Tag Archives: thieves

Its Time for Spring Cleaning

It seems as though the worst of winter is now behind us.

Now is a great time to sweep away winter! What can you do?

Open the windows! Get that stagnant winter air out of your house. If its cold out try opening just one or two windows at a time for 5 minutes or so. (This a great time to dust and get winter out of your house)

Deep clean your house! I love using Thieves House Hold cleaner for cleaning the house. Its great on just about every surface and it smells lovely without any toxic chemicals.  Dust the base boards, ceiling fans, behind the refrigerator and other furniture and all those other places you often ignore or forget.

Home Diffuser

I also like to use my diffuser to purify the air especially with all the sickness that has gone around this winter. For my spring cleaning I use Purification. Purification is an essential oil blend that contains citronella, lemongrass, rosemary, melaleuca, lavendin (hybrid lavender), and myrtle. It’s a great blend to purify the air and can also be used to relieve bug bites or as a natural bug repellant. It helps combat fungus and mold too. If you don’t have a diffuser you can put a couple of drops of Purification in a spray bottle of water and mist into the air.

We’ve also had an ant problem this winter. Put 10 drops of purification in 4 oz of water and spray the ants directly as well as their entry points to keep them away.

I also love sprinkling a few drops of purification on the carpet with baking soda before vacuuming to freshen the floor space as well.

 

Clean out your closets! Start to put winter clothes away or to the back of your closet making room for spring clothes. Throw away anything you haven’t worn in awhile or that no longer fits.

Take inventory of your clutter! Donate or recycle things you aren’t using or are broken.

Nurture your house plants. Clear away any dried leaves, replenish the soil, compost any plants that may have died.

You know what they say, “A clean house, a clean mind!” Happy Spring Cleaning!

Beat a Cold Quick

This was supposed to be posted last week but my computer ate it. Its even more relevant now that we have a break in the cold. A friendly reminder to keep you neck covered if you ditch the jacket this week so you don’t end up getting sick.

I could end this blog pretty quick, beat a cold by not getting yourself run down and then eating sugar.

That’s not usually what happens though does it?

Last week was my daughter’s birthday and I spent 2 days cooking and cleaning for what was meant to be a low key party with the family.

 

There was left over cake to eat. So we did on Sunday night. Monday I had a little at lunch too.

 

When I was leaving work on Monday night the bug that’s been bothering everyone decided to attack. I felt like I got hit by a bus. The sore throat, achy body and chills started almost all at once. I was low on my vitamin D supplement and didn’t feel well enough to grab my needles. So here is what I did.

I drew a bath of the warmest water I could stand and dumped a coffee cup of Epsom salts, bentonite clay and dead sea salts into it. I soaked until I felt nice and warm then I took my time getting out of the tub as many times if I get up too fast I have a tendency to feel dizzy. Once out of the tub I put on layers: sweat pants and a big heavy sweatshirt and fuzzy socks. I gave my husband and daughter a squeeze goodnight and crawled into bed under a big heap of blankets to sleep for the night. Its best to stay under the covers until you sweat to get all the yuck out. It took a while before I felt warm enough to peak a toe out from under the covers but I slept all bundled up for the night. When I woke the next morning most of my symptoms except for fatigue were all but gone.

 

Lucky for me I had the next day off to rest and load up on my usual cold go-too’s. Thieves in the diffuser. Chinese Herbs, Yin Qiao which rocks for a sore throat. Loaded up on my vitamins, extra fluids, and rest. This has been my (knock on wood) only cold all winter and I was able to kick it super fast.

 

Never under estimate a warm bath and rest to the rescue! (also never under estimate how sugar can knock down your immune system)

 

Stay healthy my friends. 🙂

Natural Medicine Cabinet Essential for Hand Foot and Mouth Disease

I’ve recently noticed that there have been a couple concerns of Hand Foot and Mouth Disease in the area. According to the Center for Disease control Hand foot and mouth disease is a common viral disease usually seen in children younger than 5 years of age. Symptoms include fever, blister sores in the mouth and a skin rash (most notably on the hands and feet).

The best way to prevent this disease is to wash your hands regularly and to avoid close contact with those that have been infected. This can be very contagious.

If your child has been exposed to hand foot and mouth disease it is important to stay hydrated.

 

There are 3 essential oil blends that may help to shorten the duration of symptoms: thieves essential oil blend, mountain savory, and purification essential oil blend. (personally if exposure has taken place I would put one of these in a diffusor preventatively too)

Mix one drop of essential oil of your choice with one tablespoon coconut or olive oil. Massage into the spine and/or bottoms of the feet. Use what you have available or alternate between all 3 oils. You can do this as much as every diaper change until symptoms are gone.

If you do not have any essential oils on hand you might try placing or massaging a clove of garlic on the bottom of the feet and put socks over it during nap time. The soles of the feet are porous and can absorb the garlic (and its antiviral properties) in fact the wearer of the garlic can actually taste the garlic usually in about 15 minutes. Here is a link to make a garlic poultice. 
Remember it always a good idea to contact your health care provider about any questions or concerns you may have before starting any treatment.

