Friday, 14 March 2014

Drain Cleaner

Pour in about ½ cup of baking soda, 1 cup of white spirit vinegar & leave it to sit for about half an hour.
Pour in boiling water to unblock the drain.

Thursday, 6 March 2014

Chemical free laundry detergent

Thanks Tracy for this recipe. It is quick and easy (once you have the vinegar+lemon mix), environmentally friendly, prevents buildup inside your washing machine, as well as your drains, and is easy on the pocket too!

TIP I often use this mix to scour pots and frying pans to release caked-on foodstuff.

Left Bottle = Just mixed
Right Bottle ready to use 10 days later


You can either use your homemade household cleaner or soak some lemon peels in vinegar for ten days for the one half of the base mixture. (If you prefer your washing essential oil free then just keep some of the base mixture aside for laundry before making your cleaner)





Ingredients:
mix equal amounts of baking soda (soda bicarb) and your vinegar+lemon base / cleaner
For an regular sized load - put a tablespoon of the mix directly into the machine and wash. (Is safe to put directly on clothes). For larger loads use slightly more. For dirtier loads you can treat them in advance with this mixture directly onto the clothes where the worst dirt is, but try mix this detergent just before use and stick it into the tub as it fizzes for best results.

"Softener":
You can add a cup of white spirit vinegar to the rinse cycle as well as it softens your clothes and doesn't smell at all. Feel free to add a drop of your favourite essential oil to the rinse cycle if you'd like them to have a base smell.

Dry as normal. Wear as normal.

ADDITIONALLY: Add 25 drops of lavender/rosemary essential oils (or a mix of both) to your linen load to get rid of dust mites.

Dry Scalp Treatment / Leave-In Conditioner

For years I have had dry scalp and have tried all types of shampoos and treatments to fix it. As I have moved to chemical free living I have been playing around with things to figure out what would work. I thought I'd share this as it helps and can also be used as a leave in conditioner if you are going down the 'no-poo' route.

TIP: Try find yourself a plastic container that can easily be refilled and has a pointed nozzle. I re-use a bottle I got in America years ago, but you could always buy a saline nasal spray squeeze bottle and empty the saline out.

Ingredients:
100ml Coconut Oil (naturally anti-bacterial & non greasy)
1 drop Rosemary essential oil
1 drop Lemongrass essential oil
1 drop Rose Geranium essential oil
1 drop Peppermint essential oil
1 drop Naouli essential oil (dry scalp treatment)

1 drop Neem essential oil (this can be left out as it smells awful, but works wonderfully on dry scalp and the Naouli oil smell balances it out nicely)
 * You can use Lavender instead of one of the other oils
 * You can also add raw, organic honey as it is very healing for skin, but it separates and needs shaking each time.

Shake it up and pour a bit on to the scalp directly as necessary and massage in or pour a bit into your hands and rub into your hair as a light leave in conditioner.
*If the coconut oil sets use your hands/warm water to warm the bottle as opposed to the microwave.

FYI - be careful not to put too much essential oil in or put too much on your scalp as essential oils are very strong and this can give you a headache if you use too much. These things need to be experimented with as we all work differently :)

No-poo Hair Wash

A few years ago I switched to products without petroleum, parabens and chemicals in them. I tried the baking soda method before, but found it a lot of prep work. When the price of shampoo jumped from R30 to nearly R50 I thought it was worth giving it a bash again.

This method is pretty simple actually. There is an adjustment period that you need to know about, but it is a small price to pay and totally worth it. I've never had to wash my hair more than twice a week before, so lately I've been stretching it out 4-5-6 days between washes so that my body can acclimatise back to producing its own oil. (You can get away with that when you have long curly hair that can just be tied back)

TIP: Try finding 2 bottles (or even using an old shampoo bottle) that can be filled easily and then squeezed through a nozzle for easier application instead of using plastic cups and pouring. A spray bottle for the vinegar 'conditioner' makes for very easy application.

"Shampoo"
1 cup warm water
1 tbsp baking soda (approximately. This amount can be experimented with)

"Conditioner"
1 cup warm water
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
* (you can either mix the ACV with water before use or you can just put undiluted ACV into a spray bottle and spray it directly onto your wet hair - this applies WAY more easily and quickly!)

Mixing Instructions (if using 2 cups of water in total)
Mix the two cups of warm water together. (I put in a drop of rosemary essential oil for my dry scalp and a drop of peppermint essential oil to make it smell nice). Feel free to use lavender if you prefer the smell.
Put the baking soda into the 'shampoo' bottle through a funnel and pour the water in afterwards to wash the powder in.
Pour the apple cider vinegar into the 'conditioner' bottle through a funnel and pour the water in afterwards to wash the vinegar in.

