My Fascination with Essential Oils

I got turned off of essential oils years ago by a person who was trying to sell them. And once turned off of something, it takes quite a bit to get me interested again. It takes something like Cancer.

I was determined to treat my cancer by building up my body's immune system so it could kill the nasty buggers like it's supposed to. It worked, too. Took about four months of eating only good things, and the stuff was gone. But at some point during that time, a client gave me a bottle of Frankincense essential oil with the comment that it was highly anti-canceral (not sure that's a real word, but if it isn't, it should be). About that time, informational posts from a relative who is into essential oils started showing up on my Facebook page. That got me started checking into them even more, trying them out on myself at first, and then my massage clients -- with very impressive results. Over the past several months, I have come to think of essential oils as God's Medicine. They are (with very few exceptions) completely safe to use and have no side effects whatsoever. They are FOOD, after all. They don't have to be processed by the liver (twice) like other medications; they can be flushed out through the colon and kidneys like any other nutrients.

Maybe you've never thought about this before, but give it some thought now:  When God created Earth, He made it with everything Man would need to live -- including medicine. Folks have been using those medicines for thousands of years, and it's only in the past century that Man has decided he can make better medicines than God did. Arrogant (and greedy), but that's Man for you.

Now think about this:  When God made plants for medicine, He didn't make one plant to heal one thing and another plant to heal another thing. No, that isn't how He works. He gave each plant numerous healing qualities, and He made numerous plants that will heal some of the same things -- their healing properties overlap.  In part, this is because all plants cannot grow in all climates, but it's also because His provision is abundant. He has made it so that if one thing is not available, several others are. Cool, eh?

So in the case of cancer, not only is Frankincense anti-canceral, but so are Ledum, Myrrh, Clove, Rosemary, Lavender, Geranium, Cypress, Lemon, Grapefruit, Tangerine, Lemongrass, Sandalwood, Anise, Caraway, Basil, Clary Sage, Tarragon, and Fleabane -- depending on the type of cancer. Some work best in conjunction with other oils (sort of like a companion dog); some correct the DNA mutations that allowed the cancer to start growing; some address the underlying emotional issue(s) that go along with most cancers . . . the options for healing are abundant. And none of them poisons the body or makes the hair fall out or leaves radiation burn scars. 

There will be no side effects whatsoever. However, because they each have multiple healing qualities, there are likely to be side benefits like a healthier liver, a better mental outlook, better sleep patterns, improved digestion, or any number of other things with which mankind suffers these days.

There are several other points I'd like to make, but I want to keep this short enough to read in a minute or two, so I'll just finish with a caveat: All essential oils are not created equal. Many (most?) are diluted, and/or processed in such a way that the healing components are killed, or they're even made synthetically. There is no regulation of labeling in the United States, so you must do your homework. (Be aware that "organic" means something entirely different to a chemist than it does to the rest of us.) I have chosen to use Young Living oils because I trust their purity. I understand DoTerra is also good (they're a spin-off of Young Living). I haven't taken the time to test any other brands. Just know that dead oils may smell good but they can't heal.

Contributing Factors to Cancer: Part 3 (Sedentary Lifestyle)

Yes, I know I said the next post would be about essential oils, but this one's been hanging around whimpering for attention so long, I either need to git 'er done or delete it. Since it's rather important information, I guess I'd better git 'er done.

I've already talked about some of the contributing factors to cancer. There's the post about Toxins (you can read about it here), and the one about Acidity (read about it here). Today let's talk about Sedentary Lifestyles. (This'll probably be a pretty short one because there's a book calling my name.) (snicker)

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If you're over the age of two, you have to have heard (a gazillion times) that exercise is good for you. But if you're like the huge majority of Americans, you still find it way more enjoyable to lounge around after a long day of work, watching a movie and munching on ___________ (insert your favorite salty/sugary snack). And isn't it lovely to kick off a lazy weekend by sleeping in Saturday morning? (Unless, of course, you have little kids who don't know how to sleep in, or older kids who have soccer/baseball/speech-and-debate events to which you are the taxi driver, or you've reached an age where sleep feels like work.)

