Dr. Mercola and The Town Of Allopath Video

Hate mail to Dr. Mercola? Okay, yes I can believe it. He doesn't really seem to follow the party line. I remember reading that this video generated more hate mail. I can't imagine it. My husband and I love it. Every once in a while I pop in to view it again. I decided today that I really should share it. The Town of Allopath

I also thought of it today because I have noticed a new buzz-phrase that the "modern medicine" quackbusters clan is trying to get us to adopt - Evidence Based Medicine. HUH? What could be more evidence based than thousands of years of real life success with herbs, manipulations, massage, etc. Sure homeopathy is a fairly new thing, but I have heard more successes coming out of homeopathy than I have "modern medicine."

Now about calling it "allopathic." I hadn't heard that term until about 10 years ago. I looked into that some, and it would seem that may be where the friction between "allopathic medicine" and homeopathy began. I guess the MD crowd doesn't like being called allopathic, so they want to be called "evidence based" now. Allopathic medicine defined on Wikipedia (bastion of reliability it is) says that the founder of homeopathics actually coined the term from Greek meaning "other than the disease" since MDs don't treat based on symptoms of the disease. I won't try to explain it all here, but it does seem that the MDs might have been a bit upset with the attitude that they were harming patients. Okay, we know they are; they still don't like it when we say that.

Suffice it to say, at our house, the new terminology for those MDs who are a bit touchy is "skidmarks disease." Hope you enjoy/enjoyed the video!

Qualification: Just FYI - I don't hate allopathic medicine, just don't like it much. Have had little reason to use it since evidence based medicine usually helps us much more quickly, effectively and with fewer side effects. We do visit the MDs if a bone is broken or there is an immediate life threatening situation. Once stabilized, we then look into mean of evidence based medicine to help us recover.

In Honor of Jenny

Devastating news when I signed into my blog today and read those I was following. Jenny has passed away.

Jenny's Journey
I've been following this blog for about as long as it has been up. I too have a daughter this age, yet did not get the Gardasil vaccine for her (or others). I understand the family's reluctance to blame the vaccine, but do honor their attempt to get the VAERS repaired. Please, take time to learn about Jenny's brave stuggle, give thanks to the Lord for your children, and then head to the website indicated in the next to the last post to add your name to the list.

We will miss you Jenny, and we will hug our own children more tightly today in memory of you. Thank-you for being brave and happy throughout adversity. I know I shouldn't be angry, but it is hard to fight back as you were so full of life and happy and healthy not so long ago. I always mourn not only the child, but the contribution we will miss because they are no longer with us. It could be, though, that the contribution of awareness is the gift we have been given by Jenny. Rest in Peace Jenny.

Estrogen Dominance and Homemade Laundry Detergent

One of our current adventures has to do with my own health. For many years, I've been watching over the health of my husband, children and animals, as with most busy moms, and forgetting to really pay much attention to mine. When the signs of estrogen dominance (allopathically known as menopause) started to get beyond the point of annoyance, I had to do something. The first thing was to start avoiding estrogenic compounds both natural and synthetic. Estrogen dominant or not, the great money saving idea I found thanks to it, will help everyone.

My research led me to many good resources including Dr. Lee, author of such books as "What your Doctor May not Tell You About Menopause," "Dr. Lee's Hormone Balance Made Simple," and other relevant books. All of which can be found on this Books For Sale page. More good resources were from Dr. William Eckhart, and the USP Progesterone product "Progestelle" site. There are some other good sources out there, like Yahoo Groups message boards dedicated to the cause, Neways progesterone cream distributors, etc. But, those two are my favorites.

In Dr. Eckhart's reply to my medical form, he mentioned that there really is no good, safe, estrogenic compound free laundry detergent with the exception of one he has found that is just too expensive for my budget. So, I decided to research the option of making my own.

I found a recipe, actually several recipes, on the internet. I took the plunge, bought the three required ingredients and whipped up a batch of my own. (Recipe below along with my notes on preparation) I will say I was very happy with the results. After 4 weeks, I've used about 1/2 of my $3 - $4 laundry detergent. A big savings compared to the $12 laundry detergent I bought at the store. The clothes are clean and fresh smelling, and I'm wondering why I didn't do this sooner. The first few loads of laundry the water was absolutely disgusting. I'm guessing the dirt was what my commercial laundry detergent didn't get out. ICK!!!! I rinsed all loads 2 times for probably the first 10 loads. My husband suspects that maybe the new laundry soap was cleaning the washing machine as well. That is possible, since I used to occasionally get grime at the bottom of the tub, and no longer do.

