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The Truth About Fluoride

No matter where you live or what you believe, you’ve probably heard conflicting information about fluoride.

We are all taught from an early age that fluoride is beneficial for teeth and that it can prevent tooth decay. We hear this from the dentist, from our parents, on TV, and we may even be exposed to an advertising campaign aiming to make sure we know all the wonderful benefits of having fluoride in our toothpaste and in our water.

We also hear conflicting information, however: and usually this information comes from less… “reliable” or “trusted” sources.

Perhaps you heard it from your conspiracy theorist uncle, or you saw alarmist posts on social media. Maybe you’re noticing the products on the store shelves that boast a lack of fluoride (fluoride-free toothpastes and water filters that can remove the fluoride from your water).

Is All Fluoride Created Equal?

First of all, I have been researching natural health and how to heal ourselves without meds for over a decade. During that time I have discovered that nothing is ever as simple as it seems. Fluoride is no exception. It’s not a clear-cut case of “Fluoride: bad, ” as it turns out.

This fact was discovered by my friend Kara over at Deep South Crunchy Mom when we were discussing Kombucha. She told me that in an effort to cut back on coffee, she was now drinking Kombucha every morning and it was doing wonders for her gut health and energy levels. I told her I had read on the blog Cheeseslave that there were high levels of fluoride in Kombucha, both because tea leaves tend to absorb fluoride from the soil, and because fluoride is a byproduct of the kombucha-making process.

Kara was devastated (but not for long). She knew the fluoride in our water and toothpaste was bad (see below) but thought there had to be some difference between naturally-occuring fluoride in tea and kombucha, and the nasty industrial waste product found in our water supply or even the pharmaceutical grade fluoride found in our toothpaste (which is still a neurotoxin).

See what she found here.

Then, if you are curious about Kombucha and what it can do for you, head over to my friend Sara’s blog Clean Living with Kids, to learn more about Kombucha and how to make it.

What is the Truth About Fluoride?

If you’re here for the first time, you may not know it, but I have been researching health, nutrition and the big industries in America for over a decade. (Read here about how I got started on this journey).

I have learned a lot of very eye-opening information during this time, but the number one thing I’ve learned is:

We can’t trust everyone, especially those who are profiting from our trust.

Have you ever heard the term, “Follow the money?”

It may seem cliche, but this phrase one of the truest statements you will ever hear regarding the dangers in our food and water supply as well as a lot of the other dangers in our society today.

If you hear of a “conspiracy” in any area of society, whether it pertains to food or politics or anything else, and you think, “Why would they do that?” The answer is almost inevitably: “Follow the money.”

A Brief History of Fluoride

Fluoride was first added to the U.S. water supply in 1945 in an effort to combat tooth decay.

It seems strange that this was the goal, however, because the year before (1944) the American Dental Association found that fluoride was actually detrimental to teeth and could cause decay and other issues.

The 1944 the Journal of the American Dental Association reported that using between 1.6 and 4 ppm (parts per million) fluoride in water would cause 50% of adults to need false teeth. On top of that, the world’s largest study looked at 400,000 students, revealing that tooth decay increased in over 25% with just 1ppm fluoride in drinking water. (Source 1)

To understand why a chemical of then unknown risk was added to our water supply for seemingly no good reason at all, we have to understand the mindset of the scientific community in post World War II America:

“The history of community water fluoridation is a reflection of the post WWII era of the 1950’s when many thought chemicals in one form or another could solve almost any problem. Our gaze was focused on the beneficial properties of the chemicals, not on the potential hazards. A classic example is DDT, that in addition to being a potent pesticide, almost killed off predatory birds and more recently was found to be harmful to humans.”  –Steven Gilbert, Ph.D., founder and director of the Institute of Neurotoxicology and Neurological Disorders (INND) (Source 2)

Since that time, it has become widely known that fluoride is a neurotoxin, yet it is still added to approximately 70% of US water supplies. Why?

Any dentist will tell you it is beneficial for our teeth. But is it?

And what are the potential hazards of this chemical?

And how is it produced?

We’ve already discussed that the American Dental Association has known since 1944 (the year before water fluoridation began) that fluoride is actually not beneficial for dental health. So why have they been adding it to water supplies ever since?

In 1945, a large quantity of hydrogen fluoride was produced as a byproduct of industry from DuPont’s Deepwater, New Jersey, plant. The huge quantities of this chemical byproduct were a problem: they had no good way to dispose of it, so they proposed a solution: add it to the water supply. After the government was convinced that fluoride was good for our dental health and that it should be added to water, they continued to do so, finding other sources, like the fertilizer industry, which produces phosphates as an industrial byproduct.

Again from Dr. Gilbert:

“Many are surprised to learn that unlike the pharmaceutical grade fluoride in their toothpaste, the fluoride in their water is an untreated industrial waste product, one that contains trace elements of arsenic and lead.

Without the phosphate industry’s effluent, water fluoridation would be prohibitively expensive. And without fluoridation, the phosphate industry would be stuck with an expensive waste disposal problem.”

Studies Proving Harm from Fluoride Ingestion

If you thinks this smacks of conspiracy, take a look at this. When European countries such as Germany, the UK, Italy and France did a risk analysis of fluoride, they all concluded that it was a dangerous toxin and that any potential benefit was not worth the risk.

They further concluded that adding fluoride to drinking water has no measurable benefit to dental health at all. It doesn’t even make sense to take it internally when it is only supposed to help prevent enamel erosion and decay.

Dr. Gilbert explains that the U.S. government’s decision to fluoridate drinking water was the result of two short-term studies that compared cavity rates in a city with water fluoridation (Muskegon/Grand Rapids, Michigan) with the cavity rates in a city without it (Kingston/Newburgh, New York).

These two studies were set to run 10 years, but when early results showed cavity reduction, the U.S. Public Health Service approved water fluoridation after five years — with no data or safety studies on long-term toxicity.

A more recent study done by researchers collaborating in Canada, the U.S. and Mexico shows that fluoride levels ingested by a pregnant mother is inversely proportional to the IQ of the child she is carrying. Because of reports of neurotoxicity from fluoride, these researchers wanted to do a study that measured the actual effects on prenatal brain development when the pregnant mother ingested differing amounts of fluoride. The study included 299 participants and the results were astounding: for every increase in maternal urine fluoride by0.5mg/L, the IQ of the child she was carrying was lowered measurably and significantly (Source 5).

Okay, so we shouldn’t fluoridate our water… but what about toothpaste?

If you are thinking that maybe fluoridating the water supply went too far, but we should still harness the dental health benefits of this chemical at the dentist and when we brush our teeth, think again.

Remember, it’s never a good idea to put a neurotoxin in your mouth.

Let’s look at this logically. Pick up a tube of fluoridated toothpaste and look at the back. There is probably a warning on the back that it is “harmful if swallowed,” and that you should call poison control:

Wait…what?

You should call poison control if you swallow something that you put in your mouth every day? Does that sound reasonable to you?

How much fluoride is worth calling poison control?

The amount of toothpaste that the package itself says it harmful to swallow (and that poison control should be enlisted) is the amount in one use: a pea-sized amount (as listed on the package).

Do you know anyone who uses a pea-sized amount of toothpaste when they brush their teeth? Do you? These are the images we see every day, on every package of toothpaste, and on every television commercial:

To me that looks like about 6 peas lined up together, and one source said the “pea-sized amount” is about the size of a split pea: much smaller than you would think!

So if more than a tiny pea-sized amount of toothpaste, a product we put in our mouth every day at least once, is swallowed, we are supposed to call poison control. Because fluoride is toxic. Does that sound okay to everyone?

Add this to the fact that the fluoride found in toothpaste is actually pharmaceutical grade, and the fluoride found in our water supply is an industrial waste product (most recently being purchased by our government from China’s industrial waste supply, because not even China thinks fluoride is safe enough to put in their water supply)….

 

…and to the fact that fluoride doesn’t even benefit our teeth! The evidence that there is any benefit to dental health at all is sketchy at best, and far outweighed by the toxic nature of the chemical itself.

Which really begins to beg the question… why are we being poisoned with fluoride?!

Is it Really That Bad?

At this point you may be thinking, “Okay, I’m sure fluoride is toxic at high levels, but surely we aren’t ingesting anything significant in our drinking water, right?”

Wrong.

And that is why adding fluoride to drinking water is so dangerous. The amount of water people drink on a daily basis can vary widely from person to person, and the toxicity of even just a minute amount can affect a baby much more than it can affect a 200-pound man.

So how can the government be so irresponsible as to allow a known neurotoxin to be added to our water supply? And why would they tell us it’s good for us?

The world’s largest study looked at 400,000 students, revealing that tooth decay increased in over 25% with just 1ppm fluoride in drinking water. How much fluoride is in our drinking water? A minimum of 1ppm.

And how much fluoride do you have to ingest for it to become toxic? Well, that depends what you mean by toxic. The minimum lethal dose of fluoride is 5 milligrams of fluoride for each kilogram of body weight. And how much fluoride does the average fluoride toothpaste contain? About 5 mg in a tiny pea sized dollop (which we 10x every time we brush our teeth).

