Conscious Living Online Radio by Conscious Living0 | Blog Talk Radio

Conscious Living Online Radio by Conscious Living0 | Blog Talk Radio

Check out my new radio show about healthy living!

Making your own powdered sugar out of unrefined organic granulated sugar is quick and easy. You can use Rapadura or sucanat sugar granules. Just place 1 ½ cups of sugar crystals in a blender with 1 tablespoon of cornstarch or arrowroot starch. Begin at the lowest speed and work up to the highest speed. Let it run on the highest speed until it becomes light and powdery. This will only take a few minutes. To avoid breathing in any airborne powder, let it sit until it has settled. You will have a powdered sugar that is anywhere from light brown to tan in color due to its mineral and vitamin content. You can use this in any frosting recipe. I tried using palm (coconut) sugar and it was okay, but I wasn't that impressed with the finished product. I made a delicious carrot cake with a cream cheese frosting, using Rapadura and everyone loved it!  

Now for a mixed seed butter rich in nutrients. You can choose any seeds that you like. I chose these because they are what I had on hand. If I had pumpkin, I would have added a small amount of them too. Seeds are high in fiber and protein. Sesame oil, used in Ayurvedic medicine, is very healing, it even fights gingivitis. Sesame seeds are high in calcium, a good source of vitamins B and E as well as minerals such as iron, copper, manganese, magnesium and zinc. They contain sesamin and sesamolin. These lignan fibers are said to help prevent high blood pressure and protect the liver against oxidative damage. Flax seeds, also high in lignans, are rich in omega-3 essential fatty acids and phytochemicals including antioxidants which promote health and prevent disease. Flax seeds and hemp seeds are high in all nine essential amino acids. Hemp seeds have a balanced ratio of omega 3 and 6 fatty acids. Sunflower seeds are a powerhouse of vitamins and minerals, healthy fats and protein. They contain selenium a mineral which helps prevent cancer and is said to actually promote DNA repair.

Begin by putting seeds  into a blender, in this case I chose 1 tablespoon of flax seed, 1 tablespoon of hemp seeds, ½ c. sunflower seeds and 1 cup sesame seeds.  Add just enough sesame oil to start the blending process, stopping blender now and then to stir the seeds with a spatula adding more oil as needed. I started the process on low speed, until the mixture formed a paste, then turned up the speed until the mixture was the consistency of tahini. In case you are unfamiliar with sesame seed butter (tahini), just blend until relatively smooth. Add ½ teaspoon of Utah Red or other high quality salt and blend. Scoop seed butter into a container of your choice.

You can use what's left in your blender to make seed milk for a smoothie. Just add a cup of water to the blender, honey to taste (I add about 1 teaspoonful), frozen berries and a frozen banana. Seed butter has a stronger flavor than nut butter, so it may not taste as good when making smoothies with greens added. I find that sesame goes better with fruit especially bananas and berries.   

You can make an all-natural floor cleaner out of a few ingredients from your kitchen. This is my favorite:

1 cup vinegar

10 drops orange essential oil

1 squirt of unscented natural, earth friendly dish soap

Put the above ingredients in a pail and then fill the pail with water. Mop floor, empty pail contents, refill with plain water and go back over the floor with a squeezed out mop. I leave mine on for a few minutes before rinsing off. It does a good job on linoleum floors and it smells great!

Do not use on marble floors. Acidic cleaners will ruin shiny polished marble surfaces.

Dryer sheets and fabric softeners contain some of the most toxic substances to have in your home. The chemicals that make up their heavy fragrances bake right into the fabric and become a part of the garments you wear every day. These harmful toxins are absorbed, into your body, through the skin and have been linked to cancer, upper respiratory problems and central nervous system disorders. Why spend good money to buy products that poison and cause disease? You are not left without options.

If you don't mind the bumping around noise, as they do their job, two tennis balls will fluff up your laundry and reduce dryer time in the process. In addition to that, you can dampen an old washcloth with vinegar and toss it into the dryer with wet clothes. Here is a recipe that has worked for me.

Put 1 cup of white vinegar in a spray bottle, add 1 teaspoon of lemon essential oil and spray an old washcloth 5 or 6 times. Always be sure to shake the bottle before spraying. I have two washcloths to use for this purpose in order to wash one with a load of laundry to reuse to dry the next.

