Holistic Hump Day: a Remedy and a Recipe

I know, it’s Thursday, not Wednesday.  This is the problem with thinking I could ever stay on task as a blogger!  I have ideas of scheduling “holistic” topics on “hump day” but I can’t always get my hands to the computer when my brain wants things to come out of it.  But you know, it’s not a big deal to me at all… and I am guessing you don’t really care either 🙂

A Remedy

So yesterday morning, I woke up, stood up, and two seconds later …

(WARNING to any guys reading, this might be too much info) …

… I knew that I was ovulating.  I could feel the ache right down there in the ol’ uterus.  I know a lot of women can feel this discomfort at mid-cycle.  I am fortunate in that I don’t get severe cramps with menstruation, but I usually have one day, mid-cycle, during which I feel mildly to moderately uncomfortable.  I could probably Google it, but I think it has something to do with the fluid from the egg sac rupturing, combined with a change in the position of the cervix.

My remedy these days is something that might sound strange, but I’m telling you that it really works for me!  And it doesn’t take more than five seconds to use.  It’s this:

ClaryCalm Certified Pure Therapeutic Grade Essential Oil Blend from doTERRA

This is an essential oil blend of clary sage, lavender, bergamot, Roman chamomile, cedarwood, ylang ylang, geranium, fennel, carrot seed, palmarosa and vitex.  I roll it right on my abdomen – over the ovaries and the uterus – give it a quick rub in, and that’s it.  If I need a little more relief, I might heat up a compress and lay down with that over my abdomen for 10-20 minutes.  But most of the time I don’t need that.  I used this blend one time yesterday and didn’t need it again for the rest of the day.  You can even use it for hot flashes, nausea, cramps, and the emotional swings which are sometimes associated with regular hormone cycles in women.  (Please consult your health care provider before using this product if pregnant or trying to conceive.  See this webpage for more information on essential oil safety.)

If you’d be interested in purchasing a bottle of this oil from me, I am a doTERRA product consultant and you can purchase right through my website.  Or, if you’re interested in a sample, let me know!  I’d be happy to mail you a tiny (and very cute) bottle to try it out.

A Recipe

After Christmas, I was shopping at T.J. Maxx and found three cookbooks I had to add to my collection.  I must have been shopping hungry, because I don’t even know the last time I bought one cookbook – let alone three at one time.  (What IS it about T.J. Maxx??) Anyway, I made a Crock Pot chicken dinner out of this book last night and it was delicious!

 The Complete Slow Cooker: Packed with Recipes, Techniques, and Tips
by Sara Lewis

This cookbook is most definitely an upgrade to my old, canned-soup-on-every-page, filled-with-processed-ingredients slow cooker book.  The recipes are varied (zucchini & fava bean frittata, chicken korma, mackerel kedgeree, pumpkin & parmesan gnocchi, to name a few), use whole food ingredients, and each page has a beautifully styled, full-color picture.  Not like it’s my job to sell it to you, but if you’re looking for some new Crock Pot recipes, you might like this a lot!

So yesterday, I made Mustard Chicken & Bacon Casserole.  Not only did the house smell like bacon all day, but the family loved it and urged me to add it to the “Top Ten” list.  (We don’t really have a “Top Ten,” but that’s when you know you just have to remember to make it again, and probably on a regular basis.)  WIN-WIN.

Try it out soon.  You’ll be glad you did!

Mustard Chicken & Bacon Casserole (from The Complete Slow Cooker by Sara Lewis)

(with a few notes of my own tossed in!)

1 Tbsp. butter

1 Tbsp. sunflower oil

4 chicken thighs & 4 chicken drumsticks (choose organic/antibiotic-free if possible)

4 slices bacon, diced (choose preservative-free, antibiotic-free if possible)

13 oz. leeks, thinly sliced; white and green parts kept separate

2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour (if gluten-free, can substitute a little arrowroot or corn starch)

2 1/2 cups chicken stock

3 tsp. grainy mustard

salt & pepper

mashed potatoes and vegetables, to serve (optional)

 

Wash chicken and dry with paper towels (will help with browning).  Heat butter and oil in a skillet, add the chicken, and fry over high heat until browned on all sides. (Do not use hotter than medium-high heat with non-stick skillets as this could release chemicals into your food.  Stainless steel cookware is ideal for high temps.)  Remove from pan with tongs and transfer to the slow cooker pot.

