8 Things Healthy Families Use

I'm a mom and I'm all about keeping things simple and natural. Are you the same way? I have a lot to get completed throughout the course of a day and I'll take as much support as I can get. I don't like depending on unnatural chemicals daily. I'd rather use items from nature for self-care, cleaning, and eating. I find nature does our family best!

Here are 8 things as a concerned Momma and certified health coach that I would say are the bare minimum for a physically healthy home after real whole foods. There are several other things I like to keep around as well, but this is a great start!

8 Things:

Raw Organic Honey: Kick out the refined sugars and artificial sweeteners, they just feed cancer. Instead use real, organic, raw honey. You always want your honey to be in its natural raw state because then it contains nutritional values and anti-bacterial properties. Avoid heating your honey to keep nutrients in tact. To support skin health you add raw honey to minor cuts and scrapes as well as using it for a facial mask once a week. 

Fresh Garlic: This is truly nature's antibiotic. It also happens to taste really yummy in foods. It is inexpensive and great to keep around all year. You can easily grow it as well. Try to make sure sure you purchase local garlic or at least from inside the USA. A lot of garlic is from China in the grocery store, and the agricultural practices there are not the same as ours here in the USA. Keep in mind heating it does destroy it's antibiotic properties. It's still a worthy add to cooked meals though for a flavorful plate. 

Fresh Raw Ginger: This root is such a treasure. Ginger is a natural over all body anti-inflammatory food. It's a spicy delicious addition to smoothies, baked goods, soups, and stir fries. It provides wonderful digestive system support. It's a safe tummy tamer for pregnant women. 

During my pregnancies I love to make fresh ginger root tea. I actually enjoy this all of the time. Use about 1 1/2 inches of ginger, peel it, and slice it. Add it to a mug of hot boiled filtered water. Cover the top and steep for about ten minutes. I prefer mine without a sweetener. You can add a little raw honey or organic stevia drops. 

Fresh Organic Lemons (Lemon Water): What a joy it is to slice into a fresh lemon! When you slice into a lemon, that delightful smell is actually a tiny bit of the natural essential oil escaping. Did you know citrus scents help enhance good mood? Be sure to purchase organic citrus fruits if possible. Even though we do not typically eat the peel, whatever we touch and our children for that matter touch goes into our skin and is absorbed. Conventional citrus fruits are coated in toxins and some are even grown in toxic waste. No amount of washing will remove it. Even if you use vinegar. 

I like to drink lemon water first thing each morning. This is a great way to prepare the body for your day by hydrating and getting enzymes flowing. I drink 32oz of room temperature water when I wake with one fresh squeezed lemon added plus 1 drop of Young Living Lemon Vitality. Yes, you can over due it with lemons just like anything else. Healthy foods consumed in moderation then stay healthy. Benefits to drinking lemon water are natural support to your liver, digestive system, and immune system. 

Essential Oils: In our home due to purity and the highest of standards, we only use Young Living Essential Oils. Essential oils can help support the body, mind, and spirit as well as make a lovely addition to your natural cleaning regimen. Essential oils are the heart and soul of the plants, basically the plants' immune systems. They are aromatic oils that disperse into the air in tiny molecules quickly and they can come from various parts of different plants. You can get your's here. 

Good Salt: Have you bought into the lie that salt is bad for you? Salt is actually a necessary component to our lives. It purifies our bodies as well as adding many needed minerals. The difference is knowing the salts to stay away from and the salt to consume. Regular table salt has been bleached and all of the minerals have been stripped from it and sold to supplement companies. Some salts even add MSG, sugar, and aluminum. The iodine added is not natural iodine either. Table salt is very hard on all of the body systems. 

The best salts to purchase are Celtic (real Celtic salt is a little wet and greyish in color), an actual brand called Redmond Real Salt (shown in the picture), and Himalayan salt (this is pink in color). You can purchase all of these in whole rock like forms, little mini rocks, or finely ground. I like to add a pinch to my water throughout the day to ensure I'm getting necessary minerals. No, it cannot be tasted. Most filtered water takes out a lot of our necessary minerals along with  the toxins so adding a pinch of salt helps replace the good stuff. 

