Category Archives: Healthy Household Cleaners

Homemade Christmas: Frankincense Oil and Frankincense Salve

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“Boswellia is one of the most ancient and respected herbs in ayurvedic healing. Researchers and clinicians are finding that boswellia is a potent anti-inflammatory, antiarthritic, and pain reliever without any side effects. The gum and the oil also are used in cosmetics, perfumes, and skin-care products.”
Prescription for Herbal Healing by Phyllis A Balch

frankincense-oil

Frankincense Oil reduces inflammation, boosts immunity, improves mood and is good for the skin. It smells nice too!

Frankincense Oil

1/4c organic frankincense resin, ground
2/3c organic olive oil
2/3c organic shea butter
1/2oz pure bee’s wax, small pieces
60 drops frankincense essential oil (optional)
Grind the frankincense resin in a mortar and pestle into a very find powder. Put the frankincense powder into a Pyrex measuring cup and add the olive oil. Half fill a sauce pan with water and put the Pyrex cup into the sauce pan. Bring the water to a boil and simmer the frankincense and olive oil for 3-4 hours. Cool the frankincense infused oil overnight. The frankincense powder will drop to the bottom of the Pyrex cup.

Carefully, pour off the frankincense infused olive oil into another Pyrex cup. Try not to disturb the frankincense powder at the bottom of the cup. Leave some of the olive oil behind, if desired. Reserve this mixture for making Frankincense Salve. Add the shea butter and bee’s wax. Half fill a sauce pan with water and put the Pyrex cup into the sauce pan. Bring the water to a boil. Simmer until the shea butter and bee’s wax are melted. Stir in the frankincense essential oil, if desired. Carefully, pour the hot oil into containers and label.

“Laboratory studies have shown that boswellic acids, active components in boswellia, deactivate the hormonal triggers for inflammation and pain in osteoarthritis.”
Prescription for Herbal Healing by Phyllis A Balch

frankincense-salve

Frankincense Salve is vigorously rubbed into sore joints or tissue.

Frankincense Salve

This salve is more like a scrub because of its granular texture. The salve is intended to be vigorously rubbed into the skin and left on the skin to absorb.

1/4c frankincense mixture from making Frankincense Oil
1/4c frankincense infused oil (optional)
1/4oz pure bee’s wax, small pieces
30 drops frankincense essential oil (optional)
Pour off the any extra frankincense infused oil into another Pyrex cup. In a clean mortar and pestle, grind the frankincense mixture into the smooth paste. Get the paste as smooth as possible by doing small amounts. Pour the smooth paste into the Pyrex cup before starting a second amount. When completed add the bee’s wax. Half fill a sauce pan with water and put the Pyrex cup into the sauce pan. Bring the water to a boil. Simmer until the bee’s wax is melted. Stir in the frankincense essential oil, if desired. Carefully, pour the hot mixture into containers and label.

The following information about frankincense comes from The King’s Medicine Cabinet by Dr Josh Axe.

Frankincense is also known as boswellia. It has been regarded as a holy oil in the Middle East for centuries. It is well known as one of the gifts given to Christ at his birth. “In ancient times, frankincense was valued above gold because its use to treat every illness.”

“Recent research published in the Journal of Oncology has found frankincense to shrink tumors and kill cancer cells better than chemotherapy.” The essential oil has also been used with much success to treat issues by reducing inflammation and improving immune function.

Benefits

  • fight cancer
  • reduce inflammation
  • boost immune system cleanses and detoxes body
  • improves depression and mood
  • spiritual awareness
  • fights infections
  • heals skin scarring, sunspots and acne

Uses

  • Rub topically behind ears, on chest and neck to improve immunity
  • Put topically on age spots, scars and stretch marks to improve skin
  • Take internally to reduce inflammation or put topically on areas of joint pain
  • Use topically after a trauma to recenter and calm yourself
  • Diffuse in air when praying or doing spiritual reading
  • Diffuse in air to reduce seasonal allergies
  • Take internally, diffuse or use topically for cellular health and increasing longevity and lifespan

Healthy Household: Fat Loss on the Cheap: Part I

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“EOD dieters were delighted by the biggest surprise of every-other-day dieting: you don’t lose control on Feast Day. You don’t binge. You don’t even eat all that much more… After eating 25% of normal caloric intake on Diet Day, EOD dieters usually eat only 110% of normal calories on Feast Day.”
Every-Other-Day Diet by Dr Krista Varady

I just read a very interesting book called the Every-Other-Day Diet by Dr Krista Varady. I heard about the book from a Dr Mercola interview. This diet doesn’t require expensive special foods, supplements or joining a group. This is dieting on the cheap. EOD dieting might even help improve your longevity.

