Tag Archive for: natural products

How to Make All Natural Squeezable Remineralizing Toothpaste That Kids Love

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How to Make Squeezable Remineralizing Toothpaste

This toothpaste recipe is simply the best! I have experimented with different ingredients and different proportions time and time again, and I finally nailed it with this recipe. Everyone in our family enjoys using this all natural toothpaste that is free from the harmful ingredients found in commercial toothpaste, and it works great!

When my five children were young and we started to use the training toothpaste from the store (loaded with sugar) they just wanted to squeeze it out of the tube and eat it. That’s when I knew I had to make my own toothpaste! It was an easy transition, and to this day they all still love using my homemade toothpaste.

Ingredients

If you’re going to the trouble and mess of making this recipe, I suggest making a large batch. This toothpaste should have a shelf life of about a year (or longer if you keep them in the refrigerator), so they can last for a long time.

  • 4 cups Coconut Oil (Anti-bacterial, anti-microbial, anti-fungal)
  • 1 cup Hot Water (Melts the coconut oil and makes the toothpaste squeezable)
  • 1 cup Baking Soda (Slightly abrasive, gently cleanses, tastes salty…can use less if preferred and add more of something else)
  • 1 cup Diatomaceous Earth (Slightly abrasive, gently cleanses, kills parasites, no flavor)
  • 2 cups Calcium Carbonate (Remineralizes teeth)
  • 6 teaspoons Liquid Stevia (A sugar free sweetener, add more or less depending on taste preference)
  • 8 teaspoons Strawberry Flavor (*optional: 2 teaspoons of Strawberry Bakery Emulsion for extra flavor) or  Peppermint Extract
My Toothpaste Making Station

My Toothpaste Making Station

Ingredient Notes

  • Baking Soda: Not only does slightly abrasive powder help to eliminate plaque, it also whitens your teeth, helps eliminates harmful bacteria, and encourages a more alkaline (rather than acidic) environment in your mouth. (Read more here about the benefits of baking soda.)
  • Diatomaceous Earth: This is slightly abrasive just like the baking soda, but without the salty taste and with the added benefit of killing parasites in the digestive tract by shredding and dehydrating them.
  • Calcium Carbonate: If you have active decay, demineralization (indicated by white spots), or sensitive teeth, then this ingredient is for you! This alone will not remineralize your teeth as much as diet, however, so check out this amazing book by Ramiel Nagel called Cure Tooth Decay to learn how eating a healthy diet based on Weston Price principles (such as avoiding processed foods and adding nutrient dense foods to your diet like pastured meat and eggs as well as raw milk and properly prepared grains). Increased saliva also helps to keep teeth clean, and chewing this Trident Recaldent Sugar-Free Calcium Gum might help you to do that while getting some extra minerals.
  • Coconut Oil: Coconut oil is antibacterial, antifungal, antimicrobial, and gives the toothpaste a nice creamy consistency.
  • Stevia: Stevia is derived from plant in South America called Stevia Rebaudiana. It is extremely sweet, so not much is needed and it’s calorie and sugar free. Some people like using xylitol, which is extracted from fruits and vegetables and is also calorie and sugar free, so it’s just a matter of personal preference. (Read more about stevia versus xylitol here.)
  • Flavoring: I really like the peppermint flavor because it has a nice minty flavor, but lately the kids have really been enjoying this strawberry flavor. You could also use cinnamon extract or orange extract depending on your taste preference. *FYI: Don’t use essential oils for the toothpaste unless you are 100% certain it won’t be ingested.

Directions

  1. Coconut oil and water: Add the 4 cups of coconut oil (generous cups) and mix with the hot water until nice and creamy. You can mix by hand or with a mixer.
  2. Baking soda, diatomaceous earth, and calcium carbonate: I like adding 1 cup of baking soda, one cup of diatomaceous earth, and 2 cups of calcium carbonate, but you can play around with this mixture. Because I have five young children using this toothpaste, I try to go as light as I can with the baking soda so it’s not too salty. Once you add these ingredients, mix well with a mixer.
  3. Stevia and flavoring: You really have to go by taste here. Just add a little, mix, taste, add a little more, etc. Just remember that you can’t take the flavoring out if you add too much!
  4. Tube it: I like using this baby food making system to store my squeezable toothpaste. You could also use small glass canning jars or even a disposable storage container. I basically just scoop the toothpaste into the containers, remove as much air as I can, rinse under hot water, remove even more air, and dry.
  5. To use: Add a pea sized amount to your toothbrush and use like you would any other toothpaste. Feel free to spit or swallow!

