Truly Soap Free Shampoo

I've attempted going no-poo before, but the apple-cider vinegar and baking soda route always left my head sore and my hair oily. I never seemed to be able to get the formula right despite the tweeking. So I had given up for a while, until I was gifted this recipe from a lady who works in the wellness department of my local co-op.  She said it can be used as a shampoo and a gel if needed. The best thing is there is NO SOAP of any kind in it.

SIGN ME UP!

I am still in the transitioning phase from using shampoo to this, but my kids hair is already fantastic. It is soft, shiny and just so nice.




Basic Soap Free Shampoo

- 1 cup flaxseeds
- 4 cups distilled water
- 1 wedge of orange and lemon

- Place into a non-reactive pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and let simmer for 15 mins, stirring occasionally so the seeds don't stick to the bottom.
- Strain out seeds and citrus wedges. Pour into a shampoo bottle.

This formula doesn't create the magnificent suds you are used to. It may only make a little bit if any. You can tell by how your hair feels where it is.

Cold

The recent  changes in my Lupus symptoms, I have to say are downright irritating and annoying. 

This past summer I was able to shed quite a bit of weight to help with caring for myself.  Under my Dr. supervision, I started running and even got myself up to the distance of 10miles. Then winter hit and I found myself unable to cope with the dip in temperatures.  Anyone who knows me knows that I have never been a fan of socks and slippers, but now I cannot do without both. My feet turn white and purplish if I do not have on either two pairs of socks with slippers over top. I have invested in wool and fleece socks for the first time in the history of my life. It's not only my feet that are affected, my hands go numb easily and also turn white. I also am now the owner of fleece pj's and go to bed wearing socks with them. 

My toes in particular have been affected for the worse. If I do not wear my millions of layers, I noticed that I started to get purple dots on them. They also are MUCH more sensitive than they used to be. Stubbing a toe  isn't pleasant in the first place but I was usually over it in about a minute. Now, it's as though my toe has broken. I spend the good part of five minutes rubbing and soothing my throbbing digit. It's not pleasant. At my most recent visit to my Dr, I pointed out my mysterious dots. He sighed and stated that this is a common symptom with Lupus and Reyes syndromes. It has an old name "Chillbains" or "Chilblains".  But it is basically cold blisters that form on the feet due to poor circulation. There isn't a treatment just for it, other than keeping your toes warm.  It can lead to nerve damage and eventually amputation if not taken care of properly. Hooray. I was prescribed a high blood pressure medication to help open my blood vessels up to help with the poor circulation. I also inquired if there was a vitamin I could take to help with it that I could try first. Since I have always had low blood pressure, the idea of taking high blood pressure medicine makes me nervous.  I have added L-Carnitine to my vitamin regimen and am waiting patiently to see if it is going to help. I have also been drinking Licorice Root Tea and Burdock Root Tea in the hopes of something working. 

Heavy medications make me nervous for all sorts of reasons and they are all listed in the Side-effects.  Most of the ones prescribed for Lupus patients have "may be linked to some forms of cancer" and "stroke or heart attack" in the listing. No thanks, don't feel like dancing with death today, not while I have small children anyway. 

Then there is my "mask".  I'm not sure if it is linked to my new circulation issues or to my being in the sun a lot over the summer, but I now have a very very apparent Lupus mask that butterflies on my face. It is my diet indicator now. If I have dairy or sugar it puffs out, little tiny pimples appear and it itches like mad. I basically want to rip my own face off. This has made it very hard to wear makeup (not that I was big on it anyway) to hide it a little, even the most natural and sensitive skin brands still cause inflammation and burning.  I have to hunt and bounce between sensitive skin lotions. And I now only use glycerin soap to wash my face with. Anything else dries it out or irritates it making it worse. So, even though I was never much of one for makeup and dressing up, the option is completely gone. I guess that's alright, that takes time and patience that I never really had when I was doing it. There is nothing that I can take that will treat this. Staying out of direct sunlight and wearing sunblock are all the treatments listed. The trouble is, I like to be outside when it's nice and (like with the makeups and skin creams) there isn't a sunblock I have found yet that my face can handle. Since I don't want to be a hermit and live in a dark cave, I will keep hunting and carry on. 

Sugar Saga

I have written about sugar before.

