Keep your Plants Healthy in a Drought

If you have any plants and are trying to keep them watered and healthy through the drought, you will find this useful!

Tough & Tender is a soil surfactant, you can put it in the ground before you plant will help the water stay in the ground. If you’ve already planted like me, mix 1/8 of a cup of Tough & Tender with 5 gallons of water and use it on your plants, flowers, lawn- anything! I’ve also had somebody tell me that it performs miracles on struggling tomatoes. Why does it work and what the heck is a soil surfactant?? Well, Tough & Tender breaks down the natural surface tension of the water- that helps promote water penetration. If you are watering less this summer, this will help your plants maintain the necessary moisture for longer and get the maximum benefit! I have a feeling that other household cleaners might actually kill your plants! The reason it helps your plants is the same reason it helps you clean more efficiently- because Tough & Tender breaks down the surface tension of water, kick starting the cleaning process. It helps the liquid clean more effectively by allowing the cleaning agents penetrate more easily and lift dirt away. Dirt won’t be left behind or spread around. I could be more technical and scientific (ask me for more info if you are interested) BUT this is what you need to remember- Tough & Tender cleans without caustic chemicals (no ammonia and no chlorine) but instead uses natural biodegradable ingredients! You won’t find any abrasives in Tough & Tender so it won’t harm your delicate surfaces. If you want to find out how to shop for these products yourself, let me know and I will beam you up.

Dehydration and Sustain

I was inspired to write this blog because one of my Freedom United team members was dealing with twins under the age of one a couple of weeks ago that had a bad bad bug that was causing diarrhea. Even though things were crazy, she had the foresight to give them Sustain in their bottles. When she finally took them to their pediatrician, the Doctor was blown away that they were still hydrated and that their "levels" were good. I thought it was a great story (illness aside) and I was interested to dig in a little bit further to find out what Sustain can offer us not only when we are sick but even better, when we are not!

Dehydration is simply the loss of water. Symptoms can range from headaches to muscle cramps, decreased blood pressure or dizziness. Dehydration can be especially serious in little kids and babies. Hydration, conversely, is the presence of water- best case scenario! Water is hands down, the best way to hydrate and is what nature intended. Sometimes we need a little extra value in what we are putting into our body or to hydrate quickly with electrolytes. Sustain offers us that option with less sugar and fewer calories than other brands.

Working out is a time when we naturally lose hydration, critical electrolytes and energy. Our thirst mechanism is a good indicator that we need to rehydrate but we can't always count on thirst alone because we can often maintain below our ideal level of hydration without exhibiting thirst.

Electrolytes come into the picture because they are responsible for regulating the electrical charge and flow of water across cell membranes. Minerals like calcium, sodium, magnesium and potassium are known as electrolytes. Sustain contains a proprietary blend of these 4 electrolytes. Other brands only give you 2 electrolytes.

Sustain works through an exclusive blend of fructose and ribose rather than large amounts of simple sugars that can lead to blood sugar spikes and unsustained energy. Too much simple sugar draws water into the intestines and away from the rest of your body, leaving you further dehydrated. Another important point, Sustain contains natural vitamin E, C and B12.

To end, let me link this all back into to diarrhea and say that Sustain is an easy and good tasting way to replace energy and nutrients that are quickly being depleted due to infections, the flu, stress, food poisoning or malabsorption among other things. You can also add in Florify which contains probiotics if you aren't already taking it on a daily basis. That may just lead into next week's blog on probiotics...

Here's to your health and wellbeing!

Staph and a Natural Solution

The Oakland Tribune is my hometown newspaper so that is where I get my daily news and subsequently my information and occasional inspiration for a blog topic. This dates back to July 29th, there was an article about how staph is on the rise. Staph, also know as MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus), is becoming more resistant to antibiotics. People are at a higher level of risk in doctor's offices and in the hospitals. It is also on the rise in jails and athletic facilities where people are in close contact. We've had some serious outbreaks in schools here in California which leads me to think that we need to be on the careful in daycare centers as well to keep kids safe and healthy. It spreads through direct contact with people or contaminated surfaces. Two symptoms of MRSA are cellulitis and skin abscesses, both skin infections and as I understand from friends who have experienced them- painful and no fun at all.

Well, I have some good news for you. Probably my favorite item from Melaleuca is a cleaner called Sol-U-Guard Botanical. It is made from thyme and smells so good! Even better, it kills 99.99% of all germs without using harsh chemicals, including...

• Staphylococcus aureus (Staph)
• Salmonella choleraesuis
• Pseudomonas aeruginosa
• Mycobacterium tuberculosis (TB)
• HIV-1 (the AIDS virus)

Use it on your kitchen counters to combat the thousands of germs on the loose (especially raw meat). Use it to clean your bathroom, I add a little baking soda for abrasion when I need a deeper clean. Use it on the diaper changing table feeling confident that you are not poisoning your baby with toxic fumes or substances that could irritate tender baby skin. Sol-U-Guard is also approved for use in hospitals, medical offices, nurseries, schools, gyms, spas and most importantly restaurants! This is a big one for me because there are establishments I no longer frequent because the odor that lingers from industrial cleaners is so strong that it seems to permeate the food. As a friend of mine said last Thanksgiving, her house smelled of thyme not only because she was cleaning but because the real deal was cooking in the oven with the turkey- what a great combination that is!

If you know somebody that runs a daycare and wants to go green while still getting the job done when it comes to cleaners, that is a great lead for me!