Malleable Reality

Here are the homemade toothpaste/tooth powder recipes I’ve promised from last week’s Back to Basics post, regarding why store-bought toothpaste is not as beneficial as you may think it is.

Remember, you want to steer clear of harmful store-bought toothpastes that contain:  Fluoride, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS), Saccharin, glycerin, and any artificial colors (such as: FD&C Blue 1, FD&C Red 3, FD&C Red 40, FD&C Red 33, and Yellow 10 Lake), and any other chemical ingredient. Research the ingredients in your hygiene products! 

First, let’s look at the ingredients I choose to use to make homemade toothpaste & why:

• Baking soda:  Cleans teeth, whitens teeth, and freshens breath. Going “back to basics”, baking soda has been used as a teeth cleaning agent for years, and is still used in today’s commercial toothpastes.  Baking soda is also alkaline and will neutralize the acids that are lingering in your mouth & on your teeth from consuming acidic foods/drinks.  Acidity can erode enamel & causes cavities.
• Sea Salt: Natural anti-septic, used for years.  Kills bacteria that cause plaque, and cleanses teeth & gums.
• Xylitol:  A natural, non-fermentable sugar that not only sweetens the toothpaste, but protects against cavities as well. Xylitol has the opposite effect of traditional sugar.  While sugar helps bacteria grow & thrive by creating an acidic environment, Xylitol cannot be fermented, and therefore protects against the growth of bacteria and helps to prevent cavities, helps with the re-mineralization of teeth, & eliminates plaque.
• White Kaolin Clay: Earth’s clay has been used for years by our ancestors for various cosmetic and healing purposes.  Clay has been known to cleanse & purify the skin by pulling toxins and pollutants from the skin when used as a mask, and have also been used in toothpastes and mouthwashes for the same purpose.  When clay is used in the mouth, it purifies, cleanses and rids the mouth of bad bacteria. Kaolin clay is also known to polish the tooth’s surface, while gently removing surface stains and plaque.
• Eggshells: Probably the best natural source of calcium, since eggshells are calcium & other trace minerals.  The composition of eggshells are very similar to our bones & teeth.  Eggshells are easily absorbable.  Finely ground eggshells make calcium powder.  However, only use organic, pastured-eggs, not store bought (factory farmed) eggs.  Factory farmed/store bought eggs are not very nutritious…if the chicken does not get proper nutrients, the eggshells will not be filled with all of the nutrients we need, and instead will be weak & easily breakable (therefore, have less calcium).  If you don’t have healthy eggshells available, use calcium powder instead.
• Coconut oil: Great for the gums and is anti-bacterial.  Coconut oil kills bacteria that causes tooth decay and gum disease.
• Aloe Vera gel (in it’s pure, liquid form): Aloe has been used for centuries as a home remedy.  For toothpaste purpose, it cleanses and soothes teeth and gums, as it is also anti-bacterial.
• Myrrh Essential Oil:  Great for the mouth & gums!  This oil has been used for cleaning and purifying since ancient times and is known to keep gums healthy & eliminate mouth sores/infections. It is antiseptic by nature, and also stimulates circulation, which is great for the mouth and gums.
• Peppermint Essential Oil:  Anti-bacterial and provides a minty fresh scent to breath, and a minty taste to homemade toothpaste.

After much research and thought, here is the toothpaste recipe I like to use: (you can feel free to add or remove ingredients based off of your own research, and change measurements as you see fit.  I use measurements of my own based off of research and personal wants/needs, and personal opinion).

1/2 cup baking soda (finely ground*)
1/4 cup finely ground* sea salt
1/4 cup finely ground* xylitol
2 tablespoons Kaolin clay
2 tbs finely ground* eggshells (organic, pastured-eggs from a farm.  I wouldn’t do this with factory farmed, store bought eggs.  You can replace the eggshells with calcium powder if necessary).
Essential oils (I use myrrh & peppermint)

To use as a toothpowder, use recipe above and sprinkle onto toothbrush & brush gently.  If you’d rather have more of a paste consistency like I do, use the following:
A few tablespoons coconut oil (I used 2 tbs)
1-2 tsp aloe vera (pure aloe vera, in it’s liquid form/aloe vera juice)

Store in small glass jar or bowl if you made paste (the wet Kaolin clay CANNOT be stored in plastic, as it will absorb the toxins from the plastic.  As a tooth powder (in dry form), it can be stored in plastic).

