Tips for Restful Sleep

Tossing and turning at night is the WORST! Especially when you know you have to be up for work early the next morning. Generally you just check the clock every hour and count down the hours til you have to be up (or is that just me). Over the past few months, I’ve started to pay attention to what helps me sleep better. I though I would share those things with you:

1) No TV or playing on the iPhone 1 hour before bed
– Instead listen to some music or read a book (a book does the trick for me)

2) Warm Bath or Shower
– Have you seen this Times article about how warm showers before bed help you sleep better? According to the article “Several studies have shown that warming your body by taking a bath can help induce sleep when there’s enough time to cool off afterward”.

3)Sleep Spray & Diffuse
– According to the National Sleep Foundation “any fragrance that makes you happy can promote sleep”. I use a combination of a sleep pray and my diffuser.

Sleep Spray: 20 drops Lavender, 10 drops Cedarwood and 5 drops Roman Chamomile. I combine them all in a little glass stray bottle and keep this next to my bed. I spray this on my pillow and sheets at night.

For my diffuser I like to add 3-5 drops of Northern Lights Black Spurce or Peace and Calming.

What are some of your tips for getting a better nights sleep?

Young Living Cleansing Trio

IMG_0859So, I’ve been wanting to try the Young Living Cleansing Trio for a while now and I finally worked up enough guts to get it! Outside of my Elimination Diet and the supplements I was taking with it, this is my first type of cleanse. I figured that with all the bad eating in November and December (and let’s be honest January), this would be a good time to reset my system.

The Cleanse includes 3 products: Comfortone, ICP and Essentialzyme. The trio didn’t come with any instruction, but I am following the protocol in the book “Inner Transformation Using Essential Oils” by Doctors LeAnne and David Deardeuff. It a pretty simple process to follow:

Step 1: Introduce Comfortone pills one at a time working up to a maximum of 10 pills a day.
   Day ONE: 1 Comfortone in the AM
   Day TWO: 1 Comfortone in the AM and PM
   Day THREE: 2 Comfortones in the AM and one in the PM
   Day FOUR: 2 Comfortones in the AM and two in the PM
   Day FIVE and on: continue on this pattern adding one Comfortone a day until you have reached 5 in the AM and 5 in the PM or until you have a achieves 2-3 good BM’s a day, whichever comes first. (If you aren’t achieving this after a week there are a few tips in the book)

Step 2: Once you are achieving 2-3 BM’s a day you can add in ICP and Essentialymes.
1)Begin with 1 teaspoon of ICP in the AM and PM. Add 1/2 tsp each day working your way up to 1 Tbs in the AM and 1 Tbs in the PM. The best way to do this is to add it to a juice and drink it quickly (There are also some tips in the book for troubleshooting this process)
2)Start taking one Essentialzyme between breakfast and lunch and between lunch and dinner. This helps break down all the build up.

Ok- here comes the gross part– you’ve been warned. You are suppose to stay on this process until you have passed the lining coating the bowel- this is long and black and is held together in a long tube shape and contains the gross stuff in the bowels. It can take a few months to pass this. (For a more scientific description see by 31 in Inner Transformation Using Essential Oils)

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So far I am on the first week, still working on adding Comfortones each day. Here are the observations I’ve made so far
1) Adding one pill a day really makes for easy transition into the cleanse
2) Taking the Comfortone at night will cause a BM within the first 30 minutes of waking- so just be warned if you are a wake up at the last possible minute to get to work type person.
3) Drinking A LOT of water is really the key to helping everything process. I felt much better on the days that I have been drinking a lot of water.
4) I haven’t had to watch what I’m eating or change my diet any and everything has still been fine. I think this really helps with not having headaches. When I was on my elimination diet, I had to cut out so much food and start supplements all at the same time and I was very weak and sick the first few days. Not so with this one!
5) You can take whatever supplements you normally take on this cleanse! I’m still taking my Vitamin B,C and D, Mindwise, Ningxia and Pro Plus!

I’ll be back next week to let you now how adding the ICP and Essentialzyme goes!

What’s in my purse?

Have you seen some of these lifestyle magazines where they interview a celebrity and then they ask them to show everything that’s in their purse! Some have a $500 wallet in their $1000 purse and you think- nope she is not like me, but others are normal and carry tissues and your like- YES! Thank you! Everyone has to wipe their nose!Anyway, I thought it would be fun to show you what’s in my purse!

Here it is! I’ll go clockwise-

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* Essential Oils Bag– This holds all my oils I carry with me. My staples that I carry every day are Breathe Again, Deep Relief, R.C & Lemon Mix, Season Trio Blend, Summer Perfume, DiGize and Peppermint Mix, Lavender, Peppermint, Valor, and Lavender Lip Balm. Clearly, we see I have an oil hoarding problem.
* Outdoor Spray and Thieves Spray
* iPhone and earbuds (never know when someone will go live on faceook or when there will be a good podcast to listen to. Most of my driving in spent listening to educational and business podcast or videos)
* Handheld diffuser- this is SO GREAT for on the go. Right now it’s filled with Release Oil because stress is not good. Release oil is good, stress is not!
* Notebook and pens (I always like to carry a small notebook with me. I’d much rather have my notes written down then in my phone)
* Financial Peace wallet- has my check books
* Wallet with cash and cards
* Gift Cards- because we started Financial Peace University and that’s how we are going to make it!

On a normal day my purse would also be full of receipts and tissues, but I cleaned it out this morning before work! I think I may need to get rid a few more things in it, because it is heavy! I’m sure the pound of oils I carry has nothing to do with that! lol

Summer Pasta Salad with Tomato-Basil Vinaigrette

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I wish I were a really good food photographer. You’ve seen those pictures- the ones where your mouth waters and you just want run and go make whatever it is your looking at! Well, I don’t have that talent, but this recipe was too good not to share! It’s adapted from a Young Living recipe that they used during the 2016 International Grand Convention Product Expo. Enjoy!

Salad Ingredients:
* 3 cups of Gluten Free Brown Rice Rotini Pasta cooked Al Dente (or gluten free pasta of your choice)
* Diced Peppers (I used Yellow, Red and Green and did half of each one)
* Pint of Cherry Tomatoes, Halved
* Gluten Free Pepperonis
* Any other raw veggies you would like to add
* Goat’s Milk Cheese (the kind with no milk added)

Tomato-Basil Vinaigrette:
* 1/2 cup Apple Cider Vinegar ( I’ve read online that there is debate on which vinegar are gluten free, so just make sure to look up the brand you are buying)
* 1/2 cup Olive Oil
* 1/4 Cup Sundried Tomatoes (Not a must for the recipe. I left these out and it tasted fine)
* 1 Roma Tomato, cut into 5 medium- think slices
* 1/2 – 1 seeded Jalapeno Pepper
* 1 tsp salt
* 2-3 drops Young Living Basil Vitality essential oil
* Pepper to taste

Instructions:

1) Blend all Vinaigrette ingredients except Basil Vitality on high until smooth and creamy.
2) Place in a small mixing bowl and whisk in Basil Vitality essential oil.
3) Pour Vinaigrette and Salad ingredients over pasta and mix thoroughly
4) Top with Goat’s Milk Cheese
5) Can be served warm, room temp or chilled

{This was made for a party so adapt the pasta amount as needed. I don’t have different measurements for the Vinaigrette, but you an store it in the fridge in a glass container or mason jar}

{For more information on Young Living Essential Oils and how you can buy any of the oils listed click here}