Using Vinegar for What???

Vinegar is a sour-tasting liquid produced usually by oxidation of the alcohol in wine (plain white vinegar or red wine vinegar) or cider (cider vinegar), and typically used for things like pickling, food preservation, marinating meat, or one of my favourites - putting on to of your French fries.
Apple cider vinegar has been noted for weight loss by helping the body burn calories better by boosting your metabolism, helping your body metabolize fats, and reducing your overall appetite and apparently this has been proven to help people loose weight. I know that there are supplements that suggest you take one or two capsules before every meal, but I have read over and over that the best way is just to have a teaspoon of cider vinegar before each meal, some recommend taking it with honey for an additional nutritional boost and to help sweeten the taste.

Apparently vinegar will also increases the health and shine of your hair. Shampoo as usual , then rinse hair with a mixture of one cup vinegar and two cups water. Vinegar adds highlights to brunette hair, restores the acid mantel, and removes soap film and sebum oil. I personally have not tried this on my hair as I am afraid of what “highlights” might mean, but my one son who has dandruff caused by eczema uses this after shampooing and it helps with the dandruff, chapped skin, itchiness and removes any build up in his hair.

Here is a quick run down of some of the ways to use vinegar for health and beauty:

- Neutralizes the alkali left by shampoos.
- Helps keep your hands soft.
- Helps you lose weight
- Can help relieve a sore throat.
- Can remove the nits if your children get lice.
- Antiseptic for abrasions
- Reduce itch from poison ivy or mosquito bites
- Helps re-hydrate sunburned skin.
- Is a skin cleanser
- Helps relieve dandruff
- Helps eliminate low-grade fevers

Many people use vinegar for things like cleaning windows, but vinegar is great to have as part of your cleaning supplies. You can use it as a rinse agent in your dishwasher, in your rinse cycle of your washing machine to remove any soap build up and to soften your clothes and help remove static, you can clean your bathroom, floors, walls, kitchen cupboard, you name it and vinegar will wash it.

Here is a quick run down of some of the things vinegar can do when you clean:

- Dissolves mineral deposits
- Deodorizes
- Disinfects
- Fabric softener
- Static cling reducer
- Air freshener
- Stain remover
- Neutralizes urine
- Removes calcium and lime deposits.
- Clean soap scum, mildew, and grime from bathtub, tile, and shower curtains

Some people do not particularly like the smell of vinegar throughout their entire house, myself included, so when I make my cleaning supplies I always put a couple of drops of essential oils in as well. You need to use something that complements the vinegar enough to cover it up, so scents such as Green tea and Cucumber (my personal fav), Peppermint, Tea Tree, or Lemon all all good scents that work well. I personally love being able to pick my own scent, that is pleasing to me instead of having overpowering scents in the chemical laden commercial products that I use to buy.

I also love that once I make up a batch of All-Purpose Cleaner, I can wash anything without switching back and forth between cleaners. I can clean my cupboards, stove, fridge and floors, windows, mirrors all with the same cleaner, which saves time and money!

Now what about some other uses?

Did you know that bugs hate vinegar? Vinegar will kill dust mites, help keep flies away, and repels ants and mosquitoes (therefore, the more vinegar you injest, the more the bugs will stay away from you too!). I pour vinegar in areas that I want to keep the ants away and to help kill weeds, but be careful, vinegar will also kill grass and other such things, so only pour in areas that you will not be killing off things you want!

For more posts like this one also see:

Making Summer Cleaning Quick and Effective

Making Your Own Household Cleaners

My Trip to the Alberta Legislative Assembly in Edmonton

Yesterday I joined the Grade six class on a tour of our Legislative Assembly. Alberta is fairly “young”, but when we traveled to Edmonton to see our Provincial Government at work, we also got to see a piece of history as well. Alberta became a province in 1905 and the first legislative assembly was held in an ice rink, where 4000 people attended the ceremonies.

In 1907 construction of Alberta’s Legislature Building began. The Legislative Assembly first met in the building on November 30, 1911, but the project was not fully completed, and officially opened on September 3, 1912. Today, the sound systems have been updated, some new chairs brought in, but the desks, the flooring, the staircases, you name it, are all original.

The building is beautiful, as are the grounds, I am sorry for my bad photography that does not give it justice!

Blessings,

Christine

Is Coffee Good For Me???

Did you know that your morning cup of joe actually has more benefits than an early morning pick me up? I often try to get in a quick run once the kids get home from school and if supper is cooking and not needing my attention. So here I was, on my treadmill, watching Rachel Ray when I hear that coffee actually contains antioxidants, and that most Americans (and I am assuming Canadians) actually receive the majority of their antioxidants from coffee (not the best source, but the most consumed).

So this peaked my curiosity, what other health benefits are their to drinking your morning joe? Here is what I found out:

- Drinking one or two cups of coffee a day increases your sense of well-being and happiness due to the dopamine found in coffee (which also contributes to coffee being so adictive, but whatever, nothing is perfect!).

- Sudies have found that coffee may decrease your chances of getting some diseases such as Parkinson’s Disease, colon cancer and Type 2 diabetes (although it is not benificail to people who already have diabetes).

- Coffee may make you less likely to die from heart disease, they think that it may have something to do with coffee’s anti-inflammatory effects.

- Coffee helps with your short term memory and can help preven long term memory loss and cognitive decline.

- Roasted coffee has some antibacterial properties – therefore, it may help fight cavities (without all the sugar that is!!)

So there you go! Who knew that my morning coffee was actually good for me??? I am going to really enjoy my coffee in the morning!

Christine

You Are What You Eat???

Here are some interesting facts that I came across:

(It was in Uncle Johns Bathroom Reader - but hey, I picked it up one day to see why all the boys in my house liked the book so much. I have to say, it had some interesting facts as proven below).

Chicken McNuggets - the main ingredients in Chicken McNuggets is NOT chicken. a McNugget is actually made up of 38 ingredients, mostly chemicals and corn derivatives (56%!!!). One chemical found in a McNugget is (0.02%) is tertiary butylhydroquinone - which is actually a burtaane, also known as lighter fluid.

Cool Whip - Cool whip actually containes NO cream or milk, instead they use a combination of water, corn syrup, coconut oil and palm kerner oil!

Red Bull - An 8.5 oz can actually only has as much caffine as a regular cup of coffee - the "energy" comes from a stimulant known as taurine, which is naturally occurning in the bile of oxen (although you will be happy to know that today it is synthesized in labs).

Twinkies - One of the many chemicals that you can find in a Twinkie is ethylene oxide - another use for ethylene oxide? It was used in grenades durig the Vietnam war!

Magic Shell - You know those chocolate syrups that hardens into a thick cand shell when poured over icecream??? Ever wonder how it hardens? The effect comes from a combination of soybean oil and paraffin wax.

Makes you wonder what is in some of the other processed foods you eat eh???

Christine