Homeopathy has been used for more than 200 years to treat everything from colds and viruses to significant conditions like cancer and post traumatic stress disorder. It’s based on the theory that the body is the best source of healing for itself. Let’s take a look at the theory behind Homeopathic healing and how it’s used.

The Tree Principles of Homeopathic Healing

Homeopathy is based on thee main principles. They include:

1. Like Cures Like

   This principle is often seen in the treatment of allergies. For example if a person is allergic to grass pollen then they will regularly receive injections with a small amount of grass pollen in the solution. The theory being that they will slowly build up a tolerance for the allergen until they have little or no reaction. The same holds true for many of our vaccines. If you’re getting a flu vaccine, you’re receiving a small amount of the flu virus. Your body recognizes it and defeats it thus, when that particular strain of the flu comes around you won’t get it because your body knows how to combat it.

2. Minimal Dose

   Homeopathic healing takes the approach of extreme dilution. Theorizing that your body doesn’t need to be inundated with an element to adapt and respond. How diluted are the dosages? We’re talking about 1 part homeopathic element or remedy and 1,000,000,000,000 parts water.

3. The Single Remedy

   Have you ever had a cold but didn’t have the cold medication to cover all your symptoms so you took a decongestant, a fever reducer and cough medicine combined to try to make it through the day? This is the opposite of how homeopathy approaches healing. Because you’re dealing with having the body heal itself, homeopathy believes that only one remedy is taken, usually it’s the presumed cause of the illness that is the remedy.

Who Can Use Homeopathy?

Homeopathic healing is deemed safe for everyone. This includes pregnant women, children and even babies and the elderly. Treatment is easy and typically involves, once a diagnosis has been made, taking a powder or small tablet orally. The tablets are designed to dissolve in your mouth and may need to be held under the tongue for a few seconds until it’s completely dissolved. While some treatments may require only one tablet taken daily, others may require several tablets each day. The treatment depends on the diagnosis and the practitioner.

Why use Homeopathic healing?

Believe it or not, homeopathy is the second most widely used form of healing in the world. And its popularity in western civilization continues to grow. By and large, this success is due to the fact that Homeopathy is extremely effective, when properly diagnosed. It’s also extremely safe and results in virtually no side effects and it can be taken with other medication without the fear of interaction.

Homeopathic remedies are also natural. You’re not putting potentially harmful chemicals into your body. In addition, as more and more people adopt a more holistic approach to healing, it’s much more natural and effective to treat the cause of a problem rather than the symptoms. Homeopathy treats the cause.

When it comes to healing, homeopathic healing has a long and successful history and a bright future. To find a skilled homeopathic doctor you can visit one of the online directories or associations or you can speak to your medical practitioner for a recommendation.

Insulation can be a confusing topic. How much is enough? What are the right materials? What insulation is safe and what insulation material is unsafe and potentially harmful to your health and the environment. Lets address those questions and clear the air about home insulation.

Insulation Facts

Insulation is measured by R value. The greater the R-value, the greater the insulation power of the insulation. The US department of energy recommends an R-value of R-49 for the attics of homes in most states. If you live in south Florida, Texas, or California then R-38 is typically all you’ll need. Most regional building codes for new construction require a minimum of R-19 in walls and floors. Read the rest of this entry

As more and more adults and children are diagnosed with ADD and ADHD people are beginning to make a connection – your diet plays a critical role in managing ADD. While every case is different, here are a few ways people are treating and helping ADD with diet:

1. Sugar elimination

   Every parent knows that if you feed a child soda and candy they’re going to get a little wild. However, some children have difficulty metabolizing sugar, which results in a significant spike and drop in blood sugar and a strain on their adrenal glands. Studies have shown that children with ADD/ADHD uncontrolled drop in blood sugar significantly decreased brain activity. Knowing this, many families have treated ADD by avoiding sugar and high carbohydrate foods.

2. Mineral deficiency

   Several studies show that ADHD children are deficient in many common minerals, most often in magnesium, zinc, and iron. Our food processing systems are largely to blame however, magnesium supplementation significantly decreases hyperactivity symptoms in ADD children. Additionally, adding whole-wheat flour, sea salt, and natural sweeteners like stevia, molasses, and dried fruit in place of sugar will help your body receive and absorb the minerals it needs to function optimally and eliminate many ADD symptoms.

3. Essential fatty acids

   Many ADD children are deficient in what are called essential fatty acids. It is theorized that this is due to an inability to metabolize the fatty acids or because they need more fatty acids than other people. Fatty acids are required for optimal brain function. Adding flax seed oil, fish oil and fatty acid supplements to your diet has resulted in ADD symptom improvements.

