Good quality mouthwashes are expensive especially alcohol-free mouthwashes. You can make your own mouthwash for just pennies that works as well as, if not better than, anything you can buy!

Hydrogen Peroxide Mouthwash Recipe:

Dilute Hydrogen Peroxide to 1% – that’s it! You can add Mint extract for flavor or Tea Tree or Colloidal Silver for added protection. But really all you need is Hydrogen Peroxide and water.

How to dilute Hydrogen Peroxide to 1%

1 part 3% Hydrogen Peroxide to 3 parts water

or

1 part 6% Hydrogen Peroxide to 6 parts water

Use a 100ml squirt bottle for ease of use.

It is essential that you dilute Hydrogen Peroxide to 1% to avoid burning.

Now rinse! Swish the solution around your mouth for about 1 minute. It will foam up and get into those areas that are hard to clean. Do not swallow! Spit and rinse with a bit of water.

For more on how to care for your teeth visit our 7 Steps to Great Dental Health page.

And for the best toothpaste ever buy Tooth Soap. Better than any organic toothpaste brand.

Last year I started having a dull pain and slight numbness down my lower arm through to my fingers. At first I thought it might be Carpal Tunnel Syndrome caused by long hours at my computer. After a break from work and my computer, it didn’t go away.  I’ve always carried a lot of tension through my upper back and neck so it seemed I was dealing with a trapped nerve.

I started going for massage. As nice as they were, they didn’t resolve the problem. I then tried an osteopath. I love getting my back cracked. It felt great, but again didn’t resolve the problem.

After about a year of pain and discomfort, I started looking into trapped nerves on the internet. I found some great videos from a range of therapists on YouTube and rediscovered Trigger Point Therapy. I had received Trigger Point Therapy after a serious road traffic accident many years ago, but didn’t really connect it to my current back problems and I also didn’t know that there were tools available that I could use to treat myself. My massage therapist and osteopath in the UK had never heard of Trigger Point Therapy so self-care was my only option.

The two best self-care Trigger Point tools I found are the Backnobber and the Body Back Buddy. I chose the Body Back Buddy because I could buy it on Amazon in the UK and save on expensive postage from the USA, but I’m sure the Backnobber works just as well. Get the best deal!

After just a few treatments which were easy to learn on YouTube, the pain down my arm disappeared. It’s also great for getting rid of headaches, stiff muscles and aches and pains due to muscle tension.

I now use my Back Buddy a few times per week to maintain a pain free back and prevent trapped nerves in my neck and back. It works a dream and I’m no longer paying for therapies that don’t work.

If I knew of a therapist in my local area who did Trigger Point Therapy, I would seek their support and knowledge.

The best order for cleansing is:

Colon Cleanse – essential to clear your gut first! Blessed Herbs makes some great kits that are easy to use.

Kidney Cleanse – Try filtered water with fresh lemon or lemon concentrate. Sweeten with maple syrup and spice with cayenne which is a great blood cleanser. Some people fast on this, but I don’t. 7 days should do it. People with lower back pain should definitely cleanse their kidneys!

Read on for more cleansing options

Parasite Cleanse – if you’ve got pets that might have worms, this one is good.

Liver Cleanse – I’ve read a lot about Liver Flushes and tried a few, but never felt any different after one so I assume that I didn’t need them. Some were difficult and uncomfortable. If you want to try one, this one’s not too bad: http://curezone.com/forums/fm.asp?i=886965. Milk thistle and apple juice are good for the liver. I prefer to drink lots of apple juice when in season and add a bit of Milk Thistle concentrate. (Available ant any Health Food store. I do this for about a week.

Lymph Cleanse -  dry brushing, alternating hot/cold showers or alternating between the sauna and a cold shower, walking, exercise – anything that get your circulation going. Your lymph system removes toxins from your blood, but doesn’t have a pump to move the fluid around. Keeping your fluid intake up helps keep lymph fluid thin.

There are many more cleanses, but these are the basics.

More on Colon Cleansing here.

Read on and find out why.

1. Our planet re-uses the same water over and over. This means that any chemical we use eventually winds up in the water we drink. Our drinking water becomes contaminated by agricultural runoff, household chemicals, lawn chemical, gasoline, dry cleaning solvents and drugs. areas with the highest levels of these synthetic organic chemicals (SOCs) in their water supplies also have the highest incidence of cancer. Filtering tap water can remove SOCs.
2. 40% of all bottled water is ordinary tap water from a city water system and regulation of bottled water is inadequate.
3. Bottled water is expensive.  It costs from $1 to $4 a gallon for the perception of purity.
4. It is very bad for the environment. Plastic bottles and transportation of water, sometimes from across the globe, are unnecessary and harmful to our planet.

For even more reasons read our water page.

Find the right water filter for you here.

Do this 3 times a day for up to 3 days and either the outbreak won’t happen at all or it will be very mild and short lived.

You can actually start the treatment anytime even when the outbreak is full blown. You will get immediate relief and it will heal much faster.