But here's the thing:  Remember how cancer thrives in acidic environments? And remember how cancer cells are usually anaerobic (preferring to live without oxygen)? Well, it turns out that not only does exercise induce deep breathing -- which brings oxygen to all your cells, but muscle usage also burns off acidity. So it kills two birds with one stone.

No, make that three birds. Because there's also the whole lymph thing. Did I talk about that yet?  No? Well, allow me.

Ahem. 

One's lymph system is vital to one's health. You see, it plays a huge part in our immune system -- housing and transporting white blood cells at a moment's notice -- but it also filters and recycles institial fluid (the stuff between the cells, containing debris that's been ejected from the cells). Sort of like a car wash that recycles its water. The kicker is:  It has no pump. It depends on muscle movement to keep it circulating. 

So now imagine your lymph fluid, full of excreted garbage (sewer, if you will), trying to make its way up your body where it can be dumped into the subclavian vein on its way to the lungs and kidneys to be breathed/urinated out. Then imagine that you've just come into contact with the flu bug, and that same fluid is needing to rush white blood cells to your airways to kill off the nasty virus . . .  but you're sitting at your desk and then sitting in your car and then sitting in your recliner and then laying in your bed.  So the lymph fluid sits, too.

Know what happens to dirty lymph fluid that sits still? Yup, it becomes acidic. It's full of toxins, remember?

It so happens that breasts are made up of mammary glands, fatty tissue, and . . . wait for it . . . lymph  tissue.  We in America have been fed the crazy notion that women's breasts are very sexy but that they shouldn't jiggle. So we strap them down, push them up, squeeze them together for cleavage -- and if the breasts are especially heavy, we add an underwire for support, effectively choking the circulation of lymph fluid (and oxygen-rich blood) down to a trickle. So there it sits, stagnating and creating a perfect environment for cancer to begin and thrive -- acidic and anaerobic.

So . . .  imagine getting out of your chair right now and going for a five- or ten-minute walk. Or hopping on the rebounder for a few minutes. Or going skiing. Or ice skating. Or shooting some baskets. Or seeing if you can still ride a bike.  Imagine getting that vital fluid circulating so it can carry that gunk outta there!  

Okay, now stop imagining and do it. The book/movie/Facebook will wait for you.

Update (aka How Things Are Going)

It has been called to my attention that it's been three weeks since I lasted posted, and that it's been waaay longer than that since I talked about what I eat.  I have to chuckle at the thought that there are people out there who are actually interested in what I put in my mouth. It's a little odd, if you think about it.

Anyway, my diet has continued to evolve. There was a time when meat of any kind sounded disgusting to me, but that lasted only a couple or three months, and then beef started sounding *really* good -- to the point that I could eat it at least once a day every day. It took longer to want chicken, but that tastes good now, too. Pork, not so much. I had baby back ribs (done in the crockpot; sooo good!) for Christmas, and I've had bacon maybe twice, but that's about it.

Breakfast usually consists of a cup of hot water with a few slices of ginger root, a squeeze of lemon, and a dab of raw honey, and:
- Oat groats with berries, nuts and coconut milk; or
- Fried eggs with avocado slices and a splash of Cholula; or
- A piece of toast with some kind of nut butter (peanut, almond, cashew); or
- Leftover baked yam, diced and fried in butter (crispy on the outside, soft on the inside; 
  sooo good!)

Lunch is usually eaten on the fly -- a handful of walnuts and dried cranberries; a boiled egg or two; a couple swallows of kefir; some greens powder in applesauce . . .

