Heading for the New Year!

When I was a child, I really thought by the time we hit 2012, we would be driving hover cars and wearing some form of biochemical protective suits. Maybe living in homes above the smog like the Jetsons.  But here we are, getting ready to welcome 2014 and there are none of those present.
We have evolved into a new computer age, added more toxins to foods and our crops, have learned to grow crops with a “no till” method, and have tripled the amount of shots given to kids in the name of wellness.
We have seen cancer at earlier ages, more autism per 100, ADHD wasn’t even talked about when I was a kid, now more kids are on drugs for ADHD than not. So have we really made progress?
As I am thinking about the new year, I think about the “newest” super bug that is alarming the CDC. All these immunizations, flu shots, antibiotics, this prescription, that prescription…..people saying “it doesn’t REALLY matter what you eat!” Well folks, I think it does.

While we feast on dead foods, while we pump our bodies full of drugs to mask fallen health (versus building out immune system up and cleansing our bodies), illness are taking over.
I stopped giving my kids shots when I was opened to the level of toxic additives in those shots. I was told once “It is kids like yours that will start an epidemic!!!” Hummm…with who? Other kids who didn’t get the shots? I said to her, “Surely not your kids? The ones who have had years of immunizations given to ward off all forms of vial ailments? If those shots are to keep you from getting things, then why worry about getting things??” Doesn’t make and sense to me. Sounds like to me, there is little to no faith placed in those shots.

Personally, I would have rather seen the hover cars.
But what can YOU do about this. Once we learn truth, sometimes we feel very overwhelmed. Forst you have to toss the idea that what you are buying is safe, or that is is “food”. Food is defined as “any nutritious substance that people or animals eat or drink, or that plants absorb, in order to maintain life and growth.”  Next, look at a few key words in that definition. “Nutritious”  “Absorb” and the phrase “to maintain life and growth”  Is the items you are ingesting doing that? Do they have things that are added, like BHT, MSG’s, autolyzed yeast (which is MSG), food dyes, hydrogenated oils, just to name a few. YOU have to educate YOU! No one will do it for you. Google is at your hand, use it. Look up your ingredients, know what you are eating, or better yet, what you are feeding your children! Believe me, the FDA is not going to protect you from things man designed to make foods cheaper and taste better. Those things will create a break down in your body whether great or large. Some people get nail fungus and others cancer. I can’t say that if you do not eat those toxins you will never get sick, but I can tell you that you have a better change of not getting serious conditions and you will defiantly feel better as you live your life.
I believe in a Creator. I believe that this Creator made our bodies, and He knows EXACTLY what our bodies need to grow, heal, detox, and thrive. The further we get away from this, the more break down and illnesses we will have. That is a guarantee! Bar none!
So as you ring in the new year, be thankful for the ability of ringing in a new year. Choose to do right by your body. Make changes. Exercise, drink water (do NOT tell me you don’t like it. Your body is 65-70% water. An infact is as much as 80%!) You do not have the privileged to not like water. And for goodness sakes, STOP eating refined sugar!!!
Take care of the one and only body you have been given.

Build that Immune System!

As some of you know, I was pretty sick for a while. My immune system crashed, and it was all she wrote!
We go about our busy days and forget at times to take care of ourselves. We are a unique machine that not only requires a proper level of nutrition but also some TLC.
We know ourselves better than anyone else. We feel the stress flood our bodies, we feel the headaches that will continue for days, and we feel the exhaustion that creeps in. We know that we are not handling things we well as we should. Maybe it has been a struggle for you to get out of bed, or you are just getting more colds than you should. Well, it is time to make some important changes!
RELAX! The #1 thing you can do for yourself is find time to de-stress. You need to find 2 times a day that you allow yourself 20 minutes to relax. Play your favorite book of the Bible, or read it. Play some Bach or Mozart, close your eyes to the music and let it sooth you. Set an alarm and try to take a power nap. If it is evening, soak in a warm tub with Epsom’s salts, maybe add a bit of lavender to the salts. Whatever you find to do, relax in it and and do it for you!
The next thing is, look at your diet. I don’t mean the latest craze promising you to lose 20 pounds in 15 days. I mean, look at what you eat on a regular basis. Slow down on the caffeine. Limit to that morning cup, and get of the soda! Even 1 can is very bad for you. Eat good fats, like avocados, coconut oil, olive oil, almonds, peanuts, macadamia nuts, hazelnuts, pecans, cashews, (be careful with nuts, it is easy to eat too many. And to much of this good thing can give you some extra pounds!). Stay away from fast food places. You don’t need to drive through to get fries, or a sandwich just because you are in your car. Plan a little. Take some apples with you, some peanut butter or almond butter to dip them in, take some carrot sticks or crackers and humus (if you are not driving). There are lots of things you can take with you for quick finger foods.
GET OFF REFINED SUGAR!!!! Did I shout that loud enough?? I can not express how important this is. Refined sugar to me is the depth of destruction to our bodies. It is your enemy. Your mortal enemy!
Those sweet teas, those way to sugary coffees? Ya, you know the ones. The cakes, pies, the added sugar to crackers and spaghetti sauces…and on and on it goes, get it out of your diet. You most likely don’t like things now unless they are sweet. If you eat fruit you eat the sweet fruits. I am not saying any fruit is bad, I am making a point. Your taste buds need to be reprogrammed. You are going to have to force yourself to change the way you think about foods and the way you react to foods.

