Three Homemade Toothpaste Recipes – Better Oral Health for Less Cost

If you’re shopping for an all natural toothpaste, the list of ingredients to avoid includes diethanolamine, propylene glycol, fluoride, aspartame, saccharine, sodium lauryl sulfate, Triclosan, glycerin, sorbitol, and microbeads. After careful examination of the ingredients, the discerning shopper will see the similarities between food products and other body care products. There are a lot of toothpaste companies that are merely pretending to be healthy.

Finding a toothpaste that is actually good for you, in other words, one that actually helps improve oral health, can be challenging. So why not make your own?

All you need is a formula that you can brush into the teeth and gums that helps to scrub away and kill bacteria and other microbes while it polishes the teeth lightly without acidifying the mouth with toxins that damage tissue and leach calcium from the teeth. It’s actually not so hard when you forgo the chemicals! Here are four recipes for oral health that you can use to mix and match and come up with your own regimen. You’ll save some money and extend the life of your yappers.

Simple Toothpaste Recipe

You can make homemade toothpaste, that’s not really a paste, with the following:

Ingredients

  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon unrefined sea salt, finely ground

Instructions

Just mix the ingredients. You can also add an essential oil like peppermint or cinnamon; you can easily add a drop on the brush before brushing.

Homemade Earth-paste Recipe

If you like the earthy shampoos and soaps, then this toothpaste formula is right up your alley:

Ingredients

  • 4 Tbsp bentonite clay
  • Distilled water
  • 5 drops tea tree oil
  • 1 drop liquid stevia
  • 10 drops peppermint essential oil
  • 2 Tsp unrefined sea salt

Instructions

  • Combine 2 tablespoons of water with the bentonite clay in a glass bowl and mix well using a non-metal spoon (the clay shouldn’t come in contact with metal)
  • Add tea tree oil, stevia, and peppermint essential oils
  • Add salt, mix well
  • Add water to taste and texture
  • Store toothpaste in a glass with a lid (the toothpaste will dry out over time if left uncovered)

Homemade Remineralizing and Whitening Toothpaste Recipe

Make your own remineralizing toothpaste with calcium, magnesium, stevia, coconut oil, and essential oils to help your teeth stay strong and your gums stay healthy.

Ingredients

  • 5 parts calcium/magnesium powder (the best calcium for this can be obtained with this homemade calcium recipe)
  • 2 parts baking soda
  • 1 part unrefined sea salt, finely ground
  • 3-5 parts coconut oil to get desired texture
  • Optional ingredients: Essential oils for flavor and/or kill germs (mint, cinnamon, tea tree, peppermint, orange), and stevia (takes very little)

Instructions

  • Mix calcium, salt, and baking soda in a bowl
  • Add coconut oil, one part at a time until you reach the desired consistency
  • Add any optional ingredients
  • Store in small glass container

Hydrogen peroxide is added to many homemade toothpastes, especially those formulated for whitening. But hydrogen peroxide is one of those ingredients you are not supposed to swallow and it can irritate the gums. It is not a good idea for kids or for anyone with sensitive, damaged, or diseased gums.

Shillington’s Tooth and Gum Formula

If you suffer from oral health issues such as gingivitis or cavities, add oil pulling, chewing on garlic, and also add Shillington’s Tooth and Gum recipe to your homemade toothpaste.

Dr. Shillington’s Tooth and Gum Formula Recipe (or purchase here)

(Use Organic ingredients where ever possible).

  • 10 oz Echinacea tincture
  • 1/4 cup of tea tree oil
  • 4 oz. bayberry tincture
  • 2 oz. oak gall (or 3X oak bark) tincture
  • 2 TBS. Cayenne tincture
  • 2 1/2 dropperfuls of peppermint oil
  • 2 1/2 dropperfuls of clove oil

A “part” is a measurement by volume, not weight. Blend all ingredients together and make into a tincture using a 50/50 blend of alcohol and distilled water. For more, see How to Make a Tincture.

We also recommend addressing gut health and the first three sources below for acute gum infections and other more serious oral health issues.