So, for your consideration, here is my first batch notes. I will make the next batch a bit thinner, and am trying to find a perfect container to store it in, so I don't have to use a pail. Didn't take pictures, but when I remake it in a month I will post pictures with an update.

Laundry Soap Recipe – 1^st Batch 1/31/09

2 full bars Kirk’s Castile Soap – shredded (what didn’t shred, I cut into small pieces)

1 Cup Borax

1 Cup A & H Super Washing Soda

8 Cups water

25 drops Grapefruit Seed Extract (a.k.a. GSE -preservative, antibacterial)

(Castile soap can be found in the Health and Beauty section of your local store. Most any pure, bar soap will do. FelsNaptha is the recommended so, but not available near me. Borax and Washing Soda are available in the laundry aisle of your store. They are in boxes, powdered. And the GSE is available at the health food store or at http://www.iherb.com The brand is Nutribiotic, you want the liquid. If you get it from iHerb it is much cheaper, and new customers can use the code KES097 at checkout for $5 of their first order)

First, put shredded soap into 6 cups of water and heated, stirring occasionally until most of the soap had dissolved.

Add soda and borax, stir until dissolved, add two cups water. Continue to heat and stir for another 30 minutes on very low heat.

Removed from heat, added GSE, and let cool, stirring occasionally to mix foam back in.

As soap started to cool, it actually started to solidify instead of just gel as online instructions indicated it should. I had not added as much water as recipe suggested, since I wondered if you could make it more concentrated to take up less space in laundry room. Well, you can’t. Therefore, I added another 8 cups of water and put back on the stove on low heat to reliquify.

Let it reliquify, then added another 8 cups of water after using some of the still warm mixture in cold water wash only to watch it turn into solids in the water. Need to keep it liquid, or dissolve in warm water before switching to cold water for cold water washes.

Still semi solid gel. Will wait until completely cooled to decide whether to add more water or not. It has now been about 6 hours since I started the process.

Finally packaged it up and called it good.

I don't have the perfect packaging system, just a couple of old, plastic ice cream containers. I'll be on the hunt for better packaging, hopefully not plastic!

UPDATE: 3/14/2009 made my second batch and took notes. The first batch lasted our family of 4 on the farm for a little over 1.5 months.

Second Batch notes:

2^nd Batch – 3/14/2009

Basically followed same steps. This time I added more water than before. As liquid would start to steam, I would add 4 more cups. Dissolved initial soap mixture in 8 cups of water, then as it heated, added 4 cups at a time until I got to 24 cups of water. (previous batch was 22 cups of water.) Then started the cooling process.

As it cooled, it started to solidify, so added 4 more cups of water and reheated to combine. Went to check again after 15 minutes and top had solidified, so stirred it up and added 4 more cups of water. Will combine and let cool again.

In the end, I had 32 cups of water. Top hardened, but I stirred it all up when cool and had a loose gel soap.

Source for Supplements, Vitamins, Organics and a Coupon - iHerb

The chickens are wandering about in the yard, wishing it was spring and
the bugs were out. I can tell by the way they are scratching up the lawn
in various locations without any satisfied looks. None of the usual
clucking, "I've got one," which leads to the inevitable chase around the
yard by the other birds hoping to steal the bug from the silly bird who
didn't know when to keep quiet.

Well, I was just musing today about not telling my friends and family
about a great online site I've found for purchasing my supplements and
even some of our organic food items. So, I think I've kept my quiet too
long!!! I placed an order today and patted myself on the back for my
great savings, then thought, "I should share this site so others can get
some great deals too." The roosters are good at this. When they find a
good source for bugs in the yard, they actually stand up tall and start
a special cackling to call all the ladies to the treasure.

So, here goes my cackling and calling my friends to the treasure:

The site is http://www.iherb.com <http://www.iherb.com/> a.k.a iHerb.
I've been ordering from them for over a year now and love their
discounts and fast service. I've never had a problem with wrong orders,
missing items, or anything. I actually messed up an order and was able
to call and get it fixed before they shipped it too!

