Detoxing Your Bathroom, Laundry and Garden, Part 2 – Podcast Episode 26

Natural Living Family Podcast, Episode 26 Transcript: Detoxing Your Bathroom, Laundry and Garden, Part 2

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 any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.

[0:00 – 1:05] Prelude

Dr. Z: What’s wrong with Tide? What’s wrong with the conventional stuff I get at the store? By the way, I actually can’t. And I don’t shop often at these stores, like ever. I can’t go to Wal-Mart, I can’t go to Target, I can’t go to your normal big box stores and walk by or walk down the laundry aisle.

Mama Z: Yes. When you detox off of it, you will get a raging headache.

Dr. Z: It is horrible.

Mama Z: Right.

Dr. Z: I remember years ago thinking, “Oh, this so smells fresh.” And I remember taking a big deep breath. And now I actually have to hold my breath.

Mama Z: Yes.

Dr. Z: And I kind of like almost half run across the aisle. Like I wouldn’t even go down the aisle unless my life depends on it.

Mama Z: Well, let’s get real here. We don’t let you in half of those stores because you have a tendency to buy the kids everything that’s in the toy aisle.

Dr. Z: No, I don’t. No, that’s not true, that’s not true.

Mama Z: Every time you come home from—

Dr. Z: Not toys; I don’t do that.

Mama Z: It would be Legos. It was all under the toy category, mister!

 

[1:06 – 1:44] Intro for Detoxing Your Bathroom, Laundry, Garden and More

Dr. Z: Hey! Dr. Z here.

Mama Z: And Mama Z. And welcome to episode 26 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 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 today, we’re excited to share a special note about today’s sponsor.

 

[1:45 – 2:09] Sponsor Spotlight:

Mama Z: As a special gift to our Natural Living Family podcast listeners, Thrive Market is giving you twenty-five percent off your first order.

Dr. Z: Plus a free thirty-day trial. Simply go to NaturalLivingFamilypodcast.com to find the special link so you could redeem this deal on the show notes from today’s episode.

 

[2:10 – 4:10] Diffuser Reveal: Summer Bliss

Dr. Z: Yea! Hey there everyone. Welcome to the show. Today is part 2 of our little series, “Detoxing Your Home and Life.” We’re going to cover detoxing your bathroom, laundry, and garden. And we’re going to give you a little bit of back story behind this, too. If you didn’t, make sure you listen to episode 25, where we cover kitchen and pantry.

Again, this is how to live a toxic-free life. And this basically was all motivated by Mama Z’s class that she filmed last year, “Your Toxic-Free Healthy Home Makeover.” And for those of you if you haven’t, you can watch a free screening of it. It’s a five-part video home screening, a home tour, where Mama Z walks you through our kitchen, our pantry, our laundry, our bath, and our garden, and how we’ve detoxed it. So, all you have to do is go to NaturalLivingFamily.com/homemakeover. Easy-peasy.

What have we got in our diffuser? Let’s go. We have announcements, diffuser.

Mama Z: We have summer bliss.

Dr. Z: Love it!

Mama Z: It is one drop of each, sweet orange, cedarwood, Petitgrain, bergamot, coriander, and magnolia.

Dr. Z: I love magnolia. That’s my favorite.

Mama Z: So, anyway, it’s such a blend of like summer smells. And it smells heavenly, don’t you think? As soon as I smelled it, I’m like, “This is amazing.” So, I wanted to bring a lot of summer together.

Dr. Z: I love it! Well that’s it. This is a summer episode. And in honor of last year when we launched, the very first launch of “Your Toxic-Free Healthy Home Makeover” class, that was last year in July. And I was like, “How exciting!” So, it was like, “You know what? This is our annual thing.” People are in the midst of traveling. Everyone just enjoyed 4^th of July, Independence Day last week. And we just want to help people just really kick it up a notch. And what a better time to start detoxing your bathroom, laundry and other areas of your home and your life than summer?

 

[4:11 – ] This Week’s Announcements!

But we have a couple of announcements. And, of course, we want to read this week’s reviews and testimonials. And it seems like people are enjoying hearing themselves, because people are giving us some really nice reviews. I love the reviews.

Mama Z: So, they’re giving us nice reviews because they want to hear us talk about it?

Dr. Z: Yea, they’re giving reviews on reviews. Like who doesn’t want to hear their name and be like, here’s a shout-out. So, every week, and this is something we’ve been doing for a couple of months now.

Mama Z: We appreciate your nice comments.

Dr. Z: Yea, we’re giving you shout-outs. So, before, any announcements you want to make? You were just talking a little bit before to the Facebook Group.

Mama Z: Yea, so, just on the Mrs. America front.

Dr. Z: There you go, because you’re wearing your sash, your Mrs. Georgia sash.

Mama Z: Yes. Lot’s of great fittings for all of our stuff. I want to say a shout-out to Lisa O. She’s carted me around everywhere. And we have a notebook, a Mrs. America notebook.

Dr. Z: We’re on to Mrs. America.

Mama Z: Yes. So, we write down everything that we have to get done in one week. And then we don’t cross it off the list until it gets done. And then it’s really cute, because I wanted to make sure my abs were a little bit more chiseled for Mrs. America. So, every night at 9 p.m., she sends me a text that says, “Have you done your extra abs?”

And so, she knows our traveling schedule. So, she sends it to me even on Mountain Time while I’m in Nevada, in Las Vegas, while I’m there, at 9 o’clock at night. So, she has it all on Mountain Time and all prescheduled to send me these texts. So, I got feedback from our helpers today that the extra abs are really working, and that you can actually see the lines. So, it’s very fun.

Dr. Z: Cool.

Mama Z: Yea!

Dr. Z: And Chris, we should be almost done recording and filming and polishing the exercise class by now, aren’t we?

Chris: We’re very close.

Dr. Z: We’re very close.

Mama Z: Yay!

 

[6:12 – 12:11] The Year of Mama Z!

Dr. Z: Folks, for those of you who have been following us, especially if you have been listening to me talk in other interviews and other things, I’ve been saying this is the year of the Mama Z. And, you know, it was kind of prophetic; it really was. I really didn’t know what God had in store. But this has been the year where, I don’t want to say I took a step back, but I’ve really been focused on helping push forward all the things that Sabrina needed to birth and has birthed.

And what has she birthed this year? Her “Organic Gardening Made Easy” masterclass. And you can go to OrganicGardenClass.com. That’s something we’re going to talk about today. Her salads cooking class—go to MamaZSalads.com. Her Italian cooking class—go to MamaZItalian.com.

And what we have coming up is Mama Z’s exercise class, which ding, ding, ding—we got the logo. We got the marketing stuff. Chris and I are nailing down the fun little music. But guess what it’s going to be called?

Mama Z: I don’t even know what the marketing looks like.

Dr. Z: You don’t even need to know.

Mama Z: I don’t.

Dr. Z: You just leave it to me and Chris.

Mama Z: I just do my thing.

Dr. Z: You just leave it to me and Chris.

Mama Z: I didn’t even know what it was called until about five minutes ago.

Dr. Z: “Fit, Forty, and Beyond.” What do you think about that?

Mama Z: I don’t know. You’ll have to get feedback on it.

Dr. Z: Well, how old are you?

Mama Z: I’m forty, almost forty-one.

Dr. Z: You’re forty and you’re fit. And so, what we want to do is, we want to help women especially, and we want to help people be fit at forty and beyond. And if you’re younger than forty, hey, come on. So, I’m so excited about it, by the way. So, anyway, kudos to you. That’s going to be coming out, MamaZExercise.com. Not yet. But there’s so much stuff of the year of Mama Z.

Mama Z: And, you know, when I won the pageant, you came up to me and you said, “Hey, babe, I told you. This is the year of the Mama Z.”

