Well, it has certainly been an interesting week in the Swatek house! I can safely say that both my dear one and myself are utterly exhausted. I am excited to finally be finishing this post though!
Copaiba Oil - I began to talk about this wonderful oil last week and had to stop before I was finished. Let's pick up where we left off! Copaiba, if you recall, is from the family Copaifera in the Amazon Basin. The oleoresin is tapped from the tree, much like how a maple tree is tapped for syrup. The resin is steam distilled and the oil is the result. Now let me blow your mind... Copaiba Essential oil contains the highest amount of beta caryophyllene of any essential oil (55%). Beta caryophyllene is the first FDA approved dietary cannabinoid. Wait, what? Cannabinoid? You mean like... cannabis cannabinoid? YES. Beta caroyophyllene binds to cannabinoid receptor type-2 which reduces inflammation. It does not bind to cannabinoid receptor type-1, so it won't get you high. So we have an incredibly powerful, natural, anti-inflammatory. HOW COOL IS THAT?!? More properties of Copaiba that might interest you all - it is antibacterial, disinfectant, diuretic, expectorant and a stimulant. It is good for bronchitis, bruises, burns, chills, colds, cuts, cystitis, intestinal infections, stress, urinary issues, cracked skin, and eczema. It has also been proven effective against basal cell carcinoma. Copaiba should be avoided if you are pregnant. We have not tried it ourselves yet but I am looking forward to using this (hopefully) magic oil.
(a) Durable tree (Frankincense) - Frankincense (Boswellia carterii), also known as olibanum, is another resin that is steam distilled into an oil. The resin chunks are called tears and the tree itself is incredibly resilient. It can grow out of a rock face! The charred coal of Frankincense is also known as kohl, an ingredient in our makeups, ladies. Frankincense is well known from the Bible, it was one of the gifts presented to Jesus by the Magi. The tears are edible, you just chew them like gum. Frankincense repels mosquitoes and can be taken internally for osteoarthritis, frankincense oil also suppresses cancer cell viability. In 2008 Johns Hopkins did a study about frankincense and found it's smoke to be an effective antidepressant (FASEB Journal, May 2008). Frankincense is also good as an analgesic, anti-neurologic, anti-rheumatic, antiseptic, antispasmodic, antiviral, bactericidal, deodorant, diuretic, expectorant, prophylactic, and stimulant. This also means that it is effective in helping to treat Crohn's. It is another oil that I look forward to using in the near future.
Eucalyptus Oil - Eucalyptus has always been one of my favorite smells. I love it. Something about how clean your lungs feel after you smell it has always appealed to me. It's main ingredient is cineole, which has been proven effective in controlling airway mucous hyper-secretion and asthma, rhinosinusitis, reducing inflammation and pain (when applied topically), and in killing leukemia cells. It is an effective bug repellant and it is also antimicrobial and antiseptic. You can use is neat to clean your stainless steel, inhale a few drops on a tissue for headaches, add it to massage oil for sore muscles, shampoo your pets with it to clean them and get rid of bugs, spray it diluted onto plants to repel bugs, use it in your laundry... it is also effective when applied externally in reducing fevers from infectious disease. I am so excited that I used this oil in my first batch of soap, which will be used to wash the dog, wash our clothes, make hand soap and wash our dishes... speaking of the soap, it appears to be curing nicely. It should be ready in about 1 more week, it has been so hard to be patient in letting it finish!
Fels Naptha - Fels Naptha is a naptha-based soap that is used for laundry. It is the soap that I used to make our first batch of laundry detergent. I feel the need to defend myself for a moment about this choice - the recipe for detergent was found on a site for a woman who is vegan and makes all of her own soaps, lotions, etc. I did a bit of research about it before using it because I figured that it was probably not the best soap to have around, but I also figured that 1 batch of detergent made with it would not kill us. And so far it hasn't. I can almost guarantee that our homemade detergent is several times healthier than the cheap store brand we were using. I used Fels Naptha for our first batch of detergent because I did not yet have our first batch of soap made and we needed to do laundry. With that said, I have absolutely no conclusive evidence about whether this soap is truly dangerous or not. There are many discussion boards that I read tirelessly and I will list for you to read yourself. As with the borax, it is a personal decision that you need to make. I probably will not use it again, but that is because it will be $3 cheaper per batch of laundry if I make it with my homemade soap, plus I like making things. I would not bathe in it or use it to wash my hair, but I am not opposed to the minimal amount that we have used to wash our clothes. Here are the sites for you: Green Living, Palos Chiropractic, and Live Strong.
Well, there you have it! I have quite a laundry list of research to do in the upcoming days (or weeks). We have made the decision to treat my darling's Crohn's with drugs for now, while slowing implementing as much of a raw food/vitamin therapy/natural remedy lifestyle as we can. We already eat pretty healthy but we are learning new things constantly and making changes (and experimenting) with those new things.
Here is a list of the things that we are doing:
- beginning to make our own lunchmeat. We will be smoking a whole turkey, slicing and freezing it. This will eliminate a majority of nitrites from our diet which are proven to be carcinogenic and a gastrointestinal tract irritant.
- trying sprouted breads. I was always a skeptic and I have a beautiful mill that I adore. How can I go to the dark side?!? Well... desperation. Maybe this will be better for my sweet honey's belly. If it isn't, we will go back to what I know - milling fresh flour.
- trying to eat more than 51% raw foods in a day. Some information we have found supports the idea that the body has an immune response against a diet containing more than 51% cooked foods.
- eating spirulina. At 60 - 63% pure protein, this blue green algae is a superfood. It has it's moments of being utterly disgusting, but mixed into a smoothie it tastes great and gives us both so much more healthy energy.
- trying to find a doctor that will work with us. This one speaks for itself and may be the most difficult of all of these steps. We want to find a doctor who is more focused on healing the patient than lining their pockets. This is hard! The drugs that they have my husband on have terrible side effects and we did not want to start them, but when you are desperate, you are desperate. My hope is to reach a place where we marry a healthy lifestyle with whatever medications may be necessary to keep my sweet one out of pain and out of the hospital.
Other exciting things to look forward to -
1. THE KOMBUCHA STARTED!!! I can't wait for it to be ready so I can write a detailed post about it, growing it and harvesting it.
2. Our seeds sprouted! We also received our new seeds today. We had a back stock of seeds that we sprouted to begin with, then we went online an ordered what we needed to fill the holes. A few REALLY COOL things that arrived today were Lemon Cucumbers, Atomic Red Carrots, Red Bull F1 Onions, and Romanesco Cauliflower, to name a few. We also have a variety of peppers and radishes. I am so excited!
3. I will be making my first batches of toothpaste and conditioner this week. I am looking forward to seeing how they turn out.
Well, I hope you all are staying well and less stressed than we have been. We have been both stressed and blessed this past week and things have gotten better with time. I am looking forward to a healthy and happy husband again and the things that we learn along the way to achieving that goal. Be well, all of you and please continue to be patient with me! :)
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