Feeling a Little Backed Up? 3 Ways to Naturally Become Regular Again Posted on August 5th, 2009
Constipated? No matter what you’re doing, that backed up feeling makes it uncomfortable. I won’t describe the whole feeling to you, you already know what it’s like. No point in my describing the stuffed, uncomfortable, can’t sit flat, lower abdomen ache that is constipation.
I remember when I was a kid, maybe 7 or 8 years old, I got backed up really bad. I don’t remember the reason, but I recall it involved a large quantity of food the day before. Cheese, probably. That’s always been one of my weaknesses. Anyway, I had that over-stuffed feeling you get and was trying to figure out what to do. Without telling my parents, of course. I had a real fear of sickness, since my father was an anesthesiologist and everything he did to fix things seemed to involve needles.
So I told my friend Robby about it. He thought that maybe a horse ride would work. It didn’t. So we tried a few other things. Then someone (him or me, I don’t recall) got the idea that maybe punching me in the gut would work. It didn’t, but it hurt like hell. When I got home, I didn’t eat dinner so my mom knew something was wrong. I never missed meals. I broke down and told her what had happened.
The fix? The dreaded castor oil. Straight. No fancy drinks to pretty it up. Have you ever had castor oil? Nasty stuff. Demon snot probably tastes better. It worked, though. I remember my sisters pounding on the bathroom door trying to get ready for bed.
When most people get this way, they usually reach for an over-the-counter laxative. Maybe it’s the pink stuff or the nasty pills. These are likely to work, but at what cost? They’re fixing the constipation, sure, but what caused it to begin with?
Usually, it’s stress-related. Our jobs, our lives, our relationships, or something else is stressing us out and keeping our bowels uninterested in regular performance.
So the first step is to treat the root of the problem. Regular exercise, stress-relieving activities, and a well-balanced diet with lots of green vegetables and fiber are the key. Even with great diet and a relatively stress-free life, though, some of us are going to get plugged up occasionally.
Don’t worry, for those occasions, there are still natural alternatives to the drugs at the pharmacy!
Castor Oil
Your grandma’s old stand-by, castor oil, is one of these natural alternatives. I should know. Take a tablespoon full and stay near the bathroom. It can be mixed with tea or non-citric juice (citrus will react with the castor, giving you a stomach ache). It will take an hour or two to work in most cases. Contrary to what you’ve seen on the Little Rascals, it’s not a good idea to use this remedy on small children.
Flax and Linseed Oils
The fresh stuff is best. Use either in small quantities of a tablespoon or so. These can be taken directly, mixed with light tea, or with water. This takes a few hours to work, usually.
Olive Oil
This is a popular remedy and works for small children and adults. It’s extremely mild, but it can take some time to operate. Take a swig of olive oil (a couple of tablespoons) and let it do the rest. You can mix with just about any juice, tea, etc. if you wish.
Other Information
Of course, anyone who’s spent a day at the orchard picking and overstuffed with fruit knows that this can make you decidedly non-constipated. Fruits like apples, grapes, plums, prunes, etc. all do this. Probably not recommended, but it’s up to you.
In normal amounts, fruits like bananas (slightly over-ripe is best), apple juice, and of course prunes are all good things to ad to any of the above oils to solve the problem. A couple of prunes and a spoonful of castor oil can clear you right out. And quickly.
Most people with a good diet and regular exercise don’t have many problems with constipation. Of course, I’m not a doctor and if your constipation lasts longer than a day or so, you should seek medical help.
Natural Mosquito Repellents You Can Use Right Now Posted on July 27th, 2009
This was originally published in Natural News on July 23, 2009.
by Aaron Turpen
Have you ever looked at the back of a bottle of insect repellent you might have purchased in the store? You`ll see chemical names like N-diethyl-meta-toluamide, N-diethyl-3-methyl-benzamide, 2-hydroxyethyl, and 1-methylpropyl ester.