This book may be of interest to someone that has been fighting with weight issues for a long time but can’t seem to lose the weight. The first part of the book could be summarized as: feast one day, fast the next day, then repeat. Eat normally on feast day and 500 calories on the modified fast day. On fast day eat the 500 calories for lunch or dinner, not breakfast.*

Chapters 1-3 goes over the science and some weight loss tips learned in the clinical trials. Dr Varady found many of the clinical outcomes very surprising. EOD dieters did not overeat on feast days. “After eating 25% of normal caloric intake on Diet Day, EOD dieters usually eat only 110% of normal calories on Feast Day.” She stated that science doesn’t really understand the mechanism yet, but fast days act like a “metabolic reboot”. Dr Varady wonders if feeling true hunger on fast days causes EOD dieters to tune into their hunger cues which naturally controls appetite on feast days.?

I didn’t like Chapters 4-5 which contain some truly scary recipes. The homemade recipes are based on prepackaged foods from the industrial food system. There’s a whole chapter on frozen prepackaged foods that meets the calorie requirements of fast days and gives tips for safely using your microwave. Ugh. The clinical trails show that even if you’re on a Standard American Diet (SAD), the EOD diet will give you the weight loss you’ve been looking for. In my opinion, ditching the industrial food and replacing it with nourishing traditional foods would better ensure your long-term health.

Chapters 6-7 talks about the benefits of a walking program for maintaining lean body composition which results in the maintenance of long-term weight loss. Dr Varady states: “When most dieters lose weight, they lose body fat and muscle: 75% fat and 25% muscle… However, the group combining EOD dieting and exercise didn’t lose any muscle during the eight weeks of the study — they lost only fat!” And we’re not talking about a lot of exercise here, just 20-40 minutes of walking a day. Surprisingly, they found that EOD dieters that walked didn’t regain the weight during the maintenance period. Dr Varady theorizes that the success in weight maintenance was because the diet combined with a walking program maintained muscle mass.

“I want to repeat this fact — drive it home, really — because it’s so important to your health and well-being: if you go on the EOD Diet and exercise, you will get the most benefits… Exercise boosts willpower and decreases binging and emotional eating.”

Here are some suggestions for making the diet easier and ensuring your long-term health:

  1. Eat nourishing traditional foods from a quality source and avoid the junk coming out of the industrial food system. Skip the food advice in Chapters 4-5.
  2. Leave behind the current wisdom that eating breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Dr Varady’s research shows that EOD dieters that ate their 500 calories for lunch or dinner, did not cheat as much as EOD dieters that ate their 500 calories for breakfast.
  3. Making the transition from being a “sugar burner” to a “fat burner” can be difficult. Surprisingly, Dr Varady said her EOD dieters make the adjustment in less than two weeks. Also, EOD dieters that ate the most fat lost the most fat!

I have experimented with intermitted fasting (IF) and ketogenic diets for some years. Just one warning. If you can’t fast overnight and go without breakfast you’re hypoglycemic and a sugar burner. When I was a leader for Weight Watchers I would regularly become hypoglycemic and become panicky and feel like I was going to pass-out if I didn’t get a snack every 2-3 hours. I didn’t know it at the time but this was a serious warning. I was on the road to type 2 diabetes. It took me awhile, but I made that transition from a sugar burner to a fat burner. It’s now easy for me to fast all night, not eat breakfast or lunch, and have a meal in the late afternoon. Like Dr Varady’s clinical results, I find it easier to fast overnight and not eat breakfast or lunch, then to eat breakfast and fast for the rest of the day. Don’t get me wrong. I’m hungry on fast days, but being a fat burner means I can take being hungry, unlike the days when I was hypoglycemic and would be in danger of passing-out. Here are three last tips to help with the modified fast day:

  1. If you use the 100 calorie snack during fast days, make sure it’s high fat. This will ensure your insulin does not spike during the fast period. I like coffee with raw heavy cream or Ketogenic Coffee, Flax Crackers, Sesame Seed Dip, Crunchy Cocoa Candy or Brazil Coconut Candy as my snack.
  2. Eat more fat if you’re hungry between meals. Don’t fear fat.** Dr Varady’s clinical trial showed that EOD dieters that ate the most fat lost the most fat.
  3. Reduce your stress and use adaptogens in the afternoon.*** Your endocrine system controls your metabolism. If you have high insulin and high cortisone at the same time your body considers this an emergency and will pack on the fat stores.

