Your mission, if you choose to accept, is to look into some natural health solutions from which your family will benefit this month.

I’m not going to give specific missions during the month of March, but we’re deeming it “Natural Health Month” here at Kitchen Stewardship.

What we do in the kitchen and what we put in our mouths are as tied to our overall health as they are to our weight and anything we might do or learn at a doctor’s visit. I firmly believe in the power of food as medicine, so some of what we’ll explore this month has to do with finding the proper diet for your family.

We’ll also look into the ways in which the natural world – a gift from God, and one of the four pillars of Kitchen Stewardship – can help to heal ailments when they arise.

Topics include:

• essential oils
• herbs
• oil pulling
• probiotics
• homeopathy
• other home remedies made in the kitchen

I certainly don’t know everything about every ailment, nor do I feel like I know much at all (but I’m learning!).

Here are a few of the health issues I’m peeking into in the month of March (and maybe beyond; I’m getting behind!):

• candida
• autoimmune disease
• eczema
• ADHD
• ear infections
• antibiotics
• pain relief
• pneumonia
• cold & flu
• parasite cleanse

Natural Health Month Posts

updated as they arrive…

• Miracle Cure?  Don’t Bother.  (A Q&A from authors who have healed acne and diabetes mellitus naturally.)
• Healing Disease via Diet:  Eczema, Ulcerative Colitis, Gall Bladder Issues, Leaky Gut and Food Intolerances  (Another Q&A from authors healing disease naturally.)
• Natural Remedy to Heal an Earache in 30 Minutes or Less {Guest Post}
• Is the War on Infections…or Against Antibiotics Themselves? (How to fight infection naturally, with home remedies, etc.)
• 2 Crazy Symptoms of Pneumonia in Toddlers plus Home Remedies
• Natural Remedies for Pain Relief
• Candida Symptoms and my Story, Part 1
• 3 Steps to Fighting Candida Naturally Part 2
• How to do a Parasite Cleanse (and some questions about it)
• Natural Treatment for Croup Symptoms in Children and Babies

Other Natural Health Posts at KS

• how to get rid of warts naturally
• natural remedies for ear infections
• stomach problems: the BRATY diet for real food
• doTERRA essential oils review
• How an elimination diet cured eczema
• What’s Eating Your Child? review
• How to Wash Your Hair Without Shampoo
• Effective Homemade Deodorant (and An Update on Homemade Deodorant)
• Be Prepared for Natural Living: Herbal Medicine Cabinet
• How Natural is Your Face? Natural Make-Up Reviews
• 3 Tips to Clean up after Sick Kids
• 5 Simple Solutions for Fighting a Cold
• Taking Fermented Cod Liver Oil – On Video!
• Fighting Illness Naturally Is Scary, Especially When You’re Blind
• What’s Really in Children’s Medications?
• Top 5 Herbs for Cold and Flu Season
• Home Remedy to Remove Warts

A Few Other Stories

My favorite way to learn is by reading others’ stories of how they found health, naturally. Here are a few…

Laurie Neverman of Common Sense Homesteading has been a reader here at KS forever, and she has pushed my thinking on what detoxing is and what “good” and “bad” symptoms really are. When I reviewed a nighttime detox deodorant and didn’t like it because it made me stink so badly, Laurie called up the company and ordered some!

She knew what I didn’t understand at the time: Stink = detox. I’ve since learned a great deal more, and I’m happy to sit at the feet of those who are (way) ahead of me on this natural health journey. Here’s Laurie’s story:

I firmly believe that our bodies are designed to heal themselves, if we just give them the tools to do it. Our modern medical system is amazing for repairing trauma and many other health issues, but we’ve lost track of many “back to basics” things we can do to improve our health.

Five years ago, I was 30 pounds heavier, depressed, and generally struggling to get through the day. My husband had lost his job of nearly 16 years, and my stress levels had gone through the roof. I was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis, and autoimmune disorder.

This meant my body was attacking my own thyroid, causing hypothyroidism. The doctor prescribed Levothyroxin, which I took for a month. During that time I felt even worse. My joints ached, I couldn’t focus – I was miserable. The doctor’s suggestion was to increase the dosage. I declined, and haven’t been back to see him since. (I did later find a different doctor who was more open minded.)

