Cold and Sore Throat Remedies

I have been battling a cold for the past week, which began with a sore throat, and keeps progressively getting worse.  I hoped it would run its course, but it isn't going away so I have now stepped up my remedies. 

The main one I take is:

2 T Raw Honey

1/4 - 1/2 t Cayenne Pepper

2 - 4 Cloves Garlic

Mix and take at least 1/8 t every half hour till gone.  

Now, I go ahead and use the most you can, but some might have trouble with that much cayenne, it really isn't that bad, but you may need to get used to it.    

UPDATE: I started getting blisters on the side of my mouth, evidently from the cayenne burning, so I went back to 1/4 t.

I didn't start this when I began to get sick, and I should have, but when I got worse I mixed up a batch and downed it 2 days in a row.  I still sniffle a bit, and have a cough early morning trying to get rid of the "gunk" from overnight, but then I am better.  Going to do it again today just to give another kick outta here. :) 

Julia had me fix her some so she doesn't get it.

I have a friend who takes this at the beginning of every month for prevention and she has not been sick in years.

My dear friend Charleen told me to take
1 T each of
coconut oil
apple cider vinegar
raw honey
lemon juice
and mix with some orange juice
for overall health every morning.

Coconut oil is good for many things, the ACV is good for a multitude of symptoms, go here for the recipe she uses (the link is for a recipe for colds and sore throats as well).
ACV is a cleanser along with the lemon juice, and honey is an antibiotic.  So, you just can't go wrong with this concoction, as I call them.
I tried the recipe from the link I gave you above and it is ok, but it had a 1/2 t cinnamon in it which is great for you, but my stomach cannot tolerate that much cinnamon, (but I also took it all at once instead of overtime) so I will probably stick to my other concoction for colds.
Here is another link to a different recipe.  I tried it as well, but just didn't like it so liquidy.  The main difference is ginger.  So, I am going to just add 1/4 t ginger to my first remedy above, because ginger is great for our health.

Hope you are enjoying learning how to naturally take care of our health.  God gave us many good foods and herbs to help us get over being sick, or simply to help prevent us from getting sick.

Research and find what works best for you and yours and send me a comment on what you use for your family to keep them well.

Remember, we are to "look well to our households."

Always Experiencing Him,
Jody

Homemade Deodorant and Toothpaste

Hello again! Glad to have you drop by again, so good to "see" you!  Wish we could talk face to face but for now, this'll have to do...

I added a bit on the shampoo and conditioner post, so you'll have to check it out again...just go here...

This was actually the 1st natural homemade product we made and we were hooked.  Homemade Deodorant may not sound very appealing to you and I was hesitant at first, but, ok this may be too personal, but I had a real issue with deodorants...They simply did NOT work, or not for very long, even the so-called "natural" ones like Tom's, they did NOT work.  I tried all, the cheap, the expensive, the natural, the chemicals, and whenever we would go anywhere I would take it with me and reapply all the time.  There must have been a bad reaction between my body and the chemicals but whatever it was it was BAD.  So, I was willing to try something new.  Oh wow!  It works, I don't like or trust people's "advertising," like I am doing right now, but let me tell you...IT WORKS!!!  I have even went a day without any, and believe me I have checked and sniffed and checked and sniffed before I wanted to tell you it works!  You know what may be better than that for some of you is that it is cheap!  But for me, it was that I did not STINK!  Almost NO body odor, really amazing!

UPDATE: my sister said she couldn't believe I was this personal, BUT, I wanted to be completely honest and for you to KNOW I tried and approved this recipe and had great results. :)

OK, enough of my advertising and enough of my personal-ness, here's the recipe:

Natural, Homemade Deodorant

Equal amounts of Baking Soda and Arrowroot Powder

Enough Coconut Oil to mix and that's it.

The actual recipe I found here is:

5-6 T Coconut Oil

1/4 C Baking Soda

1/4 C Arrowroot Powder or Cornstarch

These are her exact instructions:

Combine equal portions of baking soda & arrowroot powder. Then slowly add coconut oil and work it in with a spoon until it maintains the substance you desire. It should be about the same texture as the store bought kind, solid but able to be applied easily. You can either scoop this into your old dispensers or place in a small container with lid and apply with fingers with each use. After applying the product, you can just rub the remains into your hands as a lotion! This recipe lasts about 3 months for two people with regular daily use.

