Essential Oils

After doing a ton of research and decided to go with Young Living Essential Oils. I like that they own their own farms and monitor every step of oil production. I trust Young Living seed to seal process.


Want to give it a try?  You can get it 2 ways.
1. Wholesale Member
2. Retail Customer

I recommend Wholesale Member even if you're a beginner. Get 24% discount off every product. you don't need to "sell oils". You do have the option of sharing oils with your friends/family and have opportunity to earn commissions and participate in promos for free oils. If this is something you're interested in I can help you get started.

What do you need to get started?
You begin as a wholesale member by purchasing the enroll kit. There are options to choose from. I only recommend the Premium Starter kit that comes with the diffuser. If money is an issue, I'd recommend saving up for it. It real is the only one with the best value and help you start practicing using Essential Oils. It's the only kit that gives you the Everyday oils kit. The Everyday oils kit will give you endless options to treat your family. It retails over $300, but as a wholesale member you get 50% off.

INCLUDED IN PREMIUM STARTER KIT

- 5ml of the following Essential Oils

• Lavender 
• Peppermint 
• Lemon 
• Frankincense 
• PanAway 
• Melaleuca Alternifolia 
• Thieves 
• Purification 
• Stress Away 
• Joy 
• Citrus Fresh

- Home Diffuser ($96 value, I use it everyday)

- 2 Ningxia Red 2oz sample

- Aroma Glide roller fitment (to turn any bottle of oil into a roll on)
10 sample packets total of (lavender, peppermint, peace & calming, lemon, thieves) to share with family and friends

READY TO SIGN UP?

1. Click over to Sign up Page
2. Select "sign up as young living wholesale member"
3. The "Enroller ID" & "Sponsor ID" should already be filled in . If they aren't my ID is 1586885 You can fill in with this number.
4. FIll out your name, address,  and all your information. (The reason they're asking for your SSN is for tax purposes. If you end up making more than $600 a year selling Young Living products. You'll receive a 1099 in the mail by law. Young living never shares your information with anyone.
5. Create a password & pin.
6. Select a kit (I recommend the PREMIUM KIT)
7. OPTIONAL you can sign up for Essential Rewards. It is not a requirement to be a Wholesale Member. This is a rewards program you can opt to start earning money back to help pay for oils. 
8. Agree to terms & Conditions. Don't forget to click: CONFIRM.

CONGRATULATIONS!!! WELCOME TO THE  AMAZING WORLD OF ESSENTIAL OILS!!!

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

DOES SIGNING UP MAKE ME A 'DISTRIBUTOR'?

Nope!  You are not required  to sell anything at all to anyone. When you become a wholesale member, you get a special link that you can share with friends and get credit from their purchases, but there are no minimum sales amount at all. in fact, 90% of the wholesale members in Young Living don't do the business side at all. They are buying from Young Living because of the quality alone.

AM I REQUIRED TO MAKE A MINIMUM PURCHASE EACH MONTH?

There are absolutely NO minimum monthly purchase requirements. To remain a wholesale member, you have to make $50 worth of purchases per year to keep you r membership. But if theres' a ear that you don't make a $50 purchase, you can reinstate your wholesale membership discount by just placing a $50 order.

If you do find yourself making regular purchases each month, then young Living has a rewards program (called Essential Rewards) where you can make a nice percentage back in product credit each month on all of our purchases. So that's a neat program to join if you find that you "want" to purchase regularly (but it's not a requirement for being a wholesale member)

WHY SHOULD I BUY FROM YOUNG LIVING INSTEAD OF OTHER ESSENTIAL OIL COMPANIES?

It does seem like new essential oil companies pop up every day. I can't speak to the quality of other companies, but I can say that Young Living was the only company in my research of essential oil companies that could answer all of my questions about purity in a way that was satisfactory to me. 

Young Living was the only company that has their own farms, could absolutely guarantee that no pesticides or herbicides were used in the growing of any of their oils (they do their weeding by hand), has their own testing equipment (they do in house & 3rd party testing, which test whether chemicals are synthetic or not). 

HOW WILL I KNOW WHAT OILS ARE FOR WHAT?

One of the benefits of getting a starter kit through this promotion is that you also get to join our private facebook group that's specifically for questions about essential oils!

tomatoes

Last year was the very first time in my life I have planted tomatoes. My hubby built me a raised bed last year and I planted a few cherry tomato plants. It was fun to go out everyday to see if any cherry tomatoes were growing.

This year I thought it went so well that instead of planted 4, I'd plant 11 in the same amount of spacing. I knew there were rules on how close you could plant them, but I thought hey...the more the merrier. Plus I want to plant as many tomato plants as I can so I can make salsa and hopefully tomato sauce. My goal really is to become self-sufficient as much as possible. I'm hoping to grow things that we eat a lot of. We eat salsa at least once a week, and tomato sauce once a week as well. So we'll see how much salsa/tomato sauce I can generate with 11 plants. 

