Epsom Salt Baths, Restful Sleep, and the Wonders of Magnesium

Hey y'all, Watch my video above for my explanation on how to do Epsom salt baths. Here are the basic steps:

• Fill the bath tub all the way with the hottest water you can stand- people with MS or adrenal issues will want to start with comfortably warm water
• Add between 1 cup to 1 pound of Epsom salt to the bath water- start with 1 cup per week
• When you get to the point you are so relaxed that you can fall asleep in the tub, that's your personal amount of Epsom salt
• Soak and sweat profusely in the tub for 20-30 minutes- use an egg timer if you like
• Cover as much of you body as possible- you may need to change positions
• If the water cools down, add more hot water
• If the water leaks out through the drain-out, put some duct tape around the drain-out to seal it
• Feel free to add aromatherapy candles, soothing herbs, peaceful music, cucumber slices on your eyes, etc.
• Quickly rinse off with cold water when you are done
• Do these 1-7 times a week to relax tight or sore muscles, reduce anxiety and depression, detox emotionally, "escape," wind down, and sleep well and deeply

Do you have a magnesium deficiency?

You may have a magnesium deficiency if you experience the following:

• Hyperexcitability (feeling hyper" or anxious, "wired")
• Dizziness or feeling as if you might faint or black out
• Muscle cramping or spasms
• Muscle weakness
• Fatigue or feeling wiped out

If you are severely deficient in magnesium, you may also be depleted in calcium, potassium, and may retain sodium. Often, retaining sodium can manifest high blood pressure, heart palpitations, and edema (swelling) in the ankles, feet, or hands. You may get the "shakes," lose your appetite, feel nauseous, or experience mood swings.

What does magnesium do?

Magnesium is responsible for many functions in the body, including muscle function, blood clotting,   nerve signal transmission, calcium absorption, and even heart failure.

Dr Russell Blaylock, MD, says that diabetics and cardiac patients have the lowest magnesium levels of all. He says that people who are low in magnesium are at a greater risk for heart disease and sudden cardiac arrest, and when they do have a heart attack, it is harder to resuscitate them.

Benefits of magnesium include:

• Restful sleep and a peaceful calm during the day, as I mentioned in my video
• Regular bowel movements, since magnesium relaxes smooth muscle tissue, making it a natural, gentle, and inexpensive laxative
• Relief from hyperactivity, irritability, anxiety, migraines, heart palpitations, and PMS
• Relaxed muscles after a strenuous workout, or for those with muscle cramping and pain issues
• Increases DHEA (the "youth hormone") levels, which increases sex hormone production, when absorbed through the skin

Yes, we can get magnesium from our food.  All of the leafy green vegetables contain magnesium. Rice bran is full of magnesium, as are a variety of seeds, nuts, blackstrap molasses, and the woman's favorite, chocolate. However, many people are not eating enough of these foods. In addition, so much of our commercial farmland has been stripped of essential minerals that the nutrient content in our produce is lacking.

I suggest that if you are having trouble getting to sleep or suffer from anxiety issues that you try the Epsom salt baths. If you do, please comment and tell the Bluebonnet community about your experience.

From deep in the Heart of Texas,

I love you all.

How to Get Enough Sleep

Hey y'all,

I'm going to start doing videos on Bluebonnet Natural Healing Therapy and the first one is called "How to Get Enough Sleep."

Let me share some interesting things about sleep.

First, here is a chart from the National Sleep Foundation showing how much sleep each person needs by age:

What happens when we sleep?

While we are snoozing in the Land of Nod, our body is still very busy. Sleep is the time for:

• Muscle repair
• Memory consolidation
• Growth hormone activation
• Appetite hormone activation

If we do not get enough sleep, we cannot concentrate fully, we cannot make good decisions, and we have trouble engaging socially with others. We may also feel hungrier, because our appetite control hormones have not had enough opportunity to work properly. A lack of sleep may actually contribute to unwanted weight gain.

How does sleep work?

75% of the night is spent in four sleep stages:

1. The period of time between being awake and fully asleep; dozing or light sleep
2. Falling asleep; disengaging from surroundings; body temperature drops; heart rate and breathing are regular
3. Deep sleep; blood pressure drops; breathing is slower; muscles relax; muscles repair and grow; energy is restored; hormones are released
4. Same as #3

25% of the night is spent in REM sleep. This first occurs about 90 minutes after falling asleep, and recurs about every 90 minutes. As the night progresses, the time between REM cycles lengthens.

During REM sleep, the following things are observed:

• Dreams
• Eye movements
• Muscles relax and the body becomes immobilized
• Cortisol levels drop, and elevate when it is close to time to wake up

I think I will do a couple of videos and blog posts on natural ways to prepare for sleep and how to deal with insomnia naturally. I'll share a really nice herbal recipe I have and talk about some herbs that may help you wind down.

As I mentioned in the video, feel free to leave a comment and tell me how you feel after getting eight hours of sleep. Maybe you could also share how you rearranged your schedule and life to get enough sleep. 

Raw Food in the Real World

How can we maintain a healthy, raw food lifestyle in the real world?- image by wiki commons

Hey y'all,

I want to ask your opinion about something and get your input. You know how sometimes you have a question you can't answer and then all of a sudden, God (or the universe, depending on your frame of reference) just delivers the answer on a platter for you? I think that may have happened for me, and I want to see what you think.

I love raw foods. Right now I am nowhere near being a raw foodie, or even a vegan or vegetarian. But I'd like to be high raw. Every time I have done a 30 day raw food challenge, like the one I have advertised on the side bar, I have felt fantastic. I have lost weight, I have had my digestion and hormones balance out, my skin clears up, my eyes sparkle, and I have this spiritual "connection" with Nature that I don't feel when I eat junk.

