A day in the life of an "Oily Family"!

Several people have shown interest in how often we use oils in our family. Here is a look at a typical day in the life of our "Oily Family".

My first drink of the day is a quart of water with Apple Cider Vinegar and citrus oils. There are a couple variations, check out the recipes here. My boys and I drink 1oz of Ningxia Red, an awesome antioxidant drink.

Every morning, I apply Progessence Plus to forearms and neck. I apply my face cream (organic unrefined coconut oil, Lavender & Frankincense oil), and my body butter with Lemongrass oil. I also apply Melaleuca (tea tree oil) to problem skin spots and I brush my teeth with Thieves toothpaste.

My hubby starts the day with a capsule of Lavender, Lemon, Peppermint and Copaiba, also known as the "Seasonal Discomfort" blend. I pre-make these capsules for the week and store in a glass jar in the freezer.

Once downstairs, I start diffusing for our family. Depending on the day, I may diffuse Purification (on cleaning day... or when it needs to be cleaning day;), Thieves (during cold season), or Valor and Frankincense as we prepare for home school studies.

We apply Brain Power to my oldest son's crown and neck. Vetiver on big toe or under nose helps our 7 year old focus on school. My third son has tummy issues and gets to apply DiGize to his tummy three times daily. All of my boys take MightyZyme chewables with meals.

If we are going out to run errands, I apply Thieves oil on everyone's feet or spine. I also take along my Thieves spray for hand sanitizing.

Back home, when playtime gets a little unruly, I diffuse Stress Away, and everyone seems to play nicer! :) No matter how nice they play, someone always ends up hurt! Almost daily, someone needs Lavender for their boo boo or Purification for a bug bite. My "Big Boo Boo" blend of Helichrysum & Frankincense gets used pretty often too in our houseful of boys!

PanAway & Stress Away were the two most used oils on this day!

One of our favorite meals is spaghetti! I love to put a drop of Oregano or Taste of Italy oil in my spaghetti sauce right before serving. My husband complimented this sauce as the best sauce I had ever made!

After dinner, our bath and bedtime routine for our four boys can get crazy! Adding bath salts with Lavender to their tub is a great way to wind down.

The boys like to apply body butter or my Lavender & Frankincense face cream as lotion. We use Young Living toothpaste and bath and body products. My 3 older boys apply Peace & Calming nightly to their feet... they ask for it if I forget!

Diffusers typically run in a few rooms nightly. The baby's favorite blend is RC with lemon... he sleeps 12 hours straight! Our big boys room has Peace & Calming with Frankincense Lavender and Cedarwood diffusing nightly. During cold season, we add Eucalyptus Globules and Cypress for respiratory support!

Washing dishes after kids go to bed could tear up my hands, but I LOVE that YL Thieves Dish Soap supports skin health and is toxin free, while doing a great job cutting the grease and cleaning my pots and pans!

My nighttime routine consists of taking vitamins, probiotics (Life5 is a great option) and ComforTone capsules. I end my day with a calming face cream of Lavender, Frankincense & Myrrh and apply Peace and calming on my feet, wrists and neck. I've never slept so well in my life!

Ready to get started using Essential Oils in your day?

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Disclaimer: This blog and information is not meant to diagnose, prescribe or treat any disease, illness or injury. 

Why we said NO to drugs

Many of you have seen me post about my crunchy/natural remedies, but you may not know why we have clearly turned our path away from using OTC and pharmaceutical/petrochemical drugs and toward natural health. Let me give you a little history about why our family made the decision to say "NO" to drugs...

Approximately 100,000 people die each year from adverse reactions to their prescription medications! That's only considering the people who die, not the others who have to live with long term effects from reactions to prescribed medications. This isn't talking about illegal drug use, or drug abuse, it's from "properly" prescribed medication. Drug commercials on television list the ridiculous side effects for the drugs they're advertising... many of those list death!

My family has seen too many of those adverse reactions, and are still living with many of the "adverse effects". Some of those adverse effects my family has experienced include:

• Medicinal stomach ulcer - from medicines after wisdom teeth surgery
• Acid Reflux - from Over the Counter medicines, NSAIDs (IbuProfen and Aleve)
• Anxiety and panic attacks in children - from reflux medicine that was actually a neuro-inhibitor
• Gut damage and bacterial imbalance from overuse of antibiotics, resulting in food intolerances and eczema
• Osteoporosis - from hormone suppressing drugs
• Yeast and fungal infections - from oral steroids and asthma medication
• Hallucinations - from OTC antihistamines
• Hyperactivity and sleeplessness - from steroids
• Full body rash - allergic reaction to Penicillin
• Ruptured blood vessels - reaction

