A Shameless Plug for Home and Natural Remedies

We have been so fortunate to have read over the years books regarding natural and alternative healing. There are many things that I do not know and remedies that we have not tried but I'm going to start keeping tabs via this site about ones we have used that work....

Zachary has had an ear infection this past week and so I pulled out a trusted remedy that we had used on Brooke and myself within the past year. I boiled about a half cup of olive oil, turned down the heat, added 5 cloves of smashed garlic and cooked on low for five minutes. After the tincture has cooled, I poured it into a dropper bottle and administered one drop two times daily. His infection has already started to clear and we'll continue this for the next seven days.

Last year Zachary had some sort of skin-colored inflammed rash on his left inner elbow. It never really bothered him so I forgot that it was there sometimes. However, a couple of months ago it started to irritate him so off to the doctor we went. The physicians assistant, sweet as she was, never told us what this rash on his arm was; she just wrote a prescription and to put the ointment on twice daily for one week. I was kicking myself later after we used it because the possible side-effects listed were horrible...one including sterililty in males! Of course, by the time I read those we had already been using the medication. It cleared the bumpy and inflammed rash up but now the inflammed rash is back again and this time it was really annoying. I knew that we'd only get hit with another round of antibiotics and doctor bill so I decided it was time to go with natural healing...again. Yesterday I purchased a small bottle of Source Naturals Ultra Colloidal Silver Spray , Boericke & Tafee Florasone (R) Cardiospermum Cream and a bottle of blueberry flavored Acidiphilos (so as to introduce good bacteria). I sprayed the colloidal silver on his arm and allowed to dry, gave in one acidiphilous tablet, and then we followed with the cream and guess what??? Already the bumpy rash has gone down significantly and there are no 'possible' horrid side effects. I wouldn't be surpised if he was cleared up by Friday and we'll continue the treatment until next Wednesday.

I have Rheumatoid Arthritis and instead of going on pain medications and disease altering meds that have a list of nasty possible side-effects I've chosen to go (within reason)to a vegan diet and combined with 3 glasses daily each of 1tb of cider vinegar combined with 1tsp. of honey and 1tsp blackstrap molasses. First though, I did a week long fast as in the book Prescription for Dietary Wellness, that immediately relived pain and swelling. After that I started my path to vegetarian/vegan. There have only been mild flare ups and they ONLY happen when I have run out of proper foods and have had to eat what I shouldn't because we've had something happen over the pay period that cost extra and therefore I wasn't able to buy my foods. Other than that, and even despite that, I have not had to use any type of pain reliever be it over-the -counter or prescribed. I've learned so much, for instance...did you know that pineapple is a natural anti-inflammatory? :-) Two book recommendations are Cure Arthritis the Drug Free Way and also Eat to Live: The Revolutionary Formula for Fast and Sustained Weightloss. To date, I have lost 23 pounds since June as a result of a healthy diet and regular exercise.

I'm very thankful to live in a country with such advanced medicines and technology, however, I think it is sad that those in the medical community are so much more apt to offer man-made medicines instead of the ones that have worked for centuries...they have thrown out the baby with the bathwater. There is not one good reason that natural and dietary remedies shouldn't be offered as a first treatment option, NOT ONE.