I planted a few different kinds of tomatoes. I planted one row of hybrids and one row of heirlooms. I didn't know till after I brought them home what the difference was. According to Lowes.com: 

Heirloom tomatoes are old varieties grown from seed saved from season to season. Heirlooms are a category unto themselves. They tend to be less disease resistant and "wilder" in appearance. Fans insist that their flavor and uniqueness make up for any disadvantages.

Hybrid tomatoes are developed to give growers the best characteristics of all varieties. Fruit size, crop yield and disease resistance are all traits of hybrids.

When I first planted the tomato plants I put the cages on them so they'll go big and tall in the cage. I put the cages on them just the way I bought them from the store with the big side down....until I posted my proud picture on facebook and one of my more experienced gardener friends asked me what my secret tip was to putting them upside down like that. Ha! I had no idea they were upside down. How embarrassing! I turned them around the right way.

The tomato plants after I first planted them with the cages the wrong way...

My eldest child posing with the tomato plants with the cages the right way.

They've been growing for 1 month and I'm seeing so many tomatoes growing! I am now starting to understand why the guidelines are to plant the tomatoes a bit apart. They are getting so big, I am having a hard time seeing in between the plants.

My RESULS from the 7 day Juice detox

Seven Day juice detox is over. I woke up Monday morning craving a Super Juice, and unfortunately I have no fruit and veg left in my fridge. I have made my shopping list for the week, and my family is going to have wonderful fruits and veggies for the most part and a Super Juice for breakfast each day. 

So after craving my super juice and not be able to have it, I remembered we're supposed to do our measurements today to send in to Jason Vale. He had said not to weigh yourself during the detox, and wait till the end. I couldn't wait, so I've been weighing myself every day. Very early on, I lost 6 lbs. By the end of the juice detox I lost a total of 7 lbs. but the AMAZING results I couldn't wait to share with the world is: I've lost a total of 14.5 inches!!!!!! 14.5 inches!!! I feel lighter, I feel like I can do anything. I have more energy and there's no more cloud or haziness at all.

Here's the breakdown:

• I've lost 6 inches on my waist! 6 inches?!?!?!?! My pants fit! I tried on dresses and they're big. I have to return a skirt because it fell off! I'm so happy I could cry! Pre-pregnancy size here I come!
• I've lost 4 inches on my hips!
• 2 inches on my behind are gone
• I've lost 2.5 inches around my rib area.
• TOTAL of 14.5 inches! WOW! 

This detox has catapulted a love for healthy living. On my husband and my date night the other night we bought a rebounder (i.e. a mini trampoline). Jason vale says it's awesome because you feel like a kid. He has a video for $15 for sale on his website and the same size rebounder that I bought he sells for $129 (for a 40 inch rebounder). I bought a Gold's gym one from Walmart for $29! I got it home and had a blast jumping! I found videos on youtube for beginners and not only did I feel the burn, but I felt like a kid. I couldn't stop laughing as I was "rebounding". 

I am going to miss seeing Jason's daily encouraging videos. I'm going to miss knowing that 24,000 other people are in it with me. Now the challenge is to keep the momentum going, and to 'up' my game. We're going on vacation in February, and I'm going to do my best to get myself as fit and healthy for that trip!

What to do with the Pineapples...DAY 7!

DAY 7 is here!  I did it, with lots of prayer and definitely the Lord's help. The Juice Detox is over! I feel like a million bucks. I am on a path to physical wellness. Not just living well, but thriving! I don't want this momentum to stop.

I had juiced all of our juices for today, yesterday. So we didn't have to get out the juicer at all today.  When we started this 7 day juice journey we planned that we would eat lunch on the 7th day. Of course we had the lunch planned out completely. We were headed to one of our favorite spots: Chili's! We set limits for ourselves: Salad, chips & salsa! My first bite of a chip with salsa was one my mouth couldn't handle the intense flavors. I didn't even wait for someone to say grace. I bit down on the first chip, and the salt taste was delicious. The crunch of the chip, with the cold yet spicy salsa were welcomed flavors to my mouth. Since we've been having nothing but juice for the last seven days, I was singing in my seat over the yummy chips and salsa.  I couldn't wait for my salad to arrive. Jason Vale was right, I was craving veggies, not donuts! Wohoo! I made it! The juice detox works!

So the plan starting tomorrow???  Back to the Daniel fast. Eating whole grains, fruits, nuts, seeds, veggies, and water. It seems like there are SO many choices to eat on the Daniel Fast. About a year ago when I did the Daniel Fast I felt like I was depriving myself of so much. Now the Daniel Fast feels like a welcomed and exciting change! Funny how our perspective changes so much, as time goes on. After doing the Juice fast, the Daniel fast feels like it's really full of so many options.

