Summer is upon us and that can mean a lot of challenges for families, like how to keep the kids busy and healthy. In this podcast, we’ll give you healthy and happy summer tips so you can make the most of your sunshine days. Mama Z shares activities we do with the kids – indoors and out, including the importance of community outreach.
As we cover summer tips for health, we talk about the nontoxic sunscreen and avoiding the temptation of unhealthy foods. We also share how the 5 “Ps” help us stay healthy and focused on fun & family when we travel.
Mama Z “unpacks” summer tips for packing and organizing for summer travel, including how to travel with food, so you can stick to a healthy diet all year long. We share our own experiences traveling with food & family, including how to keep the kids occupied for long car trips and unexpected delays.
Finally, we provide you the recipe for Dr. Z’s Bug Bite Balm and DEET-free bug spray, right out of our book, The Healing Power of Essential Oils. So if you’re traveling this summer, listen in before you go on vacation!
Natural Living Family Podcast Episode Nineteen Resources for Healthy Summer Tips
Listen to Natural Living Family Podcast Episode 19 Here
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Click Here to Read the Summer Tips Transcript
Healthy, Happy Summer Tips: Kids, Picnics, Traveling & More! Natural Living Family Podcast, Episode 19 Transcript
The contents of this presentation are for informational purposes only and are not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. This presentation does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with and questions you may have regarding a medical condition.
[0:00 – 1:25] Prelude
Dr. Z: You need to be happy and satisfied with how you look. And we don’t want you to be, I don’t know, guilty of hating yourself, hating how you look and embarrassed to go out and swim in a bathing suit.
Mama Z: But you need to love yourself enough that you are able to put the time into yourself that you need to, even if you haven’t done it over the past x amount of years. It’s time to change that paradigm. And you’re worth it. You’re worth something better than that. And so, it’s time to not let your health take the back seat, because especially if you’re a mom and you’ve been taking care of other people. In order for you to properly take care of other people, you have to take care of yourself.
And if you haven’t, then I guarantee that you’re not at your optimum. And your kids are going to see that as their example. And we want to be our best example that we can possibly be. I remember one time in a Sunday School class, this couple said, “Yep, your kids are your best Holy Spirit you’ll ever have. Just watch what they do. And guess where they got it from?” So, it’s important to make sure that you’re giving them the right information and you’re helping them grow in the right ways.
[1:26 – 1:58] Introducing Happy, Healthy Summer Tips
Dr. Z: Hey! Dr. Z here.
Mama Z: And Mama Z. And welcome to episode 19 of the Natural Living Family podcast.
Dr. Z: Each week we invite you into our home to talk about how you can master the art and science of natural living. And we share the same summer tips our family uses every day to enjoy an abundant life. And you’re going to love today’s talk.
Mama Z: So, come on in and get comfortable. After all, you’re one of the family, our natural living family.
Dr. Z: But before we dive into all the fun, we’re excited to share a special note about today’s sponsor.
[1:59 – 2:47] Sponsor Spotlight: Matcha Green Tea
Dr. Z: But before we dive into all the fun, we’re excited to share special note about today’s sponsor.
Mama Z: Are you looking to quit the coffee habit?
Dr. Z: Tired of the after cup of joe jitters, and the unfailing mid afternoon crash?
Mama Z: Well, we have a solution for you, and it’s called Matcha Green Tea.
Dr. Z: Matcha green tea is a staple in our house, because it is rich in antioxidants, can help your body fight disease, burn fat, and will give you sustained energy all day long.
Mama Z: If you’ve never tried matcha before, what are you waiting for? You and your kids are going to love it.
Dr. Z: Here’s the best part, our favorite brand is giving you a special starter discount as a gift because you are Natural Living Family Podcast listeners.
[2:48 – 6:02] Diffuser Reveal: Bug Repellant Blend
Dr. Z: Yea, yea, yea. I can’t believe we are already at episode 19.
Mama Z: I know.
Dr. Z: It’s just like yesterday we started this thing. I mean this is already May 27. Can you believe it? Which is a week before what?
Mama Z: Mrs. Georgia.
Dr. Z: So, if you’re local to the Atlanta area or if you just love us and want to fly in, you can go to the Roswell Cultural Center
Mama Z: June 9
Dr. Z: Which is a Sunday
Mama Z: 6 p.m.
Dr. Z: And root Mama Z on, because she is going to be competing for the Mrs. Georgia America pageant.
Mama Z: And please stay after the pageant, because we will take pictures. And we’re going to go to the after party that’s after the pageant. They will announce where that is, and it’s usually only a couple of miles.
Dr. Z: It’s at a diner usually right down the road. And dinner is on me. So, I’ll put myself out there.
Mama Z: We’re going to have people flying in to have you buy them dinner.
Dr. Z: Free food! Yea, they’ll spend a thousand dollars on an airplane ticket to get a ten-dollar meal at a diner. Love it! That’s funny. So, keep Mama Z in your prayers.
Mama Z: Yes, please!
Dr. Z: She’s been training like a beast for this. And if you want to know a little bit about her training and a little bit about her pageant experience, listen to episode 18, because we cover perseverance and not letting go of your goals and achieving just really optimal performance. And so, we love that. But today, we’re going to talk about healthy happy summer tips.
Mama Z: Awesome!
Dr. Z: Why? Because like summer is starting next month.
Mama Z: And you know, honestly, in Georgia it already feels like it.
Dr. Z: Oh yea, it’s way hot. It’s like in the mid 80’s. And our kids are out of school already. And we are ready for summer. But before, in honor of summer, what do you have in the diffuser?
Mama Z: Okay, so our diffuser, well, Dr. Z did say, “No citronella, no citronella.” But this blend doesn’t have citronella in it. It smells kind of like it does. But the cool part is I used three drops of each, because we have a bigger diffuser. And this is one that you could do on your deck. If you were outside on your deck, this is great for a party. And one of the cool things is if your deck has like a hole down the center, you can actually run the cord down there and then have a little extension cord. Some of the tables do have plug-ins on them out on your deck. This one is three drops of each—eucalyptus, rosemary, peppermint, and lemongrass. So, if you have a smaller diffuser, you would just use two drops of each.
Dr. Z: Could you repeat that?
Mama Z: Yes. It’s eucalyptus, rosemary, peppermint, and lemongrass. So, all of those are fabulous for bug repellant and just a happy, uplifted mood. And I love it. I went upstairs and took a few things upstairs in between shows and filming stuff. And when I came down, it was heavenly.
Dr. Z: It’s very fresh.
Mama Z: It is.
Dr. Z: It’s very uplifting. Thank you for not putting citronella. Citronella is just the bug repellant oil. It has something that I just don’t really want diffused around me right now. I’m just in this high-vibe lemon. Like last week, I’m still in my lime-bergamot blend. Like it’s all I really want right now. So, anyway, thank you.
[6:03 – 8:29] We Appreciate YOU!
And thanks to all of you who have left us reviews lately. I love reading them. And so does Mama Z. I want to give two shout-outs to turbo63, who gives us a 5-star rating. By the way, thank you. He says, “Wonderful information! I love to listen. Thank you both, so much, for sharing information in such a fun way. It’s so easy to listen to your stories.”
And I don’t know how to pronounce this. I don’t think you can pronounce it—poknyg af. I just love everyone’s names on like podcasts and iTunes and stuff. “I listen every week!” Another 5-star, by the way. Thank you! “I haven’t missed an episode. I love your encouragement. And I’ve been learning so much. Listening to your podcast makes me happy for Monday to come so I can listen to the next one.” And I’m going to spell your name, just because I’m sorry for not pronouncing it. But it’s not your name; it’s like your online name: poknyg af. I don’t know what that means. But good for you. And thank you so much for the encouragement.