*For ingredients marked “finely ground”, I literally grind these ingredients (in small portions) into a fine powder in a small coffee grinder (Krups Electric Coffee Grinder, $19.00).  It works fabulously.  The reason for grinding these ingredients is simple:  They’d be too abrasive on the tooth’s enamel otherwise.  Although some people do use baking soda whole and brush strictly with baking soda alone, I feel that it is too abrasive to use on a daily basis (in it’s whole, un-ground form).  Some dentists say it’s fine and good for your teeth, others say it’s okay to use, but maybe only once a week instead of daily, while other’s disagree completely and say it is too abrasive. Well, to be safe, I grind all of my “too abrasive” ingredients, including baking soda, to a fine grind.

I make this recipe, which allows me to have more than I need for one small jar (think baby-food jar), which is probably about 2-3 tablespoons of the tooth powder (dry) mixture.  Then I mix about equal amounts of coconut oil, and 1-2 teaspoons of aloe vera to form a paste.  I store the extra dry ingredients that are already mixed together in a zip lock bag so when I run out of toothpaste in the future, I just have to mix together a few tablespoons or so the dry ingredients with the coconut oil and aloe vera, and I’ll have a new jar of toothpaste.  Quick & easy.  I could also always use the dry ingredients as a powder, of course, but for now, I’m sticking with the paste.

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*I obviously am not a dentist or a professional of any kind, & all of the information I have is based off of my own research & opinion and is not meant for treating or curing any hygiene disease.  I simply make homemade products for my own personal use, and I’m offering the recipe for my homemade toothpaste for those who would like to make and use their own all natural toothpaste.  That doesn’t mean you will be cavity-free!

In ancient times, toothpastes varied depending on the culture, although many cultures used crushed shells (including eggshells) and bones, and powdered ingredients such as ashes, bark, charcoal, herbs, and salt.  When toothpaste was developed in the 1800’s, many toothpastes were made of soap and chalk.  It wasn’t until after the 1850’s when toothpaste actually became made as paste.  Before then, “toothpaste” was actually a powder that would turn into a paste substance after mixing with the saliva of the user. 

Nowadays, toothpastes contain artificial foaming agents, detergents, artificial flavors, artificial colors, sweeteners, and humectants, such as glycerin.  Some commercial toothpastes even include Triclosan (a registered pesticide according to the EPA, and an antimicrobial agent that is known to create super-bugs).  Triclosan has been shown to cause bacteria to become resistant to antibiotics, and when mixed with chlorine found in drinking water, can form Chloroform (a probable human carcinogen according to the EPA).

Let’s look at some other common ingredients in your tube of toothpaste:

Fluoride: A neurotoxin that was often used as a poison and insecticide in the past. (See my post on water fluoridation here, and a link about dental fluorosis here).

Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS):  An chemical foaming agent used to create the foam and suds in toothpaste, soap, and shampoo. I posted about the dangers of SLS & why you should go SLS-free here.  Remember, foam, bubbles and suds do not = clean!  We are conditioned to think that way and feel that a product not foaming may not be working as well, but the foam really is all smoke & mirrors.  It’s just a chemical added to your products to purposely create foam.

Saccharin: An artificial sweetener that has been linked to cancer.

Artificial colors, such as FD&C Blue 1, FD&C Red 3, FD&C Red 40, FD&C Red 33, and Yellow 10 Lake:  These colors are lab-created dyes that have either been banned in other countries, or banned by the FDA for other uses (such as some eye cosmetics, etc.), and many of these dyes have been linked to toxicity and various tumors. For some reason though, these artificial colors are still allowed in our toothpastes & mouthwashes (which are absorbed through our gums and often minimally swallowed).

