit Fall! (And, too, hopefully then last a lifetime!)

Someday Isle...

I've been doing a lot of reading this summer and have really been enjoying learning self-improvement techniques and quick tips.  One book, "No Excuses: The Power of Self-Discipline!" by Brian Tracy, is really aimed at self-improvement for sales and business people, but the lessons I've learned have already helped in my daily life.  Brian Tracy talks about home many people live on "Someday Isle"... because they don't have the self-discipline to work toward their dreams now. This was me for soooo many years.  I would say "Well, someday I'll lose the weight..." or "someday I'll start to exercise again..." and "someday I'll stop watching t.v. every night and eating myself into a comatose state...".  Someday Isle... Someday I'll...

Until... one day... I finally left "Someday Isle" and began living in the present, believed in my goals and dreams, and - here's the kicker - got off my backside and developed self-discipline and then habits to work hard and achieve what I truly wanted:  to lose 100 pounds and get my 50 year old self fit again! : )

"If it's to be, it's up to me," Brian Tracy says.  How true!  No one else can walk fitness miles for me, no one else can plan my meals or stop me from overeating, no one else can accept a challenge for me and then see it through.  Those are steps I proudly, confidently take on my own.  Being confident is the key - - and remaining positive!

I want the next six weeks to be AWESOME!  Will you join me? : ) I want us all to ask ourselves this question:  "If my life were ideal, what would it look like?"  Get a really good picture in your mind, write it down and then answer this:
"What is the main discipline I need to achieve that picture?"

Once you've answered that question, you now have your focus for the next six week when - with self-discipline - we can form new behaviors and form HEALTHY HABITS!  (Thank you, Brian Tracy, for inspiring me to answer this question!)

I have many things I need to become more disciplined in but planning is the healthy habit I'm concentrating on for the next six weeks of Healthy Habits Challenge.  In many cross areas of my life, planning will make a tremendous difference.  It is great to be "spontaneous", but too much spontaneity can lead (in my case) to disorganization and chaos.  And chaos = disorder and that is never good!

The healthy habits I plan to gain in these next six weeks are:
1) Planning out my week and daily schedule with some weekend flexibility
2) Planning my weekly food
3) Packing my food every morning prior to leaving for work
4) Planning in my daily fitness
5) and finally, committing time (planning it in advance) to blog regularly and track my progress, find out how friends (that's you!) in the challenge are doing!

My week days are going to start an hour earlier to plan my day out, set my goal list, and do what I call my 'home fitness' which is usually walking, WiiFit or a DVD.  (It is summer and right now my home fitness is walking 95percent of the time!)

I'm starting the Healthy Habit Challenge tomorrow morning - heck! I've really started it today as I've written this.  I'd LOVE for you to join me in these next six weeks so we can share our accomplishments, encourage one another.  There truly is power in numbers and self-discipline is so key to achieving our dreams and goals! If we say we're  going to make a commitment to ourselves, let's DO IT!  No backing away... no excuses. We determine to do it - and darnitall - we do! :)

When we give in to that inner voice that urges us to do something other than what we'd planned to do, we lose a little bit of our conviction.  And then, if we continue to give in, the habit of 'giving in' becomes our reality and wins. Let's not let that happen any longer in our lives. This time, in the next six weeks, WE WIN!

It takes only six weeks to develop a habit - a HEALTHY HABIT - what is yours going to be? : )

Dream. Believe. Achieve!
Jan ~ Healthy Loser Gal