You can even make something called Sole. This is basically a concentrated salt water. You can make this simply by getting the good salt of your choice, a glass jar, like a clean mason jar, and filling it 1/3 of way with the salt. Fill it to the top with water. Leave a little room. Shake it. Let it sit for about 8-12 hours. Add this to your warm or room temperature lemon water or plain room temp water first thing in the morning. You can use a plastic measuring teaspoon or a glass dropper to add 1 tsp to your water to help start your day off well will lots of minerals. One tsp should be all you need. Your naturopathic doctor or holistic health practitioner can tell you exactly.

Remember I mentioned salt purifies. If your throat is feeling scratchy, add 2 tsp to a glass of water and gargle to support your body.

Organic Unrefined Coconut Oil: It was a great day when I brought coconut oil into my life. I believe this was one of the first food and body care switches that I ever made. Organic unrefined coconut oil is comprised of three antimicrobial medium chain saturated fatty acids: capric, caprylic, and monolauric. The monolauric acid is very supportive to the immune system. This type of fat is great for brain support. I do so many things with this oil. I bake and cook with it, use it in my homemade skin care products, as well as my homemade toothpaste. I also oil pull with it; click on the link if you don't know what that means.. 

It has a heat tolerance of 350, which makes it lovely to bake with since most recipes bake at 350. Cooking eggs in it is my favorite. Never heat it in the microwave. The waves will damage it's integrity. Depending on weather it will go from solid to liquid. When you need it liquid, put some into a glass measuring cup, close to what you need. Always put it a bit under the marker on the cup because once it melts it will most likely be right on the money. Put the measuring cup into a small pot with a little water. Boil on the stove until the oil melts. 

Raw Unpasteurized Apple Cider Vinegar: I add a splash of this each day to a glass of my water as well. There are numerous benefits to the body in consuming raw unpasteurized ACV. It absolutely must be raw and unpasteurized containing the what is called mother. Real ACV is made through a lengthy fermentation process. The mother is the brown healthy strands of amino acids. This vinegar is particularly supportive to the digestive and immune systems. You can use it with food and drinks and you can clean with it. Another use is for body care as a facial toner or it can be a support to the scalp if there is flakes or dandruff. When anyone in our family even looks like they are getting under the weather for natural support I make this tonic that contains:

1 Tbsp ACV ( I like this one.) 

1/8 Tsp Ground Organic Cayenne Pepper (Try this brand.) 

1 Fresh Garlic Clove, sliced

1 Inch Ginger Root, peeled and sliced

2 Tbsp Raw Honey ( Local is best, but if you can't find any, I like this kind.)

1 Mug Hot Boiled Filtered Water

Add everything to the mug EXCEPT for the honey. Cover and let it steep for about 10 minutes. When it's time to drink, add the honey. 

Helping you to be a good steward of your health!~Marie A. Brock, HHC

Health Disclaimer: No medical diagnoses, claims or promises of cures have been made. The information offered is simply for educational purposes. Any addition to diet or supplement routines should be discussed with your regular health professional.

There are affiliate links in this article. You are never required to shop through them. If you do though, I want to say thank you. If you like the information that I present, know that shopping through those links helps me to keep writing.

Resources:

 http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/11/17/this-bee-product-has-enormous-benefits-for-your-health.aspx

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27158056 

http://foodfacts.mercola.com/garlic.html

http://draxe.com/10-benefits-celtic-sea-salt-himalayan-salt/

http://foodfacts.mercola.com/lemon.html

http://foodfacts.mercola.com/ginger.html

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/09/20/salt-myth.aspx

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/11/18/coconut-oil-uses.aspx

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2015/03/21/apple-cider-vinegar-uses.aspx

Belly Butter

I've just been having so much fun in my body care workshop, aka my kitchen, creating different, safe, nourishing items to use for common body care items. I have two whole cabinets dedicated to the ingredients, containers, and appliances. Feeding our skin is as important as the actual food we eat.