Since my son started attending the free preschool our city offers, I cannot count how many times he has come home and been suffering from it's effects. Temper tantrums that escalate more quickly than I can fathom and begging for more sugar. There was one week there were three birthdays and all the parents sent in cupcakes and cookies. Then there was the ice cream sundae and pajama days. Mind you, I have absolutely nothing against ice cream and pajamas. Nothing.  But all of this has made me profusely aware at how sensitive my kids are to sugar and how much sugar they Do Not get at home.

A reminder of this happened this past week when I was making cookies. I had planned on making chocolate chip cookies without the cup each of brown and white sugar. My husband of course made the comment that they taste so much better with sugar in them. I shrugged and made them with the sugar. My little test tasters were waiting eagerly for when they were cool enough to try.  1 for everyone, except myself.

I clocked it.

Within half an hour of having the cookies, we had meltdowns involving a very loud and angry screaming fit.
Cursing under my breathe, I scooped all the cookies up, tossed them into a zip lock and up into the top shelf of the cabinet they went.  I then made a orange cranberry cookie without sugar using only honey.

It could of been coincidence. But looking back into my children's eating habits, sugared candies and cookies have never been in the top ten. Strawberries, blueberries, apples, pineapples and carrot sticks reign supreme. Yes, there are natural sugars in fruits and vegetables along with other things like crackers and cereal. But my son doesn't melt down over a hand full of strawberries the way he does over a cookie.

I finally felt like I had reached a breakthrough with my husband on this. While I was making the sugarless batch, I was cursing under my breath about how I feel like I'm the only one who sees it, yet I'm the crazy one, etc.  He countered with that he shouldn't have to give up what he likes because the kids are sensitive to it. Well, that backfired. Since I have been doing my best to live a sugar free life (brief hiatus for the holidays and a baby shower since it's everywhere!)  I have noticed that my kids aren't the only ones who get sugar rage.  I get it and so does my husband. I pointed that out to him and it stopped him in his tracks.  I told him that I have noticed that he gets angry quicker when he has had a sugary snack and that I do too.  The next day when he came home from work, he grabbed what was left of the junk from Christmas and threw them out.  This totally floored me. He then stated that he was no longer eating junk just to eat junk, he was going to only eat what he really enjoyed and only when the kids wouldn't see him. Because, every time he would go for a pop tart or cookie, his little princess also wants a bite. She also seems more apt to want junk than her brother.

Just more compelling evidence that our children follow our eating patterns whether we like it or not.

Choosing Cesearen

This book is due to be published soon. Below is what was taken from the website.

Choosing Cesarean - A Natural Birth Plan

by Dr. Magnus Murphy, MD
& Pauline Hull

Should I Choose to have a Cesarean Section?

If you are pregnant, or contemplating pregnancy and not sure what the deal is with elective cesarean - read on…

You may have heard the derogatory "too posh to push" blanket condemnation of women who choose to have their babies born by cesarean birth. However, you almost certainly have NOT heard the whole story, or even the true story. I can guarantee you that if you dig deeper and research this - that at the very least, you will start to think differently and may even question your previous firmly held opinions. Since although it may be true that most women today would not choose a cesarean birth, it is also true that more and more women do.
There are many good reasons for this - in spite of the erroneous special interest lobbies and the media driven agenda of marginalizing and vilifying women who dare choose an alternative for themselves and their babies than what is perceived as 'natural', 'safe' and 'better'. In fact, there is strong evidence that we have indeed passed the point already where planned elective cesarean as a birth plan, is a safer choice for a woman and her unborn baby, than planned vaginal delivery.

Choosing Cesarean - A Natural Birth Plan

I have joined forces with Mrs. Pauline McDonagh Hull to write the book: Choosing Cesarean; A Natural Birth Plan, to answer this need. More than three years in the making, this book will be published by Prometheus Books of New York and is scheduled for worldwide release in January 2012. In it, we investigate every aspect of the debate regarding planned cesarean vs. planned vaginal delivery, from the safety of mother and baby, ethical questions, economic realities, and questions about choice and informed consent.

In the book: Choosing Cesarean; A Natural Birth Plan we discuss worldwide trends in birth and how politics and vested interests and belief paradigms influence the birth experience of many women today. The risks of cesarean is clearly discussed in a dedicated chapter, so we are not glossing that over, but we do clearly demonstrate how the mantle of safety that so-called 'natural' childbirth has enjoyed till now, and which continues to be vigorously defended by vested interest groups, in fact, has to be shared (at the very least) with planned elective cesarean birth in today's First World.