For an adult, one swallow is not a lethal dose of fluoride, but consider that many children’s toothpastes are also fluoridated:

“Most disturbing, however, is the fact that even bubble-gum and fruit-flavored toothpastes for children contain sufficient amounts of fluoride to kill a child. Indeed, as shown in the following table, an average-weighing 2-year-old child could die from ingesting just 40% of a “Colgate for Kids” bubble-gum flavored toothpaste.”  (Source 6)

So… we make children’s toothpaste taste like candy and then put enough fluoride in less than half a tube of it to kill them.

Perfect.

Another disturbing fact is that fluoride builds up in the body. It is not flushed out like you may think. This means the effects of this poison are cumulative.

Now that 8 glasses of water we drink every day doesn’t seem so harmless, does it? That tiny bit of toothpaste we swallow twice a day just got a lot more intimidating.

What Can We Do?

It’s easy to switch to a non-fluoride toothpaste: they’re everywhere (and if you have kids, definitely do that so they don’t accidentally swallow an amount that would harm or kill them).

My favorite toothpaste is clay-based toothpaste, because it binds to bacteria in the mouth for a detoxifying effect and can also remineralize teeth!

What are my options for water?

But of course the main source of fluoride for most of us is in our drinking water. As we’ve seen, many municipalities add industrial waste fluoride into our drinking water and tell us it is good for us. 

Buy it.

To avoid fluoride, one option is to buy all of the drinking and cooking water we use, lugging it from the store home several times a week. Some people do this, and they are happy with this arrangement.  If we don’t want to do that, the only recourse we have (aside from moving to the country and drinking water from a private well) is to purify our tap water.

Purify it.

Fluoride is a very small particle, however, and is difficult to remove from water with a filter.  Most filters, even if they remove 95+% of contaminants, do not claim to remove fluoride. How frustrating!

Until recently, the best way to reliably remove fluoride and other contaminants from the water was a reverse-osmosis filtration system. These are easy to install and they really do work, but it’s like drinking rain water directly from the sky: it’s a sterile water with no minerals, which isn’t ideal.

What kind of filter should I get?

Drinking water, from mountain springs for example, is rich in minerals from rocks and soil, and our bodies need those minerals. If we drink distilled (reverse-osmosis) water, we can become depleted of essential nutrients in the body, which can cause health issues over time. For this reason, most people who use reverse osmosis systems also need to add minerals back into the water with liquid mineral drops or a mineral-rich salt.

All of this is a bit too much work for me, so for a long time I had a decent under-the-sink filter that removed pretty much everything…except fluoride.

There are things you can eat, such as tamarind or iodine, that detox fluoride from the body, but if you can remove it from the source you don’t have to worry about detoxing it.

Finally, a filter that removes fluoride, NOT minerals!

There are two filters I know of that remove fluoride without distilling the water and removing essential nutrients. One is the Berkey, which is a great choice, but it’s expensive, bulky, and the filter replacements are quite pricey (the fluoride filters are extra).

Recently a friend told me about Epic water filters, and I am hooked. They are convenient (even portable!) and they use a filtration material I am comfortable with: coconut charcoal. They remove 99.9% of tap water contaminants, including fluoride!

They have a variety of options, from under-the-sink filtration units that are easy to install, to pitchers and personal water bottles. They even have a conversion kit for hydroflasks! I got the stainless steel Outback for my son to take to school after I found out he was filling up his water bottle in the water fountain. I opened it up and it smelled like it had been filled in a pool! Yuck!

I’ve been very happy with my Epic water filters, both in terms of cost and performance, and the only drawback I have found so far is that the water takes a little longer to filter. I think this is because it has to filter the tiny fluoride particles, the filter is that much more dense, and it just takes the water longer to get through it. Overall, Epic water filters have been a great solution for my family to get clean, fluoride-free drinking water for a low cost.

The Plot Thickens…

Don’t forget to check out my friend Kara’s post about why not all fluoride is created equal…

And if you are curious about Kombucha, check out Sara’s post about the benefits of Kombucha and how to make it yourself.

Resources and Citations

Fluoride: How A Toxic Poison Ended Up In Our Water Supply

Dr. Mercola: A Statement Opposing Fluoride

History of Medicine Fact #8: U.S. water fluoridation began in 1945 and continues today, despite the fact that the FDA has never approved it

Hazard Profile on the Fluoridation of Drinking Water 

Health Effects Database

Prenatal Fluoride Exposure and Cognitive Outcomes in Children at 4 and 6–12 Years of Age in Mexico

What is a Lethal Dose of Fluoride?

How Fluoride Was Sold to America and How We Bought It

More Fluoride Resources

 

New to Freedom & Coffee? Start here.

Disclosures:

Many of the product links in this post are affiliate links, which means I will receive a small commission from any purchase. I only recommend products that I love and this is at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting our mission with your clicks!

 

 

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Eyeing that Instant Pot? Why Stainless Steel Isn’t as Safe as You Think (and What to Use Instead)

When I learned about the dangers of aluminum cookware and non-stick coatings, I was eager to find safe alternatives that I could use without the risk of exposing my family to dangerous heavy metals or toxic chemicals.

I began researching all the options: from stainless steel to glass, copper and ceramic. I made a lot of rice, so I wanted a rice cooker (they make the best rice!) but it was very difficult to find a rice cooker that was not non-stick-coated aluminum.

I first began looking for rice cookers with stainless steel inserts, because I knew that was safe. My research, however, led me to the facts, which are not always as simple as we think.

Stainless steel is safe… sometimes.

As with everything else, manufacturers eventually will cut corners and produce inferior products that save them money in production and increase their profits. Stainless steel is no different.

Instant Pots are all the craze right now–and why not? They make cooking easy, quick and fun again! They don’t heat up the house and they create delicious meals in minutes! They’re programmable and they come in huge sizes–perfect for any family! Most importantly, they are made of stainless steel, so they are completely safe!

Not so fast. 

With every material, there is some kind of trade-off…so it’s good to be informed as to the benefits and the risks associated with each material.

I’m teaming up with Kara at Deep South Crunchy Mom and Sarah at Clean Living With Kids to bring you a series on truly safe cookware.  We want you to have all of the information: risks and benefits, so you can decide for yourself what are the best materials for your family.

See Kara’s post about cast iron here,

And Sarah’s post about glass here.

What’s Wrong With Stainless Steel?

At first glance, stainless steel seems like the perfect solution: it’s hypo-allergenic, it doesn’t rust, it isn’t breakable, and it doesn’t have any heavy metal issues.

Upon closer examination, we will see that not all stainless steel is created equally.

Cheaper grades of stainless steel are not as pure as we have been led to believe, and they can leach nickel into our food. Nickel is a heavy metal, so this is not ideal. (Read more about nickel toxicity here).

How do I know if my stainless steel is safe?

It can be very difficult to determine what grade of stainless steel you are using…. and this is where it gets confusing. There are quite a few grades and classifications of stainless steel (read about them here), and each grade is a different combination of metal alloys.

Bottom of my one stainless steel pot (I use it for popcorn)

Manufacturers don’t often disclose what grade of stainless steel they are using in the cookware that we buy at the store, but a general rule of thumb is: the more expensive it is, the higher grade it is.

In general, stainless steel cookware is either of the 300 or 400 series, and often you can see the grade stamped on the bottom of the pot. Usually these numbers look something like 18/10 (most common), which indicates it is 18% chromium and 10% nickel.

To me, 10% is a lot…especially when it can leach into my food. So I try not to use this kind of stainless steel on a regular basis. I have one stainless pan (pictured) that I use just for popcorn or for steaming things in a separate bowl inside of it.

I’d be particularly wary of cooking anything acidic (tomato sauces, anything with citrus) in low-grade stainless steel, as it would more readily leach the harmful nickel into your food, especially with high pressure or long cooking times.

Check your stainless steel pots and pans for this mark to see what grade your pots and pans are. They are likely this 304 18/10 grade, as that is the most common and most affordable. If you didn’t pay $300 to $400 for each of your pans, it’s not likely they are a high enough grade that would eliminate the nickel (18/0).

If Stainless Steel isn’t Safe, What Can I Use?

I know this is frustrating. It seems like nothing is safe any more, so why even bother? What can I even use?

I have a few things that I use that are safe:

I’m also not a fan of glazed ceramic, like is used in slow cookers and other baking dishes, because it has been found that trace amounts of lead exist in all of those glazes. Now, trace amounts might not matter too much when it’s in your drinking glass… but I don’t want my hot food stewing in something that has any lead in it for hours on end.

So in my house, I primarily use these three materials, and my favorite is clay.

Unglazed clay is great for a lot of reasons, and my favorite way to cook with it is VitaClay.

