I’m home with two sick kids – what do I do to make sure I stay healthy in this house full of germs?  Well aside from the basics (sleep, rest, washing hands, etc.) we do a few other things you might find helpful.  Here they are:

1)      Theive’s Oil - AKA Marseille’s Remedy:  I use this topically and in the air (both for steams and simply diffused into the air).  Check out a local maker's website - Theive's Oil has a really neat history!
I never apply Theive’s Oil direct to the skin as it seems too strong to me, but the makers claim it can be used ‘neat’ topically.  You can apply it to your hands and feet to sanitize them, to boost your immune system, and to prevent sickness and infection.  I apply the oil in a carrier to our feet at night and in the morning and cover up with socks (to prevent slipping, to keep the sheets clean, and to allow deep penetration). 
I also diffuse the oil and breathe the vapours to help fight sickness and clear air of pathogens.  I add a few drops of orange essential oil to my diffusers along with the Theive’s Oil – orange makes it smell like Christmas :)

Ingredients:
Syzgium aromaticum (organic Clove essential oil)
Citrus limon (organic lemon essential oil)
Cinnamoomum verum (organic Cinnamon bark essential oil)
Eucalyptus polybractea (organic Blue Mallee Eucalyptus essential Oil)
Rosimarinus officinalis (organic Rosemary essential oil)

2)      “Sick Tea” – our own concoction and the kids love it!  We drink this whenever we're feeling down. 

• A heaping teaspoon of raw local honey
• A packet of raspberry EmergenC
• A sprinkle of powdered Thyme
• Some times I’ll squeeze some fresh organic lemon or lime juice into the mix as well
• A mug full of warm alkaline water

Sick Tea #2:  cut up the whites of two green onions, and about an inch of raw ginger.  Pour a tea pot of boiling water over this and cover for 10 minutes.  This is great for fevers and it tastes like Chinese soup - I love it!  But the kids aren't quite as impressed with it!

3)      Lots of pure alkaline water

4)      Soups, salads, and fruit

5)      I used to also use ViraStop by Enzymatica – but unfortunately Health Canada pulled it!  You can still buy it in the states though, and I gotta say – I’ve been sicker since I haven’t been able to get it.  I might make a trip down just for ViraStop LOL

That’s it!  We’re healthy and strong with in a few days!
I hope this will help some of you through this crazy flu season...

Why Alkaline?  (From Santevia's Website)
1. Stay Healthy
2. Be Stronger
3. Live Longer We all want to Stay Healthy, Be Stronger and Live Longer so how do we do that? 

It’s all about BALANCE!  Our body is slightly alkaline (7.35pH) and we need to keep it that way to stay in homeostasis which is where our body can heal itself. 

So let’s talk about the BIG 3 things we need to do:

1.    Eat Alkaline (GREEN)
2.    Exercise to get rid of Acid
3.    Drink LOTS of healthy Alkaline Water

The Standard American Diet (SAD) is loaded with processed foods, meat and bread which are acidic, so it isn’t a big surprise that many of us end up with acidic bodies which can lead to acidosis and inflammation.  Add to that our sedentary lifestyle and it isn’t a wonder that type II diabetes and childhood obesity are rising threats to our society.  

What can I do?
1.    EAT your GREENS
2.    WALK for 20-30 minutes every day
3.    DRINK 8-10 glasses of clean, mineralized and alkaline water EVERY DAY!

Here’s a list of items tested for in our water: 

Alkalinity, aluminum, arsenic, barium, boron, cadmium, calcium, total organic carbon, chloride, chromium, cobalt, true color, apparent color, conductivity, copper, fluoride, hardness, iron, lead, magnesium, manganese, mercury, molybdenum, nickel, ammonia, Nitrate, nitrite, nitrogen, pH, potassium, total dissolved residue, selenium, silver, sodium, sulphate, turbidity, zinc, Total and fecal coliforms (Escherichia coli). 

There are acceptable levels of these toxins that are allowed to remain in our water supply, plus the distance between the water plant and your tap is not tested or monitored.   

