When Cancer Strikes a Loved One

When cancer strikes a loved one, it's a good time to appreciate how precious and beautiful life is for all of us- image by Texas Hill Country

Hey y'all,

Today I want to get personal with y'all. Yesterday I got news that a dear loved one had been stricken with Stage IV cancer.

There is no Stage V.

When you get news like that, what is your first reaction? It's a huge shock, isn't it?

Everything you believe in gets questioned. You want to rush in to help, to love, to nurture, to support, and to please God, make it go away. Your spiritual beliefs get challenged. Who do you trust, really? Doctors? Herbalists? Foodies? Yourself? God?

Decisions have to be made, and some decisions *must* be left alone to the person who is fighting cancer.

"Good" doctors will be honest about the prognosis. It must be tough to tell someone how long they can be expected to live. I know it's tough to hear that a loved one has an expiration date.

We all have an expiration date. News like this makes me evaluate the life I am living right now. What am I doing with the time on Earth I have been given?

I have been studying natural healing and herbs for over ten years now. I have been intensely researching and self- teaching myself, with the guidance of some truly amazing friends for five years. I know a little, but I do not know how to cure cancer. Neither do doctors.

Like many of you readers, I strongly believe in preventing cancer and other illnesses through healthy lifestyles. I have heard some amazing and exciting stories of people who absolutely have healed themselves from every disease out there.

I am extremely impressed with raw vegan food, juicing, staying well hydrated, cayenne pepper, heliotherapy, hydrotherapy, body work such as deep tissue massage, and a long list of herbs and superfoods. I am completely convinced that our mental and spiritual attitudes and beliefs can control our physical healing and sense of well being.

With the exception of body work, I have done all of these things myself. I know they help me. I love these things as if they were my best friends. I have a personal goal of implementing all of them into my life at the same time.

If I did not believe in natural healing, I certainly would not be blogging about it.

However, each person must choose his or her own way to deal with the cancer which is attacking "their" own body.

I have watched two of my good friends from high school go the medical route and beat cancer. They are cancer- free! They are still here, alive and kicking, for their friends and loved ones to enjoy for a long time.

I have a very dear young friend my children's age who has beat brain cancer twice with the medical route. Twice. This lady can tell you a thing or two about surviving.

But I also have had a long love affair for people like Kris Carr of Crazy, Sexy Cancer, who beat Stage IV liver cancer naturally.

I've also watched loved ones slip away to the other side. They fought hard, trust me. They fought cancer with every cell of their being. Cancer is nothing to be trifled with. When someone is battling cancer, especially as the stages progress, it's a fight for life or death.

When cancer strikes a loved one, it's a call to love. Hopefully we don't judge a person because of how they choose to fight it. I think the important thing is that they are choosing life!

The medical community does not have a great track record of "saving" patients with cancer. I have no idea what the track record is for people who choose to heal their cancer naturally. I want the number to be bigger on the natural side. This is my bias. I have seen some really encouraging anecdotes on the Internet, but I don't think there are any real statistics.

When cancer strikes my loved ones, I do whatever I can to be in their support system. I pray hard, sending them all the loving thoughts and vibrations I can. Sometimes that's all I can do. Sometimes just talking about it, or giving them a hug, or bringing meals to the family so the cancer patient can rest helps. Sometimes joking helps, because everyone else is looking at them like they are dead already.

If they are open to alternative treatments for cancer, I can share what I know. And here on my blog, I will give all the scientific data and support I can find to back up my research. I do not trust hyperbole. I'm not a medical professional. I'm not a licensed herbalist. I'm a natural health writer with a passion for helping others.

Cancer doesn't have to be a death sentence. I've seen too many people beat it to believe that lie.

Regardless of the path our loved ones choose to fight cancer or any other illness, our responsibility is to respect their choices and love them through this.

Please share any stories or comments regarding cancer successes below. I'm sure all of the Bluebonnet community would love to hear it.

How to Do a Colon Cleanse: Step Two Plus Recipe

Hey y'all!

I am so honored to have so many readers from all over the world. I feel as if we are all family. I hope I can continue to give you valuable information that you can actually use. Y'all make my life richer.

I've been sharing educational information on how to do a great colon cleanse. I strongly believe that in order to detox properly, we must open up the elimination channels first in order to get rid of the old toxic waste build up. Colon detoxification is nothing more than "out with the old and in with the new."