4. Food allergies

   Many times a simple food allergy can be the cause of ADD and ADHD symptoms. While the process to deduce which foods are the allergenic culprits is a bit trying, once you know what foods to eliminate from your diet, the symptoms may essentially disappear. Common allergens include:

   • Wheat, or refined flour
   • Peanuts
   • Dairy, which includes milk and cheese
   • Sugar
   • Corn syrup
   • Barley
   • Eggs
   • Corn
   • Rye
   • Chocolate
   • Soy
   • Oats
   • Gluten

   To determine which foods you’re allergic to, an elimination diet is required. This is essentially a very limited diet whereby you eliminate all potentially allergenic foods from your diet for a week or two and then gradually re-introduce them into your diet and monitor the results.

Helping ADD with diet is a relatively easy and natural way to treat ADD and the corresponding symptoms. It requires a little bit of planning and lifestyle changes however, living without ADD and the corresponding symptoms is invaluable.

The sky is filled with fantasy and wonder. One can look up at those amazing stars for hours and contemplate the universe. Why not share this stargazing experience with your children?

Benefits of Stargazing with Children

Inspiring curiosity

Looking up at a night sky full of stars fills your child with wonder and delight. It sparks their imagination and their curiosity. So many questions pop into their fertile minds:

• What are the stars?
• How did they get there?
• How far away are they?
• Who put them there?
• What are they made of?

This gives you not only great insight into the mind of your children; it also gives you a valuable teaching moment. You can teach not only about science and astronomy but looking up to the sky also lends itself to wonderful religious and spiritual teaching moments. Read the rest of this entry

As people begin to be more environmentally and economically conscious, composting is becoming more and more popular. However, for many it’s still a new concept. If you’re interested in learning more about this green practice, here are a few composting basics to get you started.

What is Composting?

Composting is essentially decomposing. The leaves that collect in the corner of your yard decompose. If you facilitate the process, then it’s called composting. Composting involves mixing your yard and household organic waste, like food scraps, in a container and providing conditions that encourage or facilitate decomposition.

Why Compost?

Composting is a very environmentally friendly practice. It reduces the amount of garbage we toss into landfills by 20-30% and as we get closer and closer to running out of space, composting becomes more and more important.

In addition to making space in the landfills, composting provides you with a source of chemical free fertilizer, which you can use for gardening and soil conditioner.

Materials to Get Started

To begin composting you’ll need a few things to get started. You can find many of these items at your local hardware or gardening store. You can also buy home composting kits only. These kits come with everything you need and provide a relatively stink free composting experience.

You’ll need a compost bin. The materials will be decomposing here so if you’re keeping the compost in your home, you’ll want a lid as well.

You’ll also need a pitchfork to turn and mix the compost daily.

Finally, you’ll need to find the right place to put your compost. You can create a pile outside in a well-drained area or you can place it in a warm, dark location inside your home.

But what about the actual compost? Can you toss anything in there? Are there right and wrong ingredients? The answer is yes, the ideal compost recipe includes:

• 1 Part Greens – include grass clippings, kitchen scraps including eggshells and coffee grounds. (Avoid using any meat, fat, grease, oils, dairy products, bones, or animal droppings in your compost.)
• 25 Parts Browns – include dried leaves, straw, wood chips, paper bags and drier lint.
• Water – Keep the pile moist but not soaking
• Air
• And time

Turn the ingredients every day for about two weeks. In two weeks time you should have a powerful pile of compost to place in your garden, household plants or flowerbeds. Happy composting!

One of the secrets to successful organic gardening is something called companion planting. When chemical herbicides and pesticides aren’t allowed, as they wouldn’t be if you’re gardening organically, then companion planting is an excellent solution.

What is Companion Planting?

Some plants give off scents or chemicals that repel insects, insects like worms and beetles that can destroy your garden. Other plants help prevent disease or attract insects, which are beneficial to plants. And some plants are exceptional at breaking down the soil and helping other plants absorb vital nutrients. Essentially companion planting is used to help your core plants thrive without chemicals.

Examples of Companion Planting and How it Works

Marigolds are widely known to have a very strong fragrance. Many people consider it unpleasant despite the gorgeous flowers. However, many insects also find marigolds quite distasteful including nematodes (roundworms), whiteflies, beetles, and aphids. To use marigolds as a companion plant, plant them at the perimeter of your garden. If your garden is large you may want to plant them throughout. Take care to not plant them too closely to your vegetables because they do attract spider mites and slugs.

Alfalfa actually helps the soil absorb nitrogen, iron, magnesium, phosphorous and potassium which makes the soil ideal for growing vegetables. Because alfalfa has very long and sturdy roots, it breaks up hard clay soil. It’s a great plant to help keep your soil rich in nutrients.

Geranium another flower with a strong aroma repels cabbage worms and Japanese beetles, and leafhoppers. Gardening experts recommend planting them around grapes, corn, tomatoes, peppers and cabbage.

