July's "Oil of the Month" is ... Lemon

More than 7 million accidental poisonings occur each year from chemicals found in kitchen cleaners, with more than 75% involving children under the age of 6!

- The Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons

Over 100 chemicals commonly found in homes have been linked to allergies, birth defects, cancer, and psychological abnormalities.

Housewives have a 55% high risk of getting cancer than do women working outside the home due to the amount of exposure to the products they use on a daily basis.

A child is accidentally poisoned every 30 seconds at home, according the U.S. Poison Control Centers.

The average American uses about 25 gallons of toxic, hazardous chemical product per year, in their home.

The toxic chemicals in household cleaners are three times more likely to cause cancer than air pollution.

Only 1% of toxins are required to be listed on labels, because companies classify their formulas as "trade secrets."

If you haven't considered switching over to natural cleaners before, I hope you will consider it now, after reading the above statistics. These statistics are real, they are scary, and they will only continue to rise with each passing year as we become more dependent on these convenient, store bought cleaners. You don't have to rush over to your cabinets and start throwing out every cleaner in sight. Start easy and small, and slowly transition your house over to all natural cleaners. That way, you won't get overwhelmed and give up. Start with the essential oil known as Lemon Oil.

Lemon Oil is one of my favorite oils because it smells Ah-May-Zing!! Seriously I can't get enough of it. I love cleaning my kitchen with my homemade natural cleaner and having the entire house fill with the odor of Lemon Oil. Lemon Oil is a natural antiseptic, antifungal, antioxidant, antiviral, astringent. These properties make it the perfect natural cleaner for your house.

This Lemon Oil is extracted directly from real lemons, without the use of chemicals and toxins. This Lemon Oil is also known for it's medicinal properties that date all the way back to Christopher Columbus. Back in those days, Lemon Oil was used to fight food poisoning, malaria, typhoid epidemics, scurvy, and postpartum depression. Today, the French medical community still uses Lemon Oil to treat various infections. Needless to say, this Oil is safe to use in your home.

I don't use any chemical cleansers in my kitchen anymore. The only thing I use to clean my kitchen is a dishrag and Lemon Oil. I lightly wet the dishrag, and then I add a drop or two of Lemon Oil to the rag and wipe down my counters, clean my microwave, or wash out my sink. I also have a spray bottle with a mixture of water and Lemon Oil. I use this to spray my counters to wipe them down. Either method works great, it just depends on what is convenient for me at the time.

Making the natural cleaning spray is easy. Fill a spray bottle 3/4 of the way with water, then add drops of Lemon Oil. Start with ten drops and then test the spray by smelling it. As long as you can smell the refreshing odor of the lemon, it will work to clean your counter tops just fine. For a stronger smell, you can always add more drops of Lemon Oil.

I really want to encourage you to start using Lemon Oil as a way to clean your house. Especially if you have small children and pets, don't let them become one of the statistics above!

If you are interested in purchasing Lemon Oil for yourself, you can order it here: www.mydoterra.com/abbyshroka  
Click on "shop for products" in the top right hand corner.
After entering the country of shipping, click on "single oils" to find Lemon Oil.

For those of you who are interested in all natural cleaning supplies, next month, I will be featuring another oil that I use for cleaning around my house. Subscribe to this blog to make sure you don't miss it!

Wishing you all Health, Hope, & Happiness
Abby

If you missed last month's essential oil, click here, to read all about Oregano Oil and how it works to boost your immune system.

Wait On Your Health With Passion

"Wait passionately for God; don't leave the path." Psalm 37:34 (msg)

Have you ever noticed that people don't last long on a new diet or exercise routine? Maybe you're one of those people. Take heart because you aren't alone! It is hard to find the time and make the necessary sacrifices to eat right and exercise. Especially when you aren't getting the results you want.

When you first start exercising and changing your diet over to a more healthy lifestyle, you're going to be doing a lot of waiting. Weight doesn't just melt off. It took months, and maybe even years, to put that weight on, so why should it take only days or weeks to take it off? It doesn't work that way! The same goes for reversing disease. Years of bad choices gave you diabetes and high cholesterol. Reversing that damage won't come easy.


The key is to wait with passion! In Psalm 37:34 it says to "Wait passionately for God, don't leave the path." What does it mean to wait passionately? I know what it means to wait negatively; to complain and worry while I wait. To lose hope and fall into despair. Feeling like there is no hope, this is when most people give up and quit their diet and stop exercising. Waiting is no joke! It can be hard. It can be frustrating. But know this: when you play by God's rules, and follow his will for your life, and for your health, you're going to be waiting.