Natural Medicine Cabinet: Cold and Flu Prevention

Here are 5 important items to have in your natural medicine cabinet during flu season!

Bone Soup

Making your own stock is great preventative medicine and is also great to use medicinally when you are sick as well. From a Chinese Medical standpoint making soup stock from bones is incredibly nourishing to the kidneysand the kidney system is most active during the winter months which is the best time to nourish them.  Bone soup is also great if you are suffering from digestive troubles. I made garlic beef stock yesterday with this recipe and added red lentils, carrots, celery, rainbow chard, and broccoli this morning for dinner tonight. An added bonus is the house smells delicious.

Apple Cider Vinegar

‎”Cold Season Prevention & Remedy #3 for Pregnancy or any time – Drink 1 – 2 Tablespoons of RAW-Unfiltered-Organic Apple Cider Vinegar each day. You can mix it in 8 oz of water or apple juice to make it more palatable. This improves your body’s PH balance and strengthens the immune system. Also fends off yeast, speeds healing of infections, soothes a sore throat, and relieves heartburn. We like Bragg brand.” -Mamaste Yoga
Also equally good if you are not pregnant. 🙂 For more info about apple cider vinegar check out here. Whatever brand you choose make sure it has the “mother” in it for optimal results.

Thieves Essential Oil

I know, I talk about this all the time. Thieves essential oil is a blend of cinnamon, clove, eucalyptus, rosemary, and lemon. It was named thieves after the infamous band of apothecaries that would use these herbs and spices to cover their faces when robbing the dead bodies during the black plague. It is 99.9% effective in killing bacteria and other sickies and because its a natural source bacteria can’t mutate to it like anti-bacterial soaps. We diffuse thieves at home and in the office to clean the air and spray thieves on door handles and other surfaces. You can also put a drop of thieves in your water or tea if your feeling run down or have a scratchy throat. Young Living essential oils carries this essential oil blend and you can purchase here. You can learn more about using aromatherapy THIS Saturday in the first part of our 2 part series Introduction to the Everyday Essential Oils collection. Part 2 is Saturday Dec 7th.

Vitamin D

Vitamin D otherwise known as the sunshine vitamin is important for immune health especially for prevention of colds and flus according to recent studies. Living in the Midwest it is really easy to become deficient in Vitamin D in the winter months when its hard to get enough sun light. You want to make sure to get a high quality vitamin D3, this is the most easily absorbed form on vitamin D for our bodies and you also want to make sure you take it with fat because it is a fatt soluble vitamin. I like Innate Choice Vitamin D3 drops because it comes in olive oil. You can order this online or pick it up in the office, Dr. Scott carries it. 🙂 Here is some more good info on Vitamin D too,

Don’t forget that acupuncture is a great preventative tool as well. Studies have shown that acupuncture points carry higher concentrations of white blood cells and when stimulated give a boost to the immune system. You can also use acupuncture for a persistent cough, congestion or the onset or a sore throat. If you have a fever though please stay home and use the natural remedies above.

Natural Medicine Cabinet Essentials: Thieves

This week let’s focus on keeping the immune system strong. Here is my immune system natural medicine cabinet essential.

 

What’s in a name? This blend of essential oils is named after thieves after a band of robbers from the black plague. This group of apothecaries couldn’t get into the towns to sell their goods so they would mask their faces in the herbs and spices found in this blend and steal from the dead bodies. The king of France finally caught up with them and promised not to kill them if they gave up their secret of how they could get so close to the plague without getting sick.

Thieves contains: cinnamon, clove, eucalyptus, rosemary, and lemon. These oils are all highly antiviral, antiseptic, antibacterial, and anti-infectious.

From the Essential Oils Desk Reference: Studies conducted at Weber State University during 1997 demonstrated the killing power of these amazing oils against airborne microorganisms. One analysis showed a 90% reduction in the number of gram positive Micrococcus luteus organisms after diffusing for 12 minutes. After 20 minutes of diffusing, the kill rate jumped to 99.3%. Another study against the gram negative Pseudomonas aeruginosa showed a kill rate of 99.96% after just 12 minutes of diffusion.

 

How to Use:

Diffuse it! It’s currently diffusing in the treatment space at NAP so make sure to take some nice deep breaths while you get your acupuncture treatments.

Thieves is a great oil to diffuse preventatively or when you start to feel sick. If you don’t have a diffuser put a few drops on a cotton ball and place in air vents at home or in your car.

Place 10 drops into a spray bottle with water and use to spray in the air instead of toxic air fresheners.

Take it with when you travel and sniff on the plane. If you don’t want to take the whole 15ml bottle put a few drops on a cotton ball in a sandwich baggie and take some deep breaths from the bag through out the plane ride.

For a sore throat place a drop or two in a cup of hot water or tea and drink.

For a headache put 1 drop on tongue and push against roof of mouth.

For a pimple place a drop of Thieves in your palm and using index finger massage over blemish.

 

Young Living has a whole line of Thieves inspired products. I love the household cleaner, tooth paste and mouth wash!

You can order your own Thieves here or pick up a sample of Thieves at the office for $2.

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Medical & Health Information

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