Sources and Further Reading:


What Vaccines and GMOs Have in Common

Vaccines and GMOs have more in common than many people realize. Both the biotech and the pharmaceutical industry use the same arguments to get you to accept their products. If you are against GMOs or vaccines, then you must be anti-science!

Nothing could be further from the truth. It is the people who research vaccines and GMOs who turn against them. In today’s busy world, most people don’t feel that they have the time to research every product. A desire for convenience and a touch of apathy motivates people to trust the government to guarantee the safety of our products. The same people who claim that they don’t trust their government paradoxically trust the FDA, the USDA, and the CDC. What most people don’t know is that the same studies that the regulators use to verify product safety are funded by industry. Those who stand to benefit the most from product approval are the same ones doing studies that verify safety for vaccines and GMOs.

An Informed Opinion Leads to a Predictable Point of View

That old adage, “When we know better we do better,” holds true for both vaccines and GMOs, and some of us know better than others. More often than not, it is the highly educated who refuse vaccines and buy organic. The political elite is no exception.

While Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton both espouse the benefits of GMOs, neither Hillary nor President Obama actually eat them. The White House doesn’t serve GMOs, and this elitism is not limited to Democrats. Both George Bush and Mitt Romney have strong ties to Monsanto, and both also only eat organic foods. If GMOs are not good enough for them, then why would they be good enough for you and your family?

It is the Highly Educated Who Refuse Vaccines

When it comes to vaccines, the situation is markedly similar. In Germany, a safer vaccine was offered to the politicians, soldiers, and civil servants than the rest of the population. Amid fears of a swine flu epidemic, the German government ordered the Pandemrix vaccine for the German public and the Celvapan vaccine for government officials and the military. Both vaccines vaccinated for the same disease; one was simply safer than the other.

Barry Loudermilk (R-GA) revealed that most of his children are not vaccinated.

I believe it’s the parents’ decision whether to immunize or not. And so I’m looking at my wife — most of our children, we didn’t immunize. They’re healthy. Of course, home schooling, we didn’t have to get the mandatory immunization.

The higher someone’s formal education and the more informed someone is about vaccines, the more likely they are to refuse them. Many former pharmaceutical employees refuse to vaccinate their children.

An education, whether formal or informal, changes you forever. When it comes to vaccines or GMOs, a little knowledge can go a long way. It is the same people who have read the vaccine warning labels and the people who learn about vaccine ingredients who invariably refuse them for their children. The more you know about GMOs, the less likely you are to eat them as well.

If knowledge is power, ignorance is powerlessness. It is ignorant to believe that we don’t need to know what is in our food because we are too scared of science. It is just as ignorant to believe that vaccines simultaneously work so incredibly well, and yet so phenomenally badly that everyone must have them. As GMO activists struggle to educate the world about what is in their unlabeled food, anti-vaxxers struggle to educate others about what is in vaccines.

The Same Struggle by Different Names

The struggles against GMOs and vaccines are intrinsically linked, and yet what happens more often than not, is that these activists fight against billion dollar companies alone, when the fight is essentially the same and the industries that oppose them are essentially the same people as well.

GMO activists want GMOs labeled for the same reason that anti-vaxxers oppose mandatory vaccines. They all want control over what is to be put in their bodies, or the bodies of their children. Admittedly, in vaccines, the struggle over labels is slightly different. Instead of having vaccines labeled (though some of the labeling is intentionally ambiguous) there is a push to get others to read the ingredients, and to read the warning labels. Most people refuse to even discuss what’s in a vaccine or the known risks involved in vaccination. One of the many known risks to vaccination is death. Dying from a vaccine or being permanently disabled is far more likely than dying or being disabled from the disease that the vaccine is supposed to prevent. This may sound hard to believe, but this is easily verifiable. Mortality statistics for all diseases are easily found by searching the Internet. For instance, measles hasn’t killed anyone in the U.S. in decades, but the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System admits to 329 deaths from the vaccine, and almost 7,000 serious adverse reactions. (Numbers for adverse reactions are most likely low due to underreporting.) The question becomes what’s worse, the disease or the vaccine? To those who know how to do the research, the answer is obvious.

