My Families Essentials To Beating Cold and Flu Season

Cold and flu season is upon us! We all have friends and family posting on social media that their families are down with respiratory infections, viruses, flu's, and stomach bugs! How do we protect our own families against these illnesses that seem to run rampant during the late fall and winter months? Can we truly protect our families? I do believe we can! So, does this mean that by incorporating all these into our families lives we won't ever get sick? No. But the duration of the sickness can be GREATLY reduced!

The key to health: A strong, healthy immune system.

Without this major key, our bodies are more susceptible to catching every passing bug, virus, and infection. Knowing what reduces the health of our immune systems is important.

So, what should I avoid? Toxins. This comes in the form of sugars, dyes, and ingredients in many different products (cleaning, bath and body, foods, airborne pesticides, vaccines, etc). Eat a good, balanced diet. Try to keep your foods as non-processed as possible and if you can avoid GMO's, that is always best. Unfortunately, that is becoming harder and harder these days. Just do your best.

Consider going green with as many of your everyday cleaning, hygiene, and bath and body products as possible! We are not 100% perfect at this, but we have incorporated a lot of green products into our lives.

Vitamin D3 is ESSENTIAL during cold and flu season! My favorite product is Blue Bonnet drops  because they are easily added to water and they have a citrus taste. During the winter months we add about 4-5 drops a day to water to boost our Vitamin D3. They say that the flu is actually a result of Vitamin D3 deficiency. If you do nothing else during the winter months to stay healthy, add a good Vitamin D3 supplement!

A good probiotic is very important! I am sure you have heard all of the recent news about the importance of healthy gut flora in regards to our health. It is true! Good health begins in your gut! A good probiotic can he found here and here.

Thieves EVERYTHING! I won't ever be without my Thieves products after they have halted, shortened, and even killed bugs in our house. We use Thieves cleaner to disinfect surfaces, toys, floors, EVERYTHING! I have even had a friend come down with the stomach bug while at my house and, thanks to Thieves, we did not catch the bug from her at all! I apply Thieves essential oil to my kids spines during cold and flu season to boost their immune systems. My husband and I take Thieves spray orally at the first sign of any respiratory congestion or post nasal drip. I can't say enough good things about these products! I have Thieves hand soap at my sinks, and Thieves hand purifier in my purse! So, what is Thieves? Thieves is a blend of clove, cinnamon, lemon, rosemary, and Eucalyptus radiata. We love Thieves!

Another precaution we take during the winter months is to try our best to keep sugars to a minimum. One thing I have done is switched my kids to water instead of sugary fruit juices. My kids LOVE fresh fruit. So, we offer those in abundance as well as make sure they are taking their vitamins and enzymes daily!

Water, Water, Water!!!! Limit those sugary drinks and pick up a glass of water instead! Personally, I am not a huge fan of water. I like flavor. I do add essential oils to my water to help add a bit of flavor. My favorites are Lime, Tangerine, and Grapefruit! If I really want something a little fizzy, I drink some sparkling water and still add my essential oils.

Wash your hands often! Of course, when we do wash our hands, we like to use Thieves hand soap. Again, any way we can get our daily dose of Thieves is amazing for our immune systems! Good hygiene is important during cold and flu season. So, wash wash wash!

But I still got sick! What now? STAY HOME during the entire duration of your sickness. Don't rush to the doctor. Your immune system is at a low when you are sick. You are susceptible to even worse illness during this time. To sit in a doctors office where there are other germs and bugs is a recipe for disaster! Also, do some research. Know your symptoms. Look up possible causes. The majority of illnesses will get better with home remedies. The over use of antibiotics actually weakens your immune system and your gut flora. If you can avoid antibiotics, then you are better off! These days, doctors over prescribe antibiotics. If you are dealing with a virus, antibiotics are useless anyway. Take your Vitamin D3 (up to 10,000 IU's), drink lots and lots of water, and rest. Just because you may begin to feel better does not mean you are not contagious. The good news, once better, your immune system is stronger!

Don't suppress a fever. A fever is not something to be afraid of. A fever is the bodies outward proof that it is fighting the infection. IF the fever gets a little too high for your comfort level, try a little bit of peppermint along the spine and a tepid bath. Especially when it comes to children, parents are fearful of fevers and do whatever they can to get rid of them. This can cause more harm than good because it does not allow the body to fight an illness as it is needed and generally introduces toxins into the child's body through the use of fever reducers which have their own list of known side effects.

My favorite book that I reference often when my children are sick is How to Raise a Healthy Child in Spite of Your Doctor, by Robert S. Mendelsohn, MD. You can find it here. Why I love this book? It is practical, helpful information with ways to know when something is more serious and my children do need medical attention. But it also relieves a lot of "Mommy Anxiety" that all of us deal with whenever our children are sick. As mothers, we want to do whatever we can to get our children better as soon as possible. But many times, we do more harm than good. 

Don't be afraid of cold and flu season. Instead empower yourselves and your family with the keys necessary to boost your immune systems, fight illnesses naturally, and find better health!

How to Treat a "Goose Egg" on your toddler...

Last week my daughter was being the little gymnast and dare devil she loves to be. She had just learned how much fun it is to jump off of couches, tables, etc. Yes....dare devil. Her 3 year old brother does not help to discourage her either.

Well, as it would happen, we were preparing for company when we heard a bang and a scream come from the living room where the kids were playing. No, I am not a horrible mother for letting my kids play unsupervised. They need to learn their boundaries.

Immediately, we ran to rescue our child and assess the damage. I scooped up my daughter who was in tears and had clearly bonked her head on the coffee table. Before I could even set her down on our kitchen counter a nice, ugly "goose egg" had popped up on her forehead. To be honest, it scared me. I had never had this happen to one of my kids before.

From what I could tell, she wasn't dazed or having any majorly serious issues. She just had the "goose egg." And she needed some extra love. But I wanted to get the swelling down quick. I opened my essential oils drawer in my kitchen (yup...I have a whole drawer just for my oils...hope to eventually have a nice metal rack...but for now, just a drawer) and looked over my options.

A couple months ago I began collecting some oils that I knew would be good to have on hand for the delivery of our third child coming in March 2015. One of those oils I had added was Geranium. Why? Because Geranium is known to reduce hemorrhaging. As I am planning for my home birth, I wanted to have that on hand just in case. I live a mile from the hospital, but anything to have on hand in the case of an emergency is always good!

So, I applied Geranium to her "goose egg" as well as lavender (for pain and healing), Sacred Frankincense (for healing), and Valor (to calm). My husband did his best to apply an ice pack a little bit too. But when you have a squirmy 19 month old in your arms, applying an ice pack for any extended period of time is difficult! He maybe got in about 5 minutes total broken up among tries!

Our company arrived shortly after the incident and I did not get to reapply the oils till 3 hours later. By then most of the swelling had gone down and she was left with the red and bruised area. I reapplied those same oils before bed to her forehead (and my 3 year olds, because he insisted he needed some too...totally out of sympathy!).

After putting her to bed (in our room because I wanted to keep an eye on her periodically throughout the night), I began researching. I made sure I knew what to keep an eye out for and when to know there was a more serious issue than just a "goose egg" bump to her head. She showed no red flag signs of major issues. I did read that the "goose egg" can last up to a week! So, I felt pretty good knowing the swelling had gone down so considerably that that would not be the case for her.

The next morning, she was just left with a minor bruise. If you didn't know it was there, you may not even see it! I reapplied Geranium and lavender a few times the next day just to give the healing process an extra boost.

Thankful we have these oils and have the resources to know how to use them to best benefit our family! Interested in learning more? Simply email me, comment below, or click the member sign up link on the right hand side of this page!

Check out this photo showing the progress!

My Oily Pregnancy: Week 9

Here I am in week 9 of my fourth pregnancy. I have all the text book symptoms:

Nausea...horrible never ending nausea. Starts around noon every day and doesn't end till I go to sleep at night.

Sleepy. I could probably sleep 24 hours a day and it would not be enough!

Restless sleep at night with a racing mind that won't shut off.

Food aversions. I don't want to even think about zuccini, raw or cooked chicken, or really hardly any food at all past 3pm.

Food cravings. Steak! All I want is steak and burgers! Especially when my protein levels for the day are low.

So, how am I incorporating Young Living products into my pregnancy at just 9 weeks pregnant? In SOOO many ways!

What supplements am I taking?

Super B tablets for all my B vitamin needs as well as my folic acid needs. This also helps with energy which is great right now!

Balance Complete in my berry and greek yogurt smoothie every morning for breakfast! I know lack of protein is HUGE at causing my extreme bouts of nausea. So, I start my morning with a scoop of Balance Complete, blueberries, strawberries, organic greek yogurt, unsweetened vanilla almond milk, and a few drops of Sweet Leaf vanilla creme stevia drops all mixed together in my blender! YUM!

MultiGreens capsules to cover all the good stuff I am missing thanks to being sick and having food aversions to just about everything except steak and burgers. :)

Life 5 probiotic to keep my gut flora good and healthy. Highly recommended for everyone because so many studies are linking most everything health related back to your gut. It is THAT important.

NingXia Red, 2 ounces every morning with a drop of Thieves essential oil added to it! This is soo yummy! NingXia Red is amazing for blood health and it also helps with morning sickness. A definite win!

What Young Living oils have I been using?

Lavender and Valor at night for sleep. These two oils are my new favorite! Just this week I began struggling to sleep well. Very restless sleep with vivid dreams (horrible dreams) and I would wake to my mind racing! Prayer was what helped me get back to sleep after those episodes. (Do you know my  amazing God?) But I would not sleep well after that either. Before I fall asleep, I apply lavender to my neck and shoulders (this is hard because right now, lavender stinks to my most sensitive nose) and I apply Valor to my big toes.

Progessence Plus for balanced progesterone. This oil is amazing! It contains progesterone from wild yam extract. I saw how my use of this oil made a difference in my blood work recently! My progesterone levels were right where they needed to be! Progesterone is super important in the first trimester as they have found that a low progesterone level can actually be a cause of miscarriage.

Endoflex blend. Amazing blend for thyroid health! Last fall my thyroid levels were off and I was borderline hypoglycemic. After using this oil blend for the last 9 months, I saw on my recent blood work that my thyroid levels were right where they needed to be! So thankful! Your thyroid plays into so many aspects of your health including fertility.

AromaEase for nausea. This is a new blend that was introduced back in June specifically for nausea! It is great and each time I have applied it, I have found relief. Not 100% relief, but enough to get me off the couch and out of a fetal position to continue to live semi normal days.

Deep Relief for headaches! Last night I got a bad headache. First one this pregnancy. Applied Deep Relief to the base of my neck, my temples, and across my forehead. I actually forgot about it and before drifting off to sleep realized my headache was gone! :)

Thieves and Lime and Orange in my diffuser. It just smells soo good! Living in a world where everything smells horrible and makes me want to make a mad dash to the toilet, this is my happy place! Not only am I purifying the air of germs, but my house smells yummy and I am one happy Momma!

Interested in learning more about these products for you and your family? Feel free to contact me or leave me a comment! I would love to share how my family uses these amazing products for health!

Young Living's Thieves Products!

One of the things that has always bothered me is the list of unrecognizable ingredients on the back of our products that we use every day. Just because I don't recognize an ingredient does not necessarily mean it is bad, but most of your every day products are full of chemicals that will seep into your body  through your skin or the air you breathe. Within the last 6 months I have been on a quest to change out most all of our every day products for clean products. It gives me a peace of mind that my family is not inhaling, ingesting or having toxins absorbed through their skin. We have not converted all of our products, yet, but we have switched over most of them with the help of Young Living. So, what products have we switched? Toothpaste, deodorant, shampoo, conditioner, body wash, mouthwash, air fresheners, bug spray, hand soap, house hold cleaner, eye make-up remover, moisturizer, diaper rash cream, and our entire medicine cabinet!

Today I want to specifically share with you about Young Livings Thieves products. Obviously, I love Thieves Essential Oil! It is what we use to keep sickies at bay and it works soo well! If we do happen to get a bug, it reduces the amount of time we are sick. But in addition to the Thieves oil, there is an entire line of products that contain Thieves oil for everyday protection against germs!

Why I love Thieves Essential Oil? Because of all the many uses!! 

How do we use it? We diffuse it to clear the air of germs (and it makes my house smell amazing!), we apply it to our feet for protection during cold and flu season, and we add it to capsules and take it with water for extra immune system support! 

Young Living has an entire line of Thieves oral hygiene products too! Toothpaste (AromaBright, Dentarome Ultra, or Dentarome Plus), Mouthwash, and Dental Floss! Every time I use the toothpaste and mouthwash I feel like I just stepped out of the dentist office after a cleaning! But with the peace of mind that chemicals and fluoride were not put in my mouth or accidentally ingested! And an added bonus, they all contain Thieves so my immune system is strengthened every time I brush my teeth! 

In the Thieves product line is probably one of my most used items. Thieves Spray. I personally, keep these handy around my house and on the go. When out and about I use it to disinfect icky bathrooms or grocery carts, or anything that just needs to be disinfected. My family has used Thieves spray for tooth aches, sore throats, and itchy scratchy throats too! 

Lastly in the Thieves line of products is the Hand Soap and Household Cleaner. I use the cleaner for EVERYTHING! It smells amazing and I love to clean counter tops, windows, floors, toilets, and toys with it! I have the peace of mind that bad bacteria is destroyed without compromising our bodies with harsh chemicals! The hand soap is so good and is in our bathrooms and at our kitchen sink. It smells so good, lasts a long time (foaming hand soap) and I know my family is getting a good immune system boost every time they wash their hands! 

My family loves Thieves! I truly believe it is because of these products that we use daily that we have been sick considerably less! It has not been hard to make the switch to clean products and we are enjoying all the benefits these amazing Thieves products have to offer! 

Would you like to try some of these products for yourself? Interested in getting your products at wholesale cost? Simply click here to get started! 

Do you have any questions about these products? Simply leave your questions in the comments and I will answer them! :) 

What made me jump out of the box?

My story begins shortly after I became pregnant with our firstborn son. In my mind, I was going to enjoy my pregnancy and go to the hospital when the time came for him to enter this world. That was my plan and I was very naive. It is what everyone seemed to do.  As the weeks passed and I entered my second trimester I would go onto the websites that would tell me what to expect in my pregnancy and what developments my baby was undergoing that week as well as what I ought to be thinking about. One day, I saw this funny word. Episiotomy. I thought to myself...what is that? It doesn't sound very good. So, I looked it up. No WAY in the world did I want that to be a part of the delivery of my son! So began my jump out of the box! I began to research and find a way to AVOID this awful thing called an episiotomy. Through this I learned about The Bradley Method of child birth. I read and studied and dragged my hubby to Bradley Birth classes. I was determined not to have an episiotomy! Well, as one would have it, I learned so much more about labor and delivery. I began to learn about what was necessary and what was not. I learned that I do have a say in what I want and do not want when it comes to the world of medicine and doctors. I began to ask the questions: how will this effect me and my baby? Is it the best option? Is there a better way? What are the ingredients? What are the risks involved? What are the benefits? And with those questions came answers that I did not expect. I began to ask these same questions for everything! No I am not paranoid and no I do not fear doctors and hospitals and the medical system. I am, however, proactive when it comes to the medical systems influence in our lives. I believe we have a right to know the answers to these questions. I will dive into individual topics later! So, what did this little decision to avoid an episiotomy do for my labor and delivery and my life almost 2 years later? Well, I gave birth to my son in the hospital naturally. He was 9lbs 8oz at birth. We said no to many standard procedures for me and for my son while in the hospital. We chose other procedures that are less routine and that helped me to not tear or require an episiotomy and were better for both me and my son. We have decided to decline the regular vaccine schedule given to children. I gave birth to my daughter through a home birth with a midwife (wonderful experience!) because we have realized our rights to refuse certain things in the hospital have been/are being taken away. I have come to discover the benefit of using essential oils everyday in place of OTC medicines. I will share how I implement those into our lives through this blog. I also take my family to an alternative medicine family practice instead of a regular family doctor or pediatrician. And I still am learning and I am still researching. I will be the first to admit that I do not have all the answers. But through this I hope to be able to inspire someone else to begin to ask the questions that I have and to maybe also "jump" out of the box! 

DIY Bug Repellent (Spray or Gel)

I think just every person at some point wishes Noah could have squashed a couple of pesky bugs as they were brought onto the Ark. Two in particular that are my least favorite are gnats and mosquitoes.    When we used to live in Alabama they were particularly horrible. Now that we are in Indiana, they aren't as bad, but they are still around.

I had tried a couple different recipes for a bug repellent using Young Living Essential Oils and none of them really worked well. Then I was asked to create this video for an online class using this recipe and so far it works really really well! Both my husband and I enjoy fishing in our pond in the evenings and we notice a significant difference when we use it and when we don't. So, enjoy this simple recipe and let me know what you think!

What you will need:

A small travel spray bottle or squirt bottle (like in the video)

Aloe Vera liquid or gel. 

5 drops Young Living Purification oil

2 drops Young Living Thieves oil

2 drops Young Living Melaluca oil

2 drops Young Living Lemongrass oil

1 drop Young Living Peppermint oil

A New Look!

Welcome to my new and improved health blog! Yes, it is focused more on Young Living and the health benefits that can be achieved through their products! But I will also be posting on different topics along the way as well! See those gorgeous purple flowers in the background? That is lavender! One of my most used essential oils!

Why do I love lavender so much and why do we use it so much? Because I am a stay at home mom in a house with two toddlers ALL DAY LONG! Sometimes we just need a little chill out time so I either diffuse the lavender or I apply it to little tummy's throughout the day.
Recently, I was ironing clothes on a Sunday morning and randomly decided to iron my thumb as well. Not such a good idea and it hurt and began to swell up immediately. I reached for my lavender! Within minutes it stopped hurting, the swelling decreased, and I completely forgot about the incident.
I applied lavender the same way when my daughter decided to place both hands directly on the hot glass surface of our gas fireplace this past winter!
We also use lavender in a allergy bomb with lemon, peppermint, and Copaiba. I put an equal amount of these four oils in a bottle with a roll on and whenever the stuffy noses, runny noses, sniffles, itchy, watery eyes begin I roll on as much as necessary to keep the allergies under control.
Needless to say, lavender is a staple oil in our household and we are so very thankful for it!

Would you like some lavender for your family? Have you purchased your Young Living Starter Kit that comes with a LIFETIME membership? Not yet? Well, what are you waiting for? Just click this link and complete the form picking out the starter kit of your choice! My favorite starter kit is obviously the Premium Starter Kit because it comes with EVERYTHING!

See what I mean? Everything you need is all right there! PLUS, as a member of my team you will have access to the best support group ever (just a little biased)! 

Again, welcome to my blog and I hope you enjoy your time here!