    Toothpaste in Use

    Toothpaste in Use

Tips and Tricks

  • Even though I try to mask it as much as I can with the other ingredients, the baking soda has a salty taste to it that you may notice at first. If this bothers you, either start with a very small amount at first or mix with some other toothpaste that you have as you transition away from it. This might be really helpful for young children.
  • This toothpaste doesn’t foam or lather, so you may want to dip a little more on your toothbrush before you finish brushing to get your teeth extra clean.
  • For some reason, we all tend to drool a lot when using this, so you may want to make sure you’re standing over a sink.
  • Although it’s a pretty hard habit to break, you don’t have to spit this toothpaste out. The diatomaceous earth kills parasites and the coconut oil is anti-fungal, so by swallowing this toothpaste on a regular basis, you can help to prevent and eliminate any candida or parasite issues.

The Most Important Reason to Avoid Commercial Toothpaste…Fluoride!

By making our own toothpaste, we can avoid the worst toxin of all – sodium flouride, which is a toxic chemical that has not even been proven to prevent tooth decay. If you look at your tube of Crest toothpaste, it actually says to contact poison control if more than the amount needed to brush your teeth is ingested. If a 2 year old were to ingest 42% of a tube of toothpaste, it would kill him.

Among other things, ingesting too much fluoride can cause dental fluorosis, which can permanently discolor the teeth, (especially children who have yet to get their permanent teeth), cause damage to the brain and alter mental behavior, result in a lowered IQ, produce impairment of the pineal gland which is linked to early onset puberty, lowers thyroid function, causes arthritis, damages the bones, and causes reproductive failures.

Other Harmful Ingredients Found in Commercial Toothpaste

  • Triclosan – An antibacterial compound found in antibacterial soaps, toothpaste, deodorant, and many other household products that can lead to disruption of the thyroid hormone and endrocine system and creates a dangerous antibiotic and bacterial resistance. Many companies are banning its use.
  • Sodium Lauryl Sulfate – A foaming agent that is present in nearly all shampoos, laundry detergents, and toothpastes that can lead to organ, reproductive, and neural toxicity, endrocine disruption, cellular mutations and changes, and even cancer.
  • DEA (diethanolomine) – Formulated into soaps, detergents and surfactants, it has been linked with kidney, liver, and other organ damage according to several government-funded research studies, and has been proven to cause cancer in rats when applied to the skin.
  • Propylene Glycol – A colorless, viscous, hygroscopic liquid used in anti-freeze solutions, in brake and hydraulic fluids, as a de-icer, and as a solvent. It’s even found in some pet foods, processed foods and cosmetics, toothpastes, shampoos, deodorants and lotions. It is implicated in contact dermatitis, kidney damage and liver abnormalities. It can inhibit skin cell growth in human tests, can cause gastro-intestinal disturbances, nausea, headache and vomiting, central nervous system depression and can damage cell membranes causing rashes, dry skin and surface damage.

Further Reading:

Ruby and Elliot Helping Me Make Toothpaste

Ruby and Elliot Helping Me Make Toothpaste

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What’s So Bad About Phthalates?

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What's So Bad About Phthalates?

I’ve done a bit of research about phthalates to know that they are bad, but I wanted to dig a little deeper to see just how bad and learn more about the possibilities for exposure.

My Health Journey

As a health conscious mother of four (soon to be five) and also on a pretty strict budget as a stay at home mom, I’m always trying to balance out health and cost. I first of all try to serve my children as much nutrient dense food as possible while at the same time try to eliminate as many toxins as I can. That being said, stress causes the release of the hormone cortisol which leads to inflammation, free radical damage, and a weakened immune system, so I try to avoid that by not getting too paranoid about things that can affect our health.

I believe the best health journey is one that is continuous and involves baby steps. Once, I tried throwing out everything processed and only purchased organic whole foods, but the cost was overwhelming and something we couldn’t support on one income. (Also, organic isn’t a magic label freeing us from all toxins.) So now, we do what we can, and I’m always trying to just focus on the next step rather than the final destination.

In this series of articles, I would like to explore some of the toxins that are lurking in our everyday lives, explain what they are, how they are hurting us, and discuss how they can be avoided. I hope that this research will serve our family as we continue our health journey, choose better and safer products, and try to live the best life that we can every day for both our current and future health.

What are Phthalates?

Most phthalates (pronounced f-THAL-ates) are plastcizers that are added to plastics (such as vinyl flooring, raincoats, shower curtains, plastic toys, and IV drip bag tubes) to make them more flexible and harder to break. They are also added as a dissolving agent (solvent) and fragrance carrier to many personal care products including soaps, shampoos, deodorants, and laundry detergents.

*On a side note, phthalates are not commonly found in things like plastic wrap, food containers, and water bottles…although these plastics do contain other dangerous chemicals that can leech into your food and beverages that I will discuss in future articles.