Deciding What to Plant and Where

Before you begin planting your organic garden, do a bit of research to find the best placements for your chosen vegetables. For example, tomatoes do well with a number of other vegetables including garlic, chives, cucumber and mint however not all veggies get along with tomatoes. Tomatoes can stunt the growth of carrots and dill and kohlrabi slow tomato growth.

Make a quick map of your garden before planting and chart where you want to plant each vegetable. A quick trip to an organic gardening or companion gardening site will help you make sure each vegetable’s neighbor is a helpful one.

Companion planting is a very sustainable way to affect the health of your garden. Not only do you help your garden stay pest and disease free, you receive the added benefit of a diverse and healthy garden.

It seems like just about every day we learn about another toxin in our presumably safe home. Whether it’s that water bottle you’re drinking out of or the plastic dishes you store your food in some plastics are leaching poisons into your home and into your body. However, not all plastics are bad. Plastic in general is a very useful resource because it enables us to reuse products time and time again, thus conserving resources. Let’s take a look at a few different types of plastic and learn which ones are safe to use.

Polycarbonate

This plastic is responsible for releasing Bisphenol A which has been in the news a lot lately because it’s found in a number of water bottles, certain types of Nalgene bottles, baby bottles, car parts and other common manufactured food storage containers. The easiest way to identify this plastic is to look at the recycling label on the bottom of the container. If it says 7, other, or PC then steer clear of it. Read the rest of this entry

Herbs are one of the most useful items to grow in your yard or home. They grow quickly and a quick snip of the scissors brings fresh taste to your recipes and dinner table. Here are 5 easy to grow herbs.

Basil

There are a number of basil types including spicy Thai Basil and Sweet Basil, which is commonly used in Italian cooking. Basil can be grown either indoors on a sunny window ledge or in your garden once the fear of frost has passed. Simply place the seeds in the ground per the package directions, The plants can grow up to two feet high which means you’ll want to start thinning them until they’re about six inches apart. Leaves can be picked and used for seasoning when the plants are six weeks old. If you’re going to dry leaves then pick them before the plant’s bloom spikes appear. Read the rest of this entry

You’d like to believe your home is the safest place on earth however, there are many chemicals and gasses which are emitted from regular every day products that cause cancer. Below is a list of 7 potential cancer causers in your home.

1. Air fresheners and deodorizers

   Our homes can harbor many unpleasant smells. Whether it’s the stinky gym shoes, the kitty litter box or the bathroom, we often get rid of those smells with air fresheners. However, fresheners often contain naphthalene and formaldehyde, two very toxic and cancer causing agent. There are wonderful natural fresheners, and essential oils or simply open the windows.

2. Radon

   Radon kills about 20,000 people a year. It’s a primary cause of lung cancer and unfortunately it’s an odorless, tasteless and invisible. Radon is produced by the decay of naturally occurring uranium in soil and water. Which means it can easily seep into your home through cracks in your foundation and drains. You can purchase tests at your local home store to test for radon or hire a professional to come out and make sure your home is radon free.

3. Adhesives and paints

   Epoxies, rubber cement, glues, acrylic paints, carpet adhesives, paint cleaning solvents markers and other art supplies often contain carcinogens. The good news is there are many environmentally friendly options today.

4. Dry cleaned clothing

   Dry cleaning stores use a often use perchlorethylene, a known carcinogen, to clean them. If you cannot find an eco-friendly dry cleaner in your area, remove the plastic from the clothing and let them air out in a well-ventilated area before placing in your closet.

5. Pesticides

   Products like those flea and tick collars and even lice control products often use lindane-based pesticides to keep these creatures away. Lindane is a neurotoxin and a carcinogen – keep it out of your home and away from your pets and family.

6. Asbestos

   While asbestos is no longer used in home building products and insulation. If you have a home built before 1980 you may want to check to make sure you do not have it in your home. The inhalation of asbestos fibers can cause lung cancer.

7. Candles

   Candles made from petroleum, as many scented candles are, release chemicals into the air. Many of these chemicals are known carcinogens including formaldehyde, toluene and benzene. A healthier, non-cancer causing, candle base would be beeswax or soy, which both burn fairly clean.

Cancer causing agents are all around us, however, due to increasing awareness of these chemicals healthier options are available. Take care to fill your home with safe, natural and environmentally conscious products. Your family, your body and your planet will thank you.

If you’re looking for natural, environmentally friendly and clean beauty treatments, you can’t go wrong with Ayurveda. Ayurveda is the traditional medicinal system of India and incorporates herbs and natural elements into their routine – including their beauty regimens.

Three Body and Beauty Types

Ayurveda defines three body types:

• Vata
• Pitta
• Kapha

Each body type has their own unique characteristics including a tendency toward oily or dry skin, curly or straight hair and so on. You can find much information about these three body types online.

Regardless of your body type, there are great ayurvedic natural beauty recipes. Here are 5 to get you started on your natural beauty regimen. Read the rest of this entry