How to get rid of bad breath naturally!

This is an awful problem when it becomes a chronic issue.  Embarrassing as it may be I and my husband have both experienced this condition at different times.  There are several things that cause bad breath but when it is chronic you know that there is something going on that is not quite right in your body.

Some reasons for bad breath:
-The food we eat temporarily stinks it up.
-We need to make sure all the nooks and crannies in our mouth are cleaned and free from rotting food, rotting teeth, or high bad bacteria ratios.
-We could have a dry mouth from being dehydrated.
-We could have Tonsil Stones.
-We could have a number of different gut conditions or problems that are pretty bad.

How can we help the bad breath?
-Eat more green veggies and parsley to counteract smell of garlic and onions we eat (and helps with other smells and gut health as well).  Taking a chlorophyll supplement can also be helpful.
-Make sure to get extra doses of vitamin C as that can help diminish bad and strengthen good bacteria in our mouths.
-Supplement your vitamin intake with probiotics as well as supplementing your food intake with probiotic rich foods like water kefir (or other kefir's), sauerkraut, any other fermented foods.  These are expensive to buy but cheep and easy to make if you feel confident in the kitchen.
-Keep self hydrated by drinking lots of water.  Kangen water is especially hydrating as it is a highly alkaline water.
-Chew food for at least twenty chews for each bite before swallowing.  This increases saliva while getting the digestive tract working more effectively as well.
-An option to increase saliva is to chew a xylitol gum as well.
-Try "oil pulling" out.  This was what the medicine men in native american tribes used to use for their clients tooth aches and other mouth conditions.  It helps saliva production but also helps to pull some of the toxins and bad bacteria built up in the mouth out.  If you are not using products that prevent remineralization than it also helps the teeth to remineralize as well.  It works well with fractionated coconut oil.  You can optionally add a drop of essential oil (like clove, cinnamon, lemon, on guard blend, or thieves blend) to the small amount you will be swishing around in your mouth.  You do this for about 10 min. but you can start at 5 and work your way up if you need.
-Eliminate common allergens from diet for 3 months.  This includes gluten grains like wheat, also corn and soy of any form.  If you are using my meal plans they pretty much do this for you without needing to think too much about how to replace them.
-Eat foods that strengthen the gut and increase your bodies nutrition.  Basically eat whole foods and super foods!  This will benefit more than just your bad breath which is a good perk too.
-Take nutritional supplements that strengthen the gut and provide greater nutrition to strengthen the body.

This video I found is a very complete video guide for helping us heal from bad breath.  Enjoy!

Increasing Milk Supply While Nursing

Due to many requests I'm going to give my story around milk supply.  My little girl was not handling foods that I was trying to introduce well so I felt I would have to nurse much longer than I might have needed to with the older two.  Simply for nutritional reasons.  One day around a year my milk supply plummeted.  I was terrified cause there were maybe 3 foods she was tolerating outside my milk.  I did a little digging.  By far the best thing that helped the most was rubbing therapeutic grade Fennel essential oil on my chest night and morning.  This doubled my milk in less than 2 days.  As I searched I also found "lactation cookies".... these are the coolest cookies ever!  They are paleo, gluten free, sugar free, but they taste amazing and give super food nutrients.  This boost of specific nutrients helps many women with milk supply, no matter the age of the baby.  This was also the first cookie my sweet little girl could handle without an allergic reaction.

Ingredients:
1 cup butter
3/4 cup maple syrup
4 Tablespoons water
2 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3 cups ground flaxseed
2 cups coconut flakes
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup raisins
2 Tablespoons brewer's nutritional yeast
Directions:
Mix all wet ingredients with all dry ingredients.  After batter thoroughly mixed spoon cookies onto greased cookie sheet and bake for 8-12 minutes at 375 degrees Fahrenheit.  This recipe can make up to 12 dozen depending on cookie size.

DIY Natural Remedy: Slivers & Splinters

Slivers have always felt like a DIY kind of problem.  As a kid I remember hating them and crying as my mom would pull them out with tweezers.  As a teen I remember hearing people talk about how they just need to be encouraged to come out on their own with different types of packs or by pushing on and manipulating the skin.  At that age usually the only slivers I got were pretty close to the surface without me even needing tweezers to pull them out.  Just a day ago I was moving our wooden side table and out of the blue this little table bit me!  I know that sounds funny, but that's how it felt.  I had a very large gash right through the inside of my knuckle.  Yes, it was bleeding, and in the middle of it was the largest sliver I have ever had going the deepest I've ever seen.  I couldn't fully straighten my finger.  I also couldn't fully bend it.  I was fatally wounded... Oh you better believe I yelped like a wounded puppy, this hurt!

Sliver Damage to My Middle Finger... Ouch!