Also not tested for - all those other microbes: bacterium, viruses, and parasites????  Plus – who’s testing for all those drugs we’ve been hearing about getting into our water like estrogens and antibiotics?  Yuck!

So that’s why so many people choose to filter their water. 

How can you filter your own water?  There’s a lot of options here!

Store bought:  Well there’s a lot of options but you can really boil it down to tap water or natural spring water that’s been filtered and bottled in a plant, and then transported in plastic to you.  Big carbon foot print!  Plus if those plastic bottles have been heated in any way during transport – that plastic is leaching into your water – cancer alert!!!

At home you have a lot more control over what happens and its impact on yourself, your family and your environment. 

You have the options of the Brita-type System (activated carbon filters), the Santevia - type System (imitates nature’s filtering via layers of rock and sand - http://www.santevia.com/ ), or Kinetic Degradation Fluxion (KDF) with Carbon Block Systems (http://www.aquasmart.com/aboutus.html).  The last two are my favourite options. 

Activated carbon filters do not kill all bacteria, viruses or parasites and they aren’t great at filtering out chlorine.  But – if they are your only option I’d at least start here.  You can boil your water for 10 minutes to kill any microbes that may be in the water after you’ve filtered it – this will also boil off the added chemicals – but it’s a lot of work.  In the long run this is also your most expensive method since you need to replace the filters at least every 2 months (more often than recommended by the manufacturers please!!!), plus it creates a lot of garbage. 

Solid Carbon block filtration is a very effective filtering system, and the most cost effective – you only need to replace the block every 6 – 8 months.  Solid carbon block filters effectively treat age-old contaminants such as lead, TCE, chlorine, benzene and several contaminants found in drinking water supplies today like MTBE, chloramines and PCBs. They also likely will be proven capable of significantly reducing contaminants that may be found in drinking water supplies in the future such as antibiotics and other drugs.

Kinetic Degradation Fluxion process medias are patented high purity copper-zinc formulations which eliminate or reduce contaminants from water by using electrochemical oxidation reduction.  These mediums were designed for removing and reducing chlorine and water-soluble heavy metals, to control scale, bacteria and algae even in hot water.  KDF 55 and KDF 85 process media can remove up to 99% of water-soluble lead, mercury, nickel, chromium, and other dissolved metals. They are ideal for use in granular activated carbon (GAC) beds, ion exchange resins, carbon block filters and in-line filters.  Basically this is an additive used with carbon – based filters to further reduce the contaminants in your water. 

While water ­filtration is important to yield clean, contaminant reduced water – it is merely one element of organically complete water. Unlike many high-tech water fi­lters, Gravity Water Systems clean your water without using chemicals, arti­ficial ­filter media, water pressure, or electricity. These systems use all-natural compounds including earthenware ceramic, coconut carbon charcoal, volcanic Zeolite, and silica sand.

Gravity Water Systems recreate the Earth’s process of purifying, mineralizing, alkalinizing and vitalizing water with out the use of electricity. Each drop of ordinary tap water is gravity dripped, resulting in long-contact exposure to earth-derived elements transforming it into vital and complete pure water.  Because this system naturally alkalizes the water, microbes are not able to survive in the water – so any that do get through are unable to get you sick. 

With all this in mind - I hope that you’ll consider filtering your water for a healthier, happier you!  We have a Santevia Gravity System in our home and we use it to drink, cook, water our plants and feed our pets - we love it!

Keep Hydrated!!!

I have found that of all the things I can suggest to people digestive enzymes are by far the most important.  If you’re not digesting your food – what’s the point of eating?  And what’s the point of eating right? 

If you think about it – how you process your food really determines everything about you – whether you have the nutrients required to build the neurotransmitter that allows you to feel joy for example. 

Let that one sink in for a second … 

Everything we do, feel, and think is based upon complex chemical reactions within our bodies and when we don’t have the materials necessary for those reactions to occur, we just don’t experience those things – or we experience them in a warped way.  Those materials come from our diet. 