From personal experience, you have to just play around with how much oil you want or need.  If you don't have enough it is more difficult to apply or stay on but if you have too much it is oily and you will need to wait for it to dry a bit.

UPDATE: We simply add enough oil to mix well, and depending on where you are, my sis is in AZ, you may need to use less, that's why it is easiest to just "add to mix."

You can also add essential oils for fragrance if you desire, we have before, but not all the time.

I tried putting it in an old deodorant container and it was really dry so it cracked and fell off as I applied it but it also had enough oil where it still leaked from the bottom of the container.  I took it out, added more oil and put it back in a jar, yes, to apply with my fingers.  I have seen where they will use beeswax and that might be the key ingredient for using it in the sticks.  I will say my dear sweet hubby hasn't quite been sold as I have, not until it can go in something to apply...I think I can understand why...

I can't say how much I LOVE this deodorant and will NEVER EVER go back unless...I don't know why.  We put it in small jars, pimento jars or baby food jars.  Just remember baby food jars don't seem to seal well so if you are traveling keep that in mind. 

Sarah was traveling the past couple of weeks and we sent all of our homemade products with her, we just made sure they sealed well.  In AZ the coconut oil in the products was liquid, here in TN they are solids.

For our toothpaste, we first began with a recipe from Shoshanna at Bulk Herb Store using Bentonite Clay.  There are many benefits to bentonite clay but for now we just stick to a facial mask of the clay and water.  LOVE it!  We order different things from her and try to use her wisdom in the area of herbs.  We, or I, finished using the toothpaste, because it kind of looked like mud so others in our family found it gross.  It had cinnamon and other ingredients so it tasted ok, just looked...well, like mud.

So, we found another recipe on Jillee's blog, she's great, and have been using it, everyone.  This link also has many different benefits of the uses of coconut oil, so check it out.  We use it exclusively.
This is her recipe here exactly then I'll tell you what we do differently.

3 Tbsp coconut oil
3 Tbsp baking soda
25 drops peppermint essential oil
1 packet stevia
2 tsp vegetable glycerin (optional)

Put the coconut oil and baking soda in a bowl and mash up with a fork until blended. Add the peppermint essential oil, stevia and optional vegetable glycerin and continue to mash and stir until you’ve reached toothpaste consistency.

I used xylitol the 1st time, but we really didn't think we needed an extra sweetener so we haven't used it since, and the glycerin is a natural sweetener so we just use it.  Again, we put it in a small jar or even a used Altoids tin, just make sure you don't fill above the hinges or the coconut oil can leak if it is warm.  We found some little wooden spatulas or spoons and use that to get it out of the jar to put on the toothbrush.
The girls had used bought toothpaste sometime later and found it was really gross and tasted
chemically so they are certainly sold on it.  The peppermint essential oil makes it taste great.

UPDATE: We simply use baking soda, enough coconut oil to mix, and a few drops of peppermint oil, and you don't even need that.  My dentist gave me the OK for this, and he is a perfectionist and my 1st cousin, so when he said "OK," that was wonderful.  He did say when children are young, they need fluoride, but not at our children's ages.  He also said putting baking soda in a dish and just dipping your toothbrush in it to brush is the best thing for your teeth and gums.

Julia has had surgery to graft skin to her gums because of receding gums, and she has noticed a great difference since using the baking soda and coconut oil.

We also use hydrogen peroxide to swish for the whitener, and he said that is a main ingredient in their whiteners they use, and it is perfectly safe.  The lemon juice that some use will take the enamel off your teeth because of the acid it has, so not a good idea.  HP is safe, yay!

*I just noticed I do not have the glycerin in the picture, but we do use it.*  NOT NOW...

Hope you enjoy learning about living a healthier lifestyle; we are striving for a healthier home.  Let me know what you try and what you think.

There are other recipes you can find, these are just what has worked well for us and we are really enjoying experimenting and NOT having to buy all those chemicals.

