Q&A With R+R Co-founder, Dabney Poorter, RN, CN
Follow along as we take a deep dive into our Co-founder, Dabney Poorter’s, faves!
Read through for some fun scoop on favorites from our R+R Co-founder, Dabney Poorter, Certified Nutritionist + Registered Nurse! Don’t miss more from Dabney on our #RRtakeover highlight on Instagram.
Name three non-negotiables in your life.
Jesus, Others, My Self i.e. the 'I am 3rd principle'. My faith has brought me through and kept me strong after difficult life circumstances. My faith also gives me tools to love others better. Loving and doing things to help others, including my family, friends, and clients brings me so much joy. Self-care is important to me. It does not come from a selfish place. I am well aware that if I take care of myself I am better able to care for others. I do have non-negotiables when it comes to my personal health as well: consistently exercise, eat healthy, and drink enough water.
Your fave Instagram accounts to follow?
Morning routine?
Weekday or weekend? Weekdays are a little crazy. 4 mornings per week I wake up, check my blood sugar, drink 8 oz of water, and exercise. I wake my girls up at 6:50. While they get dressed I make lunches and breakfasts. I eat breakfast with them and have a cup of coffee. Once they leave for school I get ready to either go to Restore and Revive to see clients, attend meetings, or to do school from home. Weekends we like to sleep in, stay in our jammies, have a cup of coffee, and eat a later breakfast.
Evening routine?
Honestly...right now I am catching up on emails, client follow-ups, or school assignments. I love to take an epsom salt bath, drink a calming herbal tea, and go to bed early. Right now I am not in a season of life that the latter happens often. I am working to get systems in place to have a better evening routine. I am also giving myself grace as I work on hiring and finishing school.
Travel essentials?
Healthy snacks, Swell water bottle, diabetes supplies, and my own personal care products.
Instant energy boost?
A healthy pre-workout snack and exercise.
Most used condiment?
Is guacamole a condiment? I love making homemade guacamole.
Favorite smoothie recipe?
1/2 cup frozen berries
1/4 banana
1/4 zucchini squash
1 handful kale
3 Tbsp ground flax seeds
1/4 small avocado
1 scoop Bulletproof Collagen Powder
filtered water to blend
Great visual here too ;)
How do you take your coffee (or tea)?
I am a totally wussy coffee drinker! I add a plant-based creamer and organic maple syrup.
Go-to cocktail?
Ranch Water or Kombucha Margarita
3 ingredients/foods you can't live without?
Avocado, smoothies, and lentil soup.
Go-to gift?
Facial with Christina Jett , Osea body scrub and anti-aging body balm from Restore and Revive, or Lipstick from Beautycounter
How do you reset?
It depends why I need a reset. General a good night sleep or nap, bone broth and vegetable soups, and lots of water helps me reset. I also love a sauna, lymphatic massage with Tracie Graves, and a walk on a sunny day.
When you feel sickness coming on you…
I do all the things! I drink a homemade tea with apple cider vinegar, lemon, water, and local honey. I take epsom salt baths with Thieves essential oils. I do a foot soak and get an Immunity Boost IV at Restore and Revive. I increase my daily supplements by adding vitamin C, vitamin D, Viracid, Oscillinum, Cold Calm, and elderberry.
What's valuable to you?
I value my faith. My love language is quality time. I value spending time one on one with my girls or husband and together as a family. I value downtime with family and friends. I also value people that help me in my day to day life.
Thank you Dabney! We loved learning more about you and your daily life! Don’t forget to follow along with Dabney in our #RRTakeover Series on our Instagram stories.
4 Ways to Avoid Greenwashing
You get home with a new haul of groceries, cleaning products, and personal care products whose labels read like they were God’s gift to all things clean, natural, and held to the highest standard of health and safety on the market. but are they really…? Keep reading for 4 ways to avoid “greenwashing”.
Picture this: You’re newly aboard the wellness train. You’ve got your green juice. You’re tossing candles and swapping perfume for essential oils. You’re considering a water filter, and you’re shopping the outside aisles of the grocery store.
You get home with a new haul of groceries, cleaning products, and personal care products whose labels read like they were God’s gift to all things clean, natural, and held to the highest standard of health and safety on the market.
Or are they?
Enter Greenwashing.
Greenwashing, as defined by the Cambridge Dictionary, can be defined as “[making] people believe that your company is doing more to protect the environment than it really is.”
So basically, it’s the tale as old as time: Sneaky Marketing 101.
Any Madmen fans remember this line?
"Everybody else's tobacco is poisonous. Lucky Strike's is... toasted." - Don Draper, Mad Men
A la Don’s usage of toasted, by slapping words like natural, clean, fresh, pure, etc. onto labels of everything from aluminum foil to Z-bars and everything in between, how does one know what products are really green and safe?
Step 1: Beware the sneaky, subliminal marketing messages.
Branding gurus love using the color green to help you think something is safe and clean. In the same vein, if you see a cozy koala or any other animal for that matter on the label, your brain likely sends a little message saying, “Aw, cute little kangaroo. They must care about animals. This is probably safe!” Same scenario if you see the words pure, environmentally friendly, natural, eco-friendly, green, fresh, preservative-free, non-gmo, and even organic!
