How to be a wellness warrior this cold and flu season...

Cold and Flu season is upon us! My acupuncturist warned me of a nasty flu going around right now, and immediately I started my cold and flu season wellness routine. Throughout my childhood, and all of my adult life, I have gotten sick. Colds, flu, bronchitis, strep, chronic sinus infections... you name it, I get it. I mostly attribute this to my immune system being under attack from gluten ingestion, but after a particularly rough illness last winter/early spring (I swear I was sick for 5 months straight) when I had been off gluten for a few months already, I realized that I still wasn't taking care of myself enough (my therapist really helped me to see that one!) and I have seriously upped the ante on self care since I made it through my experience with the winter death plague of 2012-2013 (seriously, it was awful.)  I routinely go to yoga, acupuncture, chiropractor, and therapy all to help manage stress (I have some icky family issues that are unresolvable, but must be healthily managed in order for me to stay sane), because we all know that stress can be the tipping factor in getting sick or staying healthy. Aside from all that, I have a few key things that I do to ward off potential sickness when it seems like everyone around you is dropping like flies- if I could hole up in my house and just avoid all people (like that person standing behind you in the grocery store line, hacking up a lung), I would, but alas we cannot totally remove ourselves from the outside world... I am going to tell you the home remedies I use to ward off/treat sickness, and I am going to declare my goal of a sickness free fall and winter season this year! I am going to make self care my priority this winter, and I hope you do too, and for those of you who feel just too busy to take care of yourself because you must take care of others, remember that even a few minutes of self care a day will help you to stay sane and be better prepared to keep your family happy and healthy in the onslaught of flu season!

Wellness Arsenal:
-Black Elderberry Syrup: This stuff is the bomb! (sorry, I was a child of the 90's) I take a teaspoon every day, and it is super effective at warding off colds and flu's, especially of the viral origin. It tastes yummy, and is safe for pregnant women and children to take (in fact, I would encourage both of those groups to take it regularly!) I use it as a preventative measure, but you can also use it to decrease the duration of your sickness with a few extra doses a day if you are already sick.

-Probiotics: Woo-hoo for good bugs! I also take a probiotic supplement every day (right now I am doing a 100 billion culture pill) to make sure my gut is populated with happy healthy positive bugs that can help to knock out any bad bugs that come creeping in. We know now that your immune system is in your gut, so you must must must take care of it in order to not get sick. Diet plays a huge role in that, but almost everyone can benefit from a probiotic supplement. It is safe for pregnant women and kids as well. Side note: You can get probiotics from eating yogurt, kefir, kombucha, sauerkraut, etc... but you would have to eat a crap ton of those things to get anywhere near the amount you need to kick the flu's butt and keep your digestive system happy. Take a probiotic, and keep eating normal amounts of happy bug laden foods.

-Colloidal Silver/Oregano Oil: Both are potent anti-bacterials, and really work to knock out any bad bacteria that find their way into your body. I don't take either of these as preventatives, but they are very effective when you have that "tickle in your throat/might be starting to feel icky/been around a sick person" situation going on. Oregano oil does kill indiscriminately, so make sure you take your probiotics (not at the same time!) when you are taking oregano oil so that you don't kill off all your good bugs too. Both taste pretty horrible, but I have be able to find Oregano Oil in capsules so that makes it a bit easier to handle. You don't want to take these for too long, and if you are pregnant, don't take them. I am not sure about children taking them, you always want to check with your doctor/naturopath first. I have found if I hit them pretty hard right when I first start to get sick, they work like a charm and knock those bugs right out, especially for sinus infections.