I snack when I need to, which is not every day. 
- four or five Brazil nuts; or
- a small slice of cheese; or
- six or eight almonds; or
- three or four dried apricots; or
- two or three prunes

Supper can be just about anything:
- a pile of veggies (steamed or raw); and
- a hamburger patty w/ cheese (I found some raw-milk organic mild cheddar the other 
   day!); or
- split pea soup (I found some healthier kielbasa sausage which is awesomely delicious in 
  it.) and spelt cornbread; or
- a couple tilapia fillets, a baked yam with butter, and roasted broccoli; or
- a baked potato soaked in butter; or
- corn chips and salsa with or without some beans

I still eat very little sugar (and probably always will). I find it affects my mental outlook; and the fact that eating a little makes me want to eat more is just annoying.

What's different?  
- I'm not juicing much anymore. Seems like I got my fill of it, so I backed off.
- I've eased up on the supplements quite a bit. It varies, but usually there's some selenium, 
  some CoQ10, some indole-3 carbinol, some vitamin C, some vitamin D3 (because it's been 
  so cloudy lately and my mood shows it), sometimes some vitamin B, and most days some 
  topical iodine and frankincense essential oil (more about that later)
- I'm eating more nightshade vegetables (white potatoes, salsa, marinara, etc.)
- I'm not eating nearly so many vegetables as I was. Not sure if that's a bad thing or not, but 
  they quit tasting as good, so I backed off. This too will probably evolve.

I've gotten better at knowing what my body needs, so I basically eat what sounds good. If what sounds good is unhealthy (e.g. maple bars from Rosauers, or regular pasta), I usually ignore it. But that doesn't happen very often. Mostly I want good food.

All that said, I've had a hankering for pasta lately, so last night I cooked some quinoa pasta, smothered it with marinara sauce and cheese, ate a few bites . . . and decided that next time I'll just go to Olive Garden. Some things are worth it. 

Intuitively, I think the cancer is pretty much gone. And I can feel that the cysts are gone or much, much smaller. I still have a ways to go to get my body into top working order, but it's much better than it was. When I figure out a way to prove the absence of cancer, I'll let you know.

Exercise: It's too icy to walk outside, so I'm using the rebounder a few minutes a day. I kind of like it. And it's supposed to be good for moving lymph fluid.

Overall, I'm feeling good -- better than I have in a very long time. If there's cancer residing in my body, I don't know it.  My mind is working better than it has in a lot of years. I have energy to do things around home again. In fact, the sewing machine is out and I'm cutting up old sheets to make face cradle covers for work. *That* is not normal for me. So yup, life is good and I'm so looking forward to what this new year holds!

Next up: My fascination with essential oils. Stay tuned . . .

Contributing Factors to Cancer: Part 2 (Acidity)

Cancer thrives in acidic environments. In fact, -- did you know this? -- cancer almost always starts in an area where there's inflammation. (Inflammation is the immune system's way of dealing with acidity.) Where there is inflammation, normal cells can more easily be damaged, or there's a greater possibility of a mistake being made during cell division -- or both things can happen -- and a tumor is born. 

So how does one eliminate acidity -- how does one become more alkaline? Well, there are the "foods" component,  the "stress" component, and the "toxins" component.

Let's start with Foods:
Sugar is the biggest single food culprit because it packs a triple whammy. Not only does cancer feast on sugar (see the post about that here), but sugar itself is acidic and it causes the pancreas to secrete insulin which is very acidic (pH of 4; neutral is 7). So it  makes sense that the less sugar you eat, the more even your blood sugar level, and the less insulin your body has to deal with.

All sugars (white, brown, powdered, honey, maple, molasses, fructose, maltose, dextrose, corn syrup -- did I miss any?) appear to have this affect. Medical doctors and nutritionists will tell you, "Research shows that all sweeteners are identical in the body." But that's poppycock because there is also research that shows that natural sweeteners such as raw (not heated) honey and maple syrup have nutrients not found in refined sweeteners, and that our bodies do, in fact, know the difference. 

(Artificial sweeteners are not included in this post because they are so horrible they should be ingested only by mosquitos and wasps.) 

