Motherhood: How To Avoid Antibiotics & Use Natural Remedies Instead With Erin O’Donnell

Thrush, ear infections, sore throats, congestion, sleep issues and even postpartum infections. Author (and former RN) Erin O’Donnell offers alternatives to antibiotics for all of the above. She has concrete tips for which foods are richest in nutrients to ward off infections or help calm an upset stomach. She also offers recipes for soothing teas and remedies, along with lifestyle tips to avoid illnesses in the first place!

Visit Erin’s website: fullyalivefamilies.com

Check out the private Nourishing Our Children support groups

See our sponsors: Paleo Valley and American Blossom Linens

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Listen to the episode here

Episode Transcript

Within the below transcript the bolded text is Hilda Labrada Gore and the regular text is Erin O’Donnell.

There’s no shame in taking an antibiotic. They’ve been efficacious and even life-saving interventions for many, but there are many natural alternatives for healing that spare you the unintended consequences of antibiotic use. Our guest is Erin O’Donnell. Erin is the author of Fully Alive. She is also a wife, mother, and former nurse who is committed to equipping moms with a new and natural toolkit for addressing common concerns like thrush, ear infections, sore throats, congestions, sleep issues, and even postpartum infections. Erin gets specific about what herbs, vitamins, supplements, foods, and lifestyle changes can assist the body’s recovery without the need for antibiotics. Erin’s advice points us to natural antibiotics in a way.

By the way, this is the fourth podcast in our Motherhood Series this fall. Before we get into the conversation, I want to invite you to a group that is designed to support you in your journey with your children’s health. It’s called nourishing our children. It’s a project of the Weston A. Price Foundation launched in 2005 with a focus on timeless principles for supporting learning, behavior, and health through optimal nutrition.

Nourishing Our Children has an active closed group on Facebook that offers support on how to nourish and not merely feed your children. It’s called Nourished Children 2.0. If you join, you’ll also get complimentary access to the Nourish 2.0 group that is focused on adults. For one donation of only $5 for the calendar year, the moderator ensures that no question goes on answered. Go to Nourishing Our Children to learn how to join.

Here is a testimonial. Rebecca says this, “I joined the Nourishing Our Children group a few years ago after being introduced to the Weston Price dietary principles by my sister, also in the group. I desire to incorporate them into my own family mix. As with many changes that involve learning, I have found the knowledge and support of the group essential. I appreciate the ideas, recipes, reminders, community dialogue, and challenges to keep developing nourishing traditions as a homeschooling family of seven. The culture continuously moves us in the opposite direction. I so value this group as a partner in our family’s journey.”

That’s Rebecca Woolley. Rebecca, thank you for that review. You can find out more about this group by going to Nourishing Our Children. This is Hilda Labrada Gore and you’re tuning in to Wise Traditions.

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Visit Erin’s website: Fully Alive Families

Check out the private Nourishing Our Children support groups

See our sponsors: Paleo Valley and American Blossom Linens

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Welcome to Wise Traditions, Erin.

Thank you so much for having me on the show, Hilda.

I love the timing of this episode because as we head into the colder months, this is when people get concerned, and even on the news and the ads, they say it’s cold and flu season. The parents’ mind is like, “We’re going to have to start putting our kids on antibiotics because of ear infections,” but you’re going to try to talk to us about how not to need antibiotics.

Yes, it’s doable.

Ear Infection

Let’s take it bit by bit. Let’s pretend that one of our kids has an ear infection. Let’s start with that one. What could we do that’s natural that would help us avoid having to get antibiotics prescribed and taken by our child?

That’s a great question. That’s one of the most common reasons they give antibiotics. I remember learning from nursing school that antibiotics don’t improve the outcome. They just make the parents leave the pediatrician alone. They admitted to that in nursing schools. I was like, “What?” There are many easy things you can do to treat the infection itself and reduce the pain. They’re mostly going hand in hand.

The first thing is to remember the basic principles, so give some vitamin C, no sugar, outside time is helpful, and then treat topically. If you have any carrier oil you like. I like coconut oil because it has its own magical properties, and then a couple of drops of lavender oil. Rub that, not in the ear, but all around the area. It should take the pain away almost immediately, as well as fight the infection.

Some other easy options are you can cut a clove of garlic and half. You don’t want to stick it in the ear canal but rest it right in there almost like your earbud. If you want, you can use a little piece of tape to go over there. The pain will go away almost immediately and the garlic essence will be pulled by your bloodstream and your limbs into where the infection is and it will very quickly fight the infection.