-Garlic: I could wax poetic about garlic for hours. We LOVE garlic in this household. My husband and I eat a clove raw everyday (we always both smell like garlic-it's a good thing we found each other!) I know that sounds super intense, and I am not going to lie, it is, but I have found it to be one of the most powerful preventative measures to do in order to not get sick. Cooking gets rid of the compounds that fight infection, so in order to use it as medicine you must consume it raw. If you can't stand the taste/get it down, chop it up and put it in a tablespoon of honey and eat it- it totally helps take the intensity of the garlic down. It is safe for pregnant women (no more then one raw clove daily though)

-FERMENTED Cod Liver Oil: it sounds disgusting, and it tastes pretty horrible, but it is the BEST form of Omega 3's and vitamin D for your body (aside from getting vitamin D from the sun, which most of us don't). I am not going to get into the nitty gritty of this amazing supplement (it helps regulate hormones, helps your sleep, helps your immune system, provides readily available vital nutrients) because soon here I am going to give it it's own post, but suffice to say this stuff is the most important supplement I take. I have seen very tangible results from taking it daily, and would recommend it to everyone, especially women and children. (Emphasis on FERMENTED- it is made in a traditional method, as opposed to regular cod liver oil that is stripped of nutrients when processed).

-Hydrogen Peroxide:  A dropper full of drugstore bought hydrogen peroxide in each ear works wonders on knocking out an earache/sinus issue. I lay down with a towel on my pillow, and put a dropper full in one ear (ear up) and sit with it in there until it stops bubbling (it feels really weird at first, but then it's kind of cool), and then switch ears. We do this at any sign of cold, flu, sinus infection, ear ache. It works.

-ACV/Manuka/Ginger/Lemon Brew: At any hint of sickness, I brew up this concoction and drink it throughout the day. Apple Cider Vinegar is amazing for your body (it will also get it's own post soon) and will help any digestive upset that sickness causes, as well as boost the immune system (you must get raw unpasteurized Apple Cider Vinegar, with "the mother", in order for it to be effective). It contains good bugs in there to help your system, and really works at clearing out congestion. Manuka honey is a wonder food from New Zealand, a honey that is from bees who forage on Manuka trees (a Tea Tree species), and it is full of anti-viral/bacterial/fungal properties, much more so then normal raw honey. It is expensive, but totally worth it (side note: I use it as a face mask and it makes your skin glow!). Ginger and lemon are both sickness fighting superstars, and when you brew up fresh ginger root to make the tea and add lemon to it, with a dash of ACV and Manuka, you will be doing your immune system a huge favor.

My other must do things to fight a illness that has started to come on: remove dairy from your diet (it is mucus forming, and you want your mucus membranes to be nice and slippery and healthy, not all gunky, so that the bacteria/virus can't stick to it), use the neti pot daily to wash nasal passages to clear any funk that might have made it's way up there, and refrain from drinking any juice/eating most fruits (these things increase mucus and are very cooling to the body, which is really bad for you when you are getting sick- if you want vitamin C, eat cooked peppers and other vitamin C rich, warming foods, or take a supplement).

That's everything! I am wishing you a warm, sickness free fall! Stay healthy so you can get outside and enjoy this beautiful season- I know that is my goal! Cheers!
Disclaimer: I AM NOT A DOCTOR- always check with yours when you are sick, and before you use home remedies, especially if you are on prescription drugs or have other illnesses. These are just personal things I do to stay well, and you should always do your own homework about any remedy before you take it.

Happy Fall!

We have been very busy on the homestead this week- between harvesting the tomatoes and the last two pumpkins (this is our fur baby, Miss Ptilota, posing next to the last two cinderella pumpkins we harvested from our garden today), and a glut of celery (I don't really know what to do with all of this celery that is ready all at once!), to taking extra care of our chickens (some of our older ladies are going through a rough moult this season, and they need TLC), to cleaning the gutters and making dump runs and cleaning out the sheds (my husband thought I was mildly crazy, asking to do all this work to "get ready for the rains", when we haven't seen rain in Santa Cruz in many, many months... but my spidey-sense was working, because it rained all day yesterday, right after we had gotten all that work done!) I will be posting some good stuff coming up, so stay tuned! Happy Fall (my absolute favorite time of year) to everyone reading this out there in the world! Much love.

a simple morning tonic...