My lovely friend Marie, who just had her baby, recently came to visit me. She asked if there were any cocoa butter based lotions or creams for stretch marks. Immediately I asked if I could make her something. Then "Belly Butter" was born. It is more or less body butter, with a partial cocoa butter base along with grapefruit essential oil. 

Using genuine essential oils in homemade products don't only provide safe lovely scents to body care they increase healing time. Different essential oils have different properties. In this case I chose grapefruit because it contains limonene. It is present in citrus peels, especially grapefruit. It support skin health.

Making the belly butter was extremely simple. The process for making most balms, salves, deodorants, and lotions is very similar. It makes pairing combinations easy. 

Belly Butter Ingredients

1/2 C Cocoa Butter

1/2 C Shea Butter

1/2 C Organic Unrefined Coconut Oil

1/2 C Avocado Oil

20 Drops Grapefruit Essential Oil

Tools Needed 

Double Boiler

Silicon Spatula (reserved for body care making)

Chopstick (I use this to stir)

Hand Mixer

3 (4oz) glass jars or 1 (12-16oz) jar

Instructions (Please read these before jumping into action)

Gather your oils and butters, measure and place all into the double boiler, EXCEPT for the essential oil, it's not time for that yet. Melt the oils and butters in the double boiler over low-medium heat. Be patient, shea butter takes a while to melt. As mentioned in previous posts using a double boiler is really important. Just using a pot directly on the heat could over-heat or burn the oils/butters. You can easily create a make-shift double boiler by using a small stainless steel mixing bowl with a 2-3 qt pot.

Next remove pan from heat and let it cool in the refrigerator until semi-solid. Then remove it the fridge, now add your essential oil, and whip with a hand mixer right in the pot. It will look like mashed potatoes. 

Finally using your silicon spatula fill your jars. 

Use a sticky label and pretty handwriting.

Isn't that easy?!!! You can make it too along with other simple body care. Feed your skin well. Remember to be healthy, be blessed, and be a good steward!

Sweet Potato Crust Quiche

I love the excitement of Christmas morning! Getting everything just right, preparing to read the story of the birth of the Lord out of the Bible with kids, singing Yeshua, Happy Birthday, and so on. 

I really enjoyed our small tree this year. The past few years I've not enjoyed the process of the tree at all or the lights outside, things of that nature due to convictions in my heart about paganism. I've allowed the kids to take out the tree though and decorate because well, He who is in me is greater than He who is the world. My God made the trees after all, and my sons know who the Christmas story is all about. We never did Santa or went overboard with gifts. So this year we actually gave away our artificial larger tree, and purchased a real tree to support the local farmers, as well as to keep it simple. Again, since the kids find this fun to do, I let them decorate it. 

My favorite part is celebrating the Lord in fellowship with friends and family. Below is picture of my dear sweet friend, Aly and I in the kitchen amidst food prep and chaos.

My joy after fellowship is feeding my loved ones well. I like to do new things in the kitchen since it is my happy place. While some people find cooking labor intensive, it is a source of creativity and stress release for me. So for a bit of inspiration I searched out some recipes. I decided upon an idea from Kelly at The Spunky Coconut. We love eggs in my house, and  quiche is always a hit here, but I desired a twist. That's exactly what Kelly gave me with her "Oven Omelette with Sweet Potato Crust." My filling is different. Here is my twist, I hope you like it!

I apologize for not taking better pictures of the process, but you're smart, you'll catch on I'm confident. 

Sweet Potato Crust Quiche

Ingredients:

1 Organic Small to Medium Sweet Potato, Peeled

1 Cup Organic Black Beans, Cooked

1 1/2-2 Collard Green Leaves, Chopped

3/4 Cup Quinoa, Cooked

1 Large Fresh Garlic Clove, Minced

8-10 Farm Fresh Free Range Eggs

1 Tsp Celtic Sea Salt

1/4 Organic Black Pepper

1 Tsp Organic Garlic Powder

1/2 Tsp Organic Turmeric Powder

3-4 Oz Soft Goat Cheese

1Tbsp Organic Unrefined Coconut Oil

Directions:

Preheat the oven for 350F.

Sauté the collards and minced garlic lightly in the coconut oil.

Whisk the eggs, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and turmeric in a bowl.

