I have had a wonderful week this week with my favorite cousins coming to visit me here from Arizona. They are all healthy eaters. They have been on the road for over a month and eating the way they generally eat was a bit of a challenge for them as they stayed with lots of friends and relatives who eat quite differently than they do. My cousins eat mainly raw, but they also are careful not to eat much meat or any refined products. While our family eats a lot of raw foods, we are not "raw foodist." We do try to avoid as much sugar as we can and most specifically white refined sugars. This is a hard trick with 7 of our eight children living at home, and they are all involved in scouts, soccer, church activities and more. We cannot even go to the bank without being offered a sugary sucker to eat. I wanted to address today the subject of eating refined sugar(s) and give you some helpful hints that our family has found to be quite effective.
First of all, as with anything we change, there is a process and there are not too many folks out there who can just walk away from refined sugars and never eat another grain of it the rest of our lives. If you feel that your culture here in the United States is not in support of eating healthy, then you would be correct, they are not. Sugar in in everything it seems, but you can make a huge difference in the amount of sugar you and your family ingest by educating yourself about what sugar does to your body, by limiting the times per week you or your family will serve it or eat it. In our family I have instituted what we call "Sugar Days." We started off with two days per week that our children could have sugar. The children took out their calendars and they literally marked on it what days they would eat something sweet. They know their schedules and for example one our our sons has scouts and he knows they will more than likely serve some sort of a treat on Wednesday afternoons, so he marks this day as his Sugar Day. We don't eat sugar all day long on our Sugar Day, we limit it to that treat we know we might be served or that we might make. I have been pleasantly surprised that my kids really do manage themselves with this "rule" very well and they don't eat much sugar at all compared to other children I see in our neighborhood. It is great. Another thing we don't do much is bake sweets. We are not cookie bakers around our house much. We find it just way too tempting. We bake cookies maybe three times per year and I am not kidding. I just don't think anyone can resist home-made cookies much.
We don't buy too many sweets and when we do, like I mentioned in my previous blog about ice-cream, we only purchase enough for what we might eat at one sitting. For a family of ten purchasing a package of cookies means everyone gets two or maybe three and then the package is gone. I don't recommend purchasing multiple packages of cookies even if they are on sale. Sugar is addictive and it is just too easy to keep getting into it.
So why is sugar so bad for us anyway? Refined sugar has been stripped of all its nutritional value during the processing, resulting with an end product that more resembles a pharmaceutical drug than a food source. When refined sugar is ingested it breaks down very quickly, entering the blood stream much too rapidly (sugar highs) which then signals the pancreas to overproduce insulin, which then results in a drop in blood sugar levels (the crash!).
The author of Lick the Sugar Habit, Nancy Appleton Ph.D writes "When a person eats sugar continually the body becomes inefficient at manufacturing glucose from complex carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. The mechanisms in the body which perform this task shut down from disuse, causing the blood glucose level to drop. The cravings, perspiration, shakes, and depression that follow send the sugarholic running for the nearest candy bar or cookie jar, and the vicious cycle continues. These sweets may bring the blood sugar back to normal for the moment, but the body chemistry is being upset. When the individual gets to a point where body chemistry cannot re-balance, health breaks down." Nancy Appleton uses the word "sugarholic" in her book frequently. Sugar is addictive and the more we eat it, the more we understand this.
Some of the dangers and side effects of ingesting refined sugar frequently are: Food allergies, joint pain, fatigue, tooth decay, hypoglycemia, cancer, impaired immune system, candida, headaches, gas pain, bloating, obesity, diabetes, heart disease, gall stones, and premenstrual syndrome. That is a general and short list.
Refined sugar is simple just empty calories. There are much better and way more healthy choices if we do have a sweet tooth. Some of these choices include: Sucanat, date sugar, raw unfiltered honey, 100% unsweetened fruit juices, unsweetened applesauce, blackstrap molasses, stevia extract, brown rice syrup, barley malt, and agave. You may know of other sources too. Fruit in general when you are not eating refined sugar is sweet and can be used in place of sugars and fats in baking. Realize that the list above is a better choice than white sugar because these items enter the bloodstream at a slower pace thereby lessening the detrimental physical effects. Of course the best way to eat is completely natural, that is a lofty and wonderful goal. It can be done, but we are all human and there are times when it is appropriate to celebrate with cake or other items. Choosing these sweeteners helps lessen negatives in our eating.
