What's Bugging You?

TerraShield is a family's favorite blend for the summer. We spend a lot of time outside and this is the magic that wards off any insects that want to join our summer festivities. Buzz off nasties! This oil is safe for everyone in the family and can even help your garden flourish by giving it a protective barrier. TerraShield has recently been updated to include Tamanu oil which not only provided extra benefits for your use but is positively impacting families in Madagascar through doTERRA's Co-Impact Sourcing. 

But there is more Oh yes there is more. Have you ever talked to a friend who has morning sickness and now you suddenly are having a bit of indigestion? We call it feeling sorry for someone and taking on their stuff or being empathetic- literally feeling their pain. TerraShield appears to inspires not only negative unfriendlies outside to go away but on others too. By this, I mean negative people or jut protect us from taking on their junk. This happens to most people to some degree where we are affected by others yucky energy. Now your thinking that's brilliant but I'm not ready to walk around stinking toward on negativity. Oh but BONUS it smells good. On me, TerraShield smells like Chocolate Chip Cookie! Yes, Chocolate Chip Cookies. One of my daughters smells like vanilla sugar cookies. Now you might be thinking sure maybe a little. No. On me it smells just like chocolate chip cookies so much my husband came home one day upon giving me a hug he got excited that I had made chocolate chip cookie and started looking for them...but I did not, but I had been hiking with the kids and had TerraShield on. He thought that was a dirty trick so you might want to keep some

cookies around, just in case, to spare yourself the grief of hungry husbands with a hankering for cookies. ;)

This blend can be diffused or applied topically using the TerraShield Spray (my favoite way to use for the great outdoors) to provide a defense against the annoyances of outdoor activities. Learn more about this blend by clicking here or click here to read more about the spray. How have you used it to keep your family protected?

Secret to staying healthy 2!

My Naturopath back in Alaska told me 2 secrets to staying healthy.  Two things that when he tells patients he never sees them back in his office.  Only out and about.

Xylitol toothpaste.

He said our standard toothpaste, most of us use actually does such a good job cleaning they scrub away part of the immune system.  The sentinel, if you will, that warns our immune system of invaders.  If we eliminated this critical member of our deference, our down time can increase exponentially.  Our sick time went way down when we switched over to xylitol toothpastes, you could say it even plummeted when we switched toothpastes and got rid of our paraffin candles.

So when protective blend toothpaste came out and it was a xylitol, the whole family had to all try it. They said it had the protective benefits of the protective blend while also reducing plaque, and whitening teeth and of course we already knew how amazing the protective blend is. What a great idea to bring Xylitol toothpaste and the protective essential oil blend together.  At first it took a little getting used to not having mint flavored toothpaste, but the whole family quickly loved it!  I'd say the 3rd time we brushed with it we were happy with the new flavor.

The only phone call about a this brand of product I  have ever have received from one family member, who uses and  loves them daily, said he did not have dragon breath in the morning. I did realize how huge that was.  Did I realize how many years it had been since he had woken with safe breath. Then I realized I did not have dragon breath either. Neither did my husband. Very Cool!  

The dentist could not hardly find any tartar to scrap on the whole family and our gums and teeth looked perfect. They had to look at our x-rays to locate any tartar to scrap.  Shortest scraping time ever!

Of course eating healthy and regular brushing is needed for healthy teeth.  We brush our teeth 2 time a day. <I have latter discovered a couple of the children were only brushing 1x a day -eek> That's it.  I'm sure the children have missed now and again and they still had brilliant healthy teeth.  The dentist & hygienists had never seen anything like our families mouths they said, and we had not been in to the dentist for cleaning in years.  I know not good, but it does make the results all the more impressive. I had spaced it with the move.

The only other thing we have done.  Lemon a couple times on a couple of us after brushing to help whiten teeth.  1d Lemon on the toothbrush after brushing is what we did. A couple of us have done a couple of oil pulls when we were fighting something.  That's it.  Nothing else constantly.  Oh, we do all take our vitamins. Which are amazing vitamins, best I've taken and I thought I was taking the best before.  So help with general health and probably had an impact as well.

So the 2 secrets from my Naturopath?  No candles except beeswax candles and change to Xylitol toothpaste.  

Then we increased our up time exponential again when we discovered by favorite essential oil brand and then their protective Toothpaste. 

There really is an oil4that.com

Heather

What Do Beeswax Candles Have To Do With Staying Healthy?

Beeswax Candles

My Naturopath back in Alaska offered me a secret.  He told me he had 2 things that he was going to tell me and then he would not see us in his office sick again.  He let me know that he was sparing with who he shared this with, as he lost patients this way. I will share the first thing he told me today.

1-Take all the candles in the house, box them up and put them in the garage or a closet for a few weeks and see if you notice a difference.

We put them all in the garage in a box.  We noticed a difference right away.  No more stuffy heads or headaches.  The little ones were easier and happier too.  Im guess Mom & Dad were, but we of course noticed it in the children. We noticed we felt better.

He explained to me that most people have an allergy to the diesel molecule, even if small.  You see all pollin, he explained, has at least one receptor of a diesel molecule so it can trigger mild to sever allergies.  Which keeps the body out of balance and makes us more susceptible to getting sick. Paraffin wax is made from diesel. 

We threw out all our candles that were not beeswax after our experiment. Even my poor daughters very expensive  home party candles- hers were the last to hit the trash, but we were getting headaches in the garage from just those now.

Getting rid of all those candles made a profound effect on the health of our family.  We have slowly built up our candles supply as beeswax candles are pricy.  But worth it to our health. They are however inexpensive to make.