In a large pie plate, grease it a bit with some extra coconut oil, and put thin slices of the sweet potato, not layering, on the plate. (If you have extra slices, fry them up in a sauté pan in some coconut oil, yum!)

Put the beans, quinoa, and collards in the pie plate on top of the sweet potatoes. Then pour the eggs on top. Next crumble the goat cheese on the eggs and veggies. 

Bake it for 40 minutes. Then slice and serve hot. 

It's really super yummy and good for you. The quinoa I used was just left over from the day before. The sky is the limit.

I actually made two different kinds that morning. The other filling I used instead of collards, black beans, and quinoa was 1 1/2 cups of shiitake mushrooms and 1 1/2 cups frozen organic mixed bell peppers, sautéed in coconut oil. The other ingredients were the same. I wanted variety, plus I knew my mom would like one and my dad the other. I had all on hand, so it was easy. 

Let me know below if you try this recipe. Hope you and your family enjoy it! Be healthy and blessed! Helping you to be a good steward of your health!~Marie A. Ligorria

I Love Fat!

 We live in a very confused culture and time. What scripture says about what is right being called wrong and what is wrong being called right was so spot on for so many areas of our lives. Food is definitely a category where that deems accurate. There are more dietary theories and misconceptions than I can count. The dangerous part is with many of them there is a little truth mixed in with a little lie and in a case like that it is easy to blur the lines and truly understand nutrition.

In the 1990's the rage was zero to low fat made foods. I can remember being in high school and priding myself on all of my low fat recipes, especially using the low fat dairy products. I was famous for my zero fat sour cream dip at parties (barf!!!!!!). It's really amazing how different someone can be over the course of 6-7 years. Now it seems all I eat are lots of veggies, a minimal amount of animal protein, some fruit and gluten free grains/pseudo grains, and quite a bit of fat. I consume what some would consider an extremely high fat diet. Yet, I weigh what I did in high school as a teenager who danced ballet and jazz 4 nights a week in a studio and worked out for an hour each morning. I am active now, but no where as rigorous. I've had two children since then and it was only when I started eating this way that the weight I gained from getting pregnant came off.

Fat is such an important part of the foods that we eat. We need it for digestion, brain, heart, immune, lung, and joint health. It is imperative that we consume enough of it to function properly and have energy. It is necessary for healing, especially if you are healing from a gut related issue like candida, crohns, colitis, gastritis, or diverticulitis. I still see low fat being touted in products on the shelf. I give healthy grocery store tours so it is part of my job to know the products lurking around for the consumer. It is so easy to be deceived, incredibly so much so if we do not read labels. Marketing and propaganda are tricky my friends. There are different kinds of fats so being aware of what they are for and why we need them may be of assistance to you on your own health journey.

Types of Fat: Unsaturated and Saturated

The key to eating well with fat is knowing which ones to consume more regularly. Our bodies need balance and only a bit of healthy fat at a time. The more variety we eat in our daily diet, especially fruits and veggies, the better off we will be. Fats come from plants and animals. Both can provide us with healthy and unhealthy fats. Don't believe the hype on a label, do your research. Oh and please, please do yourself a favor, if you happen to watch a particular commercial or "doctor somebody" on television...continue to be a detective for your health. Just because it is on TV or the latest craze doesn't mean it's trustworthy...yes?...Say yes, Marie, yes.

Unsaturated fats are broken up into two categories: polyunsaturated and monounsaturated. These fats come from vegetables and fish sources. Usually monounsaturated fats like olive oil are suggested for health benefits. Soybean oil is technically a monounsaturated fat and I would not in any way recommend this for consumption. Processed unfermented soy (organic and conventional) is a stressor on the thyroid, a hormone disruptor, as well as a catalyst to the inflammation in the gut. It is very difficult to digest. We really want to restrict and stay away from polyunsaturated fats and trans fats. Some polyunsaturated fats are sunflower, safflower, canola, and corn oils. Sesame oil in small amounts is okay al beit a polyunsaturated fat. Trans fats (hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils) are polyunsaturated or monounsaturated fats that have been processed with high heat so that they will resist rancidity and stay solid. These are found in crackers, cookies, cakes, cereals, and margarine (ewwwww).