I don't drink coffee. I know, I know, I am a crazy person, right?! I actually love coffee- I love the taste, I love the ritual... but I don't love the caffeine. It makes me jittery to the point of crazy shaky, especially because I love my coffee strong strong strong, and when I drink it (now) I feel the effects for days (and decaf just is not the same- I swear it does not taste right to me!). I still wouldn't give up those gorgeous morning (and afternoon) cappuccino's I fell in love with while traveling in Italy with my dad years ago, but I am really glad to be off the coffee roller coaster now, especially as my body is healing and I am finally feeling better and making some real progress with my health. I do indulge in a cup of black tea a day, but I don't even feel the caffeine from it, and I always make sure I have it before noon so that it doesn't have a chance to mess up my sleep that night. I remember in the beginning of my wellness journey, when I was so sick and felt like shit, when I knew nothing about healing my gut and my head and felt so overwhelmed with all the information that I found on the internet about healing yourself (sauerkraut! supplements! vegan! paleo! crystals! etc etc etc) and I needed to start slow and do a few easy things a day to make me feel good and slowly build up a wellness routine... I stumbled upon an article about the wonders of drinking warm water with lemon upon waking, instead of coffee or tea. I thought it sounded easy enough, and the benefits looked good to me (I'll get to that in a minute), and once I started, I was hooked. It helped my digestion SO MUCH in the beginning (not as much now, since I am so much better in that department these days, but it still gets my day "moving" in the right direction, if you will). My poor little fried adrenal glands became instantly happy with the switch from coffee (an adrenal killer- the caffeine spikes your cortisol majorly) to cleansing warm lemon water. In the beginning of my journey, I was exhausted and needed more support (read: liver help, digestive help, mental clarity) that the coffee was just a quick fix for, and it was actually in the long run detrimental to me. Now, I don't need that much support, but I do find that I still enjoy a warm cup of lemon water in the morning- it's very refreshing.

(Disclaimer about all that I have just said : I am not saying that coffee is bad for YOU. I am saying it's bad for ME. My husband can have three espresso's and then fall right asleep- he never gets jittery from caffeine, in fact he is so not affected by it he doesn't really drink it because it doesn't help keep him going... he must be naturally caffeinated. Everyone's body is so different, and I know there are a lot of health benefits to drinking coffee... I just feel so much better without it, and wonder if others might too if they could just step away from it for a few weeks...)

On to the health benefits of drinking warm lemon water in the am:

1. It aids in digestion. Lemon water helps to maximize enzyme function in the digestive tract, therefore helping the liver flush out the toxins that it needs to, and helps to produce bile, which many people have a hard time doing (via a crappy diet). Lemon is very cleansing to the entire digestive tract for all of those reasons, and the warmth of the water helps get everything moving- it gets that good digestive fire that you need for you day going.

2. It's good for your immune system. Vitamin C, baby! Lemons also contain a decent amount of potassium, and both are great for your immune system. So is re-hydrating after a long night of dehydration- your immune cells are happier when you are hydrated, instead of chronically dehydrated from the coffee.

3. It regulates the pH of your body- I know, lemons are acidic right? and don't we want to be more alkaline then acidic? Yes, you do want to be more alkaline then acidic, but lemons actually are not acidic when they react with your gastric juices in your stomach- the opposite actually, lemons actually cause you to be more alkaline internally. Once their citric acid is metabolized (which it is quickly) the wealth of minerals in the lemon lend alkalinity to your body, which you want. I could go more into depth, but this is not a biochemistry blog (although, how cool would that blog be?!)

4. It helps clear your skin- Happy liver, happy skin. Many doctors say the skin is the second liver, so anything that is going on with your skin (breakouts, rashes, etc) means you have an unhappy liver. We don't want an unhappy liver, it is working so hard to keep you happy and healthy, we should do the same for it!

