3GH Coming to Motherhood Maternity

We are thrilled to announce that 3Girls Holistic will soon be available at Motherhood Maternity stores nationwide!

Keep your eyes peeled for one of our new products, soon-to-be released Tender Tush Treatment, at your local Motherhood Maternity store! 3Girls Holistic’s Tender Tush spray is a soothing and healing combination of herbal extracts that provide relief for the discomfort associated with hemorrhoids and postpartum perineal swelling, inflammation, and wounds. Just spritz this 100% natural spray liberally to affected areas, to speed recovery of the perineum following childbirth and/or to help the healing process of hemorrhoids.

Healing Oil for Ear Infections

With the increasing problems associated with over-prescription of antibiotics, I believe that one of the most under-utilized solutions are herbal remedies for common ailments.  Ear infections are the most common reason that children are brought to the doctor, and anti-biotic therapy is the most common prescription given to treat them.  However,  time and time again studies have shown that over 85% of ear infections are not bacterial related, which means that anti-biotics won’t do a bit of good.

So what do you do the next time your little love, or yourself for that matter, begins to complain of an earache? Reach for your natural remedy toolkit and treat it naturally!

Garlic, mullein flowers, and olive oil combine to make a powerful blend that not only eliminates the infection, but also relieves the associated pain.  The medicinal use of garlic dates back over 5000 years.  It is widely recognized as having antibacterial, antiviral and anti-fungal properties.  It is one of my go-to measures during cold and flu season – swallowing a raw clove daily can do wonders at keeping illness at bay!  Mullein is another of the oldest known medicinal plants and has been used to treat a wide array of illnesses.  It is native to Europe, but now grows wild throughout the US.  During summer months, you can cultivate your own, otherwise check out your local herb store, or a trusted online supplier such as Mountain Rose Herbs.  Because Mullein flowers can sometimes be hard to come by, I recommend keeping a small amount on hand at all times for when the need for it arises.

What you’ll need:  

• 2-3 tablespoons chopped garlic
• 2-3 tablespoons mullein flowers
• Extra virgin olive oil

• In a small saucepan or double boiler, combine the garlic and mullein flowers.  Add just enough olive oil to cover the herbs.
• Warm over very low heat from 20-30 minutes
• Strain well – using either a fine mesh strainer or a piece of cheesecloth over a bowl.
• Store in a tightly sealed glass jar (make sure it is sanitized and completely dry before adding the oil)
• Keep in the refrigerator between uses

Direction for use:

• Warm the oil to room temperature.  This is best done in a teaspoon or small glass bowl (think ramkin) held over a stovetop burner or candle.
• Using a dropper, suction the oil and place 3-4 drops into the ear.
• Massage the outer ear and around the base after applying the oil
• Administer every 30 minutes or as often as needed.
• Keep a small cloth or paper towel near the ear to catch any excess oil that will naturally drain out on its own within a few minutes.

Mullein Flower

Avocado, Honey and Olive Oil Hair Mask

Avocados are loaded with powerful oils that make it an excellent moisturizing treatment for dry and brittle hair.  Honey is naturally high in vitamins and minerals, and has the ability to help your hair retain water and moisture.  Olive oil is moisturizing and protecting.  Combining all three in a hair mask will help moisturize, strengthen, and give shine back to your hair.

Ingredients

• 1 Large Ripe Avocado
• 1 tablespoons raw honey
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

Directions

• Using a fork or spoon, mash the avocado into a smooth puree
• Gradually stir in honey and olive oil
• Wet your hair with warm water and massage the mixture evenly throughout, paying special attention to the ends
• Grab a cup of tea, a good book or magazine, relax and leave on for 35-45 minutes
• Cover with a shower cap (optional)
• Rinse will and shampoo

Simple Cough Syrup Recipe

If you or one of your loved ones happens to come down with a cold or the flu, and an accompanying cough, you’ll be happy to have this simple recipe on hand to help soothe the throat and alleviate the bothersome cough.  It’s a simple syrup, both in ingredients (most of us have them at home already), and in preparation.  Can’t ask for more than that for an at home healing remedy!

The honey thins mucous secretions, preserves the syrup, and soothes a raw, irritated throat.

Thymol, the volatile oil found in thyme, is antiseptic, antibiotic, and has expectorant properties.  It is often found in conventional cough syrups.  German medical herbalist Rudolph Fritz Weiss, M.D. says this of thyme:  “Thyme is to the trachea (windpipe) and bronchia what peppermint is to the stomach and intestines”

Ingredients

• 1 Cup boiling water
• 2 tablespoons dried thyme or 4 tablespoons fresh thyme
• ½ cup raw, organic honey

Directions

• Pour boiling water over the thyme, cover and steep for 20 minutes
• Strain thyme out of the water
• Add honey
• Warm the tea over low heat to dissolve the honey, if necessary
• Store in a glass bottle with cap or cork
• Take 1 tsp as often as needed

* This syrup should keep for a several weeks if stored in the refrigerator, or other cold, dark location.