I started off wishing I had a potato because potato packs are very useful in situations like this with drawing stuff out.  No potatoes in the house so I did the next best thing.  I soaked it in epsom salt water with a drop of Lavender essential oil.  It really reduced the pain and the swelling.  I cut open some extra skin to try to get the sliver.  No such luck, it wasn't even close to the surface.  That night I packed a cotton ball with epsom salt water on my finger.  It helped the pain through the night but didn't get that sliver any closer to coming out.  In the morning I cut a little more trying to get the sliver still with no success.  Asking my mom for help, she recommended packing it with a slice of lemon to draw it and any toxins that could cause infection out.  It stung a little but only for a few seconds.  This reduced the swelling even more and helped increase my fingers ability to straighten.  I still could not bend my finger very well and whenever I took a break from soaking or packs the pain was unbearable.  Not to mention the redness around the wound was growing.  Finally, as I was talking to my dear friend that I work to teach about essential oils with, I asked her if she thought my next step was to go to the doctor.  She said a bunch of things I knew for milder slivers and then said I should google slivers and DoTerra because there were oils that would help my body push out the sliver.  I swear that I almost always go to my essential oils first because they tend to work better then any of the other remedies I can find, be they herbal or medicinal, but this time I hadn't even thought of that for some reason.

The DIY remedy that worked:

So after that phone call I didn't want to turn my computer on, so I just went into my bathroom opened my medicine cabinet where I keep a lot of my essential oils, and looked at them.  I have learned that knowing a few properties of oils helps, but in the end if we feel drawn to a certain scent of essential oil, we usually need it for either our physical or our emotional health, since they help both.  I have seen many times that when even other oils were not quite what I needed to heal, Helichrysm essential oil has that extra boost of power to kick start my body.  I saw it in the cupboard, was immediately drawn to use it, and dropped 1 drop right onto my wound, undiluted.  Within a couple minutes I decided to try to pull out some sliver.  A little shard had surfaced so I tweezered it out.  Then I cut a new opening for a deeper part of sliver I could see emerging and I squeezed the skin together.  It was like my body was all of the sudden pushing it out because enough was coming that I could now grab it with the tweezers too.  The sliver was the biggest my hubby had ever seen in someone like that.  I could immediately bend my finger again.  We put a drop of Melaleuca essential oil on it to disinfect after the fact.  Its the morning after and my finger feels fantastic!  Thank you Helichrysm... You saved me when I had a bad burn, a cut that didn't want to heal, and now with this sliver.  You are a great friend to have in my first aid kit!

Teething Kids

So right now I have 2 teething kids.  My 4 year old girl is getting her big kid teeth right behind her baby teeth instead of under them and my 10 month old is getting her first baby teeth in front on top and bottom.  Every time a new tooth for my baby breaks through the gums she bleeds and cries.  There is also a lot of crying from the pain in between breaking through and that's not to mention the runny noses that come with the teething.

I went to a class on babies, pregnancy, and birth using essential oils about a week ago and learned so much.  The care provider teaching talked about how something like 90% of early childhood ailments were from teething and some things to prevent those conditions.  I took what she said to heart and decided to try a few new things.

In the past I've given my babies homeopathic teething tablets I got from Target, homeopathic Roman Chamomile from the health store (which I loved but am out of), and gum numbing cream (which just made my kids mad).

I ended up using an essential oil blend called Serenity that has Roman Chamomile, Lavender, and Vanilla; which smells divine.  It was actually really soothing for Daisy and really fun for me.  :)  I added a drop to a a small amount of carrier oil (fractionated coconut oil) in my palm and then rubbed it along her entire jaw line and chin, all the way to behind her ears.  I also rubbed a little on the base of her neck.  Then, to help with her teething runny nose, I put 1 drop of the essential oil blend called Breathe on the base of her neck with a little carrier oil.

This new trick is awesome.  It helps her pain so much and her symptoms go away for much longer spans of time than with any of the other things I've tried.    

Our New Venture

I am finishing writing my book on helpful smart solutions for mothers soon and we have had it in our plans to teach courses on the topics that I cover in my book.  I started this blog for some of the topics I cover in my book, tips and tricks, and to sell or recommend the different health products I recommend through vigorous research and personal results (so they are only things we've used and fervently believe in).

Its funny because we found a company that sells Certified Pure Therapeutic Grade Essential Oils (called doTerra) and it has the option for being a distributor and teaching health courses as well.  They are definitely on top of their game because most of their information that they distribute actually falls in line with the extensive research that I have done.  It seems like a lot of people and places overlook much of the research that has been done on health, so this is a very good perk.

We have decided to teach, distribute, and lead others to do the same when they desire to (and if not, we can help people get the products at wholesale pricing). We feel like we are entrepreneurs, teachers, and leaders at heart and are so excited to do this and share it with everyone!  Hopefully we will be able to travel as a family this summer because of this too.  That would be so fun!

Here is a video of me opening the enrollment kit that gave me a bunch of free product along with the ability to purchase everything at wholesale prices (technically below wholesale because I earn points toward free product with every purchase).