  • Pure Zisha clay has no lead or heavy metals (3rd party lab verified)
  • No glaze means no added lead
  • Clay has excellent thermal heat retention properties
  • Clay has excellent nutrient retention properties
  • Clay preserves texture and flavor better than any other material
  • Clay employs infrared heat to cook the food faster and more safely than other methods

VitaClay is my favorite because it is a multi-cooker, and it makes cooking easy, quick, safe, and non-toxic! Plus it doesn’t heat up the house or run up the utility bills.

VitaClay is a slow cooker, rice cooker, yogurt maker, broth maker, steamer, and reheater in one. It can do almost all of my cooking tasks quickly and more easily than with other methods.

The food in VitaClay comes out tasting better than cooking with any other material I’ve used, including stainless steel, non-stick, glass and cast iron. For some reason, food just tastes better when cooked in clay.

VitaClay is the best of all worlds–delivering safe, delicious food, home-cooked without the hassles, the stress or the mess. Most meals can be put together in less than 10 minutes, then VitaClay takes over, and dinner is ready when I am. It even has a preset feature that allows me to have steel-cut oats ready when I wake up in the morning!

And if you’re still thinking that Instant Pot will cook your food faster and more easily, think again! We tested several dozen recipes in both VitaClay and Instant Pot, and in most cases, the meals were cooked faster (not to mention with better results) in VitaClay! Why? Because that “15 minute” recipe quickly becomes 55 minutes when you take into account the 20 minutes it takes to pressurize and the additional 20 minutes it takes to de-pressurize. VitaClay, not being a pressure cooker, has none of that extra time added on and still cooks 50-75% faster than other slow cookers and multi-cookers.

VitaClay is truly my favorite kitchen appliance: it has replaced my slow cooker, my rice cooker, my yogurt maker, my microwave, and my stock pot… just to name a few. And the results are always better in clay.

Right now you can get 10% off any VitaClay cooker on the website with code NOURISH10 at checkout. So start saving today! If you’d rather order from Amazon, check it out here.

 

And please, if you do decide to use the Instant Pot or other pressure cooker, always follow these safety tips to avoid explosions, burns or serious injury.

Resources:
Here is more information about Stainless Steel Cookware and the different grades that can be found.

Here is the 3rd party lab testing that has been done to ensure the unglazed clay used in VitaClay pots is free of lead and other heavy metals.

Check out Kara’s post at Deep South Crunchy Mom about the benefits of cast iron and why you should replace your non-stick pans STAT.

Check out the post from Sarah at Clean Living with Kids on glass bakeware and why glass is a great cookware option opposed to glazed ceramic, aluminum or other non-stick options.

New to Freedom & Coffee? Start here.

Disclosures:

Many of the product links in this post are affiliate links, which means I will receive a small commission from any purchase. I only recommend products that I love and this is at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting our mission with your clicks!

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Dirty Benefits: Diatomaceous Earth

When we think of something as “dirty,” we often think it’s something that needs to be sanitized, sterilized and washed clean.

Our “culture of clean,” complete with an unlimited supply of antibiotic soaps, gels and hand wipes, is new to our bodies and our microbiome.

What is our microbiome? It’s all of the symbiotic organisms that live on and in our bodies that keep us healthy. That’s right: our bodies are host to trillions of bacteria, both “good” and “bad.”

I’ve seen estimates that indicate: by mass,
our bodies are made up of up to 90% bacteria!

That gives me a different perspective on germs, dirt and what it means to be “dirty.” It makes me think that maybe dirt isn’t the enemy we’ve always thought it was, and that being “squeaky clean” is not all it’s cut out to be.

In this series on dirt, I’m partnering with Deep South Crunchy Mom and Clean Living with Kids to talk about different types of dirt that are actually really good for us!

Bentonite Clay, Activated Charcoal and Diatomaceous Earth are three of the many beneficial forms of “dirt” that can contribute to our health and well-being. We’re going to talk about how we use them and how they’ve helped us.

The best thing about each of these “dirts” is that they are very affordable,  incredibly powerful and effective for so many things!

What is Diatomaceous Earth?

From Wikipedia, Diatomaceous Earth is “a naturally occurring, soft, siliceous sedimentary rock that is easily crumbled into a fine white to off-white powder. It has a particle size ranging from less than 3 μm to more than 1 mm, but typically 10 to 200 μm.”

Why do we care about diatomaceous earth and how can we use it?

Diatomaceous earth is the fossilized remains of diatoms, which are a type of unicellular micro-algae that are crucial to the Earth’s atmosphere. It is estimated that diatoms produce 20% of the world’s oxygen and that the shells of dead diatoms can be found half a mile deep at the bottom of the ocean!

How is Diatomaceous Earth Used?

Diatomaceous earth can be found in many of the products we use every day. Since it is a mild abrasive, it can be found in polishes, toothpastes and as a filler in cat litter for its odor and liquid-absorbing properties. It is also used in filtration products and insecticides, as well as a filler, absorbing agent and even an activator in blood clotting studies! I’ve even seen it used as a filler in foods such as commercial breads.

Commercially, diatomaceous earth has a lot of applications.
But personal use is where it gets really interesting.

I first learned about diatomaceous earth when I was researching parasites in the body and how to kill them.

A parasite is any organism that lives inside of and benefits
from another organism while causing the host harm.

Often we think of parasites as only something people in third world countries have to deal with. After all, we wear shoes and we don’t eat contaminated food, so we should be clean, right?

WRONG.

Everyone has parasites (we get them through food and water–they are impossible to avoid), and traditionally it was known that people needed to do some kind of parasite cleanse at least once a year to keep them in check.

These days we don’t even think about parasites, or even admit that we have them.

Unfortunately, when unchecked,
parasites can cause all kinds of health issues.

In fact, if you have any of the following health issues, parasites could be to blame:

  • Digestive problems
  • Bloating
  • Stomach pain
  • Headaches or Migraines
  • Rashes (including eczema and psoriasis)
  • Anal itching
  • Fatigue
  • Anemia
  • Allergies
  • Poor concentration or lack of focus
  • Weight loss or weight gain
  • Stubborn belly fat
  • Post nasal drip
  • Anxiety
  • Grinding your teeth at night
  • Sleep problems
  • Muscle pain, cramps or unexplained soreness
  • Irritability
  • And many more!

As you can see, parasites can cause a lot of different health problems.

If you’ve never done a parasite cleanse and you suffer from any of these issues, it’s very likely that parasites are to blame.

We won’t get into the different types of parasites we host, but you can learn more about that here.

Here’s where diatomaceous earth comes in very handy.

Diatomaceous earth particles are tiny: if you buy a bag you’ll notice it’s like a bag of dust (don’t breathe it!). These particles are also sharp, and have a cage-like structure. This allows diatomaceous earth to do several things when we consume it:

  • The abrasive nature makes it a great “scrubbing agent” for the intestinal walls. Over time, mucus builds up there and can make us sick, so periodically cleaning out this mucus is vital to good health.
  • The sharp edges physically cut any larger intestinal worms that are present, eventually killing them and allowing them to be expelled by the body
  • The cage-like structure works to trap smaller bacteria and toxins within it, to be flushed out by the body.

Diatomaceous earth makes for a very effective (and very affordable) parasite cleanse that is really easy to do.

So let’s get to work! First step, buy food-grade diatomaceous earth

I have been following a 90-day protocol that calls for diatomaceous earth to be taken once a day first thing in the morning, at least an hour before eating anything.

 

Here’s what I do: 

  1. Mix one heaping teaspoonful into a glass of water (don’t breathe it!).
  2. Drink the water (it tastes a little chalky, but there is no real flavor, good or bad)
  3. Drink plenty of water after that, and wait an hour before eating.
  4. Do this every morning for 10 days in a row, then take the rest of the month off.
  5. The following 2 months, do the same thing: 10 days on, 20 days off.When I first did this I took it more than 10 days (approximately 3 weeks of taking it every day in the morning) and I got a really bad sinus infection, which I think was due to detoxing “too much” or possibly the mucus being washed away just overloaded my body. Either way, from now on I’ll take the assigned breaks so that doesn’t happen again.

Herxheimer Reaction

If you’ve never done a parasite cleanse before, start slow.

Take a quarter or half a teaspoon the first day and work your way up. If you begin get a bad reaction: headaches, nausea or some other discomfort, you may be experiencing a Herxheimer Reaction.

If you do experience this, simply back off: lower the dose until the symptoms subside, and then work your way back up to a higher dose.

The most important thing to remember is that if you get a bad reaction, that means it’s working. It also means you have a lot of things to clean up (which you may already suspect) so quitting will not benefit you. Any short-term discomfort will be well worth the health you experience after the cleanse. 

To lessen or prevent a herxheimer reaction, I recommend using Bentonite Clay.

(Learn more about the benefits of bentonite clay here).

To prevent a herxheimer reaction, I take one teaspoon Redmond Clay in a glass of water (give it a couple minutes to sink to the bottom of the cup, then stir and drink it fast) before I go to bed at night. This will help clean up any toxins that the parasites are excreting when they are being killed by the diatomaceous earth (they get mad when they are dying)! 