How to Make an Herbal Syrup

Herbal Syrups are likely the tastiest of all herbal preparations.  They are concentrated herbal extracts that have been combined with honey, maple syrup, or other sweetener to give them a thick consistency and sweet taste.  Kids love them, and because of that they are one of the best ways to prepare herbal remedies for children.  Herbal Syrups also make great sore throat soothers and cough syrups.  While somewhat time consuming to prepare (you have to wait for the liquid to reduce over low heat), they are easy and will save you quite a bit of money over store bought preparations.

To make an herbal syrup you will need the following supplies:

• Two ounces of dried herb (weight, not volume)
• 1 quart of water
• A medium-sized saucepan or double boiler
• Small-medium colander or strainer
• Cheesecloth
• Medium sized bowl
• 1 cup sweetener of choice.  Options include: honey (raw organic is best and most nutritious), succanut, agave nectar, maple syrup, or vegetable glycerin.
• A sterilized jar with a small neck and a good lid or cork.  (You can often find 
lots of these at places like TJ Maxx and Ross)
• 2 tablespoons Brandy or Vodka (optional, to help preserve)

Directions:

1. Combine the water and herbs in a saucepan, and simmer over low heat until the liquid has reduced to about 1 pint.
2. Using a small colander or strainer lined with cheesecloth, strain the herbs from the infusion over a bowl.  Once the liquid has all seeped through, bring the ends of the cheesecloth together and squeeze out any remaining fluid from the herb.  This ensures that you get all of the valuable properties out of the herbs and into the syrup.
3. Pour the liquid back into the saucepan, and add the sweetener.  Warm over medium heat until thoroughly mixed.  If desired, you can simmer the mixture over medium heat for 20-30 minutes for a thicker consistency.  However, this will cause some of the living enzymes found in honey to be killed off.
4. Add alcohol, if desired.
5. Remove from heat and allow the syrup to cool to room temperature.
6. Pour into your bottle and label.
7. Syrups will last for several weeks, often months, if refrigerated.

USING HERBAL SYRUPS

A dose of most herbal syrups is 1-3 teaspoonfuls, taken as needed. Take a spoonful of bitter syrup just before meals for best results. Take cough syrups as often as every hour.

If you don’t have a local herb store, I recommend the following online retailers for your bulk herb needs:

Mountain Rose Herbs

Oregon Wild Harvest

Pacific Botanicals

Moisturizing Avocado Scrub

Avocados are a wonderful moisturizing agent for the skin and hair.  They are rich in vitamins B, E and K, and high in monounsaturated fat and potassium.  Unique among land plants, avocados contain polyhydroxylated fatty alcohols (PFAs), which are widely present in ocean plants but rare on land.  PFA’s are well known for their anti-inflammatory benefits.

Avocados can be mashed and applied alone as a hair or face mask, but make a great addition to many home spa and beauty recipes.  The one below can be used on your face, or your whole body for a rich, nourishing and moisturizing scrub – just what the skin needs in the heart of winter!  The avocado moisturizes, the oats moisturize and lubricate, the cucumber soothes and cools, and the almond meal gently exfoliates.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup mashed ripe avocado
• 1/2 cup cucumber
• 1/8 cup raw almonds or almond meal
• 1/8 cup oatmeal

Directions

• Puree avocado and cucumber until smooth
• If using whole raw almonds, grind them into a course meal using a blender or coffee grinder
• Combine all ingredients and mix well
• Wet your face and/or body with warm water
• Apply the scrub and gently massage into your skin using a circular motion.
• If able, leave on for 5 minutes.  Rinse well, and pat dry your skin.
• Note: it is not necessary to follow this scrub with soap.  Your skin will be left cleansed and moisturized!
• Also, use caution in the shower as the scrub can cause the floor to become slippery

Mothering Magazine Reviews 3Girls Holistic Skin Care!

Christy and I have both been reading Mothering Magazine since we were pregnant with our first babies!  They have been considered one of the most trustworthy sources for natural parenting/living information for decades, and to have them give us this review of our line, just about makes us swoon!

• “I recently had a chance to try out this wonderful, green skin care line and am in love. I received the Introductory 3Girls Holistic Kit which includes cleansing grains, purifying toner, nourishing cream, day serum and nightly repair serum and found each product to be equally special. I have tried many natural and holistic skin care products and this in one of the few that has really lived up to my expectations.

  I am truly impressed with how simple and powerful the recipes are. All of 3Girls Holistic products are made of a 100% natural, organic or wild-harvested ingredients and it really shows in the way they make your skin feel.The cleansing grains especially have a real WOW factor for the level of deep cleaning they do without any synthetic ingredients. It feels great to knowexactly what you are putting on your skin.

  The Introductory Kit is the perfect way to get a feel for the line–and for just $54 you are really getting a lot for your money. I am blown away with how long each of the bottles is lasting me–even with daily use.

  This would be a wonderful gift for a mom looking to go eco with her skin care line, a pregnant or breastfeeding mom who is being extra careful about her skin care choices, or for a teen who is just exploring skin care options.”