Add the bacon and white leek slices to the skillet and fry, stirring, for 5 minutes or until just beginning to turn golden.  Stir in the flour, then gradually mix in the stock, mustard, and a little salt and pepper.  Bring to a boil.  Pour into the slow cooker pot, cover with lid, and cook on low for 8-10 hours.

Add the green leek slices and stir into the sauce.  Replace the lid and cook on low for 15 minutes longer, until leeks are softened.  Serve over mashed potatoes, if desired.

Holistic Hump Day: Nourishing the Soul

How do you care for your soul when you are grieving?  Mostly, I know it’s just hard enough to get out of bed, or go to work, or make yourself eat.  Some days are basic survival, others are more high-functioning.  Nobody can tell you the right way to grieve.  Nobody has the right to tell another person when their time to “get over it” has come.  One thing I’ve learned: grief is personal and different for everyone, and there’s no textbook way to walk in it.

Before I created this site, I had a personal blog where I was just writing about my struggles as a mom.  It wasn’t meant to be anything huge, but as fate had it, some of the writing I did there has a place here, too.  I am calling that place “The Sorrow Pages.”  It’s not glamorous and it’s not filled with awesome answers to the world’s problems.  The pages there are snapshots into one woman’s (mine) timeline of grief and how I tried to process it from the core of my Christian faith.

I can tell you I still don’t understand the why of suffering, but processing my grief in an intentional way helped me resolve to keep trusting in the goodness of God.  After all, the alternatives are that either there IS no God, and suffering is meaningless, or that God is not good.

So, since “holistic” means examining something as a whole, and we are spiritual as well as physical beings, I just wanted to use today to touch on the importance of feeding our souls with good things.  Whether it’s by reading the Bible or other books, getting out of the house and enjoying nature, or taking time to explore a hobby, I just want to encourage every person to nourish their inner being.  There’s still good in this world, and it is a gift to be enjoyed.  If not today, then another time.  But hang in there, and be reminded that deep sorrow will pass, just as the winter gives way to spring.

The Sorrow Pages can be found in the black bar at the top of the website.

Holistic Hump Day: Bone Broth

Photo Credit: thisisgrub.com

Now that I told you how I nursed myself with turkey broth yesterday, I wanted to use this Holistic Hump Day to tell you about the merits of making homemade bone broths.  This is a habit I’ve created over the past year – saving the bones from chicken dinners (or in the turkey broth case, Thanksgiving dinner) and storing them in the freezer until I’m ready to make a batch.  It’s so easy, and I really do believe in the healing power of these traditional foods!

Grandmothers were right: chicken soup is good for what ails you.  My grandparents seemed to know how to use every part of an animal, and I’ve learned that the even the bones contain valuable nutrients inside the marrow, and making broth gets them into a form we can eat!

I first learned about making bone broth from Cara Bergman, owner of Stillwater Fertility Clinic in Severna Park, Maryland.  A mutual friend put me in touch with Cara in June 2011 after I miscarried for the third time.  I was desperate for answers.  Cara, who didn’t even know me, spent a long time on the phone discussing natural health and fertility with me – she’s the one who recommended Nina Planck’s book Real Food for Mother and Baby to me, which introduced me to the idea of eating “whole foods” in their most natural form.  I never did get to consult with Cara in person (I wish I lived closer!), but I still benefit from that one phone call with her, and the recipes and resources on her website.

(On a related note, has anyone out there tried fertility acupuncture, and what did you think?  I’m still intrigued by the idea but haven’t looked into it in my area.)

I recommend taking 30 seconds to download Cara’s free recipe book, which gives you lots of beginner steps towards eating traditional foods.  She has a recipe for Bone Stock in this booklet.  I also like my friend Leigh-Ann’s post on bone broth.  All you need are leftover bones, some vegetable scraps, water and a crock pot (or large stock pot to let simmer on the stove).  You can throw it together before bed and wake up to the smell of rich broth in the morning!  I make a batch periodically, especially making sure to always have broth in my freezer during the fall and winter months when sickness runs rampant.  I have come to love the comfort of drinking this warm, salty healing food when I am not well (or even when I am well!).  It’s one of those rare things I can stomach when nothing else seems appetizing.

I hope you, too, can start enjoying this delicious stock, and know the happiness of looking forward to it in the cold months.  To your health!

