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I have said it before and I will say it again–most of our health issues are rooted in our diets (and the diets of our mothers and grandmothers, certain things we were born with, were because of their diets, but most can be reversed).
I thought I had found the root of the dermatitis I was experiencing–stress, and I detailed that here. But I removed sources of stress in my life and slowed things down and saw a little recovery, but not full. Anytime something came up, EVEN just having to leave the house(!), I would experience a flare-up. On top of a patch of dermatitis on my hand, I was also experiencing eczema and hives on most of the rest of my body. Not fun!!!
Through all this, I have tried my best to put my trust in the Lord and NOT lean on my own understanding. Sometimes this is difficult for me, since I have studied up on health so much! I just had to get to the point where I turned it TOTALLY over to the Lord and didn’t worry or think about it anymore, including no more research.
I was constantly reminded of the verse that says, “God is not the author of confusion,” so anytime a solution came to my mind that brought anxiety, I knew it wasn’t from God. I only followed leadings that brought peace. (For instance, I had thoughts of trying the GAPS diet, where you eliminate all grains, all dairy, and all starchy vegetables and fruit, but that brought me great anxiety. I think GAPS is wonderful, but it wasn’t the answer for me at this time.)
One day, I felt the need to research hives and adrenals glands and low and behold (!), I found information that matched what I had been experiencing, PLUS other issues, like the dizzy spells I detailed here, and low blood sugar issues, mentioned here, hay fever, and quite possible the irregular cycles I’ve always experienced.
So, it seems I WAS correct in saying that our diet is the root of our problems. I was experiencing stress, but that was because my adrenal glands were fatigued and couldn’t handle the stress properly. (When your adrenal glands are tired, everything stresses you out.) I am now focusing on healing the adrenals and am seeing bigger recovery. My hand is almost 100% clear and the rest of the skin issues are greatly diminished as well.
Here are the articles that helped me so much:
Adrenal Fatigue & Your Diet by Dr. Marcelle Pick
This is part of the Real Food Wednesdays Blog Carnival hosted by Cheeseslave and Kelly the Kitchen Kop. This week’s topic is Real Food Testimonials, check out the link to read many more inspiring stories of how diet has changed people’s lives!
In the last installment, I posted a link that answered the question of why I drink raw milk. I should add that the number one reason is because of my motto–if God created it, it is healthy; if man has adulterated it, it is unhealthy. Pasteurized milk is one of our most processed/adulterated foods (that everyone thinks is healthy). Now on to this week’s topic.
Celtic Sea Salt
You may have noticed that I call for this in most of my recipes. Specifically, my Curried Sweet Potato Soup and my Molasses Sourdough Bread.
Why?
Let’s go back to the beginning.
I first heard of Celtic Sea Salt when reading Nourishing Traditions. Sally Fallon calls for it in all her recipes. So I bought some so I could try making homemade sauerkraut. It was quite expensive, I think I paid about $6.00 for a one-pound package.
So I made some sauerkraut and then left the salt up in the cupboard and didn’t dare use it for anything else, since it cost so much!
Well, one day I was talking to a friend and she told me that she had started using Celtic Sea Salt and it tasted so much better than regular salt in her food. My package had been in the cupboard for quite a while at this point. I figured I should start using it.
So I tried it out and she was right–it tasted great. But another very interesting thing happened. An issue I had been dealing with cleared up. Around the time I had my daughter (she’s 3 and a half now), I started having dizzy spells. They weren’t like anything I had ever experienced before. It wasn’t lightheadedness, like low blood sugar–I knew what that felt like. It wasn’t full vertigo, the room didn’t actually spin, but it was just a very weird feeling. My legs would feel weird and my stomach would feel weird and I would just close my eyes until the feeling passed–it usually lasted a few seconds. Well, these episodes started happening more frequently and were becoming longer in duration. I am the type of person that only goes to the doctor in emergencies, but this was starting to concern me.
When I started using Celtic Sea Salt on my food the dizzy spells stopped! I was thrilled! This told me that it must be some sort of mineral deficiency causing them.
I used up the bag of salt that I had and didn’t rush back out to buy more since it was so expensive. After a bit, the dizzy spells returned, so I ran right back to the health food store to buy more salt. I didn’t care how much it cost now, this was medicine to me! As long as I keep using the Celtic Sea Salt, the dizzy spells seem to stay away. And interestingly, the RLS I had for many, many years is almost non-existent!
Celtic Sea Salt is an unrefined salt. Therefore it has a range of minerals that are not present in regular table salt or even other sea salts. You will notice that it is gray, that is because of all the minerals.
It comes in coarse or fine. I have found that the fine salt is more expensive. I just buy the coarse and grind it in my food processor.
You will notice that it is moist when you buy it. Dr. Hulda Clark recommends sterilizing it in the oven (400F) on a plate for 5 minutes, to kill mold. I did not know this for a while, but a batch of my ferments molded, so now I am taking this precaution.
I do keep Hain Sea Salt on hand for certain things, to keep in the salt shaker, but I use Celtic Sea Salt in all of my cooking.
So why use Celtic Sea Salt? It will help supply your body with needed minerals, it is unrefined (therefore in line with my motto), and it tastes great!
Have your cake and eat it too!
Contrary to popular opinion, I am not the food police. I am not looking around me in shock at what people choose to eat. I really am an oblivious person. I’m usually too absorbed in thought to notice others and make judgments. I am just trying to take my babysteps and I recognize that everyone is at a different place with their babysteps.
I do enjoy my occasional desserts. I try to stick to homemade desserts and forgo the store-bought or restaurant fare. But sugar is sugar, right? Well, most (if not all) store-bought (and restaurant) desserts are very high in trans fat. You name it–cookies, cakes, pies, etc. You will be much better off if you just make something at home to enjoy. Use white flour and sugar, but PLEASE, please, please, use butter. Your heart will thank you. For more information on that, click here.
Chocolate Cupcakes
This recipe is from a Pam Anderson cookbook. I LOVE all her recipes! (I have not attempted to cut back the sugar in this recipe. Cake recipes are pretty delicate, they are not easily altered, like muffins or yeast breads are.)
I divided it in half to make 12 cupcakes.
Measure in a bowl:
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons cake flour (it probably wouldn’t hurt to use all-purpose flour)
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/8 teaspoon salt (just a little over 1/4 teaspoon)
Whisk those ingredients together and set aside.
Melt 7 tablespoons butter and set aside to cool.
Boil 3/8 cup (6 tablespoons or 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons) water and mix with 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa (I use Hershey’s). Stir until smooth. Let cool a bit and then add 1/4 cup sour cream and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla.
In a separate bowl beat 2 egg whites to soft peaks.
With a hand mixer, mix melted butter into flour/sugar mixture. Add cocoa mixture and beat until batter is smooth, 2 to 3 minutes. With a spatula, fold egg whites into batter until just incorporated. Spoon into paper muffin cups.
Bake in a 350F oven 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Then let cool.
Cream Cheese Frosting
Now this is where you can really cut back on the sugar. The original recipe had 3 times as much sugar as this, yet this version tastes so good! The extra sugar is not necessary.
Beat together 2 1/2 tablespoons softened butter with 4 ounces soft cream cheese, until smooth. Add 2 drops red food coloring, 1/2 teaspoon almond extract, and 1/3 cup powdered sugar. Beat until thoroughly incorporated and fluffy.
Spread frosting on cupcakes.
Chocolate Heart Decorations
I melted about 1 tablespoon chocolate chips and transferred to a ziploc bag. I snipped off the tip of the bag and then piped hearts onto parchment. I let them cool to harden and then placed 2 hearts on each cupcake.
Cheeseslave is hosting a Real Food Wednesday Blog Carnival. The theme this week is bone broth.
Bone broths are full of minerals that are vital for our health. Plus they add flavor to our meals. You can make soups, stews, and other things, like rice, with bone broth.
My recipe for chicken stock/broth is here.
When you have your homemade stock made, you can make these great recipes:
Be sure to visit this link to see what other recipes were entered in the carnival!
Last time I gave you a healthy alternative to deodorant. Today, the topic will be natural soap.