Glycerin:  A humectant used to keep the paste moist & smooth.  Although a natural ingredient that is safe for use, glycerin forms a sticky layer on teeth that has been shown to take 27 rinses to wash off of the surface of teeth.  I don’t know anyone who rinses 27 times.  The film formed on the teeth due to the glycerin content in toothpastes blocks saliva from coming in contact with teeth, & therefore, blocks the ability for teeth to remineralize.

Any of the ingredients in our toothpastes are easily absorbed through our gums and enter into our bloodstream.  But how often have you stopped to think about your toothpaste, the ingredients in it and how it’s effecting your teeth and your health?  We tend to buy what’s on a shelf and assume that it’s safe.  Why would anything sold in a store be toxic to my health?  Plus, my toothpaste is FDA approved, so it must be safe.  Well, that’s what you’d think, but the truth is, many of the ingredients in commercial hygiene products are horrible for your heath.  Look into these ingredients yourself instead of trusting that the FDA or your favorite store or brand will keep you safe, because, well…they won’t. 

Ingredients are often approved based off of the amount of that specific ingredient that is allowed into the product.  This doesn’t take into consideration that the ingredients/chemicals in products that we use every day, such as toothpaste, mouthwash, soap, lotion, etc., accumulate in our bodies.  This causes a toxic, chemical build up overtime from the constant use of these ingredients.  Ingredients that maybe have been determined “toxic, but safe in low doses” is now a high dose ingredient in your body. Not to mention that the ingredients SLS and SLES allow your body to absorb more of whatever it is that’s in the product to begin with.  Basically, it enhances absorb-ability. So now, not only is the SLS itself harmful, but it’s allowing the other harmful ingredients in the product you are using to be more easily absorbed by your body. Great.

And you also cannot just assume that because something is a known “all natural” product, that it really, truely, is!  A great example of this is Tom’s of Maine, a well-known “all natural” brand. Although they sell a fluoride-free version of toothpaste, their toothpastes list SLS as an ingredient.  They are able to get away with this as an ingredient in their “all natural” product by stating that it is “derived from coconut and/or palm kernal oil”.  Although Burt’s Bees, another popular “all natural” brand, does not use SLS in their fluoride-free toothpaste, it does use glycerin (described above).  And as we know, glycerin is an all-natural ingredient, however, in this specific application (toothpaste), it is bad for us (since it prevents our teeth to naturally re-mineralize themselves, the way nature intended).

The best way to steer clear of unnecessary ingredients in your toothpaste is to research and read labels!  Read the ingredients on your tube of toothpaste and find out what each ingredient does, why it’s used, and any harmful effects associated with it.  Even with all natural products, read labels to ensure the ingredients truly are all natural and will benefit your teeth/gums in some way.  Another way to avoid unnecessary ingredients and uncertainty is to make your own toothpaste or tooth powder.  I will end this weeks post on that note and will post a few homemade recipes for toothpaste and tooth powder for next Sunday’s Back to Basics post.  Stay tuned!

It’s finally 2012! The year that many have anticipated due to the ending of the Mayan calender.

1/1/2012 …the anniversary of my first Tumblr post of the new year, and last night (12/31/2011) was my Tumblr’s official birthday, which started with a post of a quote that inspired the name “Malleable Reality”.  So for me, this really is a year in review.

I’ve learned a lot over the year & really changed/grew as a person.  As I read over my post from exactly 1 year ago, I realized that I ended my post with my “to-do’s for the 2011 year:

- “Learn more about the things I’m interested in.”

- “Continue to take more steps to living a healthier life.”