So I have chosen to include raw honey (straight from the bees, only filtered to remove bee parts and wax) because of its nutritive value. For instance, raw honey actually decreases fatty deposits in the vascular system. Does this mean that a person with heart disease should eat a lot of raw honey? Of course not. There's still the insulin factor to consider. But should a person include a bit of raw honey as part of their nutritious diet? Absolutely.  

Here's an interesting side note: We now know that heart disease is caused by inflammation, not cholesterol, as has been previously preached. And preached. And preached. But cholesterol actually acts as a fireman, putting out the fire that is inflammation. So the presence of abnormal levels of cholesterol in the blood merely indicates that there's a problem -- sort of like a dead canary in a deep mine. Poor misunderstood cholesterol . . .

Okay, where was I?

Oh. Acidic foods. Okay. Coffee is another substance that promotes acidity. But you knew that already, right? (I still treat myself to it once in awhile because it makes a horrible day not nearly so sucky.  A person's mental health is important too, right?) 

Chemical residues (e.g. pesticides, preservatives) cause acidity and therefore inflammation. If the label doesn't say "organic," or if you don't know the grower's methods personally, you'll likely be ingesting tiny amounts of poison. It may not seem like much each time, but ponder how it accumulates over the course of a day. Then ponder how your body has to run every bit of it thru your liver -- twice -- in order to break it down into a form that won't hurt your kidneys. Poor, hard-working liver. When it can't handle the load, it shuttles the half-processed toxins off to be stored in other areas -- joints, fat, other organs -- until it has time and energy to finish the process. But then tomorrow comes and you eat some more, and then some more, and it never gets back to it. Sort of like the piles of stuff in my laundry room. And my bedroom. And the garage. Sigh.

Moving on.

The Stress Component:
All stress is not bad. Some of us thrive on it -- to a point. Each person's threshold is a little (or a lot) different. Also, it depends on how you feel about your stress level. If you think you're stressed out, then you are. If you're having fun keeping nine balls in the air at once, you're probably fine. But watch out for your breaking point. That tenth ball can sneak in under your radar.

There are quite a few forms of stress. Of course, there are the negative ones like Anger and Dread and Frustration and Deadlines. But there are also "positive" stressors like Elation and Excitement.

Turns out, we are affected physically by our emotions. True fact. If we're happy, our bodies are secreting hormones like seratonin and dopamine which actually change the chemistry in our whole body in a good way. If we're stressed out or angry, our bodies secrete other chemicals like cortisol and norepinephrine (formerly known as adrenaline). These do things like increase the heart rate and blood pressure (making the heart work harder), and decrease digestion. So yes, our emotions affect us physically. 

What does that have to do with acidity?  Well, the "negative" hormones become acidic if they hang around too long.  Here's an analogy for you:  If you're sitting in front of a computer trying to beat a deadline because there's an ax hanging over your head, the cortisol and nor-epi (which would normally be used up by your muscles in running away from the scary thing) are stranded in your body's tissues, becoming acidic, causing inflammation, making your body expend energy to fix it . . . So the moral of the story is:  Think happy thoughts.

The Toxin Component:
I pretty much covered this in this post, so in the interest of brevity (or at least not-too- long-ity), I'll skip over it here. Just know that toxins are acidic.

As an interesting side note, viruses such as those that cause the common cold or the flu love acidic conditions. You probably knew that. But did you know that acidity also contributes to osteoporosis and gum disease because minerals (e.g. calcium and magnesium) are drawn out of the bones and teeth to buffer acid (sort of like Tums buffer stomach acid)? While you're at it, consider other inflammatory conditions like gout, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, all forms of arthritis, diabetes . . .

The list is long and the reasons are many to alkalize your system.

So how do you know if you're acidic or not?
You can find pH test strips in drugs stores -- probably even Walmart. I got mine online, here. (No compensation for this link, but you're welcome.) The directions come with the strips, so I won't go into that here. Just know that whether you're testing either your saliva or your urine, the testing should be done first thing in the morning before brushing your teeth or eating/drinking anything. And saliva will test a little more acidic (6.0-7.5) than urine (6.5-7.5). (The lower the number, the more acidic.)