Not only has my family seen horrible side effects and reactions to OTC and prescription drugs, but those medicines dodn't always work to bring healing. As a youth, I remember going through 3 rounds of antibiotics to clear up bronchitis! The steroid shot from my podiatrist would only result in 3-4 weeks of relief from my chronic foot pain. My dermatologist never knew why I had dermatitis on my face, but prescribed a dangerous steroid cream that worked only when constantly used (he even prescribed this while I was pregnant, even though it was a class C drug). Our oldest son had tubes in his ears as a toddler and many rounds of antibiotics, but continued to get ear infections after the tubes fell out.  I was tired of treating our health symptomatically, and wanted to get to the root of our our health issues for true healing.

Our family cut sugar and processed foods; we now eat food and drinks to build up our bodies instead of tear them down. Since cutting dairy and sugar, I no longer have asthma! We focus on eating whole natural foods to helps maintain and build our health so our bodies are not as prone to sickness. We use YL Essential Oils and several other natural remedies for our health needs! Essential oils have no negative side effects and you can physically not be allergic to them, since they don't contain a protein or amino acid (which is what our histamines react to). I'm thankful that God has given us all we need for life and health in His creation! God has literally given us a plant oil for every ailment on the planet! We have used oils for cuts, scrapes, burns, boo boos, colds, sniffles, coughs, seasonal discomforts, tummy aches, and nasty bugs. We also use oils for uplifting spirits/moods, focusing on school and sleep! I teach classes on how to use Essential Oils for health, wellness and replacing toxins in your home. Message me for more info or join us for a class to learn more!

Ready to order your Young Living Premium Starter Kit? Follow this link!

Disclaimer: This blog and information is not meant to diagnose, prescribe or treat any disease, illness or injury. 

Our Crazy Crunchy New Year!

As the New Year approaches, I'm reflecting on this past year and all of the changes our family has made this year. This bread making, Creole cooking, food loving city girl went crazy crunchy!!

Over the past couple years, our family has gotten rid of processed food, tried to buy organic, made most things from scratch, and tried to find natural remedies for injuries and illnesses. For a variety of reasons, food intolerances, allergies, and wanting to rid toxins from our home, our family made some big changes and started eating and doing new things that I never would have imagined five years ago! Buying raw milk (especially goat milk) and pastured eggs from a local farm, replacing our medicine cabinet with essential oils and natural remedies, making homemade baby formula daily, and losing over 40 pounds were not on my radar, but have all been part of Our Crazy Crunchy New Year!!

Upon learning of several food intolerances within our family, we've made radical changes to our lifestyle, changing what we eat and where we get our food. Earlier this year, I wrote a blog post on where we get our food. It discusses local food sources, milk from a farm, organic food co-ops, farmer's markets, gardening, and even what we buy at Sam's Club.

After seeing major side effects and injuries from several OTC and prescription medications, we began searching for more natural remedies. I wrote a previous blog post on our big organic switch in our medicine cabinet. We are thankful to find, learn and benefit from Young Living Essential Oils! My family has loved using remedies that the Lord intended for our bodies, and don't have any of the nasty side effects! Young Living Essential oils help with fighting off nasty germs & bugs, bring relief to all of our cuts/scrapes/burns/bruises, and help with everyday owies! We also found an incredible naturopathic physician, who has helped us learn how to eat for our health, while teaching us what to do to bring healing to our damaged guts and body. Many of these remedies my physician recommended can actually be purchased from Young Living! Here are a couple of my physician's recommendations for my family, probiotics, food enzymes, and a natural cleanse (to fight a nasty bacteria found in intestines).

While I began cutting dairy and grains for our family's health, I began making other changes for my own health and diet too. I was not pleased with the number on the scale last January, or the way I was feeling, lacking energy and full of aches and pains. A couple friends told me about their positive experience with Trim Healthy Mama, a healthy eating lifestyle, with no supplements or extra costs (other than the awesome and helpful book). 45pounds and 4-5 sizes later, my blood sugar is balanced (no more crazy highs and lows), I have so much energy and am so thankful for Trim Healthy Mama!! Here's a great explanation video from the authors of Trim Healthy Mama. Here'a link to a quick start guide too! Here are a few of my favorite drink and shake recipes that have helped my journey!

We are definitely still learning how to balance our health, feed a family of six, and well... life. However, I'm really thankful for the positive changes that have helped my family's health this year and look forward to another great year!! I wonder what we'll learn about and change next year??

Disclaimer: This blog and information is not meant to diagnose, prescribe or treat any disease, illness or injury. This is my opinion and I'm sharing the recommendations that were made for MY family. 