Also, I have had a long history of pituitary-thyroid-adrenal axis problems resulting in a low, normal body temperature. If I restrict calories my metabolism will drop further, resulting in low energy and feeling cold all the time. This makes calorie restricted diets such as Weight Watchers a real grind. Cycling up and down between feast days and modified fast days hasn’t resulted in a drop of my metabolism. If you have issues with low thyroid function or low metabolism, EOD dieting might work for you.

It is possible to switch from being a sugar burner to being a fat burner. According to Dr Varady’s clinic trials the transition can be done in less than two weeks.

every-other-day-diet

The only industrial food on this website! The search for truth sometimes comes in strange packaging.

Work with your endocrine system, not against it. In a healthy person, cortisone is naturally high in the morning and goes down during the day. High cortisone in the morning wakes you up, but if you have high insulin at the same time, your body considers this an emergency and will pack on the fat stores. In contrast, high cortisone and low insulin makes you into a fat burning machine. Don’t eat carbohydrates — leafy greens are an exception — in the morning. Or don’t eat anything in the morning if you are trying to loss weight.

*Just to be clear, feast day means eating normally, or maybe eating a little bit more than normal. Feast day does not mean going to the all-you-can-eat buffet and expecting to loss weight.
**I did a low-carb version of the EOD Diet. If you find you aren?t losing weight, or your weight loss stalls, or your hungry all the time, consider going low-carb with the EOD Diet. I will discuss a low-carb version of the EOD Diet in Part II.
***For more information about adaptogens and managing stress please see: Healthy Household: Remedies for Stress, Depression and Grief and Healthy Household: Adaptogen Green Drink.

Healthy Household: Out-of-Whack Nut Balls

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Out-of-Whack Nut Balls are designed to balance hormones and stabilize blood sugar. These balls are easy to make and far cheaper than the commercial bar.

This recipe is NOT safe for someone on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet.

This recipe is based on Dr Sara Gottfried’s Cacao Coconut Crunch Bars which are designed to balance hormone health and stabilize blood sugar. The secret ingredient is a prebiotic fiber called inulin which helps support healthy gut flora. In the original bar, chicory root is the source of inulin. Unfortunately, people with gut issues can find chicory root does not agree with them. Dandelion root or burdock root are a possible substitute for chicory root and may be tolerated better… or maybe not*.

Just because something is wholesome and natural doesn’t mean it’s good for all people. If you try this recipe and find it doesn’t agree with you, don’t use it. Roots of many plants will be hard for some to digest. If you have trouble digesting inulin, focus on the upper parts of the plant: Seasonal Foods: Delicious Dandelion Control.

Out-of-Whack Nut Balls
1/4c dried dandelion root
1/2c organic whole cashews
1/2c organic whole almonds or pecans
1/2c organic dried coconut
3T organic sesame seeds
3T organic brown or yellow flax seeds
1 large pinch sea salt
3T organic cacao nibs
1tsp organic stevia leaf (optional)
1tsp organic cinnamon
2-3T organic coconut oil
extra dried coconut
In a spice grinder, grind the dandelion root into a fine powder. In a food processor, add the cashews, pecans, coconut, sesame seeds, flax seeds and sea salt and grind well. Add the cacao nibs, ground dandelion root, stevia, cinnamon and coconut oil. Grind all the ingredients until the mixture forms a ball. The first night I slept through completely (which was not the case for a long time) After that it got better from week to week. The medication helped me a lot. At some point, I dropped it off. I had the feeling that everything is more or less OK. Apart from a few small setbacks, this was/is the case. I can only recommend Klonopin for that.

Take 1tsp of mixture and roll into small balls. Roll these balls in the dried flaked coconut and place in a covered dish. Refrigerate the balls and eat 1-2 balls as a dessert or as a snack. A small amount of gas should be expected with consuming inulin since it is a food for gut flora. Eat less balls if you develop excessive digestive gas.

out-of-whack-2

One or two balls will satisfy as a snack or dessert. The inulin will feed your gut flora.

For more information about balancing hormones and endocrine health please see Healthy Household: Vitex Extract and Endocrine Health

*For more information about a simple test for food intolerance please see Food Intolerance Test: What NOT to Do”.