If you see this, don’t just robotically add to cart. Instead….
Step 2: Read the label.
Rule A#1: If you see the word “fragrance” pass that baby to the left, to the left. The word fragrance can be used to mask 1000s -- (1000s!!!) -- of undisclosed chemicals, all in the name of making a scent. We promise, promise once you start side-stepping synthetic fragrances, you will.not.miss.them. For more info on this sneaky ingredient, we recommend watching the documentary Stink!
In addition to fragrance, here are the big ones you definitely want to avoid:
Anything ending in “cide” because this signifies pesticides
Anything anti-bacterial messes up the body’s microbiome and actually harms our immune systems rather than helping them
For food, be wary of “no sugar added” because this typically means synthetic sugar substitutes have been used
Essential Oils: make sure they’re organic or wildcrafted
Anything ending in “ol” or “ene” because these likely mean a petroleum or coal-based original source
Synthetic preservatives in personal care products such as MIT, BIT, parabens, sodium benzoate, potassium sorbate, benzalkonium chloride, phenoxyethanol
Likely a duh, but avoid any dyes in foods as well
We know the list can be overwhelming, so stick with this rule of thumb: The shorter the ingredient list, and the more words you know, the better.
Step 3: Remember certifications that actually mean something.
The USDA Certified-Organic label is one you can trust whether you’re shopping at Wal-Mart or Whole Foods. If a product simply says “organic” on the label without this certification - this is a red flag.
We also value the Made Safe certification, though this one is definitely hard to come by.
Step 4: Use your tools.
We love the Environmental Working Group (EWG)’s App! You simply enter a food or product brand, and they will give you the safety rating from 0-10. The lower the score, the better.
Use our Trusted Products page for tried and true brands for everything from food/drink to non-toxic living and personal care products!
We know the path to making more mindful product choices can be daunting, and we are more than happy to help guide you. Never hesitate to reach out to us!
Q&A With R+R Co-founder, Taylor Dukes, MSN-FNP, BC
Today we’re checking in with our R+R Co-founder, Tayor Dukes for all the scoop on her faves! She’s also live on our IG Stories kicking off our #RRtakeover series here. If you’ve ever wanted a peek inside the life of a wellness guru, now’s your chance!
Today we’re checking in with our R+R Co-founder, Tayor Dukes for all the scoop on her faves from wellness to everyday life. She’s also live on our IG Stories kicking off our #RRtakeover series here.
What does Wellness mean to you?
Healthy from the inside out: body, mind and spirit. You can eat all the healthy food in the world and do all the effective workouts, but if you are not sleeping, focusing on stress relief and truly fulfilled in life- you will not experience true wellness.
George strait says, There’s a difference between living and living well. And living well to me means so much more than just not being sick. I love sleeping well at night, waking up with energy in the morning.
Name three non-negotiables in your life.
Faith. Family. Friends
When it comes to health: Eating well 80% off the time, sleeping at night and using non toxic products
Your fave Instagram accounts to follow?
Morning routine?
Pre-baby or now, ha? No but really, I wish I had a better morning routine. Let’s go with ideal morning routine. It doesn’t happen every morning but this is it:
Wake up, brush my teeth/face and apply my non-toxic products, put peppermint oil on my head, frankincense on my wrists, drink: lemon water, bone broth and black coffee (in that order), spend time journaling and reading Psalms. While my oils are diffusing :)
Evening routine?
Have a glass of wine some nights, take an Epsom Salt bath, read a book, apply all my oils, take magnesium, get to bed.
Travel essentials?
Magnesium, healthy snacks, supplements, oils
Instant energy boost?
Organic, cold-pressed green juice!
Most used condiment?
Does organic olive oil count? I love Kasandrino’s olive oil or organic dijon mustard.
Favorite smoothie recipe?
I don’t make a ton of smoothies at home but anything on the JuiceLand menu! I love recreating their smoothies at home.
How do you take your coffee (or tea)?
Black and always organic
Go-to cocktail?
Kombucha margarita: Kombucha, tequila, lime, fresh mint or basil
3 ingredients/foods you can't live without?
Avocado, cold-pressed juice, vegetable soups
Go-to gift?
A Day of Wellness at R+R or a Spa Day at Milk + Honey.
How do you reset?
I always start my reset the night before with a good night’s sleep. Eating healthy and cutting out refined sugar, gluten and dairy. Getting a massage, fresh air/sunshine and listening to worship music.
When you feel sickness coming on you…
I do all the things! Prioritize sleep, lots of veggie soups, organic, cold-pressed vegetable juices, no alcohol. Supplements- Vitamin C, Vitamin D, Zinc, Elderberry, Immunity baths, and Homeopathic remedies based off of symptoms. Anything viral- I take Viracid and Oscillinum.
Thank you Taylor! We loved learning more about you and your daily life! Don’t forget to follow along with Taylor today in our #RRTakeover series on Instagram stories.