Time For Renewal

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That was one long week last week! Now I get to play catch up with absolutely everything, not just studies. As far as school goes, we are now in week 15 and I have only listened to half of week 12’s lectures. And we are now halfway to the next test. Crap.

How does this stuff happen? And right after I made up a detailed schedule with color coded time blocks. I do have the answer(s) to that one though; too much rain putting us behind in getting the gardens ready and someone volunteering me for stuff that unpredictably took up most of a week of prep work. Now, upward and onward!

My husband and I are starting a combination cleanse/elimination diet this week. We shopped today for a good portion of the produce we need. (Hey, I finally figured out how to get  pics on here again)!

It was a wonderful grocery shopping trip though, even lacking a good place for groceries and a nice produce department. 98% of our shopping just in the produce section! But we got $45 worth of food that looks like it will feed us (2 of us) for most of 2 weeks. If we had purchased the supposedly cheaper boxed convenience foods and some meat for a week, we would have spent much more than that.

What did we get for that $45? Let’s see: kale, spinach, a package of mixed greens, fresh parsley and cilantro, 2 roma tomatoes, 2 avocados, 3 sweet potatoes, one bunch of beets, a head of cauliflower, a head of red cabbage, a package of celery hearts, 2 cucumbers, 1 lb carrots, one bunch of radishes, 5 lemons, 2 bananas, 2 portabello mushroom caps, a package of sun-dried tomatoes, 1 pound of dry black beans, 1 dozen eggs, ½ gal unsweetened almond milk with coconut oil, and a box of herbal tea bags.

I don’t think I missed anything. Many other great things already reside in the cabinets, with a bit more already in the fridge.

The eggs and beans from the shopping trip and some other things get eliminated in a couple of days. Beans come back near the end of the detox phase, and dairy, sugar, grains, and nuts come back a day at a time after that in typical elimination diet fashion. I tell you, I really cannot wait to see what manifests, or UN-manifests!

We’ve recorded weight and body measurements. We’ll check blood pressure each day and note physical and mood changes. The hardest part will be no coffee for him and no soda for me. FYI, his coffee habit is worse than my soda habit…I think!

Til next time,
Get happy and Get Healthy!

Busy Spring

Things have been so hectic around here, I don’t have a “real” post this week. We’ve been trying to get a bunch of stuff ready for a re-enacting thing this weekend, yard and garden stuff piling up….I haven’t even truly studied in the past 2 weeks. So I hope to be back next week with something great to say!

Coconut Oil: Personal Anecdote and Other Reported Benefits

In case you haven’t been hearing about coconut oil, it has so many wonderful uses and reported benefits. My intent here is not to give an all-inclusive report on it, but to give you an introduction to what it might do for you, and pique your interest.

Personally, I’ve been doing oil pulling with it. Oil pulling is an Ayurvedic practice that originated over 5000 years ago in India.

It’s very simple to do, and surprisingly not unpleasant at all – just different. Take 1 tablespoon of coconut oil (or olive or sesame oil), let it melt in your mouth (or pre-melt, but gently please – no high heat), and swish it, or alternately swish and hold, for anywhere from 5 (10 is better) to 20 minutes. Then spit it out, don’t swallow; it may contain some “pulled” toxins from your system. Rinse your mouth and brush.

It’s a bit difficult to do for very long at first. Then you get used to not swallowing and can go longer. The coconut oil really doesn’t have an oily feel, like you might have with shortening, ugh!!

I started oil pulling when I had a very sore and swollen gum around one of the bottom molars. The swelling moved into the lymph gland just under the jaw. I didn’t have a dentist or doctor and wasn’t sure which to see first anyway. I started oil pulling and in 2 days all soreness, redness and swelling were gone.

I haven’t been doing it every single day since then (about 2 months ago), but I have noticed my teeth seem brighter and have a pearly polished look, if not really white. I also have no bleeding when I brush unless I’ve neglected to pull for several days. And I noticed my moderate rosacea lessened quite a bit. I did start drinking more water at this time, so cause and effect may be a bit muddled here.

Among the myriad of reported benefits from others and research are: it draws out toxins, it’s anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial, anti-microbial, strengthens jaw and teeth, reduces gingivitis, gets rid of bad breath, and whitens and polishes the teeth, and is recommended to be done on a daily basis.

Other claims besides those related more specifically to the mouth are energy, it reportedly draws toxins from the rest of the body, is anti-parasitic, anti-oxidant, anti-microbial, helps inflammation in the skin as in acne and rosacea, treats eczema, great skin and hair moisturizer/conditioner, controls body odor…. Use it topically or orally. Some use it for deodorant.