Our Road to "Organic" Living: Where do we get our food?

While our transition to a more organic lifestyle has stretched to many aspects of our lives and home, the kitchen is where our "organic" journey began. There are so many toxins, chemicals, pesticides, hormones in today's food; all of these toxins in our body are causing problems! We want the things we put in our bodies to help our body, not hurt our health. Our goal is to eat only REAL food!

Our family also started noticing several problems with food allergies and intolerances. The food allergies sped us along on our journey to "organic"; because of this, we probably traveled farther down the "organic" path than we ever imagined! We hoped to buy from local farmers or organic for all of our food sources, I just didn't realize it was possible!

Many people ask, where do you get all of this "organic" food?

• Local Farmers
• Timmons Family - We purchase beef from a local family (they also raise chickens and pigs).
• Dairy Co-op for cow milk, goat milk and eggs (6 families take turns driving to a farm in Missouri to pick up the week's milk for the group)
• Farmer's market or local produce stand (our town only has these Spring-Early Fall)

• Gardening - We grow our our produce in our backyard raised bed (Square Foot Gardens).
• We buy seeds from Baker's Creek Seed Company
• We buy starter plants from Azure Standard*, the local farmer's market, and occasionally Home Depot. 
• We grow spinach & lettuce, root vegetables (radishes, beets, carrots, potatoes), tomatoes, peppers, herbs (basil, thyme, rosemary, cilantro), sugar snap & snow peas, butternut & spaghetti squash. It's amazing what you can grow in your backyard!!

• Local health food stores (Kountry Kupboard and Health Food Store-Stone Street)
• Grains, oats, oat flour, gluten free items, vitamins
• Azure Standard - this is a once a month order. Several families order by a certain date and pick up their order at a local meeting place, once a month. Let me know if you're interested in ordering this month and I can give you the details. Here are some of the items we purchase through Azure:
• Fresh and frozen produce (often at less cost than Sam's Club!)
• Goat milk products (yogurt and kefir)
• Elderberry powder and juice
• Nut butters
• We've purchased organic chicken here, but found it cheaper at Sam's Club.
• Starter plants for our garden
• Dairy free coconut milk ice cream (they have a lot of dairy free food options)
• Molasses, raw Apple Cider Vinegar (Can also be found at Kroger)
• Soaper's Choice - This is where I get my coconut oil in bulk.
• Raw is the healthiest type and has lots of great health benefits (I put this in smoothies, baby formula, & use to make chocolate). ID# 59507SC 
• Refined - great for baking and frying ID# 59707SC
• Country Life - This is a special order that needs to be arranged with our local contact. I purchase grains, nuts, seeds from them. Can also get organic canned goods, cereals, beans, produce and other bulk products.
• Sam's Club - We still get several products, some produce (onions, bananas, etc), and organic whole chickens from Sam's Club. 
• Amazon - Great place to order diapers (I didn't go "organic" in the diaper department), paper products, batteries, teas, water filters, vitamins/supplements for our homemade goat milk baby formula, gluten free items, soaps and ingredients for homemade laundry detergent.

I hope these resources help your family make the switch to REAL organic food!

More blogs in this series coming soon... 
"REAL" food and organic cleaning supplies!

Going "organic": In the bathroom

I have to admit, switching our bathroom and toiletries over to "organic" was the area that I was most intimidated by in our transition. Interestingly, it was probably the easiest area to switch, once I had all the research in front of me. I wanted to use products that were natural, paraben, sulfate, aluminum & dye free. Your skin is your largest organ and absorbs everything that you put on it! It is said, that you should only put on your skin, what you would put in your mouth. I didn't want to spend a large amount of money on "organic" products that still have numerous ingredients. I wanted simple, natural (literally from nature) ingredients to use on our bodies.
Here are a few of the products we use and where to find them:

• Raw Unrefined Coconut oil - great for your skin (and edible too). I add Young Living Essential Oils to coconut oil to up the benefits. 

• Lavender is incredible for skin health 
• Frankinscence is amazing for skin health and maintaining a youthful appearance!
• My favorite face cream is Lavender, Frankincense and Myrrh in unrefined coconut oil (I use morning and evening).
• I also occasionally use Young Living's Beauty serum for dry skin... it smells wonderful!