Our oldest son took avoiding refined sugars very seriously in his life. When he was getting ready to serve a mission for our church he had to have a dental check up. He did not have one cavity and it had been five years since he had had one. This is mainly about internal health, not brushing because in truth, all of us moms are busy and we may not do a perfect job at brushing our kids teeth all the time as we should. Internal health is much more effective with teeth than outward care, while outward care is very important I admit.
Besides the physical issues that refined sugar effects us with, there are those of us who find that when we avoid ingesting white refined sugar we do much better emotionally. I am one such soul. I did not know this about myself until I took a personal challenge and eliminated sugar from my diet. The first week I felt like I had the flu. About five days into my new way of eating I felt a lot better. This was several years ago and I had been experiencing some slight depression. One of the benefits I experience when I avoid white sugars is that emotionally I feel better. Inters tingly this week while my cousins were here we ate some junk that had sugar in it. Within one day my cousin's wife started getting headaches and my cousin was experiencing some slight depression. Hmmmm is there a connection. Probably so.
Limiting the days we eat or even serve sugar, limiting the portion sizes we eat when we do eat it, and using new healthier choices of sweetener all add health to our lives. There are times that it is appropriate to celebrate. Be happy and healthy by living with less sugar. Find other ways to add sweetness to your life other than sugar. Watch a fun movie, read a great book, eat an apple, or kiss your spouse! I know it is hard to avoid sugar, it is a battle I deal with all the time with my big family and I find the more I work at this the better I do at it. I wish you the best at fighting for your families health. Hang in there it is worth it!
Sweet luck to you all!
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Self Education Through Reading
Besides life itself my mother gave me a gift I can never thank her enough for, and that is the love of reading. I come from a long line of veracious readers. I still remember sitting on a stool in my mother's kitchen on "J" Street in Oregon as my mother and grandmother cooked by a large chalk board where my mother would tell me to write a letter or two. I would try to write words or stories and she would guide me along until finally by age 4 I could read quite well. I have always loved to read. I am an informational book reader. I see great value however in reading good novels. The novels that I do read I seem to always learn some kind of history from them. Just recently in my midwifery studies I read a book called The Red Tent. It takes place in Biblical times and is a loosely written historical novel. I learned a great deal about their culture and about plural marriage, and about midwifery. I also learned a lot about women of that day. It was wonderful.
Reading makes us more understanding of others. I am reading tons of things in my midwifery studies and another book I just read was called The Midwife: A Memoir of Birth, Joy, and Hard Times by Jennifer Worth. This book helped me personally over a difficult "bump in the road" we are having in our lives right now. As I read about the situation the English people were going through during WWII it made me more grateful for what I have, more thankful, so much more satisfied and humble. I also now see myself as more connected with other humans and this whole experience we are going through called Life. Reading does this to us, or it can.
I know life is so busy, I get that...I have a huge house full of people who need lots of things in lots of areas, but the one indulgence I allow myself is to read. Where do I read? Everywhere! I read in the car when I am waiting for Jake to get out of tap, at the ballet studio with Addy, I read in bed when I am retiring for the night, I read on the toilet (I know too much information), I read on the couch on Sundays when it is quiet, I read in the car when we are traveling. I read read read.
What do I read? Everything, and I am not kidding. I love all subjects that are uplifting and inspiring. I am not into dribble and silly stuff, but I love to read the scriptures, I love to read a great cookbook (My favorite reading actually!). I have learned so much about history from reading cookbooks. I own a ton of vegan and vegetarian cookbooks and one day I hope to write one of my own. I love to read informational books about anything. I also like to read on-line updated articles about politics and the latest on health and nutrition. I enjoy reading a good novel if it is not just fluff...but fluff has its place too.
This life is about joy and happiness and becoming better people and sharing a life that is rich and warm with our families. When I fell in love with Karl I fell in love with his brain. He is one of the smartest people I know and it is due mainly by his self education through personal reading. My husband reads all the time. He and I walk or ride bikes together each day and we always talk about exciting and interesting things we are learning. Oh, how reading had enriched my life!
While Karl is getting his Masters right now and I am getting my degree in Midwifery, we talk about education and administration and health and women's issues, this is where we are right now, but I know that we will not stop even once we both graduate (again). Next Karl wants to get his Doctorate degree and I want to become a licensed aromatherapists. Life just gets better and better and bigger and bigger when we study and read.