Mixing Instructions (if using one cup of water for the shampoo and spraying ACV directly on as conditioner)
You can use 1tsp of the baking soda mixture that you've put together for your carpet/mattress cleaner if you'd like to get some essential oil smell into your shampoo.
Put the baking soda into the 'shampoo' bottle through a funnel and pour the water in afterwards to wash the powder in.

Washing Instructions 
Pour the "shampoo" mixture onto your head, starting at the scalp. It may or may not make a lather as you massage it in to clean your scalp and stimulate the blood flow. Leave it on for two minutes, rinse, repeat.

Your hair will feel squeaky clean. Don't worry the vinegar will remove any residue and soften your hair.

Pour the "conditioner" mixture onto your hair, starting from the scalp again. Massage your scalp again, leave on for two minutes and rinse out. The vinegar smell will disappear when it dries, but the essential oils should help with that as well.

Curly hair tends to be more dry, so I use a little bit of coconut oil that I've mixed into a bottle with some essential oils as a dry scalp treatment/leave-in-conditioner for now, as I've only just started using this method again.

I'll let you know how it goes...
(5 months later so far so good!!! I'm very happy with this method and my hair looks and feels geat!)

Travelling with curly hair used to mean packing lots of little bottles

Wednesday, 5 March 2014

Mattress and/or carpet cleaner

I would recommend cleaning your mattress regularly.
 
Firstly remove all the linen and put it in the wash.

Take a large container with a lid. Add 1 cup of Baking Soda (Soda Bicarb) and add in 6 drops of essential oil. I'm allergic to lavender so I use 4 drops of Rosemary essential oil. I also add a drop of Eucalyptus oil as well as a drop of Neem oil to repel any mites that may be around.

Stir/shake the mixture up well. You can put it into a shaker or pour through a sieve onto the mattress. I find a shaker more convenient.
Leave this to draw out odours etc for an hour to an hour and a half. Give the matress a thorough vacuum and enjoy sleeping on your fresh bed. If it's been a while since your last clean perhaps turn the mattress and do the other side too.

You can sprinkle some of this mix between washes to keep your mattress fresh and vacuum again the next time you change your linen.

I've also put a recipe I found online for  washing your linen to get rid of dust mites and to wipe your mattress down. I haven't tried it yet but it sounds like it would work.

The baking soda & oil sprinkle will also work wonderfully on carpets and gives your home a lovely fresh smell.

Tuesday, 17 December 2013

13 things I've found to work for my health and nutrition

(Reblogged from my original post http://janicesjournalings.blogspot.com/2012/11/ten-things-ive-found-to-work-for-my.html)

2 DISCLAIMERS: Firstly: I'm neither a Doctor nor a nutritionalist, but I am an eater and a 'digester' ;) I have, however, spoken to many of them and these are the tips I've got from them as well as gleaned from the internet and I practice these tips myself.

Secondly: I think it takes all kinds to make a world and each one of us is magnificently unique and therefore different to others. There are some general rules but "what is food for the goose may be poison for the gander" so what works for me may not work for you. I've spent years of trial and error exploring and these are my tips for exploration. I'd just like to share what works for me and some awesome links I've found that furthered my understanding. Please feel free to Google things for yourself and figure out what works for you ;).

For many years I suffered from IBS, which has now completely gone. I also smoked and drank for about 23 years (most of those years doing both heavily!), which I no longer do. The upside to that was that I knew I was putting my system under strain and I needed to clear my body of those toxins, so I resolved to eat as healthily as possible to make up for that - I bought food as close to it's original state, with as few preservatives, as possible - so I mostly made my own meals from scratch. That way I'd know what went into it, as opposed to buying prepackaged meals and not understanding what half of the additives were on the labels. I also get food triggered migraines so I have to be incredibly careful about what I eat. Simple things like custard or cheese flavoured chips can knock me flat out for days on end.


1. If you only take one supplement, make it probiotics. (this was told to me by a Doctor who specialises in nutrition). I took it to heart and found me a lovely liquid probiotic that I try to take daily.


