Natural Wellness with Nadine Artemis

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wooden lead this is George G and the time is right to welcome today’s guests joining the powerful Nadine Artemis. Nadine, are you ready to do this? I am. Excellent. Let’s Let’s go. Nadine is an author. She’s the founder and CEO of living libations. They’re one of the first clean green, non GMO organic luxury skincare and wellness brands. Dean, tell us a little about your personal life some more about your work and why you do what you do.

Nadine Artemis 0:40
Well, I love doing what I do and have been doing it for a while I opened up North America’s first full concept aromatherapy store in 1992.

In Toronto, on Queen Street. And prior to that, as I was going through university, I was really that’s when I really got into like formulating and working, you know, bringing all together my childhood curiosities of concocting, and mixing potions and lotions. And then finally, with a little more purpose structure.

Because at that time, when I was in university, I started to understand the process of, you know, food and supermarkets and that whole food situation and understanding ingredients. And, you know, things like how brown sugar was really just like white sugar with molasses, like just really understanding that whole how we’re eating and what ingredients and then I just, you know, didn’t take much just sort of turn to what I was using in the bathroom, which I thought was sort of more environmental at that time being the body shop. But I just realized it was like all the same petroleum Promised Land, but just sort of dressed up with like, you know, words like fuzzy peach and like lavender on the label. But it was still the same realm of BS, so to speak. So it’s really fun to be able to, you know, now with purpose, create and concoct and I also had to access ingredients that I could read about but couldn’t find. So then that led to really exploring the world. And like finding distillers and finding ways to get the purest and highest quality, raw materials, things like frankincense or palmarosa, Rose. And I started to really, like work with other countries in the consequence and find the farmers because distilling essential oils is like kinda like creating wine, you know, there’s a real art to it. And when you can get that highest expression, you get the most out of a plant. And when you’re working with the highest quality ingredients, it’s just so easy to make beautiful things.

george grombacher 2:50
I appreciate that. What? So you went on this journey of, of looking behind the curtain started with food and you recognize Wow, there’s just a lot of junk going on here. And then it’s and then it’s the beauty products of the household products. How, how aware are people of, of the dangers of that list that I read off of GMO of inorganic, non organic? How, how much do we know that the stuff we’re using is is toxic?

Nadine Artemis 3:25
Well, I feel like there is a lot of awareness, but there’s also a lot of like games, so to speak. And you know, it’s so good that we have like certified organic, and obviously, all all of our single ingredients are in that kind of thing. So there’s a lot that is obviously very, very beneficial that we have organic certifications. But for example to have a beauty product certified, which is a collection of ingredients, obviously, you know, it only has to be 80% organic. And that 20% There’s a like hundreds of things that I would never do to a product that are allowed in an organic certification even including using like methyl parabens. So you know, there’s an awareness and there’s a crewmate created demand for it. But it’s not like there’s a lot of delivery because of course now we’re in a in a realm in a time when there’s a lot of greenwashing and that kind of thing. But when I was starting I mean greenwashing didn’t happen yet because it was just we were just starting to create Well, I guess it was already happening I’d say with things like the body shop because again, you know they wish was neat because they’re kind of creating the demand for that but then not actually fulfilling it.

george grombacher 4:45
It’s pretty awesome trick. Here’s what you need, but you’re not going to get it here. Good luck to you.

Nadine Artemis 4:51
Alright, sounds really you know, a lot operates in the world that way.

george grombacher 4:54
Sure. Yeah. That that that 20% Why not? Just go 100% Good, is it? It’s really hard to do the things you’ve done from sourcing. Is it a scalability challenge?

Nadine Artemis 5:10
I don’t think so at all, because you can architect a product in so many ways that don’t does not have to bend to that at all. So what is that saying? Yeah, yeah. I think Well, I think we come out of, you know, whether it’s beauty or anything, I think there’s a lot. For some reason in, in this kind of in the UK, I don’t know if this capitalist aside or whatever, anyway, there’s decisions that are made where bottom line bottom line, and like, you know, what’s the most that you can kind of get away with in your offering, and that I just feel like, that’s just complete upside down thinking. And so I feel like that’s kind of my might lead to those weird 20% decisions.

george grombacher 5:57
Got it. So I appreciate very much that in order to have a business, you need to make money and profit and all of that. That’s

