Our Holisitic Approach to Winter Wellness

Autumn and Winter tend to bring on all sorts of interesting colds and illnesses.  We are not ones to go to the doctor or take medication.  Prevention is key, and when necessary, we will treat ourselves as naturally as possible.

1.  Juicing

At least twice per week, we drink "vruit"!  Using our Juiceman juicer, we create a blend of roots (beets, carrots), greens (kale, spinach, lettuces, chard), herbs (parsley), and fruit (apples, oranges).  It's an easy way to ensure that everyone gets vitamins and minerals from veggies and greens, especially if you have some picky eaters in the family!  Green smoothies made in the Vita-mix are fantastic, too, and contain the fiber content.

2.  Aromatherapy

We wash our hands with soap that has lavender, rosemary and tea tree oil in it after being in contact with other people or places.  A bath with 8 drops of tea tree oil is nice after a day around others who are sick.  Floors are mopped with water mixed with essential oils of lemon, lavender, tea tree and cypress.  Countertops are cleaned with a similar mixture.  Sheets are washed with a teaspoon of eucalyptus oil.  Clogged ears get a drop of lavender oil on a Q-tip.  Itchy throats drink a drop of cypress oil with water.  Stuffy noses inhale eucalyptus and lemon myrtle steam.  More ideas in our Aromatherapy eBook.

3.  Massage

When the children were babies and toddlers, we massaged them after every bath.  Jennifer is a certified educator of infant massage.  You can take a class to learn how to do this by finding a certified educator through Infant Massage USA.  As the children have grown, we massage backs, feet, ear/necks to sooth and comfort when not feeling well. 

4.  Chiropractic

Parents see the chiro (along with a massage) once per month.  Kids go during growth spurts.  Keeping the back in alignment prevents ear infections and many other issues.


5.  Exercise
Stretching, yoga, bike riding, dance lessons, fencing, gardening, playing at the park and more!

6.  Homeopathy & Flower Essences

Remedies by Uriel and flower essences by Bach are used at the first signs of any sort of illness.

 

7.  Rest

Sometimes we just need extra sleep, or a day at home on a weekend without running around to rest and recharge. 

8.  Music

Playing instruments and singing make us feel great!  Regularly listening to and playing music feeds our minds, hearts and souls.

Overall, we see wellness holistically.  We know that leading a healthy lifestyle prevents illness.  We also recognize that fevers and certain illnesses are sometimes important for us to experience.  As a result of incorporating natural therapies, we can go for years without seeing a doctor's office.  We'd love to hear how others approach wellness as a family!

The Winter Garden

Our summer veggies are waning...just a few tomatoes and some peppers left. Now, it's time to start enjoying our winter gardens!

With biodynamic seeds from Steiner College bookstore, and organic seeds from Smith & Hawken, we have created three beds filled with:

Savoy Lettuce, Spinach, Chard, Beets, Golden Beets, Scallions, Parsley, Romaine Lettuce, Bok Choy, Carrots, Kale, Leeks, Cabbage, Arugula, Fava Beans....

Well, at least those are the seeds that we planted! We'll see what actually comes up. So far, some are doing well, and some have not come up at all. It's tricky here near Sacramento where one day it can reach 100 degrees, and another day be in the 30's at night in Sept. Now that October is here, we are hopeful for cooler temperatures to nurture our baby seedlings! Some creature ate 4 heads of lettuce the other night and left some type of prints around...hmmm, wonder what it was? The raccoons and wild turkeys are known to dig, and we don't see any signs of deer....

The kids help prepare the layers of soil, plant the seeds, weed, and harvest the veggies. We've found some interesting worms and centipedes in the soil! This interesting stick bug was crawling around in the hay...looks just like hay!

Since the lovely greens are not their most favorites to eat, we make "vruit" about every other day. Our vruit ensures that we are all getting the amazing nutrients from the fresh, raw veggies on a regular basis! If we don't have a key ingredient in our own garden, we will purchase biodynamic veggies from Sacramento Waldorf down the street, or organic ones from Trader Joe's or a farmer's market.

Here is our current vruit recipe (quantities vary, depending on what is available). We run everything through our juicer machine, mix with a whisk, and then drink it right away!

* Leaves or bunches of lettuce, chard, beet greens, kale

* Sprigs of parsely

* 1-2 red or golden beets

* 3-4 carrots

* 3-4 apples

* Fresh squeeze 3-5 oranges, or add organic orange juice

Yummy!

We are placing some of our special crystals in the gardens, welcoming the energies of the earth and the fairies to help us out (couldn't hurt, right?...makes for fun stories with the kids). Next on our list is for Mommy to take a Biodynamic gardening classes at the college. We also are learning how to compost!

Raw Food Resources

We get a lot of questions about raw foodism...what is it? How do we do it? Where is there more information?

Raw food is essentially eating whole foods in their natural form. Being a raw food vegan means that fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and sprouted grains are eaten. There are a lot of "gourmet" raw food meals, but the easiest prep meals are often the best! Juicing and smoothies make great drinks, as well as natural spring water. Eating raw food is healthy for us and good for the planet.

Shopping and food prep is much quicker, and the health benefits are astounding. There are many wonderful books with recipes and information to get you started. Alisa Cohen's book is one of our favorites. We have a list of our favorite books that are available through Amazon listed at the bottom of our blog. Raw food prep classes are offered throughout the world, and raw restaurants can be found in many major cities.

Great tools to have in the kitchen: Vita-Mix or other high-speed blender, Juiceman or other juicing machine, citrus juicer, chopper, good set of knives, dehydrator, seed sprouter. These are not all necessary, but are nice to have on hand.

We highly recommend Purely Delicious magazine. It's a wonderful resource for the whole family! Click on this link to subscribe or take a quick peek at the current issue.

The Raw Food Coach (click on her picture below for more info.) is the perfect place to start if you need more information, e-books, classes and inspiration.