I was happy to read those two things & realized that I accomplished those things to the best of my ability within the year.  I’ve made a ton of changes in my lifestyle and learned a plethora of valuable information, some of it in which I shared here (via Tumblr) throughout the year.  These posts included: Buying organic produce, skin cancer, disease branding, toxic chemicals in our everyday lives, more chemicals in our lives, toxins in our skin care, the dangers of teflon, BPA levels in canned foods, chemicals in baby shampoo, the dangers of water fluoridation, birth control pills, the FDA and arsenic in your chicken, the secret ingredient in your store bought meat, the food revolution, and introduced a Back to Basics series which included posts on some of the changes I’ve made throughout the year that helped me to lead a better/healthier lifestyle.  You can view all of my posts posted within this last year here.

With that said and last year behind us, my plan for 2012 is to continue to learn and grow as a person, and hopefully continue with the changes I’ve made, and make even more changes for this year.  My “to-do” list for this year is pretty much the same as last year.  To continue improving and building on the things I’ve already done.  2011 was a great year for me.  I still have plenty of more information that I’ve learned and continue to learn that I have yet to post in a blog.  I will continue posting Back to Basics posts and updating everyone on my lifestyle changes & the “how to’s” and recipes, as much as I can.  However, this year, the Back to Basics posts will be moved to SUNDAYS, rather than Fridays.  

Back to Basics posts every Sunday for 2012, starting this week!

This weeks Back to Basics post is a homemade, no-bake granola bar recipe.  I’ve previously posted a homemade granola bar recipe here, along with a short explanation on why it’s important to make your own rather than continue to eat store bought granola bars.  Also, it’s important to remember to soak and dry all of your ingredients beforehand (I mentioned how I do this at the end of my previous granola bar recipe post).  I always soak my ingredients in large batches so that I can have already soaked ingredients on hand for whenever I need to make another batch of granola bars (we need to have a constant supply of granola bars at all times in our house). 

I decided to post a new granola bar recipe for this week’s post since I’ve been making different kinds of granola bars, and this one has become one of our favorites:

INGREDIENTS:

2.5 cups rolled oats  (soaked & dried)

1.5 cups nuts and/or seeds (I used equal amounts of sunflower & pumpkin seeds - soaked & dried)

1/2 cup shredded coconut

1/2 cup raisins

6 tablespoons salted butter (organic, grass-fed!)

1/2 cup sugar (I use Sucanat or Rapadura)

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

3 tablespoons honey (I use raw honey)

2 tablespoon molasses

DIRECTIONS:

1. Mix oats, raisins, coconut, and nuts/seeds in large bowl.

2. Heat butter, sugar, cinnamon, honey and molasses in a small saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until everything is heated evenly (slightly bubbling)  and all ingredients are well incorporated.

3. Remove from heat and stir into oat mixture until evenly coated with large spoon. press and fold until all dry ingredients are covered in liquid mixture.  Mixture will be sticky, keep folding ingredients until everything is moist.  Let sit just until cool enough to handle

4. In the meantime, line a 9×11 (or 7x11) inch pan with plastic wrap/wax paper. Spoon mixture into pan, pressing down with spoon to compact. Place in the fridge for 30 minutes to firm granola. Remove from pan, peel away plastic wrap/wax paper and slice into bars. Wrap individually in plastic wrap or wax paper, if desired.

I store mine in the refrigerator, but these can be stored at room temperature as well.  As you can see from the picture above, I choose to wrap this batch in small plastic sandwich bags for convenience since we use them as snacks on the go.

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***NOTE:  FUTURE BACK TO BASICS POSTS WILL BE ON SUNDAYS, STARTING THIS UPCOMING WEEK!!  I WILL TEST SUNDAYS OUT FOR THE TIME BEING, BUT MOST LIKELY WILL STICK WITH SUNDAYS.  I WILL MAKE A NOTE OF ANY CHANGES, IF FOR SOME REASON I DECIDE TO CHANGE THE DAY AGAIN IN THE FUTURE (UNLIKELY).  I will post a reminder about this again when I make a post tomorrow (the day of my Tumblr anniversary!) ***

Nourishing Our Children shared this picture via Facebook so I had to post it here.

Check out Nourishing Our Children’s overview of raw milk vs. pasteurized milk here.

