Natural Toothpaste

Ingredients

• 60 grams or 1/4 cup coconut oil
• 15 grams or 1 tablespoon baking soda
• 22 grams or 2 tablespoons bentonite clay
• 20 drops of Thieves essential oil (or oils of your choice)

Directions

1. Melt coconut oil.
2. Add baking soda, bentonite clay, and essential oil.
3. Mix until well blended.
4. Refrigerate until mixture begins to harden.
5. Mix well again.
6. Cover.
7. Use a small amount to brush your teeth.

Tip

Do not spit into the sink.Coconut hardens as it cools. So like any fat that hardens when cool, you do not want to put it down your drain.

Hair Restyling/Refreshing Spray

I love this spray for when you need to restyle or refresh your hair. Simply spray on your hair until damp and then restyle with a brush and blow dryer.



In a 2 oz glass spray bottle, mix 10 drops each of Jojoba, Frankincense, Lavender, Rosemary, Clary Sage, & Cedarwood. Swirl to mix the oils together. Fill the remainder of the bottle with distilled water. Shake well before using.

Note: You can use more Jojoba oil if you have dry hair or split ends, but my hair is fine and oily, so any more would be too heavy and oily.

Creamy Whipped Body Butter

Ingredients

• 60 grams (or 1/4 cup) coconut oil
• 60 grams (or 1/4 cup) cocoa butter
• 60 grams (or 1/4 cup) shea butter
• 60 grams (or 1/4 cup) almond oil, or other liquid oil of choice, I used Young Living's V-6 oil
• 1 teaspoon vitamin E oil (optional)
• 25 drops essential oils (your choice)

Essential Oil Blend

• 6 drops Helichrysum
• 6 drops Geranium
• 4 drops Cypress
• 4 drops Lavender
• 5 drops Frankincense

Directions

1. Melt all oils in a double boiler.
2. Remove from heat and add vitamin E oil.
3. Put in fridge until oil is just firm.
4. Blend with a mixer until light and fluffy.
5. Add essential oils and blend until incorporated.
6. Use a spatula to scrape into glass jars.

Grain Free, Sugar Free - Getting Started

I've been spending the last week learning more about what you can eat on a grain free and sugar free diet. I am hoping that being grain free and sugar free will help keep my system balanced while I am on antibiotics. I am also planning to eat plenty of plain yogurt, take a probiotic supplement, and trace minerals.

This is going to be a big challenge for me. For those that know me, I love to make my own bread (yes those are my own homemade rolls pictured above), and grains make a big part of my diet. I think giving up sugar will be fairly easy for me, but grains! Luckily this is just a 3 week experiment.

So far, I have found the "Everyday Grain-Free Gourmet: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner" by Jodi Bager and Jenny Lass to be a great reasource! I am also perusing "Going Against the Grain" by Melissa Diane Smith and have "The no-grain diet : conquer carbohydrate addiction and stay slim for life" by Joseph Mercola on the way. Love the IMCPL public library! All 3 books are a part of their collection.

Day 1 Menu
Breakfast: hard-boiled egg, plain yogurt with plain berries, orange juice, tea
Snack: apple with natural no-sugar peanut butter
Lunch: spaghetti squash with fire roasted diced tomatoes with garlic and parmesan cheese
Snack: celery & hummus
Dinner: shepherd's pie made with butternut squash (instead of potatoes)
Snack: 100% dark chocolate, tea

I was a little worried about finding enough food to eat to completely substitute all of the grain that I eat on a normal day, but I think this might be more than I can eat in a day. However, if I find that I am still hungry, I plan to have some nuts and dried fruit (without added sugar) on hand.

Wish me luck!

Proud of Doc

Swimming or Drowning in the Information Stream

Anyone else struggle with trying to keep up with e-mail, RSS feeds, e-mail groups, and social media sites? (And now I want to add blogging to the list, am I crazy?) I saw a quote the other day on The Rapid E-Learning Blog, titled, "How to Navigate Social Media (and Avoid Information Overload)" that really hit home...

No one goes to a library and complains that there are too many books. That wouldn’t make sense. You want as many books as possible in the library. You just don’t want them all at the same time.

I think the trick to keeping up is to quit trying. This quote reminded me that the important part to having so much information is learning to find what you need, when you need it. That's the easy part. The hard part is figuring out how. So far, I've been using Google Reader to help manage my RSS feeds, using filters and rules in my e-mails to filter out the e-mail I don't need to read, and trying not to worry so much about missing something and trust that the information I need will be there when I need it. So I need to learn to swim in the information steam and not drown in it.

Do you have any strategies that work for you?

No-Knead Parmesan-Herb Focaccia

I have been making bread now for close to 20 years. My love of making my own bread started in college out of financial necessity. I started making all my bread by hand. I can remember that particular recipe (I only had one) made two loaves. The smell of fresh baked bread would fill the hallways and it wouldn't be long before the guys who lived downstairs would come up to "help" me eat one of the loaves. Amazing, that even on my very meager budget at the time of $10/week for food, I was able to share.

Now, I generally use a breadmaker, sometimes for the entire process, but more often just to mix and rise the dough. Today was my first attempt at Focaccia Bread. I found a "Mix It and Forget It" recipe in the February 2009 issue of Eating Well. If the appearance and aromas in my house are any indication, this bread will be fabulous! I also tried out a new Chicken Curry recipe. I'm looking forward to lunch tomorrow already!