Healthy Household: Vitex Extract and Endocrine Health

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“High cortisol is the single most common hormonal problem I see in my practice, and high cortisol with low estrogen and/or progesterone is another common combination… Low sex hormones are inextricably linked to the prevalence of stress in the lives of modern women, and we know that the stress begins early.”
The Hormone Cure by Dr Sara Gottfried

Endocrine health is a complex topic and beyond the scope of this website. After addressing problems with our modern industrial diet, some of the most complex and troublesome problems we face as women can come from a dysfunctional endocrine system. A nourishing traditional diet is essential for healing endocrine problems, but years of abuse can require some additional help from the plant world. Unfortunately, there is no one remedy for everyone.

vitex-extract

Making Vitex Extract is very easy but takes a bit of time. It is a good endocrine tonic for women but only works if your cortisol is not too high or not too low… but just right!

Unlike men, women’s bodies must ride the ebb and flow of monthly cycles. In the history of herbalism, there have been some plants that have helped women ride these cycles and make life transitions a bit easier. Vitex (Vitex agnus-castus) is just one plant that has been used for a long time. It works as a tonic or adaptogen, helping the woman’s system find its own balance:

  1. Vitex works primarily on the pituitary in a top-down fashion. This is why the plant can help with so many different types of endocrine problems.
  2. Vitex usually has the effect of enhancing progesterone and decreasing estrogen levels. But this is not always the case with all women.
  3. Vitex nourishes and supports the endocrine system. It helps the endocrine system find its own balance. Vitex does not have any hormonal building blocks like many medicinal plants used to help restore reproductive health.
  4. Vitex is slow acting. A woman will need to take the plant for 3 cycles for the plant to start doing its work.
  5. Vitex is not for men. It can cause testicular atrophy, impotence, and loss of desire. Traditionally, it was secretly used by wives dealing with their husbands’ infidelity. I wouldn’t recommend this traditional use of the plant, but instead the modern tool of divorce!

Almost all of the symptoms associated with the menstrual cycle can be treated with this plant. For the young woman, Vitex can treat many of the symptoms of PMS such as: cramping, flooding, headaches, depression, water retention, constipation, acne, breast tenderness, and irritability. For the woman looking to conceive, Vitex enhances the chances of ovulation. If a woman is prone to miscarriage during the first trimester, Vitex will reduce the chances of miscarriage due to its effect on enhancing progesterone levels. After birth, Vitex helps a new mother to produce plenty of milk. For the perimenopausal woman, Vitex can help normalize irregular or scanty periods by helping balance the ratios of estrogen to progesterone. I took Tramadol as prescribed by a neurologist at the diagnosis of intervertebral hernias with acute severe pain. The effect came in less than an hour after taking the pill, the pain was dulled, it became clearly easier. Moreover, the drug has an affordable price, but sold only by prescription.

Vitex Extract
1 part organic Vitex or Chaste Tree Berry (Vitex agnus-castus), ground
3 parts organic Vodka
Vitex Extract combined with a nourishing traditional diet loaded with healthy animal fats can help balance a woman’s endocrine system. Grind the Vitex with a mortar and pestle. Grind small amounts at a time to avoid the round seeds from bouncing out of the mortar. Put the ground seeds in a pint mason jar and add the vodka. Label the jar with: all ingredients, today’s date, and the date six weeks in the future. In six weeks, decant your extract. Strain and squeeze-out the ground seeds with a cheesecloth. Compost the ground seeds. Take the Vitex Extract and decant into a dark bottle or store in a dark cool place. You will have to experiment with the dose. A standard dose is 1/2tsp two to three times a day taken in some water.

For a long time, I have been looking for a book that explains endocrine dysfunction with easy to follow lifestyle and diet adjustments. The best book I have found so far is The Hormone Cure by Dr Sara Gottfried. The Gottfried Protocol starts with a simple questionnaire of symptoms relating to common hormone problems. From this questionnaire she follows with appropriate lifestyle adjustments, dietary changes, supplementation and herbal treatments which will help most women. A few women may need to take the final step of bioidentical hormones… or not. Along with a nourishing traditional diet, the Gottfried Protocol gives women the tools to manage their own hormonal balance using lifestyle, diet and herbs.

