Monthly Archives: May 2016

coaching, Miscellaneous

Homemade “Bleach”

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Hi everyone! Do you ever wish you could have a safer bleach alternative? Something without a chemical smell or hazard to your health or small children?

bleach-alternative-4

I worked with a nurse a few years ago, who worked in surgery, and she told me they would educate women about the dangers of chlorine bleach  & that it can cause breast cancer. When you search the web, (1), (3) you will find pros and cons to using Bleach, but it IS made of chemicals. If the scientists making it are using gowns, gloves, goggles and face masks, shouldn’t that indicate there is a respiratory hazard of breathing in the chemicals? Do you wear gowns, gloves, masks and eye goggles before doing laundry or cleaning your house with bleach? 🙁  Bleach is corrosive and will eat at skin or anything it is placed on. It breaks down elastic in underclothing pretty quickly, if washed in it frequently.

I once thought I would mix bleach with another “harmless” cleaning agent and I immediately got a foaming mist of horrible smelling “gas” coming up out of the bucket! I failed to read the label which states to never mix Clorox with any other chemical cleaning agent! 🙁 So I quickly opened the windows and got the fans going to draw out the harmful gas.

I have not used Clorox for a long time. Instead, I make my own with only 3 ingredients using a recipe by Jillian that I found online! (There are many different recipes for bleach alternatives online! Just search and find the one you like.) It really does whiten my clothes. For gray- dingy looking socks or under- clothing, allow them to soak for several hours before washing.

My mom used this Natural Bleach Alternative recipe on an old dry rag to wash mold off my painted walls and baseboards. The mold came right off with some gentle rubbing! 🙂

Recipe:

  • 12 cups water
  • 1/4 cup lemon juice
  • 1 cup hydrogen peroxide

Mix. Add 2 cups per wash load or put in spray bottle and use as a household cleaner.

NOTE: I cut this recipe in half and used an old half gallon empty vinegar jug to store the Natural Bleach Alternative in.

Happy environmentally green & safe cleaning! 😀

~Coach Shannon

Resources:

  1. Educating Wellness
  2. One Good Thing
  3. Bleach
  4. Chlorine and Cancer
coaching

The Skinny about Oils and Fats

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Olive Oil

There is a lot of talk today about healthy oils, which ones are better and if nothing works, then coconut oil should be the  cure-all for everything! Ha! … sarcasm there. 🙂 I can eat coconut oil in baked things, but to apply it to my skin will dry me out more than I already am! If it works for you, that is great! 🙂

Not all oils and fats are created equal. Heavily processed, hydrogenated, “trans” fats and oils that are used in prepared, packaged foods can be extremely damaging to the body. However, fats and oils from whole foods and other high-quality sources can steady our metabolism, keep hormone levels even, nourish our skin, hair and nails and provide lubrication to keep the body functioning fluidly. Our bodies also need fat for insulation and to protect and hold our organs in place.

A healthy percentage of high-quality fat in a meal satisfies and leaves feelings of energy, fulfillment and warmth. When there are excess fats and oils in the diet, especially heavily processed fats, symptoms can include weight gain, skin breakouts, high blood pressure, liver strain and an overall feeling of mental, physical and emotional heaviness. Signs of insufficient high-quality fats are brittle hair and nails, dry skin, hunger after meals and feeling cold.

There are many sources of healthy fats and oils:

  • For sautéing and baking, try butter, ghee (clarified butter) or coconut oil because they do not break down when used at high temperatures.
  • When sautéing foods at moderate temperatures, try organic extra virgin olive oil.
  • Oils like flaxseed, sesame, toasted sesame, walnut and pumpkin seed are best used unheated in sauces or dressings on top of salads, veggies or grains.
  • Other healthy fats are found in whole nuts and seeds and in their butters like almond butter or tahini.
  • Whole foods such as avocados, olives and coconuts are great sources of healthy fat, along with wild salmon and omega-3 and omega-6 organic eggs.

Experiment with these healthy fat sources and see which work best for you and leave you satisfied.

When selecting oils, buy the highest-quality organic products you can afford, since cooking oils are the backbone of so many dishes. Good words to look for on the label are organic, first-pressed, cold-pressed, extra-virgin and unrefined. Words to avoid are expeller-pressed, refined and solvent extracted.

When I was in Israel in the fall of 2014, our tour guide stopped the bus near an olive grove. He explained how they grow olive trees and how they press for oil.