There are supplements you can take as well. The 1st sign of any virus, I begin to take vitamin C, Zinc, D3 Echinacea, Oil of Oregano and B12. I MEGA dose Vitamin C. People are usually scared to do this because it might cause diarrhea. No one freaks out if they get diarrhea when they get a flu bug, you know to just up those fluids. So, don’t freak out because you “might” get diarrhea due to Vitamin C!
I have taken Vitamin C in the form of ascorbic acid, and it can mess with me a bit when I begin to mega does it. However, if I take Vitamin C in the for of Camu, it never bothers me in the slightest. Camu is a berry grown in the Amazon. It is a food source, so that could be why I can take larger doses without any side effects. I have been known to take as much as 40,000 mg a day of Camu, for a few days, to ward off a nasty virus.  I have read that some people believe you can’t adsorb all of that C at a time. Others say if your body is under attack, it uses it. I do not own a lab to run clinical testing, so I go by what works for me and my family. I guess we are the “trial testing” group. It works. That is all I can say. It works!
Top things I NEVER do when I feel a cold, or any illness coming on:

• I do not drink fruit juices. It is pure sugar without the fiber to slow down the digestion. Eat oranges, do not drink the juice!
• I do not eat any types of refined flours. No toast, not pasta, nothing.
• I do not eat ANY FORM of sugar, except a small amount of RAW honey. Raw honey has some amazing enzymes. If you have a sore throat, a cup of herbal tea with a bit of lemon and raw honey can work wonders. Also, a cough that wont stop, put about 1/2 tsp. of raw honey on a spoon and swallow.

Top things I DO do when I feel a cold, or an illness coming on:

• I do eat an alkaline food diet. Google “alkaline foods” and you will get a nice list of many foods to choose from!
• Gargle! Sage tea and grapefruit seed extract gargle is simply a must for any sore throat! It taste awful, but boy does it work!!!!! You can either use fresh, or dried sage (or get a spice from your local store), add some to warm water, add 2 drops of grapefruit seed extract, mix well and gargle.
• Warm salt water is also a must for sore throats. I alternate this with the above gargle. I do one then two hours later the other, and so on till the sore throat is but a memory.
• REST! Plenty of rest. This is hard to do when you work out side the home or have a bunch of little ones to tend to. Try not to stress about the house and just do what you have to do! Kids need to eat, but you can always eat off of paper plates, or maybe talk your hubby into rinsing the dishes and just do them the nest day. (I guess that tip was for moms 😉 )
• Drink lots of fluids. Plenty of fresh water (I add a bit of fresh lemon, great for cleansing!), plenty of herbal teas such as chamomile and echinacea, green and white teas a good too. Lighten up, if not eliminate, caffeine.
• Herbs and Vitamins. I mentioned above taking C, D3, Zinc, B-12 and Oil of Oregano. If I feel things are trying to get into my chest, I eat raw garlic. I just heard a big…”EWWWW”. It isn’t that bad. The trick is to do it fast. I peal a clove of garlc, put it between my back teeth, give a FAST crunch 3-4 times and chase it down with water. And when I say “crunch”, I mean crunch. My teeth down even cut completely through the garlic. You just want to crush it, break it apart. If you can’t tolerate the thought of raw garlic, Kyolic is a very good brand of garlic tablets. I would recommend getting the Aged Garlic.
• If you eat meat, homemade chicken noodle soup will do wonders! Cook your chicken with onion, garlic, celery and carrots. Cover with water and boil. After it is done, strain liquid off, saving it for later. Cool your chicken and clean it. Add the chicken meat back to the strained broth, add fresh onion, celery, and carrots. I also add gluten free rice noodles (which I cook and rinse first before adding). You will have to use your best judgement here. I do not like processed grains when sick, but I will add a bit of noodles to the soup. Try to buy a better pasta choice for this. Maybe even homemade noddles from unbleached flour? (Soups in general are good when you are sick.)