By the way, if you need help moving beyond your goals, click here: www.northstatehypnosis.net

Just adding one or two more ingredients can make your homemade, toxic free cleaning products even better. Here is my favorite glass and mirror cleaner recipe:

1/8 cup rubbing alcohol (Isopropyl probably works better but I use a clear cetl alcohol such as vodka)

1/8 cup white distilled vinegar

1 cup warm water

1 teaspoon cornstarch 

You just mix and pour it into a spray bottle. Shake before using. The addition of corn starch and alcohol helps prevent streaking.

You can tweak the recipe a little to make a disinfecting cleanser, for your counters, by leaving out the cornstarch.

Just think of all the money you will be saving by making your own!

For those interested in avoiding harsh house cleaning chemicals,  try making your own.  It is fast, easy and costs next to nothing.  To clean your bathroom sink and tub, you can make a soft scrub cleanser by mixing together baking soda with just enough natural liquid soap or dish soap to resemble the consistency of bakery cake frosting.  You use this mixture as you would any cleansing scrub.  If you have one of those sponges with a scratchy side, you can apply this mixture to your wet surface with its scratchy side and scrub in small circular motions, then use the sponge side to thoroughly rinse it off.  After you are done, run your hand around to make sure it has all been rinsed off.  Of course, it can do no harm, but it can be annoying to step into a tub of water and feel dried soda instead of the unusual slick surface of the tub.

An easy way to clean the toilet is to pour a cup of baking soda into the toilet bowl, scrub, leave it an hour and then flush.

For an effective glass and surface cleaner, mix 1 cup of white distilled vinegar with 1 cup of water, pour into a plastic spray bottle, spray the surface and wipe off with a lint free cloth.

It's simple to make raw nut butter.  Nuts are high in fiber, phyto-nutrients, antioxidants and are great source of vitamins, such as vitamins E, B-complex, and minerals.

I use a variety of nuts such as walnuts which are high in omega 3 fatty acids; brazil nuts a great source of selenium; cashews which contain zea-xanthin an important antioxidant that protects the eyes against UV rays; pecans  which also contains zea-xanthin as well as ellagic acid which protects the body from cancer and almonds which are the most nutitious, high protein nut available.

Simply put the desired amount of mixed nuts of choice in a blender adding just enough omega 3 rich walnut oil to form a butter. Allow the blender to run a few seconds, then turn it off to stir the mixture before giving it another whirl. A pinch of Utah Red or Himalayan salt adds more minerals. It tastes really good and is really good for you. You don't need to waste money on supplements when you eat high quality, nutrient dense foods. Our bodies were made to get what they need from live food, not hard to digest tablets and pills that do not contain the full-spectrum of substances that make them bio-available.

For easier blender cleanup and to prevent waste, you can use what is left in your blender to make a nice nut milk.  All you do is add a cup or two of water and some honey then proceeding to make your smoothie. 

You can add or subtract any nut that you like according to preference. 

For a healthy, easily absorbable iron supplement which is also good for eczema, I make this iron tonic.  I drink some orange juice or take a C supplement with it for even greater iron absorption. It really helps my anemia. This is how I make it:
Boil one quart of water in a pan. Turn heat down low and add 1 oz. of yellow dock root.  Let simmer until the liquid is reduced to half a quart.  This takes approximately an hour on my topstove. Strain the herb and pour liquid in a quart jar.  Add 1/2 cup of quality blackstrap molasses.  That's it!  Some add dandelion root, I don't since it is best avoided by those who have gallbladder problems.  I keep it in the refrigerator and take a tablespoon three to six times per day. This formula is not constipating like most iron supplements.  In fact it is a mild laxative.  There are some contraindications in using yellow dock.  Due to the irritating effects of oxalates in Yellow Dock it must be avoided by those with kidney disease or kidney inflammation. Those with gastrointestinal irritation might also want to avoid it due to its mild laxative effect.
Taking it internally, in the form of this tonic, and making a paste of yellow dock from the powdered herb to apply topically on my eczema numular, really affords me relief.  I also put licorice tincture and coconut oil on eczema blisters instead of cortisone cream or make a salve when I have time.