Essential Fatty Acids

So these are the "hot fats" everyone is discussing. First of all I can recall a customer at work asking why these fats are called essential. Well, there is a simple reason to the question. Anything considered essential is a fat or other component that our bodies cannot produce on their own, therefore making it essential for us to consume it. This is where marketing gets tricky.

In health food stores you will see essential oil products with the numbers 3, 6, and 9 on them. So the numbers come from the amount of atoms in those particular fats so we can distinguish them. Our bodies need all of these fats. Truth be told we make omega 9 from the unsaturated fats already inside us and we do not need to take it in extra supplement form. Too much of it can even be a detriment. Olive oil actually is mostly made up of omega 9, not omega 3, as stated in marketing. Olive oil is still wonderful, just only consume the extra virgin cold pressed oils, and don't cook with it. It has a low heat tolerance. Use it more on top of foods and for homemade salad dressings. To be sure of getting a good extra virgin olive oil look for ones sold in a dark glass bottle with a harvest date. The best olive oils are currently coming from California, go USA!

Omega 3 and 6 on the other hand our bodies absolutely must take in from our food supply. In the standard American diet (SAD) most are very unbalanced as far the essential fatty acids are concerned. A good ratio of omega 3 to 6 is pertinent to health and inflammation levels. Too much linoleic acid, which is an omega 6 fat, that happens to be prevalent in the SAD causes high levels of inflammation. This can be found in unhealthy plant oils like soybean, sunflower, canola, and corn. Since many of our livestock animals are eating foods like genetically modified corn and soy, instead of grasses and grubs, they too have high levels in their bodies. Now don't totally get down on omega 6, we need it for sure, we just want to try to consume much more of the better kinds.

Now gamma-linoleic acid (GLA) on the other hand, which is an omega 6, is highly anti-inflammatory and immune system supporting. You can take this in supplement form from borage or evening primrose oils. My preferred way to utilize it is from hemp. Oh how I love hemp. Hemp was one of the super foods that I blogged about a while back, check it out here. So hemp seeds, protein powder (just the ground hemp seeds), and hemp oil all contain GLA. The seeds are delicious, light and a little almondy. Throw them in salad, in smoothies for protein, in homemade raw bars, mix with rice, quinoa, or millet, or top your soup off with some. Just don't cook with the oil, its great for salad dressings though. I say don't cook with it because this particular fat, much like olive oil, has a very low heat tolerance. Heat can change certain fats structures then making them toxic to the body.

Ah so on to the sacred omega 3 fats. Omega 3's help reduce inflammation and improve immunity. They also increase our lung health and cognitive function and brain development. Remember being told when you were young that fish are brain food...well, there is something to that statement. This is why fish oil sales are through the roof. In the fish oil we receive fatty acids called DHA and EPA. These are important for brain and eye health. I'll be honest with you, I think a high quality fish oil supplement, in the right form being triglyceride form, is great! We do this at my house. If I miss a day I don't worry too much since I eat a wide variety of foods with omega 3's. My favorite is fermented cod liver oil by Green Pasture. Fermented versus distilled is better because the fermentation keeps all of the natural health properties in tact, where distillation removes some of them, like some of the natural vitamin D. If you don't have access to fermented I still think a high quality distilled is fine; Nordic Naturals is a good brand for those. Not all brands are equal kids, there are too many rancid fish oils sitting on the shelves of America. Do yourself a favor, go to the local health food store, and pick up your fish oil. Do not buy it at a superstore or regular pharmacy...yuck! If you have EVER burped it up, that means you were consuming the rancid stuff.

Just so you know fish oil is high in omega 3 because of what the fish eat, not because fish naturally contain it. Omega 3's are found in the plants like seaweed that the fish eat. Omega 3's are found in green plants. This is why grass fed cows are so important! Grass has omega 3's, unlike soy and corn with omega 6, so grass eating cows are healthy cows. Healthy cows give us healthy beef and milk (not that I currently consume either). Yay grass fed!