Both of These Industries Want You To Trust Their Products and Not To Do Your Own Research

The majority of those opposed to vaccines and GMOs are highly educated. These people are not anti-science, they embrace the pro-precautionary principle. A good definition and description of the precautionary principle quoted from Mindfully.org follows:

When an activity raises threats of harm to the environment or human health, precautionary measures should be taken even if some cause and effect relationships are not fully established scientifically.

Key elements of the principle include taking precaution in the face of scientific uncertainty; exploring alternatives to possibly harmful actions; placing the burden of proof on proponents of an activity rather than on victims or potential victims of the activity; and using democratic processes to carry out and enforce the principle – including the public right to informed consent.

…Sometimes if we wait for proof it is too late. Scientific standards for demonstrating cause and effect are very high. For example, smoking was strongly suspected of causing lung cancer long before the link was demonstrated conclusively that is, to the satisfaction of scientific standards of cause and effect. By then, many smokers had died of lung cancer. But many other people had already quit smoking because of the growing evidence that smoking was linked to lung cancer. These people were wisely exercising precaution despite some scientific uncertainty.

Often a problem – such as a cluster of cancer cases or global warming – is too large, its causes too diverse, or the effects too long-term to be sorted out with scientific experiments that would prove cause and effect. It’s hard to take these problems into the laboratory. Instead, we have to rely on observations, case studies or predictions based on current knowledge.

According to the precautionary principle, when reasonable scientific evidence of any kind gives us good reason to believe that an activity, technology or substance may be harmful, we should act to prevent harm. If we always wait for scientific certainty, people may suffer and die, and damage to the natural world may be irreversible.

Rather than conduct (or publish) long-term independent studies, both the biotech and the pharmaceutical industries opt to do their own short-term studies. They also both successfully lobby governments for special protection from liability.

In 1986 a law was enacted making it illegal to sue vaccine manufacturers: The National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act. This law established a vaccine court, a system that will only compensate families for known vaccine reactions, and then far less than what actual standard liability would pay out. The vaccine court is funded by taxes on vaccines, and so far they have paid out over 3 billion. This court is far from fair or impartial. They pay a maximum of 250,000 dollars for wrongful death from vaccines, and they dismiss 80% of all cases presented to them. Buying the claimant’s silence is a common stipulation to receive any compensation.

A provision was added to the Agriculture Appropriations Bill that serves no purpose other than protecting the biotech industry at the expense of the public’s health. Specifically, HR 933, section 735 is the provision that makes genetically engineered foods immune from liability. This law has been dubbed the Monsanto Protection Act. President Barack Obama signed the bill into law.

If the pharmaceutical and biotech industries thought these products were safe, then why did they lobby the U.S. government for immunity from liability? It stands to reason that they wouldn’t spend millions of dollars lobbying for special protection from lawsuits if the products were safe to begin with.

Industry Funded Pseudoscience

It is difficult to find truly independent research on vaccines. Most vaccine safety studies use all of the toxic ingredients that are found in vaccines for both the control group and the group receiving vaccines – the same adjuvants such as heavy metals, aborted fetal cells, formaldehyde, etc. The only difference between the “placebo” and the vaccine is that the “placebo” doesn’t have the attenuated pathogen, or the “placebo” is an experimental vaccine. Real long-term safety studies that study vaccinated versus unvaccinated or long-term studies that look at the safety of the entire vaccine schedule are never funded by the industry or the U.S. Government. The CDC has blatantly refused to study vaccinated versus unvaccinated because they know what they would find.

There is a similar situation with GMOs. All of the safety studies published by the industry are short-term studies, 90 days or less. The reason for this is that the harmful effects of GMOs typically begin to show up after 90 days. Neither the biotech industry nor the U.S. Government ever published long-term studies. There have been numerous studies conducted in Europe and Russia that reveal kidney damage, liver damage, cancer, and other health problems linked to GMO consumption.

Biotech and the Pharmaceutical Industries Are Separate in Name Only

Monsanto and Pfizer used to be one company, a pharmaceutical company and a biotech company. Pfizer and Monsanto still maintain close ties with both companies staffed by a revolving door of scientists and businessmen that switch back and forth between both companies and regulatory agencies. When you consider how pharmaceutical companies make money (the more sick people are, the more money they make) strong ties to a biotech company should be a major concern to the public.