I was reading up on colon cleansing this week in preparation for the next batch of posts, and found some interesting notes from master herbalist Dr. Richard Schulze. He said that when our bodies figure out that the colon is cleaned out, our cells send a message to the brain to start releasing toxic waste from all over the body. I imagine it like pulling the plug out of the kitchen sink or bath tub and letting the old gray water go. If your sink is clogged, things get backed up and nasty in a hurry.

We start our colon cleanse by stimulating the muscles in the intestines to start moving in a process known as peristalsis. I describe the first step in colon detoxification in these posts:

Detoxing 101: The Role of the Colon in Detoxification

Colon Anatomy, Healthy Colon Function, and Constipation

How to Do a Colon Cleanse: Step One

How to Make Your Own Herbal Colon Cleanse Recipe

Once you have started using the first colon cleanse recipe to "go," and figured out how many capsules you need to have two or three bowel movements a day, you can start the second part of a really great colon cleanse.

The first step to an effective and thorough colon cleanse is just to get the colon moving stuff out of the body. The second part of colon cleansing is drawing the old, hard, gummy, crusty gunk out from the creases and bowel pockets that may exist in the intestines. I talk about this possibility in these posts:

Colon Anatomy, Healthy Colon Function, and Constipation and Diverticulosis and Diverticulitis: Two Completely Preventable Colon Diseases.

Dr. Schulze calls this formula Intestinal Formula #2. In my own experience, I have noticed that a lot of people get the two recipes confused. They ask, "OK, which one does what?" So I would rather rename the recipes according to function. Intestinal Formula #1 makes us "go," and Intestinal Formula #2 gets us "all the way cleaned out."

Step two of a colon cleanse is very different from step one. Step one is a simple matter of taking some herbal capsules with dinner and then experiencing amazing results in the bathroom the next morning. Step two is a little more involved, but not hard at all.

To clean out the old toxic gunk from the deep crevices of the colon, we are going to drink a shake. Everyone knows what a milkshake or a smoothie is. This shake is made from cleansing herbs, earth minerals, and activated charcoal.

This is not a colon cleansing shake- image by menuism.com

I make and use this colon cleanse recipe every time I want to do a really good colon cleanse. It tastes like peppermint. The only thing that might be the slightest bit offensive about this recipe is that it is black in color from the charcoal.

Some of my readers may recognize the "Deep Clean" part of a colon cleanse as either a "fiber shake" or a "P and B" shake. P= psyllium and B= bentonite clay. This particular recipe has more goodies in it than just psyllium and bentonite, but those are definitely two key ingredients.

What we do in step two of a really great colon cleanse is mix up and drink this "Deep Clean" shake five times a day. Like I said, it has peppermint in it and really does taste like a peppermint milkshake, except it is black. All you do is blend the ingredients together, fill an 8 oz glass with fresh juice, stir in a teaspoon or tablespoon of the black powder, and chug it down. After you finish the shake, you drink a full glass of water. That's all there is to it.

In Dr. Schulze's original instructions, he says to make and drink this shake 1/2 hour after breakfast, 1/2 hour before lunch, once before lunch and dinner, 1/2 hour before dinner, and an hour before bedtime. Make sure you stay well- hydrated while using any colon cleanse recipe. If you do not, you can get clogged up and end up getting sicker.

In my personal experience, it is not as essential to get the timing exact as it is to just get the drink "in ya."

Here is the recipe to make "Deep Clean," or Intestinal Formula #2. Many thanks and blessings to my dear friend Tom for his tireless work to promote natural healing at Total Health Associates. If you would like to have a trusted source for activated charcoal, I highly recommend Tom's.

You can get the herbs at Mountain Rose Herbs.




One caveat: I have always purchased my bentonite clay from MRH, but not too long ago I found out they had changed their source for bentonite clay to a company associated with Halliburton- the oil rig construction company. My intuition says "this cain't be good."

A trusted and dear friend has been happy with bentonite clay from The Holistic Horse. I'm also going to check out Blessed Herbs.com. I have been quite happy with the herbs I have purchased from Blessed Herbs in the past. I will try these sources for bentonite clay and let y'all know what I think in a future post.