About the Authors

I am a practicing urogynecologist and clinical assistant professor in obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Calgary, in Alberta, Canada. After many years of practicing general obstetrics and gynecology I decided to dedicate my professional life towards helping women with prolapse and incontinence, which are conditions commonly associated with vaginal childbirth.
Mrs. McDonagh Hull is an investigative journalist located in London, UK.

As the time for publication nears this website will be updated with new features and information, so check back often. The plan is to start a blog here, to enable comments and discussion.
In the meantime, please visit: www.pelvicfloor.com or the Facebook group page: Defending Cesarean.
And please tell your friends to visit.

Yours sincerely,
Magnus Murphy MD
Calgary, Alberta, Canada

 

 

I really have nothing to say. I'm completely stunned that a book like this would be published. C-sections are not natural nor are multiple sections safe. This book is just promoting a lie that sections are safe. Despite any warnings that are in the book. Promoting a book like this is doing harm to any kind of natural birth movements. Also helping to ruin the Best for Baby movements as well.

All I can hope for this book is that is withdrawn and disappears forever.

Silly Husband

We went on one of our adventurous grocery shopping trips this afternoon. Anything involving keeping two kids happy for an hour is an adventure.
My husband saw Oreo PopTarts and "snuck" them into the cart. When we got home and I was putting things away, I came across it and decided to read the ingredients. First quietly then out loud. I proclaimed that it had "High Fructose Corn Syrup, Sugar and Corn Syrup" in them. Then I tried pronouncing everything that is not a real food and finally said that there was nothing healthy in it. My husband retorted that they were made with "Real Cocoa Powder".
I started laughing and said "Ok, so Cocoa Powder might be the ONE thing that may be healthy".
 He fired back with "Well, that's what it says on the label. Made with REAL Cocoa Powder."

I lost it. I was laughing so hard that I wasn't making any noise. My dear husband a victim of advertising.

Bad Advice

While we were splashing away at the beach the other day, I found myself following my daughter around as she toddled her way around beach blankets and other people. She was admired by everyone in her adorable swimsuit and commented about how tiny she is. This I'm used to. Yes, she is tiny and she's been moving since she was about 5 months (she learned quick that it was move it or get plowed over).
I happened to meet another mother who also had a tiny daughter, who had just turned one and was a pound shy of my daughter's weight. We talked a little bit about them and then she asked what my pediatrician says about her growth. I shrugged and said that she is constantly reassuring me that "She is Indeed Growing, slowly, but she's growing."  Then the other mom said that her ped told them to stop feeding her fruits/veg and to give her fattening things like mayonaise, cake, icecream, etc. The father was nearby and made the comment "Who gives their kid straight Mayo?".  I was shocked. I told her I wouldn't give her that stuff and just keep giving her the healthy foods. There are plenty of healthy fatty foods that you can give your kids like nuts and avacados. Ok, maybe peanut butter or cashew butter instead of straight nuts, but still. Most of those foods are high in sugar! I would rather my child gain slowly but beg for carrots over cake. That kind of diet gets them used to a bad diet and sugar fluctuations that will just lead to a bad eating habit roller coaster.

I understand worrying about a child gaining weight, especially if they are formula fed and the parents stop giving it at 1 in exchange for whole milk, but come on Cake? Really? Hummus is much more healthy and just as fattening. Granted it takes some being crafty on the parents part to get them to eat it, but it's worth it in the long run.

The Bad Organic Pie

The other day we decided to go down to our local farmer's market and see what there was. Sometimes we score some fresh vegetables and fruits, sometimes baked goods or sweets.  My son wanted the blackberries and my husband was on the prowl for a good pie. I was just happy looking around and contemplating whether or not I wanted to buy squash and zuchini.
We bought the blackberries and my husband was mulling over the small selection of pies left.  He spotted that one was sugar-free and a organic blueberry pie. He asked if I was interested. I said sure. Then I asked the man at the stall if there was a sugar substitute. He nodded and said it had Aspartame in it.
Aspartame? Really? Of all the sweetner substitutes out there they picked that one? The one linked to cancer and alzheimers? I was expecting at least Stevia, but I guess even that was far reached. Maybe the news of how bad aspartame is hasn't reached them or maybe they just don't believe it. Either way, I declined on the pie.

The next day I went out and bought some overripened strawberries and rhubarb. I then made a sugar-free pie using agave. Which by the way is fantastic.

Conditioning...

I don't like to sweat. My skin doesn't like taking showers twice a day. I get sick of water easy. I fatigue easy in the heat. My hair frizzes like crazy too.
And yet, I do not believe in Air Conditioning.  I never have.