My counter is empty since we've used all the fruits and veggies. I am chilling tonight looking through a vegan cookbook and my daniel fast cook book to figure out what the menu plan is for the week. I LOVED Jason Vale's Turbo express juice, and the Super Juice. I think our family is going to have that each morning for breakfast. Now, I just need to figure out what we're going to have for lunch and dinner. I'm thinking whole grain tortilla's toasted in the oven and topped with pizza sauce (homemade of course), and grilled veggies (grilled with lots of fresh herbs). Since we're on the Daniel Fast (no cheese). I'm salivating just thinking about it.

So with the Fast we went through A LOT of pineapples. I lopped off the tops of them and saved them each time we cut into a pineapple. Today I planted them all in my garden. We're going to dig a long narrow garden along the side of the house where I will space them out more. When they grow they get a lot wider. Pineapple tops grow another pineapple out the top of them. It's a really great idea to save the tops and replant and have another pineapple in 2-3 years. When you go to Lowe's or home depot and buy a pineapple plant the cost is $10! So I have 16 that didn't cost me anything since we were buying them for the juice fast anyway!

Some of the pineapples planted in a garden in front of the house

See the giant pineapple at the front on the right? I planted that one six months ago, and it's tripled in size. 

I also saved all of the pits of the avocados. They're sitting my window sill drying out right now. Hopefully we'll start some avocado trees soon.

Thanks for following along on this journey with me. I'm excited we're in this together!

My juicer is about to die....DAY 6

It's day 6 and I can almost feel the taste of the finish line. We are almost there! Tomorrow is the last day and I can taste the victory.  In all honesty I'm really missing the variety and textures of food. Who would have thought you could miss chewing, but this girl sure does.  My husband and I have already envisioned our first meal will be a salad at Chili's with chips and salsa! Tons of veggies here I come

Today I got up and made all the juices my husband & I needed for today, and tomorrow. I also tried to juice up the last of the pineapples, they were on the verge of going bad. My fridge was starting to smell a bit funny, so I thought it was best to juice up as much as I could so I wouldn't loose any of the produce.  My juicer is starting to smell like burning plastic, and it's not able to juice the center of a pineapple anymore. Part of the top has broken off,  it's getting rough...probably because I'm juicing 10 juices a day with it. My poor juicer, I think to celebrate after the 7 days is over I need to buy a new juicer. I would LOVE to buy the Philips Avance, that Jason Vale recommends, however it's only sold in the uk. I think it plugs into a different outlet. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this juicer! It's so different than any other juicer on the market. It's funky and extremely functional. I emailed Jason Vale's crew, and put a question on facebook to them regarding the Philips. If it could work in the U.S.A that is the juicer I want. I hope they get back to me quickly. Perhaps it's in the works to make it functional in the U.S.A? If it doesn't work out I'm thinking maybe about getting the Breville Fountain elite. Do you have a favorite juicer?

Philips Avance Juicer

The Ultimate Test on Day 5!

So I woke up on Day 5 with a TON of energy.  Made 5 juices for my husband, and 5 juices for me. I put them in tightly sealed mason jars in the fridge. I watched Jason's Day 5 video while I was juicing and got so inspired by hearing everyone's stories and the positive outcomes they're having. I appreciate those of you who reached out to me yesterday as I almost struggled. I indeed made it through today.

I made dinner with ease tonight for my kiddos: whole grain pasta with homemade pasta sauce. We had a treat tonight by having a babysitter watch our kids. We were so excited to be able to go out on a date. We planned to go to a movie. I was nervous about being in a theater with the smell of popcorn, and not being able to have any. So I planned to set us up for success. I packed 2 of our juices in mason jars and brought them in my purse. I also brought 2 S.O.S's with me: 2 banana's just in case we were really struggling with the smell of the popcorn and would want to cave.

When we walked into the movie theater the smell of popcorn hit me, but honestly not as badly as I thought it was going to. I clutched my heavy purse (full of 2 full mason jars of juice, and 2 banana's) close to me and proudly walked past the snacks without any regret. I was BEYOND proud of myself. I did it! Way to go me!!!  We walked into our theater and as the lights went down my hubby and I got out our juices. We were doing so well, we didn't even need the 'S.O.S' banana's.


Not only did we survive, but it was not nearly as tough as I thought it was going to be. I think we are getting stronger!  Only 2 more days! We are almost there!!!!

Elizabeth

S.O.S Fellow Juicing Buddies!!!!!

