People are waking up and ditching their toxic candles, room sprays, and products containing fragrances and replacing them with essential oils. While there is some debate as to whether fragrances and other chemical ingredients found in these products are bad for our health, I know plenty of people that have reactions to them like sore throats, headache, fatigue, and respiratory distress to name a few. I don’t know about you, but I’m not waiting around for the science community to tell me what I already know to be true. Our family has simply used the power of observation in ourselves and others to realize that these aren’t good for us. To me it just makes sense to use a natural product made from God’s amazing, healing plants rather than a lab made product from groups that hide ingredients under the word fragrance so we don’t even know what it’s made from.

Continue reading “Week 55: Essential Oils” →

My history teacher tried to stress to us kids that didn’t seem to care much about history at the time, how important it is to learn from the past mistakes so we don’t repeat history. I now understand how important this is. Here are a few quotes from the past to ponder that are relevant to our current times.

To conquer a nation, first disarm its citizens.  

Adolf Hitler

Propaganda works best when those who are being manipulated are confident that they are acting on their own free will.

Joseph Goebbels

Beans have been used as a food source for thousands of years and have been known in the past as food for the poor. While they are a great source of protein, minerals, B vitamins, and anticancer agents, if they aren’t properly prepared, they can cause a lot of physical discomfort and mineral loss in our bodies. The anti-nutrients in beans will pull minerals out of the intestinal tract like magnesium, calcium, zinc, and iron which are then eliminated through the waste system if they are not neutralized.

The good news is that we can still enjoy our beans and make them a healthy choice instead of a painful one. We simply start with good quality, organic dried beans and cover them with warm water for 12 to 24 hours (for black beans we will need to add something acidic like lemon juice, whey, or apple cider vinegar). After this soaking time, we simply drain and rinse the beans, cook them in a pot with enough water to cover the beans, and bring them to a boil. It’s important to skim off any foam that rises to the top (although sometimes I forget), then reduce the heat and simmer covered for 4 to 8 hours (sometimes it will take less). Low and slow is key to cooking beans. I like to make a large amount at once and then freeze the extra in quart-sized Ziplock bags.

In order to save money and keep some extra food in our pantry, we purchase organic beans in 25-pound bags. I always have black beans, pinto beans, navy beans, and lentils (another member of the legume family) on hand so we can make a wide variety of recipes. When you compare what we would pay for these beans in a can, the savings and health benefits are very significant.

What is your favorite way to use beans? We love to hear from you!

 Our family has learned to slow down, make careful observations of what heals/damages, get rid of the distractions, take a little more time preparing our food, and most importantly to seek the Lord’s wisdom. It’s a daily struggle and it never goes perfectly, but we just keep trying to do the best we can. If you are working toward a more traditional, clean, whole foods diet, and would like to take small steps to get there, then you are at the right place. Week one was get your salt right, week 2 was get your sleep right, weeks 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 were get your fats right, we had several weeks about seasonings and herbs, some important discussion about natural sweeteners, talked about Forgiveness, hopefully we got our eggs right, learned about the benefits of pastured, clean meats, considered getting mercury removed, we got the toxins out of our mouth, skin, and hair, made some changes in our cleaning routines, we talked about raw milk, learned about vegetables and fruits, fermentation, clean water and the benefits of water, the benefits of getting outside, the importance of properly preparing nuts, and this week we are talking about beans. Join us next Tuesday for Get Your . . . Right.

Continue reading “Homemade Nut Butter” →

Wisdom for proper storage and preparation of nuts so you don’t have to take enzymes with them.

If you eat substantial quantities of raw pecans, walnuts, Brazil nuts, filberts or others, you have a choice of swallowing enzyme capsules with them to neutralize their enzyme inhibitors or first germinating the nuts and letting nature do the job through increased enzyme activity resulting from germination.

Edward Howell, MD

Almonds, pecans, cashews, macadamia nuts and peanuts have a high content of stable oleic acid Thus they do not go rancid easily and once prepared by soaking and dehydrating may be stored for many months at room temperature in airtight container. Walnuts on the other hand, contain large amounts of triple unsaturated linolenic acid and are much more susceptible to rancidity. They should always be stored in the refrigerator.

Sally Fallon

Nuts are a very nutritious and highly digestible snack, as long as they are properly prepared and sourced correctly. If we don’t take the proper steps to make them more digestible (which is very simple), they can be very hard on our digestive system. Nuts are a good source of omega 3 fatty acid, vitamin E, folic acid, potassium, calcium, and phosphorus. They are a great source of magnesium and have been my favorite food source to correct my magnesium deficiency. Since we always use food to correct deficiencies, we try to eat a big handful of properly prepared nuts daily, along with taking Epsom salt baths.

Continue reading “Week 54: Nuts and Preventing Gut Damage” →

Each of us tends to think we see things as they are, that we are objective, but this is not the case. We see the world, not as it is, but as we are-or, as we are conditioned to see it.

Stephen R. Covey

I was shocked to learn recently that Americans spend 93% of their life indoors, and the average child spends about 4 to 7 minutes playing outside and 7 hours a day in front of a screen. Of course, these are just the averages, and I know plenty of kids that spend a lot of time outside. There are many documented health benefits to getting outside, and I have noticed these in my own family too. Even before this research was done into the benefits, people knew of the value and health benefits of the sun and getting outside, because we have noticed that when we read old books, there is mention of it.  

While I was researching this subject, I wasn’t surprised to find that children (I’m convinced this goes for adults too), have more creativity, are more physically fit, have less depression and hyperactivity, better health (including stronger bones), improved eye sight, better balance, longer life span, and tend to sleep a lot better than people that spend little time outside. I have also noticed, at least in my own children, that allowing kids to build forts, climb trees, plant their own gardens and then experiment in the kitchen, and entertain themselves gives them better problem-solving skills and very few complaints of boredom.

Continue reading “Week 54: The Benefits of Getting Outside” →

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I love the seasons in Nebraska, but I always feel the most thankful for this change of seasons and especially when the grass starts to green up, babies start arriving, the bees have food again (we love dandelions), the fruit trees start blooming, and there’s a greater need to get outside more frequently. While this spring has been a little tougher to get through with lack of rain, consistent wind, some morning sickness and fatigue, and the loss of our beloved 30 something year old horse, there is still so much to be thankful for.  

Continue reading “Babies, Updates, and Moving Animals” →

“Your nutrition dictates how well your body works, and therefore how well you feel each day. As summer approaches, make a commitment to make smart choices for your health and visit local farmers markets for produce, seek out regeneratively-grown produce, meat and dairy products and consider buying your meat and dairy directly from local farmers. . . it’s important to recognize that you’ll never out-exercise a poor diet. So, it’s the first factor you should address if you want to maintain a healthy weight, which is important as obesity is one of the major triggers for preventable disease.”

Dr. Mercola