  - Melanie Mayo, Content Editor, Mothering.com

Common Clinical Effects of Essential Oils

Antibacterial

• Cypress
• Eucalyptus
• Lavender
• Lemon
• Lime
• Marjoram
• Melaleuca
• Peppermint
• Roman Chamomile
• Rosemary
• Sage
• Sandalwood
• Wild Orange
• Wintergreen

Antiviral

• Cinnamon
•  Clove
•  Eucalyptus
•  Lavender
•  Lemon
• Melaleuca
•  Oregano
•  Sandalwood
•  Thyme

Antifungal

• Eucalyptus
•  Lavender
• Lemon
• Melaleuca
• Patchouli
• Sage
• Sandalwood
• Thyme

Xylitol, A Natural Breakthrough in Oral Health

What IS Xylitol?

Have you heard the buzz about Xylitol lately?  Xylitol is similar to sugar in taste, but the effects on the body are quite different.  Sucrose (white table sugar) serves as food for the harmful bacteria in our mouths (plaque), resulting in acid production that creates cavities. Xylitol is a different kind of sugar known as a polyol (sugar alcohol). Sugar alcohols aren’t sugar (although they do taste sweet) and they aren’t alcohol–at least, not the sort of alcohol (ethanol) that we ingest in alcoholic beverages

Many people are surprised at Xylitol’s great taste and amazed to learn about its long history.  It is found in familiar fruits and vegetables, the wood of birch trees, and even the human body.  The oldest record of this “sugar for oral health” seems to have been about 2500 years ago, in a book of Chinese herbal cures. The remedy is “Zhin-he–tong” (“sugar from the white tree”) for cavities and gum disease.  Xylitol has none of the controversy that surrounds fluoride and it comes in a variety of usable forms that make it very easy, delicious and economical to use.  Side by side in a sugar bowl you can’t really tell them apart.

What Does Xylitol Do?

Xylitol not only rids the mouth of sticky harmful bacteria, it actually promotes the growth of tooth-protective, non-acidic good bacteria.  Xylitol has a much different effect on the plaque in our mouths, and prevents it from sticking to the tooth surfaces.  Plaque uses carbohydrates and sucrose from our diet to grow and multiply creating that “furry” feeling that you sometimes feel on your teeth.  The acids in plaque cause breakdown of the teeth and that is what leads to cavities.  Those same bacteria are what irritate the gums which leads to gingivitis and periodontal disease.

Regular use of Xylitol has been shown to not only reduce tooth decay but also facilitate the remineralization of teeth.  In Europe, children eating Xylitol had nearly 50% fewer ear infections.  Xylitol has been used by diabetics for decades, and it is poised to replace fluoride as the greatest scientific discovery for healthier mouths!

Why Do We Need Xylitol

For many populations worldwide, the levels of dental caries have reached epidemic proportions. Even in the U.S., childhood tooth decay is on the rise. The National Center for Health Statistics reports that in the U.S. by the time kids are age 17, almost 80 percent have experienced tooth decay.

In Finland it is practically the opposite where 80 percent of high school graduates have no cavities. What is the difference? Finland schools regularly distribute Xylitol to the students.  In Belize, Dr. Peter Allen, head of the Ministry of Health, reports that in his country’s landmark study, Xylitol reduced cavities by more than 50 percent with results continuing to show that same reduction even five years after the study (and Xylitol usage) was completed. When mothers eat Xylitol they help to stop infecting their baby with cavity-forming bacteria, and help prevent generations of families with “bad teeth”.

How Much Xylitol Do We Need?

The dental benefits of 5 – 10 grams of Xylitol each day in frequent small doses range from reducing gum problems to preventing cavities. Strive for at least 5 separate exposures with 1-2 grams Xylitol at each event.    A small amount of Xylitol will work to prevent cavities when it is wiped over an infant’s new teeth. Even a tiny amount can prevent problems for a baby.  Less than 5 grams does not have as much effect, although every time Xylitol is eaten it does help to alkalize the mouth for some tooth benefits.

Xylitol can be dissolved in liquid (or straight in the mouth), eaten in candies, and chewed in gum, and even sweeten your coffee.  Avoid gum that mixes Xylitol and sorbitol together (Trident for example), the sorbitol seems to inactivate the Xylitol and is thought to possibly be a trigger for acid reflux.  Over time we hope that Xylitol will begin to make its way into homes across the world resulting in fewer incidences of disease so that we can begin to enjoy healthy mouths for generations to come!

Word of caution, Xylitol is toxic to pets and should be kept away from them.  In humans, high doses may have an initial laxative effect, or cause cramping and bloating (it acts as a fiber in our intestinal tract but the body regulates quickly), however, in pets, ingestion could be fatal.

Carrie Ibbetson, RDH

Indoor Herb Garden Ideas

LOVE these pretty ways of growing herbs right in the kitchen!  So pretty, simple, accessible and efficient!