Boholistic Mom

Decreasing Inches: 5 Focus Points

Boholistic Mom — Mon, 24 Jun 2019 11:37:29 +0000

This June my family moved 3+ states North East. In addition, my youngest son who was our foster son for 21 months went home to be with his family in late May. There has been so much change and I chose not to pay close attention to our diet during this time. I did not add on an extra 20 pounds, but my pants are snug and uncomfortable. In the Spring, I focused on loving my family intensely and this Summer I am focusing on decreasing inches. We go through times that our life is more important than focusing closely on our diet. My Goal: Decreasing Inches Today is a new day. I have time to focus on my diet and my health. I have the goal to go from size 10/12 in pants to a size 8 in pants. While I was easily able to attain this in Italy with fresh, real foods, I’ve found it difficult in America with a supermarket full of processed foods and meats with additives.1 My Healthy Lifestyle Methods When I really want to focus on decreasing inches, here are some of the methods I employ: 1. Decrease sugar and carbs. I begin to read the products I purchase to see if they include any added sugar. Surprisingly, even sandwich meat often includes dextrose (another name for sugar). In fact, there are many names for sugar that need to be identified in order to avoid sugar. Note: You can find a list in the footnotes below.2 As for carbs, our body uses carbs for energy and for building vitamins and minerals that we are missing. We will easily get our basic carbs from vegetables, so rather than loading up on […]

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Godai Soaps Review by a Crunchy Mama

Boholistic Mom — Thu, 14 Feb 2019 00:04:10 +0000

Godai Soaps Review These past two weeks I have had the privilege of testing out the five varieties of –> Godai Soaps. I performed an in depth Boholistic Mom Godai Soaps review! Before even accepting a cooperative reviewing of a companies product, I view the ingredients of their product and I decide whether they are a company that I want to stand behind. If not, I do not even move forward. Why accept products from a company with ingredients that I cannot agree with using? Godai Soaps was a brand that has excellent ingredients, so I proceeded forward to doing a Godai Soaps review. Scroll to the bottom for my final score on Godai Soaps. Mail from Godai Soaps The day I received my soaps in the mail, I was excited. Our family uses limited soap products as we only need soap when we are really in need of dirt removal, washing hands from dirty jobs, or when we are concerned about exposure to germs. So when I buy soaps, I look for the BEST. Why wash dirt off with dirty ingredients? So when I saw Godai’s list of ingredients, I was impressed: all natural, organic ingredients with herbs and essential oils. This was my kind of company. Here is the list of ingredients from their Sky Calming Soap and Shampoo Bar: Saponified oils of sunflower*, coconut*, palm*, and safflower* (with retained glycerin) Water Essential oils of lavender*, orange*, and eucalyptus* Alkanet root Rosemary extract *Certified Organic Ingredients My Experience As I have used each organic soap bar, I have enjoyed the sensory experience. The bars smell wonderful and enticing. Being drawn into your bath/shower experience is much more delightful than having it be a chore. I felt like I was […]

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Elderberry Tincture Recipe Herbal Remedy

Boholistic Mom — Fri, 11 Jan 2019 21:26:31 +0000

While elderberry syrup is currently the most popular go to for those wishing to arrest the symptoms of colds and flues and to boost immunity before illness arrives, elderberry tincture is another way to achieve the same results. Elderberry tincture contains the same beneficial properties and compounds, but is created without boiling, without honey, and is more shelf stable. I love using tinctures of other herbs, so I was very eager to try this when I heard of another blogger tincturing her elderberries. Elderberry Tincture Benefits Elderberries are not new as they have been an herbal supplement for years and have always grown naturally in the United States and in the rest of North America, Europe, Western Asia, and North Africa. Why do we hear of them so much more now? As more parents are moving away from medical options with a long list of side effects and risks, they are looking for natural ways to keep their families healthy. Elderberry is one of the solutions to this problem. The berries of the elder bush contain Vitamins A and C, quercetin, rutin, and anthocyanins, all of which are great for the immune system. What we notice when we use herbs from nature is that they do not create an artificial response within our body, but have a normalizing effect. It is my belief that elderberry works to normalize the immune system rather than make it go in over gear. By giving the body what it needs to succeed against viruses and bacteria, we are not forcing our body to act, but giving it the ability to act. In a double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized study, Sambucol reduced the duration of flu symptoms to 3-4 days.1 Elderberry Tincture […]

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1st Grade Homeschool Curriculum for 2018-2019

