Natural Prevention and Relief from Winter Crud

I hope this blog post finds you in good health.  Unfortunately, this is the time of year when many are succumbing to the viruses that invade entire communities.   There are some things you can do to find relief while you fight communicable illnesses like the common cold or flu.

An ounce of prevention . . .

There are signs posted in every medical facility reminding patients to cover their coughs, wash hands, etc., etc.  What about the people who aren't sick?  What can be done to prevent "catching" the crud?  

Coconut oil is anti-microbial and anti-viral.  Try taking it internally to attack viruses that make it into your GI tract.  Put some on a Q-tip and swab the inside of your nose, liberally, to put an anti-viral coating where viruses find easy entrance into the body.  Not only does it prevent illness, but it also soothes dry nasal passages during the heating months of the year.  Finally, use coconut oil to moisturize your skin . . . and provide another layer of anti-viral protection.  Those little viruses are pretty clever and can find their way into your body from every angle.

Eat raw garlic.  Take 1-2 cloves of minced garlic in a small amount of water.  If you like the experience of something hot, then chew your clove of garlic.  Now that will clear your sinuses!  Raw garlic is anti-fungal and anti-bacterial.  It packs a punch and will curb many oncoming illnesses.  Bonus point: raw garlic is at the top of the list of cancer fighting foods.

Eat a plate full of raw green salad everyday.  It's full of antioxidants, friendly bacteria, vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients that boost your body's immune system.  You can't fight the crud if your body is starved of good nutrition.

Don't eat sugar.  It makes the gut acidic which reduces healthy gut flora and results in lowered immunity.  You lose ground in fighting off germs when you eat sugar - weakening your body for up to 6 hours after consumption.

  

When you feel it coming on . . .   

Take vitamin C.  This sounds rather cliche, but there is evidence that, when the dosage is correct for you, illness can be completely avoided.  The trick is to take doses every 30 minutes until bowel tolerance is achieved.    This website - chrisbeatcancer.com - has a well written article on how to use vitamin C to treat illness from the common cold to cancer and more.  Click here to see Chris Wark's article.  He includes a chart that identifies the proper dosage for each illness that will respond to vitamin C.  Check it out!

When you are hanging on by a thread . . .

Some people may feel that it's just too late and there seems little to do but give in and be sick. 

 I still think it is worth doing the vitamin C thing.

  

The quality of nutrition is important, too.  Avoiding sugar is paramount! 

Try some home remedies for relief . . .

White Pine needle tea could help, especially with upper respiratory flu.  I posted on this last year, so if you are interested click here.

Another remedy, told to me by a friend with native American heritage, is mullein tea.  I always called this plant "nature's toilet paper" because it has soft leaves and grows in abundance in my part of the country.  The leaves have some powerful herbal benefits.  Five leaves can be steeped in boiling water for 5-10 minutes.  It tastes like green tea.  The benefits are quite numerous: anti-nausea, anti-diarrhea, and expectorant to name the most important.  Of course, the plants are under a few feet of snow this time of year, but if you plan ahead and harvest leaves during the summer, you can dry them and have them ready for such an unfortunate event as the flu.  If you want mullein leaf, it is available online at  Mountain Rose Herbs.

Steaming with a few drops of camphor essential oils can relieve sinus pressure and soothe a nagging cough.  Boil some water and pour it into a wide and shallow pan or bowl.  Drop any, a combination or all of the following into the water: peppermint oil, rosemary oil, thyme oil, cinnamon oil.  Be ready with a towel over your head to take in the first vapors as soon as you drop them in.  You will have to lift your head and take a break from time to time.  These essential oils not only provide a soothing camphor but also benefit in being anti-inflammatory to help with swollen sinus passages.

May God bless you and give you health!

Link up to some "Healthy Holiday Gift Ideas"

Here's a great list of ideas for the Christmas season.  Chris Wark has posted a list on his website that you should check out!  You should even check it out for yourself.  There are some great products highlighted to offer health benefits to you and your family - like the Berkey water filtration system that provides purified water for people who have fluoride, chlorine or arsenic in their water.  Here is a great video from Chris that covers the Berkey and why you HAVE to get that fluoride out of your water! (Fluoride destroys the pineal gland and the thyroid!)

Here's the link!  2013 Healthy Holidays Gift Ideas from Chrisbeatcancer.com

Happy Shopping on black Friday!

A Very Different Thanksgiving - Eating Plant Based

Mashed Potatoes with Rich Brown Gravy

Maple roasted Brussels sprouts - recipe below

Oat Burgers tweaked with poultry seasonings

Salad: Romaine, spinach, avocado, tomato topped with Fustini's Black Currant Balsamic

Our pie was so delicious that we had seconds!

