Make It Yourself Monday- Recipes for (more) Relief

Hope you had a fantastic father's day, and nice weekend. This is Make it Yourself Monday, and here are some more recipes to provide relief!




With summer often comes hot, sweaty, sore, muscles, and sometimes even stinky feet. To provide some relief try one of these recipes.


Cooling and Deodorizing Mist


Get a 8 ounce spray bottle and fill it three fourths full of water. Then add 4 drops of peppermint, grapefruit, and lemon, and 3 drops of wintergreen essential oils. Then add a cap full of vodka. Twist lid on and shake well. You can use this now, or you can wait until it gets cold in the refrigerator for even more cooling, soothing and relief. This spray is great for achy leg muscles after an athletic event, a work out, or just a long day. It is also wonderful for those little piggies who just don't feel up to going to the market anymore! Leave this in the fridge so it will be ready for when you need it, and it will last you for several weeks. You can also give a squirt into those stinky sneakers too for a quick freshen up!




Cucumber Hand Wash


For a nice hand wash that will soothe irritated skin. Try peeling one small cucumber and put it in blender and blend it until it is liquefied. Add one tablespoon of witch hazel to the juice and wash your hands with the mixture. Pat dry and moisturize as normal. This formula helps heal abrasions and relieves puffiness, as well as soothing irritated skin.


Herbal Foot Soak


Herbal soaks are great for tired, achy feet, and they are easy to prepare. Plus, you can alter a herb or two and customize the blend or just give yourself variety! All you need to do is to steep 2 cups of fresh herbs, or 1 cup of dried herbs, in 2 gallons of water for 20 minutes. With the herbs in the pot, bring the water to boil, then reduce heat and simmer with the lid on, for 20 minutes.  Once the time is up, strain the liquid and throw away the plant material. Pour the liquid into foot basin. Once it has cooled enough to not harm you (use it as hot as you can handle it, your feet will love you!), soak your feet for 20 minutes, then pat dry and moisturize as normal. 
As for herbs, you can use many, but I suggest you try these; comfrey, elderberry, chamomile, lavender, pine, rosemary, sage, and/or horsetail

What is Holistic Medicine?

Since I create and offer all natural products, I constantly strive to educate myself about what nature has to offer and the effects/interaction(s) that those offerings have upon our mental status and other bodily systems. In becoming more "Earth based" myself, I have been studying alternative medicines and treatment modalities. Since many people are turning to these methods, and many more are curious about them, I thought that I would share some basic information with you. While this does not mean that I am encouraging you to self prescribe (please don't, these are potent treatments and should be administered by knowledgeable professionals), I do hope to encourage you to further educate yourself on the alternatives to the straight, traditional, medical model. I encourage you to open your mind to explore the possibilities!

First of all, the general term for all of these "alternative" treatment modalities is "holistic medicine", while traditional medicine is labeled as "allopathic" medicine. It is important to understand that the goal of holistic medicine is to treat the CAUSE of the problem, not just the problem itself. Most often, traditional medicine is aimed at simply treating the symptoms, never looking for or even considering the cause, the root of the problem.

Holistic physicians actually combine the knowledge and skills of regular/traditional (allopathic) medicine, with the holistic approach. To the patients benefit, this provides a broader range of healing possibilities, and it is also what makes this field of medicine so interesting and important.

Holistic medicine and treatments are more lifestyles than immediate fixes. While holistic treatments usually do cure the problem being looked at, they do tend to be at a slower rate than traditional medicine. Of course it also tends to be without the potentially harmful, synthetic drugs that traditional medicine routinely prescribes. The focus, if not key, to holistic medicine is prevention of the problem that causes the symptoms, while traditional medicine tends simply to focus on the problem at hand.

While there are many holistic treatments, the mainstays or the "basics", as I see them, are; homeopathy, acupuncture, aromatherapy, massage treatments, herbal treatments, nutrition and education. Of course these areas are very broad, and yes, there are many, many more that I did not mention, but I'd like to offer you an overview of these common treatment modalities. The first installment will be on "Homeopathy".