I'm a wife and mother of 6 amazing kids. Since falling victim to a health crisis in 2009, I've been on a mission to find a healthier way of life and show others how to do the same. I'm a lover of all things natural that lead to a healthier lifestyle such as essential oils, holistic medicine, and health & wellness. Currently enrolled at the Health Coach Institute where I'm pursuing my passion for health & wellness. I look forward to impacting lives through Health Coaching in Charleston, SC! I hope you enjoy the Health and Harmony blog and find abundance in your life!
Empty desks and substitute teachers at school; Coworkers MIA for days. It’s cold and flu season folks! Time to boost your immunity! Whether you’re trying to fend off the virus or you’ve already been hit, cook up a batch of immune supporting soup. It’s packed full of good for you ingredients that’s sure to cure what ails you. As Ann Wigmore’s quote says “The food you eat can either be the safest & most powerful form of medicine or the slowest form of poison.”
Ingredients
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 small onion, rough chopped
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
2 celery stalks, sliced
1 3-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and sliced into slivers
2 garlic cloves, minced
1-1/2 cup bok choy, chopped (separate the stalk and leaves)
1-1/2 teaspoon curry
1 tsp Turmeric
6 cups chicken stock
1 pound cooked chicken, shredded
fresh chopped cilantro
fresh daikon or alfalfa sprouts
Instructions
Heat the olive oil in a heavy pot. Add the chopped onion, carrots, celery, bok choy stalks, and ginger .
Sauté’ 6-7 minutes, until the onion is soft and translucent, stirring occasionally.
Add the garlic, and cook for an additional 1-2 minutes, until the garlic is fragrant, stirring occasionally.
Add the curry powder, turmeric powder, chicken stock, Green leafy part of the bok choy, and chicken. Stir to combine.
Continue to cook until the soup reaches a simmer. Then reduce heat to medium-low, cover with a lid, and let simmer for about 20 minutes.
Ladle into bowls and garnish with daikon or alfalfa sprouts, and cilantro to serve.
For more healthy recipes, visit my friend and fellow blogger, Sarah at Fresh Foodie Mama!
The movement of “Green Cleaning” has been adopted by so many of us with the increasing reports of cancer causing agents found in most common chemical based household cleaners. What’s more likely to be an issue, however is the respiratory, hormone, and immunity effects these cleaners have on you and your children. Mayo Clinic reports decreased lung function due to using chemical household cleaners and another study is circulating reporting an equivalent to smoking 20 cigarettes a day in individuals who have used common household chemical cleaners in their occupation or regularly in their home over a 10-20 year span. Of course there are always 2 sides to every story so let’s dig a little deeper.
So maybe you already know the dangerous side effects or potentially serious long term effects chemical cleaners can have and you’ve made the switch to a “green” or “natural” cleaning product line. Good for you! Feels good to have tossed out the scary products and replaced them with good smelling, products that are safe! Or did you?? You might have THOUGHT you were using a natural cleaner, but you could be a victim of greenwashing.
What’s Greenwashing?
Greenwashing is a term used when a green marketing campaign deceptively uses phrases or key words to promote the PERCEPTION that an organizations products, aims, or policies are environmentally friendly.
It goes way beyond companies that are labeling cleaning products in a way that make you THINK they are safer. There’s so much advertising about being an environmentally friendly eating establishment to draw in those who are advocates of saving the Earth and using resources wisely. They promote practices such as no longer offering plastic straws, but if you look behind the scenes you’ll see they aren’t recycling everyday items or are cleaning the dishes and tables you eat from with harmful chemicals. Even beyond that are major energy corporations marketing themselves as the first to use 100% renewable energy, yet they don’t advertise they are still providing fossil fuel energy as well making their claim to be fully reliant on renewable energy false. Greenwashing America.
The Face-off
So now you know that you need to dig a little deeper to find out if the products you use in your home are safe, at what level, and to check for greenwashing. Here are just a few ways you can do this. You can read and research every ingredient on a bottle to know if they are safe. Alternately, you can use an app like ThinkDirty to get a detailed explanation of what’s in the product and how safe it is much faster. Or you can go to the Environmental Working Group website and find out a whole lot about the safety of a certain product- not just cleaning products.