Dr. Z: It is. It was kind of prophetic.

Mama Z: And without you even saying that out aloud, some of the people who’ve heard you talk at different times, said the same thing. It’s comments on Facebook and some of their personal messages to me. So, anyway, you were a little prophetic on that deal.

Dr. Z: You know, actually, looking at my notes, which I should be looking at my notes more, we should be talking about this next week, because next week we’re going to be covering pursuing your dreams when people are against you or pursuing your dreams in the face of opposition.

Mama Z: We’ll be able to talk all about it.

Dr. Z: I know, but it’s kind of like that, though, because we’ve experienced– but that’s for next week. But this is a matter of when it’s your season, it’s your season. And even if it’s not your season, get ready for your season. Like our favorite movie, Facing the Giants, you’ve got to prepare your fields for rain.

Mama Z: Yes, absolutely.

Dr. Z: If it rains, boom! And by God’s grace, because you’ve been sowing, and you’ve been raising babies, and you’ve been pregnant and nursing for over a decade. And now, for the first time in a decade, you have no nursing babies, you’re not pregnant, and you’ve been able

Mama Z: I know. Wow! I mean that’s almost unheard of.

Dr. Z: And you’ve been able to focus more on you, and focus on your personal aspirations and visions and goals.

Mama Z: I never thought in a million years that not only would we have written a book together, but also have all of these classes available. I thought that was going to be something when the kids went to college.

Dr. Z: I remember.

Mama Z: Or whatever. And I remember our friend, Shauna, saying, it’s actually going to happen a lot sooner. It’s going to happen in this season. And I thought to myself, “Oh whatever.” And it’s just cool to see God speeding up the clock on certain things that I didn’t think were going to be possible. But just knowing that with God all things are possible. And truly we have acknowledged Him in every step of our journey. And He’s always guided our path. So, I’m just praising the Lord that this is the time.

Dr. Z: So, more than 100,000 people have watched your classes already.

Mama Z: Really?!

Dr. Z: You don’t even know. Like that’s the funny thing. She’s like, “Oh yay!” But anyway, Chris and I have a lot of fun. That’s why we record this podcast and put it up on You Tube and Facebook. We actually video record it. Chris is awesome. Chris, we love you; we really do. We appreciate you. You’re an answer to prayer. And you are actually the only local person that works for us. Everyone else that works for us lives somewhere else. So, it’s kind of cool.

Mama Z: We finally got to meet some of our team, which was just a blessing!

Dr. Z: Yea! It is fun.

Mama Z: Yes.

Dr. Z: So, we are celebrating the inaugural launch of Mama Z’s “Toxic-Free Healthy Home Makeover.” And that’s why we’re doing this two-part series, “Detoxing Your Home and Life.” If you haven’t, get a free screening and watch our home tour at NaturalLivingFamily.com/homemakeover. And after I give a little quick testimonial, we’re going to be covering steps for detoxing your bathroom, laundry, and garden.

And, hey, stay tuned to the end, because Mama Z is going to share our recipe from my first book, The Healing Power of Essential Oils, on six months’ worth of laundry detergent, which you can make for under twenty bucks. You were going to say something?

Mama Z: Yes, I was just going to say thank you, because I would not know how to put together a class or do the backend online or any of that stuff. It would just be a DVD at home type of thing. I wouldn’t have been able to do any of that. So, without you doing your part on our team, it doesn’t happen. So, I just focus on staying in my lane and coming up with the curriculum and filming it. But there’s a lot that happens between point A and point B. So, thank you!

Dr. Z: Oh! I have enjoyed producing stuff. And we’ve got a lot more to share about this, and I can’t tell you too much. This is like one of the surprises that I have to wait. But the documentary coming out in November.

Mama Z: Yes.

Dr. Z: Whoa! It’s been really fun to be able, and Chris is actually helping out with that, too. This is something that I’ve really been embracing, just more behind the scenes work.

Mama Z: Yes.

 

[12:12 – 14:31] Are You Feeling Stagnant?

Dr. Z: And it’s exciting. Yet God still blesses me. Like I continue every week multiple times I’m being interviewed, for magazines, for radio, podcasts, and things, occasional TV. So, that’s kind of cool. I get to keep that excitement alive. But I’m really enjoying just keeping my head down, getting in my office, and working on some stuff. And as a challenge to people, maybe you feel stagnant. And I know we’ve talked a lot about work and things in the previous podcast, your mission, your purpose, your dreams, your goals, and stuff.

You know, I want to challenge you to maybe expand your horizons and maybe do things that are outside your comfort zone or skill sets. Like I actually feel myself getting smarter as a whole. I feel like I’m stimulating my brain in different ways. I remember going to chiropractic college and having to remember and memorize every nerve, every blood vessel, every bone.

Mama Z: I just remember you saying this is like brain dump.

Dr. Z: But I never focused on rote memorization like that before. And then I remember having a season where we liked to go to painting classes. So, I’m stimulating the artistic side of my brain. Right now, I’m in a very artistic—I do a lot more design and development kind of fun things with our team. And I can be creative in a way where it’s like, “Oh, this is not like memorizing the bones and the nerves and the blood vessels of the body.” This is a whole different part of my brain.

Mama Z: But unlike painting, where you don’t like to put down the paint brush.

Dr. Z: I love painting.

Mama Z: You really don’t. But the cool thing is here, when you’re doing your artistic side, as you don’t put down that paint brush, so to speak, you make it better and better. Where sometimes with the paint brush, then the next time you look at your painting, you get a little bit more critical of yourself.

Dr. Z: I’m a Bob Ross in training.

Mama Z: Yea.

Dr. Z: But still, the wonderful thing, though, is again, just kind of a little pro hack for those of you who might feel stagnant in your career, whatever it might be. You don’t know what doors God will open up if you start to pursue other things.

Mama Z: Right.

Dr. Z: So, you might take a developer class at the local community college. There are a lot of local universities and schools that have adult education really cheap. Learn how to do computer stuff, or learn how to do art. Learn to do something outside of what you normally do. And I’m telling you, you start to use different parts of your brain, and neurons start to fire in a different way. And then it’s like, “Oh, cool.” Anyway, that’s fun.

 

[14:32 – 17:10] Testimonial Time!

Dr. Z: So, before we dive into today’s topic, we have a testimonial and a review. And thank you, by the way, for leaving us a review. It just blesses us. And also, it helps us know the type of information that you’re looking for, because this is for you. This is part of our ministry.

And so, this is from ACROS700. And the title is “I Love You Guys!” Five stars by the way. So, thank you, ACROS700, from the United States of America, iTunes listener. “Thank you so much for the weekly knowledge, recipes, laughter, tips, and tricks, all with biblical influence. I’ve shared your podcast with everyone I know.”

Mama Z: Oh, that’s cool!

Dr. Z: “And Mama Z, I love the free classes offered by you, too. Please keep it coming. God bless.” Isn’t that fun? So, if you haven’t, please leave us a review, wherever you listen, on the podcast. And let us know what you think. Thank you for sharing your heart.

One thing about this review that I liked about it is the free classes. Here’s one thing we do, y’all. We always give free access to our classes. At least you can watch the video portion of all of the classes that we do for free. That’s part of our ministry. And if you want to, you could buy the resources, and you can get lifetime access to this stuff for a very reasonable fee.

Mama Z: Right. Or even the print access.

Dr. Z: Yes.

Mama Z: If you’re like me, you actually want to feel it physical, and like actually hold a book.

Dr. Z: Let’s get physical.

Mama Z: [sings] Let’s get physical!

Dr. Z: You get those rock-hard abs. So, that’s what we do. And so, by the way, cat out of the bag, fall is a big deal for us—documentary, but also, our new Natural Living Family membership. We’re going to have an all-access pass, because that’s one kind of complaint. And by the way, complaints are typically calls for help. When people complain, they’re like they want something. And one thing we’ve had is people are like, “Hey, I want a discount. I want a bundle buy. I’m buying all your stuff. When can I get some free stuff?”

