Wednesday, February 13, 2008

The GOOT Stuff

I don't know if you've heard of GOOT, but it really is da bomb! My 8 year old gets sick really easily and I've been trying to find some home remedies to help her recover quickly or even just build up her immune system. I've been reading about garlic and how it is supposed to be an antibacterial, antifungal and anti-everything else. The greatest benefits are derived when it is eaten as soon as the clove is crushed or broken, before it is heated up through cooking.

I found some other blogs and sites that talked about making a paste with the garlic and a few other ingredients so when my daughter started complaining Sunday during church about her throat hurting really bad I came home and started scrounging around trying to find the ingredients. I didn't have any olive oil or coconut oil at that time so I just minced about three cloves of garlic up and poured some cooking oil over it. After sitting for about an hour I put the oil on the soles of my daughter's feet, put socks on her and put her to bed.

She said that her throat was just a little scratchy the next morning so I went ahead and sent her to school. She wasn't running a temp or anything, but by the time she came to me in my classroom that afternoon she was burning up. I went to the health food store and got coconut oil and echinacea tincture. When we went home I made the GOOT. Here is the recipe:

3 TBSP coconut oil (heated enough to melt it)
3 TBSP extra virgin olive oil
3 TBSP minced garlic (about 3 to 4 good sized cloves)

Put all of this together in a small blender or coffee grinder and blend for 2 minutes. Strain through a strainer to remove any of the bigger pieces of garlic that didn't get blended in. Put this mixture in the fridge and in about an hour it will be solid like a salve. Keep it covered and you can use it for two weeks before having to make another batch.

I put this on her feet Monday night and again Tuesday morning before I went to work. I came home from work early on Tuesday to take care of her. She said that her throat hurt really badly. I had been giving the echinacea tincture in a small glass of water, but at this point I began to put it straight from the dropper on the back of her throat. She really didn't like this at all and fussed about it, but did it anyway. We had to go pick brother up from school so on the way home I stopped back by the health store and picked up a bottle of Astragalus tincture. It has some other good things in it, too: licorice, reishi mushroom and a few other ingredients. I started adding this to the echinacea cocktail last night. At this point I'm taking the cocktail, as well, because I'm starting to feel a little crummy. She was complaining with her throat very badly Tuesday night before bed. She didn't want to miss school the next day because she doesn't like having to make up work and feeling like she is behind. I went ahead and called in sick so that I could stay home and care for her and get some rest myself, as well.

We were in bed last night by 8:30, both smelling like garlic because we had the GOOT slathered on our feet. I also put it up my nose because I felt like my sinuses were burning. Boy howdy! Did they ever burn after putting salve up in there. It only lasted for a few minutes, though and I could immediately tell that it was helping. Fast forward to this morning. I wake up feeling much better. Carly's throat is still a little sore, but not feeling blistery like it had the night before. I had to get up and take Dylan to school. I didn't want him to go because he was coughing, but he doesn't like to miss either, so I went ahead and took him.

When Carly woke up I put the GOOT on her throat and chest and covered it with an old rag so that it wouldn't mess up her pajamas. It will oil stain anything that it touches. Then I put the echinacea tincture directly in the back of her throat, waited a little bit and made her drink the echinacea/astragalus cocktail again. About an hour later I fixed her some chicken noodle soup. After drinking the soup she came out like a different kid. Her throat wasn't hurting her anymore and she felt like she had a lot more energy. Her voice still sounds a little scratchy so I will continue to do the GOOT and echinacea mixture for the next few days.

Unfortunately when I picked Dylan up from school he wasn't feeling well at all. He came home and fever was 101.2 so I mixed up some goody for him to drink. He drank it down and got a little something to eat. Then he went and laid down for an hour or so. When he got back up he said that he felt much better. I did give him Motrin to bring his fever down. When Carly came home Monday with the fever I gave her Children's chewable Motrin too. She only had the fever that one day, but I did give the Motrin to her the next day for throat pain.

Okay, I told this big long drawn-out story to illustrate the point that there are things that we can do at home to treat our illnesses. I hate taking her to the doctor and getting an antibiotic every time that she is sick. I'm sure if he would have looked at her red throat and swollen tonsils he would have prescribed an antibiotic. Incidentally, her pediatrician was out of town while all of this was going on. I'm sure that I could have found someone else to take her too, but I responded to God's nudging. There are many passages in God's Word that speak of using herbs for healing. I'm just learning about herbs, but I pray that God will give me more knowledge so that I can do things and add things to our diet on a daily basis that will be more of a preventive measure.

Okay, I'm going to bed now craving Olive Garden because it sure does smell like an Italian restaurant in here after playing in garlic and oil. I'll give more of an update later to report how everyone is faring with herbal medicine. G'nite.

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