I love it! Thank you so much for leaving a comment, a message. Join our newsletter at NaturalLivingFamilypodcast.com. Subscribe to this. We are reaching thousands. Like we’re approaching 100,000 downloads already, which is pretty cool. Actually, it’s probably more at this time, because this is obviously pre-recorded. And thank you!
Mama Z: Yes, thank you very much!
Dr. Z: And I hope you’ve been inspired and blessed.
Mama Z: Yes!
Dr. Z: And that you join the mission. And the cool thing about joining us at NaturalLivingFamilypodcast.com, getting on our newsletter, is we’ll send you a private invitation to join our special Facebook group, which is just for you. It’s private invite only. And you can join thousands of other natural living lovers just like you and be with Mama Z and I on Facebook.
So today, a lofty goal. I can already see this being a two-parter. But healthy happy summer tips. We want you to thrive, thrive and feel your best during the summer. And there’s so much, everything from bug bites and bug repellants and boo-boos. And what do I do with kids now that the kids aren’t in school anymore? And how do I navigate all these picnics and barbeques and holidays, because every week is a holiday? What do you do?
And we’re right around the season—I should remember. When is Memorial Day this year? It’s coming up, right? Or it just was. Chris, do you remember when Memorial Day was or is? Chris is on his phone. Watch.
[8:30 – 13:29] In Honor of Our Veterans: Thank You
But either way, what do you do on Memorial Day? You have Mother’s Day and Father’s Day and fourth of July. You have all of these days. We want to help you. And we want to help you crush it. We don’t want to help you just get by. We want to help you feel like, “Man, I just did awesome at that family picnic. And I did great with my food choices. And I’ve been active. And I’ve been doing all the things I need to do.”
Mama Z: I think today is Memorial Day, isn’t it?
Dr. Z: No, Memorial Day isn’t on a Monday, is it?
Mama Z: Yea, it is.
Dr. Z: What day?
Chris: May 27.
Dr. Z: This is May 27. Hey, happy Memorial Day! Is it?
Mama Z: Yes.
Dr. Z: Wow! I’m so sorry. Obviously, this is pre-recorded. So, today, what are you going to do today? What are you going to eat today? It’s a day off. So, by the way, let’s honor. Man, we’re just like riding high on this non-citronella blend. We just want to honor everyone who has given their lives.
Mama Z: Yes.
Dr. Z: Especially in the armed forces and people who have sacrificed. I remember being a soldier on a float during the Midland, Michigan parade. I was a wounded soldier. You’re bronze. That’s a whole other topic. I should talk about that.
Mama Z: We should talk a little bit about that.
Dr. Z: How to honor; how to thrive.
Mama Z: Right. My mom’s church has done this for a number of years. My childhood Sunday School teacher, he felt really led to honor people, because he saw veterans that would walk in the parade on Memorial Day. But he never really saw anything that wasn’t a candidate running for office or other things like that; something that wasn’t really tied to anything.
And so, on the side of the float, it said, “God bless your sacrifice.” And it was just on a flatbed trailer. And they kind of created it to look like a war zone. And what we did was we took old military uniforms and we made them bronze, like sculptures you would see. And then we had different people in different positions, which you’ll talk about, dressed up.
And then in order to do the makeup, the makeup for me would take two and half to three hours to do. And we would get there early. Remember, I put makeup in your ears, on your face, down your neck, in your eyebrows, because you are the bronze sculpture of this scene. And tell us a little bit about what it was like.
Dr. Z: I had no idea what to expect. And I’ve heard your mom and you talk about it, and Mr. P., Scott. Mr. P., we’ve heard him talk about it. Actually, he invited me. Being the wounded soldier was not the most glorious job. It’s a very precarious position.
Again, imagine like a really small, 8 x 8 float, kind of trailer, or not even that wide—8 x 6, if that. And you have one soldier who is dying. You’re propped up on one elbow. Your other hand, if you’re watching, I don’t know if you can see me, like on You Tube. You’re like this. It’s like, oh, I’m dying. Your hand is up in the air, raised at the chaplain. You’re lying down on your side on an elbow for an hour, being as still as possible. And you have a chaplain. And I’ve been blessed to be the chaplain, also.
Mama Z: You did a really good job at that.
Dr. Z: I crushed that.
Mama Z: You knew you were moving up to varsity squad when you got to do that.
Dr. Z: So, the chaplain is the one who is on one knee. That’s so hard, because you’re on one knee for an hour. But you’re on one knee, with a Bible in your hand. You’re praying over the person that’s dying. And then you have another soldier who’s got the easiest job in the world, just standing there at attention, protecting everybody.
Mama Z: But when it stops and starts, that’s the only thing, because they’re frozen, like completely frozen.
Dr. Z: That’s tough. I never had a bigger crick in my neck ever in the history of cricks in your neck than I was. I was like hand up in the air, elbow, lying down.
Mama Z: You were that guy a couple of times.
Dr. Z: Yea, I was. And so, I’ll tell you, though, it moved me to tears more than once. I didn’t know what to expect. You see, again, I never had this stuff growing up. My mom and dad were never really involved with much of anything. And I adopted into Sabrina’s family. And they’re like, okay, let’s get busy. So, we started to do all kinds of stuff. You know, our first date was at the Special Olympics picnic. I mean that’s just how our marriage and relationship was. Man, it’s almost thirteen years to the day.
Mama Z: Yea, almost. It’s a couple of weeks away from our first date.
[13:30 – 17:26] Summer Tips for Getting Involved with Community Outreach
Dr. Z: So, I was a wounded soldier. And this is the town favorite float.
Mama Z: Yes. It’s been on every news station covering the parade.
Dr. Z: And Mr. P. is like, “Look, people, this is a God-job here. We are honoring men and women who have given their lives. And we’re glorifying the Lord in this float. Be still.” Like there’s a level of pressure—don’t move. You are a living statue.
Mama Z: Yes.
Dr. Z: I can’t tell you how many people, kids, but other people, they were like, “Look at those statues. Hey, do they move?” People are like they literally think we are statues. And really that was funny. Every five steps it seems like, “Did they just move? Is that a statue?”
But seeing the men, the World War 2 vets, get out of their wheelchair or stand up, or Vietnam vets, stand up and salute us and say, “Thank you, boys. Thank you for this.” It gives me chills on my spine even thinking of it. So, thank you. And God bless your sacrifice and your family’s sacrifice, whatever that sacrifice may be by serving our country and giving us the freedom that we have.
And be involved, y’all. See, that’s one of the ways you survive a healthy, happy summer. It’s just not about getting drunk on beer and eating barbeque and going to the pool.
Mama Z: It’s a lot more than that.
Dr. Z: Summertime for us, especially in America, there’s a lot you could do. There’s a lot of service. Again, there are a lot of picnics. There’s a lot of community outreach. And that’s something that isn’t on my notes, by the way, but we’re going to count it, community outreach.
Mama Z: Yes.
Dr. Z: Now is the time not just to go think about yourselves and do vacation and swimming pools all the time. Do things like that with you and your kids and get involved, because it will make your memories just so much more enjoyable. Thanks for reminding me about that. I miss that, by the way.
Mama Z: We went back the year I was pregnant with Bella, if you remember, because we wouldn’t have been able to go back at our normal time in the summer just due to the fact that I would either be due and then having a baby. So, we went at that time, and ended up taking the kids the last day that they were out of school. And as soon as they were done, we went right on the road. And then we were able to be a part of it, which was huge.