One thing with ear infections is if it’s a chronic issue or if it’s as a kid who always has an ear infection, you want to look at things. It could be that bad-quality dairy, gluten, or something else is causing so much inflammation that his ears can’t drain. All of those things should work for both a swimmer’s ear and an ear infection that you’d get secondary to a cold or something.

How did you figure this out? Is it on your own, using it on your kids, or did you find resources that were helpful for you?

When I was in college and post-college, I was a hot mess and I was on the cycle of antibiotics. I slowly started to get out of the Western medicine is medicine mindset and became very quickly willing to try anything and learn from anywhere and listen to anybody. A lot of it is things I collected from other moms or other people who have their brains turned on. I also love Rosalee de la Forêt’s books. My favorite one is Alchemy of Herbs. That is easily my favorite herbal book and she is mostly herbs that you probably have in your kitchen anyway, which makes it so easy to whip up when you need it. I also love Rachel Weaver’s Be Your Child’s Pediatrician.

Chest Congestion

For now, we have you and you can be a conduit for some of the information that you’ve learned both from your research and these books and your own experience with your family. Let’s talk about chest congestion. If your kid has a cough or seems to be struggling to breathe, what are some treatments or remedies that we might have available, as you were saying, herbs in our own herbal garden or close by?

For chest congestion, you want to think about the fact that whatever they are breathing in can hurt them or help them. When we have sick people, windows are open, people are outside if they can be, and I would encourage breathing deeply. If somebody is passed out on the couch, I’m not going to make them go run laps, but the more they can breathe deeply and move, the more that’ll help with the congestion.

Wise Traditions | Erin O’Donnell | Antibiotics — Antibiotics: For chest congestion, think about the fact that whatever your child is breathing in can hurt them or help them.

This is when a diffuser is awesome. There are all kinds of brands with kids-safe essential oils. I love Eden’s Garden in particular, but they have kids-safe oils. They’re usually labeled sinus and cold, respiratory blend, or things like that. I would diffuse those essential oils. If you put the diffuser down low, then maybe you can be interested in going and breathing it deeply. You can get the child to breathe it in. You can also dilute essential oils well and then rub them on the child’s chest and back. That will seep in and work where it needs to.

Onion is a great remedy. It’s much more palatable for adults than for kids, especially raw. For a child, even if you can cut the onion and have the child be in the room. You know how much your eyes and your nose will run when you’re cutting an onion, it will cause the same thing in his chest if you could have him in the room. It’ll get things loose and moving, and then he can hopefully cough them out. If there’s a sinus infection that’s dripping back and causing problems like those snot suckers, I love the NoseFrida. Those are good for the kids who are too little to blow their own noses. Unless you’re taking out the trash, the problem is it’s never going to be resolved.

Also, magnesium baths. They help with I think all the respiratory issues. A lot of times, I’ll brew herbal tea and you could pick whatever herbal tea you have in your closet that your child likes. I’ll brew it super strong and then I’ll pour it in the bath. I’m not trying to coax my child to drink however much tea I want to. He can breathe it in and absorb all the goodness through his skin.

You’re talking about rubbing oils on the back and so forth. I’m thinking about how tender, intimate, close, and comforting that must feel for the child. In other words, the remedy is important, but it’s also this proximity. If we’re giving a kid a pill or a liquid to swallow quickly, there’s not that much interaction but here, you’re taking the time to be near them to offer these remedies. I can’t help but think that the context of love is helpful for healing.

I think so too. We have a beautiful community of pretty holistic moms. I see these very compassionate children and I wonder if a lot of that is because they receive this. They’re so used to being slowed down for and receiving love when they need it, then they’re very quick to do it for someone else. The other fascinating thing I learned and I can’t remember where, but there was some study about endorphins boosting your immune system. We all know that a hug is the best way to get endorphins quickly. When your toddler who is too big to carry around is sick and he wants you to be carried around all day, he’s asking for what he needs. He’s like, “I need that love to help me heal.” The design is so beautiful.

A hug is like the best way to get endorphins quick. So when your sick toddler wants you to carry him around all day, he’s just asking for what he needs to heal.

Sore Throat

Since we’re talking about chest congestion and your aches or ear infections, let’s move up a little bit to the sore throat.

