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Are you on a journey to heal yourself or someone in your family?
Does your journey have you trying to clean up your home and body from harsh, harmful and caustic chemicals?
Are you looking for tried and true recipes for herbal preparations and/or remedies to help you in you home and life?
Do you need biblical inspiration and guidance for personal growth?
These have all parts of my journey, too. I have been on a journey to help my son, recover my family’s health and find the abundant life talked about in the Bible. Living life well inspired starts first and foremost with seeking the Lord for guidance and wisdom. I have found the rest of my inspiration came from that foundational step. As I have mentioned in my about page, seeking God inspires me to be the best homeschooling mom, wife and woman I can be using clean living and eating and inspires my natural health and herbal studies.
I have chosen to pursue a God-honoring holistic lifestyle in my journey to health and wellness. I have researched and tried many many products and recipes as well as used many biblical studies in my journey. I hope this list shortens your journey a bit. It has been trial and error for the better part of 5 years to finally settle on brands and products that work for our family as well as find quality Christian or neutral sources of information for a God-honoring holistic lifestyle.
Below are some of the things that I have used and currently use in my home, with my kids and family, and on our bodies that are as natural and caustic-chemical free as possible. I hope this helps you on your journey as well. Having a place to start can be a breath of fresh air when starting to try and unravel undesirable symptoms and problems.
This is not an exhaustive list and I will likely be adding to it as life moves on. Lord- willing I will be adding review articles with more information in the coming months and I will add those links here as well. I wish you all the best on your journey to health and wellness and I pray that this list of what has worked for my family and I may help you as well!
Bible Studies/ Books
My Recommendations–
Over the years I have read many many books in my pursuit of a God-honoring holistic lifestyle. You can find my favorite books that provided me with the most help along the way here. Find books for studying scripture, gaining biblical perspective, understanding the Bible, developing the character of Christ, walking with God, Christian homeschooling, living life, parenting, special needs kids, and natural health and wellness.
At Living on the Edge, Chip Ingram teaches practical application of the bible which leads to deeper understanding of Gods word. His teaching is instrumental in discipling a christian in their walk with the Lord.
First 5 app from Proverbs 31 Ministries is one of my favorite ways to start my day. They make it super easy to read a chapter from the Bible and a devotional each day. Theologically sound and rich in information, you will enjoy learning more about the Bible and the Lord each day.
I love Blue Letter Bible’s app for reading and studying scripture. You are able to find commentaries, cross reference scripture passages as well as dive into the Greek and Hebrew word meanings among other cool study features.
Home
Branch Basics is nothing short of amazing. Their cleaning products are all I use for bathrooms, kitchen, windows, and laundry. All-natural and plant-based, it delivers a clean that is like none other. And it beat out every other laundry detergent I have tried both conventional and natural in getting my husband’s greasy oily work pants clean, too! Get $10 off your first purchase through this link! (affiliate).
Melaleuca is another great option for clean, environmentally friendly personal and skincare, nutrition, and cleaning products. I started using their cleaners when Big Bro was a baby and have used them on and off over the years. Their Sol-U-Mel cleaner is amazing at keeping the dust and pet dander down, helping my allergies. It is one of my favorite cleaning supplies. You need someone to set up an account to shop, so contact me here and I can help you with that. Switching from conventional cleaning products to Melaleuca products will make a difference in your home!
Holistic Personal Care
I discovered Arbonne through a friend in the spring of 2021 and it has been a lifesaver. The nutrition is spot on and they even use herbs in their formulations. Their products have made such a difference in my own health that I became a consultant and highly recommend everything! They offer squeaky clean personal care and skin care products as well as superior nutrition. You’ll feel the difference!
You can check out my daily nourishing shake here.
After trying MANY options in the deodorant world, I finally found Schmidt’s (affiliate) and their products hold up well to all my outdoor summer activities.
100 Percent Pure is natural, organic skincare at its finest, and it doesn’t break the bank! Colored with fruit pigments, this makeup will deliver. And their haircare and nail polishes are pretty special, too. You won’t be disappointed if you give their products a try.
Once you try Kapa Nui nail polishes you’ll never go back. They are completely non-toxic and have incredible coverage and staying power. Made in Hawaii, the colors are beautiful and inspired by the tropical natural beauty of the islands. My favorite part is that they are dried with a hair dryer so they are dry immediately. No more smudges or scratches!
Hands down, OraWellness LLC (affiliate) has my favorite tooth/mouth care products and they have great information on holistic oral health, too. Using their products leaves me teeth squeaky clean and sends bad breath packing! If you are looking for a more holistic approach to tooth and gum care, this is one you are definitely going to want to give a try.
Traditional Nutrition
Cultures for Health is the place I have purchased my milk kefir and water kefir (affiliate) starters and the first place I go for cultured foods advice. Their knowledge base of articles is second to none! I am definitely a happy customer and I think you would be too!
Berkey Water Filters (affiliate) is the water filter system I am currently using in my home to remove chlorine and fluoride from our town water. The Royal Berkey so far has kept up with our water consumption for 6 people and has been a blessing to me! No more buying water for my ferments and kombucha!
