Holiday Gift Idea: Winter Wellness Baskets

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I follow several blogs in the natural health world, and I’m seeing that ’tis the season for an awesome list of healthy gift suggestions! I would love to offer my ideas as well, but honestly- I really haven’t bought any new, healthy stuff lately. I already have my staples for the kitchen, make most of my own hygiene and beauty products, and overall am a minimalist in nature, so I only buy what I need and what is useful. It’s also a season of survival and routine in my house of two small children and a baby on the way in 12 weeks, so my idea for you today is one that I actually loved doing two years ago: WINTER WELLNESS BASKETS!

Natural Winter Wellness Remedies for 2014

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I’m glad to be getting a headstart on this year’s winter wellness list since just this past weekend it dropped below freezing here in Georgia. I learned a lot last year about the remedies in my winter medicine cabinet after a horrible flu had me in bed for a week over Christmas. The flu is a different animal than the common winter cold and it took rest, time, and a combination of these remedies to fully recover. On the other hand, my daughters did great last winter with only a few minor colds they quickly rebounded from.

So this year’s list is edited slightly from last year as I learned a few new therapies I liked better and simplified a bit too…

My Favorite Natural Cure For UTI’s (because it works!)

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Before this pregnancy and a 5 hour road trip with my girls by myself, I had never had a urinary tract infection (UTI.) Not even after 10 years of teaching elementary school and “holding it” a gazillion times for the sake of not leaving my students alone in the classroom. But when both of my daughters finally fell asleep on our solo summer road trip after an hour of whining, crying, and complaining, I just kept driving and ignored my urge to “go.” 5 hours later, I had myself my very first UTI- and it was no fun at all.

10 Natural Remedies for Morning Sickness (that work!)

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Let’s first get this straight. “Morning” sickness for me is not just in the morning. It is all day. For many WEEKS. It’s like having the stomach flu for a month and a half. No fun here, but thankfully a beautiful reward in the end. Oh, I haven’t mentioned yet…baby#3 is on their way and due in February. 🙂 These natural remedies for morning sickness have been my savior.

When I have pregnancy-induced nausea, I can’t even talk about GREEN things without getting the dry heave feeling in my throat (hence the 6 weeks that have passed since my last post!) It has been this way with all of my pregnancies, and thankfully my body was able to hold onto its healthy state (and cancer-free) even though I am not eating my usual Budwig, green smoothie, salad, and juice routine.

So what have I been doing to deal with this? Not the usual natural/crunchy wisdom has worked for me (like wretched ginger! Bleh!), but here are a few things that did.

Anna’s Frozen Chocolate Green Smoothie

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I love this smoothie. My kids REALLY love this smoothie. And it’s easy and flexible…and tastes like CHOCOLATE!

And if you have a daughter who loves the movie “Frozen”, you can tell her Anna loves this smoothie (with a wink of course.) She’ll be even more eager to slurp it down. (Anna scarfs chocolate in the movie) “I want to stuff some chocolate in my faaaaaaace.” Don’t hate me for getting that song in your head again! 🙂

My 6 Year Experience with the HCG Cancer Test

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If you are not quite sure of what the hCG Cancer Test is, you’ll definitely want to read my first post in this series where I explain WHAT the test is, HOW it works, and WHY I chose to monitor my cancer with it instead of using conventional imaging technology such as CT/PET scans. Although, I am definitely not an expert or a doctor, I do have lots of experience with taking this test!

The HCG Cancer Test: Does It Really Work?

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There has been a sort of “void” in my transparency about my cancer experience for the past few years since I started writing my blog. I purposely left out a big part of my natural approach to cancer because I wasn’t ready to write about it yet.
I’ve written many times about WHAT I chose to monitor my cancer: the hCG Cancer Test, but I’ve never shared much else about it. You may know that I used the hCG Cancer Test and chose not to use CT/PET scans after my initial diagnosis, but I haven’t talked about my experience with the test, WHY I chose it, or HOW it works.

The Quest for the Cures, Episode 7:
Survivors & Thrivers

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Hey everyone!  Last night was the last episode of The Quest for the Cures.  Fittingly, it featured Survivors and Thrivers on what was National Cancer Survivor Day in America.

I hope you have been watching, as each episode has been chock-full of invaluable information.  Last night’s episode also included my cancer story along with quite a few others.  I was really amazed at the severity of some of the other interviewee’s cancers, and inspired at how they have recovered using simple but very effective non-toxic methods.

Treating Nodular Lymphocyte Predominant Hodgkin Lymphoma Naturally

I  was interviewed and filmed for this video over a year ago, but throughout the craziness of my 2nd daughter’s first year I completely forgot about it!

It’s pretty neat to look back and watch it. I was 34 weeks pregnant and had just finished a week of teaching 4th graders. I forgot how tired I was (and looked.)

In it I talk about my Stage 2 NLP Hodgkin’s lymphoma diagnosis, the reasoning behind my decision to pursue a natural cancer therapy, and about the difficulties of changing from a SAD, processed foods diet to a mostly raw vegan, green, and sugarless cancer fighting diet.

I really admire Lisa Robbins, the founder of Incredible Healing Journals who put this together. She documents holistic cancer survivors and their healing journeys on video, and organizes them by cancer type so you can find them easily on her website, IncredibleHealingJournals.com.