Many people who are opposed to GMOs are pro-vaccine and vice-versa. These views are far from consistent, and any activist that is against one and for the other is an activist who fails to grasp the issues at hand. If an activist can’t tell what vaccines and GMOs have in common, they could be more of a hindrance than a help to their cause. In an effort to avoid dividing their followers, most anti-GMO and anti-vaccine movements avoid discussing anything they see as unrelated to their cause. This demarcation hurts both movements, as there is strength in numbers. When fighting against the influence and propaganda of companies that are worth billions, a united front would be far more effective. A well known, but often looked over fact, is that many vaccines contain genetically modified ingredients. If you wouldn’t want to ingest GMOs, then why would you want to have them injected into your body or your children’s bodies?

Recommended Reading:
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Four Easy Ways to Improve Your Thyroid Function

If your thyroid isn’t working well, you can improve your thyroid function with diet. Of course, the optimal way to fix any health problem is to eat raw, organic produce. These types of foods help the body heal. If you’re specifically concerned about your thyroid, there are a number of easy, simple steps you can take to help it heal.

Eat the Right Foods

Certain foods help support thyroid function. Look for foods that are high in selenium and iodine. Good sources of iodine include meat, seafood, yogurt, milk, and eggs as well as seaweed, blackstrap molasses, navy beans, cranberries, and Himalayan salt. Good sources of selenium include organic meats, seafood, Brazil nuts, and shiitake/white button mushrooms as well as lima/pinto beans, chia seeds, broccoli, cabbage, and spinach.

Get the Right Supplements

Being deficient in some vitamins can inhibit thyroid function. If your body is low in vitamin B12, vitamin A, or vitamin D, your thyroid will show down its production of thyroid hormones. If your body is low in vitamin A, your levels of thyroid hormones will drop quickly. By supplementing with natural sources of these vitamins, you can help your thyroid function as well as possible. With B12, it is best to take a B vitamin complex that has extra vitamin B12 instead of taking vitamin B12 alone.

Avoid the Wrong Foods and Drinks

There are a number of foods and beverages that are important to avoid if you have thyroid issues. Consuming these substances aggravate your thyroid problems. Caffeine, and more specifically coffee, can inhibit your thyroid from producing thyroid hormones at optimal levels. Unfermented soy is a known endocrine disrupter, and as such, it will inhibit the proper function of your thyroid. Other foods that cause thyroid issues are foods that contain gluten. Wheat, barley, malt, and rye are some of the more common grains that contain gluten. If your body cannot tolerate gluten, it can damage your gut, causing leaky gut syndrome. So much of the body’s health is related to gut health. By avoiding caffeine, unfermented soy, and gluten you can help your body heal the damage to your thyroid and encourage it to produce at optimal levels.

Detoxify the Body

In order for your body to fully heal damage to your thyroid, you need to detox properly. While a number of specific detoxes would be helpful, these are the most important ones to focus on. The most important one is the gut. If you are suffering from an overgrowth of Candida, it is extremely important to rid your body of that pathogen, as Candida constantly assaults the body with toxins. Another important detox to focus on is ridding the body of heavy metals. If your body is toxic with mercury, arsenic, aluminum and/or other heavy metals, the thyroid will never be able to heal. Getting mercury fillings removed is vital. The blood is another important detox. If the blood is thick or toxic, it puts added stress on your glands, including your thyroid. A cheap and easy way to detoxify your blood is to use this cranberry lemonade recipe.

Conclusion

Taking just a few of the steps mentioned can help bring immediate relief to your thyroid symptoms, but the thyroid takes time to heal. A leaky gut is likely to be the source of the matter, so check out Gluten, Candida, Leaky Gut Syndrome, and Autoimmune Diseases and be sure to see Understand Hypothyroidism – Prevention and Natural Remedies.