Intestinal Formula #2

1. Take 2 parts - Flax Seed,

2 parts - Apple Fruit Pectin,

2 parts - Bentonite Clay,

7 parts - Psyllium Seeds with Husks (whole),

1 part - Slippery Elm Inner Bark Powder,

1 part - Marshmallow Root,

1 part - Peppermint Leaf, and

1 part - Activated Charcoal Powder.

2. Mix these Ingredients together.

3. Take 1 HEAPING tsp. and mix with 4-6 oz. of FRESH Juice.

4. Drink an additional 8-16 oz. of Water, after consuming the Juice Mixture.

5. Do 5 times per Day, REPEATING Steps 3 & 4.

NOTE: Make Intestinal Formulas #1 & #2, even if you are MISSING an Ingredient or two. Formula #2 should be used together with Formula #1 above. It will pull OLD Fecal Matter off the Walls of your Colon and out of ANY Bowel Pockets. It will also DRAW-OUT Parasites, Poisons, Toxins, Heavy Metals, and even Radioactive Materials. Formula #2 will actually REMOVE over 4,000 known Chemicals and Drug Residues.


Do y'all have any colon cleansing experiences or stories you'd like to share with Bluebonnet readers? 

Four Back to School Tips to Keep Your Children Healthy This Year

Keep your children healthy this school year with these health-conscious tips- image by asdhelp

 The Washington State Department of Health published a report in 2004 outlining a program for controlling infectious diseases in public school classrooms. Other states have similar programs for their public school systems. The classroom, with an average of twenty- five children each, is an incubator for infectious diseases such as colds, influenza, measles, chicken pox, oral herpes, “strep throat,” mumps, whooping cough, head lice, meningitis, pin worms, and even sexually- transmitted diseases. Health-conscious parents who send their children to public schools may choose to boost their children’s immune systems before they head back to school. Below are four tips to help children stay healthy in the classroom.

Green smoothies pack a big health punch, and kids love them- image by Lamber Jules

Pack a healthy lunch and feed children nutritionally-dense meals at home

School lunches have been historically unhealthy. Because so many public school children are on free or reduced- price lunch programs, the cost of providing meals to them must be kept low. Fortunately, with the passing of the Healthy, Hunger- Free Kids Act in 2012, school menus will be improving somewhat. A hot dog on a white hot dog bun with a squirt of ketchup will be replaced with whole wheat spaghetti with meat sauce and green beans. Health- conscious parents would do well to send a healthy sack lunch with their children each school day.

In addition, start children off in the morning with a fruit- heavy green smoothie for breakfast instead of a bowl of cereal and milk. A blender makes a quart (one liter) of smoothies at a time, and takes at most five minutes to prepare and serve. All kinds of healthy superfoods and fats can be added to breakfast smoothies to help boost school children’s immune systems.

After school, provide a healthy snack to help children re-charge after a long day at school. If the children are involved with after school activities, these snacks can be slipped into the back pack on a daily basis or possibly be kept in the child’s locker at school. Brain-boosting snack foods include raw broccoli, raw nuts and seeds, avocado slices or guacamole, berries, or even a small square of dark chocolate.

For dinner, consider including wild caught salmon, curry dishes, and all manner of raw vegetable recipes to help children stay healthy during the school year.

Most school children do not drink much water at school- image by thatmustgo

Hydrate your children well after school

An alarming number of schools have adopted a policy of not allowing children to take very many bathroom breaks. Children are allowed to use the bathrooms before school, during lunch break, and after school, but not during classes. To manage this policy, many children simply do not drink any liquids at school other than the milk provided at lunch.

By the end of the school day, children are mentally exhausted and dehydrated. Make sure children get a full quart (liter) or more of pure water each day when they are at home. Keep soft drinks and bottled drinks out of the home so children are less tempted to reach for them after school.

Children must get enough sleep to perform well in school- image by BBC News

Enforce strict bedtime routines for elementary school children

The National Sleep Foundation says that elementary school children between the ages of five and ten need ten or eleven hours of sleep every night. When a child must get up at 6:30AM to get ready for school, this means going to bed every night at 8:30PM. Parents must guard their children’s sleep time and adjust their own schedules in order to make this happen. Children who do not get enough sleep perform poorly in school and are at a higher risk of getting sick.

