YOU Have The Power to Heal YOU!

I think it is very important for people to know something about how our bodies heal.  Whether using natural health "cures" or using a pharmaceutical drug that comes out of a lab prescribed by a doctor, the things you use are never what actually cure you of your ailment.

Yes, thats what I said, NOTHING outside of you can ever CURE you!

Our bodies are incredible things.  They have built in defense mechanisms and fighting capabilities to be able to recover from anything that comes their way.  Sometimes it needs a kick start from outside sources however.  This is when things that have medicinal properties are so nice, like herbs, tinctures, essential oils, and other "natural remedies."  Some of these natural remedies have therapeutic properties that help the cells start functioning better and can even kill off some of the bacteria or viral infections for us while allowing our bodies to kick in for the end result.

When people resort to pharmaceutical care for themselves they are essentially trying to do the exact same thing as people who resort to natural care.  They are using something to try to get rid of an ailment, and that thing has medicinal therapeutic properties.  The difference here is that the pharmaceutical "cures" use methods that are damaging to the future health but get rid of the symptoms you see on the surface.  For example Antibiotics kill not only the bad bacteria, but the good bacteria thats needed in our bodies.  It may rid us of the symptoms from 1 infection of bad bacteria but what happens when there is not enough good bacteria to protect and help our bodies run effectively?

Good bacteria is such a profound idea, because our society thinks so negatively about most bacteria.  The truth of the matter is our bodies desperately need it.  The good bacteria helps our immune system along with a lot of other systems in our bodies to run up to par.  Getting rid of them is not the best option.

The other thing that I truly believe is that we are all children of a living God.  That is an amazing thing! He put us on this earth that was created for us.  He created everything here for our use.  The plants and animals, everything!  He wanted us to succeed and be happy.  The fact that the herbs help our bodies kick into gear is not a scam or a fluke, it is the way God designed them, and he doesn't make mistakes.  When we take a chemically derived pharmaceutical we are not only taking something that is not naturally created, which many cringe at, but are also only taking one element of healing that some scientist found.  That is not the way God created or intended our world.  There is so much in the combinations within our plants that is unknown about why certain properties are combined.  When only certain aspects of therapeutic agents are used, such as in pharmaceuticals, there are many more unwanted side effects.  The healing actually seems to occur more quickly and fully, with less side effects, when the used item has not been chemically altered such as in pure essential oils, herbs, etc.

In conclusion to this post, YOU have that power to heal YOU.  Ultimately you are in charge and in control of you and your families healthcare.  The actions you take every day to improve your health and wellbeing are the biggest things that will help you be healthy and when you get an ailment you can use something to kick start your body back into gear so that YOU will heal YOU!  No matter what you take natural or not (and I am obviously partial to the natural because I've seen it work better with my own eyes along with doing a lot of research into the scientific studies of essential oil therapy), nothing will ever ultimately cure you besides simply you.

A Look Into My Fridge & A Week of Bone Broth

As you can see, like most people who drastically change their diet, the contents of my fridge are not yet perfect.  Especially when it comes to our condiments.  We are very slowly getting rid of them and then to do more with what we have I am making my own versions of them that is healthier and then putting that in the empty bottle of the store bought condiment.  Its amazing how many eggs and how many vegetables it takes to get through 2 weeks.  Normally that 2nd shelf is full of just eggs, but this week I did it a bit different.  On the top shelf right now I have 13 quarts of homemade bone broth that I have made this week.  I am planning on making lots of different types of soup with them.  Wow... bone broth is not nearly as hard as I thought it would be and I can get about 4 quarts a day and keep the same bones cooking in the crock-pot for a whole week (just add new veggies every couple days or so).  The longer it sits in the fridge the darker it gets, so fascinating.  Here's a few pictures from making the chicken bone broth.

13 quarts of homemade bone broth (a week of doing broth gave me a lot more than this, I just have used a bunch for cooking and soups since it is soooooo nutritious) & 6 + dozen eggs

The bone broth on the third day right after adding fresh water and 3 cups of new veggies - 1 small onion, 1 celery stalks, 1 carrot, 2 cloves garlic, 1/2 cup cut up kale, 1 Tbsp Raw Apple Cider Vinegar, 1 Tsp Sea Salt

This is the way the broth looks when stirred when the veggies have been cooked for 8-12 hours.  You can cook anywhere from 8 hours up to 3 days without taking out the broth liquid.  The sooner its removed, the more broth you get, but the longer it cooks before being removed the stronger (and better) the flavor and the more nutrients go cook into it from the bones.  I like it to simmer for 12 hours before I switch out the liquid for new water, but there were a couple days this week that I did 24 hours (the first day it seemed better to do a full 24 hours).

This is the bone broth right after I used a measuring cup to spoon out the liquid through a sieve into a 2 quart mason jar.  I like using the mason jars cause they can be vacuum sealed to preserve the food in them longer and better.

I found that to strain the broth well enough I needed something similar to a cheese-cloth on top of the small sieve.  I also found that it turned out better to use the sieve in a pot and then pour it into the mason jar from that because it spilled so much less onto my counter that way.

I love this picture because it shows so well the bones  once they have just started to break apart after the broth has been taken out.  Every time I remove the liquid I use my wooden spoon and push the bones against the crock-pot.  After the first 24 hours to 3 days this is what the chicken bones look like, just the ends break off first, then as the week goes on they fall apart more and more until they are basically a mush at the bottom of the pot. 

 For those of you that have been thinking about doing a bone broth for a while now like I did, it's so fun!  To see how the bones change is fascinating.  It doesn't have to be as intimidating of a task as it seems.  Once you get it going for the week in the crock pot it only takes around 30 minutes a day to change out and get 2-3 quarts of the broth out twice (every 12 hours - morning and evening) along with add new water & veggies (if you want more veggies - this is optional).  This broth/stock is one of those super foods that helps the gut heal and provides so many nutrients people in our society are deficient in.  I recommend it to everyone.  Take my word for it, you'll love this, and you're body will love all the micro-nutrients in it too!

Achieving Optimum Health and Weight

Nurturing Traditions, Gut and Psychology Syndrome (GAPS), The Body Ecology Diet, BEDROK, PALEO Diet, etc. all have a lot in common.  All these dietary lifestyles teach building health through nutrition and dietary changes.  They all are very similar in many of their key points.  Reading books on these along with many other books on other health guidelines and information, I have come up with my own guidelines for diet and lifestyle that suites what I believe is the quickest and best way to get to optimum health & weight.  So far using my guidelines in the last couple months I've lost a much needed 45 pounds of weight that my body had been holding onto for many years.  In all the conflicting along with corresponding information I have read, my conclusion is that most common cause for all illness that lasts for an extended time period can be traced back to what I call "Leaky Gut Syndrome".  This includes all auto-immune diseases, all types of autism, along with psychological disorders, depression, asthma, and it can (but is not always) also be the reason why we get the common colds and flu's too.  My guidelines help us to defeat the source cause of all these ailments.  I am not a doctor and I cannot diagnose or treat anyone, but I am a mother of 3 beautiful children.  I have an auto-immune disease that has made me very aware of the fact that if I don't follow the healthiest way that I can while still enjoying life, then I might not be here for them much longer.  They need me, and I feel like I need to share what I learn and know so others can achieve greater health as well.