We were running errands tonight as a family. Actually we were dreaming at Home Depot & Lowes about our home projects. I always love dreaming there. When we finished the kids were super hungry (my 2 & 5 year olds). We decided to grab something for the kids to eat on the way home. It was hard a couple days ago when we picked them up nuggets and fries...but I mustered through the amazing smell. Unfortunately my wonderful kids picked my ABSOLUTE favorite food in the whole wide world: PIZZA! I didn't object when they asked, and I begrudgingly held it when my husband passed it to me. I smelled the ooey gooey cheese, sauce and crust as we drove the 10 minutes home. I felt like I was literally going to die. We arrived home, and I had no more mason jars to store my juice. So I had to unload the dishwasher and wash some mason jars in the sink. The kids were eating my favorite food at the table, and I didn't think I could handle even being in the kitchen anymore. My hubby looked at me and I had tears in my eyes. He said "Honey, go to the bedroom for 10 minutes, while they finish." I am so blessed to have a hubby support me and know when I'm struggling. I think tonight was the hardest moment of the last 4 days of my life. I know it's silly, it's just pizza. I just finished a post a couple hours ago about all my progress...and I'm sure it'd go out the window if I indulged in a slice. I keep having Jason Vale's voice from every coaching video saying "Eat it and shut-up, or don't eat it and shut-up."

So I will shut up. I just wanted to vent to a community who I know is supportive and caring.

The most awful and awesome moments of Day 3 and 4 of the Juice Fast

Well Day 3....I started my morning at 7 am with a headache and just feeling foggy. I had heard this could happen on Day 2, or Day 3. I decided to juice all of the juices for Wednesday since I was going to be gone for the whole day and night. I also juiced Thursdays 8am and 11am juice.  So in total that was 7 juices for me, and 7 for my hubby = a total of 14 juices juicing them all at one time. I didn't finish juicing until 10:30. I was completely and totally beat after that. While I was juicing I watched the two videos Jason Vale posted about juicing for the day. He shared an interesting tip to run warm water through the juicer in between juicing a juice to clean it. I thought that would work perfectly! So I ran the warm water through it, and didn't realize that the top of my juicer had a crack in it. A ton of pulp from the juice cam spewing out the back of the juicer as well as most of the water! What a disaster. It was such a mess, my whole counter top was a complete mess. So I had to pull it all apart, and clean the counter, and the juicer. I had to manually wash the juicer after every 2 juices I juiced. It seemed to take forever.
I drank my 8am juice at home
Had the 11, 2, 5 & 8pm all at work. It's always a long day on Wednesdays. Our normal routine before the Daniel & Juice fast we would order a pizza on Wednesday nights since we get home so late. So I found last night to be particularly difficult.

Jason had talked about how on day 4 most people get this surge of energy. I was so hoping that would be me. On Thursday (Day 4) I woke up ready to go. I got a ton of work done before 8am! Drove my daughter to school.  When I got home, my husband had a major spurt of energy too. He had started on some home renovations we have been wanting to do. I did a ton of errands, and still had energy left over. I never feel this good. I think the juicing is giving loads of extra energy. WOHOO!

Ready for more good news?!?!?! It's only half way through the juice detox and here are some stats:

• I've lost 1 1/2 inches on my hips
• I've lost 1 inch on my behind.
• and the best part: 4 inches on my waist & lost 6 lbs already!!!!!!!

Jason shared that there's a plan for 14 days after the detox. I can say for sure I am NOT going to eat the same after the detox. I am NOT going to eat as much. I am DEFINITELY going to be working out starting Monday! MOTIVATION has set in. I'm thrilled about the momentum.

For those of us who are doing the juice detox we are 60% of the way there! Way to go. We can do this!   Anyone planning your first meal after the detox? I am so sure we are having salad at Chilis, chips with salsa and a big glass of water!

End of Day 2

HAPPY DAY 2 of the World's biggest Juice Detox!!!!

We had juiced our 8am, 11am, and 2pm juice yesterday and poured them into mason jars and sealed them tightly to keep them fresh. We woke up today and had our hot water with lemon. I packed my three juices in my lunch sack. My husband had his in his cooler full of ice. It almost felt like a routine, even though it's only our 2nd day doing this.

I brought my 8am juice with me to my staff meeting. I love our work environment, everyone is very supportive of one another. In fact we have 20 people who are juicing or doing some kind of fast with us. One of my co-workers Mr. Terry asked to try some of the Super Juice. He was surprised how good it was. I shared that Jason Vale's recipes rock!

At lunch time I had someone pick me up some tomato soup. That was the only time I've veered off the plan, even though it was completely liquid.  I was surprised how much I had missed using a spoon. I had my 2pm juice while I picked up my daughter from school in the car rider line. When we got home I decided to cut and bag all of the fruits/veggies for Thursday & friday (since I had already cut up all of Wednesdays fruits/veggies). I labeled each bag with what juice it was, what day and what was still missing (i.e. the apples, and avocado so they wouldn't go bad before I juiced them).