And I’m like, “Well, what about us giving an all-access pass to all of these classes?” because we have like a dozen of them by now. That’s coming up. You are going to love it. That way for a nice subscription every year, you could get full access. And then wait until you see what we have got lined up next year. Whoa!

Mama Z: Whoa!

Dr. Z: Especially in time for the next book. Whoa, whoa! We haven’t announced that yet. Stay tuned.

Mama Z: Okay. And some other classes that we’re coming up with, as well as other things, too.

 

[17:11 – 28:42] Detoxing Your Home: Laundry

Dr. Z: So we are detoxing your bathroom, laundry, garden and more —“Detoxing Your Home and Life, Part 2,” episode 26; laundry:

Mama Z: So, in the laundry room, it’s really important to remember a few things. You can make your own laundry soap for twenty dollars and have it last six months. People always ask us, “Well guess what? I don’t have time to DIY.” Well, if you don’t have time to DIY, then there are a couple of options. Of course, Thrive Market is a great place to get some of your non-toxic laundry materials; but also, MyGreenFills. My Green Fills is a great place as well.

And people always ask me, “What do you do with all of the crazy stains?” And the neat thing is that My Green Fills has an OxyBoost and an Enzyme Stain Remover. And the combination of the two work amazing, not just for grout and cleaning grout, but also for the soaker, what we call it.

We used to have a regular laundry machine. And we have one downstairs, not a front-loader, a top loader. And so, we would start it at small. And then we would have our soaking stuff in there, because we didn’t have a sink. And then we would agitate it.

Dr. Z: We didn’t have a sink in our laundry room.

Mama Z: Right. And so, when we moved to this house, we put a sink in, which really helped. So, we have a sink. And we have a sprayer we can wash things off with. And you can’t really leave water in a front-loader like you can a top-loader.

Dr. Z: But we used a bucket.

Mama Z: And we have used a bucket.

Dr. Z: Hey, poopy, onesies, and baby diaper stuff.

Mama Z: Yes, that’s what I’m talking about.

Dr. Z: Yea, that’s bucket material.

Mama Z: Right. And the other thing that I want to say is that if you put baking soda in your refrigerator or in your freezer, typically they say those are good for one month. But a lot of times I’ll use them one to two months. But when you’re done with them, what do you do with them? Do you just toss them? I say, “No.” I like to put them in and use part of them in each batch of laundry. So, whenever I change all of those out in our refrigerators and our freezers, then I actually use that box of baking soda to refresh my load and put it right in there. And that also helps with some of those tough stains.

I think I remember hearing on a podcast once, someone was like, “Yea, you know those pesky tights that you wear when you’re working out, I don’t know what to do with the extra smell in them.” And I thought, “Wow! I never even smelled mine. I hope they don’t smell bad.” And then I went home, and I was like, “Oh, maybe they do need a little extra love.” So, that’s where the extra love comes in right there. I remember hearing that, and I’m like, “Oh, leggings, my leggings.” I’m like, “Hmm, now I know what they mean by that.” So, anyway, that will help get some extra love into your leggings, or your exercise bras, and all stuff.

So, one of the other things that people ask me, too, is what do you do in the dryer? What do you do for dryer sheets, since most of those are toxic? And I absolutely love the Dryer Angel that they put out with MyGreenFills. Not only does it help a deaf community in Jamaica, but one of the things that I learned from doing a podcast with the owner of MyGreenFills is that actually they are paying the expenses for that entire community now. And just what a difference that it makes with that.

But one thing I like is that with your MyGreenFills, they come in little sachets that go inside of this little Dryer Angel. When they’re spent, you can add essential oils to them, and I put them in a number of places. I put them with my gym stuff. I hang them in my dress bags, not just for the pageant, but for dress bags. When they get carted off different places, they’re going to take on smells every place that they are.

But also, in our plugin cooler, and some of the things that we change out regularly, I’ll add essential oils to it to spice up the natural smell. And then I’ll put those in a lot of places. We’ve reused those things until the point you can’t possibly, I mean the bag busts open. And we get every last little scent out of it.

But you could always—and this is another idea—you could always use two things—a drawstring teabag. And you can put lavender flowers in it and completely tie it off. You want to make sure that you only use half of the space of the teabag, a reusable teabag, because what happens is when you add water and then you put it in the dryer, it will expand and contract. So, you want it to have the space to be able to do that.

So, also, you can take teabags that you just iron closed. And you double those over and then iron close them. And you can do the same thing with lavender flowers. So, if you want a nice smell in there, and you want it be natural, then that’s probably one of the best ways that you can do that in the laundry room.

Dr. Z: We have a recipe on the website for dryer balls.

Mama Z: Of course.

Dr. Z: So, go to NaturalLivingFamily.com, and you can look up some easy, easy—

Mama Z: Essential oil ones.

Dr. Z: Yea, dryer balls are easy. So, a couple of things that we want to wrap here, because people may not be familiar with MyGreenFills. And also, there is this suspicion like why? What’s wrong with Tide? What’s wrong with the conventional stuff that I get at the store? By the way, I actually can’t. And I don’t shop often at these stores, like ever. I can’t go to Wal-Mart, I can’t go to Target, I can’t go to your normal big box stores and walk by or walk down the laundry aisle.

Mama Z: Yes. When you detox off of it, you will get a raging headache.

Dr. Z: It is horrible.

Mama Z: Right.

Dr. Z: I remember years ago thinking, “Oh, this so smells fresh.” And I remember taking a big deep breath. And now I actually have to hold my breath.

Mama Z: Yes.

Dr. Z: And I kind of like almost half run across the aisle. Like I wouldn’t even go down the aisle unless my life depends on it.

Mama Z: Well, let’s get real here. We don’t let you in half of those stores, because you have a tendency to buy the kids everything that’s in the toy aisle.

Dr. Z: No, I don’t. No, that’s not true, that’s not true.

Mama Z: Every time you come home from—

Dr. Z: Not toys; I don’t do that.

Mama Z: It would be Legos. It was all under the toy category, Mr.

Dr. Z: We were at Disney last month. And I’m alone because you were getting ready for your pageant, and I’m with the kids. And, of course, I’m going to treat them.

Mama Z: Every time.

Dr. Z: Yea.

Mama Z: That’s why we don’t allow him into Costco, because he bought the first six things or seven things when you first walk in.

Dr. Z: I love that section.

Mama Z: That section is like set up for him. Like that’s why I can’t let him go there. It’s like get the blinders on, like the horses that have the little blinders on the side. He needs the blinders on, man.

Dr. Z: Okay, we’ve got to talk about the why, though. So, first let’s unpack MyGreenFills and then even the why, because the why is part of the MyGreenFills story. So, MyGreenFills is a company that we’ve used now for three years, and we love them. We love the owner. We know the owner. Stephen and Amy Ezell are from Traverse City, Michigan. And we make a point to visit them, and we’ve become friends with them. We’ve seen their manufacturing facility.

Mama Z: We even had the kids packing boxes.

Dr. Z: Yes.

Mama Z: That was really cool.

Dr. Z: That was really fun. We actually have some b-roll on it.

Dr. Z: And the thing about MyGreenFills is they boast, and this is a cool boast, “the only jug you will ever use.” And that’s one concern I have with bottled water, bottled cleaning products, is you’ve got to get a big jug every month and throw it out.

Mama Z: Right.

Dr. Z: They have a refillable system. So, all you do is you get this little packet of dried powder. You put it in your jug and you fill it up with water. You’re good to go.

Mama Z: You just have to remember to shake it.