One product that I was greenwashed by was Mrs. Meyers Multi-surface Cleaner. I’ve seen so much advertisement about the green company and the products smell amazing! They advertise to be aromatherapeutic to boot and this one comes in basil scent. Well alright! Sounded good to me in the store. I later learned that aromatherapeutic isn’t really a term, the bottle says basil scented which should have been a red flag since we don’t use products with fragrance, and if I read the ingredients all the way I would have known the statement this cleaner is a “naturally fresh way to clean your home” wasn’t true at all. My mind was tricked by pairing aromatherapeutic with the big basil label in the center thinking it was essential oil based, not fragrance based. I also didn’t read past the first few ingredients so I didn’t notice all of the really bad ingredients were listed last. I understood this company to be a healthy alternative to what I was currently using so I wasn’t looking for the proof otherwise.
When I did some research on the products at the advise of a friend, I saw the score on ThinkDirty was 8 out of 10 and 10 is BAD! It’s high in fragrance and 11 of the 17 ingredients scored a C or D for health. It goes on to explain that a score in this range may cause hormone disruption, reproductive issues, systemic toxins, neurotoxins, triggers asthma, lowers immunity, and aids to allergy suffering. Only 4 ingredients are listed as safe- one of them being water! It also states it’s not considered a green cleaner.
I looked up the same product on the Environmental Working Group website and it scored it as a C. It reports some concern for asthma and respiratory safety, skin allergies, and irritation. It also goes on to report that it’s moderately unhealthy for the environment. The final statement says “May contain ingredients with potential for acute aquatic toxicity; nervous system effects, skin irritation, and allergies.” Wow! Okay, so that’s going in the trash too. What do I use now?
I had a packet of Young Living Thieves Household Cleaner that came with my essential oils kit that I never opened. I started looking at the ingredients and did some research to find out if this was just another ploy to greenwash America or if it could be a viable alternative to everything we’ve tried so far. What I found was pretty impressive. If you do a Google search for Thieves VS household cleaners, you’ll see thousands of experiments and research conducted to determine the effectiveness of essential oils used to clean even better than common household cleaners without the harmful effects.
Thieves Household Cleaner is derived of plant based ingredients (mostly from coconut) and essential oils of clove, lemon, cinnamon, rosemary, and eucalyptus. That’s it. No chemicals, no harmful side effects, no secrets about the safety of using it. On the contrary, it helps build your immune system because all of the essential oils used in it that naturally support immune health.
What’s even better, is this one cleaner can be used for all of your household cleaning needs. It can be diluted to clean glass and furniture, it can be amped up to clean greasy messes, and it can be added to an abrasive to get to scrubbing tough grime.
The best part about living in a technology era is the ability to have knowledge that gives you power to choose what’s best for you and your family. Using a better, safer product to clean your home may not prevent any of these health concerns from happening to anyone in your home, but for us we made the choice to give it our best shot to live our most healthy lives!
Some of you are still getting fresh blankets of powdery white snow, while those of us in the southern states are getting fresh blankets of billowing yellow as the tree pollen blooms. We don’t need a forecast to know allergy season is upon us. Itchy watery eyes, sneezing and runny noses are the new normal. Your automatic response is likely to reach for the allergy medicine you know best, but did know your body can become dependent on medications and cause reactions that mimic the need for the medication!? We used to reach for OTC allergy medications too, but after experiencing dependency and a host of side effects, we did research that lead to some natural alternatives. These alternative methods of relieving allergy symptoms have eliminated all OTC allergy medications, nasal sprays, and have kept allergy induced asthma under control for us any many people we’ve taught the power of the oils. We get questions of what we do for allergy relief so often, I thought I should write up a tutorial on it to help you get through this season too!
