Alternative Health

The Concept of True Healing

/ Gina / 2 Comments

When dealing with any chronic problem or weaknesses in the body, most naturopathic minded professionals agree that the path towards true healing is 1) get rid of toxins and 2) nourish the body. Could it really be that simple? Yes! Our bodies are designed to heal themselves when given the right tools and also when the offending stumbling blocks are removed.

PART 1:

Abhorrant Toxins

In our chemical age, studies find that there are on average 287 toxins found in the umbilical cord of newborns. Wow! Children are starting off with toxic systems. Is it any wonder when our bodies start to fail us so much earlier than for our grandparents or great-grandparents? In a study on tap water, 316 contaminants were found, of which 202 are unregulated and 114 have some regulations (sourced from the Environmental Working Group). Toxins are found all over American homes:

  • VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds) —— found in formaldehyde, fuel, solvents
  • PFCs (Perflourinated Compounds)—— as in teflon
  • Fire retardants ———————–found on furniture and some children’s clothing
  • POPs (Persistant Organic Pollutants) —– as in dioxines, DDT, DDE
  • Mercury and other Heavy Metals – in food, water, dental
  • Chemical byproducts
  • Antibiotics, pharma drugs
  • Pesticides, GMOs

Parasite/Worms

Gross, right? They are a very real problem. Most people have them if they aren’t on a clean lifestyle or have done a parasite cleanse. If one has had a compromised system at any time, then parasites and worms most definitely got in there. We are susceptible to these ever present pests when our bodies are weak, toxic, or mal-nourished. Having a Leaky Gut issue also compounds the issue as intruders are allowed through our natural defense system.  These guys do a whole lot of damage, too. They can get in the receptor sites and cause havoc. Their toxins and die-off cause malfunctions in organs as well. If one is trying to heal from a chronic issue, doing a parasite cleanse would be a vital part of the recovery.

Negative Emotions/Spiritual Baggage 

Having a positive attitude is more potent than most realize. It can truly make or break a person. Be real. Deal with conflict. Forgive the past.  Pray for wisdom, forgiveness, and healing. God can heal any broken heart – we just have to be willing to give it to Him.

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Part 2:

Nourishing the Body

In a land so full of substances that resemble food, it is almost unbelievable that our culture is so malnourished. Traditional foods that our ancestors ate were industrialized almost out of existence during the World Wars era. Thankfully, a spark is kindling all around the country as people are waking up and demanding to know more about their food. Food documentaries popping up are inspiring many to get back to real foods. Novice gardeners, urban dwellers, new homesteaders all seek to bring fresh life onto the family table. When our bodies receive the nutrients they need – healing fats, probiotic fermentations, sustaining bone broths, grassfed meats, pastured poultry, wild-caught fish, raw dairy, organic produce, and fermented grains – we can heal as we were designed to from the inside out.

Check out a good food documentary. Be inspired. Keep on that healing path. God guide each of us on our journey toward being whole in Him.

 

 

Natural First Aid Workshop Notes

/ Gina / 1 Comment

Here are the notes from our July workshop. Hope you find it useful!

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First Aid Ideas

  • Bug Spray – DoTerra TerraShield
    • can also make up a blend with purification (purity) oil and Shaklee’s Basic H
  • Cayenne – powder or tincture
    • stops bleeding wounds
    • stops heart attacks
    • also use Shepherd’s Purse
  • People Paste
    • recipe in Be Your Own Doctor – helpful for open wounds to help bleeding and keep out infection
  • Charcoal
    • food poisoning
    • bug bites
  • Bentonite or Redmond’s Clay
    • stomach viruses
    • poisons, chemicals detox
  • Thieves Spray
    • sanitizer
    • sore throats
    • immune booster
  • Hydrogen Peroxide
    • Clean minor cuts/abrasions
    • Ear infections
    • Infections
  • Healing Salve
    • lavender, chamomile, comfrey, calendula, rosemary, arnica
    • bumps, bruises, scratches, promote healing for wounds
  • Comfrey Salve
    • Dr. Christopher’s recipe
    • anti-microbial, promotes healing of any tissues, bones, muscles
    • “knitbone” herb is primary ingredient
  • Snooze Tincture – Bulk Herb Store
    • calming herbs in glycerin for children
  • Essential Oils
    • Lavender – bruise, burn, calming
    • Purity – toxic environments
    • Peppermint – bug bites, poison ivy, nausea, energy
    • Thieves – sickness
    • DiGiz – digestive complaints
    • Peace & Calming, Gentle Baby, Sacred Mt – calming children
  • Home-made band-aids and wraps
    • old towels, napkins, cut-off sleeves from wool sweaters or t-shirts
    • gauze, bandages, superglue, butterfly bandages