I have had children who have read later than I did, some much later. I did my share of worrying about this, but I learned a fun trick that helped me...the library has hundreds of books on tape. One of my boys who struggles with reading has listened to almost 75 full length chapter books this past school year. He loves all sorts of people who are fairies, trolls, and fourth graders causing trouble in school. I am amazed at his depth and his attention span now. He is a late reader, but he is being enriched by books and by learning. He will be fine. He is better than fine he is great because he can think deeply and I attribute much of this to his exposure to great thinkers in the books he listens to.
I am happy in large part due to the incredible gift my mother gave to me, and that is the love of books and reading. I have written three novels, and one parenting book, and I am working on a book for my children plus a cook-book. Books inspire me and make me love this life and my fellow human friends so much more. I thank you Momma for your love to me and sharing your love of reading. My mother is almost 70 and I talk to her every day and she shares with me still what she is learning and it is almost always due to her reading something.
Summer is a busy time, but so is fall, so is every time of year. Try as hard as you can to add reading to your list of happy, healthy living that you do each day. You will be blessed deeply, but more importantly you will enrich the lives of others by your knowledge when you share what you are learning. You will inspire the rest of us to become deeper better people. Grab a book and turn a page today even if it is only a page or two!
Happy Reading....and I would love to have you tell us what you are reading so we can all go read it too!
Reading makes us more understanding of others. I am reading tons of things in my midwifery studies and another book I just read was called The Midwife: A Memoir of Birth, Joy, and Hard Times by Jennifer Worth. This book helped me personally over a difficult "bump in the road" we are having in our lives right now. As I read about the situation the English people were going through during WWII it made me more grateful for what I have, more thankful, so much more satisfied and humble. I also now see myself as more connected with other humans and this whole experience we are going through called Life. Reading does this to us, or it can.
I know life is so busy, I get that...I have a huge house full of people who need lots of things in lots of areas, but the one indulgence I allow myself is to read. Where do I read? Everywhere! I read in the car when I am waiting for Jake to get out of tap, at the ballet studio with Addy, I read in bed when I am retiring for the night, I read on the toilet (I know too much information), I read on the couch on Sundays when it is quiet, I read in the car when we are traveling. I read read read.
What do I read? Everything, and I am not kidding. I love all subjects that are uplifting and inspiring. I am not into dribble and silly stuff, but I love to read the scriptures, I love to read a great cookbook (My favorite reading actually!). I have learned so much about history from reading cookbooks. I own a ton of vegan and vegetarian cookbooks and one day I hope to write one of my own. I love to read informational books about anything. I also like to read on-line updated articles about politics and the latest on health and nutrition. I enjoy reading a good novel if it is not just fluff...but fluff has its place too.
This life is about joy and happiness and becoming better people and sharing a life that is rich and warm with our families. When I fell in love with Karl I fell in love with his brain. He is one of the smartest people I know and it is due mainly by his self education through personal reading. My husband reads all the time. He and I walk or ride bikes together each day and we always talk about exciting and interesting things we are learning. Oh, how reading had enriched my life!
While Karl is getting his Masters right now and I am getting my degree in Midwifery, we talk about education and administration and health and women's issues, this is where we are right now, but I know that we will not stop even once we both graduate (again). Next Karl wants to get his Doctorate degree and I want to become a licensed aromatherapists. Life just gets better and better and bigger and bigger when we study and read.
I have had children who have read later than I did, some much later. I did my share of worrying about this, but I learned a fun trick that helped me...the library has hundreds of books on tape. One of my boys who struggles with reading has listened to almost 75 full length chapter books this past school year. He loves all sorts of people who are fairies, trolls, and fourth graders causing trouble in school. I am amazed at his depth and his attention span now. He is a late reader, but he is being enriched by books and by learning. He will be fine. He is better than fine he is great because he can think deeply and I attribute much of this to his exposure to great thinkers in the books he listens to.
I am happy in large part due to the incredible gift my mother gave to me, and that is the love of books and reading. I have written three novels, and one parenting book, and I am working on a book for my children plus a cook-book. Books inspire me and make me love this life and my fellow human friends so much more. I thank you Momma for your love to me and sharing your love of reading. My mother is almost 70 and I talk to her every day and she shares with me still what she is learning and it is almost always due to her reading something.
Summer is a busy time, but so is fall, so is every time of year. Try as hard as you can to add reading to your list of happy, healthy living that you do each day. You will be blessed deeply, but more importantly you will enrich the lives of others by your knowledge when you share what you are learning. You will inspire the rest of us to become deeper better people. Grab a book and turn a page today even if it is only a page or two!