Since I couldn’t tolerate the drugs, I started making small changes in my diet and lifestyle. Nothing drastic – I didn’t really have a lot of energy to spare. Weight started coming off, and I had more energy. My hair got softer, my skin got smoother. I did find a doctor who was willing to prescribe natural thyroid medication, but I hope to one day heal my thyroid. In contrast to the “thyroid death sentence” issued by my first doctor, who said it the disease could only get progressively worse, I have found people who have healed Hashi’s through nutrition and lifestyle choices.

In “Common Sense Health: Detox, Diet and Physical Activities“, I’ve shared ideas for things you can do to remove toxins from your life (Detox); strategies for simple, healthy eating (Diet); and physical activities beyond exercise that have been used by holistic practitioners, such as oil pulling and barefoot therapy. No big investment or complicated format, just start where you are with what you have.

On my website, Common Sense Homesteading, I use the tagline “Using sound judgment to be more self-reliant”. Taking responsibility for our own health is one of the most important self-reliance skills we can have. I encourage you to do your own research, and take advantage of the many resources now available to find the path that works best for you and your family.

Laurie Neverman
The Common Sense Woman

Life After Fibromyalgia

I’ve just been introduced to Christy Pooschke, but as I watched her video “Eating Outside the Box,” I was amazed that someone so young could have such terrible, debilitating health issues, and that docs couldn’t figure out what was wrong with her for years!

Here’s her story:

Fibromyalgia stole several years of my life.

In 2002 (at age 25), my health began to deteriorate. I was extremely weak and fatigued, and I was in so much pain that some days it was all I could do to get out of bed. Among other symptoms, I suffered from digestive distress, sleep disturbances, chest pain, and an intermittent racing heart beat. After more than 15 different prescription medications, never-ending appointments with various specialists and more than a handful of diagnostic procedures, I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia in 2005. I was in pure misery, suffering from an “invisible illness” for which there was no treatment, no cure and no known cause.
Fortunately, in 2007, I stumbled upon some information about food that changed my life forever. I learned that there are ingredients hidden in foods that are making people sick! My husband and I were so incredibly shocked by what we read that we immediately purged our kitchen of all convenience foods and mystery ingredients—we threw food away, gave food away, and even sold some at our garage sale!

We said good-bye forever to things like low-calorie frozen dinners, protein and diet bars, soda, chewing gum, commercial ice cream and fast food. We began making all of our food at home…from scratch. We scrutinized the ingredients label on everything we bought. If it contained even one word that we didn’t fully recognize as having come from nature, we didn’t put it in our cart.

Within just a couple months of making these changes, ALL of my Fibromyalgia symptoms were gone. Completely gone! In fact, I now feel better and have more energy than most people I know! Considering how sick I was just six years ago, I am still shocked every time I hear myself say that! It’s truly amazing! (People who knew me back then can hardly believe it when they see me now. And people who meet me now can hardly believe I was ever that sick…“but you seem SO healthy,” they say.)

In the past six years, I have witnessed first-hand the havoc that these ingredients wreak in others’ lives, as well, and I feel a moral obligation to share what I have learned with as many people as possible and to inspire them to take an active role in maximizing their own health. I created my “Eating Outside the Box” video presentation and my website at CompletelyNourished.com to share my return-to-health journey, to educate folks about the dangers of food additives and to help people transition away from processed foods and embrace a balanced, natural lifestyle. I remember how overwhelming it felt when my husband and I first decided to make these lifestyle changes, so I work tirelessly to create the products and services (e.g., “short-cuts”) and to provide the support that I wish we’d had available to us back when we were just beginning to embrace this journey.

This may sound cliché, but I know that everything happens for a reason. While suffering with Fibromyalgia, it was really hard to see any purpose in the pain. Now, I realize that I suffered for those years so that I could educate and inspire others to take charge of their health. Oh, and please realize that although my particular symptoms were diagnosed as “Fibromyalgia,” you can insert countless other health conditions and get this same story and solution. I’ve witnessed similar transformations in other people with a variety of ailments and diagnoses throughout the years…

Christy Pooschke
CompletelyNourished.com

What have you learned recently about natural health? What would you like to learn more about?

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If you missed the last Monday Mission, click here.

Kitchen Stewardship is dedicated to balancing God’s gifts of time, health, earth and money.  If you feel called to such a mission, read more at Mission, Method, and Mary and Martha Moments.

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