For sore throat, a lot of the same things that are true for the chest are going to be true for the throat. Teas are going to be great. Also honey has so many antibacterial properties. The best honey you can afford is worth it. Most honey is adulterated with high fructose corn syrup. Go ahead and shell it out for that local farmer.

Almost any herb or herbal tea that you like is sure to be helpful. They all have antibacterial properties and soothing properties. For the throat especially, sage is good. A sage, lemon, and honey tea is nice. There’s also a thyme-oxymel recipe, which we can put on a little handout here. It’s super easy to make. Unless you’re pregnant, you could take it maybe a teaspoon or so in water every hour and it will soothe the throat so beautifully.

Another thing with the throat in particular, if you are treating it every hour with a cup of tea, a little oxymel and maybe some fire cider will be so much more effective than taking a bunch of something right before you leave for work, then taking a bunch of something when you come home. By the time you come home, you’re going to be out. If you could haste yourself to maybe get a couple of thermoses and bring them to work with you or whatever it is, that would be so much more effective.

Thyme-oxymel, let’s go over that recipe quickly. I know thyme is a common herb that we use when we’re cooking and making broth. Oxymel is unfamiliar to me. Can you spell it and then tell us about it?

It is O-X-Y-M-E-L. The OXY part means acid and the MEL is the Latin word for honey. An oxymel is vinegar and honey, and then you would infuse an herb into it too. The thyme-oxymel is my favorite remedy because it’s so easy to make and then it’s so easy to take. I put a recipe here but there are no rules. You can do it how you like. You want to fill a mason jar about a quarter of the way with some dried thyme, or you could go three-quarters of the way with fresh thyme, then add about equal parts honey and vinegar, and let it sit in your pantry.

Rosalee de la Forêt, which is where I first learned the recipe says to leave it for two weeks. The reality is I forget about it until we get sick. It might stay that for a few months, but all three of the ingredients are preservatives, so it’s fine. When you’re getting ready, you can just use that. Just give it a good shake, strain it through a strainer, and funnel it into some other container. I keep it in the fridge because it tastes better but you don’t have to, then you can just take it. You can take it straight or dilute it every hour for sore throat. It will fight infections anywhere in your body. I see it clears up infections I didn’t know I had when I was making it for a sore throat. I was amazed. I was like, “I didn’t even know that was a problem and it’s gone.” It’s a powerful stuff. It’s amazing.

I’ve heard good things too about elderberry syrup. That’s not too complicated to make either.

It’s expensive to buy and I get it because you have to babysit the stuff on the stove, but it’s so easy. I get my elderberries from Starwest Botanicals because they have good products, good prices, and prompt shipping. I have posted the recipe to it. It’s a half cup of dried elderberry and three cups of water. You’re going to want to boil those. You bring it to a boil and boil it for about twenty minutes, and then turn it off until it’s comfortable to work with. You don’t want to burn yourself.

You’re going to want to strain it and in some way, you want to mash out all the last bits of goodness. You don’t want to eat the elderberries themselves. There’s something toxic in the seeds, so you don’t want to peel and then you add some honey. You can use as much or as little honey as you like. If you use equal parts honey and the liquid that you got from the elderberries, then it should last for about a year in your fridge. This one is going to be most helpful if you take it every hour. As soon as you feel that little tickle coming on, or when everybody else in the house is sick, take just a little shot every hour. That will help you so much more than a few ounces in the morning and in the evening.

Even if you don’t have a tickle in your throat as you were saying, this isn’t going to hurt you, right?

That’s what I love about these natural antibiotics. They are good for you, They’ll fight cancer. They’re full of nutrients. A lot of them are tasty. We’ll mix this one with sparkling water and a little lime juice, and it’s a total treat.

Tooth Pain

Since we’re talking about a sore throat, let’s talk about teeth. If you have tooth pain or your child does, what do you recommend in that case?

Teeth are so close to us in Weston A. Price. Clove is my go-to. I don’t like to use clove oil. It is so strong and there are a lot of warnings about using it for little people or if you’re pregnant. I prefer to use whole cloves. Although, I don’t think there’s anything wrong necessarily with clove oil. You can steep a few whole cloves or even the clove powder from your kitchen cabinet in some hot water for 5 or 10 minutes. You would not want to sweeten this with honey because that’s going to feed whatever infection is in there. You can swish it around. The clove is amazing because it will kill the pain as well as kill the infection.