I was surprised I was having a GREAT day, with no cravings, no sluggish moments until...our kiddos were hungry for dinner and we got them chicken sandwiches with french fries. The amazing smell filled the car and I thought I was literally going to die. I had this crazy, intense craving for yummy fried food. We got home, they ate their food two feet away from me, and I still suffered. I didn't complain out loud, I just had a hard time mentally because I could smell the yummy goodness. We then made my son his lunch for tomorrow. We made some macaroni and cheese on the stove, again the smell filled the air with ooey gooey cheese. All I could think about was jason vale's video this morning about how we get one S.O.S a day: either a banana or an avocado with salt/pepper and lime on it. He said to use this if it's a make or break moment. To eat one of those, if you feel like you're about to falter off the plan. So I decided on the avocado with the lime, salt/pepper on it. There was just something about bringing a fork up to my lips and eating it that tasted so delicious!  I was seriously in heaven, and didn't break the rules! Yay me!

We had the Turbo Charge Express at 5pm and again at 8pm. I decided instead of the Hot and Spicy to have some hot tea with honey like Jason suggested in the video this morning. It's not as filling, and a perfect end to the day.

I'm wondering how tomorrow is going to go? We shall see!

End of Day 1

Well...day 1 is coming to a close. I have had an exciting first start to the 7 day juice fast. I am pumped about the week, I wasn't tempted to eat rotten junk food, and I didn't even have an sugar cravings.   I LOVED the super juice we had twice today. I did find the Super Chute Juice smelled like grass....perhaps too healthy of a smell for me. It didn't taste bad though. I decided next time I make it, I'll definitely add more ginger, and lemon. Perhaps it'll make it taste better.

Super Chute Juice

I almost had a moment of weakness. I found it quite difficult when my husband was making my children personal pizzas tonight. The smell of the crust baking in the oven almost put me over the edge. I was standing at my juicer making our "dinner" the Turbo Express (2 apples, baby spinach leaves, celery, cucumber, lime, pineapple, avocado), while the smell of pizza was in the air .  I knew this week I'd stay away from temptation, and focus on the juicing. However, I didn't anticipate that we'd still have to prepare our children meals. I suppose they do have to eat!  Perhaps I could wear a mask, or scarf over my nose and mouth. I'm totally kidding...well, kind of.

Turbo Express our 5pm dinner.

I also juiced our 8pm drink: The Lemon-Ginger Zinger ( apples, carrots, ginger, lemon). I'm excited to try this one.

The Lemon Ginger Zinger

I also juiced our 9pm treat the Hot & Spicy. I think this is the one I'm most looking forward to! Each night at 9pm we get to juice 3 apples and heat them over the stove and add some cinnamon! Sounds so yummy, and comforting.

Tomorrow morning is a very early morning for our family, so I went ahead and juiced our 8am, 11am & 2pm juices.

I ended up juicing 12 juices tonight. I thought I was being smart juicing everything at the same time...however I had to  keep cleaning the juicer because it kept getting clogged. It was A LOT of work to juice that many juices at one time. I wonder if the juicer will make it through the week.  The nice thing is, the juices are all stored in the fridge in mason jars filled right up to the top and sealed tightly to help keep any oxidization from happening.  So I don't have to juice again until tomorrow afternoon for the evening juices.

Now I'm sitting by the fire, blogging, while my children play super mario. I've got my feet up, chilling on the couch looking forward to our 8pm juice.


Have a Blessed night!

DAY 1

We had planned to wake up at 6 am to start juicing, get the kids ready, get us ready and get out to door to our 4 locations for the day....but for some reason we couldn't spring out of bed. We clicked on the DAY1 video from Jason Vale to get inspired for the week. He had great tips for the week. One of my favorites was "Shut up and eat it , or shut up and don't eat it". we have a choice to choose to juice, or choose to eat the junk. It's important to not complain during the juice detox...you're just making it harder on yourself. You can eat whatever you want. What are you choosing to do this week? Keep a positive attitude. I love this!  Great motivation to start off the week right.


We got up and decided to divide and conquer! Juan got the kids ready, while I started the task of juicing 6 juices.

• Our 8am juice, the Super Juice (apples, pineapple, cucumber, lime, avocado, ice)
• Our 11 am juice, another Super Juice
• Our 2 pm juice, the super chute juice  (apples, carrot, celery, mixed green leaves, cucumber,  red beet, zucchini, lemon, ginger root, ice)

This morning we used:

• 12 apples
• 1 pineapple
• 1 lime
• 1 avocado
• 2 inches of carrots
• 1 stalk of celery
• 1/2 cup of lettuce
• 1 cucumber & 2 inches 
• 1 inch of red beet
• 1 inch of zucchini
• 2 inches of lemon
• 1 inch of ginger

We poured the 6 juices in mason jars, and labeled the top with 8am, 11am 2pm. So there's no guess work to what we're drinking & when. I put mine in a lunch tote and put them in the fridge when I got  to work. I filled a cooler with ice for my hubby and put his mason jars in there since he's on the road all day for work.