Recommended Supplements:
Recommended Reading:
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Five Symptoms Your Thyroid Needs Help

Millions of Americans today suffer from thyroid dysfunction, and many of them do not even know it. Startling enough, over 80% of people who suffer from poorly functioning thyroids do not show problems on standard thyroid tests. Knowing some common symptoms of thyroid problems can help you get proper treatment early.

The thyroid is part of the endocrine system that produces our body’s hormones. When the thyroid is not working properly, chances are the adrenals, the pineal gland, the hypothalamus, and all of the other glands are not working optimally either.

Neck Pain or Swelling

One common sign of thyroid problems is persistent neck pain. More specifically, a subluxation in the C3 through C7 vertebrae in your neck can be a major indication of problems with your thyroid. When your thyroid is not working optimally, it becomes inflamed and swollen. This pushes one of the nearby vertebrae out of place, causing a subluxation in the cervical spine.

Low Energy & Poor Sleep

Feeling sluggish and tired all the time is another sign of poor thyroid function. When your thyroid is not producing enough thyroxine (T4) and/or triiodothyronine (T3), it can affect your energy levels during the day as well as your sleep at night. Thyroid issues can cause insomnia or poor quality sleep in many people. If you find yourself always feeling tired during the day, despite sleeping enough hours at night, it is very likely that your thyroid is not working well.

Joint Pain

Another common sign of thyroid problems is joint pain anywhere in the body. Achiness, swelling, or a feeling of “being out of place” in any joints is your body’s way of telling you that your thyroid is not functioning properly. Most commonly this can show up in the neck and shoulders, wrists, elbows, or hips. Bursitis and carpal tunnel syndrome are frequent joint problems as well that indicate thyroid problems.

Hair & Skin Problems

A frequent, though not well-known, sign of thyroid issues is hair and skin problems. Dry, brittle, or thinning hair is a telltale warning that your thyroid is struggling. A dry, flaky, scalp is another sign as well. Also, if you notice that your eyebrows are thinning out, especially at the outer corners, then your thyroid is likely not working optimally. Dry, rough, and itchy skin are other warning signs of hypothyroidism or related thyroid issues. Hypothyroidism can also cause your skin to develop a yellowish tinge as a result of your body’s decreased ability to convert beta-carotene to vitamin A.

Sudden Weight Changes

One last major sign of thyroid problems deals with sudden weight changes. If you have sudden weight gain or struggle to lose weight despite exercise and a healthy low-calorie diet, chances are your thyroid is not working well and you may have a case of hypothyroidism. If you find yourself losing weight rapidly, you might have hyperthyroidism, a condition where your body overproduces thyroid hormones.

Conclusion

If you find yourself suffering from one or more of these symptoms, there are things you can do to improve your thyroid function. Thyroid conditions can be managed and fixed naturally with proper diet and supplementation. For more information, see Understand Hypothyroidism- Prevention and Natural Remedies.

Recommended Supplements:
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Optimize Your Candida Cleanse & Minimize the Symptoms of Die Off

You’ve finally figured out that Candida is causing so many of your health problems, and you’ve started the perfect protocol to rebalance your gut bacteria…but for some reason you feel even worse than before. There’s a moment of despair (I’ll never get rid of this ridiculous fungus!), but then comes a light at the end of the tunnel!

When Candida is killed it releases nearly 80 different toxins into the body, causing myriad symptoms from nausea to fatigue to fevers and headaches. There isn’t a way to avoid the release of these toxins, but there is a way to minimize their effect and the discomfort you feel while on your way to a healthier you.

Good news, though – if you’re following a protocol designed to eliminate your overgrowth and maintain a long-term balanced gut, you’re already doing a lot of things that can mitigate the die off symptoms. Here are some suggestions that can help you get over the die off more quickly.

Evacuation Station

The easiest and most accessible way to minimize Candida die off is to push those toxins out of your system as fast as you can. A diet consisting of 80 percent raw produce (more vegetables than fruit) has enough fiber to keep waste moving efficiently through your body. The longer it takes you to push out the dying Candida fungus, the longer you will suffer from the die off symptoms.

