Smude's Virgin Sunflower Oil

Smude's Virgin, cold-pressed sunflower oil has not only great health benefits, but it's a healthy alternative to other cooking oils. I've switched things up and have been using Smude Oil for the month & want to share all about it. I've also began using this to oil-pull... holy guacomole! It is such a step up from my ol' olive oil. My sister, spouse and I sat in the bedroom all swishing around this lovely sunflower oil this evening & it reminded me that I desperately needed to publish this post. There we all were, swishing this around our mouths for 15 minutes. The bad thing is, when the three of us get together, we want to talk. Even if we do have a mouth full of oil! Lots of great laughs and lots of great food we have had with the Sunflower Oil from Smude Oil. I won't make this post entirely about the amazing thing called oil-pulling, but for my oil-pulling readers, I definitely recommend switching it up and trying this oil for a while. You should've seen the stuff that came out of our mouths afterward. But, onto the Smude Oil...

• Smude's products are locally grown 

• Smude's is family-owned and operated in Minnesota.

• Smude's Sunflower oil is Virgin and cold-pressed.

• Non-GMO.
• Gluten-free

• The oil is made from high oleic sunflower seeds .

• Smude's Virgin Sunflower oil contains more Vitamin E than any other vegetable oil. Contains a combination of monosaturated and polyunsaturated fats. 

• Has low saturated fat levels.

• 0 trans fat. 
•  

As you can see, I get photo-happy. Just want to make sure you can see everything. :) 

On the bottle, you have the nutrition facts on one side, nice information on the front and more on the other side. If you can't read it, here's what it says:

Front of the Smude's Sunflower Oil bottle

Front: 
"Smude's Brand Virgin Sunflower Oil, Minnesota grown, Premium cold-pressed, Centra-care heart and Vascular Center Approved, non GMO, Gluten-free, from high oleic sunflower seeds, proudly produced in Pierz, Minnesota."

The sunflower oil comes in a 16 fl. oz, glass bottle. 



The Side:
"Grown in the heart of Minnesota, Smude's Sunflower Oil is a family-owned and operated enterprise! Our goal is to produce a high quality, premium, cold-pressed sunflower oil that is available to all! 

As a company, we are committed to supporting our local economy and providing a healthy alternative for your cooking needs! We continually strive to be a "going-green" company by incorporating green practices into our daily operations!" 

Nutrition label

Nutrition Label says:
Serving size: 1 tablespoon (4 grams)
Serving per container: about 32

Calories: (Amount per serving) 124
Calories from fat: 124
   
Total fat:(Daily Value)   14 grams   22% 
Saturated fat: 1 gram      7%
Polyunsaturated fat: .5 grams
Monounsaturated fat: 1 grams
Trans fat: 0 grams
Cholesterol: 0 mg
Sodium: 0 mg
Total carbohydrates: 0 g
Dietary fiber:  0 g
Sugar: 0 g
Protein: 0 g
Vitamin A: 0%
Vitamin: C 0%
Vitamin E: 29%
Calcium: 2%
Iron: 4%


Uses for Virgin Sunflower Oil:

Sunflower oil is good for baking, frying, spray coating for cereal, dried fruit, crackers, used in non-dairy creamers and more. It also makes a much healthier alternative to other oils for cooking with. Not to mention the taste is nice.

You can also use Smude's sunflower oil for oil-pulling. Sunflower oil is said to be the best, most effective oil for oil-pulling. I have been oil-pulling on and off for the last 5 months with great benefits. I started out using olive oil and then decided to upgrade and try Smude's sunflower oil. I do notice more intense benefits when I use this sunflower oil. There are some amazing health benefits, which I've talked about before.

My dad used this sunflower oil to fry pork chops and steak one night, letting them sit in the oil for a while first along with his own marinade stuff & they were delicious! I actually noticed a difference than when other oils like the regular stuff was used. 

I plan to try frying some french fries using the sunflower oil next time I get a craving for them. It seems like they would be delicious!

The sunflower oil does not taste strong. It's a light flavor. I do notice a somewhat sunflower seed-like taste and it's pleasant. 

