Quick Home Remedies - Cheap and Natural - and Loving Earth Chocolate

Here I am, loving my course as usual! 
Last night in Food As Medicine we were discussing home kitchen remedies for common ailments, and I found it so fascinating. There are some really interesting people in this class who have lots of information on things I've never heard before, and my lecturer is one of those amazing people who are incredibly motivated and do so many things in their life, as well as being enthusiastic and level headed enough about the course material to actually get us all excited about it. Honestly, she is my favourite lecturer ever. The woman is amazing. But that's beside the point.


Point is, there are several things you can use at home to remedy illness and ailments. I even tried one when I got home last night and already have a result - I used fresh lemon juice on my acne, just before I went to bed, and although it stung for a few minutes, when I woke up this morning, my acne was less red, inflamed and sore than only 8 hours earlier, the night before. Try it!


Other remedies that are worth a try are;
Diarrhea - drink lemon juice in warm water
                 - grated apple skin, browned, and eaten slowly
Constipation - drinking more water (but you should really be doing this anyway! Dehydration makes your blood thicker, raising blood pressure, constipates you and makes detoxification much harder! Very important!)
                    - apple cider vinegar before meals
Heart Burn - 1/3 Tsp of Bi-carb soda in small amount of water (drink this)


So, these are just a few, but they are worth a try. I was very pleased when I woke up and my chin wasn't red or sore this morning - a nice change - gosh, am I sick of my acne!!!


Another thing I am going to try is frankincense essential oil for an awful fungus I have on the skin of my finger. It is supposed to be gentle enough for the skin, which I would really like, because all the pharmaceuticals I have tried to use on it in the past 3 years (yes, THREE years) have done nothing but destroy my skin and nails, and the fungus is still there. Sorry if I'm grossing you out. It really doesn't look bad, it just looks like dry, peeling skin.


I hope that this helps someone out. As far as I'm concerned, most illnesses out there can be directly linked to poor nutrition (not that the way I eat is perfect or anything, but I try my best). The only thing you can do is your best, but it can help to get an outside party to assess your diet and the issues that you have, and give you some suggestions to make it better. I did that two weeks ago, and was recommended several things that I have tried, and feel better for it. My acne is slowly getting better - my skin definitely looks better - and I have a bit more motivation and slightly less stress. 

Today marks officially two whole weeks without dairy - yay! I did it! - and I am ever so proud of myself, but my goodness, do I have a hankering for some cheese! I think I will keep dairy to an absolute minimum in my diet, as I have seen benefits while cutting it out completely. 


Now, I've just gotta work on my sugar intake - one of the side effects of being a student, lol. A naturopath recommended that I try Loving Earth chocolate, which is delicious! It is chocolate that has been made from certified organic, fair trade, raw cocoa, right here in Melbourne! Instead of sugar, it has agave syrup (a natural, low GI sweetener) and the flavours involve different superfoods - so far, my favourite is the Crunchy Mint. Because the cocoa used in the chocolate is raw, and not roasted it contains much more antioxidants than regular dark chocolate, and no dairy. I purchased it at a health food store and even own the raw cacao powder (which makes an excellent chocolate and banana soy smoothie).






So in a nutshell, Loving Earth Chocolate:
- is low GI
- is produced ethically
- is chemical free
- has lots of antioxidants
- is fair trade
- is sustainable
- is free of animal derived products
and most importantly,
- IT TASTES A-MA-ZING!!


Have a lovely weekend my patient followers - my exams will be over in exactly 2 weeks.
x