Other Benefits of Consuming Diatomaceous Earth

Diatomaceous earth contains elements that benefit us in so many more ways than just killing intestinal parasites! It contains a high concentration of silica (in fact, diatom cell walls are actually composed of biogenic silica). Silica is a powerful detoxifier, and can help the body:

  • Clean the blood
  • Improve heart health!
  • Neutralize free radicals
  • Supplement calcium, sodium, magnesium, iron, and other trace minerals
  • Kill viruses
  • Detox heavy metals such as aluminum
  • Prevent osteoporosis
  • Keep joints, tendons and ligaments healthy and pain-free
  • Grow hair faster and longer
  • Protect skin, teeth and nails
  • Maintain anti-aging benefits
  • Improve digestion
  • Improve liver and colon function
  • Improved energy
  • Improved immune function (get sick less often)!

Even if you don’t think you have any parasites (trust me, you do), there are plenty of reasons to consume diatomaceous earth on a regular basis! 

But wait…there’s more!

Diatomaceous earth has even MORE benefits and uses than we’ve already described. So why isn’t everyone talking about it and using it every day?

It’s cheap, effective and easy to use–so get some today!

Other Great Uses for Diatomaceous Earth

  • Dust your pets with it to keep fleas away
  • Use it in your garden as a fertilizer
  • Use it to purify drinking water
  • Put it in your detox bath to purify the water
  • Put in pet food to kill parasites
  • A non-toxic insecticide
  • Put a thin line of diatomaceous earth around the outside of windows and doorways to prevent insects from coming in the house
  • In homemade toothpaste as a mild abrasive
  • As a facial exfoliator

WARNING:

You may have noticed in a few places in this post that I warned to always be careful not to inhale diatomaceous earth.
Here’s why: The fine particles are very sharp and dust-like, so they become airborne easily, and if breathed into the lungs can cause damage. So just be careful not to breathe it–and don’t dust it in places where pets or babies will be sniffing around.

New to Freedom & Coffee? Start here.

Disclosures:

Many of the product links in this post are affiliate links, which means I will receive a small commission from any purchase. I only recommend products that I love and this is at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting our mission with your clicks!

 

 

Medical Disclaimer:
Information found on the Freedom & Coffee website is created and published online for informational purposes only. This information is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, and is not intended to diagnose, treat or cure any medical condition.
If you have questions about your health or a medical condition, please seek the guidance of your doctor or qualified health professional with. Please don’t disregard the advice of a medical professional, or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on this website.
If you have a medical emergency, contact a doctor or call the emergency services immediately. If you choose to rely on any information provided by this website, it is solely at your own risk.
Under no circumstances is Freedom & Coffee responsible for the claims of third party websites or educational providers linked to from this website.

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How to Purchase MONAT for the Best Price Possible

I’ve been using MONAT exclusively for the past 20 months… and my hair has been literally transformed.

My hair before was thin, flat, frizzy, dull, lifeless, weak and wouldn’t grow past my shoulders. I had to was it every day.

My hair now is full of volume, shine, manageability (just run a brush through it and go out the door!), thickness, and strength! I regularly go a week without washing my hair, and it’s grown halfway down my back!

Before MONAT I had terrible shedding: handfuls in the shower, and then I was shedding all day long, every day.

Now: I shed just a few hairs in the shower when washing, and rarely does a hair fall out during the day. Because of this fact alone, my hair has grown out at least twice as thick. I have thicker hair now than I ever thought possible!

Photos on the left: before MONAT. Photo on the right: about 11 months of exclusive MONAT use.Needless to say, I never want to use anything else…and I think everyone should try it too.

If you’ve been watching awhile you may be curious. You may want to try it but be hesitant.

At first glance, I thought this stuff was too expensive. I wasn’t going to try it. But then my friend who was using it talked about how concentrated it was, and how she was spending less money with MONAT than the other brands she had been using. She broke down the cost to about $12 per month. That didn’t sound bad, so I tried it. And as you can see, I am so glad I did.

Guys… my first bottle lasted me almost a year! I was shocked. I was amazed. I was sold for life.

I don’t care how cheap your current shampoo is… it is probably more expensive than MONAT when you factor in how long it lasts. The average bottle life is 4-6 months, for people who wash almost every day.

And most people find themselves washing less frequently with MONAT too: it just feels and looks clean longer (which also contributes to a longer life of each bottle).

Since MONAT offers a 30 day money back guarantee (even if your bottles are empty), there is no reason not to try it: you’ll save money, and you’ll love it: GUARANTEED, or your money back!

Is a Guarantee Important?

Personally, I always look for money-back guarantees in the products I buy for a few reasons:

  1. I want to know if I don’t like it I can get my money back. I like to buy quality products and that sometimes means they are pricey. If they are worth it, I will know that when I try them.
  2. Most things I buy these days are online. There is no real way to know for sure if something is as good as its claims until I try it. There has to be a guarantee.
  3. I want to purchase from a business that stands behind its products. If they are asking me to take all of the risk (buy with no guarantee), do I really trust this company?
  4. It tells me that this product will for sure be good. How can a company stay in business if they have a money back guarantee and their products aren’t great? They’d go out of business! You are literally guaranteed to love it.

3 Ways to Buy

Now that you know that you can save money with MONAT and that it’s guaranteed you will love it, let’s do it!

You will save money with MONAT over what you are doing, even if you buy retail. The prices are comparable with salon brands, but last much much longer (and what salon brand do you know that is money-back guaranteed??).

But who wants to pay retail?

Fortunately, there are a few great ways to get discounts:

  • Sales 
    MONAT has great sales, usually at least twice a month.  This summer sales have been ongoing–often overlapping! Sometimes concurrent sales can be combined for the best discounts I’ve ever seen!Reach out to me: Text “SALES” to  802-227-7051 and I’ll update you on the current offers!
  • Be a VIP Customer
    MONAT has the best customer loyalty program I have ever seen. Here are the benefits:

✅15% discount on all products — for life!
✅Access to all of our flash sales (2-3 every month) — save even more!
✅Free shipping with flash sale and flexship orders
✅No requirement to buy monthly — push your flexship out every 2 months — indefinitely
✅Free Only-for-You product with every flexship order ($25 value)
✅$25 in product credits every year on your birthday
✅Earn $20 in product credits for every referral

😍 How to Sign Up as a VIP Customer

Text “VIP” to  802-227-7051 and I will give you a link that will get you $20 off your second order too! I’d also love to chat with you to help you choose the best products for you at the best price possible. 

  • Get it Wholesale: Be a Market PartnerI think being a Market Partner (also called wholesale customer) is the best value overall and gives you the most flexibility with no commitment at all.

Here are the benefits:

✅ Wholesale prices — 30% off all products, all the time
✅ Access to all of our flash sales (2-3 every month) — save even more!
✅ Free shipping with flash sale and flexship orders 
✅ No sign up fee
✅ No minimum orders, ever
✅ No minimum sales, ever
✅ No automatic shipments
✅ Tax deductions on your side hustle business (you can potentially save thousands of dollars on taxes)
✅ Earn commissions for every referral 
✅ Opportunities to earn cash bonuses every month
✅ Earn free products
✅ Earn free vacations

And if you don’t want to earn money with it, you don’t have to! (But if you do want to, it’s a great business to be in. And what do you have to lose? You have to buy shampoo anyway so why not get it wholesale and get paid to tell your friends about it!) You can just be a wholesale customer with no requirements, minimums or expectations.

Just wholesale discounts. And whenever there is a sale, you get the sale discount on top of your wholesale discount–so you are saving money twice!

To become a Market Partner there are no fees or requirements: just buy a wholesale product pack and you are in!

There are 4 options. Check them out here!

To discuss which option is best for you and which products you should start with for your hair needs, text “MP” to 802-227-7051 and I’ll be happy to discuss any questions you have!

To review, there are 3 ways to order: 

One thing is for sure: you should try MONAT.

You won’t regret it.

And if you don’t like it, there is always a 30 day empty-bottle money-back guarantee! 

Text me today to find out how you can have the best hair of your life, and maybe even earn a living doing it!

 

More Resources:

Get Residual Income in 5 Easy Steps

Why Everyone Needs a Side Hustle (Hint: Save money on taxes and get a bigger refund!) 

What’s So Great About MONAT? 

Link to order MONAT as a Retail or Wholesale Customer

Referral Link to Order as a New VIP Customer (to get $20 off your 2nd order)

See What Sales Are going on Now (click “Start Now”)

Heard Rumors About MONAT? Find the Truth Here

Resesarch on the Safety and Effectiveness of MONAT’s ingredients

Spreadsheet listing MONAT shampoo ingredients and SkinDeep Ratings

 

New to Freedom & Coffee? Start here.

Disclosures:

Many of the product links in this post are affiliate links, which means I will receive a small commission from any purchase. I only recommend products that I love and this is at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting our mission with your clicks!

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Make 15 Non-Toxic Products with Essential Oils in Under a Minute (for less than $1!)