I grew up for years without it and suddenly in my teens my father decided it was time that we had a unit stuck in every window in every room in their house. I protested. I fought. And most of the time I won.  My room as a teen had only one working window. There were two, but the other was huge and didn't have a screen, so I never opened it. Then after I graduated HS, I moved to a room in the attic that only had ONE window. I would often come home from school or work to find an A/C until shoved in my one working window and my bedroom a frigid temp. I always shut it off, unplugged it, pulled it out, put it out in the hallway, and proceeded to put my box fan back in. We argued relentlessly about this. He was angry because my room was leaking warm, humid, awful air into the rest of the cool house. I said that my room was full of fresh real air and that he should just keep my door closed. Eventually he got tired of hauling it back into my room and window. Especially when he realised that I was younger and could literally keep this up all summer.

One of the things I have come to love about my husband is his love of hating A/C.  We have been criticized for this of course. We're crazy with the heat. My dad made comments that he did want grand kids someday. (Yet somehow both of ours were convived in hot late spring weather without it.lol)  Our reasoning is simple, our bodies can be trained to deal with it. Not saying that in winter we go without heat, but we do keep ours set at 62-64 all winter.  Yet when the weather gets sweaty and hot, we just turn on a fan and down the liquids. The first day is always the worst. The second is better and by the third you're fine. I even turn on my oven in 94' in the shade, heat. Doesn't bother me anymore.
What does bother me is when people tell me I'm a bad parent for subjecting my children to it. I make sure they are hydrated as well. I buy electrolyte drinks and give it to them diluted. I want my children to be able to regulate their body temperature's naturally. What good are we doing our children if they are always in an environment that is the perfect temp? Then I hear about deaths and hospitalizations in the news during a rolling blackout. Yes, most of them are elderly, but some are adults who just didn't know how to hydrate themselves.
I have gone through two summer morning sickness, pregnancies this way too. Never once begging for A/C. In fact we sold the unit my dad bought us when we moved into our apartment. Brand New still in the box.

I know it seems like such a silly argument, but people are very emphatic about their A/C. To the point that they state "I can't live without it." Which really is total crap. People lived without it for decades. To have A/C was a sign you were rich. Then central air became that sign. Now it is everywhere. People have shut themselves up in their homes with recirculated indoor air blowing cold in their faces. Some people have it on so cold they need a blanket along with sweats and a long shirt. You can claim it is for comfort and in some places I understand. Yet in those places, people don't have A/C in their huts or tents. I find it funny that people who live hundreds of miles from the equator cannot handle or will not handle what it takes for their body to naturally regulate itself. Yet the people who do live close to the equator, don't need it. They wear long pants and shirts in 100' sun.  Water is life. Same goes for people who live near the poles. 75' hits and they are sweating. They are conditioned to their environment, not the other way around.

I worry that down the road several generations, we may suddenly see people who cannot regulate their body temperature at all. People who must live in climate controlled buildings. Also who knows what kind of illnesses will come about from people breathing in recirculated air and not fresh air?
Most of this is speculation. But I prefer to do what my ancestors did. Drink, eat, play and live while my body does what it is designed to do.

Exposure

Since I started working at the Co-op I have to say that apart from everyone being really nice, I am loving the exposure to new foods and products. That and most of the shoppers are very much so willing to share their recipes and cooking ideas.  For example, last night a lady came through with fennel. I have only ever known fennel as a seed or in my Mothers Milk tea. So I asked her what it tasted like and how she cooked it. She told me she sliced it and braised it, added it to stir frys and salads. Now I want to try.
Another thing that people buy by the box full is Kombucha. Had no idea what it was, saw it in the coolers and thought it was just a different type of tea drink. Nope, it's a pro-biotic, raw drink that comes in a ton of flavors and health benefits. Some of them aren't very good, my first one was Bilberry (thought it said Blueberry) and it was good but not great.  I grabbed some Strawberry, Cherry, Gingeraide, and Raspberry ones today. So far the Cherry-Chia is good. Has a tapioca texture because of the Chia, but worth repeating.

If anything it's just nice working somewhere where almost everyone who is there WANTS to be there. They aren't there because they just need a job, most of us are volunteers and are there because we want to be. That makes a HUGE difference in the attitude of the environment. There is more joking, talking, and smiles. I'm sure people have bad days too, but when you are surrounded by all this love, it's hard to be.