Not only will you be waiting on God some point, but there is always a purpose in the waiting. Always. That is why God calls us to wait PASSIONATELY. He doesn't want us to just sit down, twiddle our thumbs, and complain while we wait for Him to work. He wants us to be learning and growing while we wait. He uses waiting to test our faith. He uses waiting to prepare us for what is ahead. He wants us to get all we can out of the waiting time.

How do you wait passionately when the weight just won't come off, when you aren't seeing any results? In the second half of our verse, God gives us the answer: "don't leave the path." In other words,  don't give up! God desires for us to remain in him through out the entire process. Involve him in your new diet and exercise routine. Ask Him to help you succeed every single day.

What are you waiting on right now? We are all waiting on God for something. 

Are you learning all you can about healthy eating while you wait?
Are you passionately remaining in God through this time of waiting?
Are you allowing God to prepare you, teach you, and train you, or have you sat back and given up? Have you slowly started to leave the path of a regular exercise routine?

What are you waiting on right now? 

Are you waiting with passion? Are you waiting in the middle of the path?

Waiting with Confident Expectation

"But those who hope in The Lord will renew their strength," 
Isaiah 40:31a

I have yet to meet a person that truly enjoys waiting. There is a reason why it costs more to skip to the front of the line at an amusement park, why the early release of a popular movie sells out so quickly, and why people like to drive fast cars. Waiting stinks. It's not for the faint of heart.

In the Bible, the word "hope" and the word "wait" are sometimes used interchangeably. Depending on the translation of the Bible that you are familiar with, you may know a verse to have the word "hope" in it, while another translation has the word "wait." An example of this is in Isaiah 40:31a.  Many people know this verse to say: "But those who HOPE in the Lord will renew their strength," while many others know it to say: "But those who WAIT in the Lord will renew their strength."

This used to baffle me, because when I think of waiting, it is definitely not combined with positive emotions. When I'm waiting, I'm anxious, nervous, impatient, analyzing, and calculating. None of these emotions equate to hope.

In Hebrew (the language of the old testament), the word "hope," means to look ahead in confident expectation. The words "look ahead" and "expectation" do give us a sense of waiting, so it does make sense that these words are related. Instead of waiting in panic, and agitation, we should be waiting in confident expectation because of the promises we have from our God.

Our God promises to "Work all things out for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to his purpose" Romans 8:28

Our God promises that "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind can conceive, the things that God has in store for those who love him," 2 Corinthians 2:9

Our God promises "For I know the plans I have for you, declares The Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future," Jeremiah 29:11

With promises like these, we have every reason to hope in The Lord with confident expectation!

So let me ask you; what are you waiting on? We are all waiting on something. Are you waiting with hope, or with anxiety? Are you waiting with confidence, or with calculated stress? Are you waiting with expectation, or with despair?

Wishing you all Health, Hope, & Happiness
Abby

Going Vegetarian - My Story

In the spring I went through a few months where I was feeling really lousy. I was absolutely exhausted! All. The. Time. I couldn't get out of bed in the morning. I was sluggish all day, I didn't have the will to care about things that normally excited me. I had no energy whatsoever. After a month or so of this constant exhaustion, I started feeling really depressed and frustrated. In my despair, I realized that there was something really wrong with me. It wasn't just some type of cold, this was something serious. It was getting worse with each passing week, and it had lasted for months! Maybe it was thyroid? I knew I wasn't pregnant, but maybe my hormones were all messed up? Maybe a light case of mono?

I was baffled. My diet had never been better. I had slowly transitioned to a vegetarian lifestyle over the past couple of months. I had gradually upping my intake of whole carbohydrates, vegetables, and non-meat forms of protein, while I gradually decreased meat.

If there is one thing that I know to be true about the human body, it's that it is smarter than we think. It is smarter than our mind, because it knows when something is wrong with us before our mind knows something is wrong. It is also smart enough to communicate with us. And my body was absolutely communicating with me, I just could not figure out how to fix the problem.

Usually the first thing I do when I'm not feeling well, is to improve my diet. No matter how well I'm eating, there is always room for improvement. Nine times out of ten, this solves my problem. This time though, my diet was better than ever. I thought my body just needed to "catch up" with my new vegetarian lifestyle so I kept pressing on.