 Gluten free crust: ground flax seed, walnut meal, coconut oil and salt (unbaked, refrigerated)

Lemon pie filling: recipe from the back of Ener G Egg Replacer

Just like everyone else, we have leftovers - without the risk of food poisoning.

When my husband started shooting pictures of our Thanksgiving meal for two, I started to feel panicked and ashamed.  I knew that he would post the pictures of our meal online for friends to see.  I was embarrassed and didn't want to think that anyone would judge us for what was on our plate.  It didn't have all the traditional colors or traditional foods that I grew up with and raised my kids to eat for a Thanksgiving feast.  Once I confessed my embarrassment, Adam wanted to spare me of the negative feelings and didn't post the pictures.  It is difficult for him to understand why I feel so ashamed of our food.  After all, the food is absolutely delicious and completely filling.  If I had prepared anything more with this meal, we would not have been able to eat it.  I pondered the reason for my feelings and I can honestly say that I have no idea what is wrong with me.  The only conclusion that I can come up with at this point is that, because we now eat so differently than most people we know, I have a hard time breaking away from wanting to celebrate like everyone else.  It's not that I want to eat what everyone else is eating.  I just want to fit in.  I just want to include myself in the masses of people who celebrate the blessings that God has given us over the last year.

Truthfully, I'm glad that we had this holiday alone together when I could cook the way I always cook and enjoy a meal that did not bother my stomach, give me gas, result in heartburn, make me fatigued, and cause me to gain weight - which would have followed hours of labor in the kitchen.  I started our meal at 11:30am and we sat down to eat an hour later.  Kitchen is cleaned and I am about to brew a cup of decaf organic coffee creamed with home made almond milk. I still have plenty of energy to walk my pets, call a few family members and lots of cognitive power to enjoy the best part of our day - praying together.  Since we live in a world of uncertainty, centering life on God who never changes brings us great peace and fullness of joy.

Maple Roasted Brussels sprouts

1 pound sprouts

1 Tablespoon grape seed oil

1/4 cup maple syrup

1/8 tsp or less cayenne pepper

1 tsp garlic powder

salt

In a bowl, drizzle washed Brussels sprouts with maple syrup and oil.  Sprinkle with garlic powder, cayenne, and salt to taste.  Place on a baking sheet and roast in oven at 375 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until fork tender.  If you watch them roast for an additional 5 minutes or so, they will begin to darken and get crisp edges because of the maple syrup.  Watch closely if you try this as they can quickly burn!  Delish!!!!   

Happy Thanksgiving!!

If you struggle with the same feelings about eating plant based, I would love to hear your story.  Please comment on this post if you are willing to share 

Gluten Free Apple Bake - Vegan

(Thank you, Marilyn, for the inspiration and creativity of this dish!)

Ingredients

About 3 lb cooking apples (ie. Spy, Ida Red, Cortland) - sliced, unpeeled
1 cup water
1/4 c sugar or dry sweetener (sucanat or other natural sugar)
Cinnamon (for liberal seasoning)
1 and 1/2 cup raisins
2 T lemon zest
salt
*walnuts or pecans optional

Topping

3/4 cup ground flax seed
2 cups oatmeal, ground into flour (to be gluten free, use GF oats)
1/2 cup unrefined, virgin coconut oil
2/3 cup walnut meal or desired chopped nuts
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/8 tsp salt

In a 9"x 13" glass baking pan, place enough sliced apples in bottom of pan to fill pan half full.  Add water.  Sprinkle with the raisins, sugar and add nuts if desired.  Sprinkle liberally with cinnamon, 2 T lemon zest and lightly salt the whole layer (less than a pinch of salt).  Fill the pan and slightly heap with more apple slices.  Sprinkle liberally with cinnamon, add nuts if desired and another light sprinkle of salt.

To make topping, place all ingredients in a food processor and process until smooth.  Crumble the topping over apples.  Bake at 375 degrees for 25-30 minutes.  Watch the topping half way through baking time to be sure that it is not over cooking.  A piece of foil can be laid over the top to prevent burning if necessary.  Apples will puff up and be fork tender when fully baked. 

Prevent tooth decay with THIS

Oral use of Iodine can prevent cavities from early childhood.

Iodine kills germs.  It has been used as a preparation for skin before surgery since medical doctors understood germs and how to prevent infection.  What I had never thought or heard before was that iodine could be an effective way to kill tooth-decay causing germs.  