The way iHerb works, you get incremental discounts based on the size of
your order. So, if the Vit E that you usually get downtown has an iHerb
price 10% cheaper before you put it in the cart, it will be an even
cheaper price when you put it in the cart. Right now, as a VIP customer,
my first level discount is 10%. So, if my Vit E was 9.00 instead of the
downtown price of 13.00, I know it will be another .90 cheaper when
added to the cart. Many of my items are $2-$10 cheaper here. Plus, if
you order over $60 BEFORE THE DISCOUNTS, the UPS shipping is FREE!!!
Gotta love that. Even if you don't get to $60, the shipping is $4 (with
other options available at a higher price). I can't drive to the health
food store for $4. They also offer many options in sizes and brands.
Almost everything I can get at the health food store, I can get at iHerb
cheaper.

Another benefit of iHerb is the information. They have very detailed
info about each item they sell, including the full list of ingredients
and potency. They also give info about uses, benefits and warnings. I
use the iHerb site to check different supplement uses even if not
purchasing them. A nice, concise encyclopedia of supplements, which was
very important when we were trying to find fluoride free toothpaste, as
well as many other items. They recently added food items to their
offerings. I now get my Periobrite toothpaste, Arrowhead Mills peanut
butter through them, as well as Braggs organic vinegar and other food
items I used to buy at the store. New items are being added all the time.

I order many things online, but this is a site that I've really come to
rely on for our budget and health. So, it is time I shared it. There was
also a nice nudge from the company to share when they provided me with a
coupon code to give my friends and family a gift of $5 off their first
order as part of a new referral program they have started. If you use
this coupon code - KES097 - at the checkout, you will get $5 off your
first order from iHerb (not valid if you are already a customer). The
person who told me about iHerb just had free shipping to lure me to try
the site. Of course, if you don't have a first order that is $60 or
more, this coupon code will more than cover the shipping.

While at iHerb, check out the links at the top of the page for specials
and even FREE sample items. These are full size samples. This month I
have 2 types of cereal, a new Vit E to try and a Green Tea drink coming
as samples. I'm excited to get them and try them.

Now, my conscience is clear. I am no longer hoarding or keeping the
goods secret for myself, but sharing willingly with friends. And none of
us have to play chase around the yard. :-) I hope you get the
opportunity to try iHerb and enjoy it as much as I have. So, before
someone sticks there head out the door and tells me to keep it down
(like I do for the over zealous chickens), I'll put my head back down
and go back to work.

Have a great, blessed day and stay warm!

PS - if you can't use the coupon code, feel free to pass it on to
friends. I do get referral bonuses that decrease the price of my items
even more. If you do order from iHerb, you will get your own coupon code
to share with friends, and earn your own referral bonuses.

Badger Headache Remedy

Had a surprise in the last week. A visiting friend packed a simple
little tin of what seemed to be a powerful remedy. Badger Headache
Cream. All natural, rub a little on the head, and voila! headache
disappears. Well, I was impressed enough to try to find it. I did find
a link at Amazon.com (which is shared in the resources section of this
blog).

I've been around natural medicine long enough to know that some things
don't work for beans, while other remedies are diamonds in the rough.
This seemed to be a diamond in the rough. We are ordering our own, so
that we can more thoroughly test it. I will keep you informed as to what
the results are.

If you are interested in purchasing your own, I've put a link for it below - from Amazon.com.

Happy health to you!

The usual Welcome

I have spent much time in the last 2 years learning about health, alternative means of wellness, and how to save lots of money at it. As my family has grown, so has my need to care for them. Life has evolved into a montage of grunts, groans and hernias, headaches, backaches and sleeplessness. No, we are not sick, we are just human. And as such, we often suffer the occasional malady.

I hope to chronicle a bit here about how we manage to maintain our health without the allopathic health care community of the modern hospital/health insurance cult. We've managed major and minor dis-eases alike, and I feel it only fair that I share the knowledge I have gained.

Any attempt of mine to stay focused on the goal at hand will depend on my current level of SAMe and USP Progesterone consumption I'm sure! But, I hope to do better at this than I have at previously newly resurrected blogs.

Please comment when you have one, ask questions if you like, but at the very least stop back regularly to see what is on my health conscious mind.

Also, visit my message board - No_Health_Insurance This group was set up to network those few, like-minded individuals who believe that mandated health insurance is part of the ill, not part of the cure. For a great read see The Rise of Health Insurance a wonderful essay providing plenty of food for thought on the subject.

Until next time, be blessed and healthy!