More Detox Thoughts

/ Gina / Leave a comment

As I progress in my journey to heal myself with the God given provisions around me, I am ever aware of how much we truly understand of the human body. However, the amazing intelligent design of His Creation just keeps on surprising me as to how well His herbs, science, oils, etc. know just how to work with our bodies and vice versa, despite my conscious intellect.

Reading up on ionic foot bath detoxes, much controversy can be found. Some naturalists claim it is all a hoax, while others swear by it. From what I gather and my own personal experience, I have learned that the toxins may not actually come out in the bathwater, but rather can be detoxed into the colon. I believe this is where “professionals” get lost, because of the discrepancy of where the toxins go. Unless someone does some studies on toxins in a person’s colon after the foot bath, they’re likely to keep believing nothing is happening. How does it work? Basically the interaction of the water and salts with an ion generator work to stimulate the main detoxification organs to go to work double time.

I actually felt more energetic after my third bath, whereas the first two left me pretty drained, a common side effect of major detoxification. I am determined to go at least 2 more times to see what else will happen. I have noticed though that after this last session, I finally do not have joint pain, which I have been dealing with a lot lately – despite my juicing and regular superfoods and real nutrition lifestyle. While I am still deciding on how exactly this works and how many times it’s necessary to go to see major results, I have also been using other detox methods.

Olio Del Re has been my new best friend lately. Its Italian created formula of essential oils have seemingly endless uses. I have used it to help detox particular organs by rubbing it directly on that area, or put on the bottom of my feet to work in many places throughout the body. Since most eo users know the foot is a map of the body, putting an oil there is really getting your money’s worth. Lately, I have been putting it on my colon to help escort these toxins out as I am detoxing. Today, I put it on my head in the area where the insular cortex is, because I read about how that’s the area where the brain communicates with the gastrointestinal tract. The signalling pathways in the brain can become clogged with toxins, which then creates mayhem in the rest of the body which is not getting the correct information and instructions. Reading this article really made some insightful connections for me on this topic. I am awaiting to see what kind of detoxification this does as it stimulates the brain to get those toxins out of there.

After finally having cleared out almost every sign of diverticulitis from my colon, I am still left with this annoying bloating and overly full feeling, even when I haven’t eaten for hours. It has very little to do with anything I eat, which leads me to believe that there is a communication malfunction between my brain and gut. I believe that if I can clear out and heal the insular cortex in the brain, that the communication will free up and the natural healing processes can finish, thus allowing the inflammation to cease.

Boswellia – photo credit

Lastly, I am looking to add some medicinal mushrooms and boswellia to my daily diet. While nursing and being pregnant for the past 9 years, I haven’t been able to really try any. From my studies, I am learning  about how medicinal mushrooms contain amazing healing properties to detox the brain and heal the colon. I had looked at Mike’s Cocoa Mojo and might copy his recipe with my cacao nibs. I have also looked into adding boswellia since it should help as well. Why not? I will try anything (natural and Godly) once.

I should post a recipe for good measure, shouldn’t I? My favorite hot drink so far this week: roasted cacao nibs brewed like a strong coffee, add in some raw cream, 1 tsp of maca root powder, a little stevia and raw honey, and viola! Amazing malted hot chocolate that’s full of superfood goodness. Stay tuned for more updates. For the first part of this series, check it out here.

