You won’t forget a Lorna Vanderhaeghe product once you see it with their signature pink labels! All Lorna products are formulated for women with an exception for a few that can also be taken by men. ESTROsmart Plus is one of the top five best selling Lorna products throughout all Kardish locations, and for good reason! It helps to balance hormone levels, regulate menstruation, and supports the health of reproductive organs and breasts.

Ultimate Flora VS for Women

Yeast infections are a common and uncomfortable condition that affect around 75% of women at some point in their life. They are typically treated with over the counter antifungal drugs, but what happens if they continue to return? Start by adjusting your diet to reduce or eliminate added sugar and inflammatory foods like dairy and gluten.

Probiotics can also be very helpful for candida related conditions like chronic yeast infections. Try incorporating a multistrain probiotic designed for vaginal support into
your everyday life. Overtime probiotics like these can help to promote better digestion, a stronger immune response and improve overall vaginal health.
 

MegaFood Women’s One Daily

We hear plenty of information about the benefits of taking a daily multivitamin, but with so many varieties available it can hard to choose the right one. MegaFood makes it easy with their one-a-day formula designed specifically for women. It contains important nutrients like folate and iron all from plant-based sources. Each daily tablet also contains herbs such as chaste tree and red raspberry leaf praised for their positive effects on female health.

SISU MenoEase

With MenoEase you can “Feel the 7-day difference”! The natural changes in hormone levels as a woman reaches her fifties can cause an array of uncomfortable side effects like hot flashes, night sweats and weight gain. A product like MenoEase can help to ease these symptoms in as few as seven days. Each capsule contains therapeutic
herbal combinations like EstroG-100®, black cohosh and sage. MenoEase can be taken throughout the various stages of menopause - pre, peri and post.

• Camino’s cocoa beans are shade grown, to help prevent soil erosion.
• Camino’s chocolate is certified Fairtrade and Organic.
• All of Camino’s chocolate bars are gluten-free. Camino also maintains a complete list of vegan and allergen-friendly bars on their website.

Be on the lookout for:

This holiday season Kardish will be carrying dark chocolate Santas, which are fairtrade, nut-free, and organic.

EnjoyLife

Finding a stand-in for milk chocolate can be a challenge when you’re avoiding dairy. When you also need to avoid contamination from gluten, wheat, peanut, tree nuts, egg, soy, fish, shellfish, sesame, sulfites, and potato, that challenge gets much harder. EnjoyLife knows that even the smallest exposure to these ingredients can cause immediate or delayed symptoms for those with severe allergies, which is why they offer allergy-friendly Ricemilk Chocolate and Ricemilk Crunch bars, in addition to their Chocolate Chips!
 

What’s good?

• All of EnjoyLife’s products are free from the top 8 allergens, as well as casein, potato, sesame and sulfites.
• EnjoyLife’s chocolate also manages to be certified vegan, non-GMO Project verified, and paleo-friendly.
• EnjoyLife recently opened North America's largest dedicated allergy-friendly bakery.

Be on the lookout for:

EnjoyLife’s Ricemilk Chocolate bar, for those who miss the flavour of traditional milk chocolate.

Endangered Species

You may care about ethically traded, shade grown cacao, but how closely do you monitor where each ingredient is sourced from? To ensure that Endangered Species’ chocolate has a positive impact, this is the level of detail they go into: Whenever Endangered Species uses almonds, they use Bee-Friendly Almonds. You might think that Bee-Friendly Almonds would be easy to overlook in a chocolate bar, but it’s a small detail with a large impact. Each year, California's almond production makes use of roughly 85% of all available commercial beehives in the United States.

What’s good?

• First American-made chocolate that uses fully traceable cocoa from West Africa.
• Certified Fairtrade, Gluten-Free, Non-GMO Project Verified, and many of Endangered Species’ dark chocolate bars are also Certified Vegan.
• 10% of Endangered Species’ net profits are donated each year to their GiveBack Partners.

Be on the lookout for:

Endangered Species’ Owl Sea Salt and Almond Chocolate Bar, which supports species conservation efforts worldwide.

Zazubean

We don’t need to hear about the health benefits of dark chocolate to have an excuse to buy a bar, but could the chocolate we eat do more for us? Zazubean is a Canadian chocolate maker that produces a line of bars that are not only made with premium ingredients like pomegranate, hazelnut, coconut sugar, and sea salt, but also contains superfood ingredients like maca root, açai berries, yerba maté and camu camu!

What’s good?

• Zazubean is a woman-owned Canadian company.
• Zazubean makes organic, fair trade chocolate with superfood ingredients.
• For those who are avoiding dairy, Zazubean also has a line of “moo-less” chocolate made with coconut milk.

Be on the lookout for:

Zazubean’s Nutbar, made with almonds, coconut, and camu camu!