After three months of continued exhaustion, that had only gotten worse with each passing month, I finally had a breakthrough. I was meeting with a client, and we were discussing the Metabolic Type Diet. This diet is based off of the theory that their are three types of human bodies, when it comes to metabolism and digestion. There is the body that thrives off of protein, the body that thrives off of carbohydrates, and the body that needs equal portions of both. To find out which type you are, you take a lengthy quiz. As I was discussing this with my client, I began to wonder if maybe I was a person that thrived off of high levels of protein consumption.

I went straight home and took the quiz for myself. Turns out, not only does my body thrive off of high levels of protein, but I am so dependent on protein that I need both meat, and non-meat forms of protein at two out of three meals every single day in order for my body to run efficiently. It was like a light bulb had come on. All of a sudden it all made sense. As I had been decreasing the animal forms of protein from my diet, my energy levels had slowly decreased with it. Even though I had been making sure to eat non animal forms of protein with each meal, it wasn't enough for my body. My muscles had been weak, sore, and shaky for months, and my hair hadn't been growing (I'm growing my hair out, so it was really starting to annoy me that it was NOT growing at all for months on end. If you've ever grown your hair out, you know what I'm talking about). My body had been trying to communicate with me. It had been trying to tell me that it wasn't getting the right nutrients, it wasn't getting the foods it needed to grow and repair cells, it wasn't getting what it needed for me to have enough energy to make it through the day. Instead, I had been upping my intake of whole grain health carbs, which, according to my Metabolic Test results, do nothing for me. My results showed that my body is abnormally inefficient at digesting carbs. They basically go in one end, and out the other.

Immediately I switched my diet. I added crushed nuts to my oatmeal in the mornings. I started eating more eggs for breakfast. I started having meat for dinner every single night. I went crazy over protein. With DAYS I felt a difference! It took about two weeks of eating animal protein everyday before I really felt "back to normal."

I've always been a big believer that one size doesn't fit all when it comes to a diet. Ultimately it is more useful to listen to your body, versus a health professional (including myself!) because your body knows what it needs in order to be healthy. After this vegetarian experience of mine, I now believe this even more strongly! Do I think going vegetarian is bad? Of course not! Some people really thrive off of a plant based diet. Do I think going vegetarian is right for everyone? Of course not! Other people need animal forms of protein to thrive.

No matter what the current diet craze is, listen to your body first. It will tell you what it needs in order to thrive.

If you're interested in taking the Metabolic Type Quiz for yourself, click here to sign up!

Wishing you all Health, Hope, & Happiness
Abby

June's "Oil of the Month" is ... Oregano

I use Oregano Oil more than any other oil that I own.

The best thing about this oil is that it's used to fight off colds, and it does a better job than any other over the counter product I've ever tried. I have a pretty weak immune system, so once I feel a cold coming on, it's usually too late to stop it. If a cold is going around, I'm going to get it. However, since I've used Oregano Oil, I haven't had one cold! Seriously, not one.

Oregano Oil is a natural immune stimulant, which means it strengthens your immune system so that it will fight off colds more effectively. I apply this oil at night, before I go to bed. You know those nights when your throat is feeling a little scratchy and you have a headache, or a lump in your throat; all the tell tale signs of waking up sick in the morning? Yeah, those are the nights that I make sure to apply it. I also apply it when I know I'm more susceptible to getting sick. For instance, if I'm up really late, and I'm not going to get very much sleep, or if I've been around someone with the flu all day, I'll apply some Oregano Oil before bed, just to be safe.

To apply it, I place one drop on the heel of my foot. Some information says that this oil should be diluted, because it can cause skin irritation (drying out of the skin), but I have never had a problem. I know many people that apply the oil directly to the skin. If you decide not to dilute the oil, just remember that a little bit goes a long way. One drop is plenty. If you do want to dilute it, use a 1:3 ratio, or 1 drop of Oregano Oil, or every 3 drops of carrier oil. I would suggest diluting this oil if you plan on using it on your children, otherwise, just apply it directly.

Oregano Oil is also really well priced. It is fairly cheap, and because it is used so sparingly, it will last forever. If you are interested in trying Oregano Oil for yourself, you can order it here: www.mydoterra.com/abbyshroka  Click on "shop for products" in the top right hand corner. After entering the country of shipping, click on "single oils" to find Oregano Oil.

For those of you who are interested in all natural cleaning supplies, next month, I will be featuring an oil that I use for cleaning in my kitchen. Subscribe to this blog to make sure you don't miss it!

