Cleaning at home with essential oils

Cleaning the home doesn't have to be mundane!

Spruce up your cleaning caddy with all natural, easy to make, fragrance packed, mood enhancing products 🤗

Who'd of thought that what's in kitchen pantry or fruit bowl could clean your whole house 🤯

A few simple ingredients like bicarbonate soda, white vinegar and Castile soap, add a few drops of essential oils and boom you are business to make your house sparkle and smell super inviting.

I love to keep my products in glass bottles and jars, both vinegar and citrus oils can eat through plastic and always patch test before using on carpet or material as it can act like a bleach. The amber or dark bottles are best as they also protect the content from light, do keep out of direct sun so it won't spoil the content.

My favourite essential oils to use are lemon, sweet orange, mandarin, pink grapefruit, bergamot, eucalyptus and peppermint. All have fresh, clean fragrance, along with cleaning power 🙌

In my toilet I have a shaker that has bicarbonate soda with sweet orange essential oil, and a squirty bottle with vinegar & lemon essential oil in, I also keep my lemon rind in a jar of white vinegar to add to the squirty bottle. 

Nothing goes to waste 🙌

In my kitchen I have another shaker with bicarbonate soda & orang essential oil, a spray bottle with vinegar & a mix of the Apothecary germ oil.

Who'd of though Essential Oils were so easy to use 💜

Get your essential oil needs today

www.emsapothecary.weebly.com

Have yourself a fragrant day 🤗

Let's talk Essential Oils

Do you struggle with pollen, is it your enemy?

Have you tried essential oils?

Essential oils can be used in a diffuser, in a steamer or directly applied to your chest (with a carrier oil of course!)

Here at Em's Apothecary we have an amazing blend that helps to relax symptoms and open up the air ways 🙌

Our blend is also a great zesty blend that can help energise you and motivate you to keep going through your day 💜

Em's Apothecary blend is created with quality essential oils, no fillers or chemicals 🦋

Essential oils can be safely used on their own or with conventional medicine prescribed by your GP 🙌

www.emsapothecary.weebly.com

Plants are medicine

It's funny, I've done ALOT of study on health and wellbeing, yet only now has it 'clicked'.

'I did the Tafe course'

Kath & Kim my all time fav 😂

I always believed that knowledge is power, but if you don't know how to put that knowledge to work it's useless!

I didn't know this 🤔

Now that my family and I are about to enter week 10 of wholefood plant based, I'm finding myself putting into action what I learnt many years ago!

I'm now piecing together the knowledge and putting it into practice and it feels amazing 🤗

My Kombucha brewing away

Being in the kitchen is no longer a chore, I'll be honest some of my 'experiments' have been total disasters see below

A gooey burnt mess that was meant to be candied almonds 😂

But even with the many mistakes, I'm loving being in the kitchen, I'm loving the feeling of serving my family a healthy wellbeing on each and every plate ☺️

Out of the kitchen I've been experimenting in the Apothecary, creating everything from skincare to cleaning products. Things I got lazy with, in all honesty lost interest in due to lack of time and energy.

Now I'm back to brewing up natural remedies for my whole family 🙌

www.emsapothecary.weebly.com

I've also been spending time in the garden with my family, something I've not done since moving into this house, 9 years ago 😲 oh the guilt I feel! 

Now together we are creating a veggie garden, a place for us to ground and to entertain in the warmer weather.

This is just the beginning 🐝

I'm working towards growing our families food, working with the seasons and this will help us lessen our waste 🙌

I think the biggest lesson I'm living at the moment is, living with what I have, I didn't realise how blessed I was, till now!

This creates....

This 🙌

Soon I'll be able to recreate this without the plastic waste and that makes my inner hippy dance 🤗

Along with gardening I've been exercising, stretching, walking and reconnecting with my body 💜

Things I thought I had no time for, I now do!

Maybe it's that I have more energy, maybe it's that I finally know what I want or maybe I now know how to use all that knowledge.....

The other lesson I've been learning is, don't give other people's opinions power, most of the time people say things out of lack of understanding or living via a stereotype.

Your opinions don't pay my bills!

Do you!

Stay tuned for my next update 😘

Hello week 8

I feel like a new women 🤗

So we finished Emma Roche's $3 menu plan 🙌

Visit www.plantplate.com to get your copy of any of Emma's books, they are a great way to start your journey to health.

So as we, I say 'we' because it's my whole family (I'm a proud mumma bear) embark on week 8 we start with a new vigour 💪

On the weekend we started our very own veggie garden, a fruit patch and compost heap 🤗

For me not only has this way of eating impacted my health but also my idea of how I want my lifestyle to be.

Since covid I have to admit I've been buying happiness, our rubbish bin has been over flowing and our box pile has covered my bbq area!

I've been so busy 'coping' that I've not sat still long enough to scratch enough myself, let alone put away all my new purchases 😲

But this weekend, while enjoying a coffee in my own backyard, sun shining and marvelling at all our hard work I managed to have a think on life.

Sustainability 😅

I started to think about where I could make more changes 🤗

So I've decided to go 'Cold Turkey' no more buying STUFF, I'm going to make changes to my shopping habits and NO MORE UBER!

Catch my blog next week to find out how I go, also next week I'll discuss mental health.

Q&A

Ok peeps, you asked and I'm here to answer 🙌

*Disclaimer I am only reporting on my own & my family experiences*

For a Dr that is all about wholefoods plant based follow the link below.

https://www.wholefoodsplantbasedhealth.com.au/

If you would like to do the same plan as our family, follow the link below. We are currently on the $3 book.

http://plantplate.com/Guide/List?category=PlantPlate%20Books&page=1

Ok here we go 🤗

Question: What do I actually eat?