The same principle is true of liquid waste. Make sure you drink a large quantity of clean water from a trusted source. It is one of best things you can do to flush out Candida toxins. Upgrade your water to cranberry lemonade (see the link below and use stevia so you don’t feed the Candida you’re trying to get rid of), and you’ll also improve your kidney function and give your immune system a shot of much-appreciated vitamin C. The best part of upping your fiber and liquids to flush out the fungus die off? Everything you need is a trip to the nearest market away.

Super Charge the Immune System

Die off doesn’t effect everyone is the same way. Some people hardly notice the release, whereas other people experience particularly bad reactions. One of the most destructive toxins released during Candida die off is acetaldehyde, a neurotoxin that attacks red blood cells and destroys brain cells. If you’re having a difficult time dealing with the symptoms or worried about potential damage, it’s time to boost your immune system. Flushing the body with cranberry lemonade will provide vitamin C. You’re also going to get great immune system benefits from Echinacea or cat’s claw.

Get Sweaty

Exercise, especially exercises with up and down movements like dancing, rebounding, and jumping, lets you sweat out your toxins while also moving your lymph system. Since your lymph system doesn’t naturally circulate, this movement can increase its ability to expel Candida waste. Movement also gets your circulatory system moving and expelling more die off.

In some cases, Candida die-off can make it difficult to exercise, due to nausea, joint and muscle pain, and possible infections. Even if exercising isn’t an option, there are still others ways to get rid of die off toxins through sweat, like saunas or hot and cold hydrotherapy. With exercise, it’s important to pay attention to your body, so as not to overdo anything or do anything you aren’t comfortable with.

Slow and Steady Wins the Race

It seems unfair, really. After everything you’ve been going through with fighting actual Candida, you’re still not done, as you have to deal with the aftershock. Getting discouraged and letting up on your Candida treatment to make the fatigue and brain fog go away seems like an appealing solution, but making it through the die off and coming out on the other side will have you forgetting how awful you felt in the first place. Relief can come when you efficiently flush the body’s waste, sweat out the bad stuff, and keep your immune system functioning at a high level. Even if you’re still experiencing some of the symptoms, don’t stop all of your hard work or stop taking antifungal supplements because it’s likely you have a major overgrowth. Scale back for a little while. But don’t let yourself get caught up in an unhealthy cycle again. Keep pushing through and you’ll reap the rewards.

Recommended Reading:
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Galactagogues Foods, Herbs, and other Ways to Increase Breast Milk Production

If you Google ways to increase your breast milk supply, you’ll find a wide range of advice, not all of it healthy. Ideas range from prescription medicines to drinking Gatorade, and most of them are poor choices. Many advocate increasing refined sugar intake through sugary drinks and fruit juices.

If your breast milk supply is low, the first two things you need to ask yourself is, “Are you getting enough to eat?” and “Are you drinking enough water?” While sugar can help increase milk supply, extra sugar can also lead to diaper rashes. Instead of fruit juices or refined foods, reach for fruit and water first. Here are four simple, healthy ways to increase your breast milk supply.

Hydration

Proper hydration is the number one key to keeping a good milk supply flowing. Drinks like Gatorade, with all of their artificial flavors, colorings, and additives, actually hinder your milk supply. A good rule of thumb is to drink an 8-oz glass of water every time you breastfeed and carry around a water bottle to sip on throughout the day. Make sure most of what you drink is water, but if the idea of plain water is unappealing, other options do exist.

Other good sources for hydration include coconut water and fruit infusions. Besides tasting great, coconut water is a great source of minerals and electrolytes. Fruit infusions are flavored waters that have traces of vitamins and minerals; they are easy to make at home. Although it may be easier said than done for some, try to avoid caffeinated beverages. If you do drink coffee or tea, make sure to drink extra water.

On the other hand, too much water in the system can inhibit breast milk production. Stay hydrated, but don’t keep adding fluids to the body if hydration is not the problem.

Breast Pumping

While not the first go-to for many mothers, pumping, if done in addition to nursing, can be a highly effective way to increase supply. Tricks include pumping after each nursing session, adding an extra pumping session or two during the day, cluster pumping, power pumping, and nursing vacations.