With teens, it is almost impossible to enforce a bedtime. While teens need an average of nine hours of sleep each night, staying up late to work on school projects and cramming for exams is the norm in the U.S. High school students often compensate by sleeping for long hours on the weekends. Parents must learn to balance their teenagers’ need for sleep with the parents’ need for help with household chores.

Echinacea purpurea, the purple coneflower, is famous for its immune-boosting capabilities- image by North Creek Nurseries

Boost children’s immune systems with echinacea

The National Institutes of Health have published numerous clinical studies involving the use of echinacea as an immune system booster. Clinical evidence does exist to support the belief that echinacea does reduce the length and severity of the common cold.

Unfortunately, the clinical evidence is sketchy. Echinacea products come in a wide variety of strengths and effectiveness. There have been no long-term placebo-controlled, randomized studies published concerning the effectiveness of echinacea. However, there is enough empirical evidence and a few systematic reviews to suggest that echinacea does boost the immune system and it is safe for use with children.

How to Make Your Own Herbal Colon Cleanse Recipe

Hey y'all!

If you've been sticking with me for any length of time, bless your heart! This may be one of the days you've been waiting for. Today I'm going to teach you how to make your own herbal colon cleanse recipe, using the recipe of one of the world's greatest master herbalists, Dr. Richard Schulze. I make and use this recipe myself and so do my children. I can testify from personal experience that this colon cleanse recipe works, and that you will see amazing results.

If you need to get up to speed, just read this post first, entitled "How to Do a Colon Cleanse: Step One." This post gives you all the very well- researched background information on why I believe it is important that we take care of our colons. It also lists all of the herbs that are used in this herbal colon cleanse recipe, with links to some articles I have written and published in other places about each herb.

You could purchase the same colon cleanse product from Dr. Schulze himself. He markets this as Intestinal Formula #1. I used a lot of his herbal products for years before I learned how to make them myself. They are amazing herbal products, and they all do exactly what Dr. Schulze says they do. He has organic herb farmers growing herbs to his exact specifications. He has beautiful packaging and labels, and quite a number of faithful employees. I've talked to a couple of his phone sales operators and they are the sweetest ladies ever.

The only thing anyone might ever have "against" Dr. Schulze's products is that they are expensive. They are not nearly as expensive as pharmaceutical drugs! But, we all know that most people will shell out the copay for their prescription drugs because they have drug insurance. We don't have the luxury (if drug insurance could be considered a luxury) of herb insurance.

I adore Dr. Schulze's herbal products, and adore him as a person. I simply cannot afford "him." This is why I learned how to make my own herbal recipes.

How can I get by with sharing someone else's recipes?

Dr. Schulze actually encourages people to make their own recipes. Dr. John R. Christopher, one of Dr. Schulze's mentors, had a vision of every mother becoming the Family Herbalist and there being a Master Herbalist in every neighborhood. There is a sense of personal empowerment when "you" know how to become responsible for your own health.

You may be doing it for health reasons, or because you think the whole medical and health insurance community is off balance, or because you think the global economy is going to collapse and you want to be prepared for any possible scenario. Or like me, you're doing it because you are on a budget.

How to Make Your Own Herbal Colon Cleanse Recipe, aka Intestinal Formula #1 or "Go!"

The first thing you are going to do is order your herbs. I get almost all of my herbs from Mountain Rose Herbs. I love this company so much I became an affiliate for them. I'm going to give you a link to the Mountain Rose Herb website. If you choose to order from MRH through this link, I will get a small commission for referring you. You will not see any price difference on your order at all. I just want to give you full disclosure that this is an affiliate link. If you do not want do do it this way, you may access Mountain Rose Herbs through a regular search engine link, or you may have an herbs company that you prefer (P.S.: If you do, send them my way... for real). 

Enter the Mountain Rose Herbs website by clicking on the banner below.

Here's the recipe, which is taken from an out of print manual featuring Dr. Schulze's protocols. Equal parts of the following dried and powdered organic herbs:

Aloe Leaf

Turkey Rhubarb

Cascara Sagrada

Senna leaf

Barberry root bark

Garlic

Ginger root

Cayenne (habanero or African bird pepper are possibly the hottest peppers on the market- I use them if I can get them!)

What do I mean by a "part?" I mean that you can use any measurement tool, like a measuring cup or a coffee cup or a scoop or a bucket. It doesn't matter. Just make sure to use the *same* measurement tool in the *same* amount for every herb.