Answer: We eat everything plant based (der) well actually it's a little more than that. I don't use any oil in cooking, not even plant oils! We don't eat any of those 'vegan' meats or vegan packet food.

Question: I can't eat beans, they make me fart, what about you?

Answer: Sorry lovely, farting is one thing you'll do a lot of, but on the plus side they don't smell.... But they sound HILARIOUS 🤣

Question: It sounds like it's expensive?

Answer: Our initial shop included pantry staples which was expensive, after that the cost went down (keep in mind we are a family of 5) so our weekly shop is now roughly $100 a week. 

Question: It sounds like a lot of work?

Answer: The book makes meal prep super easy, to make it even easier I sometimes cheat (little more expensive) with tinned (no added salt) frozen and pre-chopped veg.

Question: Do you have cravings?

Answer: My eldest said she was craving meat 2nd day in (yes I breed the tough 😂) I miss butter on toast but don't crave it, my hubby the biggest carnivore on the planet hasn't complained once and the kids have taken to it like a duck to water 🙌

Question: Why did you make such a drastic change?

Answer: We were all experiencing different health issues; PCOS, weight issues, gut issues, low energy, body aches, irritability, hormonal issues, deficiencies, gut parasites, sleep trouble and I'm sure there's more I'm forgetting! We had been to doctor after doctor without any sign of feeling better, so after lots of research we jumped all in 🤗

Question: What's the positives?

Answer: I honestly feel that this was the best move I've ever made as a mum & wife, not only are we all symptom free, we are spending more quality time together as a family, we are genuinely happy and feel like life is so much more simpler 🙌 

I'll go into more detail in a seperate blog as this one is already long 😂

Question: Be honest, you must have cheat, even just a little bit?

Answer: We haven't eaten meat, dairy, fish etc but I allow the kids to choose if they'd like a 'fizzy' drink on the weekend. I also buy a small amount of plant based chocolate, plant based icecream and rice crackers.

Question: What about detox?

Answer: No horrific detox happened, half a day of slight headache and look at me I'll bite, but that was more from frustration of how useless my children are when it comes to chores 🤣

And there you have it..... 

So far we are in week 6, week 2 of the $3 book 🙌

If you have any questions, contact Em at:

www.emsapothecary.weebly.com

Wholefood plant based

Firstly I am no food guru.... I love food, does that count?

I do have my basic nutrition certificate (came with the person's training certificate) but I'm no specialist nor do I get any kick backs from Emma, the author of the book.

Now that's out the way.....

4 weeks ago my family and I embarked on the journey to clean up our eating, with the help of the above book.

Today I sit here in the first week of the new book Emma wrote:

Week 5 of only eating fresh wholefood plant based meals, the changes we've all experienced have varied, even though we are all eating the same food, boys are eating bigger serves.

My eldest daughter has PCOS, she was crippled with pain, missed so much school and after 2 weeks of eating WFPB her symptoms were easing. Today she is experiencing next to no symptoms, her whole body was once covered in painful pimples is now healing and clearing.

For me, I was experiencing days where I was bid ridden, tummy pains that made labour and birth seem easy, aches and pains, hormones all over the place and no answer from doctors. 1 week on WFPB I was not expecting tummy pain, bloat or heartburn. Today I am nearly 4kgs lighter, no pain, no tummy trouble, full of energy. 

My second eldest son, has gained weight and grown (shot up like a weed 😂) he has also experienced energy increase, skin looking healthier and his behaviour is more relaxed.

My youngest daughter, is finally eating real food, no longer addicted to fizzy drinks and lollies 🙌

And then there's hubby, who was experiencing terrible gastric distress! From week one his symptoms disappeared 🤗 Today it's like he was never sick (for years, doctors were useless couldn't figure out why and just filled out drugs) now he's eating me out of house and home 😂 He's also gaining weight again.

It's amazing how the boys and youngest are gaining weight while eldest and I are losing 🙌

We are all feeling amazing, energy in bucket loads, we now crave real food and enjoy sitting down for each meal together.

To be continued 😊

Check back next week for more highlights.

Whoopsie Doopsie

I suck!!!!!

A whole month of no updates!!!!!

Updates 

So this happened....

Em's Apothecary now how has a website 🙌

I'm so proud of what I've achieved, I've learnt new skills, I've built on old ones and I'm starting to see my dreams come true 💜

Changes

There are few changes, I'm now using the website for orders, PayPal and auspost. It's making the process automated so that I have more time with my family as I have 3 at home remote learning. It also takes out me...... I'm no good at asking for money, I just want to help people but that doesn't pay the bills! So web based is the way for me 🤗

Isolation

I'm in Victoria, which is currently in a state of emergency, we are in lockdown.

I'm using this time to build Em's Apothecary, to work on my health and to strengthen my family.

Isolation is impacting so many lives and Em's Apothecary has been doing a bit to help, we don't have alot but sometimes just talking, just listening, just bring present is enough 😊 we have also as a family donated food and other essential items to our community 💜

Health

Oh my goodness, where to begin!!

So the whole family have joined me to support my health by going ALL IN on a 4 week wholefoods plant based program, we are nearing the end of week 1 and so far huge changes (more on this in another post) 

My eldest daughter has been diagnosed with PCOS, my hubby is looking at possible peptic ulcer, I've been diagnosed pre-diabetic along with possible celiac and of course what started it all my dental work is close to bring finished, unfortunately lockdown has interrupted it, only 2 visits left 😅

What's next

So the plans are to keep the ball rolling with Em's Apothecary website, once lockdown is lifted I'll look at the return of face to face consults 🤗

I have been running messages through Facebook for my current clients, if your new and would like to chat you can inbox me through Facebook or through my website www.emsapothecary.weebly.com 

I promise I'll keep you all updated better in future, I think I'll set a reminder on my phone 😅