Check back for more of our homemade products...and if you missed the 1st, just go here and read about our shampoo and conditioner experience.

Thanks for all your encouragement and your comments, we love hearing from you!

Always Experiencing Him,
Jody

Looking Well to Our Households

Our family is making most of our cleaning and health and beauty products, and we want to share with you how we do it, and what has worked for us.  I have found the recipes from different websites or from friends, and will share that as well.  We believe it is safer without all the extra chemicals we cannot even pronounce and in most cases significantly cheaper on the wallet.  We buy absolutely NO shampoo, conditioner, soap, deodorant, toothpaste, lotions, makeup remover pads or astringents, toilet bowl cleaner, all purpose cleaner, tub and tile scum cleaner, laundry detergent, and that just about covers it.  

The shampoo we use has only 2 ingredients plus water. 

Here is the disclaimer, it will take your hair a few weeks to get use to the new products with no chemicals.  Depending on the length of your hair it can take much longer.  Your hair will go through a detox process to rid itself of the chemicals and replace with your natural oils and the closing of the hair cuticles. 2 of my girls and my hair is long so it took us much longer than others I knew who had shorter hair.  But, if you still really scrub and wash thoroughly, it will still look clean, it just may not feel as clean until it finishes the detox process.  We almost gave up but now do NOT want to go back to anything store bought for fear of having to go back through that process all over again!  

The most expensive ingredient is the castile soap, and we had only found Dr. Bronner's, until now.  We order from swansonvitamins.com and found another brand by Dr. Woods, and it is much cheaper than Bronner's.  We have not tried it but it should be fine; we will let you know how it goes. 

The recipe calls for small amounts so I will give that and then how we make it for our family of 6.

Castile Shampoo Recipe:                      Our amounts:

1/4 C. water                                               4 Cups

1/4 C. liquid Castile soap                       4 Cups

1/2 t. oil (jojoba, olive, grapeseed)      8 teaspoons

Mix and pour into plastic or glass containers.

We pour ours into good spray bottles and the leftover into quart jars, then send one bottle upstairs and one in my bath.  Spray good, massage, and scrub in, then rinse.  Lathers well, and you may have to play to see how much you need, you may need to spray more or less; just experiment.

That's it!  Really simple!  It is mostly diluting the castile soap and adding an oil.  We use jojoba oil because we read it is good for your hair.  We haven't always used it, we have used olive oil, but I like jojoba better.  This is the recipe that has worked best for our hair.  

Now, for the conditioner:
Apple Cider Vinegar and water, yep, that's it!

1 T. ACV to 1 C. water

We like to put it in the ketchup and mustard squeeze bottles that you see here; that seems to work much better than spraying for some reason, and again you will have to experiment to see how much to use.  Everyone's hair is different.

Now, for the part you may really find weird...After you make it through the entire detox process, you may not have to shampoo every time.  I know, really?  Yes, really.  The cuticles in your hair will be closed, it is even harder to get your hair wet, it just won't soak up the water or anything for that matter.  It dries so much faster as well.  

Some people go with the "no-poo" method, and I can't quite go there the whole way, but my daughters are doing this between washing with our homemade shampoo.  It is simply a mixture of 1 T. Baking Soda, and 1 Cup of water.  Put in the same type squeeze bottle as the ACV Rinse is in and scrub in and rinse.  I will say sometimes they only wash with water, yes clean, pure water, well as pure as our city water can be, yes we have icky city water, nasty stuff.  Wish our well hadn't begun drying up, but oh well.  Anyways, go here to see others who go "no-poo."

Here's a couple other sites, here and here to check out.

Now you have homemade shampoo and conditioner; go have fun in making your home free of icky chemicals. 

One website on making homemade products is here.  Check it out.  I can't remember the others right now.  When I do, I'll let you know.

Being a keeper of the home and creating a safer environment for your family is wonderful!  We get to use our gifts and abilities God has given us in making our homes better.

"She looks well to the ways of her household, 

And does not eat the bread of idleness." 

Proverbs 31:27

Always Experiencing Him,

Jody