Dr. Z: So, if any of you are industrious people like Mama Z, Proverbs 31 women out there, or men out there, and you want to do something next year for Memorial Day, it’s a great church project. Create a float. You can get some clothes at the Army surplus store. Spray paint them bronze.
Mama Z: We’ll have to pop in a picture of this.
Dr. Z: It’s cool.
Mama Z: I’ve got lots of them.
Dr. Z: Yea, Chris, remind us for the video, a picture of this. For those of you who are watching on YouTube or Facebook, and those of you who are listening, we try. We’re a couple of months behind, actually. We got a little busy with our book launch, The Essential Oils Diet. But we’re slowly starting to put the videos up on YouTube and Facebook. But we will have this up eventually. And you’ll see. It’s wonderful.
Mama Z: Yes.
Dr. Z: It’s a great experience. But you can do it. It’s so easy to do. It’s just a simple gesture. And you’ll be blessed.
Mama Z: And I remember one time when Mr. P. was the chaplain. And I was in my crown and my sash, and I was walking with Special Olympics. And I got done first. And I’m cheering for him. And he had his hand up. And then he went thumbs up. And then he went right back. And somebody was like, “I saw him move. I saw him move.” He was real.
Dr. Z: It’s slow like his hands out like palms open. It’s hard to visualize listening.
Mama Z: Yea, palms out.
Dr. Z: Your hand was out like you’re praying for someone.
Mama Z: But then thumbs up, and then back to the palm.
Dr. Z: I’m telling you, living statue. So, what do you do?
Mama Z: Yes.
[17:27 – 25:49] Healthy, Happy Summer Tips: Keep the Kids Busy
Dr. Z: Let’s talk about healthy, happy summer tips. I want to start with keeping kids busy.
Mama Z: Yes.
Dr. Z: Especially for those of you who have grandkids. Most people listening right now have kids one way or another—kids, grandkids, nephews, nieces, neighbor kids, church kids, student pastors. Everyone has got kids in their life.
Mama Z: Absolutely.
Dr. Z: How do you keep kids busy, productive, and having fun?
Mama Z: So, summer camps, that’s a big one.
Dr. Z: Huge one. I don’t know what we would do without summer camps.
Mama Z: So, the thing is that when you don’t have a lot of resources, so many different churches don’t charge very much for summer camp. You know, usually those are like a 9 to 1.
Dr. Z: Yea, they are day camps, by the way. We’re not talking, and we haven’t allowed our kids to go anywhere overnight yet.
Mama Z: No.
Dr. Z: Our kids are under ten still, ten or younger. So, we’re still like protecting our kids.
Mama Z: Right, absolutely.
Dr. Z: But yea, just some context.
Mama Z: We’ve never done a spend the night either, like a sleepover.
Dr. Z: These are day camps.
Mama Z: These are day camps. So, like 9 to 1 is the typical where we are at in the Atlanta, Georgia area. And, you know, it’s not very expensive. They’re a week at a time, and super awesome. And some of the churches have summer programs that they’re offered a week long. Or you can do a drop in by day. Or you can do a week, and then it’s that same 9 to 1. They have a different theme every week type thing. Some are Vacation Bible Schools. Some aren’t, they just have a theme.
And so, we’ve done a good variety of those. And one of the ones, now that the kids are older, that they’ve really enjoyed, well, actually, two different kinds, is we have an all-day camp where you bring the lunch box. So, it’s very similar to school timing. And it works out great at our local community center.
Dr. Z: And that was the other thing. Not just church. You can go to your local YMCA community center, rec center. They usually have great camps, too. Those are a little more pricey.
Mama Z: Yep, they’re a little bit more.
Dr. Z: But you’re also getting full day care, if you think of child care for a whole day.
Mama Z: Yea. And, again, a lot of them have themes.
Dr. Z: Lego camp, the kids love that.
Mama Z: There’s Lego camp, building camp. We’ve done nature day camp at your
Dr. Z: Nature center.
Mama Z: Your local center.
Dr. Z: That’s my favorite.
Mama Z: Yep. And we’ve been members from back home at the nature center, at the Chippewa Nature Center for a long time. And we really have liked it, because that’s a good way for them to connect to nature and learn about things that they’re not learning already at school.
But the other one we’ve got hooked up with is the tennis center back home. And it’s really neat, because the Midland Tennis Center is hooked up with the community center. But the cool thing is the first half of the day they do play tennis. But they play other games in their game room. But then the second half of the day, they do a whole different variety of all different sports. So, the kids can have fun playing a variety of different sports.
And then they bring them back for a snack and to then kind of calm down and watch a movie. So, when you pick them up, they just haven’t been playing ball all that time and they’re like still playing ball in the car type of thing. So, that’s been great. And the kids have enjoyed it, and they grow a lot. They learn about community with one another. And it gives us a chance to work and get things done. And it makes it very, very fun for them during the summer.
Dr. Z: So, for people, well, I can already hear it: “Well, I can’t afford that.” I get it. School is free for the most part for people. Think about maybe start now. Start saving a couple of bucks. Like if you just put away even five bucks a week, ten bucks a week, you’ll be able to save that money. And sometimes, I mean, what is it, up to a $100 a week, maybe, not even much more?
Mama Z: Sometimes a little bit more. It all depends on the places that you go and what’s available in your area.
Dr. Z: Do some scouting. And that would be my recommendation. We totally get it. And maybe this is a treat. Talk to your child or your children and say, “Hey, what do you want to do? You’ve got these five choices. Choose.” And you can start your own little tradition. But at least that’s something the kids can look forward to and break up the monotony. I just remember doing nothing during summer. Like I remember being a kid and just watching TV, eating junk food, like barely getting outside.
Mama Z: You didn’t have to pick a thousand weeds before you could play with your friends?
Dr. Z: No, whatever episode, five or six, that was. No, I didn’t have to do that stuff. And you know, every once in a while, if I wanted to, I played outside. But I just remember not being pushed to do anything else. It was just summer, right? So, we don’t want that.
Mama Z: No.
Dr. Z: Like we are extremely productive, busy people in all different areas of life. And we encourage you to be as well, because it makes life so much more enjoyable. And that also keeps the kids extremely busy. And also, because they don’t have school work, we do try to keep them busy. You know, summer slide; we don’t the kids to slide down the slide and forget the lessons from the previous school years. We also try to incorporate school work or some reading and little things like flash cards and stuff.
Mama Z: And we also get a book for the next year of school. There are workbooks–you can get them anywhere, from Costco to Wal-Mart—but the book for the next year. And then we have that book, so if there is a weekend even during the school year that they don’t have things going on, then we have them do work in their activity book. And a lot of times, I know Isaiah for sure, our oldest boy, he has finished always the book for the next year before he starts that school year. So, it’s really good just to have them practicing and seeing what things are going to be in the next year, and kind of pre-learning what they’re going to have to deal with in school the next year.
Dr. Z: And just because they’re not in school doesn’t mean they get out of chores. If anything, we’ll add more chores.
Mama Z: Yes.
Dr. Z: And that’s the key. Keep them busy.
Mama Z: Keep your kids involved in watering and gardening and having them help pick things. You know, it’s kind of funny. I couldn’t get mad at one of the kids last year. “Mommy, I made you this beautiful bouquet.” Although it was all these flowers that weren’t quite ready and all this stuff out there. And I’m like, “Oh, no!” because they’re not ready yet. They don’t know, and we’re still teaching them. And so, then I needed to teach them which ones were ready and stuff like that.