Perfume is everywhere: it’s an ingredient in laundry detergent, many body care and cleaning products, and it’s even a thing we pay big money for to spray on our bodies so we can smell it all day long!

We buy air fresheners for our cars and for our houses, and we love candles and room or linen freshening sprays to eliminate (or mask) unwanted odors and keep everything smelling fresh and clean.

But perfumes, when they are made with artificial fragrances, present a constant exposure to toxic fumes that can wreak havoc on our hormones and our health. (To learn more about this: watch the documentary STINK! on Netflix).

People who are allergic to perfumes may get migraines or feel dizzy or nauseous when confronted with an overpowering fragrance from any source. These people often have to avoid fragrances of any kind in every product, which can be difficult!

Luckily for us, nature has a solution: Essential Oils!

Essential oils are nature’s perfume, and unlike toxic artificial fragrances, are actually really good for us!

There are all kinds of benefits to smelling (and even topically using) essential oils, from boosting immunity and healing disease to balancing hormones, stress relief and help getting to sleep at night.

I love this article by Dr. Axe that expounds on the benefits and uses of essential oils. 

If you have never used essential oils, you’ve probably heard a lot about them and may even be intimidated.

Where do I start?

Do I need them?

Which ones do I use and how do I use them?

If that’s you, check out this great post from Clean Living with Kids that will help you decide on the BEST essential oils to start with, and why.

 

I stood on the sidelines for awhile before trying essential oils at all. Then finally, I decided to just dive in and try it!

Now, several years later, I have built up quite the collection of essential oils, and I recently bought a shelf just for them.

In this post I want to share my experience and a few easy recipes that have saved me hundreds (maybe even thousands) of dollars on products that I wanted to ditch anyway (because of toxic ingredients, including the dreaded fragrance).

I’m not recommending any specific brand, and I think there are a lot of great options out there, especially if you are using them in the recipes like the ones I’ll share below.

If you are applying them topically or diffusing them, it’s best to make sure they are organic or at the very least that they are pure.

Quick tip: Not all essential oils are created equal. If you see “essential oils” at the dollar store, they probably aren’t the real thing. There is no regulation in essential oils, and some manufacturers have been known to cut their oils with chemicals or not use essential oils at all—replacing them with chemical fragrances.

 

Well, that defeats the purpose, doesn’t it? So whichever brand you choose, be sure it’s from a trusted brand so you know for sure you are getting what you pay for.

Essential oils have all kinds of great uses, and a few limitations. Check out this great post from Deep South Crunchy Mom detailing the best ways to use essential oils topically, diffused and which ones are safe for kids.

Easy Ways to Use Essential Oils Every Day

I love to drip them into my Epsom Salt stash for a relaxing, aromatherapy experience every time I take a detox bath. Just a few drops of your favorite scent will make the whole batch smell great! I also use them in my home-made deodorant recipe. I make a different scent for my son, my mom, and myself…because we all have different favorite scents, of course! I even use them in my own skin-care recipe (I’ll share that recipe with you in a different post).

Here’s a list of all 15 recipes. If you want to jump down to one, click it here:

🌎
BODIES AND KIDS

In the summertime, it’s important to have a couple of things handy at all times: insect repellent and after-sun spray.

🌱

Insect Repellent

When I first started searching for a recipe for insect repellent, I was surprised to see that a wide variety of essential oils provide insect repelling benefits. So I usually just mix up whichever ones I have. The most important ones to include are citronella, peppermint, lavender, and lemon eucalyptus.

Here is a basic recipe that is super effective at repelling all the bugs! With just a few inexpensive bottles of essential oils you will be bug-free for years to come!

Ingredients

⠀
Directions:

  1. Add the witch hazel and essential oils to the bottle (it should be about half full)
  2. Fill the rest of the bottle with distilled water and shake well
  3. Shake well before use. Spray on skin or clothes before going outside!!!
    🌱
    Soothing After-Sun Spray

    I’m not a huge fan of sunscreen, so I usually wear hats or hang out in the shade, so on the rare occasions I get a little pink, this after-sun spray comes in very handy! It’s cooling and soothing, and brings immediate relief.

Ingredients:

Directions:

Mix Aloe and essential oil drops in the spray bottle then fill to the top with distilled water.

Shake well before each use and mist on sun-kissed skin as needed.

🌱

Anti-bacterial Hand Spray: Safe, Effective, Chemical Free!

Waterless hand cleaners are all the rage, but did you know the chemicals in them are dangerous and are absorbed into the bloodstream in less than 30 seconds? Also these harsh chemical anti-bacterial agents have contributed to the sharp rise in superbugs in recent years.

Essential oils are nature’s anti-bac. I love to use the immunity blend for mine (also called onGuard and Thieves with other brands). See the fascinating story behind this blend here.

This recipe is really easy!

Ingredients:

  • Reusable spray bottle
  • Distilled water
  • A few drops of vegetable glycerine (optional: for moisturizing)
  • 20-30 drops Immunity blend of your choice (including Clove, Cinnamon, Lemon, Rosemary, Eucalyptus Essential oils)

Directions:

  1. Combine all ingredients into the spray bottle and carry wherever you go.
  2. Shake well before using: spray liberally onto hands or surfaces that may harbor germs (such as door knobs, handles, purses, counter-tops, etc)

🌱

Go-to-Sleep Roll-on or Spray (for kids big & small!)

Insomnia plagues children and adults alike. There is nothing worse than laying in bed with your eyes wide open, hoping sleep will come.

You’ll be surprised how well this quick, easy, inexpensive trick works every time!

Ingredients:

  • Reusable spray bottle or roll-on bottle
  • Magnesium oil
  • 20-30 drops lavender essential oil

Directions:

  1. Fill container to the top with magnesium oil and essential oil drops. Shake well.
  2. Shake well before using and apply to the bottoms of the feet at night.
  3. The spray can also be used as a linen spray to lend a fresh, soothing scent to your pillow and bedding for better sleep as well.
  4. This gentle, fast-acting formula of magnesium and lavender absorbs into the bloodstream quickly and your child (or you!) will be in dreamland before you know it!

🌱

Fever Reducer Roll-On

 

Say goodbye to over-the-counter drugs! You probably heard about the Tylenol recall a couple years back. Despite being cheap and easily-obtained, over-the-counter drugs are not safe for anyone: especially children.  Each drug has its own dangers, and acetaminophen is particularly dangerous for children when they are sick: it blocks the production of glutathione in the body, which opens up detoxification pathways. Stopping detoxification is the last thing you want to do when you are sick–so here is a great recipe for a roll-on that can help reduce a fever if you are concerned.

(Also, see this post about why you may not want to reduce the fever at all, as well as some other easy, non-toxic fever reduction methods).

Ingredients:

  • Reusable Roll-on bottle
  • 4 drops peppermint essential oil
  • 2 drops lavender essential oil
  • Distilled water or Fractionated coconut oil

Directions:

  1. Fill the bottle with distilled water or fractionated coconut oil and top with essential oils
  2. Apply to the bottoms of the feet every 15-20 minutes as needed.

🌱

Migraine Roll-On

Headaches are the worst: when I feel one coming on there is nothing more I want to do than prevent it from becoming a full-blown, all-day affair. Headaches affect everything: productivity at work, ability to interact with people in social settings, and general ability to do anything at all.

I don’t get frequent headaches, but I had heard from a lot of people that headaches and even migraines can be relieved with essential oils. I’d heard simply putting peppermint on the back of the neck can make a big difference. The first time I tried it I was amazed how well it worked: my headache disappeared immediately!

I’ve also seen migraine blends that are mostly peppermint but have a few other ingredients as well. Here is a basic recipe that works for me, but feel free to play with the different oils and applying them different places to get relief.

Ingredients:

TIP: Because oil and water don’t mix, if you use water you will need to always shake before using. If you use fractionated coconut oil, the essential oils will incorporate into the oil and will have a smoother application.

Directions:

  1. Add all ingredients to the roller bottle and shake
  2. Shake before using. Apply to the temples, back of the neck or other areas

🌱

Perfume!

We all love to smell good, and to have pleasant smells around us wherever we go. Since conventional perfumes are not an option (and we should all avoid these toxic synthetic fragrances anyway), why can’t we harness the power of essential oils to be able to use “perfume,” and also get the benefits of essential oils (relaxation, focus, stress relief, healing, etc) at the same time?

The great thing is that an essential oil perfume is so easy to make and to use:

Ingredients:

  • Reusable spray bottle
  • Distilled water
  • Essential oil or essential oil blend of your choice (play with the combinations until you create your perfect scent!)

Directions:

  1. Combine water and essential oils (use about 10 drops per ounce).
  2. Shake and spray!
  3. This can also be used as a room spray, linen spray, bathroom freshener, or in place of any other “perfume” you would normally use!
🌱
Bathroom Stink Eliminator Spray

Have you seen the ads for Poo-Pourri?

Eliminate embarrassing smells in the bathroom with a simple spray.

Could it be possible?

Yes–actually it is! All with the power of essential oils.