Read more about DMSO here.

You can purchase DMSO creams in some health food stores. Online you can get it at www.jacoblab.com

I have to say I was a bit worried this time. I’ve moved to a new city and it took me some time to settle the family and find a new dentist. I noticed something wasn’t right with a back molar and thought that I had a cavity. As it turned out, it was a broken amalgam filling which my new dentist replaced with a composite filling.

My dentist was very impressed with my dental hygiene and could not make any suggestions on how to improve it! Follow my 7 Steps to Healthy Teeth and Gums and get great results, too.

Having healthy teeth is essential for good health. Read the Dental Care page to find out more.

Take a look at what you’re eating and cut out the junk, the processed food, the mystery meat, and the refined sugars and carbs. Read Dr. Weil’s books and website. Eat healthy, stay active, relax and enjoy life.

If you invest in your health by living a healthy lifestyle, you’ll look great, your skin will glow and you’ll save on fancy skin care products and doctor bills.

Another way to save money is to take care of your teeth. I’ve put quite a bit of information on this site about dental care. It’s based on how I have stopped boneloss, receding gums, brittle teeth, decay and hypersensitivity. For the past 3 years I have only had regular check ups with my dentist – no more gum treatments, root canals, fillings or extractions. More here…

Another great way to save money (and help the environment) is to stop buying bottled water. Get a water filter and enjoy the benefits of pure water on your health. I’ve saved a few old bottles in various sizes – I fill them up and have them with me when I’m out. More here…

Back to skin care… I was using coconut oil mixed with a bit of almond oil. Over time, I noticed my t-zone looking a bit unclear so I’m trying store products bought on sale, of course.

I still use coconut oil to massage around my eyes. It feels great and keeps the wrinkles away, which is just as much about the massage as it is about the oil! The massage technique is from the ‘Complete System of Self Healing: Internal Exercises’ by Stephen T. Chang.

Complete System of Self Healing: Internal Exercises

I do miss my Dermalift, but I feel better when I’m saving these days…

What has been life altering, are the breathing exercises and the introduction to Chinese Medicine. I have since had acupuncture and herbal treatment for menopause symptoms which has worked a dream and which I can recommend. I just went to one of those chinese doctors (a husband and wife team) in a shopping mall. They were fantastic.

I have also found a book called the ‘Complete System of Self Healing: Internal Exercises’ by Stephen T. Chang. I had heard the the eye exercises were very good. I’ve needed reading glasses for a while, but this year I’ve needed glasses for driving and my night vision is also getting worse. I’ve been doing the eye exercises for about 7 weeks. My eyes feel much better. The exercises are great for tired eyes, after work or after a long drive. You can even do them while driving. If I’ve had any improvement with my vision, it has been very subtle, but the book does say you need to do them for 3 to 6 months.

Complete System of Self Healing: Internal Exercises

I’m also doing a few of the other internal exercises. They work with Chinese concepts like meridians and chi (energy or life force). They are easy to do and fit well with Dr Weil’s program.

Dr Weil has an online program which I may start when the weather gets a bit better.

The book is an excellent example of a sensible approach to healthy eating and living. Nothing new or ground breaking, but instead an approach that is easy to understand and follow. What I love about it is that it not about dieting. I have always believed that as soon as we start to diet and deprive ourselves of things we like to eat, we want them even more. What we resist persists!

Dr Weil promotes eating whole foods, getting moderate exercise and managing stress through breathing techniques. He also considers our spiritual side and suggests simple things like creating beautiful and orderly surroundings.

I’m in my first week and really enjoying it. What’s very different than what I have been doing over the last few years is his approach to supplementation. He doesn’t suggest taking high doses of supplements, but rather low to moderate doses based on research on how much our bodies are able to absorb.

He focuses heavily on cholesterol, but acknowledges a growing body of research showing that other factors such as triglycerides and inflamation are more likely to cause heart disease. He makes no mention of coconut oil or any other tropical oil, I suspect because they are saturated fats which he suggests keeping low (this is the one area where I disagree with him). I was very relieved to read his advice on poly-unsaturated vegetable oils – don’t eat them – throw them away and use olive oil instead.

Dr Weil is also a proponent of drinking filtered tap water for the same reasons we outline on out water page.

I’m looking forward to my eight weeks. The breathing exercises are a revelation and I am learning more about the power we have to heal ourselves.

Eight Weeks to Optimum Health, Revised Edition: A Proven Program for Taking Full Advantage of Your Body’s Natural Healing Power

I was worried that I would wrinkle up over night. But I haven’t. A few wrinkles do seem a bit more pronounced, but overall my skin looks great. Mixing coconut oil with almond oil is fantastic for my 50+ skin. It feels supple and even has a dewy look. I mix it in my hand and apply it to my face, neck, arms and hands.

It’s no fuss and very low cost.

When the crunch is over I go back to Dermalift and an antiaging skincare regime, but until then I’m very happy with the results of this completely natural and very inexpensive skin care.