But it was so precious, because they were so proud of the fact that they had picked these, and they were ready to go. And then, before we were working on our yard, I think Elijah had picked all of the dandelions and all these other weeds. And he had come and given them to me, and he was so proud of them. So, I put them in a little cup and had them up by the sink.
Dr. Z: A wild flower bouquet.
Mama Z: Yes. But yes, keep them involved. Each one of our kids has a watering can. And Bella has kind of tried to commandeer the Mickey Mouse one.
Dr. Z: That’s hers, now, I think.
Mama Z: Yea.
Dr. Z: She’ll be three soon.
Mama Z: Yes.
Dr. Z: She loves “Ickey.”
Mama Z: Yea. “Ickey’s house.”
Dr. Z: “Ickey’s house.”
Mama Z: Yes, not Mickey mouse. It’s “Ickey’s house.” But keep them involved. And let them have a sense of pride of doing things like that, helping with the beans and the peas and picking stuff, so that they can start to see what is ripe what is not ripe, and how to water things. And we want to soak the roots of the plants. We don’t want to shower them like we’re showering them in the bath type thing.
And it’s really important just to get them involved in all the processes, and even helping with making food and dinner and other things that you’re doing. They do need to be involved in the process.
Our goal is to make them successful human beings. And in order to do that, we can’t do everything for them. We need to make sure that they’re picking up the broom, and that they’re doing those kinds of things.
Dr. Z: Mimi does a good job with that. She gets Esther and Isaiah and now Elijah older involved. We spend a couple of weeks in Michigan visiting family and Mimi. We spend the most time with Sabrina’s mom and dad. And the kids just love helping her out in the kitchen. She gets them busy. And, you know, we let them have fun, too. We got to the park extra. We go swimming. And also, don’t forget that we don’t want to put toxic chemicals on their skin.
Mama Z: That’s right.
[25:50 – 31:47] Practical Summer Tips for Survival
Dr. Z: And this is a big deal. So, be sure to stay tuned to the very end of this episode, because I’m going to give you my DEET-free bug spray bug recipe from The Healing Power of Essential Oils, my first book.
Mama Z: Yes.
Dr. Z: And just know, we don’t put bad sunscreen on them or DEET-filled chemicals on them. We obviously don’t want our kids to be walking around burnt as toast. But we don’t want to sacrifice their skin. So, there are natural options, y’all.
Mama Z: There are. And on our website, NaturalLivingFamily.com, we also have a variety of different sunscreen recipes from like a lotion bar to a spray. We have three different recipes to give you a good variety of what you’ll need for you and your family.
And one of the summer tips that we have on there, too, is if you’re going to be doing the lotion bar one, I always like to repurpose things. So, my deodorant containers, I sanitize those out, and I actually refill those with these kinds of things, either a lotion bar, or a sunscreen bar, because that way you can take it with you on the go on your trips. And you have that all set ready to go, and you can just roll it on.
Dr. Z: And you’re speaking of something, too, before I forget. Go to MamaZSalads.com, and sign up for a free screening of Sabrina’s simple, sensational salads class. She’ll show you how to make everything. It still boggles my mind how she could do it. There’s a fruit basket made out of a watermelon, and her coconut whipped cream, and all these healthy fun salads, like your 4-bean salad and your potato salad, all your holiday and summer favorites.
And we have a free screening coming up next month. So, this is perfect for time of summer. So, go to MamaZSalads.com, and you could check that out. I love it, love it, love it. Don’t sacrifice your food, y’all.
Mama Z: It’s not worth it.
Dr. Z: Get The Essential Oils Diet. Get the recipes. Watch Mama Z’s Italian class; MamaZItalian.com, right? That’s MamaZItalian.com, MamaZSalads.com. Check out these classes. Get the recipes. And enjoy food. Enjoy life.
Mama Z: Absolutely.
Dr. Z: You don’t have to sacrifice. We’re going to talk more and more about food in just a minute. But what about holiday picnics and just some food survival hacks? Just kind of like we cover a lot of this throughout a lot of the episodes. A lot of the episodes, this is a common theme. People are like, “What do I do? What do I do?” So, what are a couple of things that we’ve done really, really well. Again, we don’t sacrifice.
Mama Z: No.
Dr. Z: We don’t sacrifice on health. And we don’t compromise on anything. But we also enjoy our stuff.
Mama Z: Right. So, one of the big things is, and I go over a lot of these recipes in the salads class. And a lot of them are in our book, The Essential Oils Diet. But when you go on a picnic, the cool thing is everybody is bringing their own cooler.
Dr. Z: Yea, yea.
Mama Z: And so, you have the ability to pack your cooler.
Dr. Z: Good point.
Mama Z: And the best part about that is that people are always interested if it’s healthy. And if they know you, and they know the type of things that you bring, then they’re going to know, like in our case, so, what do we have here? And it’s still healthy, but it tastes good.
Dr. Z: Oh yea!
Mama Z: Yea, that’s right. It does! And that’s the thing, find good recipes that you like. And I always say, use our recipes as a springboard. I mean when I see you, I want to see your book all marked up, and you have made all kinds of healthier adaptations and stuff like that. Not that you get too much healthier than those things. But the big thing is that you adapt it for you and your family.
And when you go somewhere, you can bring everything with you. A picnic is more of an open setting. And I love that, because it gives you the freedom to be able to bring everything that you need and want and that your family needs and wants. So, at a picnic, we have a plug-in cooler. So, a lot of places do have power.
Dr. Z: Where do you get this, on Amazon, or where do you get it?
Mama Z: You can get it on Amazon. And you get these plug-in coolers where it can plug into your car and plug into an outlet.
Dr. Z: And it keeps food cold or warm. When you get one that keeps it warm it’s a warmer/cooler.
Mama Z: Yep, absolutely. And some of them can be upright on or on their side, depending. So, there’s a lot of them on Amazon. And I recommend those, because if you’re going somewhere, or if you have to drive a few hours to get somewhere, if you have to put a whole bunch of ice and other stuff like that, it can get messy and get into your containers and all of that. And then the cleanup almost makes it not worth it.
Dr. Z: What’s a cheaper version of that? What did we use to do before we got the cooler? Cooler bags. I mean cooler bags are the greatest thing. Whole Foods, Trader Joes, most of your stores sell for what, just a few bucks, insulated shopping bags that you could reuse. Those are great by the way.
Mama Z: And by the way, my other tip is my carry-on bag is a Whole Foods bag. And it is because when I go somewhere, I’m going to have to go shopping. So, I can either use my bag, take my stuff, use my bag at Whole Foods, and then use it for that purpose. And then when I’m done, then bring it back with me back home.
And I love those bags because they fit underneath the chair, if you get like the long rectangular one. And it works perfect. So, we’ve done that a lot. And if you get a more upright one, then they are going to fit in the bin over top if you’re flying. And it’s just super helpful just to have a bag that you can multi-purpose when you’re traveling.
[31:48 – 35:56] Your Year-Round Nutrition Survival Guide
Dr. Z: We’re going to talk a lot about this coming up in fall. We already have it in the calendar, and we’re actually getting ready. Chris, heads up. We’re getting ready to film soon, once we get back from vacation, Mama Z’s holiday cooking series.
Mama Z: Yep, fall and entertaining.
Dr. Z: Chris gave thumbs up. So, there is a huge, huge fear that a lot of people have, concern, insecurity, when it comes to holidays especially.
Mama Z: About food.
Dr. Z: Right. And so, what we want to do is teach you how easy it is to make your own versions of whatever it is that is, so you and your family won’t be tempted.
Mama Z: Right.
Dr. Z: And so, we’ll talk a lot more about this in a few months. But just know this. Here’s a pro tip for today. Know yourself, know your kids, know the environment that you’re going to go to. If you’re going to go to a picnic area, a family picnic, a get together, a reunion, a holiday function, a fourth of July, that you know are going to have certain foods that you and your family can’t eat or don’t want to eat, make sure you have a good replacement so you guys aren’t tempted.
Mama Z: Absolutely.
Dr. Z: Just do it. Do the work. Put the time in, the energy in.
Mama Z: Whether you’re on the fast track, which is outlined in our book; you’re trying to get a jump start on your health; or you’re in our lifestyle phase, which is also in the book; there are great options for both.
Dr. Z: And just know that you can convert anything, pizza, lasagna, all the different breads, cakes, cookies, healthy versions of chips, fruits, pies, all those things that people like die over, literally die over. They’re getting cancer over this stuff, because they’re eating it too much. You don’t need to fall into temptation. That’s something that we’re going to continue harping on, because out of all the questions that we’ve gotten the last five years of sharing this message with people, that seems to be a consistent thing. What do I do?
And I’ll never forget Anita, my sister-in-law’s mom, who came up to you at Thanksgiving last year and said, “Thank you so much for bringing this food, because I was dreading dinner.” She had just gone on keto. And she knew she couldn’t have a lot of the foods there. And you made a keto friendly dessert and keto friendly pizzelle, it was, right, a grain-free version of it. And so, she told her, like just the vulnerability to say, “Thank you.” You know, to not want to go to a family function because you’re on a “certain diet,” that’s horrible.
Mama Z: Right. We want to take the fear out, no fear factor.
Dr. Z: That’s what we do. And you mentioned something, too, that I think is really important before we take a break here, The Essential Oils Diet. To help you have a healthy, happy holiday season, summer season, you need to be happy and satisfied with how you look. And we don’t want you to be, I don’t know, guilty of hating yourself, hating how you look, and embarrassed to go out and swim in a bathing suit.
Mama Z: But you need to love yourself enough that you are able to put the time into yourself that you need to, even if you haven’t done it over the past X amount of years. It’s time to change that paradigm. And you’re worth it. You’re worth something better than that.
And so, it’s time to not let your health take the back seat, especially if you’re a mom and you’ve been taking care of other people. In order for you to properly take care of other people, you have to take care of yourself. And if you haven’t, then I guarantee that you’re not at your optimum.
And your kids are going to see that as their example. And we want be the best example that we can possibly be. I remember one time in a Sunday School class, this couple said, “Yep, your kids are your best Holy Spirit you’ll ever have. Just watch what they do. And guess where they got it from?” So, it’s important to make sure that you’re giving them the right information and you’re helping them grow in the right ways.
[35:56 – 39:49] Start Your 30-Day Fast Track…TODAY!
Dr. Z: So, we would recommend, if you haven’t already, pick up the book, The Essential Oils Diet. Go to EssentialOilsDiet.com and get the book and jump right in. Do the thirty-day fast track. This is your kick start to losing quick weight, balancing your hormones, soothing inflammation, and regaining control of your taste buds. Like this will help propel you to a much more empowered, strengthened summer time. Maybe at the beginning of summer you don’t feel comfortable putting on your bathing suit. But by the end of the summer you will.
And the stories and the testimonials, again, go to EssentialOilsDiet.com. Just check out a few of the stories and testimonials that we have. And this isn’t like weight loss promises, like take a pill and lose sixty pounds the next day. These are people that are exercising, changing their diet. They’re incorporating extremely beneficial detoxification strategies, and praying and meditating and taking control of every aspect of their life piece by piece by piece. Like Lisa, for example, after sixty days, she lost what, over thirty pounds and almost forty inches; almost forty inches, right?
Mama Z: Wow!
Dr. Z: And so, we see these stories over and over and over again.
Mama Z: And everybody wants to know what she’s doing.
Dr. Z: She’s a different person.
Mama Z: She is.
Dr. Z: Forty inches.
Mama Z: I don’t know if you saw the video I sent yesterday. It was a private video for me. But I shared it with you because it was so important. And she said, “You know, the weight came off and it’s still coming off. And the inches are coming off and still coming off. But it’s reset my life.”
Dr. Z: Yes.
Mama Z: And it’s about this process. And she was just so thankful. And I think she’s thankful about her relationship with God and the people in her life and her relationships and other things. But I think it’s really important because you have to go through that process. And it’s worth going through the process, because the results are so profound. And that’s why so many people have told us how much they’ve enjoyed doing this.
Dr. Z: Oh, the stories, people are getting off their medications. Their relationships are being restored. We’re not making claims that a diet or anything like that will do anything like that for people. We’re saying that transformation works. And when you start making healthy decisions, everything changes.
Mama Z: Yes, right.
Dr. Z: You just get your body in a position where your body will be receptive to positive emotions, where you are so much in tune with yourself. And you respect and love yourself enough that you won’t surround yourself with negativity and people that beat you down. I’m telling you, it’s a lifestyle approach.
But if you haven’t, and you’ve been listening to us for a while, and if you’ve heard a couple of episodes ago, we talked all about the fast track. We talked all about the boot camp stage. We talked all about the “lifestyle” stage. Listen back to the last couple of episodes. I think it was episode sixteen that we really covered in detail what the book is about. Just bite the bullet, get the book, and do it. Be true to yourself and make this your healthiest, happiest summer ever. And you will never, ever look back.
Mama Z: And the biggest thing, too, is in this book we have really put together the last fifteen years all the hacks. Our goal and our hope for you is that you’ll take what we’ve done in the last fifteen years and be able to springboard what you’re doing that it took us a lot longer to figure out. We want you to be even healthier and happier in much less time.
Dr. Z: And some of those hacks come from chapter seven of The Essential Oils Diet, “How to Eat Healthy While Traveling.” But before we cover that, a word from our sponsor.
[39:50 – 40:11] Sponsor Spotlight: Matcha Green Tea
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[40:12 – 48:51] Planning Your Summer Tips – The Five Ps of Summer Survival
Dr. Z: All right, back to episode 19 of the Natural Living Family podcast. And we are teaching you the things that we have learned over the years on how to have a healthy, happy summer. And these summer survival tips from chapter 7 of The Essential Oils Diet are gold, I mean absolute gold travel hacks. You’ve nailed this down. What are the packing five P’s? And for those people who didn’t listen to the previous episodes, what are the five P’s?
Mama Z: As my favorite pastor used to say, “Proper planning prevents poor performance.” And that is so true. You need to plan your work and work your plan. It’s so important. And that’s basically how we preplan all the things that we’re doing.
And it’s important whether you’re planning for a birthday party or a picnic or traveling in the summer or traveling not in the summer. But these things are all applicable right now.
Dr. Z: So, okay, let’s talk about packing now. What are we doing? You’re going to Disney, a cabin, your beach house, whatever. What is your tip? This is brilliant, by the way. Like what are your hacks for packing?
Mama Z: Yes. So, our very first thing, and I did this back to the pageant days. For Miss Michigan, I had a packing list. And they had given it to us. I don’t even know which pageant it was. It was moons ago. And so, I just typed it out. I figured it would be more useful for me if I can use it now and later.
And then what I started doing that I did then, that I do now for this kind of stuff, was I started by looking at all the things that I packed in my bag. And I went over the things on the list. I went through my day and saw what things that I used and what things were a necessity, what things weren’t, and then they went on the list. So then, as we went on packing, we would add more things. And if we found that we didn’t use something on the list, we crossed it off and didn’t bring it again. And then the second list; these are all the things that we packed in our go bag or our other bags in the car.
Dr. Z: So, you organized them. So, you organized food, snacks, clothes, suitcase. I mean you organized them based off of that. You literally put down every item, like toothpaste, floss, kids’ underwear, extra pairs or underwear, everything.
Mama Z: Right. So, with the kids’ stuff, you can organize kids’ clothes a couple of different ways. We’ve done it when it’s a longer period of time, and we’re going to stay at grandma’s house. Then we use two suitcases, and each fold of the suitcase is one of the children’s. I organize each of the outfits, all together from underwear, socks, all the way to pants and everything they need for that outfit, and then kind of do it in rainbow color orders. So, this is like the yellow outfit and the orange outfit and the red outfit. Then I put them in order. And then I do that for each of them, so they all have their outfits.
Dr. Z: So, that’s kind of cool. Just kind of visualize it. She stacks the outfit. So, outfit number one is put together like pants on the bottom, shirt, underwear, socks. And then outfit two is on top of that, pants, underwear, shirt, whatever. So, you kind of plan out like what do we want baby number one to wear day 1, day 2, day 3.
Mama Z: You want to figure out, I’m going to have this many church days, this many casual days. Figure out by what you’re doing.
Dr. Z: It makes things so much easier. You don’t have to think, “Well, what am I wearing today?”
Mama Z: Right. Now, if it just happens to be a weekend trip, then what we’ll do is we’ll do it by day. And we’ll put Esther, Isaiah, Elijah, and Isabella, and we’ll stack it pile, pile, pile, pile in one suitcase. So, that way we have each day is already organized, and it’s all set to go. So, all we have to do is pull out that day. And then we have it ready to go. And we’ll always have one extra set of incidental like underpants or whatever. So, you want to get organized that way.
Dr. Z: How about food? How about food?
Mama Z: Right. It also has all the food items that we typically bring with us on a trip. And if there’s anything that we can pre-make for our cooler, we pre-make any main dishes that we can freeze. And then that becomes the ice. Even though we have a plug-in cooler, what if it failed? What if something happened? Remember, with proper planning we’re preventing that poor performance. So, we’ll use a few of those items in there, which will thaw on the way there. But they will serve as an extra cool agent for the cooler.
Dr. Z: What’s our go to? We always have this nice big dish of?
Mama Z: Lasagna.
Dr. Z: And that’s in The Essential Oils Diet, Mama Z’s gluten-free lasagna.
Mama Z: It is.
Dr. Z: It’s a great cooler pack. You freeze your lasagna.
Mama Z: I freeze it.
Dr. Z: That was brilliant, too. When I saw you do this stuff, I was like, “That’s a really good idea.”
Mama Z: The other thing that you can do is you can use bottles of water that you can freeze. And then as they thaw, then you can use them on the trip for your cool water, too. So, that’s another idea. Or if you’re using a cooler bag, we did that a number of times. And then you’re never shy of being able to get another bottle of water somewhere.
Dr. Z: So, you’ll have a cooler bag for cool stuff, a dry bag for snacks or things like that. But we try to bring as much food as possible.
Now when you’re traveling, we’ve already covered this before, you can have a travel suitcase or a food suitcase that you can check in. You check this in. And you bring as much food as you possibly can.
Mama Z: Right. And you know, our food suitcase sometimes might look suspicious, because I might have some tools that I need in the kitchen or other things. Of course, leave your sharp objects at home.
Dr. Z: TSA gives you a love letter.
Mama Z: Yep, I always say TSA gave me another love letter. And they did the last trip that we had.
Dr. Z: They’re like, “Hey, we just looked at your stuff. And everything is good.”
Mama Z: They did. When I got back this last week, I got another TSA love letter. You know, this was, “Hey, we were looking around in your suitcase.” They’ve never taken anything. But I wonder what they think? I mean I’m sure they’ve seen a lot of stuff.
But it’s really important. And I package everything in such a way that I’ve never had anything break, never. And I’ve had glass. I’ve brought olive oil from our olive oil and vinegar store to Michigan. And we’ve packaged it. I’ve brought DIY items that I premade and wrapped. And the thing is we have Prime now in our area, and we get deliveries from Whole Foods when order them. And they come with bags that are insulated bags. So, I’ll actually use those insulated bags, recycling them.
Dr. Z: Recycle, smart.
Mama Z: And then, if I have food items or other things like that, then I’ll actually use those to package what I’ve got, so then nothing breaks. And then again, just like in the dishwasher, my mom always taught me, breakable glass, plastic glass, breakable glass, plastic glass. That way nothing clinks against each other and breaks or falls over and breaks in the dishwasher.
It’s the same kind of thing. I’ll package a DIY thing in plastic and next to it will be glass. So, I even package it with itself to make sure that it’s not going to break. And then I make sure there’s an extra one of those packs on top and on the bottom of the suitcase as well. So, it’s really just setting yourself up. And everything else goes in an individual Ziploc bag within that, if you’re going to be traveling by suitcase on an airplane.
[48:52 -55:33] Summer Tips for Food – How Do You Navigate Food on the Go?
Dr. Z: So, you would also want to bring, we have a portable little hotpot.
Mama Z: Right.
Dr. Z: Our magic bullet or your ninja deal. Like you could bring little things like that so you will always be able to have your morning smoothie. I mean, really, you’re on the road. You can go get your fresh fruits and veggies, add some unsweetened coconut milk, and you have your smoothie. And the same thing with your hotpot, to make your matcha green tea lattes that we like to have and other things.
Mama Z: So, I have three parts to this list. The first part is all the things that we need to pack. The second part of this list is everything that the place has to have, air, B and B, hotel, where we’re going, or we need to bring them. You know, for instance, we do bring our little hotpot with us where we go, our traveling hotpot. But my mom has a hotpot. And that is an electric tea kettle at her house, so then we don’t have to bring that when we go there.
So, you look at what places have. And I have a one-burner hotplate. And so, if I have to bring that, then I have to bring a pan and a spatula. So then, I have a list of what we need to bring. Or does it already have it there? Or, if you’re in a hotel, what do you need to ask for—a mini-cooler? Just so your needs are met.
Dr. Z: A mini frig.
Mama Z: Yep.
Dr. Z: Do not use the microwave, please.
Mama Z: Please don’t.
Dr. Z: And in the book, The Essential Oils Diet, we have our best microwave survival hacks, because we don’t even have microwaves in our home.
Mama Z: And this is the thing, people. The one thing that people have mentioned on the website, because the skin healing serum has been one of the biggest recipes that has helped so many people. But the problem is that a lot of us rush to the recipe and don’t actually read all of the things of what to do and how to do what you need to do. Don’t ever microwave your coconut oil, ever. It actually changes what happens. It gets crystallized and caramelized on the side. It does not operate the same way as a hot-water bath when it comes to using it for your skin healing serum. It will make it chunky and weird. And it will forever change that coconut oil.
So, it’s really important when you do your hot water bath that you make it nice hot water. Your coconut oil sits in the sink, and then as soon as it goes liquid to do that kind of stuff. So, always come up with your other methods. Remember the slower way is a lot of times the better way.
But then the third list of things is now what do I need to pick up once I arrive? The fresh fruits and vegetables, the other staples like the unsweetened almond milk, and some of the other things that we use on a regular basis that we didn’t bring already with us. So, we have those three lists. And we use them because not only do I bring that list with us, but if we add extra things to it, then we add it to our master list. And we always keep a master list going.
Dr. Z: So, just kind of recap. You can bring your travel meals. I mean you will save a lot of time and money. But more importantly, you’ll be able to eat the way that you want to eat and that we know is life-giving, especially if you’re following the essential oils diet. And make sure you have things in coolers. Or make sure you are preparing for where you’re going to be going.
Bring healthy snacks. Our cooler is usually filled with salad and fruit cups, yogurt cups, applesauce, cut-up veggies, even shakes and special beverages. We are always ready. Mama Z’s fill-in-the-gap nuts recipe, they can find in the book as well, is a favorite. We all like that. Bring your little almond-flour crackers and healthy gluten-free cookies and tortilla chips and things that you know that you are going to want to eat and that the kids like, especially on long drives.
And here’s something that’s really good, too. When you’re driving long, which we usually do (we usually have a fourteen-hour or so drive to Michigan; we go back home every year), each child has their own insulated lunch box. So, that way lunch and dinner is already prepared. So, whenever we have a stop, boom, we’re in and out.
Mama Z: And then the nice thing about that is that you can reuse those dishes then. So, you can preplan what they’re going to have. So, let’s say once you get wherever you get, then you can do those things, because you have a full lunch and full dinner there. And we usually do a veggie cup and another fruit-related cup for dinner. And then we do a yogurt that we make, which also the recipe is in The Essential Oils Diet, using an unsweetened vanilla coconut milk yogurt, adding essential oils and dried fruit to that.
But also, we do a fruit cup there. So, we’ve got four cups and two little sandwich containers. We usually have a sandwich in one and something else in the other.
But then you can go ahead and make your lunches ahead of time. So, you have two days’ worth of lunches while you’re on vacation. And then you can use that. Or if the kids go to camp on vacation, then that is all set to go for that as well.
Dr. Z: Yea, we bring our food to Disney. We bring our food everywhere we go.
Mama Z: Right.
Dr. Z: And it’s just something that is a way of life.
Mama Z: So, one of the other summer tips, and this is something my mom did. It’s so important. Every hundred miles, if you’re going a long distance, get little presents for the kids and have them unwrap them. And if you don’t have time to wrap them, put all of theirs in one Kroger bag or Meijer bag or whatever you have, the Wal-Mart bag. And then have them pick out, like put their hand in and pick something out.
But the cool thing is it could be something like Band-Aids, or a new toothbrush, or toothpaste. They don’t care what it is. Every hundred miles, they want to open something. And they’ll usually have something bigger in amongst the works. My mom always did that.
Dr. Z: That’s true. Remember Ron’s story?
Mama Z: Oh yea. The reason why (this is so funny) my mom always did that, my dad would drive these long trips to Minnesota. And we lived in Michigan. And so, every hundred miles we would do this. And my dad’s best friend, he was in charge of the presents. And it was just me, or me and my sister, Samantha, driving over because my dad had his annual fishing trip, and we would stay with grandma.
Well, since he was in charge of the presents, my mom would call. They would call once they got there. And the first thing I said to my mom was, “Ron got me the best underpants.” And it was like Rainbow Brite or something like that. And forever I thought Ron got me the underpants. And my mom had gotten the underpants. She wrapped it, but Ron was giving us all the presents. But for whatever reason, I really loved these Rainbow Brite underpants. So, forever I thought Ron had done that.
So then, on our wedding day (it’s so funny), he came up and he said, “I’ve got to confess something.” He said, “All those years ago, I didn’t give you those underpants. It was really your mom. But here are some Rainbow Brite underpants.”
And you know, it was for size four. So, as soon as Esther was able to wear the underpants, she wore those Rainbow Brite underpants with pride. And it’s just kind of a funny thing.
But it’s fun. And it doesn’t have to be bookoo bucks. And I’ve had friends like my friend, Candra, and other people who’ve said, “Hey, I know it’s busy. You’re getting ready for a trip. Can I come over and help you? And we’ll make it like a girls’ day. What can I do for you?” And I’m like, “Do you like wrapping presents?” And then I’ve had people come over, just friends that are like, “I love wrapping presents,” and have helped. So, you can always make it a girls’ day and wrap some present together and chit-chat. But it works.
[55:34 – 1:02:59] Summer Nutrition: Bring Your Own!
Dr. Z: So, some other healthy holiday/summer tips for traveling you can get from The Essential Oils Diet comes from “Make Breakfast Hassle Free.” You can bring breakfast for the morning after you arrive. Our kids like organic puffed oat or rice cereal and grain-free granola. And you can also get some really good ideas in Mama Z’s kitchen makeover. By the way, that’s page 208 of The Essential Oils Diet.
We love smoothies. Again, that’s why you bring your Ninja or your Magic Bullet. And it’s so easy to make. You can actually make omelets, which is something very nutritious and good for you. Make your vegetarian omelet ahead of time. And you can put it in your cooler and then reheat with your little hotplate.
Bring your specialty items. Pack foods that could be difficult to find at your destination. Like when we went to Cancun, we had no idea what we were going to get there. So, we brought our apple cider vinegar, our raw honey, our stevia, our matcha green tea, our cacao powder, things that we like to have. You can also bring organic butter and healthy mustard and ketchup and pickle relish in your cooler bag. Like all this stuff you could travel with.
Mama Z: Right.
Dr. Z: Consider it, right? If you’re staying with friends or family, coordinate in advance what you need to bring. And let people know. Like some people will welcome you supplying much of your own food. Others might feel offended. So, patiently explain the needs that you and your family have with food sensitivities or food allergies, especially if you’re going on family camping trips or something.
And just talk. Just talk logistics ahead of time before you like dive into someone’s kitchen. I mean things that you don’t think about until it happens. And it’s like, “Oh man!”
Mama Z: Right. So, one of the other things, too, is if you are flying, we know that things can happen at the airport. We know things can happen before you get to the airport. So, what I always recommend, if we get smoothie bowls from our favorite smoothie shop, we hold on to those bowls.
Dr. Z: Recycle.
Mama Z: We recycle them. But then it’s a good throw-away container. And so, always if you’re going to ride in an Uber, or if you and your husband are driving to the airport, make sure you eat a meal before you get on the plane, because they never have the options that you’re going to want. And most of the time, neither does the airport. So, I always recommend having a good meal, because you never know when a flight can get cancelled. And have good snacks in your bag.
And it was so funny. Our friends, we had done their wedding room after they got married. And I had made banana bread for them.
Dr. Z: And we decorated it.
Mama Z: Yea, we decorated the room. And one of the favorite things was my banana bread and whipped home-made butter with honey. And so, I made a special pack for them. And it actually went through security. They got it past. And they said, “We felt like we hit the jackpot. We opened up our spread. We had it in the plane. And we were eating our banana bread. We were like so surprised that they let us do it.” And they were fine with it.
And so, bring your stuff, because it is really important. And you may or may not get a chance to eat. And you may not have the options that you need to when you are where you are.
Dr. Z: So, hotels are becoming increasingly aware of special dietary needs, and most restaurants as well. You tell people you have sensitivities or allergies; they don’t want a lawsuit on their hands. Use that to your advantage. We actually talked about that, playing the crazy green people card to your advantage.
And many restaurant chains and hotel chains are geared to family travel. One of our favorite hotels to stay at is Embassy Suites. And especially as a larger family, I’m telling y’all, for like 150 dollars at night, you get two rooms, two huge beds or three beds, and you can fit. But the thing is, you get free breakfast.
And my recommendation is choose a hotel. You might have to spend a couple of bucks extra. But here’s the thing. You’re saving a lot of money on breakfast that serve a good breakfast; not these junky continental breakfasts with frozen bagels and cereal with milk. Like that’s just trash food. Get the food that’s fresh.
Like most good hotels like Embassy Suites or some others, they’ll have made to order omelets, fresh fruit, oatmeal, even fresh hash browns or potatoes that you know you can eat. If you’re getting eggs, Embassy Suites is my favorite, because they will make eggs to order. And you can ask them to make them with butter instead of the peanut oil. It’s the little things like that really go a long way.
Mama Z: And I’ve even brought my own eggs. And I said, “Listen, I have major sensitivities to the types of eggs that are being used. And I really would like this.” And could I have made it in advance and brought a hotplate and my pan for in the room? Yea. I knew that we had been there before, and they would do that. And I had a couple of eggs, and they were all set and ready to go. And they had no problem doing that.
Dr. Z: Nope. Especially for us, a family of six, paying an extra fifty dollars for a room, we saved a hundred dollars on breakfast alone, right?
Mama Z: Right.
Dr. Z: So just think about these things, and stick with the things that are good and fresh. And we want you to feel good on your vacation. So, I love this. I love this stuff, because we’re trying to help you do what we’ve learned the hard way.
Mama Z: Oh yea.
Dr. Z: Because summer time was kind of tough for us individually. And then when we got married, we kind of tried to figure out this thing. Like what do we do? How do we travel? How do we stay healthy?
Mama Z: I remember the first time we nailed it.
Dr. Z: When was this? I don’t remember.
Mama Z: We drove to Minnesota. We took the Northern route.
Dr. Z: Oh, with Esther.
Mama Z: This was after Esther.
Dr. Z: Yep.
Mama Z: And we stayed overnight. I don’t know if it was in the UP. It was about halfway. And we had stayed at this little place. And it had a full refrigerator and everything that we needed in there. And I remember packing it up. We took it to my grandma’s house.
She knew that we were coming with food. She was excited, because I was going to be cooking and that I would have what I needed. She didn’t have to go to the store. And if we needed anything extra, we would go to the store together, which we did. And I remember unpacking and I thought, “You know what? We did really good here.” And that was just the three of us.
And my listed started then. And at first it was a mental list. But then I remembered back to the pageants and making my physical list. And that’s when I started the physical list at that point. And that was a smaller list than it is today.
Dr. Z: And you know, I remember pre-EO for me, pre-essential oils, when I realized that DEET was bad for you, napalm, agent orange. I’m like I’m not going to put this on my skin. I used to just suffer and sometimes even avoid going outside because I had no alternative. For me, I wasn’t going to use the DEET. And I went outside in Michigan in the hot, humid summers, and the mosquitoes would eat me up alive. And now having essential oils in my world (which, by the way, is going to be natural living family tip in just a second), that changed my life. So, folks, you have all the tools that you need.
[1:03:00 – 1:04:29] Natural Living Tip: Dr. Z’s Soothing Bug Bite Balm
Mama Z: And to wrap up today’s show, we have a special natural living tip for you.
Dr. Z: All right, hot off the presses, straight from The Healing Power of Essential Oils. And, of course, you can get the book at HealingPowerofEssentialOils.com. This is my soothing bug bite balm. You get five drops of peppermint oil, five drops of lavender oil, and a five-milliliter glass roller bottle. You put the oils in first. And then you fill that up with fractionated coconut oil or jojoba oil, shake that up, and that is what you put on immediately after your bug bite and any kind of boo-boo. And your kids are going to really appreciate it.
And if you’re dealing with bugs, something to consider. Don’t use the DEET. Our DEET-free bug spray is so simple to make. You get a one-ounce spray bottle. You have three drops of citronella, three drops of eucalyptus, three drops of tea tree, three drops of peppermint, three drops of cypress, and three drops of lemon myrtle.
You put those oils in the one-ounce spray bottle. Fill the rest of the spray bottle with your carrier oil of choice, typically fractionated coconut oil or sweet almond or jojoba. And you mix it up, and you spray that over your skin and rub it all over. Now here’s the key, though. You have to reapply every couple of hours, because unlike the fake stuff that’s full of cancer-causing chemicals, this only lasts about two hours or so. But you keep it on hand, in your backpack. And you and your kids will be bug-free.
[1:04:30 – 1:05:10] Sponsor Spotlight: Matcha Green Tea
Dr. Z: But before we dive into all the fun, we’re excited to share special note about today’s sponsor.
Mama Z: Are you looking to quit the coffee habit?
Dr. Z: Tired of the after cup of joe jitters, and the unfailing mid afternoon crash?
Mama Z: Well, we have a solution for you, and it’s called Matcha Green Tea.
Dr. Z: Matcha green tea is a staple in our house, because it is rich in antioxidants, can help your body fight disease, burn fat, and will give you sustained energy all day long.
Mama Z: If you’ve never tried matcha before, what are you waiting for? You and your kids are going to love it.
Dr. Z: Here’s the best part, our favorite brand is giving you a special starter discount as a gift because you are Natural Living Family Podcast listeners.
[1:05:11 – end] Healthy Summer Tips Episode WrapUp
Dr. Z: Well, thank you so much for listening. And we hope you enjoyed the show. As a reminder, you can find all the Natural Living Family podcast episodes, show notes, and transcripts on NaturalLivingFamilypodcast.com.
While on our website, don’t forget to sign up for our weekly podcast newsletter, which includes a personal invite to join our private Facebook group, so you connect one on one with Mama Z and I and meet thousands of other natural living lovers just like you. And don’t forget. Please subscribe to our podcasts and leave a review. We love hearing what you have to say about our show.
Mama Z: Absolutely. God bless you! This is Mama Z.
Dr. Z: And Dr. Z. And our hope and prayer are that you and your family truly experience the abundant life. God bless! Bye bye.
Natural Living Family Podcast Episode Nineteen Highlights – Happy, Healthy Summer Tips!
- Mama Z’s pageant and what’s in our diffuser (2:49)
- We appreciate you! And introducing today’s topic… (6:03)
- Summer holidays, Memorial Day, and honoring our veterans (8:30)
- Getting involved with community outreach with your kids (13:30)
- Health, happy summer habits –and activities – for you and your kids (17:27)
- Practical summer tips: nontoxic sunscreen, healthy summer eating & more (25:49)
- Year-round nutrition survival guide (31:48)
- Start your 30-day Fast Track to losing weight and better health (35:56)
- The 5 “Ps” and tips for packing everything you need (40:11)
- Tips for packing and traveling with food (44:22)
- Bring your own summer nutrition (55:34)
- Natural living tip and episode wrap (1:03:00)
Favorite Quotes from Episode Nineteen – Happy, Healthy Summer Tips!
“Don’t just think about typical summer activities like swimming. Get your family involved in helping your community because it will make your memories more enjoyable. .” – Dr. Z
“Give your kids each 5 choices of something to do that they can look forward to break up the monotony of summer.” – Dr. Z
“Keep the kids involved and let them have a sense of pride of doing things like helping with the gardening.” – Mama Z
“If you’re going to go to a summer function with foods that you and your family want to avoid, bring a good replacement so you won’t be tempted.” Dr. Z
“Hotels are becoming increasingly aware of special dietary needs, and most restaurants as well. My recommendation is to choose a hotel with a healthy breakfast option included even if you have to spend a few bucks extra.” – Dr. Z
People and Resources Mentioned in Episode 19 for Healthy Summer Tips