You could probably use the sunflower oil on things like salads too! There are a lot of uses for this lovely stuff. 

To see some interesting recipes for using Smude's sunflower oil, you can go to Smude's page here.

Cooking with sunflower oil instead is much healthier, has cardiovascular benefits and many more health benefits, which I'll list (as many as possible) in just a moment.

 Smude's Virgin Sunflower oil has a light  smoke of about 380 degrees.



What's the difference between cold-pressed and chemically extracted oils?

Smude Oil does a lovely job of explaining the difference. Here's what they say:


All plant oils are cholesterol free, but commercial oils go through several processing stages to prevent rancidity. Refined oils are de-gummed, de-pigmented through charcoal or clay, clarified by deodorizing under high heat and chemically preserved. Unfortunately, processing also destroys healthy antioxidants and forms hazardous free radicals. Refined oils are clear, odorless, and almost totally devoid of nutrients. 

     – Unrefined vegetable oils are the least processed and most natural. They are mechanically pressed and
filtered (cold pressing). They have small amounts of sediment, and taste and smell like the nut, seed, or fruit they came from.

     – Solvent extracted oil is the second pressing from the first pressing residue. The petroleum chemical hexane is generally used to get the most efficient extraction; even though minute amounts of hexane remain, it is still considered an unrefined oil.

Vegetable oils are traditionally seen as top dietary sources of essential fatty acids. Commercial oils contain such a large number of contaminates and are so heavily processed that they can no longer be regarded as good sources of EFA’s.


Health benefits of using Smude's Virgin Sunflower Oil:


-Cardiovascular. 

-Lowers cholesterol your risk of heart disease. 
"A diet rich in high-oleic-acid sunflower oil favorably alters low density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglycerides, and factor VII coagulant activity."

- There are also skin benefits to be had! Using Virgin Sunflower oil is highly moisturizing for skin & will help it retain moisture. Adding a couple drops to a moisturizer or straight to skin after a shower leaves it extremely smooth and looking lovely forever. You can even add a few drops to your bath water. This makes my skin glow and really soft and it looks nice -- no cracks and dryness! The oil also has anti-aging benefits, so using it in a bath and on skin will be beneficial for preventing signs of aging. 

Vitamin E is great for skin, and the oil contains Vitamin E.

I've read that soaking in a bath with the Virgin Sunflower Oil in it helps relieve physical and mental stress. It's also helpful for skin conditions like eczema.

It could also be used for massage, if you wanted.

Besides those nice benefits, the sunflower oil also leaves a protective barrier on the skin that resists infection in pre-term infants. 

"Studies using sunflower oil have been conducted involving low birth weight pre-term infants that are often susceptible to infection due to their underdeveloped skin. The study determined that infants receiving a daily skin treatment of sunflower oil were 41% less likely to develop infections in hospital."





















 Disclaimer: I am not a specialist, expert, professional or doctor of any kind. Content on this blog is not intended to be taken as medical advice, diagnosis, treatment or advice of any sort. I'm simply sharing information about my own experiences and results from use of a product or activity in hopes of providing useful information to readers, not to be taken as a patient/medical adviser relationship. I am not responsible for what readers choose to do after viewing the content here. Furthermore, I do not hold an "exceptional" or other special relationship with any company mentioned on this site. I'm simply a consumer who worked with the company on a review that is in compliance with FTC's guidelines. That means, everything you read here is my own words, not anything of the company's. I was not provided with monetary compensation for my review. All information posted has been done so with complete honesty. No action should be taken based solely on the content of this publication ( I'm not responsible.) Readers who rely on the information in this blog to replace the advise of an appropriate health care provider assume all risks of such behavior.

Charcoal Bamboo Deodorizers from Ever Bamboo

Hello my smelly readers! Sorry, but everyone has odor, and it's okay. It's especially okay when you have deodorizers that are natural, safe and totally efficient for every smelly part of your home! That is what I'm going to talk about. I have several of these very awesome deodorizer products from Ever Bamboo. I'll describe each of the products and what they do below, but first let me tell you how the Ever Bamboo products work, because they're very unique and unlike any other deodorizers out there.