Dr. Z: Yes. And it’s every month. So, they’ll get you every month. And so that way, you don’t forget. And the nice thing is, just like Thrive Market and Amazon, it’s online. So you don’t have to go shopping.

Mama Z: Right.

Dr. Z: And the thing about the Dryer Angels is so sweet. There’s a deaf community in Jamaica that, from what I understand, what Stephen was telling me, I don’t understand, or I don’t understand the culture very well. But he was saying, “Rastafarian, like deep spiritual Rastafarian culture in Jamaica, they perceive deafness as a Satanic oppression, so to speak; like they’re possessed.” So, if someone is born deaf, the culture, like the very indigenous culture—

Mama Z: Shuns them.

Dr. Z: Essentially shuns them. And then they’re kind of like in a leper colony. They’re like in a deaf community. And they live on Christian or ministry handouts. And so, what Stephen has done is he has created a system where these deaf women are making these Dryer Angels by hand. And like Sabrina said, they’re in the shape of an angel. They’re beautiful. They’re all hand-sewn. And you fill it up with the whatever.

Mama Z: The little sachet.

Dr. Z: Yea, the sachet for the dryer. It’s wonderful.

Mama Z: The cool thing is that the community pays for their education, that’s the place to be employed, and also their housing. So, they’re really able to not only use the ministry that God has given them in this situation that they’re in, but then they’re blessing people with angels. And it’s a really, really neat project. And we’re so blessed to be on it.

Dr. Z: It’s so cool.

Mama Z: We did do a video about it, just because it’s one of our favorite things.

Dr. Z: And you’re not buying dryer sheets, though, every day and throwing them away either. You’re not throwing away dryer sheets. This is one thing that you need, again, is sustainability.

Mama Z: Right.

Dr. Z: And you get a handwritten note that says, “Hey, thank you so much for buying this. Love, (like) Julietta.” And it’s like actually written from this woman. But here’s the thing you might not know. Stephen is now in Asia, and he’s buying women out of sex slavery by giving them work. So, he’s actually buying out of sex slavery to give them their freedom in China, and I think it’s just China right now, and is giving them jobs. So, he has basically recreated this system that he did in Jamaica over in Asia.

Mama Z: Wow!

Dr. Z: And so now, again, your Dryer Angel might be coming from someone that just got freed from sex slavery. That’s cool. So, praise God! So, again, the why. Like why are we doing this? Yea, it’s awesome, it’s great that you’re not wasting plastic and you’re not wasting raw material, and you’re helping people in need.

 

[28:43 – 38:14] What’s Wrong with Conventional Laundry?

Dr. Z: But what’s wrong with conventional laundry? And this is where I learned more from Stephen than anyone, because Stephen, was it his first son? I think it was his first child, his first son, who was born like a normal baby.

Mama Z: He was?

Dr. Z: He was born like a normal baby; from what I understand, nothing wrong. Shortly, like almost immediately after, like the day after, and it’s on Facebook. By the way, you can actually listen to this. I interviewed him for like an hour. And so, the shortened version of this, from what I remember. I should have like re-watched it. Stephen, forgive me for botching up your story, brother.

But anyway, one of his kids, his first, I believe, started developing a horrible skin condition rash. And they didn’t know what it was. They went to the doctor. They went to the naturopath. They did everything you could think of. Oils, essential oils, they did creams, they did medicines. Nothing worked.

And this little baby, pure baby skin, was just riddled with a rash. And it was just painful. And this poor baby was suffering. Well, God directed them to what the problem was. It was the chemicals in the laundry detergent. And because babies, like us, are just surrounded by clothes all the time, and especially your onesie, once they changed the laundry detergent into a “natural product,” it was like almost instant, and the skin started clearing up.

And then Stephen started doing research on it. And for those of you who don’t know, when you take your laundry out of the washer, and then you fold it, and then you put it in your closet or in your drawer, and then it still has that laundry fresh smell, how do you think they keep the smell so strong for so long?

Mama Z: Concentration.

Dr. Z: There are chemical solvents

Mama Z: Right, that’s what I mean, the concentration of chemicals.

Dr. Z: That don’t wash out. Let this sink in. There are chemicals in the laundry detergent that don’t wash out, by design, so your clothes will smell garden fresh, whatever they say.

Mama Z: Nothing smells a good as hanging something on the line.

Dr. Z: So, the thing is, and here’s the kicker. This is so funny. Stephen did a test, and I forget what it was. He tested people at local, I think it was, and he went on the street, something kind of fun, like, “Hey, live, this is what we’re doing.” He asked people, and he gave them two options, “Which is cleaner, this one rag, rag A, or rag B?”

And he goes, “Eric, we tested this.” I forget, like a hundred people or something. And the test was one rag was absolutely filthy dirty. He said, “Eric, we got this thing as dirty as we could. We cleaned my engine block with this rag, a white rag. And then we made it smell like it just got right out of the washer.” They put the smell from washing detergent on it. And then they had another rag, which was absolutely perfectly pure white, with no smell.

And the vast majority of people said that the one that was dirty was cleaner. He said, “Which one was cleaner to you? Which one seems cleaner? Which one do you like?” And they all chose the one that had the smell to it, because the smell is what attracted people to the appearance that it was clean, not the fact that it was filthy dirty.

Mama Z: Whoa!

Dr. Z: So, that’s what’s happening. Manufacturers know our, dare I say, lust for aroma, which goes back to the last twenty-five episodes of essential oils and all the other things we talk about, how these synthetic fragrances are creating havoc. So, the why behind all of this is when you wash and triple wash and soak and quadruple soak, you’re not getting all the chemicals out of these detergents. And all of them are synthetic, unless they’re a hundred percent organic and natural like MyGreenFills or something.

And often times these synthetic fragrances, which we’ve got to hit home hard, they’ve been linked to cancer. They’ve been linked to autoimmune conditions, Alzheimer’s, dementia, other neurocognitive disorders. You wonder why so many kids are battling ADHD, autism, ADD. Because we’re loading them up with these synthetic fragrances from birth. Not only that, but now because Stephen’s son experienced so sadly and vividly that chemicals are just trapped on the skin all day long. That’s scary that your skin is being wrapped in just enclosure yuck.

Mama Z: Yea. I’ll never forget, there were a few times. See, my parents had a laundry machine that had a return suds. And you put the suds in the sink, which were the clean ones. But then you reuse them, and then it comes back out. And when you look at the water from the first load to the last load, I’m telling you, it’s supposed to be clean, but that water doesn’t look so clean. And I remember thinking as a kid, I don’t really like the dirty water going in there. But then again, it smelled like that; it smelled clean and fresh.

Dr. Z: That’s surfactants.

Mama Z: But I did notice in junior high when I started doing my own laundry that when I would wear pants, because that was the first time around when the high-waisted pants were really popular. And I noticed that I would get a rubbing like around my waist, because that’s where it was the majority of the time. And I would itch my belly all the time because of that. And I never really associated it with anything. And I had a couple of friends that had spots like that, too. And I don’t know why none of us ever thought about the laundry detergent being a factor.

Dr. Z: Oh yea.

Mama Z: But I can guarantee you that had something to do with it, because when I stopped using stuff that had the fragrances other than essential oils, of course, all of that stopped, all of the like extra irritation.

Dr. Z: And the under-breast area, how many women deal with that irritation?

Mama Z: It was the armpits, from my sports bras and the rubbing. And it was just constantly. And then while you’re sweating and you’re perspiring, but then you’re absorbing a lot, too, that was the other area that always got me.

Dr. Z: A game changer.

Mama Z: It was. And it still is. And so, for people who have kids that are sensitive or have eczema or other things, you never know what could possibly be tipping you over the edge. And that’s definitely one of them.