Nadine Artemis 6:06
but not at the expense of things. I feel, right? That’s Yes,

george grombacher 6:10
that’s the thing, right? Okay, we’re gonna do this, now we’re making decisions. And we can push the envelope or get away with this, because of the rules that are the way that they are they say that only 80% has to be this. So therefore, we have options with this other 20% to be nefarious, but just taking all the available information into consideration. So you become aware of this? And you say, Okay, well, we are committed, what’s what’s what’s what’s behind your desire to to, to go the harder way? Hmm,

Nadine Artemis 6:47
well, yeah, I mean, personally, I feel it’s easier way. But yeah, no, I appreciate what you’re saying. Um, because we want to create things that are effective and beautiful for the body. And, you know, we don’t want to create like, little side effects, or we want your skin to be beautiful, like, the amount, you know, so great emails we received, like all the time about, you know, women just feeling more confident now, or they, they can leave the house without makeup, and it doesn’t, you know, where all the makeup you want, it’s just nice to have that freedom and the confidence, or people you know, getting great results from their dentist and their dentists are like, What are you doing? And that, like, Why settle for anything less than that?

george grombacher 7:34
Yeah, what certainly makes sense to me. And I think I, so my, I would not really have have known anything about this about the dangers of just regular household projects, or products, if it’s my deodorant, or if it’s the shampoo that I’m using, or the body wash. Thankfully, my wife is is is is very mindful about this. Can you look at every single product that we use and point to things that are that are dangerous?

Nadine Artemis 8:07
Probably. I feel like I could probably go on one of those, you know, make a show like, let’s clean out your bathroom. Yeah. And then do that. Yeah, well, it’s you know, and also, we keep learning things. I feel like in the 90s, when I was starting, and it was a lot of awareness about, you know, the toxic chemicals and the disruption to the endocrine system. And, of course, GMOs. Were coming in. But now in these past two decades, we are so rich with the knowledge and the research of the microbiome, which gives a whole new depth of why we need to have compatible liquids and you know, ingredients on our body. Because we we don’t want to disrupt and disturb the microbiome, which is all throughout our body. But one of the largest areas is the micro skin’s microbiome, which is a part of our innate immune system.

george grombacher 9:02
And we’ve so I’d like to learn more about that, because I’m not, I don’t know that much about it. So the microbiome we’ve we’ve we’ve had breakthroughs or new learnings, past 20 years, give or take,

Nadine Artemis 9:15
yeah, so the biome being really the what we sort of in the past, like sort of the 40s on it was this sort of germ warfare theory and right, like, get rid of the bacteria, whether it was in the farming or the care of our bodies. And then you know, leading to things like an overuse of things like antibiotics, because he didn’t understand that there was a whole microbe microbiome involved. We were just thinking about the pathogens. And so now what we realize is that, while we’re, you know, really focused on the DNA in the cells before is that just as we have billions of cells in our body, we have billions of bacteria that make up our biome. So we are essentially human host to a bacterial banquet. And as gross as that may sound, we’ve got to be a good host. And we want to have, you know, like, think of our bodies as these diverse microbiome bank accounts. And the diversity of our microbiome. And the activity of our microbiome is what’s you know, helping our health because it’s interconnected to the endocrine system, the digestive system, our innate immune system. And I’m sure most people have heard about the gut microbiome by now. And so you know, that’s a very key and active place, it’s obvious click connected to the, the mouth microbiome. But of course, our skin is connected to that as well. And for example, if there’s issues with the skin, or like a lot of blackheads, that kind of thing. That’s really coming from a dysbiosis. In the gut microbiome, you know, there’s probably congestion or constipation, that kind of thing. So it’s all interconnected. And what we now know about many of the modern care medicines that we use for in the name of beauty each day, actually mutate the skin’s microbiome, some causing a loss of diversity, and actually, like just killing off some of the microbiome. So we actually want to allow the bacteria to be our beautician, and everything that we’re putting on in and around our bodies. We want it to be microbiome compatible.

george grombacher 11:25
Well, that certainly makes sense. Fair to say that the way that our bodies are, is is the correct way and and the healthy way, and that it’s outside interventions like me putting some some really aggressive hand sanitizer on my hands and just crushes everything or me using some really harsh product if it’s, you know, toothpaste or, or a mouthwash and it just just wax all the microbiomes. That’s that’s where we’re going wrong.

Nadine Artemis 11:58
Exactly. And that’s why even triclosan was actually removed from the hand sanitizers, because it was actually making your immune system more vulnerable to superbugs. Interestingly, triclosan can still be found in many toothpaste.

george grombacher 12:15
Nice. Yeah. Great. So as you got started, how have you decided? Which kinds of products to to produce? And and how does that how does that process work?