Finding Phthalates on Labels

If you’re a label reader (like me), the scary thing about phthalates is that under current law, they can simply be labeled as “fragrance”, even if they make up to 20% of the product.

If you’re looking at your labels, you may notice different acronyms and names:

  • DBP (di-n-butyl phthalate) – used in nail polish and other personal care products
  • DEP (diethyl phthalate) – used in personal care products, such as deodorants, perfume, cologne, aftershave lotion, shampoo, hair gel, and hand lotion
  • BzBP (benzylbutyl phthalate) – used in vinyl flooring, car-care products, and personal care products
  • DMP (dimethyl phthalate) – used in insect repellent, plastics, and solid rocket propellant
  • DEHP (di-phthalate, bis-phthalate, or 2-ethylhexyl phthalate) – used as a softener in PVC products, such as IV bags, tubing, and other medical devices

*In 2008, the U.S. Congress passed a law calling for the phthalates DBP, DEHP, and BBP (benzyl butyl phthalate) to be banned in all toys (including teething toys) and bedding intended for children 12 and under. There are, however, no regulations on phthalates in toys made in China, and they have been tested to have very high levels (28%-38%).

Why are Phthalates Dangerous?

While most studies reflect the effects of phthalates on animals, the results have been disturbing enough for people to start taking notice. Most adults will metabolize phthalates through the digestive system and excrete them via feces or urine, but this isn’t really possible for fetuses in the womb and particularly dangerous for the immature digestive system of infants and young children, so they are most at risk.

While more research is needed, animals studies show that low exposure to DBP phthlates (found in most grocery store cosmetics) can damage the reproductive system of males and that DEHP (used to soften plastics) is toxic to the developing fetus (especially at high exposures such as experienced by those undergoing medical procedures). Other studies show that,

“there is a potential for phthalates to impact birth outcomes, including gestational age and birth weight, fertility (lower sperm production), and anatomical abnormalities related to the male genitalia,” states Maida Galvez, a pediatrician and director of the Mount Sinai Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit in New York City.

Phthalate exposure is also linked to asthma, the timing of puberty, childhood obesity, and other health conditions such as breast cancer.

How to Avoid Phthalates

While I don’t think it’s practical or possible in this day and age to chuck every man made material possession and move deep into the woods to be free from human influence or innovation, there are some ways that we can start to eliminate our phthalate exposure both gradually and practically.

  1. Look for phthalates or fragrance on labels. Avoid anything with “fragrance” or any mention of any type of phthalate. Instead of using air fresheners, just put a few drops of essential oils into a spray bottle filled with water.
  2. Look for phthalate-free labels. This may seem like kind of a no-brainer, but it is a pretty good way to find things that are free from phthalates. 🙂 Look for phtalate-free labels on cleaners and cosmetics especially.
  3. Check the bottom of plastic bottles and choose those labeled #2, 4, or 5. Avoid #3 and #7 because they may contain phthalates.
  4. Use a french press for coffee. The plastic tubing and high heat in coffee pots are a recipe for high phthalate exposure.
  5. Don’t buy plastic toys from China. If you buy children’s toys in the U.S. (made after 2008), they cannot contain phthalates, but even still, you might want to steer towards wooden toys like these wooden teethers that my friend makes! And don’t buy plastic toys from China (or other countries) where there are no regulations on phthalates.
  6. Know where your milk comes from. Even organic milk may have passed through plastic tubes (with DEHP) on the way from the cow to the bottle. The fatty acids in milk basically pull the the DEHP out of the plastic tubing and into the milk. We actually get raw milk from a farm (that we have visited) where the milking is done by hand and never touches plastic of any kind.
  7. Sweat more. Sweating helps your body to eliminate phthalates twice as effectively as elimination through urine. So, adults can exercise more or visit the sauna!
  8. Be careful when painting. Most paints have DBP to help them spread better, so make sure there are no children are around and the room is well ventilated, or look for natural paints without DBP.
  9. Choose non-vinyl options if possible. For example, you can check out these non-vinyl shower curtain options and these PVC and phthalate free raincoats at Puddlegear that will not produce chemical off-gassing bringing phthalates into your environment. *These options are expensive and things I would save for more advanced elimination.

Conclusion

The people most at risk from phthalate exposure are unborn babies and infants (especially males), so it’s especially important for pregnant mamas and parents of young children to be aware of things that contain phthalates. During human studies, women have tested higher for the type of phthalates found in cosmetic products, so women are typically at greater risk as well. So before slathering lotion on yourself or your baby, spritzing on some perfume, or washing your clothes, check your labels and know what you’re putting onto and into your body.