You just blend the herbs together in a big metal or ceramic bowl and ta- da! Intestinal Formula #1, or as I like to call it, Go!

Now... how much herbs in volume should you buy? I buy a lot of bulk herbs, so I usually buy a pound of herbs at a time. However, that's a *lot* of herbs, and it may be a little over a new herbalist's or herb user's budget. So I would recommend starting with 1/4 oz. of each herb at first. This amount will still make quite a number of herbal capsules, trust me.

Capsules?

Yes, once you make the IF#1/Go! blend, you need to put them in capsules. Why? Because 1) the herbs taste terrible (I had to know!) and 2) they are hot (ditto)! This is the way you can get them down into your system as fast as possible without burning your mouth off in the process. I am a Texan, but there is still a limit to how much heat I can take!

Where to get capsules? Mountain Rose Herbs sells them. They are vegetable gel caps, so vegans have nothing to worry about. You'll see that there are two sizes- 0 and 00. I use 0, but 00 is perfectly fine, too.

Now, to get the herbs into the capsule, you will need a little capsule making machine. I love this how to video that shows you exactly how to use the machine. It really goes just like this.

I bought mine at Mountain Rose Herbs. Put "Capsule Machine" in the search window, and choose whether you want an 0 or a 00 machine. It costs $13.50 (2012 USD) Then order a bag or two of 100 capsules for $3.75 each.

It just takes two minutes or so to make 24 capsules. I suggest making 100 capsules at first, which will probably last you two weeks to a month unless you are really constipated. No one knows how many capsules you will need to take in order to get you "going" twice or three times a day.

I really do make my own "Go!" and really do use it regularly. 

Start with one capsule, and take it at dinner or with a piece of fruit before bedtime. Eating food with this makes it easier on your stomach. If you do not see "amazing results" in the morning, take two capsules the next night. If you still do not say "Wow!" in the morning, you can do one of two things. You can either take three capsules in the evening with dinner, or you can do what I do, and take two at night and one in the morning. Sometimes having the herbs coming in a little faster seems to get things moving.

You keep adding "Go!" at the rate of one capsule a night, splitting them up between nights and mornings if you need to, until you are having two or three BMs a day, relatively soon after a meal.

If you start to become too loose, back off by a capsule or two.

Once you figure out your own personal "dosage," you just stay there. You will not believe how much weight you will lose in a month just by doing this one thing alone.

Please remember that this recipe is for constipation. If you are a person who has Leaky Gut or Irritable Bowel Syndrome, this is *not* the product for you.

Also, please know that this recipe and these herbs have not been approved or evaluated by the FDA for either safety or efficacy (although some of the individual herbs *are* generally recognized as safe. Before you do anything regarding your health, please seek the advice of a health care professional you trust.

If you do make this recipe, and do lose weight on it, or do see a positive change in your waist measurements, or just feel better, I would love it so much if you would come back here and post your results in the comments. If you have any questions, post them down in the comments as well. Thanks!

How to Do a Colon Cleanse: Step One

Senna is a well-known herbal laxative and is a foundational part of an effective colon cleanse- image by Natives of Texas.com

Hey y'all!

It's taken me two months to get here, but I'm finally ready to give you the "goods" on how to do a colon cleanse! A really good, thorough colon cleanse has two parts to it. The first part gets your bowels moving. That's what I will be blogging about today. The second part of a great colon cleanse acts as a broom or a vacuum cleaner to get old toxic material out of the folds and bowel pockets of the large intestines.

If you want a quick "refresher" on my Colon Detoxing 101 Course, here are the links to the titles:

Detoxing 101: The Role of the Colon in Detoxification

Colon Anatomy, Healthy Colon Function, and Constipation

Diverticulitis and Diverticulosis: Two Completely Preventable Colon Diseases

The Difference Between a Healthy Colon and a Diseased Colon

You can actually make your own herbal colon cleanse that is very effective. I make my own recipe, based on the work of Master Herbalists Dr. John R. Christopher and Dr. Richard Schulze (see links to their websites in the sidebar). I actually use this recipe myself. Dr. Schulze calls the first part of his colon cleanse "Intestinal Formula #1." If I was to market my own  version of this recipe, I'd call it "Go!" because that's what this herbal blend makes you do. It makes you "go." Dr. Schulze says he could make a rock "go" using this recipe. I believe him.