[http://www.nourishingourchildren.org/Milk]

Have you ever read the ingredients list on the back of your store bought ketchup bottle?  High fructose corn syrup is often one of the main ingredients (yuck!)

Ever since we finished using our favorite store bought ketchup, I decided to no longer buy ketchup, and that the ketchup we use in our house would only be homemade.  Of course, there’s always the all natural, organic ketchup that can be purchased at Whole Foods in case of condiment emergency. But organic store bought ketchup, even in it’s “all natural” state, is still not as healthy as homemade lacto-fermented ketchup.

So here is a healthy, all natural, organic, enzyme & probiotic filled (via lacto-fermentation) recipe.  This recipe is SO simple, you’ll wonder why you haven’t been making ketchup yourself all along  (at least I did!)

Ingredients:

3 cups organic tomato paste (I used 4 cans of 6oz Muir Glen organic cans — in the future I will most likely use Bionaturae brand since they come in glass jars instead of cans)

1/4 cup liquid whey (homemade only…click the link to learn how to make your own).

1/4 cup Grade B maple syrup

2-3 organic black peppercorns (crushed)

1 Tbs sea salt

3 cloves organic garlic, mashed

1/2 cup fish sauce (try to only use fish sauce that has only anchovies and salt as the listed ingredients…I tried to find it, but the only one I could get at the time also had sugar.  Next time I will go to an Asian supermarket since they have a vast selection of fish sauce, but for now, I used Thai Kitchen - which has anchovies, salt, and sugar)

Directions:

Combine all ingredients and mix on low with a hand mixer (you could also just whisk this mixture together yourself, but I prefer the hand mixer to make sure everything is mixed well).  Pour into a 1 quart jar or container.  Make sure there is approx 1 inch at the top of the jar/container to allow for expansion during fermentation.  Leave the jar/container out on the kitchen counter for 2 days to ferment, then store in the refrigerator.  Mark the container with the date to keep track of how long you’ve had it for.  Will keep for up to 6 months.

I adapted this recipe from Sarah, at The Healthy Home Economist, who adapted recipe from Nourishing Traditions Cookbook by Sally Fallon Morell.

**NOTE: After the new year (my anniversary with Tumblr), I will most likely be moving Back to Basic posts to SUNDAYS!  It will be “Back to Basics Sundays” instead of “Back to Basics Fridays”.   I will post this note again before the change is made for sure.

I’ve been cooking a lot of chickens lately and I love it.  So this Back to Basics post will be dedicated to the process I take to make a delicious chicken and what I do with the leftovers!

To start:

We have a chicken that came from Clover Patch Farm via the 4 Season Harvest Buying Club (which I’ve previously blogged about here).  This was somewhat of a smaller chicken than what we were used to, but it still had lots of meat!  This, and all of the chickens we get from the farm, are Freedom Rangers (by choice).

Freedom Rangers are free range, and raised on pasture.  They grow slower than the Cornish Cross breed and have bigger legs/thighs due to the exercise they get during their lives by being free range. (Hah, that was my very brief explanation).

*ABOVE: I’m not sure why the chicken looks dark in some areas like in the wings & towards the top of the chicken (right hand side) — it wasn’t this color in person, it must have just been the lighting.*

First step was to cut off the neck, which comes attached!  This time I did this part all by myself, without the help of my boyfriend who is usually the neck-cutter. I was very proud of myself!

Next, rinse the chicken thoroughly in cold water and pat dry.

Preheat oven to 475 degrees. 

Drizzle oil onto the bottom of pan to start, then place chicken in the pan. 

Season the chicken by rubbing with oil of choice (just don’t use those rancid vegetable oils!) and adding spices/herbs of choice.  This could include any combination that you like.  I tend to use any of the following: Basil, parsley, rosemary, thyme, oregano, and salt & pepper.  I rub the chicken with these seasonings on all sides.  I also juice a lemon and pour the fresh squeezed lemon juice over the chicken, but that is optional.  I put half of the lemon (sliced up) in the cavity, along with some farm fresh/grass-fed butter, about a quarter of an onion (chopped), and all of the seasonings that I used for the skin of the chicken.