It’s a wonderful component of the diet. Put a tablespoon in your smoothies. You won’t even know it’s there, but it’s supposed to do all these wonderful things for you. Yes, it’s a saturated fat, but it doesn’t accumulate in the body according to the many sources I’ve read about it. One difference is it’s a medium-chain fatty acid which does us good. And much research says it’s healthy and that not all saturated fats are bad.

I have made it my go-to oil for sauteing. The first time I heated some in a skillet, I was transported back to childhood when we would go to the theater and smell the freshly popped popcorn. Back then, they used coconut oil, and palm oil I believe, until the scare about saturated fat was put out there to drive sales to the oils from our big commodity crops, like soy and corn; then later canola.

But I should leave that for now, except to say they are high in Omega 6, not good, and almost all crops are genetically modified. See http://eatlocalgrown.com/article/12060-top-gmo-foods.html for the top 10 foods containing GMO’s.

A good blog to look to for more info and recipes using coconut oil is “Coconut Mama”, http://www.thecoconutmama.com. Check it out, she has lots of great stuff. There is more info on Dr. Josh Axe’s website, http://www.draxe.com . And don’t be afraid of the taste in oil pulling or cooking with it. If it is an unadulterated product, i.e. pure or unrefined, the flavor is really mild; nothing like the pronounced flavor of coconut flakes.

In a week and a half my husband and I will be doing a liver and gallbladder cleanse program from my friend and colleague Kallie Arroyo at “Stepping Stones for Wellness” on FB. We will be consuming coconut oil and doing oil pulling daily as a small component of the cleanse. I can’t wait to see how we feel after this venture!

Banish Your Mental Winter and Help Bring On Spring

Dragging yourself out of winter? Is Spring not fully cooperating in your area? Need a mental boost? Try these sites for some nurturing mind therapy:

http://www.mindbodygreen.com
Articles on every aspect of living well

http://www.silentjourney.com
articles and guided meditations

http://awakeningwomen.com/new-here/

“An Awakening Woman is a spiritual rebellion engaged in a glowing and embodied, nothing-held-back love affair with the great mystery.
She moves in the world with fierce compassion, grace and freedom, and is passionate about truth, rest & real love.
She is fluent in angelic, diva and in Kali roars.
Earth is home and so is infinity.”

http://www.entheos.com/

“Optimize your life.
Let’s change the world.
en + theos. Two little Greek words. Put ‘em together and you’ve got enthusiasm—or “God within”—the secret sauce to creating an extraordinary life while making a difference in the world.”

Some Fun Stuff, and Some Useful Stuff

An eclectic mix of everday tips and some trivia. Keeping it light this week.

Cars made in Japan that stay in Japan don’t have drink holders This may have changed by now, or may be changing, as they move more and more toward adopting our American way of eating.

SAD not only stands for Seasonal Affective Disorder but also for Standard American Diet – double whammy for feeling sad 

More trees are hit by lightning in winter than in summer (no leaves to direct water away from the trunk; lightning follows water)

Re-using toilet paper tubes:
Cut 4 evenly spaced slits into one end of a toilet paper roll. Fold them in like a 4-corner box fold = a DIY “peat pot” that can be put right into the soil = less transplant shock and makes it for Reduce, Reuse, Recycle! I just learned that one a couple months ago.

You can use those tp rolls/tubes for cutworm collars around your seedlings (make sure there is 2” of it down in the soil and some sticking 1-2” above)

For the last 2 above, you can also cut paper towel tubes to size

Garlic:
The fastest most effective way to remove garlic and onion smell from your hands? Rub your hands and fingertips against something stainless steel while under cold running water. It only takes a couple secs. I’ve been doing this for maybe 10 years and it’s never failed, and I love to demonstrate it!

Water:
Hungry between meals and trying to cut back? Drink a glass of water and/or take a couple of deep breaths, and/or wait 10-15 minutes. Sometimes perceived hunger is really thirst, or boredom, or just something else.

Also try drinking a glass of water for a headache – but it might not quite do it for full-fledged migraines. Dehydration can be the cause for many, many things.

Avocados (and worms):
Baked egg in an avocado nest? I personally LOVE this combo! The avocados I’m able to get are too small – we would have to scrape away too much of the flesh for an egg to fit inside. I have yet to try it this way, but the idea is to line the bottom of large muffin cups/tins with sliced chunks of the avocado and pour the egg on top. Season your favorite way and bake. (We like a little sharp cheese and a tiny pinch of cayenne) I think you would bake at lower temp or for less time this way. Let me know if you try it. Or remind me to let YOU know.

Compost worms, Red Wigglers (at least ours), don’t like avocado. I think it’s possible no worms would.

That’s it for now. Hope you found something you can use!