Let me make it very clear that Intestinal Formula #1/"Go!" is for constipation. If you have Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), leaky gut, Crohn's, diarrhea, or any kind of bowel issue where you are "going" too often or too much, you do not need this recipe. I will address your situation a little later.

Here is a list of the herbs required for a good colon cleanse. These are the herbs Christopher and Schulze used, with a little tweaking from Dr. Schulze to make it stronger. They are the herbs I use, too. I am linking to articles I have written for a website to describe some of the herbs and how they work. This week I'll write some articles for the other herbs, and link them when they get published. Check back for the full meal deal.

Curacao and Cape Aloe Leaf

Senna Leaf

Cascara Sagrada Bark

Oregon Grape Root

Ginger Root

Garlic

Habanero Peppers

These herbs are all dried and powdered. I blend them together in a large bowl, then put them into capsules with a little capsule machine myself. The reason I put them into capsules is because the ginger, garlic, and habanero peppers are all very hot. We want the capsules of herbs to open up in the stomach and immediately start entering into the bloodstream and small intestines to do their jobs, rather than burning our mouths and tongues on the way down.

When you are ready to start the first step of your colon cleanse, you will take one capsule of Intestinal Formula #1 (or Go!) with dinner or a piece of fruit before bedtime. The reason you take it with food is because, as I said, the herbs are hot, and may be a little hard on your stomach if you take it on an empty stomach. While these colon cleansing herbs are a dietary supplement and not a drug of any kind, I'm sure you are familiar with pharmaceutical drugs that are best taken with food for various reasons.

In the morning when you wake up, one of two things will happen. Either you will have a bowel movement or you won't. If you do "go," you may be surprised at the volume of stool you release. If you do not "go," then that night at dinner, take two capsules of Intestinal Formula #1/ "Go!."

In the morning, you will either move your bowels, or you won't. If you do not "go," then on night #3, you would take three capsules of the colon cleanse. You keep doing this until you do "go." This is how you find out the amount of colon cleanse that is right for you.

Every individual is unique. I have no idea how constipated you are or how weak your bowel muscles may be. This herbal colon detox recipe has never been approved by the FDA or been clinically tested for safety or efficacy. I can tell you things like the FDA states that garlic is generally regarded as safe,  and I will definitely tell you which herbs you need to be careful with.

I never, ever write hype. I hate it when alternative health vendors do write hype, and I have to tell you I've lost some opportunities to make some money when a client wanted me to write something I had no scientific grounds for proof to show a particular statement was true.

I can state that these herbs work for me personally. I can give you all the information I have about them. I can teach you how to make them, or tell you where you can buy them. However, I'm not a health professional. I'm not a doctor. You have to make your own decisions about your health, and you shouldn't trust me at all, except to know I'll do my best to give you what I know to be the truth.

Every herb has a purpose and has to be respected. They "work," if you use them appropriately. They "work," if the herbalist makes them correctly. We all know there is junk out there that should not be on the market. One of my riding passions about Bluebonnet Natural Healing Therapy is teaching y'all how to make a quality product that you know you can trust.

So, while it may take me two or three capsules of Intestinal Formula #1/"Go!" for my bowels to start working and really cleanse my colon out, it may take y'all only one capsule, or it may take fifty capsules. I just don't know.

Your goal when you start on this step of the colon cleanse is to have two or three really great bowel movements every day. I know this sounds like a lot, but this is due to our conditioning. So many people "go" once or twice a week (really!), that the idea of going more than once a day seems extreme.

If you think about it, though (I know, it's a little TMI), our dogs and cats "go" soon after every meal. Birds seem to "go" all the time. We humans are supposed to "go" soon after every meal as well. We just don't, because of our work schedules and societal expectations.

In my next post, I'll give you the recipe for Intestinal Formula #1/Go! and tell you how you can order your herbs, fill your capsules, and get started on a really effective and great colon cleanse.

P.S.: I'm diligently working on my Superfoods e-book for you, and am really excited about the direction I'm moving with Bluebonnet Natural Healing Therapy. If you have any topics you'd like me to discuss here, or have questions about anything, shoot me a comment or an email, and I'll get right on it!