Dr. Z: Yep. And so, in the spirit of living a toxic-free, healthy home and creating a toxic-free, healthy home, laundry is probably one of the most easily missed areas of the home. People are mostly thinking organic food. And it’s hard to say which one is more important. Like I’m man, it’s a tough one. Like either clothes that are hugging on your skin all day long or food that you’re putting in your mouth all day long. I got to say laundry is top on my list, after water and air.

Mama Z: Yea, I’ll never forget being in the shower, and this is about, I don’t know, about eight to ten years ago. And the water was coming down, and I remember thinking, “Our skin is our largest organ.” And I just started to like meditate on that, and what we’re putting on our bodies, the water, all of that, the clothes, the sheets. It was like a different awareness level, just to even start thinking about that. Then starting to tackle that was a whole new thing.

Dr. Z: So, for those of you who are interested, of course, we have already mentioned this. Again, we really appreciate Thrive Market, who has sponsored the entire summer of these podcasts. So, you can check out Thrive Market. They do have some really good products that we have used. And Mama Z talks about those products in her “Toxic-Free Healthy Home Makeover Tour.”

And if you’re interested in checking out MyGreenFills, just go to NaturalLivingFamilypodcast.com. Check out the show notes and transcripts for today’s episode. Again, it’s episode 26. And Stephen wants to give you a cool gift. I don’t even know what it is. It changes a lot. But there’s always a cool gift, like fifty free loads or something. Like he wants to give you something so that you could try out this awesome product. And, of course, Thrive Market wants to give you your first month free, and twenty-five percent off.

But we’re going to talk a little bit more about our sponsor in just a second. But we’ve got some more things to talk about. We’ve got detoxing your bathroom. We’ve got garden, and some other things. But anything else we want to wrap up with laundry?

Mama Z: No. I definitely think we have to get a word from our sponsor, and we’ll get right back to the other two sections.

 

[38:15 – 38:54] Sponsor Spotlight: Thrive Market

Dr. Z: There’s nothing like hearing the doorbell of the delivery person, letting me know that a Thrive Market package has landed on our doorstep. It’s like Christmas time every time we get a package.

Mama Z: Yes, from ingredients to snacks, it’s so awesome. And the kids go nuts.

Dr. Z: We love Thrive Market, the convenience, the price, and just the movement, because we know that every dollar spent goes towards a more sustainable, healthy, natural world. So, if you haven’t joined, then what are you waiting for? You’re going to absolutely love it.

 

[38:55 – 46:05] Detoxing Your Bathroom

Dr. Z: Welcome back to episode 26 of the Natural Living Family podcast. This is “Detoxing Your Home and Life, Part 2.” You know, for a good part of the first half of the show, we covered laundry. And there’s a reason why. There’s not much in the laundry room. I mean there’s soak and there’s detergent and maybe a rinse in there; and you’ve got some dryer sheets or Dryer Angels, and that’s it. But the potential of toxicity from those few products alone can be life-altering. And we shared a story about that.

And we see the same stuff, the same kind of concept in the bathroom, and then also in the garden especially. So, detoxing your bathroom. This is a big one.

Mama Z: The bathroom is big, because you think of all the stores and all the different body products and things out there. And it’s really scary; it truly is. And one of the things to remember is, because people say we’ve got great recipes on our website, and, of course, in our “Toxic-Free Healthy Home Makeover.” But when you’re thinking about, “Oh, I just don’t have time to DIY.” I’ll tell you, you can use an unscented baby soap from Dr. Bronner’s, and add essential oils to it, if you don’t have time to do anything else.

And there are other soaps out there that are unscented that are still healthy and organic. And you can, of course, add essential oils to those. I always recommend that. So, in our pumpers, I do soap on the left. Because we read left to right, I do soap on the left. On the right I do our body oil.

So, for our body oil, I do use the Mama Z’s oil base. And it’s so important, because you can change up all the scents that you have based on the time of the year that it is. So, in the summer, maybe you want to use eight drops for every one ounce of peppermint for cooling. Maybe you want to do a lemon or a tea tree in the kitchen or a lavender and a tea tree. You can get as creative as you want.

And the neat thing is that when it comes to detoxing your bathroom, the sky is the limit. So, you can try any different recipe and then decide what you’re thinking about it. Or even if there’s a diffuser blend that you like, you can use those same combinations of essential oils. And then for every one ounce of your soap, six to eight drops of those essential oils for every one ounce. So, the sky really ends up being the limit.

So, you’re not just subject to the toxic smells that are in some of the mainstay stores and things that we have. You really can get outside the box. You can decide to match your body oil and your soap or not. And really, it’s amazing.

Dr. Z: Alright, you mentioned the Mama Z’s oil base.

Mama Z: Yes.

Dr. Z: Well, what if I’m a brand-new listener to this podcast? I’ve never heard of that.

Mama Z: Right. Go for it.

Dr. Z: Well, I’m on page 43 of The Healing Power of Essential Oils, the national best-seller by yours truly. And I quote my wife’s recipe (and this is a big recipe for a reason, and I’ll explain this for a minute): fifty-four ounces of raw organic unrefined coconut oil melted, sixteen ounces of sweet almond oil, eight ounces of jojoba oil, and four ounces of vitamin E. And then you can have quart or pint wide-mouth Mason jars.

And so, you essentially mix all of this up. And the reason why it’s so much is because trust us, it’s really nice to have a base like this on hand in abundance, so you’re not having to make the base when you just want a little itty-bitty batch of something. Right?

Mama Z: Right. And when we say melted coconut oil, what we mean is you fill up a warm sink of water, as hot as your sink will go. You put your coconut oil in that container in the sink until it goes to liquid. And depending on the time of the year, if it’s seventy-two degrees or cooler, your mixture is going to start going to more of a solid.

So, some people that’s okay. Well, in the winter, then what should I do to have it not do that? Of course, you could always add some shea nut oil to it. Or you could add some rose hip seed oil for a natural vitamin A. But either way, you can decide whether you like it a little bit more thick, or you do like to stay in a more liquid state and then get more creative. The sky is the limit.

All of our recipes are just really a place to start detoxing your bathroom. And then you can make them your own. Or you can use them as a stand-alone recipe. But again, six to eight drops of essential oils to every one ounce is going to help take that recipe and personalize it to you and your family.

Dr. Z: And that recipe you can cut it in half, if you don’t want to make all that much, or whatever. But you get the concept.

Mama Z: But I tell you, we use it. We have a family of six. We use it in each room. We have either a pump or a pump that’s in the sink or we have bottles of it in each of the rooms as we get the kids ready in the morning. So, we really do go through quite a bit.

Dr. Z: So again, if you can’t DIY, what do you do? We know what to buy. And that was some trial and error. There are some good resources that we have on the website that help you look for things like ingredients when detoxing your bathroom. Like parfum, coal tar, looking for ingredients like the parabens, things that you might not think about like, oh, phthalates; these are not good ingredients, the sodium lauryl sulfates, the sodium lauryl sulfites, all these different things.

Mama Z: Sodium laureth.

Dr. Z: Yea, all these different, there are dozens.

Mama Z: Yea, look at your shampoo, look at your conditioner, look at your body soaps.

Dr. Z: Yea.

Mama Z: I mean all of them that come from a lot of these popular stores are all very toxic. So, this is a way to take it back. And you know, one of my favorite things to do is use some of the body recipes that we have in our new book, The Essential Oils Diet. We have our fat-burning wrap in there, and you can use those same oils that are used in that in your shower gel. And I use that for part of my skin rehab that we talk about.

So, it’s really important to note that a lot of your favorite blends of the things that you like to happen because of your favorite blends, the energizing blend, the fat loss blend, whatever it is, those same blends that you’re making and setting in a bottle of themselves, we always show people. Take a drop of this, a drop of this, a drop of this, and then you make a bottle of your own blend. Those same blends that you use for other things, roll-ons, your diffusers, all of that stuff can be used in your body oils and your body soaps. So, you can make it super easy.