…….Last thing. Since I was sick a few weeks ago, and I just could not get over it, I decided to do an immune system build. I bought Echinacea drops and Astragalus drops (I buy Nature’s Answer) and I add those to water, along with 3 drops of grapefruit seed extract and 2,000 mg vitamin C powder. I drink this every evening for 10 days, stop for 5, back on for 10 and so on. I will do this throughout the entire winter. Most likely till April.

SIDE NOTE! The reason for the above “Immune Builder” is, when my son who is now 14 was a toddler, he was sick all the time and I did this for him. Well, I just did the echinacea/astragalus blend. Herbs for Kids has a blend, and I used it. I did the same 10 days on, 5 days off. We went from October till March. The child wasn’t sick again, ever! He would get a sniffle every now and then, but we would give him some C and Echinacea tea and it would leave. Now, we followed the above mentioned diet. No sugar, no refined grains, even low to no dairy even. He ate and still eats plenty of fresh fruits and veggies. Those are very important. Don’t make poor food choices through out the year and think a bit of Vitamin C and a cup of Echinacea tea will fix a pending viral or bacterial attack. You actually need to start fighting a cold, flu, sinusitis, or whatever, with a proper diet BEFORE you ever get attacked!

Please feel free to post any questions you might have. We are in cold season, and flu season is next. I do not believe in flu shots (or any shots for that matter) I believe God have us a body that fights for us, we just need to equip it with the right weapons!

**I buy my Echinacea and Astragalus drops, the Herbs for Kids Echinacea/Astragalus blend, Kylolic Garlic from Lucky Vitamin on line. I buy my Camu in Bulk from Natural News Store, or Natural Zing. Both online.
I am hoping to soon have my website up and running where I will have a collection of essential oils, Camu, Maca, Chemical Free cleaners and more! So watch for the link that will be coming soon. 😉

Raw Vegan and Lovin’ It!

I have been vegan since November 2012, by choice.
A Raw Vegan since Feb. 2013, by choice. I have slipped a couple times, but then get back on track. I am no more perfect than anyone else, but I have a drive, focus and a mission!
I have never been a big meat-eater. I could give milk up with ease, but cheese was hard for me!
So why did I do it? I watched a video (Vegucated)  that describes the way animals are treated as they are being raised and processed for meat, milk, cheese, etc. I could not partake in the cruelty of that industry! So that was one part. Now fortunately for us, we live in an area where we can get farm fresh eggs, I know a few people who raise and butcher their own meats. But for me, I can’t stand the idea of eating something that use to be living, but for others in my family, they are okay with eating meat. I am glad we have that choice because I wont be buying meat and eggs from any store from here on out!
So why a raw vegan? Well first, I do not eat 100% raw, but still consider myself a raw vegan.  Some who are very dogmatic would not agree with that statement, but I don’t care 😉
I eat pretty much raw. I have slipped into some bad choices over the last couple weeks, but after waking up with a sore throat and hurting all over, I am done with that! Why do we do that to ourselves! Do things that we know will be bad for us?!
I love eating foods with life. My body is a living body. I have cells that need protecting. I have organs that need to be at full function. I want to equip my body with what it needs to fight a good fight! Both physically and spiritually. God created our bodies to be fueled with food. Food is not any item that was created by man that fills your stomach. Food is a substance that is consumed to provide nutritional support for the body.  (That brings me to the quest I am on. That is to expose what is being sold as food that is nothing more than toxins in a wrapper!)
Eating 90% raw is a bit extreme to some, but I personally think it is needed. We have so much junk in the air, soil and our foods. We need to eat foods in its natural state, unbroken, still living and packed full of minerals, vitamin, enzymes and wonderful taste!
The more you eat this way, the better you feel and the more your body loves living foods!
So many say “I can’t afford to eat like that!”  I say, “You can’t afford not to!”Have you priced high blood pressure, cancer or any of the illnesses plugging our country? They are very pricey! Not to mention you are better than that. YOU deserve to feel your best. Eating whole foods is not a promise of perfect health, but don’t you want to feel you best? I just read an article and it said that 78% of cancers would not exist if we ate right and exercised. 78%! Now, that isn’t 100%, but hey! I will take that! Especially now they are saying that 1 in 2 will get some form of cancer in their life. WOW, staggering! (So is all that “cancer research” everyone is giving billions to really being used for research??) That is another blog. But, I do suggest you research where your money is going.
Summer is coming, grow a garden. I don’t care how small your yard is, you have room! You have a dog and a small yard? Build something that stands. Google it. There are tons of ideas for small yard gardens.
When my kids were little we had a very, very small yard. I didn’t have room for a swing set. We had a 6 ft fence that separated our yard with the neighbors. I had flowers alongside the fence. Wen I decided I wanted to have a garden, I planted cucumbers tat grew up the fence, cherry tomatoes, lettuce..you could do beets and carrots. I had another small area (5X5) that I grew tomatoes. I packed them in! I grew enough tomatoes to can. You can get very creative, but if you have an 8 foot concrete area for a yard, you can still grow some veggies!
The local farmers market will be open soon. There will be tons of produce for a very good price!
We buy fruits that are expiring and freeze them. You can get a case of pineapples that are going bad, bring them home, peel and chop..freeze. We do this with bananas, peaches, apples, tomatoes, and whatever else we can get a case of for $2. We have frozen fruit for months throughout the fall and winder for smoothies! There are ways to eat healthy and make it affordable. It takes your effort and you have to change the way you think of food. When you understand there just simply is not a choice, you make it a priority, then you begin to search for ways to get healthier food.
We have a 13-year-old van, we don’t have cable, and we do not eat out. God is and will always be first in our lives, but food is extremely important! It doesn’t over shadow Jesus by any means, but to us, it is a package deal! He told us to take care of the temple He gave us. He said it is better to cut your throat than to give into gluttony! He also said He gave us foods and herbs for healing. He grew a garden before He created man! He walk and talked with Adam and Eve in the garden. I think food is high on His list! It should be high on yours  😉