BEFORE using the Vitex Extract make sure you PASS the cortisol questionnaire in the Gottfried Protocol. You need to address cortisol levels before addressing the any of the “downstream” sex hormone imbalances. Dr Sara Gottfried will explain pregnenolone steal in the book. You will find many adaptogen recipes in the Healthy Household Series which will help support adrenal function and healthy cortisol levels:
Healthy Household: Remedies for Stress, Depression and Grief
Healthy Household: A Good Night?s Sleep
Healthy Household: Adaptogen Green Drink
Healthy Household: Out-of-Whack Nut Balls

For more recipes, please see Healthy Household: Staying Clean Safely and Saving Money.

Healthy Household: Wicked Laundry Soap

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“I’m old enough to have a vague memory of clothes so white that they were called bright. This happened despite the absence of additives — the ridiculous varieties of sprays and bottles and packets that festoon our cabinets today and that we throw into the wash to try to boost the cleaning power of our pathetic machines and increasingly useless laundry soap.”
Hack Your Shower Head: Get Big Government Out of Your Home by Jeffery Tucker

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Sometimes you got to be wicked to get clean laundry.

Back in January, I was working on a new recipe for homemade laundry soap. I was starting to question the value of my very expensive green laundry soap. I started wondering what I was really buying when I spent extra money on green products, considering that the green products didn’t clean very well. I watched while my family’s clothes became greyer and smelled less fresh with every wash.

Then I read Jeffery Tucker’s book called Hack Your Shower Head: Get Big Government Out of Your Home. This amusing little book explained why my clothes were getting greyer and smelling less fresh with each wash. He even had a theory about why my plumbing wasn’t working very well either. I decided to give trisodium phosphate (TSP) a try in my laundry soap. The results were remarkable.

TSP was once in all laundry detergents. Some environmentalists got worried about the possibility that phosphates in detergents might cause algae blooms in lakes. They lobbied governments to legislate TSP out of laundry detergents. According to Tucker, this is why our clothing isn’t clean anymore and our plumbing is getting plugged-up. (He also has some very negative things to say about low-flush toilets adding to our plumbing problems.) Tucker furthers states that TSP “is a natural element discovered in the 16th century, is amazing not because it cleans — it needs soap to do its thing — but rather because it rinses, whooshing away all dirt, oil, stains, as well as leftover detergent.”

After three months, our laundry isn’t “whiter than white” but it is cleaner. The laundry does smell fresher. The best part is our plumbing is working better! Every few months, Shaen has to clean the filter in the septic field. This is a very nasty job. He has noticed that the filter is clean and not full of what he calls grease biscuits. The earthworms that live in the septic tank are doing extremely well so the TSP isn’t hurting them! Because we use a septic field the lakes of the world are safe from my selfish use of TSP.

Wicked Laundry Soap
2 parts soap, ground into very small pieces
1 part washing soda powder
1 part borax powder
1 part trisodium phosphate (TSP)
Cut the bars of soap into small pieces. In a food processor, grind the soap into small pieces. If the bar soap is sticky, add some washing soda to the food processor. This will help grind the soap into smaller pieces. In a reused detergent pail, mix the soap, washing soda, borax and TSP. If you have very dirty or greasy clothing add more TSP to that load. If you are having trouble finding TSP, it’s in the paint section of the hardware store.

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Cut the bars of soap into small pieces. In a food processor, grind the soap into small pieces. This time, I used a combination of Jenson’s hand soap and Fels Naptha soap.

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Grind the soap into very small pieces. If the soap is sticky add some washing soda.

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Store the laundry soap in a reused detergent pail. Add more TSP to laundry loads that are particularly dirty or greasy. You can find TSP in the paint section of the hardware store.

In closing, Tucker has a bleak view about government interference into our private households: “This is the whole trajectory of life under government control… And this isn’t just about clean clothes. It applies to every regulation, every tax, every expenditure, every stupid war and every monetary manipulation. Everything government does comes at our expense, and the cost are both seen and unseen.”

If you would like to learn more techniques for getting government out of your household please see Bourbon for Breakfast: Living Outside the Statist Quo. I may not agree with all of Tucker’s lifestyle choices but we do agree that people need liberty, not government legislation. As Murray Rothbard once said: “Libertarianism does not offer a way of life; it offers liberty, so that each person is free to adopt and act upon his own values and moral principles. Libertarians agree with Lord Acton that ?liberty is the highest political end? ? not necessarily the highest end on everyone?s personal scale of values.”

For more recipes please see Healthy Household: Staying Clean Safely and Saving Money.