With the teeth, the same as with the throat, treating it frequently is going to be way more helpful. Every time you eat, maybe treat it right after. Every time it starts hurting, treat it right away. The good old salt water swish is also effective. We have not thanked Weston A. Price and all the good dietary guidelines. We have not had to deal with tooth infections. I was reading a lot about black walnuts for tooth healing. Again, it’s something you don’t want to use when you’re pregnant or breastfeeding, and not for a long time. People will use the tincture or tea, and swish with it. It apparently will kill the infection, as well as causing your body to remineralize.

Another thing is there are all those remineralizing toothpastes on the market. I think they’re great. If they have glycerin in them, the glycerin will coat your teeth and your teeth can’t absorb the minerals, nor can they absorb the minerals from your own saliva. Be a savvy buyer and don’t don’t buy it if it has glycerin in it.

I have talked to some of the companies who have small amounts of glycerin and they suggest that it’s still effective. I guess people need to weigh it all out for themselves.

Another thing, and I think this is true with any of these infections, is there’s no magic one-size-fits-all answer. People all over the world have healed for centuries, so maybe try the things that sound doable to you and then see if they work, and then just a good diet. If you’re having your cod liver oil, raw dairy, if you can do that broth, there’s a lot of good herbal teas that are high in minerals. Gerolsteiner Water is high in minerals. It’s bubbly water that you can buy at the store in glass bottles.

I was chiming in about the toothpaste because one of my sisters had a very small cavity and the dentist is like, “We can drill and fill or we can put something on it to help it heal.” She was like, “Okay.” She looked at the ingredient, and what they put on it to help it heal was hydroxy appetite, which is in several toothpastes now on the market and the natural foods circles where we’re trying to avoid fluoride and some of the other ingredients.

It worked for her, not only that little bit of healing gel that they put on it but she started using toothpaste that had that. I can’t remember if the particular brand she was using had glycerin or not. I suspect that sometimes you have to weigh the risks and the benefits. I know you don’t mean in any way, shape, or form either to say don’t take your children to a medical professional if the situation is alarming in any way.

That’s true for all of these things. There’s no award at the end of life for never having taken an antibiotic. If you are that sick or if you’re looking at your child and you’re like, “This is not normal, you are not well,” please, just go in. If you take the antibiotics and then you don’t die, you can turn around, have your sauerkraut and your broth, and your better lifestyle, the antibiotics could be a stopgap to allow you to go live the life that you wanted to. Please don’t delay. Especially with a small infant or an elderly person, follow your intuition.

The antibiotics could just be a stop gap to allow you to go live the life that you wanted to.

Thrush

When I was looking over the remedies and the ways to avoid antibiotics, I was happy to see one of the concerns on your list that you said you could address naturally was thrush. I remember when my kids were little. Particularly, when my oldest daughter was under a year old, she would get thrush a lot on her tongue. I had no idea what was causing it. Keep in mind, at the time, I was not eating a Weston A. Price diet either. I’m sure that wasn’t helping. Do you know what causes thrush? What can we do about it naturally?

I think a lot of times it can be underlying issues like microbiome issues, which we’d addressed but apparently, we have heavy metals. I think that is probably playing into it. Also, a child who is tongue-tied is going to be much more likely to get thrush than another child. Regardless of the cause, the treatments are pretty similar. If it’s a breastfed baby, the mom needs to be doing all of these things, and then if the baby is old enough, she can also do them for the baby.

Coconut is the first line of defense. Coconut oil is great. The oil is where the anti-yeast component of the coconut is, so anything high in coconut oil. The coconut oil and the coconut milk are going to be helpful. The coconut flour or water, not so much. Not that they’re bad products. There’s a supplement I love. It’s the anti-yeast extract. Coconut is good. As long as the baby is over about six weeks and you see it’s not causing trouble, you could put a little bit of coconut on your finger and rub it inside his mouth. In addition to eating it, you could put it straight on your breasts too. Gently rub some on. You’d want to rub off what was visible before nursing for a tiny baby, but whatever is residual shouldn’t cause a problem.

The sun is so magic. It’s not easy to make it happen but if you can get sun on your breasts and anywhere even if you can’t get it in babies now but close to, that will help. A lot of times, they get thrush on their bottoms when they have it in their mouth. If it’s warm weather, that’s easy enough to get the naked baby out in the sun. Just ten minutes will make a huge difference.

