Thursday, March 19, 2009

An OPINION on how to Stay Healthy or Get Healthy


I am often asked what one should do to GET healthy after being on a round of antibiotics or a marathon season of drugs and diseases. I have collected my thoughts and have come up with my layman prescription for extended health between the occasional cold or sinus infection. This isn't to say that you won't get sick, because the tips are preventative in nature. Remember that there is no quick fix, only wise choices that accumulate into a healthy gut and an active immune system.

We will start from the standpoint that your body has been worn down by conventional medicine. When you are done with your last round of antibiotics, get “your child or you” on a good probiotic. A probiotic, according to Wikipedia and the World Health Organization, are "Live microorganisms which when administered in adequate amounts confer a health benefit on the host." You will take a pretty strong dose for about 10 days and then you can do more of a maintenance dose after that, or make sure to eat either plain kefir or yogurt daily. You can find some good bacteria at Whole Foods or any local health food store. I usually buy the boys’ probiotics online at GPRX. It is an affiliate company of Jordan Rubin, who wrote the Maker's Diet. Also, at Whole Foods you can also purchase Jarrow and Nature’s Way, which are two other probiotics that I have used. The key feature you want for your probiotic is a powder or pill that has several strains of bacteria and can be stored at ROOM TEMPERATURE and stay alive. I do tend to lean towards Garden of Life products only because they are strong and helped to keep the hubby healthy when he was in India. Note: if you look at Garden of Life products in the store you may have a heart attack. (For this reason, I order them online because I get coupons from them frequently.)

About every week or so, do a hydrogen peroxide rinse in your ear.

You can also use colloidal silver. I buy a product called Sovereign Silver. It acts as an antibiotic, but doesn’t kill the good stuff. Many think it is quacky, will turn you blue, or is fake. However, we have seen tremendous results from using it. You can also use it on cuts, too. I have tried other brands other than Sovereign Silver, but have not seen the results. So at the first sign of sickness, I typically use the Colloidal Silver for a few days, and give it to everyone else to ward off an infection in them. I warn you some people are scared of this product, but after all of my research and discussing it with our doctor and midwife, I see no problems with it. This is what was used before pharmaceuticals. Not as strong, obviously. Actually for this reason, our kids eat off of silver spoons!

Lastly, I would recommend using Thieves Essential Oil, which does happen to be something that I can get you. Pure therapeutic grade essential oils can and do act as an aide to healing the body and preventing infection/decay. However, you must be sure to buy a quality essential oil. The only one I support is Young Living. Essential oils can act as drugs, but without the harmful side effects. Even the hubby is somewhat convinced on the use of essential oils and has seen results.

Thieves has a story. It supposedly was used by robbers during the Bubonic plague. They would create this herbal mixture and cover their faces with a scarf doused in this mixture and go rob people who were sick. Yet, they never got the plague. Once caught, the police offered a plea bargain if the robbers would confess the recipe. So we now have Thieves Oil! My mom uses this religiously and has not gotten sick through our recent sickness. Thieves Oil doesn’t replace God, but I think we can use it to naturally support our bodies and help them function as God intended. Our family uses this oil before going to church or out to the store, in a diluted mixture and apply it to the bottom of our feet (because it transmits to the rest of the body quickest). For example, put a pealed bulb of garlic between your toes and you will taste it in your mouth in a few minutes! When the kids get sick, they take one drop orally with 4 ounces of water or juice. Once again, do not ingest any other essential oil, unless it is Young Living. If someone has an infected hang nail-on goes the Thieves! I use it for deodorant and mix it into my cleaning spray. The uses are numerous and benefits even more so. Young Living, where I get my oil, also carries Thieves Throat Drops—wow, they don’t taste great but are AMAZING in their ability to fight infection. We experienced dramatic change in our symptoms after sucking on these powerful drops. I will let you know, good Essential Oils are pricey. As preventative care, though, it is cheaper than going to the doctor. I became a distributor, which made the oil MUCH cheaper.

Oh, another helpful thing is to completely avoid white sugar and flour and processed food. When you consume white sugar it suppresses your immune system for about six hours. So if you go out somewhere and there is a bug, you open yourself up more to getting sick. The goal is to create a healthy happy gut. Eating fermented foods also increases the good bacteria floating in your body, like homemade sauerkraut, kefir, yogurt, kombucha, etc.

So, the two things we probably do most regularly are Thieves Oil of a morning and probiotics. I also think a dose of Cod Liver Oil is helpful to support the immune system.

This may be more than you wanted and it also may make you think we are quacky—but these are the preventative things that I feel God has revealed to us and for the most part, WHEN I am religious to practice them, I see a direct correlation to our health. However, I must admit I got quite slack on this and all of us got quite sick!!!!!! And ended up on antibiotics ourselves. So I am back to probiotics and Thieves right now.

Hope that helps. Let me know if you have any other questions. I really am not an expert nor a Doctor. But I have found these things helpful in the life of our family. If you are interested in essential oils or would like to order some, let me know!

3 comments:

Sarah said...

great post!!! I haven't tired straight colloidal silver yet, I just found it in a nose spray. Thanks for all the tips and where to buy!

Laurel said...

I love each post! You are so helpful! And I still want to order Y.L. oils from you! Just haven't had time! I also like that you tell everyone the specific brands and places to go to purchase these things! What a resource and a blessing you are to me and many others I'm sure! You are wonderful!

Boho Rockin' Mama said...

Hi,
I have heard lots about Thieves and am interested in purchasing some through your site (once it works out with our household budget.) Can you sell it directly?

Thanks,
Allison