2. Eat as alkaline a diet as possible: Despite being vegetarian and sprouting my own beans (which I then consume raw) I still find I'm slightly acidic because of an extreme aversion to exercise. About a month ago I decided to boost my alkalinity with half a teaspoon of Epsom Salts (magnesium laden to help prevent migraines) and half a teaspoon of Baking Soda (NOT Baking Powder, which may contain aluminium and is more acidic). I feel better than I have in ages, less stiff and my digestive system is less sluggish. In fact, since I've started doing this the weight that I gained by moving my addiction from cigarettes to chocolate is now finally budging!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgBql4N9xGs

3. Cut out as much sugary junk as possible. (that doesn't mean go for the sweetener option). Try to get your sugar from fruit. Watch "Sugar, The Bitter Truth". They explain it better than I could. You do need an hour and a half to watch it, but in the grand scheme of things this is a fantastic hour and a half well worth spending doing this! So I cut out a lot of unrefined sugar, but  I'm still working on this one


4. Omega 3's 6's and 9's. Chia seeds and Acai Berry are my friends. With an eating disorder at a young age and an preferrance for low fat food, I also starved my body of all the good Omegas. Lack of these internal lubricants left me stiff and sent me running for fat laden snacks out of desperation. My body knows what it wants and sends massive craving signals, that's a good thing though - i.e. I know when I'm low on iron because I'll crave things like spinach or broccoli, so ultimately it's an extremely handy thing. I now listen to my cravings a lot more consciously than I used to - i.e. craving for chocolate is probably magnesium and, rather than reaching for the soya lecithin laden bar of hydrogenated stuff I can eat Raw Cacao or take a magnesium supplement. Same as if I'm craving fat I'll try chia seeds first. Again if you watch  "Sugar, The Bitter Truth" they explain how fat digestion triggers the full response and sugar doesn't. I'm no longer constantly snacking like I used to!


5. Drink loads of water, preferrably find your nearest spring if you can or else boil all water once before you drink it. Every night I boil a full kettle before I go to sleep and I leave the lid off so that the chlorine can evaporate. I then fill up my water bottle for the day (I don't believe in buying bottled water and adding to the plastic problem in the environment). Make sure your bottle is Number 2 plastic (I can't remember why, I'll find out again LOL). Spring water is better if you get it. It is more alive that way (refer the movie Water).


6. Use soap and beauty products that you could eat. Your skin is your biggest organ and absorbs loads of nasties into it from beauty products. What's the point of eating all this healthy goodness, exercising and then slathering on products to be absorbed into your system that are not good for you. In South Africa we have Faithful-to-Nature. If you live overseas Google is your friend LOL. I started with with things you do daily like a flouride-free toothpaste and paraben free face cream. Now I make my own homemade deodorant and I can feel the difference.


7. Learn how to make your own household cleaning products. I have terrible allergies to shop bought household cleaning products and have learned to make my own. Perhaps I'll do another blog on them but there is a ton of information out there on what to use. Main ingredients are vinegar, lemons, borax and baking soda. Cheap, healthy and will make a MASSIVE difference to your life if you suffer with allergies like I do.

8. Do some type of detox once every six months. (Once again speak to your doctor before you do anything - I'm just sharing what works for me). 

There are too many different ways to detox to mention and I'm no specialist so I'm not going to go there. Plus there are two types of ways to detox: The push detox, which is when you eat loads of antioxidants/minerals, which stimulate your body to health and your cells get moving on getting healthier and do a cellular springclean, and the pull detox, which is when you actively take products to help you chelate nasties and shift them out of your system. You should most certainly be helping your liver flush the toxins rather than having to put them back into storage again for the next spring.
I do a Gall Bladder Cleanse annually and I love it. It really helps boost my system and 'un-sluggish' me. I did a Parasite Cleanse and it was unbelievably hard, but totally worth it. Yes, our bodies are detoxing all the time. We live in cities, breathe exhaust fumes in traffic, our bodies take in Oxygen and put out Carbon Dioxide etc etc etc. For me, after abusing my body for years, I just find it is just good to help my system along once in a while. (i.e. You can run barefoot or with takkies/trainers/sneakers on - which would you prefer?). 
We should service our bodies way more regularly than our cars. I also take Zeolite and liver support to boost my system while I detox.

9. Superfoods. What a win!!!! Things like this: Baobab powder has more calcium than milk. Awesome!!!! I am lactose intolerant and, while I refuse to give up my cheese or yoghurt totally, I have now found that as a vegetarian nowadays I have so many options for nutritional input available to me than I did when I was younger and trying to be a vegetarian then. I ended up being pescatarian then, with the occasional steak craving every 6 months or so, now you can get so many vegetable proteins it's awesome!!!!! I started off trying each one out and now I've built up a stock in my kitchen - every month I buy one superfood bulk so I'm always stocked up and it's not a 6 monthly whack to the wallet.