Also, probiotics. Mom needs to eat probiotics and then there are some good quality infant probiotics. You could rub it inside their mouth or if they’re over maybe 2 or 3 months, you could do a little bit of sauerkraut juice or some other natural ferment. Again, be careful and be smart as you watch your infant. Start slow because die-off in a tiny baby can be painful.

What do you mean by die-off?

Die-off would be if the baby has yeast overgrowth in his mouth as with thrush, he probably has it in his whole gut as well. When you’re giving the probiotic, whether it’s powder, sauerkraut, or even coconut, it will cause the pathogenic yeast to come under control. It will probably cause a lot of gas and maybe diarrhea, which in a tiny little gut is so uncomfortable. You want to go slow. Less is more.

Diet And Lifestyle Choices

I don’t recommend grapefruit seed extract for thrush. I’ve done a bunch of reading about grapefruit seed extract, which is one of the natural remedies you hear about. If it works for you, do it. There’s a preservative in it that according to many people is the reason why it works. It ends up having an antibiotic effect. You’ll treat the yeast and then the yeast becomes immune and stronger. We saw that happen with our youngest and that’s how I fell down the whole rabbit hole of the grapefruit seed extract. Apparently, that’s a common thing. It’s extremely strong and doesn’t get the underlying issue, which is probably diet, tongue tie, or microbiome.

Coming up, Erin covers specifics for how to establish a lifestyle baseline to avoid health issues from cropping up in the first place.

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Talk to us more about sun and diet, and what other things you would recommend as a baseline to maintain your family’s health.

The first thing is sleep. Sleep is so good and I’m sure I’m not the only mom who’s laughing right now or the only person with busy jobs and things. It is so helpful and if you can’t improve your sleep quantity maybe you can improve your sleep quality. Maybe some tart cherry juice, turning your lights down, getting off your phone the last couple of hours before bed, a weighted blanket, or making sure your room is dark. All these things can improve the quality even if you can’t sleep more.

Another thing is the sun. We were created naked in a garden. We weren’t created to sit around and work on our computers all day inside with artificial lights. The more you can get outside, get your feet on the ground if you can to be in contact with the Earth, which is the electromagnetic field we were created to be in contact with and get your body. If it’s cold or whatever, a little bit of sun coming in on your face and hands is great. If it’s warmer, more sun on more of you is better. In addition to improving your body’s own immunity in your own, like every bit of functioning of your body, it kills things.

When we buy things from the thrift store that I can’t wash, we put them in the sun for a few hours. The closer to the solar noon you are, the stronger the healing rays are. Don’t get a sunburn, but be careful. The sun is one of the best things you can do for yourself. Those bare feet on the ground are good. The flip side of that is avoiding man-made electromagnetic fields. We’ve seen in our house that smart meters have been a huge issue. We fought this big battle and got the smart meter out and we are so much healthier, and then they put a 5G tower half a mile away and I didn’t know it. All of a sudden, we were sick a lot more and all these things. There’s nothing I can do about the 5G tower, but we did buy some grounding sheets. Have you heard of these, Hilda?

They weave the sheets with silver and then you plug them into the grounded outlet so that the sheets are connected to the electromagnetic field of the Earth. Hopefully, this electromagnetic field that we are designed to be connected with is overpowering the bad ones. We have it come in the mail yet, but I’m hoping they’re helpful. A lot of people say they’re good, especially for immunity and for sleep quality.

Also, moving your body. Our bodies were designed to move. We weren’t designed to sit. If you’re well, please go exercise. Work in your garden, park far from the store, and walk in. Even if you’re sick, there’s like the really sick where you can’t move, but just stretch. Get up and walk to the mailbox. Move a little bit and also massage, or any touches is good for getting that limp fluid. We have limp all over our body and that’s the trash system. If you can keep that moving with a little massage or gentle movement, that will help you so much to get well and to stay well.

Postpartum

That sounds wonderful. I think you’re right. I’m so glad that you’re addressing the young moms, especially when you’re talking about sleep because you know how hard that is to come by. I can’t help but think postpartum. There can be the risk of if you have an episiotomy or tearing, and then maybe some postpartum infections. Do you have any remedies or suggestions for how to address that naturally?

Miranda Castro has a little Postpartum Homeopathy Kit. That’s a great new mom gift. It has all the remedies you might need and directions for how to use them. Even if you’re not super homeopathy savvy for all the different postpartum troubles. One of my favorite things, and I swear this has made me so functional after my last two births, was the herbal sitz baths. If you don’t already know about them, they put different healing herbs that will both kill infection and promote blood flow and healing.