• Shampoo/Conditioner
• For babies, we've used Kidscents Bath Gel or Burt's Bees Unscented. The homemade body wash (with Gentle Baby oil) would be excellent for little ones also!
• For babies/kids, we have used California Baby shampoo & conditioner
• For kids and adults, we use Giovani Tea Tree Oil and Peppermint or Young Living's Lavender Mint or Copaiba Vanilla shampoos are excellent too!
• For truly all natural shampoo, mix baking soda with water (can add a little Melaleuca oil or other essential oil)
• For truly all natural condition, rinse hair with Apple Cider Vinegar---it will really make your hair shine!
• Soaps
• Face and body soap, Young Living Lavender Rosewood soap is part of my daily regimen and what we use on the kids at bath time.
• Hand soap, Dr. Bronner's liquid Castile soap (I fill about 1/10 of foaming hand soap bottle with soap, 8 drops of Thieves or Purification essential oil and the rest water)
• Thieves Dish Soap is incredible at cutting grease while being safe and soothing on skin

• Toothpaste - one of the worst toxins for kids and adults is fluoride. When taking toxins out of your health regime, be sure to get a toothpaste that is fluoride free (especially for kids who sometimes forget to spit it out;)
• Thieves Aromabright toothpaste is our family favorite! 
• My boys also like Young Living Kidscents Slique toothpaste, which has a citrus flavor.
• My husband like Thieves Dentarome toothpaste which targets whitening teeth.
• Sunscreen - Tru Kid Daily Suncare It is a mineral sunscreen with 20% zinc. This is such good stuff, even adults who battle skin cancer issues are asking what kind and how to get it! 
• This past summer I made an awesome homemade sunscreen with shea butter, beeswax, lavender oil, carrot seed oil, myrrh and zinc oxide powder. It worked incredibly and even my red head didn't get color!

• Lotions
• For baby, kids & adults, I make our own body butter and diaper creams. I use my Luxurious Body Butter recipe and add oils for different uses 
• Gentle Baby oil for diaper cream
• Lavender and Frankincense for a soothing hand and body butter
• Lemongrass and Cypress oil for invigorating body butter that supports the circulatory system
• Deodorant - Due to store bought antiperspirants being one of the most toxic products on the market, and the close proximity of application near lymph nodes, this was one of the first products I swapped out for "organic" many years ago. 
• Young Living's Meadow Mist Deodorant is wonderful. 
• I also make a homemade recipe with:
• 3 TBSP coconut oil
• 2 TBSP shea butter
• 3TBSP baking soda
• 2 TBSP arrowroot powder
• 10-15 drops of Purification essential oil (other oils of Lemongrass, Thieves, Lavender & Cedarwood)

• Bath salts (Epsom salt or Sea salt) - Put in our baths to detox our bodies.
• Add lavender, Stress Away, peppermint or other YL essential oil for a soothing detox bath
• Shaving Cream can be replaced with Coconut Oil - here's the "how to"
• Makeup
• I personally use Younique's BB Cream and LOVE it!!
• We love Lavender lip balm, or our own homemade recipe. 
• Here are several "Sprays" we also use and love. 

I would love to hear about your favorite body care recipes and organic products! 

Share your favorite and I'll send you a sample of one of my favorites!

Series: Our journey to "organic" living

About a year or two ago, I talked with an old college friend about wanting to switch our house, food, lives... everything, to "organic". We talked about a few ways we could make the switch, a couple different products to use, but also about the fact that this would be at least a year long process. For economic reasons (and our sanity) we couldn't quickly make the switch to organic everything for our entire family. Several of the things I wanted to accomplish in our big switch/transition was:

• to buy local/organic meat, produce and dairy, 
• get rid of processed foods, chemical colorings & flavorings and give our family REAL food that increases our health instead of causing sickness
• Get rid of the chemical and toxin laden bath & body products and use natural soaps, lotions, detergents & toiletries.
• Use natural cleaning solutions, instead of harsh chemicals with toxic fumes.
• Find natural alternatives to our medicine cabinet
• Give our kids a better and healthier start in life with the products they are exposed to and the foods they consume daily.

Making this switch all at once would be costly and overwhelming, so I took one step at a time. I'm happy to share that we have had great success in our big switch! While we haven't switched every single aspect of our lives to "organic", our family is healthier and happier with our new "organic" lifestyle!!

Several friends and acquaintances periodically message me for ideas and resources about making this switch. This blog series will take you on our journey to "organic" living and give you several helps and resources that we have found along the way.  If you're interested in getting rid of some of the toxins in your life and switching to a more organic lifestyle, I hope this blog helps! I would also love to hear feedback, tips, and resources from you!!

Stay tuned for blog posts on our transition to "organic" living in several areas: the kitchen, the bathroom, the medicine cabinet, cleaning supplies and much more!

*Disclaimer: I will link many products in this blog series. I am not receiving compensation for these posts.