Do you have any idea what those are? Most people don`t, but according to the Environmental Protection Agency`s website, the first two are the chemical names for DEET and the other two for Picaridin.
The EPA`s own study of DEET in 1998 found that it poses no specific risk to humans provided it is not worn for long periods of time and is used as a topical repellent only. Their tests of both DEET and Picaridin show them to only be “slightly toxic” when ingested.
This could be worse, but if you`re not interested in even slightly exposing your family to questionable chemicals–especially if a proven alternative exists–then there are ways to avoid them. Why expose yourself or your children to potentially toxic chemicals if you don`t have to?
Prevention First
The first step in keeping mosquitoes from biting is to not have them around in the first place. Your home, place of business, etc. might be a mosquito breeding ground. Drain or clean up any standing water.
If you have ponds or non-chlorinated pools, consider a circulation system to keep them fresh and clean.
Keep the gutters around your home clear of debris.
Two other attractants are evergreens (especially the heavy foliage types) and dark clothing. Consider using a natural insect killer like diatomaceous earth (DE) to treat your trees and shrubs. Finally, avoid dark clothing if possible, as it`s a natural visual cue for mosquitoes.
Natural Insecticides
There are a lot of natural insecticides you could turn to for help in keeping the pesky mosquitoes away as well. Many are available as topical oils and creams for ready use off the pharmacy or health store shelf. Others can be quickly (and easily) made at home from essential (non-dilute) oils.
Dim Bulbs Posted on July 24th, 2009
Michael Heberling points out some new problems that face us now that the federal government has banned the incandescent bulbs invented by Thomas Edison, in use for the last century. By 2012, they must be replaced by more expensive “energy-efficient” compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs.
“….the United Kingdom’s Health Protection Agency recommends that people be no closer than about a foot from these lights for more than an hour a day. The ultraviolet radiation emitted by CFLs is like direct sunlight on bare skin. Thus the government is mandating that we all have miniature sun lamps throughout our homes.”
The new bulbs also contain mercury. So what are we supposed to do when we have to dispose of the bulbs? Maine’s bureaucrats have a 14-point set of clean-up rules that include:
- Do not use a vacuum cleaner to clean up the breakage. This will spread the mercury vapor.
- Ventilate the area by opening windows, and leave the area for 15 minutes.
- Carefully remove the larger pieces and place them in a secure closed container.
- Label the container as “universal waste.”
- Take the glass container with the waste material to a facility that accepts “universal waste” for recycling.
That is Maine’s current “toned down” clean-up rules after EPA bureaucrats first embarrassed themselves by initially telling a woman who broke a fluorescent bulb that she might have to hire a hazardous materials cleanup contractor.
Of course, minor risks with mercury might be worth it if the new bulbs were significantly more efficient, but they aren’t. Says Heberling:“The DOE guidelines for CFLs suggest that they be left on for at least 15 minutes after they are turned on… the lifespan of a CFL depends on how many times you turn it on and off. Failure to keep the light on causes the bulbs to burn out just as fast as the Edison bulbs. There go those big savings. So try to get in the habit of not turning off the lights after using the bathroom, a closet, or the laundry room. However, plan to come back 15 minutes later to turn off the light.”
“And while CFLs that are left on may last ten times longer than incandescent lights, no one is saying that they will fully perform for that long. A Department of Energy study found that after 40 percent of the advertised service life, a quarter of the CFLs started to become dim bulbs. If you don’t mind having dim bulbs for 60 percent of the service life, then CFLs should make you happy.”
We do have options:
“The first is to go out and buy up all the old-fashioned Edison bulbs before they become illegal. The second option is to try to get a family discount on hazmat suits. The final option is to just say no to dim bulbs.”
Saying “no” probably won’t help. Once the federal regulating behemoth makes rules, it rarely repeals them.