There are many other benefits of drinking warm lemon water in the morning (or anytime, but on an empty stomach is the best way to get all the goodness you can get out of it) but those were the ones that were most important to me- and it is such an easy wellness practice to start, why not give it a try? Your body will thank you (even if you have a cup of warm lemon water and then a cup of coffee, it would still be better for your body then just the coffee).  Give it a try, and let me know what you think!

An extra tip to make your green cleaning supplies even greener...

Yesterday I was chatting with a friend and she mentioned that she enjoyed the last blog post, but wanted to know what I did about using plastic spray bottles for my cleaning supplies- she knows how much I try to avoid plastic- and I realized I should have mentioned just that topic at the end of the last post. It is almost impossible to avoid all plastics (not totally, but it takes serious commitment). I try to avoid using plastic as much as possible without becoming a fanatic about it, and we know what a thin line that is to walk! This is what works for me: I buy a few smaller bottles (still pretty large, but not the huge jug) of white vinegar in glass bottles (since you will use the vinegar, this is a win-win) and then take the spray nozzles from the old plastic cleaning bottles that you have (it is pretty easy to find ones that fit, most plastic spray bottle nozzle mouths are the same size as the vinegar bottle mouths) and put them onto the glass bottles. I know, the nozzle is still plastic, and this is where I throw in the towel with the plastic avoidance- someday maybe my husband can make me a glass and stainless steel nozzle, but that sounds really intense and time consuming, and we all have lives, and you just have to do your best. Then once you have those glass bottles, you can just refill them with the big jugs of bulk white vinegar, or take it to the next next next level and make your own vinegar (which happens around here sometimes when we let the kombucha go for too long- no one likes drinking kombucha turned vinegar!) And there you have it, no more throwing away all those small plastic bottles when you are done with the cleaning supplies in them! Give it a try, and let me know if you do this!

Non-Toxic house cleaning tips

Ahhh, cleaning the house. Some people hate it, some people love it- I am firmly in the love it camp. When I was a little girl, I would go over to my friends houses and clean up their rooms for them (no joke- their moms loved me coming over). I am a sucker for an organized, well cleaned house, sometimes to the point of obsessiveness. It gives me a sense of control and pride, that I can keep my tiny little part of the world clean (read: I probably have a mild case of OCD). The only part of cleaning that I hated, when I moved out on my own and had my own house to clean, was the smell and reaction I had to cleaning products. There is a reason why we all hate the smell of Windex and Pine Sol- because they are SO BAD FOR YOU! I stopped using "big chemical" products long ago, and have favored Seventh Generation and Mrs. Meyers products for years, but recently I started making my own cleaning products in an effort to take the sustainability one step further- less plastic waste, less money spent buying products... etc, etc. You only need a small list of things that are very inexpensive and easy to get at your grocery store to keep your house sparkling. Here is my list  of cleaning essentials:

The biggest jar of White Vinegar you can find (seriously, it's so cheap and the base for all the cleaning recipes)
A large bottle of Dr. Bronners Castile Soap- I get the baby mild unscented (which I also bathe with) and add essential oils to make my own fragrance combinations, but I do love the almond and peppermint versions of this amazing soap as well.
Lemons
Baking soda
Sea Salt
Olive oil (if you have wood floors)
Essential oils of your choice- I love lavender anytime, orange/lemon/grapefruit are great in the spring and summer, and pine or clove are yummy in the winter, but it's totally up to you-whatever you want your house to smell like.

A run down of simple homemade cleaning recipes:

All purpose cleaner: 1:1 ratio of vinegar to water, plus a few drops of your favorite essential oils if you like. I use this on just about everything- counter tops, door knobs, windows, mirrors, tile floors, the litter box, etc... vinegar is a powerful antiseptic and does a great job at killing common household germs.

Wood floor cleaner: 1 gallon of hot water, 3/4 cup of olive oil, 1/2 cup of lemon juice. Go to town on the wood floors with this and they will smell good and have a nice sheen with out the toxic Pine Sol chemicals (and that horrible fake pine smell that always makes me want to barf).