 

[46:06 – 50:54] Affordable Brands for Personal Care Products for Detoxing Your Bathroom

Dr. Z: Yep. So, a couple of objections we get a lot, just cries for help, “I can’t afford this. I’m on a super-tight budget. I can’t go get all of this organic fancy stuff at Whole Foods.” And I will say, Whole Foods has some really good stuff and your local health food store. A couple of brands, though, like Desert Essence; that’s a pretty good brand. Like we have found that Desert Essence Brand is a really good brand. Jason’s is another good brand. And they’re not like stupid expensive, but you’re paying on average maybe fifteen to twenty-percent more than you are for Suave or Head and Shoulders.

Mama Z: Right.

Dr. Z: But even that stuff isn’t all that cheap. I mean everything costs money. So, it’s just a matter of what you spend your money on. But we get it if you’re like super broke. We get that.

Mama Z: Yea.

Dr. Z: There are balances. And that’s where Mama Z is trying to say, that’s where, especially for people that don’t have a lot of money, that’s where you almost have to make more of your own stuff, right?

Mama Z: Yea.

Dr. Z: And also Costco. What’s that one new brand? Not new; I’ve been using it for a couple of years. Alaffia? That’s pretty cost effective, like ten bucks for like a sixty-four ounce. You have to get shea butter.

Mama Z: Right. And a lot of times with those, I like to get the unscented.

Dr. Z: Yea, exactly.

Mama Z: It’s like one to one, or something like that.

Dr. Z: But we cover all the brands in your makeover tour.

Mama Z: Right, we sure do.

Dr. Z: Yea, we cover like which brands to use. And also, we’ve got to give a shout-out to our friends at Annmarie. By the way, if this is the first time listening to this podcast, we typically don’t talk as much about brands, because we talk a lot about spiritual stuff and encouragement and motivation.

Mama Z: Right. But people always email and reach out to us.

Dr. Z: So, this episode of detoxing your bathroom, laundry and more is a little bit different than others. We’re going to cover a lot of our favorite brands. But again, if you don’t know about us, we don’t cover our favorite essential oil brands because we are non-branded in that space.

Mama Z: Yes.

Dr. Z: So, with that, by the way, many of your favorite essential oil companies do sell good products. And they’re smart.

The deodorants, stay away from the aluminum deodorant. I would not touch conventional deodorant if I had to at this point. Antiperspirants, folks, your body was gifted by God with sweat glands for a reason. That’s how you detoxify your skin. And if you’re going to put an antiperspirant to prevent perspiration, just think about that. That does not make sense. And that could cause damage. And that could block up your lymphatic system. And people have linked aluminum in those antiperspirants to Alzheimer’s.

So, the why behind all of this is we just want to be healthy. We want to honor God with our bodies as the temple of the Holy Spirit. We want to live a life, and I want to live a life in my eighties strong like Caleb, that we read about in the book of Joshua. Like, “I want to take my land.” You know, a man who wants to go to battle at eighty years old. And he’s vibrant and he’s strong. And like Sarah. How old was Sarah when she gave birth? How old do you want to be when you have your last baby?

Mama Z: I don’t know. We’ll see.

Dr. Z: You want to be eighty? Hah, hah, hah! There’s a point like, okay, enough. Think about it.

Mama Z: Yea, there is. I had some friends that had older parents.

Dr. Z: You’ve got to be healthy.

Mama Z: Well, I clearly remember some of those parents saying to me, “You don’t want to be a grandma age when you’re still having people in high school.”

Dr. Z: That’s right.

Mama Z: And I remember because I remember thinking my one friend, her mom looked a little older. And I thought it was her grandma at first. And then I found out it was her mom.

Dr. Z: Oh!

Mama Z: And when she said that, that kind of stuck with me. So, probably not eighty.

Dr. Z: Well, so, here’s the thing. Actually, this is a little bunny trail. But we don’t talk, I’ve never heard anyone talk about Sarah in that context. Yea, Sarah, the miracle child, the miracle birth, right?

Mama Z: Right.

Dr. Z: How old was she? I’m almost convinced she still had to go through the process. She still had to go through like nine months of pregnancy, right? I don’t think God was like, “Okay, here, you’re going to have a baby,” from what we can tell. So, when Abraham and Sarah had Isaac, like she was an old woman. And she was knocking out babies. Like there’s an element where that is in us as people, to be strong and healthy all the way through our old age.

So, with that said, that’s kind of our why, is we want to honor God in this journey. And we want to be at an age where we’re healthy and vibrant and we’re aging gracefully.

Mama Z: Right.

 

[50:55 – 53:55] Chemicals and Women’s Health

Dr. Z: So, when it comes to the bath, I don’t know of any other place where women especially get more convinced otherwise, and more, I don’t know what the word is; the word duped keeps on coming to mind. Women get foiled. Women get duped in the bathroom.

Mama Z: And the other thing is what about all the perfumes that people use?

Dr. Z: That’s what I’m talking about. I forget what article it was. But the average woman walks out of her home with like 375 chemicals on her body, because of the makeup, the body care, the perfumes, and everything. Guys, not so much; but still, guys are not innocent either. But it’s a matter of women have really been marketed to in such a way where they smell wonderful, they look wonderful; but it’s like, what’s happening? So, detoxing your bathroom is a battleground. The bathroom is a significant natural living battleground. And so, we want to help you survive.

Mama Z: Yea.

Dr. Z: So, of course, we have these brands, and always Annmarie Skin Care.

Mama Z: And they just came out with a jade roller.

Dr. Z: I love Annmarie.

Mama Z: And I had a serious third-degree burn on my leg. And in part of the healing process I used the jade roller. And it’s very anti-inflammatory. And you can use that on your face. You can use that for skin rehab, even in the chin area.

Dr. Z: Plus, the wrinkles.

Mama Z: Yea, for people that have more of the, I think they call it “turkey neck.” But it’s really important to take good care of your skin with skin rehab and making sure that you address all the parts to not just your skin on your body, but also your face, too.

Dr. Z: Yea, yea. It’s just about knowing. Again, certain levels of income can afford certain things. And we want to encourage you to really borrow from Peter to pay Paul when it comes to body care, because body care is an area where you could really, really overboard. But you need to make sure you’re balanced. Your kitchen, your pantry, your laundry room, and detoxing your bathroom, step by step.

Mama Z: Step by step.

Dr. Z: Again, go to NaturalLivingFamily.com/homemakeover. Watch Sabrina in our kitchen, in our pantry, in our bathroom, and outside in the garden. And then you’ll get little tips. So, we want to impress on y’all that yes, you can afford this regardless of your income. We want to impress on you that you can do this. And a little planning, making a batch.

Mama Z: That proper planning prevents poor performance.

Dr. Z: And in just a few minutes, we’re going to cover a natural living family tip. Like imagine spending an hour and a half or two hours, I don’t even know if it’s that long.

Mama Z: No.

Dr. Z: But imagine spending a half an hour to forty-five minutes. And that just shows that I don’t do it. Hah, hah, hah!

Mama Z: Very true.

Dr. Z: Guilty as charged.

Mama Z: There are things you’re good at, and there are other things that Mama Bear is good at.

Dr. Z: Thank you. So, imagine you’re spending a half an hour to forty-five minutes making six months’ worth of laundry detergent. Like that’s what we’re trying to impress upon you.

Mama Z: And it’s a good project to get the kids in on.

Dr. Z: Yes, and it’s fun. It’s a fun little stovetop deal. It really is fun.

Mama Z: Yea.