DIY – Making Homemade Deodorant Posted on July 24th, 2009
If you want natural, chemical-free armpits, you have three choices: shower two or three times a day, stink and hope no one notices, or make your own deodorant.
Luckily, you don’t have to waste water or lose your social life because making your own deodorant is actually pretty easy. It’s cheap, doesn’t take a lot of ingredients, and is even more cost effective than the bourbon that your uncle from the 1980s wore as cologne. Remember him?
Here’s the stuff you’ll need:
- Corn starch
- Baking soda
- Coconut or aloe oil
- A small or medium-sized mixing bowl
- A container for the finished product (more on this later)
- Optional scents (essential oils or additives)
You can skip the essential oils, but a few of them are useful as anti-bacterial/microbials for further scent control. Your stinkiness primarily comes from bacteria growing in your sweat and belching out stink. Good oils for anti-microbial are bay, cinnamon, clove, and thyme. Make sure you aren’t sensitive to these, since they can cause a rash if you are. They’re optional, so if you have a problem, skip them or use something else.
Other nice scents are aloe, mint, vanilla, and rose oil. Go easy on these, since their essentials are extremely potent. Lighter scents like lemon oils, sandalwood, and others are also nice.
Now for the mixing. Use a bowl large enough to hold at least three cups. You can scale this recipe up or down to taste, but mind the scents as they can get tricky when you do that. Too little is way better than too much, but you can always scale up without extra scent to dilute it, I guess.
Mix: 1/2 cup of corn starch and 1/2 cup of baking soda. Sift or stir well to blend them together into a seamless powder. Ad four tablespoons of coconut or aloe oil.
Depending on the consistency of your oil, ad more powders (evenly mixed) or oil to make a dry mush. You’re trying for the consistency of store-bought deodorant sticks here. Use your bare hand or a spoon or fork. Once you have the consistency you want, dribble in your scent.
Mix again and then put into your dispensing container. This can be an old deodorant store-bought “stick”, a petri-style dish, Tupperware, whatever you want. It doesn’t have to be “sealed,” but doing so preserves the scent. You can spread it on with a stick, spackle it on with your fingers, rub it on with a cloth, or whatever. Choose a container that you’ll use, though.
Then let it sit for a day or two to “settle” and solidify a little. It will “flake” off a little when you apply, which is exactly what you want. It should hold up in most normal temperature ranges, but if your area gets very hot, you’ll probably want to use a thicker coconut oil with a higher melt-off temperature.
If you have a real stink problem and normal stick deodorants don’t cut it for you, then you’ll have to take it up a notch. Remember back when I talked about vinegar and how you could use it to de-stink your feet?
Well, it works everywhere else too. So you can soak a rag or cloth in vinegar, compress it under your armpit (just put the cloth under there and hold your arm down) and watch TV or read a book for a while. Then rinse or clean yourself off. Do this every 2-3 days and you won’t have much stink (if any) at all.
This works the same way it does on your feet, but can leave a residual vinegary smell. It’s not usually bad, though. Here’s how the vinegar trick works (on feet, pits, butt, whatever you try it on):
The vinegar soaks into your skin and pores, killing microbials and things that have too many arms under a microscope. The residual vinegar hangs around for a while, continuing it’s commando action against the stink-making bacteria. Since the bacteria are what makes the stink…
There ya go. If you have sensitive skin, you’ll want to test this on a small area before you go whole hog with the vinegar, but it’s pretty rare that someone’s skin is that sensitive.
Who said being a tree huggin’ hippie freak meant you had to stink like a caveman?!
Tater Totes – Cool DIY Potato Grow Bags Posted on July 23rd, 2009
Here’s a cool Instructable I found for making semi-portable, non-invasive potato grow bags. These are basically homemade versions of the canvas-like potato bins you see in garden stores. They’re made using landscaping fabric (called “weed block film”).
Before you go check out the great Instructable for making Tater Totes, watch the following video on how they’re made first:
