King's Daughters

“Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar, and all that fills it; let the field exult, and everything in it. Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy.”  - Psalm 96:11-12   Sitting on a bench in my garden one evening, feeling rather gloomy, I noticed some random red patches in the sky! They were very unusual and so incredibly beautiful. My gaze was transfixed. I could not take my eyes off the beautiful scene that was unfolding before my very eyes. It was as if God had decided to put on a show for me to cheer me up and what a show it was! As I gazed up, I saw all sorts of different coloured clouds were being swept away with the strong wind, really high up in the night sky! I had never noticed coloured clouds in the night sky before. As you can see in the photo below (click for full size image), you could barely make out the clouds but I can assure you they were unusual and a deep red colour. There it was, crystal c

Parabens are used as a preservative in most beauty products these days.  The scientists have only just  started  looking into the dangers of parabens and there is emerging data linking parabens and cancer - especially breast cancer. One of the recent shocking discoveries is that deodorant his high in parabens and aluminium which could be one of the most significant causes of breast cancer.  Chemicals can seep through your skin and get into the immediate and nearby underlying soft tissue.      Aluminium is a neurotoxin which means that it causes damage to nerves or nerve tissue.  Studies have linked Aluminium as a neurotoxin to Alzheimer and other neurological diseases.  As stated by the FDA: “Antiperspirants have an aluminium-based compound as their main, active ingredient, which can be any number of compounds within an established concentration and dosage form.”   Using aluminium on your skin is risky as it is quickly absorbed into your system and into your brain.      Even men a

Modern chemical filled cosmetics cause our skin to lose its natural oils and nutrients which leads to unhealthy skin and premature ageing.  Not only do these chemicals affect our beauty but they are also absorbed into the blood stream and can cause all sorts of ill health.   Many every day, common ingredients from your kitchen cupboards or fruit bowl can offer simple ways to achieve healthy and beautiful skin.  Cleanser Most women are oblivious to how bad facial cleansers are for them, some are even worse than soap.  Chemical facial cleansers strip the skin's lipids, essential oils and anti-oxidant properties which make the face more prone to cell damage and wrinkles.  The best way forward is to use natural ingredients that stimulate the skin to produce more collagen and elastin. Nature’s Way Alternatives I have struggled with acne since my late teens and have been on various treatments, including the Dianette pill as well as Roacutane and have used the most expensive

This is not a nice subject but an important one to discuss, especially if you have young school age children.  I wasn't sure whether or not to include this section as it's not very pleasant to talk about.  However, I remember struggling with lice in my children's hair for about one year and it drove us crazy.  At first we tried all the popular lice treatments but after a few months it seemed that the lice seemed immune to them.  It was then that I begun to research natural remedies and I did so mostly because of the high cost of the conventional methods.  We did have success and managed to keep the lice at bay only to discover that as soon as my daughter left the school she was in, the lice problem stopped.  Our problem was not lice treatment as much as it was another child in the school whose parents didn't bother with any lice treatment at all.   So if you are having a long term lice problem you might want to look into who the carrier is and have a nice little talk

“ Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance. For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly .”  - Jesus, Matthew 6 : 16-18  Jesus gave us instructions on fasting based on the assumption that fasting would be part of our lifestyle. Christians who don’t believe in fasting are like car owners not believing in having their cars serviced or flowers thinking they don’t need the rain. Sure, you can avoid giving your car a service but you know what will eventually happen if it isn’t serviced. You car will break down because the engine and other working parts will be all clogged up. Fasting is not only a powerful spiritual tool but also has significant health ben

I struggled to find much information on hair treatments. It seems that the information is similar to that of a conditioner. If you know your ingredients and know what to avoid you should be safe. Most hair treatments have a similar cancer risk to conditioners and shampoos. One thing stood out though and that was the new research on Keratin based treatments. Keratin is the latest thing to get frizz free hair. It is found in our body naturally and is a family of fibrous structural proteins that make up the outer layer of human skin and is also the key structural component of our hair and nails. When the Keratin in our body is damaged it makes our hair and skin look dull which is why many people tend to have a Keratin treatment.     These treatments are made by taking the keratin from animals, like the wool from sheep, and making a mixture out of it. This mixture will be applied to the hair as a Keratin treatment to replenish the hair’s damaged Keratin.     Sadly this seemingly ‘n

As with all hair care products, serums and heat protectors can come with high health risks and may contain several cancer causing ingredients. Most of these products contain silicones such as Cyclomethicone and Dimethicone. These silicones are heavy and very difficult to wash out and more importantly may interfere with hormone function and damage the liver. Logically, if you think about it, silicone coats the hair, trapping anything beneath it, and does not allow the hair to breathe. Silicones do give the hair a shine at first by coating the hair strands with oils but these oils are extremely bad for the hair. Long term use will only make your hair worst not better. Nature’s Way Alternatives Natural oils help to enhance absorbability of other natural ingredients to promote healing of damaged hair shaft. These oils are fantastic for both serum and as a heat protector. I have found that extra virgin olive oil and grapeseed oil are fantastic oils for these and many other purposes.

It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows; for so He gives His beloved sleep.   - Psalm 127:2 I was about to wrap the book up when I realised that we haven’t discussed the most obvious rest that we all need daily which is of course sleep.  The importance of sleep is often overlooked and I believe that if we fully understand the significance of a good night’s sleep we might make more of an effort to discipline ourselves in this area. It might sound silly that we need to make an effort to sleep well but few people actually have a healthy sleeping routine. We have been “fearfully and wonderfully made” and sleep is quite a miraculous part of God’s design indeed. "Sleep needs to be thought of in the same context as diet and exercise with regard to health," says Carl E. Hunt, M.D., director of the National Center on Sleep Disorders Research in Bethesda, Md. "There's no substitute for getting a good night's sleep on a consist

Out of all my research conditioner has turned up as one of the most harmful of all the products we have looked at thus far. Even the children’s conditioners and some of the organic ones have shown cancer risks.  Marianne Kapfer, a librarian in Washington, D.C., likes a natural look. She doesn't wear much makeup but loves to indulge in a good shampoo and conditioner. When she started reading labels more closely, however, "I realized that my 'natural' shampoo wasn't so natural," Marianne says. And that's not all. Due to labelling loopholes, many ‘natural’ and ‘organic’ personal-care products contain hazardous chemicals, some of which, at high exposures, have been shown to cause cancer, birth defects, damage to nervous and reproductive systems and liver damage in lab animals.  Sadly, you cannot assume that a conditioner that says it’s ‘natural’ or ‘organic’ is safe. You either need to know your ingredients really well and scrutinise the labels or simply s

“ He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul ”                                                           - David, Psalm 23:2-3 It was with great conviction, a few years ago, that I felt God calling me to still waters. He had called me so that I would know that He is God and so that He could restore my soul. Understanding the seasons in my life has been an essential key to my survival and to my joy in this life. I have found that many people love being called to busyness and to do things for God but few people love being called to the still seasons. Most people completely avoid God's call to be still. I have been guilty of this in past times but not on this occasion. Excitement filled me as I contemplated the beautiful green pastures that He would lead me to. The thought of rest and some time out actually thrilled me. Be still, and know that I am God;...          - Psalm 46:10 ...He leads me beside the still waters. 

I was shocked when I discovered that the dangerous chemicals in shampoos were found not only in your every day cheap shampoos but also in luxury salon shampoos, shampoos claiming to be natural or organic and even baby shampoos. In fact, some of my research led to me to a shocking discovery about a very popular brand of baby shampoo. This shampoo contained three carcinogenic ingredients namely dioxane, formaldehyde and nitrosamine. It’s terribly complicated with many scientific explanations which I will not be going into but the bottom line is that these ingredients are extremely dangerous. Scientific info on all of the ingredients listed on your shampoo bottles can be easily obtained on the internet. Here is a list of some of the dangerous ingredients to look out for: • Quaternium-15 • DMDM hydantoin • Imidazolidinyl urea • Diazolidinyl urea • PEG-100 stearate • Sodium laureth sulfate • Sodium myreth sulfate • Polyethylene • Ceteareth-20 • Propylene Glycol • Methyl pa

Let’s begin will dispelling the fallacy that teeth are pure white. Pure white teeth are not natural and the best way to tell what colour your teeth should be is to look at a child’s teeth. If they are eating correctly then their tooth colour is the perfectly natural colour that our teeth should be. A tooth has a similar makeup to ivory and as you know ivory is not pure white either.   The following table shows the health concerns based on commonly used whitening product. Stained or yellow teeth can be caused by what we eat and drinking as well as poor dental hygiene. Removing stains as opposed to whitening through bleaching is best for your teeth. Bleaching your teeth might give you sparkling white teeth for a few months or years but could cause you a life time of teeth problems afterwards. Keep your teeth clean and remove stains but don’t go for the pure white, unnatural look as that is a sure sign that problems will follow later on in life. Nature’s Way Alternatives 1. Eat

Mouthwash companies are quick to tell you that their product kills germs, prevents plaque and bad breath. What they don’t tell you is that more than 20% of their product is alcohol and long-term use of their mouthwash increases the risk of mouth and throat cancers.  Melbourne University conducted a study of more than 3,200 people, which found a nine-fold increase in risk of cancer among smokers and a five-fold rise among drinkers. The ethanol in mouthwash is thought to help cancer-causing substances – such as nicotine – permeate the mouth lining. The following table shows the health concerns based on commonly used mouthwash. Nature’s Way Alternatives Mouthwash is simply for flushing your mouth to remove waste that is trapped. If you teeth and tongue are brushed correctly you don’t need anything as harsh as alcohol to rinse your mouth. Something as simple as warm salt water will do the job just fine and from there the body’s normal reparative process will take over. Our bodies

Toothpaste manufacturers would like us to believe that the only proper way to care for our teeth is with expensive, highly flavoured toothpastes that come in non-biodegradable tubes. What they don’t tell you is that there are risks with using toothpaste, especially for children if they have fluoride. Fluoride is poisonous! Although it could be helpful to our teeth in low dosage, chronic exposure to fluoride in large amounts interferes with bone formation. In this way, the greatest examples of fluoride poisoning arise from fluoride-rich ground water. In advanced countries, most cases of fluoride exposure are due to the ingestion of dental fluoride products. Although exposure to these products does not often cause toxicity, in one study thirty percent of children exposed to fluoride dental products developed mild symptoms . Symptoms of fluoride poisoning can include abdominal pain, diarrhoea, hyper salivation, nausea and vomiting. Neurological symptoms include headache, muscle