I saw on the greener living mom's facebook page that Ms. Shirley prepared her fruits/veggies for a few days and separated them into bags. I think I might do that to prepare ahead of time. This morning took A LOT longer than I anticipated.

So at 8am I had the Super Juice, and I have to say it's SUPER delicious. I had made a bit extra and my son LOVED it. You know it's a winner when the kiddos like it!

Looking forward to drinking the 2pm one while I wait in the car rider line to pick up my daughter from school. When I get home I'll start preparing all the fruits/veggies for the juices tonight and the ones we'll be juicing tomorrow morning.

Day before the Juice Fast

 Are you ready for the world's largest juice fast with Jason vale? This is how we're preparing:

We went to Publix and picked up ALL our produce for the week long juice fast! Our trunk was FULL of produce. We had to special order the apples and pineapples to get that many in bulk.

This is what 16 pineapples looks like.

This is what 1 case of golden apples looks like. 80 apples in this box. We ordered 2 of these boxes!

Here's most of the produce we'll need for the juice fast!

Let's have the best new year EVER!

Join us for the Daniel Fast in 2013! We're starting tomorrow morning. Today is the last day to indulge in your sugary sweets.

Not sure what it's all about? Not sure you can do it? I guarantee you, that you can do it. That it'll change your life. It's a time we set some time to focus on the Lord, and detox our bodies from all the Christmas foods. Check out the video to learn more. I hope you join us on this journey!

With Christ we can do all things!

7 Day Juice Fast

Lately I've been talking with some of my girl friends that in the new year we want to get healthy and start eating/living better. Then we started talking about wanting to do a 7 day juice fast. We were so excited about the idea, the idea grew and a couple of us, grew to a few of us. This week I opened my email and received one from the Juice Master: aka Jason Vale! It wasn't a personalized email or anything: however it was an email describing the World's Biggest Juice Detox. He's encouraging the world to do the detox. Last year he had over 18,000 people participate. This year he's looking to have over 20,000 participate. The Juice fast starts January 7 - January 13 2013. How neat is that, we were already thinking/planning to do a juice fast in the new year and here is a movement happening, inspiring the world to do a juice fast.

The reason he's not doing it January 1st, is to get your body ready for a juice fast after the holiday eating. So the first few days in January you cut out the sugar and garbage and stop caffeine etc to get ready for the fast.

Check out the website here.

Go to the Juice Master's website and sign up to join us!

So what will you need for the Juice fast?

• a Juicer 

•  a Blender 

•  Mason Jars (to store and bring your juice with you to work/while you're out)  

•  Fresh fruits/veggies to create delicious juice

• Optional:  His book 7 lbs in 7 days, or his Iphone app 7lbs in 7 days (to follow along, get great advice, amazing recipes etc)

 

So you're considering juicing in January with us? Here's a few reasons why I do it:

• You feel fabulous!
• Great way to jump start weight loss
• A quick way to get rid of toxicity in the body (especially after Christmas and holiday foods this season)
• Get a ton of minerals and nutrients to your body quickly with juicing

So what's my plan?

I've signed up for the world's biggest juice detox to start on the 7th and end on the 13th of January. I'm also going to start the Daniel Fast on January 1st. That way my body will be prepared for the juice fast. After the juice fast I'm going to continue the Daniel fast until January 21st. Not only will I be starting off the year right with healthy habits and spending the 1st 21 days of the year restraining from my sweet treats to focus on the Lord and hear his direction for my year and life. 

Want to be part? Follow this blog. I will be posting each day a video or post. Also, follow our group Greener living moms to get encouragement and feedback from other juicers during the journey. 

Live in Pensacola? We'll be going out for juice once during the week as a group at Everman. There's strength in numbers. we can do it together. 

My Favorite Loaf of Bread yet...

I've made about 1/2 a dozen loaves of bread in my breadmaker since I've been grinding my own flour. Most of them have seemed pretty dense, not really light and fluffy. The loaf of bread I made today is definitely the lightest, fluffiest, homemade bread I've ever made in the bread maker with my own ground flour.

It's called: Light Oat Bread. I got the recipe from Allrecipes.com

Ingredients:

It ended up a little lop sided, but tasted delicious, light and fluffy!

• 1 1/4 cups of warm water
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 cup rolled oats ground
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dry active yeast
• 1 teaspoon salt

The best news was that my family LOVED it too!

