Apple Cider Vinegar

In packing my few bags to bring to Europe...what do you think I would bring? Shoes and sweaters and sweet things for my hair? Yes, that's true, but somehow I had to make room for my Apple Cider Vinegar. This stuff works wonders on anything from skin conditions, alkalizing the body, ear aches, varicose veins, acid reflux, losing weight and a million and one other uses. I bought the above book and LOVE it. I adore it! I want to marry it! Not really!! But seriously, I feel like I learn so much when I read it.

I take apple cider vinegar in a shot glass in the mornings and you can bet I slam that shot glass down on my counter and make a big "whoop!" sound when I do. (Straight Vodka would be nothing after this!!) I fill half a shot glass with ACV and the other half with water and I down it. I do this three times. It's truly disgusting. If only you guys could see my morning routine in the kitchen! You would look at me with more respect, I think, because this stuff is DISGUSTINGLY hard to swallow. However, many people mix it with honey and do just fine. I have a friend who puts hers in grapefruit juice and can get it down that way. I just go for it. I don't like to add the extra sugar to my diet because I save those calories for chocolate.

Please note that not all ACV are the same! I only buy Braggs WITH THE 'MOTHER'- (the 'mother' is a cloudy substance at the bottom of the vinegar that shows it's in the natural state and not distilled)-this is very important because other ACVs could be processed and clear and pretty, but they will be too processed to do much good for your body. So always look for Patricia--she's the lady with the hat, she's super cheesy and likes to quote poems about angels, but I love her anyway.

Liquid Kelp!

(please forgive how yellow my finger nail is. I'm not diseased. I was just making my turmeric capsules before taking this photo. Don't you love how my Apple Cider Vinegar is just sitting on the table, all pretty like.)

After my eating disorder, I lost a lot of hair. It fell out in clumps. It was gross. It never grew back quite right. I've been worried a little about thinning hair or fine hair. My hair has gotten a lot more fine the past three years, and I'm wondering why. One solution to healthy hair, skin, and nails is a daily dose of liquid kelp. I take it in water and it is tasteless. In reading up on it, it's also a miracle worker for your thyroid. If you've been a yo-yo dieter all your life, (like me and Oprah!) then you could easily have thyroid issues. Kelp helps. Plus it's full of good minerals and is easily assimilated into your body.

One website said, "Reports reveal that the ingestion of Liquid Kelp in Japan is partially responsible for their dramatically lower rates of breast cancer. Not only that but studies show kelp has a part in their lower levels of obesity, heart condition, respiratory disorder, rheumatoid arthritis, arthritis, hypertension, and thyroid gland problems."

So, give it a try!

Homemade

Here is a pretty bowl that was in the apartment I'm renting. Basically, nothing in this apartment belongs to me. It's a weird feeling to have so little, but good too. Simple life. I hesitate buying things as I will be moving again soon to a country with different plug outlets. So, do you remember when I talked about the eggshell therapy for your bones? I was really good at saving my eggshells and boiling them. But how to grind them up? I have no coffee grinder, no appliances of any kind (not even a microwave really!) Sometimes I feel like some of my good pioneer relatives of yore....except I have downloaded every episode of Fringe, Season 2, on my iTunes! (but other than that....)

So, I decided to do it by hand. That's right folks. I got a little spoon, crushed up the eggshells and then ground them into small little bits. This took a long time. It worked my arm muscles in a big way. I counted it as exercise. Hey! Wouldn't you? I wanted to watch Little House on the Prairie as I did it ( I actually really miss that series, it defined my childhood!). I sat in my little kitchen and just worked and worked on them. Took about an hour. Not kidding. This is why pioneers never got into trouble. And why they were tired at night.

This is what I ended up with. My eggshells were brown, so they look all pretty, at least to me, but it was a labor of love. I then put all the shells into empty gel caps. Yep, I quickly went from feeling like a pioneer to feeling like a drug dealer. Pushing pills, making them all quietly in my kitchen! I also did it with Turmeric and Cayenne Pepper. I leave them in the pretty bowl, right by my fruits and then I remember to take two of each (one of the pepper) with my breakfast!

Who knew you could feel like a pioneer and a drug dealer all in one hour? Sweet! (I know, I need to get out more, I'm planning on making friends in Portugal, I swear.)

Walking on Eggshells

If you want to INSURE that you won't get osteoporosis, it looks like I've found something that's pretty solid to help keep your bones healthy and strong.

Take the shells of the eggs you eat. Wash them out. Boil them on high for about five minutes. Take them and grind them up into a powder (food processor or coffee grinder works) and then put a teaspoon in yogurt, cottage cheese, or whatever else you want to eat it in. This is PURE calcium that is easily assimilated into your bones, rebuilding them and keeping the density super, super strong!

As a sidenote (and what I have to teach my patients) yogurt with sugar is unable to give you the calcium that you need. Sugar blocks the assimilation into the bones. If sugar is bad for your teeth, it's the same for your bones, breaking them down and causing them to get brittle (one of the reasons sugary drinks are the WORST thing for you!)

So, eggshell therapy. I'm starting to do it a few times a week. My grandmother was hunched over by the time she was 70 and it just got worse and worse. I'm going to try and make sure that doesn't happen to me!

Shout Out to Turmeric!!

I learned the benefits of Turmeric the hard way. And this may be too queasy for some of you...so fair warning. I had a boil...in the worst place you can imagine. A place that rhymes with hut. It was painful. It was last year in January. It was the most awful experience of my life, until I got another one in October. I'd never had them before. They were FREAKING huge and made my life a living hell.

I did A LOT of research on how to get rid of them. I learned that many people get boils and get swollen joints and feel puffy from time to time. One of the best cures for this is a dose of Turmeric. Many people put it in tea, but it turned my cups and my tongue super yellow and I didn't like the taste. So, I bought empty gel capsules from Whole Foods and filled them with some organic Turmeric and away we go. It brought down my swelling and pain in a matter of hours. (though I was taking LOTS of it!)

I take one to two capsules full a week now....as a prevention to more boil outbreaks and for the 20 Health Benefits of Turmeric listed here! Take a look!

YAY Natural Remedies!!