Happy Reading....and I would love to have you tell us what you are reading so we can all go read it too!
Monday, July 26, 2010
Riding Bikes and moving as a family!
One activity that our family enjoys in the good weather (Which in Idaho is only about half the year) is to ride bikes. We are no Lance Armstrong group to be sure, but we love to be outdoors together and enjoy the breeze on our faces. This morning my husband Karl and I took our ten year old son Abe with us to run an errand over at Staples and we just hopped on our bikes and did our errand rather than jumping in the car. It is only a mile or so away from our home. There was a time (Well lots of times) where we did not get out and exercise much. It was just a lot easier to get into the car and drive. I also thought that driving in a car was faster. The funny thing is that when you have an errand to run that is around a mile or two away that the difference in driving and riding a bike is really not all that different...maybe a 10 minute difference is all. Now if you are in a huge hurry, you may not have 10-15 minutes, I understand that as I have had to run many times too, but on those times when you really can spare 15 minutes, grab your bike, blow off the cobwebs and ride. I purchased one of those fun new geared "beach bikes" last year. She is so pretty...baby blue with geeky fenders and a huge white wire basket. My children at first thought I looked pretty nerdy, and even referred to my basket as "the geeky basket" but they did not realize I was ahead of the fashion wave! Now there are even lovelier bikes than mine with bright funky colors and my girls all want one. Besides when we go on 10 or 15 mile rides and I am perched upon my big wide old fashioned seat all comfortable, they are wishing they had a bike like mine!
Part of living a happy healthy life-style is moving our bodies. I am not a spring chicken (I refuse to be "old" either though!). I am like many moms who have had a lot of children, my body does not look as athletic as I wished it did, but this does not matter. I know many moms who will not swim, bike, or walk in public because they feel "ugly and fat." If we wait to until we look the way we wished we did, we will not ever get to where we are hoping to be. I decided a long time ago, that I would love my life and live my life, no matter what size I happened to be. So my children enjoy a mother who may not be as svelte as she wishes she was out biking and walking with them nearly every single day. The three words in the title of my blog are so important, the last being LIVING. We need to be doing that to our fullest happiest level each day.
I hope today to encourage you to really live your life to the fullest. Move your body the best you can no matter where you are in your journey. If you are not able to get out and ride a bike, or don't even own one, take a short walk today. If it has been a long time since you have moved your body much, that is alright, the great thing about fitness is we all get to start right where we are at. Small children are not critical and they enjoy just moving, so grab a small child in your life and enjoy a short walk today if this is possible.
The best people in my life to walk or ride with are my family. I enjoy the time away from the pressures of life to just visit about anything we want. It is nice to have no phones interrupting you, so turn off your cell phone, and put on your shades and enjoy some happy times moving your body with someone you adore today!
Part of living a happy healthy life-style is moving our bodies. I am not a spring chicken (I refuse to be "old" either though!). I am like many moms who have had a lot of children, my body does not look as athletic as I wished it did, but this does not matter. I know many moms who will not swim, bike, or walk in public because they feel "ugly and fat." If we wait to until we look the way we wished we did, we will not ever get to where we are hoping to be. I decided a long time ago, that I would love my life and live my life, no matter what size I happened to be. So my children enjoy a mother who may not be as svelte as she wishes she was out biking and walking with them nearly every single day. The three words in the title of my blog are so important, the last being LIVING. We need to be doing that to our fullest happiest level each day.
I hope today to encourage you to really live your life to the fullest. Move your body the best you can no matter where you are in your journey. If you are not able to get out and ride a bike, or don't even own one, take a short walk today. If it has been a long time since you have moved your body much, that is alright, the great thing about fitness is we all get to start right where we are at. Small children are not critical and they enjoy just moving, so grab a small child in your life and enjoy a short walk today if this is possible.
The best people in my life to walk or ride with are my family. I enjoy the time away from the pressures of life to just visit about anything we want. It is nice to have no phones interrupting you, so turn off your cell phone, and put on your shades and enjoy some happy times moving your body with someone you adore today!
