Category: Healthy Living

I’m not a coffee drinker…

But I regularly use coffee enemas.

I’ve found the benefits from them to be well worth the coffee bean purchase.

I do like natural remedies, but like anything else, I’ll research (and in some cases) try them out before making a decision. I don’t blindly believe something works, just because it’s ‘natural’.

But coffee enemas had some validity since it’s been used in Gerson therapy as an alternative way to treat cancer since the 1920’s.

Some of the health claims for coffee enemas are…

• Aids in eliminating toxins from the liver. This seems to be valid, since endoscopic studies do show that coffee enemas does increase bile output.
• Aids in healing the colon and stimulating peristalsis.

The “aids in healing the colon” really caught my attention since I had suffered chronic constipation ever since my appendices ruptured (and was removed) in 1992. After the surgery (even while eating a high fiber diet) it wasn’t uncommon for me to go weeks without having a bowel movement. That definitely wasn’t normal!

I tried herbal laxatives but those weren’t always effective for chronic constipation relief. Also, I had to take way more than the recommended dose to get my bowels to move. If the recommended dose was two I would be taking at least six.  You want to know something?  Within a few weeks after introducing coffee enemas into my natural health routine, I started having normal bowel movements. I don’t take them as often as when I was trying to get my digestive system back on track but just like the garlic enemas,  I take them a few times each month.

I included the above video done by April Goodwin of  I Keep Smiling. I love this women’s positive outlook on life.

Resources:

Scientific Basis of Coffee Enemas

Another great video by April Goodwin on the type of enemas to use.

The type of enema I use is a 4 qt. enema bag. I mainly chose this style because it’s extremely portable.  I can easily fold it up and tuck it away for the next use.  After an enema, it’s sterilized and tucked away until the next time it’s needed.

The store bought solutions are something you should avoid. Here in the United States it’s typically the Fleet type enemas. Not only are they (usually) chemical based they don’t hold a lot of solution.  As Lori mentioned you can find the enema bag at Walgreens, Wal Mart, Target and a variety of other stores. I purchased my enema bag from Amazon, because of it’s size (4qt.) you don’t typically see these in your regular department stores. Knowing this I took my search online so I could purchase something larger than 2qt.  I don’t always use 4 qts with my enemas, but it’s there if I do want to make a larger enema solution.

I guess one slight annoyance for myself, is that some people assume that those who use enemas do it for sexual reasons and that’s not the case with me or many others that use them.  But that’s not something I dwell on, you know? Enemas are something that I was introduced to as a young child. Seeing the  amazing benefits, from a health standpoint, naturally I kept using them as an adult.

More recently, I saw the amazing benefits that enemas had with candida overgrowth. I was thrilled with how successful it was in that area. Not only is it used for people like myself who just need it for general maintenance or one of my  occasional flare-ups (candida), some people battling serious diseases like cancer, have successfully healed themselves by using ‘Gerson Therapy’ which involved daily enemas and other treatments to heal themselves of cancer.

Resources:

1. Mercola: Beautiful Truth About Outlawed Cancer Treatments
2. National Cancer Institute: Questions and answers about Gerson Therapy
3. Cancer.org; Cancer Therapy

A few months ago, I stumbled upon this video about garlic enemas which I thought fit perfectly for my cleansing routine.

I really liked Lori Goodwin’s video and her positive upbeat personality (along with her knowledge about a variety of topics that interest me)  had me watching more on enemas that she uses at home and her clinic. She also talks about other natural healing topics.

I liked the name of her site I Keep Smiling, what a positive statement, right? I could identify with this message, since I always smile too. It sure beats frowning. The positive message reminds me of my own sites name, Celebrate Life.

But back to garlic enemas…

I remember specifically searching for information about garlic enemas since I know the amazing benefits it has; antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal… knowing the positive effects I’ve had consuming it raw, I was curious to see what people’s experiences with garlic enemas. I use a 4qt. enema bag, it looks a lot like the one featured above, except mine is blue and it also has a metal hook (instead of plastic) to hang the bag.

I get a bit graphic about the effects of the enema after the break, so only click on Get the Whole Story, if you want to read about that.

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This past weekend my ten year old daughter and I had a lot of fun creating delicious meals within our kitchen.

A few days before, I’d told her stories about how my mother (her grandmother) had my brother and me help her make sausage and  stuff the sausage casings. Initially it was fun, but after a few hours of stuffing sausage we had enough. 😉

My daughter was so fascinated with my sausage making stories, that I told her we could make some so she could sample. I’ve made it before, but I didn’t tell her it was homemade. Saturday morning, we didn’t have too much planned so I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to introduce her to the  awesomeness of homemade sausage.

My daughter loves helping in the kitchen and it’s yet another way we spend hanging out together. We truly enjoy each others company.

I gave her the task of grinding up herbs and spices; sage fresh from the garden, sea salt, peppercorns and habanero pepper.  These were all added to our granite mortar and she dutifully ground everything into a fine powder using the pestle.

Tok, tok tok… is the sound the pestle makes as it grinds the ingredients within the mortar. We like that sound.

Once everything had been ground… I had her mix the freshly ground spices/herbs with ground pork. To truly make everything homemade, we’d have ground the pork too. But that would mean I’d have to pull out the manual meat grinder and I’d have had to purchase regular pork.  We used pre-ground pork but perhaps next time I’ll show her how to manually grind pork?

Now that the sausage prep was complete, the only thing left was to cook the sausage! I had her prepare them, while I made pesto.

My daughter loved the homemade sausage and declared that she doesn’t want to eat store purchased sausage again. She said, “Mommy, the store bought sausage doesn’t taste as great as what we make at home!”

I have made homemade sausage before and it’s never lasted long! Perhaps the next time we prepare sausage, I’ll purchase sausage casings so we can stuff the sausage.

I’m guessing my photo of pesto should have had it’s own post. There were so many herbs/spices that went into this dish. The aroma filled the room while I crushed the dry herbs and spices together. Once all the dry ingredients were ground into a fine powder. I added the ‘wet ingredients’ to the mortar, and my pestle  went to work again. The pesto was used as a topping for zucchini pasta and it was delicious!

I’m loving my new three cup granite mortar and pestle it’s perfect for preparing items for a small household. It’s my ‘manual food processor’.

Since it’s arrived, I had to say I’ve used it almost every day. Yes, I love it that much. Besides it being made from granite, it’s size is another reason I adore it so much. It’s not a wimpy mortar that only hold a small amount. It holds three cups! And since it’s made of granite, it has some heft to it, weighing a bit over 15 pounds.

It’s a handy kitchen tool that doesn’t require electricity to use, just human power. I’m loving that.  It also doubles as a primitive display piece and is proudly showcased on our marble center island. Truth is, I use my mortar and pestle even more than my electric spice grinder.

You’d think I’d be satisfied with my three cup mortar and pestle, and for the most part I am… but there are times when I do grind a large amount of herbs/spices in bulk to make various dishes such as homemade mayonnaise, mustard, pesto, etc.,. After a bit of searching, I was thrilled to learn that the same company that  makes my three cup mortar and pestle also makes an larger version! It holds about six cups. It’s also made from granite and weighs about 24 pounds!

For those who truly want to be over the top, they even make a mortar and pestle that weighs over 70 pounds and holds 12 cups! I don’t have use for something that size, but I’d bet it make a nice conversation piece. I could see myself filling it with vegetables and fruit fresh from the garden. Of course… I’m not purchasing that one, it’s much too big for my simple kitchen duties. I’ll be perfectly happy with the added six cup granite mortar and pestle.