 

[53:56 – 57:15] Mama Z’s Favorite Products List

Dr. Z: So anyway, I want to wrap up. Annmarie, we’re going to put the link in the show notes. Again, go to NaturalLivingFamilypodcast.com. Check out the episode today, episode 26, because Annmarie also has a really sweet gift. They want to give you a trial package just to test them out. That’s one thing, too, y’all. We have spent years vetting out products, years; everything from saunas to beds to air purifiers to water purifiers to skin care.

Mama Z: Yea.

Dr. Z: Like almost everything. There are only a couple of things we’re finalizing in our list. What’s that article called? Your favorite products list?

Mama Z: Yes.

Dr. Z: That’s on home page.

Mama Z: Yea, I’m trying to remember the title. It’s my favorite one. It’s my top pick. And it always will be, because as the mom, as the shopper of the house, so many people reach out to me on email and other places about that stuff. So, I always joke around, “I speak in Amazon links.”

The very first health book that I got was a diet book. It had recipes in it. And I didn’t know what Chinese Five-Spice was. I didn’t know what bok choy was at the time. And as a high-schooler, going and looking for these things, I felt really confused. And so, whether you use Amazon or not, I could care less. But for me, having a picture of what I’m using or what I’m looking for in the local health food store; or maybe you don’t have a good one, and Amazon is the option.

But on all of those things I’ve tried to vet out all of it. I’ve used it. And I’ve either found that that is the cheapest one out there, that can be delivered to you the fastest, or if buying in bulk is a better option, and that’s what I do with that particular option, then that’s the option I put in there.

Dr. Z: It’s kind of funny about bok choy. I have a funny kind of bok choy story. Again Disney. I had a lot of drama happen at Disney this last month when you were training for Mrs. Georgia.

Mama Z: Oh yea.

Dr. Z: I was at Target, and I got bok choy. And I got some other things. I got mangos, bok choy, pineapple. I got some pretty standard things, I thought. And the checkout dude, the cashier, he had no idea. Like he knew what an apple was. He probably knew what a watermelon was and a carrot, but that was it. And you know, when they don’t know, they’re like—

Mama Z: They’re like, “Uh.” Then they run through the booklet.

Dr. Z: Yea. And he’s like, “What’s this?” I’m like, “That’s a mango.” He’s like, “What’s this?” And he looked at bok choy like, “What in the world is this thing?” I’m like, “Bok choy.” It was just kind of funny because he looked at me like he had no idea.

Mama Z: And they’re like, “How do you spell that?’

Dr. Z: Yea, like “b-o-k.” Because he’s at like his four-digit code or whatever.

Mama Z: Right.

Dr. Z: So, it was really kind of funny. Like some people, you know, like they’re on it. They know like kumquats.

Mama Z: Well, a lot of those things that would be a five-digit code, because organic starts with a 9.

Dr. Z: Yea. Some things I didn’t get organic because we know about the dirty dozen and clean fifteen.

Mama Z: That’s right.

Dr. Z: The clean fifteen and all this stuff.

Mama Z: It’s all part of that.

Dr. Z: We’re just truth-bombing you. We’re going to have to really do a speed version of the garden.

Mama Z: I already have it all set.

 

[57:16 – 58:51] Navigating NaturalLivingFamily.com

Dr. Z: Well, here’s for the garden, though. Again, detoxing your bathroom, I think we covered it. Again, links, links, links. Here’s a special tip for you, kind of like how to navigate our website. On our home page, go to NaturalLivingFamily.com. On the actual NaturalLivingFamily.com page, there are Dr. Z’s picks and Mama Z’s favorite picks. One always will be, or I will hear it in the middle of the night, a pillow in the eye, because we’ve changed things.

Mama Z: Well, no, listen.

Dr. Z: “Why did you move my post?!”

Mama Z: Yea, so, when we first got married, we had this double bed thing.

Dr. Z: You were vicious.

Mama Z: And you used to like say, “You elbowed me in the eye.”

Dr. Z: You did. You sleep like a gorilla. And you always end up with your elbow in my eye. We have like two king-size beds if I can’t sleep.

Mama Z: We saved up to get like our king-size bed.

Dr. Z: I slept on the floor at one point. I was just afraid of you that I would go to work with black eyes. Like, “What was your wife doing to you?”

Mama Z: No! You are too silly. No, no, no. And so, I remember we saved up. And then we were like, “Oh my gosh! There’s a pillow between us.

Dr. Z: Anyway, your post. I did put a pillow. Like my grandma used to put a pillow between me and my brother when we used to sleep at her home because we would fight. Hah, hah, hah! That’s what we do for Elijah and Isaiah when they sleep over at Memmi and Papa’s. I put a pillow between them.

Mama Z: It’s so funny.

Dr. Z: So anyway, you go to Mama Z’s picks on the home page.

Mama Z: Yes. It’s always the first one.

Dr. Z: And you’ll see her favorite products.

Mama Z: Or I will body wrestle him to make sure it is.

Dr. Z: Even your favorite kitchen gadgets and kitchen tools. Like this is just a place where you can just see, like, “Okay, what’s in your kitchen, what’s in your bath, what’s in your laundry?”

 

[58:52 – 1:02:34] Detoxing Your Home: Garden

Dr. Z: So, garden. First of all, here’s the thing. And Chris, we are in the process again this season of Mama Z. We are in the process of finishing “Organic Gardening Made Easy with Mama Z, 2019.”

Mama Z: Yes.

Dr. Z: So, if you saw, in February this year we launched our Mama Z’s 2018 garden class. And this year, we’re taking it up another level. And now that we’ve got Chris here, we are doing a very sweet studio production of her garden class. So, if you want a sneak peek at 2018 still, it’s still available. You can go to OrganicGardenClass.com (man, there’s a lot of links today), OrganicGardenClass.com.

See, when you go watch the “Toxic-Free Healthy Home Makeover,” Mama Z shares about fifteen to twenty minutes in the garden. But if you want to like learn how to garden, you’ve got to take the class. But a couple of quick tips.

Mama Z: Yes. So, in the garden it’s really important to make sure of a few things. You don’t want to be spraying Roundup, the glyphosates, on your food and other places. You have to remember that everything you put into your ground does make a difference, whether it’s pesticides, herbicide, fungicides, all of that stuff. Parts per billion, you are contaminating your food. And there are good essential oil options.

But there are sometimes when you just have to get in there and pull the weeds. And one of those times, and this is what we did with our grass and with our garden, and very funny. One of our employees, Angela, if her kids are not properly with one another, she has one start at one end and one start at the other end, and they weed the rows until they meet in the middle. And they better be friends by the time they come in. And so, there are sometimes that these two specific ones spend a lot of extra time together in the garden.

So, sometimes you just have to get out there and hash it out. And just know we had to put new grass in. And we had a lot of old weeds that came up, and you have to handpick those. One of the great things about essential oils is that if you want to get rid of everything in an area, we have a great weed killer recipe for that.

But if you’re wanting to kill the weeds and keep the grass, one of the best ways, you can’t use a chemical on your lawn. You really have to do the old-fashioned work, and pull it out by the roots.

Dr. Z: This is for gardeners. This is for people that just have a yard.

Mama Z: I mean just a yard.

Dr. Z: Your kids and your dogs, please, please, please think twice about this stuff. I mean this is important.

Mama Z: So, if you think how receptive we are if you walk barefoot outside, all that stuff, to chemicals, imagine what your pets go through. And if you don’t do it for yourself, do it for your pets, do it for your kids, because it’s really important. You’re constantly putting people who are vulnerable in the place where they’re taking in all these extra chemicals.

So, in the garden, you really want to make sure that you are pulling the weeds. You need to properly prune, which is so important, to make everything grow. But we have good essential oil recipes that can help you with some of the other things. And if you don’t have time to DIY, most stores do have a three-in-one miticide-fungicide-pesticide that is all essential oil and neem oil based.

