Sustainable Living

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Ever since when I was little, my pesky allergies never failed to harass me. Skin allergy, food allergy, allergic rhinitis- name it, I probably had it. After many years of taking steroidal cream for my skin allergies & inhaling steroids for my asthma-- consuming so many steroids in almost a quarter of my life; I decided to stop taking in my meds and switched to “alternative medicine”. Besides I read sometime in early 2k’s the damaging effects of synthetic drugs to our body. The inner earth child in me gave Mother Nature a chance to interfere w/ my perplexed health condition. 

My Mom used to make us “Lagundi” tea when we were little. My siblings and I have bronchial asthma, even w/ our asthma meds; she would still incorporate her “herbal” knowledge to cure us (very typical Filipino mom). Be it a cold, flu or in this case—our asthma. She would boil fresh Lagundi leaves and we're forced to drink a tall glass of that gross tea, far worse than drinking ABS Bitter Herbs tea! Like they always say a mother knows best, she deserves a lot more credit that we give her. It cured our asthma and saved us a lot of money from buying meds and asthma inhalers.

I gave up eating meat 5 years ago not as a cure but because of the faith that I seek (but that’s another story and shall be told another time). My mom—a purist Catholic was bothered by this; I really annoyed her to say the least. There would be times that she’d be so furious that she wants me kicked out of the house for good. When eating, I still have to cook my own meal when she already cooked for us. Stating facts that I have senseless beliefs, (M: “You need to stop what you’re doing because it would ruin your health and the ever famous line: Kung ayaw mo sumunod, lumayas ka sa pamamahay ko”) Arguing w/ her is completely pointless. I’m disheartened but it cured my skin allergies! I stopped using that disgusting sulfur soap—the smell I really hate, that made my skin so dry! My skin became smoother and clearer, I seldom get sick, I don’t feel bloated even if I overeat and it also led me to yoga. I'm hitting two birds w/ one stone.

With the entire rave for organic products recently, I conformed and finally gave it a try. I’ve been a fan of natural products way back, but I didn’t know then that natural produce is different from organic produce. I used to hoard my cosmetics and body care products from The Body Shop and The Face Shop, thinking that I was doing something good for my skin and the environment only to find out the large number of chemical ingredients included in each product that they sell! Parabens, Petroleum, Mineral oil, SLES, etc-- I effing hate commercialism! I did a lot of reading and research. I remember I used to bombard my online seller w/ gazillion questions about organic produce, their benefits and the like.  Last year when I got pregnant, I replaced all my bath and skin care products with organic ones. It cured my allergic rhinitis; I don’t wake up in the morning looking like Rudolph the red nosed reindeer anymore! It made my skin glow (or maybe because I was pregnant that time), I don’t have the occasional pimples that I get from clogged pores (anymore). What can I say? I became a convert. I get to support causes for our environment by purchasing locally organic products and satisfy my vain self at the same time. Talk about beautifying w/ a cause.

The human body is generally “designed” to be self-healing and will heal if the proper conditions conducive to healing are re-established. Nature has its own way of providing us what we need to keep ourselves healthy and to cure us from certain diseases. Give nature a chance. Who knows you could be hitting two birds w/ one stone as well?