Category: Natural Recipes & Remedies

Yesterday morning, I went to the store and purchased nine pounds of carrots.

I went home and juiced the above drink. My daughter was my tester for the garlic. She said, that she could not taste the ginger, but the did think it was spicy because of the ginger. If ginger or garlic doesn’t appeal to you, don’t add it to your juice. I tend to add a lot of garlic to the juices I make for myself (much more than I added in this drink) because of it’s amazing benefits and its also a natural boost to the immune system.

• Carrots – 3 pounds
• Pineapples – 1
• Oranges – 5
• Ginger – 1/2 inch
• Garlic – 2 cloves

Throughout the day, my daughter and I drank the juice and before we knew it, it was gone!

I saved the pulp and today I will use it to make fruit cookies. I’ll be sure to post the finished cookies.

 

 

One of the first things I notice about a person is their skin. I observe everything.

Dating someone with bad skin? No… not happening!

I’ll be the first to admit, I’m not going to pursue a relationship with someone that has bad skin. Superficial much? And that’s so unlike me, but bad skin rates high on my ick factor.

I’m super picky when it comes to who I will spend time with, so the list of who I’d date is very slim. My list is focused on the personality and not appearance. By the way, I have not dated anyone in years. Now that I think about it, when it comes to dating, that’s about the only superficial turn off (bad skin) that I do have! If your skin looks bad, there is no way you are bringing your face anywhere near me. Why? The thought of having close contact with someone that has bad skin (large pores, oily skin, blackheads) really grosses me out. Gag! Sorry, but it’s true.

 

With that being said, you know I’m in awe of men that actually take good care of themselves. In westernized culture, it still (seemingly) something to ridicule or (if you’re doing something) not to admit that you are taking care of your skin. However, I have met a few who do. In my early thirties, I dated a man that did take care of his skin and had various products to prove that fact. A very masculine guy, nothing “effeminate” about him, but he loved taking care of himself and his skin. I liked that too. Then there’s my friend that I’ve known for over twenty years. He has amazing skin. His secret is he eats healthy and pays attention to his skin. Imagine that! The guy in this picture, looks like my friend. Clearly both of the two men I know are ignoring the Men’s Guide to Not Caring a Skin Care Regimen.

No, I’m not dating anyone and I’m not sure what has me thinking about this topic, unless it’s the fact that I’m thinking about myself and the effort I do make to have healthy and vibrant skin. I accomplish this by making healthy food choices, proper skin care, hydration, staying properly moisturized, etc.,  to ensure that I present my best face. I don’t do it for others, I do it for me. 🙂

You want to know something? I’ve noticed when I’ve cleansed, at times, that one of the first signs that toxins are vacating my body is the appearance they make on my skin. I’d get it right in the T-zone area. Sighs… thankfully, it does not last too long, but the darkening is something I could live without. I have found that lemon juice, herbal brews, clays and various other similar items have been extremely helpful in getting my skin back on track.

 

Stocking up on natural clays

The past few days, I replenished my dwindling supply of natural clay and over the next few weeks, I’ll be sure to post about them. One of my favorites to use is a french red clay. Oh, how I love using this on my skin. It tightens your pores, draws out toxins, helps even dark spots, and a whole host of other benefits.

But it does not stop there… over the past few years, I’ve finally gotten used to the idea of using something a bit more expensive to aid me in keeping my skin the way I like. I’m getting older after all. I want to reduce the age spots, wrinkles and sagging. Remember when I talked about my purchase of the Olay Pro-X Microdermabrasion Plus Advanced Cleansing System? I really like it a lot, until it stopped working about six months ago. I’m thinking I received a dud, since judging from the reviews, most were still going strong with theirs. I tried different batteries, but I might try another brand to see if that takes care of the issue. I really loved that little device.

 

A few days ago, I ordered the Clairsonic Skin Care Mia 2. This one is marketed for acne. That is something I rarely got, even as a teenager, so that’s not why I made the purchase. I like the wider brush that is found on this device. It similar to the one I had, but it has a charge, which means I won’t need batteries! Hooray, based on the reviews I should enjoy this device. I can’t wait to try it out!

 

I also ordered the High Frequency D’arsonval Professional Grade Device with Argon Electrodes. With the D’arconval, it means I’ll have to spend a few minutes on my face daily. I’m really not thrilled about that, but if it assists me in my skin care routine (which is very simple) I’m all for that.

Wow, has this weekend has been challenging!

5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.
Proverbs 3:5-6 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

Whew… if I was a weepy person I’d have been in tears most of this weekend, but I’m not. Praying (and reading the Bible) are things I do daily, not just when I need something, so that has been helpful. Also, about thirty minutes ago I had some brief me time. What did I do? I made a sugar scrub for my skin!