Nadine Artemis 12:32
Yeah, wow. Well, it’s all Yeah. Well, it’s, it’s such a core part of the, you know, formulating, it’s, it’s such a creative thing. And it’s a science thing, but how things get made is just like, you know, it. So many factors sort of, could be like, just from inspiration, what are people needing at this time, you know, what new plants have come down the pipe? You know, I think we have, like, we definitely have over 100 products that have created, you know, it’s all I can do to stop making more so there’s like a whole pipeline of never ending creations in my mind that are ready to come out. And sometimes it takes you know, years, like this year, we have a, the world’s cleanest green is really most beautiful, innovative mascara coming out. That’s ever that it should be the most unique one that’s come to the planet so far. And it’s got, you know, beautiful frankincense in it and peptides for lash growth and stuff. So that’s exciting. But that’s like, you know, and that’s actually been on the list for a while. And a few months ago, we just released a new toothpaste. That is, is so awesome for the teeth. I’ve been waiting to get this one in and it’s with a mineral called Nano hydroxy apatite, which NASA has deemed for about three or four decades that it’s it’s key for preventing bone loss and is used in toothpaste for astronauts. So it’s very good at repairing the enamel and evening out. Yeah, the tooth surface. So that’s pretty cool.

george grombacher 14:19
Amazing. That’s fascinating. I mean, I can’t even imagine like okay, how do I create a mascara? Okay, now I’m gonna create a toothpaste because while I put them both on my face, it seems very different. They are totally different.

Nadine Artemis 14:33
Yeah. That’s like, I guess just you know, and then lowering like we got a new toothbrush to the market last year. That’s EMF free. I’ve got some other light inventions coming up. That you that will be worked with skincare in oral care, so that’s fun.

george grombacher 14:52
Nice. Yeah. So for people who are listening this okay. I have so much on my plate already. And I do want to make sure that I am being a good steward of my microbiome. How do I get started?

Nadine Artemis 15:08
That’s a great question. I in my book, renegade beauty, I have this thing steps called Stop seal and seed. And you can really apply that to your skin or your guts or your oral microbiome. And there’s lots of suggestions in the book, but let’s just say if it was, like your gut microbiome, you want to stop the things that are you know, inhibiting that which would be like, maybe some GMO corn that you’re eating or something so you want to stop that and then you want to seal so you want to seal and heal the gut. So working with, you know, things that will take care of that and then receding so things like post biotics probiotics and really building up the that bacterial bank account of the body.

george grombacher 15:59
Nice. So, okay, stop seal and recede and seed

Nadine Artemis 16:05
see seed. Yeah. So and if it was your mouth, maybe like, okay, stop using the trick Lisanne toothpaste, reseal, which I would, you know, that’s more details, and we’ve got articles about that. But you’re going to change the ingredients of what you’re using in your mouth. Sorry. And then you’re going to reseed the mouth, so swishing with probiotics, that kind of thing. And you can really look at that in each area. And it can be simple, or you can really get complex, but there’s lots of easy takeaways that you can do and just sort of going one step at a time. Like even exploring something like post biotic like butyrate. For really, you know, having the guts and digestion work well, that’s something that is fun to research researching theater rate. And everybody that tries it really has like just so much more balance in their digestive tract.

george grombacher 17:00
Nice. Love it. Well, that’s a solid one, the dean, but people are ready for your difference making tip. What do you have for them?

Nadine Artemis 17:08
I would just say, Yeah, start, start with one thing. And just try that butyrate thing. Try one thing to your gut. And it will transform your day to day experience and your skin.

george grombacher 17:24
Well, I think that that is great stuff that definitely gets to come on. Theme. Thank you so much for coming on. Where can people learn more about you? How can they pick up a copy of renegade beauty? And where can they find all of your wonderful products living libations Thank

Nadine Artemis 17:39
you. Well, living libations is our website and I’ve got renegade beauty but book and Holistic Dental Care and there wherever books are sold. They’re also both on Audible. And, you know for social we’ve got over on Instagram Nadine Artemus, official and living libations official.

george grombacher 17:58
Excellent. Well, if you enjoyed this as much as I did show Nadine your appreciation and share today’s show with a friend who also appreciates good ideas go to living libations calm and check out all the wonderful products we’ve been talking about pick up a copy of renegade beauty however you like to listen to your books. So Let’s list all those in the notes of the show. Thanks, Kennedy. Thank you. And until next time, keep fighting the good fight. We’re all in this together.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai