Green Cleaning For the Home...More Effective Than Chemicals!

I remember clearly an interaction I had with a lady, in line at the grocery store, even though it happened over six years ago.  I can still see the entire scene in my mind--it was that upsetting to me at the time.

It was late for me to be out shopping, maybe 7:30 in the evening, and Tim was watching the kids.  I was absolutely exhausted and overwhelmed, as I usually was at this stage in our lives, but we needed baby food so I went out.  I decided to buy in bulk because I wanted to avoid another night time shopping trip, and this particular store gave a 10% discount when you bought a whole flat of something.  I had a ton of organic baby jars on the counter, all single ingredient versions due to my daughter's extensive allergies.  The lady behind me started studying my purchases.  Then she couldn't help herself:..

"You know you can make your own baby food at home?"  she asked. 

I told her I did know that with a smile.

"It is super easy and so much healthier!" she continued. 

Now I gave her a nod and tried not to start crying in front of her.  I paid for my food and cried my way to the car.  Then I cried the whole way home. 

My kids, and their intense, unique needs due to illness, meant that I could not make one more thing from scratch.  Regardless of how easy it was or how healthy it was.  At this point, I had a twice monthly cleaning service and my mom helped me by making some of the more time intensive items we needed like wild duck, bone broth, and buffalo casserole.  I purchased my green cleaning supplies online and bought baby food in jars.  We used Seventh Generation disposable diapers and wipes.  I, myself, was eating far too much fast food as I drove the kids from doctor appt. to doctor appt. while devoting my energy toward my children's diets instead.  We were doing what we could do, based on what we knew, what we could afford, and what we had the time and energy to accomplish. 

But I still let myself feel guilty when I had interactions like the one above.  I wish I would have let it roll off my back.  Jarred, organic baby food was fine!  We were in a very intensive, exhausting season and we didn't have the ability to do everything "right".  So we just did the best we could at the time.

I write all that to say if you don't want to make your cleaners from scratch that is fine!  I am just offering what we have found to work at our house, is safe for the littles in the house, and saves us money.  There are, however, plenty of of non toxic, green cleaners that you can purchase easily at Walmart or Target.  Making your own cleaners might not make sense for you right now.

But if you want to...

Here is what we use:

Windows

My husband is very excited about this window cleaner recipe we found online.  I'm sorry I can't remember where it is from.  The key to the recipe is the corn starch which I've read it used by professional window washers.  You do have to rub it in a bit but the result is better than Windex!

You start with warm water, vinegar, corn starch, rubbing alcohol, and a spray bottle.  I use my old cleaner bottles, well washed, instead of buying new spray bottles.

Add one Tablespoon of corn starch to two cups of very warm water.  (I doubled the recipe in the pictures so that is why the measurements are different).

Stir until the cornstarch is dissolved.  This is the most important step!

Add 1/4 cup of vinegar.

Add 1/4 cup of rubbing alcohol.  I may try cheap vodka next time instead.

Stir and pour into a spray bottle.


All Purpose Cleaner 

I use this on counter tops, sinks, and any surfaces I need to clean.  This recipe was given to me by my friend, Melissa.  It was originally called a floor cleaner (the recipe was on a bottle she bought from Crate and Barrel) but we have both had success using it all over the house!

The ingredients to gather are dishwashing liquid, borax, and vinegar.

Add 1/2 tsp. of borax to two cups of very warm water.  Stir it until it is completely dissolved.  This is the most important step.

Add a splash of vinegar.

Add 1/2 tsp. of dishwashing liquid and stir.

Pour into a spray bottle.  So easy a child could make it:)

Floors

We have no carpet in our house.  Just a few wool area rugs and a few areas with Flor carpet tiles.  The rest of our house is tile or hardwood.  When people call the house and speak with me they often ask if I am in the bathroom or comment on how loud the kids are due to the echoing from lack of carpet.  I guess this should be embarrassing?  Anyway, our favorite method to clean our floors is to use the Shark Steam Mop.

First Tim vacuums the floors and then he uses the steam mop.  My lovely husband does our floors every week and it takes a couple of hours.  He is a BLESSING!!!  With only water, the floors feel soft and clean and are sanitized as well!  We love this mop!  We purchased it at Costco.

Toilets

This is very easy!  Pour 1/2 cup of baking soda and 1/2 cup of vinegar into the toilet bowl.  Let it soak as long as you can and then scrub.  My friend, Melissa, has added fresh lemon juice to treat stubborn stains with success too.

I spray the rest of the toilet with the All Purpose Cleaner above and wipe down with a rag.  For a smelly bathroom (boy bathroom) I spray vinegar on the toilet's surface and the floor below to take care of any urine smell.  For a really bad toilet, I'd use a paste of baking soda and lemon juice along the caulking (the meeting place of the toilet base and the flooring).  This area seems to absorb smells and this will neutralize the smells.  I found this idea here.

Scrubbing Paste

The stain cleaner/ scrubbing paste my husband made here is great!  It needs to be made on the spot, however, as there is power in the reaction between the baking soda and vinegar.  When we've used it later, after it was stored, it is not as effective.

Another scrubbing paste I keep under the sink, is the following:

Add 1/2 cup of liquid laundry soap to a mixing bowl (I use whatever "green" soap is available at Costco.

Add 1/2 cups of baking soda (I used 1 1/2 cups) and mix until you get a frosting consistency as shown above.

Add 10 drops of Tea Tree Oil.  This serves as a natural disinfectant.  Mix again!

Pour into sealable tub and use when needed.  I found this recipe here at Keeper of the Home.  She has wonderful, natural living posts about food, gardening, and health care.


Disinfecting

Virginia Polytech. Institute found in their study that spraying from a  bottle of vinegar (white or apple cider) followed by spraying from a bottle of 3% hydrogen peroxide killed virtually all Salmonella, Shigella, or E.coli bacteria on heavily contaminated food and surfaces.  This made it more effective than bleach!
Remember to keep the peroxide in the dark bottle to protect the peroxide--just add a nozzle to the top.


Wow, that was a long post!!  I am going to start experimenting with a stain fighter for clothes and will post about that if it is as effective as the Zout I continue to use.  I haven't found anything more effective than Zout yet and will continue to look until I do.  That is what is next for me regarding cleaners.

Next up for the blog is my husband's absolute favorite green thing I've made to date.  He keeps wanting me to sell it but I am going to give you the recipe and directions here...soon!


Moneysaver:  Use old spray bottles from store bought cleaners (well washed) to fill with your homemade ones.  I buy vinegar, baking soda, rubbing alcohol, and hydrogen peroxide at Costco. 

Preventing and Healing Urinary Tract Infections Naturally

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My honeymoon in Maui was absolutely amazing!  We swam, snorkeled, saw the sights, and I often wondered aloud why I had to keep going to the bathroom.  Turns out I had my first UTI (Urinary Tract Infection).  What I will share with you today I have learned by trial and error over the course of the past 10 years.  I hope it helps someone avoid the pain and discomfort of chronic UTIs!  They are a huge waste of time, money, and energy.
My first stop for treatment was the traditional doctor I was seeing at the time.  She gave me an antibiotic and sent me on my way.  I was back two weeks later as I never really felt relief from my symptoms.  Long story short, she prescribed a low dose of antibiotics to be taken each time I had intercourse.  I didn't want to be on antibiotics all the time but I didn't know there were any alternatives--except drinking cranberry juice.  In time it was obvious the cranberry juice was not working either.  I have now since learned that drinking cranberry juice is a waste of time and money.  There is too much sugar and not enough cranberry to make any difference--and the sugar can make the problem worse!  Taking a cranberry supplement is much more effective.

Here is the protocol I have developed to keep myself free from UTIs:

Take one or two Cranactin tablets at bedtime each night.  This is to promote health in the urinary tract.

Dissolve a teaspoon or two of D-Mannose in water and drink right after intercourse.  D-Mannose is a completely safe glyconutrient, a healthy natural sugar, and is without side effects.  It attaches to e. coli, which is responsible for up to 90% of UTIs, and prevents it from attaching to the bladder wall.  Instead, the e. coli and D-Mannose leave the body together in the urine.  Read the reviews about D-Mannose from the link above and you will be blown away by how effective it is and how much it helps so many!

Repeat the D-Mannose and Cranactin amounts above every 12 hours for the next 24 hours.

Some people who suffer from chronic UTIs because of MS, chronic constipation, or spinal injures may need to take D-Mannose daily to stay UTI free.


That is it!  The above works as long as my body is not completely exhausted.  If that is the case, however, I can still treat the developing UTI without antibiotics.  It will take about 24 hours of rest and the following the protocol below.  Unfortunately, I had the opportunity to try this out again very recently and I was symptom free within 24 hours!  Here is the UTI protocol:

Take two Cranactin capsules followed by one teaspoon of D-Mannose powder in a glass of water.  Do not eat or drink anything for one hour and do not go to the bathroom.  This will allow the D-Mannose to have time to attach to all the problematic e. coli in the body.

Repeat the D-Mannose powder in water as described above (not eating, drinking, or urinating for an hour after taking) three more times spaced throughout the day.  Rest and drink lots of water.  If I have Pyridium in the house I will also take that for pain. 

I repeat the 4 doses of D-Mannose, along with two Cranactin pills, the next day also.  If the UTI symptoms do not subside within 48 hours, I would go to the doctor. The UTI you have may not be from e. coli which would make it unresponsive to D-Mannose.

If the UTI symptoms do go away within 48 hours, I would take one teaspoon of D-Mannose powder per day, for a few days, to keep the body healthy.


The last time I had a UTI was a time I was so busy I was unable to take the time to rest and fight the infection at home with supplements.  I had too many responsibilities I could not get out of so I reluctantly went to the doctor.  This urgent care doctor, not my regular wellness doctor, embraces alternative methods in his practice.  He listened to me as I described the protocol I had developed to stay UTI free and he got really excited.  He went to the computer to see what he had prescribed to treat my last UTI and he couldn't find a record in the computer.  I had been able to use the above protocol successfully for so long that my last UTI related visit was not in their records!  I was excited too...as excited as a person can get who is in a whole lotta pain.

This protocol is the most important thing I do for my body to promote health and wellness.  If I was following a traditional medicine protocol for UTIs, I would be on antibiotics constantly.  I want to be able to use an antibiotic only when I really have to have it so my body will be responsive to the necessary antibiotic and my gut will stay full of healthy, beneficial bacteria.  There is so much research out there to show the importance of a health gut.  Did you know that about 70% of the body's immune system is found in the gut?  In addition, the health of the gut is expressed in our skin (eczema) and our mood (depression, anxiety)?  Avoiding antibiotic use, unless unavoidably necessary, is an important part in keeping our guts, and ultimately our bodies, healthy and happy.
Moneysaver:  I purchase D-Mannose from iherb and I purchase Cranactin from Amazon.  These places have the best prices I've found.

I am not a doctor.  I am only sharing my personal experience and what has worked for me.  Please discuss health care decisions with your doctor before trying a new regimen.

What I Learned About "Eating Healthy" on a Vacation

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Tim and I have a little vacation tradition when we are getting away--just the two of us.  Upon arrival in a new town, we stop by a convenience store and purchase all kinds of snacks and treats we would never buy at home.  Our kids aren't with us to ask for the junk and we know we'll get back to normal eating habits at home.  Usually after the first day or two I'm all sugared out and done.  But it is fun to indulge a little and eat things we don't normally. 

I wish we could do this "7-Eleven indulging" with our kids on vacation, but their little bodies can't handle it.  I know that as their immune systems get stronger they will be able to handle unhealthy foods without reaction.  But currently, my kids are much happier and calmer with a gluten free, low sugar and low carb diet free from artificial flavors, colors, and MSG.  So, while we are still somewhat limited in what the kids can eat, we are not where we were! 

The best way to explain how differently they used to eat would be to tell you we used to travel with cooked brussels sprouts in glass canning jars.  The kids loved them and people would stare and even ask questions when they saw what the kids were excitedly eating.  We had to bring all the kids' food with us when we vacationed or ate outside the home and each item had to be made from scratch.  Sometimes it was a deal breaker for me and I wanted to just stay home instead.  It was so much work to cook for days, pack it all up, and then carry it all over wherever we were vacationing.  Buffalo Casserole with minced veggies at Sea World?  We've done it!  At this point, the kids were only able to eat a few organic vegetables and select meats.  That was it!

I now try to keep our diets gluten free, low carb, and low sugar.  It is just so much healthier, I feel better and the kids do better.  But on vacations I allow myself to use many more convenience foods and serve more carbs than normal so I have a vacation from cooking and the kids can have some "treats".  So far this summer we have traveled to the Grand Canyon, Sedona, and a nearby mountain community.  Here is what I've learned from our travels:

Buy lots of "new to you" snacks and take them with you.  Don't let the kids see them ahead of time!  Watching cousins or fellow tourists eat treats you can't have is hard if you don't have something special too.  I purchased things like brown rice cereal bars (like Rice Krispy Treats), chips in little bags, an organic flavored popcorn, bottled water and juice, and some GF cookies to pull out when a special treat was warranted.  The kids were happy, grateful, and surprised.  They also liked banana chips, pistachios, cheese sticks, and trail mix.

I also got some treats for Tim and I at Trader Joe's that enabled us to have an indulgence but without chemicals and added junk.  We loved the dark chocolate peanut butter cups the best!

Bring things that will be hard to find on your trip.  Gluten free specialty items can be harder to find and very costly if they are sold.  I brought GF sandwich bread, raw almond butter, hard boiled eggs, organic fruit and cut veggies in a cooler on our road trip and we saved so much money.  We didn't have to purchase any snacks or drinks and we ate much healthier than if we stopped along the way.  It tasted better too!

We stayed in a rental home during our mountain vacation (thanks to my generous MIL) and we ate at home most meals.  I brought up things I knew I wouldn't be able to buy at the local grocery store.  I brought nitrate free hot dogs and bacon, homemade salad dressing without the chemicals, GF frozen pancakes, GF macaroni and cheese, quality nut butters, and organic produce.  Next time I will also bring deli meat as the only GF option had nitrates.

Restaurants can be hard.  Have a back up plan.  We planned on finding a GF restaurant on the way to the Grand Canyon but ended up eating at Mc Donald's.  There was just nothing else available.  Next time I'd have sandwiches ready instead of assuming we could find a suitable option.  Another day we planned on eating inside the Grand Canyon Park and all that was affordable were those sandwiches wrapped in cardboard and sealed with plastic like the ones you can buy at the gas station.  We spent way too much money for low quality food that no one enjoyed.  We would have been happier with a packed lunch.  Next time I'll pack enough snacks so we don't have to eat out if the options aren't appealing or within our dietary restrictions.

In the mountains we went out to dinner the first night and happened upon a pizza place that served GF pizza.  The kids and I shared a small 4 slice pizza and salad.  They were hungry and and not happy about their small pizza slices compared to the regular pizza others were eating.  We had already spent $65 on the meal so I wasn't going to buy more food.  If I had brought snacks with us, I could have supplemented the meal and it would have been a more enjoyable meal for everyone.  Hungry, tired kids are no fun to be around.

Bring more water than you think you'll need.  We never buy water bottles at home but the kids feel like they are getting a treat when we have them on a vacation.  We didn't bring enough water on either trip, however, so we didn't drink enough and ended up paying high prices for bottles on the road.  Next time I'll bring gallon jugs too.

We are now planning for our next trip and I am hoping to get it right this time!

Moneysaver:  Trader Joe's has great snack items without preservatives, chemicals, and HFCS that are well priced.  You can't beat Costco for bottled water prices.  I purchased some of our gluten free grocery items at iherb to save money also.

How to Bring Down Your High Cholesterol without Statins

I was going over lab results with our specialist and he let me know that my kids had very high cholesterol numbers--one child's number was 371!  Wow!  He wasn't too worried, however, because he had a solution and it didn't involve prescription medication.  He explained that statins, the medication commonly prescribed when a patient has high cholesterol, can cause many side effects including diabetes, immune suppression, and increased cancer risk!  My children already had immune issues so I wasn't interested in anything that would burden them further.

The specialist's "alternative" solution was simply to take one capsule of L-Carnitine Fumarate and one capsule of Flush-Free Niacin each day.  L-Carnitine is a nutrient know for energy production and metabolizing fat.  Fumarate is a naturally occurring compound in the body that aids in energy production.  Some people say they lose weight by taking this supplement.  Niacin is a B vitamin that is known for lowering cholesterol but will cause a flushed face and discomfort if you don't choose the "flush free" version. 


So I purchased the two supplements and started giving them right away.  Six weeks later, follow up blood work was done and and the child with a initial 371 result went down 68 points to 303.  Six weeks after that, down to 222.  A year later, their cholesterol was 161!  Down 210 points using only supplements that support and encourage health and healing rather than taking a drug which potentially leads to serious side effects.

My other child's results were very similar and the results came quickly too!  So I asked our doctor why people wouldn't try this method first, before resorting to prescribed medication for their high cholesterol levels?  He said that no one is paid to promote and advertise vitamins.  People don't know about alternatives to medication and many doctors don't either!

I hope this can help someone stay off statins and lower their cholesterol levels a more natural way!

Moneysaver:  I always Google any supplement prescribed to find the least expensive price--pay attention to shipping and tax too.  I usually use iherb.com because their prices are usually 30-50% off health food store prices.  Sometimes Amazon or an independent retailer has a better deal.  I also get all my supplements, toiletries, and some groceries from iherb as they are usually so much less expensive than anywhere else I've found.  I get an automatic 5 -10% off my order (I am a VIP member b/c I've spent so much money with them and they increase the percentage saved based on total order amount) and free shipping (with a $20 order, 1-2 day shipping with a $40 order).  If you use my coupon code, MER003, you get $5 off your first order and I earn a few pennies too:)  You don't have to use my referral code, you can google other coupon codes too.

I am not a doctor.  I am only sharing what has worked for my family and what we did under the guidance of a medical doctor.  Please consult your doctor before discontinuing medication or trying new supplements.

What Alternative Medicine Means to Me

I'm a first born, rule follower.  I have never had the desire to stand out.  I wanted to please my parents, my teachers, my elders.  I have always gone with the flow.  So the switch to alternative medicine and green living has not been an easy one for me.  I didn't do it to be different.  I don't like to be different.  It certainly wasn't remotely normal when we started down this path.  I just had two sick kids and lots of specialists that wanted to prescribe many, many medications which weren't working.  We needed a new plan but I was afraid to go against the doctors' recommendations.  They made me feel like a bad mom for not doing things their way.

The specialist I now use for both my kids, a pediatrician (MD) who uses alternative methods to treat children with immune issues, explained alternative medicine to me in this way.  God made the body.  He gave us everything we needed to be healthy and whole.  But we live in a broken world with toxins, diseases, and sickness.  Yet the body gives us clues when things are not working correctly.  Pain is an obvious signal.  Allergies, eczema, and asthma are also clues that the immune system needs support.  I use the clues the body is giving us to guide me in giving the body what it needs.

My mainstream doctor looked at allergies and wanted to do allergy shots. Eczema called for prescribed creams and asthma resulted in prescriptions for steroids, albuterol, and pulmicort.  However, our specialist said, "These things are clues."  He did allergy panels and we removed offending foods.  He did blood work and prescribed supplements to treat the vitamin and mineral deficiencies he found.  He encouraged me to keep their struggling bodies away from things that would burden them further like toxins and chemicals.  And then the allergies, eczema, and asthma went away.  Kids were MUCH happier.  Skin became smooth right away.  The asthma stopped right away.  It took awhile, however, before foods that had to be removed could be reintroduced.  A few allergies remain for one of my kids.  But it is nothing like before.  It seemed so logical, this alternative medicine, but people were very suspect and uncomfortable with it.

So I have been willing to be the weird one because it has brought so much health and healing for the kids.  And, because I do not love debates or controversy, I've kept our medical views largely private.  But it is a passion of mine to encourage the mom who is where I was.  So scared and overwhelmed with mounting copays, tons of prescriptions, and sick kids not getting better even though you are doing what the doctor recommends.  There may be a new idea here in the pages of this blog.  May be you'll find some answers and options in unexpected places.  Maybe alternative medicine isn't so crazy after all! 

This blog is for you so if you have questions, ask them!  If I don't know the answer, I'll try and put you in touch with someone that does.  I'd love to learn with you!

The picture above is my kids eating ice cream!  We went all the way to the Grand Canyon and that was the highlight for my daughter!  Such is the way with a child who has had dairy allergies in the past.

How to be Safer in the Sun

Have you seen all the reports that are coming out now about how people who use sunscreen maybe more likely to get skin cancer than those who don't?  And how you are 50% more likely to survive breast cancer if your Vitamin D levels are "normal" than if they are low--and 1/4 of Americans are low?  Have you read about the toxins in our sunscreen that we liberally apply to our largest organ?  Crazy, huh?  What is a fair skinned and fair haired mommy living in Southern California to do?

What I do is very against the norm, but what else is new?  Here is what we do over here:

1.  Take 4-10 mg. of Astaxanthin daily.  This is an incredible antioxidant and anti-inflammatory (known for helping to prevent Alzheimer's Disease, cancer, and blindness) that also works as a natural sunscreen when taken regularly for about 6 weeks.

2.  Use hats, rash guards, and umbrellas during peak sun exposure.  The kids usually swim in the afternoon but sometimes we are outside the entire day at the beach, pool or lake.  Those days I use sunscreen all over me, wear a hat, and sit under an umbrella.  I am also the weird one in the wide brim sun hat at Disneyland.  I am now on wrinkle alert as I have just entered my 40's.

The kids wear rash guards, hats (if they will keep them on), and sunscreen on their faces.  Their arms are covered by the rash guards and all my son might need is a little sunscreen on the tops of his feet--his swim trunks are long!  I put sunscreen on my daughter's upper legs and tops of her feet too.

3.  Use safer sunscreen.  The Badger sunscreen I use for the kids is rated a 1 (best safety rating) by the Environmental Working Group's Skin Deep Cosmetic Database rating the sunscreens on the market today.  It would be very educational to see how what you are currently using is rated.  The MyChelle sunscreen I use on my face is not rated by Skin Deep but I am comfortable with the ingredients and I use it very rarely.

4.  Expose skin to the sun in small doses to boost Vitamin D levels.  Studies show that regular exposure to the sun (and resulting higher Vit. D. levels) can reduce blood pressure, decrease your risk of cancer and diabetes, and lower your chances of a heart attack.  I expose my skin 5-10 minutes a day, a few days a week, to get the sun exposure I need to keep my Vitamin D levels where they need to be.  My doctor checks them every year and always asks me what I do because they are right where she wants them--a rarity she says.  I take Vitamin D3 November to May (5,000 IUs a night) and stop taking it when I am getting regular sun exposure again due to sunny skies returning.  This plan works for me, in Southern California, but may need to be adjusted based on your location.


That's all I have!  I hope you are enjoying your summer!  It is such a wonderful, magical time for kids.

Moneysaver:
I buy my sunscreen from iherb or Amazon, depending on who is running the best deal.  I also get all my supplements, toiletries, and some groceries from iherb and they are so much less expensive than anywhere else I've found.  I get an automatic 5% off my order (I am a VIP member b/c I've spent so much money with them) and free shipping (with a $20 order, 1-2 day shipping with a $40 order).  If you use my coupon code, MER003, you get $5 off your first order and I earn a few pennies too:)

Safely Take Your iPad to the Beach!

Even in a protective case with keyboard, it fits perfectly in a gallon sized Ziploc.  With room for your keys and phones too!