And this two-ingredient recipe is so simple–just mix it up and leave the spray bottle in the bathroom or carry it wherever you go–and it costs just pennies and less than a minute to make!

Ingredients:

  • Reusable spray bottle
  • Distilled water
  • Your favorite essential oils (citrus ones like lemon, bergamot, grapefruit and lemongrass work great, but others work too!)

Directions:

  1. Mix up 10 drops of your chosen essential oil for each one ounce of water in the spray bottle and shake to mix
  2. Spray 4-5 times in the toilet on the water before you go. The essential oils sit on top of the water and trap odors in. It’s like magic!

🌎

CLEANING RECIPES

 

🍋
All-Purpose Cleaner for Counter tops, Stove tops, Windows and More!

Move over, chemicals: the cleaning power of lemon and vinegar has entered the building! You will be shocked how well this simple combination cleans everything in the house!

Ingredients:

  • 1 part distilled water
  • 1 part white vinegar
  • 10-30 drops lemon essential oil (depending on the size of the bottle)
  • Reusable spray bottle

Directions

Add ingredients to spray bottle and shake before using.

🍋

Ceramic (White) Sink Cleaner

If you have a white ceramic sink like I do, you already know how difficult it is to keep those clean and shiny! Every little thing stains and marks that white surface!

Here is a quick, easy way to clean those ceramic white sink surfaces as white as new. I do it on a weekly basis.

Ingredients:

  • Vinegar in a spray bottle with lemon essential oil
  • Baking soda
  • Scrub brush

Directions:

  1. Sprinkle baking soda all over the sink, concentrating in areas with stains or marks
  2. Spray the baking soda with the lemon vinegar until it sizzles and looks wet
  3. Allow to sit until it dries, about 10 minutes
  4. Scrub out the sink with the brush.

🍋

Oven cleaner

Commercial oven cleaners are highly toxic, caustic chemicals that can be dangerous to breathe, let alone use on something you use to cook your food. This easy recipe is similar to the sink cleaner above, and it really works well with no dangerous chemicals. Plus it’s a huge money saver, as all of the ingredients are incredibly cheap.

Ingredients:

  • Reusable spray bottle with white vinegar and orange essential oil
  • baking soda, it will fizz up
  • for tough stains, grab your orange essential oil bottle
  • small scrub brush

Directions:

  1. Spray entire surface of oven generously with the vinegar until it is very wet
  2. Sprinkle baking soda everywhere, concentrating on problem areas
  3. On stubborn stain areas, drop orange essential oil directly on top of the baking soda
  4. Allow to dry for at least 10 minutes, then scrub away

🍋

Floor Cleaner

Floor cleaner is quick, easy and cheap: I throw a batch together every time I clean my floors: it’s just a matter of adding a couple ingredients to warm water!

Ingredients

  • 2 – 3 cups of warm water
  • 1-2 tablespoons of Castile soap
  • 10 drops of essential oil of your choice (citrus oils like lemon and orange work fantastic for hardwood floors!)

Directions

  1. Mix the ingredients and use your mop or microfiber floor cleaner with your cleaning solution.
  2. You’ll be amazed how clean and shiny the floors are!

🍋

Cream Cleanser For the Bathroom Sinks and Showers

Similar to “Soft Scrub” this creamy cleanser can remove soap scum and other yuckies in the bathroom sink, tub and shower areas, including tile and grout.

It also makes an excellent non-toxic toilet cleaner, and leaves the whole bathroom smelling amazing!

Ingredients:

  • 1 mason jar
  • 1.5 cups baking soda
  • 1/2 cup liquid castille soap
  • 4 T water
  • 20-30 drops lemon and/or tea tree essential oil
  • scrub brush

Directions:

  1. Combine all ingredients into a creamy paste
  2. Apply to bathroom surfaces and scrub

🍋

Non-Toxic Shower Spray that Smells Great!

If you want to avoid having to clean your shower or tub altogether, this after-shower spray is a great non-toxic option. Just spray it in your shower after every use, and it will greatly extend the time between scrubbings. An added bonus: it makes the bathroom smell amazing!

Ingredients:

Directions:

  1. Combine all ingredients in a refillable spray bottle and shake well before using
  2. Use as an after shower spray to prevent soap scum, mildew and mold

🍋

Laundry Softener and Scent Boost

Two of the most toxic things in any household are fabric softener and dryer sheets.

Why?

The artificial fragrances used are strong and they are toxic. They also both put a film over clothing (for “softness”) that is very difficult to remove, even with multiple washings. This coating can irritate the skin and makes the harsh fragrances linger for a very long time.

I’ve personally never used fabric softener or dryer sheets, but one time a friend bought me a pair of leggings. We were going on a trip, so she washed them before we left and then gave them to me.

That was over a year ago, and I’ve washed those leggings multiple times, but I can still smell the strong fumes from the fabric softener on them.

Eliminating fabric softener and dryer sheets is easy: simply add vinegar to the fabric softener cup in your washer, and use these wool dryer balls in place of dryer sheets. You’ll save time and cut this major offender of toxins out of your life.

As an added bonus: vinegar is antibacterial and anti-fungal, and it neutralizes uric acid! So use vinegar if you have broadsheets or dog beds that have been urinated on!

Wool dryer balls also cut down drying time, which can save you on energy costs!

If you like your laundry to have a great scent, here’s a recipe for a natural, non-toxic laundry softener and scent boost.

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups baking soda
  • 2 cups Epsom Salt
  • 10-30 drops of your favorite essential oils (some good choices are lemon, lavender, lemongrass, or another scent you prefer)

Directions:

  1. Mix all ingredients together well, evenly distributing the essential oils
  2. Add 1/4 cup to each load of laundry
  3. You laundry will smell great, and the baking soda is a cleaning booster! The Epsom salt helps to soften the fabric.
🍋 BONUS! Non-Toxic Foaming Hand Wash

Conventional hand soap has a lot of toxins that absorb into our bloodstream within 30 seconds of washing our hands, and the artificial fragrance is a problem as well as the anti-bacterial chemicals used, such as triclosan, which has created the surge of antibiotic resistant superbugs we are experiencing today.

Want a cheap, easy, safe alternative to paying $4-$5 per bottle for toxin-loaded hand washes?

Try making this quick, simple foaming hand wash in less than a minute, for less than 25 cents per bottle.

 

🍋 🌱 🌎

What are your favorite essential oils and what do you use them for?

Do you have any other recipes using essential oils you like to use?

New to Freedom & Coffee? Start here.

Disclosures:

Many of the product links in this post are affiliate links, which means I will receive a small commission from any purchase. I only recommend products that I love and this is at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting our mission with your clicks!

Posted on

What is a Fast and Why Would I Want to Do One?

Have you ever tried fasting? 

If you are religious, you may have done a little bit of fasting for that reason in the past.

When they hear fasting, some people think of Lent, and “giving up something” for a set number of days before Easter. Maybe chocolate, TV or Facebook.

A true fast, however, involves giving up food completely for a set amount of time, usually at least 24 hours.

There are different types of fasts: absolute fasts (no food or liquid at all), water fasts (only water is consumed), juice fasts (calories from clear liquids such as juice, clear broth, or water can be consumed), Intermittent Fasting (narrowing your eating hours during the day to a window of 6-8 hours), and other variations.

I have done several juice fasts for durations ranging from 3-10 days, for different reasons each time (sometimes to focus on prayer or an event coming up, sometimes for health reasons), and each time I’ve found it a difficult but very rewarding experience.

Each time I come out of a fast of any duration, I feel physically cleansed, like a deep detox has taken place. One great benefit I have noticed is that junk food is no longer appealing to me at all.

It’s like my body has been re-booted.

When my computer gets sluggish or starts acting buggy, what do I do? I reboot, and most often that resolves the issue. And re-booting the computer periodically is best for optimal function and health of the computer.

So why don’t we think about doing the same thing with our bodies? What if we could re-set our bodies to a more natural, optimal state?

WE CAN.

Most religions incorporate fasting for a period of time to focus on a spiritual purpose: in order to pray for something or someone, to prepare for a ceremony or holiday, or just to focus on God and discipline our minds and bodies.

When I began researching fasting, I was surprised by all of the health benefits that result as well. And since I am a Christian, this serves to confirm to me that all of these different practices and guidelines that God has put in place are there for our ultimate good: spiritually, mentally, and physically.

I started my research on fasting several years ago when I read the book A Hunger for God by John Piper.

I knew the spiritual benefits of fasting, and was convinced it would be beneficial for that reason.

Then I began researching the health benefits and I was blown away. The first time I tried a ten-day fast I was living in China after college, and I wanted both the spiritual and physical benefits that fasting offered.

Without a doubt, fasting is not easy. It takes commitment and determination, and not even for the reasons you may think. The longer you do it, the harder it is, but the more benefits you receive.

Most recently I did a Master Cleanse fast about 5 years ago for 10 days. Master Cleanse is a modified juice fast in which you take only lemon juice, maple syrup and cayenne pepper in water several times per day for 10 days. The lemon juice serves to detox the liver and other organs and alkalinize the blood, the maple syrup provides some calories and minerals to help prevent severe hunger while still bypassing the digestive system, and the cayenne pepper is a blood purifier and helps ramp up the results.