The essential oils of lavender, lemon, and peppermint are the most common essential oils for allergy relief and have been dubbed as The Allergy Trio for their combined power. However, some more severe allergy sufferers need a bit more of a boost with some essential oil helpers we’ll talk about in a bit. Let’s get started with finding some relief!
Allergy Relief Using Essential Oils Internally
If you’re a severe allergy sufferer, an allergy shot to you is going to the allergist every month to have an antihistamine injection. A natural alternative commonly referred to as an allergy shot is not painful and can be done in your own home. However, before you make any of these recipes, please be sure the oils you’re using are labeled as safe for applying to the skins and safe for ingestion.
We use Young Living Vitality oils for dietary support. They are the ONLY oils I use or recommend for internal use because of their seed to seal standards. Please do your own research to determine if what you’re using is safe and understand that results may vary if using other brands of oils.
Allergy Shot Fill a shot glass with water or juice and add: 2 drops Peppermint Vitality 3 drops Lavender Vitality 3 drops Lemon Vitality
Drink it 1 to 2 times per day when you know allergy season is coming and continue through the season to manage allergy symptoms. For an added boost, make your allergy shot with Ningxia Red, like me!
Allergy Capsules
For those of you that don’t want to taste the essential oils or don’t want to take time to prepare the allergy shot, you can make capsules. You can make several at a time and freeze them, then just take one out each morning and night and swallow with liquid. Here’ what you need:
Empty Vegetarian Capsules 2 drops each Lavender Vitality, Lemon Vitality, Peppermint Vitality. Fill the rest of the capsule with fractionated coconut oil. Put the top on the capsule and store in a freezer safe jar. I use a mason jar to keep and keep in the freezer.
Topical Allergy Relief
The skin is the largest organ of the body and one we often overlook. Essential oils used topically enter the skin through the dermis and continue down through the capillaries into the bloodstream. They can also enter the blood stream from the hair follicles and sweat ducts. Absorption is increased when circulation and warmth are increased. That’s why the roller method of applying the allergy trio and a few other oils are so effective in relieving allergy symptoms. As the oils are massaged into the skin, the warmth and friction increases circulation and absorption allowing the plant constituents to do their jobs more effectively. Here are a few ways to make an allergy roller:
Standard Allergy Trio
15 ML roller bottle 8 drops each lavender, lemon, and peppermint Fill with carrier oil. Shake. Roll on wrists and behind the ears and down the neck. Massage into the skin
Enhanced Allergy Roller 15 ml roller bottle 8 drops each lavender, lemon, peppermint, and copaiba Fill with carrier oil. Shake. Roll on wrists and behind the ears and down the neck.
Breathe Better Roller 15 ml roller bottle 10 drops peppermint 10 drops eucalyptus (or RC) 10 drops Raven 5 drops Frankincense 5 drops copaiba Fill rest of bottle with carrier oil and say goodbye to heavy chest and wheezing!!!! Apply on back of ears/neck and on your chest.
The Nose, Knows
The saying the nose, knows makes good sense here. When essential oils are released into the air and used aromatically, it only takes seconds for the brain chemistry to begin changing. Diffusing, wearing diffuser jewelry, and inhaling essential oils are some of the ways to use aromatics.
Diffusing- Not all diffusers are created equal. Make sure you have a good quality diffuser that doesn’t heat the oils, but rather uses ultrasonic technology to disperse the essential oils. Diffuse any of the allergy blends above adjusting the drops to 3-5 drops of each essential oil. Do not use the carrier oil in your diffuser!
Diffuse during the day for clear sinuses at your desk or in the area you spend most of your time. Diffuse RC or Raven at night to keep the nasal passages clear!
Diffuser Jewelry-Many people like to wear diffuser jewelry. Who wouldn’t! It’s pretty and functional! You can find lots of retailers on Amazon and Easy for just the right piece. Put some RC on it and you’ll be breathing easy all day! It can also be used for any other essential oil, not just allergy related!