 At this point, I chop up the rest of the onion to place in the pan, around the chicken, along with any vegetables I want to add for dinner that night.  I like: red potatoes, zucchini, carrots, celery (mix & match).  Other vegetables also work fine, just use whatever you like!

Oh, back to the farm fresh/grass-fed butter! I put about a 1/2 tablespoon to 1 tablespoon of butter under the skin of the chicken, just between the meat and skin at all 4 corners of the breast (at the top and the bottom end of each breast).  you’ll have to separate the skin from the breast a bit with your fingers but it’s not a big deal…just slide your fingers under the skin.

Roast the chicken at 475 degrees, uncovered, for about 45 minutes.  (It could need more or less time depending on the size of the chicken).  This step is to brown the skin a bit and to get it to be a little crisp.

Remove pan from the oven and lower the oven temperature to 325 degrees.  Add 1 cup of water to the pan (maybe 2 if needed — personal opinion).  *Picture below*

Cover pan and place back into oven for an additional hour and a half, depending on the size of the chicken.  Sometimes I leave it in a bit longer.  I use a meat thermometer to double check to make sure it’s completely done.

Next, I take the chicken out of the oven and allow it to sit for about 10 minutes.  This allows the juices to settle within the chicken. 

And without ever basting, you will have the most tender, moist, and delicious chicken ever.  It is seriously. so. good. 

The first time I made a freedom ranger chicken (this exact same way), I made homemade gravy to go with it, and we ended up not even using the gravy because the meat was so good alone.

At the bottom of the pan will be the delicious juice that came from the chicken (obviously cooked with the vegetables and all of the seasonings used to cook the chicken).  DO NOT WASTE THIS!  It is so, so good.  I put this in a container to be used when making other chicken meals (leftovers from the chicken we just made), add it to soups, rice, mashed potatoes.  ANYTHING that you want to add some extra flavor to (in an easy and healthy way…throw out the boxed, processed stuff.  You don’t need it when your cooking with the drippings from the chicken!)

This small container lasts longer than I originally thought it would because I only need to use about a tablespoon at a time/per meal.  It solidifies and becomes gelatinous/jell-like (rather than the liquid that’s pictured here.  This picture was from before it was refrigerated), due to the gelatin from the chicken.  This is the good stuff.

As far as the left over meat:  We’ve gotten anywhere from 6 to 9 meals out of any given chicken. Just look at how much chicken is here after I took all of the meat of of the bones (I tried to separate the dark meat from the white meat):

And this is after we’ve already eaten our dinner for that night!

Granted, there’s just two of us (my boyfriend & myself), but it still impresses me!  This chicken was the smallest chicken we’ve had thus far, at 3.75 pounds, and it still made 9 meals.  NINE MEALS FOR TWO PEOPLE!  At $4.39 per pound, this particular chicken cost us $16.46.  That’s $1.82 per meal (for the chicken, not including vegetables or any sides I make), which comes to only $0.91 per person, per meal of chicken.  Awesome?? YES!

I separate the meat into smaller portions (enough for a meal for two) and wrap them up separately.  I put the individual packages into the freezer and have quick, easy, and delicious meals ready to be taken out of the freezer, defrosted and heated up for dinner again.  I do all kinds of things with the left over meat, but our favorites have been: Chicken over mashed potatoes (with sides of vegetables that we choose at the time) along with some of the drippings from the chicken that was saved as well, or a stir-fry with either rice, noodles, and/or vegetables of choice.  We love it.

And lastly, because we don’t like to waste any of this awesome chicken, I do not throw out the bones!!  I use those to make chicken stock for soups.  If I do not make the stock right away, I freeze the bones to be used for stock at a later time.  I’ll post about making stock in a future Back to Basics post! (This is important part of the chicken process!)

That’s all for now, but I hope this post inspired someone, anyone, to go out and get a farm fresh, Freedom Ranger and try this!