Sugar, the poison in your cupboard.

SPRING IS HERE!!  If you look outside, you may not be able to find it, but it is there. With Spring comes rain, wet, temperatures up and down, and yes…you have it, COLDS!
So what can you do to prepare yourself to stay well?
For one thing, stay far from sugar! I never recommend eating sugar, even when you are well. I know, I can hear many saying WHAT?! Never? Yes, never.  Sugar does so many harmful things to your body. Sugar drops your immune system to a low for 4 hours! That means if you eat a candy bar then walk around Wal-Mart, you have just left yourself open you many viruses and bacterias roaming around.
Sugar is just not your friend anytime of the year.

Did you know Cancer cells eat 15 times the sugar as normal cells? 15 times more! In addition to cancer, bateria and virus, sugar also feeds fungus (many suffer from a candida over growth!), it promotes inflammation, and can lead to weight gain.
So what are bad sugars? Sugars like, refined granulated sugar, sugar cane, beet sugar, refined honey, dextrose, and High Fructose Corn Syrup. Look at your ingredients label. Do you see any of these? Then in my opinion you should not eat it.
Here is a great excerpt:
“Sugar taken every day produces a continuously overacid condition, and more and more minerals are required from deep in the body in the attempt to rectify the imbalance. Finally, in order to protect the blood, so much calcium is taken from the bones and teeth that decay and general weakening begin. Excess sugar eventually affects every organ in the body. Initially, it is stored in the liver in the form of glucose (glycogen). Since the liver’s capacity is limited, a daily intake of refined sugar (above the required amount of natural sugar) soon makes the liver expand like a balloon. When the liver is filled to its maximum capacity, the excess glycogen is returned to the blood in the form of fatty acids. These are taken to every part of the body and stored in the most inactive areas: the belly, the buttocks, the breasts and the thighs.”
http://www.globalhealingcenter.com/sugar-problem/refined-sugar-the-sweetest-poison-of-all

Did you know that 1 gram of sugar is equal to 4 teaspoons of sugar!        Now, check your “healthy” yogurt, your sodas, and your ice cream. Look at the measure of a serving. For example, many ice creams will say, “Serving size: 1/2 cup.” Let’s be real, when was the last time you ate 1/2 cup of ice cream! On average, two scoops, or about 1 cup, of regular ice cream provides about 28 grams of sugar, which is more than plain yogurt but less than sweetened yogurt. This sugar will, once digested, turn into the equivalent of 7 teaspoons of sugar

There are quiet a few other things you can do to help ward off that cold that will be going around. Eat more greens. Drink lots of filtered water. As soon as you feel like you have the start of a cold, begin to take zinc, vitamin C, and Oil of Oregano. I do not like ascorbic acid for vitamin C, I take Camu Camu. It is a dried and then ground berry from the amazons. I also bottle and sell Oil of Oregano if you are in need. It is high quality and works!

I can hear someone asking the question, “Don’t we need sugar?” Great question. Yes we do. BUT! Not simple carbohydrates. You want Complex Carbohydrates.  If you want a list of good sugars, Google “complex carbohydrates” and you will get plenty of results.
I will give you one link, but there are many.
http://www.livestrong.com/article/27398-list-complex-carbohydrates-foods/

HAPPY EATING!