Therapies to Detox and Heal

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For the first time in 8 years, I have a break from nursing and being pregnant. Though I have been slowly detoxing over the years, I know I still have issues unresolved that need attending to. Toxic medications from hospital births (my first 4 were in the hospital, and my last 4 have been at home), synthetic hormones and chemicals from birth control pills (the years before God dealt with me not only on how harmful they were for my health, but how I needed to trust Him in our child bearing years), and many other food toxins (preservatives, additives, chemicals… from the years before we were on a Real Food lifestyle) have all hidden themselves and wreaked havoc in my digestive and endocrine systems.

In an effort to detox from my previously toxic, typical American lifestyle, I have used herbs, essential oils, fermented foods, GAPS diet, and supplements to heal and clean out my body. But recently, in dealing with diverticulitis I have found that nothing I have done before was helping. I stepped out of my comfort zone and looked into other means of healing, reconnecting, and detoxing. Extremely pleased with the results, I am continuing on with this course until I have completed my healing. To me, complete healing will be – a fully functioning endocrine and digestive system.

The current therapies I have been trying out have been acupuncture and ionic foot bath detoxing. At first I felt exhausted after each session, but I know that detoxing and healing side effects often include feeling worse before you feel better. The more I read on acupuncture, the more it makes sense that over the years my connections in the body have been damaged, and inefficient with all the toxins clogging up the system. Acupuncture is a way of stimulating those connections to rebuild and re-establish their vitality by detoxing and waking up. This is crucial for people who have been healing a particular gland or organ for years, but as soon as they stop their supplements or get off their special diet, they regress. This indicates that the connections are not rebuilt and the organ is still not fully detoxed. For me, acupuncture is reconnecting and the ionic foot bath is detoxing out junk I have been unable to get with herbs and diet.

The only catch with these therapies is that you have to go up to 10 times to really see the improvements. It takes time to rebuild a body, especially after years of abuse. Nearing the end of my use of these therapies, I can now see how important they are in rebuilding from a host of dysfunctioning body systems.

Lastly, since I have had such issues with my thyroid and endocrine system, I still have the 20 pounds from my last pregnancy I need to get rid of. This is where the integrated juice fast comes in. In order to maintain my metabolism, I am juice fasting for one day on and two days off. On the two days off, I am keeping to a Paleo/Gaps like diet, eating salad only for dinner and having a tea or something for later. The evenings are the worst with the diverticulitis. I feel like I am going to explode. Yuck.

My goal here is to finish losing the baby fat, as well as allow some down time for my colon to finish healing. My overachiever goal is to be done in 10 days. My realistic goal might be two weeks. We will see how quickly my body wants to cooperate. I will post updates, recipes, and testimonials as I go. Here’s to be completely whole again!

Real Food Weight Loss Workshop

/ Gina / Leave a comment

We had a really great time at our workshop this past weekend. I love sharing how God has dealt with me on how to heal the body – and lose all that baby weight in the process. My mom was in town for this workshop- what an added bonus! She is a natural health professional and was able to help identify problem areas for those present. I am so thankful for her.

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Here are the slides from the presentation for those who were unable to attend:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1iScHDI0rbyDMqYKf9NVVQn19pg4AXUBq2xgn2Gv0dEk/edit?usp=sharing

Feel free to leave a comment if you have any questions!

Healing the Pancreas

/ Gina / 9 Comments

The Lord has allowed me to go through a number of health issues. Though it is always a trial and difficult, I learn so much through the experience and know I am to share what worked for me naturally to heal the various organs who were all damaged by living on a SAD and Westernized lifestyle for years before I found the nourishing way. I am hoping to write a post for the plan I used for each area that God has helped me heal naturally; including my thyroid, hypothalamus, pancreas, gallbladder, colon, adrenals, small intestines (or Leaky Gut Syndrome), and reproductive system.

