Embracing a whole food plant-based diet and natural health.
Have you ever read the list of ingredients on the side of a tube of standard commercial toothpaste? It reads like a chemical cocktail and when some of the ingredients have more than 10 letters and are unpronounceable common sense tells me that it’s not wise to be putting these substances into our mouths.
Vinegar is a great “old-fashioned cleaner used by our grandmothers which unfortunately has been “ditched” by many modern households in favour of more “sophisticated” commercial products. However, many of these products contain toxic chemicals which can have a range of negative affects on our health. Vinegar is cheap, non-toxic, bio-degradable and environmentally friendly. Research shows that it kills 82% of mold spores as well as many bacteria and viruses. One drawback is that the smell is not to everyone’s liking. Enter citrus peels! Orange power is becoming quite popular in many commercial eco-friendly products these days and with good reason. Orange oil contains a degreasing property which cuts through grease, oils and sticky substances so it is particularly useful in the kitchen environment. The following homemade recipe contains the combined cleaning power of vinegar and citrus and as a bonus creates a pleasant smelling product.
This is a simple all-purpose that I use in the kitchen and bathroom and anywhere in-between. It features vinegar which has some great cleaning properties and is particularly effective against mold, castille soap which is a natural non-toxic liquid soap made from vegetable oils as well as essential oils. I vary the essential oils in this product all the time depending on what I have on hand. More often than not I include T-Tree and/or Eucalyptus oil as they have good anti-bacterial properties for keeping germs at bay but there are many others to choose from.
The cold and flu season is upon us again so I thought I would share a few natural remedies that I have found useful over the years. Some of the ideas have been obtained from naturopath, Barbara O’Neill: How to Immunize against Colds and Flus.