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Summer Fun and Ice Cream
If you have started following my blog then you read that our family lives a "mostly" healthy lifestyle. By mostly I mean that we are not perfect. We do try hard, but we have some areas that we struggle with...one such area is with ice-cream. We are not big dairy fans and I am one of those weird Americans who does not really enjoy eating cheese (I know kind of odd huh?). I have done a whole lot of research on dairy and I know that it just frankly is not good for us. Even so, with 10 people in our family and the fact that we all have a birthday once per year, we do enjoy a small bowl of ice cream to celebrate. Now with my confession out of the way and my own human-ness revealed...how can we limit our not so great unhealthy indulgences so that we can honestly eat mostly healthy? In the past prior to our family really working hard to eat healthy, we used to make our ice-cream eating, basically a meal! I recall huge bowls of ice-cream being consumed and it was nothing for our family of 10 to polish off a gallon (or more) of ice-cream in one birthday bash. Not so for us any more! My husband Karl bought me for Christmas one year some 1 cup glass sized ramekins. If you don't know what these are, they are wonderful bowls that are made of pottery and they can be taken from the oven right to the table. I love them! Our oldest daughter who is extremely healthy and tall and thin and wants to remain that way, started eating her soup, and chile, and whatever else we were eating in those bowls. She talked of how she loved the fact that they were just the "right size." At the time those of us who were on an eating marathon thought those one cup bowls looked like pretty dinky servings, but slowly we all started taking some advice from our sister Bailey. One way we control the amount of dairy we eat through ice-cream is with our one cup sized bowls. It is interesting that the difference of satisfaction between eating 4 cups of ice-cream and a little under 1 cup of ice-cream is really not that different. The calories saved, with the fat, salt, and sugar however is significant! There are 285 calories in one single cup of chocolate ice-cream. That is quite a lot admittedly. If you have three cups (easy to do when you are not paying attention!) this adds up to 855 calories. This is about half the calories that an adult female should eat for the day. Our one cup servings have saved us a lot of calories, and a lot of other things. Should we eat ice-cream at all? Probably not, but we do here and there and we now control our portions. There are other options such as rice-cream and soy ice-cream which we also enjoy. You still have the sugar and salt issues with these products to contend with as well. They are great alternatives but I still recommend smaller servings.
Summer is a time for fun, and it is nice to eat cooling foods that relieve us from the hot weather. A healthier choice than ice-cream (and very cooling) could be sliced watermelon, or any other fruit. The sugar in fruit is natural and the fiber in the fruit helps stabilize the sugar in our bodies so we don't get the high and then the drop in our blood sugar that ice-cream gives us. I never see my children running around in a crazy hyperactive frenzy when they eat a handful of cherries but Karl and I do see a change in their energy levels when they eat sugar laden ice-cream!
The more we refrain from eating high sugar intense foods such as ice-cream the more we enjoy the tastes of natural foods and the sweeter they taste to us.
Is there a time to celebrate and yes, even with ice-cream? Sure. Should we eat it all the time? No, but when we do eat it, let's try eating it in smaller portions and instead of adding a fudge topping, let's top our ice-cream with pure fun and no guilt!
Happy small portioned/guilt free/ice-cream eating!
Summer is a time for fun, and it is nice to eat cooling foods that relieve us from the hot weather. A healthier choice than ice-cream (and very cooling) could be sliced watermelon, or any other fruit. The sugar in fruit is natural and the fiber in the fruit helps stabilize the sugar in our bodies so we don't get the high and then the drop in our blood sugar that ice-cream gives us. I never see my children running around in a crazy hyperactive frenzy when they eat a handful of cherries but Karl and I do see a change in their energy levels when they eat sugar laden ice-cream!
The more we refrain from eating high sugar intense foods such as ice-cream the more we enjoy the tastes of natural foods and the sweeter they taste to us.
Is there a time to celebrate and yes, even with ice-cream? Sure. Should we eat it all the time? No, but when we do eat it, let's try eating it in smaller portions and instead of adding a fudge topping, let's top our ice-cream with pure fun and no guilt!
Happy small portioned/guilt free/ice-cream eating!
Friday, July 23, 2010
Salt---Not the Movie
It seems that everyone is watching their salt intake. If you are alive and breathing you have heard that the American diet has way too much salt in it, and I agree, but I also wanted to remind everyone of an easy way to use salt to help aid getting rid of cold sores in your mouth. One of our sons this week in fact had a couple of cold sores in his mouth so I told him to get some warm water and about a tablespoon of just plain old table salt and to rinse his mouth out as many times as it took to empty out the cup into our bathroom sink. He literally stood there and swished and spit until it was all gone. By the next day his sores were so much better he did not even complain about them anymore. My grandmother used to have us do this and it works. Cheap and easy. So don't suffer with cold sores, grab a cup, warm water, and a Tablespoon of salt and have at it!