Direct Inhalation- In this application, direct inhalation will be directed at allergy relief. However, this method is exceptional at relieving so many other things like stress, anxiety, lifting mood, and focus! One of our favorite allergy relief oils is RC. It’s a blend of Spruce, Cypress, and 3 Eucalyptus oils. When my husband has a cold, he literally carries this oil in his pocket and applies it to the bridge of his nose and rubs it in his hands and breathes it in deeply to open up the nasal passages and chest. It has also replaced his prescription nasal spray morning and night for allergy relief.
This method can be done after applying the allergy relief roller blend of your choice and rubbing it in. whatever is left on your hands, rub it together and cup your hands over your mouth and nose and breathe in the aromas deeply a couple of times.
You can mix and match any variety of these methods using one or all. When my allergies are really bad, I will do an allergy shot morning and night and apply the Enhanced AllergyRoller to my neck and wrists, and apply RC to the bridge of my nose and do a few deep breaths of it with my hands cupped over my mouth and nose.
I’d love to hear from you about how you use essential oils to find allergy relief. Or if you tried any of my suggestions, what did find most helpful?
Ready to purchase your own Young Living Essential Oils? Start here with the premium starter kit! You’ll not only get 12 essential oils, you get personal support and education and be added to a Facebook group of over 3000 members to learn from!
Home is usually our safe space. Our one place where we can disconnect from the chaos and troubles of the world. Where you walk in the door to be greeted by loved ones, stories of success from the day, and feel at peace. However, in today’s world that doesn’t ring so true anymore. With technology always a chime away to notify you of things that need your attention, it’s difficult to find that sense of peace at home.
There’s also a significant rise in poor child behavior and health concerns that can add to the stress of the home and create tension, anxiety, and overwhelming feelings. These stresses on the body create high blood pressure, negative feelings and decreased mood, sickness, and even anxiety. If you’re life could use some harmony, you might consider adding some houseplants to your home.
What’s A Plant Going To Do?
It’s common knowledge to most that plants and trees of all kinds give oxygen and purify the air. Yet you may surprised to learn that there are many houseplants that can lower stress levels, promote healing, boost immunity, enhance concentration, lower the risk of illness and disease, and enhance mood.
The increased oxygen houseplants provide, helps to reduce anxiety levels by purifying the air of pollutants and toxins. All potted indoor plants contain microbes in the soil called M.Vaccae which is a non-pathonogenic bacteria that produces serotonin. Serotonin is an important hormone responsible for feelings of well-being, happiness, memory, regulate digestion, maintain bone health and libido. They also emit Phytonicides which are organic compounds used by the plant to defend itself against disease and can boost human immunity. There are many studies showing hospital patients that have a plant in their room require less medication and recover more quickly. I always thought it was a just a nice gesture! Next time you go visit someone in the hospital or nursing home, bring a plant to purify the air and know you’ve done something to help them get well soon!
The Peace Lilly is the most efficient air purifying plant. Rids the air of Benzene, formaldehyde, trichloroethylene, xylene, toluene which are harmful toxins. Also increases brain function, aides in generating ideas and creativity.
Re-Introduce Old Favorites
Spider Plant-I don’t know about you, but we always had this plant in our home growing up. Spider plants hanging in baskets, crawling along cabinet tops, and draping over end tables. The job of the Spider Plant is to remove carbon monoxide from the air which creates more oxygen. More oxygen means reduced blood pressure and anxiety in the humans that live where this plant is kept.
Fun Fact: There are two types of flowers produced by the Spider Plant. Some flowers have stamen which means they are male and some have a pistil which means they are female. On the male flower anthers produce pollen that spreads to the female flowers. Pollination can occur in the same plant, but not in the same flower.
Snake Plant- I’m deathly afraid of snakes so I’ve never given this plant a fair chance just based on it’s name! However, the benefits of having this plant in your home are undeniable! Snake Plants help reduce eye irritation and headaches, aid in breathing and restful sleep. Perfect for a bedroom!
Fun Fact: Nasa conducted a study sealing a single Snake Plant in an enclosed chamber for 24 hours while releasing a number of toxic gasses. The results showed the plant reduced Benzene levels by 53% and Trichloroethylene by 13.4%. Pretty impressive for a single plant!