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Here’s what I did for my pancreas (mine exhibited its weakness as hypoglycemia, but it can show up as high blood sugar or pancreatitis):

  • Went on a GAPS similar diet which consisted of only the following type foods:
  • Low-sugar fruits (like blueberries, blackberries, raspberries)
  • Raw honey (honey only for low blood sugar not high) and stevia as the only sweeteners
  • Quinoa as my only “grain”
  • Coconut and almond as my flours and homemade milks
  • Grassfed meats, pastured eggs, lots of healthy fats
  • Lots of salads and veggies
  • Nuts and seeds

I did not do any sugar, sugar fruits (like strawberries, pineapple, melons, etc.); no grains, not even sourdough at this point; no dairy of any kind; no kombucha (sugar residue) or alcohol.

Herbs/EO’s/Alternative Therapies:

Since I was either pregnant or nursing, I did not use herbs or take oils internally. But the following could be used if you’re not one or the other.

  • Nutmeg and Ocotea EO taken internally are great blood balancers and support the pancreas
  • Orange EO topically 2-3 times a day on pancreas area
  • Castor oil warm compress on pancreas – 2 times daily
  • Pro-Pancreas by Nature’s Sunshine or
  • Dr. Christopher’s Pancreas Formula
  • Massage therapy and acupuncture
  • Bio-feedback using Dicom and LifeSystem
  • Emotional Prayer Release (as learned from the book “Feelings Buried Alive Never Die”)
  • Lots of prayer to aid in guidance and release hindrances to healing
  • Juicing with greens and apples (or celery and cucumbers)
  • Foot detox bath (if not nursing/prego)
  • Hot detoxing body soak (if not nursing/prego) – soak in hot water with ginger powder, healing clays, and Epsom salts – if nursing/prego doing a hot shower daily (with water aimed mostly at the back and not tummy if prego) will aid in circulating and promoting healing
  • Moringa leaf powder – up to 4 tsp daily
  • Either cod liver oil, butter oil or flax oil 1 tsp daily
  • Food Enzymes/Probiotics (like GOL)

I am thankful that after almost a year of this type of lifestyle, my pancreas is now stable. I can enjoy my fresh milk and sucanat treats once in a while. The crazy mood swings have finally stabilized and am feeling overall a sense of contentment again. God is good. Who knew one organ was responsible for so much? I also healed my Leaky Gut at the same time while on this diet, and slowly have been healing my colitis. Stay tuned for more on what works for the other issues. May God bless you on your journey!

I stayed

Protein Packed Breakfast Smoothie

/ Gina / Leave a comment

I am not a big breakfast fan. It seems to take my digestion most of the morning to wake up and get with the program of the day. Usually for my morning graze, I like to do a smoothie and perhaps a sourdough toast, slathered in deliciously yellow butter. The health benefits of a fermented food in the morning, such as kefir, makes it an ideal start up. I use this as the base for most of my smoothies. For my “multi-vitamin”, I use moringa powder. Thankful to report, when I first began using moringa almost 2 years ago, I had to take 4 teaspoons a day. Two reasons for that: 1) I am nursing, so I need almost double the nutrients of a normal serving size, 2) I had such a compromised digestive system that I was only absorbing 50% of the nutrients I needed. Today, praise God for His healing, I only need 1/2 of a teaspoon a day, and that is only because I am nursing. Being in on a traditional, nutrient-dense lifestyle with a fully functioning digestive system should ideally provide all the nutrition needed for a wholesome healthy life. However, most Americans do not have fully functioning digestive systems. Some are recovering their health. And very few have actually reached that goal. It’s all a journey, but an extremely necessary one. Recovering your health strengthens your resolves, forces you to learn, seek, study, rely on God for answers, exercise extreme self discipline, and cement new and lasting friendships.

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Source

Right, so back to the smoothie.

Protein Packed Breakfast Smoothie

single serving – about 20 ounces

  • 1 cup real deal kefir
  • 2-4 Tb raw honey
  • 1/2 cup frozen blueberries
  • 1 raw egg yolk, from local pastured chickens
  • dash of stevia powder
  • 1/2 tsp moringa powder
  • 1/2 cup fresh cucumber juice
  • 1/2 avocado

Toss all ingredients in blender of your juice. Blend until smooth. Enjoy all morning long.