Happy swishing!
Happy swishing!
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Hail Essential Oils at Great Prices!!!
Anyone who knows me knows that I LOVE essential oils. I have seen miracle after miracle in my own children's lives and in the life of my husband with the use of oils. Most essential oils however are not cheap, in fact they are generally very un-cheap (is that a word?) and their "un-cheapness" is unfortunately prohibitive to many people being able to even try them. I have used many brands but most all of the oils I have purchased have been through Multi-Level-Marketing groups (MLM). These groups (which will remain nameless) while they are fantastic as far as their products go, are WAY too expensive for the average essential oils purchaser. I just bought them anyway as I knew their healing properties and values, but it was a financial burden. I knew in my heart of hearts that there had to be a way for people to access essential oils for their families without all the high prices that MLM companies have to charge due to the up-line and down-lines and membership fees.
I did a lot of research because as I just said, I loved the products of these other companies. I called wholesalers, I called buyers and purchasers and I interviewed these folks as I was converted (well brain washed) that these other MLM companies were the only way I could obtain the oils I so needed for my family. I was also flat out told by the MLM companies that their oils were superior to all other oils. In my research I interviewed four Foot Zonists. Every single one of them told me that all essential oils in the United States are purchased from the same buyers! This astounded me. One zonist said to me "Just how many places to you think you can get Frankincense from anyway?" Good point. I realized at that moment that these MLM companies were not the only places to purchase great products for my family, they just raised their prices so they could pay everyone in the company. I searched and found other sources to get essential oils at prices I felt were very reasonable.
Price was important to me, but so was quality, so I searched for a wholesaler I could purchase oils from that had high quality oils and I found one! I purchased some of their oils and I invited a muscle tester to come to my home. She tested all the oils against the MLM oils. My new oils tested the same or higher than the MLM oils. Our family used these oils for about six months and found that they were just as effective as the oils I purchased from the MLM companies. I had found a wholesaler with great prices and fantastic quality oils. I started a company of my own. My company is called Butterfly Oils. You will be able to purchase my oils on my website very soon. That website will be www.butterflyoils.com. Essential oils have been around since the beginning of time. My slogan is "We Sell Oils that Heal You ---At Prices That Don't Kill You!" Until my website is up and running (within the month of August) you may email me at: owner@butterflyoils.com and I will gladly send you my price sheets of all the oils I carry. You will be amazed at our costs and completely satisfied with our products!
You may not have any experience with essential oils and not know the first thing about them or how to use them or where on the body to put them. You may not even know why they work or how to use them, so for those of you new to oils.... Here is a short Essential Oils 101 Lesson:
So with all this "essential oils" talk...what in the world is an essential oil anyway? Great question....
Well, basically, essential oils are “oils” or “essence” that have been extracted from various species of flowers, fruits, herbs, leaves, seeds, resin, stems, roots, and bark of botanicals. The oils from these natural sources are pure and natural. They are not made from synthetic materials in a laboratory, but extracted from botanical sources. One pound of essential oils can take hundreds of pounds of plant matter. For example, it takes roughly 200 lbs of lavender flowers to product 1 lb of lavender oil. So, there is the loss of using 200 lbs of lavender flowers for other purposes such as soap additives, teas and pillows. Just think about this when you are buying 1 lb of lavender essential oils, you are actually purchasing 200 lbs of “extracted” lavender flowers!
These amazing extracts can be used on the human body to help assist in healing many ailments. Some of the successes that I have experienced in my own family with oils include: bruises, stomach aches, lung issues, asthma, sore throats, head-aches, sunburns, ear infections, cold sores, moles going away, sleep issues, acne, sore muscles, menstrual cramps, and a whole ton more. Essential oils also have also helped with emotional issues such as depression and grieving.
Essential oils can be placed topically on the body just about anywhere except in the eye area. Believe it or not, but there are large pores on your feet so putting a drop or two (or four) on the bottom of the feet is amazingly effective.
Essential oils are very concentrated, and many oils are best used with what is called a "Carrier Oil." Simply put a carrier oil is a vegetable or nut oil that is used to dilute the essential oil or to get it to spread to a wider area upon the body. If you refer to the information above you will recall that one drop of essential oil is extremely concentrated and in some cases (certainly not all) that the oils must be diluted or they could burn the skin especially in young children or babies. Most oils can be used safely without any carrier oils at all. I also sell carrier oils if you need those, but a nice grade of olive oil from your kitchen cupboard is just fine to use.