And now the million-dollar question:
How do you help your body to become more alkaline (i.e. less acidic)?

• Cut out all forms of sugar. I figure if I shoot for 100% clean (from refined sugars), then I can afford to have some fruit or raw honey without upsetting the chemistry too much.
• Eat lots of vegetables and supplement with one of the "greens" powders on the market. I like Primal Force's UltraGreen mixed in some applesauce, but here's another link with interesting information, especially with regard to diabetes. (Links are for informational purposes only. Alas, I am not getting paid to drop names.)
• Animal proteins (meat, eggs and dairy) are quite acidic, probably because they take longer to digest. That doesn't mean you should cut them out, though. Their nutrients are important to your body's health. I read somewhere that 60% alkaline was a good goal to aim for, which means you need 40% acidic foods. It's all about balance.
• When you eat grains, rice and legumes, eat the unprocessed whole kind, and soak them overnight to break down the phytic acid and aromatase inhibitors (never mind what those are; this post is long enough). Then rinse well and add fresh water to cook.
• Exercise (provided it isn't too intense) burns the toxins that are causing your body to be acidic, so go for a 30-minute walk every day.
• Shop for organic foods -- even canned goods. And stay away from refined, processed, instant, pre-made, or boxed things.
• Use water that hasn't been chemical-ized with fluoride, chlorine, etc. (This is probably a subject for another post, it's so complex.)
• Here's the hardest thing to change -- If you're a person who tends to fret, stew, seethe, criticize, and judge, then teach yourself to think on more virtuous matters because you're making your body acidic. If there's something that can be done about a situation, do it. If not, set it aside. Better yet, give it to God whose hands are big enough to handle ANYthing. 

Lastly, here's another side note that I found immensely interesting:
It takes eight hours after eating for the body to finish digestion duties and decide it's okay to direct its energy toward cleaning house. The detox process then takes at least four hours (for just that day's worth of toxins). Thus, there needs to be at least 12 hours between the last food/drink of the evening and the first food/drink the following morning.  Do you see where this is leading?  Yup, all those late-evening snacks when you get the munchies are keeping your body from ever being able to clean house. 

There's a pretty easy fix, though. Just don't eat too late in the evening. Or if you must, then wait at least 12 hours to have breakfast. For example, if you have supper at 6:00 p.m., then you can have breakfast anytime after 6:00 a.m. the next morning. If it's your company Christmas party and you don't finish eating until 9:30 p.m., just figure you'll have brunch about 9:30 or 10:00 the next morning. It's pretty do-able, and your body will thank you.

Okay, that's it for this time. Odds are good that I've forgotten something -- left a gaping hole in the information -- so leave me a comment and I'll address it later.

Cancer is Wily

I learned something old last week. Does that ever happen to you? Do you ever read something, or someone tells you something, and a lightbulb goes on . . . and about a second later you realize you already knew that but it was buried under who-knows-what-kind-of-minutiae that apparently mattered more? Happens to me all the time. Sigh.

Anyway, cancer begins with a single cell (or maybe a few cells) that was damaged by toxins (stress chemicals, pesticides, etc.) and then when it divided (which is how cells multiply), it made two damaged cells. Which then divided to make four damaged cells, etc. etc. After a few months or years or decades (depending on the type of cancer and how fast it divides), there are enough abnormal cells to be seen as a tumor. With me so far?

Most normal cells are programmed to stop dividing at a certain point, but cancer cells have mutated in such a way that they don't have a shut-off switch. They will keep dividing -- and at a faster rate than normal cells -- until they kill the host by robbing it of the nutrition it needs. It becomes a parasite in the truest sense of the word.