Like I said before, I don’t think it’s worth the stress to get super paranoid about every possible danger in life because we’re all going to die one day anyways, but by taking thinking of it as a health journey instead of a health destination, we can continuously choose one thing at a time to improve in our lives that will help not only our current health, but our future health, and the health of future generations as well.

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How to Make Your Own Lip Balm

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Embracing Motherhood How to Make All Natural Homemade Lip Balm

Do you already make your own deodorant or whipped body butter? Then with one more ingredient (beeswax), you can also make your own lip balm! I’ve always been a big fan of using Bag Balm on my lips, but I like this even better! It makes my lips super smooth, and I love the smell!  This recipe is super easy to follow, and you can have your own lip balm in no time! Not only do I use this as a lip balm but I massage it into my dry cracked hands (especially the cuticles) for super soft skin and on any skin irritation such as eczema or psoriasis. I also like mixing it with some beef tallow and use it as a moisturizer for my face. If you don’t want to make it yourself, head over to my Etsy shop and check out what I’ve made. 🙂

Ingredients/Materials

Ingredient Notes

  • Essential oils are all about your preference. You might enjoy using only a couple or you may be like me and add a little of this and a little of that until it’s just right.
  • You may have to play with the beeswax ratio, especially when considering your climate. For a firmer product in a really warm climate add more beeswax (start with a 1/4 cup at a time) and for a softer product in a really cold climate start with 3/4 cup.
  • Another variation is to do half the coconut oil and add more shea or cocoa butter. Both are more moisturizing than coconut oil, but also more expensive.
  • As with any recipe, I tend to play around and have some fun adding a bit of this and a bit of that. Through experimenting with this recipe, I have found that I prefer a softer version that I store in containers and can easily apply as a salve. So I typically add a bit less beeswax and a bit more sweet almond oil.

Directions

  1. Set up a double broiler by boiling a pan of water and placing a glass bowl on top of it.
  2. Add the beeswax, coconut oil, and shea butter and/or cocoa butter.
  3. The beeswax takes the longest to melt which is about 15-20 minutes. (To speed up the process, you can put a towel over the bowl. Just make sure it doesn’t touch the burner!)
  4. Once everything is melted, fill one container and put in the refrigerator for 5-10 minutes. Once it hardens, you can test to see if you need to add any more ingredients.
  5. Transfer your melted mixture to a pouring container (like this). A spatula can help to transfer all of the mixture.
  6. Stand up all of your lip balm containers and place them close together in a bunch. Use the funnel to fill each container.
  7. Or to be more precise, you could use a big dropper to get exactly the right amount in each container.
  8. Let cool, harden, and then use!
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All Natural Homemade Deodorant That Really Works!

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Embracing Motherhood All Natural Homemade Deodorant That Really Works!

I have been using my homemade deodorant for awhile now, and I am blown away by how well it works. Not only is it better for me, but I get to tailor it to my specific preferences.

I first got the idea that commercial deodorants were bad when I read this article about how the aluminum in commercial antiperspirant deodorants prevents your body from sweating (which is one of the ways that the body releases toxins), and it was reason enough to make me search for an aluminum free deodorant! (Not to mention that aluminum is toxic to the body.) My husband was easily able to find a deodorant without an antiperspirant (Dove was his original choice, but we have switched to Every Man Jack), but I was only left with a few natural options at the grocery store. I tried every one, and none of them worked. In fact, Tom’s Natural Deodorant actually made me smell worse!

Then my cousin said she tried Primal Pit, and it was the first natural deodorant she had ever used that actually worked. I was going to buy some myself, but when I saw the price tag and the list of ingredients, I thought, “I can make this!”

Homemade Deodorant Recipe

This recipe will make four 4 oz. jars of deodorant, and each jar typically lasts me about 4-6 months. Coconut oil has a shelf life of about 18 months (if in a covered jar), so that’s a pretty good expectation for how long it should keep. *Although 2022 update, I just used my last jar that I made about 5 years ago, and it still worked just fine!

*Note: The pictures below actually show me making a double recipe. When I make things, I like to have enough to last for a long time, and I like to have extra to give away!

Ingredients:

Directions:

  1. Measure the Ingredients: Measure the coconut oil, shea butter, cocoa butter, and beeswax (for deodorant sticks) and place in a glass bowl. It’s helpful to break apart and mash them up a bit before melting.

    cocoa butter shea butter coconut oil beeswax

    Cocoa Butter, Shea Butter, Coconut Oil, and Beeswax

  2. Double Broiler: You can use a double broiler like this, or you can just put a glass bowl on top of a pan of boiling water (that’s what I did). Make sure everything is completely melted before moving on. This should take about 15-20 minutes. If you want to speed things up, put a towel over the top. Just make sure it doesn’t touch the burner!