YossiIt made sense to get the cold pressed olive oil because it was the highest quality versus getting oil that had been extracted with heat.

It is also important to not only get your 3-6-9 omega’s, but also your 5 & 7 omega’s! I recently learned more about these important anti-aging omega’s! They can assist with cardiovascular health, immune system and inflammation issues. (2)  Send me an email (mannafoldblessings@gmail.com) if you are interested in getting a high quality Omega supplement that includes all of these in one gel caplet! 🙂

Cheers to healthier choices oils and fats!

L’Chaim! (to health)

~Coach Shannon

Resources:

  1. Institute for Integrative Nutrition
  2. Natural Health 365
  3. Ghee

 

vegetables

Herbed Green Beans

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Herbed Green Beans
Herbed Green Beans

2 (12 ounce) bags of frozen green beans

1/2 cup butter

3/4 teaspoon garlic salt (more or less can be added)

1/2 teaspoon dried basil

Pepper to taste

1 medium red pepper, cut in strips

4 ounces of mushrooms (fresh or canned)

Melt the butter in a frying pan then add the garlic salt, basil, and pepper. Stir in the peppers and mushrooms; saute till just tender. Add the bag of green beans. Stir every so often and cook until the beans are tender crisp.  Serve on a bed of rice with chicken strips or just use as a side dish.

Yield: one 9 inch round pan or 6 servings.

coaching

Our Amazing Body

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Have you ever thought about what all goes on inside the amazing body you are living in?

Google images
Google images

For instance, your heart weighs about 300 grams (10.5 ounces or 0.66 pounds) and it pumps  approximately 5000 mL (5 liters) of blood per minute when you are resting!!!  This is called normal cardiac output. Your heart can fit into the palm of your hand. 🙂

Blood vessels are arteries, veins and capillaries. The average child has 60, 000 miles of blood vessels and the average adult has 100,000 miles! Dr Mercola says “When you gain a pound of fat, your body makes seven new miles of blood vessels. This means your body must work harder to pump blood through all of these extra new vessels, which may put a strain on your heart, and may reduce oxygenation and nutrient replenishment in other tissues. Fortunately, if you lose a pound, your body will break down and re-absorb the now unnecessary vessels.”

Jeremiah 1..5

Here are some fun facts I pulled from several different sites-

  • Nerve impulses to and from the brain travel as fast as 170 miles per hour.
  • The average human drinks about 16,000 gallons of water in his or her lifetime
  • A human sneeze creates a blast of air that can be moving more than 100 miles per hour
  • The strongest muscle in the human body is the tongue. (And the tongue only weighs two ounces!!)
  • Your lungs need a lot of breathing room. The total surface area of the lungs is approximately equal to the size of a tennis court.
  • The human brain cells can hold between 3 and 1000 Terabytes of information. The National Archives of Britain, containing over 900 years of history, only takes up 70 terabytes.
  • The acid in your stomach is strong enough to dissolve razor blades.
  • During the lifetime of a person – he will grow around 950 kilometers (590 miles) of hair!
  • Humans, Primates and Koalas are the only creatures in nature with fingerprints.
  • You thought the brain is a gray dull organ, as seen on television? you would be surprised to know that its mostly water. about 80% of our brain tissue is liquid. So next time you’re on the verge of dehydration – keep drinking so you won’t make your brain dry. ( 🙂 )

How about your 45 miles of nerves?? No wonder we get tired… SO many miles to travel in one day! 🙂 Yet, our body does this NONSTOP without us telling it to go or stop. God designed our body to have a cruise button – and he has the choice of letting the cruise stay on or deciding when our last day on earth will be.

Our Creator also gave US a choice- will we choose to take care of these amazing bodies or will we allow junk food, drugs, alcohol, tobacco, sugar etc. to break our body down faster than He intended it?

If you are feeling a little overwhelmed with all this information (just a fraction of what I could share!), please sit down on a chair, close your eyes and take a deep breath in slow – then let it out slow. 🙂 You are an amazing piece of God’s handiwork- He created you with unique fingerprints that only you have! So many little details. You are highly blessed! Don’t take your Amazing Body for granted!

Live

Keep smiling ~ Coach Shannon 😀

Resources:

  1. 40 Interesting Facts
  2. 16 Human Body Facts
  3. Dr Mercola