This is an area that I splurge a little on. Natural soap will cost you more than the store-bought fare. This is because the soap you buy at the store is made with cheap ingredients and chemicals. (But you might save on lotion if you switch to natural soap, read on.)
The truth is that the soap you buy at the store isn’t really soap, it’s detergent–none of them, not Ivory, not Dove, none! Detergent is much harsher on your skin. It strips your skin of its natural oils. This is why I pay more for natural soap now. My skin would get so dry and itchy in the winter, but that changed when I switched to natural soap.
Detergent bars found in the local grocery store and drug stores are made from petroleum. In the process, the glycerin is removed. Glycerin is a humectant, meaning it will pull moisture from the air into your skin. The detergent maker’s remove the glycerin to sell separately. Without glycerin in the bar, your skin is much drier.
Detergent bars also contain sodium laureth sulfate and/or sodium lauryl sulfate. They are added to make the bar lather well, but there is debate on whether they are safe.
Check out this article on chemical levels in our kids.
Natural soap will not lather as well as detergent bars, but they clean just as well. And your skin will thank you. Another benefit is that the ingredients are from renewable resources. We can grow more coconut and olive trees to produce their oil, but we can’t create more petroleum.
Soap made with coconut oil will produce the best lather, but it can be a bit more drying to the skin (not as much as detergent bars, though). Soap made with olive oil will moisturize the skin better, but it will hardly lather. You just have to find a bar that you like and you may have to get used to the idea of less lather.
There are a lot of great natural soaps available, at your local health food store and online. You can support your local economy by finding a soapmaker in your area. (Just ask them if they make their soap or if they melt and pour–meaning they bought a pre-made soap base and just added color and fragrance.) If you are in Oklahoma, you can buy a range of natural personal care items through the Oklahoma Food Coop.
I use Kiss My Face brand Olive and Aloe bar. (I use it as a body bar. I will detail what I use on my face in a later post.) It is primarily made with olive oil, so it moisturizes, and it was the most economically priced bar at my health food store. The price on this bar is almost the same at Whole Foods, here in Oklahoma, and on Vitamin Shoppe.com.
I have also used Dr. Bronner’s Lavender bar. This is a bar made primarily of coconut oil and so it does lather better, but it doesn’t moisturize as well as the Kiss My Face bar. And it is a little more expensive than the Kiss My Face bar.
I like to keep foam pump dispensers in my kitchen and bathrooms for hand washing. I really like to use Dr. Bronner’s Sal Suds. Sal Suds is a super concentrated liquid soap. It is all-natural–no harmful ingredients, fragrances, or colors. It is gentle on your skin.
I switched to the foam pump dispensers when I had cracks on my hands and dermatitis. Turns out the dermatitis was caused by stress, but switching to foam soap also helped. Washing with full-strength soap was too harsh and was stressing my skin by drying it out. The foam pumps dilute the soap, saving you money in the long run.
When my kids were babies, I used Sal Suds to wash their laundry, instead of Dreft.
I would like to try my hand at making some soap this year. If I do, I’ll let you know how it turns out.
Stay tuned for more personal care alternatives, coming soon!
I have heard that most honey sold in the stores is cut with corn syrup, but I had NO idea that olive oil is often adulterated, too!
I read this post by Cheeseslave, that details how olive oil manufacturers are cutting their oil with other oils, possibly soybean oil, hazelnut oil, and who knows what other oils.
One way to test your oil is to place it in the refrigerator and see if it solidifies. A true olive oil should become solid. If your olive oil doesn’t solidify, it could mean that it has been cut with other oils, OR had the waxy portions of the olive oil removed. Read the post by Cheeseslave and also the comments, too. Someone mentioned that Bragg brand didn’t solidify when cold. I think that Bragg is a great brand overall and they are probably selling pure olive oil, but they are just removing the waxy portion of the oil. (I personally want my oil as unadulterated as possible, including all the components of the first pressing.)
I started buying Star brand from Walmart because it was labeled “organic”. Well, I put it in the refrigerator and it did not solidify. I knew it had to be too good to be true. It was such a great price. I will be looking elsewhere now.
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