More than anything, it's just really really nice to be somewhere and in the company of people who don't stare at you cross-eyed when you say you are planning to or have nursed until your child is two, if you say you don't like AC, or how much you love Kombucha.  Simple things that in my other job I have to explain or stand up for myself for. Granted there are a few people who are out there even for me, but who knows? Someday I may be that person that seems really out there, even for people who are green, wacko hippies. lol!

A change in Diet

When you say the word diet, a lot of people think of it as in 'dieting'. I've had to correct this with some people. That your diet, is what you eat regularly.  I'm also going to say here, that I am not a doctor, I am just sharing this because it has been working for me.

When I was pregnant with my son, I had a strange swelling occur in my left hand. It lasted a week and was almost unbearable. A month or so later, it happened in my left shoulder, then my left hip and so on. I had gone to see a doctor, but they didn't see a reason for it to be happening. So I just added it to my list of things that my body does that makes no sense to me or anyone else. After I had it, I had it happen in my right knee and elbow to the point that I was terrified I was going to drop him just trying to carry him to change his diaper. It ended with me calling my husband to come home before I did drop him.

Skip forward a year. My son is now 18 months old. I was in for a regular physical and remembered to mention these weird physical occurrences that come and go. My doctor sent me for some blood work and there it was. A tiny little blip, as they call it, a trace. Lupus. I had no idea what Lupus was. None. I was referred to a Rheumatologist and we sat and talked. I found out that all the things I had piled into that list of "Weird things my body does that makes no sense" was all caused by this tiny little blip. Thinning hair, sensitive skin, redness on the face, easy weight gain, swelling joints, and trouble with certain foods. They were all symptoms. Armed with this new information, I went out and did some research of my own and discovered more. Not so much about the disease, but how to treat it. Some of the options that my doctor had suggested, included me going on medication that I would have to get off of if I were to want to become pregnant. I had to be off of it for 6 months previous to me getting pregnant.

I didn't like that, not at all. I barely liked the medication I was given when the swelling happened. It caused a strange sensation. The swelling disappeared, yes, but it was like I could feel the damage happening in my joints when I moved them. I preferred to deal with the pain and swelling.

Then one day I was at a health food store and there was this HUGE book sitting open. I flipped through it and decided to buy a copy.  The Prescription for Nutritional Healing turned out to be my new best friend.  It went into detail about things my doctor didn't really mention about Lupus. Then it lists vitamins, herbs, foods, behaviors, etc that I should include or exclude from my daily diet. The idea that I could control this with my diet was exciting. No meds? No side effects? No having to wait 6 months before trying to get pregnant? I'm IN!

The one thing I was prepared for was the amount of will power it was going to take. I have already tried sticking to it once before and it all went downhill after I had my daughter. Now I am determined to stick to it and make it habit, so that any future pregnancies won't sway me into damaging eating.

The first thing I did was buy the vitamins that were listed as "Essential". They alone made a huge difference. The swelling and pain disappeared within a few months. Moving along to the food part, this is where the will power comes in. I cannot eat any dairy, refined sugars, tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, red meats, white potatoes, citrus fruits, paprika, caffeine, and alfalfa sprouts.

You are probably wondering what the heck I'm eating. The dairy wasn't too hard to give up. I've been suffering my whole life from what I thought was lactose intolerance, so that I'm used to giving up for dairy free alternatives. The hardest one the first week was sugar. Oh man, was I a major b***h that week. Headaches, nausea, exhaustion, you name it I had it. My body was SCREAMING for sugar in any form. I am able to have honey, agave, and Stevie. But those were not quenching my fire burning for sugar.  The second week, after the headaches were gone, it became the rest of the foods. If I'm making pasta, I have to say no to the red sauce and say hello to pesto. I also learned that not all pesto's are made alike. Some are evil and have cheese in them or sugars. Made that mistake the second week.

Now for the trade off. Since I've been following this diet, I've not only lost weight, I feel fantastic. I don't wake up in the morning groggy and stumbling. I am able to just wake up and be awake within a short period of time. My joints feel better and my mind feels clearer, I'm able to think better. Not as forgetful or stumbling. Granted this whole change has made eating out tricky. Almost everything out there is coated in butter. Literally. We went out for seafood and I was almost sick by the time we got home from what my dish had been soaking in. I also experience food lethargy, really for the first time. Food Coma, where you just want to go to sleep and you can't think straight.
I would never of believed this and haven't from what I've read or heard others say. Now I do.