Old Fashioned Popcorn

I absolutely love a yummy snack while watching TV or a movie. Popcorn is definitely one of my favorite snacks. Growing up as a child, my family had a popcorn maker. You'd plug it in, pour your popcorn kernels in it, and popcorn would come out the other side.

 Then we would get bags of popcorn to pop in the microwave. I'll never forget when "Movie Theater flavored butter Popcorn" came out to pop at home. My family was literally in heaven. Every Thursday night we'd rent Blockbuster movies, order pizza, and make some "movie theater flavored butter popcorn" at home! We couldn't believe we could make that kind of popcorn at home without going to the theater. What a treat, and such fond memories I have.

Now that I'm the mom and have a family of my own, we have family movie night once a week. We try to pick a movie that the whole family will enjoy (including my youngest who's two). We make pizza at home, and lately have been wanting to find a better alternative to making popcorn in the microwave in a bag. It's really full of...for lack of a better word: 'junk'. I was at Everman, our local  co-op grocery store and discovered that you can buy organic popcorn kernels pretty cheap in bulk. I bought some and brought it home and put it in a glass jar. So it's ready when we're ready to make popcorn:

Here's how I make it:

• I put some oil in a pot on the stove
• I pour about a 1/4 of popcorn kernels in the pot
• Put the lid on the pot so the popcorn doesn't pop out
• Wait for it to pop
• Once it slows down popping, bring it off the stove and pour the kernels in a bowl
• Add your seasonings: like cinnamon/sugar, dill & garlic salt,  butter and salt etc. The options are endless! I love homemade popcorn

The best part about making homemade organic popcorn is you know exactly what you're putting in your body! No junk, no additives, no chemicals, and definitely no GMO's!   I promise you that making it at home, takes no more than 3 minutes. Which is exactly how much time it takes to make it in the bag in the microwave. So why not make it on the stove as a MUCH healthier and cheaper option?

 Try it! I'd love to hear what you think. 

Cheesy Bread, a total flop...literally

I decided to up the ante with baking bread in the bread maker, from making simple regular whole wheat bread to a Cheesy bread. It honestly isn't that much harder. It really is just adding a couple extra ingredients.
I followed the directions completely! I put the ingredients in the bread maker just the way it said. I should've stopped there....however I have these instincts when it comes to cooking. Like to add a dash of 'this' or 'that', however whenever I get these instincts, I need to ignore them. They're ALWAYS WRONG! I keep thinking I can substitute 'this' ingredient for 'that.' Or 'this' seems like a good idea, however IT NEVER IS! I don't know why I never inherited the cooking gene, I just didn't.

So this is what happened:

The bread maker said 40 minutes left. It was on the last cycle for it to rise. So I opened the bread maker lid and thought, wouldn't it be great to put a layer of cheese on top of the bread? I would love to slice into a loaf of cheesy bread that has a layer of cheese on top. Doesn't that sound yummy? Can't you taste the ooey gooey cheese now? Well I put some cheese on top and then lowered the lid. I opened up the bread maker 40 minutes later to discover a TOTAL FAIL...or should I say flop!

The bread couldn't rise with the heavy cheese on top. So lesson learned...I should perhaps wait until the bread is completely finished baking to then add a layer of cheese. My poor looking bread, what a sad sight!

Despite the appearance of the bread, it did taste pretty good!

Churning Butter!?!?!?!

It honestly started as a joke. A few weeks before my 31st birthday I mentioned to my family I wanted a grain mill for my birthday, so I could start grinding my own flour. My parents joked that next I'd want to start churning my own butter too!  I laughed, but didn't say anything. The thought kind of stuck with me. How does one churn their own butter in this modern age? I found quite a few youtube videos that show you how to make butter. One of the things that shocked me is that Heavy whipping cream and butter are almost exactly the same! The only things I needed to make butter were: Organic Heavy whipping cream and my kitchenaid Stand Mixer.

Here are the steps I followed:

1. ALL you need is heavy cream!
2. Pour it into your kitchenaid mixer
3. Use the whisk attachment, and put it on high
4. Whisk until it looks like whipped cream...keep on going until it looks more like butter wading in milk
5. Strain the buttermilk out of the butter, so that the butter doesn't go rancid. But save the buttermilk for waffles, or pancakes.
6. Pour in a bit of water, and whisk some more
7. Strain out the water
8. put the butter in the fridge

1/2 a container of heavy whipping cream, after 10 minutes of whipping it in the kitchenaid mixer. It separated into buttermilk and butter. 

The finished product: delicious organic butter!

So why am I making my own butter? Well for a few reasons:

• To know exactly what is in my butter: (1 ingredient, organic whipping cream)
• To try my hand at making it, to see if it's something I could consider as part of my regular routine
• To save money, organic butter is quite pricey.
• Best part of all: it's extremely simple to do! Anyone can do it.