**This plant is poisonous to pets so keep it well out of reach!**
Succulent– This is my type of plant. Needs little care yet is interesting to look at and packs a punch. Placed on a desk, it can help relieve anxiety, stress, and reduce headaches. Aloe is probably the most commonly known succulent.
Fun Fact: There are more than 250 species of Aloe Plants in the world! Aloe is known for it’s soothing properties for burns and scrapes, but did you know it can be used for health in various forms? It’s high antibacterial content makes it great for treating acne and psoriasis, as well as promoting good oral health preventing cavities and treatment of gingivitis. Aloe juice is excellent for treating gerd, constipation, and can even lower blood sugar levels in type 2 diabetes.
**Check with your medical professional to ensure there are no contraindications with using aloe or aloe juice in your diet.**
American Skullcap– With a name like this, one might think it would promote death rather than life! Contrary to it’s name, it’s quite beautiful and extremely powerful. This antioxidant plant protects against stress, tension, nervousness, anxiety, and depression. If you suffer from one or more of those that cause sleeplessness, put one of these marvelous plants in your bedroom!
Fun Fact: American Skullcap is part of the mint family. European settlers learned how to use Skullcap from Native American tribes who had traditionally consumed it as a tea to soothe nerves. The Traditional Medicinals line of tea created Stress Ease Cinnamon tea with Skullcap as the main ingredient! I’m an avid tea drinker and will be adding this one to my collection!
Valerian– This plant is so powerful and best known for reducing stress levels, promoting sleep, and stabilizing heart rates. It’s excellent for helping relieve feelings of depression, post pardon depression symptoms, PTSD, anxiety, panic attacks, epilepsy, and anger.
Fun Fact: We use Valerian essential oil at night in a diffuser with orange and lavender to promote deeper sleep. It’s also highly antiseptic for wound healing when applied topically and has been treasured since medieval times as a heal all plant.
One Step At A Time
I sure learned a lot about houseplants! What I once thought were ordinary, are now extraordinary! I hope you learned a thing or two about plants and link to mental health! What will you incorporate into your home to help bring health & harmony?
Stress and anxiety can be a debilitating cycle of emotions and diminished physical wellbeing and should be treated by a professional doctor. If you’re prescribed medication, it’s important not to deviate from that, but to incorporate some healthy habits to bring more harmony and peace to your life one step at a time.
I spent years unknowingly in late stages of adrenal fatigue and each year got worse. I would go to the doctor for repeated thyroid and autoimmune tests that always came back with the same normal results. Though I was glad there wasn’t anything to diagnose, it was frustrating to have chronic symptoms that no doctor could explain. I still couldn’t sleep, stay asleep, or if I did sleep why I felt like I didn’t sleep at all! I was tired all the time and any amount of stress would burn me out to the point of complete exhaustion. If this is true for you, you may be battling adrenal fatigue too.
I did some reading about adrenal fatigue after seeing a video about the symptoms. After consulting with a naturopath, we decided to try the adrenal protocol to see if my symptoms would improve, and boy did they!
Your adrenal glands produce a variety of hormones that are essential to life. When Adrenals are taxed by stress, inflammation, and poor self care it creates a cortisol imbalance. This imbalance becomes a multi-phase decline in your health and wellbeing that is difficult to diagnose.
If you suffer from insomnia, insulin resistance, restless legs, dark circles under the eyes, and weight gain in the belly due to craving of carbs and sweets your cortisol levels may be high resulting in the early stages of adrenal fatigue.
Maybe you fall asleep fine, but wake up during the night or a few hours before your alarm and you can’t go back to sleep. This makes for many days where your mood is affected, your libido is low, and you experience more unexplained aches and pains. If you experience this on a regular basis, it may be advanced adrenal fatigue.
When the first two stages of adrenal fatigue continue untreated, it progresses into a place of complete exhaustion regardless of the hours slept. It can also affect your DHEA and thyroid levels putting you at higher risk for autoimmune disease, chronic bacterial, viral, and yeast infections.
Natural Ways To Heal
Change your diet.
Chances are, you know certain foods cause you to feel badly, but you eat them anyway. When this happens, there is inflammation in the body which can wear down your immune system. Keeping these foods out of your diet and choosing foods that are lean clean proteins, whole grain gluten free, and packed with veggies can help keep the stress on the adrenals low. Several in my family are also sensitive to dairy so we’ve had to eliminate that as well. Be aware of how your body responds to each meal and keep a journal to help you figure out foods that may be stressing your body.
2. Go to bed early
Getting plenty of sleep is going to play a major role in recovering from adrenal fatigue. Staying up too late can cause a late cortisol surge and will disrupt your sleep pattern. We also use an adrenal fatigue serumas part of our nightly routine. It helps us to fall asleep, stay asleep, and wake up feeling refreshed as sleep was intended to do! We don’t go to sleep without it, and if we do, we remember why we use it in the first place after a bad night sleep.
Only tested with Young Living products
3. Replace lost nutrients
The third thing that has helped me overcome adrenal fatigue is Super B by Young Living. I take it at lunch to get me through the afternoon slump I tend to get from having adrenal fatigue and it carries me through until bed time. B vitamins are food for the adrenals, help give energy, and uplift mood. Krill oil helps reduce inflammation and maintain a healthier functioning immune system and less stress on the adrenals.
4. Hydrate
This one is tough for me. I HATE drinking water! I’ve learned to put a few drops of lemon or orange vitality oil in my water to give it a boost of flavor and prompts me to want to drink it a little more.
Rebalance
If you’ve been diagnosed with adrenal fatigue or think you may have it, rebalancing your body by taking some of the steps below. Changing your diet, getting better sleep, taking supplements, and hydrating can make a world of difference. Don’t let it get worse and slip into an autoimmune disorder. Let your body heal naturally and see how much better you start to feel in no time!
As a member of Young Living, I have a team of amazingly educated people to guide me and my team on our oily journey. This adrenal support recipe was created and shared by our diamond leader,Rachael Jamesand has been a life changer for me!
For years I struggled with insomnia, disrupted sleep, or non restful sleep which affected my mood and ability to handle stress. In a previous blog post, I shared about that and my discovery of how adrenal fatigue was behind it all. Here, I want to show you how easy it is to make this amazing serum so you can rebalance your adrenals and start feeling great again!
Add 35 drops of rosemary, clove, and nutmeg to your dropper bottle.
Pour half the bottle of castor oil into your dropper bottle with the essential oils. Save the other half for the next batch! Shake it all up and it’s ready to go.
At bedtime, drop about a quarter size puddle of the adrenal support serum into your hand. Massage it into your adrenal/kidney area and on the back of your neck. It’s a little sticky, but will dry into the skin. It’s important to use castor oil for this recipe as your carrier oil because it’s the only carrier that is anti-inflammatory which is essential for healing adrenal fatigue.
Massage the serum over the adrenals, kidneys, and back of the neck.
For as long as I can remember, I’ve been drawn into using scented bath and body products on a daily basis. As a teen, my go to was Love’s Baby Soft. As a young adult, I was smitten with Exclamation perfume and the fruity grape scent of Aussie mouse and hairspray. Moving into my 30’s I was overtaken by the plethora of gels and lotions that came in more scents than I knew existed in one store. Behold Bath And Body Works. Spending an hour smelling each colorful bottle and carefully selecting a set or special combo of scents to smother my skin and hair was very appealing to me. The many bottles on my vanity proved that to be true!
Smells like teen spirit!
Back then I didn’t think twice about what I put on my skin, hair, or body. I thought friends who were advocating all natural products and saving the Earth were fanatical. If millions of people were using these products and they were approved by the FDA as safe, why should we listen to some protesters? Well, they might have been a little weird to us back then, but I for one wish I had listened to them and researched the facts for myself.
Coincidence Or Ingredients?