Cluster pumping is when you nurse and pump every half hour or hour for a couple of hours.

Power pumping is like interval training for breastfeeding. Plan to do this for a couple of days. Pick an hour where you can sit and relax. Pump for twenty minutes, rest for ten, pump again for ten, rest for ten, then pump again for ten minutes.

Nursing vacations include spending two to three days, trying to relax and nurse and pump as often as possible.

All of these techniques help increase supply by mimicking the increased demand from a baby during a growth spurt. Simply put, increased demand for milk will increase the supply.

Natural Galactogogues

Because breast milk production is maintained by local feedback mechanisms (autocrine control), more frequent and more thorough emptying of the breast typically results in an increase in supply. A galactagogue is a substance that promotes lactation in humans and other animals. Natural galactagogues include foods, herbs, teas, and nutritional supplements. If the breast milk supply is low, even after breast pumping, it may be time to look at galactagogues, but do consider a thorough evaluation with a natural health care practitioner who is familiar with maternal health issues. Maternal hypothyroidism is a common cause of low breast milk production, and medications can also reduce milk as well.

Healthy Foods

Oatmeal is probably the most well-known choice of food for increasing breast milk production. If you want to try oatmeal, skip the instant ready packs and choose fruit instead of refined sugars to sweeten it. A well-balanced diet consisting of 80% fresh produce is is the foundation for optimal health, and for most moms, adding more fresh, raw, organic produce to the diet may be enough to stimulate milk production. Other favorites of nursing mothers include carrots, seaweed soup, garlic, fennel, fennel seed, cashews, alfalfa, asparagus, almonds, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, coconut, fennel, chaste tree fruit, chicken soup, cilantro, papaya (some say green works better), pumpkin, dates, and ginger. All of these foods are powerhouse sources of nutrients that also help in milk production.

Herbs, Teas, and Nutritional Supplements

As mentioned, garlic, ginger, and fennel seed can increase milk production. Other options along the herbal variety include fenugreek, anise, coriander, cumin, dandelion, dill, caraway, red clover, red raspberry, nettle, marshmallow root, borage, and blessed thistle. These are commonly made into teas or tinctures and are widely appreciated for their ability to increase milk supply.

The most common herbal remedies for increasing breast milk production include:

Garlic & Ginger are two herbs that seem to help with almost every health ailment. Both are known galactagogues, and there are also additional benefits to consuming both of these while breastfeeding. Ginger root stimulates the body in many ways, including the release of milk. Eating garlic or taking a garlic supplement can stimulate the supply of milk and can reduce the risk of  mastitis (and alleviate it). Babies have also been found to enjoy the taste of breast milk when their mothers consume copious amounts of garlic and therefore, nurse more often.

Red Raspberry Leaf is a regular ingredient in pregnancy and breastfeeding teas and tinctures. It helps to increase breast milk production, and it also helps the uterus recover after birth. Red Raspberry Leaf is incredibly high in vitamins and minerals, including Niacin (a B vitamin).

Alfalfa is  great for increasing breast milk production while providing the body with many vitamins and minerals. It is particularly high in Vitamin K, which helps to staunch bleeding. Many midwives encourage clients to consume alfalfa for six weeks before birth and for several months after birth to help avoid hemorrhaging, to help the body recover from the birth, and to help the body produce plenty of breast milk.

Fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum) is a member of the pea family and is  commonly used around the world for centuries as a herbal galactagogue. It has been theorized that fenugreek may affect milk production due tot he fact that milk glands are similar to sweat glands, and fenugreek stimulates sweat production. The herb is usually discontinued once milk supply has reached the desired output, but there is not risk with using the herb long term.

It’s said that with fenugreek you can judge the proper dosage by smell. Once you have reached the ideal dosage of fenugreek, your sweat is said to smell like maple syrup.

Goat’s Rue (Galega officinalis) is widely used in Europe due to the observation that it increased milk supply in cattle in the early 1900’s. No human trials have been done; however, limited studies involving animals have shown a milk supply increase of up to 50%.

Milk Thistle (Silybum marianum), also known as St. Mary’s thistle, has been historically used in Europe. Early Christians thought that the white veins on its leaves represented Mary’s milk.