Tonight, I'm trying it on some homemade bread.

The 'Unjunked' verdict

Well the verdict is in! I had posted awhile back about 'Unjunked' candy that i now on the market. I thought, how neat candy that doesn't have any preservatives, no artificial ingredients, no corn syrup, no hydrogenated oil, GMO's, or for lack of a better word 'junk' in it!  This week I went to CVS and when we were checking out my daughter wanted some candy. I looked down and there (on the lowest shelf possible) it was! There were four different options in fun bright packaging.

My daughter loves the ones like M & M's

My son wanted to eat it right out of the packaging.

Here's what the M & M ones looked like. I love the colors, so pretty!

This one was my favorite. I'm caramel kind of girl.

• chocolate caramel nougat bar
• ones like regular m & m's
• ones like peanut m & m's
• ones like peanut butter cups

They were on sale 2 for $2. I went back later in the week to buy some for my husband to try and they were $1.19 a piece. The packaging is about the same size as regular candy bars.  Let's just say they are all AMAZING! My kids couldn't get enough, my husband loves them. I honestly couldn't taste the difference. I love that when you eat them, you know exactly what the ingredients are inside them. There's no junk! They simply are UNREAL!

Give them a whirl and see what you think.

Local Honey

Did you know that there is a difference between eating honey from a company that mass produces honey and eating honey from your local bee keeper? I didn't, until only recently.  There are amazing health benefits to eating honey that's produced locally. Here are some reasons to enjoy local, raw honey:

• It's a natural sweetener, much better than sugar for you

• Raw honey contains: assortment of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and amino acids

• Modern food-processing techniques often involve filtering honey for clarity and superheating it to avoid crystallization and extend its shelf life. These processes can dilute much of the nutritional value of the honey, however. Filtering might remove minerals, for example, and superheating honey partially destroys its vitamins, nutrients, and enzymes. 

• Another casualty of industrial honey production is taste. Much of the honey found in stores is a mixture of many different kinds of honey, with much of its uniqueness lost in the process of filtering, heating, and mixing. 

• Because local raw honey contains minute particles of pollen from local plants, some people believe that ingesting local raw honey helps build up immunity to the pollen, alleviating springtime allergies.

• If you don't know where your honey is coming from, chances are it's imported: 
The majority of honey sold in the U.S. is now imported from four major sources: Canada, Mexico, Argentina, and China. This is a shift from past decades, when most of the honey sold in the U.S. was produced domestically. 

• Buying local honey causes less pollution and saves resources.

So where do I get my honey? Well if you live in Pace or Pensacola I highly recommend East Hill Honey Company. Not only do they sell local, raw honey, but they're on a mission to bring apiary's to other neighborhoods. They're working to live more of a sustainable life, which is exactly the same mission I'm on. I'm trying to find ways to live a 'greener life'. 

This past Saturday I went to our local farmers market: The Palafox Market.  Tommy Van Horn (the founder and beekeeper for East Hill Honey) was there selling his honey. I shared with him how much I appreciated the lavender soap I purchased from him in the past. He was so kind and gave me these three beautiful end pieces of soap for me to try free of charge! What a blessing. I was so surprised, and thankful for his generosity! A whole bar of beeswax soap from him costs $6 regularly. I bought some creamed honey from him as well. I adore creamed honey. I used to eat it a lot as a child growing up in Canada. I couldn't wait to try East Hill's version of it. It came in such a pretty bottle. When I got home, I put a piece of homemade bread in the toaster and covered it in the creamed honey. It tasted a lot like my childhood, but better. His honey has a distinct flavor, almost fruity.  

I've bought their amazing soap. My favorite is the lavender.  Here's what they say about their soap:

"Our Lavender Soap bars measure 2.5" x 3.25" x 1" thick - a great size for a bar of soap. We use all natural ingredients (oatmeal) and they feel great to use everyday. Our soaps have no Parabens, sodium lauryl sulfate (or similar), unnatural preservatives, or petroleum products. All soaps are vegan."

My children LOVE their honey sticks. They remind me of pixie sticks, except they're such a fun, delicious, and good for you treat! They cost $2.00 for 5 honey sticks. 

I'm finding that when I know where my food comes from, and when I know the story behind it, I become so much more grateful for it. I can envision the labor and care that went into it. There becomes this appreciation for it, like I haven't had before when just picking up a manufactured bottle of honey on the store shelf at the local grocery store. The experience is almost spiritual, as I thank God for providing the food and sincerely thank him for the hands that prepared it. 

If you get the opportunity go to your local farmers market and meet the beekeeper. If you're in pensacola, meet Tommy.  Pick up some honey and I guarantee you, it will taste nothing like the store bought kind you have purchased in the past. Once you try local, raw honey, there's definitely no going back.