No one is stealing your dentures. Just wait a few lines and you will understand.

Last week I went to the dentist, which is a story in itself but one which I will spare you from. The hygienist said I had an infection in my gums from not flossing or using mouthwash. So along with a renewal in my effort to take care of my skin, I am making a serious attempt to step up my oral care as well.

Our mouths are full of bacteria. Chock full. It is inevitable and in fact we need some of them to help us kick off the digestive process. However, when unchecked, these bacteria damage our teeth and give us nasty breath. As bacteria “eat” they produce toxins. These toxins damage our gum tissues. That is what makes infected tissue red, swollen and sore. By brushing, we not only remove food that builds up to damage enamel, but we keep the bacteria in check. You should be brushing your gums, tongue and insides of your cheeks as well.

Most toothpastes and mouthwashes are full of nasty chemicals such as Sodium Laurel Sulfate, artificial flavors, aspartame and artificial colors. I also personally think we are exposed to toxic levels of flouride and want dental products without them. These ingredients are passed directly into the bloodstrea, even if you don’t swallow, through the mucosal lining inside the mouth, which according to the Physician’s Desk Reference Handbook, has an absorption efficiency of over 90%. The FDA acknowledges that fluoride poses significant risks to children and therefore required all fluoride toothpastes to carry a poison warning label. I switched to using Tom’s Fluoride-free toothpastes a while ago, but these still have Sodium Laurel Sulfate. Using Tom’s temporarily, I have been on the search for something better.

I was pleased to hear from the hygienist that my teeth were surprisingly clean and tarter free, despite the fact that I haven’t had a cleaning in 2 years and only brush once a day (I know, I know. Naughty Annie). This made me more confidant in the efficacy of natural toothpaste’s cleansing power. I just need to add some antiseptic power. Using Tom’s temporarily, I have been on the search for something better. The antibacterial power of essential oils seem to be the answer.

As I came to understand the use of essential oils, one of the main reasons I choose to go with Young Living was so I could buy “Thieves”. During the 15th century Black Plague in Europe, four thieves robbed the dead bodies left lying in the street, strangely immune to the disease. Upon capture, King James demanded to know their secret. The thieves revealed that they used a blend of essential oils to protect themselves. Dr. Gary Young has developed a similar blend of essential oils and named it “Thieves”.

Thieves contains ~

• Clove - one of the most antimicrobial and antiseptic of all essential oils. Also antifungal and antiviral.
• Lemon - antiseptic, improves immunity, circulation and lymphatic function.
• Cinnamon Bark - one of the most powerful antiseptics known. Strongly antibacterial, antiviral and antifungal.
• Eucalyptus radiata - antibacterial, antiviral and anti-inflammatory.
  
• Rosemary - antiseptic and antimicrobial.

Here is the beautiful thing about Thieves and other such essential oils; Not only do they have the strong antiseptic and antibacterial qualities of synthetic chemicals, unlike the latter they are also GOOD for your body. The essential oils in Thieves (which is 100% essential oil) fight off bacteria but don’t damage your tissues. In fact, clove oil is one of the strongest antioxidants known, helping your body ward of free radicals along with the bacterial.

Until I get my order of Theives toothpaste and mouthwash, I have started putting a few drops in water and rinsing with that. According to Christine Charles and colleagues in a study published by the Journal of the American Dental Association, “The efficacy of an essential oil containing antiseptic mouth rinse has been demonstrated in numerous double-blind clinical studies.” (2001 May; 132(5):670-5)

In addition to the inclusion of essential oils, the Young Living toothpastes use much smaller abrasion particles. Large particles can damage tooth enamel which is one of your body’s more important “non-renewable resources”.

If anyone wants to order Thieves or anything else from Young Living, I will offer blog readers the preferred customer price through July 15th. Don’t order from the website, or you will have to pay full price. Just email me about it if you are interested.

This week I am thoroughly enjoying my dearest friend and cousin’s company, so please forgive the lack of interesting posts and my SLOW response to email. I will try to catch up on email next week!

This week I am going to be making granola and taking pictures of the process along the way. I thought they would be fun to post with the recipe.

My wonderful cousin is here for the week. She has been my best friend since childhood. What a blessing she is. I wish I could keep her and her sweet baby girl here forever. The first night she was here we went and blew $200 at Whole Foods. We splurged on raw “cinnamon rolls” which were AMAZING! I must try to make them . . . and some amazing fresh juice from the juice bar. If I were rich, I would spend so much of it there . . .

