Wife Mother Runner essential oils Archives

5 Ways To Stay Healthy When Traveling

March 26, 2019

In the next coming months I have a lot of conferences for social media and blogging. I just returned from Social Media Marketing World in San Diego, California. I lost my voice from trying to have conversations in loud rooms with several people. I am soft-spoken so it did a number on my vocal chords. At first I thought I was getting a cold. But then I realized it could also be allergies. I thought about this and decided to share my top five ways to stay healthy when traveling.

I also had a similar thing happen to me when I was on the Oprah cruise. So here are a few things that I need to travel with to help keep me healthy when traveling. I’m sharing my favorite items below and also providing my affiliate links to each item.

Diffuse Essential Oils

I sleep with a diffuser in my room every night. I diffuse Breathe essential oil from doTERRA. On my last two trips I didn’t have my diffuser with me so I think that made a difference in helping keep my sinuses clear.

From now on, I am going to pack my diffuser with me to help keep me from coming home with a raspy voice and clogged up sinuses.

Use On Guard Softgels

On Guard softgels are another product from doTERRA that I like to use. I also give them to my family at the first signs of a cold or when they complain about a scratchy throat. It is a protective blend of essential oils to help support the immune system and help kill off harmful bacteria and viruses.

On Guard softgels contain the following essential oils:

Wild Orange Peel – protects the body against seasonal threats
Clove Bud – supports a healthy immune system
Black Pepper Seed – supports healthy circulation
Cinnamon Bark/Leaf – promotes healthy immune function
Eucalyptus Leaf – purifying and cleansing properties
Oregano Leaf – helps maintain a healthy immune system
Rosemary Flower/Leaf – may help support the digestive system
Melissa Leaf – may help support healthy immune system

Hydration and Nutrition

I drink a lot of water when I am at home. I make lemon ginger water and add cayenne pepper and turmeric sometimes. When I travel I bring the ingredients with me to make the lemon ginger water. Instead of using a blender, I use lemon juice and powdered ginger. It’s a more refreshing drink than just plain water.

Here’s the recipe for the lemon ginger water:

Fill a blender with water
Squeeze 2-3 lemons
Peel and cut ginger root

Blend the water, lemon and fresh ginger in the blender.
Strain the water into a pitcher
Add cayenen pepper or Turmeric if you want for an additional antiinflammatory benefits and flavor.

Eating well is also very important. It’s easy to just eat whatever is in front of you; but if you are trying to watch your weight or eat clean, you should always make sure you are getting good proteins, vegetables, and fruit in your diet. Conferences usually include buffet meals and you can typically find a salad and some chicken or fish to help make a complete and healthy meal.

I always pack my own oatmeal so that in the morning I can make it in my hotel room with hot water from the coffee maker. I also like to keep some packets in my bag so that at any point in the day I could eat a snack that will hold me over for a while until my next meal.

Use a Neti Pot

When I return from my trips I like to use a Neti Pot to irrigate my sinuses from all the germs I may have been exposed to. A neti pot is a container that you fill with a saltwater solution. You must use bottled water or sterizlied water when making the saltwater solution.

To use the neti pot, you tilt your head sideways over a sink and pour the water into your nostril. The liquid will drain through the other nostril and you will clear out your sinuses of any mucus, allergens, or dust.

Rest

While at conferences as an attendee or working the event, self-care should be number one on your list. For me, getting at least 6-7 hours of sleep while at a conference keeps me alert throughout the day. Of couse, more sleep would be ideal; but conferences usually have events at night and sometimes early morning sessions.

When an event like Mom 2.0 offers classes like yoga, on their itinerary I like to participate in those morning classes. It helps work out the kinks from flying to the location, sleeping in a different bed, and the long days of sitting in sessions.

On the way home from my flights I try to catch up on my sleep and take naps on the plane. This way, when I get home I can be fresh for my family. Becauase I had been away from them for an extended period of time, I don’t like to come home only to have to spend hours away from them taking a nap.

How do you keep yourself healthy when you travel? Do you have favorite things you bring along with you? I’d love to hear what your advice is!

How To Heal A Sprained Ankle And Not End Your Running Career

June 29, 2018

I sprained my ankle while running on May 11th. I immediately iced it and started RICE therapy. I also used a combination of frankincense, cypress, peppermint and lemongrass essential oils to help reduce the swelling. I took off several weeks from running and I saw my chiropractor a month after it happened. He said I should have seen him sooner. There are exercises he gave me which I should have started soon after to my injury to help me with my mobility.

