Category Archives: Health

Garden Of Life – Raw Cleanse

I recently bought a cleanse kit from Garden of Life called the Raw Cleanse.  It is a 7 day cleaning and detoxification kit.  I’m planning on starting it tomorrow and trying it out.  I’ll post my progress and results.  The kit consists of three parts:

  1. RAW Cleanse Toxin Defense – optimal oral health and immune system support.
  2. RAW Cleanse Organ Detox – natural detoxification of organs and GI tract
  3. RAW Cleanse Digestion & Elimination – toxin capture and removal

I’ll explain each component as I go through them.  I got my kit from our local Sprouts store for a little over $30 plus tax, but you can get it online from Amazon (RAW Cleanse – 7 day – Kit) for just under $30 with no tax and free shipping.  I liked it because the product is Vegan, gluten free, dairy free, and claims to be less harsh than some of the other colon cleanse products on the market. Here are some pictures of the whole box and the 3 parts inside.

Garden of Life - RAW Cleanse

Garden of Life – RAW Cleanse Box
Garden of Life - RAW Cleanse - 3 components

3 Components of the Garden of Life RAW Cleanse

Torn Achilles Update – No More Boot

Scar from ruptured achilles tendon surgery to reconnect torn tendon

Scar Is Healing Well

I saw the doctor this morning and I am now cleared to get out of the boot and actually put a shoe on my left foot!  I’m really excited and can’t believe I have made it this far.  Two days ago, when taking out the trash, I put on my sandals just to run the trash can to the curb and it felt really good to have a sandal on my left foot.  Even though I have been going barefoot around the house without the boot, it was different to be in a shoe.  Mentally it felt like progress and it seemed to make walking a bit easier and better.  The doctor told me I am cleared to wear shoes when walking around and at work (sitting in front of a computer isn’t too strenuous!), but if I do anything even a little active like yard work or playing with the kids, he wants me back in the boot.  The scar is healing well and the hair is growing back on my leg.  I have been going to physical therapy three times a week and that is going well too.  We haven’t done anything too aggressive, but just moving the foot around and having the joint and scar area manipulated by the therapist is great.

Cheaper NeilMed Alternative

While the NeilMed packets of salt are really convenient – especially for kids – the cost adds up quickly.  I personally use a ziploc disposable container full of sea salt and a spoon for my neti pot and this is about as cheap as you can get.  I buy the sea salt bulk from Whole Foods or a similar grocery store.  I covered my neti pot routine in a previous post.  I tried using my sea salt for my kids in their kid-sized NeilMed bottles, but they seemed bothered by the sea salt and complained.  It seems harsher than the more balanced mix you get in the NeilMed packets.  I continued to buy the replacement pediatric packets for a while, but then one time my People’s Pharmacy was out of the refil packets.  I found a small canister of balanced salt specially packaged for nasal cleansing and tried that.  This was a very successful switch for me.  It is much cheaper than the equivalent NeilMed packets, it lasts longer, has no waste from the package material, and really has worked out well.  It comes with a little plastic scooper so it is easy to measure out the right amount of salt and easily scoop and pour it into the bottles.  Finally, when I ran out of salt in the container I intended to buy another one, but didn’t get around to it for a while.  In the meantime, I refilled their canister with some of my sea salt stash intending to still buy them a replacement.  Well, they haven’t complained and it doesn’t seem like they have noticed, so for now I’m just going to reuse the canister and refill it with my bulk super cheap sea salt!