Tropical Traditions has a sale on their coconut oil lotion. It is a stellar price for natural lotion, and still a very good one even with shipping. I am out of lotion and my poor scaly skin is crying out so I just ordered some along with a bar of soap, which is comparably priced to those at WF. The zum lotion I like at WF is $13 for 8 oz. Burt’s Bees (which has synthetic fragrance :/) is $9. Do you have a favorite all-natural lotion? Share!

They also have a sale on Palm Oil . . . but as I mentioned before, I may have spent too much this week already!

We had a superbly enjoyable day of feasting with some precious Kingdom brothers and sisters after church Sunday. I made a plethora of salads the day before so that all I had to do was pull them out of the fridge when we got home. This one was both my favorite in flavor and nutrition.

Quinoa is a wonderful, versatile grain, rich in protein and gluten free. Because of its high protein and iron content, I highly value it for my largely vegetarian* diet. I adapted this recipe from, again, Cooking Light according to Nourishing Traditions style cooking.

Dressing:
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 tablespoons vanilla yogurt or soy milk
2 teaspoons honey
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Salad:
1 1/3 cups uncooked quinoa
2 Tbls whey
2 3/4 cups filtered water
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup thinly sliced green onions
1 cup sweetened dried cranberries
1 cup chopped fresh parsley
3/4 cup soaked almonds, chopped (can use unsoaked raw if needed)

The night before you make the salad, cover quinoa with plenty of filtered water in a bowl. Stir in whey. Cover with towel and soak overnight.

The next morning, place quinoa in a fine sieve and rinse. Combine quinoa, 2 3/4 cups water, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a large saucepan; bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to low; simmer 30 minutes or until liquid is absorbed. Remove from heat, and cool to room temperature.

To prepare dressing, combine first 6 ingredients in a small bowl; stir with a whisk until well blended.

Stir in dressing, onions, and the remaining ingredients. Cover and chill.

*We like and eat meat. I just don’t think you need it that often and it is pretty expensive. We eat meat about 2-3 times a week.

I posted before about keeping whites white, softening your water and homemade laundry detergent. I really like my laundry detergent. It’s a keeper. I don’t like the dishwasher concoction I made so much. I will still have to work on that one. I changed from using the vinegar in my rinse to using baking soda to soften the water. This works better and without that lovely vinegar smell! ;/

I keep an old plastic cup with the lanudry detergent. As I start a load and the water runs, I fill it with about 3/4 cup water. I sprinkle in about 1-2 Tbls. of baking soda and swirl it to mix. This little potion goes in the water softener trap of my machine with a few drops of lavender essential oil. I think this works twice as well for softening the water, although the vinegar seemed to better help prevent the greying of clothes from hard water.

I don’t know why it had yet to occur to me, but last week I realized what a wonderful place PB&J (or honey) is to hide superfoods! Being sneaky is key to toddler nutrition. Since we have porridge established as a daily breakfast, I often hide ground sesame or ground flax in that, but I was hesitant to hid kelp or spirulina as it would make it look a bit funky. But in PB&J! Mix in a little kelp and they will never know!

As with all sneaky business, start with just a pinch and build up, so no one notices the change in taste and revolts. Brown rice is another great place to sneak, as are smoothies, casseroles or mac and cheese.

Here are superfoods we regularly sneak into our meals ground

• ground sesame
• ground flax
• nutritional or brewer’yeast
• kelp
• spirulina
• spinach flakes*

Any other ideas? What do you sneak?
*I freeze a bit of spinach and when it is very hard, I crush it to bits and toss into smoothies, casseroles, etc. . .

Y’all should know me well enough to realize I am about to speak not on illicit topics but concerning bowel movements. As I read about this fascinating topic, I thought how few people really know the truth. You should have as many exit episodes as you have joyful times of entrance. More plainly, if you eat three meals, you should empty your bowels three times a day. This does seem a bit extraordinary to me, so here at the Crawford home we “shoot for two”. Of course, I only eat two “meals” a day with much snacking in between. I have to work pretty hard to keep my blood sugar level from spiking and plummeting.

If your body needs a bit of help to achieve such regularity, try drinking a flax drink. Grind a tablespoon of flax and mix with water, or any other drink, and chug it down. Do this 2-3 times a day until things are movin’.