Holistic Hump Day

It’s Wednesday.  It’s Hump Day.  And I’ve decided that Wednesdays are going to be the days I discuss holistic health and how I’ve grown into loving a wholesome lifestyle simply because I’ve had reproductive problems.  It doesn’t seem straightforward, but once you start realizing that no one cares more about your health than you, and that the things to which we expose our bodies affect everything, taking a holistic approach makes a lot of sense.

Once, someone asked me what “holistic” meant.  Huh.  That was weird.  I wasn’t even sure how to explain it… I think I said something like, “It means you approach your health from every angle, not just a pharmaceutical or nutritional or chiropractic angle, but you look at your health in the biggest picture possible.”  And after I consulted Dictionary.com, I concluded that my definition works pretty well.

When I miscarried for the third time, I felt in my deepest intuition that something was wrong with my body.  Some key nutrient must have been missing, or my body didn’t like my husband’s genes all of a sudden, or maybe someone microwaved me when I was a baby or something.  I wasn’t supposed to fail at reproducing like this!  Losing a baby is unspeakably hard by itself, but when it happens so many times and you don’t know why, life itself becomes difficult on a deep and somewhat scary level.  I HAD to figure it out.

I started with asking my OB for a specialist.  I went to the specialist, and he found nothing wrong.  I asked everybody I knew on Facebook for input.  I pleaded with anyone who gave me an inkling of hope that they had insight into the human body.  I contacted people I didn’t even know, and I asked friends to contact people I didn’t know and plead with them for me.

I got the following “two cents’ worth” from various people:

“There are hormone disruptors in plastic bottles.”

“Get rid of your microwave.”

“My nutritionist can save babies in utero and she can tell if a woman’s body is allergic to her baby.”

“I had two miscarriages in a row and used the basal body method until it was perfect and now I have a baby.”

“I have a clotting disorder called MTHFR and it can cause miscarriages and you need extra folic acid if you have it.”

“Sometimes, nature just knows if a baby should not live, and it’s best for your body to reject it.”

You can see why I didn’t know which way to turn.  I am not saying that any of those thoughts are unhelpful, but it was not getting me anywhere concrete.  Ultimately, all of those thoughts had merit, but none of them would stop me from miscarrying.  Ultimately, investigating those ideas (and several others) could improve my overall health, but I wouldn’t solve my problem JUST by using “holistic health.”

Still, turning granola was a bigger step in the right direction than I knew at the time.  Because when you start looking at food, supplements, common pharmaceutical approaches, and “alternative” approaches to health, you learn a lot about the immune system.  You learn about your gut and your white blood cells and the body’s amazing ability to heal itself.  You also learn about chemicals, genetically engineered foods, processed foods, and the reactions our bodies have to substances such as wheat and dairy.  I see things in a much bigger picture now.  And all of it is valuable to some degree — even the “get rid of your microwave” bit.

I am a firm believer that pollution, chemicals used on food, genetically altered foods, home cleaning chemicals, and even vaccines (sorry – I told you I was a renegade) are major culprits in the health woes of the American population.  So, my “Holistic Hump Days” are going to talk about these topics and many others.

For now, I leave you with this video from the Environmental Working Group, which is one of the KEY pieces I go back to for information on how much our reproduction has been messed up by the environment and our food. This is Part 1, but watching all three parts if you have time is well worth it. In total it’s only about 22 minutes — less time than it takes to watch Parks and Recreation, and truly more life-changing!

Do you have a natural health story or resource to share?  Go ahead and leave it in the comments.  We all have something valuable to give to others!

Today Only: Free Kindle Book “Naturally Knocked Up”

To all my readers who might happen to stop by after 5:45 p.m. on a Monday night (sorry – I just found out!), I’d love for you to get a free copy of this Kindle book:

I was introduced to Donielle Baker’s blog (of the same name as the book) about a year ago after I miscarried for the third time.  This topic ties in so perfectly with my own journey into holistic health (which I hope to discuss on a regular basis if all goes according to plan!).  Even if you don’t know if you’ll read it, I hope you’ll consider getting the free Kindle copy right now while you can!  You never know what is in store for you each day 🙂

And by the way, if you don’t have a Kindle reader you can still read Kindle books!  I didn’t know this until last winter or something… I swear, 30-something feels like a Grandma when it comes to technology sometimes… so anyway, don’t feel silly if you didn’t know this!  Just click here, and Amazon will set you up with your very own FREE Kindle application for your computer, tablet or smartphone.

Hurry, before it’s too late!