If you are a raw foodie or are high raw, you know what I'm talking about. Raw foodies use the word "ecstatic" a lot, which seems extreme to non-raw foodies, but if you are high raw or 100% raw, you are probably smiling right now, because you know exactly what I mean.

I brought "raw tacos" to a family gathering last month, inspired by one of my Facebook friends, raw chef Paige Brummet. They were a hit, so easy and fun to make, and a great way to get guests to eat "vegetables" without the "eeeewww."

I got into raw foods starting back in 2004 when I did Dr. Richard Schulze's Incurables Program for a month because I have a rare form of muscular dystrophy the experts are calling scapular perineal syndrome and I am looking for a cure. Even though the doctors say it is incurable, they don't really know, because they really don't know anything about this disease other than that it obviously exists.

I did a more intense, hard core version of the Incurables Program in 2008, utilizing 30 and 45 day juice fasts/feasts, enemas, hydrotherapy, affirmations, herbs, and a ton of other stuff, and y'all, I got a little stronger. I have no idea what would have happened if I could have done the Incurables Program longer.

I love what I did back then. Eventually what I learned through that experience led to me writing for Natural News.com and some awesome clients. It also led to where I am now with Bluebonnet Natural Healing Therapy. It's all a part of the journey.

I've been kinda frustrated- OK, very frustrated- because I have never been able to recreate what I did back then. Yet, I feel like I was healthier, or at least moving in a healthier direction, when I did it.

Here's where y'all come in.

I have noticed that quite a number of folks who are into raw foods, herbs, and sustainable living live a completely different life than me. They live in Costa Rica rain forests or in eco-communities in Sedona, Arizona, or in some large urban area like Chicago where there are a number of raw food restaurants to choose from.

I live in Waco, Texas. Not the same.

What's cool though, is that I have met a lot of folks who say "I'd love to do raw foods" and "I'd love to get into herbs" but they don't know how to fit it in with regular, every day life.

So I thought we might figure it out together.

I found out about this blog yesterday: Modern Parents Messy Kids. It's wildly popular on Pinterest, and has been featured on a ton of websites. In the link I share with you, the blogger makes this dream organization list. The punch line at the end is that it was a dream and not reality. Then she says, "Hey, why not make it a reality?" So basically, she used this list as her affirmations to create the world she wanted to live in. She stated her intentions clearly, and the universe is delivering them to her in real time.

Why can't we do something on the same order with Bluebonnet?

Why can't we take health back from the medical community and bring it home? Why can't we learn how to heal our entire lives? Sure, there are times when things are too complicated or dangerous for us to attempt to heal at home, but why can't we learn how to heal most things by living a healthy lifestyle?

Why couldn't I write about my ideas and attempts to become healthy in every area of my life, and show you what I'm doing? And y'all could share tips about what you're doing that works?

What do you think? Leave a comment and let me know!

Bluebonnet Natural Healing Therapy Named "Top Health Blogger" on Wellsphere!

Hey y'all!

I am so excited today and have so much to share with you!

Yes, it's true! I was named a "Top Health Blogger" by the Wellsphere blogging community for my work on Bluebonnet Natural Healing Therapy! I was shocked and delighted!

OK, if you are a blogger yourself, you know that there are blogging rings and networks in whatever niche you are in. For instance, my daughter-in-law Sarah is a fashion blogger (check her blog, The Daily Sophisticate, out here). She is in the Bloggers Do It Better fashion blog network.

Since I am a natural health blogger, of course I follow other health blog sites (P.S.- comment below and leave your link to promote *your* blog site) to not only learn, but to pick up fantastic ideas for how to make my little baby blog better and more interesting to y'all, my readers.

I had seen the Wellsphere symbol on a couple of blog sites and decided to see if they would allow me to be a member.

Imagine my surprise when they not only said yes, but named me a "Top Health Blogger!"

Me!

Yes, I was a co-moderator of one of the top, most cutting edge health forums on Curezone.com a couple of years back, and gained a ton of knowledge from the awesome folks there.

Yes, I am a feature writer for Natural News.com and a staff writer for Progressive Health.com. But Bluebonnet is still in its infancy! I only started it in January 2012! I had no idea it would be considered "top" anything!

So, thank you, Wellsphere... it is an honor to be a part of this community of health bloggers.

I am really just beginning to learn how to be a good blogger. I have big plans to turn Bluebonnet Natural  Healing Therapy.com into a "go to" site for teaching you how to become responsible for your own health and life, really, as I learn how myself.

So you are welcome to grow with me. Please know how deeply touched and honored I am to have you- all of you all over the world, to visit me on Bluebonnet and decide to become a part of the Bluebonnet family.

I send you all the love and light I have, from deep in the heart of Texas.

Donna

Free Acid Alkaline Food Charts

Free Acid Alkaline Food Charts

Learn which foods will heal your body with these acid alkaline food charts- image by healingthenations.webs.com

Hey y'all!

I am running late today and am noticing that my body is fighting the flu, so today's post will be short but hopefully very valuable to you.

I found this cool website which has several alkaline and acid food charts on it.

 Essene of Life.com

There are charts for a "target diet," acid and alkaline levels for various foods, a comparison chart for the degrees of alkalinity in a variety of raw foods, and several "foods to avoid charts."

They are all free, but there are also some charts available for purchase if you want a handy reference to put on your refrigerator.

This is a really interesting and informative website. I hope you enjoy it.

Now off to guzzle down some juices and teas...