               Above is the large room deodorizer still in its package.

What they are/how they work

These products are all made from bamboo charcoal, which is 100% natural. How they work is by absorbing odor. Here's how Ever Bamboo described the process "Due to the growth characteristics of moso bamboo, millions of tiny holes are created as the plant densifies as it matures, a process taking approximately five years. It is these tiny holes that ultimately give the resulting bamboo charcoal its revolutionary abilities as both a deodorizer and dehumidifier. These benefits have been enjoyed for more than five centuries in Asia."

And before I go on, I'll go ahead and answer the question "how long will it work?" Ever Bamboo products can last up to one whole year if treated with proper care. By placing the bamboo charcoal in the sun to kind of reactivate it. 

Ever Bamboo products are 100% natural and can be recycled into the ecosystem. 

The large, 1kg  black bag you see in the photo way absorbs moisture and odor. It works well for covering and absorbing odors of really large areas such as kitchens, basements, rooms, garages, warehouses and pet areas! Yes, if you have pets, Ever Bamboo will be a God-send!

This one works for areas up to 400 square feet. 


Below is a really neat one, and happens to be one of my favorite Ever Bamboo products. It is a bar of soap. It's a great soap for keeping away odor. Below, you see it still in the package.

You can see the bubbly white stuff on it. I think it's neat. The bar of soap is well, is black. I placed my bar in a clean MisFits ashtray in my bathroom (you can use a soap dish, but hey, who doesn't like the MisFits?) I was absolutely shocked with this product. I couldn't wait to get on here and tell all about it.

It's really a great alternative to chemical filled soaps. I love that I can use it all over without worries of ingredients like fragrances and harmful chemicals causing me issues. 

NOTE: I actually thought this was an air freshener at first, but I was wrong! I have been using it as that for weeks now. This bar is actually soap. And it's one heavy-duty soap for odor! I love the fresh scent it leaves on my skin.  But do know that it's a soap, not deodorizer for the air. Lol.....

When I thought this was a deodorizer, I placed thr bar of on my bathroom sink at night. I have a clogged sink right now so it's been having a smell, and then I cleaned my ex-turtle's cage and whoa buddy! It left a really nasty odor in there that I couldn't get rid of.

I should mention, when I first opened the bar of soap here, it did have an aroma. Very subtle, but there. It was a lovely, fresh, green type of scent. Nothing perfumey or bothersome and it's totally dissipated now. I enjoyed the scent. Anyways, I checked my bathroom the next morning and it had no noticeable odor. So not only is this a great soap, it also seemed to deodorize the room!

I've been using the Ever Bamboo products for about 2 weeks. I didn't want to begin writing about them until I'd had a good couple of weeks to really share everything about them. And boy do I have a lot to share. Next is the shoe deodorizer! I personally don't have shoe smells. I'm not much of a sweater and my feet never smell (thank you Jesus!) but my partner's sweat, the 13 year old's sweat and my neice who's 7, well, let's just say, if she takes her shoes off within 5-6 ft. of you, you are going to know it quick. Hers are some very bad smellin' tootsies. So, we had a nice smelly group to try these out with...

Let me also say my lovie has really been struggling over his new work boots smelling. He's been using baking soda, those balls you put in your shoes overnight, everything. It would help a little until he worked again and the sweaty smell was back. So I was really excited to have him try these. Sure enough! Nothing works for smelly shoes like the Ever Bamboo Shoe Deodorizer. Seriously. These people are shoe-smellin' free now. And we've been able to use the same deodorizers by alternating them between everyone. 

These work so well, that my lovie and I were shopping last week and a lady and her daughter were looking at those shoe balls I mentioned. We spent 10 minutes talking to this strange lady about the Ever Bamboo deodorizers! My lovie was telling her that he'd used those balls before and they weren't near as good as these. We told her where to buy them and she actually said she'd be looking into them.

The 25g x 3 mini Deodorizers are basically the same as the large black bag I mentioned first. Only these are small and work well for areas like closets, gym bags, lockers, cabinets, diaper pails, etc. You can even slide one down in each shoe and it'll work to remove odor there too.