When I first tried the exercises in his office I couldn’t believe, that even though my ankle felt ok, I really couldn’t bear weight the way I should be able to. I thought my ankle still looked a little puffy; but I thought it was my imagination. When he took a look at it he said there still was some swelling. I was surprised. I figured it was almost four weeks since it happened, I can walk on it without issues, so I was just going to give it another two weeks before I ran again.

Doctor’s orders – no running yet. I have to continue to ice and heat to get the swelling down and the blood flowing back in that area; and I was told to do the two exercises he showed me without assistance. I did them because I wanted to run again, sooner rather than later.

What Happens When You Sprain Your Ankle?

When you sprain an ankle there are nerve endings that get damaged from the stretch of the tendons. Just because you can walk again without pain or the swelling has gone down, doesn’t mean you are completely healed. My doctor explained that there are three ligaments on the outside of the ankle. When those ligaments are strained or torn, the nerve ending are also affected by it.

He had me stand on one leg and balance myself and then raise to my toes with that leg only. Then when I did that on my injured ankle, I was completely wobbly and could barely raise myself onto my toes. I was shocked at how much mobility and stability I had lost. I had to rebuild the strength in that area of my ankle. I also had to help the nerves heal so that my running gait wouldn’t be affected.

I continued the exercises for the next two weeks and also just did my Beach Body workout programs while I wasn’t running to continue my strength training. Especially for my glutes and hamstrings.

Not Running Made Me Crazy

All during the time that I couldn’t run, my mood and energy level dropped. I really missed running. I bet if I read any earlier blog posts of mine where I had an injury I had the same feeling. This time when I took the time off to heal I didn’t try to run through it like I had in the past. I really needed to NOT RUN. I had to listen to my body and my doctor. I’m glad I did.

How To Get Back Into Running After An Injury

After taking the required time to heal, doing the prescribed exercises and icing and heating my sprain, my doctor was happy with the strength I showed in my last visit a week ago. He told me I could start running again. But that didn’t mean I could get out and run like I used to.

Getting back into running after an injury requires patience and the following:

Lower your intervals to a shorter run time than prior to your injury. Instead of running 30/30 I went to 15/30
Don’t worry about your speed. Right now you have to focus on maintaining good form and you can’t get caught up in your head about how much speed you may have lost during your time off.
Don’t worry about your distance. Same concept with speed, you are going to have to build your mileage back up again. Follow the rule of 10% more each week. Anything more than that, and you are asking for trouble.
Listen to your body. If anything is starting to hurt again, STOP. Listen to your body and make adjustments accordingly.

My chiropractor told me that several people ruin their running career after an ankle sprain because they don’t give themselves sufficient time to heal. Ankles are tough. If you get a sprain it can sometimes be the end if you don’t take care of it.

I’m happy to be back out on the road again, despite the current heat wave we are experiencing. I’m going to enjoy the miles I can start accumulating and work on my goals for the upcoming months.

How Essential Oils Are Helping My Family

November 27, 2016

Lately my daughter has been struggling with separation anxiety, especially after long weekends. To help her get through these times I have been applying essential oils to her prior to breakfast to ease her butterflies so she can eat.

She had separation anxiety when she was in preschool. I would drop her off in the morning and my father would pick her up. There were a lot of tears, but my dad really helped her work through this challenging time. He taught her that after sad comes happy. She outgrew this phase and went off to kindergarten and first grade with no issues. I was so excited. But then something happened this year. One morning I had to go into work earlier and I couldn’t be there to put her on the bus myself. This change set her off on a tailspin. I got a call later that day from the school psychologist. She told me Adrienne was in tears. I spoke to Adrienne on the phone and helped calm her down. But this started a new case of anxiety for her for the past few weeks any time there is a change or she needs to leave me.

However, there is good news. Now that we know how this anxiety affected her in the past and what tools I have to work with; we have a plan. I am also armed with essential oils that have also been a big help during these times for both me and her. To begin her day we start with some grounding oils and uplifting oils such as Balance and Citrus Bliss, along with a little snuggle time in bed before she has her breakfast. This puts her in a better mood which enables her to eat breakfast. When she doesn’t eat her breakfast, that sets her up for a more difficult day.

After she eats and gets dressed I help her with her hair and then I have found that giving her a scarf of mine with a little perfume on it has been helpful. This allows her to smell it during the day and helps her to relax. I also gave her a bracelet to wear so that when she looks down on her arm she is reminded of me and it can give her the peace of mind she needs.