So cancer cells are not programmed to die as normal cells are. But here's the really interesting thing. They mutate to the point that they provide their own food source. In essence, they eat their own (recycled) poop. Is that not ingenious?  Here's how it works:

Cancer loves sugar, right? (also known as glucose). When a normal cell processes glucose, the by-products are carbon dioxide and water. We get rid of the carbon dioxide by exhaling, and the water by urinating. So far so good? Well, when a cancer cell processes glucose, the by-product is lactate (the same stuff that makes your muscles hurt when you've over-exerted). Lactate isn't just urinated or exhaled out. No, it has to go to the liver where it's broken down into . . . wait for it . . . glucose! . . . which goes back into circulation and feeds the cancer. It's an endless, ingenious cycle!

That's the old thing I learned last week. Cool, huh?

The kicker is that no matter how carefully I cut out ingested sugars, theoretically, the cancer will still survive. Thrive, even.

So I may as well go have that fried ice cream I've been hankering for, right?

Nah. Because sugar (and homogenized pasteurized dairy) still creates an acidic environment, and that's exactly the way cancer likes it. I think my cancer's pretty much gone, but I don't want it to come back, so I'm all about maintaining an unfriendly environment for it.

Interesting thought though, yes?

Well THAT was anticlimactic.

Remember when I had thermography pictures taken a couple weeks ago? Well, I finally got the report back last week.  Something of a let-down, but interesting, nonetheless.

I guess I was hoping for something as definitive as “Nothing remarkable noted.” Would’ve been nice, but not realistic.  Actually, now that I think about it, a report like that would’ve been suspicious because there are still numerous cysts that should show up.

Anyway . . . It was not definitive either way. It did not say “You have cancer” or “You don’t have cancer.” It said (and I paraphrase), “There are lots of areas of hyperthermia that should be checked out by a qualified physician. They might be nothing or they might be something.”  So that was the let-down part.

The interesting part was buried in paragraph 7. “. . . Fibrocystic changes likely represent excess estrogen relative to progesterone (estrogen dominance). Supplementation with a bio-identical progesterone cream may be beneficial . . . Fibrocystic changes sometimes respond to discontinuing all caffeine and/or supplementing with iodine, selenium and vitamin D3.” [emphasis mine]

That’s the first I’ve heard of a known cause of cysts in the breasts. Estrogen/progesterone imbalance.  And it makes perfect sense. Why didn’t I put 2 and 2 together long before now? Duh.

(Warning: My male readers might want to stop here and go hunting or fly your RC thingamajig or do some other guy thing because the direction I’m going will probably not sit well with your stomachs.)

See ladies, I’ve been dealing with two beasts. The breast cancer – diagnosed in July – has been a walk in the park compared to the other beast – menopause.  I haven’t had your typical, run-of-the-mill hot flashes and moodiness. No, I have had horrendously vicious, raging, hemorrhaging, menstrual issues that have been steadily getting worse over the past several years. I recently discovered that this is greatly improved by taking herbs that urge my body to produce more progesterone.  Ding! (light going on) I have had an abundance of estrogen in my system for a lot of years – partly due to a diet promoting it, but ultimately because excess fat secretes estrogen. So of course the ratio of estrogen::progesterone is off kilter. Of course!

I was so focused on cutting out the estrogen that I didn’t think about upping the progesterone. It would have the same effect – bringing the ratio into line. Yes, that ratio needs to be in the lower numbers because I don’t want to be feeding the cancer, but it needs to be in balance for my body to function properly. Therefore, if I want to get rid of the cancer and the cysts and the horrible wretched menstrual issues, I need to bring down the estrogen and bring up the progesterone.

The other Ding! moment was the mention of iodine, selenium and vitamin D3 in the same sentence. I have read of the importance of each of these things individually – “selenium is great against cancer”; “iodine is vital to thyroid health”; and “vitamin D3 is an integral part of dozens of reactions in the body.” But they didn’t come together in my mind until I read this report.

So yeah, those two tidbits of information make me feel a lot better about the $135 I spent on pictures.

I guess I'm back to square one with regard to checking my progress. Not going to worry about it at this point, though. I have lots of work to do, and when the time is right, I’ll figure out how to know about the cancer. Or maybe I won’t. We’ll see.