You steep them like tea and pour them. You can buy these little sitz pads for that little postpartum bottom or large postpartum bottom as the case may be right here, or you can make it stronger and put it in the whole bathtub with some sea salt and maybe some magnesium. I remember after my last baby, who was 8 pounds and a couple of ounces, the next day, I was fine. I wasn’t going to run a marathon, but I could sit on any surface I wanted to. I think it was the sitz bath with all these healing herbs.

Also, once you have that postpartum infection, those are typically pretty dangerous, especially if it’s an infected tear or something. I would say if you can’t get that under control right now, then you need to go take the antibiotics. What if you never got to that point? What if you took the sitz bath maybe every day for a couple of days? It felt great and enjoyed the bath, then you didn’t even know about the infections you avoided. For this baby, since having my poor husband who was already running the house, I tried to give him directions on how to steep the tea. I got smart and made some. I froze it in the water bottle in my basement waiting for me.

Essential Items For Immunity

I’m thinking of the busy mom and or the busy dad who is running things. What are some things Erin that you think we should keep on hand to support our immune system and our health overall?

I have a couple of lists and maybe we can post them at the bot like on the handout at the bottom here, but a couple of things that I would love to highlight are the snot suckers. We love that the nose freed us, not sucker for little people. Also, magnesium salts. Magnesium salts are so helpful in the bath. They seem to heal every conceivable problem, and then vitamin C. It gets so much precedence and it totally deserves it, but we always keep extra vitamin C on hand because it speeds healing.

What about other herbs, oils, or foods you would recommend that we have on hand?

We’ll have the recipes for these, but the thyme-oxymel and the elderberry syrup are so helpful. Also, fire cider, which I have a recipe for is a great one to make before you need it. It takes two weeks to steep there. A quick note about fire cider, I had never made it. I’m super sensitive to hot peppers. I recently said this to a friend and she said, “Erin, you could make your own fire cider with no hot peppers.” It’s so obvious, but you could make a fire cider that would work for you if you can’t handle the horse radish, the garlic, the hot pepper, or whatever it is. That’s a great one to have before you need it.

Extra broth. Broth is so healing, whether it’s the upset stomach, the respiratory infection, or whatever. There are so many healing components in broth, and also it’s great. You can heat it up and steep some herbs or garlic in it, and then it’s doubly healing. We always keep extra broth in the freezer for emergencies.

I also make a little homemade lotion and then I’ll pre-dilute essential oils in that little lotion and then label them for my pre-readers. When the whole house is sick at the same time, which is always that way, and the kids need your help and you can’t get off the couch because you’re so sick, you can say, “Go find the lotion with the bee on it,” and then the child can go and get the lotion and self-treat. It’s a great one for moms to pre-dilute essential oils in whatever form.

I think you already alluded to this, Erin. Can we take some of these things preventatively? In other words, I’ve made fire cider before but then it sits in my fridge and I never take it because I don’t get sick. Could I take a tablespoonful every day if I felt like it?

Totally. Almost everything that we talked about would be appropriate to do also before you are sick with a few pretty obvious exceptions. Fire cider is apple cider vinegar, honey garlic, ginger, and herbs. These things are good for you. If everybody in your house is sick, take it and that’ll help you not to get sick, or if you’re sick, take it and it’ll help you to get better quickly. Even if you’re just taking it, it’s going to be good for all of you. The same goes for almost all these things. These are the things we were created to consume.

It’s interesting you should say that because I’m thinking about cod liver oil. Dr. Price considered it a food, not a supplement. He could see the benefits of it from people taking it every day. I’m happy to report that a lot of Weston A. Price Foundation members and friends who know about it have found I don’t want to say solace, but health and boosted immune support if you will by taking that every day You recommend it as well.

Totally. I wish I could say that we take it every day, but we don’t. It’s pretty close to it. In the winter when we’re not getting out and getting all that good sunshine especially, we take it pretty close to every day. I do think it helps our immunity, but beyond that, my kids. We’re having an argument with the dentist. They said it was okay that I didn’t want x-rays for the kids just because they hadn’t had any cavities. First of all, I thought if we’ve never had a cavity, we don’t need an x-ray.