Ketosis

The Keto Diet and Ketosis are all the rage right now, but what is ketosis and is it a good thing?

Ketosis is what happens when your body literally goes into starvation mode. There are no available sugars (glucose) for energy in your body to function, so your body releases ketones into the blood which triggers the burning of body fat for energy. If you go into ketosis under the right conditions, this state can be very healing and energizing to your body in the short term.

Ketosis can be beneficial on a short-term basis for plenty of reasons: bad bacteria, parasites and cancer cells all feed on glucose. If they are deprived of that energy source, they will die.

Ketones have also been shown to be an optimal fuel for the brain. Ketosis has been proven effective in treating numerous health issues, including various types of cancer, brain disorders and illnesses, as well as degenerative diseases such as diabetes and dementia.

The Keto Diet is popular right now, and a lot of people are jumping on board without really understanding how it works or the best way to go about it. Most people aren’t truly doing a keto diet at all, in fact. Since going into ketosis requires eating almost no carbs and 80% fat, 20% protein, this is not an easy diet to follow or sustain for very long. As a short-term cleanse or for the purposes of healing a major illness, I think going into ketosis is great; for a long-term diet, I think a more balanced approach is in order.

Reboot Your Body

Now that we understand a bit about why ketosis can be a good, short-term strategy for detoxing, healing, cleansing and losing weight, it’s easy to see why doing a fast for a few days that puts your body into ketosis for a short term has a similar effect.

When I fasted I did experience a clear mind, energy, and weight loss (weight loss results will vary for the duration of the fast, but rebooting your body makes it easier to lose weight for the long term as well).

The hardest part was not even being hungry: especially if doing a juice fast. I was surprised how hungry I was not.

The hardest part is mental. 

I wanted to eat. I smelled food or saw friends going to a restaurant and I felt sad. I just missed eating. 

There were times I reached for food without even thinking, and almost ate something out of habit.

There are also some detox symptoms that made me feel sluggish. Even though I wasn’t hungry, I knew that eating would make the discomfort stop. So I had to resist the urge and push through.

Want to Try?

I’ve always believed that fasting contributes to optimal health. Ideally, I would do several short fasts (1-3 days) each year and a longer fast (10 days) every few years.

But I’m not gonna lie. Fasting is hard. It’s hard to schedule 10 days where you can’t go out to eat. It’s hard to go to work every day or work out when you aren’t eating. It’s hard to maintain strong willpower for 10 days straight.

Recently I came across a few companies who offer products that claim to put people into ketosis quickly.

See, normally, even when on a true fast (not eating anything) it takes the body the better part of a week to go into ketosis.

With these new products, which contain ketone salts, the body is able to go into ketosis in hours or minutes, even if you are still eating.

Crazy, right? 

I’ve decided to try the products from a couple of different companies to see how they work for me. I will probably do a few livestream videos on the topic to map my progress and share my results.

But first, I decided to do a Keto Reboot. It’s a short-term fast (60 hours) that puts your body into ketosis during your first night’s sleep, and keeps it there for the next 60 hours. They provide a kit that moves you through the process. The kits contain a few supplements, as well as drinks that contain ketone salts (teas and drink mixes).

Since I’ve done a true fast, I am going to compare how this stacks up. There is a Facebook group of people who all do it at the same time, and they only sell the kits for a few days time so everyone does it together. 

Who’s in?

If you would like to do this 60 Hour Keto Reboot with me, check out the intro video and kit here and apply to join this Facebook group.

I would love to do this with as many people as possible–we can all share our results and chart our progress and how we feel as we’re doing it!

The next keto reboot event starts the evening of July 15 (Sunday night) and goes until the morning of July 18. It last 60 hours (2 full days and 3 nights).

New to Freedom & Coffee? Start here.

Disclosure: many of the product links in this post are affiliate links, which means I will receive a small commission from any purchase. I only recommend products that I love and this is at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting our mission with your clicks!

 

 

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Craving Coconut? Try This Easy Coconut Yogurt in Clay!

I love to make yogurt–I’m able to control the ingredients that do (and don’t) go in it, sweeten it to my liking and make it in clay–which makes the best yogurt ever!

I use my VitaClay to make my yogurt: I love how simple it is, and it comes out great every time.

Making yogurt is an art and a science, however, especially when using different types of milk and cultures.

So when given the challenge to create a coconut milk yogurt recipe, I was excited: I knew with VitaClay it would be easier than ever, but I hadn’t tried to make anything other than cow’s milk yogurt, and didn’t know how it would come out.

I went to the store and bought a lot of different things to try it out

Then I realized I had forgotten to get canned coconut milk, so I went back the following day and picked up a few cans of that and coconut cream so I could play with the creaminess.

And the testing began!

First I tried some of the bottled coconut milks that you see above… they had a little bit of sugar so I thought that would help with the fermentation.

They tasted great both before and after the fermentation, but they didn’t thicken up at all.

I tried it a few times with different drinkable coconut milks and ratios of probiotics, but didn’t get much better results.

Finally I used canned coconut cream, blended it until smooth beforehand, and used 4 probiotics capsules instead of one. The results came out great, and it was even easier than I imagined!

Coconut Yogurt recipe for VitaClay

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Blend the contents of the coconut cream can until smooth
  2. Add to VitaClay pot
  3. Stir in contents of probiotics capsules and sugar (if adding)
  4. Close, seal and press slow cooking button to select “yogurt”
  5. (Default time is 8 hours)
  6. After 8 hours elapses, allow to rest another 12-15 hours
  7. Strain, Serve and enjoy!
  8. Refrigerate the leftovers

When you strain it out, use the probiotic-rich resulting “coconut whey” in smoothies or just drink it for a refreshing, nutrient-rich beverage.

 

It tastes great too! Very creamy and rich–perfect with a drizzle of honey or some fruit.

Let me know what you think!

What do you love to eat in your yogurt, or how do you use coconut yogurt in cooking?

 

If you want to save money and avoid yucky ingredients by making coconut yogurt yourself but don’t have a yogurt maker, consider VitaClay! there are several models and sizes, and all of them make great yogurt, no matter what type.

And if you order now you can get 10% off your order on the VitaClay site! Just use coupon code NOURISH10.

 

 

If you have any questions on the yogurt making process or my experience with VitaClay, feel free to reach out to me via email or on messenger. Bon Apetit!

 

New to Freedom & Coffee? Start here.

Disclosures:

Many of the product links in this post are affiliate links, which means I will receive a small commission from any purchase. I only recommend products that I love and this is at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting our mission with your clicks!

 

 

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Gorgeous Hair Naturally: Regain Confidence and Save Money!

If you are anything like me, you do everything you can to keep yourself and your family healthy.

  • You eat organic
  • You exercise
  • You avoid fast food and processed junk food
  • You take vitamins
  • You limit your exposure to chemicals and toxins

You probably know by now that we are exposed to toxins from every side: from pollution in the air to the chemicals in our cleaning supplies to the food we eat and the body care products we use.

It has been found that over 70% of the things that touch our skin are absorbed into our bloodstream within about 26 seconds.

That’s a sobering thought, because in a typical day we touch a lot of things. 

You may be aware that the products we put on our skin, from lotions and perfumes to face washes and serums, are absorbed quickly and can affect our skin’s health and vitality.

But did you know that the skin on our scalps are just as sensitive as the skin on our faces?

The products we use on our hair matter: because we are absorbing those ingredients into our bloodstream and they are affecting the health of our scalps, our hair, and our bodies.

Knowing this, I looked for a long time for hair products that were natural: I needed something that didn’t damage my health but that cleaned my hair and made it look and feel healthy.

I also wanted to grow my hair longer, which had always been a struggle.

I tried everything I could find: from expensive salon products to health store brands and infomercial products. I was disappointed because the products either didn’t work in my hair (made it look or feel gross) or still had ingredients I didn’t feel good about.

My good friend and long-time blogger Ann Marie Michaels introduced me to a new hair care brand that she was crazy about.

It had:

  • no parabens
  • no sulfates
  • no harsh salt
  • no phthalates
  • no petroleum-based ingredients
  • no harmful colors
  • no harmful fragrances

It was naturally, botanically-based, and she was getting great results with her hair. And it’s vegan, cruelty-free and leaping-bunny approved!

Plus it was concentrated: so she was spending less than she ever had on her hair care products!

 

Salon quality results from a naturally based product and it’s going to save me money?

I wanted to try it.

She also told me it had a 30 day money back guarantee, even if I used the whole bottle.

I was ready to try it: what did I have to lose?

After the first wash, I knew I had found my shampoo. My hair was different. It felt stronger. Healthier. It looked better. Smoother. Softer. More manageable.

I loved it.

So I decided to join her team and tell people about this product that I had been searching for.