Boholistic Mom — Tue, 14 Aug 2018 22:01:07 +0000

1st grade homeschool curriculum was pretty easy after I had made my choices in Kindergarten. I knew we were doing Classical Conversations. I knew we were doing Five in a Row. I knew that we were using Alpha-Phonics to teach reading. However, each year brings different challenges and different life events happen. We had just moved from Naples, Italy to Auburn, Alabama. What an adjustment! While I had begun our reading program in Kindergarten with a few pages, we did not get very far. My son loved to listen to books, but he was not very interested in reading. In 1st grade, we made it through the entire curriculum and he still was not reading easily. Sometimes it takes a little while for things to sink in successfully when you are giving children time to learn naturally. All of the sudden at the end of that year, he began to want to read. That changed everything. 1st grade homeschooling will look different for every family and every child. We are doing it again this year with our littlest who is already reading. This 1st grade year will be completely different than my previous experience. Allow your children to be unique. Enjoy the journey. Our 1st Grade Homeschool Curriculum Choices Main Curriculum Classical Conversations in a CC Community – Cycle 1 (Find out more about classical conversations by reading –> The Core by Leigh Bortins) Ancient History Biology, Earth Science The Geography of Europe, Africa, Canada, and South America English, Math, Latin, and the History Timeline as well as Fine Arts and Hands-On Science Pros and Cons of Classical Conversations: PROS – getting together with other children (apprentice), experiencing a classroom setting once a week in order to learn classroom skills, becoming […]

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10 Marriage Tools for a Thriving Relationship

Boholistic Mom — Fri, 22 Jun 2018 23:37:16 +0000

Let me be clear ladies. Our marriages are under attack by the enemy of our souls. The good news? God is bigger, stronger, and has every intention of helping us through any hurdle that the enemy presents. However, we need God and we need tools. Why do we need tools? Because God has given us a base of Biblical wisdom and teachers who have walked this path before us. We do not need to come to the battle empty handed, but rather equipped by God’s power and with tools that work because they are a part of His plan. Marriage tools are a part of God’s plan. While you could gain these tools through years spent hammering the grindstone with your husband figuring out what works and what doesn’t, God’s intention is that you form relationships with other couples who can teach you to be a better wife. For men, being a part of a relationship with another couple that teaches you to be a better husband. You are NOT intended to be in marriage alone without support. If you are hiding your marriage troubles from other couples, you are not experiencing the support that God has for you. Reach out and get a mentor. I’ve been in situations where mentors aren’t available. I’ve even asked couples to mentor me and my husband and the mentorship relationship did not happen. This is not meant to shame these people, but for us all to realize that this isn’t an ideal world. We live in a world with busy people who are focused on many different things. If you cannot find a mentor, you can still find tools for your family. Beautifully wise people have written books […]

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Kombucha 101 – Fermented Sweet Tea

Boholistic Mom — Wed, 23 May 2018 16:07:18 +0000

If you have found my Kombucha 101 page, you may have heard me talking about the concept of making fermented sweet tea with a SCOBY (Symbiotic Colony of Bacteria and Yeast). Kombucha tends to come up in many of my conversations with my friends, because I am excited about it! Most people do not ferment their beverages anymore. However, for centuries, traditional cultures have fermented their drinks and their food in order to increase the nutritive value and to protect the food from the wrong bacteria and yeast. If you have plenty of the right bacteria and yeast, you decrease the chances of your food having the wrong kinds of bacteria and yeast. How I Started my Kombucha Obsession I have now been making kombucha for four going on five years. My first SCOBY was given to me by a sweet friend (at the time, barely acquaintance) Claude while I was living in Italy. I took the slick round mass of bacteria and yeast that she gave me and made up a batch of sweet tea. I laid the SCOBY on top and waited! It was fantastic being able to make my own fermented tea. Why I Continue My Kombucha Obsession If it was all about making some slightly vinegary tasting tea, then I would not have continued drinking or making fermented sweet tea. Kombucha is so much more than a simple enjoyable drink. Check out the amazing benefits below: Immune boosting –> Jam packed with anti-oxidants Contains glucaric acid –> Very important for healing common malformations of cells Detoxes the body while supporting the liver Filled with glucosamines –> Important for joints and arthritis Contains gut healing probiotics All sorts of fermented drinks have incredible benefits, […]

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Foster Parent – Our Life Thus Far with Foster Care

Boholistic Mom — Mon, 02 Apr 2018 22:42:20 +0000

Foster Parent – Our Life Thus Far with the Foster Care System While I have blogged about many topics, for some reason, this one has been much too personal. Training to be a foster parent and taking a child into our home has been something I have kept to myself in many ways. I have shared with my friends and family that my husband and I were embarking on this journey. I have even shared with friends about some of our joys and struggles with fostering, but really I’ve kept so much to myself. I internalize much of my life while sharing windows in, but they are selective. Today, I’m opening one more window a little wider. My hope is that you will know a little more about fostering, a little more about how God is blessing our family, and a little more about how God is faithful even in the hard places. Training to Receive We began our training to become a foster parent in January of 2017. As my husband was still unsure of the process and his feelings about being a foster parent, we were planning to do the training in order to find out if fostering was a fit for our family. I was praying the whole time that God would stir my husband’s heart toward accepting a child into our home. In honest, our infertility has left a place that I was willing to use to bless a child who needed a home. I sincerely wanted my pain to become a blessing rather than a curse. Packet Mayhem During the training, we received a packet of forms. This thick packet was to be filled out and returned to the resource worker. […]

