The Locally Made, Healthier Skin Items At Whole Foods You Might Be Missing Out On

I heart carbs, and old school shopping lists.

Ok, so I am the OG of buying prepared foods from Whole Foods, taking everything out of the containers, and trying to pass it off as my own handy work. (For the record, I have learned to make a mean sweet potato though.)

One thing that crossed my mind the other day while weaving my cart in and out of the aisles there (The smaller carts are forever my jam btw ~ zip, zip, zip! I'll go so far as scouring almost the entire parking lot for ten or fifteen minutes for one.), past the organic blueberries (Even TMZ's Harvey Levin was eating copious amounts for breakfast at one point because of all this talk of their being the fountain of youth 2.0 or so I read online in a New Yorker or NY Times profile.), the quinoa and beans bins, the sodium free wheat bread, and the energy bars...there's a lot of amazing items here that're locally made. Not to mention a ton of stuff you don't necessarily go to WFM for, but would totally appreciate in your daily. Anywho, getting back to the local things, here are two that I personally have tried, can vouch for and that also happen to be healthy skin related to boot.

As someone who is an overzealous brusher (Ask my dentist and my dental hygienist!), I've had issues in the past with both the Clarisonic and dry brushing. The OctoVie skin brush, the medical esthetician who created it is based in Boston but makes frequent appearances at WFM RI (Shoutout to Pamela for sending one my way. Did I also mention it's made in Providence?), then is fab for someone like me. No bristles - again a huge prob for me - just these small nubs, and it can be used wet or dry to help with circulation, exfoliation or for cleaning makeup brushes, all super important. I mean there was that story making the rounds online last year about what happened to some woman who didn't clean her brushes for a long while and it was scaryyy as sh*t. (Insert fearful face emoji here.)

Lately, I'm all about fermented foods. An outstanding alternative to yogurt if like me, you're working on ramping down dairy. They're loaded with probiotics, crucial for gut health and I've been reading how a healthy gut is also key to clearer, glowing skin. As someone who's obsessed with both, I first stumbled on Chi Kitchen Kimchi a year or two ago at a local farmers' market in PVD and was over the moon recently after realizing that it is indeed gettable at my local WF's too (as well as at Fully Rooted Juice in Pawtucket which I blogged about this month). I usually have a few large spoonfuls of their vegan one during the day. You can also cook with it, but I haven't gotten there...yet. Not gonna lie, it's five alarm fire HOT at first!!! Once you get used to that, however, it's literally all good. 

Big Ole Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored post. While I have partnered with WFM, this is purely me wanting to share a few of my go-to's with you. That's all.

Photo Credits: OctoVie brush photo courtesy of their IG; Chi KItchen photo courtesy of the Whole Foods Market RI IG