Dr. David Kennedy, DDS explains, in the following video, that fluoride is proven to be ineffective in preventing tooth decay.  Fluoride is toxic when ingested or when it comes in contact and absorbed by the skin.  However, iodine is non-toxic to humans.  In fact, iodine is an essential nutrient for the function of the thyroid.  The thyroid produces thyroid hormone upon which every cell of the body is dependent.  (The thyroid is incapable of producing hormone in the absence of iodine.  This will be another blog post.) Thus, iodine is an excellent, non-toxic, topical treatment for dental care.   Dr. Kennedy explains that the oral disease causing germs are "swimmers".  The germs are introduced to children by age 2 (generally through the mother who has dental decay).  As the child ages, the germs work on the gums and teeth until a cavity forms, gums recede, or teeth fall out.  You can't brush these germs away; but you can flush them away with an irrigation system for oral care.  Dr. Kennedy has a recipe for oral health video that I will post as a second video.

Fluoride Does Not Reduce Tooth Decay - But THIS Does

Dr. David Kennedy, DDS

Recipe for Oral Health by Dr. David Kennedy

Oral Health recipe

1 Quart glass jar

1 inch of salt in the bottom of jar

1 inch of baking soda (on top of salt)

hot water to fill jar

Shake jar until mixed.  Allow to sit under the counter until the salt and soda settles.  The liquid portion of this solution is saturated.  Do not shake before adding to the irrigation system.  Pour off some of the liquid portion and dilute one part solution with one part warm water for oral irrigation after usual brushing and flossing of the teeth.  A "splash" of iodine an also be added to the irrigation solution.  Set irrigation system on low setting, irrigate between and around every tooth.  When all of solution is used, rinse the system with clean water or it will not work the next time you use it!   

With a proper diet, drinking and bathing in clean (fluoride and chlorine free) water, and proper oral care, one should never need to have intervention for tooth decay!  I make my own toothpaste in order to eliminate exposure to the chemicals fluoride and aspartame which are so common in manufactured dental products.  For more information about the health hazards of commercially manufactured toothpaste, check out my blog: Why I don't use Toothpaste or Chew Gum

Dr. Kennedy's website also has a one hour documentary on fluoride in America. I haven't watched this film, yet - so I hesitate to share the link.  Once I watch it, I may have a comment or two.   Fluoridegate - the film

Chicken is NOT health food!

There are many more reasons to avoid poultry besides the presence of fecal bacteria!

It has happened again.  A nationwide outbreak of salmonella has hit the USA with a vengeance, sickening hundreds of people - this time via raw chicken.  USA Today  reports that the illness is in 18 states so far.  Articles following this food borne illness often advise everyone to handle their chicken "safely" and to cook meat thoroughly before eating.  The truth is, however, that there is no way to escape the cross contamination of chicken fecal bacteria to your body, kitchen surfaces, utensils and other foods for hours or days after handling raw chicken.  The same is true when handling raw egg.  In the following two minute video, Dr. Greger explains that salmonella remains indestructible when you bring chicken products into your kitchen.

Total recall - nutritionfacts.org

You can't escape salmonella cross contamination even if you incinerate the egg!

Just now you are probably thinking, "Turkey!  I'll just switch to turkey instead of chicken."  Not.  Turkey meat has been found to carry even more fecal bacteria with just as many disease hazards as handling chicken.  See this article about turkey here.

Fecal bacteria like salmonella is only one of the health hazards of handling and consuming poultry.  Check out this article,  Nutrionfacts.org, to see the long list of diseases that are traced back to exposure or consumption of poultry.  Here is a short list of the most common illnesses that have been positively linked to poultry:

• Lymphoma (non-Hodgkins type)
• Leukemia
• Urinary tract infections
• Obesity via the obesogenic virus
• Superbug contamination

My favorite reasons to avoid chicken:

• High methionine content.  Chicken and fish are the highest sources of methionine.  Cancer cells thrive on this amino acid and studies have shown positive connection between consumption of small amounts (just 1/2 breast) of chicken and growth of cancer in humans.
• Highest content of saturated fats.  Eggs in particular, but also chicken flesh, is very high in saturated fat which is the cause of elevated cholesterol which leads to artery disease.  (Removing the skin of the chicken does not eliminate the saturated fat in the meat.)  The cholesterol in one egg is equivalent to that of an 8 ounce steak.  Imagine eating two 8 ounce steaks every morning for breakfast!  That kind of artery clogging power can even cause a child to have a high blood cholesterol count.

Stage 4 Colon Cancer Healed without Chemo or Radiation!

          Ivelisse Page Healed Stage 4 Colon Cancer with Mistletoe!

Here are a few links that you can check out:

  

chrisbeatcancer.com  

Chris also has an archive post on Study: Mistletoe Effective Against Cancer  

Believebig.org is Ivelisse's organization which is raising donations to fund the US study of mistletoe therapy.   Her site has this link to help you understand the uses of mistletoe in cancer treatment.  There are also encouraging and informational videos on this site.

I found weleda skin care products, but the mistletoe extract used for fighting cancer is difficult to find.  If you are looking for mistletoe, I suggest finding a doctor of natural medicine or interview with oncologists, as did Ivelisse, until you find one who will work with your requests.