Nourished Kitchen– For traditional foods recipes and information, this is one of my go-to trusted sites. There are lots of unique lacto-fermented recipes to try and she even categorizes meals by seasons so it’s easy to find recipes for locally sourced fresh ingredients!
Wellness Mama is another one of my go-to websites with an amazing amount of well-researched and quality information spanning health, wellness, and diet.
The Feingold Program was one of the steps in our journey. This particular diet eliminates salicylates from the diet that often show up by reactions from yellow dyes in foods. This diet eliminates the foods that naturally contain salicylates as well as the preservatives and yellow dyes that can trigger reactions. They even publish a food list of safe prepackaged/prepared foods. This wasn’t our answer, as it is for some families, but it sure was a coping strategy for us for a period of time and a valuable step in our journey.
Herbs and Essential Oils
Growing Up Herbal, owned by Meagan Visser, is packed full of helpful information about herbs and holistic, seasonal living. It is another one of my go-to sites when I am researching something. She also has courses and ebooks to deepen your learning and use of herbs.
Ultimate Elderberry Syrup–
This recipe by Meghan Visser from Growing Up Herbal is hands down the BEST recipe I have found for boosting our immunity and keeping my family healthy. I’m so thankful a friend shared this site and recipe with me years ago!
Joybilee Farm is another one of my go-to sites that is a rich resource of information for herbs, gardening, sustainable living, forgaing, cultured foods and more! She also has founded and runs the Joybilee Academy. I am working through her DIY Herbal Apothecary course and its really great!
One of the first places I turn to when I am looking for herbal information is Herbal Academy, (affiliate). I plan on taking more herbalist courses in the future, but when my dad was diagnosed with cancer, their Cancer Care course was incredibly helpful to teach me how to support him through the treatment with herbs. What I learned made a huge difference in his experience.
Mountain Meadow Herbs is one of my favorite herbal companies. Their ParaRid tincture worked wonders after we battled the cryptosporidium parasite a few years back and I have also used their AdrenLAidII tincture in my journey to healing my anxiety. I highly recommend their products!
Using Essential Oils Safely–
Lea Jacobsen is a certified aromatherapist who puts safety first in learning about and to use essential oils. She has lots of essential oil profiles, information and recipes/formulations available so you can use essential oils with confidence.
Aromatics International–
This essential oil company is also a part of an school of aromatherapy. You will find quality essential and carrier oils as well as incredible profiles and information on each product plus recipes and blending suggestions. Use this link to receive $15 off your purchase of $100+ (affiliate) plus get $15 in AromaDrops too!
I found Vibrant Blue Oils (affiliate) when they were a brand new company and it has been fun to watch them grow, I have used the Adrenal balance and oils to support Big Bro’s system. The best part is they are formulated for body systems and organ support. And there’s really informative articles on the blog, too!
Christian Homeschooling
When we brought Big Bro and Little Bro home to begin homeschooling, I searched high and low for a curriculum to help him learn to read He was 2 years behind and reading at a early 1st grade/primer level. I settled on the Foundations (affiliate) curriculum and loved it. Their approach really simplified the process by learning the whole phonogram at once rather than learning one sound that the phonogram makes and then learning another one much later as is traditional. I’d say that is my favorite thing about this company and I’m looking forward to teaching Baby Bro and Little Miss to read this way when they are ready.
Four years into homeschooling, I finally went with Trail Guides for Learning (affiliate) for Big Bro because it is unit study based and ties all the subjects in together except for Math. I have been so impressed with how this curriculum combined with the Fast ForWord program from Gemm Learning has made a HUGE difference in Big Bro’s learning trajectory. At the end of 2019, I actually started doing it with Little Bro as well. It is a great fit for those kiddos who just learn differently or have some learning disabilities.
The Heart of Dakota curriculum very much impressed me when I started the year out teaching Little Bro. It includes everything except language arts and math but is very much Bible-based and Christ-centered. It is Charlotte Mason inspired and uses stories and living books as the base for instruction.
Have you had trouble deciding on what company to use for end of the year testing? I cringed when I figured out I would have to somehow get Big Bro through a test. My mind went back to my school years and those little booklets with pages full of problems and the teacher demanding quiet with a timer on her desk! But then I found Academic Excellence and discovered there’s an untimed online version of the California Achievement Test! One problem pops up on the screen and then they move to the next question. I highly recommend this company for testing! Bonus- the results are available immediately! Get $5 off (min. order $10) your first purchase through this link! (affiliate)
I cannot recommend Gemm Learning and the Fast ForWord program enough! For auditory processing issues in people of all ages, this program has the ability to help the brain create new pathways and overcome the “faulty wiring” that accompanies APD and even damage from strokes. Gemm Learning is great to work with and very supportive right from the initial evaluation and throughout the whole process. Their program is for public and home schooled kids alike, but you can find information specific to homeschooling here. Mention Life Well Inspired and receive 10% off your whole program! (affiliate)
The Homeschool Summit is a yearly online homeschool conference that organizes around a topic relevant to homeschool and the homeschool lifestyle. Each year for the past 4 years I have been amazingly blessed by the speakers they have brought to the conference in the areas of Curriculum, Parenting, Fitting It All In and Teaching (affiliate). If you are looking for inspiration, practical help or recommendations, this is a great resource for you.