I want to note also that if you are breast feeding or are pregnant, please check with a local aromatherapist, or our doctor before using essential oils. A holistic doctor will be much more educated on essential oils than a traditional MD.
A few of our all time favorite essential oils and how we use them are:
Peppermint: for stomach aches, sick stomachs, and and energy boost. I also like it for a perfume. I bake with essential oils and I make oatmeal chocolate/mint muffins that are pretty amazing. Peppermint is my secret ingredient. If you all beg me I will share my recipe!
Frankincense: Great for getting rid of unwanted moles (does anyone want a mole?), headaches, depression, and allergies.
Birch: Wonderful for aches and bruises.
Deliverance: This oil is a blend that I sell that is fantastic for getting rid of sore throats, and the hard flu.
Lavender: Where do I begin with Lavender? It is great for sunburns, cold sores, sleep issues, and to calm down your nerves if you are feeling all uptight.
Eucalyptus: If you have a child with asthma, there is no replacement for eucalyptus! It will open up the bronchial tubes and the lungs fast! We have saved many a child from a breathing treatment with this incredible oil.
There are so many more wonderful oils I will talk to you about, but for now this very looong post must end and we will discuss oils again soon. Please note, if you are interested in oils that are high quality with low prices, go ahead and email me and we will get a price list off to you so you can start assisting your family to health! My website is being built and will be up and running soon.
Happy Essential Oiling to you!
I did a lot of research because as I just said, I loved the products of these other companies. I called wholesalers, I called buyers and purchasers and I interviewed these folks as I was converted (well brain washed) that these other MLM companies were the only way I could obtain the oils I so needed for my family. I was also flat out told by the MLM companies that their oils were superior to all other oils. In my research I interviewed four Foot Zonists. Every single one of them told me that all essential oils in the United States are purchased from the same buyers! This astounded me. One zonist said to me "Just how many places to you think you can get Frankincense from anyway?" Good point. I realized at that moment that these MLM companies were not the only places to purchase great products for my family, they just raised their prices so they could pay everyone in the company. I searched and found other sources to get essential oils at prices I felt were very reasonable.
Price was important to me, but so was quality, so I searched for a wholesaler I could purchase oils from that had high quality oils and I found one! I purchased some of their oils and I invited a muscle tester to come to my home. She tested all the oils against the MLM oils. My new oils tested the same or higher than the MLM oils. Our family used these oils for about six months and found that they were just as effective as the oils I purchased from the MLM companies. I had found a wholesaler with great prices and fantastic quality oils. I started a company of my own. My company is called Butterfly Oils. You will be able to purchase my oils on my website very soon. That website will be www.butterflyoils.com. Essential oils have been around since the beginning of time. My slogan is "We Sell Oils that Heal You ---At Prices That Don't Kill You!" Until my website is up and running (within the month of August) you may email me at: owner@butterflyoils.com and I will gladly send you my price sheets of all the oils I carry. You will be amazed at our costs and completely satisfied with our products!
You may not have any experience with essential oils and not know the first thing about them or how to use them or where on the body to put them. You may not even know why they work or how to use them, so for those of you new to oils.... Here is a short Essential Oils 101 Lesson:
So with all this "essential oils" talk...what in the world is an essential oil anyway? Great question....
Well, basically, essential oils are “oils” or “essence” that have been extracted from various species of flowers, fruits, herbs, leaves, seeds, resin, stems, roots, and bark of botanicals. The oils from these natural sources are pure and natural. They are not made from synthetic materials in a laboratory, but extracted from botanical sources. One pound of essential oils can take hundreds of pounds of plant matter. For example, it takes roughly 200 lbs of lavender flowers to product 1 lb of lavender oil. So, there is the loss of using 200 lbs of lavender flowers for other purposes such as soap additives, teas and pillows. Just think about this when you are buying 1 lb of lavender essential oils, you are actually purchasing 200 lbs of “extracted” lavender flowers!
These amazing extracts can be used on the human body to help assist in healing many ailments. Some of the successes that I have experienced in my own family with oils include: bruises, stomach aches, lung issues, asthma, sore throats, head-aches, sunburns, ear infections, cold sores, moles going away, sleep issues, acne, sore muscles, menstrual cramps, and a whole ton more. Essential oils also have also helped with emotional issues such as depression and grieving.