Wishing you all Health, Hope, & Happiness
Abby

If you missed last month's essential oil, click here, to read all about Thyme.

Jesus Won't Let You Go

Often times, God speaks to me through songs. Verses of a random song, that I haven't heard in years, will pop into my head while I am in the process of meditating with God. They're usually always lyrics from christian songs, but today I kept getting lines from a country song. I thought it was weird, so I was trying to block it out of my mind, so that I could hear that "still small voice" of God. But the lyrics just would not go away. In fact, God started speaking them over me, breaking the lyrics up into one or two words. Clearly, God was trying to drive a point home. Below is a snapshot of the lyrics He spoke over me today:

Cope

When you've done all you can do
And you can't cope
I will dry your eyes
I will fight your fight
I will hold you tight
And I won't let go

Silence
Cope

It hurts my heart
To see you cry
I know it's dark
This part of life

When it rains
I will stand by you

Remember. Remember that you are mine. I won't let you go. Satan can't have you.

We all go through dark parts of life. I have been in a dark time for awhile now, and sometimes I find it hard to truly believe that God is still here with me. I know in my head that God is here, but sometimes it is really hard to truly believe it with all of my heart. When I'm sitting alone, crying out in the dark and watching Satan have his way, sometimes I wonder where God is. Well, He clearly gave me an answer.

God has always been there, He is still here, and He's going to be there through it all. Jesus won't let me go. Satan CANNOT have me. I am God's.

Remember. Remember that you are mine. I won't let you go. Satan can't have you.

Wishing you all Health, Hope, & Happiness
Abby

p.s. if you want to listen to the song from above, it's called "I Won't Let You Go," by Rascal Flatts

May's "Oil of the Month" is ... Thyme

Thyme has been a life-saving oil for me. Before I started using Thyme for my sciatic pain, I was getting at least two flare ups per week. After three months of using Thyme, I now get only one flare up every 3-4 weeks.

I have suffered from sciatic pain for the past five years. It all started with an injury I had back in college.  It is constant pain. CONSTANT. Some days it is manageable, other days it is literally crippling. There is a whole laundry list of things that I cannot do because the pain will flare up. I have tried so many things, and nothing helps, except for taking pain pills, which obviously I'm not a fan of.

In February, I decided to try some essential oil therapy, because honestly, I figured I had nothing to lose. After doing some research, I decided to start with Thyme. The first time I used it, I was shocked! It was as effective as pain medicine!!

Thyme is known for being an antioxidant, anti inflammatory, antibacterial, antifungal, and antimicrobial. It is a tonic for nerves and the stomach. It helps to energize the immune system, muscles, and bones in times of stress and physical weakness. It also has been known to relieve depression. Thyme has been known to improve numerous medical conditions, including sciatica.

The thing with sciatica is that once it flares up, there is NOTHING you can do to get rid of the pain. The first time I used Thyme, I was in the middle of a bad flare up, and in considerable pain. Within a couple of minutes after applying the oil, the pain had reduced down to mild, and it stayed that way for the rest of the day! Other remedies I had tried would relieve pain for a couple minutes, but then the pain would come right back. Not with Thyme. It actually takes the pain away and keeps it away.

To apply Thyme, I place a drop on my spine, close to where my back pain is. I place it on my spine, instead of where I feel back pain because sciatica pain originates at the spine. I also place a drop on my hip right where there is pain. I usually rub in the drop on my hip. I also use Peppermint oil and Helichrysum oil, along with Thyme, when my pain is especially severe. (a drop of each on my spine, and a drop of each on my hip). These oils work great together to relieve pain, but usually Thyme works just fine on its own.

Since I have been using Thyme, my sciatic pain has gotten considerably better. Instead of having flare ups 1-2 times per week, I'm now getting a flare up once every 3-4 weeks. I have also noticed a difference in my yoga practice.

Before I started using Thyme, there were some poses that I couldn't do, such as pigeon pose, shown above. In only three short months, I was able to, not only do pigeon pose, but do sleeping pigeon, which is a more advanced version.

If you are interested in trying Thyme Oil for yourself, you can order it here:  www.mydoterra.com/abbyshroka. Click on "shop for products" on the top right hand corner. After entering the country of shipping, search through "single oils" to find Thyme.

If you have any questions about Thyme Oil, or other Essential Oils, please don't hesitate to contact me!

Wishing you all Health, Hope, & Happiness
Abby