Second of all, I think it’s the cod liver oil because both of them for years had to be dairy-free because of autoimmune issues and things. What gave them such great teeth because we frankly don’t brush as much as we should in our house. I’m not saying you shouldn’t. I’m just saying we don’t, but it’s good for all of you, and also seeing them, they’re not rocket scientists or something, but they’re bright smart kids beyond what I’ve done as a mom like teaching them. I think so much of it is the brain fats and other foods too, but I think there’s something about the cod liver oil.

Avoiding Triggers For Poor Health

You’ve talked about getting plenty of sunshine, the fresh air, the exercise, and the feet on the ground. What are things we might avoid to up our family’s health? You did say to avoid the non-native electromagnetic frequencies. Anything else?

The non-native electromagnetic frequencies, especially, I was thinking of this one. It’s so tempting to be like we’re not a screen time family, but you’re sick. Here’s a screen. Holding that screen is really bad. Even if you’re sick and I have to cook dinner, put the screen away from the child. Even a few feet will make a big difference.

Other than that, sugar. Sugar will kill your immune system. I see it in myself so many times and I’ll forget honestly. Even if I’m too tired to do whatever, I’m just going to cheat a little bit and I will see, and then whatever little sickness I had suddenly explodes, or my daughter. We’ve done a lot of gut healing and a little sugar, maple syrup, or something has been okay. She had this nasty sore throat. I felt like it was too late for cough drops with a little bit of sugar in them, but it has all these other healing things. She was the child who wouldn’t get better, everybody else got better. She wouldn’t until I took her off the cough drops and she was better in 48 hours.

Sugar will kill your immune system.

Honey, especially raw honey, is different chemically from table sugar, even organic brown table sugar, maple syrup, or even pasteurized fruit juices. The chemical bond is different. Even if there is value in those things, it will have a depressing effect on your immune system. When we’re sick, we only do honey. Maybe even pay attention to ourselves. We do great with honey but you might not. I think that’s something to notice for the sugar topic. For anything, pay attention to yourself. Just because I said this works doesn’t mean it’s going to work for you. Everybody is different. If it works, do it. If it doesn’t work, mix it.

Cheap vegetable oils are terrible. They’re terrible for you anyway, but I remember observing and then digging around online and finding out it’s a common phenomenon for cheap vegetable oils, specifically closed plugged ducts. They’re blocking your arteries and veins, but they’re doing the same thing in your milk. Once I got serious about avoiding cheap vegetable oils. We had a lot fewer plugged ducts, but I also have seen it help sinus infections and everything else. Avoid those cheap vegetable oils and then replace them with butter, ghee, bacon grease, or olive oil, which are so much tastier anyway.

I love that so many of these recommendations are wise traditions. They are herbal remedies or simple baths, accessible treatments that help heal and don’t just tamp down the symptoms. I’m so thankful You’ve been on today. It’s so fun to have you on for round two. I will put a link in the show description as well so people can find the earlier episode we did for you. We’ll make sure people can find you online. I want to ask you now the question I’d like to pose at the end. If the listener could do one thing to improve their health, what would you recommend that they do?

Keep learning whether it’s listening to to this podcast like you’re doing right now or there’s a couple of books that she put at the bottom or whatever reading, listening, learning, and asking questions, just try it and see if it works for you.

Fantastic words to end on, Erin. Thank you again. On behalf of the Weston A. Price Foundation. We’re grateful for your time.

Thank you so much, Hilda.

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Our Guest today was Erin O’Donnell. Visit her website Fully Alive Families to learn more. I am Hilda Labrada Gore, the host and producer of this show, for The Weston A. Price Foundation. You can find me at Holistic Hilda. Now, for a recent review from Apple Podcasts. KCatScan had this to say, “Life-changing. This is the best health podcast out there. It covers all aspects of health and well-being bravely and thoughtfully. I’ve learned more here than anywhere. My must-listen show every week.” KCatScan, this is awesome. It’s special to me. Thank you so much for your review.

You too can leave us a review. Just go to Apple Podcasts, and click on ratings and reviews. Give us a bunch of stars and tell us why you love the show. It means a lot. Thank you so much for tuning in, my friends. Stay well and remember to keep your feet on the ground and your face to the sun.

About Erin O’Donnell

Erin is a wife, mother, and former RN who left the world of modern healthcare disillusioned and is now rejoicing to be able to help her family and others seek and find health through older and surer paths that the Lord has provided. Erin loves spending time with her family, friends, church community, chickens, garden, farmer’s market, books, and the bees she hopes to keep one day.