Bathroom cleaner: 1:1 ratio of vinegar to water, and a healthy squirt of Dr. Bronners soap, plus essential oils if you want them. Shake before you use it. I use this on the shower, the tub, the toilet...

Soap scum remover: 1:1:1 ratio of salt, baking soda and vinegar plus elbow grease = no more soap scum!

Stove cleaner: Scrape off bits of burnt food on the bottom of the stove. Sprinkle a fairly thick layer of baking soda on the bottom of the stove, and then spray it with water to make it look like a paste. The baking soda does the scrubbing for you. Let it sit for 2-3 hours, and spray again. Depending on the level of grossness at the bottom of your stove, you may have to let it sit overnight. When you have let enough time pass per funkiness factor, wipe the baking soda out of the stove with a wet cloth or sponge. I scrub a little bit with a small amount of baking soda after as well, just to give it an extra clean feel.

Kitchen cutting board scrub: wet the cutting board, sprinkle it with sea salt, and cut a lemon in half. Use the cut part of the lemon to scrub the cutting board well with the salt, and then follow the scrub with a good old fashioned wash with soap. 

There you have it! Why would you want to use toxic chemicals to "clean" your house anyways- that seems like it misses the point entirely! And all of these methods are much cheaper then buying cleaning products, so your health and your wallet both win. Let me know if you have any of your own DIY cleaning formulas, or if you try some of these! Cheers!

easy healthy salad dressing

Today is a quick post, I wanted to write a longer one but the garden is keeping me very busy (we already have huge ripe pumpkins!)...

Salad dressing- one of the most expensive (for what it is) and laden with crap products in the grocery store. Most conventional salad dressings contain high fructose corn syrup, canola oil, maltodextrin and many other preservatives in it to make it shelf stable. I personally don't eat any of those ingredients- HFCS we pretty much all understand, by now, is evil. Canola oil... well, that is going to get its own post here in a few weeks- in a nutshell, you really don't want to be eating any Canola oil- if it's not organic it is made from GMO plants, it is usually made by heating at high heats, which creates cancer causing compounds in the oil, and too much vegetable oil in your diet throws off your Omega 3: Omega 6 ratio, which we know is already totally screwed up via the Standard American Diet.  And preservatives- well, why would you want to eat something that is supposed to preserve a food to be on a shelf for years? Also, homemade salad dressing is actually really easy to make, and if you have a food processor or an immersion blender with a processor attachment (which is what I have) it is all the more easy. You could whip up a basil feta vinaigrette, a honey lemon vinaigrette, or my personal favorite, an herbed balsamic vinaigrette... the list goes on. You get the health benefits of your healthy (unheated!) oil that you choose (we generally use cold pressed organic olive oil or avocado oil, but cold pressed organic walnut oil and sesame oil are great too) and all the antioxidants and nutrients from the fresh herbs- a nutritional powerhouse on top of your already healthy salad! For basic herbed balsamic vinaigrette, follow these "steps"... (well, "step" actually!)

you will need:
cold pressed organic nut/seed/fruit oil of your choice
fresh herbs (I like oregano, thyme, rosemary, a little bit of parsley- but whatever you like)
1-3 cloves of raw garlic (if you don't like garlic or just don't like it raw, omit this. We love raw garlic for its antibacterial/viral properties, and put it in everything, but some people can't eat it raw. You could also get fancy and roast the garlic first and then put it in the recipe)
juice from one half of a lemon (you can also omit this if you want)
Balsamic vinegar

Just throw it all in the food processor, run it until it is a blended, slightly creamy consistency, and serve! We make a batch every week and store it in a jar in the fridge so we always have it on hand- its also great on eggs, potatoes... really whatever you want. It is SO MUCH BETTER then store bought dressing- it has no scary ingredients, and it really does taste great. Let me know what you think, and if you give it a try!