What differences did we notice?  My daughter with the constant migraines; her headaches went way down.  I stopped waking with a stuffy head, we all noticed little yet profound difference.  The amount the children and I got sick was almost nil.  Brian was still working at the hospital so he was in contact with bad stuff in an unhealthy environment all day, yet he was not as sick either.

Between this and one other thing my Naturopath told us, we were able to prove him right.  I miss learning from him but I don't miss my family being so sick we had to visit him.

Here is an easy recipe for creating your own beeswax candles.

Beeswax Candles Recipe

from AromaHeads Blog

Ingredients

Beeswax (6-8 oz)

Essential Oil 

Supplies:

4 oz glass jar

1 wick

A set of chopsticks

Pyrex measuring cup

Small soup pot

10 ml graduated cylinder (optional)

Instructions

Measure 6 oz. of beeswax (1 and 1/2 jar full). If you want the candle to fill right to the top use 8 oz. (2 jars full).

Wipe your Pyrex cup with jojoba.

Melt the beeswax in the Pyrex (see video for details).

Place the wick in the jar using the chopsticks shown in the video. (Link below)

Measure your essential oil. (Note you will lose in potency adding it to the hot wax, she uses 2mil of 2 different oils- I am thinking we can cut that at least in 1/2 with the potency the oils I use - but you will need to be the judge on yours)

Once the beeswax is melted, add the essential oil to the beeswax and stir.

Pour slowly into the glass jar so to not disturb the wick.

Allow it to solidify for several hours before burning.

Because of the potency of my favorite brand of oils is as nature made them distilled I would add oil till its sented to the strength you desire. I like to follow a general rule of cutting the oil amount recommended  in 1/2 with my oils.  You be the judge with yours.

http://youtu.be/Ajyz7FHSqbY

I have found some great recipes at AromaHeads blog. 

http://www.aromahead.com/blog/

Tub Scrub

Little L & I refilled all the Tub Scrub containers for the bathrooms.

The first cleaning product I converted to all natural was hand soap, then hand purifier & counter cleaner... Then tub cleaner.  I realized I was scrubbing my children's tub then setting them in the rinsed toxic soup bowl.  

Note: The bottom of our feet absorb quickly topically.  So I just put toxic chemicals in my tub & then set my child in it after I rinsed said tub. Ack! My point is to clean it for my children not poison them with toxic chemicals from the tub & then clean them too. So I hunted up the Tub Scrub recipe that day 2 1/2 years ago. And our family has been using it ever since.

So you're probably wondering what Tub Scrub is.  Well it's a very easy recipe I found on the  AromaHeads blog, a past student posted. I reduced the essential oil amounts to suit my highest quality oils (about 1/2) & tweaked the oils to suit, & then tweaked the name to suit my brain.

We call it Tub Scrub, I forget what the gal who created the original recipe called it.  The word grout was in it...  Whoever you were we thank you.

We use tub scrub to clean sinks, counters, tile, grout, tubs and shower bases, shower glass, soap scum & mildew, we use it on natural stone, porcelain +. <update: we have used on jewelry, and bowls with oil messes from making concoctions-hooray!>

It's easy, so gentle, and does such a job that you can scrub with your fingers -we usually do. It is even more thorough with a scrubby sponge of course.  But we tend to clean them when we are in the bathroom & notice the area needs assistance.  We keep ours in flip top jars.

Ikea had the jar's for $1 at one time, Natural Pantry & Fredy's has them in Anchorage, Alaska. Its just a jar but I think they are cute, but any wide mouth container you can get your hand in that seals in moisture will do.

Tub Scrub

Ingredients:

16oz wide mouth container with tight lid.

1c Baking Soda

3T Castile Soap 

1ish t CornStarch (concave)

1T+ White Vinegar

Oils:

8d Wild Orange

7d Melaleuca 

5d Peppermint

Mix your 1st 4 ingredients.  I use a chopstick or a butter knife. You will get bubbly action when you add the vinegar. I do a double batch to fill my containers & make it one batch on top of the last so as not to overflow the container when I add my vinegar. After your 4 ingredients are mostly mixed add your oils.  Then mix more.  Should be about toothpaste consistency.

About that cornstarch- honestly I use a teaspoon that I concave slightly with my finger which is about 1/4 T. 

Make sure you keep the lid tight when not in use or the oils will dissipate & the scrub will thicken.  If you need it thinner add a bit more vinegar. Remember your oils will thin it a bit.

Have fun cleaning.  My 6 yr old loves cleaning the sinks & showers with me.  It's like fingerpainting with great purpose & you can see the wonderful results before your eyes.

There is an Oil4That.

Heather

My Favorite Essential Oil

What is your favorite essential oil?  

If you had one oil you could take with you on a deserted desert island what would it be?

If I HAD to pick it would be Lavender.  Lavender, Peppermint, and Frankincense are my when in doubt go to oils. Body's can miss behave and Lavender calms them down.  If you have something acting out and you feel like giving that part of your body a time out to calm down...try lavender.  If its one thing I need in my busy life it is a bit more calm.  Note my life is busy because I would not have it any other way, yet because of this I need calm to have a balanced life. 

Favorite times to use Lavender: deodorant, soothing irritated skin, stress, tense shoulders, occasional sleep needs, diaper area, ears, dry or irritated eyes, calms my frizzy hair, cuts the smell of vinegar in cleaners, refreshing and encourages me to breathe deeper, also for seasonal discomforts, in the dryer, & balancing to the body.

 Feel free to ask me what recipes I use.