Through my 30’s I started to see my health decline. I suffered with major migraines almost daily. To the point where normal headache medications didn’t touch it and I was paralyzed in bed. Confined to a cool dark room and pillow over my head to block out noise, I would pray for the pain and nausea to let up. I finally found an OTC migraine medication that worked! However, I was going through an entire bottle every two weeks. This continued on for several years and I thought nothing of it. At age 32, I started having symptoms of Endometriosis and Fibrocystic Breast Disease. Biopsies, tests, blood work, and more on a repeat cycle for 3 years leading up to a double breast lumpectomy and hysterectomy. My body was falling apart and I was way too young for all of this to be setting in!
My nightmare of health decline culminated during the hysterectomy surgery. I lost a lot of blood and had difficulty healing. My skin was a yellow gray color, my body unable to walk or eat much of anything. Every medication they gave me either didn’t work or I had a terrible reaction to.
After a week of calling the doctor’s office repeatedly to alert them something was wrong, a friend brought me directly in. Unable to stand upright and my kidney protruding from my back, I was rushed to the ER. It was too late- Sepsis had set in. All of my internal organs were infected and they rushed me into the second surgery to remove the infected hematoma. I was in serious trouble fighting for my life. My doctor even spoke the words “I wasn’t sure you were going to make it, but today I give you the all clear.” That was 2 months after the hysterectomy. He said I had the all clear, but I still wasn’t feeling good and everything I ate or used seemed to make me feel worse. I decided it was time for a look at holistic living and after some research, I was realized it was worth a try. It wasn’t more than a week into a new strict diet and eliminating all chemical based products when I realized how good I was feeling. I hadn’t had a single migraine, no extreme fatigue, no restless legs at night, and my energy level had increased significantly. We were on to something and I was determined to get well. I made a dramatic recovery, but I was left with auto-immune deficiency requiring me to be mindful of my body and make adjustments to my daily life forever.
I’ve been cautious about what we eat, what types of bath and body products we use, what types of medicines we take, and the types of cookware we prepare and store food in ever since. I also got rid of all my candles and plug in air fresheners replacing them with diffusing essential oils. We’re still a work in progress to be 100% free from chemicals, but no products with sulfates, parabens, or imidazolidinyl urea, triclosan, etc are allowed in our home. Along with fragrance and synthetic colors, those are among the most toxic ingredients found in beauty products.
Proof Is In Living
Now you’re probably thinking I’m the fanatic and frankly that’s ok with me! I know how much better life is when I’m healthy and I want my family to be healthy too. We still use conventional medicine when necessary, but I prefer to try everything natural based first. Thankfully, since switching from chemical cleaners to Thieves, replacing allergy medicines with essential oils, and switching out things like deodorant, shower gels, perfumes, toothpaste, mouthwash, dryer balls instead of dryer sheets for all natural choices, we’ve seen a significant reduction in sickness. I was usually sick at least twice a month, my son had severe asthma requiring ER visits several times a season and had eczema so bad he was constantly scratching himself raw. My husband had bad allergies that kept him up at night and frequently got sinus infections. In the last year of changing our products to Young Living, my son hasn’t had one asthma attack or even any allergy symptoms. His eczema is under control with only occasional flares and my husband no longer uses or needs daily allergy medicines. I no longer have sleep difficulties, restless legs, or any problems whith Endometriosis or Fibrocystic Breast Disease. I still on rare occasion get a headache and only had 2 or 3 migraines all year, but eliminating all of these things from our lives has really made a huge difference.
Take Action!
Is it time for you to take your health into our own hands and make the conscious choice to use all natural products? What is it that you want to improve in your life? Better sleep, more energy, eliminate headaches, improve allergies and asthma? Whatever it is, do a case study for yourself. I guarantee you’ll see an improvement in your health when you are only putting good things in.
Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton
This quote is so true! I would still be struggling with a blog name, images, and colors for the website without the good company of my friends and family. This has been a long time coming, and I’m excited to get started on this journey with you by my side.
Health & Harmony 