Other fabulous foods that give us omega 3's are raw walnuts, flax seeds (ground unheated), chia seeds (unheated, don't need to be ground, awesome source), sea veggies like dulse and kelp, green algaes such as chlorella and spirulina, truly free range eggs from pastured-free range chickens, wild salmon (not farmed salmon because they eat corn and soy), wild rice (because it is grass), avocados (have omega 6 also; my favorite food), and black beans! The walnuts and flax give us a fat called alpha-lineleic acid. These turn into DHA in the body. Avocados actually provide a spectacular cooking oil because the smoke point and heat tolerance is actually 520 degrees. The draw back is it is very expensive.

Saturated Fats: Oh the Controversy

Saturated fats typically come from animals. The skinny on this fat though is that they aren't bad unless they come from animals who aren't being fed properly. Remember how grass fed cows and true free range pastured chickens give us omega 3's.....well, soy and corn fed animals give us WAY TOO MANY omega 6's. That linoleic acid is very inflammatory. It's the linoleic acid that packs on the belly fat and clogs the arteries.

So here's the thing for years modern medicine has said saturated fats were bad and that they raised bad cholesterol. That's unfair and only partly true, all saturated fats are not equal. My favorite oil happens to be a saturated fat, organic unrefined coconut oil. I will not go into all of the benefits of coconut oil here. Just know its spectacular and super healthy to go on the body and in the body. Most saturated fats are long chain fatty acids. Coconut oil is a medium chain fatty acid, these are magic in the body. For more health facts read my post on coconut here . It has a very high smoking point, so the tolerance to heat for baking is wonderful.It speeds up metabolism and can assist in weightless. Only buy organic, virgin, unrefined coconut oil. Try this one.

Grass fed butter and ghee are saturated fats. These are natural, fairly easy to attain, delicious, and good for you. Now don't go eating a whole stick of butter, lets not get too crazy. Be responsible, bigger is not better. Ghee is a little bit more exotic, it can be found at local health food stores, online, and in Whole Foods. Trader Joes carries it, but I'm not sure it is from grass fed cows. You can also learn what ghee is if you don't know and how to make your own ghee here.

Another spectacular saturated fat is red palm oil. It is from the palm tree, not be confused with the coconut palm. Outside of the USA, palm oil is the most widely used oil. When unprocessed it has a red hue. It is actually extremely beneficial to the body. It can help UNCLOG arteries and keep them clean. It also has an extremely high smoking point of 410 so its perfect for stir frying some of your local, fresh, organic veggies! Look for it virgin and cold pressed. Try this one.

Hope this was helpful to you! What fat is your favorite? Remember to be healthy, be blessed, and be a good steward.

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Use It Up!

When was the last time you went through your cupboards, pantry, fridge, or freezer to really see what was there? You may be surprised what you find. Writing things down makes it easier to keep an inventory for your kitchen. This whole process though possibly daunting will allow you to see what you have in stock, what you don't, what you need, and what you need to give the boot! 

One suggestion is to keep a long, narrow dry erase white board on the wall need the cabinets or pantry in order to keep a list, and since its erasable you can change it as need be. Make it a habit, keep the dry erase marker close by, and save your sanity. This will help you to avoid buying the 4th bag of quinoa, and to replace the unsulphured sundried tomatoes.

Get creative with meal choices using all you have in the house.Don't limit yourself to food that typically in the USA is only eaten at certain meals. Eat whole, real, nutritious foods. Involve a lot of greens whenever the chance.

Here is a quick recipe to use up all you have!

Rainbow Quinoa

2 Large Handfuls of Organic Kale
2Fresh Garlic Clove. minced
2 Organic Carrots, sliced
1/2 Small Red Onion, diced
2 TBSP Organic Coconut Oil
2 Cups Cooked Quinoa
1 Cup Real Chicken Stock
1 Fresh Organic Lemon, squeezed
1 Tsp Celtic Sea Salt
1/4 Tsp Black Pepper

Directions:

In a large skillet add coconut oil and saute the kale, garlic, carrot, red onion. Once soft, add everything else. Simmer on low-medium for about 10 minutes to allow flavors to combine. Carnivores add pasture raised chicken.