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Elderberry Tea Recipe – Reusing Elderberry Syrup Berries

Boholistic Mom — Thu, 01 Mar 2018 22:01:35 +0000

Do you love elderberry syrup, but hate throwing away the used elderberries? This this elderberry tea recipe is for you! Elderberry Tea Waste not, want not. Why waste all those beautiful elderberries after you make your elderberry syrup? Use them again by enjoying elderberry tea. 2 teaspoons organic elderberries 8 ounces filtered water Boil 8 ounces of water. Place 2 teaspoons of the organic elderberries into the water. Let sit 4-15 minutes depending on desired strength, add more elderberries if you’d like it stronger. Since this will only use two teaspoons of your wet elderberries at a time, you can dry the used elderberries to keep using them as tea. You have two options for drying your berries. Drying Your Elderberries Take the elderberries and place them in a dehydrator and dehydrate them until dry. OR Spread the berries across a jelly roll pan (the type with short edges) and turn your oven to its lowest setting. Heat the elderberries until they are fully dry and store in a mason jar. Supplies Organic Elderberries – Check out Vitacost for better prices. Dehydrator – if you purchase this, don’t tell me . . . it will make me jealous Mason Jars I’m so I saved you from throwing out your elderberries! That was a close call 😉 If you love me every so much more for saving you from this terrible deed, let me know! Comment below or come over and visit me on my –> Facebook page. Brooke Shambley THE Boholistic Mom Affiliate Disclosure I am an Amazon Affiliate and the links included in this post (including some of the pictures) will take you to Amazon. As an affiliate, I get paid when my readers shop […]

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Fertility Options – What I Have Tried

Boholistic Mom — Sat, 24 Feb 2018 18:40:40 +0000

It is always strange to announce to the world, “I struggle with infertility!” Yet if I don’t talk about it, I know many women are going to continue to feel alone and not have the information they need. If you are dealing with infertility, you need me to talk about the fertility options that I have tried. You need other women who are TTC (trying to conceive) to talk about what they are doing. Why? Because you don’t have to make the same mistakes and you might find that one of these options helps you skip some of the stress that we’ve endured. You could try one of these fertility options and have it work for you in the next three months. I would LOVE for you to find fertility options that would work for you and change your fertility journey from a long arduous journey to a quickly solved situation. Below you will see my timeline of what fertility options I have tried throughout my seven year journey with infertility –> Fertility Options – My Seven Year Journey TTC Year 1 Cycle Length – 35-45 days Weight – 155 OBGYN #1 – Said that we would need to have been trying for a year before getting checked out for infertility (we hadn’t been preventing pregnancy for over a year); I had one positive pregnancy test and then negative tests and they decided to tell me I had never been pregnant Year 2 Cycle Length – 35-45 days Weight – 155 General Practitioner – told us to just “do it” every day; finally referred me to the OBGYN Weston A. Price Wise Traditions Diet – began to make bone broth, eat coconut oil, and cook traditionally; lost 15 pounds of baby weight […]

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No Veggies for Me: Guide to Children and Vegetables

Boholistic Mom — Mon, 08 Jan 2018 13:00:27 +0000

As a health coach for families and mothers, I hear one common problem that appears in most families and at most dinner tables. Aversion to vegetables. “No Mommy!!! I won’t eat my ________!!!” Fill-in-the-blank with your choice of vegetable. It’s always the vegetables, rarely the mashed potatoes, the macaroni and cheese, or the cookie. If it is colorful and vibrant in flavor naturally, an alarm goes of in their little brains with a warning, “WARNING: This item is a vegetable!!! Avoid at all costs!!!” And so they do. They kick up a fuss. They start crying. They refuse. The broccoli ends up in the floor. The carrots swished in unnatural ways. Spinach . . . well that’s in your hair. It’s a new look. Is all this pain necessary? Is there some better way to do vegetables? Why do children identify vegetables as “bad?” I have some answers for you. Vegetables do not have to be alien invaders and strange food groups that your children are forced to consume. In fact, if you consider the guiding principles below, you may find that veggies are welcome into the house as a friend. Why your children hate their vegetables This is really the point isn’t it? Your children have learned to hate their vegetables. At the early age of 1-3, something has taught them that vegetables are less preferable. Why? I will provide four reasons that children learn to hate their vegetables. Reason #1: Baby food When we first introduce vegetables to our children, we often give them baby food that we have bought in a grocery store. Some parents buy organic, some buy regular, but the problem is the same. Have you ever tasted baby food? […]

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