BUT – even if you eat the most nutritious clean diet in the world, if your system is not functioning properly – you still won’t gain the benefit from that diet!  The first step then is to help our bodies break down our food in a useful manner – it all starts there. 

How do we do that?  We take ENZYMES. 

The following is gleaned from the Enzymedica website, the company I buy many of my enzymes from.  I’ve found them to be the best quality enzymes around – especially for specific concerns. 

On their website they have a fantastic test that discovers the enzyme (s) you are deficient in and I use this test during all of my nutrition intakes. 

Consider taking the test yourself, and then if you’re wanting to try enzymes – give me a call!

http://www.enzymedica.com/takethetest/

What Are Enzymes?

Enzymes are energized protein molecules found in all living cells. They catalyze and regulate all biochemical reactions that occur within the human body. They are also instrumental in digestion. They break down proteins, fats, carbohydrates and fiber making it possible to benefit from the nutrients found in those foods while removing the toxins. Enzymes turn the food we eat into energy and unlock this energy for use in the body. Their presence and strength can be determined by improved blood and immune system functions.

Types of Enzymes

There are three types of enzymes. Our bodies naturally produce two types, digestive and metabolic enzymes as they are needed, while food enzymes can only be consumed orally.

Metabolic Enzymes speed up the chemical reaction within the cells for detoxification and energy production. They enable us to see, hear, feel, move and think. Every organ, every tissue, and all 100 trillion cells in our body depend upon the reaction of metabolic enzymes and their energy factor. Metabolic enzymes are produced by every living cell. However, the liver, pancreas, gallbladder and other organs play a vital role in their production.

Digestive Enzymes are secreted along the digestive tract to break food down into nutrients and waste. This allows nutrients to be absorbed into the blood stream and the waste to be discarded. Human digestive enzymes include ptyalin, pepsin, trypsin, lipase, protease, and amylase. The body does not make cellulase, an enzyme necessary for proper digestion of fiber, so it must be introduced through the raw foods we eat.

Food Enzymes are introduced to the body through the raw foods we eat and through consumption of supplemental enzyme fortifiers. Raw foods naturally contain enzymes, providing a source of digestive enzymes when ingested. However, raw food manifests only enough enzymes to digest that particular food, not enough to have any support systemically. The cooking and processing of food destroys all of its enzymes. Since most of the foods we eat are cooked or processed in some way and since the raw foods we do eat contain only enough enzymes to process that particular food, our bodies must produce the majority of the digestive enzymes we require.

For these reasons it is recommended that we supplement our diet with enzymes.

As many of you know – my daughter was attuned to Reiki Master Level while still in the womb.  What a wonderful experience it has been for the both of us!

Well, the other night at 1 am I was trying to help her go to sleep and I offered her some reiki.  It definitely calmed her down but she wasn’t going to go to sleep, so I got curious and started asking her questions about reiki.  I wondered how she experienced it and lately she’s been expressing herself so well I thought I was going to get some pretty neat responses!  Well – let me tell you that she blew my mind! 

I couldn’t believe the depth and quality of her descriptions and I just had to share them with you guys J 

What a beautiful experience, holding hands with my daughter, chatting about how reiki makes us feel…

I asked her about her five senses and in no particular order – here’s some of what she said: 

“It tastes like cookies and milk and grass (you can eat grass you know!)”

“It smells like new babies and new animals and rain.”

“It feels like love.”

“It feels like you.” (meaning in mom)

“It sounds like rain and heart beats.”

“It looks like peace has come alive.  Peace has arrived and that war shouldn’t be happening.”

“It feels like water and milk.”

“Butterflies”

“It feels peaceful and calm.”

“I feel well rested even though it is way way waaaaay past my bedtime.”

“I feel better.” 

“I feel stronger, happier, peaceful, safe and glad to be in this country because it is safe.”

“I am happy to help charity.” 

Awestruck!

<3

April 2, 2012