I’ve posted sugar scrub recipes on some of my other sites years ago (2003). I first posted about them (on this site) way back in 2010; July 13, 2010 would be the exact date. So… click on the above link if you want to know some of the benefits of scrubs.  Here’s the recipe for the sugar scrub I made a few moments ago…

Sugar & honey scrub

• 2 tbsp granulated sugar
• 1 tsp honey
• 1 drop of lavender essential oil

Directions

1. Mix all ingredients in a bowl
2. Massage gently onto skin
3. Let the sugar scrub remain on skin for 3-5 minutes
4. Rinse off
5. Enjoy your softly scented skin

And now, I’ll copy/paste what I wrote on that first sugar scrub post in 2010…

Be kind to your skin! If you exfoliate too hard or too often you can leave your skin raw or cause skin irritation.

Skin Patch Test

If you’re trying a new product on your skin I always do a patch test. I choose an area on my skin that isn’t noticeable. I apply the product and then wait 48 hours. If I don’t have a reaction I’ll use the product. I cannot think of the last time I’ve had a reaction to my natural skin care products, however just because a product is natural doesn’t mean you can’t have a negative reaction.

If you haven’t tried sugar scrubs, give them a try. They can be amazing and a perfect pick me up!

Reading is one of my favorite past times. It’s the first thing I do in the morning and the last thing I do in the evening. I enjoy reading about whatever interests myself, since it’s a way to keep my mind active and further my knowledge at the same time.

If you were to look at my bookshelves. I have three that are over six feet tall. You’d find them loaded with a variety of books, but most are focused on nutrition and natural healing.

During my recent juice/raw food only cleanse I’ve purchased numerous books on nutrition. I hunted about and got them for very good prices. A few books, like The 80/10/10 Diet, I’d had at one point but passed it on to someone who would benefit from the valuable information on nutrition. I do enjoy Douglas Graham’s writing style and during my juice/raw food only cleanse I will say I have been leaning towards eating more fruit than vegetables. Which is a bit odd for me, since I love my dark veggie juice drinks. But fruit juice is what my body has been craving/needing and so I’ve listened to my body and boy have a seen results by simply listening to my body! In his books he also makes some great points why consuming too much plant fats might not be a good thing.

Others books like The Gerson Therapy: The Proven Nutritional Program for Cancer and Other Illnesses are books that are new to me. The treatment used, Gerson Therapy, isn’t new, just the book itself. Healing cancer patients through juicing, enemas and making healthy food choices isn’t new. I realized the amazing things that can be done when focused on consuming freshly juiced liquids and highly nutritious foods. In fact, I’d read about Max Gerson and his methods for healing cancer patients and those with other ailments, several years ago. I will say, that the Gerson Therapy book has been something I’ve wanted to read for quite some time and finally I can say I’ve completed the book. I will have to say some of the methods used within the book I’ve incorporated into my own juice cleanse/raw foods only fast for Lent.

The Juice Lady’s Guide To Juicing for Health: Unleashing the Healing Power of Whole Fruits and Vegetables is my type of book. While I enjoy preparing meals that are delicious, I select my foods that I add to a meal or juice because of the nutritional value that they can add to what I consume.  Cherie Calbolm’s book not only has juicing recipes but it also lists the benefits of the produce that is used. Although I’m familiar with many of the health benefits listed, I purchased this book anyway because it’s nice to see an author go into detail about the nutritional value of the various produce that is used.

The Detox Miracle Sourcebook: Raw Food and Herbs for Complete Cellular Regeneration by Dr. Robert Morse, is new to myself. I stumbled upon one of his YouTube videos a few weeks ago. Since my discovery, I’ve seen many of his videos. I read the book in about two days and must say that I’m extremely impressed with his knowledge about health and how the various foods we eat interact together.

Fruit sugars and candida

It was interesting listening to his explanation about fungal infections and some of the misconceptions about candida. For example all sugars being bad, even fruit. Or the fact that you must avoid all sugar (including fruits) to eliminate parasites. Say what? There are nutrients within fruit that are very helpful to ward off candida or parasites. So yes… I always found this blanket statement a bit strange, especially with the results I was seeing when I decided to introduce juicing fruits only into my candida plan. Instead of making the candida go haywire it was seeming to help, hmmm… But I’m just one person you know, the results might vary depending upon the person. Well… after more research I found others using fruit, just like myself in their fight against candida. So of course what Dr. Morse said made sense. I had first hand experience and I agree with him. Raw fruits can be good, but processed sugars aren’t when fighting candida.

The above comment is what I’d made after watching his first video.

Parasite Rex: Inside the Bizarre World of Nature’s Most Dangerous Creatures is a book that is new to myself, although I’ve known about intestinal parasites and how common they really are for several years. Many people are plagued with intestinal parasites, yes that includes those living within westernized/developed cultures. As a child it never made sense that animals  were capable of receiving parasites but humans in ‘developed’ countries weren’t. That’s the lie I’d heard for several years and it simply didn’t make sense and so as with anything else I did my own research. Not surprisingly, I discovered that my suspicions were correct and yes even folks in civilized countries can get parasites, in fact many of us do have them. Burrowing my head in the sand won’t change that fact. Parasites can be found in meat, produce, they can be airborne, injected via pests. So yes… meat eaters and vegetarians/vegans have them.  I’ve actually met veggies that parrot the lie that vegetarians/vegans can’t get parasites because parasites are only present on meat.