Essential oils can be placed topically on the body just about anywhere except in the eye area. Believe it or not, but there are large pores on your feet so putting a drop or two (or four) on the bottom of the feet is amazingly effective.
Essential oils are very concentrated, and many oils are best used with what is called a "Carrier Oil." Simply put a carrier oil is a vegetable or nut oil that is used to dilute the essential oil or to get it to spread to a wider area upon the body. If you refer to the information above you will recall that one drop of essential oil is extremely concentrated and in some cases (certainly not all) that the oils must be diluted or they could burn the skin especially in young children or babies. Most oils can be used safely without any carrier oils at all. I also sell carrier oils if you need those, but a nice grade of olive oil from your kitchen cupboard is just fine to use.
I want to note also that if you are breast feeding or are pregnant, please check with a local aromatherapist, or our doctor before using essential oils. A holistic doctor will be much more educated on essential oils than a traditional MD.
A few of our all time favorite essential oils and how we use them are:
Peppermint: for stomach aches, sick stomachs, and and energy boost. I also like it for a perfume. I bake with essential oils and I make oatmeal chocolate/mint muffins that are pretty amazing. Peppermint is my secret ingredient. If you all beg me I will share my recipe!
Frankincense: Great for getting rid of unwanted moles (does anyone want a mole?), headaches, depression, and allergies.
Birch: Wonderful for aches and bruises.
Deliverance: This oil is a blend that I sell that is fantastic for getting rid of sore throats, and the hard flu.
Lavender: Where do I begin with Lavender? It is great for sunburns, cold sores, sleep issues, and to calm down your nerves if you are feeling all uptight.
Eucalyptus: If you have a child with asthma, there is no replacement for eucalyptus! It will open up the bronchial tubes and the lungs fast! We have saved many a child from a breathing treatment with this incredible oil.
There are so many more wonderful oils I will talk to you about, but for now this very looong post must end and we will discuss oils again soon. Please note, if you are interested in oils that are high quality with low prices, go ahead and email me and we will get a price list off to you so you can start assisting your family to health! My website is being built and will be up and running soon.
Happy Essential Oiling to you!
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First Day of Blogging--And on my Birthday!
Today is my first day blogging. Thanks to a dear friend, a lesson given as a great birthday present I am up and running! This blog is a place where I will share my love of health and nutrition, midwifery, essential oils and whatever else comes to mind that adds joy and beauty naturally to life. Before I get started I would like to introduce myself so you can get to know me a bit better.
If I were to describe myself it would be: I am a LDS, married, mother of eight, vegetarian almost vegan, knitter who bikes in the good weather, reads in all weather and loves to learn about health, spiritual subjects, and food! I love my friends deeply, my husband with all my heart, and my children with the depth of an Italian momma of which I am! I work hard and I laugh often. My husband and I have home-schooled our children all their lives. This year however we are doing something different and sending some of our little ones to a wonderful Montessori school in our area. Our oldest son is on a mission for our LDS church. Life in a family of 10 is exciting, and busy and sometimes a bit crazy. We are all trying in one way or another to live happy healthy lives. We decided about a decade or more ago to really alter our diets that were then basically the SAD diet, meaning "Standard American Diet." We ate so much junk it is scary! Over the years I have read and read and read about health and we have made many wonderful changes in our lives that has helped with our teeth, weight, asthma and more. It is going to be so fun to share with you what we are learning, have learned and want to learn.
I welcome your comments and your own stories and ideas about health.
If I were to describe myself it would be: I am a LDS, married, mother of eight, vegetarian almost vegan, knitter who bikes in the good weather, reads in all weather and loves to learn about health, spiritual subjects, and food! I love my friends deeply, my husband with all my heart, and my children with the depth of an Italian momma of which I am! I work hard and I laugh often. My husband and I have home-schooled our children all their lives. This year however we are doing something different and sending some of our little ones to a wonderful Montessori school in our area. Our oldest son is on a mission for our LDS church. Life in a family of 10 is exciting, and busy and sometimes a bit crazy. We are all trying in one way or another to live happy healthy lives. We decided about a decade or more ago to really alter our diets that were then basically the SAD diet, meaning "Standard American Diet." We ate so much junk it is scary! Over the years I have read and read and read about health and we have made many wonderful changes in our lives that has helped with our teeth, weight, asthma and more. It is going to be so fun to share with you what we are learning, have learned and want to learn.
I welcome your comments and your own stories and ideas about health.
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