the wonders of Ghee

Yesterday, I made Ghee for the first time. Many people have never heard of Ghee, or if they have it is in relation to yummy Indian food- Ghee is a traditional food of India, used for cooking just about everything. It is essentially clarified butter, and it has a lovely caramelized, rich, buttery taste that I have grown to love so much I put it in my tea instead of cream. It has a very high smoke point (about 485 degrees) which makes it excellent for cooking at high heat (cooking vegetable/seed/nut oils at high heat is very bad for you and causes the oils to be converted into toxic substances- more on that in another post). We have been buying it from the store for a few months now and cooking with it and eating it, but it is quite expensive to buy and I figured that it couldn't be too hard to make at home- so I decided to give it a try. In India, cows are sacred, and very well taken care of- people drink their raw milk and make butter and Ghee and some other things from the milk, and the cows are raised in such a healthy environment that the foods made from the milk have high levels of vitamins and minerals in them- much different from our cows here in the states, for the most part. The Ghee I was buying was wonderful, and organic, but not made from butter from pastured cows. Pastured butter is a huge "health" food at the moment, especially in Paleo circles. The butter from cows who have been 100% grass fed (i.e. "pastured", meaning a life ranging and feeding on grass only- no grains, even organic ones) has the most vitamins and nutrients of any butter, specifically vitamin A and D and especially K. These are of course, vital nutrients, especially for pregnant women and small children. The draw back to butter is that many people are dairy and casein intolerant, and therefore can't eat that yummy pasture butter... here is where Ghee swoops in to the rescue- Ghee is created by cooking the butter at a low temperature and separating the lactose and the casein from the pure golden clarified butter, therefore eliminating the lactose and casein and making it safe for those with allergies, while still retaining all the nutrients. Woo hoo Ghee!

I have been increasing the amounts of healthy fats in my diet- using pasture butter, coconut oil, olive oil (only cold, never cooked), Ghee, and eating more avocado. The eczema that I have battled all my life, which got a bit better when I stopped eating gluten, is responding very well to this- I have noticed a huge decrease in symptoms since I started eating more good fats. Ghee is also reported to be helpful for your digestion, helping to lubricate and soothe the stomach and intestines, which I have also noticed. And, it tastes amazing. I really do make a cup of tea every morning with a spoonful of Ghee in it- organic black tea, a spoonful of ghee, and a tiny bit of raw honey. It's divine.

So onto the Ghee creation process:
You will need:
1lb of unsalted pasture butter (Organic Valley, Kerry Gold, etc) (or the best butter you can find)
small pan to cook the butter
cheesecloth or fine mesh sieve of some sort
funnel
mason jar for Ghee storage

Put the butter into your pot/pan, simmer on low as it melts. It will begin to sputter and pop, which is what it should do.  It will then begin to separate, with a white floaty layer on top, clear bright yellow butter in the middle, and a layer of white stuff at the bottom. These are the milk solids, the casein and the lactose that you are getting rid of. The sputtering and popping will start to stop, and you can skim of the top layer of solids, to reveal the lovely rich bright yellow Ghee in the middle. It should smell sort of like popcorn, a sweetish caramelized smell- if it still smells like butter, let it cook a little longer. Be careful not to let the milk solids on the bottom burn, that will ruin the Ghee. Once it has that beautiful sweet smell, that is when it is ready. Pour the Ghee through a sieve or cheesecloth into the jar, making sure no solids get into the jar and you just have the liquid Ghee. You can also sieve it and then put it back on the low flame and keep cooking the Ghee, if you are afraid you are going to burn the milk solids but haven't gotten that smell yet. That is what I did this first time, 'cause when I poured it off to separate it from the bottom milk solids it still smelled like rich butter, not like Ghee, but after another 10 minutes on the stove it got that lovely Ghee smell and I knew it was done. That's all there is to it! It took me about an hour total, but now that I know how to do it it will probably take less then that- and I got the beautiful jar of Ghee pictured above, for much less then a jar of it in the store.

Let me know if you try making Ghee, if you cook with Ghee, or if you give cooking with it a try- I promise it lends a very amazing flavor to foods, and is oh so good for you.