Keeping Well and This is How We Do It...

I'm not a global expert. I'm a local expert, and by local I mean in my own home. But, people often ask me what we do for illness. Most folks who know me know I don't love doctors. It has nothing to do with bedside manor, or fear, just that I don't believe in what they're selling. It's just my opinion really, based on all the life experiences I've had and witnessed. Modern Meds are still in their infancy compared to the many ancient healing techniques now treated like voodoo. Can meds work? Sure. Can they be Risky? Ineffective? Expensive? Devastating? Yep. They can. And, more often than not they come riddled with a looooong list of tiny words at the bottom of the screen (aka side effects) that require some other med to be tolerable. I don't like it. I also think the angle of the modern med world is skewed.**

My body is not a lemon--Ina May Gaskin says so. And, my body, if it's healthy can heal itself. Some people call them miracles when this happens, and ultimately it is. Our bodies are MI. RA. CU. LOUS. They do all the work, they do all the healing--if they're healthy. They were expertly designed to co-exist in this world of germs. No amount of meds can heal someone who's body is unhealthy. They may temporarily hide the symptoms of unwellness, but let me repeat, they will not heal an unhealthy body.

I just saw this quote on this blog:

"We all know that colds are caused by cold viruses, spread through contact with others infected with them.

But you don’t get a cold because you’re around snotty-nosed kids who have colds. You get them because your immune system is impaired and unable to fend off the attack of the virus. Exposure to the virus itself doesn’t mean that getting the cold is inevitable."

So, that said, how do we keep our bodies healthy? First, food. 

Anecdote:

Girl walks into a drug store to buy something small and get some cash back. Girl can't find anything not a drug, or a candy bar. Girls leaves with box of cookies. Girl regrets it, 'cause they don't even taste good. Girl has $20, and $2.85 worth of trash. Girl comes to conclusion: Drug stores sell 'cures & causes'. It's a self-propelled market, BRILLIANT if you really think about it. Potato chips and sodas on one half of the store, anti-depressants, digestive aids, cold meds, pharmaceuticals on the other...brilliant. It's the case-and-point example of the root issues. We must consume things that support our bodies in order for our bodies to heal, this is the FIRST way to heal ourselves.

I'm angry that we are falling for this, in all honesty. Angry that we are impairing ourselves. Let's get and stay well! I don't think we have to delete all sugar from our diets--probably wouldn't hurt, but there are tons of ancient ways to help our bodies, ways that don't risk side effects, severe allergic reactions or addiction. 

Our family stays fairly well. There have been a few random illnesses that knock us out for a day or two, but only Naomi has ever had an ear infection, I don't think Leviah has ever puked, and the last cough faded quickly. It can be nerve-wracking having kids that could potentially come down with anything--especially since we don't vaccinate, have insurance or really have a family doctor, but along with the trust we put in the Almighty that should disaster strike we'll be provided for outside our own efforts, we are proactive about our health. We don't sit on the sidelines and wait for the worst--like we used to. Here's a list of what we rely on in our home, a list of the places we turn.

Today I share our Cold and Flu arsenal:

We have a LOT on this list, sorry no cure-all here. 

1. FOOD

eat: Chicken soup from bone broth (broth made from chicken bones), raw honey, yogurt, kefir, greens, pastured milk       butter, raw milk, garlic, lemons, onions. And we cut way back on grains and sugars which can feed something coming on.

drink: fermented/live drinks like kombucha, homemade ginger beer, water kefir, regular kefir (link for a great place to buy starters)

2. SUPPLEMENTS
Fermented Cod Liver Oil. well, that's it really. Sometimes we take a multivitamin, but I haven't seen much good come from them, I'm not sure our systems can absorb enough of them from these supplements to benefit us if we're eating proper foods in which the vitamins we need are present anyway. And we take Oscillicium, which is amazing.

3. AROMATICS/AIR
what we breath: shedding the germs we breath in is important. We open windows--even when it's cold, cut onions in half and place them bedside for infections and flu. We keep paraffin candles and artificially scented deodarizers and soaps, and chemical cleaners out of our home. We go outside and breath deeply. We run a diffuser. We've thought about investing in an air purifier for years--any suggestions?
essential oils: I'm learning more and more about the medicinal capabilities of essential oils and am really excited about it. But, we've been firm believers in using them topically for the prevention of illness for years. Thieves Oil--an ancient blend that proved it's power during the Bubonic Plague is a weapon of choice ('On Guard' is a great thieves blend option). We put it on our feet, hands, toothaches, on nose during sinus infections...tea tree is also a key player in our home.

4. ONCE THE ILLNESS HAS SET IN

this doesn't happen particularly often compared with some families we know. Thank goodness. I will not claim responsibility for our family's wellness. We do have health issues, and we are looking for new information all the time that might help us heal, praying for those things to be revealed to us, and we will share if that comes to be...

Repeat all of the above:

We may add a vaporizer or diffuser or a bath with the essential oils, sleep, sip tea, relax, wait for a new day and know that our bodies are working hard to get back to tip-top and that we're doing all we can to give it the tools it needs.

Recent Personal experience:

Last month Naomi and I came down with a bug. I blame dance class and hand sanitizer. As a service to the students, in the hopes of preventing the spread of illness, they require dancers to squirt their hands before and after lesson with hand sanitizer. When Naomi got sick I had this gut feeling that it was a result of that product, but I blew it off. Well, yesterday I was doing a little research and discovered that hand sanitizer, while killing the germs, strips your hands of their natural oils--the bodies first defense against the infiltration of disease. So, those first germs: dead. The ones on the bar where the girl with the flu from the last lesson coughed: enter through an open door.  An alternative? Well, olive oil, for one--it's anti-bacterial and suffocates germs on contact,  just rub it in. Any natural oil would likely be a good option, especially if it had the 'On Guard' Thieves blend mixed in. Keep a bottle of that in your purse and forget the 'sani-station' at your local grocery from now on.

**There are a lot of people who I like and respect and who don't feel the same, so again--this is all information I'm sharing because it's just what works for us, and because like those same people who know me also know, I have difficulty withholding my thoughts on any given issue. 

What are your health 'tricks'? Please share!

adding: “This post is linked to Sunday School at Butter Believer--new blog discovery that i'm gleaning a lot from!”