100% Confident
It’s been a hot topic of late and particularly in the lead up to Flu season here in Australia – what is in your family first aid kit?
What I love about getting into natural health solutions is that I am now 100% confident that I can care for my children and myself. I am 100% sure of what to use, how to use it and where to source it. Because I had to research. Because I had to learn for myself and my kids. It’s a powerful thing to take back control of your health and know how to be truly healthy – don’t you think?
Now when I say research – you don’t have to be a scientist like me, but it helps. It helps because I can dig into the data of scientific papers and see what’s really going on. I’ll give you an example. When I was birthing my daughter I was being pushed to have interventions – she was ‘late’ and I was told that if I didn’t get her out STAT she would DIE. Pfft. So much was wrong with this conversation, especially because this conversation usually starts at 40weeks and normal gestation is 40+/- 2 WEEKS…so the conversations shouldn’t actually start until a LEAST 42 weeks in my opinon. However, what I said to the specialist who was bullying me, ‘I don’t want “statistically significant” I want actual numbers please’. What he said was my risk had gone from (something like – I can’t remember exactly) 1:200,000 to 1:10,000. So yes – a huge difference! Statistically significant? Absolutely! NOT however a massive risk if I had ONE chance in 10,000 of something going wrong at this point.
So you need to dig, you need to research and you need to know that not every “statistically significant” change in risk is REAL risk…and stuff like that.
Natural vs Synthetic
So back to my first aid kit. To be honest, the second I saw essential oils work for my kids, the “emergency” medicine kit went in the bin. We don’t use Panadol. We don’t use Antibiotics. But more to the point, we don’t NEED to! We are HEALTHY!
Ok so let’s take a back step for a bit. Why would I have a problem with Panadol for Pete’s sake? Ok well here’s the thing. In the same way I researched natural solutions, I learnt about unnatural ones. Just because Panadol is considered ‘safe’ doesn’t mean there are no negative effects. It doesn’t mean there are no risks, it just means it’s the safest thing we have (medically speaking). What I do know is that it depletes your liver of glutathione, which is really important for the body to have healthy detox processes. What I do know is that it can cause liver damage. I get that sometimes you might feel it is needed, but if you can avoid it (which you 100% can) would you want to?
(Don’t even get me started on a friend’s husband who died from taking a normal dose of Panadol!)
For those playing in the USA Panadol = Tylenol = Paracetamol, also known as acetaminophen.
First Steps to Health
OK so the first steps to being healthy is nothing to do with medicine at all – natural or otherwise. If you want to keep your use of a first aid kit to a minimum it ALL comes down to nutrition and gut health. This shouldn’t be news to anyone but people just don’t seem to take it very seriously. YOUR BODY CAN HEAL ITSELF AND BE HEALTHY. It has every power to do that, if you don’t interfere with the process. Now some interference can’t be helped (stress, pollution, etc) but a really clean healthy diet, exercise and sunshine will go a REALLY long way. Question is are you willing? My daughter finds the supermarket really stressful because she sees ALL those aisles of food that she isn’t allowed to eat. It’s called marketing. Take an addictive substance (sugar) and add some kick-arse marketing and you have everyone believing they are missing out and depriving their kids by NOT POISONING THEM! Weird but true.
And the gut health thing? Well that’s where 75-80% of your immune system resides so you do the math – you wanna be healthy, take care of it! (for tips on this I have plenty of other posts to check out)
My First Aid Kit
OK here we go:
1. Essential oils – no brainer – these are the most concentrated form of plant medicine and they do a bang up job of healing plants. Lucky for us they work in animal biology as well as plant biology. What can they do? I know many won’t believe me…but abso-flippin-lutely EVERYTHING. Ok so there’s something you need to understand about medicine – pharma companies go out into nature and source plant medicines. Since they can’t patent these they make some slight change to create a synthetic version and then mass produce it for sale. So can nature do everything you need? Heck yes! (PLEASE note that you need a really good brand of oils to get any benefit, let me know if you have questions about which to choose.)
2. Vitamin C – what a super power this is! Do some research but it’s reported to kill every virus and bacterial and tumour cell known to man…sounds good to me! You do need to get a natural form for it to be truly effective and not toxic to your system. I get a Sodium Ascorbate powder and keep it handy.
3. Manuka honey – I’m pretty sure any raw honey would be beneficial but Manuka has known anitbacterial properties. When kids or I get a sore throat we do love a drop of Lemon oil on a teaspoon of honey to soothe it. There is also now a Manuka oil (even more potent) so can always skip to the big guns but hey…honey tastes good!
4. Colloidal Silver – A powerhouse antibacterial – I tend to use topically for bad cuts but avoid internally as I believe it can affect gut flora. So I tend to keep this more with the bandaids and bandages than for coughs and colds…
5. Apple Cider Vinegar – great for so many things! Studies suggest it is good for blood sugar levels, great for skin and hair conditioning, infections and so, so many things – just buy some and do a bit of reading.
6. Probiotics – I’ve already mentioned how our immune system is largely dependent on gut health – a really good quality probiotic will help boost gut health, as will bone broth (the gut healer). Also consider gargling probiotics for chronic ear or sinus issues.
7. Activated Charcoal / Bentonite Clay – these are both great for binding toxins to get assist their movement out of the body. Great for issues like food poisoning or even if you’ve had a little too much of the wrong sorts of foods.
To be honest, when I’m using oils I often don’t even need all of these things but they are good to have around. They are all powerhouses of natural health and well worth the investment. Investment makes you think you’re wasting money right? But what if you stop needing to go to the doctor and buying prescriptions? What if you stop needing time off work? What if you just feel good and…well…healthy? Are you worth it?
Emotional First Aid
When I started teaching people about essential oils I noticed a trend. People weren’t that interested in boosting their immune system. They weren’t really interested in coughs and colds. Every class I taught I was asked: “Have you got anything for stress and anxiety?” What are we doing to ourselves that EVERYONE is struggling with this? It’s become a huge passion of mine and to be honest, the short answer is “Yes!”. I have other posts that explain how essential oils connect with the emotional centre of the brain and help us in this way. If you would like to try a samples of something, please let me know because we need to start lifting each other in this very real crisis we are in. We need to lift our kids. We need to come together as a village and create change. Please let me share with you the Emotional Aromatherapy blends and our Mood Management Kits. This stuff is amazing and you need to experience it.
If you have any questions about specifics, be sure to get in touch: genwell.au@gmail.com
Healthy wishes to you and your family xx