If you have been looking for a naturally-based hair care line without any of the harmful ingredients found in most brands, and you want your hair to grow stronger, longer, healthier and faster–you’ve found your brand.

Here are the benefits I’ve seen, beginning from the first wash:

  • Less frizz
  • Less damage, even using heat
  • Looks better, with or without styling
  • Dries 2-3 times faster after washing
  • More manageable
  • Softer
  • Smoother
  • Shinier
  • Stronger
  • Growing faster
  • More volume
  • Less shedding
  • No breakage or brittle hair

My hair is noticeably healthier from every aspect. 

And it has only gotten better the longer I’ve used it!

I was tired of compromising when it came to my hair–now I don’t have to!

I look like I just stepped out of a salon every time I step out of the shower– without compromising on ingredients or damaging my hair over time!

It always bothered me that hair commercials said, “Have healthier-looking hair.”

“Healthier-looking” hair?

Can’t I get hair that is actually healthy?

Now I actually have healthier hair: I can see it and I can feel it. And I have confidence because my hair always looks great, I can wash it less often, and it’s growing faster and stronger than ever before.

The smaller pictures on the right are before I started using these products. The bigger picture on the left is using them and air drying my hair by letting hit hang loose, which I’ve never been able to do before:

My hair is smoother, stronger, longer and healthier without any effort on my part.

Simply wash and go!

Here are my hair growth results from February to April (excuse the funny faces–they are screen shots from live videos documenting my #longhairchallenge):

My hair has consistently been growing almost two inches every month since I started using this shampoo! Since average hair growth is 1/4 to 1/2 inch per month, that is 4-8 TIMES the average growth rate of hair. And it’s growing longer than I could ever get it to grow before–no matter how hard I tried!

Now you’re probably thinking, “Sounds great, but it’s really expensive, right?”

Actually, I’m saving money over what I was using before.

Whether you are using salon-quality products or getting your shampoo at Target, there are several reasons to consider switching:

The shampoo you are using is mostly water.

Whether you use a drugstore brand or buy your shampoo from the salon, the product is 80% water, giving you only 20% of actual ingredients. No matter how good those ingredients are, that’s not a good value!

These products are 60% product, giving you three times more per bottle: which means an 8 oz bottle of this is like buying a liter bottle of anything else. Monat shampoo is literally a shampoo concentrate. 

Most shampoos and conditioners contain silicones and waxes

(even if they are free of sulfates and parabens)

The purpose of silicones, gums and waxes is to protect against heat; the problem is that these substances coat your hair and build up over time, causing all kinds of problems: dryness, brittleness, split ends and even hair loss.

So your hair is less manageable, takes longer to dry, and has to be cut more often because it’s unhealthy. 

More trips to the salon does not equal a lower cost.

If you want to check the ingredients of your bottle, anything ending in “-cone” is a silicone, and acts like plastic on your hair when you use heat, damaging it to the core.

Contrast: none of that in this brand.

I use a dime-sized portion for each wash: the first wash grabs build up and the second wash flushes it away, for a sqeaky-clean feel that lets you know the build-up is gone.

The brand is MONAT: the first anti-aging hair care line ever.

With all of these benefits and no additional cost, why wouldn’t you try Monat today?

30 Day Empty Bottle Money Back Guarantee

We are so sure you are going to fall in love with these products, you try any product for 30 days and receive a full refund if you are unhappy for any reason–even if you’ve used the whole bottle? 

Have you ever purchased a shampoo that offered that?

Wanna know a secret, though? There is a less than 1% return rate.

Now that’s a guarantee.

VIP customers get a free product with every flex-ship order. This month you can choose which one you want:

What are you waiting for? Get the best hair of your life, or your money back. Check out these amazing before & after pictures, posted by users:

Heal Damage

Get Back Manageability and Health

Create an Ideal Environment to REGROW HAIR!!

Bring Life, Shine, Bounce and Vibrancy to Color-Treated Hair! 

.

Tame Those Tangles and Bring back the Soft, Shiny Curls! 

Hydrate and Nourish: Perfect for Any Hair Type or Ethnicity!

What is Your Confidence Worth? 

As mentioned above, these products are so concentrated, they will last you for months–so you actually save money while getting the hair of your dreams!

Imagine what it will be like to turn heads because you have shiny, beautiful, healthy hair.

Imagine having hair that you can’t stop touching and that makes you look great in every picture.

Imagine frizz is a thing of the past, and having great hair, even when it’s air dried.

Imagine healthier, more vibrant hair with every wash.

Imagine how you’ll feel when you see people looking twice, three times when you walk by.

Imagine spending less time getting ready, and looking even better than before.

Imagine going longer between haircuts–growing your hair longer, faster without damage

Imagine what MONAT can do for you. 

To see this month’s offers, click here. Go to “Start Now” and click on your country. You will see the offers and prices available to you today.

There are three options if you are ready to buy, and discounts are available!

How could having the best hair of your life change everything for you? There are samples available if you need to try it first–but there is always an EMPTY BOTTLE Money-Back guarantee–try it risk free for 30 days and see what Monat can do for you!

Get the best hair of your life, or your MONEY BACK! 

(Scroll down for more details on each product and what it does for you.) 

If you have any questions about any of the products, my experience, or how to order, feel free to contact me by email, text (802-227-7051) or on messenger.

Here are some details on some of MONAT’s botanical, revolutionary products:

  • Rejuvenique Oil Intensive                                                                                           Abyssinian oil was the first ingredient selected for its remarkable rejuvenating properties. Next, a blend of 13+ unique ingredients, including antioxidants, beta-carotene, and omega-3 fatty acids was developed. Thus REJUVENIQE Oil Intensive was born. Think of it like replenishing your hair and scalp with much needed nourishment that tends to be removed through washing. Because REJUVENIQE is compatible with the skin, it is easily absorbed without leaving greasiness.This flagship product balances the scalp, resolving both dryness and oiliness and nourishing the hair and scalp. Use the Rejuveniqe Oil as an overnight treatment once or twice per week, then wash the next morning. You may find yourself washing your hair less often–which is better for your hair, your scalp, and your wallet!

Rejuveniqe Oil is also a luxurious anti-aging facial moisturizer and can even be used to help resolve skin issues such as psoriasis and other rashes. It’s very concentrated, so a few drops will do–and there are over 600 drops in each bottle. With over 101 uses, this is one versatile oil! (Message me and ask for the 101 uses and I’ll send it to you!)

  • Restore Leave-In Conditioner                                                                                        I love this lightweight leave-in conditioner because it weighs down my wispy, wavy hair just enough it make it look great: it’s great in combination with the air dry cream.
  • Revive Shampoo                                                                                                                                    Get volume and smooth, shiny style. This is the shampoo I use most often for my fine, thin, limp hair.
  • Revitalize Conditioner                                                                                                                 The other half of the Volume System, this is the most popular conditioner: strengthen and smooth your hair while nourishing it and cleansing out the build-up. It smells like heaven!
  • Tousled Texturizing Mist                                                                                                                    This fun styling product gives your hair the sexy, messy look like you’ve just come back from the beach.

Guys. This technology is pretty great: tiny (natural) beads penetrate your hair shaft and actually mend split ends! Makes hair smoother and mends damage so you can go longer between hair cuts and grow your hair long, strong and smooth!

This cream has been a game changer for me: now I can air dry my hair without using curlers or tying it up all day. My hair looks great air drying it loose, and it dries so much faster!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you love the idea of dry shampoo but have never found one you love, this is for you. Dry shampoos normally contain talc (carcinogen) and leave a white powder residue in your hair (not great for brunettes–which is why I’ve never used it).

This one doesn’t have talc and doesn’t leave a white residue. It lets you delay washing for another day and your hair still looks great–and nourishes your hair while doing it! Use it after going to the gym too for an effortless style.

PLUS it’s CFC-free, recyclable and doesn’t affect the ozone layer–and it’s not flammable (no butane or propane)!

This is the best hairspray I’ve ever used. The cleanest ingredients in a hairspray I’ve ever seen and doesn’t create the build up on your scalp that other hairsprays do. I also love the scent (and don’t worry — all the fragrances in MONAT products are safe).

PLUS it’s CFC-free, recyclable and doesn’t affect the ozone layer–and it’s not flammable (no butane or propane)!

In addition, when you sign up as a VIP customer now you will receive an additional free product at check-out and free shipping on your order!

*VIP benefits are below. This first order counts as your first flex ship.

More Resources:

More about MONAT: the company, the brand, the products

How to Buy genuine MONAT products and save the most money. 

How Non-toxic is it? See the Ingredients and Skin Deep Scores

Search this Group to Find Your Issue and See Which Products They Used (Everyone posts their own results here) 

A Review of WOW Apple Cider Vinegar Shampoo and Conditioner

Still have questions? Text me at 802-227-7051

or email me at leah@freedomandcoffee.com

New to Freedom & Coffee? Start here.

Disclosure: many of the product links in this post are affiliate links, which means I will receive a small commission from any purchase. I only recommend products that I love and this is at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting our mission with your clicks!