Over the years, I’ve done several of my own parasite cleanses. In fact, you could say the foods I regularly consume are designed to turn off intestinal parasites. Flour, fried foods, processed foods, foods high in fat, processed sugar are all acidic and loved by parasites. They are foods I don’t consume and seem to be the type of environment where parasites thrive. The foods I consume are alkaline, dark leafy greens, celery, cucumbers, grapefruit, apples, pinapples… you know whole foods. I’ve always found parasites to be quite fascinating and quite intelligent in they way they can survive, produce and adapt to their environment.

More books on the way

I do have a few books that I’ll be receiving later this week and I’ll be sure to read them when I have some down time this weekend.

The past few days have been a bit uncomfortable.

I mentioned earlier that most of my candida symptoms had  been eliminated. And while the symptoms seemed to be gone, I didn’t think I was candida free.

Well… a few days ago, some of the symptoms I experienced while  candida was very active resurfaced.  Itching and stomach bloating was the main ones I experienced. I’ve heard this being described as “Candida die-off.” Which basically is when many candida cells are destroyed in a short period of time.

I wasn’t too concerned since this is one of the many list of symptoms that can occur as the candida is being eliminated. As you can see (from the list I’ve included below) there are other symptoms one might experience also.

Candida die off symptoms

• Bloating, gas, constipation or diarrhea
• Chills, cold feeling in your extremities
• Elevated heart rate
• Headache, fatigue, dizziness
• Increased joint or muscle pain
• Nausea
• Swollen glands

Lovely right?

 

 

What’s interesting is some of the candida die-off symptoms are exactly what you experience when candida is out of control. When I inspected what came out, I saw a lot of what looked like candida. That’s another reason I like enemas. It eliminates the yeast as quickly as your body releases it into your colon. Even for a skeptic such as myself that made sense. The few times I’ve been nauseous, I felt much better after vomiting since the bad stuff came out.  Better out than in, right? After the enema the itching and bloating went away until more were released into the colon near my bedtime. Another enema eliminated those symptoms. That’s even better.

I increased my enemas to twice daily until the itching stopped. I’m imagining the candida die-off symptoms were brought on by the combination of garlic enemas and apple cider vinegar enemas I’ve been using. I imagine I’ll have additional die off symptoms, when that happens I’ll just use enemas to flush the candida out of my colon.

Candida feedback from others

Over the past several weeks, I’ve received a few emails from others who suffered from candida. They both thought enemas were a bit out there, but after reading what I wrote about them they decided to try them out. And just like myself, the itching and bloating they experienced has subsided.  It’s always nice to hear feedback from others and it’s nice that they ‘re open to trying methods that aren’t commonly practiced here in the United States.

 

Resources:

1. Restoration of Immunologic Competence to Candida Albicans
2. Candida Die-Off: Symptoms And Treatment
3. Yeast Die-Off: The HerxHeimer Reaction

 

I forgot to post the recipe I use for my Neem garden spray. I use my spray in the early morning or after 6:00 p.m. by that time most of the beneficial insects have stopped foraging and I don’t have to worry about dousing them with my spray. It’s a natural way to gradually remove unwanted pests from your garden.

 

All Natural Neem Spray

2 tbsp Neem Oil
2 tbsp liquid/grated castille soap
2 gallons of water

Neem Tree bearing fruit

How to Blend Neem

Neem is extremely hydrophobic (very hard to mix with water). You could use a high powered blender, but I’ve found that the neem/water blend will eventually separate. You need to kick it up a notch.

Off topic, but I do mix my water based essential oil blends in my Vitamix before adding to a spray bottle.

You’ll need some chemical assistance, and that’s where using real soap (not detergent) is effective. I use homemade castille soap, however if you aren’t interested in making your own, you can purchase it online or at health food stores.
Real soap works by breaking up oily masses and polarizing the droplets so they don’t cling together. Which makes it perfect for this formula. Another benefit to soap is that the fatty acids found within soap tear away the insects natural coating. This causes them to dehydrate.

 

How does Neem oil work?

Neem oil doesn’t kill garden pests outright. The insect has to eat the plant treated with neem. After it’s consumed the plant material then the properties found within neem starts to take effect.

Neem works through hormonal disruption. If you do one treatment you won’t see results, it takes time for the insect to stop laying eggs and for their digestive system to break down. It is not a broad spectrum poison, however it is extremely effective. I apply my neem solution every four days for a total of six applications. Afterwards I will drop down to once every seven days or after it rains.

The brand of neem oil that I use is Dyna-Grow, I like it a lot and have been using this brand for seven years.

My sprayer of choice, it my recently purchased Stanley Lawn & Garden sprayer. I wrote about my Stanley sprayer a few weeks ago. It’s made of steel. I love it, before I’d been using my trusty plastic sprayer that held one gallon. We have about an acre of garden, spraying all the plants takes one or (sometimes two) refills.