Cutting Out Toxins

The last post was getting so long, I decided to write about the solutions to the contributing factor of Toxins seperately. So this is that.

As you have read (and read and read), there are gazillions of toxins in our environment today. Some of them are pretty much outside our control -- satellite signals, for instance. But the biggest number of toxins and chemicals that really affect us big-time are very much within the realm of our control. It isn't even all that hard. You just decide to change one or two things to start with, and once you've got them licked, you'll probably want to tackle something else. If not, hey, you're still better off than you used to be. But trying to do it all in a week is just setting yourself up for failure, so don't go there.

Here are a few ideas of things you can change without too much pain:

Ditch the microwave. Or at least use it on low power (but then what's the point, because it takes longer). Using high power (which is usually the default setting) kills nutrients more than stove-top cooking does (here's an interesting article with the science of it). If you're going to spend your hard-earned dollars on organic food, don't shoot yourself in the foot by microwaving it. As an aside, apparently a fair number of microwave ovens leak radiation.  So now you have two very good reasons to go back to the old-fashioned stove and oven. Three, if you count in having more counter space.  (If you have one of those over-the-range kinds, you now have another place to store stuff.)

As for thawing frozen meat, remember when we used to take meat out of the freezer in the morning so it would be thawed by supper time? It's called planning ahead. I'm not very good at it, so I usually end up steaming frozen meat in a fry pan with a tablespoon of water (lid on, medium-high heat) prior to frying. Or cook it in broth (i.e. chicken). Works for me. 

Eat more of your food raw. I shoot for 65% raw -- juiced or munched or smoothied.  But for the things you just can't stomach raw or cold -- like meat or eggs or oatmeal -- my favorite pan has turned out to be a ceramic-coated one. It's very slippery so clean-up is a snap.  I can plop in a big spoonful of oats or some leftover soup or a couple of eggs, put the lid on, and let it cook on medium heat while I put in a load of laundry or comb my hair. I'm amazed at how fast things warm up. Granted, I'm cooking for one now (big grin), but you'll figure out a way that works for you.

Shop organic. Farmers' markets are a great option during the summer, but winter is here now, so that's nixed. If your area doesn't have an organic grocery store, there are online sources such as Azure Standard and Bountiful Baskets which deliver to a central point where you can pick up your order. Kirstyn's been using Azure for a few years but their website can be overwhelming for one so organizationally-challenged as I.

As for anti-perspirants, there are a whole lot of things you can use that won't harm you and that will keep you smelling sweet. First of all, you need to understand that it isn't the sweat that smells; it's the bacteria that reproduces in the sweat. It takes that bacteria 10-12 hrs to build up to the point of being smelly, so if you shower every day, you should be fine without anything. Showering every day, however, is not such a great idea because it washes off your natural oils which protect your skin and help to make it an effective barrier against outside pathogens.  And having dry skin makes you want to slather on the lotion which is probably full of chemicals. I've found that a salt crystal (looks like a clear rock) works well for me. When I first started using it, I put the ladies in the office on notice to inform me if they ever noticed an odor. So far, so good (about a year now).

There is some concern about the use of talcum powders being connected with ovarian cancer. Cornstarch is a decent replacement, but then you have to wonder if it's GMO corn you're putting all over your body. I've quit using powder at all. One less thing to buy. (grin)

Water:  I'm still working on this one. It'd be nice to have a whole-house water purifier that would take out all the crap including fluoride, but those run in the thousands of dollars, so for now, Culligan is delivering five-gallon jugs of reverse-osmosis'd water to my doorstep. Maybe the coolest part of it is the neat dispenser that has both cold and (almost boiling) hot water on demand. Instant tea and no more tea kettle!  We're still showering and washing dishes/laundry in tap water, but one thing at a time. I came across an article recently that said reverse osmosis water isn't good for people either, but as near as I can tell, it's still better than drinking Belgrade's tap water. So until something better comes along . . .

That's enough to get you started. Half the fun is figuring out how to overcome the challenges you meet, so go for it!