Theo

Theo is a Seattle-based chocolate maker named after the theobroma cacao plant, which cocoa is derived from. Theo does not just make chocolate with Fair Trade cocoa, they are also working in partnership with the Eastern Congo Initiative, which is a non-profit organization involved in advocacy and grant-making initiatives that benefits communities in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Theo's work with ECI and their farmer partners enables farmers to improve their earnings, gain greater access to healthcare, and send their children to school.

What’s good?

• Working with the ECI, Theo has trained more than 4,500 Congolese farmers to grow high quality organic, fair trade cocoa, which increases farmer earnings.
• Theo’s chocolate is certified Organic by the USDA, Non-GMO Project Verified, and Fair Trade by Fair for Life.
• Theo has a line of dark chocolate that they identify as suitable for vegans.

Be on the lookout for:

Theo’s 70% Dark Chocolate Bar, which was featured as an essential item in Top Chef judge Gail Simmons’ travel bag.

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What is the most important factor when you’re buying chocolate? Feel free to share your thoughts with us in the comments below, as well as on Twitter and Facebook. Kardish’s internal team of chocolate experts review every comment!

Because companies like Seventh Generation and Nature Clean do not use harsh or toxic chemicals, some people assume that they cannot effectively clean. If you are concerned, look for brands that have third-party certifications, like Green Seal, EcoLogo, ECOCERT or Design for the Environment (DfE); these certifications also include performance standards.

Full disclosure: You may have to let them sit on the problem area a bit longer before scrubbing.

Fact 2: They can kill germs and bacteria

Harsh chemical compounds are not the only thing that kills germs: Tea tree and thyme oil, and plain old vinegar can also do the trick. “Disinfectant” is a legal term and is considered to include bactericides, fungicides, virucides, mycobactericides, tuberculocides, sporicides, sterilants, or combinations of these. Ingredients in disinfectants are regulated and tested by Health Canada and display Drug Identification Numbers (DINs) on their label.  

Fact 3: The chemical agents within them are safer for you and your family

Who spends more time on the floor than your kids and pets?  Because of this affinity for being horizontal, they are more susceptible to the chemicals in cleaning products than adults; In fact, young children are 10 times more vulnerable to carcinogenic chemicals than adults.   Gentler, more environmentally conscious products that are free of carcinogens, harsh chemicals, and phthalate-based fragrance are a safer option than conventional cleaners.

According to Seventh Generation, chemicals of concern can hide behind the term "fragrance" in ingredient lists on your cleaning products - chemicals that have been linked to serious health effects including allergies, asthma, cancer, and reproductive harm.

But please, even if you use a greener cleaner always keep children and pets away from the area being cleaned and always keep cleaners in a secured area.

Fact 4:  They are better for the environment
The major concern is the chemicals which are contained within conventional cleaning products. There are thousands of chemicals in common use, which may pollute streams and rivers and may take a long time to degrade into harmless products. Some may not break down at all but may persist in the environment. These may enter the food chain, being eaten by aquatic creatures and perhaps eventually by us.

Fact 5:  They aren’t way more expensive
There’s absolutely no cheaper cleaner than vinegar and baking soda. However, if you like to just grab a bottle and run, alternative cleaners have become more popular and have dropped in price in recent years.   Plus this month, we have a great sale on Seventh Generation, which was one of the trail blazing healthy cleaning companies!

Have you heard about Sea Buckthorn’s many benefits, and want to give it a try? We suggest Sibu, which is featured in our flyer this month. Want to learn more?  Read on.

Mysterious Omega-7

Omega-7 fatty acids (also referred to as palmitoleic acid) are hard to come by in the diet. With small amounts being found in macadamia nuts and cold water fish, the best source of this monounsaturated fat is sea buckthorn berries. However, little research has been done on the benefits of omega-7 supplementation when compared to omega 3 and 6.

Skin Health

Sea buckthorn pulp oil has specifically been shown to improve atopic dermatitis when taken internally.  It has also been shown to improve symptoms in postmenopausal women experiencing vaginal dryness, itching and burning making it a natural alternative for women who are unable to use estrogen treatments.

Using sea buckthorn oil topically in the form of lotions and cream may also provide benefits, as much of what it put onto the skin in absorbed into the body. Animal studies have shown that sea buckthorn oil has significant wound healing abilities, making it a great treatment for sun damaged skin.

Cardiovascular Health

Historically, sea buckthorn berries have been used for digestive ailments, skin issues and cardiovascular support. In today’s era, heart disease has become a major concern. Palmitoleic acid found in sea buckthorn oil has been shown to reduce coronary heart disease risk and increase insulin sensitivity.

Be Mindful

It’s important to keep in mind that our bodies require a specific balances of all the essential fatty acids, with some being more prevalent than others in our diets. Take for example omega 3 to omega 6. We often consume too much omega-6 in the Standard American Diet (linked to inflammation and disease) and consume very little anti-inflammatory omega-3. Being mindful of food sources of essential fatty acids when incorporating a supplement is key. Always follow label recommended doses and consult your health care provider for contraindications and interactions.