If you are reading this I imagine you are a concerned mama (or papa) trying to keep everyone in your household alive during flu season. I definitely hear ya. We went through it a few years ago, and it is still pretty sharp in my mind. This post explains what I learned about supporting my family with natural remedies while they healed from the flu – without pharmaceutical intervention.
Each fall I make a big purchase of all of the natural remedies I use to keep my family healthy through the colder winter months here in Georgia.
These are seriously my family’s secret sauce for prevention, quick healing, and avoiding the doctor since the birth of my first daughter in 2009. As with any natural remedy, they need other action steps such as sufficient rest and sleep, excellent nutrition, and consistency with use. But I bet you already knew that. 😀
Update: 12/2018: Our 5 Year experience with Samaritan Ministries can be found HERE. This post is extremely thorough with detailed needs and sharing experience.
Update 4/1/15: You can read about our most recent homebirth experience with Samaritan Ministries HERE.
Last year I wrote a post about Christian healthcare sharing ministries and had no idea that it would become my most popular post on Green Drink Diaries. Apparently more people are looking for alternatives to the federally mandated “Obamacare” than I originally thought!
Today I’m going to go back over some basics of Samaritan Ministries, the Christian healthcare sharing ministry we decided was best for us and also tell about our experience. Americans have only until February 15th, 2015 to make their decisions regarding federally-supplemented health insurance for 2015, so it’s perfect timing for research into other options as well.
For my full run-down on how Christian healthcare share ministries works a a whole concept, click HERE.
For my side-by-side comparison of the largest and most popular 3 Christian healthcare share ministries (Medi-Share, Christian Healthcare Ministries, and Samaritan Ministries) click HERE.
OK, now onto my review of Samaritan Ministries after one year of membership….
I follow several blogs in the natural health world, and I’m seeing that ’tis the season for an awesome list of healthy gift suggestions! I would love to offer my ideas as well, but honestly- I really haven’t bought any new, healthy stuff lately. I already have my staples for the kitchen, make most of my own hygiene and beauty products, and overall am a minimalist in nature, so I only buy what I need and what is useful. It’s also a season of survival and routine in my house of two small children and a baby on the way in 12 weeks, so my idea for you today is one that I actually loved doing two years ago: WINTER WELLNESS BASKETS!
I’m glad to be getting a headstart on this year’s winter wellness list since just this past weekend it dropped below freezing here in Georgia. I learned a lot last year about the remedies in my winter medicine cabinet after a horrible flu had me in bed for a week over Christmas. The flu is a different animal than the common winter cold and it took rest, time, and a combination of these remedies to fully recover. On the other hand, my daughters did great last winter with only a few minor colds they quickly rebounded from.
So this year’s list is edited slightly from last year as I learned a few new therapies I liked better and simplified a bit too…
Before this pregnancy and a 5 hour road trip with my girls by myself, I had never had a urinary tract infection (UTI.) Not even after 10 years of teaching elementary school and “holding it” a gazillion times for the sake of not leaving my students alone in the classroom. But when both of my daughters finally fell asleep on our solo summer road trip after an hour of whining, crying, and complaining, I just kept driving and ignored my urge to “go.” 5 hours later, I had myself my very first UTI- and it was no fun at all.
Let’s first get this straight. “Morning” sickness for me is not just in the morning. It is all day. For many WEEKS. It’s like having the stomach flu for a month and a half. No fun here, but thankfully a beautiful reward in the end. Oh, I haven’t mentioned yet…baby#3 is on their way and due in February. 🙂 These natural remedies for morning sickness have been my savior.
When I have pregnancy-induced nausea, I can’t even talk about GREEN things without getting the dry heave feeling in my throat (hence the 6 weeks that have passed since my last post!) It has been this way with all of my pregnancies, and thankfully my body was able to hold onto its healthy state (and cancer-free) even though I am not eating my usual Budwig, green smoothie, salad, and juice routine.
So what have I been doing to deal with this? Not the usual natural/crunchy wisdom has worked for me (like wretched ginger! Bleh!), but here are a few things that did.
Oh boy, it’s that time of year! I know in our house we have already had to break out and use some of these natural remedies. Here’s this year’s revised list of what I use to keep my family healthy in the winter months. I arranged the list from what I think is most important to the extra “nice to have” goodies.