Inositol and Choline are two vitamins in the B complex family that have been used for centuries to help increase breast milk production. Too many B vitamins in the body can hinder milk production, and taking just one or two B vitamin nutrients without the other B vitamins for long periods of time can cause problems. The effectiveness of nutritional supplementation is highly individualized, as it depends upon whether someone happens to be deficient in something they may never have otherwise noticed.

How To Increase Your Milk Supply Without Losing Your Mind (By Mom Loves Best)

Conclusion

Not all breast milk is created equal. The better the mother’s diet, the better her breast milk will be. Eating a truly healthy diet consists of 80% raw produce, more vegetables than fruit. A healthy diet isn’t found in packages. Healthy foods don’t have ingredients that only a chemist would understand. A healthy diet eliminates artificial flavors, colors, preservatives, MSG, trans fats, and GMOs. The healthiest diet is a diverse, organic diet filled with nutrient dense foods and plenty of clean water. A healthy diet makes the healthiest breast milk. If a breastfeeding mother consumes pesticides in her food, they will be passed on to her baby in her breast milk.

While building a good milk supply may seem challenging, the number one thing to keep in mind is that the more you feed the baby, the more your body will produce. The ideas mentioned in this article are meant to help support your body’s efforts to produce milk. Keeping yourself in the best possible health will help your body in your endeavors to feed your baby. Taking a nutritional supplement can help with making sure you get all the nutrition your body needs.

Supplements that Promote Lactation:
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What Is Causing Your Depression?

If you have been diagnosed with depression, you’ve probably been told you have a chemical imbalance and the only way to manage your condition is through pharmaceuticals. Has anyone thought to tell you about other things that might be causing your depression or contributing to it?

Aspartame

Aspartame is nasty stuff. There is much anecdotal evidence that shows aspartame is toxic. As usual, industry trials do not confirm these reports; however, independent double-blind studies tell a different story.

A decade-long study of 264,000 American adults by the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, showed an association between soda, diet soda, sugar-free fruit drinks, and clinical depression.

  • 4 or more cans of regular soda per day = 22% increase in depression
  • 4 or more cans of diet soda per day = 31% increase in depression
  • 4 or more cans of diet fruit drinks = 51% increase in depression

Monosodium Glutamate (MSG)

If brain damage, behavioral disorders, endocrine disorders, and neurodegenerative diseases are not enough reason to avoid MSG, it is also linked to depression. The most likely reason is due to the fact that MSG blocks serotonin receptors. B6 deficiency appears to enhance adverse reactions.

Sugar and HFCS

Excessive sugar intake, whether from refined sugar or high fructose corn syrup, also causes a host of medical conditions in addition to obesity, diabetes, and tooth decay. There are more than 100 diseases caused or exacerbated by sugar. Depression is one.

Candidiasis

Gut health is essential to physical health and well-being. So is our mental health. A full 80% of our serotonin – an essential neurotransmitter – is produced in the gut by our beneficial bacteria. An overgrowth of Candida in the gut will result in a depletion of serotonin and an increase in depression along with anxiety, irritability, cognitive difficulties, headaches, autoimmune diseases, and more.

Conclusion

Our health, both physical and mental, relies on our bodies’ ability to attain nutrition to repair cells and maintain functionality while it eliminates wastes and toxic substances. To attain and maintain health, we need to actively increase nutrition while avoiding toxins and detoxifying.

To improve nutrition and gut health, eat a diet that consists of at least 80% fresh, raw, organic produce (more vegetables than fruits), healthy fats, and detoxifying foods such as turmeric, ginger, garlic, cilantro, and onions. Eliminate artificial flavors, colors, and preservatives; MSG; GMOs; trans fats; sugar, HFCS, gluten, and any other chemicals. Eat real whole foods, not processed foods. Avoid foods you know cause an allergic reaction. Always choose organic when possible, and never eat meat that is not organically raised. Eliminate or restrict alcohol and caffeine intake.

The 80% Raw Food Diet along with exercise, vitamin D, and multi B vitamins will give your body what it needs for optimal performance.

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