 

[1:02:35 – 1:06:15] Clean Garden Solutions

Dr. Z: Drop a couple of products quickly, for those people who don’t have time to watch. And then go over right now the free viewing. So, blood meal, bone meal, what kind of stuff, just a couple of quick stuff.

Mama Z: So, we do use Epsom salts as a natural fertilizer. You can also use blood meal. I’ve had people ask who are vegan what can you do if you’re not using them. Of course, there are other products like the magnesium, the Epsom salts, that you can use for growth.

And then for the pesticide, fungicide, and miticide, what you can do. One thing I first recommend, if you have mildew, powdery mildew, or aphids, or bugs, or ants, is to take your natural dish soap and wash the leaves of the plant and wash it through the roots. It will force out, especially if you’re using a citrus detergent, natural dish soap, it will force out a lot of those threats.

However, if you do it and you still are having problems, then most greenhouses, Lowes, Home Depot, Wal-Mart, also carry a three-in-one product that is neem oil and essential oil based. There are a variety of different companies that have those products. They are very similar, but it will say “for organic gardening.” And it’s different brands. So, it would be a three in one type thing.

So, anyway, my suggestion is first start with the dish soap. Start with your Epsom salts every other week. And what we like to do is then alternate on the opposite week with a blood-meal-based fertilizer. A lot of places, including your greenhouses, will have a natural fertilizer will contain some or all of the natural components to help grow the plants, like the blood meal, the bone meal, that kind of thing.

But again, you can use worm castings. You can use your compost. You can do other things like that and have it be very natural. Also, please, please, please do not use the mulch that is colored or has sprays on it, because it will affect your food. I’ll never forget when I thought one of the bags of mulch that we had gotten was natural and organic. And then it started coming off on my hands. It turned bright red and itched everywhere.

Dr. Z: Well, remember when you freaked out, you thought you were allergic to something at church last month. And you were going through like a very minor allergic reaction in the service.

Mama Z: Yea.

Dr. Z: And you were like, “I’m allergic to something at church.” And I was completely fine.

Mama Z: And then I got back in the car, because I had carried pine. And pine is harder for me.

Dr. Z: But you had it from your pine bark nuggets.

Mama Z: Yea.

Dr. Z: So, that’s something to think about, too. That is something that for you is kind of like an occupational hazard. There’s nothing toxic about that, but you had a little bit of an allergic reaction to that. It was pure. It was good. But, man, what did you do, by the way? How did you get through that?

Mama Z: So, what I had to do is I wear gloves. And then what I realized was I needed some help. And so, I got a helper. We had some guys that were working on staining.

 

[1:06:16 – 1:08:40] Skin Allergy EO Blend

Dr. Z: How did you deal with your allergic reaction, though?

Mama Z: Oh, of course, I used essential oils.

Dr. Z: What essential oils? I’m trying to lead you here. Give the people a tip.

Mama Z: Yes.

Dr. Z: They’re listening at this point sixty-five minutes. These are the die-hards. Give them something. We’ve got a couple more recipes, and then Chris is like, “Come on guys.”

Mama Z: So, I used lemon, lavender, peppermint, and tea tree.

Dr. Z: Chris is like, “Enough is enough. You guys have hit sixty minutes.

Mama Z: And that’s kind of the allergy blend plus D.

Dr. Z: Lemon, lavender, tea tree.

Mama Z: Yes.

Dr. Z: You diffused it?

Mama Z: So, not only did I diffuse it,

Dr. Z: Applied topically?

Mama Z: I applied it in all of the diffusers. Then I actually made a body oil with it, the Mama Z oil body blend there, two drops of each of those oils for every one ounce.

Dr. Z: You got it.

Mama Z: And it took me a week, really. And then I needed help to lay the extra nuggets, so I had to ask for help in order to do it. And so, we had some people doing some work at the house. And I asked them if they could help me because I couldn’t lay all of that myself. And thank God for them, because with us together we knocked it out in a couple of hours. And it probably would have taken me two to three days, and I would not have been feeling my optimal. And that’s for water retention, so you don’t have drought.

Dr. Z: So, you’ve got to go to OrganicGardenClass.com. Watch the free screening of Mama Z’s 2018 season. And get ready, because 2019 is going to be completely different and upgraded and better. And we’re already planning for 2020. Like yes, I’m that good. Hah, hah, hah! I’m like already ready.

Mama Z: Whoa, you’re ready!

Dr. Z: You don’t even know what we’re planning for 2020.

Mama Z: I know that it will be good.

Dr. Z: So, also, if the last couple of episodes have inspired you, like, “You know what? I really want to dive deeper into this toxic-free lifestyle;” and you maybe have implemented a tip or two, and you see how easy and cost-effective it could be, one thing we want to do is help you realize it’s easy and effective and cost-effective, and it’s not overwhelming.

So, make sure you go to NaturalLivingFamily.com/homemaker. And, of course, you can go Natural Living Family podcast and get all the links to all this stuff. But we want you to see, we want you to experience. And maybe you want to dive deeper and get the books and get the DVDs and stuff. Let Mama Z walk you through. And trust us, you’ll get really excited about a lot of these things.

 

[1:08:41 – 1:10:23] Natural Living Tip: Do 150 Loads of Laundry for $20

Mama Z: And to wrap up today’s show, we have a natural living tip for you.

Dr. Z: All right, to make 150 loads of laundry for less than twenty bucks, it’s as easy as going to page 159 of The Healing Power of Essential Oils book. But let me give you the recipe here really quick. Get one-half bar of Dr. Bronner’s Unscented Castile Soap, five cups distilled water, one or ¾ cup OxiClean Baby Stain Remover, ¾ cup Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda household cleaner and laundry booster, and one 5-millilitre bottle of any essential oil. And we recommend using lemon to keep the cost down. And it has a very nice fragrant smell to it.

You need a large stock pot and three one-gallon glass jars with pump dispensers. So, it’s as easy as grating the entire bar of soap into the stockpot over low heat, add water, and raise the heat to medium high, and stir until the soap is dissolved. Then you add the OxiClean and washing soda, and you mix until dissolved. When you remove from the heat, and you let cool for a few minutes, and this is key or it can get messy, pour one-quart hot water into each of the three containers.

And you add two cups of the soap mixture and thirty drops of essential oil into each container, stir, and then add enough cool water to fill each container. Let the mixture thicken overnight. And depending on if you have a high efficiency washer, use between one-quarter and one-half cup per load. That is a mouthful. So, you’re going to want to listen to this again. Of just pick up the book, The Healing Power of Essential Oils, and go straight to page 159.

 

[1:10:24 – 1:10:59] Sponsor Spotlight: Thrive Market

Mama Z: And as a special gift to our podcast listeners, Thrive Market is giving you twenty-five percent off your first order.

Dr. Z: Now keep in mind, Thrive Market’s prices are already twenty-five to fifty percent off. And now, they’re giving you an extra additional twenty-five percent off your first order, plus a free thirty-day trial.

Mama Z: If you’re like me, you will definitely be making a grocery run this week. So, why not give Thrive Market a try and shop from your home?

Dr. Z: Simply go to NaturalLivingFamilypodcast.com to find the special link so you can redeem this deal on the show notes from today’s episode.

 

[1:11:00 – end] Episode WrapUp

Mama Z: Thank you for listening, and we hope you enjoyed the show. As a reminder, you can find all of the Natural Living Family podcasts, 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 can connect one on one, and so you can meet thousands of other natural living lovers just like you. And don’t forget, please subscribe to our podcast and leave a review. We love hearing what you have to say about our show.

Dr. Z: Well, Dr. Z here.

Mama Z: And Mama Z.

Dr. Z: And our hope and prayer are that you and your family truly experience the abundant life.

Mama Z: God bless!

Dr. Z: See you next week. Bye, bye.