health care and responsibility

Month: April 2017 (page 1 of 2)

health care and responsibility

April 25, 2017 / Samantha Ebel-Brown / 0 Comments

If you want to find a way to insult me, there is THIS mug. I have to be real, I find it’s message quite offensive.

Why?

Because it deliberately puts a wedge and a divide between me and those who think like me, and the medical profession. It puts an unbearable burden on doctors, nurses and other health care professionals to be “god”. To know it all and take total ownership and complete responsibility for all of our health.

As a society we are all about not taking personal responsibility. You know what I mean, just read the news. It’s always someone else’s fault and responsibility. My view is that it’s up to me to look after my family. And yes that means I learn and research stuff, all kinds of stuff. So when I do take responsibility for myself, I am informed. That means I read books either that I order or borrow from the library and do lots of research on line.

My health care is MY responsibility.

That’s not fair to make it all someone else’s responsibility. . There is so much to know and we each play our part. I see my relationship with my doctor as a partnership. There is middle ground between who takes responsibility for what. In acute care or disease treatment there is nothing like the advice and knowledge of a health care professional. The oncologists, radiologists, nurses and doctors who played a part in the care of my parents were ALL amazing people.

Let me be real here. Neither of my parents died in ways that were dignified and pain free. It was torture watching them suffer. The healthcare professionals who surrounded them were incredible and made unbearable situations bearable. I had the GP on speed dial near the end and no matter what time of day I called, the phone was answered. But even here I played my part. I advocated, I watched and I observed my parents. I was there for a lot of the time and the doctor wasn’t able to be there like I was. I was eyes and ears for my parents and I researched all the medication that was prescribed. I KNEW what they were on, the side effects and what the different kinds of medication meant for each stage of the disease. I did not make the GP “god” and we often discussed increasing and decreasing medication. It was a partnership with the doctor as the Captain of the ship.

However if you are talking about pro-active health care, I am the Captain of the ship. We are (thank God) a healthy family. Not without issues but our issues are not life threatening (ie acute situations). So I take responsibility. I figure out what we should eat, get genetic tests done, get us assessed when we need it, work out a plan of supplements and essential oils, make sure we all move our bodies and drink lots of water. And of course get rest. This is what I DO. How do I figure this out? I read books, I look at so many websites and I pore over studies on PubMed. Oh and yes, a lot of this is via Google.

I have a small team of trusted health care professionals that I surround myself with. All of them respected and honoured. They all have something in common though- none of them have that damn mug or the attitude portrayed in it, on their desks. We are a partnership and I am grateful for them and respect the knowledge they have. I don’t expect them to be “god” and they don’t excuse me from taking responsibility for my own health and the health of my family.

Do we always agree? Of course not. That’s where second opinions come in as back to an earlier point, health care professionals are not gods and it’s unfair to expect them to be. But I always offer respect and honour and build bridges wherever I can. I have very good relationships with the health care professionals in my life and some of them have become friends. We don’t have to agree to be on the same page- wanting a whole, healthy and happy life for ourselves and our loved ones. We just need to act with mutual respect.

And smash that mug 😉

best ever paleo biscuits

Making biscuits (cookies) is the same whether paleo or non-paleo.

You need flour which is the foundation of the biscuit. For paleo’s this is a gluten-free flour like a nut flour. Then you need a fat to bind the biscuits together and instead of butter we use an oil, usually coconut oil. You need flavours like cacao, vanilla extract & dōTERRA essential oils. And lastly a rising agent being baking powder and a sweetener. Instead of sugar as a sweetener you could use maple syrup, apple syrup or honey.

It’s pretty simple and once you understand the basics, you can play with the flavours which is the fun part.

Paleo baking can be pretty crumbly and soft. This is probably the aspect I dislike the most because 1. I like crunch 2. soft and crumbly does not translate well into a school lunchbox. It means a soggy pile of crumbs at the end of the day!

So, I have a secret.

You ready?

I figured out that you DOUBLE bake the biscuits. Like you would with biscotti but doing this does not dry the biscuits out like a rock, rather leaves you with a firm biscuits with a crunch. And a biscuit that survives the school day!

This is my recipe for a basic chocolate biscuit with almond flour. The flavours are cacoa, coconut and cinnamon. You could try vanilla and ginger perhaps by adding in another teaspoon of vanilla extract and a drop of dōTERRA ginger oil OR leaving out the cinnamon and adding in 2 drops of dōTERRA Wild Orange oil for a Jaffa biscuit. The possibilities are endless!

Credit for the recipe is to me …

best ever paleo biscuits

Ingredients

2 cups of almond flour
2 tbsp of shredded coconut
2 tbsp of coconut oil
4 tbsp of maple syrup
4 tbsp raw cacao
1/2 tsp of baking soda
1 tsp of vanilla extract
1 drop of dōTERRA cinnamon oil
pinch of sea salt

Instructions

Preheat oven to 180°C and line a baking tray with cooking paper.
Combine dry ingredients in a mixing bowl.
Melt coconut oil if needed and add maple syrup/ cinnamon oil.
Add wet ingredients to mixing bowl and combine well. I use my hands to mix it all together.
Make teaspoon size balls of dough and squash down with a fork on the baking tray.
Bake for 10 minutes and then open oven door a little. Reduce temperature to 120°C and close oven door after a 5 minutes. Bake for a further 10 minutes.
Allow to cool. Store in an airtight container.

http://www.oiltribe.co.nz/best-ever-paleo-biscuits/

Enjoy

you are already enough pt1

April 8, 2017 / Samantha Ebel-Brown / 0 Comments

At dōTERRA’s Australian Convention last month I heard a heart concept talked about. It was one that already sat within me but I needed to hear it out loud. Hear it and absorb it.

The heart concept that we are already enough.

We live in a society that pushes us to strive for more, compare ourselves to others and look outside ourselves for recognition and gratification.

How about believing that we are already enough?

That when you start your journey with anything new- essential oils, a different way of eating, a study course….you have what you need already. You are enough where you are.

I just love that concept. For me it means that when someone joins our tribe they have as much value at the start of their journey, as people who have been using essential oils for years. Sure they may not feel they have enough knowledge and will probably need support in the early months, which is perfectly natural and to be expected. But how about our people knowing that they have the power to find things out, whether through research, study or intuition? They are empowered to use the oils fully & completely from the very start.

It’s simply a move away from the concept that we constantly need to strive & to learn and that we never quite “arrive”. Instead of feeling inadequate how about knowing that you have already arrived. You are empowered because you have everything you need within you at the start of the journey. As women we have a hard time with this concept. We think we need to be to be more & guilt or the need to please drives us forward as do the expectations we take on ourselves.

My dream for Oiltribe is that we all understand that we are modern day medicine women. What that looks like for me is different to the way it will look like for you. Your journey is as valuable as mine and mine is as valuable as the person next to me. We are enough, whether we are just starting out or have been on the road for years.

We are already enough x

If you want to join our tribe and be empowered to maintain or regain wellness here’s the link, click on “Join & Save”

Month: April 2017 (page 1 of 2)