When she is at school she knows that she has plenty of resources there to help her. Her teacher has been tremendous in keeping me in the loop and the school psychologist is also a great place for her to go should she need to talk about her feelings. When my son had trouble with this in kindergarten, the school psychologist helped us teach him how to express himself by drawing out his feelings.

For Adrienne, it’s Mondays and any days following a long break from school that she had the hardest time with. When Sunday evening rolls around and she starts to complain that the weekend is ending, I immediately try to refocus her onto another topic or begin working towards finding a positive element to the next day. We start out with choosing an outfit for the next day or maybe a new pair of earrings. It also helps her to draw pictures of what she did on the weekend to help her shift her attention from the negative and move toward the positive. We all go through the same thing as adults and I told her that I also feel the same way she does because we are a very close family and to be honest, we do lots of fun things most of the time!

One of my favorite podcasts had a great episode about essential oils If you want to learn more about them and the different types that are available check it out!

I Started Doing Yoga!

February 26, 2016

During my last visit with my AMAZING chiropractor, he mentioned that his practice is starting to hold yoga classes and the recommended that I give it a try to help with my core and balance. I thought that was a great idea because the day and time of the class works well with my schedule, I trust him and what he recommends for my wellness and back health and I have been on a quest for a more holistic approach to my wellness and health by using essential oils and now yoga would be a great complement to that approach. My mom also heard about the class and mentioned that she was thinking of doing it as well so we both signed up.

The day of my first yoga class was an extremely stressful day at work. Two hours before class I had come into a very high stress situation and was very upset. I didn’t want that bad energy to come with me into the class and I was hoping that the yoga would give me the relief I needed of that stress and anger that I was holding on to.

The yoga instructor started with us by explaining what yoga is and talking about how we need to take care of ourselves. To use the practice of yoga as a time of healing ourselves. Looking inward for peace rather than outward. Use your breath, body and mind to unite yourself. Harmonizing your body and mind with breathing, posture and meditation is the soul purpose of doing yoga, as well as making your body and balance stronger.

After she talked to us she had us find a comfortable position for sitting and focus on our breathing and become aware of how we breathe. Then she had us close our eyes and be still. Then we worked on laying on our backs and feeling our abdomen rise and fall with our breathing. As women, we typically take shorter breathes with our upper airway and don’t usually take deep breaths through our abdomen because when carrying children we didn’t have the space while we were pregnant. So we practiced taking a deeper slower breath and it calms your heart rate down.

Then she helped us practice opening up our hips because as Americans we sit too long in our chairs and our cars and our every day life. After some gently stretching we worked on opening up our shoulders and then we stood up to begin working on balance and posture with a tree pose and a warrior pose. After doing these exercises we got back down on the floor to lay down and get focused on breathing again and having quiet time to meditate and relax.

I really enjoyed the class. I felt calm afterwards and when I got home to the house with the kids all fired up and loud, I sent them outside to burn off their energy. I was hoping to try to do the exercises at home during the week; but I did take the practice of what she taught up regarding self-awareness and used it when I could to remain calm during situations that would have stressed me out. I made myself aware of what I was feeling and then rather than tensing up my body I was making sure that I was breathing and also opening up the areas that I tend to tense up.

I can’t wait for the next class. I also told my husband that I think this would be a great class for him to help him unwind and learn to quiet his mind. If i can quiet my mind for even just and hour, then I think he might be able to as well. I can’t sit still. When it’s nice weather out and we sit on our deck to relax I can only last about 5 minutes in the lounge chair before I start to get antsy and need to do things.

What I really enjoyed about the class was not just the exercises themselves but the practice of being aware of every part of your body. We felt our muscles from our toes, up our legs, to our hips and then throughout our shoulders and fingers. We let our head relax and did neck curls to release tension from our neck from holding our head up all day long. I think learning to be present is going to be key to this class. We are so busy with work, kids, emails, messages, all of the “noise” in life that it makes it very hard to remain present. I think this is going to help me with that, or at least raise my awareness of it so that I may think twice about how I manage my time, my stress, my projects and my health and family.

I’ll keep you posted of the progress for the next 6 weeks!

What I Am Learning About Essential Oils

February 13, 2016

As I am learning more about essential oils, Shannon sent me a very informative video to watch. It is a great Essential Oil 101 to talk about each of the major oils and what they are used for.

Essential Oils 101 with Dr. David Hill from dōTERRA International on Vimeo.

And here are the basic essential oils and what their common uses are for. These are the great oils to start with if you are going to explore using essential oils.

I’ll keep you posted with more information that I am learning about as helpful and most resourceful oil uses in your home and for your family.

Tag: essential oils