10. Try eat more raw and at least try to get organic water-based foods - i.e. those foodstuffs that will really soak in the pesticides and do more harm than good eating. I sprout my beans and add them to my soups or stews after cooking those. I have a serving of fruit and salad daily. I can't stand the taste of cucumber, but it is a superfood too. There are ways to eat foods that are good for you that you don't like the taste of. I now cut up my cucumber and make the salad the night before, so that the apple cider vinegar has soaked into it properly and gives it a more tangy taste as opposed to the slimy taste I hated! Eating raw is not something you jump into overnight as your digestive system needs to adapt, as does your kitchen. Raw nuts are fabulous sources of protein and other goodies, as opposed to cooked nuts have destroyed a lot of the goodness with the heat and hydrogenated the fat. Raw food has more bio-available enzymes and minerals. I eat half-cooked & half-raw and I love it. Some food is better for you cooked like tomatoes (NOT canned!!!!!)


11. Apple Cider Vinegar. Awesome for system alkalinity, preventing heartburn and getting rid of warts!!! Magic stuff. Do be careful to water it down if you drink it for heartburn or clean teeth after use to prevent it damaging your teeth enamel.


12. Non-irradiated herbs and spices. Ok so I do own and use a microwave on occasion (always wait 2 minutes after you've taken the item out of the microwave before consuming it otherwise you're putting radiating products into your body), but the wonders of non-nuked herbs and spices is phenomenal. (Also I just read somewhere that if you add black pepper to tumeric you exponentially increase it's 'absorbability' - is that a word? ;) Also things like Dulse and Oryx Salt that haven't been messed around with have vast bio-available minerals in them to remineralise your body! Loving it!!!


13. If you hate to exercise AT LEAST try to stretch 5 mins in the morning and 5 mins in the evening. At LEAST do that to stimulate flow in your lymphatic system. Your lymphatic system is not attached to your heart like your blood system and needs your movement to boost it. (Note how I've left this right until the end LOL ;)


PS: If you are considering being vegetarian but aren't sure how to get your proteins consider that Brad Pitt is vegan and get a load of him!!! He stopped eating meat after watching the movie "Forks Over Knives". Not preaching here, just sharing that I love the fact that nothing has to die in order for me to live. The food I eat is generally still alive and I know that I am what I eat and I absolutely love eating the way I do. I feel better now in my fortieth year than I did at 30.


PPS: I see I've left off meditation. We are mind, body and soul and all three need to be nurtured and kept in balance. Stress manifests itself physically, so meditating, grounding and centering help me physically JUST as much as awesome nutrition - if not more...

PPPS: FLOSS!!! 


Some more links to informative videos you might want to watch:
One Answer to Cancer

Thursday, 12 December 2013

Homemade Remineralising Toothpaste

I stopped using flouridated toothpaste a few years ago, but never really found any toothpaste that tasted great or worked really well. I tried different pastes and settled on brushing salts until I got fed up with that and constantly having to use baking soda and peroxide to get my teeth really clean.

Seeing as though my homemade deodorant works so well for me (and everyone I've given it to loves it), I thought I'd give making toothpaste a try.

I'm SO glad I did!!!!

Ingredients
3 tbsp Coconut Oil
3 tbsp Baking Soda (Soda Bicarb)
(the rest you can flavour to taste)
+/- 10 drops Peppermint Essential Oil
+/- 10 drops Eucalyptus Essential Oil
1/4 tsp of Oryx Desert Salt (or any kind of mineral sea salt / himilayan crystal salt)
1/4 tsp of Bentonite Clay (not too much as it can be abrasive)
1/4 tsp of Xylitol (optional - and apparently it's good for teeth. Who knew? :)
Another option: mix a drop of cinnamon and clove essential oil in a little olive oil and add a few drops of that to the mix.

Directions
Mix well together and put into separate dipping containers for each member of the family. Fashion a little mixer to go into the container to mix it up in summer when the oil melts.

Voila! (This stuff works like a charm, is yummy and makes great Christmas presents :)

I also highly recommend whitening your teeth with tumeric.
make a paste out of tumeric powder and water. Use an old toothbrush as it will get stained and don't get the paste on your clothes. The only thing tumeric doesn't stain is your teeth!

You can also make a whitening paste of baking soda & hydrogen peroxide (20 volume - medical grade). Leaves your teeth squeaky clean :)

I also really recommend oil pulling at least once a week:
You need to do this on an empty stomach, so best to do it first thing in the morning. Take a tablespoon of coconut oil / sesame oil. swish it around your mouth - without swallowing - for 20 mins (if it's too much you can do ten, but twenty gives you the maximum benefits)
When you spit the oil out it will have gone from clear to white. Please rinse your mouth out as the oil will have pulled loads of germs out of your mouth. It is an ayurvedic treatment that has been used for centuries. It's wonderful for your overall health, not just great for your teeth and gums.

...and don't forget to floss ;)